Download Geography and Exploration

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Geography Unit
Geography is the study of people, their environments, and their resources.
1. Physical geography is the study of natural features such as climate, plants, animals, and
resources.
2. Human geography is the study of ways people use, depend on, and change their physical
environment.
5 themes of geography: (MR LIP)
1) Location is finding out where something is or what happened. Scientists can measure exact
locations. There is absolute location such as this room or relative location which would be the
city of Early.
2) Place describes what a place is like.
a) Physical characteristics include climate, soil, plant life, animal life, and bodies of
water.
b) Human characteristics are ideas and actions including kinds of houses,
transportation, and ways of earning a living, language, and religion.
3) Human/environment interaction: this theme shows how people use the environment and
how their actions affect it. (ex.) - ancient hunters also became farmers. Native Americans
learned to irrigate. Today advanced technology changes our environment drastically. (Reduces
# of employees by robotics.)
4). The Movement of people, goods, and ideas. Human systems: how people shaped our world
Immigration of people (to the U.S. for religious freedom, California gold rush)
5). Regions are areas of the world with similar unifying characteristics (ex) Great Plains.
(Physical-climate/landform) Ethnic-San Francisco- China town
Latitude measures distances north and south from the equator. The latitude lines run east and west.
The equator is at 0 degrees latitude and divides the earth into hemispheres. 10 degrees north -90
degrees north is the North Pole 10 degrees south -90 degrees south is the South Pole.
Longitude measures distances east and west from the Prime Meridian. (0 degrees longitude) the lines
runs north to south, 1 degree to 179 degrees east or west longitude, 180 degrees lies directly opposite
of the prime meridian that divides the world into eastern and western hemispheres. (International Date
Line is where you either gain or lose a day depending on the direction you are traveling)
North America and South America are the world's third and 4th largest continents. These two
continents plus the islands of the Caribbean Sea make up the Western Hemisphere.
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8 Physical Regions of U.S.
1) Pacific coast is the highest and most rugged part of North America. Mts- Cascades and Sierra
Nevada. Important cities- Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco.
2) Intermountain region: region of rugged mountains, plateaus, deep canyons, and deserts.
Features are the Grand Canyon and the Great Salt Lake.
3) Rocky mountains.: Alaska through Canada and into U.S.-Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas
4) Interior plains, between the Rocky Mountains and Appalachian Mountains, is a large lowland
area. Dry western part is the Great Plains. Eastern part is the Central Plains.
5) Appalachian Mountains are in the eastern part of the U.S. it goes by several different names:
Green Mountains, Alleghenies, Blue Ridge, and Great Smokies. They are lower and less rugged
than the Rockies. They are the oldest mountain range in the Americas.
6) Canadian Shield is a small lowland area rich in minerals and poor soil. The states of
Minnesota and Wisconsin are in this region.
7) Coastal plains are separated into 2 parts: Atlantic plain (New York City and Boston to Florida)
between the Appalachian Mountains and Atlantic Ocean. Gulf plain is located along the Gulf of
Mexico and has large deposits of petroleum. New Orleans and Houston are in this region.
8) Hawaiian Islands are 2400 miles west of California. It is 8 large islands and many tiny islands.
The islands are the tops of volcanoes. Still active volcanoes are Mauna Loa on the island of
Hawaii (13,677 feet).
Rivers and lakes
1) Most important river system in America is the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Tributaries
are streams and smaller rivers that flow into the Mississippi river. (Ohio, Tennessee, Arkansas,
and Platte rivers)
2) Rio Grande and St. Lawrence rivers serve as political boundaries between U.S. and Mexico,
and Canada.
3) Great lakes are 5 large lakes between the U.S. and Canada. (HOMES)
a) Lake Huron
b) Lake Ontario
c) Lake Michigan
d) Lake Erie
e) Lake Superior
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Exploration Lecture Notes
I. Expanding Horizons
A. (1271) Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant who visited China (Asia).
Marco Polo’s book, Travels, written in 1295, described his travels to Asia. It inspired
Columbus and other explorers to journey to these lands 200 years later.
B. The cities of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa (along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea)
became centers of the growing trade in goods such as spices, silks, perfumes, and
precious stones from the Orient.
C. The Renaissance (rebirth), a period of renewed interest in classical Greek and
Roman learning, spread throughout Europe in the 1400s. It encouraged Europeans to
pursue new ideas and challenges and set the stage for exploration and discovery. The
invention of the printing press by Johann Gutenberg made the Renaissance possible.
II. Powerful Nations Emerge
A. The development of large nation-states in Western Europe helped spark foreign trade
and travel outside the region.
B. The monarchies of Spain, Portugal, England, and France looked for ways to
increase the power and wealth of their countries. (Mercantilism)
Did You Know? In the 1400s, the astrolabe was the explorer’s most
important tool to determine latitude at sea, although it had already existed
for more than a thousand years. Islamic societies had been using the
instrument beginning around A.D. 800. Today, the largest astrolabe
collection in North America can be found at the Adler Planetarium
in Chicago, Illinois.
III. Technology’s Impact
A. Better maps and navigational instruments, such as the astrolabe and compass, helped
navigators more accurately determine direction and location.
B. Larger and sturdier sailing vessels, such as the caravel, enabled sailors to travel faster
and carry more people, cargo, and food. The Stern Rudder (steering wheel) and the
Triangular sails introduced by the Arabs allowed the caravel to sail into the wind. The
rudder was like a steering wheel and the sails would catch the wind from any direction.
C. These advances enabled sailors to explore new routes, especially a sea route to
Asia. Portugal and Spain began searching for routes to Asia and traveled south to the
West Coast of Africa.
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Seeking New Trade Routes
I. Trade Routes
A. The Portuguese were the leaders of early exploration. They hoped to find a new
route to China and India. They also helped to find a more direct way to get West African
gold. Ships sailed south along the coast of West Africa (also called the Gold Coast)
where they traded for gold and ivory and began buying slaves in the mid-1400s.
B. The Vikings reached North America and established settlements in Iceland and
Greenland in the 800s and 900s (discovered by Eric the Red). Leif Eriksson landed in
Newfoundland in about 1000. These voyages were known only to the Scandinavians and
not to Europeans.
C. Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain sponsored Columbus on his first
voyage in August 1492. He set out with three ships (Nina, Pinta and the Santa Maria)
to find a route to Asia. On October 12, 1492, he spotted land, named it San Salvador,
and claimed it for Spain. He did not know that he had reached the Americas. He was
convinced that he had reached the East Indies.
D. Columbus made three additional voyages in 1493, 1498, and 1502. He explored the
Caribbean islands of Hispaniola, Cuba, and Jamaica and sailed along the coasts of
Central America and northern South America. He claimed these lands for Spain.
E. The Treaty of Tordesillas was signed by Spain and Portugal to clarify the line of
demarcation between their lands in the Americas. Spain was to have control of all the
lands to the west of the line, and Portugal was to have control of all the lands to the east
of the line.
Did You Know? An Italian mapmaker, Amerigo Vespucci, went to Brazil to help King Manuel I of Portugal
gather information to form the Treaty of Tordesillas. Vespucci made a map of South
America and sold copies to a German cartographer. Amerigo Vespucci’s name appeared on the map, giving
him credit. However, many people misunderstood and thought the land portion of the map was labeled
“America.”
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Spanish Colonies
I. Spanish Conquistadors
A. Conquistadors were explorers who settled in the Americas. They received land grants from
Spanish rulers in exchange for one-fifth of gold or treasure taken from the Americas.
B. In 1521 Hernándo Cortés conquered the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán. He took their
emperor Montezuma prisoner and gained control of the region.
C. Francisco Pizarro captured the Inca ruler Atahualpa in 1532 and later gained control of the
Inca Empire.
D. The Spanish conquistadors conquered great Native American empires with their strong armies
using guns, cannons, and horses. Because the Native Americans had no immunity to European
diseases, many of them became sick and died.
II. Spain in North America
A. Spanish conquistadors also explored the southeastern and southwestern parts of North
America in hopes of finding riches. Many conquistadors searched for wealth and the “seven
cities of gold.” Some lost their lives as they searched for these cities because of stormy weather,
lack of supplies, and illness. (Hernando de Soto, Juan Ponce de Leon, etc.)
B. Francisco Vásquez de Coronado traveled through northern Mexico and present-day Arizona
and New Mexico. In 1540 he reached the Zuni town of Cibola but found no gold. (7 cities of
gold)
C. Reasons for Spanish Exploration
1. Gold
2. God
3. Glory
III. New Spain
A. Spain had a large empire in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central, and South America called
New Spain. To keep control and protect their claims, they sent soldiers, missionaries, and settlers
north of this region into
1. Present-day New Mexico, where Santa Fe was founded in 1610
2. Arizona in the late 1600s
3. The region that is now Texas in the early 1700s, establishing San Antonio and other
military posts
4. California
B. In California Spanish priests built missions to convert people to Catholicism. In 1769
Junípero Serra founded a mission at San Diego. Many more missions that eventually became
large cities were established along the El Camino Real.
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C. The Spanish established three kinds of settlements in the Americas.
1. Pueblos or towns were centers of trade.
2. Missions were religious communities.
3. Presidios were forts and usually built near a mission.
D. The Spanish developed a system of encomiendas that created enslaved Native Americans. A
conquistador could demand taxes and labor from the Native Americans living on the land. Many
Native Americans died from malnutrition and disease because of this grueling labor. Bartolomé
de Las Casas, a priest, condemned this harsh treatment and fought against it. As a result, Spain
passed the New Laws in 1542 that forbade enslaving Native Americans.
E. The Spanish also developed the plantation system or large estate. The Spanish used Native
Americans to work on the plantations, but in the mid-1500s, Africans were transported from
West Africa to replace enslaved Native Americans. As a result, slave labor became an essential
part of the Spanish and Portuguese economies.
England, France and Netherlands
I. Economic Rivalry
A. The exploration of the Americas created rivalries between European countries to acquire
colonies there. These colonies provided resources and a market to sell European products.
Mercantilism was an economic theory where a country’s power was based on its wealth.
Rulers tried to increase their wealth by acquiring gold and silver. It increased rivalry
between the nations.
B. The Columbian Exchange was a two-way exchange between the Americas and Europe, Asia,
or Africa. The exchange included crops, livestock, and other goods for enslaved Africans who
worked on the plantations. Disease was a result of this exchange since Native Americans did not
have the immunity to fight off European germs.
C. England, France, and the Netherlands searched for a more direct route to Asia to compete
with Spain and Portugal, who had claimed most of the Americas. This became known as the
Northwest Passage. Instead of traveling around South America, they sailed along the northern
coast to North America.
D. John Cabot probably landed on the coast of Newfoundland in 1497. England was then able to
establish claims in North America.
E. Jacques Cartier also sailed for France. He sailed up the St. Lawrence River and founded
Mont-Royal or Montreal.
F. Henry Hudson sailed for the Dutch. He discovered the Hudson River in 1609. He sailed as
far north as Albany. In 1610, while sailing for England, he discovered Hudson Bay, thinking
that he had reached the Pacific Ocean.
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II. New France
A. The French settlement in the Americas grew slowly. The French were interested
mainly in the fishing and fur trade at first. Their settlement called New France became a
royal colony in 1663. They had settlements in two regions:
1. North in Quebec and along the St. Lawrence River. They consisted mostly
of forts, trading posts, and later large estates.
2. The French first explored the Mississippi River. Robert de La Salle sailed
down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico and claimed the region
called Louisiana for France. In 1718 the port city of New Orleans was
founded.
B. The French respected the ways of the Native Americans, so they had better
relations with them than did other Europeans. The fur trappers or coureurs du bois
traveled far into Native American territory, so they needed to learn to live among the
Native Americans. These trappers did not push the Native Americans off their land. The
missionaries did not try to change their customs.
III. New Netherlands
A. The Dutch established trading posts along the Hudson River. (Present day New
York)
B. Their trading post had a deep harbor and they called it New Amsterdam.
C. They were interested in economic opportunities from fishing and fur trading, not
building an empire.