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The Wild West

At the beginning of the 17th century the first colonies appeared in America. Many of them were English colonies, for example, New England. But there were also Spanish and German colonies there. African negroes arrived as slaves in 1619 and began working on plantations situated in the South. They grew rice and tobacco.
There were 13 colonies in America in 1733. The English King, who lived far away in England was the King of New England and other colonies. The colonists in America didn't like that. They didn't want to depend on the English King or on England. The Americans began to fight for their independence and got it. George Washington became the first president of the United States. In the 18th century some Americans went to the west to look for new lands and the story of "Wild West" began. In the 19th century people went west to look for gold. They built new settlements and new towns in these lands. Some people were lucky but some were not as they couldn't find any gold. Then they left the towns, so they became empty. Now these "ghost towns" are very popular with tourists. Life in the Wild West was full of danger. The Native Americans in the west didn't like the white people who took their land. Sometimes they attacked them. There were bears and other wild animals and people had to have guns. Today many Americans still keep a gun in their houses and all American police officers have guns. Another tradition from the "Wild West" is "cowboy" clothes. People in the West led a difficult and dangerous life, so. the clothes was very important as it helped people to get on. Cowboy spent much time outdoors. They usually wore hats, boots and jeans. Hats protected their faces and eyes from the hot sun. Boots helped to walk through long grass. There were many dangerous snakes and the boots protected people from them. Boots also made riding a horse easier. In the middle of the 19th century in the city of San Francisco there lived a tailor called Levi Strauss. He made special clothes - strong trousers called "jeans". Very soon cowboys started to wear jeans. Now people wear jeans in America and all over the world.