Each state in the United States of America is unique. The people and legislature of Kansas have selected the following state symbols to represent their state's individual environment and culture.
![[Image of The Kansas State Seal]](/media/graphics/state-seals/kansas-seal.png)
The symbols on the official state seal of Kansas were specified by the first Kansas legislature in 1861 (the year Kansas became one of the United States).
The rising sun represents the East the river and steamboat are symbols of commerce the cabin, settler and plow horses represent agriculture as the base for the future prosperity of the state of Kansas. In the distance, oxen draw a wagon train west, and two Indians pursue a herd of buffalo on horseback (the buffalo was adopted as the official state animal of Kansas in 1955 herds of buffalo that numbered in millions once roamed Kansas).
In the sky are thirty-four stars (Kansas was the thirty-fourth state admitted to the Union) with the state motto above "Ad astra per aspera "(to the stars through difficulties).
The state seal is also represented on the state flag of Kansas.
![[Image of The Kansas State Flag]](/media/graphics/state-flags/kansas-flag.png)
On a navy blue field is a sunflower, the state flower. Also, the state seal and the words "Kansas".
In the picture of the state seal are thirty-four stars representing the order of statehood. Above the stars is the motto "To the Stars through Difficulties". On the seal, a sunrise overshadows a farmer plowing a field near his log cabin, a steamboat sailing the Kansas River, a wagon train heading west and Native Americans hunting bison.
