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HAWKEYE STATE AREA: 145,753 sq km (56,275 sq mi). POPULATION: 2,829,000. CAPITAL: Des Moines, pop. 194,500. ECONOMY: Industry: food processing, machinery, electric equipment, chemical products, printing and publishing, primary metals. Agriculture: hogs, corn, soybeans, oats, cattle, dairy products. PCI: $20,270. Admission: 1846 as 29th state.
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Bracketed by the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, the territory that became Iowa was part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Today almost 95 percent of this heartland state, blessed with fine prairie soil, is under cultivation. Farm income suffered during most of the 1980s, forcing many Iowa farmers out of business. Yet in 1994 the state still led the nation in corn and soybean production and hogs and was third in oats. Manufacturing of farm machinery and electronic goods has helped diversify the economy.
Text source: National Geographic Atlas of the World Revised Sixth Edition, 1995
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