Editing Idaho (section)

==History==
{{main |History of Idaho}}

Humans may have been present in the Idaho area as long as 14,500 years ago. Excavations at [[Wilson Butte Cave]] near [[Twin Falls, Idaho|Twin Falls]] in 1959 revealed evidence of human activity, including arrowheads, that rank among the oldest dated artifacts in North America. [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indian]] peoples predominant in the area included the [[Nez Perce people|Nez Percé]] in the north and the Northern and Western [[Shoshone]] in the south.<ref name = natgeo>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/08/coopers-landing-idaho-site-americas-oldest/|title=15,000-year-old Idaho archaeology site now among America's oldest|date=August 29, 2019|website=Culture & History|access-date=September 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905110333/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/08/coopers-landing-idaho-site-americas-oldest/|archive-date=September 5, 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A Late [[Upper Paleolithic]] site was identified at Cooper's Ferry in western Idaho near the town of [[Cottonwood, Idaho|Cottonwood]] by archaeologists in 2019. Based on evidence found at the site, first people lived in this area 15,300 to 16,600 years ago, predating the [[Beringia]] land bridge by about a thousand years. The discoverers emphasized that they possess similarities with tools and artifacts discovered in [[Japan]] that date from 16,000 to 13,000 years ago.<ref name = natgeo/><ref name = science>{{Cite journal|last1=G. Davis|first1=Loren|last2=B. Madsen|first2=David|last3=Higham|first3=Thomas Higham|date=2019|title=Late Upper Paleolithic occupation at Cooper's Ferry, Idaho, USA, ~16,000 years ago|journal=Science|volume=365|issue=6456|pages=891–897|doi=10.1126/science.aax9830|pmid=31467216|bibcode=2019Sci...365..891D|s2cid=201672463|doi-access=free}}</ref> The discovery also showed that the first people might not have come to [[North America]] by land, as previously theorized. On the contrary, they probably came through the water, using a [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] coastal route.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://news.yahoo.com/idaho-artifacts-show-human-presence-184042278.html|title=Idaho artifacts show human presence in Americas 16,600 years ago|website=news.yahoo.com|date=August 29, 2019 |access-date=September 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190901181706/https://news.yahoo.com/idaho-artifacts-show-human-presence-184042278.html|archive-date=September 1, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=The most parsimonious explanation we think is that people came down the Pacific Coast, and as they encountered the mouth of the Columbia River, they essentially found an off-ramp from this coastal migration and also found their first viable interior route to the areas that are south of the ice sheet.<ref name = science/>||sign=|source=}}

An early presence of French-Canadian trappers is visible in names and [[toponym]]s: ''Nez Percé, Cœur d'Alène, Boisé, Payette''. Some of these names appeared prior to the [[Lewis and Clark]] and [[Pacific Fur Company|Astorian]] expeditions, which included significant numbers of French and [[Métis]] guides recruited for their familiarity with the terrain.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Idaho, as part of the [[Oregon Country]], was claimed by both the United States and Great Britain until the United States gained undisputed jurisdiction in 1846. From 1843 to 1859, present-day Idaho was under the de&nbsp;facto jurisdiction of the [[Provisional Government of Oregon]]. When Oregon became a state in 1859, what is now Idaho was situated in what remained of the original Oregon Territory, designated as the Washington Territory.

Between 1849 and the creation of the [[Idaho Territory]] in 1863, parts of present-day Idaho were included in the [[Oregon Territory|Oregon]], [[Washington Territory|Washington]], and [[Dakota Territory|Dakota]] Territories. The new Idaho territory included present-day Idaho, [[Montana]], and most of [[Wyoming]]. The Lewis and Clark expedition crossed Idaho in 1805 on the way to the Pacific, and in 1806, on the return trip, largely following the [[Clearwater River (Idaho)|Clearwater River]] in both directions. The first non-indigenous settlement was [[Kullyspell House]], established on the shore of [[Lake Pend Oreille]] in 1809 by [[David Thompson (explorer)|David Thompson]] of the [[North West Company]] for fur trading.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.northamericanforts.com/West/id.html#thompson |title=David Thompson's Trading Post |website=Idaho Forts |publisher=American Forts Network |access-date=December 7, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090813155304/http://www.northamericanforts.com/West/id.html#thompson |archive-date=August 13, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Meinig |first=DW |author-link=D.W. Meinig |title=The Great Columbia Plain |orig-year=1968 |series=Weyerhaeuser Environmental Classic |year=1995 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=978-0-295-97485-9 |pages=36, 55}}</ref> In 1812 [[Donald Mackenzie (explorer)|Donald Mackenzie]], working for the [[Pacific Fur Company]] at the time, established a post on the lower Clearwater River near present-day Lewiston. This post, known as "MacKenzie's Post" or "Clearwater", operated until the Pacific Fur Company was bought out by the North West Company in 1813, after which the post was abandoned.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.idahohistory.net/Reference%20Series/0062.pdf |title=Fur Trade Posts in Idaho |publisher=Idaho State Historical Society |access-date=December 7, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090930220652/http://www.idahohistory.net/Reference%20Series/0062.pdf |archive-date=September 30, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.northamericanforts.com/West/id.html#clear |title=Donald MacKenzie's Post |website=Idaho Forts |publisher=American Forts Network |access-date=December 7, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090813155304/http://www.northamericanforts.com/West/id.html#clear |archive-date=August 13, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> The first organized non-indigenous communities within the present borders of Idaho were established by [[Mormon pioneers]] in 1860.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.franklinidaho.org/History2.htm |title=An Early History of Franklin |last=Bennett |first=Eldon T. |publisher=Franklin, ID |access-date=May 19, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513005934/http://www.franklinidaho.org/History2.htm |archive-date=May 13, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.idahohistory.net/Reference%20Series/0008.pdf |title=Elias Davidson Pierce and the Founding of Pierce |date=August 1966 |publisher=Idaho State Historical Society |access-date=May 19, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528121225/http://www.idahohistory.net/Reference%20Series/0008.pdf |archive-date=May 28, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The first permanent, substantial [[Municipal corporation|incorporated]] community was Lewiston, in 1861. Early in its history, Idaho saw a large influx of [[Chinese Americans|Chinese immigrants]], who by 1870 made up about 28.5% of the territory's population.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Significance of Asians and Asian Americans in Idaho History |url=https://www.uidaho.edu/class/anthrolab/collections/aacc/significance |access-date=2023-07-17 |website=www.uidaho.edu |language=en}}</ref>

Idaho achieved statehood in 1890, following a difficult start as a territory, including the chaotic transfer of the territorial capital from [[Lewiston, Idaho|Lewiston]] to [[Boise, Idaho|Boise]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0048.pdf |title=Territorial Government in Idaho, 1863–1869 |series=Reference |number=48 |place=ID, [[United States of America|US]] |publisher=State Historical Society |year=1968 |access-date=September 29, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002124302/http://www.history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0048.pdf |archive-date=October 2, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[disenfranchisement]] of [[Mormon]] [[polygamist]]s upheld by the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] in 1890,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nboman.people.wm.edu/MormonsEUSC.pdf |title=Mormon |type=entry |website=The Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States |first=David S |last=Tanenhaus |access-date=July 30, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100628164120/http://nboman.people.wm.edu/MormonsEUSC.pdf |archive-date=June 28, 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref> and a federal attempt to split the territory between Washington Territory, which gained statehood in 1889, a year before Idaho, and the state of [[Nevada]] which had been a state since 1864.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/idaho-becomes-43rd-state|title=Idaho becomes 43rd state—Jul 03, 1890—HISTORY.com|work=HISTORY.com|access-date=February 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102053717/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/idaho-becomes-43rd-state|archive-date=November 2, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>

Idaho was one of the hardest hit of the [[Pacific Northwest]] states during the [[Great Depression]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Schwantes |first=Carlos |year=1991 |title=In Mountain Shadows: a History of Idaho |location=Lincoln |publisher=University of Nebraska Press}}</ref> Prices plummeted for Idaho's major crops: in 1932 a bushel of potatoes brought only ten cents compared to 1919 for $1.51, while Idaho farmers saw their annual income of $686 in 1929 drop to $250 by 1932.<ref>{{cite book |last=Doyle |first=Randall |year=2004 |title=A political dynasty in North Idaho, 1933–1967 |publisher=University Press |isbn=978-0-7618-2842-6 |page=7}}</ref>

Between 1991 and 2002, Idaho expanded its commercial base to include the science and technology sector which accounted for over 25% of its [[Gross state product]] in 2001.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ieda.biz/white.html |title=The Power of Idaho |type=whitepaper |year=2004 |place=ID |publisher=Economic Development Association |access-date=October 7, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013194422/http://ieda.biz/white.html |archive-date=October 13, 2007 }}</ref>

During the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], Idaho enacted statewide crisis standards of care as COVID-19 patients overwhelmed hospitals.<ref>{{Cite web|last=erusby@idahopress.com|first=ERIN BANKS RUSBY|title=Idaho issues crisis standards of care statewide|url=https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/idaho-issues-crisis-standards-of-care-statewide/article_6ba90621-f076-504a-8b74-059422f64272.html|access-date=2021-10-10|website=Idaho Press|date=September 16, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> The state had one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country as of mid-October 2021.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2020-12-17|title=See How Vaccinations Are Going in Your County and State|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-19-vaccine-doses.html|access-date=2021-10-10|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>