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Oklahoma Interactive Map, Facts, Statistics, Games and Activities for Kids

Oklahoma History

1541: Francisco Vazquez de Coronado explores part of Oklahoma.

1803: Parts of present-day Oklahoma were bought by the U.S. Government as part of the Louisiana Purchase.

1820s-1840′s: The area that is Oklahoma was set aside as Indian Territory. Numerous tribes removed from their natives land are forced to live on Oklahoma”reservations,” including the Cherokee, who were forced to walk the infamous “Trail of Tears” from Georgia to Oklahoma after the Treaty of New Echota in 1838.

1889: President Benjamin Harrison opens the “Unassigned Land” in Oklahoma to White settlement. The highly anticipated act gave rise to a several land runs and to the term “Sooners,” which referred to people who had staked land claims in the region before the land was officially opened to settlement.

1890: The Oklahoma Territory is created out of the “Unassigned Land.” This land included the Oklahoma Panhandle, which was known as “No Man’s Land.”

1905: An Indian Petition for their remaining land in Oklahoma to be declared a State called “Sequoyah” is rejected by the U.S. Government.

1905: The Glenpool Oil Field is discovered near Tulsa. At the time, it was thought to be the world’s largest oil field and gave rise to Tulsa as the “Oil Capital of the World.”

1907: Oklahoma becomes the 46th state and Oklahoma City is named capital.

1921: The Tulsa race riot results in the deaths of 39 people and millions of dollars in damage. Over 1,000 houses were destroyed to the resulting fire.

1930′s : Oklahoma’s agricultural community is devastated by the droughts of the “Dust Bowl.”

1995: Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nicholas collaborate in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. At the time, it was the worst act of domestic terrorism in American history.

1999: An F-5 tornado devastates the city of Moore, Oklahoma near Oklahoma City. Winds within the tornado were clocked at speeds of over 300 miles per hour. 40 people are killed.

Oklahoma Extras