Kentucky

A border slave state that stayed in the Union, Kentucky was settled through the Cumberland Gap by Appalachian pioneers and remained bitterly divided in the Civil War — birthplace of both Abraham Lincoln and Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Its Bluegrass region built a horse-and-bourbon economy, while the eastern mountains belong to coal-country Appalachia.

• Existed: 1774 CE – present
• Type: Entity
• Government: U.S. State
• Capital: Frankfort