LAKE MICHIGAN AND THE CHICAGO RIVER

The Northwest Territory

Human societies are shaped significantly by their natural environment This environment - involves a complicated - only partly understood - interaction between the solid earth, hydrosphere (oceans, lakes, rivers, …), atmosphere & biosphere (including humans) - changes over time in ways that we only partly understand and can affect societies significantly - is affected in both positive and negative ways - often unpredicted - by human actions

Changing environment has affected societies Vikings settled Greenland ~ 1000 AD, settlement died out ~ 1400 AD

And will do so in the future

Use Chicago to examine how societies are shaped significantly by their natural environment

Chicago – the only easy access by water from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River 1688 Illinois State Museum Great Lakes Atlas

This situation arose from changes in Earth’s climate

Great Lakes Atlas The Great Lakes formed

Illinois State Museum Wisconsin Historical Society 16,000 years ago 1831 And the area has evolved since