Oklahoma History
Oklahoma is a state located in the south-central region of the United States. Oklahoma City is the state capital and largest city. With approx. With 3.5 million residents, Oklahoma is the 28th most populous state in the United States.
According to ebizdir, the state has borders to Arkansas and Missouri to the east, to Kansas to the north, to Colorado to the northwest, to New Mexico to the west, and to Texas to the south and west.
More than 25 Native American languages are spoken in the state, a number that surpasses all other states. Today, there are more Native American headquarters in this state than in any other.
Religiously, the state is part of the “ Bible Belt, ” an area dominated by conservative evangelical Christianity.
Most of the state is located in the area called Tornado Alley, which is characterized by frequent interactions between cold and hot air masses, which cause storms. On average, 54 tornadoes hit the state per year, which is one of the highest numbers in the world.
TIMELINE:
1541 – Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado travels through the state.
1682 – French explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, declares Oklahoma French territory.
1803 – United States gains most of the state west of the Mississippi River from France during the Louisiana Purchase.
1830s-1840s – Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole ( Five Civilized Tribes ), were forced off their own lands in Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee by the U.S. government to Oklahoma, known as Indian Territory. Thousands of Indians lost their lives on the bloody march. This relocation was based on the so-called Indian Removal Act, which President Andrew Jackson had implemented in 1830. The best known of these tribal relocations was the so-called “ Trail of Tears.”- the relocation of the Cherokee tribe in 1838 and 1839. The relocation was ordered by President Martin van Buren in violation of a decision of the United States Supreme Court.
1868 – The Battle of the Washita River begins on November 27, when Lieutenant Colonel Custer and his cavalry attack the Black Kettle camp in what is now Cheyenne, defeating the rest of the Native American forces, more or less ending the Native American wars.
1907 – Oklahoma became America’s 46th state on November 16.
1967 – The mining company stops in the town of Picher, after contaminated water was found from the mines that had stained the local river red. Landfill holes opened up in the mountains of the mining waste, which was used to climb, ride down a sled, and and eat lunch, right up until it was discovered that the waste was also contaminated with lead residues. Citizens were surveyed in 1996, and high concentrations of lead were found in their blood, and cancer was widely reported. However, it was not until 2006 that the remaining citizens grasped the extent of the threat, as the city was in danger of being engulfed by the mine. But an F1 tornado in May 2008, helped push for the decision to leave the city, which was finally completely closed on September 1, 2009. Since January 2011, there are only 6 citizens in the city who refuse to leave their homes regardless the price. See picture of the city after the tornado here. Watch a 10 minute documentary here.
1995 – One of the worst terrorist attacks in Oklahoma City on April 19. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols detonated a bomb outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people and wounding more than 600. Timothy McVeigh was later sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001, while his partner, Terry Nichols, was convicted in 2004 of the murder of 161 people and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Read more here and here.
2010 – Tornado eruption from 10-13. May, affected large areas of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas. Over 60 tornadoes, some large, and the most destructive came in over southern Oklahoma City and east of Norman. Two were killed, hundreds were injured and over 1485 homes and businesses were damaged.
2011 – On November 5, the state was hit by the largest earthquake to date east of Oklahoma City. Geologists from Oklahoma and Columbia University believe that it may be triggered by the pressure from nearby sewage wells with water from oil wells. There are about 30,000 similar sewage wells in the United States.
