American West
Land of pioneers
The American West is the region of the United States lying roughly west of the Mississippi River, especially the territories settled during 19th-century expansion.
The term evokes frontier mythology—cowboys, Native American conflicts, gold rushes, and rugged individualism: Westerns romanticize the American West.
It persists as both geography and cultural idea, shaping notions of freedom and self-reliance.
- Gold RushHistoric prospector migration
- Great PlainsCentral North American grassland
- Rocky MountainsWestern North American cordillera
- open rangeUnfenced public grazing land
- Oregon TrailEmigrant route westward
bison · Butch Cassidy · Manifest Destiny · mining · ghost town · frontier · Homestead Act · Indian Wars · cattle ranching · cattle drive · Grand Canyon · stagecoach · sagebrush · Death Valley · John Wayne · saloon doors · Dodge City · Pony Express
- Frontiersfrontier, border, boundary, edge, borderland
- historical fictionhistorical fiction, historical novel, period drama, Victorian novel, historical mystery
- History Journals
American WestEastern Seaboard
US Atlantic coastal region
East Coast · New England · Mid-Atlantic · Eastern United States · Atlantic Coast
American WestOld World
Pre-discovery known lands
industrial heartland · European tradition · colonial America · Wall Street