I’m not American so not savvy on American history, I just pick up bits and pieces from TV, pop culture and such, so maybe I’ve just got the wrong impression. But even after reading some Wikipedia pages and other sites I’m still confused.
So you have the American Colonial period starting from way back, until you get the 13 Colonies in the late 1700’s.
Then there’s some expansion along the east coast until you get the “southern” states.
Then it seems like all of a sudden people are trying to get all the way across what is now the Middle and Midwest (?) states to California. Like, even before the Gold Rush (which I know was in the mid 1800’s) people were dead keen to get over there and not stop along the way.
I guess basically I’m wondering why people travelling the Oregon Trail and equivalent paths were crossing over so much “undeveloped” (*!!) land to get to the West Coast, rather than steadily developing towns and cities that would slowly craw across what is now the Continental United States.
California became a state in 1850 but Oklahoma didn’t until 1907, and it just doesn’t make sense to me!
*VERY IMPORTANT FOOTNOTE: I want to be sensitive and respectful and acknowledge that ALL of the land I’m talking about was inhabited and “civilised” by the indigenous people LONG before “Americans” began “developing” it. In fact I’m even aware that not all “Native Americans” were nomadic like some of the “plains Indians” we so often see depicted, that there were whole cities established by indigenous people. I discounted them – perhaps in ignorant error – because they are almost never referred to in the historical documentaries or fictions I’ve been exposed. I would be very happy to learn more about settler/Native relations in the course of responses to this post!
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The gold rush, fueled by the concept of ‘manifest destiny” drove people westward. Basically, many thought it was in God’s plan for America to expand and colonize the west. There just wasn’t much in the way of natural resources to exploit until you reached the Rocky Mountains.
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