Fur trading with Native Americans first attracted French explorers to the area that is now Des Moines. The French named the city for the river. Its name may possibly have been derived from the Native American name for the river, moingwena (river of the mounds). The name may also have come from the French moyen (middle), because of the site’s position midway between the Missouri and Mississippi rivers; or from the French des moines (monks), for the French missionaries in the area.

Fort Des Moines was built at the junction of the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers by the federal government in 1843. Two years later, when the Native Americans gave up their land rights and were moved, the area around the fort was opened to white settlers, and in 1851 the community incorporated as the town of Fort Des Moines. The towns of East Des Moines and Fort Des Moines were subsequently merged and incorporated as Des Moines in 1857; the same year, the state capital was moved from Iowa City to Des Moines. A major urban-renewal program was started in Des Moines in the 1950s. The city suffered extensive damage in the great floods of 1993 but recovered quickly due to flood protection measures that included the addition of flood gates, installation of back-up power systems, and raising of levees.

Des Moines covers a land area of 76 sq mi, with a mean elevation of 805 ft. According to the 2000 census, whites are 82.3 percent of the population, blacks 8.1 percent, Asians 3.5 percent, and Native Americans 0.4 percent. Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders represent less than 0.1 percent of the population. The remainder are of mixed heritage or did not report ethnicity.

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