Tulsa County

Tulsa County, Oklahoma
Tulsa County Courthouse
Location in the U.S. state of Oklahoma
Oklahoma's location in the U.S.
Founded	1907
Named for	city of Tulsa
Seat	Tulsa
Largest city	Tulsa
Area
• Total	587 sq mi (1,520 km2)
• Land	570 sq mi (1,476 km2)
• Water	17 sq mi (44 km2), 2.9%
Population (est.)
• (2015)	639,242
• Density	1,121.5/sq mi (433/km²)
Congressional district	1st
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website	www.tulsacounty.org

Tulsa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 603,403, making it the second-most populous county in Oklahoma, behind only Oklahoma County. Its county seat and largest city is Tulsa, the second-largest city in the state. Founded at statehood, in 1907, it was named after the previously established city of Tulsa. Before statehood, the area was part of both the Creek Nation and the Cooweescoowee District of Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory.

Tulsa County is included in the Tulsa, OK Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Tulsa County is notable for being the most densely populated county in the state. Tulsa County also ranks as having the highest-income.

The history of Tulsa County greatly overlaps the history of the city of Tulsa. This section addresses events that largely occurred outside the present city limits of Tulsa.

The Lasley Vore Site, along the Arkansas River south of Tulsa, was claimed by University of Tulsa anthropologist George Odell to be the most likely place where Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe first encountered a group of Wichita people in 1719. Odell's statement was based on finding both Wichita and French artifacts there during an architectural dig in 1988.

The U. S. Government's removal of Native American tribes from the southeastern United States to "Indian Territory" did not take into account how that would impact the lives and attitudes of the nomadic tribes that already used the same land as their hunting grounds. At first, Creek immigrants stayed close to Fort Gibson, near the confluence of the Arkansas and Verdigris rivers. However, the government encouraged newer immigrants to move farther up the Arkansas. The Osage tribe had agreed to leave the land near the Verdigris, but had not moved far and soon threatened the new Creek settlements.