22nd April 1889: Oklahoma Land Rush opens 2 million acres of Unassigned Lands to settlement скачать в хорошем качестве

22nd April 1889: Oklahoma Land Rush opens 2 million acres of Unassigned Lands to settlement

The Oklahoma Land Rush came as a result of the government’s decision to remove Native American tribes from their ancestral lands and open them up to settlement by non-Indigenous settlers. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 and subsequent treaties forced many Native American tribes to cede their lands and relocate to reservations in what is now Oklahoma. The Dawes Act of 1887 aimed to break up tribal landholdings and encourage individual land ownership, leading the government to open up the Unassigned Lands in the Oklahoma Territory for settlement. The area was considered to have some of the last available land in the West suitable for agriculture and settlement. On April 22, 1889, an estimated 50,000 hopeful settlers gathered along the borders of the Oklahoma Territory. At noon, a gunshot gave the signal for them to chaotically race into the territory on foot, horseback, and in wagons. Here they staked their claims, and by the end of the day Oklahoma City contained more than 10,000 people. Others, known as ‘Sooners’, hid inside the unoccupied land before the legal time of entry, leading to a number of disputes over land boundaries. Nevertheless, by the end of the year an estimated 62,000 people were living in the Unassigned Lands while homes, schools, churches and business were quickly established. However, the Oklahoma Land Rush had negative consequences for the Native American tribes who had been forcibly removed from their lands to make way for the settlers. Many indigenous people were displaced from their traditional territories and lost access to vital resources, leading to economic hardship and social dislocation.