Frontier

Exploring events and folklore of the American frontier that are now embedded in culture. As former British Colonies on the east coast became the USA, sights were set on what lay west.

As the United States advanced west, what appeared to be empty terrain was in fact a richly inhabited landscape of indigenous peoples who would not surrender their lands without a fight.

Mexican-owned Texas offers land and freedom for those white settlers searching for a fresh start, but the influx of people would be the catalyst for the brutal Mexican-American war that would change the course of US history forever.

Newly acquired California would prove invaluable as the discovery of gold unleashes the largest migration in United States history and ignites a debate on slavery, culminating in Civil War.

The race of the railroads to join the east and west coast would begin a new chapter in US dominance and lead to the rise of an American icon: the cowboy.

As the century draws to a close, the scars of systematic ethnic cleansing of native peoples along with US claims on land stretching the span of the entire continent.