Saturday, November 29, 2008

World Geography

First Settlers in to North America


  • nomads from Asia

  • more than 13,000 years ago

  • spread along pacific coast

  • developed separate cultures

  • occupied land, undisturbed til more settlers came

First Permanent European Settlement



  • Spanish came 1st

  • 1565- founded St. Augustine, Florida (the oldes permanent European settlement in the U.S.)

  • they were searching for gold

French and English Settlers



  • France was interested in fisheries & fur trade

  • setled along the northern Atlantic Coast & St. Lawrence River in the early 1600's

  • the English settled about the same time in the south

  • 1st permanent settlement in 1607-Jamestown, Virgina

Great Britain in Control



  • short-lived, people resented the policies forced on them

  • protests led to the American Revolution: 1775-1783

America's Government



  • purchased land known as the Louisiana Purchase in 1803

  • doubled the nation's size

Immigrants from Western Europe



  • arrived in early 1800's

  • settled in cities Northeast

  • moved to rich farmlands in the Midwest

Sectionalism



  • people placing loyalty to their region/section above nation

  • tensions between North & South led to the Civil War: 1861-1865

Westward Movement



  • wagons on Oregon Trails & others moved west

  • crossed prairie, plains, desert & mountains

White Settlers



  • U.S. gov. removed Native Americans by treaty & force

  • completed 1st transcontinental railroad in 1869

  • people to west & products/livestock went east

  • in 1890 17 million settled between the Pacific & the Mississippi River

Rural to Urban America



  • immigrants & Americans came to cities to work in textile, steel, oil, food processing & other industries

  • rural/agriculture to urban/industrialized

Self-sufficient America

  • farms grew food necessary for survival & factories produced the manufactured goods it needed
  • self-sufficient because of ample natural & human resources

Avoiding Foreign Affairs

  • protected from involvement by 2 oceans
  • after WWII in 1945 it changed
  • only major nation to escape physical damage & had healthy economy

America's Social Unrest

  • people migrated to suburbs
  • some left for warmer climates
  • civil rights movement for African Americans (1960's-1970's)
  • feminists & protests against involvement with communism in Vietnam (1955-1975)

Economy Boom

  • boomed despite depression or recession
  • changes in technology altered the way goods were produced
  • computers revolutionalized the workplace
  • providing service & information technology surpassed industrial production in importance
  • became the world's greatest economic power

U.S. Becomes Leader of Non-communist Nations

  • goal: to stop the spread of communism
  • a competition for world influence during the Cold War (1945-1991)
  • communism in Europe collapsed in 1991 & the U.S. became the world's sole super-power

UNITED STATES EMERGED AS THE WOLRD'S SOLE SUPERPOWER

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