Skills used
- Latitude & Longitude
- Using scale to measure distance
- Using directions
- Critical thinking
- Comparing and contrasting
- Using Map legends
- Using elevations maps
Vocabulary
imported
Materials Needed
Globe in Horizon Ring Mounting
Lesson
The 13 English colonies that later became part of the United States were located along the east coast of North America. These settlements reached from Maine (originally part of Massachusetts) in the North to Georgia in the South.
Use the mileage scale on your globe's horizon ring mounting to measure the distance from the northernmost part of Maine (abbreviated ME on your globe) at 47N/68W to the southernmost part of Georgia (abbreviated GA) at 31N/81W. What is this distance? (1.) _________________ _____________________________ What is the name of the mountain range that runs through the western portions of most of these states? (2.) ______________________________________
In this area between Maine and Georgia, look at the land that lies between the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. What color is used to show most of this area? (3.) _________ What does this color tell you about the land? (4.) ______________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________
This elevation region is called the Atlantic Coastal Plain, and it is the area where most of the early colonists lived. Why do you think the majority of the people lived in this region? (5.) _________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________
The colonies had some difficult starts, but most of them grew quickly and soon settlers were moving beyond the coastal plain and approaching the Appalachians. And though new people from Europe and Africa continued coming into the area, there was still much open land in the colonies. Your globe can provide you with a good example.
Find and circle the small island of Puerto Rico at 18N/67W. Compare its size with the size of all the land between Maine and Georgia that lies east of the Appalachian Mountains. In the mid 1700s, almost a century and a half after the founding of Jamestown, in all of the colonies, the entire population of the colonists was less than the present day population of the tiny island of Puerto Rico. Try to imagine how the eastern United States might have looked then. Discuss with your classmates how you would have prepared for a trip through the colonies in the 1750s.