Civilisation

What is a space?

What is a place?

What is a territory?

Yi-Fu Tuan said that '[blank_start]place[blank_end] is security, [blank_start]space[blank_end] is freedom'

Smith wrote [blank_start]Virgin Land[blank_end] in order to see why Western America was considered as a [blank_start]myth[blank_end] and a [blank_start]symbol[blank_end].

[blank_start]Smith[blank_end] talks about the common idea that the west is [blank_start]wild[blank_end] and how the [blank_start]expansion[blank_end] happened.

Before the [blank_start]independance[blank_end], [blank_start]British[blank_end] were more interested by the [blank_start]east[blank_end]. They saw themselves as the nation which dominates the [blank_start]sea[blank_end], and so a supreme [blank_start]maritime power[blank_end].

What is agrarianism ?

[blank_start]Agrarianism[blank_end] thinks that land is a source of [blank_start]value[blank_end] and [blank_start]worth[blank_end]. [blank_start]Political[blank_end] and [blank_start]geographical[blank_end] interest: to [blank_start]attract[blank_end] people to have [blank_start]high wages[blank_end].

For the U.S to be glorious, they have to take control on:

The American West is a [blank_start]myth[blank_end] because everyone has [blank_start]his own vision[blank_end] of it.

What is a myth ?

What is a symbol ?

What is/are the symbol(s) of the West?

The west is called the [blank_start]Virgin Land[blank_end]. It is seen as a [blank_start]new start[blank_end] but the American got rid of the [blank_start]Natives[blank_end] who were there.

The term free land is borrowed from [blank_start]Turner[blank_end].

There are always [blank_start]2[blank_end] versions of history. Here it is that the west was a [blank_start]new beginning[blank_end] but also that it [blank_start]killed indians[blank_end].

The expansion of the U.S begins [blank_start]in the territory[blank_end] and continues [blank_start]outside the borders[blank_end].

Nowadays the Indian territory is composed of [blank_start]reservations[blank_end].

The pride of the [blank_start]American[blank_end] is seen as a great loss for the [blank_start]Indians[blank_end].

Lewis and Clark was to make [blank_start]scientific discoveries[blank_end], to [blank_start]map[blank_end] the west, to make [blank_start]fur trade[blank_end], [blank_start]economic and political[blank_end], to obtain the right to navigate on the [blank_start]Mississipi river[blank_end].

Jefferson wanted to compete the [blank_start]British[blank_end] near the [blank_start]Canadian[blank_end] borders

There were rivalries in the U.S between the [blank_start]French[blank_end], the [blank_start]British[blank_end], the [blank_start]Spanish[blank_end]...

In his letter, Jefferson says he wants to [blank_start]double[blank_end] the territory by buying [blank_start]Florida[blank_end] to Spain or [blank_start]exchanging[blank_end] it with [blank_start]Lousiana[blank_end].

[blank_start]Mississipi[blank_end] is important because it [blank_start]connects[blank_end] different [blank_start]states[blank_end] and for the [blank_start]importation[blank_end] of [blank_start]goods[blank_end] from the [blank_start]North[blank_end] to the [blank_start]South[blank_end].

[blank_start]Jefferson[blank_end] wanted the U.S to be inhabited by [blank_start]euro-american[blank_end] but not [blank_start]spaniards[blank_end].

Quand Lewis et Clark sont morts, on n'a paq publié leurs journaux. Ils ont été publiés en [blank_start]1893[blank_end].

A website of the Indian movement Ponca asks the question : should we [blank_start]celebrate[blank_end] Lewis and Clark or should we [blank_start]stop[blank_end] them ?

Lewis and Clark...

[blank_start]Photographers[blank_end] often accompanied [blank_start]exploratory[blank_end] surveys to take [blank_start]documentation[blank_end] of the places visited.

The issue was not [blank_start]how to enlarge the country[blank_end], but how we can exploit it for [blank_start]industry[blank_end] or [blank_start]economy[blank_end].

Photographers perpetuate a tradition already present in [blank_start]paintings[blank_end]: to show the [blank_start]beauty[blank_end] witht the idea of [blank_start]vastness[blank_end] and [blank_start]unspoiled nature[blank_end], but also the [blank_start]fear[blank_end] of the Wild west.

[blank_start]Trachtenberg[blank_end] tells us there is a problem in [blank_start]understanding[blank_end] photos because they have a [blank_start]social[blank_end] function.

History is [blank_start]dynamic[blank_end]: it is complex and evolves according to [blank_start]time[blank_end] and [blank_start]people[blank_end].

Caution with [blank_start]anachronism[blank_end]: you cannot look at a period with your eyes of nowadays.

In [blank_start]1807-1930[blank_end], [blank_start]nature[blank_end] was not the main subject of photography anymore. They wanted to photograph [blank_start]people[blank_end].

[blank_start]Curtis[blank_end] represents indians [blank_start]at home[blank_end], in [blank_start]staged[blank_end] photographs.

In [blank_start]1980[blank_end], after a massacre, [blank_start]Curtis[blank_end] removes objects of modern life to represent the [blank_start]past[blank_end] of the indians.