What is Geography What is Geography Geography The

What is Geography?

What is Geography? • Geography: The study of Earth and its features • Geographer: A person who studies the Earth’s landforms and how people interact with them

Why Study Geography?

Why Study Geography? • Geography improves our understanding of history. By studying geography, geographers can describe the past environments humans lived in. Also, geography impacts the culture of a group of people.

Five Themes of Geography • The Five Themes of Geography help us answer the main questions asked geographers: – Where is it? – Why is it there? – What are the consequences/impact of its being there?

5 Themes of Geography Location: Where is it? Absolute Relative • Specific location • Pinpoint location • Coordinates on a map (latitude, longitude) • Location based on characteristics • Examples: next door, nearby, down the road, near the school, after the mall • Example: Cortland, NY (42 ° N, 76 ° W) • Example: Cortland, NY is between Syracuse and Binghamton

Place • Area that is defined by everything in it • Unique, has its own geographic features • Physical and human characteristics • Example: South Pole – What are some characteristics that separate the South Pole from other cold places?

Human-Environment Interaction • Interactions between people and their environment: • How do people depend on the environment? • How do people adapt to the environment? • How do people change the environment? • Examples: building highways, planting trees, pollution

Movement • How people, goods, and information move from one place to another. – Local: How did you get to school today? – Global: How did humans travel to North America?

Region • Area with certain similar characteristics – (physical, natural, human, or cultural characteristics) – Examples: deserts, mountains, rainforests, suburbs, Southern states of the United States, Upstate New York

Bellringer 9/11 • Describe Cortland using the 5 Themes of Geography (Location was already used for an example)

Landforms • Archipelago: a group or chain of islands • Example: Japan, • Positive Impacts: • Negative Impacts:

Desert • A dry region with little rainfall and a very warm climate; Has little vegetation • Example: Sahara Desert, Sahel (Africa) • Positive Impacts: • Negative Impacts:

Peninsula • A piece of land almost surrounded by water or projecting out into a body of water • Examples: India, • Positive Impacts: • Negative Impacts:

Landforms River Valley: A valley that has been carved out by a river and has fertile soil Examples: Nile River Valley, Indus River Valley, Mesopotamia Positive Impacts: Negative Impacts:

Mountain • Large landform that stand taller than surrounding land • Steeper than a hill • Example: • Positive Impacts: • Negative Impacts:

Plains • Area with low elevation that has fertile soil for farming • Example: Great Northern European Plain • Positive Impacts: • Negative Impacts:

Maps are a representation of an area of land or sea. They can show physical features, cities, states, roads, climate, resources, etc.

Maps • A Physical map shows how the land looks. It includes geographic features like mountains, rivers, lakes, oceans, deserts, etc. This map changes very little over time.

Maps • A Political map shows how humans have divided the surface of the Earth into countries, states, etc. This map shows the boundaries between countries and states. This map changes often.

Latitude • Distance north and south from the equator of a point on Earth’s surface • Horizontal line • Parallels • “Flatitude”

Longitude • Distance of a point east and west of the Prime Meridian on the Earth’s surface

Finding a Point on a Map • Every spot on the Earth can be located with coordinates! – Latitude and longitude are used to pinpoint a location on Earth – Coordinates are written like this: 50° N 100° W – Latitude is always given first followed by the direction

Maps • Read the map carefully! – Title – Labels – Legend – Key

Culture: Brainstorm! • What is culture? • What factors make up culture?

Culture • Culture: A way of life of a society that is handed down from generation to generation (beliefs, values, and traditions)

Cultural Diffusion • Cultural Diffusion: the spreading out of culture from one area to another – Traditions, values, beliefs, rituals, etc.