How did Lewis & Clark know where to go?
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- čas přidán 1. 11. 2022
- On May 14, 1804 The Corps of Discovery led by Captains Merriweather Lewis & William Clark began their journey across western North America, into completely unexplored and unmapped territory. At least that’s what is commonly thought. But was the west really unexplored?
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Book Sources
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"Mapping the West with Lewis & Clark" by Ralph E. Ehrenberg & Herman J. Viola
"Undaunted Courage" by Stephen Ambrose
RareMap.com Sources
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1718 Guillaume De L'Isle - tinyurl.com/4u2zx6w9
1814 Lewis & Clark Map - tinyurl.com/3e9fjf2h
1804 Aaron Arrowsmith - tinyurl.com/3unk2tm6
Aaron Arrowmith Maps - tinyurl.com/2wum3sju
Thank you RareMaps.com for supporting another video! Their maps and descriptions are a huge part of the research and visuals that go in these videos. You can purchase your own map related to the Lewis & Clark expedition on it from their website. - RareMaps.com/
Great video but sad to hear use the word Indian which is such a misnomer for the Native/First/Indigenous Peoples/American, maybe so a video on the word Indian
They knew where to go because they followed the trade routes that were already here hundreds of years before they come with the rest of the land thieves. You all act as if this nation was nothing but forest and untouched wilderness yet my ancestors left evidence of their existence in every one of your fields and everywhere in between.
Those continental outlines of the maps are bloody accurate given the level of technology at time. Highly impressed by work the cartographers of the past.
A team of astronomical calculators in Greenwich supplied the data for finding longitude by the Moon 🌙 and stars ☪️ using stopwatches and sextants. Latitude, by sextant, was less complicated, but still required data from Greenwich.
Makes you wonder about some of the not so accurate maps. Were they screw ups? Or have the landmasses changed that drastically over time?
@@calebmahoney2448 the people looked at as crazy will tell u its real...the ones in charge will tell u they are fake...crazy world
@@qram281 yeah, it’s just interesting that we can find and prove such work it astonishes us, while at the same time finding things of similar time span that have the accuracy of a child. While mainly being done by seafaring people, so you wouldn’t assume their education levels would be much different.
They needed accurate maps of the coast so that they would not run the ships aground. It was far faster to move around in a ship to survey the coast than to travel over land with the and then survey with the same tech.
They knew what they were doing, when Aerosmith told them to, "Walk This Way!"
😂
Well Sir, you win the internet! 😂
Excellent 🤘🤘🤘
And the empty space on his map must have encouraged them to dream on.
If they were smart they wouldda told him to dream on....but the true patriots they were they got back in the saddle again and continued living on the edge
The Lewis and Clark expedition was a spectacular achievement when you consider they made it back alive. Especially when compared to the Burke expedition in Australia where everyone died in a land where there was plenty of water and thousands of people lived.
Had it not been for their own hostility they would have had no troubles! People where kind and receptive!
Long, long before L&C, French-Canadian fur traders had pretty thoroughly made it to virtually every nook and cranny of the West. And they had been 'exploring' since the 1500's. They just didn't write books about it or draw maps. L&C frequently mention them as being their guides. They lived with and totally integrated with the Indian tribes and were the agents in selling their furs to big Montreal fur trading companies. The Metis people, still very common in Canada and parts of US are the result of intermarriage Indian/French. Many place names as far south as Texas have French names.
And they dont even learn it in the schools in Quebec.
Many places in Colorado have French names. While these are typically ascribed to French voyageurs, trappers, and traders after Louis & Clark’s expedition, many insist these areas were known to the French before then, and Ceran St Vrain was reported to have purchased old “secret” French maps from expeditions preceding L&C’s.
Don’t forget the Spaniards. Read about Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, he walked from Florida to the gulf of California in 1528 so +250 years before L&C..
There were Franciscan & Jesuit Monks & Priests with some of the French & Metis Coure de Bois. Russian Boats brought in Maronite Monks from the Pacific
The Corps of Discovery was fairly diverse including several French-speaking explorers and metis traders.
Having been a student of this trip for 50 years at least, it is good to hear well researched information accurately related for a change.
Alexander Mackenzie of the Hudson's Bay Company had crossed North America overland in 1793 and had published a map of his travels in 1801 so they could have had access to his map but he travelled far to the north of their crossing, over 1000 km north. Other than showing it could be done I'm not sure how useful it was for them.
He is buried in the church yard in the village where I went to school. I was very fascinated about his discoveries. It was much later I found out about Lewis and Clark.
Noted: I need to learn more about Alexander Mackenzie
He also reached the "wrong" ocean for what Jefferson had in mind, which was a mainly water route to the Pacific, since Mackenzie ended up at the Arctic Ocean. Jefferson was thinking in terms of commerce (his term) and also wasn't looking to tangle with the British over a route within what's now Canada, where the Hudson's Bay Company and North West Company had already been trading for many years.
Sorry--misreading my scribbled notes. After reaching the Arctic, he made a further exploration and got to the Pacific at what's now Bella Coola, British Columbia, still well north of where L&C traveled.
Nor did I say it would be. I thought Thompson's work was, but I just found that he was later than them by a few years.
This was great! Peter Fidler and David Thompson could be considered the Canadian/British version of Lewis and Clark. Famous, but not even close to as famous as Lewis and Clark. They have a lot of things named after them, including two streets in my neighbourhood. I'm related to Perter Fidler, actually...well, being a map maker, he got around, A LOT of people on the Canadian Prairies are related to him...
Nice work, Geography Geek.
While I love maps, the L&C expedition was a hard trek,
pulling a boat up river by leg power, crossing the Rockies
where one mountain rose behind another,
getting the drizzling $h*ts, reaching the coast and spending
the winter then turning around and making the whole trip back again.
In the course of "history" we forget that L&C only made it once.
A Delaware Indian named Black Beaver made it up the Missouri
seven times.
Thank you for mentioning Sir Alexander Mackenzie! "Alex MacKenzie / from Canada / by land / 22d July 1793", ten years before the Corps of Discovery. A proud Canuck!
Not in any denigrating his accomplishment, but he was exploring in what's now Canada and reached the Arctic Ocean, not the Pacific--not what Jefferson had in mind, which was a crossing within the latitudes of the United States.
@@elainechubb971 He eventually reached the Pacific at what is now Bella Coola BC on his second expedition. Sorry Jovan, but he was a Scot and probably did not think of himself as a Canadian.
@@stog9821 Thank you. He reached the Arctic in 1789. In 1792 he got to the Pacific in what is now BC. Oh, and I'm sure he didn't think of himself as 'Canadian'. In those days the only 'Canadiens' (and 'Canadiennes'!) were the French. But Canada sure as hell claims him!
Do you have a Canadian flag attached outside your car as you drive, too? lol
@@stog9821 You are right. I did a quick bit of online research and it was not thorough enough. His expeditions were a great accomplishment. I think the main usefulness to the L&C expedition was to prove it was possible to cross the continent on a voyage/journey of scientific discovery--Jefferson, wanting to establish a route for commerce, authorized L&C to explore within the latitudes of the then United States, not ranging northward into territory to which Britain (Canada) could lay claim because of he activities of the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company.
Wow aerosmith has been on tour forever but I didn't think for THAT long :pp
Aerosmith my dude... Excellent! 🎸
So glad to see the record set straight at last. A little surprised to see how little mention David Thompson got. His exploration map of the Columbia was right on their route.
I’m thinking about making a video dedicated just to David Thompson. He should be better known for how much he mapped. I’m on the east coast of the US though. Maybe he’s better known in Canada and in the west.
@@GeographyGeek I have a particular interest in him because he bought my 4 g grandmother's house from her after her husband died. The Bethune-Thompson house, now a historic site.
@@davidford694 oh wow that’s pretty cool
@@GeographyGeek David Anderson is the curator. A mine of information about Thompson.
What about explorer Amerigo Vespucci who mapped the US before Columbus ? The monks transposing Columbus's maps for the King of Spain new that the maps were not his and were made by Vespucci who mysteriously died ! So the monks named the new world " America " after Amerigo Vespucci . I doubt Columbus ever landed in America because some people say that non of the artifacts he presented to the King and Queen of Spain were American Indian of any kind . Like they never named the new world Columbia did they .
Excellent, informative video- thank you. I’m glad it gives credit to the American Indians and their contributions.
Of note, only Lewis was a captain in the eyes of the army. Clark was commissioned for the expedition as a first lieutenant, despite Lewis’ request he be made a captain and co-leader. Lewis kept that information from the expedition members, and they lead the expedition as equals.
I mention that in no way to nitpick the content in your video. It’s just interesting that they’re always referred to as equals- and should be- but at the time the government only had one leader in mind.
As usual.... the stinking effing government really IS composed of AHs.
thank you for posting this!
Love maps and history so thanks for both!
I've read much on the Lewis and Clark journey and accomplishments. Your video and references that support it, provide so many more facts that are not so much exposure - rather an understanding of reality. Much appreciated.
Appreciate your work, well done.
Many thanks!
You seem to be missing the Miera de Pacheco maps (which one of the French mapmakers seems to have cribbed from) or delved into the amount of experience the French had in the Great Plains to include the 1751 trading expedition from St. Louis to Santa Fe.
Magnificent journey of information. The stories of our ancestors are best not forgotten. Thanks.
I've just watched this video, sitting comfortably at home on the couch with a cup of coffee. To either side of me are my two cats, Thompson & Mackenzie. And yes, they are named after David Thompson and Alexander Mackenzie. The weird thing is that, while they were named when they were kittens of the same litter, they grew up to have distinctive personalities that very closely match each of their namesakes.
I would be delighted to see your planned video on David Thompson, and I would offer a tidbit that biographers have generally missed. Thompson had great facility with First Nations languages, and he kept detailed notes of every language he encountered. From these notes, he was able to construct what he judged to be the relationships between these languages, which belonged to the same family, how close or far they were to each other. And his judgment was pretty much correct. His biographers simply mention this as a detail, without realizing it's significance. Thompson was, all on his own, independently applying the techniques of Linguistic Typology that DID NOT YET EXIST in the world of linguistics. He was doing this before Adelung, Bopp, Humboldt, etc. laid the groundwork for this science, and a hundred years before von der Gabelentz's "Sprachwissenschaft", he was doing typology on that level. As a cartographer and explorer, Thompson was no doubt one of the greatest. He started as an impoverished charity-school urchin, was in Canada by the age of 14, working as an indentured servant of the Hudson's Bay Company. After a lifetime of spectacular accomplishments, he died in poverty near Montreal. His Métis wife, Charlotte, shared many of his adventures, and they remained a faithful couple for 58 years. When Thompson died, she was forced to sell his precious surveying equipment to pay off debts, but she expired within months of her beloved. Thompson was known to the First Nations as "The Stargazer".
I understood they had many children. I wonder what their line is up to today in Canada??
I live walking distance to one of Thompsons' camp landing near the headwaters of the Columbia in BC. Near Wilmer, BC a rusted long gun has been found from the expedition.
@@Dwightstjohn-fo8ki Would be difficult to trace. Children died of disease or accidents with frightening regularity at that time, records are poor everywhere west of Quebec, and Thompson is a ridiculously common surname in Canada. Even more so with Mackenzie. Trying to follow Mackenzies in Canadian records is a nightmare, as I discovered when I once tried to unearth traces of a prospector named "Mac Mackenzie" (in a place where first names where made up on the spot and "Mac" would just be used as a first name by anyone whose last name was Mackenzie. Macdonalds and McKays are even worse.
@@Dwightstjohn-fo8ki You live in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I've hiked around there.
Thompson was not always poverty stricken in later life. When my 4 g grandfather John Bethune died he bought his 3000 acre estate in Williamstown Ontario. The house is now a historic site.
Good bit of information, thanks for sharing!!
This was very well done. Keep it up!
Thank you! I’ll do my best!
great video as always! keep it up!
Thank you!
Another wonderful video! Keep up the great content!!!
I appreciate it! I’ll do my best!
We missed you last year
Good vid!
Superb research.
SUBSCRIBED.
Thank you!
A concise yet great video!
Always a pleasure to learn FACTS instead of generalities and "opinions".
Thanks a lot.
Excellent video. Glad to see mention of Alexander McKenzie and the greatest explorer of North America, David Thompson. Too often their achievements are lost in telling the tale of Lewis and Clark. McKenzie's travels were one of the factors that inspired Jefferson to send Lewis and Clark west, he felt the U.S. was behind in exploring the west.
Quite so. Also remember that Lewis and Clarke had a military expedition. Any misbehavior led to court marshal. MacKenzie had only the power of leadership.
My 3 g grandfather Henry's first cousin.
GOOD TO SEE YOUR MENTIONING OF David Thompson!
@@davidford694 Very cool.
McKensie and Thompson were hardly the greatest explorers of North American. They simply carried on from areas that had been well-known to the French for many, many decades.
Glad you did this oneeee I’ve been wanting to know more about them !!! 😂
Thank you!
They had a French Canadian guide, who had extensive knowledge of the west, including knowledge of the tribes and language families. It's really strange that you have ignored this in your video. Look up Toussaint Charbonneau.
Charbonneau was Sacawagea’s husband, and while he was hired as a guide and for his knowledge of Indian languages, it is pretty clear from Lewis & Clark’s journals that Sacawagea was ultimately better regarded than Charbonneau. I think you’re actually thinking of George Drouillaird, who was a guide, hunter and significant member of the exploration party. L&C often spelt his name as Drewer.
This was a US government sponsored expedition. They had plenty of resources to plan and gather intelligence prior to the trip. They could easily access local guides along the way to help provide direction through the terrain.
Thank you 🎈
Well done. Thanks for setting the record straight and giving credit where it's due. History has a tendency to get painted with a broad brush.
history all too often becomes myth
There is nothing new here. Literally nothing, if you are past jr high.
I live in NW Oregon and I have traveled along the historical wagon trail over the cascade Santiam pass. Camped in Astoria where Lewis and Clark set up by the coast. Which means they included having to pass over the coastal range as well. I just can't imagine what it must have been like to travel all that distance in the era and having to find how to make it across the Rockies/Grand canyon regions of the trip.
Actually, since they used the Columbia River to make a basically sea-level voyage from the western edge of the Rocky Mountains to the coast, they didn't have to pass over the Coast Range--they skirted it. They did make their winter "camp" (a small wood-built fort-type structure) up a bit into the mountains from Astoria, thinking this would provide better protection and sustenance from the animals they could hunt, but they weren't forced to journey over the range to actually get to the Pacific. They were supposed to find a mainly sea-level route across North America, sing the Missouri River system and the unexplored (by the United States) great river of he West, and that they did.
@@elainechubb971 thank you for clearing that up! I have always wondered exactly how they make the trek over the Rockies
@@stephaniegrable2612 Thanks. They did have to cross the Rockies, but were able to use a pass following a trail already established by native peoples. Once they got to the Columbia, they used canoes for the rest of the journey. I think they had to portage around falls more than once. But at least they didn't have to find a pass across the Cascades or cross the Coast Range.
Yes, indeed, they had to portage Celilo Falls where The Dalles is now plus rapids like where Cascade Locks is. From there to the coast was easy. The OT emigrants had wagons so they couldn’t just float down the river, they had to take a huge chance on the river, or go over the slopes around Mt. Hood once they were past the Rockies, which they crossed using the South Pass, which was an over land route far away from the Missouri.
Not forgetting Henry Kelsey who was the first known European to see the northern North American plains (Saskatchewan) in1690!
The oldest surviving capital in the United States is in my home state. Santa Fe, New Mexico along with California had been explored and mapped by Spaniards in the 1500’s.
Great video - new subscriber 👍🇨🇦
Thank you!
Did not expect to see the Peter Fiddler statue from my hometown of Elk Point in this video!
Well done.
Thanks
Oh thank you!!
I really enjoyed your video tho... you did a good job of balance and illustrating that Indians had a lot more navigational information than Europeans ...
Enlightening, thank you. 🤔🥰❤️🔥🤙🏻✨
No problem! Thanks for watching!
This should have way more views
Thanks for the video man
I appreciate it! You've actually found this video before I posted it lol. I accidentally added it to a playlist.
Not much known in the US that Jefferson got the idea of such expedition from Alexander von Humboldt expedition to South America. Jefferson and Humboldt were writing letters for a long time.
Good information . The journal of the Corps stated the purpose of the expedition was to inventory the contents of the new Louisiana Purchase not exploration of the unknown .
This reminds me of a Book called "The White Indian Boy" which tells the story of a Taylorsville Utah boy who for about two years lived with a tribe of the Shoshone Nation. One of the older Native Americans in the tribe has met the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Wow. I can’t even imagine the horrors
its so cool seeing the topic of an essay i wrote in a youtube video, like!!! i know that!!! i saw that arrowsmith map!!!
Arrowsmith map: "Walk this way!"
"Talk this way!"
- Sitting Bull 😅
Well done
Came to the comments for this!
@@jlvrmr 💪 💪 🤜🤛 👌
Has me rethinking titles like "Back in the saddle", "draw the line", SOS, "living on the edge "
Please read Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose if you haven't. Basically, Lewis and Clark's mission was to find a Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean, to record their path and document and send back examples of flora and fauna of what they found in the new purchased Louisiana Territory.
"Was the West really unexplored?"
My short answer: no
My long answer: read a book, people
Undaunted Courage. Thank you.
It's interesting to note that none of the early maps depicted the most defining feature of the upper Missouri River; the Great Falls- a series of impassable cascades in North Central Montana. The knowledge of this was carried by Natives but somehow never got put on a map. If it had ,the Expedition would have saved about 10 days travel time in getting to The Rockies before the snow.
I read somewhere that when Lewis & Clark would stop for the night they would take a big block of butter and pour hot rum on it. It does sound like it would make the evenings by the campfire more pleasant but you might question the accuracy of their journals.
LCNHT bicentennial reenactor here. Even our own Captain Clark said that we traveled through someone else's back yard. Clark's original map had estimates of Indian populations but the information was later removed by the government to make it look like no one was there.
Wish there had been mention of Moncacht Ape, who had journeyed from Louisiana to New England then back, and then to the Northwest coast, back in the 18th century, and had told his story to some Frenchman who in turn made some maps.
Lewis & Clark did have a copy of his account with them and apparently used the accompanying map to locate a tribe but his journey is unlikely to be true but instead a combination of different explorer’s accounts. He failed to mention some major waterways as well as Lewis Clark’s largest obstacle, the Rocky Mountains even though he would have crossed them twice. In fact, his alleged account may have caused Lewis & Clark to falsely believe they could reach the Pacific with an easy walk from one navigable river to the next which led to the ocean.
Edit: Spelling
They ask around in St. Louis and were told to just follow the big "W" on the compass. Worked too.
Once they got to Kansas City there was a whole lot of going N.
Very interesting and informative video! Thanks.
Also, I noticed a misspelled word in the description info. Captain Lewis’ first name is spelled Meriwether, not Merriweather. (Just hoping to be helpful.)
Never knew Aerosmith played such a large role in the building of America.
His map said “Walk this way” 😂
there is a stone map in egypt that was produced about 4,000 yrs. ago it is the brown cow milking scene in the tomb of Montuhotep ll and it is published in a book "the treasures of the Pharoahs" by Delia Pemberton. it is a map of north america in extreme detail.
Southern Illinois is known as Little Egypt because of all the ancient Egyptian artifacts that they find there.
WHERE CAN I FIND COPIES OF THESE MAPS .. I HAVE A NICE COLLECTION AND ALWAYS LOOKING FOR MORE
RareMaps.com and the Library of Congress.
@@GeographyGeek THANKS
Plus, the greater Astoria, Oregon area has numerous L&C historical sites, several of which have awesome books for sale in their gift shops.
The bridge over the Columbia River there is 5 miles long and high enough in part to clear ocean-going ships. A nice drive. L&C camp location on the Washington coast, too.
@@jerroldkazynski5480 THANK YOU VERY MUCH
and also correct to say Lewis & Clarke, both army engineers, needed the assistance by Sacajawea to see where the sun was going down
incorrect, that is
It appears they renamed many of the named rivers as they went along.
For the closed caption transcriber: The mapmaker is Arrowsmith not Aerosmith (rock band). 😂
Check out a dude named Moncacht Ape. He was a Native from the South who travelled everywhere between the Atlantic and (most likely) the Pacific and related the story of his journeys to the French, which is how we know about it. A 17th century American ibn Battuta. Ancient Americas has a great video about him.
I didn't realize that Aeorosmith was so prolific in map making.
They were looking for dudes that looked like ladies.
Steve Tyler REALLY got around back in the day
Walk this way according to the map.
Of course, extraordinarily pedantic. Didn't want to miss a thing.
Thomas Jefferson had a room in the White House filled with mammoth fossils and such, people were worried about running into giant cyclops.
Everytime you said Aaron Smith I could only hear Aerosmith.
Indeed, European explorers received assistance from native peoples; Simon Fraser on his way to the Pacific was able to negotiate the treacherous canyon of the river which now bears his name by following trails constructed by the locals.
So short version is that they had a good collection of cobbled together information and a hunch to confirm?
Oh Arrowsmith! I thought you kept saying Aerosmith! Rock on!
I you were a Keetoowah you need no map. Follow the Savanna to Quala, Then take the Hegehogee to the Mississippi, then down to the White River where you pick up the Arkansas River to Monarch Pass and then there are various routs to the west cost.
Keetoowah showed Pale Face this trail. It is called The Holy Faith Trail. But you would know it by it's Spanish name. The Santa Fe Trail.
How do I know this, I was taught this by my family at a Cherokee Pow Wow at Norfork on the White River.
So that is how Aerosmith became an American Idol.
Information most Canadians know. Listen to Stan Roger’s ‘Northwest Passage’
I believer it was the famous Edward's and Hunt that made the journey and discovered most of the west. This was painstakingly documented in the movie Almost Heros.
I suppose you could say that Arrowsmith told them to “Walk This Way”
In those days British North America and the USA were not friends, so it’s interesting that Americans were able to get information from the Hudson Bay Company and the North West Company out Montreal. As many will already know Alexander Mac Kenzie was the first to across the continent two decades before Lewis and Clarke, but what you may not know is he was born in what is now the USA and was the son of a loyalist who fought for his King against the Americans. Many of Canadians greatest explorers and fur traders were also loyalists and to this day one in five Canadians are descended from loyalists.
And the US border should rightfully run south of the Columbia. My several greats uncle John MacLauglin was dismayed! It made no sense.
Fortunately he had dispatched his subordinate James Douglas to set up a new headquarters at Fort Victoria on Vancouver Island, now Victoria BC, where I live.
"As many will already know Alexander Mac Kenzie was the first to across the continent two decades before Lewis and Clarke". Technically true, if you are referring to the continental divide. However, French explorers had made it all the way to the foothills of Rockies many decades earlier.
Having played the part of Merriwether Lewis in a fourth grade play back in the 60's I know the answer. They asked the Indians they ran into on the way west. They used the Missouri river as a road.
Aerosmith made maps for Lewis and Clark? Wow, those guys are old.
😂
5:10 the black holes..overlapping: DEFINITELY a bullet that struck the heart of the folded card bearer...
Early Rohrschach test.
Everybody stands on the shoulders of those who came before them. It still does not demean that the gathering of information and publishing it for the people's influenced by them.
Especially the French explorers and "courreurs des bois" for most of North America.
Years ago I read a well written detailed book about the expedition. Can’t remember the author. What I remember most that was not taught in school, mentioned here or anywhere else was that there was a fair sized black dude that was chosen for the expedition as a member (NOT a slave in any way) and his interactions with native Chiefs! No spoilers…..ya gotta find and read the book!!!!
Probably Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose. You are referring to York. He was actually a slave of Clark. He was given many more rights during the expedition, including getting an equal vote on where to make camp on the west coast, but sadly when returning home he had to return to slavery.
@@GeographyGeek thank you for providing clarification on the status of York. He was Clark’s “playmate” as a child, then save when he turned of age. Later he was the body servant of Clark when he was in the military. After the expedition, he asked for his freedom and Clark denied his freedom. Everyone on the expedition was paid a weekly salary and given land except for.. you guessed it York. So even though he had a equal vote during the expedition he was still treated and seen as a slave.
History is written by the Victors (Napoleon). The French arrived and settle Quebec 100 years before the Mayflower. They traversed the waterways., Blocked by Niagara, Jacque Cartier took the Ottawa River, Crossed the Mattawa river into Lake Nipissing, down the French River into Lake Huron. Settle Fort Detroit. 1550. Others fund routes to Chicago and crossed over to the Mississippi which joined them to New Orleans/ St Louis and claimed it all for France. by 1650. They continued along the rivers setting trading post and Catholic Missionaries throughout the west. The native tribes of the west first met white Frenchmen and would have a PARLEY. French word for talk. The french where very independent, and being thousands of miles from the KING. dispersed and created small independent communities through the land. To this day America has far more towns and cities with french names then Spanish. Detroit, Marquette, Chicago, St Paul and more where started in the 16 hundreds. Lewis and Clark where escorted by French Officers and Men as well as Native Guides, who knew where to go, how to get there, This version of history is not as Romantic and Heroic, but then History is written by the victors. I like my history books old,before professors can re-write them to be more politically correct.
Exactement!
They had GPS without question lol
OR what direction they where traveling!!
They did not know where to go. They followed the largest river, they named the Jefferson at Three Forks. That led them to the Lemhi Pass. When they reached the Salmon River they realized they could not put canoes into the river due to the rapids. So they had a guide take them up over Lost Man Pass in to the Lolo River drainage, then over Lolo Pass into the Clearwater River where they built their birch bark canoes and met up with the Snake River where Clarkson Washington and Lewiston Idaho are today. It took them 51 days. Upon return the Nez Perz guided them over the short route what is known today as Lewis and Clark Pass. It took a whole 4 days.
Also the spanish had been allover the west coast mining gold there are still mines and canons in spots out west people have found spanish graves armore and lots off stuff
Arrowsmith? Should be named Mapsmith, am I right?
The spanish rich out to alaska and charted and maped all the map you mention that include newmexico texas California florida luisiana oregon all those land was mexico spanish land
Lewis & Clark relied on Aerosmith for maps? He was a better rock musician than a map maker!
3:15 Ghee-Yohm D'Lyle
That first map actually makes the feeling of the unknown even more powerful. Except for the estimated line of the Rockies the entire middle of the continent is blank. Empty whiteness with not even a guess of what parts are forest, desert, or prairie.
The voyageurs were the earliest inland explorers of North America, the Spaniards preceding them along the coasts. Valdez, for example. Even so, French and English ships were across the Atlantic before 1500. Look at all of those French place names along the M & M rivers
The Spanish, who were fixated on gold and precious gems, were concentrating on Mexico and the Caribbean, and not venturing much north of Florida--a wild forested landscape with native peoples living a mostly fairly rural life rather than in great metropolises such as those of the Aztecs and Maya, didn't offer much. But the Spanish did also explore inland areas of southwest North America, riding up from Mexico as far as Kansas (Coronado) and then establishing New Mexico and Upper California. I suppose the Voyageurs did beat them to it by a bit. Mostly the French and English steered clear of the Spanish territories (except for piracy).
Did you know Wampum Beads are such good money on these trails they the started making Wampum Beads in England.
What is the name of the "rock in Idaho?" Obviously it's in Idaho, but I'd like to find out where.
Good stuff better than the history channel
Spain built a Church where New Mexico is today
before English, French, and Dutch left their wide
Mississippi River watershed extent. Spain even
went up the North America West Coast to find
the Russians. Before the British did.
Hasn't it Long been known that Sacagawea helped Lewis and Clark navigate across to the New Frontier
That’s another misconception. Sacajawea made several big contributions to the success of the expedition but she helped as far as navigation goes on only a couple occasions.
Edit: spelling
@@GeographyGeek Notably, L&C knew that they would need to acquire horses from the Shoshone, and Sacajawea was a Shoshone who’d been kidnapped by another tribe and eventually sold off to become one of the voyageur's wife. When they finally encountered the Shoshone by one of those unlikely coincidences in history, it turned out to be her own band and led by her brother. She later saved some important papers when a canoe overturned, though certainly she was illiterate herself. L&C also commented that the presence of her and her infant provided ready assurance to the Indians they met that they were not a war party. While her role as a guide has been overstated (the idea of a young teenage Indian girl guiding the expedition is just too romantic to resist), it is clear from L&C’s journals that she punched above her weight as a member of the corps.
Yes and she was actually a black woman. As a matter of fact, all of these natives were blacks
Here I was thinking I had stumbled upon the origin of Aerosmith, but it was just your accent.
Don't forget Sir Alexander MacKenzie - the first (of the Europeans) to cross the continent.
I’m pretty sure I said that in this video or maybe it was the other Lewis & Clark video.
Our grade school history books do not teach this.