The SouthwestA big rig tour…

Map of the Southwest

Monument Valley

• The largest reservation in the United States

• Flat-topped hills in the area are called mesas

• Little rain falls in the area which keeps the land dry, creating a desert

• People and animals who live in the region have to adapt, or change in order to survive

Navajo Indians• Inhabited areas of the

Midwest• Were forced out of their

land by the U.S. by forces• During the 18 day “Long

walk”, at least 400 died• The plantation faced raids,

tribe conflicts, and famine• The Navajo were

eventually relocated to their own reservation

Video: Navajo SongVideo: The Long Walk 1 of 4Video: The Long Walk (short)

Three Sisters

• Millions of years ago layers upon layers of sediments that wore down slowly revealed the natural wonders of Monument Valley today.

Phoenix, Arizona

• Phoenix is known as America’s hottest city

• Temperatures can reach 115 degrees in the summer!

• More people moved to Phoenix with the invention of the air conditioner

• Aqueducts in the region are large pipes that carry water long distances

• Sixth largest city in the U.S.Video:Water Distribution

The three A’s•Air Conditioning•Automobiles•Aqueducts

Hoover Dam, Arizona• A dam is a wall built

across a river• Reasons the dam was

built:– It controls flooding along

the Colorado river– It stores water– It makes electricity for

the surrounding areas– Built during depression

(provided jobs)

Video: Hoover Dam

Video: Water Power

How the Hoover dam was built

Video: Construction of Hoover dam

Video: New Hoover Dam Video

Times:Tunnels-4:50 Concrete Pouring-8:00Complete Dam- 15:30 Lake Mead 21:00

The Grand Canyon, Arizona• A canyon is a deep,

narrow valley with deep sides

• The Grand Canyon has been formed over many years by the erosion of the Colorado river and wind

• The canyons is a mile deep in some parts and 277 miles long!

Video: Grand Canyon

El Paso, Texas & Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

• A border is a line that people agree on to separate two places

• The border between the U.S. and Mexico is the Rio Grande river

• Juarez is home to many U.S. factories where workers are paid much less than American workers

• The factories are called maquiladoras

Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

• A cave is a natural hole found under the earth

• A cavern is a large cave• Bats inhabit many of

the caverns• The largest room in the

caverns could hold 14 football fields!

• There are more than 85 caves in total

Video:Cavern Tour

San Antonio, Texas• A mission is a settlement

where priests teach the native people a new religion

• The Alamo is San Antonio’s most famous mission

• Texas declared independence from Mexican rule in 1836

• In the Alamo a small band of rebels fought a large army of Mexican troops

Video: The Alamo

Video: The Alamo Deconstructed

Video: Battle for North America

Math trivia• If there were 6,000 troops sent to crush a

rebellion of 188 Texans, how many troops would each Texan have to kill in order to win the fight?

• (Estimate)

6,000 Mexicans divided by 200 Texans means they would have to kill more than 30 Mexican troops EACH!

Austin, Capital of Texas

• A Capital is a city where the government of an area is located

• States governments have three branches in the same way that our national government does

Three branches ofgovernment

• Legislature- Makes the laws and controls spending

• Executive- is headed by a governor, and this branch makes sure laws are carried out

• Judicial- judge people who are accused of breaking laws, and judge if laws are good laws

Guthrie, Oklahoma

• This city was settled in a day

• On April 22, 1889 the first person to claim a piece of land would get to own that land

• Some settlers entered the land sooner than they were supposed to earning them the nickname “Sooners”

Modern Sooners

Original Sooners

Video:Far and Away