page_title: Michigan
section_title: Government
hierarchical_section_title: Michigan / Government
caption_attribution_description: English: Michigan Hall of Justice
context_page_description: Michigan is a state in the Great Lakes and Midwestern regions of the United States. Its name comes from the Ojibwe word mishigami, meaning "large water" or "large lake". With a population of approximately 10 million, Michigan is the tenth most populous of the 50 U.S. states, the 11th most extensive by area, and the largest by area east of the Mississippi River. Its capital is Lansing, and its largest city is Detroit. Metro Detroit is among the nation's most populous and largest metropolitan economies.
  Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula is shaped like a mitten. The Upper Peninsula is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, a five-mile channel that joins Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. The Mackinac Bridge connects the peninsulas. Michigan has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bordered by four of the five Great Lakes, plus Lake Saint Clair. It also has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds.
  The area was first occupied by a succession of Native American tribes over thousands of years.
caption: Michigan Supreme Court at the Hall of Justice
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