Conquest! The American West

This course examines the United States conquest of the region from the Mississippi River to the Pacific coast, a physically varied and resource rich area incorporating the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, Great Basin, Southwest, Pacific Northwest and California. Each of these sub-regions encompasses a complex of groups, institutions, and cultural systems, which have changed over time as a function of war and conquest, immigration and migration, culture contact, innovation, and revitalization. This has led to a western culture of expansion, individualism, and corporate capitalism that continues to permeate contemporary America. Our task is to describe and explain these developments and values using film, documentary evidence, and material culture.