1541 Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado is the first European to arrive.
1682 Robert de La Salle claims Oklahoma for France.
1803 Oklahoma becomes part of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase.
1819 Oklahoma is part of the Arkansas Territory.
1830 Congress passes the Indian Removal Act.
1835 to 1838 Many Indian tribes are forced to move from the southeast to Oklahoma.
1861-65 During the civil war many of Indian tribes sided with the confederacy.
1866 Slavery is abolished.
1889 Congress passed a law opening Oklahoma to settlement.
1890 A territorial government was established.
1891 President Benjamin Harrison proclaims that 900,000 acres of Indian land is now open for public lands.
1897 The first oil well is drilled in Oklahoma.
1905 The Indian tribes request to create an all Indian state called Sequoyah.
1907 Oklahoma becomes the 46th state.
1910 The capital city is moved from Guthrie to Oklahoma City.
1918 Production begin in the oil fields.
1921 Tulsa Race Riot.
1930 Severe drought begins across much of the Great Plains causing the Dust Bowl. Many people will leave Oklahoma and head west.
1995 The Oklahoma City bombing occurs when terrorists bombed a government building killing 168 people.