According to an Indian legend, Iowa was named by a party of Sauk and Fox who had ventured across the Mississippi in search of fresh hunting grounds. Spellbound by the splendor of the new land, their chief claimed it with his spear and proclaimed something that sounded like Iowa. The actual source of the name, however, is still debated. Historians are only sure that the Iowa River and the state were named after a tribe that had nearly died out there before white settlement encroached.
Written forms of the name appeared in the records kept by French (Ayouas, Aiouez, Ayavois), Spanish (Ajoues), and English-speaking (Aiouways, Ioways) explorers and trappers. One interpretation relates these misspellings to the name ayuxwa, the Dakota name for the Iowa tribe (meaning one who puts to sleep or drowsy one). In the Siouan dialect of the Iowa tribe, it supposedly means dusty faces. Other translations are nonesuch, this is the place, beautiful land, and, in the Dakota language, something to write with. The first use of the modern spelling of Iowa was on a 1778 map drawn up by a geographer and military engineer named Thomas Hutchins.
With its wooded hills, lush river valleys, and gently rolling prairies, Iowa is indeed a beautiful land. It is also a rich land, with about one third of the top-grade farmland in the United States. In one way or another, most Iowans are dependent upon their state's fertile soil and the bountiful crops it produces. But the bounty may result in crop surpluses that depress farm prices--a recurring problem in the 1980s. More than 90 percent of the state's total land area is in farms. Iowa usually ranks either first or second among the states in the production of hogs, corn, oats, soybeans, and cattle and calves. Thus, Iowa plays a major role in feeding the nation.
The nickname Hawk-eyes was proposed for Iowans in 1838 by James G. Edwards, a newspaper editor, to rescue from oblivion a memento, at least, of the name of the old chief--Black Hawk. A Sauk leader, the Native American died in Iowa later that year in the custody of a rival Sauk chief. In addition to the Hawkeye State, other nicknames for Iowa are the Corn State and Land Where the Tall Corn Grows.
Iowa lies in the north-central part of the United States. The Mississippi River forms the state's eastern boundary, separating Iowa from Wisconsin and Illinois. The Big Sioux and Missouri rivers form the state's western boundary, separating Iowa from South Dakota and Nebraska. On the north Iowa is bounded by Minnesota; on the south, by Missouri. In shape Iowa forms a rough rectangle. From east to west the state's greatest length is about 300 miles (480 kilometers). Its greatest width is about 200 miles (320 kilometers). The total area is 56,275 square miles (145,752 square kilometers), including 310 square miles (803 square kilometers) of inland water surface. It ranks 25th among the states in size.
