The Midwest From T he Midwest, Article Reading Level 1.

The Midwest, or Middle West, is a region in the north-central United States. The Midwest includes the states of O hio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. A few notable features of the Midwest are the Great Lakes and the city of Chicago, Illinois.

Please color the states that make up the Midwest.

Read the passage, use the map to help make connections to the text.

The Midwest can be divided into two sections: the Northwest Territory and the Great Plains. The Northwest Territory (Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin) entered the United States in 1783 at the end of the American Revolution. The area was linked to the northeast at first by canals and then by railroads. This allowed close ties between the two areas. The Northwest Territory, like the northern states, became a manufacturing area. The Northwest Territory produced the antislavery Republican Party and Abraham Lincoln.

After reading the passage, answer the following questions. Make sure to restate the question.

1. How many sections can the Midwest be divided into? ______

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2. What are the names of the states in the NorthWest Territory? ______

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3. Using the Map- Name the three main rivers that are in the NorthWest Territory. ______

______From T he Midwest, Article Reading Level 1.

History Humans may have begun taming animals and growing small crops as many as 10,000 years ago. However, many early people were nomads, or wanderers who moved from place to place. They found their foods in the wild as they traveled. They hunted, fished, and gathered nuts, berries, and roots.

1. How long ago did humans begin taming animals? ______

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Eventually, people learned to keep some animals in herds. They stopped roaming and began to settle in one place for longer times. They built homes and started to grow their own crops on the land around them. The crops provided a more dependable food supply than hunting and gathering. Small settlements grew into villages, towns, and cities.

2. What provided a more dependable food supply then hunting? ______

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3. Small settlements grew into ______, ______, and ______.

About 200 years ago the Industrial Revolution brought great changes to agriculture. In the past people had used hand tools and animals to help them plant and harvest. Machines invented during the Industrial Revolution made that work easier. As a result, not as many workers were needed on farms. Many people moved away from farms to cities in search of jobs.

4. How long ago did the industrial Revolution bring great changes to agriculture? ______

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5. Why did people move away from farms and cities? ______

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Today most agriculture takes place far outside big cities. Huge companies control much of the world’s farmland. Crops grow on large plots of land with the help of irrigation and special chemicals. In poor countries, however, many people still depend on their own small farms and herding to survive.

6. Where does most agriculture take place today? ______

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