Vocabulary
joint occupation - the possession and settling of an area shared by two or more countries
mountain man - a frontiersman living in the wilderness, as in the Rocky Mountains rendezvous - a meeting emigrant - a person who leaves a country or region to live elsewhere Manifest Destiny - the idea popular in the United States during the 1800s that the country must expand its boundaries to the Pacific forty-niners - people who went to California during the gold rush of 1849 boomtown - a community experiencing a sudden growth in business or population |
vigilantes - people who take the law into their own hands
Tejano - a Mexican who claims Texas as his home empresario - a person who arranged for the settlement of land in Texas during the 1800s decree - an order given by one in authority annex - to add a territory to one's own territory rancho - huge properties for raising livestock set up by Mexican settlers in California ranchero - Mexican ranch owner Californios - Mexicans who lived in California cede -to give up by treaty |