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Nebraska is a state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States and Western United States. Nebraska probably gets its name from the archaic Otoe words Ñí Brásge (contemporary Otoe Ñí Bráhge) or the Omaha Ní Btháska meaning "flat water," after the Platte River that flows through the state. Once considered part of the Great American Desert, it is now a leading farming and ranching state. Native American tribes in Nebraska have included the Iowas, Omahas, Missourias, Poncas, Pawnees, Otoes, and various branches of the Sioux.
History
On May 30, 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act created the Kansas Territory and the Nebraska Territory, divided by the Parallel 40° North. The territorial capital of Nebraska was Omaha. In the 1860s, the first great wave of homesteaders poured into Nebraska to claim free land granted by the federal government. Many of the first farm settlers built their homes out of sod because they found so few trees on the grassy land. Nebraska became the 37th state in 1867, shortly after the American Civil War. At that time, the capital was moved from Omaha to Lancaster, later renamed Lincoln after the recently assassinated President of the United States Abraham Lincoln. The Arbor Day holiday began in Nebraska, and the National Arbor Day Foundation is still headquartered in Nebraska City. Nebraska has a long history of civil rights activism, starting in 1912 with the foundation of Omaha's National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter. Timeline
Population History
Note: Nebraska was acquired as part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and became part of Louisiana (later Missouri) Territory. It was established as a territory in 1854, including extensive areas northwest and west of the present State; it underwent various reductions in area in 1861 and 1863. Nebraska was admitted as a State on March 1, 1867, with nearly its present boundaries. Its last significant boundary change was the transfer of an area from Dakota Territory in 1882. Census coverage of Nebraska began in 1860 in the eastern part of the present State. The 1860 census of Nebraska Territory also included scattered forts and settlements in present-day Wyoming and the Dakotas west of the Missouri River. Other such settlements in the portion of the Territory included in present-day Montana were reported with Dakota Territory, and those in present-day Colorado were reported with Colorado Territory, although these two territories were not established until 1861. By 1890, census coverage included the entire State. Research Tips
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