What is the abbreviation for Oklahoma state?
OK is the 2 letter abbreviation for Oklahoma, the 28th largest state in the United States of America. Oklahoma is a state located in West South Central part of U.S.A, bordering Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, and Texas. Oklahoma City is the capital city of Oklahoma. Major cities include Oklahoma City (Population: 631357), Tulsa (Population: 403516), Norman (Population: 120295), Broken Arrow (Population: 106574), Lawton (Population: 96666), Edmond (Population: 90103), Moore (Population: 60462), Midwest City (Population: 57260), Enid (Population: 51787), Stillwater (Population: 48978), Muskogee (Population: 38467), and Bartlesville (Population: 36606).
Oklahoma State Profile
- Capital: Oklahoma City
- Admitted to USA: 1907
- Area: 181,037 km2
- Population: 3,956,971
- Time zone: GMT-6
- Calling code: 405, 580, 918
- ISO 2-Letter Postal Abbreviation: OK
- State Government Website: http://www.ok.gov/
Overview
Oklahoma is located in the Midwest of the USA and can be assigned to the wide and mostly agricultural region of the Great Plains as well as the region of the Bible Belt, which is shaped by Evangelical Protestantism and is extremely conservative. Oklahoma is bordered by Kansas to the north, Colorado to the northwest, Oklahoma to New Mexico to the far west, Oklahoma to the south of Texas, and Arkansas and Missouri to the east. The name of the state is derived from the Choctaw language and means something like “red people”, Okla (people) and Humma (red). The state’s nickname is “The Sooner State” and its official state motto is “Labor omnia vincit” (Work conquers everything).
The state of Oklahoma covers an area of approximately 181,195 km² – with around 3.8 million inhabitants. The capital is Oklahoma City with approximately 592,000 inhabitants. Almost 65 percent of Oklahoma’s residents live in the two metropolitan areas of Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Oklahoma joined the Union on November 16, 1907 as the 46th state. Nowadays, Oklahoma is a popular destination for tourists due to its charming, wide and open prairie landscapes and its history. About 24 percent of Oklahoma is covered with forests.
In addition to tourism, agriculture plays an important role in Oklahoma, agriculture (wheat) and animal husbandry (cattle) are the most important economic sector in Oklahoma. Oil production also plays an important role as the country has thousands of oil and natural gas sources.
Tornados
Oklahoma is also located in the so-called Tornado Alley. This is a particularly tornado-rich area in the Midwestern United States, where over a thousand large and small tornadoes roam across the country each year, especially in the spring. In addition to Oklahoma, the US states of Arkansas and Missouri are completely within Tornado Alley. The northeastern part of Texas, the north of Louisiana, the northwestern part of Mississippi, central and southern Illinois, the southwestern Indiana and parts of Nebraska as well as smaller parts of Tennessee and Kentucky to Tornado Alley.
On May 20, 2013 a level 5 tornado swept across the state at wind speeds of over 400 km / h. Oklahoma City and the small town of Moore were particularly affected. Almost all of the bog was destroyed and entire parts of Oklahoma City. About 25 people were probably killed. The destruction was so huge because most houses are made of wood and are therefore not too stable. However, numerous buildings still do not have stable shelters for cost reasons.
Woody Guthry
On July 14, 1912, the most important US folk song musician – Woody Guthry (1912-1967) – was born in Okema, Oklahoma. There are probably only a few people who do not know his song “This land is your land”. Guthry died on October 3, 1967 in New York of the hereditary disease “Chorea Huntington”.
The first stanza of the original text from 1940:
- This land is your land, this land is my land
- From California to the New York Island
- From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
- This land was made for you and me
Bradley Manning, Brad Pitt
In addition, Corporal Bradley Manning (b. 1987), who brought a series of intima from the US Army to Afghanistan as a whistleblower via the WikiLeaks website, came from the small town of Crescent. He has now reoriented himself to a woman and is now called Chelsea Manning. Another well-known citizen of Oklahoma is the well-known actor Brad Pitt (born 1963), who comes from the city of Shawnee.
Something historical
The state of Oklahoma has a special historical position. With the so-called Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the purchase of over 2 million km² of land from France, the area came under the rule of the United States. Starting in 1834, today’s Oklahoma was an Indian territory and represents the western end of the Trail of Tears, on which the Cherokee, Muskogee, Seminoles, Choctaw and Chickasaw (Five Civilized Tribes) were driven west. In total, their number is estimated at 50,000 people. At first there was no settlement by whites, this was officially prohibited until 1889. In this context, both the actual name Oklahoma from the Choctaw language, which means “land of the red people”, and the state’s nickname, “The Sooner State”, are to be seen. The latter refers to those pioneers who settled here “before” (sooner) the legal beginning of the settlement.
Officially, approximately 2 million acres of land were released to white settlers on April 22, 1889, resulting in the famous Oklahoma Land Run. This also created today’s capital Oklahoma City overnight. This event is considered the symbolic end of the pioneering period, or the time of the Wild West. The state’s economic history can be described as changeable. Boom phases due to oil and gas discoveries alternated with crisis phases due to drought phases.
These phases of crisis also led to large waves of emigration in the 1920s and 30s westwards along Route 66 and coined the term landscape as a “dust bowl”. This was worked up literarily in, among others, John Steinbeck’s novel “Fruits of Wrath” and musically Woody Guthrie.
More recently, Oklahoma City Bombing attracted a lot of attention in 1995. During the attack, a bomb containing approximately 2.4 tons of ammonium nitrate was placed in a truck in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and detonated. 168 people fell victim to the attack. The perpetrator Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death and executed on June 11, 2001 by lethal injection.
Cities and larger towns
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City is the capital of the state of Oklahoma and has approximately 592,000 inhabitants. The city’s metropolitan area is home to as many as 1.28 million people, a good 34% of the total population of Oklahoma. This makes Oklahoma City not only by far the largest city in Oklahoma, but also the largest city in the entire Great Plains region. Oklahoma City is located in central Oklahoma on the banks of the North Canadian River. The city is the political, cultural, and economic center of the state.
Oklahoma City was created in 1889 as part of the Oklahoma Land Run virtually overnight or within a few hours. The city’s rapid growth continued and in the first 10 years of its existence, the city’s population doubled. The famous Route 66 also runs through the urban area of Oklahoma City. The Devon Tower, the highest building in the state of Oklahoma with a height of approx. 257 m, can also be found in Oklahoma City. In April 1995, Timothy McVeigh carried out a bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people. This was the worst terrorist attack in the United States until the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. Oklahoma City offers visitors everything they could wish for, whether it’s museums, galleries, theaters or sports. Due to the size of the city, different districts have emerged which today specialize in different services. The most important ones for visitors to the city are:
- Adventure District
The Adventure District is very popular with tourists. Here you will find the Oklahoma City Zoo, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, the Science Museum Oklahoma and the National Softball Hall of Fame. - Asia District
Here you will find a large number of residents with Asian roots. This district is worth a visit and you can get the best Phở (soup) here. - Bricktown
The former warehouse district with many warehouses of Oklahoma City is now the best address for restaurants, night clubs and concerts and is the entertainment district of the city. The name of the district is derived from the fact that many of the buildings are made of bricks. Since the opening of the Bricktown Canal, these water taxis have been operating. - Arts District
Visitors to the Arts District will find the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, the Civics Center Music Hall, the Oklahoma City National Memorial and the Myriad Botanical Gardens.
Tulsa
The city of Tulsa is located northeast of Oklahoma on the banks of the Arkansas River and at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. This makes the city’s surroundings very different from the Oklahoma landscape, commonly referred to as the “dust bowl”. The city has approximately 396,000 residents, making it the second largest city in Oklahoma. Around 950,000 people live in the metropolitan area of the city. The name of the city comes from the language of the Muskogee in the “Tulsy” means “old town”. Today’s Tulsa developed from a post station in the 1890s, after members of the Creek already settled here between 1828 and 1836. At the beginning of the 20th century, oil discoveries boosted the region’s growth, making Tulsa the “oil capital of the world” in the 1920s. Many of the historic Art Deco buildings date from this period. Nowadays only New York City and Miami have more Art Deco buildings than Tulsa. Tulsa is also characterized by its important art scene. The Philbrook Musem and the Gilcrease Museum are two world-famous art museums, but opera and ballet are also represented in Tulsa. Tulsa is twinned with Celle in Germany.
Guthrie
The city of Guthrie is located in the central interior of Oklahoma and is basically a suburb of Oklahoma City. Guthrie has about 10,000 inhabitants and developed from a train station from 1887. With the Oklahoma Land Run in 1889, Guthrie developed almost overnight. Guthrie was the capital of Oklahoma from 1907 to 1910, but after the capital moved to Oklahoma City, the city’s development lost momentum. The entire city of Guthrie has been on the list of National Historic Landmarks since 1999. Today Guthrie is a good example of Victorian architecture, because a total of 2,169 buildings of this architectural style can be found here on an area of approx. 6 km² and are protected as the Guthrie Historic District.
Broken Arrow
The city of Broken Arrow is located in the northeast of Oklahoma and is basically a suburb of Tulsa. Broken Arrow has approximately 100,000 residents, making it the fourth largest city in Oklahoma. The city was founded in 1902. In 2004 and 2005 Broken Arrow was voted “Safest City In Oklahoma”. A lot of money has been invested in the city center in Broken Arrow in recent years and a new natural history museum, the farmers market and a performing arts center have been created. The Rooster Days Festival also takes place here every year.
Lawton
The city of Lawton is located in southwest Oklahoma and has approximately 97,000 residents. Lawton is located just south of the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge and is an excellent starting point for tours to the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge. The area around the city is determined on the one hand by the rather flat topography of the Great Plains, but north of the city, the Wichita Mountains show mountainous regions. The city was founded in 1901 on one of the last pieces of Indian land. Even today, the city of Lawton still benefits from its proximity to the Fort Sill military base. Today, the United States Army Field Artillery School and the Fort Bliss Air Defense Artillery School, which was relocated in 2011, is located in Fort Sill. This is not only interesting for visitors to the historic fort but also to the Museum of the Great Plains and the three very popular lakes Lake Lawtonka, Lake Ellsworth and Elmer Thomas Lake, which are in close proximity to the city. The well-known Cameron University is also located in the city.
Norman
The city of Norman is centrally located in the interior of the state of Oklahoma, approx. 30 km south of Oklahoma City. Norman has about 111,000 inhabitants and is the third largest city in Oklahoma. The city was created in 1899 during the Oklahoma Land Run and is named after the land surveyor Abner Norman. The city and the surrounding area are characterized by the prairie in the west and by the lake Thunderbird in the east and the surrounding forest landscape. Of the 111,000 inhabitants of the city, about 30,000 are students, so it is not an exaggeration to call Norman a university city. Norman is also home to the very famous University of Oklahoma, the state’s largest university. The University of Oklahoma campus can be considered the heart of the city. Also interesting is the small old town located east of the university campus. The university’s campus also houses the famous Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.
List of Oklahoma Acronyms
The most commonly used abbreviations about Oklahoma are OK which stands for Oklahoma. In the following table, you can see all acronyms related to Oklahoma, including abbreviations for airport, city, school, port, government, and etc.
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