(pages 126 – 129)

1. From Sea to Shining Sea 4 A Vast, Scenic Land • Forty-eight states in the United States are joined together inside a common boundary. • These states are said to be contiguous. • The United States ranks as the fourth-largest country in the world.  • Only Russia, Canada, and China are larger. (pages 126–129) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

2. From Sea to Shining Sea 4 A Vast, Scenic Land (cont.) • A broad lowland runs along the eastern and southeastern coasts of the United States.  • The eastern lowlands are called the Atlantic Coastal Plain.  • Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., all lie in the Atlantic Coastal Plain.  • These cities form an almost continuous line of settlement. (pages 126–129) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

3. From Sea to Shining Sea 4 A Vast, Scenic Land (cont.) • Geographers call this kind of huge urban area a megalopolis. • The lowlands in the southeast border the Gulf of Mexico and are called the Gulf Coastal Plain.  • The Appalachian Mountains run along the western edge of the Atlantic Coastal Plain.  • These mountains are the oldest range in North America. (pages 126–129) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

4. From Sea to Shining Sea 4 A Vast, Scenic Land (cont.) • West of the Appalachian Mountains are the vast Interior Plains.  • The eastern part of the Interior Plains is the Central Lowland area. The Great Lakes lie here.  • The western part of the Interior Plains is the Great Plains.  • These rich grasslands once provided food for millions of buffalo and the Native Americans who lived there. (pages 126–129) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

5. From Sea to Shining Sea 4 A Vast, Scenic Land (cont.) • Today farmers grow grains and ranchers raise cattle here.  • West of the Great Plains rise the majestic Rocky Mountains—the longest mountain range in North America.  • The Continental Divide is a ridge that runs along these mountains and separates rivers that flow west toward the Pacific Ocean from those that flow east toward the Mississippi River. (pages 126–129) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

6. From Sea to Shining Sea 4 A Vast, Scenic Land (cont.) • Near the Pacific coast are two other mountain ranges—the Cascade Range and the Sierra Nevada.  • Mountain ranges also cover parts of Alaska.  • Mt McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America, is located here. (pages 126–129) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

7. From Sea to Shining Sea 4 A Vast, Scenic Land (cont.) • Some of the Hawaiian Islands have coral reefs, formed by the skeletons of small sea animals.  • These structures lie just above or just below the surface of the water. (pages 126–129) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

8. From Sea to Shining Sea 4 A Variety of Climates • The United States has many different climates because it lies squarely in the middle latitude region—about 23½˚N to 60˚N latitude.  • The northeastern United States has a humid continental climate.  • Winters in the region are cold, and summers are hot and long.  • The southeastern states have a humid subtropical climate. (page 130) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

9. From Sea to Shining Sea 4 A Variety of Climates (cont.) • Winters are milder than in the north, and summers are hot and humid.  • The Pacific coast from northern California up to Washington has a marine west coast climate.  • Temperatures are mild year-round, and winds from the Pacific bring plenty of rainfall.  • Southern California has a Mediterranean climate. (page 130) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

10. From Sea to Shining Sea 4 A Variety of Climates (cont.) • People in this area enjoy dry, warm summers and mild, rainy winters.  • Much of the western Great Plains has a dry, steppe climate.  • The Southwest has a hot, desert climate.  • People in Alaska experience the cold climates of high latitude regions.  • The southern tip of Florida is the only part of the contiguous United States with a tropical climate. (page 130) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

12. An Economic Leader 4 The World’s Economic Leader • In the United States, the free enterprise system allows individuals the right to run businesses and to make a profit with limited interference from the government.  • People are free to work in whatever job they wish. (pages 131–132) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

13. An Economic Leader 4 The World’s Economic Leader (cont.) • The United States is rich in resources and has built the world’s largest economy—in terms of how much money is made from the sale of its goods and services. • The United States exports more food than any other nation.  • Yet food makes up only about 2 percent of the value of all goods produced in the country. (pages 131–132) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

14. An Economic Leader 4 The World’s Economic Leader (cont.) • Manufacturing makes up nearly one-fifth of the American economy.  • A business that provides services to people instead of producing goods is called a service industry.  • The largest part of the American economy is services. (pages 131–132) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

15. An Economic Leader 4 America’s Economic Regions • The Northeast region’s rocky soil and steep hills are a challenge to the farmers.  • The area boasts plenty of deep-water ports and swiftly moving rivers, though.  • As a result, manufacturing, trade, and fishing are the heartbeat of this region.  • With rich soil on most of the Coastal Plains, agriculture flourishes in the Southern states. (pages 133–135) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

16. An Economic Leader 4 America’s Economic Regions (cont.) • The traditional image of the South as an agricultural region is changing, however.  • As you tour the South, you see expanding cities, growing industries, and diverse populations.  • New manufacturing centers and service industries have grown. (pages 133–135) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

17. An Economic Leader 4 America’s Economic Regions (cont.) • The Midwest is called America’s “breadbasket” because it is covered with grain and soybean fields.  • The products of the Midwest feed people and animals all over the world.  • Dairy farms in the upper Midwest produce milk and cheese.  • Many of the Midwest’s rivers are navigable, or wide and deep enough to allow the passage of ships. (pages 133–135) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

18. An Economic Leader 4 America’s Economic Regions (cont.) • As a result, many cities in the Midwest are major ports—even though they are far from an ocean.  • With its dry climate, the Interior West region discourages farming.  • Yet grasses thrive in much of the land, and where the land is irrigated, you find agriculture.  • Large areas are used for raising cattle and sheep. (pages 133–135) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

19. An Economic Leader 4 America’s Economic Regions (cont.) • The discovery of gold and silver in the mountains and riverbeds drew settlers here more than 150 years ago.  • The fertile valleys of the Pacific region produce large amounts of food.  • Fishing and lumber are major industries as well. (pages 133–135) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

20. An Economic Leader 4 In the Twenty-First Century • Americans burn fossil fuels—coal, oil, and natural gas—to power their factories and run their cars.  • The pollution from the burning of fossil fuels combines with water vapor to produce acid rain.  • Acid rain damages the environment.  • Trash produced by the American way of life is placed in landfills, or areas where trash companies dump the waste they collect. (pages 135–136) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

21. An Economic Leader 4 In the Twenty-First Century (cont.) • As landfills grow higher and higher, many people are recycling. • A strength of the American economy is the ability to develop new technology.  • Quality schools produce educated and creative people who help the country be a leader in many fields, such as medicine and computer technology. (pages 135–136) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

22. An Economic Leader 4 In the Twenty-First Century (cont.) • The United States leads the world in the value of all its imports and exports.  • American leaders promote free trade, which means removing trade barriers.  • The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was created to avoid barriers such as tariffs or quotas that would prevent goods from flowing freely between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. (pages 135–136) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

24. The Americans 4 A Rich History • Experts believe that the first Americans came from Asia on a land bridge that connected Asia with present-day Alaska.  • Their descendants today are known as Native Americans.  • Around A.D. 1500, Europeans arrived in the Americas.  • Because of the abundance of raw materials, European countries set up colonies in the Americas. (pages 145–149) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

25. The Americans 4 A Rich History (cont.) • The British colonists soon began to see themselves as Americans.  • From 1775 to 1781, the Americans fought a war and won their independence from Great Britain.  • In 1787 a group of American leaders met to create a new national government. They wrote the document called the United States Constitution, the basis for all our laws. (pages 145–149) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

26. The Americans 4 A Rich History (cont.) • Our government is based upon the principle of democracy, or rule by the people.  • The United States has a representativedemocracy, in which voters choose leaders who make and enforce the laws.  • People elected by the voters of each state serve in state or national government. (pages 145–149) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

27. The Americans 4 A Rich History (cont.) • In this manner, the United States is a federal republic, or a government divided between national and state powers with a president who leads the national government.  • By the mid-1800s, the South had built an economy based on slave labor, an issue that divided the country.  • Several Southern states seceded, or withdrew from the national government, bringing about the Civil War in 1861. (pages 145–149) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

28. The Americans 4 A Rich History (cont.) • At the end of the war, the Southern states were brought back into the Union, and slavery was abolished.  • Following the Civil War, economic growth attracted another great wave of people from other countries.  • These people were immigrants, or people who move to a new country to make a permanent home. (pages 145–149) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

29. The Americans 4 A Rich History (cont.) • During the early 1900s, the United States became one of the leading economies in the world.  • The United States participated in the two World Wars.  • After World War II, some groups of Americans—women, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans—struggled for equality. (pages 145–149) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

30. The Americans 4 A Rich History (cont.) • After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Americans no longer felt as safe as they once had.  • The Department of Homeland Security was created. (pages 145–149) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

31. The Americans 4 One Out of Many • About 292 million people live in the United States, making it the third most populous country in the world. • Because the United States is a nation of immigrants, it has a diverse population with various ethnic groups, including Europeans, African Americans, and Hispanics.  • The main language of the United States is English, but you can hear many different languages spoken on American streets. (pages 149–150) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

32. The Americans 4 One Out of Many (cont.) • Religion has an important influence on American life, with about 80 percent of Americans saying they are religious. • The most common religion is Christianity, with Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism also being practiced.  • At one time, our nation was made up entirely of rural, or countryside, areas.  • Now we are a nation of urban, or city, dwellers. (pages 149–150) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

33. The Americans 4 One Out of Many (cont.) • Americans often move from cities to the suburbs, or smaller communities surrounding a larger city. (pages 149–150) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

34. The Americans 4 American Culture • Many American artists and writers captured their environments with their works.  • Winslow Homer painted the stormy waters of the North Atlantic.  • Georgia O’Keeffe painted the colorful deserts of the Southwest.  • A common theme in American literature focuses on the lives of the ethnic groups that settled here. (pages 150–151) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

35. The Americans 4 American Culture (cont.) • For example, the poetry of Langston Hughes and the novels of Toni Morrison portray the triumphs and sorrows of African Americans.  • Many Americans spend leisure time at home, outdoors, and at spectator sports.  • A recreational activity of many Americans is to visit a national park, or an area set aside to protect wilderness and wildlife. (pages 150–151) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.