Exploring the Frontier

• The original early colonists settled between the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic ocean

• The Mountains were difficult to cross. Also, in 1763 it became illegal to settle that land

• The colonies were filling up with farms and towns

• So people still looked for ways to go west and cross the Appalacians

Daniel Boone

• Boone was an explorer who had heard stories about the land west of the mountains

• He was a pioneer- The first of a group to settle a region

• In 1769 Boone followed a narrow trail through the Appalachians in Virginia

• On the other side of this passage (The Cumberland Gap) was land for farming and hunting used by the Native Americans

• Boone cleared a road through the passage and called it Wilderness Road

• He guided families across the 200 mile road and towns like Boonesborough and Harrodsburg in Kentucky

Life on the Frontier

• In the late 1700's thousands had traveled west

• There was new opportunities and inexpensive farm land

• They continues moving westward into the frontier(the edge of a settled region).

• This land was already home to many different Native American tribes.

• They all lived, farmed, and hunted on the land.

• They fought with the settlers, but also borrowed customs and ideas from one another.