*what is it & why is this item, event, or person important?

four empires of the west

union pacific

central pacific

transcontinental railroad

promontory point what was it?

how did the government ?

morrill land grant

homestead act

farming exodusters

oklahoma land rush

refrigerated rail cars

barbed wire

comstock lode

california gold rush

cattle drives

open range

boom

bust/ghost towns

ranching

mining

The Four Empires of the West Transcontinental are Railroads Farming Mining and Ranching. They important because they played vital roles in the USA´s  Westward expansion.

Railroads

-Union Pacific was a railroad charted to begin in Omaha, Nebraska and expand westward.

-Central Pacific was a railroad charted to begin to begin in Sacramento, California and expand eastward.

-Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad of contiguous network connecting the west and east coasts of the continental US. It revolutionized transportation in Werstern USA  

-Promontory Point was the hub  where the two railroads Union and Central Pacific met .It linked the eastern railroad system with California's railroad system,

-How did the Government Help? It  helped by funding the construction of the Union Pacific transcontinental railroad giving grants and government bonds.

Farming

-Morrill Land Grant was an Act by which Public Lands were  donated to the several States and Territories which were to provide colleges for the teaching of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts.

-Homestead Act of 1862 .To foster settlemen in the west this act gave free land in the west providing  the farmer would settle  and make improvements in five years

-Farming Exodusters or movement to the dusty west by ex-slaves in Kansas In 1879. The US government was giving away free land.This encouraged thousands of black Americans to move to Kansas and increased population.

-Oklahoma Land Rush It was a  race for free land on April 22, 1889 which also encouraged settlement in the west.

-Refrigerated Rail Cars  had a great impact as the west became more populated, the demand for fresh food over long distances increased.  

 -Barbed Wire  with its spiky thorns was  capable of restraining cattle. Wire fences were cheap and easy to put up making cattle raising  available on a much larger scale.

Mining

-California Gold Rush the discovery  of gold nuggets in the Sacramento Valley in 1848 sparked the California Gold Rush. It increased population 100 times more.

- Comstock Lode  It was the first major discovery of silver ore in the United States in 1859. it triggered a silver rush  to the area of  Mount Davidson, in the Virginia Range in Nevada.

- Boom /Bust/Ghost Towns  

A boomtown was the result of a settlement created  when a single resource or activity generated it such as  mining.

Bust/Ghost Towns were the result of  the decline in the activity that was the source of the population movement.As the economy of the town goes bust it is abandoned becoming a ghost town.  

Ranching

Cattle Drives or the movement of herds of cattle along the plains of western USA was a major economic activity between  1856 and 1896, causing the development of "cow towns" across the frontier.

Open Range were public areas north of Texas where herds of cattle were driven to pasturelands to graze and later be shipped off to slaughter.  

it is the dominance of   the spanish language and roman catholic region in mexico, french being the official language of several african countries, and the existence of a western-style government in south asian countries