The western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the
region comprising the westernmost
states of the
United States. As American settlement in the U.S.
expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the West'' changed. Before about 1800, the crest of the
Appalachian Mountains was seen as the
western frontier. The frontier moved westward and eventually the lands west of the
Mississippi River were considered the West.
The U.S. Census Bureau's definition of the 13 westernmost states includes the
Rocky Mountains and the
Great Basin to the
Pacific Coast, and the mid-Pacific islands state, Hawaii. To the east of the Western United States is the
Midwestern United States and the
Southern United States, with
Canada to the north, and
Mexico to the south.
The West contains several major
biomes, including
arid and
semi-arid plateaus and
plains, particularly in the
American Southwest;
forested
mountains, including two major ranges, the
American Sierra Nevada and
Rocky Mountains; the long
coastal shoreline of the
American Pacific Coast; and the
rainforests of the
Pacific Northwest.
Defining the West
thumb|The West, as the most recent part of the United States, is often known for broad highways and freeways and open space. Pictured is a road in Utah to Monument Valley.The Western U.S. is the largest region of the country, covering more than half the land area of the contiguous United States. It is also the most geographically diverse, incorporating geographic regions such as the temperate
rainforests of the
Northwest, the highest mountain ranges (including the
Rocky Mountains, the
Sierra Nevada, and the
Cascade Range), numerous
glaciers, and the western portions of the
Great Plains. It also contains the majority of the desert areas located in the United States. The
Mojave and
Great Basin deserts lie entirely within the Western region, along with parts of the
Sonoran and
Chihuahuan deserts (the latter extends significantly into Texas). Given this expansive and diverse geography it is no wonder the region is difficult to specifically define. Sensing a possible shift in the popular understanding of the West as a region in the early 1990s, historian Walter Nugent conducted a survey of three groups of professionals with ties to the region: a large group of Western historians (187 respondents), and two smaller groups, 25 journalists and publishers and 39 Western authors.
A majority of the historian respondents placed the eastern boundary of the West east of the Census definition out on the eastern edge of the
Great Plains or on the
Mississippi River. The survey respondents as a whole showed just how little agreement there was on the boundaries of the West.
Subregions
The region is split into two smaller units, or divisions, by the U.S. Census Bureau:
;
Mountain states :
Montana,
Wyoming,
Colorado,
New Mexico,
Idaho,
Utah,
Arizona, and
Nevada
;
Pacific states :
Washington,
Oregon,
California,
Alaska, and
Hawaii
Other classifications distinguish between
Southwest and
Northwest. Arizona, New Mexico,
West Texas, and the
Oklahoma panhandle are typically considered to be the Southwest states. Meanwhile, the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington can be considered part of the Northwest or
Pacific Northwest.
The term
West Coast is commonly used to refer to just California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska, whereas Hawaii is more geographically isolated from the
continental U.S. and do not necessarily fit in any of these
subregions.
Outlying areas

The three inhabited
Pacific U.S. territories (
American Samoa,
Guam and the
Northern Mariana Islands) are sometimes considered part of the Western United States. American Samoa is in
Polynesia in the
South Pacific Ocean, while Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are in the
Mariana Islands in the western
North Pacific Ocean. Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands have district courts within the
9th Circuit, which includes western states such as California and Nevada. (See
District Court of Guam and
District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands). American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands are also considered part of the western U.S. by the
U.S. National Park Service, the
Federal Reserve Bank system,
FEMA, and the
USGS.
Demographics
The population distribution by race in the Western United States (2010):
* 66.4%
Non-Hispanic Whites
* 28.6% were
Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
* 9.3%
Asian
* 4.8%
Black or
African American
* 1.9%
American Indian or
Alaska Native
* 12.4%
Some other race
As defined by the
United States Census Bureau, the Western
region of the United States includes 13 states
with a total 2013 estimated population of 74,254,423.
The West is one of the most sparsely settled areas in the United States with 49.5 inhabitants per square mile (19/km
2). Only
Texas with 78.0 inhabitants/sq mi. (30/km
2),
Washington with 86.0 inhabitants/sq mi. (33/km
2), and
California with 213.4 inhabitants/sq mi. (82/km
2) exceed the national average of 77.98 inhabitants/sq mi. (30/km
2).

The entire Western region has also been strongly influenced by
European,
Hispanic or Latino,
Asian and
Native Americans; it contains the largest number of minorities in the U.S. While most of the studies of racial dynamics in America such as riots in
Los Angeles have been written about
European and
African Americans, in many cities in the West and
California,
Whites and
Blacks together are less than half the population because of the preference for the region by
Hispanics and
Asians.
African and
European Americans, however, continue to wield a stronger political influence because of the lower rates of citizenship and voting among
Asians and
Hispanics.
The West also contains much of the
Native American population in the U.S., particularly in the large
reservations in the
Mountain and
Desert States.
The largest concentrations for
African Americans in the West can be found in
San Diego,
Los Angeles,
Oakland,
Sacramento,
Fresno,
San Francisco,
Seattle,
Tacoma,
Phoenix,
Las Vegas,
Denver, and
Colorado Springs.
The Western United States has a higher
sex ratio (more
males than
females) than any other region in the United States.
Because the tide of development had not yet reached most of the West when
conservation became a national issue, agencies of the
federal government own and manage vast areas of land. (The most important among these are the
National Park Service and the
Bureau of Land Management within the
Interior Department, and the
U.S. Forest Service within the
Agriculture Department.)
National parks are reserved for recreational activities such as
fishing,
camping,
hiking, and
boating, but other government lands also allow commercial activities like
ranching,
logging, and
mining. In recent years, some local residents who earn their livelihoods on federal land have come into conflict with the land's managers, who are required to keep land use within environmentally acceptable limits.
The largest city in the region is
Los Angeles, located on the
West Coast. Other
West Coast cities include
San Diego,
San Bernardino,
San Jose,
San Francisco,
Oakland,
Bakersfield,
Fresno,
Sacramento,
Seattle,
Tacoma,
Anchorage, and
Portland. Prominent cities in the
Mountain States include
Denver,
Colorado Springs,
Phoenix,
Tucson,
Albuquerque,
Las Vegas,
Salt Lake City,
Boise,
El Paso, and
Billings.
Natural geography

Along the
Pacific Ocean coast lie the
Coast Ranges, which, while not approaching the scale of the
Rocky Mountains, are formidable nevertheless. They collect a large part of the airborne moisture moving in from the ocean. East of the Coast Ranges lie several cultivated fertile
valleys, notably the
San Joaquin and
Sacramento valleys of
California and the
Willamette Valley of
Oregon.

Beyond the valleys lie the
Sierra Nevada in the south and the
Cascade Range in the north.
Mount Whitney, at the tallest peak in the contiguous 48 states, is in the
Sierra Nevada.
The Cascades are also volcanic.
Mount Rainier, a volcano in
Washington, is also over .
Mount St. Helens, a volcano in
the Cascades erupted explosively in 1980. A major volcanic eruption at
Mount Mazama around 4860 BC formed
Crater Lake. These mountain ranges see heavy precipitation, capturing most of the moisture that remains after the Coast Ranges, and creating a
rain shadow to the east forming vast stretches of arid land. These dry areas encompass much of
Nevada,
Utah, and
Arizona. The
Mojave Desert and
Sonoran Desert along with other deserts are found here.

Beyond the deserts lie the
Rocky Mountains. In the north, they run almost immediately east of the
Cascade Range, so that the desert region is only a few miles wide by the time one reaches the Canada–US border.
The Rockies are hundreds of miles (kilometers) wide, and run uninterrupted from
New Mexico to
Alaska. The Rocky Mountain Region is the highest overall area of the United States, with an average elevation of above . The tallest peaks of
the Rockies, 54 of which are over , are found in central and western
Colorado. East of the Rocky Mountains is the Great Plains, the western portions (for example, the eastern half of Colorado) of which are generally considered to be part of the western United States.
The West has several long rivers that empty into the
Pacific Ocean, while the eastern rivers run into the
Gulf of Mexico. The
Mississippi River forms the easternmost possible boundary for the West today. The
Missouri River, a tributary of the
Mississippi, flows from its headwaters in the
Rocky Mountains eastward across the
Great Plains, a vast
grassy plateau, before sloping gradually down to the forests and hence to the
Mississippi. The
Colorado River snakes through the
Mountain states, at one point forming the
Grand Canyon.
The
Colorado River is a major source of water in the Southwest and many dams, such as the
Hoover Dam, form reservoirs along it. So much water is drawn for drinking water throughout the West and irrigation in
California that in most years, water from the
Colorado River no longer reaches the
Gulf of California. The
Columbia River, the largest river in volume flowing into the
Pacific Ocean from
North America, and its tributary, the
Snake River, water the Pacific Northwest. The
Platte runs through
Nebraska and was known for being a mile (2 km) wide but only a half-inch (1 cm) deep. The
Rio Grande forms the border between
Texas and
Mexico before turning due north and splitting
New Mexico in half.
According to the
United States Coast Guard, "The Western Rivers System consists of the
Mississippi,
Ohio,
Missouri,
Illinois,
Tennessee,
Cumberland,
Arkansas, and
White Rivers and their tributaries, and certain other rivers that flow towards the
Gulf of Mexico." The Ohio River portion of the system includes parts of several Atlantic coastal states, from Georgia to New York.
Climate and agriculture
Most of the public land held by the
U.S. National Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management is in the Western states. Public lands account for 25 to 75 percent of the total land area in these states.
The climate of the West is
semi-arid, yet parts of the region get high amounts of rain or snow. Other parts are true desert which receive less than of rain per year. The climate is unstable, as areas that are normally wet can be very dry for years and vice versa.
The seasonal temperatures vary greatly throughout the West. Low elevations on the
West Coast have warm summers and mild winters with little to no snow. The
desert southwest has very hot summers and mild winters. While the mountains in the southwest receive generally large amounts of snow. The
Inland Northwest has a
continental climate of warm to hot summers and cold to bitterly cold winters.
Annual rainfall is greater in the eastern portions, gradually tapering off until reaching the Pacific Coast where it increases again. In fact, the greatest annual rainfall in the United States falls in the coastal regions of the
Pacific Northwest. Drought is much more common in the West than the rest of the United States. The driest place recorded in the U.S. is
Death Valley, California.
Violent thunderstorms occur east of the
Rockies.
Tornadoes occur every spring on the southern plains, with the most common and most destructive centered on
Tornado Alley, which covers eastern portions of the West, (
Texas to
North Dakota), and all states in between and to the east.
Agriculture varies depending on rainfall, irrigation, soil, elevation, and temperature extremes. The arid regions generally support only livestock grazing, chiefly beef cattle. The ''
wheat belt'' extends from
Texas through
The Dakotas, producing most of the wheat and soybeans in the U.S. and exporting more to the rest of the world. Irrigation in the
Southwest allows the growth of great quantities of fruits, nuts, and vegetables as well as grain, hay, and flowers.
Texas is a major cattle and sheep raising area, as well as the nation's largest producer of cotton.
Washington is famous for its apples, and
Idaho for its potatoes.
California and
Arizona are major producers of
citrus crops, although growing metropolitan sprawl is absorbing much of this land. Many varieties of
chile peppers are grown in the valleys of
New Mexico.
Starting in 1902, Congress passed a series of acts authorizing the establishment of the
United States Bureau of Reclamation to oversee water development projects in seventeen western states.
During the first half of the 20th century, dams and irrigation projects provided water for rapid agricultural growth throughout the West and brought prosperity for several states, where agriculture had previously only been subsistence level. Following
World War II, the West's cities experienced an economic and population boom. The population growth, mostly in the
Southwest states of
New Mexico,
Utah,
Colorado,
Arizona, and
Nevada, has strained water and power resources, with water diverted from agricultural uses to major population centers, such as the
Las Vegas Valley and
Los Angeles.
Geology
Plains make up much of the eastern portion of the West, underlain with sedimentary rock from the Upper
Paleozoic,
Mesozoic, and
Cenozoic eras. The
Rocky Mountains expose igneous and metamorphic rock both from the
Precambrian and from the
Phanerozoic eon. The Inter-mountain States and
Pacific Northwest have huge expanses of volcanic rock from the
Cenozoic era.
Salt flats and salt lakes reveal a time when the great inland seas covered much of what is now the West.
The Pacific states are the most geologically active areas in the United States.
Earthquakes cause damage every few to several years in
California. While the
Pacific states are the most volcanically active areas, extinct
volcanoes and lava flows are found throughout most of the West.
History

The Western United States has been populated by
Native Americans since at least 11,000 years ago, when the first Paleo-Indians arrived. Pre-Columbian trade routes to kingdoms and empires such as the Mound Builders existed in places such as
Yellowstone National Park since around 1000 AD. Major settlement of the western territories developed rapidly in the 1840s, largely through the
Oregon Trail and the
California Gold Rush of 1849.
California experienced such a rapid growth in a few short months that it was admitted to statehood in 1850 without the normal transitory phase of becoming an official territory.
One of the largest migrations in American history occurred in the 1840s as the
Latter Day Saints left the
Midwest to build a theocracy in
Utah.
Both
Omaha, Nebraska and
St. Louis, Missouri laid claim to the title, "Gateway to the West" during this period.
Omaha, home to the
Union Pacific Railroad and the
Mormon Trail, made its fortunes on outfitting settlers;
St. Louis built itself upon the vast
fur trade in the West before its settlement.
The 1850s were marked by political battles over the expansion of slavery into the western territories,
issues leading to the Civil War.
The history of the American West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries has acquired a cultural mythos in the literature and cinema of the United States. The image of the
cowboy, the
homesteader, and
westward expansion took real events and transmuted them into a myth of the west which has shaped much of American popular culture since the late 19th century.
Writers as diverse as
Bret Harte and
Zane Grey celebrated or derided cowboy culture, while artists such as
Frederic Remington created
western art as a method of recording the expansion into the west. The
American cinema, in particular, created the genre of the
western movie, which, in many cases, use the West as a metaphor for the virtue of self-reliance and an American ethos. The contrast between the romanticism of culture about the West and the actuality of the history of the westward expansion has been a theme of late 20th and early 21st century scholarship about the West. Cowboy culture has become embedded in the American experience as a common cultural touchstone, and modern forms as diverse as
country and western music have celebrated the sense of isolation and independence of spirit inspired by the frontiersmen on "virgin land".
20th century
The advent of the automobile enabled the average American to tour the West. Western businessmen promoted
Route 66 as a means to bring tourism and industry to the West. In the 1950s, representatives from all the western states built the
Cowboy Hall of Fame and
Western Heritage Center to showcase western culture and greet travelers from the East. During the latter half of the 20th century, several transcontinental interstate highways crossed the West bringing more trade and tourists from the East. Oil boom towns in
Texas and
Oklahoma rivaled the old mining camps for their rawness and wealth. The
Dust Bowl forced children of the original homesteaders even further west.
The movies became America's chief entertainment source featuring western fiction, later the community of
Hollywood in
Los Angeles became the
headquarters of the
mass media such as radio and television production.
California has emerged as the most populous state and one of the top 10 economies in the world. Massive late 19th–20th century population and settlement booms created two
megalopolis areas of the
Greater Los Angeles/
Southern California and the
San Francisco Bay Area/
Northern California regions, one of the nation's largest metropolitan areas and in the top 25 largest urban areas in the world. Four more metropolitan areas of
San Bernardino-
Riverside,
San Diego,
Denver,
Phoenix, and
Seattle have over a million residents, while the three fastest growing metro areas were the
Salt Lake City metropolitan area, the
Las Vegas metropolitan area; and the
Portland metropolitan area.
Since the mid-1970s, historians of the West have emphasized the World War II years as a major watershed, as a region experienced enormous social and economic change, and became the pacesetter for societal evolution. The population soared, especially in metropolitan areas, as a result of massive expansion of the manufacture of airplanes, ships and munitions and of military and Naval training facilities. California upgraded universities to world-class status, intensified scientific research, and expanded infrastructure. After the war millions more migrated using the
GI Bill to buy suburban homes, many of them recalling rewarding wartime experience in military training facilities. The region had always been more democratic with greater racial and gender equality, and continued as a national pacesetter in modernization. New problems emerged, especially environmental issues where westerners took the lead in areas such as the allocation of scarce water resources as well as dealing with smog and air pollution. More recently historians have looked at nuances, pointing out that some of the trends began before 1941.
Los Angeles has the largest
Mexican population outside of
Mexico, while
San Francisco has the largest
Chinese community in
North America and also has a large
LGBT community, and
Oakland, California has a large percentage of residents being
African-American, as well as
Long Beach, California which also has a significant Black community. The state of
Utah has a
Mormon majority (estimated at 62.4% in 2004), while some cities like
Albuquerque, New Mexico;
Billings, Montana;
Spokane, Washington; and
Tucson, Arizona are located near
Indian Reservations. In remote areas there are settlements of
Alaskan Natives and
Native Hawaiians.
Culture

Facing both the Pacific Ocean and the
Mexican border, the West has been shaped by a variety of ethnic groups.
Hawaii is the only state in the union in which
Asian Americans outnumber
white American residents. Asians from many countries have settled in
California and other coastal states in several waves of immigration since the 19th century, contributing to the
Gold rush, the building of the transcontinental railroad, agriculture, and more recently, high technology.
The border states—
California,
Arizona,
New Mexico, and
Texas—and other southwestern states such as
Colorado,
Utah, and
Nevada all have large
Hispanic populations, and the many
Spanish place names attest to their history as former Spanish and Mexican territories.
Mexican-Americans have also had a growing population in Northwestern states of
Oregon and
Washington, as well as the southern states of
Texas and
Oklahoma.

In the Pacific states, the wide areas filled with small towns, farms, and forests are supplemented by a few big port cities which have evolved into world centers for the media and technology industries. Now the second largest city in the nation,
Los Angeles is best known as the home of the
Hollywood film industry; the area around
Los Angeles also was a major center for the
aerospace industry by
World War II, though Boeing, located in
Washington state would lead the aerospace industry. Fueled by the growth of
Los Angeles, as well as the
San Francisco Bay area, including
Silicon Valley, the center of America's high tech industry,
California has become the most populous of all the 50 states.
Alaska—the northernmost state in the Union—is a vast land of few people, many of them native, and of great stretches of wilderness, protected in
national parks and
wildlife refuges. Hawaii's location makes it a major gateway between the United States and Asia, as well as a center for tourism.
Oregon and
Washington have also seen rapid growth with the rise of
Boeing and
Microsoft along with agriculture and resource based industries. The desert and mountain states have relatively low population densities, and developed as ranching and mining areas which are only recently becoming urbanized. Most of them have highly individualistic cultures, and have worked to balance the interests of urban development, recreation, and the environment.
Culturally distinctive points include the large
Mormon population in the
Mormon Corridor, including southeastern
Idaho,
Utah, Northern
Arizona, and
Nevada; the extravagant
casino resort towns of
Las Vegas and
Reno,
Nevada; and the numerous
American Indian tribal reservations.
Major metropolitan areas
These are the largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) with a population above 500,000 in the 13 Western states. Population estimates are as of July 1, 2015 as defined by the
United States Census Bureau:
Other population centers
* The MSA of
El Paso, although belonging to
Texas, considered part of the
Southern United States, it is sometimes also considered part of the Western United States. Its estimated population in July 2015 was 838,972.
* The
Mexican border cities of
Tijuana (part of the
San Diego MSA) and
Mexicali (part of the
Yuma, AZ-
El Centro, CA MSA) in the
Mexican state of
Baja California.
* The
Canadian border cities of
Vancouver,
British Columbia and
Victoria, British Columbia (the nearest US cities are
Bellingham and
Port Angeles, both in
Washington).
* The largest MSA in
Alaska is
Anchorage; it has an estimated population of 399,790, as of July 2015.
* In the outlying areas of the Western United States, the largest population centers are
Tafuna in
American Samoa;
Dededo in
Guam;
and
Saipan in the
Northern Mariana Islands.
Politics

The region's distance from historical centers of power in the East, and the celebrated "
frontier spirit" of its settlers offer two clichés for explaining the region's independent, heterogeneous politics. Historically, the West was the first region to see widespread
women's suffrage, with women casting votes in
Utah and
Wyoming as early as 1870, five decades before the
19th Amendment was ratified by the nation.
California birthed both the
property rights and
conservation movements, and spawned such phenomena as the
Taxpayer Revolt and the Berkeley
Free Speech Movement. It has also produced three presidents:
Herbert Hoover,
Richard Nixon, and
Ronald Reagan.
The prevalence of
libertarian political attitudes is widespread. For example, the majority of Western states have legalized
medicinal marijuana (all but
Utah and
Wyoming) and some forms of gambling (except
Utah);
Colorado,
Oregon,
Washington, and
Montana have legalized
physician-assisted suicide; most rural counties in
Nevada allow licensed brothels, and voters in
Alaska,
Colorado,
Nevada,
California,
Oregon, and
Washington have legalized recreational use of marijuana.
California,
Oregon,
Washington,
Colorado,
Hawaii and
New Mexico lean toward the
Democratic Party. In recent times, as seen in the
2020 United States presidential election,
Arizona &
Nevada are also beginning to lean towards the Democratic Party as well.
San Francisco's two main political parties are the Green Party and the
Democratic Party. One of the Democratic leaders of the Congress is from the region:
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi of
California.
Alaska and most
Mountain states are more
Republican, with
Alaska,
Idaho,
Montana,
Utah, and
Wyoming being Republican strongholds, and
Nevada and Arizona being swing states. The state of
Nevada is considered a political bellwether, having correctly voted for every president except twice (in 1976 and 2016) since 1912.
New Mexico too is considered a bellwether, having voted for the popular vote winner in every presidential election since statehood, except in 1976. The state of
Arizona has been won by the Republican presidential candidate in every election except three times since 1948, but in 2020 Arizona voted Democratic. Also, in 2018 and 2020, the GOP lost both Arizona Senate seats to the Democrats. The states of
Idaho,
Utah, and
Wyoming have been won by the Republican presidential candidate in every election since 1964.
Wyoming,
Idaho, and
Utah have been some of the country's most Republican states.
As the fastest-growing demographic group, after
Asians,
Latinos are hotly contested by both parties. Immigration is an important political issue for this group. Backlash against undocumented immigrants led to the passage of
California Proposition 187 in 1994, a ballot initiative which would have denied many public services to them. Association of this proposal with California Republicans, especially incumbent governor
Pete Wilson, drove many Hispanic voters to the Democrats.
The following table shows the breakdown of party affiliation of governors, attorneys general, state legislative houses, and U.S. congressional delegation for the Western states, .
The following table shows the breakdown of party affiliation of governors, attorneys general, state legislative houses, and U.S. congressional delegation for the outlying areas of the Western United States, .
Health
The Western United States consistently ranks well in health measures. The rate of potentially preventable hospitalizations in the Western United States was consistently lower than other regions from 2005 to 2011. While the proportion of maternal or neonatal hospital stays was higher in the Western United States relative to other regions, the proportion of medical stays in hospitals was lower than in other regions in 2012.
See also
*
Autry Museum of the American West
*
California cuisine
*
High Country News
*
History of the Jews in the American West
*
History of the west coast of North America
*
Intermountain West
*
New Mexican cuisine
*
Professional sports in the Western United States
*
Sunset magazine
*
Territories of the United States on stamps
*
West Coast hip hop
*
Western Canada
*
Western US wildfire trends
*
Western White House
References
Notes
Further reading
* Abbott, Carl. ''How cities won the West: Four centuries of urban change in western North America'' (U New Mexico Press, 2008).
* Avella, Steven M. "Catholicism in the twentieth-century American West: The next frontier." ''Catholic historical review'' 97.2 (2011): 219–249.
* Beck, Warren A., Haase, Ynez D.; ''Historical Atlas of the American West''. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989.
* Brilliant, Mark and David M. Kennedy, eds. ''World War II and the West It Wrought'' (2020
excerpt* Everett, Derek R. ''Creating the American West: Boundaries and Borderlands.'' Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2014.
* González, Jesús Ángel. "New Frontiers for Post-Western Cinema: Frozen River, Sin Nombre, Winter's Bone." ''Western American Literature'' 50.1 (2015): 51–76.
* Lamar, Howard. ''The New Encyclopedia of the American West.'' (Yale UP, 1998).
* Lamont, Victoria. "Big books wanted: women and western American literature in the twenty-first century." ''Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers'' 31.2 (2014): 311-32
online
* Lehan, Richard. ''Quest West: American Intellectual and Cultural Transformations'' (LSU Press, 2014).
* Milner II, Clyde A; O'Connor, Carol A.; Sandweiss, Martha A. ''The Oxford History of the American West.'' Oxford University Press, 1994.
* Phillips, Charles; Axlerod, Alan; editor. ''The Encyclopedia of the American West.'' New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.
* Pomeroy, Earl. ''The American Far West in the Twentieth Century.'' New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009.
*
Turner, Frederick Jackson. ''Rereading Frederick Jackson Turner: 'The Significance of the Frontier in American History' and Other Essays.'' New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998.
* Weber, David J. “The Spanish Borderlands, Historiography Redux.” ''The History Teacher'', 39#1 (2005), pp. 43–56.
online
*
White, Richard. ''"
It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own": A New History of the American West.'' Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991.
* Witschi, Nicolas S. ed. ''A Companion to the Literature and Culture of the American'' (2011
excerpt* Wright, Will. ''Six Guns and Society: A Structural Study of the Western'' (U of California Press, 1975), movies.
* Wrobel, David M. ''America's West: A History, 1890–1950'' (Cambridge UP, 2017).
External links
Photo collection at ''Library of Congress''
''US National Archives & Records Administration''
Institute for the Study of the American West Center of the American WestHistory: American West Vlib.us
Collection: "Manifest Destiny and the American West"from the
University of Michigan Museum of Art
{{Coord|40|-113|region:US_dim:1000km|display=title
Category:Lists of cities in the United States
Category:Census regions of the United States
Category:Regions of the United States