Life on the trail was not easy. Many faced family deaths to sicknesses such as cholera, measles, and smallpox. Starvation, harsh weather conditions, and travel accidents were common and took their toll, no matter which trail pioneers chose to travel or how carefully they prepared
Life on the Oregon trail was very rough and the people traveling it knew it but that was a choice that they were willing to make, some days on the Oregon trail were so hot that you were dripping sweat and you had no water so that posed as a risk of dehydration and possibly death from over heating, and some days were so cold that you could be 12:00 and still have it be 14 degrees outside and your food was frozen so all you could do was chew on it, when it wasn't extremely hot or cold it was warm so you were in the sun all day with what little water and food that your wagon could carry, the wagons traveled about 10-12 miles every day for months on end. there was also many diseases that you could catch and not to mention you could die from a rattle snake bite, and you had to cross countless rivers and streams witch there was a possibility of drowning. play the Oregon trail on weebly if you don't believe me :)
It was farther from the Germanic invasions of the western empire -it had access to trade routes which led to the growth of the empire- It straddled the continents of Europe and Asia -It was easily fortified on a peninsula with a natural harbor.
