Geography: Introduction

Previewing the Course

Journal Questions

• What do you think geography is– what kind of questions does geography answer?

• How does geography differ from history and other social sciences?

• How could the study of geography be useful in your life?

The Earth from Space•Imagine you are traveling in space, and you come upon this planet for the very first time•How would you describe this planet?•How do you think your description as an alien might differ from what you know of the people on this earth and how they would describe where they live?•How do you think this photograph was obtained?

The First Chapter of Our Textbook• The first chapter of our textbook is called “How

Geographers Look at the World.”• How do you think geographers look at the world? • One chapter deals with physical geography, while

another chapter deals with human geography. What do you think is the difference between these two perspectives?

• Physical geography deals with physical systems: climate, land, water, plants, animals; human or cultural geography deals with human activities and how they relate to the physical environment

What are some questions that a physical geographer might ask and a human geographer might ask?

Physical Geography

Different Types of Maps

• Chapter 1 of our textbook also has an atlas, which is a collection of maps. You’ll be flipping back to this chapter a lot throughout this course to refer back to these maps

• Maps can display all sorts of different kinds of information

• Types of maps include physical, political, climate, economic, and population density maps

Physical maps show landforms and oceans, but don’t necessarily show borders between countries

--How are elevations denoted in this map?

Political maps show borders between countries or states, but don’t necessarily show deserts and mountains

Political Maps

• A political entity is a nation, state, town, city, etc.• Some things that political maps tell us are:– boundaries, locations, and relative sizes of countries – the location of capital cities – which countries border each other or are neighbors

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes• Political Maps are constantly needing revision, as

countries seem to just come and go• For example, in a small span of just a few years:• 1990: East & West Germany unite to become

Germany• 1991: Soviet Union dissolved into 15 countries• 1992: Yugoslavia broke into 2 countries• 1993: Czechoslovakia broke into 2 countries• 1993: Eritrea separated itself from Ethiopia

Population density maps show where there are crowds of people

--Where does it look the most crowded?

Population Density• Population Density shows how heavily or

sparsely populated an area is• It is often measured by number of people per

square mile• What’s an example of a place where there is a

high population density?• Would you enjoy living where the population

density is high (urban), moderate (suburban), or low (rural)?

Urban, Suburban, Rural

Would you consider Victorville to be urban, suburban, or rural?

Climate and Vegetation maps show what the plant life generally looks like, with no regard

for political borders-- Which climate do we live in?

Economic activity maps can display the relative economic health within countries

Another economic map, featuring the most famous brand from each state

In fact, a lot of information could be displayed just by using a map

Here’s a closer look at some of those…

Map Compass, also called a Compass Rose

•Most maps have a symbol on them that looks something like this.•What does this symbol mean?•Is North up in the sky and South down towards the ground?•Does water always flow from north to south because water flows downward?•NO!

Is there anything wrong with this map?

“Hemi” means half, while a sphere is a ball. So the globe could be divided into halves, called hemispheres. The dividing lines are the equator and the Prime Meridian.

•Which continents are in the Northern hemisphere?•Which continents are in the Southern hemisphere?•Which continents are in the Eastern hemisphere?•Which continents are in the Western hemisphere?•Is there more land in the Northern or Southern hemisphere?

Activity• So far, we have just looked at world maps, but of

course, there are more local maps as well, even down to the scale of a city or even a diagram of your room could be considered a map

• Draw a map of Victorville, and include information that you think would be helpful for someone visiting the city for the first time (use a whole page for your drawing, so you can put in sufficient detail)

• You can include highways and streets, where your house is, where the school is, where the fun parts of town are and where the bad parts of town are