The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada.
The events in this timeline occurred primarily in the portion of the modern continental United States west of the Mississippi River, and mostly in the period between the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the admission of the last western territories as states in 1912 where most of the frontier was already settled and ...
In literature the western story had its beginnings in the first adventure narratives that accompanied the opening of the West to white settlement shortly before the Civil War. Accounts of the Western plainsmen, scouts, buffalo hunters, and trappers were highly popular in the East.
Geographically speaking, we at the Bill Lane Center define the American West as the United States west of the 100th meridian, Canada west of Ontario, and all of Mexico, with open arms toward the broader Pacific region.
White settlers from the East poured across the Mississippi to mine, farm, and ranch. African-American settlers also came West from the Deep South, convinced by promoters of all-black Western towns that prosperity could be found there. Chinese railroad workers further added to the diversity of the region's population.
The Real Wild West: A History of The American Frontier | Documentary
When was the Western era?
The period of the Wild West was between the years 1865 and 1895—only 30 years! This was very brief for so many iconic characters that still serve as role models among American heroes.
Geography. The West is a land filled with great mountains, volcanoes, rolling plains, fertile valleys, beaches, and even deserts. California, Oregon, and Washington have earthquakes and even volcanoes! Hawaii also has many active volcanoes, and extinct volcanoes can be found all through the West.
The region has always been associated with the frontier, the farthest area of American settlement. In the early days of the United States, all lands to the west of the Appalachian Mountains were considered the West. As settlers moved westward, the frontier—and what was considered the West—moved as well.
Within a decade of Edison's early documentaries, Edwin S. Porter directed the first feature Western, The Great Train Robbery (1903). Eleven minutes in length, this film tells the story of a violent robbery aboard a moving train.
The rise of Christianity reshaped much of the Greco-Roman tradition and culture; the Christianised culture would be the basis for the development of Western civilization after the fall of Rome (which resulted from increasing pressure from barbarians outside Roman culture).
The Wild West era runs from the end of the American Civil War in 1865 till 1890. We also call this time period the Old West. The terms “Wild West,” “Old West,” and “Western frontier” will be used interchangeably throughout this story. Let's debunk some of the misconceptions about America's Western frontier.
No longer merely a land of “wide, open spaces,” cattle, mines, and mountains, the West has become famous for other things: for example, the motion-picture industry in southern California, gambling in Nevada, aerospace production in Washington and California, environmental protection in Oregon, and retirement ...
The West is the largest region in the United States. It is made of eleven states. Alaska and Hawaii are separated from the other states by land and water. The Coast Ranges, the Sierra Nevadas, the Cascade Range, and the Rocky Mountains are all found in the West region.
Notable features of the West are the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and Death Valley in California.
These include hot, dry deserts in the Basin and Range, a Mediterranean climate (a climate with dry summers and relatively warm, wet winters) along the southern Pacific Border, and rainforests in the northern Pacific Border. Even individual states can have tremendous climate diversity.
To help develop the American West and spur economic growth, Congress passed the Homestead Act of 1862, which provided 160 acres of federal land to anyone who agreed to farm the land. The act distributed millions of acres of western land to individual settlers.
Gold rush and mining opportunities (silver in Nevada) The opportunity to work in the cattle industry; to be a “cowboy” Faster travel to the West by railroad; availability of supplies due to the railroad. The opportunity to own land cheaply under the Homestead Act.
The Old West, also known as the Wild West or the American Frontier, was a period from the early 19th century to the early 20th century, when the western part of North America was colonized.
Historians say the Old West ended around 1900. At that point, Western cities like Los Angeles and Seattle were already crowded. People had settled most rural lands. The population continued growing, and today, 58% of Americans live west of the Mississippi River.
Importantly, much of this vast expanse of terrain was pre-statehood at the time, which meant there wasn't much federal oversight. This lack of a centralized government is partly responsible for our collective imagining of the Wild West as a rowdy and fierce place to live, Anderson explained.
The western myth is far removed from the historical reality of the West. Often movies, comics and American literature neglect to show realities of the journey west, and the life on the frontier.
