What are the Great Plains of North America?

The Great Plains of North America is a wide area of flat grassland covering the continent for 1,800 miles from north to south and 500 miles from west to east. The region covers all or part of three Canadian provinces and 10 U.S. states.

The Great Plains region cover states such as Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming, often called "the Heartland" or "the Breadbasket of the World." People often call the portion of the Great Plains located in Canada "the Prairies." Events that occurred in this area include the massacre at Wounded Knee and the Dust Bowl. The Great Plains' claim to fame is its cattle ranches and farms.