KANSAS AND OKLAHOMA Two Special States


In the broad expanses of the Great Plains, the grassy prairie between the Mississippi valley and the Rocky Mountains, the vast horizon stretches endlessly and breezes play constantly. At the heart of the USA, in the middle of a sea of grass, lie Kansas and


Oklahoma. These two neighbouring states are modest and unassuming; unlike the Southwest, at fi rst sight they have no dramatic landscapes nor mega-large glittering cities on offer, but instead a broad palette of natural and cultural experiences hard to fi nd elsewhere. The people in the Heartlands, the centre of the USA, are also unusually special: reserved and warm-hearted, hospitable and full of humour. “Cowboys and Indians” are not tourist attractions here, they are features of everyday life.


The state of Kansas is named after the Kanza, or Kaw, who call themselves the “People of the South Wind”. Decimated by smallpox epidemics and banished to ever-shrinking reservations during the 19th century, in 1873 they suffered the same fate as many other Native American peoples and were forcibly relocated to Oklahoma.


The 46th state takes it name from “Oklahomma”, the Red People, the name given by the Choctaw people to the native population. Oklahoma was included in the Union in 1907.


At the beginning of the 19th century, Kansas was still known as the Great American Desert, the name bestowed upon it by the explorer Zebulon Pike. Offi cially established in 1861, it came to be known as the “breadbasket” of the USA. Kansas is characterised by a diverse landscape, with massive livestock ranches and hypnotic fi elds of grain. The largest city is Wichita, a centre for aircraft manufacturing and just a stone’s throw away from Oklahoma to the south where in the 1920s the discovery of large reserves of oil and gas led the way into the modern era.


From 1803, when President Thomas Jefferson bought vast stretches of land between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains from Napoleon, Oklahoma was “Indian Territory”. This deal, known as the “Louisiana Purchase” not only doubled the size of the young nation, but also opened up new trade routes and access to raw materials. Part of the land was supposed to belong to the native inhabitants, but, as the Trail of Tears demonstrated, the relocation exercise was not always undertaken peacefully nor voluntarily. The Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Muskogees (Creek) and Seminoles were soon joined by more Native American nations; today there are 39 of them living in Oklahoma, the highest number in the USA. Curiously, however, 14% of the people in Oklahoma and over 30% in Kansas are of German extraction and they make up the largest ethnic group today.


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