The opening up of the United States by Americans and immigrants from Europe took place mainly in an east-west direction. Their starting point was the British colonies, which had developed in a narrow stretch of coast along the east coast. From here the settlers advanced west, with the development of new areas mostly following a similar pattern. The fur hunters and traders often acted as pioneers in pushing the so-called frontier, the settlement boundary. They were followed by cattle breeders and farmers, and only then did urban settlements and the influx of merchants and craftsmen come into being. The areas between the Great Lakes in the north and the Gulf of Mexico had been inhabited by Indians for centuries and had also been inhabited since the end of the 17th century. It was opened up by the French in the 19th century, but not settled in Europe to any significant extent. For the Europeans, the area west of the Mississippi, bought by France in 1803, was really uncharted territory, the settlement and economic valorization of which was decisively promoted by the construction of the transcontinental railroad connections after 1860.

SYSTEMATIC EVICTION AND MURDER
The encounters between the indigenous population and the European colonists were initially mostly peaceful, the Indians even provided advice on the cultivation of the land. However, with the growing number of settlers and fundamentally different views on land ownership, serious conflicts soon arose. While the fur traders still wanted to come to terms with the Indians, the following farmers came with the declared aim of appropriating their land. Resettlement and displacement measures, but also targeted extermination, characterized the policy of Americans of European descent towards the indigenous population.

Since the middle of the 18th century there have been repeated efforts by the state to protect the indigenous people from land speculators and settlers, for example through the designation of reservations in which the Indians were mostly forcibly settled. The forced resettlement of the Cherokee from the Appalachian region to the “Indian Territory” of Oklahoma in the winter of 1838/39, during which almost a quarter of the approximately 15,000 Indians affected died, achieved sad fame.

With the steady advance of settlement during the 19th century, the indigenous population was increasingly robbed of their original habitats and destroyed. Even from the assigned settlement areas and reserves, numerous tribes were again expelled. In addition, countless Indians of the great plains and prairies fell victim to the Indian wars waged with great severity by the American army after 1860. Between 1887 and 1934 alone, the Indians lost about 36 million hectares of the originally assigned territory of 56 million hectares. Most of the remaining land was unsuitable for agriculture. It was not until 1924 that the Indians received full American citizenship. For more information about the continent of North America, please check commit4fitness.com.