Geography

What is Geography? What will you learn in this class? What is Geography? Why is Geography important? ◦ Refer to hw reading

Geography Knowledge of geography enables people to develop an understanding of the relationships between people, places, and environments over time—that is, on Earth as it was, is, and might be. Geography poses fascinating questions about who we are and how we got to be that way, and then provides clues to those answers. It is impossible to understand history, international politics, the world economy, religions, philosophy, or “patterns of culture” without taking geography into account.

Geography literally means “Earth writing” Many Greeks thought and talked and wrote about geography without exactly calling it that. You could even say Homer’s epic Odyssey is viewed as one of the first geographic works in Western culture because it describes the many recognizable places that Ulysses reached during this long voyage home from Troy.  Kenneth Davis

5 Themes of Geography Location ◦ Absolute vs. Relative Place ◦ What is it like? Region ◦ How is it different and similar? Movement…people, goods, and ideas Human-Environment Interaction

Maps Mesopotamia produced some of the earliest maps known to man.  Why would some of the first maps look like the one below? What modern technologies do we have to help cartographers today?

Maps What theme(s) of geography do maps help understand and analyze?

HW: Map packet Refer to your textbook and internet to fill in the boxes. Internet will most likely be best source.

Types of Maps

Population, Economy, Government, Culture… Refer to chapter 4 slide