Area, 41,222 sq mi (106,765 sq km).
Pop. (2000) 11,353,140, a 4.7% increase since the 1990 census.
Capital and largest city, Columbus. 
Motto, With God, All Things Are Possible.
State bird, cardinal.
State flower, scarlet carnation.
State tree, buckeye.

From the dunes on Lake Erie to the gorge-cut plateau along the Ohio River, from which Ohio takes its name, the land is fairly flat, with some pleasant rolling country and, in the southeast, small rugged hills leading to the mountains of West Virginia. Before the coming of settlers to the state, it was covered with miles of virgin forest which Ohio has retained in its many state and local parks. Columbus is the capital and largest city in the center of the state. Cleveland offers the state's largest metropolitan area nestled on Lake Erie. Other major cities are Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo, and Akron .

Ohio retains many manufacturing centers, but has expanded into commerce.  Leading products include transportation equipment, primary and fabricated metals, and machinery. 

Ohio is highly industrialized, yet it also continues to draw economic riches from the earth. Among national leaders in the production of lime, clays, and salt, it is a historic center of ceramic and glass industries. Ohio's soil supports rich farms, especially where it was improved ages ago by additions of glacier-ground limestone. Although most of the state's income is derived from commerce and manufacturing, Ohio also has extensive farmland, and large amounts of corn, soybeans, hay, wheat, cattle, hogs, and dairy items are produced, although the number of family farms is rapidly dwindling.

Liberties taken by Cheryl Jacino to update excerpts from *Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, Copyright (c) 2003.