About the town » Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, United States

• Bevolkingsregister 3
• Bidprentjesverzameling 1
• Vluchtelingen 1

Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan, and is the seat of Wayne County. It is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people, and serves as a major port on the Detroit River connecting the Great Lakes system to the Saint Lawrence Seaway. It was founded on July 24, 1701, by the French explorer and adventurer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac. The Detroit area emerged as a metropolitan region with construction of an extensive freeway system in the 1950s and 1960s. The name Detroit sometimes refers to the Metro Detroit area with a population of 4,296,250 for the six-county Metropolitan Statistical Area, the United States' 13th-largest, and a population of 5,218,852 for the nine-county Combined Statistical Area as of the 2010 Census. The Detroit–Windsor area, a commercial link straddling the Canada–U.S. border, has a total population of about 5,700,000. The Detroit metropolitan region currently holds roughly one-half of the state's population. Known as the world's traditional automotive center, "Detroit" is a metonym for the American automobile industry and an important source of popular music legacies celebrated by the city's two familiar nicknames, the Motor City and Motown. Other nicknames arose in the 20th century, including City of Champions beginning in the 1930s for its successes in individual and team sport, The D, D-Town, Hockeytown (a trademark owned by the city's NHL club, the Red Wings), Rock City, and The 313 (its telephone area code) Detroit's auto industry was an important element of the American "Arsenal of Democracy" supporting the Allied powers during World War II. Between 2000 and 2010, the city's population fell by 25%, from the nation's 10th largest city to 18th. In 2010, the city had a population of 713,777, more than a 60% drop down from a peak population of over 1.8 million at the 1950 census, indicating a serious and long-running decline of Detroit's economic strength. Commensurate with the shift of population and jobs to its suburbs or other states, the city has had to adjust its role within the larger metropolitan area. Downtown Detroit has seen an increased role as an entertainment hub in the 21st century, with the opening of three casino resort hotels, new stadiums, and a riverfront revitalization project. However, many neighborhoods remain distressed. The state governor declared a financial emergency in March 2013, appointing an emergency manager.