WESTWARD EXPANSION INDUSTRIALIZATION URBANIZATION 1870 1900
WESTWARD EXPANSION
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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American settlers often hunted buffalo for their horns.
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Sport hunters killed buffalo from the back of trains.
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The American military wanted to kill the buffalo to force the meat market to increase prices.
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None of the above
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Detailed explanation-1: -The size of the herds was affected by predation (by humans and wolves), disease, fires, climate, competition from horses, the market, and other factors. Fires often swept the grasslands, sometimes maiming and killing buffaloes. Millions of horses in Indian herds competed for grasses.
Detailed explanation-2: -To make matters worse for wild buffalo, some U.S. government officials actively destroyed bison to defeat their Native American enemies who resisted the takeover of their lands by white settlers. American military commanders ordered troops to kill buffalo to deny Native Americans an important source of food.
Detailed explanation-3: -In an increasingly consumerist society during the 19th century, however, bison were hunted to the brink of extinction by frontier whites. Commodities, mainly bison hides for jackets and leather, were extremely popular, profitable and fashionable back in the eastern regions of the United States.
Detailed explanation-4: -When the Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869, it accelerated the decimation of the species and by 1900, naturalists estimated less than 1, 000 bison remained. By the late 1880s, the endless herds of bison were wiped out and just a few hundred individuals remained.