History of Nebraska
Explorers from Europe were the first to find Nebraska, then called the Louisiana Territory. Nebraska was originally much larger area than it is today. How the land was formed to now be Nebraska, has history 157 years ago. It is called The Kansas-Nebraska Act. A man named Stephen Douglas was the Senator of Illinois, and he wanted to gain Southern support for his bill saying that any new state would be allowed to execise popular sovereignity concerning slavery. This means that all the settlers were allowed to vote and decide wether they wanted slavery or not. Douglas hoped that would ease the tension between North and South. When he did not get support of his bill from the Congress, he agreed to get rid of the antislavery provision. Therefore he divided the Louisiana Territory in two; Nebraska as a free state, and Kansas as a slave state. Despite opposition, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854.
Because of the U.S government that forced many of the Native American tribes to renounce their lands and settle on reservations, they migrated into Nebraska to get free land. Many of the first farming settlers built their home of sod, because of the few trees on the prairies.
The first wave of settlers made it possible to apply for statehood. And later on, Nebraska became the 37th state on March 1, 1867. About two years after the Civil War. At that time the capital was Omaha, but later on moved over to Lancaster which now is renamed to Lincoln.
Nebraska experienced a growth in population during the 1870s to the 1880s. The reason for the growth was perfect for cattle grazing, which learnt the settlers about the unfamiliar geography of the area. The second factor was the invention of several farming technologies. Such as barbed wire, wind mills and steel plow. Another reason Nebraska is a good place to farm is also because Nebraska have generally flat landsurface. This combined with good weather made Nebraska prime farming land. And by 1880s, the population of Nebraska was more than 450 000 people.
Since 1870 the average size of farms has steadily increased until about 1900. And later on, 1930s, decreased as the farmers buyout their neighbors and consolidate the holdings. Land-use changes were affected by farm policies and programs attempting to stabilize commodity supply and demand.
Nebraska has now a population of a little under 2 million people. And over 41% of farms in the state are 500 acres or larger. This means that the state still is a good land for farming, and that even though number of farms has decreased since 1930, it is still many farms there. The decreasing is only due to the modernization happening all over the world.
Sources:
https://www.answers.com/topic/kansas-nebraska-act-1#ixzz1YKFdTUTr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraska