Social Studies Study Guide
- contiguous – next to each other
- region – an area in which many features are similar
- relative location – how a place is compared to other places
- The five regions of the United States are the West, the Southwest, the Midwest, the Southeast, and the Northeast.
- Each of these 5 regions are based on its relative location.
- population – number of people
- The largest countries in North America are the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
- absolute location – exact location
- lines of latitude – parallels – These lines run east and west and are north and south of the equator. The equator is labeled 0⁰ or zero degrees.
- lines of longitude – meridians – These lines run north and south from the poles and are east and west of the prime meridian. The prime meridian is labeled 0⁰ or zero degrees.
- landform region – a region that has similar landforms throughout. Landforms are physical features such as plain, mountains, plateaus, hills, and valleys.
- climate – the kind of weather a place has over a long time
- The coastal plain stretches along the Atlantic Coast from Massachusetts to Florida and west along the Gulf of Mexico, into Texas and the country of Mexico.
- mountain range – group of connected mountains, runs from southern Canada to central Alabama
- The region of valleys and hills on the eastern side of the Appalachian Mountains is called the Piedmont.
- Piedmont means “at the base of a mountain.”
- erosion – the gradual wearing away of Earth’s surface
- The Interior Plains stretch across the middle of the country, from the Appalachians in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west.
- prairie – an area of flat or rolling land covered mostly by grasses
- environment – the surrounding in which people, plants, and animals live
- The Rocky Mountains cover much of the western United States. They are the country’s largest and longest mountain range.
- The Great Basin includes Nevada and parts of 5 neighboring states.
- basin – low, bowl-shaped land with higher land all around it
- inlet – any area of water extending into the land from a larger body of water
- The largest inlet are gulfs.
- The largest gulf bordering the United States is the Gulf of Mexico.
- A sound is a long inlet that separates offshore islands from the mainland.
- tributary – a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or river
- A river and its tributaries make up a river system.
- The land drained by a river system is its drainage basin.
- The Mississippi River and its tributaries create the largest river system in the United States.
- elevation – the height of the land in relation to sea level
- The climate of a place depends partly on its distance from the equator.
- Places closer to the equator tend to be warmer that places farther away. States farther south (like Florida and Texas) are usually warmer that states farther north (like Michigan and Montana).
- natural vegetation – plant life that grows naturally in a place
- natural resources – something found in nature that people can use (soil, plants water, minerals).
- renewable resources – resources that can be made again by people or nature (water, trees, sources of energy like wind and light)
- nonrenewable resources – resources that cannot be made again by people, or resources that would take thousands of years for nature to replace (oil, minerals, natural gas).
- modify – change
- irrigation – the use of canals, ditches, or pipes to move water.
- Irrigation allows farmers to grow crops in dry areas. Irrigations can have negative effects. It can cause pollution in the waterways or use up water before it can reach other people.
- efficiency – using less energy to do the same tasks
- decade – a period 10 years
- century – a period of 100 years
- millennium – a period of 1000 years
