俄亥俄州小档案：
人口：约1120万
面积：约106，764平方公里，排名第35位
州府：哥伦布Columbus
俄亥俄州，名称来自印第安语，其意义为“大”Great（指州内有大河）。
本州以前为印第安人所居住。1788年，英人向本州殖民。1803年3月1日成为美国第17州。以深红色石竹花（谷名康乃馨scarlet carntion）为州花。本州别名，叫做“七叶果之州”Buckeye State。本州箴言：“心里有上帝，万事皆可能”With God，All Things Are Possible。
哥伦布Columbus自1812年即为州府。最初有运河北通伊利湖，南通俄亥俄河。市内有拜特纪念研究所Bettelle Memorial Institute，从事科学及技术研究。市内大体育馆可容9万人。
克利夫兰位于美加两国人口最多地区之中心。以800公里半径画个圈。这个圈内包括美国人口的一半，也包括加拿大人口的一半，因此，被称为“全美国位置最好的都市”。市内工厂繁多，每年产品总值约100多亿美元。亚克朗在克利夫兰之南，相距50公里。每年消耗全世界橡胶产量二分之一。Good Year，Good Rich，Firestone，General等公司都在这里。
美国各州实施教育，大多为10年，有些8年。俄亥俄州为12年。由6岁到18岁必须受教育。这对于本州工商业之发展大有帮助。大专学院约100所。其中最著名的是设于本州东南部雅典Athens之俄亥俄大学，创于1804年。设于州府哥伦布之俄亥俄州立大学，创于1870年。
本州特征有二：第一，为美国轮胎产量最多之州，列第一位。本州工业极盛，仅次于纽约与宾夕法尼亚两州。在美国内，列第三位。本州北部之亚克朗Akron每年制造的轮胎，约占美国总产量之一半。第二，迄今为止，美国总统，有7人的诞生地在本州之内，仅次于弗吉尼亚州。
主要特产为牛奶、大豆、烟煤、天然气及石灰。州内有58座州立公园，每年旅游业收入达40亿美元。辛辛那提工业极盛，制造喷射引擎极有名。世界最大肥皂公司Proctor &Gamble总部在此市内。这是俄州西南部交通、文化及工商业中心。
Introduction简介
Ohio is the 17th state of the United States of America．Ohio is thought of the state as a “Midwestern”state．People who live on the east coast of the U．S．describe Ohio as a western state，but people who live west of the Mississippi River think of Ohio as an eastern state．Residents of Georgia or Florida say Ohio is a northern state．However，if you lived in Michigan or Wisconsin，Ohio would be south of you．
What does all this mean？Only that Ohio is a lot of different things to different people．Long ago the Iroquois（易洛魁族人）people named the river that forms the southern and eastern boundaries（边界，分界线）of our state．They called the river a word that sounded like “O－Y－O，”meaning “great water．”When Europeans heard the word “O－Y－O，”they turned it into the word we used today：Ohio．Soon the entire area north and west of the Ohio River was known as Ohio Country．
Ohio lands hold many mysteries．Some have been solved by scientists who study prehistoric areas．Some of Ohio’s mysteries may never be solved．We do know one thing－Ohio has been a good land for many people for a very long time．Long before the European explorers traveled into Ohio，people lived here．They are called prehistoric people because they lived before any records about how they lived were written down．When people arrived，who wrote and recorded history，the prehistoric period ended．The cutoff（中止）date of the prehistoric period in Ohio is around 1600A．D．when Europeans began exploring this region．
The oldest evidence of people living in Ohio tells us they were here around 13，000B．C．Anthropologists（人类学者，人类学家），scientists who study ancient people and cultures，have a theory．Many of them believe that Asian people（from China，for example）over a period of many，many years traveled by land from Asia into the presentday state of Alaska．Long ago the two continents of Asia and North America were connected there．However，the last glaciers（冰河）left behind the waterway（水路）we now call the Bering Strait（白令海峡（西伯利亚和阿拉斯加间的海峡）），which separates Asia from Alaska．As the people traveled，they moved south and east，migrating into and across Canada，America，Central America，and even into South America．Of course，this took centuries and several generations．
First explored for France by sieur（〈法〉n．先生，阁下（旧时法国对男子的尊称））de la Salle in 1669，the Ohio region became British property after the French and Indian Wars．Ohio was acquired by the U．S．after the Revolutionary War in 1783．In 1788，the first permanent（永久的，持久的）settlement was established at Marietta，capital of the Northwest Territory．
The 1790s saw severe（剧烈的，严重的，严峻的）fighting with the Indians in Ohio；a major battle was won by Maj．Gen．Anthony Wayne at Fallen Timbers in 1794．In the War of 1812，Commodore（海军准将，船队队长）Oliver H．Perry defeated the British in the Battle of Lake Erie on Sept．10，1813．
The key naval battle of the war occurred near Put－In－Bay on Lake Erie in 1813．Captain Oliver Hazard Perry（only twenty－six years old）organized men and materials in Erie，Pennsylvania，to build an American naval fleet．He knew that the British had six ships on Lake Erie．In only four months，the U．S．had a fleet of nine fully armed vessels．The two navies met on September 10，1813．Both sides knew that this could be the turning point（转折点，转向处）of the war in the west．After more than three hours of intense gunfire（炮火），Perry’s main ship，the Lawrence，was disabled．A great leader，Perry took the ship’s flag，wrapped it around him，and had his men ferry（（乘渡船）渡过，运送）him to the next largest ship in the fleet，the Niagara．From that ship，he led the rest of the battle until the British commander surrendered．The Battle of Lake Erie was won by the Americans．It was the last battle fought on Ohio territory．
The last battle of the War of 1812was the Battle of the Thames，in Canada，where the British and natives had fled after the naval defeat．Tecumseh was killed in this battle．The war ended in 1815with the Treaty（条约，谈判）of Ghent．This treaty set new boundaries，clearing up long－held disagreements between the two nations．The Great Lakes were to be neutral（中立的，中性的）（not to be used in war by either side）and to be used for commerce，or business．America and Canada have been at peace with each other ever since．
The treaty also established reservations for natives who wanted to live in Ohio．By 1818，Ohio’s Native Americans had ceded（放弃）more than 25million acres to the U．S．government．
Ohio’s lands have been used in different ways over the years．Areas that were once uninhabitable（不适于人居住的）（no one could live there）now have cities and villages of people who might find it hard to believe that at one time no one wanted to live on their land．Advances in building have made our roads better and our homes safer．
Today you can still find people using Ohio’s land as their descendants once did．Amish farmers still use horses to plow（犁耕）the earth．
Ohio still produces many crops and products that are important to the national economy．Though there are fewer farms in Ohio than ever before，agriculture is still important here．Today the main crops are corn，soybeans（大豆），tomatoes，and other seasonal crops such as strawberries（［植］草莓）and melons（（各种的）瓜）．
