Grade 6 · Social Studies · Lesson 13

Major rivers and watersheds

Look at any world map and you will see rivers branching across every continent like the veins of a giant leaf. Rivers are how Earth carries fresh water from the high places where rain and snow fall down to the oceans where it began. They have also been the highways, water supplies, and fertile farmlands of human history.

What this lesson teaches

1Identify the longest and largest rivers in the world and the continents they drain
2Define a watershed and explain how it collects water for a river system
3Distinguish the source, course, and mouth of a river
4Explain why major early civilisations grew up along great rivers

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