Timeline of Kansas history

Last updated

Important dates in Kansas's history
Flag of Kansas Flag of Kansas.svg
Flag of Kansas
July–August 1541
Coronado explores Kansas
April 30, 1803
Louisiana Purchase; US buys most of Kansas
May 30, 1854
Kansas Territory organized
July 29, 1859
Constitution adopted by convention; prohibits slavery
January 29, 1861
Kansas becomes 34th state
August 21, 1863
Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence
Spring 1879
Exodusters
February 19, 1881
First state to prohibit alcohol
1890s
Populist Revolt
July 1951
Great Flood of 1951
May 1954
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

The timeline of Kansas details past events that happened in what is present day Kansas. Located on the eastern edge of the Great Plains, the U.S. state of Kansas was the home of sedentary agrarian and hunter-gatherer Native American societies, many of whom hunted American bison. The region first appears in western history in the 16th century at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, when Spanish conquistadors explored the unknown land now known as Kansas. It was later explored by French fur trappers who traded with the Native Americans. It became part of the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. In the 19th century, the first American explorers designated the area as the "Great American Desert."

Contents

When the area was opened to Euro-American settlement in the 1850s, Kansas became the first battlefield in the conflict in the American Civil War. After the war, Kansas was home to Wild West towns servicing the cattle trade. With the railroads came heavy immigration from the East, from Europe, and from Freedmen called "Exodusters". For much of its history, Kansas has had a rural economy based on wheat and other crops, supplemented by oil and railroads. Since 1945 the farm population has sharply declined and manufacturing has become more important, typified by the aircraft industry of Wichita.

Early history

1820s to 1840s: Indian treaties and westward trails

1850 to 1854: Washington opens the territory; Indian tribes sell their lands

1855 to 1859: State formation

1860s to 1890s

20th century

21st century

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Kansas Archeology Basics." Kansas Historical Society. Retrieved 25 Jan 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 "Scott County: History." Scott County, Kansas. Retrieved 25 Jan 2012.
  3. Olson, Kevin (2012). Frontier Manhattan. University Press of Kansas. pp. 9–10. ISBN   978-0-7006-1832-3.
  4. "Lincoln's Hazel Avery Made State's First Flag". Lincoln Sentinel-Republican. March 28, 1996. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
  5. "Before Harris, This Vice President Broke a Racial Barrier". New York Times . November 10, 2020. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  6. "1952 Missouri Basin flooding" (PDF). United States Department of Interior. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
  7. Schneider, Russell S.; Harold E. Brooks; Joseph T. Schaefer. "Tornado Outbreak Day Sequences: Historic Events and Climatology (1875-2003)" (PDF). Norman, Oklahoma: Storm Prediction Center . Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  8. Larson, Lee W. "The Great USA Flood of 1993". National Weather Service. Retrieved May 3, 2022.

See also

Cities in Kansas

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References

Further reading