Author Indiana

Indians", or simply "Indian Land". The name dates back to at least the 1768 Indiana Land Company, and was first used by Congress when Indiana Territory was created, at which time the territory was unceded Indian land.[5][6] Angel Mounds State Historic Site, one of the best preserved prehistoric Native American sites in the United States, can be found in Southwestern Indiana near Evansville.[7] The first people to live in what is now Indiana were the Paleo-Indians, ingressing about 8000 BC after the melting of the glaciers at the conclusion of the Ice Age. Divided into small groups, the Paleo-Indians were nomads who hunted large game such as Mastodons. They created stone tools made out of chert by chipping, knapping and flaking.[8] The subsequent phase of Indiana's Native American antiquity is called the Archaic period, which occurred between 5000 and 4000 BC. They differed from the Paleo-Indians in that they used new tools and techniques to prepare food. Such new tools included different types of spear points and knives, with various forms of notches. They also used ground stone tools such as stone axes, woodworking tools and grinding stones. During the latter part of the period, mounds and middens were created, indicating that their settlements were becoming more permanent. The Archaic period ended at about 1500 BC, although some Archaic people lived until 700 BC.[8] Afterwards, the Woodland period took place in Indiana, where various new cultural attributes appeared. During this period, ceramics and pottery were created as well as the increase of usage in horticulture. An early Woodland period group named the Adena people had elegant burial rituals, featuring log tombs beneath earth mounds. In the middle portion of the Woodland period, the Hopewell people began exploration of long-range trade of goods. Nearing the end of the stage, an exhaustive cultivation and adaptation of agriculture to grow crops such as corn and squash. The Woodland period ended around 1000 AD.[8] The incoming period afterwards was known as the Mississippian period, which lasted from 1000 to 1650 AD. During this stage, large settlements were created that had similarities to towns, such as the Angel Mounds. They had large public areas such as plazas and platform mounds, where instrumental individuals of the settlement lived or conducted rituals.[8] French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was the first European to cross into Indiana after reaching present-day South Bend at the Saint Joseph River in 1679. He returned the following year to gain knowledge of northern Indiana. French fur traders also came along and brought blankets, jewelry, tools, whiskey and weapons to trade for skins with the Native Americans. By 1732, the French had made three trading posts along the Wabash River with the efforts to control Native American trade routes from Lake Erie to the Mississippi River. In a period of a few years, the British arrived and contended against the French for management of the fruitful fur trade. Fighting between the French and British occurred throughout the 1750s as a result. Due to mistreatment from the British, the Native American tribes sided with the French during the French and Indian War. By the conclusion of the war in 1763, the French had lost all land west of the colonies, and control had been ceded to the british crown. Neighboring tribes in Indiana, however, did not give up and destroyed Fort Ouiatenon and Fort Miami during Pontiac's Rebellion. The royal proclamation of 1763 ceded the land west of the Appalachians for Indian use, and was thus labelled Indian territory. In 1775, the American Revolutionary War began as the colonists looked to free themselves from British rule. The majority of the fighting took place in the east, but military officer George Rogers Clark called for an army to help fight the British in the west.[9] Clark's army won significant battles to overtake Vincennes and Fort Sackville on February 25, 1779.[10] During the war, Clark managed to cut off British troops who were attacking the colonist from the west. His success is often credited for changing the course of the American Revolutionary War.[11] At the end of the revolutionary war, through the treaty of Paris, the British crown ceded the land south of the great lakes to the newly formed United States. They did so without the input of the indian tribes living in the area. The tribes were not party to the treaty. Some scholars argue that because of this lack of representation, Indians rights to the land were unfairly ceded to the US by the British Crown. Present-day Indiana became part of the Northwest Territory in 1787. In 1800, Ohio was separated from the Northwest Territory by Congress, designating the rest of the land as the Indiana Territory.[12] President Thomas Jefferson chose William Henry Harrison as the governor of the territory and Vincennes was established as the capital.[13] After Michigan was separated and the Illinois Territory was formed, the size of Indiana was reduced to its current state.[12] In 1810, Shawnee leader Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa encouraged other tribes to resist European settlement into the territory. Supporters of Tecumseh formed Prophetstown while Harrison countered by building Fort Harrison nearby. The fort was often targeted by Prophetstown for attacks. Using the attacks as a reason to invade Prophetstown, Harrison went on the offensive and defeated the Native Americans in the Battle of Tippecanoe on November 7, 1811. After the attack, Tecumseh, who was away during the battle, went to different tribes to encourage them to retaliate. For nearly two years, his followers killed and kidnapped settlers and burned their homes. Tecumseh was killed in 1813 during the Battle of Thames. After his death, while some Native Americans returned to their settlements, others fled the area or were forced to go further west.[14] In December 1813, Corydon was established as the capital of the Indiana Territory.[12] Two years later, a petition for statehood was approved by the Indiana legislature and sent to Congress. Afterwards, an Enabling Act was passed to provide an election of delegates to write a constitution for Indiana. On June 10, 1816, delegates assembled at Corydon to write the constitution, which was completed in nineteen days. President James Madison approved Indiana's admission into the union as the nineteenth state on December 11, 1816.[10] In 1825, the state capital was moved from Corydon to Indianapolis and 26 years later, a new constitution was adopted.[12] Following statehood, the new government set out on an ambitious plan to transform Indiana from a wilderness frontier into a developed, well-populated, and thriving state to accommodate for significant demographic and economic changes. The state's founders initiated a program that led to the construction of roads, canals, railroads and state-funded public schools. The plans nearly bankrupted the state and were a financial disaster, but increased land and produce value more than fourfold.[15] During the American Civil War, Indiana became politically influential and played an important role in the affairs of the nation. As the first western state to mobilize for the war, Indiana's soldiers were present in all of the major engagements during the war. Indiana residents were present in both the first and last battles and the state provided 126 infantry regiments, 26 batteries of artillery and 13 regiments of cavalry to the cause of the Union.[16] In 1861, Indiana was assigned a quota of 7,500 men to join the Union Army.[17] So many volunteered in the first call that thousands had to be turned away. Before the war ended, Indiana contributed 208,367 men to fight and serve in the war. Casualties were over 35% among these men: 24,416 lost their lives in the conflict and over 50,000 more were wounded.[18] The only Civil War battle fought in Indiana was the Battle of Corydon, which occurred during Morgan's Raid. The battle left 15 dead, 40 wounded, and 355 captured.[19] Following the American Civil War, Indiana industry began to grow at an accelerated rate across the northern part of the state leading to the formation of labor unions and suffrage movements.[20] The Indiana Gas Boom led to rapid industrialization during the late 19th century.[21] In the early 20th century, Indiana developed into a strong manufacturing state.[22] The state also saw many developments with the construction of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the takeoff of the auto industry.[23] During the 1930s, Indiana, like the rest of the nation, was affected by the Great Depression. The economic downturn had a wide-ranging negative impact on Indiana, such as the decline of urbanization. The situation was aggravated by the Dust Bowl, which caused an influx of migrants from the rural Midwestern United States. Governor Paul V. McNutt's administration struggled to build a state-funded welfare system to help the overwhelmed private charities. During his administration, spending and taxes were both cut drastically in response to the depression and the state government was completely reorganized. McNutt also ended Prohibition in the state and enacted the state's first income tax. On several occasions, he declared martial law to put an end to worker strikes.[24] World War II helped lift the economy in Indiana, as the war required steel, food and other goods that were produced in Indiana.[25] Roughly 10 percent of Indiana's population joined the armed forces while hundreds of industries earned war production contracts and began making war material.[26] The effects of the war helped end the Great Depression.[25]