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rive through the Kansas countryside in late summer and

you’ll see fields of golden blooms lining the roadside.

These are the flowers that gave the Sunflower State its

official state nickname. But Kansas also has a slew of other nick-

names that capture different aspects of its history and character.

Kansas is sometimes called the Midway State, because it

contains the geographical center of the 48

contiguous

American

states. It is called the Wheat State because it is one of the coun-

try’s major producers of this vital grain. And it is called the

Jayhawker State after the abolitionists who fought to keep slav-

ery out of Kansas during the 19th century.

Geography

Measuring just over 82,000 square miles

(213,099 square kilometers), Kansas is the

15th-largest state in the nation and the third

largest in the Midwest. Shaped like a rec-

tangle with a bite taken out of the top-right

corner, Kansas is bounded by four states:

Colorado on the west, Missouri on the east,

Kansas