The city of Des Moines is one of the cities of the state of Iowa, which is part of the United States of America. It has the status of being both the capital of the state as well as the city with the highest population among all the other cities in the state. Des Moines is also Polk County’s county seat. When it was initially established on September 22 in the year 1851, it was known as Fort Des Moines, but this was later reduce in the year 1857 to Des Moines only. The name comes from the Des Moines River, which itself was named after Riviere Des Moines, which is French and means the River of the Monks. The metropolitan area of Des Moines has five counties and is home to 534230 people as per the figures collected in the year 2006. This makes the metropolitan area rank ninety second with respect to level of population among all the areas in the United States of America. The population of the city proper was 198682 as per the figures collected in the year 2000.

The major sector of the economy of Des Moines is the Insurance industry. The city is a major hub for the insurance industry and the publishing business and the financial services are very considerable as well. In the year 2007, Des Moines got the title of being the Best Place for Business, according to Forbes Magazine.

Since Des Moines is located in the middle of the continent of North America, and there is no major water body near it, the weather is classified as being a humid continental climate. The weather in the summer season is humid and hot, while in the winter season the weather is snowy and cold. There are occasional afternoon thunderstorms in the summer and spring seasons. In the fall season the temperature is present and the fall foliage provides a colorful look.