Editing Nebraska (section)

=== Early history ===
[[Indigenous peoples]] lived in the region of present-day Nebraska for thousands of years before [[European colonization of the Americas|European colonization]]. The historic tribes in the state included the [[Omaha people|Omaha]], [[Missouria]], [[Ponca]], [[Pawnee people|Pawnee]], [[Otoe tribe|Otoe]], and various branches of the [[Lakota people|Lakota]] ([[Sioux]]), some of which migrated from eastern areas into the region. When European exploration, trade, and settlement began, both [[Spanish colonial empire|Spain]] and [[French colonial empire|France]] sought to control the region. In the 1690s, Spain established trade connections with the [[Apache people|Apache]], whose territory then included western Nebraska. By 1703, France had developed a regular trade with native peoples along the [[Missouri River]] in Nebraska, and by 1719 had signed treaties with several of these peoples. After war broke out between the two countries, Spain [[Villasur expedition|dispatched an armed expedition]] to Nebraska under Lieutenant General Pedro de Villasur in 1720. The party was attacked and destroyed near present-day [[Columbus, Nebraska|Columbus]] by a large force of Pawnee and Otoe, both allied with the French. The massacre ended Spanish exploration of the area for the remainder of the 18th century.<ref name="hanson">{{Cite journal |last=Hanson |first=James A |date=1993 |title=Spain on the Plains |url=http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1993Spain.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Nebraska History |volume=74 |pages=2–21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525202819/http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1993Spain.pdf |archive-date=May 25, 2017 |accessdate=January 4, 2015 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0300/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0300/stories/0301_0113.html "Villasur Sent to Nebraska".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525202818/http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0300/frameset_reset.html?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nebraskastudies.org%2F0300%2Fstories%2F0301_0113.html |date=May 25, 2017 }} [http://www.nebraskastudies.org/ Nebraskastudies.org.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010819183039/http://www.nebraskastudies.org/ |date=August 19, 2001 }} Retrieved January 4, 2015.</ref><ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080210060051/http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/markers/texts/villasur_expedition_1720.htm "The Villasur expedition—1720".]}} {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20161129113841/http://nebraskahistory.org/archeo/pubs/Engineer%20Cantonment.pdf Nebraska State Historical Society.]}} Retrieved January 4, 2015.</ref>

In 1762, during the [[Seven Years' War]], France ceded the [[Louisiana Territory]] to [[Spain]]. This left Britain and Spain competing for dominance along the [[Mississippi River]]; by 1773, the British were trading with the native peoples of Nebraska. Spain dispatched two trading expeditions up the Missouri River in 1794 and 1795; the second, under James Mackay, established the first European settlement in Nebraska near the mouth of the Platte River. Later that year, Mackay's party built a trading post, dubbed Fort Carlos IV (Fort Charles), near present-day [[Homer, Nebraska|Homer]].<ref name=hanson/><ref name=lociana>[https://www.loc.gov/collections/static/louisiana-european-explorations-and-the-louisiana-purchase/images/lapurchase.pdf "Louisiana: European explorations and the Louisiana Purchase".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002080050/http://www.loc.gov/collections/static/louisiana-european-explorations-and-the-louisiana-purchase/images/lapurchase.pdf |date=October 2, 2018 }} [https://www.loc.gov/ Library of Congress.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430175700/http://loc.gov/ |date=April 30, 2011 }} Retrieved January 4, 2015.</ref><ref name=charles>Wood, W. Raymond. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20150809214409/http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1995FtCharles.pdf "Fort Charles or Mr. Mackey's Trading House".]}} ''Nebraska History'' 76 (Spring 1995), pp. 2–9. Retrieved January 4, 2015.</ref>