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Land of Contrasts
Understanding Texas
Geography
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6 Geographical Questions:
When studying places and events in Texas, ask yourself
these 6 questions:
• Where is the place?
• What is the place like?
• How is the place similar to and different from other
places?
• How do the people who live there interact with their
surroundings?
• How are those people in that place linked with other
people and places?
• How does geography relate to the past, present, and
future of that place?
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6 essential elements:
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Location
Places and Regions
Human Environment Interaction
Human Systems
Physical Systems
Use of Geography
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Location - Where is the place?
• Absolute Location –
exact position of a
place on the earths
surface.
(longitude/latitude)
• Relative Location –
position of a place in
relation to another.
(Texas is south of
Oklahoma).
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Places and Regions What is the place like?
• Places – features that
give an area its own
identity. (landform,
climate, language)
• Regions – areas
united by common
characteristics.
(climate/language)
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Human-Environment Interaction - How are
those people in that place linked with other people and
places?
• - relationships linking people to their surrounding
environment. (cut forests, earthquake, and flood)
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Human System - Why people settle in
certain places?
• Movement – People
bring ideas and culture
from one place to
another (trade and
urbanization –growth of
cities)
• Cultural Diffusion – wide
acceptance of ideas and
culture to a new location
which change a culture
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Physical Systems
• Geographers analyze
how physical systems
interact and shape the
earth’s surface.
• Examples - volcanoes,
glaciers and hurricanes.
• Ecosystems –
communities of plants
and animals that are
dependant upon one
another and their
particular surroundings
for survival.
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The Uses of Geography
• Helps prepare you for
life in our
technological society.
• Individuals,
businesses and
governments depend
upon geography and
maps on a daily
basis. (military,
delivery trucks)
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Sizing up Texas
• 2nd largest state in the
U.S. (Alaska is the
largest)
• Texas makes up about
7% of the total area of
the United States.
• Larger than many
nations including France,
Italy, Spain, and
Germany.
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