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Basic Geography Notes
Texas History
Objectives
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Understand basic geography terms
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Understand basic map features
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Understand basic concepts of geography:
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5 Themes of Geography
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Location
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Region
Geography Terms: Unit 1
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Geography
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Latitude
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Environment
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Longitude
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Culture
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Equator
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Ecosystem
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Prime meridian
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Urbanization
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Compass rose
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Migration
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Scale
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Relative location
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Legend
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Absolute location
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Natural region
What is Geography?
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Study of places – both physical features
(natural) and cultural (human)
Geographers use the 5 Themes of Geography
to understand any given place
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5 themes help organize information about a place:
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Movement
Place
Human Environment Interaction
Region
Location
Location
• Absolute Location
• Position on the globe
• Found using Longitude and Latitude
• Only 1 absolute location for a place
• Relative Location
• What a place is near
• Locate by describing the relation compared another
place
• Several Relative locations
Location
Longitude and Latitude
Used together, they provide coordinates for any
location on Earth
Latitude
• Lines that Run parallel to the
Equator
• Run East to West
• Never touch
• Measured in N and S (North
and South)
• Measure from 0°-90°
• North Pole 90°
• South Pole 90°
Longitude
• All touch at North and
South Poles
• Measure from 0 – 180
• Run North to South
• Measure East to West
• Lines are all the same
length
• Prime Meridian – 0
• International Date Line 180
Place
• The characteristics of a place distinguish it from
other places
• Physical Characteristics
• Landforms, animals, vegetation, water and climate
• Human Characteristics
• Culture
• Religion, language, ethnicity, jobs (Economy), food
Place
Regions
• An area with similar characteristics
• Formal regions
• Same characteristics between areas (such as
political regions with the same government)
• Functional regions
• Central place and the surrounding areas
• Dallas/Ft. Worth
• Perceptional Regions
• People view the place as part of a region – Latin
America
• Natural Region – common physical environment
Region
DFW: Functional
Latin America - Perception
Natural Regions of Texas
Movement
• How things move to, from and within a place
• Transportation of:
• People
• Services and goods (products)
• Ideas
• Internet, Phones, TV, Newspapers
Movement
Venice Canal
Bullet Train in Japan
Human-Environment
Interaction
• How people use the environment
• Technology
• Impacts the environment both positively and
negatively
• Helps people influence and change the
environment
• Natural hazards – cannot be predicted
• Adaptation
• People change the environment and the
environment changes people
Human-Environment Interaction
Desert Community
Coal Mining
Adobe Home
Parts of a Map
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Compass Rose – shows the four
cardinal directions for a given map
(North, South, East, West)
Scale – shows the relationship
between the size of the map and the
actual size
Legend – also known as the “key.”
Explains the meaning of various
symbols on a map
Mental Map
On your Unit 1 Cover page, draw the following three
maps free hand:
• Draw Texas
• Draw a map of the United States
• Draw a map of the world
• Label it!
YOU CANNOT LOOK AT A MAP –
it’s a “mental map!”