History of Oklahoma

The region around Oklahoma was first explored by a Spanish explorer, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado in 1541. It became a territory of the United States in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase.

Archaeological evidences suggest that the region around Oklahoma was inhabited by an advanced Indian civilization around 900-1100 AD. The first European conquest in the region was made by the Spaniards, Hernando de Soto and Francisco Vasquez de Coronadohere in the sixteenth century. However, in the 1700s, the land was claimed by the French explorers. The French ruled till 1803, when the United States purchased all the territories in the Louisiana Purchase.

Oklahoma became part of the United States in 1819 when the Adams-Onis Treaty was signed with Spain. The Cherokee tribes of Georgia and Tennessee entered the area after the war of 1812. However, the whites demanded their lands and this forced the Cherokees and the other Five Civilized Tribes (the Choctaw, the Chickasaw, the Creek, and the Seminole) to vacate the area. Their abandonment is termed as the Trail of Tears. These people then took up residence in the Indian territory.

Oklahoma had an important role to play in the American Civil War. Many natives served in the Union and the Confederacy during the war. Slavery was a major problem in the state till around 1866. After the Civil War, cattle ranching became popular in the state and cowboys began to settle in the Indian territory. This led to an increase in the population which subsequently led the US government to frame the Dawes Act in 1887. The Act divided the lands between the federal government and individual owners.

The demands for a separate state had begun at the end of the nineteenth century. There was an attempt to establish a separate state named Sequoyah and the Sequoyah Statehood Convention of 1905 was held for the same. This proved unsuccessful but it laid down the groundwork for statehood of Oklahoma. In June 1906, Congress passed an enabling act and on November 16, 1907, Oklahoma was admitted in to the Union. Oklahoma City was made the state capital in 1910.

The new state developed fast as it had a rapidly growing oil industry that enhanced the economy of the state. Tulsa came to be known as the "Oil Capital of the World."

The early twentieth century was a tumultuous period for Oklahoma. It was a period marked with turbulence and turmoil. Incidents like the Tulsa riots in 1921, racial oppression, and the Ku Klux Klan atrocities were the major events that added to the chaotic situation in the state. There were recurrent droughts in the area that burned the wheat in the fields, causing great agricultural losses. The economy boosted again in the in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s, as great revenue was generated from oil and gas.

The state faced severe losses in 1995, when the Oklahoma City was bombed. The incident remains one of the worst act of terrorism in American history.