Exploration and Empire - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Exploration and Empire write by William H. Goetzmann. This book was released on 2008-11. Exploration and Empire available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. From early mountain men searching for routes through the Rockies to West Point soldier-engineers conducting topographical expeditions, the exploration of the American West mirrored the development of a fledgling nation. In his Pulitzer Prize-winning Exploration and Empire, William H. Goetzmann analyzes the special role the explorer played in shaping the vast region once called "the Great American Desert." According to Goetzmann, the exploration of the West was not a haphazard series of discoveries, but a planned - even programmed - activity in which explorers, often armed with instructions from the federal government, gathered information that would support national goals for the new lands. As national needs and the frontier's image changed, the West itself was rediscovered by successive generations of explorers, a process that in turn helped shape its culture. Nineteenth-century western exploration, Goetzmann writes, can be divided into three stages. The first, beginning with the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804, was marked by the need to collect practical information, such as the locations of the best transportation routes through the wilderness. Then came the era of settlement and investment - the drive to fulfill the Manifest Destiny of a nation beginning to realize what immense riches lay beyond the Mississippi. The final stage involved a search for knowledge of a different kind, as botanists and paleontologists, ethnographers and engineers hunted intensively for scientific information in the "frontier laboratory." This last phase also saw a rethinking of the West's place in the national scheme; it was a time of nascent conservation movements and public policy discussions aboutthe region's future. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, Goetzmann offers a masterful overview of the opening of the West, as well as a fascinating study of the nature of exploration and its consequences for civilization.
Lewis and Clark
Lewis and Clark - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Lewis and Clark write by Steven Kroll. This book was released on 1994-01-01. Lewis and Clark available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. An illustrated account of the amazing two-year journey of Lewis and Clark across the American West. In the early 1800s, William Clark and Meriwether Lewis set out, at the request of President Thomas Jefferson, to explore the Louisiana Territory. For two years, four months, and nine days the men and their crew traveled the rivers, plains, and forests of the west, discovering unknown plants and animals and making contact with many native tribes. This simple introduction to their epic journey is perfect for young readers, featuring large-format illustrations, a timeline of important events, and an afterword that describes the lives of the explorers after their return home.
Men with Sand
Men with Sand - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Men with Sand write by John Moring. This book was released on 1998. Men with Sand available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. A little more than a century ago, western North America was a mystery to the European settlers who had rapidly filled the eastern part of the continent. In the feverish search for beaver, gold, and emigration routes, a special breed of man emerged who would reveal the secrets of the vast West. Such men were said to 'have sand' or 'have sand in their craw.' These men, rugged individuals with the determination to succeed, the grit to survive, and wanderlust in their hearts, forged the way for the settlement of the West. The author skillfully guides the reader through the lives of thirteen of these men including the highly regarded team of Lewis and Clark.
Zebulon Pike, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West
Zebulon Pike, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Zebulon Pike, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West write by Matthew L. Harris. This book was released on 2012-11-21. Zebulon Pike, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. In life and in death, fame and glory eluded Zebulon Montgomery Pike (1779–1813). The ambitious young military officer and explorer, best known for a mountain peak that he neither scaled nor named, was destined to live in the shadows of more famous contemporaries—explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. This collection of thought-provoking essays rescues Pike from his undeserved obscurity. It does so by providing a nuanced assessment of Pike and his actions within the larger context of American imperial ambition in the time of Jefferson. Pike’s accomplishments as an explorer and mapmaker and as a soldier during the War of 1812 has been tainted by his alleged connection to Aaron Burr’s conspiracy to separate the trans-Appalachian region from the United States. For two hundred years historians have debated whether Pike was an explorer or a spy, whether he knew about the Burr Conspiracy or was just a loyal foot soldier. This book moves beyond that controversy to offer new scholarly perspectives on Pike’s career. The essayists—all prominent historians of the American West—examine Pike’s expeditions and writings, which provided an image of the Southwest that would shape American culture for decades. John Logan Allen explores Pike’s contributions to science and cartography; James P. Ronda and Leo E. Oliva address his relationships with Native peoples and Spanish officials; Jay H. Buckley chronicles Pike’s life and compares Pike to other Jeffersonian explorers; Jared Orsi discusses the impact of his expeditions on the environment; and William E. Foley examines his role in Burr’s conspiracy. Together the essays assess Pike’s accomplishments and shortcomings as an explorer, soldier, empire builder, and family man. Pike’s 1810 journals and maps gave Americans an important glimpse of the headwaters of the Mississippi and the southwestern borderlands, and his account of the opportunities for trade between the Mississippi Valley and New Mexico offered a blueprint for the Santa Fe Trail. This volume is the first in more than a generation to offer new scholarly perspectives on the career of an overlooked figure in the opening of the American West.
Explorers of the American West
Explorers of the American West - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Explorers of the American West write by Jay H. Buckley. This book was released on 2016-03-28. Explorers of the American West available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. With original primary source documents, this anthology brings readers into the vast unknown 19th-century American West—through the eyes of the explorers who saw it for the first time. This volume brings together book excerpts, maps, and illustrations from 12 explorers from the 19th century, highlighting their lives and contributions. Arranged chronologically, the 10 chapters focus on individual explorers, with biographies and background information about and document excerpts from each person. The chapters offer analyses of each document's relevance to the historical period, geographic knowledge, and cultural perspective. This guide shares the important contributions from explorers like Lewis and Clark, Zebulon Pike, Jedediah Smith, James P. Beckwourth, John C. Fremont, Susan Magoffin, and John Wesley Powell. It also nurtures readers' historical literacy by modeling historians' methods of analyzing primary sources. Readers will see new and familiar events from different perspectives, including that of a woman traveling along the Santa Fe Trail, one of the most famous African American mountain men, and a Civil War veteran, among many others.
