western frontier
Sunset-side boundary zone
The western frontier refers to the edge of settled territory in the American West during the 18th and 19th centuries—the shifting boundary between colonized land and regions not yet under U.S. control.
The term evokes expansion, opportunity, and conflict with Indigenous peoples: Pioneers pushed the western frontier to the Pacific.
In broader use, any frontier can be western if it lies to the west of established settlement.
- settlersThose who establish homes
- Gold RushHistoric prospector migration
- prairieOpen grassy flatland
- wide open spacesExpansive uncluttered landscapes
- open rangeUnfenced public grazing land
Indian Removal Act · herd · buffalo herd · Oregon Trail · pioneers · Manifest Destiny · Pony Express · canyon · fur traders · cowboys · barbed wire · Homestead Act · transcontinental railroad · homesteaders · sod house · Lewis and Clark Expedition · Apache · wagon trains
- Western thingsPacific, occident, westward, westbound, westerly
- historical fictionhistorical fiction, historical novel, period drama, Victorian novel, historical mystery
- Western Areaswestlands
- Parthiahorse archers, cataphract, horse archer
western frontierheartland
Central region of significance
interior · civilization · metropolis · homeland · motherland
western frontierEast Coast
America's eastern shoreline
old country · New England · Boston · Philadelphia · Old World