The Spanish established the first European settlement in the region near what is now El Paso.
The Spanish founded Santa Fe, New Mexico
1600s
France claimed the land drained by the Mississippi River
1680s
The Spanish settled in parts of California and Texas.
1700s
The territory of the United States was entirely east of the Mississippi River.
President Thomas Jefferson purchased the vast Louisiana Territory from France.
Some Americans had come to believe in the idea of Manifest Destiny.
1830s
The United States annexed Texas.
Mexico gave the United States a vast area that later formed all of California, Utah, and Nevada and parts of Colorado, Arizona, Wyoming, and New Mexico.
Congress passed the Homestead Act.
The United States purchased Alaska from Russia for just over $7 million.
Silver lured people to Nevada.
1870s
Gold and copper were found in Alaska.
More than twice as many people lived in the West as in 1880.