1. Physical Geography

2. Engage In your mind, pick a place in the world you have visited.
What did you see in that place?
What was the landscape like?
What was the weather like?
What were the people like?
What was the vegetation or animals like?

3. What is Geography? Geography is the study of place and space.
Study of human activity, the natural environment, and the relationship between the two (human-environment interactions).
Geographers look at where things are and why they are there.

4. Physical v. Cultural Geography
Physical Geography
Cultural Geography
Rocks/Minerals
Population/Settlements/Urbanization
Landforms
Economic and Political Systems
Animal and Plant Life
Transportation
Soils
Human Migration
Atmosphere/Climate/Weather
Social Systems
Environment
Recreation
Rivers/Oceans/Other bodies of Water
Religion/Belief System
Physical Geography is the study of the Natural Landscape of the Earth
Cultural Geography is the study of the Human Landscape of the Earth.

5. What kinds of tools would geographers use?

6. Maps and Globes – What’s the difference?
Maps – “two dimensional” – usually only show parts of the Earth’s surface.
Globes – “three dimensional” representation of the Earth, shows whole surface.

7. Who makes maps?
Cartographers are people who make maps.

8. What is an Atlas? An ATLAS is a book of maps. You are sitting on one!
You have an Atlas under your desk, called the “Goode’s World Atlas”. Your textbook also has an Atlas Section near the front.
Get to know them both, we will use them a lot this year!

9. Parts of A Map Title – explains the subject of the map
Compass Rose – shows the “Cardinal Directions”, meaning North, South, East, and West
Legend or “Key” - shows and explains the symbols used on the map
Scale – shows the true size of the objects shown on the map

10. Activity: Identify the Map Parts
Who can identify each part of the map below, using the terms you just learned?

11. What main types of maps are there?
PHYSICAL MAPS
POLITICAL MAPS
THEMATIC MAPS

12. Physical Maps
Show natural features such as landforms and physical borders; lakes, rivers, mountain ranges, and things that were around before humans
Physical Borders – Borders defined by a physical feature
Example - Rio Grande River, between USA and Mexico

13. Activity 2 – Using Physical Maps
Use the World Physical Map on p A2-A3 of your textbook to answer these questions on your own paper.
What mountain range separates European Russia from Asia?
What two mountain ranges run the length of North and South America?

14. Political Maps
Show features on the earth’s surface that humans created.
Examples of things on a political map?
Political Borders – borders created by governments
National and State Borders,
City Limits, capitals

15. Activity 3 – Using Political Maps
Use the World Political Map on p. A4-A5 of your textbook to answer these questions.
What are the two countries that lie on the Himalayan border between India and China?
What is the name of the largest island in the world?
How many countries share a border with Brazil?

16. Thematic Maps
Thematic maps can be tricky, there are many different kinds.
They all do the same thing… they show information
Some common thematic maps:
Population maps
Weather maps
Resource maps
Topographic maps
How data and values are displayed:
Choropleths use differences in shading or color to show variables.
Cartograms represent map feature surfaces in such a way, as to make them proportional to a given statistical variable.

17. What Are Choropleths?
Thematic map that uses graded differences in shading or color or the placing of symbols inside defined areas on the map in order to indicate the average values of some property or quantity in those areas
Many different kinds.
Examples???
Climate
Vegetation
Natural Resources
Population

18. What are Cartograms?
A cartogram is a map in which some thematic mapping variable is substituted for land area or distance.
The geometry or space of the map is distorted in order to convey the information of this alternate variable.
Area cartograms are maps in which the sizes of geographic regions such as countries or provinces appear in proportion to some demographic feature such as population, avg. income, disease incidence, etc.).

19. More cartograms…………… Top Ten Countries of Citizenship for Billionaires
Is Walmart taking over? Which state has the most McDonalds? Is Starbucks a west-coast phenomenon?
Top Ten Countries of Citizenship for Billionaires
Total Number
Country
425
United States 96
Russia 95
China 55
Germany 48
India 38
Hong Kong 36
Brazil
United Kingdom 34
Turkey

20. 5 Themes Geographers study the world by looking at Location Place
Region
Movement
Human-Environment Interaction

21. #1 Location Where is it? Absolute Location Relative Location
is the exact place on the earth where a geographic feature is found.
3322 RR 620 South Austin, TX 78738
LTHS Room J205
Latitude   = 30 degrees,   19.7 minutes   North
Long = 97 degrees,   58.2 minutes   West
Relative Location
describes a place in comparison to other places around it.
Ex. Next door to the Wendy’s

22. #2 Place – What is it like?
describes the physical features and cultural characteristics of a location.

23. #3 Region – How are places similar or different?
describes an area of the earth’s surface with similar characteristics, usually more than one.

24. GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS: What defines a region?
physical (natural) characteristics
landforms, climate, vegetation
human (cultural) characteristics
language, religion, ethnicity, population

25. Sub-Regions
Further classification of Regions based upon physical features and human characteristics.
Examples: The United States is in the North American Region. However, the U.S. has several sub-regions: Northeast, Midwest, South, etc.

26. #4 Movement
How and why people, plants, animals, and ideas move through time and place?

27. #5 Human–Environment Interaction
People learn to use what the environment offers them and to change that environment to meet their needs.

28. How to remember the 5 themes!
M - Movement
R - Region
H – Human Interaction
E – Environment Interaction
L - Location
P - Place

29. What theme might this picture represent?

30. What theme might this picture represent?

31. What theme might this picture represent?

32. What theme might this picture represent?

33. What are important lines on “Geographer’s Grid”?
Equator – Divides the earth between Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere
Prime Meridian – Divides the Eastern Hemisphere from Western Hemisphere

34. What is a hemisphere? One half of the Earth.
North, South, East, West all have hemispheres.
What is a hemisphere?

35. Where are the “The Tropics”?
Tropic of Cancer – 23.5* North of Equator
Sun’s most northern location on June 21st
Tropic of Capricorn – 23.5* South of Equator
Sun’s most southern location on December 21st

36. Where are the “Polar Circles”?
Arctic Circle – 66.5* North of the Equator
begins the north polar region
Antarctic Circle – 66.5* South of the Equator
begins South polar regions

37. What is “Latitude and Longitude”?
It is a grid for finding your
location on the Earth.
Like “X and Y” from the grid in math class.
Or like a football field.
Or like the game “Battleship”
What is “Latitude and Longitude”?

38. What is Latitude? Run parallel to Equator Measures North and South
90 degrees North latitude
90 degrees South latitude
Important lines of Latitude:
Equator
Tropic of Cancer
Tropic of Capricorn
4. Arctic Circle
Antarctic Circle

39. What is Longitude? Run parallel to Prime Meridian
Measures East and West
180 degrees of East longitude
180 degrees of West longitude
Total = 360 degree circle
All lines meet at North Pole and stretch to South Pole

40. How do you use Latitude and Longitude to find your way?
Find the right hemispheres (N, S, E, W).
Trace latitude and longitude till they meet.
FOLLOW THE CURVE!