European settlement and cultural preservation on the Great Plains, 1860s-1870s

Europeans Settling the Great Plains

In the 1860s and 1870s, large numbers of European settlers made their way to the Great Plains. While they adapted and changed on some level, they also went to great lengths to keep and preserve much of their native culture. Among the ways they did that were to market the Great Plains as a beautiful place to live and raise a family, even though they knew that really was not the case (Faragher, et al., 2009). The goal was to get many more European settlers to move there so that the culture and lifestyle they had enjoyed and grown used to could be recreated. Many of the settlers were traveling in very tight-knit groups, and they all colonized a particular area. The homes and businesses they built were reminders of what they had left behind, and the individual towns that sprang up were often almost totally colonized by a particular type of European from a specific country (Faragher, et al., 2009). By sticking with their own, they kept their cultural traditions mostly intact. Very little of their past way of life was forgotten or lost to the travel.

Another way culture was kept was for men and women to only marry within their culture or ethnic background (Faragher, et al., 2009). Very few men and women married anyone who was not just like them and who did not come from the same culture. There were a few who intermarried, but it was a practice that was unusual and often frowned upon by others. The desire was to keep the culture pure, and many people did not want others to introduce new and different traditions to them (Faragher, et al., 2009). It was already enough of a change to come to the United States to settle, and most settlers did not want to add to the stress of that by allowing their culture to be changed by outsiders. Commercial farming became very popular with many of the settlers, because it was a way to make money and also a way to get to know neighbors that could help out in times of need (Faragher, et al., 2009).

Because settlers generally lived around people that came from the same culture, working with others was not an issue. Eventually, though, people from other countries and areas started moving in and the culture of the area began to change and mix (Faragher, et al., 2009). Ultimately, the settlers were not successful at keeping their culture preserved and intact as much as they wanted to. The reason behind that was two-fold. First, there was a large expansion that took place very rapidly, and that mixed some cultures more closely together than they would normally reside. Second, the way life had to be lived on the Great Plains was far different than the way life was lived "back home" in Europe (Faragher, et al., 2009). Because of the mixing of cultures and the differences seen there, and because of the way the people were required to change their habits for the work they had to do, some cultural traditions started to get lost or changed.