Download Geography and the Early Settlement of China

•China
is the largest
country in Eastern
Asia
•The world’s largest
mountains , the
Himalayas are in
China.
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China is the 3rd
largest country in
the world, with a
population of 1.2
billion, more
people live in
China than in any
other country in
the world.
China is divided
into two areas:
Outer China and
Inner China
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Outer China includes the
western and northern
parts of China.
The key geographical
region in this area is the
Tibet-Qinghai, the
world’s largest plateau.
The region is bitterly
cold, with only about 50
days without frost.
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Inner China includes the
southern part of present day
China.
It’s a land of rolling hills, river
valleys, and plains.
Rivers flow from the west and
provide water for irrigation
and floods enrich the soil.
Inner China has two main
regions: 1. The North China
Plain 2. Low River basins of
middle and lower Chang
Jiang basins.
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The Southwestern part of
China is dominated by the
high Tibet-Qinghai Plateau
know as the Tibetan Plateau.
The Tibetan plateau is called
“The Roof of World”,
because it’s average
elevation is 13,500 feet more
than two miles above sea
level.
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The Tibetan Plateau hold the
Himalayan Mountains
including Mt. Everest the
tallest mountain in the world.
Two of China’s major rivers
begin in this area, the Yellow
River and the Yangtze.
The climate is very cold so it
was difficult to grow crops
and instead the people of
China herded yaks.
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The northwest part of
China is known for its
vast deserts including
the Taklimakan and
Gobi deserts.
The climate varies from
very hot to cold.
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The Taklimakan desert
covers an area in china
about 150,000 square
kilometers.
It is considered one of
the most dangerous in
the world, with sand
dunes that shift and
sandstorms arise with
stunning speeds
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The Gobi Desert is one of
the largest deserts in the
world .
Unlike the Taklimakan
Desert the Gobi Desert
does not have sand
dunes and is very stony,
made up of small
pebbles and bits of sand.
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The Northeastern plain
is located in present
day Mongolia.
It’s a land of low hills
and plains, and in
ancient times natural
vegetation was prairie
grass that provided
food for horses, sheep,
and other animals
raised by herders.
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In the South, a narrow
coastal plain links the
northwestern plain to
the rest of China.
This plain was used in
ancient times by
several groups of
invaders as a route to
Inner China.
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One of the two
major regions in
Inner China is the
North China Plain,
a flat region of
grassland.
The region is
sometime called
“Land of the
Yellow Earth”
because the
ground is covered
by yellow
limestone silt.
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The Huang He (Yellow)
river is one of the longest
rivers in the world.
The silt it carries helps
fertilize the surrounding
lands, making the North
China Plain a good place
in which to settle and
grow crops.
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The Chang Jiang
Basins are areas of
low, wet coastal
plains.
The basins are located
along the 3rd longest
river in the world the
Chang Jiang. (Yangtze
River)
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Mainly because Outer China
did not have good farmland,
fewer people settled there.
Most people in Outer China
were nomads who had to move
to find new grazing lands.
Their main food was meat
because of raising livestock and
often invaded Inner China
(North China Plain) to get
needed supplies. Eventually the
people of Inner China built the
great Wall of China to keep
invaders out.
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The fertile land of Inner China
supported larger, more settled
populations on the North
China plain.
The Chang Jiang basin had
limited farmland, but rice
thrived in this warm, wet area.
Inner China was protected by
the natural barriers in the
southwest of mountains and in
the northwest deserts.