ELEMENTARY GEOGRAPHY Part Eight: Things people make So far, all of the Tennessee products that we've talked about -- crops, livestock, and rocks -- are basically part of nature. But today all of those things make up only a small percentage of Tennessee's products. Today, most people make their living making things or producing a service for other people. Here are examples: People working in the Nissan plant in Smyrna PHOTO: Nissan Not long ago there wasn't an automobile industry in Tennessee. But in 1980 that changed when Nissan announced it was building a truck assembly plant in Smyrna. A few years later General Motors announced it was building a plant in Spring Hill that would build a new brand of car called Saturn. Dolly Parton, who makes music People have been producing great music in Tennessee for a long time. Today there are people in Tennessee who make their living by writing songs, producing songs and singing songs. But make no mistake: music is one of the hardest ways to make a living. For every person who makes it, probably ten people try and fail to do so. One of Tennessee's many abandoned apparel factores It used to be that there were clothing factories all over Tennessee -- factories that made shoes, socks, jeans, jackets, and other things that people wore. Today the clothing (or apparel) industry is not nearly as big as it used to be. But there are still a few factories in the state that make clothes. How we're all related Finally, we want to point out that we in Tennessee depend on one another. For example: There are two places in Tennessee where they take car parts, put them together and make cars. These places are the Nissan plant in Smyrna and the Saturn plant in Spring Hill. But keep in mind that they only put the car parts together in Smyrna and Spring Hill. All the parts -- the engines and the steering wheels and the doors and the seats and everything else -- are made somewhere else. In fact there are HUNDREDS of factories in Tennessee that make parts that are sent straight to the Nissan and Saturn assembly plants. What might happen to all the factories that made car parts if the Nissan or Saturn plant shut down? What might happen to the factories that make car parts if the Nissan or Saturn plants got bigger? Time for a quiz on what you've learned in elementary geography. Click here.