What was it like to be a cowboy in 1867? Visit the Cooke Ranch and explore a cowboy's working and dwelling quarters. Play the interactive games to learn about the many aspects of daily life in the American West. (Click "Interactive...

This 1-hour documentary presents a portrait of William Cody, also known as Buffalo Bill. A western frontier legend in the 1880s, his Wild West Show travelled the globe making the American West into the American story.

Outline of the American frontier and pioneer experience during westward expanison in the 1800s.

This presents an overview of African Americans moving and settling in the West.

Government claims to lands in Western Canada was one matter but maintaining sovereignty over these lands was quite another. Sir John A Macdonald's approach to maintaining sovereignty in western Canada by not losing the land to American...

This Teaching with Historic Places lesson effectively depicts the life of a pioneer woman and ways in which the Homestead Act impacted her life. The site includes lesson plans, inquiry questions, and photos that may be used in covering...

After Confederation, Canada focused on settling the vast lands to the West. They hoped to avoid the problems already faced by the Americans in western expansion by establishing peace and law before the settlers arrived.

Learning module with videos and multi-media resources for students and teachers exploring the west and the pioneering spirit of America in 1804.

Following Eli Whitney's invention in 1793 of the cotton gin -- a machine that separated raw cotton from seeds and other waste -- the cotton market boomed. Planters in the South bought land from small farmers who frequently moved farther...

Part of a longer time line describing the history of the American West, this section covers the period 1829 to 1859 with hyperlinks to stories and people of this time period.

A series of lessons utilizing primary texts, including narratives, photographs, and maps, through which students explore the following question: "What motivated thousands of people to journey west during the 1800s?"

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read about every-day life for American pioneers. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in comparing and contrasting.

Lori Ann Piestewa was the first woman to die on the front lines in Iraq and the first American Indian woman to die serving the U.S. Armed Forces. Piestewa has became synonymous with patriotic Native American sacrifice. In 2008, a...

Assign reasons from Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to explain pioneers' migration to and return from the American plains in the 1800s. Research, write and produce a newspaper dedicated to a natural disaster such as the 19th-century drought.

Read about the expansion of the frontier in and around Texas during the middle of the nineteenth century as the Civil War was coming to an end.

Elia W. Peattie wrote about life in the West. "Two Pioneers" recounts the tale of a priest who makes friends with a "lady of the night". Read the full text on this site.

A map of the Pacific region of the United States west of the Rocky Mountains in 1841-1850. The map shows the Old Spanish Trail from Los Angeles to Santa Fe, the Pioneer Route from the Platte River to San Francisco, the routes of Fremont...

This entry from Encyclopedia Brittanica's Guide to Black History features Taj Mahal, an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and one of the pioneers of what came to be called world music. He combined blues and other African-American...