History Main / DawnOfTheWildWest

* ''Film/Prey'' is set in the early 18th century, when French trappers are just beginning to encroach on Indigenous communities in the West.

* ''Film/TheFarHorizons'' is a 1955 film depicting (very inaccurately) the Lewis and Clark expedition that starred Creator/FredMacMurray as Lewis, Creator/CharltonHeston as Clark, and Creator/DonnaReed as [[WhatTheHellCastingAgency Sacagawea]].

Sub-trope of TheWestern, Dawn of the Wild West involves stories set in the western part of North America between the late 1700s and the 1840s which was a time of continental exploration (e.g., Lewis and Clark), [[HunterTrapper fur trapping]], trailblazing, and [[UsefulNotes/ManifestDestiny westward expansion]].

* The mini-series based on the Creator/JamesAMichener novel, ''Series/{{Centennial}}'', is set in Colorado, and details much of the early history of the North Platte River plains. Beginning in 1795, the first five episodes follow the coming of traders and settlers until a town is formed in 1868.

* The mini-series based on the James Michener novel, ''Series/{{Centennial}}'', is set in Colorado, and details much of the early history of the North Platte River plains. Beginning in 1795, the first five episodes follow the coming of traders and settlers until a town is formed in 1868.

[[AC:Comics]]

* Writer Creator/ReneGoscinny and artist Albert Uderzo launched ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oumpah-pah Oumpah-Pah]]'' a year before they started working on ''Franchise/{{Asterix}}''. It is a comedy series about Oumpah-Pah, a warrior of the tribe of the Shavashavas in New France (modern Canada) in the 18th century.
* The massive [[FrancoBelgianComics French historical adventure series]] ''Les Sept Vies de l'Épervier'' ("The Seven Lives of the Sparrowhawk") takes is set during the 17th century, and a number of its albums take the heroes and heroines across the Atlantic to the wilds of New France.

[[AC:Film]]

* The East German Film/DEFAWesterns included the Cooper adaptation ''Chingachgook, die große Schlange'' (1966, based on ''[[Literature/TheLeatherstockingTales The Deerslayer]]'') and two biopics about famous chiefs, ''Tecumseh'' (1972, mainly set in the UsefulNotes/WarOf1812) and ''Osceola'' (1973, Second Seminole War in Florida during the 1830s).
* Both ''Film/TheRevenant'' (2015) starring Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio and ''Film/ManInTheWilderness'' (1971) starring Creator/RichardHarris are film adaptations of the story of trapper and scout UsefulNotes/HughGlass who was [[BearsAreBadNews mauled by a bear]] and left for dead by an expedition exploring the northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountains in the 1820s.
* Movies about the Battle of the Alamo and the Texas War for Independence fall under this trope and include 1960's ''Film/{{The Alamo|1960}}'' starring Creator/JohnWayne, 2004's ''Film/{{The Alamo|2004}}'', and the 1939 Sam Houston biopic ''Film/ManOfConquest''.

[[AC:Literature]]

* Creator/JTEdson's ''Ole Devil'' novels are set during the Texas War of Independence (1835-37).
* The four novels that make up [[Creator/LarryMcMurtry Larry McMurtry's]] ''Berrybender Narratives'' take place in the American West of the 1830s.
* Johnston [=McCully's=] ''Franchise/{{Zorro}}'' stories (and the movies and TV series they're based on) take place in California when it still belonged to Spain and Mexico so they would fall under this trope.
* The ''[[Literature/AmericanGirlsCollection American Girls]]'' character Josefina lives in what was then Mexico, but is now New Mexico, in the 1820s.
* ''Literature/BloodMeridian'' by Creator/CormacMcCarthy is based on the exploits of the Glanton gang, a band of violent marauders who terrorized the U.S./Mexico border region in the late 1840s and early 1850s. The book is exceptionally bleak, showcasing the brutal violence, racism, and sexual abuse which characterized life on the frontier for many in this period, and it's often been read as a sort of [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstruction]] of more idealized depictions of the birth of the Wild West.

[[AC:Television]]

[[AC: VideoGames]]

* A generation of Americans who were schoolchildren in the 1980s and early 1990s learned about hunting buffalo, floating their covered wagons across rivers, and dying of dysentery in 1848 on VideoGame/TheOregonTrail.