MISSOURI (USA)

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St Louis

The state of Missouri, where the forest meets the prairie and the Mississippi River meets the Missouri River, has just two significant cities. Dominant St Louis sits midway down its eastern fringe; Kansas City is almost directly across on the western border. The pair are linked by I-70, but there's not much in between to warrant stopping off.

In contrast, the south features the beautiful hillsides, streams and ragged lakes of the Ozark Mountains , as well as the booming country-and-western town of Branson ; while in the east , small river towns such as Hannibal and serene Ste Genevieve brighten the course of the Mississippi. The northwest , home of the Pony Express and outlaw Jesse James, still strikes up images of frontier times.

Named after the Missouri Native Americans that inhabited the fertile lands around the tributaries of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, the state of Missouri became part of the US after a long colonial tussle between France and Spain. The original Missouri people were driven out by the flood of European immigrants who came to settle here, founding the two fur trading centres of St Louis and Kansas City.

The state's central location on the Mississippi River's north-south trade route and the east-west railroad made it an important crossroads. Kansas City, and St Louis in particular, established themselves as major gateways to the western frontier.

Today the state is associated with historical figures from the nation's past, such as Mark Twain and his famous stories about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, the gun-slinging outlaw Jesse James, western pioneers like Lewis and Clark, and the 33rd president of the United States, Harry Truman. The brown waters of the great Mississippi River and its small river towns, paddle steamers, the stockyards of Kansas City and the jazz and blues clubs of St Louis are other images representative of the state.

The dominant city of St Louis is recognisable for its Gateway Arch and is the 'Home of the Blues', while the only other significant city, Kansas City is famous for its steaks and barbecues as well as its hearty jazz. In contrast, the south features the beautiful hillsides and lakes of the Ozark Mountains that are great recreational areas, and the conservative country-and-western tourist town of Branson.

Although the first French colonists honored the claims of local Native Americans, such as the original Missouri, when the area was sold to the US in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase, the Indians were driven west by a great rush of settlers. In the 1840s and 1850s immigrants from Germany and Ireland flooded into eastern Missouri.

Outnumbering their pro-slavery predecessors, they swung the balance in favor of staying in the Union during the Civil War. However, Confederate guerrilla forces attracted considerable support among slave-owners in the west of the state. Meanwhile Missouri, and St Louis in particular, was establishing itself as an important gateway to the West. Today, the " Show Me State " (so called because of the supposed skepticism of the typical Missourian) retains a conservative air, particularly in the rural areas.