America250 — 250 years since 1776. Explore two and a half centuries of American history. Start the tour

#Exploration

27 entries

People (7)

John C. Frémont

The Pathfinder of the West whose maps drew settlers into California and Oregon

John Wesley Powell

The one-armed Civil War veteran who ran the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon

The first human to set foot on the moon

The man who founded two colonies for two rival powers

Shoshone guide and interpreter whose knowledge made the Corps of Discovery possible

The first American woman in space

The Army officer who explored the southern Louisiana Purchase and never climbed Pikes Peak

Places (9)

Grand Canyon National Park

The mile-deep Colorado River gorge protected from dam projects in 1968

The first permanent English settlement in North America, founded 1607 on the Virginia tidewater

Mississippi River

The continent's central artery — highway, boundary, and the most mythologized river in American history

The Dutch colony on the Hudson, 1624-1664

The Swedish and Finnish colony on the Delaware, 1638-1655

The "Lost Colony" that vanished from the Outer Banks before relief ships returned

Rocky Mountains

The 3,000-mile cordillera that defined the western frontier and the Continental Divide

The Spanish presidio in Florida — oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the United States

Gateway to the West and crossroads of American expansion

Eras (1)

Colonial America

The 168 years of English settlement that built the society the Revolution would transform, 1607–1775

Events (6)

The contested October holiday marking Columbus's 1492 landing

French and Indian War

The North American theater of a world war that made the American Revolution inevitable, 1754–1763

Lewis and Clark Expedition

The 1804–1806 Corps of Discovery that mapped the American West to the Pacific

Louisiana Purchase

The 1803 land acquisition that doubled the size of the United States

The 2,000-mile overland route that carried 400,000 settlers to the American West, 1840–1869

The Space Shuttle

The reusable spacecraft that defined American spaceflight for three decades

Concepts (3)

The Frontier Thesis

The argument that the American frontier made America — and what happened when it closed

U.S.–Spain Relations

From the empire that colonized half the continent to the war that ended its American reach

Westward Expansion

The century-long process by which the United States spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific

Organizations (1)

The space agency founded in 1958 that won the race to the Moon and became the symbol of American ambition

All Tags

Politics 178 Economy 171 Military 129 Reform 121 Civil Rights 118 Law & Justice 116 Presidency 113 Science & Technology 112 Foreign Policy 107 Arts & Culture 103 Race 98 Founding Era 96 Industry 90 Constitution 75 Modern America 67 Protest 66 Cold War 65 Civil War 62 Westward Expansion 61 War 59 Revolution 59 Slavery 57 Media & Press 57 Women 56 Indigenous 51 Diplomacy 47 Immigration 41 Labor 40 Environment 36 Colonial America 34 Congress 33 Religion 33 World War II 32 Supreme Court 32 Disaster 29 Exploration 27 Public Health 25 Progressive Era 25 Abolition 22 Finance 22 Reconstruction 22 Democracy 20 Gilded Age 19 Assassination 15 Education 15 Suffrage 11 World War I 9 Sports 9 Corruption 9 Prohibition 1