PENNSVALLEY
72
COPYRIGHT
Lesson 38:
Political Features of the Pacific Region
The last region of theUnited States that wewill study is the
PacificRegion
. The Pacific Region
includes five states. Three states,
California, Oregon,
and
Washington
, follow the West Coast
andarepart of the48contiguous, or connected, states.Thesestatesarepart of the “mainland,”or con-
tinental, UnitedStates.
Two states –
Alaska
and
Hawaii
– are not part of the 48 contiguous states. Alaska is a huge
peninsula found at the northwest corner of the North American continent. Alaska’s coastline covers
more than6,000miles.Check your knowledge. If Alaska is apeninsula, howmany sides arebordered
by water?
Hawaii is a chain of 132 islands that are located 2,400miles off thewest coast of California.The
Hawaiian Islands extend for more than 1,500 miles. Most Hawaiians live on seven of the eight main
islands that are located at the southeastern end of the chain.
The five states that make up the Pacific Region have a total population of more than 49 million
people.Californiahas nearly 37millionpeople, greater thanany other state inour country.Alaska, the
largest state in size– twice the sizeofTexas– isoneof the smallest states inpopulation.With less than
690,000 people, onlyVermont,Wyoming, andNorthDakota have smaller populations thanAlaska.
ACTIVITY 1:
Refer to theUnitedStates Political Map in your
AtlasBuddy (AB)
on page viii and the readingmate-
rial above to completebothpartsof thisactivity.A) Locateeachof the states that arepart of thePacific
Region. B) Label each state on the regional map on the next page.
ACTIVITY 2:
The state capitals are identified as starred locations on the United States Political Map in the
Atlas
Buddy (AB)
on page viii.A) Find the state capital for each state in thePacificRegion.Write the name
of the state capital at the starred location on the regional map on the next page. B) After you have
labeled each state capital on your regional map, write the state capital’s name next to its state in the
blank space below.
State
StateCapital
Alaska
Hawaii
California
Oregon
Washington
Pacific Region
If youwould
place amap of
Alaska over top of a
map of the United
States, Alaskawould
reach from Los
Angeles to Savannah,
Georgia, and touch
the Canadian border.