Description of Oklahoma, US 

On the south and west, Oklahoma is bordered by Texas; on the north and northeast, by Kansas; on the northeast and east, by Arkansas and New Mexico; on the west and northwest by Colorado and New Mexico. It is the 20th-largest state by geographical area and the 28th-most populous state by population in the United States. People who live in Oklahoma are referred to as "Oklahomans" or "Okies," and the state's largest metropolis is Oklahoma City.

People and red are the Choctaw words for "okla" and "humma," respectively. According to an informal moniker, Oklahoma is known as "The Sooner State," which refers to the settlers who placed their claims on land prior to 1889, when European-Americans began to settle in the eastern Indian Territory and the western Oklahoma Territory. When Oklahoma became the 46th state to join the union on November 16, 1907, it incorporated both Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory.

Most of Oklahoma is located in the Great Plains, Cross Timbers, and U.S. Interior Highlands, all of which are known for their extreme weather. Oklahoma sits at the crossroads of three major cultural spheres in the United States. Native Americans expelled from the east bank of the Mississippi used it as a safe haven, cattle drovers from Texas and the surrounding areas used it as a transit point, and Southern migrants used it as a final resting place. Oklahoma is still home to a whopping twenty-five distinct Native American languages.

As a major producer of natural gas and oil, Oklahoma relies on an economic basis that includes aviation, energy, telecommunications, and biotechnology." Nearly two-thirds of Oklahomans live inside the metropolitan statistical regions of Oklahoma City and Tulsa, the state's key economic anchors.

Geographical description of Oklahoma

With a total area of 69,899 square miles (181,040 km2), Oklahoma is the 20th-largest state in the United States. Of this area, 68,595 square miles (177,660 km2) is land, and 1,304 square miles (3,380 km2) is water. Part of the Great Plains, it is located in the middle of the contiguous states' 48 states. East of Arkansas and Missouri, north of Kansas, northwest of Colorado and far west of New Mexico. South of Texas and near-west of Texas are its neighbors on the east and near-west.

This watershed-bound state lies situated between the Ozark Plateau and Great Plains, with its western border being a high plateau and the southern one a low, marshland. At 4,973 feet (1,516 meters) above sea level, Black Mesa is the highest point in the state of Oklahoma, located in the Oklahoma Panhandle. 289 feet (88 meters) above sea level is the lowest point in the state, located near the village of Idabel on the Little River.

Oklahoma is one of only four states with more than ten unique ecological areas inside its borders, more than any other state has per square mile. Because of these enormous disparities in geographical variety between its western and eastern parts, the western half of Oklahoma has three ecoregions, whereas the eastern half has eight. Western Oklahoma is home to a number of rare and extinct species, despite its lack of natural habitats.

The Ouachita Mountains, the Arbuckle Mountains, the Wichita Mountains, and the Ozark Mountains make up Oklahoma's four major mountain ranges. The Ozark and Ouachita Mountains, located in the Interior Highlands of the United States, are the only significant mountain range between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains. North-central Oklahoma has a portion of the Flint Hills, and the Oklahoma Tourism & Recreation Department considers Cavanal Hill at the state's eastern border to be the world's tallest hill; at 1,999 feet (609 m), it misses their definition of a mountain by one foot.

While there are a few natural woods to be found in the semi-arid high plains of western Kansas, the region's rolling to flat terrain is punctuated by canyon and mesa ranges like the Glass Mountains. Antelope Hills and Wichita Mountains, as well as transitional prairies and oak savannas, may be found in the southwest of the state, while the rest of the state is covered by transitional prairies. This eastern section of the state is dominated by the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains that rise from west to east.

Oklahoma has the most artificial reservoirs in the country, with 200 lakes built by dams to contain the state's more than 500 named creeks and rivers. The Red and Arkansas rivers drain the majority of the state, but the Lee and Little rivers also have large drainage basins.

Economy of Oklahoma

With its broad economy comprising aviation and transportation equipment manufacturing as well as electronics and telecommunication, Oklahoma is a great place to start a business. Oil, gas, and food are among of the state's most important exports. Natural gas production in the state ranks third, it is the 27th most agriculturally productive state, and it is also the fifth most wheat-producing state in the country. With the 7th-lowest tax burden in 2007, Oklahoma was ranked as one of the nation's most business-friendly states, home to the headquarters of four Fortune 500 and six Fortune 1000 businesses.

On the Forbes list of the largest private firms in 2010, Oklahoma City-based Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores was placed 18th, Tulsa-based QuikTrip was ranked 37th, and Oklahoma City-based Hobby Lobby was 198th. There has been a 10.6 percent increase in Oklahoma's gross domestic output since 2006. In 2010, Oklahoma's GDP per capita was $35,480, making it the 40th most prosperous state in the union.

Despite the fact that oil has long been the state's primary economic driver, the collapse of the energy industry in the 1980s resulted in the loss of approximately 90,000 employment in the energy sector between 1980 and 2000, leaving the region poorly underdeveloped. In 2007, Oklahoma's economy accounted for 35 billion dollars in oil revenues, and the state's oil business employed more people than any other industry in 2007. The state's unemployment rate will be 5.3% in September 2020.