People have lived in the land now called Michigan for at least 12,000 years. Many centuries after those first inhabitants arrived, Native American tribes lived on the land, including the Kickapoo, Miami, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Menominee, and Fox and Sauk. Eleven Native American tribes still live in Michigan today. In 1805, Michigan became a U.S. territory. Settlers began pouring in around 1825, once the newly built Erie Canal made traveling across the country much easier. Michigan joined the Union as a free state in 1837. Just before 1900, automakers Ransom E. Olds (as in Oldsmobile) and Henry Ford built some of the first cars in Detroit. The city is still called “Motor City” because so many cars are made there. Four of the Great Lakes share borders with Michigan: Superior, Huron, Michigan, and Erie. No wonder it’s sometimes called the Great Lakes State! It’s bordered by Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin in the south, and the Great Lakes and Canada in the east, north, and west. Michigan is home to many types of animals. Once wiped out by hunters, native elk and moose have made comebacks after herds were relocated from Wyoming and Canada, respectively. With more than half the state covered in forests, Michigan is filled with white pine, American mountain ash, boxelder, sugar maple, and red mulberry trees. Michigan rose, orange coneflower, evening primrose, and yellow monkey flower are some of the wildflowers that grow in the Wolverine State. Michigan is known for fishing, thanks to its 3,288 mile coastline, the longest freshwater coastline in the United States. Forestry is another important industry, as 90 percent of the Upper Peninsula is covered in trees. The state also produces iron oxide pigments, which are used for making red, orange, yellow, and black pigments often used for manufacturing makeup.