UNIT 1: Texas Geography Understanding the physical and human characteristics of our state

Era of Natural Texas and Its People What is an era? A fixed period of time characterized by particular events, features, developments, or people. Why do historians divide history into eras? Historians divide history into eras in order to create blocks of time that have similar characteristics in order to organize and present information about the past.

Era of Natural Texas and Its People TEKS 1A –Identify the major eras in Texas history, describe their defining characteristics, and explain why historians divide the past into eras, including Natural Texas and its People; Age of Contact; Spanish Colonial; Mexican National; Revolution and Republic; Early Statehood; Texas in the Civil War and Reconstruction; Cotton, Cattle, and Railroads; Age of Oil; Texas in the Great Depression and World War II; Civil Rights and Conservatism; and Contemporary Texas

6 Geographical Questions Location – Where is it? Place – What is it like? Regions – How does it compare to other places? Human-Environment Interaction – How do humans react to their environment and how does it affect them? Human Systems Physical Systems

Location – Where is it? Absolute Location – The exact location of a place on the earth’s surface Relative Location – The location of a place in relation to other places The Absolute location and Relative location of Texas affect it in many ways – How has Texas’ relative location to Mexico affected it?

Place – What is it like? Place refers to the physical and human characteristics of a location Physical Characteristics include: –Landforms, Climate, plants, animals Human Characteristics include: –Language, Religion, Architecture, Music, Politics, ways of life

Physical Characteristics

Human Characteristics

Regions – How does it compare to other places? Geographers divide areas into regions in order to better study them. Regions are places that are united based on common characteristics Regions can be based on physical, human, business and other characteristics

4 Natural Regions of Texas

Human-Environment Interaction How do humans react to their environment and how does it affect them? Ex: Pollution Deforestation Hurricanes/Tornadoes Farming Damming Rivers to make lakes

Human Systems Movement - How people move through the environment Cultural Diffusion - new ideas brought by migrating people become widely accepted. People bring ideas and goods with them when they move from one place to another.

Physical Systems Geographers analyze physical systems such as mountains, volcanoes, hurricanes, glaciers to see how they interact with and shape places and regions. They also study plant and animal ecosystems that depend on each other and their surroundings in places and regions for their survival.

Movement in Texas

Why Geography? Geography prepares us for modern life People, businesses, governments depend on geography everyday to meet their needs Computer software such as GIS and GPS use geography to help people

Roy Bedichek He was an author and speaker; considered a “Naturalist” who traveled and documented the Texas landscape for over 30 years. Died in 1959.

Texas has the most varied climate of any other state in the United States. It even varies greatly from one area of the state to the next.

Absolute Location Texas lies in what are called the middle latitudes, the region about midway between the equator and the north pole. Because of this absolute location of Texas being not very far north of the equator, it has mild winters, and because it is not very far south of the north pole is has mild summers.

Northers Sudden, icy blasts of cold air, called northers, extend south from Canada and sweep across the plains of Texas. Despite its overall warmth, Texas is subject to periods of cold weather.

Storms Violent storms form when cool air from the north collides with moist warm air from the Gulf of Mexico. Because Texas is on the Gulf, destructive storms such as hurricanes sometimes sweep across the state.

Relative Location Because Texas is on the gulf coast, breezes from the Gulf of Mexico cool Texas in the summer and warm it in the winter. Moisture from the Gulf gives Texas a lot of its rainfall. However, some parts of Texas are so far from The Gulf it has little effect on climate there. In the hot, dry areas, water is a precious, natural resource.

Elevation Elevation also affects the Texas climate. The temperature cools by 3 degrees every 1000-foot rise in elevation. The temperature rises as elevation decreases

Texas has various economic industries such as petroleum (oil), agriculture, ranching, and tourism. Texas has also used its natural resources to produce alternative forms of energy.

Energy Production Petroleum and natural gas are the most important mineral resources –The oil boom of the early 1900s contributed to Houston’s expansion and growth. –Many Texas oil refineries around the greater Houston area produce gasoline from petroleum. –Offshore drilling jobs in the Gulf of Mexico— high risk, high reward!

Energy Production Texans have adapted and modified the environment by: –building dams on rivers to harness power for electricity. –irrigating the farms in the Great Plains region to yield sufficient crops such as cotton, wheat, rice, corn, etc.

Economic Growth Agribusiness (combines farming and ranching) has contributed to the economic rise of Fort Worth as a major city. San Antonio’s tourism industry has boomed thanks to the state’s most popular and visited historic landmark – The Alamo! El Paso has sustained economic prosperity through maquiladoras.

Texas has a rich, cultural history with a European influence headlined by Spanish and Mexican heritage.

TEX-MEX Much of the Texas culture has been influenced by Spanish/Mexican heritage such as food, architecture, and language (vocabulary). “Tex-Mex” is a blend of Texas and Mexican culture widely accepted.

Texas Growth by Ethnicity

Texas Population

Texas Population

TX Population

Texas Metropolitan Growth

TX Population By Age