1. Big Geography The Geography of Global History
NASA Big Blue Marble Images

2. We need a mental picture of the whole world, not just certain parts of it. This is “big geography.”
Cartoon source unknown. If you know the source, please share with Director, World History for Us All,

3. Africa
U S A.
South America

4. Hi. I’m Globe.
Did you know that how we “see” the world depends on how we project the world?

5. which kind of distortion?
The Earth is a sphere. Therefore, it cannot be projected on a flat map without distortion. The question is,
which kind of distortion?

6. Three World Map Projections Mercator, Peters, and Robinson
Copyright © 1999 Peter H. Dana, Department of Geography, University of Texas at Austin, The Geographer's Craft Project, Department of Geography, The University of Colorado. .

7. On a Mercator projection, invented by Gerardus Mercator in 1569, any straight line is a line of constant compass bearing. This enables a navigator to plot a straight-line course.
Any straight line on a Mercator-projection map is a line of constant true bearing that enables a navigator to plot a straight-line course.

8. Despite the values of the Mercator Projection, it
distorts the size and shape
of land areas.
Fact: South America is
8 times as large as
Greenland.
Fact: Africa is 14 times
as large as Greenland.
The Peters Projection is an
“equal area” map. It
represents areas accurately,
but it seriously distorts shapes.
Compare the size of Europe to Africa on the two maps.
Compare the size of the former USSR to China on the two maps.
Land area of Alaska:
615, 230 sq. miles.
Land area of Texas:
267, 277 sq. miles.
Texas is 43% of the
size of Alaska.

9. Human beings inhabit the biosphere.
The biosphere is made up of three layers.
The lithosphere: The solid earth, or outer crust of rock, sand, and soil.
The hydrosphere: The watery realm. About 97 percent of it is the oceans.
The atmosphere: The thin layer of gasses, mainly nitrogen and oxygen.

10. The lithosphere is in constant, though slow motion.
The surface of the earth and the location of its land masses have therefore had a continuously changing history.

11. Source: Grand Canyon Explorer www.kaibab.org Copyright Bob Ribokas
The scene of history is continuously moving land masses. Notice in the left column the names of distinct land masses that no longer exist. The red dot represents the location of the Grand Canyon. 
India
550 Million Years Ago
130 Million Years Ago
Pangaea
South America
Source: Grand Canyon Explorer
Copyright Bob Ribokas
220 Million Years Ago
65 Million Years Ago
Laurasia
Gondwanaland
190 Million Years Ago
Today

12. The largest context of human history is the entire planet.

13. 70. 9 % of the surface of the earth is water
70.9 % of the surface of the earth is water. Human beings, however, are a land-dwelling species. We call the biggest land areas continents.

14. How many continents are there?
Nine?
One?
Seven?
Five?
Four?

15. The conventional map of seven continents
But what IS a continent?
Encyclopedia Britannica on-line
The conventional map of seven continents

16. Conventional definition of a continent A large mass of land surrounded, or nearly surrounded, by water.
Encyclopedia Britannica on-line
If that is the conventional definition, why are
Europe and Asia separate continents?

17. Since the nineteenth century, most scholars have accepted the Ural Mountains as part of the dividing Line between “Europe” and “Asia” as continents.
Left:
Right: Encarta Encyclopedia
The Urals as a border between continents? They are not that impressive.

18. Another part of the dividing line: Bosporus and Dardanelles
Ural Mts.
EUROPE
ASIA
Another part of the dividing line:
Bosporus and Dardanelles
(Straits)

19. Istanbul
Bosporus
Dardanelles

20. What significance have the Bosporus and Dardanelles had as a line dividing peoples from one another in history?
Almost none!
Encyclopedia Britannica on-line

21. The Ottoman Turkish Empire about 1550
The Ottoman Turkish Empire about Its territory cut straight across the Bosporus and Dardanelles.

22. Here’s a highway bridge across the Bosporus.
Today, you can drive from “Asia” to “Europe” in a few minutes.
Photo by R. Dunn

23. So, why is Europe a continent?
European scholars of the nineteenth century decided that it should be one.
One of the benefits of having power in the world is that you get to name things!

24. The dividing line between “Europe” and “Asia” is not something that is “natural.” That is, it does not exist as a fact of the natural world.
Many geographers have therefore been willing to unite the two regions as a single continent called “Eurasia.”

25. E U R A S I A Asia + Europe = Eurasia
Encyclopedia Britannica on-line

26. But is Africa separated from Eurasia by a wide ocean?
No!
Why not think of Eurasia and Africa together as a single “supercontinent?”
Let’s call it “Afroeurasia.”

27. Africa + Asia + Europe = Afroeurasia
Encyclopedia Britannica on-line

28. Think of Afroeurasia as having some seas “inside” it.
Black Sea
Caspian Sea
Mediterranean Sea
Persian Gulf
Red Sea
You figure out which is which?
Encyclopedia Britannica on-line

29. One of the big geographical features of Afroeurasia is the Great Arid Zone. This is the belt of arid or semi-arid land that extends nearly across Afroeurasia.
Great Arid Zone
ttp://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=

30. Scenes in the Great Arid Zone of Afroeurasia
Extreme dryness
Ahaggar Mts., Sahara Desert
Horses on Steppe
Virtual Mongolia
World Deserts
Semi-aridity
Grassy steppes of Mongolia

31. Historically, peoples who herd animals as a way of life have inhabited many parts of the Great Arid Zone. These herders are pastoral nomads, that is, they move with their herds or flocks from pasture to pasture.
Herders in Mongolia

32. A major theme in world history has been
the dynamic relations between pastoral
nomadic peoples of the Great Arid Zone…
…and peoples who
have been farmers
or city-dwellers.

33. Nomadic peoples of the Great Arid Zone both traded and clashed with farming and city-dwelling peoples who lived adjacent to the Great Arid Zone.
One of the greatest clashes was the attacks of Mongol nomads on cities of Eurasia in the 13th century.

34. The Eleven Seas of Afroeurasia
They made it easier for people to
communicate by water across Afroeurasia.
Name these seas! 1 2 3 11 4 10 6 5 7
Encyclopedia Britannica on-line 8 9

35. Before modern times, merchants relayed goods from one link in the “chain of seas” to another. That is, a single merchant did not make the trip from one end of the chain to the other, though it was theoretically possible.

36. Another feature of big geography is the earth’s great mountain chains
The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th Ed., 1988, v. 25, p. 139.
Mountains have been barriers to human communication.
But passes across them have also served as
“valves” of communication.

37. The major winds and currents of the oceans Until the coming of steamships in the 19th century, sailors had to know winds and currents to have confidence that they could sail from one place to another in an approximate amount of time. These winds and currents follow large global patterns. It was a matter of discovering what those patterns were.
winter
The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th Ed., 1988, v. 25, p. 139.
summer
Indian Ocean
Monsoon Winds

38. The wind cycle in the North Atlantic helped Christopher Columbus sail both ways across the ocean.
The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th Ed., 1988, v. 25, p. 139.
WIND

39. So, how many continents? Afroeurasia Afroeurasia Australia Australia
North America
South America
Antarctica
Afroeurasia
Australia
Americas
Antarctica
But is it possible to think of North and South America as ONE continent?

40. Are the Americas one continent or two? Try to think of the Gulf of
Mexico and
the
Caribbean
Sea as bodies
of water
“inside”
the Americas.
Gulf of
Mexico
Caribbean
Sea

41. Danube Yellow (Huang) Indus Ganges Columbia Niger Yangze Mekong
Finally, let’s not forget great rivers. They have served as channels of communication between seas and deep interior lands.
Danube
Yellow
(Huang)
Indus
Ganges
Columbia
Niger
Yangze
Mekong
Mississippi
Nile
Tigris-Euphrates
Congo
Amazon
Darling-Murray