Wisconsin geology and topography map courtesy of USGS: A Tapestry of Time and Terrain.
What does "Wisconsin" mean?
There's been conjecture and confusion about where the name "Wisconsin" came from. As with so many state names, the original native American words and languages from which the names evolved have been lost.
According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin means "river running through a red place" (the red place referring to the red sandstone bluffs of the Wisconsin Dells); they also say the name "is the English spelling of a French version of a Miami Indian name" for the Wisconsin river (which runs 430 miles through the center of Wisconsin).
Wisconsin became the 30th state on May 29, 1848.
