Rio grande river fun facts: Rio Grande River Facts & Worksheets, History, Geography & Location

Rio Grande River Facts & Worksheets, History, Geography & Location

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Rio Grande is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwest United States and northern Mexico. The Rio Grande begins in south-central Colorado in the United States and flows to the Gulf of Mexico.

See the fact file below for more information on the Rio Grande or alternatively, you can download our 21-page Rio Grande worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

QUICK FACTS ABOUT THE RIO GRANDE

• The Rio Grande is the fifth longest river in North America (1,900 miles).
• It forms a border between Texas and Mexico.
• The Rio Grande begins in the Rocky Mountains and flows into the Gulf of Mexico in the south.
• The watershed of the Rio Grande is approximately 335,000 square miles.
• Other names for the Rio Grande have included Tewa (meaning “Big River”), Keresan (also meaning “Big River”), and Rio Bravo.
• The Rio Grande was a major steamboat transportation route in the 1800s, helping to transport military personnel during the Mexican War.
• The Rio Grande has been listed as an endangered river for several years.
• In 2001, a sandbar formed along the river, preventing it from reaching the Gulf of Mexico. It happened again in 2002.
• Much of the land it flows through is drought-ridden land.

HISTORY AND ECONOMY OF THE RIO GRANDE

• The Rio Grande marked an area of disputed territory between Mexico and the United States (Texas).
• The squabbling over the boundary line came to a head and sparked the US Invasion of Mexico (also known as the Mexican-American War).
• In the early 1800s, Mexico still considered Texas a part of its territory and hadn’t recognized the Republic of Texas, which had seceded about 10 years prior.
• In 1845, the US annexed the Republic of Texas and occupied the land along the upper Rio Grande. By the time the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in 1948, Mexico acknowledged the loss of Texas and that the Rio
  Grande was its permanent physical border with the US.
• The cities of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua to the Gulf of Mexico are now officially the border between the two countries.
• In 1899, a channel was dug for flood control as a result of changing the river’s position in order to construct railway bridges and roads.
• In 1997, the US designated the Rio Grande as an American Heritage River, which was acknowledged by Mexico.
• Increases in population between the US and Mexico prompted the creation of treaties surrounding the water, which concerned shared use of the waters and the hydroelectricity it produces.
• The Rio Grande provides water for just over 2 million acres of cropland.
• Crops grown with help from the Rio Grande include potatoes, alfalfa, cotton, pecans, grapes, citrus fruits, and Vegetables. The land is also used for animal agriculture and mining.
• The land is also used recreationally.

GEOGRAPHY OF THE RIO GRANDE

• The Rio Grande is a culmination of the joining of several small streams in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.
• From that point, it flows southeast and south for about 175 miles through Colorado and across New Mexico. From there it flows through Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas until finally draining into the Gulf of Mexico.
• The Rio Grande rises in the Rocky Mountains and for much of its length it flows at a high elevation point.
• The Rio Grande’s main tributaries are the Pecos, Devils, Chama, and Puerco rivers located in the US, as well as the Concos, Salado, and San Juan located in Mexico.
• Peak flow in the higher regions of the river occur in May or June when the snow begins to melt.
• Geographically, the Rio Grande is a vulnerable river due to its location among drought-prone land, as well as dams and irrigation diversions, which have left many parts of the river completely dry.
• Water supply in the river has been declining for years.
• Habitat restoration projects were initiated by leasing irrigation water along the riverbanks.
• It is estimated that 95% of the river’s average annual flow goes towards municipal and agricultural use.
• Diversion in the river has changed the water’s flow so much that only approximately 20% of the water actually reaches the Gulf of Mexico.
• The Rio Grande is listed under the Endangered Species Act, and has been for many years now.

Rio Grande Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about Rio Grande across 21 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Rio Grande worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the Rio Grande which is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwest United States and northern Mexico. The Rio Grande begins in south-central Colorado in the United States and flows to the Gulf of Mexico.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

• Rio Grande Crossword
• Examine the Picture
• The Bosque Habitat
• A Grande Poem
• Rio Grande Wordsearch
• Wonderful Water
• Fill-in-the-Blanks
• Flora Flow
• Conserving Water
• The Mexican-American War

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

Mexico Facts for Kids

Mexico (Spanish: México, official name: United Mexican States (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos, ) is a country in North America. Mexico is south of Texas and other American states. Guatemala and Belize are south of Mexico. Mexico is between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

People living in Mexico or who are from there are called Mexicans. Most Mexican people speak Spanish. There are also Mexicans who speak Native American languages, like Nahuatl, Maya, and Zapotec. The capital of Mexico is Mexico City.

Contents

• History
• Politics
• States
• Geography
• People
• Economy
• Tourism
• Cuisine
• Related pages
• Images for kids

History

Before the Europeans came, many Native American cultures existed in Mexico. The earliest was the Olmec culture in the south. The Olmecs are famous for the large stone heads they made. On the Yucatán peninsula lived the Mayans. The Mayans lived in city states ruled by kings. The Mayans were most powerful between 200 and 900 A.D. Another powerful empire belonged to Teotihuacan. Teotihuacan was a very large city, one of the largest at that time. After Teotihuacan declined the Toltecs became powerful. Things made by the Toltecs have been found from the southern parts of the U.S. all the way to Costa Rica. A famous Toltec god is Quetzalcoatl. The Toltec culture declined too, and it was succeeded by the Aztecs. The Aztecs called their own empire Mexico. A famous Aztec king was Moctezuma II.

Depiction of the founding myth of Mexico-Tenochtitlan from the Codex Mendoza.

View of the Pyramid of the Moon and entrance to the Quetzalpapálotl Palace. During its peak in the Classic era, Teotihuacan dominated the Valley of Mexico and exerted political and cultural influence in other areas, such as in the Petén Basin.

In 1519 the Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés came to Mexico. The Aztecs thought he was the returned Quetzalcoatl, so they did not want to fight against him. Cortes allied himself with the enemies of the Aztecs. In 1521 they conquered the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan. The Aztec Empire became part of Spain. It was called New Spain.

In 1810 the Mexican priest Miguel Hidalgo started the Mexican war of independence. In 1821 the Spanish finally retreated and Mexico became independent. The first leader of independent Mexico was Agustin de Iturbide. He set up the First Mexican Empire and became emperor. But the Mexicans were not happy with him, and in 1823 the country became a republic.

A man who was very important in Mexico in the early 19th century was Antonio López de Santa Anna. He was the president of Mexico 11 times. When he became a dictator, Texas declared independence (1836). The Battle of the Alamo was part of this Texas Revolution. Between 1846 and 1848 there was war between Mexico and the United States. In this war Mexico lost its large northern areas, which became the southwestern United States. After this war Santa Anna was sent away to Venezuela.

Between 1858 and 1861 there was war again, between liberals and conservatives. The liberal Benito Juárez won the war and became president afterwards. Juarez stayed president until France invaded Mexico and made Maximilian of Habsburg emperor of the Second Mexican Empire. But Maximilian was very unpopular. After more war he was executed in 1867, and Juarez became president again.

Conservatives thought Juarez had too much power. In 1876 they ousted him, and made Porfirio Díaz, a general who had won a battle against the French, president. Porfirio Díaz made the country wealthier, but the poor people became poorer. Franciso I. Madero started the Mexican Revolution in 1910.

The next 10 years the country was in chaos. There were many presidents who ruled for a short time and all kinds of people fought against each other. Famous people from this period are Emiliano Zapata, Pancho Villa and Francisco I. Madero. When Álvaro Obregón became president in 1920 the fighting calmed down.

In 1929 President Plutarco Elías Calles founded the National Mexican Party, PNM. The party was later renamed Institutional Revolutionary Party, PRI. The party would rule for a very long time. Most PRI presidents were not popular, it was said that they were only president to become richer themselves. An exception was president Lázaro Cárdenas. He was president between 1934 and 1940.

After several decades more and more people became unhappy with the PRI. In 1968 security forces shot at protesters, this caused several hundred deaths and became known as the Tlatelolco massacre. Another uprising was in 1994 when Zapatistas rebelled in the province Chiapas.

Mainly through ballot box fraud the PRI managed to stay into power until 2000, when Vicente Fox of the National Action Party, PAN, was elected president. In total the PRI had governed Mexico for 71 years.

Politics

Mexico is a constitutional federal democracy ruled by a president. The president is elected every 6 years. The current president is Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Parliament has a Senate and House of Deputies.

States

Geography

Mexico is in the southern part of North America. It is roughly shaped like a triangle. Mexico is more than 3000 km (1,850 miles) long from northwest to southeast. Mexico is between two large seas: the Pacific Ocean in the West and the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea in the East. Mexico has two large peninsulas. Baja California in the northwest, and Yucatán in the southeast. In central and western Mexico are the Sierra Madre mountains. In the Sierra Madre is the Pico de Orizaba, the highest mountain of Mexico. In central Mexico there are also a few volcanoes like the Popocatépetl and the Iztaccíhuatl. The Pico de Orizaba is also a volcano. In the north of Mexico are deserts. In the south are tropical rainforests. Some rivers in Mexico are the Río Bravo (known in the US as the Rio Grande), the Río Balsas, the Río Pánuco, and the Río Yaqui.

• Landscapes of Mexico

People

Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world. It is also the second most populous country in Latin America (after Brazil). 60% of Mexicans have Native American and European forefathers; these are called mestizos. Almost 30% of Mexicans are pure Native American and 10% are European. Most Mexicans (90%) speak Spanish. 10% of the Mexicans speak a Native American language, like Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, Maya or Zapotec. Most people in Mexico are Roman Catholic (89%) and 6% are Protestant.

Economy

A limited edition mexican made 1996 Volkswagen Sedán Harlekin

The electronics industry of Mexico has grown enormously within the last decade. Mexico has the sixth largest electronics industry in the world after China, United States, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Mexico is the second largest exporter of electronics to the United States where it exported $71.4 billion worth of electronics in 2011. The Mexican electronics industry is dominated by the manufacture and OEM design of televisions, displays, computers, mobile phones, circuit boards, semiconductors, electronic appliances, communications equipment and LCD modules. The Mexican electronics industry grew 20% between 2010 and 2011, up from its constant growth rate of 17% between 2003 and 2009. Currently electronics represent 30% of Mexico’s exports.

Mexico produces the most automobiles of any North American nation. The industry produces technologically complex components and engages in some research and development activities. The “Big Three” (General Motors, Ford and Chrysler) have been operating in Mexico since the 1930s, while Volkswagen and Nissan built their plants in the 1960s. In Puebla alone, 70 industrial part-makers cluster around Volkswagen. In the 2010s expansion of the sector was surging. In 2014 alone, more than $10 billion in investment was committed. In September 2016 Kia motors opened a $1 billion factory in Nuevo León, with Audi also opening an assembling plant in Puebla the same year. BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Nissan currently have plants in construction.

Tourism

Street in the historic center of Morelia. Mexico has historical architecture in most of its towns being the country with the highest number of Colonial buildings and structures in all of the Americas and also placing a vast number of Pre-colonial monuments.

Mexico has traditionally been among the most visited countries in the world according to the World Tourism Organization and it is the most visited country in the Americas after the United States.

The most notable attractions are the Mesoamerican ruins, cultural festivals, colonial cities, nature reserves and the beach resorts. The nation’s wide range of climates, from temperate to tropical, and unique culture – a fusion of the European and the Mesoamerican – make Mexico an attractive destination. The peak tourism seasons in the country are during December and the mid-Summer, with brief surges during the week before Easter and Spring break, when many of the beach resort sites become popular destinations for college students from the United States.

Cuisine

In 2005, Mexico presented the candidature of its gastronomy for World Heritage Site of UNESCO, being the first occasion in which a country had presented its gastronomic tradition for this purpose. However, in a first instance the result was negative, because the committee did not place the proper emphasis on the importance of corn in Mexican cuisine. Finally, on November 16 of 2010 Mexican gastronomy was recognized as Intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.

The origin of the current Mexican cuisine is established during the Spanish colonization, being a mixture of the foods of Spain and the native indigenous. Of foods originated in Mexico is the corn, the pepper vegetables (together with Central and South America), calabazas (together with the Americas), avocados, sweet potato (together with Central and South America), the turkey (together with the Americas) and other fruits and spices. Other Indigenous products are many beans. Similarly, some cooking techniques used today are inherited from pre-Hispanic peoples, such as the nixtamalization of corn, the cooking of food in ovens at ground level, grinding in molcajete and metate. With the Spaniards came the pork, beef and chicken meats; peppercorn, sugar, milk and all its derivatives, wheat and rice, citrus fruits and another constellation of ingredients that are part of the daily diet of Mexicans.

From this meeting of millennia old two culinary traditions, were born pozole, mole sauce, barbacoa and tamale is in its current forms, the chocolate, a large range of breads, tacos, and the broad repertoire of Mexican street foods. Beverages such as atole, champurrado, milk chocolate and aguas frescas were born; desserts such as acitrón and the full range of crystallized sweets, rompope, cajeta, jericaya and the wide repertoire of delights created in the convents of nuns in all parts of the country.

Related pages

• List of rivers of Mexico
• Mexico at the Olympics
• Mexico national football team

Images for kids

• View of the Pyramid of the Sun in the ancient city-state of Teotihuacan, which was the 6th largest city in the world at its peak (1 AD to 500 AD)

• Temple of Kukulcán (El Castillo) in the maya city of Chichen Itza

• Mural by Diego Rivera depicting a view from the Tlatelolco markets into Mexico-Tenochtitlan, the largest city in the Americas at the time.

• Storming of the Teocalli by Cortez and his Troops (1848)

• View of the Plaza Mayor (today Zócalo) in Mexico City (ca. 1695) by Cristóbal de Villalpando

• Luis de Mena, Virgin of Guadalupe and castas, showing race mixture and hierarchy as well as fruits of the realm, ca. 1750

• Siege of the Alhondiga de Granaditas, Guanajuato, 28 Sept. 1810.

• General Antonio López de Santa Anna

• Portrait of Liberal President Benito Juárez

• The Execution of Emperor Maximilian, 19 June 1867. Gen. Tomás Mejía, left, Maximiian, center, Gen. Miguel Miramón, right. Painting by Édouard Manet 1868.

• Francisco I. Madero, who challenged Díaz in the fraudulent 1910 election and was elected president when Díaz was forced to resign in May 1911.

• Revolutionary Generals Pancho Villa (left) and Emiliano Zapata (right)

• NAFTA signing ceremony, October 1992. From left to right: (standing) President Carlos Salinas de Gortari (Mexico), President George H. W. Bush (U.S.), and Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (Canada)

• Vicente Fox and his opposition National Action Party won the 2000 general election, ending one-party rule.

• Topographic map of Mexico

• Pico de Orizaba, the highest mountain in Mexico

• Mexican wolf

• Mexico City, the financial center of Mexico

• Mexican Stock Exchange building

• Telmex Tower, Mexico City.

• The Central Eólica Sureste I, Fase II in Oaxaca.

• Large Millimeter Telescope in Puebla.

• Cancún and the Riviera Maya is the most visited region in Latin America

• The Baluarte Bridge was the highest cable-stayed bridge in the world, the fifth-highest bridge overall and is the highest bridge in the Americas.

• Las castas. Casta painting showing 16 racial groupings, 18th century, Museo Nacional del Virreinato, Tepotzotlán, Mexico.

• Regional variation of ancestry according to a study made by Ruiz-Linares in 2014, each dot represents a volunteer, with most coming from south Mexico and Mexico City.

• Map for the year 2000 of the indigenous languages of Mexico having more than 100,000 speakers.

• Mexico–United States barrier between San Diego’s border patrol offices in California, USA (left) and Tijuana, Mexico (right)

• Central Library of the National Autonomous University of Mexico

• Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, two of the most famous mexican artists

• Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts), with murals, other artwork, and a major performance space

• Mole sauce, which has dozens of varieties across the Republic, is seen as a symbol of Mexicanidad and is considered Mexico’s national dish.

• Octavio Paz, the only mexican awarded with the Nobel Prize in Literature

• Alfonso Cuarón, the first mexican filmmaker to win the Academy Award for Best Director

• Mexican composer Carlos Chávez

• Televisa headquarters in Mexico City

• Azteca Stadium, Mexico City.

All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:

Mexico Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.

what are the largest inland waters, interesting facts

Content:

• North America and its main waterways
• Inland waters, ocean basin rivers
• The largest rivers, description, interesting facts
• How many rivers, lakes and waterfalls are on the mainland

Contents

• North America and its main waterways
• Inland waters, ocean basin rivers
• The largest rivers, description, interesting facts
• How many rivers, lakes and waterfalls are on the mainland

North America and its main waterways

North America is washed by three oceans: Pacific, Atlantic, Arctic. The shores of the mainland are strongly dissected, so there are many straits and bays.

The continent is connected to South America by the Panama Canal, a large navigable artery located on the territory of Panama. With Eurasia – the Bering Strait.

Among the largest seas adjacent to the coast of North America are the Baffin Sea, the Bering Sea and the Caribbean Sea.

Caution! If the teacher detects plagiarism in the work, major problems cannot be avoided (up to expulsion). If it is not possible to write yourself, order here.

Note

The Panama Canal is a human creation. Its construction became one of the most complex projects of the 19th and 20th centuries. Vessels of all kinds can move freely along the canal, from small private yachts to huge container ships.

Inland waters, rivers of oceanic basins

The northern part of the continent belongs to the Arctic Ocean basin. Plain rivers prevail here, the valleys of which are distinguished by a large number of swamps and lakes. Due to the cold climate, significant sections of the rivers remain under ice for most of the year. Many of them freeze to the very bottom. These rivers include the Bluenose, Mackenzie, Canning.

In the west, in the south-west, there are rivers belonging to the Atlantic Ocean basin. These are the Bronx, Tallulah, Mohawk, Tar and the main water artery – the Mississippi, stretching for 3778 km, having two large tributaries: the Missouri on the left and the Ohio on the right. In this area, water bodies are mostly fed by rain, so floods are not uncommon during heavy rains.

The East Coast adjoins the Pacific Ocean. Here the largest are Yukon, Colorado, Colombia. They are characterized by fast flow and low water temperature, but, despite this, they are extremely important for humans: it is in this place that all the fish riches of Alaska are concentrated.

The largest rivers, description, interesting facts

The largest rivers in North America are:

1. Mississippi. It flows only through the United States, flows in a southerly direction, is considered the thirteenth longest in the world. The Mississippi Valley is one of the most fertile regions in the United States.
2. Mackenzie. The largest river in Canada. It stretches for 1738 km, is a major shipping route, carries out the withdrawal of fresh water to the Arctic Ocean: almost 11% of the fresh water of the ocean gets there from Mackenzie.
3. Yukon. In the language of the local Gwich’in tribe, the name “Yukon” means “Big River”. Before the sale of Alaska, it belonged to the Russian lands. Later went to America. An interesting fact of its history is the phenomenon of the “gold rush” – the mass production of gold on the Klondike tributary river.
4. Rio Grande. It has a length of 2870 km, is the border between Mexico and the United States. In Mexico it is called the Rio Bravo del Norte.
5. Colorado. The largest water artery of the southwestern United States, stretching for 2334 km. It is actively used to generate electricity, has many dangerous rapids, waterfalls.
6. Columbia. A river with a rich geography: it passes through the US states of Oregon and Washington, the Canadian province of British Columbia. 14 hydroelectric power stations have been built on it, using a significant elevation difference along the entire channel.
7. St. Lawrence River. Passes through Canada and the USA, connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes. It is notable for the fact that streams of salt and fresh water coexist in it. On the river you can meet blue whales, fin whales, beluga whales.

The Brazos, Churchill and Fraser Rivers are also large. The first belongs to the state of Texas, the second was called Hamilton until 1965 and flows through the territory of the Labrador Peninsula. The third is the main water artery of British Columbia in Canada.

How many rivers, lakes and waterfalls are on the mainland

If not only large, but also all small rivers are included in the list of rivers, the total number will exceed 300 thousand names.