Oklahoma has a turbulent history. Thousands of Native Americans were marched here from their homelands in the south, after the state was declared an Indian Territory in 1834. Four thousand Cherokee died of starvation and cold en route, on the infamous Trail of Tears. In the 1880s the Indians were relocated once more, as land-hungry white settlers muscled in. Today, an abundance of museums are devoted to Native American history and culture; Tulsa’s Gilcrease Museum is one of the biggest and best.
An oil boom briefly brought prosperity to Oklahoma in the 1920s, only to be followed by the Great Depression. Thousands of destitute "Okie" farmers left their homes and set off west to California, inspiring John Steinbeck’s classic The Grapes of Wrath.
The state’s capital, the sprawling Oklahoma City, is no beauty, although multi-million pound initiatives have improved matters considerably; a handful of excellent museums add to its appeal. Oklahoma’s artistic and cultural hub, though, is Tulsa, located in the verdant, wooded Green Country in the northeast. In the south, the Kiamichi, Ouachita and Wichita Mountains have their own wild beauty.
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