The '''Powder River Country''' refers to an area of the [[Great Plains]] in northeastern [[Wyoming]] in the [[United States]]. The area is loosely defined between the [[Bighorn Mountains]] and the [[Black Hills]], in the upper drainage areas of the [[Powder River (Montana)|Powder]], [[Tongue River (Montana)|Tongue]], and [[Little Bighorn River|Little Bighorn]] rivers.
During the late [[1860s]], the area was the scene of [[Red Cloud's War]] between the [[Sioux]] and the United States. The Sioux victory in the war resulted in the preservation of their control of the area for the next decade.
After control fell to the U.S. government in [[1870s]] following the end of the [[Black Hills War]], the area was opened to white settlement, one of the last such areas opened for [[homesteading]] in the continental United States. In [[1892]], the area was the scene of the [[Johnson County War]] between land barons and [[Europe|European]]an immigrants. The conflict was depicted in the [[1981]] movie ''[[Heaven's Gate (movie)|Heaven's Gate]]''.
In the early [[20th century]], the discovery of [[petroleum]] in the area led to the development of the area's oil fields.
