Shaping an Abundant Land

1
Chapter 6

• Shaping an Abundant Land
• Human Geography of the United States

2
History and Government of the United States

• First to show up in the United States were the
  Spanish looking for the New World (1492,
  Columbus sailed the ocean blue)
• Next were the French and English French looking
  for fur and fishing while the English were
  looking for settlement in Jamestown, 1607

3

• Trading was a main source of resources for most
  countries
• Columbian Exchange and the Trans-Atlantic Slave
  Trade
• Resentment in America- American Revolution
• Westward Expansion and the Louisiana Purchase
• Tensions between an Agricultural South and an
  Industrialized North

4

• Manifest Destiny- Oregon Trail, Trail of Tears,
  frontier settlement
• West was being settled, immigrants were pouring
  into the east, and cities began to industrialize
• Global economic depression, WWI, WWII, so by this
  time, the United States was the only country that
  had escaped physical damage and had a healthy
  economy
• People moving to the suburbs

5

• Social unrest, Civil Rights Movement, Feminist
  Movement, protesting the war (Vietnam)
• Computers revolutionized technology in the 1970s
• Struggle for power and the spread of communism
  led to the Cold War, but it fell to the U.S. in
  1991 leaving it the worlds sole super power
• U.S. has a representative democracy where the
  people rule through elected representatives

6
Economy and Culture of the United States

• U.S. has the most powerful, diverse, and
  technologically advanced economy in the world
• 10 of the worlds exports (goods sold to another
  country)
• Free enterprise- private individuals own most of
  the resources technology and businesses, and can
  operate them for profit with little control from
  the government

7

• U.S. is known as an agricultural and industrial
  giant
• Provide 40 of the worlds corn, 20 of its cotton
  and 10 of its wheat cattle and hogs
• Advances in technology has revolutionized
  industry in creating new methods of production
• Major industries are petroleum, food processing,
  transportation and electronics

8
A Diverse Society

• 70 of Americans can trace their ancestry back to
  Europe
• English has been the dominant language, typically
  immigrants speak their own language until they
  learn English
• Over 1000 religions in the U.S., 85 are
  Christians, 56 are Protestants and 28 are Roman
  Catholic
• Jew and Muslims each account for about 2 of the
  religious population

9

• 80 of Americans live in cities or surrounding
  suburbs
• Shift to suburbian living was made possible by
  the automobile and the creation of roads and the
  National Highway System
• Education is valued in the U.S.- children from
  the age 6-16 have to be in school
• More then one out of ten people live in poverty