Ohio ( ) is a Midwestern state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region, Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads in North America. At the time of European contact, and in the years that followed, Native Americans in the current territory of Ohio included the Shawnee, Iroquois, Miamis, and Wyandots. Starting in the 1700s, the area was settled by people from New England, the Mid-Atlantic States, Appalachia, and the Upper South.

Prior to 1984, the United States Census Bureau classified Ohio as part of the North Central Region. That region was subsequently renamed as "Midwest" and divided into two divisions. Ohio is now in the East North Central States division. Ohio has the highest population density of any state outside of the Eastern Seaboard, and it is the seventh-largest U.S. state according to population.

Ohio was the first state admitted to the Union under the Northwest Ordinance. Its U.S. postal abbreviation is OH; its old-style abbreviation was O. Natives of Ohio are known as Ohioans or Buckeyes, after the buckeye tree.

Etymology

The name "Ohio" is derived from the Seneca word ohi:yo', which has been interpreted to mean "beautiful river" (French mistranslation) or "large creek". The name was originally applied to both the Ohio River and Allegheny River.Mithun (1999), p. 312

History

Native Americans

Archeological evidence suggests that the Ohio Valley was inhabited by nomadic people as early as 13,000 B.C.Knepper (1989), p. 9. These early nomads disappeared from Ohio by 1,000 B.C., "but their material culture provided a base for those who followed them". Between 1,000 and 800 B.C., the sedentary Adena culture emerged. As Ohio historian George W. Knepper notes, this sophisticated culture was "so named because evidences of their culture were excavated in 1902 on the grounds of Adena, Thomas Worthington's estate located near Chillicothe".Knepper (1989), p. 10. The Adena were able to establish "semi-permanent" villages because, apart from hunting and gathering, they domesticated plants that included squash, sunflowers, and perhaps corn. The most spectacular remnant of the Adena culture is the Great Serpent Mound, located in Adams County, Ohio.

Around 100 B.C., the Adena were joined in Ohio Country by the Hopewell people, who were named for Captain M. C. Hopewell, on whose farm evidence of their unique culture was discovered.Knepper (1989), p. 11. Like the Adena, the Hopewell people participated in a mound-building culture, and their impressive earthworks can be found in modern-day Marietta, Newark, and Circleville. The Hopewell, however, disappeared from the Ohio Valley in about 600 A.D., and little is known about the people who replaced them.Knepper (1989), p. 13. Researchers have identified two distinct prehistoric cultures: the Fort Ancient people and the Whittlesey Focus people. Both cultures evidently disappeared in the 17th century, but some scholars believe that the Fort Ancient people "were ancestors of the historic Shawnee people, or that, at the very least, the historic Shawnees absorbed remnants of these older peoples".