Indiana is a U.S. state located in the midwestern and Great Lakes regions of North America. Indiana is the 38th largest by area and the 16th most populous of the 50 United States. Indiana is the least extensive state in the contiguous United States west of the Appalachian Mountains. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th U.S. state on December 11, 1816.
Before it became a territory, varying cultures of indigenous peoples and historic Native Americans inhabited Indiana for thousands of years. Since its founding as a territory, settlement patterns in Indiana have reflected regional cultural segmentation present in the Eastern United States; the state's northernmost tier was settled primarily by people from New England and New York, Central Indiana by migrants from the Mid-Atlantic states and from adjacent Ohio, and Southern Indiana by settlers from the Southern states, particularly Kentucky and Tennessee.
Indiana has a diverse economy with a gross state product of $214 billion in 2005. Indiana has several metropolitan areas with populations greater than 100,000 and a number of smaller industrial cities and towns. Indiana is home to several major sports teams and athletic events including the NFL's Indianapolis Colts, the NBA's Indiana Pacers, the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, and the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 motorsports races.
The state has several universities ranked among the best in 2011 rankings of the U.S. News & World Report. Purdue University - West Lafayette, Indiana University - Bloomington, and the University of Notre Dame are ranked among the top 50 in the National Universities Rankings, while Butler, Valparaiso and the University of Evansville are ranked among the top 10 in the Regional University Midwest Rankings. Purdue's engineering programs are ranked tenth in the country. In addition, Taylor is ranked #1 in the Regional College Midwest Rankings.