Indiana is a U.S. state in the midwestern and Great Lakes regions of North America. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Other famous cities and towns include Bloomington, Gary, Fort Wayne, South Bend, Evansville, Muncie, and Marion. People who live in Indiana are sometimes called Hoosiers. Indiana's state bird is a Cardinal. Indiana's state flower is a Peony. Indiana's state tree is a Tulip Tree. Indiana has borders with four other states: Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio. It also touches Lake Michigan; which is the only one of the Great Lakes that is completely inside the United States.
Before it was called Indiana, most people who lived there were indigenous. France colonized the area, renaming it New France. They enslaved the indigenous peoples, and introduced black slaves too. In the 18th century, the new United States took the area from France, and many slave owners from Kentucky and Virginia moved into the area. By 1820, it had become a state called Indiana and the government ordered all slaves to be freed, but black people were still enslaved there into at least the 1830s.