The Bodmer-Maximilian Expedition in Context

Maximilian and Karl Bodmer studied the North America Indian during the early period of western exploration, at the start of the great migration to the frontier. The United States had different interests in western exploration. In the 1820s, the idea of American nationalism took form: "dynamic capitalist orientation focused on westward expansion." Such an idea eventually informed the notion of Manifest Destiny. In 1845, John Louis O'Sullivan stated: "Our manifest destiny [is] to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions."

A Chronology of Early Western Exploration

1804 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark lead expedition of the Louisiana
Purchase

1806 Zebulon Pike leads an expedition to the source of the Mississippi River

1810 John J. Astor finances expedition of a central transcontinental route

1819 Stephen Long explores the western tributaries of Mississippi River

1832 George Catlin begins his eight years traveling the frontier painting Native Americans

1832 Captain Bonneville explores the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada

1833 Prince Maximilian and Karl Bodmer explore the Missouri River

1838 U .S. Amy Corps of Topographical Engineers begin geological
exploration of the Trans- Mississippi West

1843 John C. Fremont leads expedition along the Kansas River to the
Columbia River and California


Audrey Swanstrom