Introduction

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Donnie Sexton/Travel Montana

The West is a region in the western U.s.a. that lies mostly westward of the Great Plains. The U.S. government defines information technology as including u.s. of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Some of the states of this large region are also included in the smaller regions of the Northwest (or Pacific Northwest), the Pacific Coast, and the Southwest.

The definition of the West has changed over the years. The region has always been associated with the frontier, the farthest area of American settlement. In the early days of the United States, all lands to the west of the Appalachian Mountains were considered the Westward. Every bit settlers moved west, the frontier—and what was considered the W—moved too. The West has been linked in the popular imagination with the frontier life of cowboys, Indians, covered wagons, outlaws, prospectors, and a whole society operating just exterior the constabulary.

As with other sections of the United States, regional boundaries are somewhat imprecise. The Due west of the cowboy and the cattle bulldoze covered many non-Western states, including Kansas and Nebraska. Much of the West'south fiercest Indian fighting took place in Due north Dakota and South Dakota. All four of those states are now considered to exist office of the Midwest. Alaska and Hawaii, geographically the near western of all us, are actually no part of the popularly conceived West at all.

Land

Bob Wick/U.S. Agency of Country Direction

Too Alaska and Hawaii, the West includes the whole western third of the continental United states. The principal geographic feature is the Rocky Mountains. They stretch some 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) from British Columbia, Canada, in the north to New Mexico in the south. In between, the Rockies run through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. This rugged chain includes at least 100 separate ranges that contain some of North America'south highest peaks.

© Corbis

The West is besides noted for diverse other physical features and areas of natural beauty. Yellowstone National Park, the oldest national park in the Usa, is situated in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. The Yard Canyon, an immense coulee cut past the Colorado River in the high plateau region of northwestern Arizona, is noted for its fantastic shapes and coloration. Hells Canyon, forming part of the Idaho-Oregon edge, is the deepest gorge on the North American continent. Denali (Mt. McKinley), the highest peak in Northward America, is located in Alaska. Death Valley, in southeastern California, is the lowest, hottest, and driest signal in North America. Other notable features of the W include Utah'due south Peachy Salt Lake, the largest inland torso of salt water in the Western Hemisphere, and Wyoming's Black Hills, an isolated eroded mountain region that extends into South Dakota. Nevada'due south Blackness Rock Desert serves as the site of an annual music and performance art festival. Colorado'south Mesa Verde National Park preserves notable prehistoric cliff dwellings. New Mexico'south Carlsbad Cavern has a labyrinth of underground chambers, including one of the largest ever discovered.

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The West has some of the most populated states (California, Washington, Arizona) every bit well every bit some of the least populated ones (Montana, Alaska, Wyoming). Some of the largest cities by population include Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco, California; Phoenix, Arizona; Seattle, Washington; and Portland, Oregon. Other notable cities of the region include Anchorage, Alaska; Honolulu, Hawaii; Denver, Colorado; Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah; Las Vegas, Nevada; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Boise, Idaho; and Cheyenne, Wyoming.

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The U.S. government owns nearly half the land in the W. (In comparing, the government owns only some iv percent of the land east of the Mississippi River.) The various parcels of federally endemic land are placed nether the supervision of the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the Wood Service, or the Fish and Wild fauna Service. Some of the federally endemic state in the West is used for national parks and wild animals conservation. However, much of it is bachelor for leasing to ranchers for cattle grazing or to companies for mining or oil extraction.

The W has a diverse climate because of its large size. Temperature ranges vary dramatically from one surface area to another, fifty-fifty within the same country. In Arizona, for example, yr-circular temperatures in Flagstaff are generally 30 °F (17 °C) libation than those of Phoenix. Some states, such as Utah and Arizona, accept big arid areas with trivial precipitation. The Washington and Oregon coasts have maritime climates with mild seasons and a lot of rainfall. In general, as elevation increases, atmospheric precipitation increases and mean temperatures drop. In some mountainous areas of Wyoming, for case, total snowfall can exceed 200 inches (510 centimeters) annually and can remain on the ground for more than than 150 days per yr.

Economy

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (reproduction no. LC-DIG-pga-00322)

Fur traders traveled throughout the states of the West in the early 19th century. By mid-century gold seekers by the thousands poured through the area on their fashion to California. Most the aforementioned time trailblazers carved routes from the Due east that settlers followed to areas in the Westward. Once there the people began farming to produce their nutrient, and cities grew up around major settlements. Mormon pioneers settled in Utah, creating a prosperous and stable economy and political construction. By the end of the 1860s, the railroad reached the West coast, bringing more pioneers. In many areas agriculture slowly gained economic dominance, and cattle and sheep grazing shortly followed.

Cornellrockey

The mining industry began to grow during the latter half of the 19th century. Copper mines developed quickly in Arizona, and Montana had copper and coal. Colorado produced steel based on local deposits of atomic number 26 ore and coal. The rich Comstock mines of Nevada yielded silverish. Mining has remained robust in many areas of the West into the 21st century.

Jack Dykinga—ARS/USDA

In the years later on World War II the West began to come across significant population growth. Many people were attracted to states such every bit Colorado and Wyoming, which began to build ski resorts and other outdoor sports facilities. Tourism and other service industries take become a large part of the West's economy. Arizona has become a popular retirement center, then many of its services cater to the older generation. Ranching remains a large manufacture in states such every bit Wyoming and Montana. California farms abound much of the state'southward fruits and vegetables. Manufacturing in the West is diverse and in many areas is related to forestry or to the raw materials mined in the region. Some states accept specialized economies, such as the pic industry in California and the gambling industry in Nevada. High-technology industries in California and Washington make aircraft, computers, and other electronics.

History

Bob Harper

Native Americans lived throughout the W for at least ten,000 years before European settlement. Some of the tribes living in the region when the Europeans arrived were the Crow, Blackfoot, Ute, Cheyenne, Pueblo, and Paiute. The settlers who moved into the area during the 1800s ofttimes came into conflict with the Native Americans. The settlers wanted the land and the state's resources for themselves. After years of warfare, virtually Native Americans were forced to motility to reservations. Many of their descendants still live on those reservations. (Come across also California Indians; Bang-up Basin Indians; Northwest Coast Indians; Plateau Indians; Southwest Indians.)

The Westward by and large was the concluding region of the United States to be settled and developed. However, parts of the region were settled before the colonies on the Due east Coast were established. The Spaniards reached the Grand Canyon in 1540, what is now Kansas in 1541, and San Francisco in 1542. Santa Fe (New Mexico) was founded in 1610, only three years after the British founding of Jamestown in what is now Virginia. Extensive settlement, however, was still hundreds of years away.

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Much of the West became part of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The Southwest, however, was a Mexican possession until 1848. The Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804–06 established much of what would become the Oregon Trail and thereby fabricated settlement of the Pacific Northwest easier. The area soon became known for its richness in furs, timber, and salmon. The Mormons, fleeing from harassment in Midwestern states, reached Utah in 1847. They congenital Salt Lake City and began a vigorous colonization of all parts of the Rocky Mount West. The discovery of aureate in California in 1848 brought a burst of migration to the West Coast and led to California's admission to the Union in 1850.

The remainder of the West, however, remained sparsely populated. For many decades, near Americans knew of the Great Plains merely as the Corking American Desert, containing poor soil, lilliputian water, and hostile Indians. But the years following the American Ceremonious State of war changed that conception. In 1862 the U.Due south. Congress passed the Homestead Act to promote the settlement and development of the West. In 1869 the first transcontinental railroad was completed. With improvements in dry farming and irrigation and the solitude of American Indians—after much brutal warfare—to reservations, the Great American Desert grew steadily in population.

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In the 20th century the rapid growth of the Due west continued. For most of the years through 1960, the W's population growth charge per unit was more than twice the national average (it gradually slowed thereafter). The region too drew millions of visitors annually. National parks and scenic wonders, dude ranches, the move-picture manufacture, gambling and casinos, and a myriad of other attractions lured people to the West in the 21st century. (See also United States, "Rocky Mountains"; "Western Basins and Plateaus"; "North Pacific Region"; "Due south Pacific Region"; "Alaska"; "Hawaii.")