 In the United States, the concept of the frontier first became significant in 1893 when Frederick Jackson Turner used the term as a model for understanding American culture in his essay, The Significance of the Frontier in American History, read before the American Historical Association in Chicago during the World’s Columbian Exhibition (Chicago World's Fair).In his Frontier Thesis, Turner defined the concept of the frontier as “the meeting point between savagery and civilization,” and argued that this point was the foundation for American identity and politics.Turner's interpretation of American expansion was that Americans had moved west in waves, and the frontier was the tip of those movements, always the furthest point from civilization.