Download what is geography?

WHAT IS GEOGRAPHY?
- Geography is the study of the Earth and its people
LOCATION
- Location describes where something is
- Exact location is mainly measured by latitude and longitude, which is a system
of gridlines that pinpoint the location of a place
- Relative location is used to find the location of a place by using surrounding
land marks to describe where something is in relation to that landmark
PLACE
- Place describes the physical and human characteristics that make a location unique
- Physical features are specific things that you find in that location
* Examples: climate, plants, animals, bodies of water
- Human features include types of houses that are built there, how people earn a
living, languages, and religions
Interaction Between People and Their Environment
- This is the relationship between people and their environment
- Basically asks what do people do to make the life as comfortable and enjoyable
as they can in the place that they live
- How do they adapt to their surroundings?
MOVEMENT
- Movement is how and why people, ideas, and goods move from one place to
another
- These movements may have great cultural change on an area
REGIONS
- Regions are areas that share common characteristics
- These include characteristics such as land, natural resources, or population
SOLAR SYSTEM
• Inner planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
– Small and solid planets
• Outer planets – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
• Each planet follows an orbit around the sun
EARTH’S MOVEMENT
• Earth takes 365 ¼ days to make one revolution around the sun (one year)
– Every four years we have a leap year to account for the ¼ day each year
(February 29)
• As the Earth orbits the sun, it also rotates on its axis
– One rotation every 24 hours
– The reason we do not feel the earth rotating is due to the atmosphere
SOLSTICES
• On June 21, the Tropic of Cancer receives the most direct rays of the sun making it
summer in the northern hemisphere and winter in the southern hemisphere
• Most hours of daylight per day in northern hemisphere and the least amount of
sunlight per day in the southern hemisphere
• On December 22, the sun’s rays are the opposite of June 21 so they are most direct
over Tropic of Capricorn (winter in N. Hemisphere/summer in S. Hemisphere)
•
EQUINOX
• On September 23 and March 21, the sun’s rays are the most direct over the Equator
• The number of daylight hours are equal in both hemispheres
• Sept. 23 is first day of fall in north and first day of spring in south
• March 21 is first day of spring in the north and first day of fall in south
EFFECTS OF LATITUDE
• The sun’s rays hit directly between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn
(known as the Tropics)
• As you move away from the equator in to higher latitudes, the climate tends to get
colder since you are feeling less direct rays of the sun
• The middle latitudes tend to have weather and temperatures that vary
HEMISPHERES
• Hemispheres is how we divide the world in to sections based on latitude and
longitude
• The Northern Hemisphere is any area above the Equator and the Southern
Hemisphere is any area below the Equator
• The Western Hemisphere is any area to the left of the Prime Meridian and the
Eastern Hemisphere is any area to the right of the Prime Meridian