Three Usual Stages of Frontier Development

Using Oregon as a model, identify and thoroughly detail the three usual stages of frontier development.

Introduction

Oregon was an important area where the frontiers developed over time and marked an important part of the American history. The various foreign colonizers increased their control over America, which formed the basis of many disagreements between them and the locals. The following three stages led to the development of the frontier in Oregon.

The exploration stage was the initial phase. The explorers from Europe carried out various expeditions inland from the frontier (Allen, 1997). Some of the people who made the exploration were Lewis and Clark. The various explorations prepared the Europeans on how to communicate with the locals and the area they would need to cover.

The second stage entailed missionaries communicating with the trappers and bonding themselves to the community (Christie, 2013, p. 470). The missionaries in this phase purpose to reach out to the locals using their culture and religion, which was very new to the locals. They also had commercial ventures, which they wanted to carry out in the community. The Europeans were interested in furthering their interests that included religion, culture and commerce and had no intention of taking over the new territories they had discovered.

The final stage involved the setting up of forts and settlements for the safety of the European settlers. The Europeans finally decided to acquire various areas, which led to many fights with the locals. One such fort that was built in Oregon was Fort Astoria, which was critical to the Pacific fur trade company (Crutchfield, 2011).

The Europeans, therefore, followed the various stages to build rapport with the locals and to discover lands that they would conquer for themselves eventually. The different phases led to conflicts at some point especially where the settlers wanted to acquire land that belonged to the locals.

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