Geography

Akron, Ohio is also known as the rubber capital of the world. Akron is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and became an innovation center owing to its location along the Ohio and Erie Canal and later, the interstate. Residents of Akron are often referred to as Akronites. “Cement City” is … Read more

Antarctica holds most of the fresh water on earth. About 90% percent of the world’s total fresh water is frozen in Antarctica. Antarctica is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent on earth, and also has the highest average elevation. The first confirmed sighting of Antarctica is believed to have occurred in 1820 by the Russian … Read more

Louisiana is named after the French king Louis XIV. The French settled the area in the early 18th century. Over the next 100 years, several wars were fought and secret treaties forged over this territory, among Spain, France, Great Britain, and the United States. Finally, in 1803, the portion of what is now Louisiana west … Read more

People in part of Panama can watch the sun rise over the Pacific and set over the Atlantic because of the curve of the isthmus. An isthmus is a narrow strip of land that connects two larger land areas usually with waterforms on either side. The Isthmus of Panama connects the continents of North and … Read more

Most geologists agree that a hill is smaller than a mountain and is usually a gentle rise in the Earth’s surface. A mountain is a natural elevation that rises more abruptly to a peak and is larger than a hill. In an effort to be more exact, some experts claim height requirements for each. Some … Read more

In March 1964, the strongest earthquake in North America in the twentieth century hit central Alaska, in the area of Prince William Sound. It measured 8.5 on the Richter scale and lasted for 3 minutes, an enormous amount of time for an earthquake; most last less than a minute. Many homes and buildings were destroyed … Read more

Mount St. Helens, in the Cascades Mountains in Washington State, erupted for 6 days beginning on May 18, 1980. It immediately lost 1,314 feet (401 m) from its height and now stands at 8,363 feet (2,549 m). The eruption was triggered by an earthquake (5.1 on the Richter scale) 1 mile (1.6 km) below the … Read more

Mount Rainier in Washington is an active volcano, and geologists believe it is just a matter of time before some type of volcanic activity occurs there again. Some have even called Mount Rainier the most dangerous volcano in the United States. They predict that the worst threat to the area would come from debris flows, … Read more

Three completely different ecosystems can be found in the Olympic Peninsula in western Washington state. Dozens of glacier capped mountains, 60 miles (97 km) of undeveloped Pacific coastline, and old growth and temperate rain forests. Most of this region lies with the boundaries of Olympic National Park, 95 percent of which is designated as wilderness … Read more

About 170 islands make up the San Juan group in Puget Sound. Puget Sound, in northwestern Washington State, is a Pacific Ocean inlet that runs through the state for about 100 miles, (161 km) from Whidbey Island south to Olympia, Washington. Large ships can travel through the sound to several important port cities, including Seattle, … Read more

The Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State is 550 feet (168 m) tall and almost 1 mile (1.6 km) long, including the third powerhouse. Built of concrete on the Columbia River in the northeastern corner of the state, its three power plants generate more electricity than any other dam in the United States. The Grand … Read more

You’d have to travel across 500 miles (805 km) of Canada to get to the next closest U.S. state, Washington. Part of Alaska is actually much closer to Russia. Alaska’s Little Diomede Island, at the extreme western end of the Seward Peninsula, is only 2.5 miles (4 km) from Big Diomede Island, which belongs to … Read more

Alaska has 615,230 square miles (1,599,598 sq km) of land. It is a fifth the size of all the lower 48 states put together, 2.5 times bigger than Texas, and 488 times bigger than Rhode Island. In fact, just one glacier, the Malaspina, between Anchorage and Juneau, covers an area larger than Rhode Island. The … Read more

The Oregon Trail was a 2,000-mile (3,220-km) route through dangerous and rugged land was the “road” settlers took out of Independence, Missouri, to the Columbia River region of Oregon. The end of the trail was Oregon City, south of Portland. To go that distance in the mid-1800s took 4 to 6 months. People heading to … Read more

Weather on the western side of Washington is wet and quite warm, considering its northern latitude. For example, in January, on average, Seattle has a mean temperature of 41° Fahrenheit and receives 5 inches (12.7 cm) of rain. Spokane, just 282 miles (454 km) east and at about the same latitude, on average has a … Read more

Crater Lake in Oregon was not created by a meteor crashing to earth. Crater Lake is the result of water collecting in the caldera, or crater, created by the volcanic eruption of Mount Mazama nearly 7,000 years ago. Located in the Cascade Mountains, Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States, at 1,932 … Read more

Urban planners consider Portland, Oregon to be a model city because Portland has been so successful in revitalizing its downtown area and limiting urban sprawl. Its light-rail transit system has reduced traffic congestion and air pollution, and coordinated land-use planning has kept the city from spreading uncontrolled into the surrounding countryside. Unlike many U.S. cities, … Read more

About half of Oregon is covered with forests. Oregon leads the nation in lumber production, and it also is a big producer of plywood, veneer, and particleboard. The eastern part of the state is less forested, and farms there produce wheat and other grain crops as well as potatoes and other vegetables. Almost all of … Read more

The Hawaiian island of Kauai may be best known for its tropical gardens, but its dramatically beautiful Waimea canyon is the highlight of any visit there. Mark Twain once called this 10-mile (16-km)-long, 2-mile (3.2-km)-wide, and nearly 3,000-foot (914-m)-deep canyon the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific.” Its red rock walls remind visitors of Arizona’s Grand … Read more

Going from east to west, the names of the eight main Hawaiian Islands are: Hawaii, Maui, Kahoolawe, Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, Kauai, and Niihau. The Hawaiian Islands were once called the Sandwich Islands. Captain James Cook named them the “Sandwich Islands” in 1778 in honor of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, who was one of … Read more

The state of Hawaii has 316 species of plants and animals on the U.S. endangered species list, more than a third of the total list. The problem began a few hundred years ago when Polynesian and European settlers brought various kinds of plants and animals, such as dogs, chickens, pigs, rats, and mongooses there, animals … Read more

The Hawaiian Island archipelago is the most isolated grouping of islands on earth. The islands are really the tips of ancient volcanoes. They owe their existence to their location over an unusual stationary “hot spot” deep within the Earth in this area. As the Pacific tectonic plate slowly moved northwestward over that hot spot, molten … Read more

When warm, humid air from the Pacific Ocean moves over the cooler water of San Francisco Bay it condenses, producing advection fog. This is the type of fog San Francisco experiences in the summer months, keeping the city cool, at least until it burns off around midday. San Francisco’s climate is characteristic of the cool-summer … Read more

Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii, is about 2,400 miles (3,864 km) southwest of the U.S. mainland, about the same as the distance between San Francisco and Washington, D.C. It is the southernmost state in the Union, in fact, Honolulu is on about the same latitude as Guadalajara, Mexico. Hawaii is the only U.S. state that … Read more

California is first in the nation in several ways. California has the largest population in the U.S., with about 37 million in 2010, many more than Texas (25 million) and New York (20 million). It ranks number one among all the states in both manufacturing and agriculture. Cotton is the main crop, and dairy products … Read more

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was the worst in California’s history, causing the deaths of more than 3,000 people and the destruction of 28,000 buildings. The fire that resulted made things worse, burning much of the city. Firefighters couldn’t fight the fires because the earthquake caused the water pipes leading into the city to break. … Read more

Hawaii consists of 137 islands, most of which are very small and uninhabited. They spread over 6,423 square miles (16,700 sq km) of the North Pacific Ocean. The eight major Hawaiian islands are all volcanic in origin. Several volcanoes on the islands are active today. The Hawaiian archipelago takes its name from the largest island … Read more

Back in 1848, Utah was invaded by millions of Rocky Mountain crickets that began destroying crops and threatening the people with starvation. Seemingly out of nowhere, flocks of California gulls appeared and began eating the crickets. The people were so grateful that more than a hundred years later this species of gull was selected as … Read more

Back in New York in 1830, a man named Joseph Smith established the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Over the next 20 years, the church spread to Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois, but everywhere they went, its members were persecuted by people of other denominations. In 1847 they decided to travel west to find … Read more

Nevada receives less rain than any other state, and is the driest. Rainfall in the southeastern part of the state averages only about 4 inches (10 cm) a year. But Nevada has plenty of water in Lake Mead, which stretches for about 115 miles (185 km), one of the largest artificially created lakes in the … Read more

Utahans selected the beehive as their official state emblem because honeybees represent the virtues of industry and perseverance. A drawing of a beehive appears on its state flag and state seal, as well as on its state highway signs. The early Mormon settlers wanted the Utah Territory to be called “Deseret,” which means “honeybee” in … Read more

Nevada is called the Silver State because huge amounts of silver were mined in the 1800s in Nevada. The Comstock Lode, near Virginia City in the west-central part of the state, was the largest silver mining center ever in the United States. The dream of wealth drew thousands of people to Nevada from about 1860 … Read more

The words “Battle Born” appear on the Nevada state flag because Nevada was admitted to the Union in 1864, during the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln needed another Republican state to help support his antislavery policies in Congress. Even though Nevada didn’t have the required number of people to form a state, people in Nevada … Read more

Silicon Valley is a 30-mile (48-km) by 10-mile (16-km) area in northern California between San Francisco and San Jose. Its name comes from the many electronics, information technology, and Internet companies that have been locating their offices and manufacturing plants there since the 1950s. The term “Silicon Valley” was first used in 1971, with “silicon” … Read more

California’s redwood trees are not the oldest living things in the world, but they are the tallest. One redwood tree in Redwood National Park is 368 feet (112 m) tall. One of the oldest living things in the world is in Sequoia National Park. The General Sherman Tree, a giant sequoia tree that is 272 … Read more

Idaho’s state capitol building in Boise is heated by pumping up naturally hot water from 3,000 feet (914 m) below the Earth. This form of energy is called geothermal. The water is warmed by heat coming from underground chambers of magma, or molten rock. Magma produces lava during a volcanic eruption. In areas of volcanic … Read more

Wyoming has the smallest population out of all the states in the U.S. In 2009 Wyoming had an estimated population of about 544,270 people. The Wyoming territorial constitution was the first constitution in the world to give women full voting rights, back in 1889. It became a U.S. state a year later. Wyoming also claims … Read more

Idaho is called the Gem State because it produces 72 different types of precious and semiprecious gemstones, including star garnets, opals, jade, and agate. Idaho is the 14th largest state by land area, and is one of only two places in the world where star garnets can be found. The Thousand Springs area of Idaho’s … Read more

The Great Salt Lake In Utah is the largest salt lake in the United States. Water from freshwater streams flows into the Great Salt Lake, but it never flows back out. When it evaporates, salt (sodium chloride) and other minerals are left behind, making the water salty. The amount of salt in the lake varies, … Read more

Geysers are bursts of boiling hot water that erupt from below the surface into the air, often several hundred feet. A fumarole is a steam vent. The steam comes from hot springs below the Earth’s surface that are so hot that their water boils away before they reach the surface. A mudpot looks like it … Read more

Most of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, but parts of the 2.2 million acre (880,000 ha) park are also in Idaho and Montana. Yellowstone National Park was the first national park when it was established in 1872. The park is unusual in that it contains half of the world’s geothermal features. It has more than … Read more

The Grand Canyon, located in the northwestern corner of Arizona, stretches more than 277 miles (446 km). It is more than 1 mile (1.6 km) deep in places and about 18 miles (29 km) wide at its widest point. This amazing gash in the earth was cut by the powerful flow of the Colorado River … Read more

Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah meet at Four Corners. You can get to this unique spot by taking U.S. 160 in Arizona. The Four Corners region is mostly rural and arid, and the most populous city in Four Corners is Farmington, New Mexico. The area is named after the quadripoint where the boundaries of … Read more

The mountain peaks around Tucson have the largest concentration of telescopes anywhere in the world. About 30 optical telescopes, including those at Lowell Observatory and Kitt Peak National Observatory, study the stars and planets from this part of the Arizona desert, where dark night skies and dry desert air give astronomers good views of the … Read more

More than 225 million years ago, trees then growing in Petrified Forest National Park in northeastern Arizona were buried in volcanic ash, mud, or sand and eventually turned to stone. Today the area, within the Painted Desert, another colorful part of Arizona, contains one of the world’s largest concentrations of petrified wood. The park covers … Read more

A glacier is an accumulation of snow that forms when more snow falls each winter than melts the following summer. As the layers grow year after year, their weight causes the lower layers to compress and turn into a dense ice called firn. When this ice begins to move slowly over the land or down … Read more

Glacier National Park features more than 50 glaciers and 200 lakes and streams in its 1.4 million mountainous acres (560,000 ha). The park also has more than one thousand different species of plants and animals. The mountains of Glacier National Park began forming about 170 million years ago when ancient rocks were forced over much … Read more

Montana is called the Treasure State because early settlers found a wealth of gold and silver in its mountains. Montana is the fourth-largest state in land area, after Alaska, Texas, and California. The first woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives was from Montana. Her name was Jeanette Rankin, and she was … Read more

The word Idaho means nothing at all. It is a coined, or made up, word, not a Native American word. The name Idaho was suggested by a man in 1860 to be the name for the Colorado Territory, but people didn’t like it because it wasn’t a Native American word. Two years later, the name … Read more

Montana’s rivers flow into three widely separated bodies of water: the Gulf of Mexico the Pacific Ocean the Hudson Bay The Missouri River system drains into the Mississippi River and then into the Gulf of Mexico. The Columbia River system drains into the Pacific Ocean. The Belly, St. Mary’s, and Waterton Rivers drain into Hudson … Read more

Grasshopper Glacier, in the Beartooth Mountains in Montana, is a most unusual natural phenomenon. Huge swarms of grasshoppers have been trapped in the ice of a glacier for more than 300 years. This oddity was discovered in 1898 during a scientific expedition in the northern Rockies near Granite Peak, not far from Yellowstone National Park. … Read more

Craters of the Moon National Monument in Southeastern Idaho is a 83 square mile basaltic lava field created by more than 15,000 years of volcanic activity. Visitors can view many interesting volcanic features, such as lava tubes, several types of lava flows, cinder cones, and spatter cones. In the 1960s this area was used to … Read more

Lewiston, Idaho, sometimes called the Seaport of Idaho, is really a riverport at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers. Boats and barges carry farm and forest products down to the Columbia River and through neighboring Washington State to the Pacific Ocean, a journey of 465 miles (749 km). Lewiston was one of Idaho’s … Read more

Six different national flags have flown over Texas. At various times in its history, parts of the area that now form the state of Texas belonged at different times to Spain, France, and Mexico, its first three flags. After gaining independence from Mexico in 1836, Texas became an independent nation, the Republic of Texas, and … Read more

Padre Island runs along the South Texas coast, and is the longest barrier island in the world. The U.S. National Park Service has designated nearly 70 miles (113 km) of the 130-mile (209-km) island as Padre Island National Seashore. Barrier islands are one of four basic types of islands; the others are continental, oceanic, and … Read more

Texas is the second largest state in the U.S. in total area, land and water combined, after Alaska. In comparing the land area of various U.S. states, the vastness of Texas terrain stands out, showcasing its prominence in the nation’s geography. Texas contains 267,277 square miles (694,920 sq km), but Alaska is much larger, with … Read more

Discover the topography of Texas as we delve into its landscapes. From vast plains to hidden peaks, explore the diverse geography shaping the Lone Star State’s unique character. Key Takeaway: Texas boasts a varied terrain, encompassing flat expanses and rugged mountains, providing a captivating blend of landscapes for nature enthusiasts. Most parts of the state … Read more

The King Ranch in south Texas is the biggest ranch in the United States, and is one of the largest working ranches in the world. It covers 1,300 square miles (3,380 sq km), an area bigger than Rhode Island. The ranch is located between Corpus Christi and Brownsville. Even though it is best known as … Read more

The Garden of the Gods is the name of a public park in Colorado that features a natural collection of dramatically shaped red sandstone rock formations. The name of the park came from two surveyors in 1859 who suggested that it would be a good place for a beer garden, and fit for the gods … Read more

Colorado, which has an average elevation of 6,800 feet (2,073 m), has the highest average altitude. Alaska’s average elevation is just 1,900 feet (579 m). This is because many parts of Alaska lie at or near sea level. But the lowest spot in Colorado is still 3,350 feet (1,021 m) above sea level, near the … Read more

Carlsbad Caverns has three major levels, the deepest of which is more than 1,000 feet (305 m) under the earth. Explorers have mapped 30 miles (48 km) of caves and corridors in the main cavern, 3 miles (5 km) of which are open to visitors. The Big Room features a 255-foot (78-m) high ceiling and … Read more

Denver, Colorado is not located in the Rocky Mountains. The mountains begin to rise about 15 miles (24 km) west of Denver, which lies on fairly flat land. Even so, the city sits 1 mile (1.6 m) above sea level, just because the land itself is so elevated because of the nearby mountainous terrain. Denver … Read more

Texas leads the United States in several ways. It produces more cotton than any other state. Texas produces more beef cattle and sheep than any other state. And it produces more oil and natural gas than any other state, it contains a fourth of the known U.S. oil reserves. Texas has about 5 billion barrels … Read more

The design of the New Mexico state flag features a red zia on a field of gold. The zia symbolizes the Sun and reflects the beliefs of the ancient Zia Pueblo Indians. They believed that four was a sacred number, and each of the four sets of four lines radiating from the center circle represent … Read more

About two thirds of the border between the United States and Mexico is marked by the Rio Grande. In all, the Rio Grande is 1,760 miles (2,834 km) long. It begins as a stream high in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains and travels through New Mexico and Texas into the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, its … Read more

There are no active volcanoes, but Capulin Mountain is an impressive example of an extinct volcano that blew its top about 62,000 years ago. The event was quite recent from a geologist’s point of view. Capulin Mountain stands 8,182 feet (2,494 m) above sea level and rises about 1,300 feet (396 m) above the surrounding … Read more

There is just one diamond mine in the United States, in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. Visitors can hunt for and keep any diamonds they find there. Diamonds were discovered in 1906 in Crater of Diamonds State Park, and by 1933, about 100,000 were found. The 1,000 year old Ka-Do-Ha Indian Village and museum is also located in … Read more

The city of Texarkana in Texas straddles the border of Texas and Arkansas. Although it has two city governments, one in each state, it has just one post office. Its address reads “Texarkana, Arkansas-Texas.” Also known as AR Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), Texarkana was founded in 1873 on the junction of two railroads. The Texarkana … Read more

The Emerald Mound along the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi is the remains of a ceremonial mound built about 700 years ago by Native Americans. It was part of a town that once sat here, one of many similar settlements in the Mississippi Delta area. The Emerald Mound stands 35 feet (11 m) high and … Read more

The Hot Springs in Arkansas are really hot, about 147° Fahrenheit. The world famous Hot Springs in the Ouachita Mountains are made up of 47 separate springs that put out about 1 million gallons (3.8 million 1) of steaming water a day. Hot Springs is now a national park, but back in the early 1800s … Read more

In Louisiana, Creoles are people who generally live in the southern part of the state whose ancestors were among the original French and Spanish settlers. The term Creole was first used to refer to those who were born in the colony, as opposed to colonists born in France. Cajuns are those whose ancestors came from … Read more

The Port of South Louisiana, outside New Orleans, Louisiana, is the nation’s busiest port and the world’s third busiest, when measured by tonnage handled. The port is huge, extending 54 miles (87 km) along the Mississippi River. More than 4,000 oceangoing vessels call there each year. Most shipments leaving the port are corn, wheat, and … Read more

Small ships can make it up the Mississippi from New Orleans all the way to Minneapolis, Minnesota, about 1,800 miles (2,898 km) north. The river is 9 to 100 feet (2.7 to 31 m) deep most of the way, and at one point, north of Clinton, Iowa, it is 3.5 miles (5.6 km) wide. The … Read more

More than 500 salt domes have been discovered along the Gulf Coast, from Texas to the Florida panhandle. They are mostly made of pure salt, or halite, and were formed over millions of years from thick beds of salt several miles below the Earth’s surface. Because the salt walls will not allow fluid or gas … Read more

New Orleans is sinking, and some scientists are predicting that the city could be underwater within a century. Today more than two-thirds of the city is already about 8 feet (2.4 m) below sea level. This sinking, or subsidence, is happening because the city of New Orleans was built on the soft silt of the … Read more

Back in 1889, on the first day people were allowed to lay claim to free government land in Oklahoma, some of the 50,000 eager settlers tried to stake their claims before the noon starting gun. They were called Sooners, they arrived a little too soon. The U.S. government purchased this land, about 3 million acres … Read more

Oklahoma is home to about 272,000 Native Americans, who make up almost 8 percent of the population. Many are descended from the 67 tribes that lived there when the state was Indian Territory. These tribes included the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Seminole, Osage, Cheyenne, Sac and Fox, Delaware, Apache, and Pawnee. The southwestern states is … Read more

A delta is a flat plain that often lies at the mouth of a river. It is created when a river slows as it enters a lake or an ocean, leaving behind deposits of silt, clay, sand, and gravel, which taken together are called alluvium. The Mississippi Delta is called a bird-foot delta because several … Read more

The state capitol building in Oklahoma City is the only capitol building in the world to have a working oil well on the grounds. The well is often called Petunia No. 1 because it was drilled into a flowerbed after the capitol was built. The capitol building itself is also a little unusual because the … Read more

Bayous are common sights in the southern states, and are commonly found in the Gulf Coast region of the southern United States. They are shallow, marshy creeks found in flat areas with poor drainage. The Mobile Delta in southern Alabama has many swamps and bayous. The word Bayou was first used in Louisiana and comes … Read more

Key is another way of spelling cay, they’re pronounced the same way, from the Spanish word cayo, which means a small island made up largely of coral or sand. The Florida Keys stretch from Biscayne Bay southwestward off the southern tip of the state for about 150 miles (242 km). Key Largo is the largest, … Read more

Color is one way geologists classify soil. Red soil can mean that there are iron oxides present, the case in Alabama and much of the South. The Cereal Belt in the Tennessee Valley and the counties beyond have the richest soils which are the red clays and dark loams of the river valley. In places … Read more

The southern tip of Florida is less than 100 miles (161 km) from the island nation of Cuba. Ever since Cuba became a Communist nation in the early 1960s, some of its citizens have tried to escape political oppression by sailing on small boats to the United States. Many Cubans have settled in the cities … Read more

The Everglades are swampy grasslands that cover southern Florida. Everglades National Park, which covers only a fifth of the Everglades region, was established to preserve this unusual ecosystem, for example, it is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles live together. The park covers 2,342 square miles (6,090 sq km). It is … Read more

St. Augustine, Florida, is the oldest city in the United States. St. Augustine was founded in 1565 by a Spanish explorer, Pedro Menendez de Aviles. It is more than 40 years older than either Santa Fe, New Mexico, or Jamestown, Virginia. St. Augustine lies in a region of Florida known as “The First Coast”, and … Read more