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A Brief History of the Oklahoma Territory

 

Oklahoma is a state that has a deep history in Native American life. Although indigenous tribes have been dwelling in Oklahoma since at least the 1830’s, European’s explorers did not value these tribes as true owners of the land and thus claimed these lands for themselves. The Spanish and French fought over these lands and ultimately it was gained by the French.  In  1803, the United States acquired land from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains (including most of what is now considered Oklahoma) from the French; this came to be known as the Louisiana Purchase. In the 1800’s, the Oklahoma tribes were forcefully removed from their Oklahoma lands by the United States government so American settlers could claim the land. In 1830, the Indiane Removal Act of 1830 aimed to move all eastern Native Americans west of the Mississippi River. Between the 1830’s-1840’s the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Craw, and Seminole tribes (knows at the Five Civilized Tribes) were encouraged and then forced to leave their Native lands and move to Indian Territory Reserves by the Unites States government in what is now the state of Oklahoma. This exodus was known as the Trail of Tears. Throughout American history, the United States continued to take land from the Native American’s in order to build their idea of what America should be. The 1862 Homestead Act opened the Great Plains to American settlers. By 1889, the land that was known as Indian Territory was opened to white settlers through lottery and auction. The territory was split in half and the western portion was known of the Oklahoma territory. Land runs where a cannon would go off thus signaling that unassigned lands would be available for settlement. Throughout the year, more and more Native Tribe lands were open for white settlement. In 1907, Oklahoma became the 46th state to join the country; thus Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory were combined.

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