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Free Traveling Guides » States » Oklahoma History of Oklahoma
Oklahoma, situated in the South Central region of the United States of America, was inhabited between 850 and 1450 A.D. by a number of Native Americans, who settled in communities near the Arkansas border. Spaniard Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was the first European to arrive in the region in 1541. However, the area was claimed by the French in the 1700s. Oklahoma remained under French control until 1803, when all the French territory west of the Mississippi River was sold by Napoleon to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. In the 1830s, thousands of Native Americans, including the so-called “Five Civilized Tribes”, were forced out of their lands in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi, and were transported to Oklahoma. This area was designated the ‘Indian Territory’ as per the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the Indian Intercourse Act of 1834. A large number of white settlers began moving into the Territory in the late 1800s, which forced the United States Government to implement the Dawes Act in 1887. This act made almost half the land in the territory open to the foreign settlers. Oklahoma was finally added to the Union as the 46th U.S. State on November 16, 1907. The discovery of oil and the emerging oil industry in the newly-formed state led to a rapid growth in the state’s economy. In the 1930s, northwest Oklahoma, together with the areas of New Mexico, Kansas, and Texas, suffered serious consequences of drought, poor farming techniques, and high winds. As a result, there was a considerable decline in the state population in the 1950s. In the year 1995, the state became the site of the Oklahoma City Bombing, one of the most traumatic acts of terrorism in the American history. Timothy Mc Veigh and Terry Nicholas detonated an explosive outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing over 168 people, including 19 children. |
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