Economy

Consultant: Nicholas Harris

History of Indiana

17th century
Native American peoples living in the area at the time of European exploration include the Shawnee, Miami and Illini; later, they are joined by refugee tribes from eastern regions, including the Delaware, who settle in the White and Whitewater river valleys

1679
French explorer René-Robert de La Salle is the first European to cross into Indiana, arriving in present-day South Bend at the Saint Joseph River

1700s
Most of the settlers in the area are French Canadian missionaries or fur traders; trading posts are established near Vincennes, Fort Wayne and Fort Ouiatenon

1732
Vincennes, the first permanent settlement, is fortified; British colonists arrive from the east and fight the French Canadians for control of the fur trade

1763
With the British victory in the French and Indian War (also known as the Seven Years' War), the French are forced to cede all their lands in North America east of the Mississippi River—including the area of Indiana—to the British; they reserve it for Native American settlement

1783
At the end of the American Revolutionary War, by the Treaty of Paris, Britain cedes its claim to the land south of the Great Lakes (the “Old Northwest”) to the newly formed US, including Native American lands

1787
Present-day Indiana is included as part of the US Northwest Territory

1800
Congress separates Ohio from the Northwest Territory, renaming the rest of the land (which includes the present-day states of Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin along with parts of Michigan and Minnesota) Indiana Territory; Vincennes is established as the capital

1810
The Shawnee chief Tecumseh encourages the Native Americans to resist European settlement

1811
US forces led by General William Henry Harrison defeat Native American forces in the Battle of Tippecanoe

1813
Tecumseh’s Confederacy comes to an end when he is killed during the Battle of Thames

1816
Indiana is admitted into the Union as the 19th state

1825
The state capital is moved to Indianapolis

1826
By the Treaty of Mississinwas in 1826 (and the earlier St Mary's Purchase of 1818), the US acquires all remaining reserved Native American lands in the northeast; most tribes in Indiana are removed to lands west of the Mississippi River

1811
The arrival of steamboats on the Ohio River in 1811 and the National Road at Richmond in 1829 encourages settlement of northern and western Indiana; Many European immigrants arrive, especially from Germany, Ireland and England

late 19th century
Industrial development comes to Indiana's Lake Michigan shoreline; marshlands are drained and factories and oil refineries are built

1880s–1910s
Indiana gas boom: a period of active drilling and production of natural gas in the Trenton Gas Field

1909
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiananoplis, opens. The first Indy 500 car race takes place in 1911.

2009
Central and southwestern Indiana are hit by flooding along the Ohio River and its tributaries, the costliest disaster in the history of the state.