Immigration of the poor, starving, and persecuted to the unsettled North American West spelled opportunity for them but disaster for the Native peoples. Who Settled the West? takes a balanced look at the history and people of the West describing: - how the colonies changed hands between countries - the dangerous journey by ocean and wagon train - why different people left their homelands - where certain ethnic groups settled in North America - how they staked their claim and built their homes - how Africans were captured in their home countries and forced to work on American plantations