1. Maryland
   New Jersey
2. New York
   Pennsylvania

The land in the Finger Lakes region of New York state was formed by glacial deposits that eroded fewer than 20,000 years ago. The Finger Lakes are a set of tapered glacial lakes located in the state's west-central region near the city of Syracuse.

1. Maryland
   Vermont
2. South Dakota
   Montana

Maryland citizen Charles Carroll was born in Annapolis, Maryland on September 19, 1737. Carroll was the longest surviving and wealthiest signer of the American Declaration of Independence. He died in his sleep on November 14, 1832, in Baltimore, Maryland.

1. New York
   California
2. Montana
   Georgia

When the U.S. state was first founded in 1732, it included areas of Mississippi and Alabama. British General James Edward Oglethorpe founded the former colony, which was the youngest of the 13 American colonies.

1. Maine
   Alabama
2. Vermont
   Wisconsin

The state of Maine is renowned for its rich lobster and maritime history. Lobster catches in the state have been recorded since 1947. The Maine lobster industry catches between 100 and 120 million pounds of lobster yearly.

1. Washington
   Connecticut
2. Texas
   Rhode Island

Texas is the largest state of the contiguous mainland states. The state spans approximately 1,000 miles from north to south and stretches roughly the same distance from east to west. Only the U.S. state of Alaska is larger by land area.

1. Alabama
   Louisiana
2. Tennessee
   Oklahoma

On 1803 at Place d'Armes in the city of Versailles, France, the French colony of Louisiana was transferred to the United States. The French prefect of the province, Pierre Clement, ceremoniously handed the keys of the colony to American governor William C. C. Claiborne.

1. Wyoming
   New York
2. North Dakota
   Delaware

According to the 1931 U.S. Geographical Survey, the town of Rugby, North Dakota is the geographical center of the American border state. Rugby is located in North Dakota's north-central region and is approximately 150 miles northeast of Bismarck, the state's capital city.

1. North Dakota
   Missouri
2. Idaho
   West Virginia

Idaho's first potato grower was a Presbyterian missionary, Henry Harmon Spalding. Spalding established a mission in the state in 1836 to teach religion and potato cultivation to the Nez Perce Indians.

1. Wisconsin
   South Dakota
2. California
   Massachusetts

A commonwealth is a political term that means "for the good of the public." Political framers have used the term to describe an organization or state formed by law. Three other U.S. states, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Virginia, as well as Puerto Rico, carry the name designation.

1. Michigan
   Nevada
2. Minnesota
   Kansas

Nevada's predominant vegetation was formed by lightning and fires set by indigenous people of the land before early settlers seized the dry region. Today, most of Nevada is mountainous, and the rest of its landscape consists of desserts and grasslands.

1. Virginia
   Idaho
2. West Virginia
   New Hampshire

Coal mining in West Virginia started in the late 19th century. At its inception, West Virginia's mining production was more attractive to industrialists than similar operations of other states in the southern region because its labor force was union-free.

1. Illinois
   Maine
2. Iowa
   Wyoming

During the early 20th century, the presence of single female homesteaders in Wyoming sharply increased. In general, homesteading culture in the western United States for many early settlers signified self-renewal and independence through land ownership.

1. South Carolina
   New Hampshire
2. Nebraska
   Louisiana

The Yamasee War of 1715 and 1716 that occurred in South Carolina's southeastern region ended Indian control of the territory. The war, fought primarily between the Yamasee Indians and British colonists, was sparked by land disputes and Indian grievances dealing with the fur trade.

1. Hawaii
   Florida
2. Mississippi
   Ohio

Chillicothe was Ohio's first state capital starting in 1803. After 1810, Ohio's government moved to Zanesville but returned to Chillicothe. Columbus, Ohio, the state's current capital city, became state capital in 1816.

1. California
   New Hampshire
2. Georgia
   Nevada

As governor of New Hampshire, John Wentworth was instrumental in strengthening education, building roads and helping new settlers in the region. Later, Wentworth made similar advances in Nova Scotia where he served as Lieutenant Governor.

1. Nevada
   Texas
2. Colorado
   Alabama

The first inhabitants in Colorado arrived 17,000 years ago. These people are believed to have been hunters and gatherers who traveled from Asia to North America 25,000 years ago. Native Americans clung to Colorado's southwestern and eastern plains until Spanish explorers arrived in the 1600s.

1. Alaska
   Iowa
2. Indiana
   Arizona

The Missouri River contours Iowa's western border, and the Mississippi River borders the state's eastern border. In the summer of 1804, explorers Lewis and Clark traveled thousands of miles along the Missouri River. Near Sioux City, Iowa is where their company lost Sgt. Charles Floyd to peritonitis.

1. Wyoming
   Idaho
2. Delaware
   Hawaii

The State Assembly met in Delaware until 1777, and the Declaration of Independence was read in the New Castle Court House. Delaware governor Caesar Rodney broke the deadlock to declare the state's independence from Great Britain in 1776.

1. Kentucky
   Delaware
2. Florida
   Mississippi

Kentucky was originally part of Virginia; in 1776, the modern Kentucky state was Kentucky County, Virginia. Kentucky ranks 37th of the U.S. states in land area; the state spans 39,732 square miles.

1. Arkansas
   Pennsylvania
2. Rhode Island
   Montana

Harrisburg is Pennsylvania's capital city and home of the State Library of Pennsylvania, which was known as Pennsylvania State Library until 1971. The library was established at the Harrisburg location in 1931, and its volumes number over 1 million.

1. South Carolina
   Colorado
2. Connecticut
   Texas

The Great Hurricane of 1938 in Connecticut caused the Connecticut River in the city of Hartford to expand four times its normal size. The hurricane left 90 people dead and caused $100 million in damage. It was considered the worst storm in 100 years at that time.

1. North Carolina
   Florida
2. Missouri
   Montana

Last Chance Gulch is the name of the major street that runs through Montana's capital city of Helena. The capital city was once named Last Chance Gulch and was the site of a massive gold rush in July of 1864.

1. New Mexico
   Wisconsin
2. Hawaii
   Arizona

Hawaii is the most racially diverse state. To solve its labor shortage problems, the Hawaii Sugar Planters Association brought over the state's first black people from the U.S. South. Asians of Japanese, Chinese and Filipino heritage have also contributed to the state's 20 percent multiracial mix.

1. Montana
   Louisiana
2. Indiana
   Delaware

Some geographers believe that the main core of the U.S. Corn Belt is comprised of Illinois, Indiana and Iowa. Others may argue that wheat has also been the principal grain of Indiana's significant agricultural economy.

1. Mississippi
   Georgia
2. Louisiana
   Nebraska

Mississippi has struggled to recoup from the racial strife that plagues its mid-20th-century past. In an effort to put a positive spin on a sordid past, in 2013 the state erected two state history and civil rights museums, the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the Museum of Mississippi History.

1. North Dakota
   Ohio
2. Missouri
   Wisconsin

With the exception of Tennessee, Missouri has the most neighboring states. Its proximity to the South helped trigger dissension among pro-slavery citizens before the Civil War, though the state remained in the Union during the war.

1. Nevada
   Michigan
2. Maine
   Alaska

The Aleut people inhabit the Alaskan peninsula and Russia's Kamchatka Krai. Ethnologists have called attention to a genealogical shift among the Aleuts. An influx of foreign fishermen and hunters prior to and during World War II have considerably displaced Aleutian males out of the region.

1. Michigan
   Oregon
2. Washington
   Oklahoma

Michigan is recognized as having led the American Industrial Revolution. In particular Detroit, Michigan laid the foundation for American automobile manufacturing and the nation's modern railway system.

1. Maryland
   Illinois
2. California
   Nebraska

In the early 19th century, Nebraska City, Nebraska was one of the fastest-growing areas of America. The Homestead Act, the railroad and the California Gold Rush attracted American migrants and foreign immigrants who sought wealth and land ownership.

1. Kansas
   New Mexico
2. Arkansas
   Delaware

The Arkansas Studies Institute opened in 2009 and is located in Little Rock. The institute cost $21.5 million, which Little Rock voters approved to be paid for with bonds backed by property taxes. The facility and neighboring educational centers house artifacts, family records and other material.

1. Colorado
   Wisconsin
2. Arizona
   Georgia

Few culinary kinds of cheese are native to the United States. The state of Wisconsin boasts the creation of Colby cheese, which is also called "soft cheddar cheese," which was first produced by the city of Colby, Wisconsin in the year 1874.

1. North Carolina
   Alabama
2. Ohio
   Washington

The Southern Museum of Flight opened in 1983 and is located in Birmingham, Alabama. The 75,000-square-foot museum displays one of the largest collections of aviation history memorabilia in the southeast U.S. and includes actual aircraft with engines.

1. Oregon
   Virginia
2. Vermont
   Delaware

Vermont is a state characterized by the unique choices it's made compared to most of the nation. The state used to be an independent republic; it was a region of choice for dissenters who escaped British colonialism; and during the War of 1812, the state's governor ordered troops to return home.

1. Wisconsin
   Texas
2. Montana
   Tennessee

In the post-bellum era, Tennessee relied heavily on convict leasing to offer cheap labor to new magnates who competed for markets while dealing with costly rates of freight. The South maintained a large prison population, as prison rates sharply increased in the area after the Civil War.

1. Hawaii
   Alabama
2. Oklahoma
   California

As a result of Andrew Jackson's mid-19th-century Indian migration policies, the role of the missionary in Oklahoma changed drastically. Specifically, Presbyterian missionaries became educators of both religion and language. Many of them also took on political roles on behalf of the natives.

1. Iowa
   Oklahoma
2. Washington
   Nevada

Washington state shares vibrant trade relationships with nearby Canadian provinces and other countries of Pacific Rim lands. The state also fosters twin towns internationally, including Tashkent in Uzbekistan.

1. Vermont
   Connecticut
2. New York
   Arizona

Arizona's silver mining district is located approximately 30 miles northward of Yuma, Arizona. The mining district is infamously dangerous and yields a large number of valuable minerals, such as tabular lead molybdate crystals.

1. West Virginia
   Florida
2. South Dakota
   Maine

Frederick, South Dakota has been called "South Dakota's Little Finland," and is located in the state's northeast corner, roughly 150 miles southwest of Fargo. Frederick is a small community of people, many of whom settled in the region from Finland in the 1880s at the prompting of a railroad clerk.

1. Arizona
   Colorado
2. Rhode Island
   Mississippi

Rhode Island's formal name is "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." The state's intriguing history includes the triumphs of the 14th Regiment Heavy Artillery, a band of black soldiers that were sent to serve in Louisiana and Texas from 1862 to 1865 during the American Civil War.

1. Nevada
   North Carolina
2. Montana
   Oklahoma

In years past, some of North Carolina's coastal towns have been obliterated by destructive hurricanes. The first severe hurricane of the 20th century, which was a category 3 storm, descended upon the North Carolina coast on November 13, 1904. Cape Fear and Fort Caswell bore substantial damage.