Virginia SOL Virginia and US History test prep

Preparation for the state of Virginian SOL ("Standards of Learning") History test

Released tests can be found here:

Maps & Timelines

Regions of North America

Major Regions of North America	BIG IDEAS Native American tribes and language groups were divided into these basic geographic regions
File:NorthAmerica-sel-regions LCPS VA-Edu..jpg Major regions of North America from the Virginia Dept. of Education SOL framework document	Key A) Coastal Plain East Coast, location of the original 13 American colonies B) Appalachian Mountains border between the 13 colonies and the French-Indian lands to the west of the Appalachians C) Canadian Shield distinct climate and geographic area north of Great Lakes and New England D) Interior Lowlands fertile lowlands along the Mississippi River E) Great Plains low, flat grasslands between the Mississippi Lowlands and the Rocky Mountains F) Rocky Mountains great mountain range that served as barrier between the middle and western parts of the continent G) Basin and Range isolated region that was not directly connected by rivers to other regions and that was between the Rocky Mountains and the Coastal Ranges (mountains) H) Coastal Ranges Mountain range along the west coast that feeds water into the fertile valleys and lands along the coast
Cultural areas of North America at time of European contact
The Atlantic coastal plain	ATLANTIC COASTAL PLAIN lowland coast region along Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico the 13 American colonies were settled in the Coastal Plain from modern Georgia to Massachusetts note that Massachusetts is part of the Appalachian region, but it was settled along with the Coastal Plain the western barrier to the Coastal Plain is the eastern slope of the Appalachian Mountains
AppalachianLocatorMap2 Appalachian region of United States	APPALACHIAN REGION Appalachian Mountains = mountain range that extends along the western border of the Coastal Plain from Georgia to New England includes sub-regions the Piedmont, Low Plateaus and Mountains the Appalachian Mountains served as a barrier between early American colonies (to the east of the Appalachians along the Coastal Plain) and French and Indian lands (to the west of the Appalachians) all rivers from the eastern slope flow towards the Atlantic Ocean all rivers from the western slope flow towards the Mississippi River after Britain defeated France in the 1854-63 French-Indian War, the entire Appalachian region (and all lands up to the Mississippi River) became British however, the British King prohibited American colonists from occupying it
	INTERIOR LOWLANDS
Satellite image illustrating the Great Plains Great Plains region	GREAT PLAINS REGION
RockyMountains-Range	ROCKY MOUNTAINS REGION high mountain range above and to the east of the Great Basin the "Continental Divide" is in the Rocky Mountains, marking the point at which the land descends to the east or the west important rivers flow from origins in the Rocky Mountains
One of various geographical definitions of the Province The hydrographic Great Basin (magenta outline), distinguished from the Great Basin Desert (black), and the Basin and Range Geological Province (teal).[3] Great Basin map	BASIN AND RANGE the "Great Basin" = a geographic depression (low area) that was once under the sea no rivers or water flow out of the Great Basin the VA & US SOL refers to the "Great Basin" as the "Basin" the Range includes mountains from which water flows into the Great Basin the western border of the Range are the Sierra Nevada Mountains
Northern and Southern Coast Ranges and other major mountain ranges of California	PACIFIC COASTAL RANGE western slope of mountains that border the Great Basin and Rocky Mountains and that produce important rivers that flow into the Pacific Ocean water flow from the mountains allows for great agricultural production in the "central valley" = valley area between the mountains

Rivers of the U.S.

Map of Major Rivers in US	BIG IDEAS rivers start in mountains and flow downhill thus they mark the major regions
US map - rivers and lakes3
Mississippi River Watershed Map Mississippi river map

Indigenous peoples/ Native Americans

pre-1492 (pre-Columbian)

1748	Map showing French possessions in North America just before the French-Indian War (1754)	BIG IDEAS red = British colonies in red, including 13 American striped red = British territory in Canada ceded (surrendered) by France to Britain in 1713 blue = French territory, called "New France" orange = Spanish territory, which includes Florida and parts of modern Southwest US (an area that belonged to Mexico after Mexican independence from Spain) the red (British) and blue (French) territories are separated by the Appalachian Mountains
1775	Map Thirteen Colonies 1775	BIG IDEAS after the French-Indian War (1754-1763), the lands that had belonged to Franch became British Canada all lands east of the Mississippi River France gave control of Louisiana to Spain = lands west of the Mississippi River English King George prohibited colonies from moving west of the Appalachian Mountains he reserved that land for Native Americans ("Indian Territories")