1. What are the two leading theories for how the first peoples came to North America?
6. What is the difference between interior migration and immigration?
7. How did Canada receive their independence from Great Britain?
8. How did humans interact with their environment in this unit? (You can talk about how the first people reached North America, how the early Americans got food- the difference between cultures near the Pacific ocean and those in the Southwest, where the Ancestral Puebloans lived versus where the Mississipians lived, how humans are impacting the flow of the Colorado River, etc.)
9. Compare and contrast the governments of the United States and Canada. (What type of government does each country have? How is the head of government in both countries given their position? Is the head of government and the head of state in Canada the same person? If, not, who is the head of state in Canada?)
1. The two leading theories for how the first peoples came to North America are the land bridge theory and the coastal migration theory. The land bridge theory suggests that the first peoples came to North America via a land bridge that once existed between Asia and North America during the last Ice Age. The coastal migration theory suggests that the first peoples came to North America by traveling along the coastlines in boats or canoes.
6. Interior migration refers to the movement of people within a country from one region to another, while immigration refers to the movement of people from one country to another.
7. Canada received their independence from Great Britain through a gradual process of constitutional reform. In 1867, the British North America Act established the Dominion of Canada, which gave Canada autonomy in domestic affairs. Canada continued to work towards greater autonomy and in 1982 the Constitution Act repatriated Canada's constitution from Britain, making Canada a fully sovereign nation.
8. Humans interacted with their environment in a variety of ways throughout history. The first peoples who came to North America adapted to their environment by hunting, gathering, and fishing. The early Americans developed agricultural techniques that allowed them to survive in different environments, such as the Ancestral Puebloans who lived in the Southwest and the Mississipians who had a more centralized agricultural society. Modern humans are impacting the environment in different ways, such as through the construction of dams on the Colorado River or by causing climate change.
9. The United States has a federal presidential constitutional republic, while Canada has a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. The head of government in the United States is the President, who is elected by the people. The head of government in Canada is the Prime Minister, who is elected by members of parliament. The head of state in Canada is the monarch, who is currently Queen Elizabeth II, but the role is largely ceremonial and symbolic.