| Climate: | The West has a lot of different climates that range from hot to cold in the summer and the winter. It also ranges from being dry to wet. It all depends on where you are. Hawaii will be much warmer and wetter than Alaska because they are located in two different places. |
| History: | The West has been settled by people all over the world including the Indian, Mexican, and Asian Americans. The first to settle the area were the Indian, then the Spanish, and finally pioneers with wagon trains looking for land and sometimes fortunes like gold. Gold was discovered in California in 1848. The West is also the place that led us into World War II when Pearl Harbor in Hawaii was attacked by the Japanese.
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| Population: | The population of the Southwest is 77 million. Most of the people live in the large cities. |
| Landforms: | The West has all five landforms: plains, plateaus, highlands, mountains, and coasts. The Rocky Mountains are in the west. They stretch from Alaska to way down in South America. Earthquakes sometimes happen in the west, too. Volcanoes helped shape Hawaii. Two large cities in the west are Los Angeles, California, and Honolulu, Hawaii. |
| Business: | There most important natural resource in the West is the Pacific Ocean. Goods produced include wood, fruits and vegetables, oil, potatoes, and minerals. |
| Glacier |
An ice or snow field. |
| Tundra |
Soil that is almost always frozen and as a result, trees cannot grow in it. |
| Rocky Mountains |
The mountains in the west that stretch from Alaska to South America. |
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| Volcanoes |
Their eruptions and hot lava eventually formed the Hawaiian Islands. The mountains in Hawaii are really volcanoes! |
| Los Angeles, California |
A large city in the west. |
| Honolulu, Hawaii |
A large city in the west. |
| Potatoes |
A good produced in the west, specifically Idaho, which is the potato capitol of the U.S. |
| Wood |
Produced in the west from the abundance of trees in the region. |
| Fruits and Vegetables |
Grown in abundance in the west. Half of the fruits and vegetables we eat come from the west region. |
| Oil |
Produced by the Alaskan pipeline in Alaska. |
| Pacific Ocean |
The most important natural resource in the west. |
