Summary

The Great Plains are the grasslands of the North American continent, and lie between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains.

Early European explorers found the Plains a very hostile environment, and the area was marked on early maps as the 'great American desert'.

One American explorer, Major Stephen Long, declared:"I do not hesitate in giving the opinion that it is almost wholly unfit for cultivation, and of course uninhabitable."

Characteristics of the Great Plains

enormous size

• lack of trees
• semi-arid - little water available
• unpredictable weather, including extremely cold and violent winters
• ferocious winds - the winter 'Northers' and the scorching summer winds
• many areas flat and featureless
• inhabited by locusts and grasshoppers
• inhabited by wolves

  Revision tip and answer preparation

  Revision tip

  Question

  Read the list of the characteristics of the Great Plains on the previous page, and note down why each one made the area uninhabitable for 19th-century Europeans.

  

  Answer

   

  Features	Problem
  Enormous size	Getting there in the first place. Isolation when there.
  Lack of trees	Nothing to build houses etc with. Nothing for fuel.
  Semi-arid - little water available	Need for drinking water. Need for water for animals.
  Unpredictable weather, including extremely cold and violent winters	Very difficult to grow crops. Animals died in winter.
  Ferocious winds	The winter 'Northers' brought hail and blizzards. Tornados destroyed houses.
  Many areas flat and featureless	Easy to get lost. Nowhere to get protection from winds.
  Inhabited by locusts and grasshoppers	These ate any crops.
  Inhabited by wolves	Dangerous to people and livestock.

  Answer preparation

  As part of your revision, think about the arguments and facts you would use to explain:

  1. What the problems were of living on the Great Plains.
  2. Why the early settlers regarded the Great Plains as a 'desert'.