Based upon lecture and readings, discuss westward expansion
and its effects on land, resources, and peoples. Why did people
start to move west? How did the fur trade and resource extraction
impact the landscape? How did indigenous people respond to the
invasion and impacts on their landscape? How is resource
exploitation in the west seen today?
Westward expansion gave hope for selers in a variety of ways. People stated to move west and have
hope when rumors were spreading around about how beautiful the west was, and what it had to oer.
They were in search of cheap, good farmland. Land was one of the greatest natural resources that drew
selers to the West. Western territories opened up prime farming land that had a great amount of
potential. Many people saw this as making a new beginning for themselves and their families. People
were also moving west because of the vast possibilities for gold mining, the hope grew that they would
score big and #nd gold because of the huge Gold rush in 1848, and would become rich and be able to
provide beer for their families. Also there was a lot of overcrowding in the trans-Appalachian west
because 40% of the nation’s population was there. With all of these opportunities, selers had nothing
to lose and they had hope and started to move west.
Fur trade and resource extraction impacted the land because with the fur trade happening between the
selers and the Native Americans, it made them come into more contact and exposed the Native
Americans to catastrophic diseases. Fur trade also impacted the land because with so many new selers
coming in, it brought the Native Americans to a whole new market network that provided them with an
incentive to kill more animals than personal need required. Because of this, fur trade began to decimate