Kansas is best known for its rolling prairies, with seemingly endless rows of golden wheat stretching out beneath wide, cloud-scudded skies. Aside from the tornadoes that plague the area (and famously deposited Dorothy and Toto in Oz) it all seems gloriously peaceful.
The state has a turbulent history, however, with violent clashes between white settlers and Native Americans and between pro-slavery and abolitionist factions that earned it the sobriquet of "Bleeding Kansas". After the Civil War, farming flourished as immigrants flooded in – among them Russian Mennonites, who brought the wheat seeds that would make Kansas rich.
The Wild West, too, was born, as cattle were driven across the state from Texas. Lawless boomtowns, home to saloons, drifters and gun-slinging cowboys, flourished along the trail. The most famous, Dodge City, today celebrates its nefarious history with a reconstruction of the main street and its gunfights. East of here is Wichita, another former trail town. With some fine museums and a varied cultural calendar that includes annual jazz and river festivals, it’s more tourist-friendly than Topeka, the capital city.
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