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1. Prehistory and Early History of Native Peoples.

Arrival of the First Peoples
Settling in Wisconsin 12,000 years ago, the ancestors of today's Native peoples produced rock art, pottery, tools, and creation stories.

Glacial Wisconsin and the Physical Geography of the State
The geological and environmental forces that shaped the landscape into the form we know today.

Iroquois Wars of mid-17th Century
Conflict over hunting and trading territory far to our east disrupted the fur trade and prompted several American Indian nations to move into Wisconsin.

Effigy Mounds Culture
These forebears of the Ho-Chunk created the unique burial mounds depicting animal and people that we find around the state.

Mississippian Culture and Aztalan
Using corn agriculture around an extensive fortification on the Rock River, this early Wisconsin community maintained trade and communication with settlements throughout the Mississippi Valley.

2. Early Explorers, Traders, and Settlers, to 1812.

Jean Nicolet's Landfall in Wisconsin, 1634
Began the French exploration and settlement of Wisconsin that lasted for the next 200 years.

War of 1812
Ended British domination of Wisconsin and established control by the young U.S. government over our waterways.

Marquette and Joliet Descend the Mississippi River, 1673
Identified the course of the Mississippi River, established French claim to Wisconsin, and was the first trip by Europeans across our state.French

War and Disease Transform Native American Communities
Decimation of Native peoples altered their customs and lifestyles, and reorganized their alliances for future survival.

Establish Fur Trading Posts
Initiated permanent settlement of Wisconsin and formation of trading alliances with Native peoples.

Northwest Ordinance, 1787
Encouraged the settlement of Wisconsin by U. S. citizens, which threatened land ownership and trade relationships of the French and Indians.

French Jesuit Priests Establish Missions
Introduced Christianity in Wisconsin and left the first detailed written records of our state.

The Rise of Metis Culture
Alliances formed through intermarriage changed both Indian and white communities, and helped the new U.S. government oppose British influence in Wisconsin after the Revolutionary War.

3. Transition from Territory to Statehood, 1787-1848.

Black Hawk War
Established U.S. government control over much of southern Wisconsin.

Creation of Wisconsin Territory, and Selection of Madison as Capitol, 1836
Established the seat of territorial, and later, state government in Dane County, and formed the first American government in our state.

State Constitutions of 1846 and 1848
Provided the foundation for our current political system and branches of government.

Lead Mining in Southwestern Wisconsin
Encouraged large-scale migration into Wisconsin and bolstered territorial economy.

Early U.S. Explorations
Encouraged westward migration and settlement by collecting and publishing data on the resources of the region.

Treaty Councils, from Prairie du Chien to Madeline Island
Forced cessions of Indian lands and established U.S. government control over most of Wisconsin.

Settlement of the “New York” Indians in Wisconsin
Forced removal of the Oneida, Mohican, and Brothertown Nations to Wisconsin.

General Land Office Rectangular Survey
Divided the landscape into the system of townships and sections that still define our communities and farms today.

4. Immigration and Settlement in the 19th Century.

Great Lakes Steamships and Canals
Brought tens of thousands of European and American immigrants into Wisconsin in the mid-19th century.

Development of the Railroads
Permitted Wisconsin residents to ship farm produce and manufactured goods out of the state, and facilitated the arrival of new immigrants seeking homes in it.

Founding of Major Cities
Created the metropolitan areas we know today along the lakeshores and in the river valleys (Milwaukee, Green Bay, Janesville, Appleton, Eau Claire etc.).

Founding of the University of Wisconsin and Other Social Institutions
The mid-19th century gave birth to the most important universities, colleges, museums, libraries, and other cultural institutions we know today.

Efforts to Promote Immigration
State-sponsored and commercially published emigrant guides helped tens of thousands of new immigrants decide to bring their knowledge and skills to Wisconsin.

Attempts to “Americanize” Native Peoples
Federal reservation system and boarding schools attempted to destroy the languages, beliefs, and customs of Wisconsin's Native peoples and replace them with white ones.

Ethnically Insulated Communities
Helped European immigrants preserve their languages, religions, and customs intact much longer than they did in large urban centers.

5. Wisconsin in the Civil War Era.

Abolitionist Movement and Civil Rights
Wisconsin activists fought against slavery through the press, in court cases such as the Joshua Glover fugitive slave case and the Ezekiel Gillespie voting rights case, and, eventually, in the Union Army.

Iron Brigade, “Old Abe,” and Military Events
Wisconsin soldiers helped the Union Army emerge victorious by fighting in every important campaign of the war.

Civil War Home Front
From women's relief organizations to violent draft protests, the war touched everyone who stayed behind.

Wisconsin and the Founding of Republican Party
After a planning meeting in Ripon, it quickly became the party of Abraham Lincoln and, ultimately, half of American political leaders and voters.

Effect of the War on Party Politics
Caused the decline of the Democrats and rise of Republicans, who controlled state government for decades after the war as veterans dominated political life.

6. Mining, Lumber, and Agriculture in the 19th Century.

Rise of Dairy Farming
After silos and refrigerated rail cars were adopted, milk products replaced wheat as the preferred cash crop and made Wisconsin “the Dairy State.”

Lumbering
Forest products provided work and income for the northern parts of Wisconsin, cost-effective housing for the entire Midwest, and led to the birth of the modern paper industry.

Mining
Extraction of iron and other minerals in the north facilitated the growth of cities such as Superior, Ashland and Hurley and helped develop heavy industry in the state.

Wild Rice Harvesting
Native peoples maintained traditional agricultural practices even while European and American immigrants transformed the landscape around them.

Wheat Cultivation
Wheat supported most farmers and immigrants as the principal cash crop until after the Civil War, as Wisconsin-milled flour was shipped across much of the nation.

7. La Follette and the Progressive Era, 1874-1914.

Women's Suffrage
Ada James, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Belle Case LaFollette led thousands of women in the struggle to win the right to vote in 1919.

Birth of Labor Movement
Early workers' organizing efforts and conflicts such as the Bay View massacre in 1886 led to the formation of unions.

Rise of the Conservation Movement
Writings by John Muir and others led to the protection of wildlife and creation of state parks.

Robert M. LaFollette's Career
Cleaned up corruption, restrained corporate power of railroads and utilities, and increased democracy through the direct primacy.

1911 Legislature's Reforms
John Commons fashioned worker's compensation and similar programs to protect workers' health and safety that were later adopted all across the nation.

Charles McCarthy and the Wisconsin Idea
Established government as the servant of the people by sharing its programs, services, and knowledge statewide through programs such as the Legislative Reference Bureau and UW Extension.

Rise of the Co-operative Movement
Farmers and workers combined to create non-profit organizations that distributed their produce and manufactures outside traditional business channels.

Bennett Law
Tried to establish English as the only language to be used in schools.

Richard Ely and UW's “Winnowing and Sifting” Statement
Established academic freedom and tolerance as one of our state's cardinal principles.

8. World Wars and Conflicts in the 20th Century.

Women on the WWI Home Front
Women who organized in support of the war effort also used their connections and organizational skills to win the vote and civil rights after the war was over.

Military Events in WWI
Wisconsin fighters such as the Red Arrow division and pioneer aviator Billy Mitchell helped win the war and change the modern military.

WWII Home Front
The war revived industry, changed gender roles, and brought insulated ethnic groups together.

Military Events in WWII
Wisconsin soldiers, including General Douglas MacArthur and aviation ace Richard Bong, fought in the Pacific and in Europe to stop fascism.

Suppression of German Culture and Identity during WWI
Anti-German prejudice threatened the use of the German language in Wisconsin, as well as traditional German customs and identity.

Vietnam Home Front
Wisconsin played a leading role in the anti-war movement, which resulted in the bombing of Sterling Hall on the Madison campus.

Opposition to U.S. Entry into WWI
German-Americans, socialists, and others saw the war as a ruse to benefit big business and insisted unsuccessfully on neutrality.

1919 “Red Scare”
After the successful Russian Revolution in 1917, American authorities cracked down on radicals, socialists, and labor leaders.

1918 Spanish Flu Epidemic
More Americans died from the influenza outbreak during and after WWI than died fighting in it.

Military Events in the Vietnam War
Wisconsin soldiers participated at all levels, from enlisted men in the jungles to Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird in the Pentagon.

9. Prosperity, Depression, Industrialization, and Urbanization.

The Introduction of Electrical Power
The birth of electrical generation in Appleton and the spread of electricity to rural areas transformed work and home life throughout the state.

The Rise of Automobile Culture
From manufacturing plants in Kenosha and Janesville to tourism on the county trunk highway system, gasoline-powered cars and trucks forever altered all aspects of Wisconsin life after 1920.

Depression and Unemployment
Millions of Wisconsin residents struggled to survive, the labor movement reached new strengths, and government programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration created tens of thousands of public sector jobs.

Milwaukee “Sewer Socialism”
Wisconsin's largest city elected generations of socialist politicians who worked to continually improve and expand basic services to the community.

Rise of Skilled Manufacturing
Visionary businessmen and highly skilled workers at companies such as Allis Chalmers, J.I. Case, and General Motors made our state a world leader in heavy industry.

Temperance and Prohibition
The 19th-century temperance movement helped women enter public life, but when alcohol was made illegal in 1919 it strained ethnic relations and threatened the survival of Wisconsin's traditional brewing industry.

Rise of Modernism
In the first half of the century, Wisconsin intellectuals like Frank Lloyd Wright, Georgia O'Keeffe, Orson Welles, and Brooks Stevens changed the way the world looks, sounds and feels.

Modern Progressive Movement
Gov. Phillip LaFollette and his supporters introduced new social services such as unemployment compensation and public works programs that became models for the entire nation.

Rise of Mass Media
Radio and television ended the isolation of rural families but also helped to replace Wisconsin's diverse ethnic cultures with a standardized American one.

Mature Labor Movement
After three generations of growth, workers' organizations exercised their muscles in actions such as the Kohler Strike and reached institutional maturity in the State Federation of Labor.

10. Wisconsin's response to 20th-Century change.

Rise of Professional Sports
The Packers, Braves and Bucks brought Green Bay and Milwaukee national recognition.

African-American "Great Migration"
Following WWI, thousands of black families moved to Wisconsin cities from elsewhere in the nation to start new lives, and encountered de facto segregation on a large scale.

American Indian Sovereignty
The U.S. government redefined its Indian policy and tribal leaders fought for greater self-determination, leading to reaffirmation of the tribes' status as sovereign nations and to validation in the courts of historic Indian treaty rights.

Sen. Joseph McCarthy and his Anti-Communist Crusade
After beating Sen. Bob LaFollette, McCarthy's campaign helped dampen intellectual freedom nationwide in the early 1950's, before being exposed and discredited.

Expansion of Civil Rights, 1970's - 1990's
The “second wave” of the women's movement, marital property law reform, and advocacy for gay rights brought issues of gender and sexual orientation into the forefront of public life.

Modern Environmental Movement
Aldo Leopold's land ethic, the growth of the DNR, and Gaylord Nelson's Earth Day legislation changed our understanding and treatment of the natural world.

Breaking the Welfare State
Through welfare reform, school choice, and similar programs, the administrations of Gov. Tommy G. Thompson dramatically reduced government intervention in and support for the lives of ordinary citizens.

Re-birth of the Wisconsin Democratic Party in the 1950's
Effectively ended the Progressive Party and the La Follette dynasty in state and federal positions.

Desegregation Struggle of the 1960's
Activists fought to overturn decades of de facto segregation in Milwaukee housing, education, employment, and other areas.

Post-1970 Immigration
The arrival of large numbers of Hispanic Americans as both migrant farm workers and new homeowners, and the influx of refugee Hmong and Tibetan families, further diversified our state's already complex ethnic mix.