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61625_C01_L01-L02 7/12/07 3:27 PM Page 7 Name Date CHAPTER 1, LESSON 2 Summary: Regions and Trade What Is a Region? Geographers learn more about the world by dividing it into regions. North America is divided into political regions. For example, Canada, the United States, and Mexico are political regions. Canada is divided into smaller political regions called provinces and territories. The other countries are divided into states. Landforms and climate are other ways that North America is divided into regions. Human characteristics can also be used to define regions. People in certain regions speak the same language, have similar cultures, or do the same work. For example, the Silver Belt is a region in which people have mined silver for a long time. It is located in central Mexico. People’s ideas about regions can change. The Great Plains region used to be called a desert, but today it has many farms. Find and underline a form of each vocabulary word. region noun, an area that has one or more features in common economy noun, the system people use to produce goods and services specialization noun, the result of people making the goods they are best able to produce with the resources they have trade noun, the buying and selling of goods interdependence noun, depending, or relying, on each other Regions and Resources A region can also be defined by its resources. For example, the Eastern Coal Field region of Kentucky has a lot of coal. Resources are important for a region’s economy. The resources in a region help people decide what crops to grow and what goods to produce. When a region makes a lot of one product, it is using specialization. When a region specializes, it usually produces more goods and services at a lower cost and earns more money. For example, farmers in the South specialize by growing a large amount of cotton. However, when a region specializes, it does not produce all the goods its consumers want. Trade between regions lets consumers buy goods they want or need. Countries also specialize in producing goods. They trade for goods made in other countries. For example, oil and natural gas from the Gulf of Mexico are sold to other places. The money earned from selling oil is used to buy products made in other regions. Regions that rely on one another for goods and services are practicing interdependence. Interdependence connects countries and businesses around the world. REVIEW What human characteristics can be used to define regions? Circle the sentence that identifies human characteristics that can be used to divide North America into regions. REVIEW What problem does trade between regions solve? Draw a box around the sentence that tells what problem is solved by trade. Unit Resources Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 7 Use with North America Regions and People, pp. 16–19