Article on the era of westward expansion and the resulting Mexican American War. The author demonstrates how Manifest Destiny and frontier settlement led to the annexation of Texas and ultimately war with Mexico over the territory.

A biography of Annie Oakley which traces her childhood, her stardom in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, her long marriage to Frank Butler, and her life after the show. Part of a larger PBS American Experience site about Annie Oakley.

A companion to a PBS program, this Jeopardy-style game test young scholars as they identify the characteristics of mollusks.

Original pictures of Westward expansion. Great activities and discussion questions for cross-curricular learning.

This resource, from an exhibition called "The Frontier in American Culture" shows how the frontier on the Northwest Coast differed from the frontier in the rest of the West. Differences include the forests and the development of logging...

Describes the various forces and events that shaped the expansion of the western frontier in the mid- to late 1800s.

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.

Like Native Americans, Mexican Americans and Chinese immigrants suffered harsh consequences due to relentless westward expansion by whites in the nineteenth century.

Meet Josepina, a character in the American Girl series, and learn about Spanish culture and the settlement of America's Southwestern frontier through this collection of stories, games, and activities. Also, includes teacher's guide and...

Read and study the sources about the American transportation system in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As you read the four sources, think about how the development of the transportation system in the United States...

The study resource from Khan Academy provides an overview of Period 7: 1890-1945 in American History. The Age of Empire is discussed in this lesson. This resource is designed as a review for the AP US History Test.

Did you know there was a global 'Little Ice Age' around the time Columbus sailed across the Atlantic? Climatologists have documented changes in temperature and how countries and people around the world were affected. What caused the LIA?...

Scientists believe that the climate in the Arctic is an indicator of global climatic conditions. Learn what makes the Arctic so unique and how scientists use this information to predict global changes. Informative photos accompanied by...

The fun part of history is finding the clues that unlock the secrets of the past. This is the companion site to the TV show with Alan Alda that features archeological discoveries. Students will find interesting lessons from the past on...

This website is the reproduction of Ray Allen Billington's essay, "How the Frontier Shaped the American Character," (published in "American Heritage, The Magazine of History" in 1958). Billington analyzes the Turner frontier thesis in...

Read an excerpt from "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" by Frederick Jackson Turner.

Learning module with a variety of video and other resources on the expansion westward as pioneers settled new frontier in the 1800s.

Arguably the most famous essay every written about the impact of land on American history, Frederick Jackson Turner's "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" explains how Americans' relationship with the environment shaped...

This is the full text of the novel Forest & Frontiers by an Anonymous author. Captain William Wells was a noted hunter and ranger in the western country. He was captured by the Indians when but a child, and raised among them.

The reign of the buffalo across the plains ended in great slaughter by the end of the 19th century. This companion essay to the PBS series, Frontier House, recounts how the decimation of the buffalo occurred, hastened by both white and...

Find out how the Crow Indians were affected by the opening of the Montana Territory to white settlement. From a companion essay to the PBS series, Frontier House.

A picture gallery with information about the roles that Native American women played in everyday life in the late 19th century in the West.

Contains text and photos on the African-American exodus to the West. Includes primary source documents and maps from the era.

Part of a larger site highlighting African-American migration, this site focuses on successful African-American settlements in Oklahoma Territory, which declined after Oklahoma statehood and the introduction of Jim Crow laws.