Sometimes a piece of land has water flowing only part way around it.

If you take a boat and try to go all around it, you will come to a place where the boat cannot go because there is land there.

This land that is nearly an island, but does not have the water completely around it, is called a peninsula.

Have you ever visited a peninsula? There are peninsulas all over the world and many in the United States. United States peninsulas include the state of Florida, the upper and lower peninsulas of the state of Michigan, and Cape Cod in the state of Massachusetts.

Study this lesson's satellite picture of the Baja California Peninsula of Mexico.

Use your finger or the mouse pointer to try to circle the Baja California Peninsula through the water without crossing land. Why won't you succeed?

Notebook Work: Label the top of your notebook page with "LESSON 8." Sketch the Baja California Peninsula in your notebook, and label your sketch "PENINSULA." Draw the blue water that surrounds your peninsula on three sides only. Make sure your peninsula connects to a larger land mass.