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Free Traveling Guides » States » Oregon History of Oregon
Oregon was inhabited by a number of Native American groups, including the Chasta, Bannock, Kalapuya, Chinook, Molalla, Nez Perce, Klamath, Umpqua, and Takelma, during the 16th century. James Cook was the first European to arrive in the area in 1778. The region was further explored by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which traveled through the area to explore the Louisiana Purchase. They established their winter fort at Fort Clatsop, near the mouth of the Columbia River. The establishment of Fort Astoria, the first permanent Caucasian settlement in Oregon, was set up in 1811 as a western outpost to New Yorker John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company. All the Pacific Fur Company posts were, however, acquired by the British during the War of 1812. During the 1820s and 1830s, the Pacific Northwest was primarily dominated by the Hudson’s Bay Company. An all-citizen meeting, called in 1843, introduced a provisional government led by an executive committee comprising of Alanson Beers, Joseph Gale, and David Hill. This government was, in fact, the first acting government formed in the Oregon Country, prior to the annexation of the state by the United States Government. After the Oregon boundary dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States got resolved, the border between the U.S. and the British North America was peacefully set at the 49th parallel in 1846. It was in 1848 that the Oregon Territory was formally organized. The State was added to the Union ON February 14, 1859. The State of Oregon actively participated in the American Civil War. The First Oregon Cavalry served until the year 1865. Proliferation of railroads in the 1880s and industrial expansion in the 20th century led to a rapid growth in the economy of the state. The Oregon System, a system of direct legislation by the citizens of the state by way of initiative and referendum, was introduced by the government in 1902. The state has an extensive history of polarizing conflicts between American Indians and British fur trappers; British and U.S. settlers; wealthy cities and poor rural areas; ranchers and farmers; loggers and environmentalists; anti-racists and white supremacists; supporters of social spending and anti-tax activists; and native Oregonians and Californians. |
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