Key Terms – Geography (1) Geography Location * Longitude Latitude Prime Meridian Equator Place * Topography Climate Monsoons
Peninsulas Plateaus Savannas Steppe Rain forests Tundras Subtropics
Geography
Geography is the study of the Earth and its physical features.
Geographers set up the Earth in measurable terms.
Geography also involves measuring the Earth temporally and spatially (across time and space).
Location and its Measurements
Location → an exact mathematical point on the Earth
The Earth is broken into a mathematical grid with two distinct sets of lines: longitudinal lines and latitudinal lines
Latitude
The earth was initially broken up into latitudinal lines or parallels by Greek cartographers during the period of antiquity.
Latitude → imaginary lines that run from East to West (or vice versa).
Longitude
Longitudinal lines or meridians were created by a British clockmaker named John Harrison.
Longitude → imaginary lines that run north to south (or vice versa)
The Equator and Prime Meridian Two lines divide the world
evenly into four hemispheres. These two lines are the Prime Meridian and the Equator.
Equator → imaginary line that measures 0 degrees latitude and divides the world into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres
Prime Meridian → imaginary line that runs through Greenwich, England that measures 0 degrees and divides the world into the
eastern and Western Hemispheres
Place and its Determinants
Place → tells us about a location's special features that distinguish it from other locations
Two terms are used to describe places: Topography → the
land surface of an area and its changes
Climate → the weather conditions in an area over a period of time
Different Features
Monsoons → seasonal winds that blow across Asia Peninsula → A land mass surrounded on three sides by
water Plateau → A high, elevated, flat land surface surrounded
by mountain ridges Savanna → grassy plains with few trees Steppe → dry, grassy plains with few trees Rain forest → hot, humid forest in regions with heavy
rainfall Tundra → marshy, treeless plains near the North Pole that
are frozen in the winter but thaw in the summer Subtropics → regions bordering on the tropics.
Monsoons
Peninsulas
Plateaus
Savannas
Steppes
Rain forests
Tundras
Subtropics