Nebraska is a state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. Nebraska probably gets its name from the archaic Otoe words or the Omaha Ní Btháska meaning "flat water," after the Platte River that flows through the state. Once considered part of the Great American Desert, it is now a leading farming and ranching state. Native American tribes in Nebraska have included the Iowas, Omahas, Missourias, Poncas, Pawnees, Otoes, and various branches of the Sioux.
On May 30, 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act created the Kansas Territory and the Nebraska Territory, divided by the Parallel 40° North. The territorial capital of Nebraska was Omaha.
In the 1860s, the first great wave of homesteaders poured into Nebraska to claim free land granted by the federal government. Many of the first farm settlers built their homes out of sod because they found so few trees on the grassy land.
Nebraska became the 37th state in 1867, shortly after the American Civil War. At that time, the capital was moved from Omaha to Lancaster, later renamed Lincoln after the recently assassinated President of the United States Abraham Lincoln.
*Information and picture from Wikipedia.org.
