Tulsa, Oklahoma

Tulsa (/ˈtʌlsə/ ^ⓘ TUL-sə) is the second-most-populous city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma and the 48th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa metropolitan area, a region with 1.06 million residents. The city serves as the county seat of Tulsa County, the most densely populated county in Oklahoma, with urban development extending into Osage, Rogers and Wagoner counties.

Tulsa was settled between 1828 and 1836 by the Lochapoka band of Creek Native Americans, and was formally incorporated in 1898. Most of Tulsa is still part of the territory of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Northwest Tulsa lies in the Osage Nation whereas North Tulsa is within the Cherokee Nation.

Historically, a robust energy sector fueled Tulsa's economy; however, today the city has diversified and leading sectors include finance, aviation, telecommunications and technology. Two institutions of higher education within the city have sports teams at the NCAA Division I level: the University of Tulsa and Oral Roberts University. As well, the University of Oklahoma has a secondary campus at the Tulsa Schusterman Center, and Oklahoma State University has a secondary campus located in downtown Tulsa. For most of the 20th century, the city held the nickname "Oil Capital of the World" and played a major role as one of the most important hubs for the American oil industry.

It is situated on the Arkansas River in the western foothills of the Ozark Mountains, south of the Osage Hills (which extend into Northwest Tulsa) in northeast Oklahoma, a region of the state known as "Green Country". Considered the cultural and arts center of Oklahoma, Tulsa houses two accredited art museums, full-time professional opera and ballet companies, and one of the nation's largest concentrations of art deco architecture.

The area where Tulsa now exists is considered Indian Territory, on the land of the Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo), Wahzhazhe Ma zha (Osage), Muscogee (Creek), and Caddo tribes, among others. It was initially named after a Muscogee settlement in the southeastern United States called Tvlahasse with the short form Tallasi in the Muscogee language, which became Tullahassee or Tallise in Spanish. Etvlwv ahassee means "old town" in the Muscogean language. In 1540, Hernando de Soto became the first European to visit and document the original Tulsa in the southeast. Tvlahasse was a member of the Creek Confederacy and had a strong relationship with the town of Locvpokv and members of the two towns largely settled together after Indian Removal and the Trail of Tears in modern-day Tulsa.

On March 28, 1836, Opothleyahola and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation established a small settlement called Lochapoka ("place of turtles" in Creek) under the Creek Council Oak Tree at the present-day intersection of Cheyenne Avenue and 18th Street. The area around Tulsa was also settled by members of the other so-called "Five Civilized Tribes" who had been relocated to Oklahoma from the Southern United States. Most of modern Tulsa is located in the Creek Nation, with parts located in the Cherokee and Osage Nations.

Although Oklahoma was not yet a state during the Civil War, Indian Territory saw its share of fighting. The Battle of Chusto-Talasah took place on Bird Creek, and several battles and skirmishes took place in nearby counties. After the War, the tribes signed Reconstruction treaties with the federal government that in some cases required substantial land concessions. In the years after the Civil War and around the turn of the century, the area along the Arkansas River that is now Tulsa was periodically home to or visited by a series of colorful outlaws, including the legendary Wild Bunch and the Dalton Gang.

On August 7, 1882, the town was almost centered at a location just north of the current Whittier Square, when a construction crew laying out the line of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad chose that spot for a sidetrack serving ranchers. However, an area merchant persuaded them to move the site further west into the Muscogee Nation, which had friendlier laws for white business owners. On January 18, 1898, Tulsa was officially incorporated and elected Edward E. Calkins as the city's first mayor.