This week we explore the concept of the "West"--a term we will continue to revisit later in the course. The readings investigate the formation of trading networks outside of the Atlantic World.
Points of Entry:
Pacific Northwest
Lakota Winter Counts:
Question for discussion:
What are the differences between the "frontier" and the "West?"
The "frontier" and the "West" differ in their scope and pertinence to certain colonists. Following the discovery of the American continents, North and South America were referred to the "New World." The European settlers of the Chesapeake, New England and the Middle Colonies referred to the land to the west of them as the frontier. At this time, there was some measure of ambiguity regarding the extent to which North American continent stretched. It was early on believed that the Pacific Ocean was situated rather closely to the existing colonies. Later, as the size and dimensions of the continent grew more apparent, they came to refer to the eastern regions as the "West."
ReplyDeleteNote that the terms "West" and "Frontier" differ in a sense of development. Before the settlers had managed to dig into the territories further west, it was known as a frontier since it was largely undeveloped and virgin land. As the land became increasingly developed and inhabited, the settlers abandoned the term "frontier" and the sense of wildness and purity that the word carried. It came to be known simply as the "West" establishing it as just another region where mankind and civilization had prevailed.
The difference between the term "frontier" and the "west", was based purely on the countries trying to colonize it. The terms themselves have the same idea behind them, which is to inhabit new land. For the British who were trying to expand their colonies into the west, they referred to the new land as the "west". This was their point of view. However for other countries, who were moving in all different directions to enter into the untouched lands of the U.S., it was mostly referred to as the "frontier". This was their point of view. The reason that most of the U.S. refers specifically to the "west", is because we were a nation built off of those eastern 13 colonies, which would make their point of view most prominent.
ReplyDeleteThe difference between the "frontier" and the "west" is about whose prespective are you taking. The west is what England and the colonists refer to as their frontier. Especially after the 13 colonies won their independance, then the Unites States expanded to the west. The frontier is how the other European settlers refer to the uninhabited areas of their colonies' borders. Both terms are used to represent the uncahrted land they have yet to conquer and "civilize."
ReplyDeleteThe difference between the west and frontier depends on the point of view. The British saw it as the west while the Spanish which were colonizing in Mexico saw going north as the frontier.
ReplyDeleteThe differences between the "frontier" and the "West" is based on who's ideas your looking at. It can be viewed that after the "New World" started to become more civilized and settled in. When the colonist were finally getting situated, they start to explore the "frontier' of the unknown land. Once they had travled the land, and evenutally people started settling on that land it then became known as the west.
ReplyDeleteThe frontier was the "untamed land" that was concentrated in North America. This land was perceived as ripe for the taking for many colonists and countries all over the world. This was a land, once cleansed of the Natives, that could hold huge amounts of independent, lone cowboy type of settlers. The frontier was a place for new lives to start.
ReplyDeleteThe only difference between the frontier and the West is the perspective. The West was the frontier, however only for the British. For the Russians the frontier was the East. For the French it was the South. For the Spanish/Mexicans it was the North. There was a frontier for all countries however the name for that frontier varied. The reason many Americans associate the West with the frontier is because the country was founded by British colonists. The idea of the West is also very important. The West is the idea stresses the desire to have freedom and independence. This concept is very strong in the United States today.
The "frontier" was anywhere where civilization ended. It was not confined to the west. It could be north, south east, or west. Furthermore, the "frontier" was the wilderness, where civilization had not yet arrived.
ReplyDeleteThe "West" was truly out west and could be beyond the frontier or before the frontier. The "West" also was more related to areas where civilization had already been established.
The difference between the west and the frontier was the frontier was pretty much anywhere that was uninhabited. For each colonizing power the frontier was different for example to the French the frontier was anywhere south of Quebec while for the Spanish the frontier was anything north of them while last but definitely not least for the English was anywhere West of them where we get the Anglo/American view "The West" which later down the road led to Manifest Destiny.
ReplyDeleteBoth of the terms "frontier" and "west" refer to the same type of land. Frontier is the land that seems unknown to people and has not been settled yet. It s land that has no boundaries of what can happen to the land and anyone can do what they wanted there until it was no longer a wide open space. The west was seen as the land outside of the 13 colonized states. It was the land that the colonies had yet to discover and at that point in time, is was territory that was not settled by their own yet.
ReplyDelete