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Kansas is bordered by Nebraska on the north; Missouri on the east; Oklahoma on the south; and Colorado on the west. It is located equidistant from the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean. The geodetic center of North America is located in Osborne County. This spot is used as the central reference point for all maps produced by the government. The geographic center of the 48 contiguous states is located in Smith County near Lebanon, Kansas, and the geographic center of Kansas is located in Barton County. The eastern part of the state, containing the suburbs of Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City, Kansas, and the towns of Leavenworth, Atchison, and Lawrence, are usually considered a part of the Midwest. The area roughly around Hutchinson and west is the general dividing line between eastern Kansas and western Kansas. Western Kansas is considered by many to be the West, rather than Midwest. The southwest part of the state is often classifed as the Southwest U.S., since the area once was part of Spain, Mexico, and Texas (while the rest of Kansas was not), and other historical, cultural, and economic ties to New Mexico, Texas, and Colorado. Southwest Kansas even tried to secede from the rest of Kansas in the early 1990s. The far southeast is a part of the Ozarks. The Kansas Ozarks are wooded, hilly, have a long mining history and much rural poverty. The area is Southern in feel. The state is divided up into 105 counties with 628 cities. Kansas is one of the six states located on the Frontier Strip. Francisco Vásquez de Coronado was the first European to be in present day Kansas, entering in 1541. In 1803, Kansas was secured through the Louisiana Purchase. Southwest Kansas, however, was still a part of Spain, Mexico, and the Republic of Texas until the conclusion of the Mexican-American War. The state was first settled by Americans in the 1850s by abolitionists from Massachusetts, who attempted to stop the spread of slavery from neighboring Missouri. Kansas, which became a free state, was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces collided. After the Civil War, the population of Kansas exploded as wave after wave of immigrants turned the desolate prairie into productive farmland. Kansas became part of the Missouri Territory until 1821. The Kansas-Nebraska Act became law on May 30, 1854 and established the U.S. territories of Nebraska and Kansas. Kansas Territory stretched all the way to the Continental Divide and included the site of present day Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo, but that part was cut off when it became a state. Fort Leavenworth was the first community in the area around 1827. To travelers en route to Utah, California, or Oregon, Kansas was a waystop and outfitting place. On March 30, 1855, "Border Ruffians" from Missouri invaded Kansas during the territory's first election and forced the election of a pro-slavery legislature. Kansas entered the Union as a free state on January 29, 1861, making it the 34th state to enter the Union. Civil War veterans constructed homesteads in Kansas following the war.
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