The American West

The American West has always held a powerful place in the nation’s imagination—a sweeping, untamed landscape shaped by ambition, struggle and the promise of opportunity. From the diverse Indigenous nations who first called it home to the settlers, outlaws and industrialists who transformed its terrain, the West exists as both a real place and a powerful myth. Its history is a tapestry of resilience and injustice, bold innovation and profound upheaval.

Yosemite Valley with Bridal Falls and Half-Dome in the Distance

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Lewis and Clark Expedition: Timeline

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.

10 Ways the Transcontinental Railroad Affected America

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.

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone by Thomas Moran.

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

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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The American West
Whitman Mission

Missionaries laid the foundation for communities and governance in the American frontier.

Vintage promotional illustration for Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West shows, circa 1900

Pop culture portrayals obscure a much more complex story.

A dramatic black and white illustration depicting a group of figures climbing a treacherous, snow-covered mountain peak, with steep cliffs and rocky outcroppings in the background.

After Lewis and Clark's famed journey, these other explorers set out to document what lay beyond the frontier.

White And Chinese Gold Miners

A better life awaited—people hoped—as miners, ranchers and more.

The 1803 land deal may have been one of history’s greatest bargains, but doubling America’s territory drew sharp criticism—over cost, governability and more.

Farmer Jose Esquivel begins to leave after surveying his field of cattle on June 13, 2023 in Quemado, Texas.

Spanish settlers, independent Mexicans and southern frontiersmen jostled for control of Texas until the territory became the 28th U.S. state in 1845.

A solitary wild bison walks in front of the Teton mountain range in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Wyoming became the 44th state to join the union in 1890. The first U.S. territory to allow women to vote, Wyoming has the smallest population of all the states.

The construction of the interstate highway system in the mid-1950s forever changed the road once known as "America's Main Street."

The Maroon Bells near Aspen, Colorado, are two peaks in the Elk Mountains - Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak. They are located in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness of White River National Forest.

Colorado attracted the ancient Pueblo peoples and the Plains Native Americans with its natural resoruces before becoming the 38th state of the union in 1876.

Chief John Ross devoted much of his life to fighting against the forced removal of his people from their ancestral lands.

Landmarks

Colonel Charles Young overcame racism to rise through the ranks and create his legacy in the great outdoors.

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Chinatown, San Francisco, 1900.

Facing economic threats and violence, early Chinese immigrants banded together and created communities to survive—and thrive.

Government official in suit sitting at a desk signing a document, as a group of men in Indian clothing and headdresses stand behind him.

An economic relief program aimed specifically at helping Native American communities during the Great Depression, the legislation marked a sharp U-turn in federal policy toward Indigenous peoples.

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone by Thomas Moran.

Yellowstone's stunning natural beauty inspired the 19th-century push to set aside the land, where Indigenous people had been present for millennia.

When Chinese Americans Were Scapegoated for Bubonic Plague

As Honolulu and San Francisco faced outbreaks, the cities’ responses caused devastation to Asian communities.

Wounded Knee Massacre

White settlers feared the Lakota's Ghost Dance presaged an armed uprising. But US troops carried out the bloodbath.

President Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln signed laws that gave away millions of acres of tribal land. And he approved the mass execution of 38 Dakota Sioux warriors.

The Harrowing Rescue Missions to Save the Donner Party Survivors

As the Donner Party fought to survive in the snowy Sierra Nevada mountains, four brave rescue missions ensured some traumatized members made it out alive.

The Third Infantry California Volunteers, Band poses for photo.

Though far from the main fighting, California made an outsized contribution to the Union victory, mostly in the form of gold and troops.

Po'payUNITED STATES - SEPTEMBER 21: Sen. Pete Domenici (R), R-NM, at the dedication ceremony of the statue of Pueblo leader Po'pay in the Rotunda of Capitol. Po'pay led a revolt against the Spanish in 1680 that helped cement native culture. (Photo By Chris Maddaloni/Roll Call/Getty Images)

The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 drove out the Spanish for 12 years—and saved many Indigenous cultures from being wiped out.

Geronimo and Chiricahua Apache warriors

Lozen fought against Mexican and American forces for 30 years, earning the nickname 'Apache Joan of Arc.'

The Battle of Little Bighorn.

As Europeans sought to control newly settled American land, wars raged between Native Americans and the frontiersmen who encroached on their territory, resources and trade.

How the Transcontinental Railroad Affected America's Communities of Color

Chinese immigrant workers and Indigenous tribes paid a particularly high price.

How Mexican Vaqueros Inspired the American Cowboy

Classic Westerns have cemented the image of cowboys as white Americans, but the first wave of horse-riding cow wranglers in North America were Indigenous Mesoamerican men.

Filipino Fishermen Established the First Asian American Settlement in Louisiana

The fishing village in marshlands of present-day Louisiana was settled by the so-called Manilamen as early as 1763.

1885 Tacoma, Washington broadside rallying citizens to an anti-Chinese rally.

In the 1880s, mobs in Tacoma and Seattle forcibly expelled Chinese residents. In Tacoma, town officials organized the action months in advance.

Before The Chinese Exclusion Act, There Was the Page Act

The 1875 Page Act was one of the earliest pieces of federal legislation to restrict immigration to the United States.

Wild West Outlaw Jesse James with members of his gang, probably two of the Younger brothers.

Jesse James. Billy the Kid. Butch and Sundance. Their iconic status endures, despite their history of violent crime.

Why Native Americans Have Protested Mount Rushmore?

While Mount Rushmore is considered a treasured destination for some Americans, to Native Americans, it can represent a stinging legacy.

Broken Treaties in Native American History: Timeline

From 1778 to 1871, the United States signed some 368 treaties with various Indigenous people across the North American continent.

1908: Apsaroke woman on horseback, packhorse beside her.

Horses were first introduced to Native American tribes via European explorers. For the buffalo-hunting Plains Indians, the swift, strong animals quickly became prized.

California outlaw and folk hero Joaquin Murrieta on horseback

It's clear the California rangers beheaded someone in 1853. What's isn't clear is whether it was the infamous bandit known as 'Joaquín.'

What It Was Like to Ride the Transcontinental Railroad

The swift, often comfortable ride on the Transcontinental Railroad opened up the American West to new settlement.

When California Became Its Own Nation

Following the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846, California existed as an independent nation—for 25 days.

Buffalo Soldiers, 25th Infantry

After fighting in the Civil War and later military engagements, the famous all-black regiments protected the National Parks.

Lewis and Clark Expedition: Timeline

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.

The explorers not only produced maps from their 1804-1806 expedition to the American West, they also recorded some 122 animals new to science.

Severe exposure, starvation and disease ravaged tribes during their forced migration to present-day Oklahoma.

10 Ways the Transcontinental Railroad Affected America

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.

19th Century

David McCullough discusses the challenges faced by America's earliest pioneers as they braved harsh conditions to settle westward.

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The executive order acknowledged state-sponsored violence and discrimination against Native peoples as part of 'California's dark history.'

Chinese Immigrants Building the Transcontinental Railroad

At first railroad companies were reluctant to hire Chinese workers, but the immigrants soon proved to be vital.

The pioneers hoped to shave 300 miles off their journey. But the route they took to California had never been tested.

Angel Island Immigration Station

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was one of several discriminatory U.S. laws that curbed Chinese immigration and made Chinese people ineligible for naturalization.

Slaves revolting against French power in Haiti.

Napoleon was eager to sell—but the purchase would end up expanding slavery in the U.S.

Mexican-American War 1846-1848: Battle of Buena Vista. (Credit: Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

In the Mexican-American War, Mexico faced an enemy that was coming into its own as a military power.

U.S. Government and Politics

Explore the history of how the National Park Service came to be and which presidents helped protect areas like Yosemite and Yellowstone.

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Women settlers standing guard while living on the American frontier. (Credit: Interim Archives/Getty Images)

Spies and scouts, mothers and homestead keepers, women quietly made their mark on America's changing western frontier.

A woman in a white robe, the symbol of 'Manifest Destiny,' floating over the prairie as Native Americans and bison run in front of her, followed by signs of western expansion.

Land symbolized opportunity to generations of Americans, starting with colonists.

A photographer's interpretation of James Fraser's classic sculpture, the 'End of the Trail,' circa 1915. (Credit: Underwood Archives/Getty Images)

By the close of the Indian Wars in the late 19th century, fewer than 238,000 Indigenous people remained of the estimated 5 million-plus living in North America before European contact.

Custers Last Stand

The Battle of the Little Bighorn—also known as Custer’s Last Stand—was the most ferocious battle of the Sioux Wars. Colonel George Custer and his men never stood a fighting chance.

HISTORY: The Northwest Passage

Where Is the Northwest Passage? The Northwest Passage spans roughly 900 miles from the North Atlantic north of Canada’s Baffin Island in the east to the Beaufort Sea north of the U.S. state of Alaska in the west. It’s located entirely within the Arctic ...

Miners during the Klondike Gold Rush

The Klondike Gold Rush was a mass influx of prospecting migrants to the Canadian Yukon Territory and Alaska after gold was discovered in those regions in 1896.

The Santa Fe Trail, a 900-mile route connecting Franklin, Missouri, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, played a crucial role in America's westward expansion in the 1800s.

Native American Encampment - Lakota Indians UNITED STATES - CIRCA 1890: Bird's-eye view of a Lakota camp (several teepees and wagons in large field)--probably on or near Pine Ridge Reservation. (Photo by Buyenlarge/Getty Images)

Indian reservations were created by the 1851 Indian Appropriations Act as a means for minimizing conflict and encouraging cultural change among Native tribes.

Buffalo Soldiers in 1898 during the Spanish-American war

Buffalo Soldiers were the Black U.S. servicemen who fought on the Western frontier after the Civil War and were named by the Native Americans they encountered.

Lupine grows next to wagon wheel ruts made by wagon trains crossing the South Pass on the Oregon Trail. South Pass is the highest point in elevation on the trail.

The Oregon Trail, a 2,000-mile route from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon, was used by hundreds of thousands of pioneers in the mid-1800s to emigrate west.

In 1850, around 400 Pomo people, including women and children, were slaughtered by the U.S. Cavalry and local volunteers at Clear Lake north of San Francisco. (Credit: NativeStock Pictures/UIG/REX/Shutterstock)

Up to 16,000 Native Americans were murdered in cold blood after California became a state.

Would-be mail thieves didn’t stand a chance against Stagecoach Mary. The hard-drinking, quick-shooting mail carrier sported two guns and men’s clothing.

Chinese Immigration to the United States Most of the early Chinese immigration to the United States can be traced to the mid-1800s. These early immigrants—some 25,000 in the 1850s alone—came seeking economic opportunity in America. The Chinese arriving ...

19th Century

Historian Matthew Pinsker gives a crash course on the concept of "manifest destiny" and the seeds of westward American expansion.

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Check out seven facts about this infamous chapter in American history.

Portrait of Davy Crockett by John Neagle

Explore 10 surprising facts about the man often called the “King of the Wild Frontier.”

Find out more about the lives of six adventurers who made their mark on the American frontier.

'Barlow Cutoff', near Mount Hood, Oregon

Check out nine surprising facts about the route that once served as the gateway to the American West.

Explore 10 surprising facts about one of America’s first and greatest expeditions of discovery.

THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF WYATT EARP - Photo of the Real Wyatt Earp - Shoot Date: 1885.

Find out more about this Old West icon, from how he met his friend Doc Holliday to what happened to him after the Tombstone gunfight.

Battle of San Jacinto, 21 April 1836: Texas War of Independence (from Mexico) also called the Texas Revolution. Mexicans led by Santa Anna defeated in 12 minutes by Texian (US) forces under Sam Houston. Santa Anna captured and forced to sign Treaty of Velasco on 14 May which recognised the independence of Texas.

Today we may know them simply as Texans, but deciding what to call the people living in Texas in the pre-Texas Revolution era was a matter of some confusion. According to an issue of the Telegraph and Texas Register published on November 7, 1835, various people used the terms Texans, Texonians, Texasians and Texicans, but: […]

Texas Rangers patrolling the border circa 1915. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

Now an elite police squad tasked with the state’s most serious criminal investigations, the Texas Rangers have undergone many changes in their colorful history—and some particularly memorable characters have emerged over the years.

A dispute over a small cannon in 1835 sparked the Texas Revolution and immortalized the battle cry “Come and Take It.”

Explore 10 true stories of the Wild West, some of them stranger than fiction.

U.S. States

The geological history of Yellowstone National Park dates back to the formation of the North American continent.

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19th Century

Western migration through uncharted regions strands a wagon train in the Sierra Mountains leaving little choice for survival.

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cowboy on horseback

Cowboys originated with the Spanish settlers in modern Mexico, before becoming synonymous with the American West during the cattle drives of the 1800s.

(Original Caption) View of petroleum spindletop.

Spindletop was an enormous geyser of oil that exploded from a drilling site at Spindletop Hill, a mound located in southeastern Texas, in 1901. Reaching a height of more than 150 feet and producing close to 100,000 barrels a day, the “gusher” was more powerful than any previously seen in the world. A booming oil industry soon grew up around the oil field.

HISTORY: The Transcontinental Railroad

In 1862, the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroad Companies began building a transcontinental railroad that would link the United States from east to west. Over the next seven years, the two companies raced toward each other from Sacramento, California on the one side to Omaha, Nebraska on the other, struggling against great risks before they met at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869.

LAKE MEAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, ARIZONA - JUNE 15: The Arizona Intake Towers (L) and Nevada Intake Towers on the upstream side of the Hoover Dam are shown on June 15, 2021 in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Arizona. Last week, The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reported that Lake Mead, North America's largest artificial reservoir, dropped to 1,071.53 feet above sea level, the lowest it's been since being filled in 1937 after the construction of the Hoover Dam. The declining water levels are a result of a nearly continuous drought for the past two decades coupled with increased water demands in the Southwestern United States. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The Hoover Dam was devised as a means for controlling the wild waters of the Colorado River and became the world's largest dam upon its completion in 1935.

Cumberland Gap', 1872. View of the pass through the Cumberland Mountains on the border of Kentucky and Virginia, USA. From "Picturesque America; or, The Land We Live In, A Delineation by Pen and Pencil of the Mountains, Rivers, Lakes...with Illustrations on Steel and Wood by Eminent American Artists" Vol. I, edited by William Cullen Bryant. [D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1872]. Artist Harry Fenn.

The Wilderness Road, blazed by frontiersman Daniel Boone through the Cumberland Gap, opened a western pathway that led to the first settlements in Kentucky.

The Oregon Trail'The Oregon Trail Beyond Devil's Gate', Wyoming - by W H Jackson. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

Manifest Destiny expressed the philosophy that drove 19th-century U.S. territorial expansion. It contended that the United States was destined by God to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent.

Gallant DefenceThe Texan defenders of the Alamo fighting Mexican soldiers within the walls of the fortress. Davy Crockett (1786 - 1836), centre right, with his rifle above his head, died in the siege. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

Early History of the Alamo Spanish settlers built the Mission San Antonio de Valero, named for St. Anthony of Padua, on the banks of the San Antonio River around 1718. They also established the nearby military garrison of San Antonio de Béxar, which soo...

Teamsters Camping For The Night(Original Caption) Westward Movement. Teamsters establishing camp for night. Mid 19th Century wash drawing.

Westward expansion, the 19th-century movement of settlers into the American West, began with the Louisiana Purchase and was fueled by the Gold Rush, the Oregon Trail and a belief in "manifest destiny."

Louisiana Purchase1803: Map showing the area covered by the Louisana Purchase. The land which was bought from France, virtually doubled the area of the United States, cost only 15 million dollars and gave the US security against development by the French. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 introduced about 828,000,000 square miles of territory from France into the United States, thereby doubling the size of the young republic. Explore the facts about this important acquisition and its lasting legacy on Thomas Jefferson’s presidency.

The Trail of Tears as depicted in a 1951 painting by Blackbear Bosin.

The Trail of Tears was the deadly route used by Native Americans when forced off their ancestral lands and into Oklahoma by the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

HISTORY: Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull (1831-1890) was the Native American chief under whom the Lakota tribes united in their struggle for survival on the North American Great Plains.

Battle of San Jacinto during the Texas War of Independence (from Mexico) also called the Texas Revolution.

Battle of San Jacinto: Background After gaining independence from Spain in the 1820s, Mexico welcomed foreign settlers to sparsely populated Texas, and a large group of Americans led by Stephen F. Austin (1793-1836) settled along the Brazos River. The A...

Soldier and politician Samuel Houston (1793-1863), first president of the Republic of Texas from 1836-38.

Sam Houston (1793-1863) was a lawyer, congressman and senator from Tennessee. After moving to Texas in 1832, he joined the conflict between U.S. settlers and the Mexican government and became commander of the local army. On April 21, 1836, Houston and his men defeated Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna at San Jacinto to secure Texan independence.

Mount Hood View with Portland Downtown Skyline - stock photo

Oregon joined the Union in 1859. The state is one of the nation's top producers of wine, hazelnuts and Christmas trees.

USA, Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, elevated city skyline with Devon Tower, dusk

The Indian and Oklahoma territories combined to form Oklahoma on November 16, 1907. It is the 46th state admitted to the Union.

Mexican-American War 1846-1848: Battle of Buena Vista. (Credit: Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

The Mexican-American War was a 1846-1848 conflict over vast territories in the American West, which the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave to the United States.

Lewis and Clark Expedition Route

The Lewis and Clark Expedition began in 1804 when Thomas Jefferson asked Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the lands of the Louisiana Purchase.

A scenic view in Idaho.

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...

Map of of Mexico, 1847. This was appended to the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo which ended the Mexican American War (1846-1848

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.

Illustration shows General George Armstrong Custer (1839 - 1876) waving his hat to rally his troops as they ride against Native Americans, late nineteenth century. A Native American village is visible in the distance. (Photo by Interim Archives/Getty Images)

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.

The Battle of Fallen Timbers, 1794 Northwest Indian War

The Battle of Timbers, on August 20, 1794, was the last major conflict of the Northwest Territory Indian War between Native Americans and the United States.

The Golden Gate Bridge from the Fort Baker side featuring the new Golden Gate Pavilion gift and information center.

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.

Phoenix midtown skyline with a Saguaro Cactus and other desert scenery in the foreground.

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...

American lawman and gun fighter Wyatt Earp (1848 - 1929), circa 1873.

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.