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North America Outline

Decent Essays

NORTH AMERICA
1.1

I. North America is the third largest continent and fourth most populous continent.
A. North America is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Pacific Ocean on the west.
B. North America was connected to South America by a narrow strip of land called the Isthmus of Panama. The isthmus is the narrowest part of the Americas.
C. Mountains are found on both sides of North America.
1. The Rocky Mountains are in the west.
2. The Appalachian Mountains in the east.
3. Mount McKinley in Alaska is the highest peak in North America. It is part of the Rocky Mountains.
D. Between these mountain ranges are the Great Plains.
1. Because of the amount of grain grown in the Great Plains, it is called the “Breadbasket …show more content…

The land
1. Around the North Pole the Arctic Ocean is covered by ice.
2. The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and coldest ocean on earth. Glaciers, which are large masses of ice that flow slowly over land, break off into the water forming huge icebergs.
3. The treeless Arctic plains north of the timberline form a region called the tundra. Most of the tundra is north of the Arctic Circle, in the north Frigid Zone. The Frigid Zones are the coldest regions on earth.
4. The tundra of North America includes parts of Alaska, Canada, Greenland and a large number of islands in the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Sea. During the summer, the sun shines all day and all night giving the region the nickname “Land of the Midnight Sun.”
5. The ground of the tundra is heated by the sun and becomes marshy during the summer. The ground under the top layer remains frozen. This permanently frozen ground is called permafrost.
6. Low shrubs, mosses, and lichen (two kinds of plants—fungi and algae—growing together) grow in the tundra.
7. The arctic willow is the world’s smallest tree. In some places, the arctic willow grows to a height of only two …show more content…

Eagles are among the largest and most powerful birds in the world. The golden eagle is called the “king of the birds.” The bald eagle is not bald; the feathers on its head are white.

IV. Central Canada
A. The Hudson Bay and the Canadian Shield
1. Canada has the longest coastline of any country in the world.
2. Hudson Bay is the world’s largest bay. Henry Hudson discovered the bay in 1610.
3. Hudson Bay is nearly surrounded by the Canadian Shield, a horseshoe- shaped region that covers about half of Canada. When seen from above, this range of hills resembles a shield. The hills are made up of hard rocks covered by little or no soil. The shield is the source of much of Canada’s mineral wealth.
B. The St. Lawrence Seaway
1. When early explorers sailed beyond the islands of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, they discovered the Gulf of the St. Lawrence.
2. They followed the St. Lawrence River which became a highway into the continent.
3. The river flows from Lake Ontario into the Atlantic Ocean.
4. Today ships can sail from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to Lake

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