[½»Á÷] Westward movement in America

                       Westward movement in America
      Westward movement in America carried settlers across America, from the Atlantic Ocean. The westward movement began in the early 1600¡¯s with European settlements along the Atlantic Coast of North America. It continued until the late 1800¡¯s. By that time, the western frontiers of the United States had been conquered.
      An abundance of land and other natural resources lured America¡¯s pioneers westward. Fur trader, cattle ranchers, farmers, and miners led the push to the west. Merchants and other business people followed. These hard-working men and women faced great dangers, endured severe hardships, and suffered loneliness and boredom in the hope of making a better life for themselves and their children. Some of them looked to the west for wealth or adventure. Others sought to improve their social position or increase their political power.
      The pioneers struggled westward across hills, mountains, and prairies on foot and on horseback. Some floated through the Erie Canal on barges or traveled down rivers on flatboats and steamboats. Others crossed the rugged wilderness in covered wagons. For many pioneers, the Cumberland Gap, the Oregon Trail, and other roads west became paths to opportunity.
      The American frontier shifted westward in stages. The first American frontier ran along the Atlantic Coast. Settlers began to cross the Appalachian Mountains after territory west of the mountains came under British control in 1763. During the early 1800¡¯s, the next push westward took settlers into the Great Lakes region, the Mississippi River Valley, and the plains along the Gulf of Mexico. By the mid-1840¡¯s, adventurous pioneers had reached what are now California and Oregon in the Far West. The last frontier settled in the Great Plains between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains in the 1860¡¯s.
      The continual pursuit of a better life made Americans more restless than their European ancestors. As people moved from place to place, they lost their attachment to a specific region. They began to identify more with the nation as a whole and to see themselves as ¡°Americans¡±. In that way, the westward movement promoted nationalism. Many historians believe that such frontier traits as nationalism, inventiveness, and optimism survive in the American character today.