1. Communities 2. Natural environment 3. Archaeologists 4. Artifacts 5. Culture 6. Economy 7. Government 8. Technology 9. Communicate

People around the world are different from one another in some ways. For ex: They speak different languages, they wear different clothes, they have different skin color, head wear,etc. People around the world are also the same in many ways. For ex: All people need fresh water, food, clothes, a place to live, and most important, people need other people. To meet these many needs, people form groups called communities. A community can be as small as a tiny village or as large as a big city.

 People have formed communities in many different places on Earth. One reason people decide to live in a certain place is because the natural environment is good.  The natural environment includes all the natural things that exist in a place. For ex: mountains, deserts, seas, rivers, weather, plants, and animals.  Thousands of years ago people formed communities go near rivers so they could use the water to grow food and to drink water.  We have learned about these early communities through the work of archaeologists.  Archaeologists are people who study how humans lived long ago. They study artifacts- objects used and left by people long ago.

 The natural environment helps people decide how they will live in a place.  A community’s way of life is called its culture.  Culture includes how people dress and act. It also includes the food they eat, the languages they speak, the kinds of buildings they live and work in, their religion and the holidays they celebrate.  One important part of a community’s culture is its economy. The economy of a community means the way people make, buy, and sell things.  Another part of a community’s culture is its government. The government of a people means they way they choose their leaders and make their laws.  For ex: Honduras’s type of government is a democracy.

 The natural environment of a place can help people decide what to wear and what kinds of houses to build. But people can also change the natural environment. For ex: cutting trees to build houses or plant crops.  Today people can change the environment in ways that weren´t possible in the past. For ex: -Heat or cool huge spaces like football stadiums and football stadiums. -Make giant lakes in the middle of a desert.  This is because we have the technology to do it.  Technology means the tools, materials, and knowledge people use to make things.

 To communicate means to exchange information.  Long time ago, communication was very difficult and slow.  Today with technology, you can exchange information with anyone anywhere about any subject.

 Different places on Earth have sunlight at different times. To keep track of these differences, the world is divided into 24 time zones, one for each hour of the day.  For ex: -When it is 7 A.M. in New York City, it is 1:00 pm. in Rome. -When it is 6 A.M. in Honduras, it is 12:00 noon in London. (Watch videos on wikipage to understand more about time zones.)