This map shows the treaties that were made with Native American tribes to gain the land that would become Nebraska. This website has excellent information on all of the specific treaties: http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0500/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0500/stories/0503_0100.html
In the 1800's the main tribes living in Nebraska's harsh environment were the Pawnee, Omaha, Oto-Missouria, Ponca, Lakota (Sioux), and Cheyenne. Some tribes had at this time settled into villages and lived in earth lodges. They mainly farmed and hunted buffalo. Others were more nomadic and lived in teepees.
To the right is a photo of an earth lodge and on the right is a replica of a teepee
NebraskaStudies.org has excellent information on the interaction between the homesteaders and the native americans:
Conflict and Negotiation with European Settlers
"lIn the years after the Homestead Act, Europeans moved in ever greater numbers into Native American territory. In the 1860s and '70s, the United States Army was engaged in war with the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes. The Pawnee tribe had fought these other tribes for years, and so the Army turned to the Pawnee for help against a common foe.
The Pawnees became scouts. They were very successful in helping protect the railroad as it was being built across Nebraska, and they accompanied several U.S. Amy expeditions against the warring Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho. But, by the late 1870s, the Pawnee Scouts were disbanded, and the U.S. Government had removed most members of the Pawnee tribe from Nebraska to Indian Territory south of Nebraska.
The Lakota (Sioux), on the other hand, had much more trouble with early emigrants, and their experience sets the stage for the history of homesteading. Trouble with whites began with the California gold rush. In 1850 approximately 50,000 gold seekers traveled the Overland Trail through the heart of Lakota country. The Lakota did not take kindly to these newcomers crossing their land, competing for resources. The government tried to intervene by peaceful means.
Ft. Laramie Treaty of 1851. In 1851 government officials met with Cheyenne, Crow, Blackfeet, Arapaho, Assiniboine, Dakota, Lakota and Nakota tribal members at Fort Laramie, just west of what would become Nebraska in Wyoming. Approximately 10,000 Native Americans camped and talked with U.S. representatives. The tribes and the government negotiated a treaty that had several main points:
The treaty called for peace and friendship among rival tribes.
It promised each tribe $50,000 each year for 10 years.
In exchange, the treaty recognized the U.S. government's right to establish roads and forts and the rights of immigrants to travel on the Overland Trail in peace.
The treaty drew lines on the map where tribes were allowed to hunt and fish; later treaties established actual reservations.
And the treaty allowed the government to without the money if the tribes violated the terms of the agreement. The Fort Laramie Treaty set the precedent for U.S. recognition of tribal sovereign rights, and it set off several decades of treaty negotiations and agreements that eventually transferred almost all of the tribal lands to the U.S.
Unfortunately the peace did not last. In 1854 — eight years before the Homestead Act — some Lakota near Fort Laramie butchered an emigrant's cow they thought was abandoned. Lt. John Grattan and 29 soldiers were sent to investigate the incident. Grattan opened fire on the Indian camp. The Indians retaliated, killing all of the soldiers. The next year Gen. William Harney was ordered to restore peace on the trail. He found a Lakota camp at Blue Water Creek in Garden County and attacked it, although the camp residents had nothing to do with the Grattan slaughter. Harney's troops killed 136 men, women, and children. Although peace was restored, pressure continued to build, and war broke out again in 1863 with attacks on Overland Trail travelers. In 1867 the Lakota pushed eastward and attacked a Union Pacific railroad train in Dawson County, Nebraska. Attempts at peaceful settlements resulted in payments of food, guns, and other goods to the Lakota.
There were similar conflicts during the early homestead period with a band of Cheyenne in the Republican River valley of south central Nebraska. Again, a military expedition was sent out in 1869 to subdue the Cheyenne. The campaign killed 50 warriors.
For the immigrants, the threat they felt from Native Americans was probably greater than the actual history. There was conflict — theft, fights and murder on both sides. But there were also hundreds of treaty negotiations across the continent. These treaties lessened the conflict and, more importantly, transferred legal title for land that native tribal people had lived and hunted on for centuries to the U.S. "
About 1/3 of American Indians now live on reservations in the United States. There are 281 reservations in the U.S. and most of them are located in the Great Plains region and the Empty Interior.
Below are some of the reservations in Nebraska:
Reservation: Niobrara
Tribes: Santee Sioux
Acres:
Established by: Act of Mar. 3, 1863 (XII, 819); treaty of Apr. 29, 1868 (XV, 637); Executive orders, Feb. 27, July 20, 1866, Nov. 16, 1867, Aug. 31, 1869, Dee. 31, 1873, and Feb. 9, 1885. 32,875.75 acres were selected as homesteads, 38,908.01 acres as allotments, find 1,130.70 acres for agency, school, and mission purposes; unratified agreement of Oct. 17, 1882. (For modification see sundry civil appropriation act approved Mar. 3, 1883, XXII, 624. For text, see misc. Indian doc., vol. 14, p. 305.) Act of Apr. 30. 1888 (xxv, 94), not accepted.
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Reservation: Omaha
Tribes: Omaha
Acres: 12,421
Established by: Treaty of Mar. 16, 1854 (X, 1043); selection by Indians with the President's approval, May 11, 1855; treaty of Mar. 6, 1865 (XIV, 667); act of June 10, 1872 (XVII, 391); act of June 22, 1874 (XVIII, 170); deed to Winnebago Indians, dated July 31, 1874: act of Aug. 7, 1882 (XXII, 341): act of Mar. 3. 1893 (XXVII, 612); 129,470 acres allotted to 1,577 Indians; the residue, 12,421 acres, unallotted.
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Reservation: Ponca
Tribes: Ponca
Acres:
Established by: Treaty of Mar. 12, 1858 (XII, 997), and supplemental treaty Mar. 10, 1865 (XIV, 675); act of Mar. 2, 1899 (XXV, 892). 27,202.08 acres were allotted to 167 Indians, and 160 acres reserved and occupied by agency and school buildings. (See President's proclamation, Oct. 23, 1890, XXVI, 1559)
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Reservation: Sioux (additional)
Tribes: Oglala Sioux
Acres: 640
Established by: Executive order, Jan. 24, 1882.
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Reservation: Winnebago
Tribes: Winnebago
Acres: 1,711
Established by: Act of Feb. 21, 1863(XII,658): treaty of Mar. 8, 1865 (XIV, 671): act of June 22,1874 (XVIII, 170); deed from Omaha Indians, dated July 31, 1874 (Indian Deeds, VI, 215). 106,040.82 acres were allotted to 1,200 Indians; 480 acres reserved for agency, etc.; the residue, 1,710.80 acres, unallotted.
European Settlement
In the 1860s following the Homestead act many settlers came to Nebraska to claim the free land. They joined the Native Americans that were already there. Before the homesteaders French and Spanish fur traders arrived in the 1700s. In the 1800s the immigrants were largely European: Scandinavian, German, and Irish. People also came to Nebraska from the Eastern states. "For the most part North America's ethnic mosaic resulted from a movement toward opportunity" (Regions).
Non-European Settlement
Blacks brought to the South as part of the slave trade also settled in Nebraska. "In 1855, Sally Bayne arrived in Omaha and is counted as the first free African American to settle in the Nebraska Territory. Before that, both slaves and free blacks had traveled through on the Oregon trail and settled on the west coast. Gradually, along with whites, blacks stopped and settled in Nebraska. There were 25 African Americans recorded for the 1860 territorial census. And the Homestead Act provided another incentive for settlement." ( http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0500/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0500/stories/0504_0100.html)
Population Distribution Today
Nebraska is still a pretty rural state. In many areas, as seen in the map above, there was a negative population change. As residents leave Nebraska in search of greater opportunity, many small towns are dying out.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/31000.html
The US census bureau website has really interesting information on population facts for Nebraska; if you are interested you could find similar information for all of Nebraska's different counties. Below are the values for Nebraska and the U.S. as a whole:
Population, 2008 estimate 1,783,432 304,059,724
Population, percent change, April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2008 4.2% 8.0%
Population estimates base (April 1) 2000 1,711,266 281,424,602
Persons under 5 years old, percent, 2008 7.4% 6.9%
Persons under 18 years old, percent, 2008 25.1% 24.3%
Persons 65 years old and over, percent, 2008 13.5% 12.8%
Female persons, percent, 2008 50.4% 50.7%
White persons, percent, 2008 (a) 91.4% 79.8%
Black persons, percent, 2008 (a) 4.5% 12.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native persons, percent, 2008 (a) 1.1% 1.0%
Asian persons, percent, 2008 (a) 1.7% 4.5%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, percent, 2008 (a) 0.1% 0.2%
Persons reporting two or more races, percent, 2008 1.3% 1.7%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, percent, 2008 (b) 7.9% 15.4%
White persons not Hispanic, percent, 2008 84.1% 65.6%
Living in same house in 1995 and 2000, pct 5 yrs old & over 54.7% 54.1%
Foreign born persons, percent, 2000 4.4% 11.1%
Language other than English spoken at home, pct age 5+, 2000 7.9% 17.9%
High school graduates, percent of persons age 25+, 2000 86.6% 80.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher, pct of persons age 25+, 2000 23.7% 24.4%
Persons with a disability, age 5+, 2000 250,534 49,746,248
Mean travel time to work (minutes), workers age 16+, 2000 18.0 25.5
Housing units, 2007 780,804 127,901,934
Homeownership rate, 2000 67.4% 66.2%
Housing units in multi-unit structures, percent, 2000 20.0% 26.4%
Median value of owner-occupied housing units, 2000 $88,000 $119,600
Households, 2000 666,184 105,480,101
Persons per household, 2000 2.49 2.59
Median household income, 2007 $47,072 $50,740
Per capita money income, 1999 $19,613 $21,587
Persons below poverty, percent, 2007 11.1% 13.0%
Business QuickFacts Nebraska USA
Private nonfarm establishments with paid employees, 2006 51,9061 7,601,160
Private nonfarm employment, 2006 789,2311 119,917,165
Private nonfarm employment, percent change 2000-2006 5.1%1 5.1%
Nonemployer establishments, 2006 117,336 20,768,555
Total number of firms, 2002 145,380 22,974,655
Black-owned firms, percent, 2002 1.4% 5.2%
American Indian and Alaska Native owned firms, percent, 2002 0.3% 0.9%
Asian-owned firms, percent, 2002 1.0% 4.8%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander owned firms, percent, 2002 0.0% 0.1%
Hispanic-owned firms, percent, 2002 1.4% 6.8%
Women-owned firms, percent, 2002 26.6% 28.2%
Manufacturers shipments, 2002 ($1000) 30,610,970 3,916,136,712
Wholesale trade sales, 2002 ($1000) 26,155,770 4,634,755,112
Retail sales, 2002 ($1000) 20,249,200 3,056,421,997
Retail sales per capita, 2002 $11,729 $10,615
Accommodation and foodservices sales, 2002 ($1000) 2,088,710 449,498,718
Building permits, 2008 6,346 905,359
Federal spending, 2007 ($1000) 13,986,1191 2,536,629,4052
Geography QuickFacts Nebraska USA
Land area, 2000 (square miles) 76,872.41 3,537,438.44
Persons per square mile, 2000 22.3 79.6
FIPS Code 31
Religion
The religious affiliations of the people of Nebraska are:
Christian – 90%
Protestant – 61%
Lutheran – 16%
Methodist – 11%
Baptist – 9%
Presbyterian – 4%
Other Protestant – 21%
Roman Catholic – 28%
Other Christian – 1%
Other religions – 1%
Non-religious – 9%
The largest single denominations by number of adherents in 2000 were the Catholic Church (372,791), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (128,570), the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (117,419) and the United Methodist Church (117,277).[11]
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