Wild West

The term "wild west" came into use in the early 1800's with the Louisiana purchase. Up to that time, America ended roughly at the Mississippi river. After the Louisiana purchase the country was suddenly about twice as big as it had been before. The Mississippi was a huge natural border, and the land beyond it was largely unknown to the American people. They knew a bit perhaps from stories told by people who had gone and come back, but the land was very wide-open, and even though it was now "owned" by the United States, there were still many Native American tribes who did not recognize the ownership of the land. When settlers talked or thought about this land, it was a wild, untamed place, somehow magically West of everything. Thus, it became the Wild West. This specific trend of being able to expand continued for close to another 50 years, with America expanding by war, treaties, and outright purchase.