Chapter 1 Study Guide

Lesson 1

 A new century begins every 100 years.

 A region is an area with many similar features.
 The latitude and longitude of Charleston, West Virginia is 38⁰ N and 82⁰ W.
 The United States, Canada, and Mexico are the three largest countries in
North America.
 In the Northeast they have cold winters that make it hard for people to stay
warm and find food. In the summers it is warm and wet which is good
conditions to grow plants and food.
 In the Southwest the climate is hot and dry which could make it hard for
people to grow crops or find fresh water.
Lesson 2

 A landform region is a region that has similar landforms throughout.

 The United States is a large area of land with many different landforms and
climate regions. Some of the landforms include mountains, valleys, hills,
deserts, rivers, and lakes.
 The climate of a location is the kind of weather it has over a long period of
time.
 A group of connected mountains is also referred to as a mountain range.
 It is colder and wetter in the Northeast than it is in the Southwest.
 Environment is described by many features, including the climate.
Lesson 3

 The Mississippi River drainage basin is made up of most of the land

between the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains.
 An inlet is a body of water that extends into the land from a larger body of
water.
 A sound is a long inlet that separates offshore islands from the mainland.
 The largest lakes in North America are known as the Great Lakes.
 A fall line is a place where the land drops sharply.
 The coastal plain is a flat low land along the Atlantic Ocean.
 The peaks of the Appalachian Mountains have been worn down over time
by erosion.
 The highest peaks in the Appalachian Mountains are only about 7,000 feet
high.
 Nevada includes a large part of the Great Basin.
 A tributary is a river that flows into a larger stream or river.
Lesson 4

 Elevation affects the climate of an area.

 Earth’s orbit around the sun is what causes the seasons.
 Most of the United States can be divided into four main vegetation regions.
 Places closer to the equator are often warmer because they are closer to
the sun. Places further from the equator are often cooler because they are
further away from the sun.
 Seasons occur when different parts of the earth receive different amounts
of sunlight and heat at different times of the year.
Lesson 5

 People build dams across rivers to form reservoirs.

 People modify, or change the land, to make it better meet their needs.
 Farmers use irrigation to bring water to a normally dry area to help their
plants grow.
 More than 300 million people live in the United States.
 People live in cities that are spread out over large areas. These cities are
often found along transportation routes.
 Renewable resources are resources that can be made again by people or
nature.
 Nonrenewable resources are resources that cannot be made again by
people, or would take thousands of years for nature to replace.
 Some natural resources people use include soil, plants, water, and
minerals.