Geography of Indiana

Surrounding states are Michigan to the north and northeast, Illinois to the west, Kentucky to the south, and Ohio to the east.

The northern boundary of the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois was originally defined to be a latitudinal line drawn through the southernmost tip of Lake Michigan.

Since such a line did not provide Indiana with usable frontage on the lake, its northern border was shifted ten miles (16 km) north when it was granted statehood in 1816.

[2] The 475 mile (764 km) long Wabash River bisects the state from northeast to southwest before flowing south, mostly along the Indiana-Illinois border.

The landscape is characterized physically by very flat to rolling terrain ranging from 600 to 1,000 feet (180 to 300 m) above sea level and is similar to central Indiana except for the presence of higher and hillier terminal moraines and many glacial kettle lakes in some areas.

Heavy industry is as much a part of the economy in the eastern two thirds of Northern Indiana as agriculture, and, as a result, the region tends to be associated with the Rust Belt.

[8] Sand dunes and heavy industry share the shoreline of Lake Michigan in northern Indiana.

[12] The prairie chicken and American bison were common in Indiana's pioneer era, but are now extinct as wild species within the state.

The South Bend metropolitan area, in north central Indiana, is the center of commerce in the region better known as Michiana.

East of Fort Wayne is an area of extremely flat land that, before development, was the westernmost reach of the Great Black Swamp.

Physically, the land in Central Indiana is characterized primarily by low, gently rolling hills and shallow valleys.

The highest point in Indiana is Hoosier Hill, at 1,257 feet (383 m) above sea level in northern Wayne County.

The geography of Central Indiana consists of gently rolling hills and sandstone ravines carved out by the retreating glaciers.

Many of these ravines can be found in west-central Indiana, specifically along Sugar Creek in Turkey Run and Shades state parks.

Vincennes, founded by French traders in 1732 and the oldest settlement in the state, is located on the Wabash River and served as the first capital of the Indiana Territory.

Southern Indiana is a mixture of farmland, forest and very hilly areas, especially near Louisville and in the south central lime hills areas, stretching from the Ohio River to as far north as Greencastle, to the wide, flat valleys along the Wabash and Ohio rivers.

The largely flat and flood-prone bottomlands of Indiana, where the Wabash, White, and Ohio Rivers converge, hosts numerous plant and animal species normally found in the Lower Mississippi and Gulf Coast region of the United States.

Harrison and Crawford Counties boast three of the state's most popular commercial caves at Wyandotte, Marengo, and Squire Boone Caverns.

The next band of rocks are Devonian in age and pass under Lafayette, Indianapolis and New Albany, across the Ohio River from Louisville.

Greater erosion and thinner layers of glacial till have created surface exposures along river vallies.

There the state's ‘coal measures’ are exposed and major surface mining activities have built the local economies.