Map Excersice: The United States

Rivers

Columbia River: Headwaters are in Canada (BC), then flows through Washington and then along the border between Oregon and Washington and finally into the Pacific Ocean.

South Platte River: Headwaters are in the Colorado Rockies. It flows through north-eastern Colorado, merging with the North Platte in Nebraska and continues until it hits the Missouri River in Omaha Nebraska.

Potomac River: Headwaters are in Virginia and West Virginia (South and North Branches, respectively). The river itself starts where these two branches meet in West Virginia and then form the border between Maryland and West Virginia as well as Virginia. It then flows through Washington D. C. and into the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

Rio Grande: The Headwaters are in southern Colorado, after which it flows south into New Mexico. The river neatly divides the state in half until it hits the New Mexico/Texas/Mexico border. At this point, it follows the Texas/Mexico border (the other way around, really, of course :-) ) until it reaches the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.

Mountains

Ouachita Mountains: situated across the border between Oklahoma and Arkansas. The Eastern edge is at about Little Rock, Arkansas.

Sacramento Mountains: situated in south-central New Mexico, they lie north to south between the Pecos River and the Rio Grande.

Brooks Range: This range lies east to west across the north edge of Alaska, and includes many smaller mountain ranges (De Long, Endicott, and Baird).

Site and Situation

The situation of the USA: The majority of the country is contiguous, but also includes a small chain of tropical islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean as well as a northern state which partially lies in the arctic circle. Canada lies to the north, and Mexico to the south, otherwise the country is bordered by ocean. On a global scale, the country is partially isolated from other powerful nations because of the oceans lying between it and the rest of the world. It has also acted as a barrier between the East and West, and have also taken advantage of this arrangement through trade.

The site of the United States is varied in its topology, climate and other characteristics. It consists of almost 4 million square miles in area. The eastern side of the country (bordered on the east by the Atlantic Ocean) consists of hardwood forests as well as high population density. In the north, the climate is humid and cold, to the south, humid and hot. There is a mountain range (the Appalachians) that runs from the north to the south parallel to the coastline. On the other side of these mountains lies forests and farmland, gradually merging with the Great Plains, an extensive, high altitude prairie that covers the entirety of the central area of the country north and south. These plains eventually reach the Rocky Mountains which extend from the northern to the southern border. On the western side of the Rockies lies various desert areas until another set of mountains are reached (the Sierra Nevada Range and the Cascade Range). These mountains parallel the western coast, and the land between the coast and the mountains are again covered in forests and greenery. To the north lies a separated portion of the country, which consists of mountainous areas of ice and cold. Far out in the ocean lies another portion of the county in the form of a small volcanic chain of tropical islands. The continental divide lies in the Rocky mountains, and many important rivers stem from these mountains.