1541 Spanish explorer Francisco de Coronado visits Kansas searching for gold.
1682 Frenchman Robert Cavelier de La Salle claims Kansas for France.
1728 Fort Orleans abandoned by France.
1803 The United States purchases Kansas from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase.
1804 Lewis and Clark pass through Kansas on their way out west.
1812 Kansas became part of the Territory of Missouri.
1821 William Becknell pioneers the Santa Fe Trail from Missouri to New Mexico across Kansas.
1840s Settlers begin to travel across Kansas on the Oregon Trail heading to the west coast.
1854 The Kansas Territory is established by congress with the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
1854 to 1859 A number of violent clashes occur between pro and anti-slavery groups. It is called Bleeding Kansas.
1855 The first territorial convention meets in Pawnee.
1859 Kansas outlaws slavery.
1861 Kansas is admitted into the Union as the 34th state.
1892 Oil was discovered in Kansas.
1919 The first aircraft manufacturing plant was established in Kansas.
1930s Kansas is hit by a massive drought and a series of dust storms called the Dust Bowl.
1954 The Supreme Court rules that segregation in the schools is unconstitutional.