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Article: Western Exploration
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WESTERN EXPLORATION
WESTERN EXPLORATION.
Beginning with the first voyage of Columbus in 1492, the exploration of North America was a central component of the larger global contest between Europe's great imperial powers. Each sought to "discover" and thus claim the exclusive right to colonize vast geographic areas, using the wealth gained from the New World to enhance their economies in Europe and to monopolize global trade networks. Because the western half of North America was a vast borderland between several imperial concerns, the region that became the American West was an arena of particular contestation. Commencing with the arrival of Spanish conquistadores in the 1540s and ...