ChicagoChicago is the largest city in Illinois and the third most populous city in the United States. The city has approximately 2.7 million residents.Its metropolitan area, sometimes called 'Chicagoland', is the third-largest in the United States, after New York City and Los Angeles,with an estimated 9.8 million people. Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837, near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed.Today, Chicago is listed as an alpha+ global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, and ranks seventh in the world in the 2012 Global Cities Index. The city is an international hub for finance, commerce, industry, telecommunications, and transportation, with O'Hare International Airport being the second-busiest airport in the world in terms of traffic movements. is one of the most important Worldwide Centers of Commerce and trade.

Clockwise from top: Downtown Chicago, the Chicago Theatre, the Chicago 'L', Navy Pier, Millennium Park, the Field Museum, and the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower

Flag Seal

Nickname(s): The Windy City, The Second City, Chi-Town Chi-City, Hog Butcher for the World, City of Big Shoulders, The City That Works, White City, and others found at

List of nicknames for Chicago

Motto: Latin: Urbs in Horto (City in a Garden), Make Big Plans (Make No Small Plans), I Will

HistoryDuring the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, who had taken the place of the Miami and Sauk and Fox peoples. The 1780s saw the arrival of the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, who is believed to be of Haitian and French descent.In 1795, following the Northwest Indian War, an area that was to be part of Chicago was turned over to the United States for a military post by native tribes in concordance with the Treaty of Greenville.

The name "Chicago" is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, translated as "wild onion" or "wild garlic," from the Miami-Illinois language.The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as "Checagou" was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir written about the time.The wild garlic plants, Allium tricoccum, were described by LaSalle's comrade, naturalist-diarist Henri Joutel, in his journal of LaSalle's last expedition.

State and Madison Streets, the busiest corner in Chicago (1897)

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20th and 21st centuriesThe capsizing of the Eastland steamer on the Chicago River in 1915 was Chicago's worst disaster, claiming 844 lives. The 1920s saw gangsters, including Al Capone, battle law enforcement and each other on the streets of Chicago during the Prohibition era. In 1924, Chicago was the first American city to have a homosexual-rights organization, the Society for Human Rights. This organization produced the first American publication for gays, Friendship and Freedom.The 1920s also saw a major expansion in industry. The availability of jobs attracted blacks from the South. Between 1910 and 1930, the black population of Chicago dramatically increased from 44,103 to 233,903.Arriving in the hundreds of thousands during the Great Migration, the newcomers had an immense cultural impact. It was during this wave that Chicago became a center for jazz, with King Oliver leading the way.

The Chicago River is the south border (right) of the Near North Side and Streeterville and the north border (left) of Chicago Loop, Lakeshore East and Illinois Center (from Lake Shore Drive's Link Bridge with Trump International Hotel and Tower at jog in the river in the center)

GeographyTopography

Downtown and the North Side with beaches lining the waterfront

Chicago is located in northeastern Illinois on the southwestern shores of Lake Michigan. It is the principal city in Chicago Metropolitan Area situated in the Midwestern United States and the Great Lakes region. Chicago rests on a continental divide at the site of the Chicago Portage, connecting the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes watersheds. The city lies beside huge freshwater Lake Michigan, and two rivers— the Chicago River in downtown and the Calumet River in the industrial far South Side – flow entirely or partially through Chicago. Chicago is a world port city as the St Lawrence Seaway connects Lake Michigan with the Atlantic Ocean.

The Chicago Loop is the central business district, but Chicago is also a city of neighborhoods. Lake Shore Drive runs adjacent to a large portion of Chicago's lakefront. Some of the parks along the waterfront include Lincoln Park, Grant Park, Burnham Park and Jackson Park.

Chicago Half Marathon on Lake Shore Drive next to Harold Washington Park on the South Side

Cityscape

Chicago skyline April 18, 2009, from Northerly Island looking west.

Chicago August 9, 2010, from John Hancock Center looking south.

Parks

Portage Park on the Northwest Side and Washington Square Park on the Near North Side.

When Chicago was incorporated in 1837, it chose the motto Urbs in Horto, a Latin phrase which translates into English as "City in a Garden". Today, the Chicago Park District consists of 552 parks with over 7,300 acres (3,000 ha) of municipal parkland. There are 33 sand Chicago beaches, a plethora of museums, two world-class conservatories, 16 historic lagoons, and 10 bird and wildlife gardens.Lincoln Park, the largest of the city's parks, covers 1,200 acres (490 ha) and has over 20 million visitors each year, making it second only to Central Park in New York City in number of visitors.With berths for more than 5,000 boats, the Chicago Park District operates the nation's largest municipal harbor system; even larger than systems in cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, or Miami.

Sports

Top: Soldier Field; Bottom: Wrigley FieldThe Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) are one of the most recognized basketball teams in the world. During the 1990s with Michael Jordan leading them, the Bulls took six NBA championships in eight seasons. The Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL), who began play in 1926, and are one of the "Original Six", teams of the National Hockey League (NHL), have won four Stanley Cups. The Blackhawks are the 2010 Stanley Cup champions, and hosted the 2009 NHL Winter Classic at Wrigley Field. Both the Bulls and Blackhawks play at the United Center on the Near West Side. The Chicago Rush has been a member of the Arena Football League since 2001 and won ArenaBowl XX, playing in suburban Rosemont. The Arena Football League front office is also in Chicago. The Chicago Fire are members of Major League Soccer and reside at Toyota Park in suburban Bridgeview, after playing its first eight seasons at Soldier Field. The Fire have won one league title and four U.S. Open Cups since their founding in 1997.