1541 Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado crossed western Oklahoma while searching for the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola.

1682 French explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, claimed the entire Mississippi River basin (including present-day Oklahoma) for France.

1803 France sold Louisiana (including most of Oklahoma) to the United States.

1812 The area encompassing Oklahoma was made part of the Missouri Territory.

1819 The present Oklahoma panhandle was given to Spain to resolve a boundary dispute. The rest of Oklahoma became part of the Arkansas Territory.

1820-1842 The "Five Civilized Tribes" of the Southeast were moved onto reservations in what was then Indian Territory.

1824 The federal government established Fort Gibson and Fort Towson.

1870-1872 The Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad was built across the region.

1872 The first commercial coal mine was established near McAlester.

1889 The first producing oil well in Oklahoma was drilled by Edward Byrd near Chelsea.
1889 The United States opened part of Oklahoma to white settlement.

1890 Congress established the Territory of Oklahoma and added the Panhandle region to it.

1893 Congress established the Dawes Commission to manage the affairs of the Five Civilized Tribes.
September 16, 1893 More than 50,000 persons staked claims on the first day of the Cherokee Strip Land Rush.

November 16, 1907 Oklahoma became the 46th state of the Union.

1910 The state capital was moved from Guthrie to Oklahoma City.

September 1, 1959 The sale of liquor became legal in Oklahoma for the first time since statehood.

SEE ALSO
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado
Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle
Louisiana Purchase
"Five Civilized Tribes"
Cherokee Strip Land Rush

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This page was last updated on September 29, 2017.