homesteader

Click a letter for the index

Or search the encyclopaedia:

 

 

Go

 

US settler who took up land on the Great Plains following the US government's Homestead Act (1862) during the era of westward expansion. Homesteaders were offered 65 ha/160 acres for a small registration fee, with full ownership after five years' occupation, enabling even poor Americans to gain land. Survival was hard in the semi-arid environment, although conditions improved with the opening of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 and two further acts making 390-ha/960-acre holdings available by 1877, improving their viability. The Oklahoma Land Run of 1889 marked the final influx of homesteaders to the region.

Settlement of the Great Plains made the USA's declaration of its manifest destiny to expand westwards a reality, but ended the way of life of the original inhabitants, the Plains Indians. Moved off their lands onto Indian reservations, they also saw their livelihoods destroyed as the North American buffalo (bison), were hunted to near extinction on the Plains.

The stars on a blue field represent Europe. The yellow triangle stands for equality between the three peoples of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Effective date: 4 February 1998. >>