KENTUCKY, one of the United States of America, in lat. 36° 30' to 39° ii., and long. 82° 2' to 89° 40' w., is bounded on the n. by Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, e. by West Virginia and Virginia, s. by Tennessee, and w. by Missouri. Area, 37,680 sq.m., or 24,115,200 acres. It has 110 counties. The capital is Frankfort, and the chief towns, Louisville, Covington, Newport, Lexington, Danville, Maysville, and Paducah,. The country is rolling, hilly in some portions, and in the s.e. mountainous, some of the ele vations rising to 3,000 feet. Its chief rivers are the Ohio and Mississippi on its borders, and the Tennessee, Cumberland, Kentucky, Licking, and Green. The soil is mostly fertile, and contains some of the finest agricultural regions in America, producing wheat, maize, cotton, hemp, tobacco, and all the fruits of the warmer temperate regions. Herds of cattle find rich pasture, and millions of swine fatten in the woods. There are coal-beds, some rich in oil, extending nearly across the state. Of the many caverns, the Mammoth cave (q:v.) is the most celebrated. There are also deposits of lead, iron, beautiful marbles, and salt. In 1875 there were 1860 m. of railways opened for traffic.
In 1878 the value of assessed property was $357,326,013, and the state debt was $1,852, 841. In the same year Kentucky possessed 2 universities and 42 .colleges, besides numerous public and, other schools, with 245,139. pupils., An agricult-ural college, with 200 students, was established in 1863 at Ashland. Kentucky was formerly a portion of the western territory of Virginia, and once the home of warlike Indians, from the san guinary contests with whom it derived its name—" the dark and bloody ground." It was settled by Daniel Boone (q.v.) in 1769, organized as a territory in 1790, admitted as a state in 1792. Upon the breaking out of the rebellion in 1861, efforts were made by governor Magoffin to make the state secede, or at least to place her in an attitude of neutrality. Better counsels, however, prevailed, and the loyalty of the state was main tained, though many of her citizens joined the rebels. Pop. in '70, 1,321,011.