Nebraska’s name comes from the Otoe Ñí Brásge, or the Omaha Ní Btháska, meaning “flat water,” after the Platte River. Indigenous peoples, including the Omaha, Missouria, Ponca, Pawnee, Otoe, and Lakota tribes, inhabited the region for thousands of years before European exploration. In 1720, a Spanish expedition led by Pedro de Villasur was destroyed near present-day Columbus by a force of Pawnee and Otoe allied with the French, ending Spanish exploration of the area for the remainder of the 18th century.
Following the Louisiana Purchase, the area came under Spanish, then American control. The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 created the Nebraska Territory, which included parts of present-day Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. European-American settlement was sparse until the California Gold Rush in 1848. The Homestead Act of 1862 encouraged settlement, and many settlers built homes of sod, like the Native Americans. Nebraska became the 37th state on March 1, 1867, with the capital moved from Omaha to Lancaster, later renamed Lincoln.
The 1860s saw the U.S. government force many American Indian tribes onto reservations, opening land for agricultural development. New farming technologies like barbed wire, windmills, and the steel plow, combined with favorable weather, transformed Nebraska into prime farmland. By the 1880s, the state’s population had soared to over 450,000 people. The Arbor Day holiday was founded in Nebraska City by territorial governor J. Sterling Morton. The battle of Massacre Canyon, on August 5, 1873, was the last major battle between the Pawnee and the Sioux.
In 1912, the Omaha chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded to improve conditions for African Americans in the city and state. The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl significantly impacted Nebraska in the 1930s. In 1934, voters approved a constitutional amendment creating a unicameral legislature, abolishing the House of Representatives. Kay Orr was elected Nebraska's first female governor on November 4, 1986.
Nebraska is composed of two major land regions: the Dissected Till Plains and the Great Plains. The Dissected Till Plains, in eastern Nebraska, consist of gently rolling hills. The Great Plains occupy most of western Nebraska. The state has wide variations in temperature and precipitation, with a humid continental climate in the east and a semi-arid climate in the west. Three major rivers cross the state: the Niobrara, the Platte, and the Republican. The world's largest train yard, Union Pacific's Bailey Yard, is located in North Platte.
Nebraska’s economy is largely based on agriculture, and is a major producer of beef, pork, wheat, corn, soybeans, and sorghum. Other important sectors include freight transport, manufacturing, telecommunications, information technology, and insurance. Kool-Aid was created in Hastings in 1927, and the city celebrates this with Kool-Aid Days each August. Omaha is home to Berkshire Hathaway, led by Warren Buffett, and Mutual of Omaha. Nebraska has been a leading producer of ethanol biofuels.
Nebraska has been a reliably Republican state in presidential elections, with the exception of Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1964 landslide victory. Since 1991, Nebraska has allocated its electoral votes by congressional district, with two votes going to the statewide winner and three to the winners of each district. In 2008 and 2020, the state split its electoral votes, awarding one congressional district to the Democratic presidential candidate.
The Government of Nebraska operates under the Nebraska Constitution of 1875, with three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The state's legislature is unique in being unicameral, with members elected without party affiliation. The Governor of Nebraska is Jim Pillen (Republican). The Nebraska Supreme Court has administrative authority over all state courts.
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