Oklahoma is a state in the South Central region of the United States.
The state’s name is derived from the Choctaw words okla and humma, meaning “honored people”. Although “humma” can be defined as “red”, Cyrus Byington stressed that the word is usually applied as an honorific that denotes courage and bravery. Oklahoma is also known informally by its nickname, “The Sooner State”, in reference to the non-Native settlers who staked their claims on land before the official opening date of lands in the western Oklahoma Territory or before the Indian Appropriations Act of 1889, which increased European-American settlement in the eastern Indian Territory. Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory were merged into the State of Oklahoma when it became the 46th state to enter the union on November 16, 1907.
Oklahoma is on a confluence of three major American cultural regions and historically served as a route for cattle drives, a destination for Southern settlers, and a government-sanctioned territory for Native Americans. Twenty-five Native American languages are spoken in Oklahoma.
