Essay Sample on Land Use in Michigan

Michigan is a state in the Great Lakes and Midwestern zones of the U.S. By size Michigan, land assumes position 22 out of 50. The land from the 1600s has served multiple purposes. The key land use of Michigan land is residing area, fishing, farming, hunting, trading, and, industrial area.

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Michigan was home to several Native American tribes; three significant tribes were called the Three Fires. They were the Ottawa, the Ojibwe, and, the Potawatomi. These tribes shared a common vulture, similar food, trade, housing, and, customs (Waldman 8-25). Other tribes that reside in the region are Kickapoo, Huron, Fox, Sauk, Miami, and Menominee. Hence, the primary land use of this region is that it served as residing area majorly for the three tribes.

Ojibwe, also known as The Chippewa Indians, lived mainly in Southern Michigan. They amalgamated as a tribe in the 1600s (Clifton 93-152). They were principally anglers and hunters. This is evident with their lifestyle of consumption of food such as wild rice, sugar from maple trees, blueberries, wild rice, and, abundance of game animals and fish. They did not practice farming because the climate is too cold for farming, but the population relied heavily on fishing since about 60,000 people of American Indians lived in the Great Lake regions.

Besides hunting and fishing, the land was used for trading. According to Shaw (198), the opening of the Eric Canal that linked the Great Lakes with the Hudson River and the New York City in 1825 facilitated trading. This connection offered a cheap way to ship goods to the market especially, crops from southern Michigan region. Apart from Southern Michigan having conducive climate and soil, they had summer residence that supports that growth of a variety of crops including beans, potatoes, melons, pumpkins among others.

After approval of a constitutional in 1835, the Upper Peninsula was awarded to Michigan as a way of resolving a land dispute between Ohio and Michigan. Upper Peninsula is rich with iron and copper facilitated the construction of the Soo Locks (Miller 339). Aside from the practice of other economic activities, several industries were created. The first industry to be established was an automobile factory in Highland Park, which was made in 1899 and was called Henry Ford, followed by general motors that were founded in Flint. Automobile industry and related manufacturing with time dominated not only Detroit, but also the economy of Michigan.

Therefore, before the occurrence of the Great Depression in the U.S, Michigan region used to serve several activities. The major ones were farming, hunting, industrial area, fishing, and residing area.

Work Cited

Clifton, James A. "Michigan's Indians: Tribe, Nation, Estate, Racial, Ethnic, or Special Interest Group?." The Michigan Historical Review 1994: 93-152. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=V_MwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA171&lpg=PA171&dq

Miller, George J. "The Establishment of Michigan's Boundaries: A Study in Historical Geography." Bulletin of the American Geographical Society of New York (1901-1915). 1911: 339. Retrieved from: https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=bullags

Shaw, Ronald E. Canals for a nation: the canal era in the United States, 1790-1860. University Press of Kentucky, 2014. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.ke/books/about/Canals_For_A_Nation.html?id=T5jpAgAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y

Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. Infobase Publishing, 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.infobasepublishing.com/Bookdetail.aspx?ISBN=0816062730