Oklahoma Social Studies 6.C.3

Standard Cluster

Identify the characteristics, distribution, and demographic patterns of human populations and systems of the Western Hemisphere. Identify on a political map the major countries and population centers of each region, describing urban, rural, suburban, and metropolitan settlement patterns. Analyze how the characteristics of culture impact people and places. Identify and describe cultural traits (e.g., language, ethnic heritage, religion, traditions, the arts) which are unique to a people and region. Explain how culture provides individuals with a sense of identity and how it is transferred from one generation to the next. Compare major cultural groups of the Western Hemisphere (e.g., American Indian, Indigenous peoples of Canada and Amazonia, French-speaking Canadians, Hispanic Latin America). Define cultural diffusion by describing how cultural characteristics spread and impact contemporary regions (e.g., entertainment, fast foods, social media’s rapid spread of ideas, wide use of the smartphone). Examine the impact of geography on migration and population distribution. Define push factors of migration (e.g., instability, conflict, natural disasters) using historic or contemporary examples (e.g., European colonization, political or religious asylum seekers). Identify and provide examples of pull factors of migration (e.g., economic opportunity, religious freedom, family ties, education). Describe the ethnic heritage of Indigenous cultures of the Western Hemisphere. Explain that various complex societies, economic, and political systems developed on the North and South American continents, each known for unique achievements and contributions prior to the arrival of Europeans. Compare the cultures of Native peoples of the United States of America and Canada (e.g., Ancestral Puebloan, Mississippian, First Nations, Inuit, Metis). Explain how the Olmec and Maya adapted to and modified their environment to develop advanced civilizations in Mesoamerica, featuring advancements in science, architecture, the development of a writing system, and regional trade. Describe how the Aztec conquest of other Indigenous peoples created extensive trade networks and wealth. Explain how the Inca were able to control an expansive empire in the Andes, developing a strong central government and innovations in agriculture. Describe the cultural interactions between American Indian cultures and European settlers which impacted the heritage and history of major regions of the Western Hemisphere. Identify examples of cultural diffusion (e.g., Columbian Exchange: availability of new commodities and technology; assimilation of American Indian into colonial societies). Describe the impact of English and French settlement of North America on cultural characteristics such as language, customs, and principles of self-government. Examine Spanish colonialism of Latin America and its influence on language, religion, and customs, including the practices of privateering and mercantilism. Explain the effects of plantation agriculture and the importation of enslaved labor on the economic development and cultural heritage of regions. Identify the major regions of the Western Hemisphere that received enslaved Africans and explain how European imperial expansion, colonial labor demands, and Atlantic trade networks produced the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026)