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Commonwealth of Kentucky
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Flag of Kentuckysvg
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Flag Of Kentucky
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Kentucky State Sealsvg
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Map of USA KYsvg
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Bluegrass State
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United We Stand, Divided We Fall
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Unbridled Spirit
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Frankfort
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English 1
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Louisville
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Ernie Fletcher (R)
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Mitch McConnell (R)<br/> Jim Bunning (R)
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KY
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37<sup>th</sup>
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40,444
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104,749
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39,764
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102,989
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680
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1,760
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17
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26<sup>th</sup>
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4,173,405
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23<sup>rd</sup>
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1017
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3928
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15<sup>th</sup>
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June 1 , 1792
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-5/ DST -4
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eastern half
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-5
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western half
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36°󈐆′ N to 39°󈏱′ N
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81°󈐢′ W to 89°󈐊′ W
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140
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225
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379
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610
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Black Mountain 2
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4,145
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1,263
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755
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230
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Mississippi River
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257
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78
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US-KY
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The (/) is a
State located in the East Central
United States Of America . Kentucky is normally included in the group of
Southern States (in particular the
Upland South ), but it is sometimes included, geographically and culturally, in the
Midwest .
34 Kentucky is one of four U.S. states to be officially known as a
Commonwealth . Originally a part of
Virginia , in 1792 it became the 15
th state to join the Union. Kentucky is the 37
th largest state in terms of land area, and ranks 26
th in population.
Kentucky is known as the "Bluegrass State," a nickname based on the fact that
Bluegrass is present in many of the lawns and pastures throughout the state. It is a land with diverse environments and abundant resources, including the world's longest cave system, the most miles of navigable waterways and streams in the
Lower 48 states, and the two largest man-made lakes east of the Mississippi River. It is also home to the highest per capita number of
Deer and
Turkey in the United States, and the nation's most productive
Coalfield . Kentucky is also known for
Thoroughbred Horses ,
Horse Racing ,
Bourbon distilleries,
Bluegrass Music ,
Automobile manufacturing (including the best selling
Car ,
Truck , and
SUV in the U.S. market), tobacco, and
College Basketball .
.]]
The origin of Kentucky's name (variously spelled ''Cane-tuck-ee'', ''Cantucky'', ''Kain-tuck-ee'', and ''Kentuckee'' before its modern spelling was accepted)
5 has never been definitively identified, though some theories have been debunked. For example, Kentucky's name does not come from the combination of "cane" and "turkey", nor does it mean "dark and bloody ground" in any known that the name means "the river of blood", a
Wyandot name meaning "land of tomorrow", a
Shawnee term possibly referring to the head of a river,
10 or an
Algonquian word for a river bottom.
See Also: List of Kentucky counties
Kentucky borders states of both the
Midwest and the
Southeast .
West Virginia lies to the east,
Virginia to the southeast,
Tennessee to the south,
Missouri to the west,
Illinois and
Indiana to the northwest, and
Ohio to the north and northeast. Kentucky's northern border is formed by the
Ohio River ; its western border by the
Mississippi River .
Kentucky is the only U.S. state to have a non-contiguous part exist as an
Exclave surrounded by other states.
Fulton County , in the far west corner of the state, includes a small part of land,
Kentucky Bend , on the Mississippi River bordered by Missouri and accessible via Tennessee, created by the
New Madrid Earthquake .
11
Kentucky can be divided into five primary regions: the
Cumberland Plateau in the east, the north-central
Bluegrass Region , the south-central and western
Pennyroyal Plateau , the
Western Coal Fields and the far-west
Jackson Purchase . The Bluegrass region is commonly divided into two regions, the Inner Bluegrass — the encircling 90 miles (145 km) around
Lexington — and the Outer Bluegrass, the region that contains most of the Northern portion of the state, above the
Knobs . Much of the outer Bluegrass is in the
Eden Shale Hills area, made up of short, steep, and very narrow hills.
Kentucky has 120 counties, third in the U.S. behind
Texas ' 254 and
Georgia 's 159.
12 Virginia also has more county-level subdivisions than Kentucky; it has only 95 counties, but also has 39
Independent Cities , for a total of 134 county-level subdivisions. The original motivation for having so many counties was to ensure that residents in the days of poor roads and horseback travel could make a round trip from their home to the county seat and back in a single day.
13 Later, however, politics began to play a part, with citizens who disagreed with the present county government simply petitioning the state to create a new county. The 1891
Kentucky Constitution placed stricter limits on county creation, stipulating that a new county:
- must have a land area of at least ;
- must have a population of at least 12,000 people;
- must not by its creation reduce the land area of an existing county to less than ;
- must not by its creation reduce the population of an existing county to less than 12,000 people;
- must not create a county boundary line that passes within of an existing county seat.
These regulations have reined in the proliferation of counties in Kentucky. Since the 1891 Constitution, only
McCreary County has been created.
14 Because today's largest county by area,
Pike County , is , it is now impossible to create a new county from a single existing county under the current constitution. Any county created in this manner will by necessity either be smaller than or reduce the land area of the old county to less than . It is still theoretically possible to form a new county from portions of more than one existing county (McCreary County was created from portions of three counties), but the area and boundary restrictions would make this extremely difficult.
Located within the southeastern interior portion of North America, Kentucky has a climate described as humid subtropical (indicating that all monthly average temperatures are above freezing). Monthly average temperatures in Kentucky range from a high in the high 80's and low 90's (30.9 °C) to a low in the high 30's to low 40's (-4.9 °C) and averages 46 inches (116.84 cm) of precipitation a year.
15 Kentucky experiences all four seasons, usually with striking variations in the severity of summer and winter from year to year. In fact, it is not unusual to see marked changes in temperature and weather conditions within the same day, leading many locals to observe, "If you don't like the weather, just wait a few hours and it will change."
16
Major weather events that have affected Kentucky include:
is the largest artificial lake, in terms of volume, east of the
Mississippi River .]]
Kentucky’s of streams provides one of the most expansive and complex stream systems in the nation. Kentucky has both the largest artificial lake east of the Mississippi in water volume (
Lake Cumberland ) and surface area (
Kentucky Lake ). It is the only
U.S. State to be bordered on three sides by rivers — the
Mississippi River to the west, the
Ohio River to the north, and the
Big Sandy River and
Tug Fork to the east.
17 Its major internal rivers include the
Kentucky River ,
Tennessee River ,
Cumberland River ,
Green River , and
Licking River .
Though it has only three major natural lakes
18, the state is home to many
Artificial Lake s. Kentucky also has more navigable miles of water than any other state in the union, other than
Alaska .
19
Kentucky has an expansive park system which includes one national park, two National Recreation areas, two National Historic Parks, two national forests, 45 state parks, of state forest, and 82 Wildlife Management Areas.
Kentucky has been part of two of the most successful wildlife reintroduction projects in
United States history. In the winter of 1997, the state's eastern counties began to re-stock
Elk , which had been extinct from the area for over 150 years. As of 2006, the state's herd was estimated at 5,700 animals, the largest herd east of the
Mississippi River .
20
The state also stocked
Wild Turkey s in the 1950s. Once extinct in the state, today Kentucky has more turkeys per capita than any other eastern state.
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Land_Between_the_Lakes" class="copylinks">Land Between The Lakes 4 million Land Between the Lakes
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Mammoth_Cave_National_Park" class="copylinks">Mammoth Cave National Park 2 million
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Big_South_Fork_National_River_and_Recreation_Area" class="copylinks">Big South Fork National River And Recreation Area 2 million
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Red_River_Gorge" class="copylinks">Red River Gorge / Natural Bridge 15 million
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73677
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220955
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406511
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564317
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687917
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779828
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982405
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1155684
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1321011
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1648690
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1858635
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2147174
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2289905
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2416630
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2614589
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2845627
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2944806
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3038156
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3218706
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3660777
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3685296
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4041769
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4206074
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2006
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http://ukccukyedu/~census/21109txt
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Louisville_International_Airport" class="copylinks">Louisville International Airport (Standiford Field), Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport , and Blue Grass Airport Louisville International Airport is home to UPS 's Worldport , its international hub{{cite web url= http://wwwpressroomupscom/pressreleases/archives/archive/0,1363,4170,00htmltitle= UPS Completes Seven-Year, US$1 Billion Expansion Of Air Hub
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"wikitable"
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"http://wwwcensusgov/popest/counties/tables/CO-EST2005-02-21csv" class="copylinks" target="_blank">growth is centered along and between interstates I-65 and I-75
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Louisville,_Kentucky" class="copylinks">Louisville is the state's largest city with a metro population of 12 million
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Lexington,_Kentucky" class="copylinks">Lexington is the state's second largest city with a metro population of around 500,000
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Covington,_Kentucky" class="copylinks">Covington, Kentucky only has a population of 42,000, the Kentucky side of the Cincinnati metro area has a population of 400,000
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"wikitable" width=100%
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Louisville_Slugger" class="copylinks">Louisville Slugger Baseball Bat is made in Kentucky
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/50_State_Quarters" class="copylinks">2001 Commemorative Quarter
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Thunder_Over_Louisville" class="copylinks">Thunder Over Louisville is the largest annual fireworks show in the world
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Daniel_Boone_National_Forest" class="copylinks">Daniel Boone National Forest
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Ohio_River" class="copylinks">Ohio River forms the northern border of Kentucky
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Cumberland_Plateau" class="copylinks">Cumberland Plateau near Pikeville
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Mid-Mississippi_Valley_Tornado_Outbreak_of_March_1890" class="copylinks">Louisville Tornado Of 1890 , which was the 20th deadliest in US History
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Eastern_Juniper" class="copylinks">Eastern Juniper trees often line country roads and fences in rural Kentucky
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Mississippi_River" class="copylinks">Mississippi and Ohio , converge along the Kentucky border near Wickliffe
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Interstate_264_(Kentucky)" class="copylinks">Interstate 264 in Louisville
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"http://wwwusgsgov/state/stateaspState=KY" class="copylinks" target="_blank">"Science In Your Backyard: Kentucky" US Department of the Interior US Geological Survey, July 3, 2006, retrieved November 4, 2006
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