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Wisconsin is a state in the United States, located in the Midwest. Although the exact etymology of the name is uncertain, "Wisconsin" is thought to be an English version of a French adaptation of an Indian word. It may come from the Ojibwe word Miskwasiniing, meaning "Red-stone place," was probably the name given to the Wisconsin River, which then was recorded as Ouisconsin by the French, and changed to its current form by the English. The modern Ojibwe name, however, is Wiishkoonsing or Wazhashkoonsing, meaning "muskrat-lodge place" or "little muskrat place." Other theories are that the name comes from words meaning "Gathering of the Waters" or "Great Rock." Wisconsin originally was applied to the Wisconsin River, and later to the area as a whole when Wisconsin became a territory. The state's name is abbreviated WI, Wis, or Wisc. The state is bordered by the Montreal River, Lake Superior and Michigan to the north, by Lake Michigan to the east, by Illinois to the south, and by Iowa and Minnesota to the west. Part of the state's boundaries includes the Mississippi River and St. Croix River in the west, and the Menominee River and Montreal River in the northeast. With its location between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, Wisconsin is home to a wide variety of geographical features. These features allow the state to be broken into five distinct regions. In the north, the Lake Superior Lowland occupies a belt of land along Lake Superior. Just to the south, the Northern Highland includes the state's highest point, Timms Hill, as well as massive forests and thousands of small glacial lakes. In the middle of the state, the Central Plain possesses some unique sandstone formations like the Dells of the Wisconsin River in addition to rich farmland. The Eastern Ridges and Lowlands region in the southeast is home to many of Wisconsin's largest cities. In the southwest, the Western Upland is a rugged landscape with a mix of forest and farmland. The varied landscape of Wisconsin makes the state a vacation destination popular for outdoor recreation. Winter events include skiing, ice fishing and snowmobile derbies. Wisconsin has many lakes of varied size, in fact Wisconsin contains 11,188 square miles of water, more then all but three other states. The distinctive Door Peninsula, which extends off of the eastern coast of the state, contains one of the state's most beautiful tourist destinations, Door County. The area draws thousands of visitors yearly to its quaint villages, seasonal cherry picking, and ever-popular fish boils. Wisconsin's self-promotion as "America's Dairyland" sometimes leads to a mistaken impression that it is an exclusively rural state. In fact, however, Wisconsin contains cities and towns of all sizes. Milwaukee is slightly larger than Boston and part of a largely developed string of cities that stretches down the western edge of Lake Michigan into greater Chicago and also into northwestern Indiana. Milwaukee is also the 19th-largest city in the country, with around 596,000 inhabitants. This string of cities along the western edge of Lake Michigan is generally considered to be an example of a megalopolis. Madison's triple identity as state capital, university town and working city gives it a cultural richness unusual in a city its size. Madison is also a very fast-growing city, that has around 220,000 people. Medium-size cities dot the state and anchor a network of working farms surrounding them.
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