Geography Quiz 1

What is Geography?

• Geo = Earth

• Graphy = To write

• Geography is the study of the Earth and everything on it.

• It is a science that examines:

  • Physical features (landforms, climate, ecosystems)

  • Biological aspects (plants, animals, human life)

  • Cultural features (languages, traditions, societies)

  • The interaction between these elements

Why is Geography Important?

1. Part of Social Studies

   • Geography helps us understand the WHERE of things.

   • It can cover anything—from climate patterns to urban development.

2. Geography vs. History

   • History studies WHEN things happened and why.

   • Geography studies WHERE things happen and why.

The Power of Geography

Geography can accomplish two major things:

1. Build Community & Bridge the Ignorance Gap

   • Geography fights ignorance and hate by educating people about different places and cultures.

   • It builds community and love by promoting understanding and connection.

   • It helps us celebrate life by appreciating diversity.

2. Solve Practical Problems

   • Geography helps identify patterns in the world.

   • It allows us to gather and analyze data that might be hard to see otherwise.

   • It is used to address real-world issues like urban planning, disaster response, and environmental conservation.

The “Ignorance Gap”

• How can geography help close the ignorance gap and make people more informed about the world?

Key Takeaways

• Geography is more than just maps; it helps us understand how the world works.

• It connects people and places, shaping our knowledge of the environment and human interactions.

• Learning geography helps fight ignorance, promotes unity, and provides practical solutions to global challenges.

Additionally, it fosters a sense of place and identity, encouraging individuals to appreciate cultural diversity and the significance of local communities.

The Five Themes of Geography

Geography is more than memorizing names and places. Geographers organize space in

much the same way that historians organize time. To help organize space, geographers

are concerned with asking three important questions about things in the world:

• Where is it?

• Why is it there?

• What are the consequences of its being there?

The five themes of geography help answer these questions:

• Location: Where is it located?

• Place: What's it like there?

• Human/Environment Interaction: What is the relationship between humans and

their environment

• Movement: How and why are places connected with one another?

• Regions: How and why is one area similar to another?

No one theme can be understood without the others. The themes are connected with one

another, as are all components of our world. No part of our world can be understood in

isolation.

I. Location: Position on Earth's Surface

Absolute and relative location are two ways of describing the positions and

distribution of people and places on the earth's surface.

Absolute location answers the questions: Where is it?

Absolute location is nothing more than a simple dot--often identified as a grid

coordinate on the surface of the earth. Latitude and longitude can be used to

pinpoint a location. For example, the absolute location of New Orleans,

Louisiana, is 30 degrees north, 90 degrees west. Finding absolute location is

the starting point for geographic research.

Relative location is the relationship of a place to other places.

For example, New Orleans is located at the place where the Mississippi River

empties into the Gulf of Mexico, which gives it easy access to ocean and river

shipping. Your home has a relative location. Where is it located in relation to

schools, stores, and convenient transportation?

Location is only one piece of the framework of geography, yet it is an important

theme because it helps us know and express where things are.

Discuss answers to these questions about your location: • What are the latitude and longitude coordinates of your absolute location. • What is your relative location and the relationship of your location to other

locations? • How does the importance of your location change over time?

II. Place: Physical and Human Characteristics

The theme of place addresses this question: What's it like there? This theme

considers the characteristics that make one place different from all other places on earth.

Geographers describe a place by two kinds of characteristics; physical and human.

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The physical characteristics of a place make up its natural environment and are derived

from geological, hydrological, atmospheric, and biological processes. They include

land forms, bodies of water, climate, soils, natural vegetation, and animal life.

The human characteristics of a place come from human ideas and actions. They include

bridges houses, and parks. Human characteristics of place also include land use,

density of population, language patterns, religion, architecture, and political systems.

The theme of place helps flesh out information about location. Taken together, the

themes of location and place provide a basis for observation in geography. These

themes can be used to help answer the first two questions of geography: Where is

it? and Why is it there? With a sense of physical and human place, we can read the

landscape around us and make observations about what we see. we'll explore more

about physical and human places when we look at the theme of region.

Discuss answers to these questions about your place:

• How would you describe where you live physically? Is your place flat or

hilly, hot or cold, wet or dry? What natural resources are found there?

• What are some of the human characteristics that describe your place? For

example, what types of houses are there? Are patterns of land use

different from those in other parts of the country? What types of industry

are found, and how might they be different from industries in other parts of

the country?

III. Human/Environment Interaction: Shaping the Landscape

The physical and human characteristics of a place provide keys to understanding the

interrelationships between people and their environments. This geographic theme

addresses this question: What is the relationship between humans and the

environment? Three key concepts underlie human/environment relationships:

• Humans depend on the environment: The natural environment is

made up of living things and non living things. Humans depend on the

natural environment for their basic needs; food, shelter, and clothing.

• Humans modify the environment: People modify the natural

environment to meet their needs. For example, they build dams, plow and

irrigate fields, and dig mines. They build houses, schools, and shopping

centers on land.

• Humans adapt to the environment: Humans have settled in

virtually every corner of the world by successfully adapting to various

natural settings. For example, people who live in the northeastern United

States use heating units to keep their homes warm in winter People in

the southern part of the country use air conditioning much of the year to

stay cool in the heat. The ways people choose to adapt to their settings

reflect their economic and political circumstances and their technological

abilities. Studying geography furthers appreciation of our natural

environment and of our cultural differences.

Discuss answers to these questions about the human/environment interaction

where you live:

• What examples of human/environment interaction do you see in your

area?

• Do you see evidence of exploited resources?

• Do you see changes in the landscape in animal habitats? Are there

changes in the air, water, and soil?

IV. Movement: Humans Interacting on the Earth

The theme movement addresses this question: How and why are places connected

with one another? Relationships between people in different places are shaped by

the constant movement of people, ideas, materials, and physical systems such as

wind. Our world is in constant motion, constantly changing. Like blood flowing through

our bodies, movement brings life to a place.

Discuss answers to these questions about movement where you live: • What examples of movement of people, goods, or ideas do you see in your

area?

• Has immigration had an impact on your area? If so, what has

happened?

• What are the transportation routes in your area?

V. Regions: How they Form and Change

A region is a basic unit of geographic study. It is defined as an area that has unifying

characteristics. The study of regions helps us answer these questions: How and why

is one area similar to another? How do the areas differ? Most regions differ

significantly from adjoining areas.

Some regions are distinguished by physical characteristics. Physical characteristics

include land forms, climate, soil, and natural vegetation. For example, the peaks and

valleys of the Rocky Mountains form a physical region.

Some regions are distinguished by human characteristics. These may include

economic, social, political, and cultural characteristics. The highly urbanized Northeast

Corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C. can be considered a human region.

Other regions are combinations of physical and human characteristics, for example, the

South, Scandinavia, and the Midwest.

Boundaries between regions can be vague. Regions are generally thought of as

large areas, such as the Corn Belt in the midwestern United States or sub-Saharan

Africa. Overhead transparencies will help the teacher demonstrate that a region can

be as small as a classroom learning center, a neighborhood, an industrial park, or a

recreational area.

Discuss answers to these questions about regions where you live:

• How many different regions can you identify within your area?

• How many larger regions does your area belong to?

MAPS!

Understanding Map Projections

The Problem with Flattening a Sphere

• The Earth is a sphere, and flattening it onto a map creates distortion.

• Distortion means that some aspects of reality are inaccurate when represented on a flat map.

• When a map is made, at least one of the following is distorted:

  • Area/Size

  • Shape

  • Direction

  • Distance

• Maps attempt to maintain one or two of these accurately while distorting the others.

Common Map Projections

Mercator Projection

• Pros: Preserves direction and shape

• Cons: Distorts distance and area

• Example: Africa appears much smaller than Greenland, but in reality, it is 14 times larger!

Robinson Projection

• Pros: More accurate area and shape

• Cons: Distorts direction and distance

Goode Homolosine Projection

• Pros: Preserves shape and area

• Cons: Distorts direction and distance

Unintended Consequences of Maps

• Maps can shape perceptions spatially and culturally.

• What effects might distorted maps have on:

  • Understanding of country sizes and importance?

  • Navigation and travel?

  • Global perspectives and politics?

Geographic Organization of the Earth

Levels of Geographic Divisions

• Continent

• Country

• State/Province

• County/Municipality

• City

Latitude and Longitude: The Earth's Grid System

• Latitude: Measures distance North and South of the Equator

  • Lines run East-West

  • 0° latitude = Equator

  • 90° N = North Pole

  • 90° S = South Pole

  • Mnemonic: "Ladder-tude" (like climbing a ladder, up and down)

• Longitude: Measures distance East and West of the Prime Meridian

  • Lines run North-South

  • 0° longitude = Prime Meridian (Greenwich, England)

  • 180° E/W = International Date Line

  • Mnemonic: "All lines of longitude are long"

• Together, latitude and longitude allow us to pinpoint any location on Earth.

  • Example Coordinates: 40° N, 85° E or 10° S, 15° W

Degrees, Minutes, and Seconds

• Coordinates can be further divided into degrees (°), minutes ('), and seconds (").

• Example: 30° 15' 45" N, 54° 20' 10" W

• For this class, we will focus only on degrees.

Additional Resources

• How Maps Lie (Video): Vox - How Maps Lie