Large Plains

Large Plains (in English: Great Lime pits or Grassland ) is an area of the North America, the median part of the continent in the center of the the United States and Canada, in the east of the Rocky Mountains. The area semi-arid, consists of vast plains which extend from the Canadian provinces of the Saskatchewan and the Manitoba in north, until the Texas in the south.

In the United States, the majority of the Large Plains of North are drained by the Missouri and its affluents.

History

Before European colonization

Colonial time

With the arrival of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, a Conquistador Spanish envoy by the Viceroy of New Spain, Antonio de Mendoza, one attends the first European incursion on the Large Plains, in an area which is today Texas, Kansas and Nebraska, of 1540 with 1542. At this same time, Hernando de Soto crosses the Large Plains in west-north-west direction, on what is today Oklahoma and Texas and that one names the De Soto Trail. The Spaniards thought whereas on the Large Plains mythological the Quivira and Cíbola was, the “Seven Gold Cities” (in Spanish: siete ciudades of oro ).

At the time of the centuries which follow, the Traite furs brings thousands of Europeans on the Large Plains, of the trappers French, Spanish, British, then American. With the Sale of Louisiana in the 1803 then Forwarding Lewis and Clark in 1804, the Large plains become more accessible. An important center of draft of the fur is installed with Fort LISA on the Missouri in Nebraska. These first establishments open the door with the vast expansion towards the west which soon will cover the Large Plains.

Explorations

After the Spanish conquistadors in 1540 and the exploration of 1722 , of the French Jean-Baptiste Bénard of the Toothing-stone, and others, the Lewis Forwarding and Clark which is held 1804 with 1806, is the first American forwarding to cross the the United States, and thus the Large plains, until the Pacific Ocean. Thomas Jefferson had then convinced the Congrès to allot 2.500 Dollar S to the project.

The purpose of the Forwarding Pike, led by the captain Zebulon Pike of the US Army from July 15th, 1806 to July 1st, 1807, is to explore the south and the west of the new territories bought with the France at the time of the Vente of Louisiana.

First establishments

In 1722, the French explorer Jean-Baptiste Bénard of the Toothing-stone builds a commercial relay with the place known as " small the roche" who will become later Little Rock.

The Fort LISA builds by the trapper Manuel LISA (1772-1820), with the site of current the North Omaha (Nebraska), in 1806, for the company which it founded with William Clark, the St Louis Missouri Fur Company . Famous the Expédition Astor probably passed by the fort in 1811.

The Fontenelle' S Post builds by the American Fur Company close of what today is Bellevue (Nebraska) in 1806. The Fontenelle' S Post takes in turn the name of Sarpy' S Point , Point with Hens, Point off the Pulls , Pull Not , Nebraska Post Office , Council Bluffs Post Office , then Traders Point . It is located along the Missouri. Its name comes to him from a chief of the tribe Omaha, Logan Fontenelle, which was the son of a woman of the Omaha tribe and a French trapper, Lucien Fontenelle, of the Orleans News.

The Cabanne' S Trading Post builds in 1822, so known like the Fort Robidoux , of the name of the trapper Joseph Robidoux (1783-1868). As of its opening the station is known under the name of " French Company". It is also called Cabanne' S Post , of the name of its first manager, Jean-Pierre Cabanne (1773-1841). Located at about fifteen kilometers in north current the Omaha (Nebraska). It will become a big factor in the relations between the Amerindian United States and the .

Inherent characteristics

Geological formation

During the last Glaciation of the Quaternary (called Glaciation of Wisconsin on the American continent), the Lœss settled in the area of the Mississippi river on several tens of meters.

Climate

The climate of the Large Plains is continental moderated in its central part. The area knows a strong thermal amplitude: with Saint Louis for example, there are 26 °C difference between the hottest month and the coldest month. Snow recovers the ground all the winter and the summers are stormy. The Large Plains are subjected to strong winds: in winter, the northern and the grizzly off the lime pits are blizzard S glacials. In January and February, the cold waves ( cold waves ) can make fall brutally the temperatures. The Tornade S are phenomena violent ones and specific which relate to most of the area. They are born from the meeting of the tropical air with the colder air coming from north. In summer the extreme winds cause drynesses and supports the erosion of the grounds (see the famous episode of the Dust Bowl in the Années 1930).

Cours d' water

the Mississippi (river)

Affluents of Right Bank (Western) of the Mississippi:

Minnesota
Iowa
Of the Monks
Missouri
Red Arkansas
River

Vegetation and fauna

The Graminées dominate on the surface where they form continuous plates or jointed tufts, but they are essential in the ground by a dense network of tangled up roots, which only the rhizomes and bulbs of Composées and Leguminous manage to cross. Most of precipitations is absorbed by the graminaceous ones. Almost the totality (95%) of these plants are the long-lived ones which can live from 10 to 20 years.

In the Large Plains pluviometry decreases by Is in West. Thus one can separate this space in two surfaces according to their vegetations, usually this limit is with the meridian 104ème.

the vegetable formation characteristic of the Large plains is the moderate meadow ( grassland in English). It is characterized by a more or less high grass carpet according to the importance of precipitations and altitude:

In the east, it acts of a meadow with tall grasses ( tall grassland ) which extends from the West of the the Appalachian Mountains to the meridian 104e. The plants can exceed 2 meters in height like Andropogon ( Andropogon gerardi ) or Big Bluestem (). Côtoient the fatty Indian () ( Sorghastrum nutans ) and Poa ( Poa pratensis ) and various species of the forbs (name given to the mixture of Composées and Leguminous plants). This formation develops on grounds of meadow brown or black with a strong organic matter poucentage.
In the west, on Piedmont of the Rocky Mountains, it is transformed into low grasses ( shorts grassland ), towards: 1000 meters of altitude which extends from the West of the meridian 104e to the feet of the Rocky Mountains. The Graminaceous annual ones become frequent. One finds there Grass with bison ( Buchloe dactyloides ), Blue Grama () ( Bouteloua gracilis ) and even in the areas driest Armoise ( Artemisia tridentina ). This type of meadow develops on grounds of the type Chernozem S.

It exists two assumptions to explain this vegetable formation:

fires and the passage of the large herbivores, in particular the Bison S, which are today with the number of: 500000
clearings carried out by the Man

Natural resources

Oil
Hydrography

Settlement and human activities

Today, the Large American Plains know a negative migratory balance: in the United States, they account for 15% of the national territory for only 3% of the population of the country

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