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Season 1 – The West

Play trailer Poster for Season 1 – The West Sep 1996 Documentary History Play Trailer Watchlist
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The story of European explorers converging on the Native American world and spans the 1500s to 1806; to the Europeans, the West was a wilderness to be conquered.

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The West — Season 1

The West — Season 1

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Cast & Crew

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Stephen Ives

Director

Ken Burns

Executive Producer

Stephen Ives

Producer

Jody Abramson

Producer

Michael Kantor

Producer

Episodes

Episode 1 Aired Sep 15, 1996 The People (1500s-1806) Ken Burns tells the story of the American West and the people who shaped it, beginning with the native peoples and the conquering Europeans. Details Episode 2 Aired Sep 16, 1996 Empire Upon the Trails (1806-1848) Would-be settlers moved west along a variety of routes, imposing America's Manifest Destiny on Western lands that did not belong to them or their nation. Details Episode 3 Aired Sep 17, 1996 The Speck of the Future (1848-1856) A sawmill worker discovers gold in California in 1848, sparking a mass westward exodus as people scramble to strike it rich in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Details Episode 4 Aired Sep 18, 1996 Death Runs Riot (1856-1868) Pioneers bringing slaves into the West ignite sparks of dissension that explode into the American Civil War. Details Episode 5 Aired Sep 19, 1996 The Grandest Enterprise Under God (1868-1874) After the Civil War, the transcontinental railroad links East and West. Details Episode 6 Aired Sep 22, 1996 Fight No More Forever (1874-1877) The Lakota Sioux fight to protect their sacred Black Hills; their victory over Custer at Little Big Horn signals the end of their traditional way of life. Details Episode 7 Aired Sep 23, 1996 The Geography of Hope (1877-1887) The conquest of the West is nearly finished: In only 10 years, the native peoples are confined to reservations, allowing four-and-a-half million settlers to claim their land. Details Episode 8 Aired Sep 22, 1996 Ghost Dance As settlers race to claim tribal lands, Native Americans take up the Ghost Dance, to restore a lost way of life; the new century marks a new era in the West, an age of aqueducts and smelters. Details Episode 9 Aired Sep 24, 1996 One Sky Above Us (1887-1914) Changes mark the turn-of-the-century in the West; tiny mining towns are transformed into industrial cities and white settlers displace the Plains tribes during the Oklahoma Land Rush. Details

Season Info

Director
Stephen Ives
Executive Producer
Ken Burns
Network
PBS
Rating
TV-PG
Genre
Documentary, History
Original Language
English
Release Date
Sep 15, 1996