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After listening to lecture three some major questions were answered for me. Such as why is it called the great American Desert? Also, if it is a desert what is the point of trying to conquer it? Today the Great Plains is no desert but back in the 1800s or early 1900s it’s easy to see why they thought that way. I enjoyed how Dr. Isern went over how each group went about conquering the desert and their reasons for doing so. It always comes back to economics. The Spanish wanted gold, but when it became too much work to find they simply left. The French came in an effort to trade fur with the natives and others. Both the Americans and Canadians sought to develop their country through exploration which in the end would help their commerce. While we called this place a desert the Native Americans called this place home. That is why I wish we would have talked more about early Native American culture on the plains. We went into some with the story of Coronado expedition but nothing much else. I also enjoyed the history surrounding the Great American Desert that centered with the people who tried to conquer it, no one more than Zebulon Pike. Growing up I heard little about him but he was considered a hero. After the lecture I realized that he is not quite the hero which the old history classes portray him to be. The Great American Desert is an ignorant term to describe a some what harsh place. Through out history this land has taken a bad rap and it is up to those who are interested and care about the Great Plains to rid the land of this name and all the questions that go with it.