Basic Information and History
- Chicago is the LARGEST city in the state of Illinois. There are over 2.8 million residents that live in Chicago. It is the most popular city in the Midwestern United States and the 28th most populous in the world. Chicago is also known as "the windy city". As of 2010 the metropolitan area has the 4th largest gross domestic product of all in the world. It is listed as one of the world's top ten global financial centers. The O'Hare Airport being the second busiest airport in the world. Chicago is the center of business and finance. After the great Chicago fire of 1871 it destroyed a third of the city, including the entire central business district.
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MORE CHICAGO HISTORY
During the mid 18th century, the area was inhabited by the Native American tribe known as the Potawatomis. Jean Baptiste Point du Sable was the first known nonindigenuoius permanent settler that arrived in the 1780's. In 1803 the U.S army built Fort Dearborn and was later destroyed in the war of 1812 battle of Fort Dearborn.
The name Chicago came from a French rendering of the native American word shikaakwa meaning "wild onion" or "wild garlic" from the Miami- Illinois language.
As the site of the Chicago portage, the city emerged as an important transportation hub between the eastern and western U.S.