Slide 1: World Regional Geography
Chapter 1 A little bit of everything! (Part 1)
Slide 2: Geography: a basic definition
• The study of Earth’s surface and the physical processes and human activities that create the distinctive regions of the world
Slide 3: What is the Geographer’s primary tool?
A MAP!
Slide 4: Reading Maps
• • • • • Projections Scale Latitude and Longitude Design Purpose
Slide 5: Mental Maps
Slide 6: Globe vs. Map
Slide 7: Map Projections
• Trying to take something round and make it flat isn’t easy (especially if you’re trying to make it into a rectangle)! • Map projections attempt to do this by “projecting” an image of Earth’s surface onto a piece of paper
Slide 8: Cylindrical Projection
Imagine a light bulb in the center of a globe, with a sheet of paper wrapped around it in the form of a cylinder. Meridians and parallels would be "projected'' onto the cylinder as straight, parallel lines. Meridians on these projections do not meet at the poles, so these maps are increasingly stretched and distorted toward the poles.
Slide 13: Scale
Slide 18: “Reading” Maps
In order to find your way around a map, you need to know how standard map coordinates are written:
(Lat.°)(min') (sec”) (N/S) (Long.° )(min') (sec”) (E/W)
As in: 37°32’12”N 122°20’02”W
Slide 19: Maps Illustrate and Reinforce Our Ideas about the World Around Us
• What we see, what we don’t see, and what we’re not willing to see… • How we think about the world around us… • What is important to us and what is not… These things all “appear” on our maps
Slide 23: Region
Slide 24: What is a region?
• An area on Earth’s surface that exhibits some form of spatial cohesion reflected by a homogeneity of specific features or functional linkages to a central node • In other words: it has similarities of appearance and/or functions as a whole, somehow
Slide 25: Regions often have “fuzzy” boundaries
Slide 26: Regions within regions
Slide 27: The global reach of regions
Slide 28: Physical Geography
• The formation of land masses • Landscape processes and topography • Weather vs. climate
– Temperature, air pressure, precipitation – Climate’s effects on regional geography
Slide 29: Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Tectonic Plates (oh my!)
• Earth’s crust is like a hard, outer shell • This shell is broken up into many different segments called crustal plates • These plates “float” on the less dense material beneath, pulling apart and slamming together constantly
Slide 30: Breakup of Pangaea
Slide 32: The Pacific Ring of Fire
Slide 33: What is the difference between Weather and Climate?
• Weather
Short-term atmospheric conditions
(A storm or warm front)
• Climate
An average of weather conditions over a long period of time
(minimum of 30 yrs.)
Slide 34: “Choosing shorts or long underwear on a particular day is about weather; the ratio of shorts to long underwear in the drawer is about climate."
On --Charles Wohlforth, The whale and the supercomputer: the northern front of climate change, p. 150
Climate is what entices you to go there on vacation…weather is what drives you to come home.
Slide 35: The 7 Controls of Weather and Climate
• • • • • • • Latitude Distribution of land and water General circulation of the atmosphere General circulation of the oceans Elevation Topographic barriers Storms
Slide 36: Ocean Circulation Patterns
Slide 37: The influence of topography on weather and climate
Slide 38: Topographic Barriers
Slide 40: World Climatic Zones
Slide 41: Cultural and Social Geographic Issues
• What is culture? • Elements of culture
– Material culture traits: • Tangible objects made and used (food, clothes, buildings, artwork, musical instruments, etc.) – Non-material culture traits (also called “folklore”) • Oral and written information (stories, songs, beliefs, superstitions, customs)
Slide 43: What is Culture?
• Culture is learned, collective human behavior
– It does not include instinct – One person does not make up a culture group – Culture requires a system of communication
Slide 46: Gender and culture
