Physical and Man-made Features of the U.S.

The Atlantic Coastal Plain The Atlantic Coastal Plain is the flat stretch of land that borders the Atlantic Ocean (including the Gulf of Mexico). It is approximately 2,200 miles long, stretching from Cape Cod, through the southeast United States and through Mexico, ending with the Yucatán Peninsula. The western border of the coastal plain is defined as the fall line, to the west of which lies the Piedmont Plateau and then the Appalachian Mountains.

The Atlantic Coastal Plain in the U.S. Currently, the coastal plain is very wet, including many rivers, marsh, and swampland. It is primarily used for agriculture.

Great Plains The Great Plains is the broad expanse of prairie and steppe which lies east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Continental Divide A continental divide is a line of elevated terrain which forms a border between two watersheds such that water falling on one side of the line eventually travels to one ocean or body of water, and water on the other side travels to another, generally on the opposite side of the continent. Moreover, some rivers empty into deserts or inland seas, and thus do not end up in the oceans.

North America has four continental divides: The Great Divide The Northern Divide The St. Lawrence Seaway Divide The Eastern Continental Divide

The Great Divide, also called the Continental Divide separates the watersheds of the Pacific Ocean from those of the Atlantic or Arctic Oceans. It runs from the Seward Peninsula in Alaska, through western Canada along the crest of the Rocky Mountains to New Mexico. From there, it follows the crest of Mexico's Sierra Madre Oriental and extends to the tip of South America. It is crossed by the Panama Canal.

The Great Basin The Great Basin is a large, arid region of the western United States. Its boundaries depend on how it is defined. Its most common definition is the contiguous watershed, roughly between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, that has no natural outlet to the sea.

The 200,000 square mile plateau covers most of Nevada and over half of Utah, as well as parts of California, Idaho, Oregon and Wyoming. The Great Basin is not a single basin, but rather a series of contiguous watersheds

Death Valley Death Valley is a valley in the U.S. state of California, and is the location of the lowest elevation in North America. Located southeast of the Sierra Nevada range in the Great Basin and the Mojave Desert, it comprises much of Death Valley National Park. It has an area of about 3,000 square miles Temperatures in the Valley can range from up to 130°F (54 °C) in the day in the summer, to below freezing at night in the winter. Many of Death Valley's narrow, serpentine roads were built in the 1930s and cannot be driven at high speed.

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico is the ninth largest body of water in the world. It is an ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It connects with the Atlantic Ocean through the Florida Straits between the U.S. and Cuba, and with the Caribbean Sea (with which it forms the American Mediterranean Sea) via the Yucatan Channel between Mexico and Cuba.

St. Lawrence River The Saint Lawrence River (In French: fleuve Saint-Laurent) is a large west-to-east flowing river in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean.

The Great Lakes The Great Lakes are a group of five large lakes in North America on or near the Canada-United States border. They are the largest group of fresh water lakes on Earth. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence system is the largest fresh-water system in the world. They are sometimes referred to as inland seas.

The Great Lakes are: Lake Superior (the largest by volume and deepest, larger than Scotland or South Carolina) Lake Michigan (the second-largest by volume and third-largest by area; the only one entirely in the U.S.) Lake Huron (the third-largest by volume; the second largest in area) Lake Erie (the smallest by volume and most shallow of all the great lakes) Lake Ontario (the second-smallest in volume and smallest in area, much lower elevation than the rest)

New York City, NY New York City (officially the City of New York) is the most populous city in the United States of America. Its business, financial and trading organizations are significant players in the nation's economy and in the world.[1] The city is also one of the world's most important cultural centers with hundreds of world-class museums, galleries, and performance venues. Home of the United Nations, the city is also perhaps the world's largest diplomatic center.

New York City The city is divided up into five boroughs (The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island) and has a population of 8.2 million (2005 estimate)[2] within a land area of 321 square miles (830 km²).[3] With a population of 22.4 million, the New York metropolitan area is one of the largest urban areas in the world.[4]

   The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, a World Heritage Site, has greeted millions of immigrants.

Empire State Building Take a virtual tour of the Empire State Building

Boston, MA Boston is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1630, it is the largest city in New England. Boston was the location of several major events during the American Revolution, and was a major shipping port and manufacturing center. Today, the city is a center of higher education and health care. Its economy is also based on research, finance, and technology—principally biotechnology.

Philadelphia, PA The city of Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania, the fifth most populous city in the United States[1] It is colloquially referred to as Philly, and known as The City of Brotherly Love. Philadelphia is the second-largest city on the U.S. East Coast, and a major commercial, educational, and cultural center for the nation. The Philadelphia metropolitan area is the fourth largest in the U.S. by the current official definition, with some 5.8 million people.

Philadelphia is one of the oldest and most historically significant cities in the United States. During part of the 18th century, the city was the first capital and most populous city of the United States. At that time, it eclipsed Boston and New York City in political and social importance, with Benjamin Franklin taking a large role in Philadelphia's rise. The city was the geographic center of the 18th century thinking and activity that gave birth to the American Revolution and subsequent American democracy and independence.

Philadelphia was a major center of the independence movement during the American Revolutionary War. The Declaration of Independence and US Constitution were drafted here and signed in the city's Independence Hall. Tun Tavern in the city is traditionally regarded as the location where, in 1775, the United States Marine Corps was founded. During the American Revolutionary War Philadelphia's population was split between Loyalists and Patriots. When the British Army took the city in 1777 many Loyalists lined the streets and sang 'God Save the King'.

Erie Canal The Erie Canal (currently part of the New York State Canal System) is a canal in New York State, United States, that runs from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. The Erie Canal was the first transportation route faster than carts pulled by draft animals between the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and the western interior, and cut transport costs into what was then wilderness by about 95%. The Canal resulted in a massive population surge in western New York, and opened regions further west to increased settlement.

1853 Map of the Erie Canal.

Historical Images of the Erie Canal Images of the Erie Canal in Lockport Images of the Erie Canal from Buffalo to Spencerport