early migration

• what year was the Colorado gold rush?


  1858
• what year was the California gold rush?

  1848-49
• push factors for migration west

  • overcrowding in the east due to high immigration levels from europe
  • poor sanitary conditions leading to cholera outbreaks
  • economic crisis in 1837 making banks collapse
• pull factors for migration west

  • free farming
  • oregon trail mapped in 1841 to make it easier to migrate
  • April 1949 was the California gold rush
  • manifest destiny first used in 1845
• how many left the east to travel to California in April 1849?

  100,000
• how many had arrived in California in 1855?

  300,000
• why did Californias economy boom?

  people needed equipment, food/drink and entertainment while being there
• how long was the Oregon trail and how long did it take?

  2000 miles and 5 months
• why did the Oregon trail have to be traveled by winter?

  there was a risk of bring stuck in the mountains
• what percentage of people died on the Oregon trail?

  10%
• what did migrants have to ensure they have to complete the Oregon trail?

  • correct people
  • enough food and water
  • equipment to repair wagons
• how many migrants had travelled by the oregon trail by 1869?

  400,000
• what was the main reason for migration west?

  manifest destiny
• why did white migrators feel like they had to move west?

  • mine gold
  • farm land
  • convert indigenous peoples religion
  • build and expand
• how did economic conditions in the east encourage migration west?

  • in 1837 there was an economic crisis in the east
  • banks collapsed
  • wages cut around 40%
  • push factor to the west
• how did farmland encourage migration west?

  • free farmland
  • pull factor to west
• how did oregon trail encourage migration west?

  • only practical way for migrants to get across mountains with wagons
  • by 1869, 400,000 migrants travelled using the trail
  • missionaries who travelled to oregon to convert tribes to Christianity
  • first migrants reached oregon 1836
  • pull factor to the west
• how did government help encourage migration west?

  • in 1841 they offered $30,000 for an expedition to map the oregon trail and publish results that would help migrants get to oregon
  • reports became a guidebook
  • by 1846, more than 5000 people had migrated west along Oregon trail
  • pull factor to the west
• how did the gold rush of 1849 encourage migration west?

  • 300,000 in California by 1855
  • most men were unsuccessful and went back home
  • economy grew rapidly through food, equipment and entertainment that the prospectors needed
  • successful economy helped USA recover from economic crisis
  • pull factor to the west
• how did manifest destiny encourage migration west?

  • belief white Americans had the right to populate all of america
  • government encouraged this belief
  • thought it was a god given right
  • pull factor to the west
• how long was the oregon trail?

  3200 km
• why did the migrants not travel before April?

  gave enough time for fresh grass to grow for animals
• who were he best animals to pull the wagons?

  oxen