1. Chapter 12: The West

2. ¶1 the West begins at the Rocky Mountains
3 areas in the West
States in the Plains and in the Rockies
States between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada Mountains
States of the coastal area along the Pacific Ocean

3. States in the Plains and in the Rockies:
New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana

4. States between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada Mountains :
Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona

5. States of the coastal area along the Pacific Ocean:
Washington, Oregon, and California

6. Large cities :
Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles

7. Biggest and most populous state:
California with more than 26,000,000 people

8. ¶2 A lot of beautiful open land in the West,
fertile valleys:
good for Agricultural products :
fruits and vegetables, and cotton and rice

9. Yosemite forested mountains:
famous national parks: Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon.

10. Yosemite

11. Yellowstone

12. Grand Canyon

13. wide deserts in the dry Southwest:
the lack of water is a big problem.
a severe water supply problem:
Phoenix and Los Angeles

14. Hoover Dam

15. Early History

16. ¶3 The first explorer and settler: the Spanish and the French.
until 1803 the Louisiana Purchase
US government bought Louisiana form Napoleon, a French Hero
included Parts of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico

17. Louisiana Purchase 1803

18. ¶4 until 1821, the southwestern states belonged to Spain and Mexico.
California a, Arizona and New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and part of Colorado
1848 – 1853: the United States fought for or bought these lands

19. ¶5 Spanish explorers and missionaries :the first Europeans
in 1540, the Spanish explorer Cardenas and Coronado saw the Grand Canyon, Arizona
in 1609, Santa Fe, New Mexico, started as a Spanish trading post and colonial town:
the oldest city in the US where people have live continuously.

20. Santa Fe

21. ¶6 In 1769,Spanish people began living in California
Juan Bautista de Anza founded Monterey and San Francisco
along El Camino Real or the ‘King’s Highway’ from San Diego to San Francisco

22. Christian saints names for towns
San Francisco
San Jose
Spanish towns in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas were named for Christian saints:

23. ¶7 Today, many Spanish speaking people = Hispanics
living since the time of the original Spanish settler
recently arrived Hispanics from Mexico and from Central and South America

24. ¶8 Important Spanish culture
Spanish American art and building, Mexican food
rock and popular music: ‘Santana’ and ‘Los Lobos’
hit songs: Richie Valens’ classic, ‘La Bamba’

25. There’s Gold in California!

26. ¶1 The United States took most of the Spanish land
in 1848, the Spanish land north of the Rio Grande River after the Mexican War
In 1853, southern Arizona and New Mexico, from the Mexican government

27. ¶2 Gold made California important in 1848
Found gold in the American River, near the Sierra Nevada mountains.
‘Gold Rush’ year of 1849
the news of ‘Gold in California’ made more than 80,000 people hurried to California

28. ¶3 Most of these ‘Forty-niners’ went first to San Francisco.
A small quiet town => a 20,000-people city

29. ¶4 the Gold Rush brought many people to California,
became a US state in 1850
the Pacific Coast was settled

30. ¶5 merchants and farming families looking for good land.
the pioneers
through Death Valley in the southern California desert
through Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
found new homes in the ‘promised land’ along the West Coast.

31. Death Valley & Donner Pass