Native Americans inhabited Kansas thousands of years before Spanish conquistador Francisco Vasquez de Coronado explored the territory in 1541. Though looking for gold and the fabled Land of Quivira, Coronado instead found what he called "the best country I have ever seen for producing all the products of Spain." Other early explorers of Kansas were partners Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Army Captain Zebulon Pike also explored the area, continuing westward to discover what is now Pikes Peak in Colorado.

By the 1840s, traders and immigrants had established the Santa Fe and Chisholm Trails across the region. Kansas's pre-Civil War activities included the exploits of John Brown, who operated part of the Underground Railroad for slaves escaping through Kansas. Many clashes occurred between antislavery and proslavery forces as Kansas was being admitted to the Union. As railroads expanded westward, the era of cattle drives made such towns as Abilene, Hays, Wichita, and Dodge City centers of the legendary Old West, as did such men as Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, "Wild Bill" Hickock, and the Dalton Gang.

Eastern Kansas is green, fertile, and hilly, with woods, streams, and lakes. Western Kansas is a part of the Great Plains, once the grass-covered haunt of the buffalo. In 1874, Mennonite immigrants from Russia introduced their Turkey Red wheat seed to Kansas soil, helping to establish Kansas as the "breadbasket of the nation." Today agriculture has expanded to include a wide range of crops, cattle, and other livestock. Other leading industries include the manufacturing of airplanes and farm equipment, salt mining, and oil refining.

Crappie, walleye, bass, and channel catfish abound in many lakes and streams to lure the fishing enthusiast. Deer, quail, pheasant, ducks, geese, and many other species of game attract the hunter.