Download Chapter 1: Studying Geography

Chapter 1: Studying
Geography
World Geography
Jones
Geography
• Geography (from the Greek words Geo or
Gaea, both meaning "Earth", and graphy
meaning "to describe“) is the study of the
earth and its features, inhabitants, and
phenomena. A literal translation would be
"to describe the Earth".
What is geography?
• IT IS NOT – memorizing cities, states,
countries and capitals.
• IT IS NOT – looking at pictures and maps.
• IT IS NOT – the study of rocks.
• IT IS – the study of the earth, its people
and how they interact.
• IT IS – how the world is changing.
• IT IS – a look at cities, cultures, resources,
plants and why and where events occur.
Is the world
getting
smaller?
Perspective
• perspective – the way a person looks at
something.
• Geographers use a spatial perspective –
look for patterns in where things are
located and how they are arranged.
Organize Yourselves
• Get up!
• Organize yourself according to birthday
(oldest to youngest)
• Now, organize yourself according to where
you were born (by state alphabetically)
• This is an example of spatial perspective
(on a class scale)
Landscape
• landscape – the scenery of a place –
human, physical and cultural features
• Describe the landscape at home:
– Human, varying ages, grass, yard, home,
trees, religious, entertaining, good food
• Describe the landscape at school:
– Brick, concrete, tile, educational, athletic,
clubs, human – mostly young people with
some old people
Two main branches
• Physical
• Human
Physical Geography
• focuses on earth’s natural environments
including landforms, water features, plants,
animals and other physical features
• studies the processes that shape the
physical environment
Human Geography
• study of distribution and characteristics of the
world’s people – where they live and what they
do
• examines how people make and trade things
they need to survive
How do we use
geography in
our everyday
lives?
What do you do every day?
• Deciding where to go and how to get
there, planning cities, preparing for
weather events or hazards, choosing
spots for restaurants, choosing military
training areas, choosing hobbies and
pastimes, etc.
What jobs
require you to
use
geography?
Almost all of them!
• Oil search, people who search for store
locations, military, city developers,
housing/land developers, marketers,
agricultural companies, engineers, fashion
designers, etc.
Geography jobs
• cartography – study of maps and
mapmaking
• meteorology – study of weather
The Five
Themes of
Geography
Five Themes of Geography
•
•
•
•
•
1. Movement
2. Region
3. Human-Environment Interaction
4. Location
5. Place
#1 Movement
• The movement of people, goods, and
ideas
• “Where do your things come from?”
#2 Region
• region – An area with 1 or more common
features that make it different from
surrounding areas. It is defined by human
or physical characteristics
• Regions can be physical or human
Physical Regions
• Physical Region: climate, river systems,
soils, vegetation
• What are examples of physical regions?
• Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, Great
Lakes. In Virginia? Tidewater,
Shenandoah Valley
Human Region
• language, religion, trade networks, food
• Example: Quebec (French language),
Northern/Southern Ireland
(Protestant/Catholic), Hollywood (makes
movies), Florida (tourism), Kansas/Texas
– barbeque, New England – seafood,
lobsters, here in Virginia – crabs, seafood
• Boundaries can be defined or undefined
What?
• Defined – political boundaries (states,
countries)
• Undefined - Where is the Corn Belt?
Where is “The Heartland”
– can be any size
– can be subdivided
Other Types of Regions
• Formal: has 1 or more common features
that make it different from surrounding
areas.
– can be based on population, income, crops,
temperature, rainfall, physical features
(mountains)
Examples of Formal Regions
– Rust Belt – old factories shut down – Pgh, Gary,
Detroit, Cleveland
– Death Valley
– Snow Belt (Buffalo)
– Beverly Hills (income)
– Southern California (temperature, weather)
– In Virginia
•
•
•
•
Eastern Shore
Tidewater
“Virginia Beach”
Northern Virginia/Beltway (northern Virginia near DC)
Other Types of Regions
• Functional: different places that are linked
together as a unit
• Examples: city transit system, school system,
shopping mall and surrounding neighborhoods
• Virginia Beach examples:
–
–
–
–
Little Creek, Oceana, Dam Neck, Fort Story
Town Center & Pembroke
Part of Hampton Roads
Cox High School district
Perceptual Regions
• perception – Our awareness and
understanding of the environment around
us.
• Different for different people
• Regions that reflect feelings and attitudes
– Ex. Back Home, the South
#3 Human-Environment
Interaction
• How do people use their environment?
• How do people control their environment?
– Trashman, dams, air conditioning
#4 Location
• absolute - use latitude and longitude
• relative – where it is located in relation to
other places
– can change over time (distance and time)
#5 Place
• Every place has features that distinguish it from
other places.
• Places are similar and different
• Physical characteristics:
– Landforms (mountains to flat)
– Vegetation (tropical to tundra to desert)
– Climate (warm, hurricanes, flood, drought)
• Human characteristics:
– Job, language, politics, food, religion, farming
techniques, architectural styles, clothes
Six Essential Elements of
Geography
• 1. The world in spatial terms – Focuses
on geography’s spatial perspective and
uses maps to study people, places and
environments.
• 2. Places and regions – Deals with
physical and human features of a places
and how we define and perceive various
regions.
Six Essential Elements of
Geography
• 3. Physical systems – Physical systems
shape earth’s features. Study of
earthquakes, mountains, rivers, volcanoes,
weather patterns. Also study how plants
and animals relate to these systems.
Six Essential Elements of
Geography
• 4. Human systems – Our activities,
movements and settlements shape the
earth’s surface. Our way of life – things
we produce and trade – looks at causes
and results of conflict between peoples.
The study of governments we set up and
the features of cities and other settlements
we live in.
Six Essential Elements of
Geography
• 5. Environment and Society – Human
actions affect the environment. Earth’s
systems affect humans. We depend on
what the earth provides to survive. The
relationship between people and the
environment.
Six Essential Elements of
Geography
• 6. The uses of geography – Helps us
understand the relationships among
people, places and environments over
time. Geography can help us interpret past
and present or plan for the future.
How does
geography
affect our lives?
(Where are you from)
Organizing the globe
• grid – made up of latitude and longitude
lines
Latitude & Longitude
• Determines absolute location
• Latitude: imaginary lines that run east and
west and measure north and south
– Measured from the equator
– N = north
– S = south
– Also called parallels
– Measured from 0 – 90 degrees
Latitude & Longitude
• Longitude: imaginary lines that run north
south and measure east and west
– E = east
– W = west
– Meet at north and south poles
– Also called meridians
– Measured from 0 to 180 degrees (runs
through Greenwich, England)
Organizing the globe
• Hemisphere: half of the globe
• Separated by the equator and the prime
meridian
• What
hemisphere(s)
do we live in?
• Name one
continent that is
in all four
hemispheres
Organizing the globe
• Continent: large land mass
– How many continents are there?
– Seven: North America, South America,
Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica
– Largest island = Greenland
• How many oceans are there?
– Four: Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic
• “Continent exercise”
Organizing the globe
• There are also bays, seas, gulfs, lakes
(determined by size and salt)
• Largest lake: Caspian Sea
Making Maps
• atlas – collection of maps into 1 book
• ATLAS PROJECT
•
•
•
•
Complete 1st map: World Map
Label 7 continents & 4 oceans
Color each continent a different color
Color water blue
Making Maps
• map projection – putting round earth on flat surface
– all are distorted
• Mercator – used by navigators
– true direction and shape
– high latitudes = exaggerated in size
show Arnold overhead
• flat plane/polar – shown from above – north and south
pole
– shows true direction for airplane pilots
– Great Circle Route – saves time and fuel
• Robinson – general maps – examples on pages 37 and
101
Understanding Map Elements
• scale – helps determine real distances – a
ratio
– less area shown = more detail = large scale =
large detail
• compass rose – directional indicator
• legend – key – tells what symbols and
colors represent
Using Special Purpose Maps
• Special purpose maps are called thematic
maps (use color and symbols)
Thematic Maps
•
•
•
•
political – shows borders, countries, cities, states
physical – shows natural features
climate – shows climate regions (changes are gradual)
precipitation – amount of snow, rain, sleet, hail over a
year
• population – shows people per square mile/km
• economic – shows important resources and how land
was used elevation – height above sea level- relief
• topography – shows contour – connects points of equal
elevation – close = steep
Climate Graphs & Population
Pyramids
• climate graph – shows average
temperature and precipitation
– Do samples of climate graphs
– Use page 19 to help you
• population pyramid – shows % of males
and females by age group – helps
understand trends
– Do sample of a population pyramid using the
data for the United States on pg. 22
Chapter 2:
The Solar
System
Space and the Universe
• solar system – our sun, its planets,
asteroids and comets
• planet – major bodies that orbit the sun
• moons – orbit a planet
• satellite – body orbiting a larger body –
moon or man-made
Earth’s Rotation, Revolution, and Tilt
• solar energy – from the sun
– different latitudes get different amount
• rotation – 24 hours
– helps distribute the sun’s heat
– causes day and night
• revolution – takes 1 year
• tilt – 23½º
– causes seasons
– “Making the seasons – flashlight game”
Earth – Sun
Relationship
Solar Energy and Latitude
• tropics – warm areas – in the low
latitudes – near the equator – 0º to 23½º
north and south
Solar Energy and Latitude
• middle latitudes – temperate areas –
23½º north and south to 66½º north and
south
Solar Energy and Latitude
• polar regions – cold region – 66½º north
and south to 90º north and south – 24
hours night/day
Seasons
• seasons – caused by the tilt
– north and south hemispheres are opposite
• solstice
–
–
–
–
summer = June 21
winter = December 21
poles point to sun at greatest angle
shortest and longest day
• equinox
–
–
–
–
sun is directly over the equator
12 hours of day and night
March 21 = spring equinox
September 21 = fall equinox
Seasons and Daylight
Important Lines of Latitude
• Arctic Circle – 66½º north
– during the summer solstice, the area to 90 º
north is in sun
– during winter solstice it is in total darkness
Important Lines of Latitude
• Tropic of Cancer – 23½º north
– sun is directly overhead on summer solstice
Important Lines of Latitude
• Equator – lies at 0 degrees
– Longest circle of latitude
– Sun is directly over it at both spring and fall
equinox
– The circumference of the earth
is 24,901.55 miles
Important Lines of Latitude
• Tropic of Capricorn – 23½º south
– sun is directly overhead on winter solstice
Top left: Tropic of Cancer marker in Namibia
Bottom left: Tropic of Capricorn marker in Australia
Important Lines of Latitude
• Antarctic Circle – 66½º south
– during the winter solstice, the area to 90 º
south is in sun
– during summer solstice it is in total darkness
Summer Solstice (in north)
Winter Solstice (in north)
Longitude
• Does not affect climate
• Two major lines of longitude
– Prime Meridian: marks 0 degrees
– International Dateline: marks 180 degrees
Prime Meridian
Right: The Royal
Observatory
Greenwich, England
International Dateline
Longitude & Latitude
• On a map of the world, label the five
important lines of latitude and two major
lines of longitude
• Trace each line on the map
• Write what the line is called
• Write the degree where each line lies
The Earth’s Systems
• Atmosphere – gas vapor around the earth
– protects us from the sun
• lithosphere – solid crust
– rock and soil of earth
– forms islands, continents, ocean floor
• hydrosphere – all of the earth’s waters
• biosphere – includes all life forms
– plants and animals
– overlaps other 3 spheres
Earth’s Atmosphere
Lithosphere
Hydrosphere
Biosphere
Earth’s Environment
• The four spheres = the environment = our
surroundings – are the key to our survival
Assignments
• READ: Using a Time Zone Map
– Answer questions 1 - 3
• READ: Environmental Issues on page 36.
– Question: What are the positives and
negatives of manipulating the environment?
• READ: page 37 – Geography for life
– Answer questions at end of page