GEOGRAPHY FINAL REVIEW:UNITS 1 THROUGH 4

UNIT 1: BASICS Geography: the study of land

features and people on planet Earth

Physical Geography: Physical features such as rivers, mountains, etc.

Cultural Geography: Religion, Traditions, Housing, Location (how we as people interact with the land as traditions are passed down)

Absolute Location: Exact place on planet, uses Longitude & Latitude

Relative Location: What we use daily, uses landmarks

Movement: How we move things and ideas

Region: Characteristics that are similar in two different places

H.E.I.: How we interact with our environment

Location: Where is it? Place: What is it like?

UNIT 1: BASICS Elements of a Map

Origin Title Author Source Date Grid Index Legend Scale

Land Features: Mountain, Plateau, Range, Island, Peninsula, Valley, Plain

Water Features: River, Ocean, Bay, Strait, Channel, Canal, Sea, Gulf

UNIT 2-Southwest Asia & North Africa Climate

Desert: Hot and dry most of the year, little rainfall

Semiarid: Transition zone around desert. Little rain and vegetation

Mediterranean: Cooler winter temperatures and dry summers

Population Distribution: People are more concentrated in cities and near rivers

Oil: Has made the countries of the region lots of money. Improved Standard of Living

Water: Scarce resource, more valuable than oil. People fight over it and disputes have occurred

UNIT 2: SWA & NA Judaism: Oldest religion of

the area. Christianity: Belief in Jesus

Christ Islam: That Mohammad is

the last prophet of Allah Zionism: The belief that Jews

should get their own homeland in Israel

Kurds: Small ethnic group in Syria and Jordan (they want their own country)

Arab: Largest ethnic group of SWA & NA

Persians: Primary ethnic group of Iran

Unit 3: Sub-Saharan Africa

Climate Sahara Sahel Rainforest Savana

Population: Similar to SWA, people live in their own communities, cities, or near water sources

Resources: Too many to list (gold, copper, oil, diamonds, etc.)

Bantu: People from Cameroon several thousand years ago. Largest migration in history. Influenced ethnic groups of Africa

Zulu: Direct descendants of Bantu. Fought a lot with European colonists

Colonialism: Europeans went it to harvest resources. Clashed with Africans (some good, but mostly bad)

Unit 3: Sub-Saharan Africa

Drought: Deserts in North Africa cause massive periods of drought at times

Deforestation: When people chop down trees and do not allow them to grow back (harms the land and people)

Desertification: Process of arable land becoming desert (caused by deforestation mostly)

Swahili: Ethnic Group on the eastern coast of Africa (Arab influence)

San: Bushmen of central-south Africa (descendant of Zulu)

Masai: eastern ethnic group of Africa, red robes and bead work

Unit 4: Asia Climate

Diverse. Best way to describe it is tropic wet and dry in many regions. Exceptions are desert in North & West China as well as Pakistan.

Population Most people live on the coast/near

rivers Chinese people live in the east,

west is too rocky Japan people live on coast, interior

too rocky Monsoons: Seasonal rains. Floods

mostly South Asia. Brings necessary water

Cyclone: Violent windstorms in Southeast Asia (consider a water tornado)

China’s Population: One of two most populated areas. Has caused resource depletion and pollution. Instilled One Child Policy (until this year)

India’s Population: Most people live in cities. Others live in the more traditional north areas.

Japan Population: As said over there , people live on coast because of mountains

Unit 4: Asia Pacific Rim: Countries that border

Pacific Ocean. On tectonic plates. Do a lot of trade with each other

Kashmir: Fertile area of land in Northwest India. Pakistan and India fight over it

India & Pakistan: Britain owned the area until the 1940s. When they split the country into Hindu and Muslim areas, they made East & West Pakistan as well as India

Outsourcing: Because of massive population and poor currency, people send factory jobs there to be done cheaper

Hmong: Southeast ethnic group. Not very good at assimilating. Rigid customs

Han: Largest ethnic group in the world. 99% of China

Indo-Aryan: AKA Indian. Population of India with tradition in Hindu

Saudi Arabia

ISRAEL IRANIRAQ

YEMEN

KUWAIT

TURKEY

RED SEA

EUPHRATES

TIGRIS

RUB AL-KHALIARABIAN SEA

MEDITERRANEAN

EGYPT

CONGO

SOUTH AFRICA

NIGERIA

KENYA

SUDAN

S. SUDAN

ETHOPIA SOMALIA

ANGOLA

NILE

MOZA

MBIQ

UE

SAHARA

SAHEL

VICTORIANIGER

MOZAMBIQUE

GIBRALTAR

VIETNAM

INDONESIA

S. CHINA SEA

CHINA

MONGOLIA

JAPAN

INDIA

HIMALAYS

HUANG HE RIVER

YANGTZE RIVERGANGES

GOBI DESERT

BAY OF BENGAL

GEOGRAPHY FINAL REVIEW:

UNITS 5-8

UNIT 5: EUROPE Climate

Warm in the Southern parts

Colder in the North Transportation: Because

of the river system in Europe, a lot of shipping happens. Trains can pass easily through borders too.

East vs West East Europe: Under the

Communist Bloc for 50 years. Not as developed as the west

West Europe: Free Markets and no USSR allowed the west European countries to flourish

UNIT 5: EUROPE European Union

Shengen: Free passage between all EU countries

Euro: Currency for the EU. Has replaced most native currency

Not everyone is a member of the EU

Population Distribution Most people live in West Europe Good majority live along the

coasts, specifically Mediterranean Sea

Places like Iceland and Scandinavia too cold for bustling cities

Pollution Chernobyl: Worst nuclear accident

in history. Power Plant exploded. Irradiated land in Ukraine (affected people all the way in the USA)

Acid Rain: Coal deposits in the atmosphere cause acidic rain, damages plants and ancient structures

Danube River: Poisoned with cyanide from mines. Killed thousands of fish

UNIT 6: LATIN AMERICA Population: Most choose

to live in cities. Rainforest and Andes make it hard to live in those regions.

Drug Trade: Has lead to an increase in violence in the region as well as corruption and political issues

Natural Disasters: El Nino: Warm weather

current from Pacific Ocean. Throws off all climate in L.A.

Hurricanes: Storms from Africa that cause high winds and rain

Earthquake: Shifting tectonic plates that hurt coastal cities and island

UNIT 6: LATIN AMERICA Rainforest: Amazon hosts a lot of

trees. Been affected by loggers and ranchers.

Also has a good amount of resources. It is in danger to say the least

Brazil: Has had a cycle of boom and bust economy. Problems with poverty and corruption

Political Instability: If a country is instable, its economy is also probably unstable.

Quechua: Ethnic group related to the Incas. Live in the Andes Mountains

Zapotec: Ethnic Group related to the Aztec. Live in Mexico

UNIT 7: US & CANADA Urban Sprawl

Cities that are mapped close to one another

Impacts environment often Mostly in US & Canada

Megalopolis Two cities close to each other as

one big region (Think the 5 Boroughs of NYC)

Urban Core Main center of a major city

Regions of the US Midwest West South Northeast

Migration Political instability push people out

of countries Good education pull them to the

US Loss of American jobs and

government assistance

UNIT 8: OCEANIA Ethnic Groups

Aborigines: Natives of Australia for 40,000 years

Maori: Natives of New Zealand

Samoan: Natives of Samoa

Papua New Guinea: Most diverse area of Oceania

Regions of Oceania Polynesia Micronesia Melanesia

GERMANY

SPAIN

U.K.UKRAINE

ITALY

POLAND

PORT

UGA

L

GREECE

SWED

EN

ICELANDRUSSIA

URAL MTS

NORTH EUROPEAN PLAIN

ALPS

RHINE

DANUBE

PYRENEES

E.

CHANNEL

NORWEGIAN SEA

BRAZIL

COLOMBIA

ARGEN

TINA

CHILE

GUATEM

ALA

CARIBBEAN

ANDES PAMPAS

AMAZON RIVER

PACIFIC OCEAN

ATLANTIC OCEAN

MEXICO

UNITED STATES

CANADA

APPALACHIAN

ROCKIES

MISSISSIPPI

GULF OF MEXICO