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In 1804, Lewis and Clark set off on a journey filled with harrowing confrontations, harsh weather and fateful decisions as they scouted a route across the American West.
Since the arrival of European settlers, leadership for America’s Indigenous peoples has disproportionately involved fighting to exist.
The country, from its commerce to the environment to even its concept of time, was profoundly altered after the completion of the railroad's 1,776 miles of track.
Yellowstone's stunning natural beauty inspired the 19th-century push to set aside the land, where Indigenous people had been present for millennia.
Migrants Travel West on the Oregon Trail
Over 400,000 people travel West to start a new life and claim new land along the Oregon Trail, including Lucinda Brown. One-hundred seventy years later, one of her descendants sees a kettle from her journey for the first time.
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Spies and scouts, mothers and homestead keepers, women quietly made their mark on America's changing western frontier.
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Western migration through uncharted regions strands a wagon train in the Sierra Mountains leaving little choice for survival.
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Cowboys originated with the Spanish settlers in modern Mexico, before becoming synonymous with the American West during the cattle drives of the 1800s.
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Interesting Facts Meriwether Lewis and members of the Corps of Discovery entered Idaho for the first time in 1805, making it the last of the U.S. states to be explored by European-Americans. Along with a reconnaissance team, William Clark attempted to f...
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 ended the Mexican-American War, with much of the current U.S. Southwest ceded to the United States from Mexico.
George Armstrong Custer rose to fame as a young Union commander in the Civil War before his death at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.
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California became the 31st state in 1850. It leads the U.S. in agricultural production, it is known for its tech industry, and it is home to famous cultural institutions and national parks, including Hollywood, Disneyland, Yosemite National Park, Alcatraz, Angel Island and the Golden Gate Bridge.
Arizona’s Native American History Indigenous hunter-gatherers arrived in the area now known as Arizona more than 12,000 years ago. Today, the state has 22 federally-recognized Native American tribes, including the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Tohono O’odh...
Wyatt Earp, a famous figure from the American West, is best remembered for his participation in a deadly gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona.