On this day in history, January 26, 1837, Michigan was admitted as the 26th U.S. State. To celebrate we put Greetings From Michigan, a great album by Sufjan Stevens, in our cd player and looked up “Michigan” in Oxford Reference Online, which led us to World Encyclopedia. Check out what we learned.

State in N central USA, bordered by four of the Great Lakes; the capital is Lansing. The largest city is Detroit. First settled by the French in the 17th century, the region was ceded to Britain after the Seven Years’ War. The British finally left the area in 1796, and Michigan became a US territory in 1805, achieving full statehood in 1837. The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 aided its growth, but the real industrial boom came with the development of the motor vehicle industry in the early 20th century.

Michigan is made up of two peninsulas separated by the Straits of Mackinac, which connect lakes Michigan and Huron. The Upper Peninsula has swampland on the NE lake shore and mountains in the W. Copper and iron ore are mined and timber is a valuable resource. The Lower Peninsula is also forested and mineral deposits include oil, gypsum, sandstone, and limestone. In the S cereal crops are cultivated and livestock rearing is important. The Lower Peninsula has most of Michigan’s population. Industries: motor vehicles, primary and fabricated metals, chemicals, food products. Area: 150,544sq km (58,110sq mi). Pop. (2000) 9,938,444.

Statehood : January 26, 1837

Nickname : Wolverine State

State bird : Robin

State flower : Apple blossom

State tree : White pine

State motto : If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look around you

On this day in history, January 5th, 1895 Alfred Dreyfus was stripped of his rank in the French army and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island. We wanted to learn more so we went to the Oxford Reference Online which led us to The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French edited by Peter Franch. Below is the excerpt about the Dreyfus Affair by Richard Griffiths.

Dreyfus Affair (L’Affaire Dreyfus). One must distinguish between the judicial Dreyfus Case and the Affair which grew out of it. The Case was very simple: in December 1894 Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer serving in the French artillery, was found guilty of spying for the Germans and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island. In the next few years the discovery of new evidence led a number of people to the realization that a serious miscarriage of justice had taken place.

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