Term | Definition |
Mount McKinley | the highest point on the continent |
Rocky Mountains | mountains that stretch from New Mexico all the way to Alaska 3000+ miles long |
Canadian Shield | a giant core of rock centered on the Hudson and
James Bays |
Appalachian Mountains | North America's oldest mountains, the second largest mountain range on the continent |
divide | a high point or ridge that determines the direction in which rivers flow |
headwaters | a source or water in the Rocky Mountains |
tributaries | a smaller river or stream that connects with a larger body of water |
Mississippi River | one of North America's longest rivers, it flows 2350+ miles from it source |
fall line | a boundary that marks the place where the higher land of the Piedmont drops to the lower Atlantic Coastal Plain |
Great Lakes | lakes formed by glacier dams |
fossil fuels | coal, petroleum, and natural gas |
fisheries | bodies of water that were rich of fish and shellfish |
aquaculture | fish farming |
Death Valley | has the highest temp ever recorded in the U.S. (134 degrees F) |
Everglades | a swamp or wetland that shelters a great variety of vegetation and wildlife |
chaparral | Mediterranean scrub vegetation |
hurricanes | ocean storms hundreds of miles wide with winds of 74 mph or more |
Prairies | naturally treeless expanses of grasses that spread across the Great Plains of the continent midsection |
supercells | violent spring and summer thunderstorms |
Great Plains | in the center of the continent and have bitterly cold winters and very hot summers |
timberline | the elevation above which trees cannot grow |
chinook | warm, dry winds in the early spring |
blizzards | winds of more than 35 mph with heavy, blowing snow, and visibility of less than 1320 feet for 3 hours or more |
Newfoundland | a region of a continent |
Yukon Territory | Territory owned by the Yukon |
immigration | the movement of people into one country form another |
Sunbelt | nickname for a place because of its mild climate |
urbanization | the movement of people from rural areas to cities |
metropolitan area | a city with a population of at least 50,000 people and outlying communities |
suburbs | outlying communities the includes at least 50,000 people |
urban sprawl | a metropolitan area that has become crowded and it lead to the further spread of people and suburban development |
megalopolis | a chain of closely linked metropolitan areas |
dry farming | a method of cultivating land to catch and hold rainwater |
Underground Railroad | an informal network of safe houses |
literacy rate | the percentage of people who read and write |
bilingual | people know can speak more than one language |
jazz | type of music that blends African rhythms with European harmonies |
Los Angelos | a city in California |
New York City | a city in new york |
Maritime Provinces | a province of the U.S. |
province | a political unit similar to a state |
Inuit | Arctic native peoples of North America |
Prairie Provinces | a province of Manitoba |
Montreal | an industrial and shipping center |
Vancouver | a place that handles trade between Canada and Asia |
Edmonton | a place that grew with the development of the petroleum industry |
Nunavut | means "Our Land." |
dominion | a partially self-governing country with close ties to Great Britain |
North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) | have eliminated tariffs and other trade terriories |
Parliament | the national legislature |
separatism | the breaking away of one part of a country to create a separate, independent country |
Quebecois | Quebec's French speaking inhabitants |