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The name "Oklahoma" comes from the Choctaw words: "okla" meaning people and "humma" meaning red, so the state's name literally means "red people." Oklahoma has the largest American Indian population of any state. Many of the over 250,000 American Indians living in Oklahoma today are descendants from the original 67 tribes inhabiting Indian Territory. Thirty-nine of the American Indian tribes currently living in Oklahoma are headquartered in the state.
The highest point in the state is Black Mesa in Cimarron County (4,973 feet); the lowest is due east of Idabel in McCurtain County (287 feet). Oklahoma has more man-made lakes than any other state, with over one million surface acres of water and 2,000 more miles of shoreline than the Atlantic and Gulf coasts combined. It is the third largest gas-producing state in the nation and ranks fourth in the nation in the production of all wheat, fourth in cattle and calf production; fifth in the production of pecans; sixth in peanuts and eighth in peaches.
The state's four mountain ranges include the Ouachitas, Arbuckles, Wichitas and the Kiamichis. Forests cover approximately 24 percent of the state.
Oklahoma is comprised of 77 counties and has a land area of 69,919 square miles, ranking 18th in the nation in size. It is bordered by six states: Texas to the south and west, Arkansas and Missouri to the east, Kansas to the north and Colorado and New Mexico at the tip of the northwestern Oklahoma panhandle.
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