Spanish explorer Francisco de
Coronado, in 1541, is considered the first European
to have traveled this region. Sieur de la Salle's
extensive land claims for France (1682) included
present-day Kansas. Ceded to Spain by France in
1763, the territory reverted to France in 1800 and
was sold to the U.S. as part of the Louisiana
Purchase in 1803.
Lewis and Clark, Zebulon Pike, and Stephen H. Long
explored the region between 1803 and 1819. The first
permanent white settlements in Kansas were
outposts—Fort Leavenworth (1827), Fort Scott (1842),
and Fort Riley (1853)—established to protect
travelers along the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails.
Just before the Civil War, the conflict between the
pro- and anti-slavery forces earned the region the
grim title of Bleeding Kansas.
Today, wheat fields, oil-well derricks, herds of
cattle, and grain-storage elevators are chief
features of the Kansas landscape. A leading
wheat-growing state, Kansas also raises corn,
sorghum, oats, barley, soybeans, and potatoes.
Kansas stands high in petroleum production and mines
zinc, coal, salt, and lead. It is also the nation's
leading producer of helium.
Wichita is one of the nation's leading
aircraft-manufacturing centers, ranking first in
production of private aircraft. Kansas City is an
important transportation, milling, and meat-packing
center.
Points of interest include the Kansas History Center
at Topeka, the Eisenhower boyhood home and the
Eisenhower Memorial Museum and Presidential Library
at Abilene, John Brown's cabin at Osawatomie,
re-created Front Street in Dodge City, Fort Larned
(an important military post on the Santa Fe Trail),
Fort Leavenworth, and Fort Riley. |
