History of Indiana

History of Indiana
The seal of Indiana reflects the state's pioneer era
Historical Periods
Pre-history	until 1670
French Rule	1679–1763
British Rule	1763–1783
U.S. Territorial Period	1783–1816
Indiana Statehood	1816–present
Major Events
Tecumseh's War War of 1812	1811–1814
Constitutional convention	June 1816
Polly v. Lasselle	1820
Capitol moved to Indianapolis	1825
Passage of the Mammoth Internal Improvement Act	1831
State Bankruptcy	1841
2nd Constitution	1851
Civil War	1860–1865
Gas Boom	1887–1905
Harrison elected president	1888
KKK scandal	1925

The history of human activity in Indiana, a US state in the Midwest, began with migratory tribes of Native Americans who inhabited Indiana as early as 8000 BC. Tribes succeeded one another in dominance for several thousand years and reached their peak of development during the period of Mississippian culture. The region entered recorded history in the 1670s when the first Europeans came to Indiana and claimed the territory for the Kingdom of France. After France ruled for 100 years (with little settlement in this area), it was defeated by Great Britain in the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War) and ceded its territory east of the Mississippi. Britain held the land for more than twenty years, until after its defeat in the American Revolutionary War. At that time, Britain ceded the entire trans-Allegheny region, including what is now Indiana, to the new United States.

The United States government divided the trans-Allegheny region into several new territories. The largest of these was the Northwest Territory, which was progressively divided into several smaller territories by the United States Congress. In 1800, the Indiana Territory was the first new territory established from a portion of the Northwest Territory. The territory grew in population and development until it was admitted to the Union in 1816 as the nineteenth state, Indiana. Following statehood, the newly established state government laid out on an ambitious plan to transform Indiana from a segment of the frontier into a developed, well populated, and thriving state. The state's founders initiated a program that led to the construction of roads, canals, railroads, and state-funded public schools. Despite the noble aims of the project, profligate spending ruined the state's credit. By 1841 the state was near bankruptcy and forced to liquidate most of its public works. By its new constitution of 1851, it restricted rights of free blacks and excluded them from the suffrage. During the 1850s, the state's population grew to exceed one million. The ambitious program of its founders was realized as Indiana became the fourth-largest state in terms of population, as measured by the 1860 census.