Research Paper on:
Early West and Settlers from Mexico and Spain

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
point out the fact that the native Spanish and Mexican elements in many parts of the west and most particularly California, were small and uninfluential, often fairly recent arrivals themselves.  EARLY WESTERN SETTLERS Patricia Limericks book The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West is an excellent historical reference of the people who discovered and populated  the western states in the early history of America. The author not only delves into the first people to meet the Native Americans but also continues throughout the history  of the area up to and including todays contemporary immigrants. Limerick includes not only the well-known Spanish and French explorers about whom we learned in our history classes, but also  includes the little known and minority groups as well. Women, Asians, African-Americans and other interesting people are all discussed in this history of the west. This is not  the usual history book but instead is a comprehensive journal of the struggles and cycles that made up the discovery of the western United States. In fact, Limerick concludes  that this cycle of boom and bust, battles over particular land as well as water and mineral rights continues today (Limerick PG). SPANISH AND MEXICAN EXPLORERS: NOT THE FIRST  Perhaps the most eye-opening and interesting aspects of the history of the western states, California in particular, is the fact that the Spanish and Mexican explorers were not the main  ethic groups to explore this new land. While much of California is based on Spanish and Mexican names and therefore seemingly was taken by the Spanish explorers to begin  with, the truth is there were many other groups who played a bigger role in the expansion of the west than did the Spanish and Mexican peoples. As we know