: Explore the motives and hardships of groups like the Mormons and the ill-fated Donner Party, and the significance of the Oregon Trail.
: Detail the nomadic culture of tribes like the Lakota Sioux, whose survival depended on the buffalo for food, shelter, and tools. The American West
: Analyze how this act incentivized settlement by offering 160 acres of land to anyone who could farm it for five years. : Explore the motives and hardships of groups
Creating a paper on "The American West" typically involves exploring the tensions between rapid expansion and the established cultures of indigenous peoples. For students, this often aligns with the Edexcel GCSE History curriculum, which focuses on the period from c. 1835 to 1895. 1. Early Settlement and Expansion (1835–1862) The American West