Oklahoma City Essay Example for Free

Oklahoma City Essay This paper will describe the historical geography of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma’s states capital. There are several sections to this assignment, which starts with the original settlers in this city, their motivation to inhabit the area and research on their ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds. The paper then progresses to describe the economy basis in the early years, its development over the years and the changes in the population, socio-economic, physical and cultural background, which appeals to tourists. At the finale of this essay, they will be a segment which highlights the well-known personalities which were born in Oklahoma City and their corresponding achievements. It took approximately 100 years from its day of birth on April 22 1889 for Oklahoma City to be the metropolitan it is today. Oklahoma was first recorded in history in the year 1541, when they were the home to Plains Indian tribe, consisting of Osage, Kiowa, Apache and Comanche (Gibson, 1965). Subsequently, in the year 1803, the United States purchased Oklahoma as a piece of the Louisiana Purchase. Seventeen years later, the federal government forced the Five Civilized Tribes to leave their homeland in southeastern United States, such as Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi River to other parts of the country, namely Oklahoma. Gibson (1965) in his book Oklahoma: The History of Five Centuries also detailed the Trail of Tears in 1838 in which many men, women and children were forced to walk a torturous journey to Oklahoma, and some even lost their lives. Here we notice the changeover of settlers from the Plains Indians Tribe to the Five Tribes and upon this settlement, Oklahoma became an Indian Territory. Cultural, Ethnic Religious Background The Five Tribes relied primarily on maize agriculture, fishing and hunting. Households generally included the extended families with kinship based on matrilineal clean system. Temple architectures, ceremonial centers and elaborate rituals such as the Corn Dance existed, as a tribute to the growing of corn and respect to the Sun. They also made traditional crafts such as coiled pottery, natural fiber blankets and articles of shaped copper (Stein Hill, 1993). The next settlers who made Oklahoma their home were the cowboys. Coming from their home in Texas, they were out to sell beef to the East Coast where there was a huge demand for it. They soon realized that that fastest way to get to their final destination was to cut through Oklahoma, which was not only closer to the railroads; it was also an excellent location to rear cattle. The cowboys began to research and found out that there was a piece of land which was not a part of the Indian Territory: the Unassigned Lands. Finally on April 22 1889, President Benjamin Harrison signed a legislation that opened up the 2 million acres of Unassigned Lands to these settlers. Oklahoma was officially the nation’s 46th state on November 16 1907, when the Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory merged (Baird, 1994). Economical and Social Development Oklahoma City started with approximately 10,000 people in 1800’s, and a drastic increase to 718737 in 1970, and 1,143,404 people in 2005. By the year 1900, Oklahoma Territory had slightly more than 19,000,000 acres which were used for cultivation. Oklahoma’s another source of income started off with agriculture, which begin in a small way and in the early 1900’s, nearly every farmer owned cattle which they could sell for an annual income and also for supply for food. This immense development in agriculture and stock rising fascinated many people from the neighboring states (Dale Wardell, 1948). Many believed that oil was the main reason for the influx in people and money, from the early 1900 till sometime around the 1960s. The City suffered the biggest hit in the 1960s’ when the oil supply started to draw to a close. After the oil-dominated days, Oklahoma City started to diversity with a great selection of businesses, such as agriculture, aviation, healthcare and manufacturing. Among the facts to illustrate Oklahoma’s high points is that it is the home to approximately 150 Fortune 500 facilities, such as ATT, Sonic, OGE Energy and Oklahoma Publishing Company. Oklahoma is also the largest tire producing state in the country, and Oklahoma’s Aviation and Aerospace industry employs over 143000 employees and generates 10% of the states industrial output (First Commercial Real Estates Corporation, 2003). Being the nations major processing centers for an assortment of ranch products, the metropolis is abode to the worlds prime stocker and feeder cattle market. Farm animals are also big industry in Oklahoma City, extending back to the state’s days as a key cattle center and access to westward development. The city is known as the Horse Show Capital of the World for the nine major national and international horse shows held annually. Further current and upcoming businesses include fabricated metal, computers, clothing lines, oil-field gears, crude oil, distribution and food processing. Oklahoma City’s Current Landscape Oklahoma City Museum of Art and Oklahoma National Memorial and Museum are the two most prominent tourist attractions today. The storyline for the museum represents the instances following to the bombing, investigation and capture of bomber, Timothy McVeigh. Tourists also get to revisit another piece of history at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum which has a huge collection of materials from the Wild West, pictures and monuments and the Rodeo Hall of Fame. The Frontier City in Oklahoma is a rebuilt 1880s Oklahoma settlement and an amusement park. It has more than 50 rides, such as roller coasters and water rides. It also prides itself with the live shows and musical reviews. Personalities from Oklahoma City There are numerous personalities who were born or lived Oklahoma city, amongst them are James Garner, Bill Goldberg, Vince Gill, Tisha Campbell, Thomas P Stafford, Shannon Miller, Dennis Weaver and Ralph Ellison (Wikipedia, 2007). For the purpose of this paper, three personalities will be highlighted: James Garner, Shannon Lee Miller and Tisha Campell-Martin. James Garner is a well-known actor who has starred in films including The Great Escape and the Americanization of Emily. He was also the proud owner of American International Racers (AIR) from 1967 to 1969 (Alvey, 2007). Shannon Lee Miller is gymnast from Oklahoma who has won more than 15 medals. Miller does Oklahoma City proud by being the first and only American gymnast to be the World All-Around Champion for two consecutive years from 1993. However in 2000, she broke her leg and lost out on an opportunity to be in the Olympic team for the third time. Since then, Miller has turned to the academics and is currently pursuing a degree in law (People Magazine, 2006) . Tisha Campbell-Martin, the â€Å"My Wife and Kids† fame was born in Oklahoma City, but grew up in Newark and subsequently entered the show-business with several notable performances. She enrolled in the American Film Institute and the Writer’s Boot Camp to expand on her current skillsets and went on to produce a short film titled ‘A Luv Tale’ which won the Audience Choice Award in the Black Hollywood Film Festival. She and husband Duane Martin currently reside in California with their six year old son. Campbell has now ventured into writing- her latest projects being a cookbook and a novel (IMDB, 2007).