VOCABULARY

• Country - A region with its own government,

occupying a particular territory; also known as a nation

or state.

• Continent - One of seven large landmasses on Earth.

• Latitude – Imaginary lines running east and west on a

map that tell the distance north or south of the

equator.

• Longitude – Imaginary lines running north and south

that tell the distance east or west of the Prime

Meridian.

Introduction to

World History

Geography and Map Terminology

What is Geography?

• From Greek – “earth

description”

• The study of the physical

features of the earth, its

atmosphere, and human

activity

• Why might a knowledge of

geography be essential to a

study of history?

Continent vs. Country• Continent

• Turn to your

neighbor…

• One of

several large

landmasses

on Earth

• Seven (7) Common Continents on Earth

• What are they?

• North America, South America, Antarctica,

Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia

Continent vs. Country

• Country• Turn to a neighbor…

• A region with its own government, occupying a particular

territory.

• Also known as nations

• There are 196 countries in the world today!• North America - (The United States of America)

• South America - (Brazil)

• Antarctica

• Europe - (Germany)

• Africa - (Ghana)

• Asia - (China)

• Australia

Studying Maps

• Maps Aren’t New

• People have made

maps for centuries.

• Inuit (Eskimo)

people made maps

from wood; tropical

islanders made

them from wood

and shells.

Globes

•Globes are the most

accurate way of

showing the Earth’s

continents and oceans.

•Problems with Globes:

• Scale is too small to

show detail

• Hard to transport

Using Maps

Mercator Projection

• What is a projection?

• Problems with Flat Maps• Maps that show all or most of the Earth always have

distortion

• Distortion happens due to making a round object flat

• A Mercator projection is a map that has parallel lines of

latitude and longitude.• In a Mercator projection, the shapes of the landmasses are

correct, but their areas are distorted.

Latitude and Longitude

• Latitude

• Turn to your neighbor…

• Imaginary lines running east and west on a map that

tell the distance north or south of the equator.

• Also known as “parallels”

• Longitude

• Turn to your neighbor…

• Imaginary lines running north and south that tell the

distance east or west of the Prime Meridian.

• Also known as “meridians”

Using A Map

Using A Map

Absolute and Relative

Locations

• There are two types of location

• Absolute Location:

• the exact position of a place on earth determined by

latitude and longitude

• Absolute location of any place is where lines of

latitude and longitude intersect.

Absolute and Relative

Locations

• Cartographers break down degrees of latitude into

60 smaller units, called minutes (´).

• A minute of latitude can be further divided into

seconds (´´).

Absolute and Relative

Locations

• Relative Location:

• The location of one place relative to another place

• Examples: Ucon is about six miles east of Idaho Falls

or Twin Falls is about 160 miles up the Snake River

from Idaho Falls

General Geography Terms

• Equator• Imaginary line drawn around the earth between the

North and South poles - Line of Latitude - 0º

• Prime Meridian• Imaginary line that represents earth’s zero of

longitude - Line of Longitude - 0º

• Passes through Greenwich, England

• Hemisphere• Equator divides earth into northern/southern

hemispheres

• Prime Meridian divides earth into eastern/western

hemispheres

Using A Map

North America

South America

Antarctica

Europe

Africa

Asia

Australia

Using A Map

PACIFIC

OCEAN

PACIFIC

OCEAN

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

INDIAN

OCEAN

ARCTIC

OCEAN

SOUTHERN

OCEAN

Using A Map

EQUATOR

PRIME MERIDIAN

Using A Map

NOTHERN HEMISPHERE

SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE

WESTERN

HEMISPHERE

EASTERN

HEMISPHERE

Parts of a Map

• Title

• Explains the map’s

purpose or subject

• Key (or Legend)

• Explains the map’s

symbols (for

example: capital

cities, parks, types

of roads)

Why is Scale Important?

• Scale

• Shows what the distance

on the map equals on the

Earth’s surface (for

example: 1 inch = 10

miles)

• Scale varies according to

the map!!

• What does scale tell us?

Why is scale important?

Parts of a Map

• Compass Rose• A model of a compass showing direction

• Cardinal Directions: north, south, east, and

west.

• Intermediate Directions: northwest, northeast,

southwest, southeast.

• Why is the compass rose

important?• Tells you how to get where you are

going

• Let’s you know where you are

• How to get to where you need to go

What parts of the map do you see?

Show Me What You Know• On your map, mark all of the following:

• All seven continents

• All FIVE oceans

• Scale

• One line of latitude

• One line of longitude

• Plus, extra requirements listed

• On the back of the map, in one paragraph (minimum 5-

7 sentences), explain the difference between a country

and a continent. In addition to the paragraph, give an

example of each.