Omaha

Sister cities

• Brunswick
• San Carlos
• Xalapa
• Naas
• Yantai
• Shizuoka
• Šiauliai

History

Various Native American tribes had lived in the land that became Omaha since the 17th century, including the Omaha and Ponca, Dhegihan-Siouan language people who had originated in the lower Ohio River valley and migrated west by the early 17th century; Pawnee, Otoe, Missouria, and Iowa. The word Omaha ( or ) in the Omaha language means 'Upstream People' or 'Against the Current'. In 1804 the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed the riverbanks where the city of Omaha would be built. Between July 30 and August 3, 1804, members of the expedition, including Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, met with Oto and Missouria tribal leaders at the Council Bluff at a point about north of present-day Omaha. Immediately south of that area, Americans built several fur trading outposts in succeeding years, including Fort Lisa in 1812; Fort Atkinson in 1819; Cabanné's Trading Post, built in 1822, and Fontenelle's Post in 1823, in what became Bellevue. There was fierce competition among fur traders until John Jacob Astor created the monopoly of the American Fur Company. The Mormons built a town called Cutler's Park in the area in 1846. While it was temporary, the settlement provided the basis for further development. Through 26 separate treaties with the United States federal government, Native American tribes in Nebraska gradually ceded the lands that now make up the state. The treaty and cession involving the Omaha area occurred in 1854 when the Omaha Tribe ceded most of east-central Nebraska. Logan Fontenelle, an interpreter for the Omaha and signatory to the 1854 treaty, played an essential role in those proceedings. Before it was legal to claim land in Indian Country, William D. Brown operated the Lone Tree Ferry that brought settlers from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to the area that…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Situated in the Midwestern United States on the bank of the Missouri River in eastern Nebraska, much of Omaha is built in the Missouri River Valley. Other significant bodies of water in the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area include Lake Manawa, Papillion Creek, Carter Lake, Platte River and the Glenn Cunningham Lake. The city's land has been altered considerably with substantial land grading throughout Downtown Omaha and scattered across the city. East Omaha sits on a flood plain west of the Missouri River. The area is the location of Carter Lake, an oxbow lake. The lake was once the site of East Omaha Island and Florence Lake, which dried up in the 1920s. The Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area consists of eight counties; five in Nebraska and three in Iowa. The metropolitan area now includes Harrison, Pottawattamie, and Mills Counties in Iowa and Washington, Douglas, Sarpy, Cass, and Saunders Counties in Nebraska. This area was formerly referred to only as the Omaha Metropolitan Statistical Area and consisted of only five counties: Pottawattamie in Iowa, and Washington, Douglas, Cass, and Sarpy in Nebraska. The Omaha-Council Bluffs combined statistical area comprises the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan statistical area and the Fremont Micropolitan statistical area; the CSA has a population of 858,720 (2005 Census Bureau estimate). Omaha ranks as the 41st-most populous city in the United States, and is the core city of its 60th-largest metropolitan area. There are no consolidated city-counties in the area; the City of Omaha studied the possibility extensively through 2003 and concluded, "The City of Omaha and Douglas County should merge into a…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  18,403
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  16,796
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  13,736
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  13,034
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  11,693
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  11,141
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  11,039
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  10,992

Largest nearby schools

• CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL
  High · OMAHA · 2,738 students · 23:1 ratio
• SOUTH HIGH SCHOOL
  High · OMAHA · 2,686 students · 18.7:1 ratio
• MILLARD SOUTH HIGH SCHOOL
  High · OMAHA · 2,607 students · 16.8:1 ratio
• MILLARD NORTH HIGH SCHOOL
  High · OMAHA · 2,573 students · 17.5:1 ratio
• MILLARD WEST HIGH SCHOOL
  High · OMAHA · 2,309 students · 17.5:1 ratio
• WESTSIDE HIGH SCHOOL
  High · OMAHA · 2,106 students · 16:1 ratio
• BURKE HIGH SCHOOL
  High · OMAHA · 1,915 students · 20.2:1 ratio
• NORTH HIGH SCHOOL
  High · OMAHA · 1,796 students · 22.4:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.3 — 2010-11-18
  4 km E of Octavia, Nebraska
• M 3.6 — 2009-12-17
  2 km NW of Auburn, Nebraska
• M 3.5 — 2004-07-16
  6 km SSE of Riverton, Iowa