Summary of H. W. Brands' Dreams of El Dorado

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The first Americans entered human history as Asia’s east. They were hunters who spread and multiplied across the Americas, and they forgot where they came from. The American West was sparsely populated because of a lack of water, while the Great Plains were rich due to the resource of buffalo.
#2 The Mississippi River was the central artery of North America, and its tributaries drained most of what would become the United States. The victory of the United States in the Revolutionary War gave it control of the eastern half of the Mississippi basin.
#3 When Thomas Jefferson became president, he sought to purchase New Orleans, which would guarantee the right of deposit and navigation. He discovered that France had reacquired Louisiana from Spain, by a treaty that was supposed to be secret but didn’t stay so for long.
#4 Jefferson, despite his strict constructionist philosophy, signed the Louisiana Purchase deal with Napoleon. The acquisition of Louisiana doubled the size of the United States, ensuring a handsome patrimony for generations of American farmers.

Sujets

• Adventurers
• Biography
• Autobiography
• Explorers

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 18 juillet 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798822544420
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on H. W. Brands's Dreams of El Dorado
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The first Americans entered human history as Asia’s east. They were hunters who spread and multiplied across the Americas, and they forgot where they came from. The American West was sparsely populated because of a lack of water, while the Great Plains were rich due to the resource of buffalo.

#2

The Mississippi River was the central artery of North America, and its tributaries drained most of what would become the United States. The victory of the United States in the Revolutionary War gave it control of the eastern half of the Mississippi basin.

#3

When Thomas Jefferson became president, he sought to purchase New Orleans, which would guarantee the right of deposit and navigation. He discovered that France had reacquired Louisiana from Spain, by a treaty that was supposed to be secret but didn’t stay so for long.

#4

Jefferson, despite his strict constructionist philosophy, signed the Louisiana Purchase deal with Napoleon. The acquisition of Louisiana doubled the size of the United States, ensuring a handsome patrimony for generations of American farmers.

#5

The American West as we know it was created as a result of the Louisiana Purchase. The country now had two halves, an East and a West, with the Mississippi serving as the line of division between them. The American West was developed by the federal government.

#6

The Missouri expedition was led by Meriwether Lewis, a presidential aide who was chosen by Jefferson. It was to explore the region from headwaters to mouth, and claim it for the United States.

#7

President Jefferson wanted Lewis and his team to explore the Missouri river and its principal stream, which may offer the most direct and practicable water communication across the continent for commercial purposes.

#8

The Lewis and Clark expedition was formalized in May 1804. It consisted of three boats, and twelve men: Lewis and Clark, along with their assistants. They were to explore the west and make contact with the native peoples, who kept their distance.

#9

The death of Sergeant Floyd reminded the crew how fragile life was in the wild. Any change in the numbers of the group would be by subtraction, and it was impossible to replace a man who was lost.

#10

The expedition came across large herds of buffalo, which the Sioux tribes hunted. The Sioux were very powerful, and the Americans wanted to make a friendly impression on them. But the Sioux were not willing to make the same kind of friendship with the Americans.

#11

The Tetons were a tribe that controlled the trade on the upper Missouri, and they were hostile to the Americans who tried to pass by them. The Indians would not let Clark return to the keelboat, but he got a message back to Lewis, who sent reinforcements.

#12

The Lewis and Clark expedition was able to pass through the Sioux territory, but they did not achieve good relations with them. They did not fool themselves into thinking they had accomplished Jefferson’s goal of establishing good relations with the most powerful of the upper Missouri peoples.

#13

By mid-October, the Americans had reached the villages of the Mandans, and they decided to build a fort nearby. The warmth of the Mandans toward the Americans contrasted sharply with the chill of the Sioux, but it was the same origin: the prospect that the Americans would break the Sioux blockade of the Missouri River.

#14

The American expedition was made up of two people who were essential to its success: Toussaint Charbonneau, a French Canadian trader who had lived among the Hidatsas for some years, and Sacagawea, a young Shoshone woman captured during a raid by the Hidatsas and then sold to Charbonneau.

#15

The men made canoes out of trees that grew near the river, hollowing the logs with adzes and fire. They rounded the ends so that the canoes would float high enough to keep the water out.

#16

The Corps got away from Fort Mandan in early April. Lewis was excited to be heading towards the Rocky Mountains, which he believed were just a short distance away from the headwaters of the Missouri.

#17

Lewis was excited to see the Yellowstone River, and the site he chose for the fort was perfect. He was finally able to see the Rocky Mountains, which he had heard about but never seen before.

#18

The men soon realized that the falls of the Missouri were much more difficult than those of the Ohio. They were met by a series of falls that took up a month of the most arduous work the expedition had done so far.

#19

The Shoshones were a horse people who lived between the falls and the Rockies. They were able to supply the Americans with more than two dozen horses, but the price in trade goods rose as the Shoshones realized how desperately the explorers needed the animals.

#20

The Corps made it to the Nez Perce Indians, a people of the western slope of the Rockies, who offered them dried salmon. But the men soon regretted eating it, as their distress increased. They realized that they were within two sightlines of the ocean.

#21

The expedition passed the rough spots of the Columbia without incident, but the cataracts were another story. The falls and rapids were the epicenter of the salmon fishery, and hundreds of Indians remained on the banks of the river to trade for the dried fish.

#22

Lewis and Clark spent the next three weeks crossing the Columbia River, which was the estuary of the Columbia. The wind never stopped roaring, and the rain made the final twenty miles extremely vexing. But finally, after two thousand miles in boats and on horses, they reached the Pacific Ocean.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The return of the expedition was celebrated as a triumph of American courage and acumen. Many had given the members up for dead, and their seemingly miraculous return was celebrated as a triumph of American courage and acumen.

#2

The Lewis and Clark expedition was a failure in terms of breaking the Sioux blockade of the upper Missouri, but it was a success in terms of promoting American trade in the West. However, Jefferson realized that any president’s powers might fail against those of nature.

#3

John Jacob Astor was a businessman who heard about the lucrative fur trade in Canada. He set off up the Hudson River to find out for himself, and he discovered that the fur trade was not for the faint of heart.

#4

Astor’s overland party struggled up the Missouri River. They met the Snake River where it comes out of the Rockies, and they judged that it would carry them to the Columbia. But the Snake proved too turbulent, and they abandoned their canoes and struck out overland on horses bought from the Shoshones.

#5

The Tonquin had to cross the bar in 1811, and when the crew sent out boats to search for the other one, only one member of the last boat’s crew was found alive. He had been blown off course and lost eight of his companions in the last mile of the voyage.

#6

The Tonquin’s captain, Thorn, was eager to explore the Pacific Northwest and hunt for more trading posts. He sailed to Vancouver Island and anchored near the northern tip, where he encountered the Comcomly tribe. The chief was offended by Thorn’s insults and orders, and his pride was hurt.

#7

The Tonquin was attacked by Indians, who were after its cargo of furs. The crew fought back, and several Indians were killed. But the Indians were too many, and the crew was eventually overwhelmed.

#8

The Tonquin disaster shocked and mystified the Indians who survived it. But they took revenge on the four crew members who had escaped during the night in a boat, hoping to make their way south to Astoria.

#9

The loss of the Tonquin dealt a heavy blow to the Astor project, and it revealed the inherent violence in the American West: humans killing one another for control of Western resources.

#10

The war between the United States and Britain broke out in June 1812, and the British promptly imposed a blockade on the American coast. The blockade prevented the timely dispatch of ships to develop the Pacific trade.

#11

The North West Company had problems with the Hudson’s Bay Company, which had deep roots in British North America. The two companies battled for control of the fur trade of western Canada and the Oregon country, and tactics ranged from stealing equipment to instigating physical violence.

#12

The Hudson’s Bay Company decided to merge with the North West Company in 1821, and the company’s head, George Simpson, made McLoughlin the chief factor for the Columbia district, which was to mean Oregon. They chose a new site for the regional headquarters a hundred miles up the Columbia from Astoria.

#13

Fort Vancouver was the largest community of non-Indians west of the Rockies. Its residents consisted primarily of the Hudson’s Bay Company servants, or salaried employees. The language they used reflected the diversity of their backgrounds: French among the French Canadians and Métis, Hawaiian among the Kanakas, several Indian tongues, and English.

#14

John McLoughlin, the head of the Hudson’s Bay Company, was in charge of the Columbia district. He was more than just a manager of a trading company; he made himself the de facto czar of the region.