Northwestern Oklahoma became part of the
United States through the
Louisiana Purchase and through the entrance of
Texas into the Union in 1845 as a
slave state. At the time, federal law, based on the
Missouri Compromise, prohibited slavery in the region that would become the
Oklahoma Panhandle. Under the
Compromise of 1850, Texas surrendered its lands north of 36°30' latitude. The 170-mile strip of land, a "neutral strip", was left with no state or territorial ownership from 1850 until 1890. It was officially called the "Public Land Strip" and was commonly referred to as "
No Man's Land." The Compromise of 1850 also established the eastern boundary of
New Mexico Territory at the 103rd meridian, thus setting the western boundary of the strip. The
Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 set the southern border of
Kansas Territory as the 37th
parallel. This became the northern boundary of ''No Man's Land''. In 1889, the
Unassigned Lands were opened for settlement. The passage of the
Organic Act in 1890 assigned ''No Man's Land
to the new Oklahoma Territory. No Man's Land'' became
Seventh County under the newly organized Oklahoma Territory, land was soon renamed
Beaver County. Northwestern Oklahoma took its current form when
Oklahoma Territory and
Indian Territory joined the Union in 1907 as the single
U.S. state of
Oklahoma. ==Geography==