Lower Peninsula of Michigan

Lower Peninsula of Michigan
Michigan
Downtown Detroit skyline Michigan State Capitol Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Downtown Grand Rapids skyline
Nickname:  The Mitten
Regions and major cities of the Lower Peninsula
Country	United States
State	Michigan
Area
• Total	40,162 sq mi (104,020 km2)
Population  (2015 est.)
• Total	9,584,261
• Density	238.64/sq mi (92.139/km2)

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The Lower Peninsula of Michigan, also known as Lower Michigan, is the larger, southern and less-elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan. It is separated from the Upper Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac. The Lower Peninsula is surrounded by water on all sides except its southern border, which it shares with Indiana and Ohio.

Although the Upper Peninsula is commonly referred to as the U.P., it is uncommon for the Lower Peninsula to be called the L.P. Because of its recognizable shape, the Lower Peninsula is nicknamed The Mitten, with the eastern region identified as The Thumb. This has led to several folkloric creation myths for the area, one of which is that the handprint of Paul Bunyan, a giant lumberjack and popular European-American folk character in Michigan. When asked where they live, peninsula residents may hold up their right hand and point to a spot on the palmar side to indicate the location.

The peninsula is sometimes divided into the Northern Lower Peninsula—which is more sparsely populated and largely forested—and the Southern Lower Peninsula—which is largely urban or farmland. Southern Lower Michigan is sometimes further divided into economic and cultural subregions.

The more populated and culturally diverse Lower Peninsula dominates Michigan politics, and maps of it without the Upper Peninsula are sometimes mistakenly presented as the whole of Michigan, which contributes to resentment by Yoopers (residents of the U.P.). Yoopers jokingly refer to residents of the Lower Peninsula as flat-landers (referring to the region's less-rugged terrain) or trolls (because, being south of the Mackinac Bridge, they "live under the bridge").