the West
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What is the West region of the United States?
The West region of the United States includes the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. It is mostly west of the Great Plains.
Popularly, the West is associated with cowboys, cattle drives, and a lawless society. While the West was the last area of the U.S. to be settled, its modern history began before the British colonies of the Eastern Seaboard. The West has grown to include the motion-picture industry in southern California, gambling in Nevada, aerospace production in Washington and California, environmental protection in Oregon, and retirement communities in Arizona.
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Which states are generally considered part of the West region?
The West region of the United States, as defined by the federal government, includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
Popular imagination links the West with the last frontier of American settlement, characterized by cowboys, Indians, and a society operating just outside the law. While the West is popularly conceived as the area west of the Mississippi, regional boundaries remain imprecise.
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What are some important physical features found in the West?
The physical environment of the Western United States is diverse, molded by geology and atmospheric conditions. The region features the massive Cordillera, a mountain system that includes the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coast Ranges, encompassing one-third of the U.S.
The North American Desert is subdivided into cold mid-latitude and hot mid-latitude deserts. The Great Basin Desert, Mojave Desert, Sonoran Desert, and Chihuahuan Desert are all part of this region.
The West also has significant river systems like the Columbia, the Colorado, and the San JoaquinâSacramento.
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What kinds of climates do people experience in the West?
The Western U.S. sees highly variable climate conditions. The region's climate is influenced by its latitude, topography and proximity to the Pacific Ocean.
Along the Pacific Coast, the climate ranges from a marine west coast climate in the Northwest, with raw, overcast, and drizzly winters and brilliantly cloudless, cool summers, to a Mediterranean climate in California, with dry summers and mild, somewhat wet winters.
The Southwest has a desert climate with hot summers and mild winters. The North American Desert has a harsh temperature regime with intense solar radiation, infrequent storms, and low humidity.
The Western mountains have a mountain climate, with lowlands that are usually dry, and increasing elevation brings lower temperature, decreased evaporation.
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How have people used and changed the land in the West region?
People in the West region of the U.S. have significantly altered the land through various activities. Initially, settlers were drawn by mineral wealth, leading to settlements and grazing lands. The introduction of railroads and farming techniques, along with the displacement of Native Americans, further transformed the landscape.
In the 20th century, the West experienced rapid growth, marked by increased manufacturing and urbanization. This development led to air pollution, degraded water quality, and habitat loss from activities like logging, mining, and reservoir construction. Conservation efforts have emerged to protect habitats, restore vegetation, and manage resources, reflecting a growing awareness of environmental impact.
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What are some major industries in the West, and how do they shape life there?
The economy of the American West is diverse, with a focus on primary production, mineral extraction, lumbering, cattle raising, and crop growing. The region's economy has shifted toward manufacturing, industry, and services, especially around Phoenix, where a vibrant high-technology economy has arisen.
California's economy is the largest in the U.S., with finance, manufacturing, computers, and electronics as key sectors. The state is also a leader in aerospace, film, television, agriculture, and viticulture. Hollywood and the motion picture industry have a tremendous cultural and economic impact.
Agriculture is central to Colorado's economy. The state is a major producer of corn, wheat, and hay and ranks high in land under irrigation. It is also a major cattle producer.
These industries shape life in the West by providing employment, driving technological innovation, and contributing to the region's cultural identity.
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the West, region, western U.S., mostly west of the Great Plains and including, by federal government definition, Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Virtually every part of the United States except the Eastern Seaboard has been âthe Westâ at some point in American history, linked in popular imagination with the last frontier of American settlement. But especially it is that vast stretch of plains, mountains, and deserts west of the Mississippi that has loomed so large in American folklore, a region of cowboys, Indians, covered wagons, outlaws, prospectors, and a whole society operating just outside the law.
As with other sections of the United States, regional boundaries are somewhat imprecise. The West of the cowboy and the cattle drive covered many non-Western states, including Kansas and Nebraska. Much of the Westâs fiercest Indian fighting took place in the Dakotas, both of which are now considered to be part of the Midwest. Alaska and Hawaii, geographically the most western of all the states, are really no part of the popularly conceived West at all.
Furthermore, though the West was the last region of the United States to be settled and developed, its modern history predates that of the British colonies of the Eastern Seaboard. The Spaniards reached the Grand Canyon in 1540, what is presently Kansas in 1541, and San Francisco in 1542. Santa Fe was founded in 1610, only three years after the British founding of Jamestown. Extensive settlement, however, was still hundreds of years away.
Much of the West became part of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803; the Southwest, however, was a Mexican possession until 1848. The Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804â06 established much of what would become the Oregon Trail and thereby facilitated settlement of the Pacific Northwest, an area soon known for its richness in furs, timber, and salmon. The Mormons, fleeing from harassment in Midwestern states, reached Utah in 1847, built Salt Lake City, and began a vigorous colonization of all parts of the Rocky Mountain West. The discovery of gold in California in 1848 brought a burst of migration to the West Coast and led to Californiaâs admission to the union in 1850, barely two years after it had been ceded from Mexico.
The rest of the West, however, remained sparsely populated. For many decades, most Americans knew of the Great Plains simply as the Great American Desert, an inhospitable area of poor soil, little water, hostile Indians, and general inaccessibility. But the years following the American Civil War changed that conception. In 1862 the Homestead Act was passed by Congress; in 1869 the first transcontinental railroad was completed; and in 1873 barbed-wire fencing was introduced. Coupled with improvements in dry farming and irrigation and the confinement of American Indians (after much brutal and costly warfare) to reservations, the Great American Desert grew steadily in population.
In the 20th century the rapid growth of the West continued. In every census decade but one from 1850 to 1960, the Westâs population growth rate was more than twice the national average, although the rate diminished thereafter. While the several Mountain states account for only a small percentage of the nationâs manufacturing, the preponderance of the industrial strength in the West lies in the few Pacific states, which have shown a dramatic increase in the number of manufacturing establishments (1940 to the late 1970s) and nearly doubled the Westâs percentage of the national value added by manufacture. No longer merely a land of âwide, open spaces,â cattle, mines, and mountains, the West has become famous for other things: for example, the motion-picture industry in southern California, gambling in Nevada, aerospace production in Washington and California, environmental protection in Oregon, and retirement communities in Arizona.