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geography of North America - Coggle Diagram
geography of North America
plains indians or native americans
plains indians have lived on the plains for hundreds of years
this strip of land runs the length of the USA from the border of Canada and the border of mexico. it is 2000 miles long and 500 miles wide and contains the whole states of Nebraska, Kansas and North & South Dakota
the great plains are very exposed to the elements, without much shelter from trees. it could be very hot and dry in summer, but freezing cold in winter
the plains were described as 'unfit for cultivation'
features of the great plains
the great plains are an enormous grassland that includes the states of Colorado, North and South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
the summers were arid, hot and dry without much rainfall. this is bad for growing crops - winters on the plains were cold, with temperatures reaching under 0 degrees Celsius. this is also bad for growing crops.
there were lots of insects and pests in the Plains and pesticides didn't really exist back then.
farming the Plains
Houses at the time were made of timber. building the houses without wood and timber was difficult. often settlers had to make houses out of mud and earth (these houses were called the sod houses)
crops brought from east america often failed to survive the dry summers and cold winters as there wasn't enough rainfall.
manifest destiny
the view of manifest destiny was that the Christian God wanted white settlers to rule the whole continent of North America.
this had bad implications for the indigenous Plains Indians
can be understood as 'obvious fate'
the american way of life
white settlers saw their domination of North America as part of an inevitable process that was designed by god.
settlers felt they had a duty to spread the 'American way of life' on the plains
the mormon church, created by Joseph Smith, still to this day tries to spread its beliefs to new people over the world, spreading their way of life
writers such as Horace Greeley encouraged this movement through his advice "go west, young man"