1. Introduction to Geography
Cardinals!

2. The Global World Artic ASIA N. America Europe Atlantic Ocean Africa
Antarctica
Australia
Atlantic
Ocean
Pacific
Indian
Artic
Southern Ocean

3. The New Global World – Region
Artic
Ocean
Russia and
Eurasian Republic
N. America
Europe
Atlantic
Ocean
E. Asia
Pacific
Ocean
Modern Middle East S.
Asia
M. America
Sub-Sahara
Africa
Pacific
Ocean
N. America
Indian
Ocean
S. E. Asia S.
America
Europe
Oceania
Australia
Southern Ocean
Antarctica

4. What is Geography?
Geography is the study of everything on Earth, from rocks and rainfall to people and places.
Geographers study how the natural environment influences people, how people’s activities affect Earth, and how the world is changing.
Geographer’s must look at many different things, including cities, cultures, population, political, economical, natural resources, and the physical environment.
Geographer’s focus on “where” things are and “why” they are there
Geographer’s organize materials by place, because they understand that something happening at one place can result from something that happened elsewhere and can affect conditions at other places

5. What is Geography? Misconceptions of geography:
Merely memorizing lists of countries and state capitals
Studying rocks and soil
Looking at maps and pictures of faraway places
Section I

6. History of Geography
The word geography, invented by the ancient Greek scholar Eratosthenes. Geography is based on two Greek words, Geo meaning “Earth” and graphy meaning “to write”.
Geography is one of the oldest human activities.
An early geographic activity was as simple as a man taking a journey – deep into the jungle or desert, climbing a hill or mountain or merely crossing a river and inform his/her fellow tribesmen of what was on the other side.
Today everyone uses geography in some form – drawing a map to their house, watching the weather channel and even judging migration.

7. The Six Essential Elements
The World in Spatial Terms: Dividing the World into manageable sizes.
Continents
Oceans
Grids
Hemispheres
N. America S.
America
Africa
ASIA
Europe
Antarctica
Australia
Atlantic
Ocean
Pacific
Indian
Artic

8. The Six Essential Elements
The world in Spatial Terms includes Location (Where a place is.) Location can be described two ways:
1. Absolute Location: The exact location on the Earth. This is determined by using the imaginary geographic grid of parallels (lines of latitude) and meridians (lines of longitude).
Prime Meridian
Equator
Equator
Section I

9. The Six Essential Elements
The Second way Location can be described is in terms of
Relative Location: It is merely a reference to a place by using a more familiar location.
Example: Next to Publix, On Wickham, in Florida, Off the Coast of Florida, three houses down on the left
Section I

10. The Six Essential Elements
Places and Regions:
Places: the description of the characteristics (human or physical) of a location.
Such as landforms, climate, animal life, human population.
Regions: A number of places united that have one or more common characteristic.
Rocky Mountains, tornado alley, The West Coast, The Great Plains
Section I

11. The Six Essential Elements
Places and Regions:
Section I

12. The Six Essential Elements
Physical Systems: All the physical activity of the environment.
Flooding, earthquakes, mountains, rivers, volcanoes, and weather patterns.

13. The Six Essential Elements
Human Systems: People are central to geography. Our activities, movements and settlements shape Earth’s surface.
Farming vs ranching
Migration patterns
Wars
Governments
Religions
Movement-People move for many reasons including new jobs, to attend special schools, to be closer to family, to move away from a place (Dust Bowl), or to move to a place (Gold Rush)
The movement of ideas or behaviors from one place to another is called diffusion.

14. The Six Essential Elements
Environment and Society: Human-Environment Interaction Geographers study how people and their surroundings affect each other
Geographers study how humans depend on their physical environment to survive
Geographers study how humans change their behavior to be better suited to an environment
How humans change the environment
Flooding
Farming
Hurricane Katrina
The Dust Bowl

15. The Six Essential Elements
The uses of geography: Putting it all together. Analyzing past events to help us prevent future events.
Developing transportations networks
Migration

16. Who Uses Geography Everyone!
We use it by finding our way to a new place – a friend, restaurant, amusement park
When we watch the news – Israel invades Lebanon
Planning a vacation
What to wear – shorts vs pants, jacket, sunglasses
Athletes – winds, sun, rain, temperature, slope of the field
Professions:
Cartographers – the study of maps and mapmaking, maps are an essential part of geography
Meteorology – the study of weather, forecasting
Government – FBI, CIA military study countries cultures and physical characteristics
Teachers – develop new geographers
Section I