Unit One: America is Opportunity

THE BEGINNING

OBJECTIVES:
Name the major landforms that make up the earth's surface.
Identify the major bodies of water on the surface of the earth.
List the major physical regions of North America.
Identify and describe the major climate groups of North America.
Read maps.
Understand scale.

I. LANDFORMS
A. The four major landforms of the earth are mountains, hills, plains, and plateaus.
B. The High Plains are large flat areas of land that have an elevation of more than 2,000 feet.
C. Plateaus have low relief.

II. BODIES OF WATER
A. Seventy percent of the earth's surface is made up of water.
B. The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean.
C. The most lakes are found in areas once covered by glaciers.
D. Rivers are formed by the coming together of small streams.

III. PHYSICAL REGIONS OF NORTH AMERICA
A. On the Great Plains land is a dry, almost treeless grassland.
B. Caves were formed on the Ozark Plains by water eroding the underlying limestone.
C. Soil in the Canadian Shield is poor, unsuitable for farming but rich in minerals.
D. Three areas make up the Appalachian Highlands: the Appalachian Plateau, the Great Valley, and the Appalachian Mountains.

IV. CLIMATES OF NORTH AMERICA
A. Areas that have a tropical moist climate are the tropical rain forest, the savanna, and the tropical monsoon.
B. The climate of the Great Plains is a steppe climate.
C. The growing season of the Pacific Coast is longer than other regions because the warm winds from the Pacific Ocean affect the temperature.
D. Moist, severe winter climates are found in the middle and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, mostly in the interior parts of continents.

THE FIRST AMERICANS

OBJECTIVES:
Tell when and how early people came to live in North America.
Describe the way of life of early people in North America.
Identify major Indian cultures in North, Middle, and South America.
Tell how the environment influenced the life of American Indians.
Understand relative location on a map.
Read a chapter in a structured, organized manner.
Read thematic maps.
Read keys and legends found in thematic maps.

I. EARLY PEOPLE
A. Early people crossed into the Western Hemisphere from Asia by crossing a land bridge called Beringia that connected Asia and North America during the last Ice Age.
B. The ice-free corridor was in Canada.
C. Early people got their food in the Old Stone Age, by hunting and gathering; in the New Stone Age, by producing their food.
D. We know about early people as Archaeologists study excavated artifacts and bones.

II. INDIAN CULTURES
A. Eskimos made use of their environment as they caught fish and hunted animals, wolves, polar bears, and reindeer for food; used animal skins and bones in clothing, boats, weapons, utensils, and in building houses; and burned seal oil to produce heat and light.
B. The major craft of the California peoples was basketmaking.
C. Groups that lived in the Southwest were the Hohokam, the Pima, and Papago; the Anasazi and their Pueblo descendants, the Hopi and Zuni; the Apache and Navajo.
D. The most powerful Indian group in the Eastern Woodlands were the Iroquois.
E. Three great civilizations that developed in Middle and South America were the Maya, Aztec, and Incas.

NEW WORLD-NEW OPPORTUNITIES

OBJECTIVES:
Describe the reasons for European exploration in the fifteenth century.
Explain how Spain emerged as the leader in exploring and colonizing the Western Hemisphere.
Name major European explorers and their areas of exploration.
Describe the colonial activities of Spain, France, and other European nations.
Understand longitude.
Understand latitude.
Analyze pictures.
Define and determine exact location.
Define and use intermediate directions

I. BACKGROUNDS AND NEW BEGINNINGS
A. Events that led to greater trade between Europeans and the people of the Middle East were a series of religious wars in the Middle East called Crusades.
B. Europeans were interested in finding an all-water route to Asia because land routes through the Middle East were controlled by the Ottoman Turks who monopolized the trade, causing high prices and less profits for European traders.
C. Portugal was able to take the lead in searching for new routes to Asia because it was the most able of the seagoing nations. Its sailors had been to the Maderia and Canary Islands, as well as the Azores in the Atlantic. The school started by Prince Henry the Navigator increased sea-travel knowledge among Portuguese sailors.
D. Christopher Columbus called the people he met in the New World "Indians" because he believed he had come to the Indies Islands, off the southeast coast of Asia.
E. Pope Alexander VI was able to prevent trouble between Spain and Portugal by drawing an imaginary line, called the Line of Demarcation, around the world and giving the newly found lands not under the control of a Christian leader to the west of the line to Spain and lands east of the line to Portugal.

II. SPAIN IN THE NEW WORLD
A. The Spaniards explored the New World in Middle America, southern North America, and South America.
B. Spanish explorers hoped to find in Mexico and Peru gold, silver, and land.
C. Spaniards controlled the large areas they took over in the New World by forming colonies with governments headed by viceroys directly representing the Spanish crown.
D. Missionaries taught the Indians Christianity and Spanish ways of farming and making goods.

III. FRANCE IN THE NEW WORLD
A. The first French explorer in the New World was Giovanni da Verrazano.
B. The French made settlements in areas of eastern Canada and northern New York.
C. French settlers hoped to find furs, the Northwest Passage, and land in the New World.
D. Robert Cavelier Sieur de la Salle claimed the Mississippi River Valley for France.
E. Advantages the French had in colonizing the New World were a loyal band of settlers, a number of Indian allies, and a network of forts.

IV. OTHER EUROPEANS IN THE NEW WORLD
A. The Dutch settled along the Hudson River in the New World.
B. The Dutch West India Company was formed to handle trade and settlements in America and Africa.
C. New Sweden was along the Delaware River.

ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN NORTH AMERICA

OBJECTIVES:
List the reasons for England's late entry into the race for colonies in the New World.
Describe how the English colonies grew and developed during the late 1700s.
Distinguish among the types of English colonies.
Describe the ways in which English colonies were governed.
Read time lines.
Analyze maps to determine their usefulness.
Read demographic maps.

I. ENGLISH BACKGROUNDS
A. The explorer John Cabot provided the basis for England's claim to land in the New World.
B. Actions by the English that led to war with Spain were taking cargoes from Spanish ships and sinking them.
C. The first English settlement in the New World was Roanoke Island, Virginia.

II. FIRST PERMANENT COLONIES
A. The first settlements were financed by joint stock companies.
B. Hardships the first settlers faced were disease and lack of food.
C. Two religious groups that formed settlements in Massachusetts during the 1600s were the Puritans and Separatists.
D. Rhode Island and Connecticut became colonies when Roger Williams, a religious dissident from Massachusetts, started the settlement of Providence and in 1644 received a charter for the colony of Rhode Island. In search of greater religious and civil freedom, Thomas Hooker of Massachusetts established towns in the Connecticut Valley and in 1662 was granted a charter for the colony of Connecticut.
E. The colony of Maryland was different from early colonies in that it was the first proprietary colony, and it protected religious freedom.

III. LATER COLONIES
A. England gained control of New York and New Jersey as it took them from the Dutch.
B. The Society of Friends (Quakers) established the colony of Pennsylvania.
C. James Oglethorpe founded the colony of Georgia as a refuge for English debtors.

IV. GOVERNING THE COLONIES
A. Charles II formed royal colonies to have colonies that were under direct control of the Crown.
B. The Dominion of New England was created to organize and unify the colonies.
C. The Dominion of New England came to an end because when the "Glorious Revolution" in England deposed James II, some people in Boston imprisoned Edmund Andros and his followers.

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