Geography

Johannes Kepler

map maker

Catal Hyuk

one of the worlds oldest maps, made around 6000 BCE in modern day Turkey.

Interglacial period

Interglacial period - Periods in between ice ages when the glaciers retreat significantly from the surface of the continents.

Kenya

Kenya is the most prosperous nation in east Africa. Its plains are home to a rich diversity of wildlife, but only the southwestern highlands contain arable land. Kenya produces corn, coffee, tea, sisal, and pyrethrum. A former English colony, Kenya became a republic shortly after gaining its independence in 1963. Tourism is an important component of the economy of this staggeringly beautiful country.

Human evolution

Linked to the geographic episodes, such as glaciation and creation/drying up of rivers.

Great Salt Lake

Located in northern Utah, the Great Salt Lake is much saltier than the ocean. Three rivers (the Bear, the Weber, and the Jordan) feed the lake and dump huge amounts of minerals into its waters each year. It covers an area of about 1,500 square miles.

Yangtze River

Longest river in Asia, third longest in the world. 3,964 miles long. Flows from its source in the western part of China (Qinghai Province) eastwards in the East China Sea.

Ganges River

Major river in northern India. Orignates from a glacier in the Himalayas and empties into the Bay of Bengal. 1,588 miles long. It's basin is incredibly fertile. Pollution is increasing in this river because the population around it is so high.

Reasoning

Make history more manageable by employing visual devices, such as time lines, graphs, maps, and charts. Know how to use and interpret primary and secondary sources. Look for multiple causes and effects surrounding historical events. Make connections between past and current events—help students relate the events of their lives to events in the past. Use overarching ideas and key principles to tie major events together—for example, intense nationalism as a major cause for political and military conflict

Elevation

The height (or depth) above or below sea level.

Niger River

Western Africa. 2,500 miles long. Runs through Guinea, Mali, Niger, Benin, and Nigeria. Boomerang shape baffled European explorers. Source is 150 miles inland, runs away from the ocean into the Sahara Desert, then takes a sharp right back to the Atlantic.

Europe

While it may better fit the definition of a subcontinent, Europe is usually labeled a continent. It comprises more than 40 countries and a dizzying array of languages and dialects. In terms of population, only Africa and Asia have more people. With its mountainous southern region, many peninsulas, and miles of coastline, Europe is one of the most physically complex continents. Twenty five nations make up the European Union, an international group that decides issues on a wide variety of public policy.

Missouri River

While not as famous as its counterpart, the Mississippi, the Missouri River is the country's longest. Its source is in the Rocky Mountains of Montana, and the river runs into the Mississippi just north of St. Louis, Missouri.

Steppes

While similar to a prairie, a steppe is a large, treeless plane dominated by short grasses. The world's largest area of steppes is east of the Volga River; these run all the way to the higher elevations of Mongolia.

Fault

Zone where the Earth's tectonic plates grind together. (Also called transformation boundaries).

Mekong River

12th longest river in the world, 10th largest by volume. Runs through China, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Navigation is difficult due to extreme seasonal variations, rapids and waterfalls. Malay culture is the first known civilization to settle in this delta.

Lake Powell

Actually a man-made reservoir on the border between Utah and Arizona, Lake Powell was created by Glen Canyon Dam, which dammed up the Colorado River. (Glen Canyon Dam was built between 1956 and 1963.)

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest continent. Including its adjacent islands, Africa covers almost 12 million square miles, and makes up over 20 percent of the total land area on the Earth. The continent is separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea, and joined to Asia by the Isthmus of Suez. Africa also boasts the second highest population of any continent, and, with over 800 million inhabitants, accounts for about one seventh of the world's population. Africa is thought to be the oldest inhabited continent, and perhaps the origin point of the human race; nonetheless, it is considered the world's poorest continent. Agricultural products and mineral resources are the main economic products of much of the continent.

Nile River

African river. Longest river 4,150 miles long. Two branches: the White and the Blue. Lake Victoria is the source of the White Nile. The Blue Nile springs from Lake Tana in the Ethiopian Heights. Served Egyptians until climate change or overgrazing formed the Sahara.

Antarctica

Antarctica is the continent that surrounds the Earth's South Pole. With an area of approximately 8 million square miles, it is the world's fifth largest continent and is also the continent with the highest average altitude and the lowest average humidity of any continent on the Earth. It is the coldest place on earth. The annual average temperature is -50°C (-58°F). Summer temperatures can reach as high as -30°C (-22°F). This landmass is almost entirely covered with ice, but is also the world's largest desert. Although Antarctica has no permanent residents, a number of governments maintain permanent research stations throughout the continent. It is estimated that about 1,000 people live in Antarctica in base camps, although this number varies widely by season.

Asia

Asia is the continent that makes up the central and eastern part of Eurasia (Europe and Asia combined). Asia is also joined to Africa by the Isthmus of Suez. It is the largest continent in the world in terms of land area. Asia is also the world's most populous continent, with about 60 percent of the human population. The continent is rich in natural resources, including petroleum and iron. Agricultural products include rice, wheat, and chicken. Forestry is extensive throughout Asia except Southwest and Central Asia. Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, and varies from manufacturing cheap goods such as toys to high-tech goods. One of the major employers in manufacturing in Asia is the textile industry. Much of the world's supply of clothing and footwear now originates in Southeast Asia.

Primary sources

Autobiographies, photographs, artifacts from a time period. Lack the bias of interpretation.

Birth Rate

Based on the number of live births per one thousand people. Highest birth rate include Niger, Afghanistan, and Mali. Economic and political factors affect birth rates around the globe;

Eemian

Began around 130,000 years ago and saw a considerably warmer and wetter climate than the Holocene.

Secondary sources

Biographies, sketches, impressionism, photos or copies of the original artifact, speculation on artifacts history.

Gulf of Bothnia

Body of water that lies between Finland and Sweden.

China

China has been protected by its ocean, mountains, and deserts for millennia. It is one of the oldest continuous civilizations in the world, famously the originator of paper, gunpowder, and pasta, among other innovations. China was ruled by a succession of dynasties until a revolution in 1911 established a short-lived republic. After a civil war in 1949, the existing Nationalist government was replaced by a communist government under Mao Zedong. Despite persistent high levels of government control over its citizens, China has become a major economic power as it adopts increasingly liberal economic policies. The development of the US relationship with China is a subject of significant interest as the world's most populous country begins to seek access to the same kinds of goods and resources enjoyed by the rest of the developed worlds.

North Sea

Connects to the Atlantic in the south through the Straits of Dover. In the northeast, it wraps around Denmark and makes its way through several different waterways, including the Kattegat and the busy, man-made Kiel Canal.

Pampas

Covering almost 300,000 square miles, these are the South American lowlands that run throughout Argentina and Uruguay. Due to its humid and temperate climate, the Pampas grasslands are some of the best lands for grazing cattle; so much so that overgrazing is a serious threat to the biome.

Subduction trench

Deep underwater abysses. The Marianas Trench in the Pacific goes down 35,000 feet.

Danube River

Europe's second largest river. Rises in the Black Forest in Germany, flowing 1,775 miles emptying in the Black Sea. Flows through ten countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine. Estimated to be stream captured by the Rhine River.

Great Lakes

Five massive lakes that lie in midwestern US and Canada, the Great Lakes comprise Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Lake Ontario, Lake Huron, and Lake Erie. Lake Ontario is connected to the St. Lawrence, and this combination makes the Great Lakes the largest freshwater collection on the planet.

France

France is comprised of three geographic regions: mountains (on the southeastern and western borders), uplands (notably the Massif Central in south central France), and rolling plains (in the northwest). The mountains have helped to define France, to discourage invaders, and to complicate France's expansionist ambitions into Spain and Italy. Modern France is a presidential republic, though claimants to the French throne survive. It is powerful both agriculturally and industrially, as well as being the third largest nation in Europe (after Russia and Ukraine). Its principle exports are livestock, grains, iron, and steel.

Climate

Geographers use this term to divide the Earth into zones of typical weather patterns, such as precipitation. Some climates include Alpine, Tropical, Arid, Temperate, and Polar.

Japan

Modern Japan is a land that has experienced rapid transformation. In the past century, it has gone from a feudal country, to a powerful empire, to an industrial and economic powerhouse. Japan has one of the highest standards of living in the world, although its economy, the world's second largest, has been in recession since the 1990s. Like the United Kingdom, Japan is a parliamentary democracy with a hereditary symbolic head of state, a position currently held by the Emperor Akihito.

South America

More than 350 million people live in South America, making it the fourth most populated continent. It is bordered in the north by the Panama Canal and stretches south to Cape Horn. South America's largest country, both in terms of area and population, is Brazil. Its natural resources include tin, iron ore, and oil. The economies of many South American nations are unstable, and there is a tremendous gap between the wealthy and the poor.

Australia

Originally settled by peoples of Southeast Asia around 40,000 years before the first Europeans (they arrived in the 17th century), Australia is mostly low plateau with deserts and a fertile plain in southeast of the nation. Australia's economy is highly developed and capitalistic. Its major resources include diamonds, natural gas, and petroleum. While it is the smallest of the seven continents, it is the world's sixth largest nation in terms of square miles.

Rio Grande

Providing the southern border of the US, the Rio Grande's headwaters lie in the San Juan mountains of Colorado. The river flows through Colorado, New Mexico, and then into Texas where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico near Brownsville, Texas.

Migration

Refers to large-scale movement of human populations; migration can have many causes, including wars, famine, or a shift in climate. For example, the climate change in northern Africa birthed the Sahara Desert, which caused people to move east to the fertile Nile Valley.

Renewable resources

Resources that can be renewed, usually through careful management or conservation. Most of the renewable resources used in the world today come from plant and animal material.

Germany

Reunited in 1990 after having been partitioned following World War II, Germany is industrially and financially important, though economic difficulties for its eastern portion remain a major concern. Germany has a rich agrarian plain in its north, even as pollution problems plague its forest regions. Germany produces grains, potatoes, steel, automobiles, and machinery, among other things.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, has become a wealthy nation since the discovery of its massive oil reserves (one-quarter of the world's total) in the 1950s. A conservative, theocratic monarchy, Saudi Arabia is an important regional ally for the US.

Mississippi River

Second largest rive in the US, the longest is the Missouri River, which flows into this river. Covers over 1,245,000 square miles, 31 states and 2 Canadian provinces.

Inexhaustible resources

Soil, water, and air are other examples of inexhaustible natural resources. While these resources seem to exist in an unlimited supply, human activities that pollute or deplete these resources are still a cause for serious concern. Wind, solar, hydroelectric, and geothermal energy are all examples of inexhaustible natural resources. These types of resources help to reduce fossil fuel demand and provide energy though processes that do not create pollution.

South Africa

South Africa's recent history has been shaped by its rich supply of natural resources, including gold, diamonds, platinum, and coal. The earliest colonizers were Dutch settlers called the Boers in the eighteenth century, but the Treaty of Vienna gave the English a claim to South Africa, and they began to push back the Boer population. The discovery of valuable minerals in South Africa accelerated this process, culminating in the two Boer Wars at the turn of the century. Relations between the African natives and both sets of colonizers were even worse, a conflict particularly vividly dramatized by the Zulu War. After independence, South Africa practiced apartheid, a form of official racial segregation. The African National Congress and Nelson Mandela, among others, resisted this policy, which was eradicated as a political system in 1994. Although the contry faces serious social, economic, and health-related problems, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that they established to deal with the aftermath of decades of apartheid and the abuses it engendered has become a model for other countries recovering from large-scale national injustice.

Amazon River

South American river named after female warriors. Second longest river, 4,000 miles. By far the greatest total flow of any river in the world.

Baltic Sea

Stretches northeast through the Gulf of Finland to reach Leningrad. To the north, it runs into the Gulf of Bothnia. This is body of water is Earth's largest collection of brackish water.

North America

Stretching from the Arctic Ocean in the north and the Caribbean in the south, North America is the third-largest continent. It comprises Canada, the US, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. The region also includes many territories of the US or other European countries. The continent is geographically diverse, containing mountainous ranges in the west and east, as well as prairies and deserts in the central regions. The North American economy is dominated by the US (about 12 trillion GDP) and Canada.

Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachians lie in the eastern US and stretch from Georgia (about 300 miles northeast of Atlanta) to Maine. The 6,000 foot Mount Mitchell is the highest peak in the range in the US.

Revolution

The Earth's orbit around the Sun; one every 365 days, 5 hours, and 12 minutes.

The Rocky Mountains

The Rockies begin as the Lewis Range as they enter the continental US in Montana. They run slightly southeast and leave the country in New Mexico.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom (England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland) is a relatively small country that has played a major role in the development of geopolitics. At present, over one billion people speak English, and number expected to double in the next decade, a result of the influence of this enterprising nation. England's early history was characterized by waves of immigrants; even the Celts are believed to have displaced or absorbed an earlier population. Later invaders included the Romans, the Saxons, various Scandinavian groups, and finally, the Normans. Since 1066, however, England's seas have protected it from invasion. This protection helped it to become a major industrial and colonial power in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Manufacturing and agriculture remain important components of the UK's economy, while the service sector has gained increasing prominence. A constitutional monarchy, Britain is ruled by Parliament and its Prime Minister, while Queen Elizabeth II is the symbolic head of state.

South China Sea

The body of water that lies west of the Philippines and southeast of China. It is known as a "marginal sea," meaning that it shares a significant amount of water with the nearby Pacific Ocean. The Sea features hundreds of tiny islands and stretches south into the Java Sea and north to the East China Sea and on through the Korea Strait into the Sea of Japan.

Egypt

The civilization of the Nile valley stretches back to around 4500 BCE with the Neolithic Badarian people. The Nile has always been essential to Egypt's prosperity, even though in modern times the fertile strip along the Nile river only comprises about 4% of the area of Egypt. Egypt's principle exports are corn, rice, wheat, and textiles.

Holocene

The current interglacial period, which began around 10,000 years ago, is called the

Rotation

The spinning of the Earth on its axis; one rotation per 24 hours.

Demography

The study of the characteristics of human populations and takes into account such features as size, growth, migration patterns, and distribution.

Economic geography

The study of the how geography affect economic conditions (and vice versa). For example, the Industrial Revolution effect on the urbanization of Great Britain.

Savanna

The term savanna usually refers to flat grasslands (with some trees). The savanna is a biome that features a fairly black-and-white seasonal pattern as long, dry winters give way to extremely rainy summers. Some of the best examples are in eastern Africa in Tanzania. Though Africa has a strong connection with the Sahara Desert, it is the home to many biomes. For an example click here for a map of Africa showing its forests.

Relief

The variation in elevation from one place to another.

Bosporus

The waterway that connects the Mediterranean to the Black Sea. It is usually considered the dividing line between European Turkey and Asian Turkey. This wtaerway has always been important strategically; when Constantine moved the Roman Empire's captial east, he chose the site for the new capital Constantinople in 335.

Gradational forces

These affect the Earth's crust; they include erosion, weathering, and other forces.

Boundary

These can be either artificial like the ones drawn on a map, or physical, such as the Rio Grande River that separates the US from Mexico.

Cardinal directions

They include north, south, east, and west. (Some would include the three directions between each of the four main cardinal directions. For example, between north and east lie north-northeast, northeast, and east-northeast.)

India

This diverse subcontinent is home to the second most populous nation on earth. India has been an independent country since the British withdrew in 1947. Although around two-thirds of the population supports itself by farming, India is also increasingly important in technology and services. It boasts a wealth of cosmopolitan, highly educated inhabitants who, along with the low cost of operating in India, have begun to attract multinational corporations. Despite this success, India suffers from endemic poverty, overpopulation, and environmental problems.

Brazil

This largest country in the New World is also the only one whose national language is Portuguese, owing to its colonial relationship with Portugal. The Amazon rainforest that covers much of the country is nearly equal to the area of the United States, while the Amazon River is the second longest river in the world. Among the major exports from Brazil are coffee, rice, sugarcane, textiles, chemicals, and cement

Death Rate

This number refers to the annual number of death per one thousand people.

The Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Cascade Range

This ranges runs along the Pacific side of the country, separating the valleys of California from the deserts and mountains of Nevada and Oregon. In northern California, the Sierras meet up with the Cascades, which stretch into Canada.