<P> Des Moines is a major center of the U.S. insurance industry and has a sizable financial services and publishing business base . The city was credited as the "number one spot for U.S. insurance companies" in a Business Wire article and named the third - largest "insurance capital" of the world . The city is the headquarters for the Principal Financial Group, the Meredith Corporation, Ruan Transportation, EMC Insurance Companies, and Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield . Other major corporations such as Wells Fargo, Voya Financial, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, ACE Limited, Marsh, Monsanto and Pioneer Hi - Bred have large operations in or near the metro area . In recent years Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and Facebook have built data processing and logistical facilities in the Des Moines metro . Forbes magazine ranked Des Moines as the "Best Place for Business" in both 2010 and 2013 . In 2014, NBC ranked Des Moines as the "Wealthiest City in America," according to its criteria . </P> <P> Des Moines is an important city in U.S. presidential politics: as the state's capital, it is the site of the first caucuses of the presidential primary cycle . Many presidential candidates set up campaign headquarters in Des Moines . A 2007 article in The New York Times said, "If you have any desire to witness presidential candidates in the most close - up and intimate of settings, there is arguably no better place to go than Des Moines ." </P> <P> Des Moines takes its name from Fort Des Moines (1843--46), which was named for the Des Moines River . This was adopted from the name given by French colonists . "Des Moines" (pronounced (de. mwan) (listen), formerly French pronunciation: ​ (de. mwɛn)) translates literally to either "from the monks" or "of the monks". The historian Virgil Vogel claimed that the name was derived from Moingona, the Algonquian clan name for "Loon," one of the clans of the local Native American people . </P> <P> Some historians and researchers lacking linguistic or Algonquianist training concluded that Moingona meant "people by the portage" or something similar, a reference to the Des Moines Rapids . This was the site of the earliest known encounters between the Moingona and European explorers took place . </P>

Where did the name des moines come from
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