US History Unit 1 Geography

Physical Continent Borders 50 States (48/2) (+ 1 district) Size North America Borders Land Canada (N) Mexico (S) Water Atlantic Ocean (E) Pacific Ocean (W) Gulf of Mexico (S) 50 States (48/2) (+ 1 district) Size 45% of North America 5,983,517 square miles 3rd largest in world (behind Russia and Canada)

Dependant Areas American Samoa Baker Island Guam Howland Island Jarvis Island Johnston Atoll Kingman Reef Midway Islands Navassa Island Northern Mariana Island Palmyra Atoll Puerto Rico Virgin Islands Wake Island

Major Physical Features - Land Mountains Appalachian Mountains Rocky Mountains Sierra Nevada, Cascade, Pacific Coast Mts. Plains Interior Plains Between the Rocky Mts. & Appalachian Mts. More fertile in eastern portion (Central Lowlands – Middle West) Western area much drier used for pasture/farming today (Great Plains) Atlantic and Gulf Coastal plains – gentle slopes to the sea, excellent ports, fertile soil Elevation Extremes lowest point: Death Valley -86 meters highest point: Mount McKinley 6,194 meters

Major Physical Features - Water Extensive Trades routs. Atlantic Ocean & Pacific Ocean – Provide a boundary thousands of miles wide from Europe & Asia. Often used throughout history as a natural barrier. Gulf of Mexico Great Lakes Major Rivers Eastern Delaware, Potomac, Hudson & Connecticut St Lawrence River – with Seaway and other locks and Canals, provides shipping routs through the Great lakes. Central Mississippi River – (Ohio/Missouri Tributaries) Western Columbia & Colorado

Climate Zones Tropical

Main Geographic Regions

Major Natural Resources Timber Coal Petroleum Natural Gas Precious Metals (copper, lead, uranium, gold, iron, nickel, silver, zinc) Large amount (nearly 20%) fertile land.

Vegetation Zones

Population

Demographics Population (2005 est.) Age Structure (2005 est.)                                          Demographics Population (2005 est.) 295,374,134 3rd (China, India) Age Structure (2005 est.) 0-14 years: 20.6% (male 31,095,725/female 29,703,997) 15-64 years: 67% (male 98,914,382/female 99,324,126) 65 years and over: 12.4% (male 15,298,676/female 21,397,228)

Demographics Continued Life Expectancy at birth (2005 est.) total population: 77.71 years female: 80.67 years male: 74.89 years Ethnicity (2003) white 81.7% black 12.9% Asian 4.2% Amerindian and Alaska native 1% native Hawaiian and other Pacific islander 0.2% note: a separate listing for Hispanic is not included because the US Census Bureau considers Hispanic to mean a person of Latin American descent (including persons of Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto Rican origin) living in the US who may be of any race or ethnic group (white, black, Asian, etc.)

Demographics Continued Religion (2002) Protestant 52% Roman Catholic 24% Mormon 2% Jewish 1% Muslim 1% other 10% none 10% Languages (2000) English 82.1% Spanish 10.7% Literacy definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 97% (male/female equal)

Settlement Bering Strait Land Bridge Vikings AD 1000 20,000 – 12,000 years ago. Hunters, Paleo Indians from East Asia spread south through North & South America Vikings AD 1000 Newfoundland Find out more here http://www.mnh.si.edu/vikings/ 2nd settled Wave European/African. Post 1492 In 1960 Helge Ingstad and his wife Anne Stine Ingstad were searching for archeological evidence of Vikings in Labrador and Newfoundland. In the small village of L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland they met a fisherman named George Decker who showed them sod foundations that had the shape of Viking longhouses. More than a decade of archeological investigation at this site has proved conclusively that Vikings had built a settlement in North America 500 years before Columbus, just as the sagas say. The evidence at the site also suggests that more southerly voyages might have taken place, and that other settlements might be found. Archeologists believe L'Anse aux Meadows was a base camp which afforded a way-station to further explorations of North America.