Kansas,aU.S. statelocated in theMidwestern United States,is named after theKansaNative American tribe, which inhabited the area.The tribe's name (nativelykką:ze) is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind", although this was probably not the term's original meaning.For thousands of years, what is now Kansas was home to numerous and diverseNative Americantribes. Tribes in the eastern part of the state generally lived in villages along the river valleys.
Today, Kansas is one of the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields ofwheat,corn,sorghum, and soybeans. Itis the15th most extensiveand the34th most populousof the50 United States.