Western hemisphere

High school (ages 12+)
Geography

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/western-hemisphere

1. What is the major pre-columbian civilizations?
2. What is the key historical event?
3. Which famous civilizations lived in the Western Hemisphere before Europeans arrived?
4. How did Christopher Columbus change the Western Hemisphere?

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the major pre-columbian civilizations?Maya, Aztec, and Inca
2. What is the key historical event?The Columbian Exchange, initiating vast biological and cultural transfers
3. Which famous civilizations lived in the Western Hemisphere before Europeans arrived?Before Europeans came, the Maya, Aztec, and Inca empires lived there, and they were very good at astronomy, math, farming, and building.
4. How did Christopher Columbus change the Western Hemisphere?Columbus arrived in 1492, starting the Columbian Exchange where foods, animals, and diseases moved between the Old and New Worlds, changing life for many people.

Geopolitical: Relating to politics, especially international relations, as influenced by geographical factors.
Cartographical: Relating to the science or practice of drawing maps.
Transatlantic Slave Trade: The forced migration of millions of Africans to the Americas for enslaved labor, primarily from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
Biodiversity: The variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem.