After the Civil War, in which the state fought for the Union, natural gas attracted heavy industry and new European immigrants to its northern counties.

In 1816, when Congress passed an Enabling Act to begin the process of establishing statehood for Indiana, a part of this territorial land became the geographic area for the new state.

An early Woodland period group named the Adena people had elegant burial rituals, featuring log tombs beneath earth mounds.

Nearing the end of the stage, the people developed highly productive cultivation and adaptation of agriculture, growing such crops as corn and squash.

In 1679, French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was the first European to cross into Indiana after reaching present-day South Bend at the St. Joseph River.

French-Canadian fur traders soon arrived, bringing blankets, jewelry, tools, whiskey and weapons to trade for skins with the Native Americans.

Other settlements included Clarksville (across from Louisville), Vevay, and Corydon along the Ohio River, the Quaker Colony in Richmond on the eastern border, and Conner's Post (later Connersville) on the east central frontier.

Tensions rose and the U.S. authorized Harrison to launch a preemptive expedition against Tecumseh's Confederacy; the U.S. gained victory at the Battle of Tippecanoe on November 7, 1811.

Following statehood, the new government worked to transform Indiana from a frontier into a developed, well-populated, and thriving state, beginning significant demographic and economic changes.

In 1836, the state's founders initiated a program, the Indiana Mammoth Internal Improvement Act, that led to the construction of roads, canals, railroads and state-funded public schools.

With industrialization, workers developed labor unions (their strike activities induced governor James P. Goodrich to declare martial law in Gary in 1919)[42] and a Socialist Party.

First organized in 1915 as a branch of the Ku Klux Klan, it appealed to white Protestants alarmed by social and economic trends, including changes induced by immigration from southern and central Europe.

[47] In the name of defending "hundred-per-cent Americanism", the Klan sought exclude from public life "Bolsheviks, Catholics, Jews, Negroes, bootleggers, pacifists, evolutionists, foreigners, and all persons it considered immoral".

[51] That year, "Grand Dragon" D.C. Stephenson, who had begun to brag "I am the law in Indiana",[52] was charged and convicted for the rape and murder of Madge Oberholtzer, a young schoolteacher.

[61] Governor Welsh also worked with the General Assembly to pass the Indiana Civil Rights Bill, granting equal protection to minorities in seeking employment.

Companies such as Delco Electronics and Delphi began a long series of downsizing that contributed to high unemployment rates in manufacturing in Anderson, Muncie, and Kokomo.

About 4,700 square miles (12,000 km2) have an elevation of less than 500 feet (150 m), mostly concentrated along the Ohio and lower Wabash Valleys, from Tell City and Terre Haute to Evansville and Mount Vernon.

[88] In a 2012 report, Indiana was ranked eighth in a list of the top 20 tornado-prone states based on National Weather Service data from 1950 through 2011.

[144] A study by the Graduate Center at the City University of New York found 20% are Catholic, 14% belong to Baptist churches, 10% are other Christians, 9% are Methodist, and 6% are Lutheran.

The governor can call special sessions of the General Assembly and select and remove leaders of nearly all state departments, boards and commissions.

In densely populated counties where the caseload is traditionally greater, separate courts have been established to solely hear either juvenile, criminal, probate or small claims cases.

County officials elected to four-year terms include an auditor, recorder, treasurer, sheriff, coroner and clerk of the circuit court.

Indiana was formerly home to two major military installations; Grissom Air Force Base near Peru (realigned to an Air Force Reserve installation in 1994) and Fort Benjamin Harrison near Indianapolis, now closed, though the Department of Defense continues to operate a large finance center there (Defense Finance and Accounting Service).

Indiana Representative William Hayden English was nominated for vice president and ran with Winfield Scott Hancock in the 1880 election.

A unique art culture also began to develop in the late 19th century, beginning the Hoosier School of landscape painting and the Richmond Group of impressionist painters.

Schools fielding NCAA Division I athletic programs include: In 2017, Indiana had a civilian labor force of nearly 3.4 million, the 15th largest in the United States.

It opened in November 2008 and offers a midfield passenger terminal, concourses, air traffic control tower, parking garage, and airfield and apron improvements.

The various highways intersecting in and around Indianapolis, along with its historical status as a major railroad hub, and the canals that once crossed Indiana, are the source of the state's motto, the Crossroads of America.

[217] More than half of Indiana's border is water, which includes 400 miles (640 km) of direct access to two major freight transportation arteries: the Great Lakes/St.

The overall goal of these new state standards is to ensure Indiana students have the necessary skills and requirements needed to enter college or the workforce upon high school graduation.