The Illinois Country — sometimes referred to as Upper Louisiana —was a vast region of New France claimed in the 1600s in what is now the Midwestern United States. While those names generally referred to the entire Upper Mississippi River watershed, French colonial settlement was concentrated along the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers in what is now the U.S. states of Illinois and Missouri, with outposts on the Wabash River in Indiana. Explored in 1673 from Green Bay to the Arkansas River by the Canadien expedition of Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette, the area was claimed by France. It was settled primarily from the Pays d'en Haut in the context of the fur trade, and in the establishment of missions from Canada by French Catholic religious orders. Over time, the fur trade took some French to the far reaches of the Rocky Mountains, especially along the branches of the broad Missouri River valley. The French name, Pays des Ilinois, means "Land of the Illinois [plural]" and is a reference to the Illinois Confederation, a group of related Algonquian native peoples.
The Wea were a Miami-Illinois-speaking Native American tribe originally located in western Indiana. Historically, they were described as either being closely related to the Miami Tribe or a sub-tribe of Miami.
The history of Illinois may be defined by several broad historical periods, namely, the pre-Columbian period, the era of European exploration and colonization, its development as part of the American frontier, its early statehood period, growth in the 19th and 20th centuries, and contemporary Illinois of today.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Florida:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Indiana:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Kansas:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Maryland:
The following outline provides an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Michigan:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Minnesota:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Mississippi:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. State of New York:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of North Dakota:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Ohio:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the United States Commonwealth of Pennsylvania:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Tennessee:
Vermont The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Vermont:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Virginia:
The following outline is provided as an overview of, and a topical guide to, the U.S. state of Wisconsin:
Slavery in what became the U.S. state of Illinois existed for more than a century. Illinois did not become a state until 1818, but earlier regional systems of government had already established slavery. France introduced African slavery to the Illinois Country in the early eighteenth century. French and other inhabitants of Illinois continued the practice of owning slaves throughout the Illinois Country's period of British rule (1763–1783), as well as after its transfer to the new United States in 1783 as Illinois County, Virginia. The Northwest Ordinance (1787) banned slavery in Illinois and the rest of the Northwest Territory. Nonetheless, slavery remained a contentious issue, through the period when Illinois was part of the Indiana Territory and the Illinois Territory and some slaves remained in bondage after statehood until their gradual emancipation by the Illinois Supreme Court. Thus the history of slavery in Illinois covers several sometimes overlapping periods: French ; British ; Virginia ; United States Northwest Territory (1787–1800), Indiana Territory (1800–1809), Illinois Territory (1809–1818) and the State of Illinois.
