Glossary

Alamo

The Texas revolution began when Texas riflemen attacked and seized Mexico's military headquarters in San Antonio in 1835. Disobeying Sam Houston's order to abandon the city, rebels led by William Travis and Jim Bowie made their stand at an abandoned Spanish mission, the Alamo. The battle of the Alamo was a military defeat but a psychological victory.

Great American Desert

Army reports of western exploration by Zebulon Pike and Stephen H. Long helped to implant the image of the Great Plains as a "Great American Desert," a waterless and treeless region unsuited for agriculture. This influential myth delayed American settlement of the Plains for a generation.

Manifest destiny

John L. O'Sullivan, editor of the Democratic Review, coined this phrase in 1845. Manifest destiny expressed the romantic notion that America had a special destiny to overspread the entire continent of North America. It inspired many Americans to move into the West.

Moses Austin

Mexico gave land agents such as Moses Austin thousands acres of land in northern Mexico to promote and sell to American pioneers. In exchange, it required only that the settlers become Mexican citizens and convert to Roman Catholicism.

Northwest Passage

Many Americans in the nineteenth century shared the mistaken belief that a Northwest Passage connected the Missouri River with the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean.

Rocky Mountain Fur Company

The Rocky Mountain Fur Company had a central role in opening the western fur trade. The company sent white trappers to the wilderness, rather than relying on Native Americans to trade furs. In 1825, it established the "rendezvous system" under which trappers met once a year at an agreed-upon location to barter pelts for supplies.

Sante Fe Trail

The two principal routes to the Far West were the Sante Fe and Oregon trails. The Sante Fe Trail was opened by William Becknell in 1821 and served primarily commercial functions until the 1840s.

Stony Mountains

Among the myths about the West was that the Rocky Mountains consisted of a single ridge of mountains, known as the Stony Mountains.

the missionary orders

Spanish clergy, particularly Jesuits and Franciscans, played a critical role in settling the Southwest, using the mission system.

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