Understanding Geography

Understanding

Geography

Vocabulary

Local:belonging to a particular area or neighborhood

Urban Geography: The study of cities and how people live in them

Rural: In the country; not in a city

Physical Characteristics: include the natural environment, such as landforms, elevation, water features, climate, soil, natural vegetation,
and animal life

Human Characteristics: include the size and density of the population, the ethnic and religious makeup of the population, language
patterns, and other aspects of the culture.

Environment: the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates.

Geographical Movement: the way people travel from place to place, circulate information, trade goods and services, and share ideas.

Human-Environment Interaction: How humans interact with their environment

Physical Systems: How the earth's natural processes are changing and shaping the earth

Physical Geography: The study of natural features and processes

The world in spatial terms: using maps and other geographic representations to study the world

Arable Land: Land where you can grow things: Agriculture

Geographers study the world in spatial
terms. What does the world in spatial
terms mean? Spatial is related to
location. Geographers map out the
locations of things in the world around
us. They try to better understand
spatially where things are located.

Geographers tools might include:

Maps
Globes
Satellite Images
Notebooks
Tape Recorders

What else might a geographer use?

Geographers study how things
are related to each other spatially.
Geographers study where things
are related or how they're related
spatially. Geographers also learn
what places are like and how
they're unique from other places.
In geography, when we talk about
places we're talking about specific
locations.

Looking at the map above:
Yellow is lower population, Blue is higher population.
Where is the higher population on this map.
Congratulations you have just analyzed spatially!

The first picture here on your left was taken in Cambodia. The second picture
here on your right was taken in Thailand. These two locations are hundreds of
miles apart, yet you can see the similarities between the structures. These are
man-made structures made centuries ago, hundreds and hundreds of years
ago by ancient civilizations. Now it might surprise you to realize that even
though these structures are hundreds of miles apart, the cultures responsible
for building these structures actually share close cultural ties. Because the
cultures in Cambodia are very similar to cultures in Thailand, we consider
Southeast Asia to be its own distinct region.

Like this

Physical Systems-Physical Geography

Environments are the natural properties of a given place.
Looking at the three pictures above, what is different about these environments?

Human systems refer to
everything that humans do.

Geographers will learn not only
where humans live, but why they
settle there. Human migration
and human patterns are also part
of this process.

Reasons for human settlement:

Ample fresh water supply
Arable land
Climate
Environment

Human Systems

Geographers study the cultures that humans create.
A culture is a body of traditions and beliefs and behavior that define a group of
people. There are thousands of cultures all around the world, they're all very
unique from each other. Geographers might look at different cultures and try to
understand how cultures are different but also how are they similar.
Physical environments affect the way people live in them.
For Example:
The shelter they might need
The clothing they might wear
The way they prepare for severe weather
What they eat
The sports they play
Activities they engage in

Compare these two environments:
What would be the differences in culture?

Environment and Society

When you combine the
physical environment with
human behavior and human
activity, You get environment
and society.
Geographers also study how
humans affect their
environment.

Essentially how humans adapt
the environment to suit their
needs.

For example:

Cutting down trees for lumber
Flattening and deforesting
large areas for agriculture
Building structures to
accommodate housing or
tourism
Damming rivers for local water
sources

When we study the past and better understand the past, that allows us to
better plan for the future.

The more we understand about the past and how we've changed the
environment, for example, or how the natural processes on the Earth have
changed the environment, the more that we can plan for the future, the
future of cities and the future needs of natural resources.

Multiple Choice

A geographer who studies how volcanic eruptions are shaping the Earth is using which of the six essential elements of Geography?

• Physical Systems

• The World in Spatial Terms

• Human Systems

• Places and Regions

Multiple Choice

A geographer who studies why people have certain traditions and behaviors is using which of the six essential elements of geography?

• Physical Systems

• The World in Spatial Terms

• Human Systems

• Places and Regions

Multiple Choice

The study of cities and how people live in them is

• Economic Geography

• Urban Geography

• Physical Geography

• Cartography

Multiple Choice

Physical environment affect the way people live by influencing...

• The types of shelters they build

• The type of clothing they wear

• The way they prepare for severe weather

• All of the above

Multiple Choice

Questions about why rivers flow in a certain direction are part of...

• Physical Geography

• Human Geography

• Meteorology

• Social Science

Multiple Choice

The Rocky Mountains are a region defined by...

• Human characteristics

• Physical characteristics

• Historical characteristics

• Language and religious characteristics

Multiple Choice

A geographer who studies roads and routes is dealing with the theme of ....

• Movement

• Human-Environment interaction

• Physical systems

• Location

Multiple Choice

Which of the following questions might a geographer studying at a local level ask?

• Which products does a country export?

• What languages do people speak in South America?

• How do people in a town or community live?

• What features make up a physical region?

Multiple Choice

A  geographer's tools include...

• maps and globes

• satellite images

• notebook and tape recorders

• All of the above

Multiple Choice

A physical geographer might

• survey the types of jobs that people have

• study economics and politics of a region

• survey the types of fish in a lake

• interview people about their religion