The history of Oklahoma City refers to the history of city of Oklahoma City, and the land on which it developed. Oklahoma City's history begins with the settlement of "unassigned lands" in the region in the 1880s, and continues with the city's development through statehood, World War I and the Oklahoma City bombing. Pre-settlement Prior to the Land Rush of 1889, the territory Oklahoma City fell under was known as the “Unassigned Lands”, which were located just north of the Chickasaw Nation, and covered roughly 2950 square miles in central Oklahoma. The term “Unassigned lands” was first coined in 1879 by Elias C. Boudinot, a mixed-blood Cherokee Journalist, who believed that the territory should be open to white settlers. This territory of Oklahoma was not inhabited by any of the displaced indigenous tribes from the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and was located in central Oklahoma, surrounded by the other claimed indigenous territories. The Cherokee Nation fell to the north, bound by the Cherokee Outlet. On the east, the Potawatomi, Shawnee, Sac and Fox, Pawnee, and Iowa reservations resided. Just south of the Unassigned lands, the Chickasaw Nation fell, and the Cheyenne Arapaho settlement fell to the west. The lands were crossed by five rivers, including "the Canadian, the North Canadian, the Cimarron, the Deep Fork, and the Little", which provided natural borders, and a perfect combination of thin topsoil for grazing cattle, and rich bottomland soil for raising crops, thus making it greatly desired by white settlers who wanted to stake their claims to the inexpensive lands. Prior to the opening of these Indigenous territories, the Boomer Movement saw forced raids and staked claims at sites in the unassigned lands, such as in present day Oklahoma City and Stillwater from 1879 to 1888. These raids, publicly led by David L. Payne and William Couch only saw brief success, and settled a town known as Ewing, present day Oklahoma City, in 1880. Despite this, were constantly overthrown and escorted out of the lands by U.S troops. However, they continued to enlist Boomers, and illegally made settlements in the Unassigned Lands and in the surrounding settlements until the Land Rush 1889. Early history (1889-1917) Oklahoma City was officially opened to the public for settlement on April 22, 1889 with the Land Run and caused substantial settlement growth seemingly overnight. Oklahoma City was put under a provisional government, as the federal government