1. The study of people, their resources and their environments.
GEOGRAPHY
The study of people, their resources and their environments.

2. Geography and the Environment
This deals with the relationship among people, places, and environments.
Environment means the surroundings created by humans.
This looks at how people have had to adapt to their surroundings.

3. River Valley Civilizations
Early civilizations grew up developed around rivers.
These rivers provided water for crops and for drinking; as well as transportation and eventually trade.

4. Examples China – Yellow River Egypt – Nile River
Indian Subcontinent – Indus River
Mesopotamia – Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

5. Mesopotamia/Middle East
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
The “Fertile Crescent”
Area that stretches from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea
Cradle of Civilizations
Crossroads for people

6. Indian Subcontinent Indus River
Relied on monsoons (seasonal winds that bring rain every summer)
Good – waters crops
Bad – too much rain, river floods wiping out crops; no rain meant no crops

7. China Yellow River Aka “River of Sorrows” Aka Huang He River
Yellow due to the loess (fine windblown soil).

8. More China
China is geographically isolated due to the Gobi dessert to the north, the Himalayas to the west, and seas to the east and south.
Develop a sense of ethnocentrism (they are better than other civilizations) as a result of this
They called themselves the Middle Kingdom

9. Egypt
Nile River
Most of Egypt is desert so people settled around the Nile River
Yearly floods soaked the land and left rich deposits of silt that left the land fertile
Egypt is the “Gift of the Nile”

10. One More River Ganges River (India) Sacred to the Hindus
Most polluted river in the world
People bathe, drink, throw dead bodies in it, perform sacred rituals, etc

11. Picture – Ganges River

12. Mountains
Himalayas – Asia
Andes – South America

13. Himalayas Separate China from India Highest mountain range on earth
Mt. Everest

14. Andes Mountains Andes – line the western coastline of South America
Civilizations use terrace farming to adapt to their surroundings
Incas
Terrace farming occurs when people farm strips of land on the sides of a mountain
Sort of looks like steps

15. Terrace Farming

16. Japan Archipelago – a chain of islands There are 4 main islands
“Ring of Fire” – area prone to earthquakes, tidal waves, tsunamis and volcanoes
Land is very mountainous
The rugged terrain sometimes acts as a barrier to political unity
Japanese people develop a deep respect for nature - Shintoism

17. Map of Japan