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A state of the central United States in the Great Plains. It was admitted as the 37th state in 1867. The region became part of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and was made a separate territory by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Its present boundaries were established in 1861. Lincoln is the capital and Omaha the largest city. Population: 1,770,000.
For more information on Nebraska, visit Britannica.com.
Nebraska looks like a diesel locomotive facing eastward. When it became a territory of the United States in 1854, its northern border extended all the way to Canada and its western border extended deep into the Rocky Mountains, but between 1854 and statehood in 1867, it was whittled down by Congress to please its various constituencies. It is now bounded to the north by South Dakota. The Missouri River flows southeastward out of South Dakota, forming part of Nebraska's border with South Dakota and its eastern border with Iowa and then northwest Missouri. Nebraska's southern border forms Kansas's northern border, meets Colorado, makes a sharp corner northward to southeast of Ogallala, Nebraska, and then turns sharply westward along Colorado's border until meeting Wyoming. The border then goes north until meeting South Dakota, where it turns sharply eastward.
The climate and land of Nebraska can be divided into four parts. The eastern part of Nebraska, along the Missouri, is part of the Central Lowlands of the Missouri River region. It is usually moist, prone to flooding, and rich for agriculture. West of the Lowlands, in south central Nebraska, are the Loess Hills. Loess is fine-grained silt deposited on the land by winds. The Loess Hills region has many rivers that have carved the land into hills and valleys; it is prone to drought, and even the rivers may go dry. The Sand Hills are in the western part of the state. In the early era of Nebraska's settlement, they were often mistakenly thought to be just part of the High Plains farther to the west because of their vast expanses of sand dunes, the third largest expanse of sand dunes in the world, behind only the Sahara Desert and the Arabian Desert. Yet the Sand Hills harbor lakes and streams that enabled those who knew about them to farm and survive even during droughts. The High Plains fill the far western part of Nebraska and are highlands that begin the continent's westward rise into the Rocky Mountains. The High Plains have Nebraska's highest spot, Panorama Point, at 5,424 feet above sea level. This is part of a steady westward rise from 480 feet above sea level at the Missouri River, meaning that Nebraska is tilted. The High Plains tend to be dry and windy, but irrigation and pumping water from underground aquifers have made it good land for raising cattle.
Prehistory
There have been several significant migrations from northeast Asia into North America, the first probably occurring over 100,000 years ago. There is evidence that people were on the land that is now Nebraska 25,000 years ago, probably migratory people who did not settle in one place. When the last glacial era was ending around 11,000 B.C., nomads known as Paleo-Indians, likely a mix of several cultures, judging by the distinct varieties of their spearheads, lived in or migrated through the Nebraska area. These people hunted the big game that was abundant in the Great Plains of the time.
The region of Nebraska gradually warmed, and a great forest grew. About 7000 B.C., new cultures were evolving; archaeologists call the people of those cultures Archaic Indians. These people moved into and off of the land over several thousand years. Most of the really big game had disappeared. Thus the Archaic Indians hunted small game as well as what big game they could find, such as deer, and they foraged for fruits and vegetables. They made advancements in technology that made their survival easier.
About 2000 B.C., a revolution in how people lived in Nebraska began with the migration into the area of people who had lived east of the Missouri River, sometimes called the "Plains Woodland" culture. Perhaps originally attracted by Nebraska's woodlands, they adjusted to a climate change that diminished the forest and generated open grasslands. One of their important contributions to life in the region was the development of pottery, especially vessels in which food or water could be stored. Some large vessels were used for cooking. They probably moved encampments with the seasons, but they were a fairly settled people who built dwellings and even villages that they would return to as the seasons dictated. Some evidence indicates that near the end of their era, the Plains Woodlanders were experimenting with agriculture. Burial mounds from this era indicate a society that was becoming larger and more complex.
In about A.D. 1000, the climate seems to have become drier. The Native Americans in Nebraska of that era often were farmers. Maize had been imported from the southwest, probably along an ancient trading route that extended all the way into Mexico, and it was cultivated along with varieties of squash and beans. Hunting and foraging for wild food plants was still very important for survival. Probably most of the native Nebraskans of the time lived in villages, in rectangular lodges with wooden frames, wattle-and-daub walls, and roofs plastered with mud and covered by grass and tree branches. The pottery became varied and was often simply decorated by carved incisions made before firing.
By the time Europeans were taking an interest in the area of Nebraska, the Native Americans there were in flux, rapidly moving in and out of the area in response to wars and invasions. The Pawnees were in the middle of what became Nebraska; they were settled farmers who probably had been there longer than any of their neighbors. The Poncas occupied the northeast part of modern Nebraska; the Cheyennes were moving in from the west; the Otos had recently settled into the southeast corner; and the Arapahos were hanging onto lands to the southwest. Wars far to the north were sending refugees southward, and the Brule and Oglala Dakota (aka Lakota) Sioux tribes had been forced into northern Nebraska from the other side of the Missouri River by the Chippewas. The Dakotas were violent nomads who raided the villages of the settled peoples of Nebraska; they were very suspicious of outsiders. In addition, the Apaches were following the herds of bison and were pressing the Arapahos and some Pawnees out of their homes.
Frontier
In 1682, René Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle, led a French expedition down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, claiming for France all the land that drained water into the Mississippi, which included the territory that became Nebraska. The region was named "Louisiana" for Louis XIV. At the time, Spain had already laid claim to most of the same land, including Nebraska. Many French trappers and traders visited the Nebraska region without arousing much interest until 1714, when Étienne Veniard de Bourgmont, something of a reprobate adventurer, traveled to the Platte River, which flowed through the middle of what is now Nebraska. Alarmed by this, Spain sent a military expedition north to drive out the French, but there were no French to be found. A couple of years later, in 1720, another Spanish expedition was sent, led by Pedro de Villasur, with forty or so Spanish soldiers and about sixty Native American warriors. They found no French, but they managed to thoroughly antagonize the local population, including the Pawnees, who were on a war footing because of their conflicts with the Dakotas; the Pawnees attacked the Spanish and only thirteen members of the Spanish expedition survived to return south.
In 1739, the French explorers Paul and Pierre Mallet named the Platte River and traveled its length westward and beyond, past the western border of modern Nebraska. French traders continued to visit Nebraska's tribes. In 1800, France forced Spain to surrender its claims to Louisiana, and in 1803 the United States purchased Louisiana from France. In 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition stopped briefly in Nebraska while traveling up the Missouri River, gathered some local tribesmen, and offered American friendship; the tribesmen listened patiently, but they had no authority—the leaders who could have made a pact with the explorers were away on other business. In 1812, trader Manuel Lisa established a trading post near the same spot. Robert Stuart led an expedition that trekked eastward from Oregon, reaching the Platte River in 1813 and following the river to the Missouri; his route became the Oregon Trail on which hundreds of thousands of people traveled through Nebraska to the Far West. Major Stephen Long led an expedition into the Great Plains in 1820, and what he saw seemed "barren and uncongenial" to him. He therefore called it a "Great Desert."
Even so, in 1823, Americans established the town of Bellevue across the Missouri River from Council Bluffs in Iowa. It was the first permanent American settlement in the future Nebraska. In 1834, the United States Congress passed the Indian Intercourse Act, forbidding Americans from settling in Nebraska's lands and providing that the United States Army would remove people who violated the law. The Native Americans of the area also reached an agreement whereby they would be compensated annually for Americans using roads and establishing forts in their territory. Beginning with Moses and Eliza Merrill in 1833, missionaries came to live with the Native Americans. In the 1830s, two trails in addition to the Oregon Trail became important in the mass migration of Americans to the West: the Mormon Trail that followed the north bank of the Platte River, and the Denver Trail, which followed the Blue River and the Platte River and then went to Denver.
The Oto name for the Platte River was Nebrathka, which meant "flat water," because even though very long, the Platte River was shallow and easy to cross on foot in many places. Explorer Lieutenant John C. Frémont referred to the river as the Nebraska in a report in 1842, and in 1844 Secretary of War William Wilkins said that given the river's importance, either Nebraska or Platte should be the official name of the region. An effort in Congress on 17 December 1844 to recognize Nebraska as a territory failed, but on 30 May 1854 Nebraska was recognized as an American territory in the Kansas-Nebraska Act. In the Missouri Compromise of 6 March 1820, all lands from Kansas northward were supposed to become free states—no slavery allowed; the Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise and left it up to the citizens of the Kansas and Nebraska to decide whether to be free or slave states.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act gave Nebraska a vast territory, from Kansas to Canada, from the Missouri River into the Rocky Mountains. A census in 1854 found 2,732 Americans living in Nebraska. The citizens of Bellevue and much of southern Nebraska were upset when Omaha was chosen to be the territorial capital instead of Bellevue. In 1863, Congress divided the territory into smaller ones, leaving Nebraska close to its modern form. The Civil War (1861–1865) was going on at the time, but Nebraska felt the effect primarily in the 3,000 troops it contributed to the Union. From 1865 to 1867, the Union Pacific Railroad built a line out from Omaha, westward past the Nebraska border.
In 1866, Nebraska submitted a proposal for a state constitution to Congress. It included a clause that said only white males could vote, which outraged a Congress controlled by the Radical Republicans, who opposed racial discrimination. The offending clause had to be eliminated in order for the constitution to be acceptable; the change was made, allowing Nebraska to become the thirty-seventh state in the Union on 1 March 1867. The new state government resolved to build a new city for its capital, naming it "Lincoln" because it was unlikely that anyone would complain about the name of the martyred President. In 1875, a new state constitution was approved to replace the first one, because the first one had been put together in haste and had not provided a clear framework for laws.
Early Statehood
Although Arbor Day was begun by Nebraska on 10 April 1872, the 1870s were difficult times, with droughts and plagues of locusts between 1874 and 1877. The 1880s, however, saw a boom in the economy. During that decade, the population increased from 453,402 to 1,062,656, an amazing jump in ten years. By 1885, the bison of Nebraska had been exterminated. The 1890s saw a severe reversal of fortune because the United States was hit by a depression that lasted most of the decade. Land prices plummeted, crop prices dropped, and water was scarce. The population only increased to 1,066,300 during the decade. During the 1890s and 1900s, dry land farming techniques and irrigation opened the High Plains to farming, but growing crops there proved to be too difficult for farmers, and thus much of the land became pasture for cattle. Congress's Reclamation Act of 1902 proved especially helpful to Nebraska by providing funds for the development of state water projects.
During the 1890s, one of Nebraska's most famous public figures rose in prominence: William Jennings Bryan, "the Boy Orator of the Platte," from Lincoln. He served Nebraska in the House of Representatives from 1890 to 1894. In 1896, 1900, and 1908, he won the Democrats' presidential nomination. His public speaking was galvanizing, thrilling his listeners. He advocated farmers' rights, and in his best-known speech, he declared that farmers should not be crucified "on a cross of gold."
In the 1920s, Nebraska had another boom. Like that of the 1880s, it was cut down by a depression, the Great Depression that lasted until America entered World War II (1939–1945). In the 1930s, a drought dried the land in most of Nebraska. The soil was composed of fine grains from decades of tilling, and high winds out of the southwest would pick it up and blow tons of it into the sky, blotting out the sun and penetrating everything from clothing to stored food. This was the era of the Dust Bowl. During Nebraska's worst year, 1935, Congress passed the Tri-County Pact, a federal irrigation project designed to help Nebraskans. By 1954, 1,300,000 acres were irrigated.
In 1937, Nebraska revised its constitution to create a unicameral legislature. Until 1937, Nebraska had a bicameral legislature, meaning it had two houses, a senate and a house of representatives, but the new unicameral legislature had only one house, the Senate. The constitution was further amended to make the Senate nonpartisan. The idea was to streamline the process of making laws and to minimize partisan bickering. The amendment became law partly because Nebraska's very popular United States Senator George W. Norris supported it. He went so far as to leave the Republican Party and run as an independent for reelection to the United States Senate, winning a fifth term.
Modern Era
In 1944, near the end of World War II, the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Project was passed by Congress, authorizing hydroelectric plants and reservoirs in states along the Missouri River. This contributed to the expansion of irrigation in Nebraska and to a boom in the 1950s that managed to defy another drought. This boom attracted investors, and corporations began buying farms, with farm sizes nearly doubling from 1950 to 2000, while the number of farms dropped by about 40 percent. People who had worked on farms moved to cities to work in manufacturing plants. In 1960, 54.3 percent of the population of 1,411,921 lived in cities, the first time a census recorded more Nebraskans living in urban areas than in rural areas. African Americans in Nebraskan cities began civil rights protests in 1963. The nationally recognized civil rights leader Malcolm X was born in Omaha.
In 1966, the state property tax seemed too much of a burden for small farmers, and Nebraska was trying to discourage out-of-staters from owning farms in the state and to encourage family ownership of farms. Thus, it revamped its tax structure, eliminating the state property tax while beginning an income tax and a sales tax to finance the state government.
During the 1970s, times were generally good, but in the 1980s, Nebraska went into a recession. Many people lost their farms. The Family Farm Preservation Act of 1982 passed by Nebraska's legislature was intended to help the small farmers with low-interest loans and tax breaks. In 1987, the legislature passed tax incentives to encourage more manufacturing in the state, hoping to create jobs. In 1986, Nebraska's race for governor featured for the first time two female nominees for the Republican and Democratic Parties, with Republican Kay Orr winning over Helen Boosalis.
In the 1990s, Nebraska slowly pulled out of its recession. Advances in farm equipment made it easier for a few people to manage a large farm or ranch, and investments in expensive new equipment were being paid off in an average of three years. This brought with it a significant increase in population, from 1,578,417 in 1990 to 1,713,235 in 2002.
Bibliography
Andreas, A. T. History of Nebraska. Lincoln: Nebraska State Historical Society, 1976 (circa 1882).
Creigh, Dorothy Weyer. Nebraska: A Bicentennial History. New York: Norton, 1977.
Johnson, J. R. Representative Nebraskans. Lincoln, Nebr.: Johnsen Publishing, 1954.
Mattes, Merrill J. The Great Platte River Road: The Covered Wagon Mainline Via Fort Kearney to Fort Laramie. Lincoln: Nebraska State Historical Society, 1969. About the Overland Trail.
McNair, Sylvia. Nebraska. New York: Children's Press, 1999.
Nebraska State Historical Society. Home page at http://www.nebraskahistory.org.
Olson, James C. History of Nebraska. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1955.
Wills, Charles A. A Historical Album of Nebraska. Brookfield, Conn.: Millbrook Press, 1994.
Facts and Figures
Area, 77,227 sq mi (200,018 sq km). Pop. (2000) 1,711,263, an 8.4% increase since the 1990 census. Capital, Lincoln. Largest city, Omaha. Statehood, Mar. 1, 1867 (37th state). Highest pt., 5,426 ft (1,655 m), Kimball Co.; lowest pt., 840 ft (256 m), SE corner of state. Nickname, Cornhusker State. Motto, Equality before the Law. State bird, Western meadowlark. State flower, goldenrod. State tree, cottonwood. Abbr., Nebr.; NE
Geography
Nebraska is roughly rectangular, except in the northeast and the east where the border is formed by the irregular course of the Missouri River and in the southwest where the state of Colorado cuts out a squared corner. The land rises more or less gradually from 840 ft (256 m) in the east to 5,300 ft (1,615 m) in the west. The great but shallow Platte River, formed in W Nebraska by the junction of the North Platte and the South Platte, flows across the state from west to east to join the Missouri S of Omaha. The Platte and the Missouri, together with their tributaries, give Nebraska all-important water sources that are essential to farming in this agrarian state. Underground water sources are also widely used for irrigation. The river valleys have long provided routes westward, and today the transcontinental railroads and highways follow the valleys.
From the Missouri westward over about half the state stretch undulating farm lands, where the fertile silt is underlaid by deep loess soil. Nebraska's population is concentrated there; many are farmers who produce grains for the consumer market or for feeding hogs and dairy cattle. In this region also lie Nebraska's two major cities—
To the west and northwest the Sand Hills of Nebraska fan out, their wind-eroded contours now more or less stabilized by grass coverage. Cattle graze on the slopes and tablelands, protected in the severe winters by the sand bluffs and the valleys. The climate is severely continental throughout Nebraska; a low of −40°F (−40°C) in the winter is not unusual, and during the short intense summers temperatures may easily reach 110°F (43°C). Rainfall is almost twice as heavy in the east as in the west. Yet in the west along the river valleys the mixture of silt and sand is watered enough to yield abundantly to cultivation, even under semiarid conditions. In the far west the land rises to the foothills of the Rocky Mts. and displays spectacular bedrock foundations.
Hundreds of fresh and alkali lakes in the state attract sportsmen and campers. The pioneers' migration west over the Oregon Trail is commemorated by the Scotts Bluff National Monument and the Chimney Rock National Historic Site. Other points of interest to the traveler include Father Flanagan's Boys Town, near Omaha; the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, near Valentine; and the Homestead National Monument, near Beatrice.
Economy
Agriculture is Nebraska's dominant occupational pursuit. The state's chief farm products are cattle, corn, hogs, soybeans, and wheat. Nebraska ranked second among the states in cattle production in 1997. Wheat farming flourishes on the southwest plateaus, while irrigation along the Platte and its tributaries has increased the sugar-beet crop. The Univ. of Nebraska maintains agricultural experiment stations throughout the state. A program of soil conservation includes a shelter belt running across the state to check the effect of wind erosion, and dryland-farming techniques have been encouraged. Forest conservation is stressed, and the state (the birthplace of Arbor Day) has been very active in planting forests.
Nebraska's largest industry is food processing, notably including beef production. The state has diversified its industries since World War II, and the manufacture of electrical machinery, primary metals, and transportation equipment is also important. Deposits of oil (discovered in Cheyenne co. in 1949–50) contribute to the state's economy. Omaha and Lincoln are centers for insurance and telecommunications industries, and Offutt Air Force Base, near Omaha, was the cold-war center of the Strategic Air Command.
Government and Higher Education
Nebraska's constitution was adopted in 1875. It was amended in 1982 to ensure that rangeland and farmland could be sold only to a Nebraska family-farm corporation. The executive branch is headed by a governor elected for a four-year term. By constitutional amendment in 1934 the legislature was made unicameral (it is unique in the United States), with 49 members elected on a nonpartisan basis for terms of four years. The state elects three representatives and two senators to the U.S. Congress and has five electoral votes in presidential elections. In 1986, Nebraska's Kay A. Orr became the first Republican woman to be elected governor of a state. E. Benjamin Nelson, a Democrat elected governor in 1990 and 1994, was succeeded by Mike Johanns, a Republican elected in 1998 and 2002. Johanns resigned in 2005 to become U.S. secretary of education, and was succeeded by fellow Republican Dave Heineman, who won election to the governorship in 2006.
The state's leading institution of higher education is the Univ. of Nebraska, at Lincoln, Omaha, and Kearney. Creighton Univ. is at Omaha.
History
Hunters, Explorers, and Fur Traders
Nebraska's soil has been farmed since prehistoric times, but the Native Americans of the plains—notably the Pawnee—devoted themselves more to hunting the buffalo than to farming, since buffalo, as well as the pronghorn antelope and smaller animals, were then abundant in the area. The Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and his men were the first Europeans to visit the region. They probably passed through Nebraska in 1541.
The French also came and in the 18th cent. engaged in fur trading, but development began only after the area passed from France to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The Lewis and Clark expedition (1804) and the explorations of Zebulon M. Pike (1806) increased knowledge of the country, but the activities of the fur traders were more immediately valuable in terms of settlement. Manuel Lisa, a fur trader, probably established the first trading post in the Nebraska area in 1813. Bellevue, the first permanent settlement in Nebraska, first developed as a trading post.
Steamboats and Wagon Trains
Steamboating on the Missouri River, initiated in 1819, brought business to the river ports of Omaha and Brownville. The natural highway formed by the Platte valley was used extensively by pioneers going west over the Oregon Trail and also the California Trail and the Mormon Trail. Nebraska settlers made money supplying the wagon trains with fresh mounts and pack animals as well as food.
Nebraska became a territory after passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. The territory, which initially extended from lat. 40°N to the Canadian border, was firmly Northern and Republican in sympathy during the Civil War. In 1863 the territory was reduced to its present-day size by the creation of the territories of Dakota and Colorado. Congress passed an enabling act for statehood in 1864, but the original provision in the state constitution limiting the franchise to whites delayed statehood until 1867.
Railroads, Ranches, and the Growth of Populism
In 1867 the Union Pacific RR was built across the state, and the land boom, already vigorous, became a rush. Farmers settled on free land obtained under the Homestead Act of 1862, and E Nebraska took on a settled look. The population rose from 28,841 in 1860 to 122,993 in 1870. The Pawnee were defeated in 1859, and by 1880 war with the Sioux and other Native American resistance was over. With the coming of the railroads, cow towns, such as Ogallala and Schuyler, were built up as shipping points on overland cattle trails. Buffalo Bill's Wild West Shows opened in Nebraska in 1882.
Farmers had long been staking out homestead claims across the Sand Hills to the high plains, but ranches also prospered in the state. The ranchers, trying to preserve the open range, ruthlessly opposed the encroachment of the farmers, but the persistent farmers won. Many conservationists believe that much of the land that was plowed under should have been left with grass cover to prevent erosion in later dust storms.
Nature was seldom kind to the people of Nebraska. Ranching was especially hard hit by the ruinous cold of the winter of 1880–81, and farmers were plagued by insect hordes from 1856 to 1875, by prairie fires, and by the recurrent droughts of the 1890s. Many farmers joined the Granger movement in the lean 1870s and the Farmers' Alliances of the 1880s. In the 1890s many beleaguered farmers, faced with ruin and angry at the monopolistic practices of the railroads and the financiers, formed marketing and stock cooperatives and showed their discontent by joining the Populist party. The first national convention of the Populist party was held at Omaha in 1892, and Nebraska's most famous son, William Jennings Bryan, headed the Populist and Democratic tickets in the presidential election of 1896. Populists held the governorship of the state from 1895 to 1901.
Twentieth-Century Changes
Improved conditions in the early 1900s caused Populism to decline in the state, and the return of prosperous days was marked by progressive legislation, the building of highways, and conservation measures. The flush of prosperity, largely caused by the demand for foodstuffs during World War I, was almost feverish. Overexpansion of credits and overconfidence made the depression of the 1920s and 30s all the more disastrous (see Great Depression). Many farmers were left destitute, and many others were able to survive only because of the moratorium on farm debts in 1932. They received federal aid in the desperate years of drought in the 1930s.
Better weather and the huge food demands of World War II renewed prosperity in Nebraska. After the war, efforts continued to make the best use of the water supply, notably in such federal plans as the Missouri River basin project, a vast dam and water-diversion scheme.
Recent attempts to diversify Nebraska's economic base to reduce dependence on meat processing and agriculture have made Lincoln, where state government and the Univ. of Nebraska generate many jobs, a business center, along with Omaha. Among noted Nebraskans have been the pioneer and historian Julius Sterling Morton, who originated Arbor Day, and authors Willa Cather, Mari Sandoz, John G. Neihardt, Loren Eisley, and Wright Morris, all of whom have vividly described the state.
Bibliography
See J. C. Olson, History of Nebraska (2d ed. 1966, repr. 1974); M. P. Lawson and R. E. Lonsdale, Economic Atlas of Nebraska (1977); D. W. Creigh, Nebraska: A History (1977); Nebraska (1985), “Geographies of the United States” series.
State in the midwestern United States bordered by South Dakota to the north, Iowa and Missouri to the east, Kansas to the south, and Colorado and Wyoming to the west. Its capital is Lincoln, and its largest city is Omaha.
Local Time: May 16, 3:19 PM
Local Time: May 16, 2:19 PM
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| State of Nebraska | |||||||||||
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| Official language(s) | English | ||||||||||
| Capital | Lincoln | ||||||||||
| Largest city | Omaha | ||||||||||
| Largest metro area | Omaha | ||||||||||
| Area | Ranked 16th | ||||||||||
| - Total | 77,421 sq mi (200,520 km²) |
||||||||||
| - Width | 210 miles (340 km) | ||||||||||
| - Length | 430 miles (690 km) | ||||||||||
| - % water | 0.7 | ||||||||||
| - Latitude | 40° N to 43° N | ||||||||||
| - Longitude | 95° 19' W to 104° 03' W | ||||||||||
| Population | Ranked 38th | ||||||||||
| - Total (2000) | 1,711,263 | ||||||||||
| - Density | 22.3/sq mi 8.6/km² (42nd) |
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| - Median income | $44,623 (20th) | ||||||||||
| Elevation | |||||||||||
| - Highest point | Panorama Point[1] 5,424 ft (1,653 m) |
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| - Mean | 2,592 ft (790 m) | ||||||||||
| - Lowest point | Missouri River[1] 840 ft (256 m) |
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| Admission to Union | March 1, 1867 (37th) | ||||||||||
| Governor | Dave Heineman (R) | ||||||||||
| U.S. Senators | Chuck Hagel (R) Ben Nelson (D) |
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| Congressional Delegation | List | ||||||||||
| Time zones | |||||||||||
| - most of state | Central: UTC-6/-5 | ||||||||||
| - panhandle | Mountain: UTC-7/-6 | ||||||||||
| Abbreviations | NE US-NE | ||||||||||
| Web site | www.nebraska.gov | ||||||||||
Nebraska (IPA: /nəˈbræskə/) is a
state located on the Great Plains of the
Nebraska is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwest; and Wyoming to the west. Nebraska has 93 counties; it also occupies the central portion of the Frontier Strip.
Nebraska is composed of two major land regions: the Dissected Till Plains and the Great Plains. The easternmost portion of the state was scoured by Ice Age glaciers; the Dissected Till Plains were left behind after the glaciers retreated. The Dissected Till Plains is a region of gently rolling hills; Omaha and Lincoln are located within this region.
The Great Plains occupy the majority of western Nebraska. The Great Plains itself is comprised of several smaller, diverse land regions, including the Sandhills, the Pine Ridge, the Rainwater Basin, the High Plains and the Wildcat Hills. Panorama Point, at 5,424 feet (1,653 m), is the highest point in Nebraska; despite its name and elevation, it is merely a low rise near the Colorado and Wyoming borders.
A past Nebraska tourism slogan was "Where the West Begins"; locations given for the beginning of the "West" include the Missouri River, the intersection of 13th and O Streets in Lincoln (where it is marked by a red brick star), the 100th meridian, and Chimney Rock.
Nebraska claims to have more miles of river than any other state.
Areas under the management of the National Park Service include:
Two major climates are represented in Nebraska: the eastern two-thirds of the state has a hot summer continental climate, and the western third of the state has a semiarid steppe climate. The entire state experiences wide seasonal variations in temperature and precipitation. Average temperatures are fairly uniform across Nebraska, while average annual precipitation decreases from about 31.5 inches (800 mm) in the southeast corner of the state to about 13.8 inches (350 mm) in the Panhandle. Snowfall across the state is fairly even, with most of Nebraska receiving between 25 and 35 inches (650 to 900 mm) of snow annually. [1]
Nebraska is located in Tornado Alley; thunderstorms are common in the spring and summer months. The chinook winds from the Rocky Mountains provide a temporary moderating effect on temperatures in western Nebraska during the winter months. [2], [3]
The National Wildlife Federation has found that global warming could have a harmful effect on Nebraska's ecology and economy,[3] promoting the kinds of drought that led to the Dust Bowl conditions of the 1930s and increasing the population and active season of disease-carrying mosquitos.
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. Recent legislation proposed by Senator Ernie Chambers continues a legacy that includes the Black
Panthers, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Creighton University's unique DePorres Club.
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1860 |
—
|
||
| 1870 | 326.5% | ||
| 1880 | 267.8% | ||
| 1890 | 134.9% | ||
| 1900 | 0.3% | ||
| 1910 | 11.8% | ||
| 1920 | 8.7% | ||
| 1930 | 6.3% | ||
| 1940 | -4.5% | ||
| 1950 | 0.7% | ||
| 1960 | 6.5% | ||
| 1970 | 5.1% | ||
| 1980 | 5.8% | ||
| 1990 | 0.5% | ||
| 2000 | 8.4% | ||
As of 2006, Nebraska has an estimated population of 1,768,331, which is an increase of 10,168, or 0.6%, from the prior year and an increase of 57,066, or 3.3%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 65,881 people (that is 160,471 births minus 94,590 deaths) and a decrease due to net migration of 5,233 people out of the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 26,224 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 31,457 people.
The center of population of Nebraska is located in Polk County, in the city of Shelby [4].
As of 2004, the population of Nebraska included about 84,000 foreign-born residents (4.8% of the population).
| Demographics of Nebraska (csv) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| By race | White | Black | AIAN | Asian | NHPI |
| AIAN is American Indian or Alaskan Native - NHPI is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | |||||
| 2000 (total population) | 93.53% | 4.48% | 1.32% | 1.58% | 0.11% |
| 2000 (Hispanic only) | 5.24% | 0.13% | 0.17% | 0.04% | 0.02% |
| 2005 (total population) | 93.06% | 4.82% | 1.31% | 1.85% | 0.11% |
| 2005 (Hispanic only) | 6.74% | 0.20% | 0.18% | 0.05% | 0.03% |
| Growth 2000-2005 (total population) | 2.25% | 10.52% | 1.72% | 20.76% | 5.53% |
| Growth 2000-2005 (non-Hispanic only) | 0.48% | 9.02% | 0.56% | 20.73% | 4.75% |
| Growth 2000-2005 (Hispanic only) | 32.17% | 61.17% | 9.63% | 22.13% | 8.10% |
The five largest ancestry groups in Nebraska are German (38.6%), Irish (12.4%), English (9.6%), Swedish (4.9%), and Czech (4.9%).
Nebraska has the largest Czech-American population (as a percentage of the total population) in the nation. German-Americans are the largest ancestry group in most of the state, particularly in the eastern counties. Thurston County (comprised entirely of the Omaha and Winnebago reservations) has a Native American majority, and Butler County is one of only two counties in the nation with a Czech-American plurality.
Eighty-nine percent of the cities in Nebraska have fewer than 3,000 people. Nebraska shares this characteristic with five other Midwest states (Kansas, Oklahoma, North and South Dakota, and Iowa). Hundreds of towns have a population of fewer than 1,000.
Fifty-three of Nebraska's 93 counties reported declining populations between 1990 and 2000, ranging from a 0.06% loss (Frontier County) to a 17.04% loss (Hitchcock County). While many areas of the state continue to suffer, others have experienced substantial growth. In 2000, the city of Omaha had a population of 390,007; in 2005, the city's estimated population was 414,521, a 6.3% increase over five years. The city of Lincoln had a 2000 population of 225,581 and a 2005 estimated population of 239,213, a 6.0% change.
This rural flight has also had an impact on schools with many schools needing to consolidate in order to survive.
The religious affiliations of the people of Nebraska are:
The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates of Nebraska's gross state product in 2004 was $68 billion. Per capita personal income in 2004 was $31,339, 25th in the nation.
Nebraska has a large agriculture sector, and is an important producer of beef, pork, corn (maize), and soybeans.[4] Other important economic sectors include freight transport (by rail and truck), manufacturing, telecommunications, information technology, and insurance.
Nebraska has four personal income tax brackets, ranging from 2.56% to 6.84%. Nebraska has
a state
Kool-Aid was created in 1927 by Edwin Perkins in the city of Hastings; it is the official soft drink of Nebraska. [5] CliffsNotes were invented in Rising City, Nebraska by Clifton Hillegass. His pamphlets were based on the original Canadian idea, "Coles Notes."
Omaha is home to Berkshire Hathaway, whose CEO
The world's largest train yard, Union Pacific's Bailey Yard, is located in North Platte. The Vise-Grip was invented and is still manufactured in De Witt. Memorial Stadium on the University of Nebraska campus in Lincoln holds 85,157 people. During football games, it holds almost twice the population of Bellevue (47,954) the third-most populous city in the state. The second-largest Powerball payout was on February 18 2006. It was $365 million and was split 8 ways by workers from a Lincoln food plant operated by ConAgra.
Nebraska has a rich railroad history. The Union Pacific Railroad, headquartered in Omaha, was incorporated on July 1, 1862, in the wake of the Pacific Railway Act of 1862. The route of the original transcontinental railroad runs through the state.
Other major railroads with operations in the state are: Amtrak; BNSF Railway; Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad; and Iowa Interstate Railroad.
The Interstate Highways in Nebraska are:
