Key Terms – Geography (1) Geography Location * Longitude Latitude Prime Meridian Equator Place * Topography Climate Monsoons

Peninsulas Plateaus Savannas Steppe Rain forests Tundras Subtropics

Geography

Geography is the study of the Earth and its physical features.

Geographers set up the Earth in measurable terms.

Geography also involves measuring the Earth temporally and spatially (across time and space).

Location and its Measurements

Location → an exact mathematical point on the Earth

The Earth is broken into a mathematical grid with two distinct sets of lines: longitudinal lines and latitudinal lines

Latitude

The earth was initially broken up into latitudinal lines or parallels by Greek cartographers during the period of antiquity.

Latitude → imaginary lines that run from East to West (or vice versa).

Longitude

Longitudinal lines or meridians were created by a British clockmaker named John Harrison.

Longitude → imaginary lines that run north to south (or vice versa)

The Equator and Prime Meridian Two lines divide the world

evenly into four hemispheres. These two lines are the Prime Meridian and the Equator.

Equator → imaginary line that measures 0 degrees latitude and divides the world into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres

Prime Meridian → imaginary line that runs through Greenwich, England that measures 0 degrees and divides the world into the

eastern and Western Hemispheres

Place and its Determinants

Place → tells us about a location's special features that distinguish it from other locations

Two terms are used to describe places: Topography → the

land surface of an area and its changes

Climate → the weather conditions in an area over a period of time

Different Features

Monsoons → seasonal winds that blow across Asia Peninsula → A land mass surrounded on three sides by

water Plateau → A high, elevated, flat land surface surrounded

by mountain ridges Savanna → grassy plains with few trees Steppe → dry, grassy plains with few trees Rain forest → hot, humid forest in regions with heavy

rainfall Tundra → marshy, treeless plains near the North Pole that

are frozen in the winter but thaw in the summer Subtropics → regions bordering on the tropics.

Monsoons

Peninsulas

Plateaus

Savannas

Steppes

Rain forests

Tundras

Subtropics