Geography Sec 1

• What is Geography?

  Geography refers to the study of earth (incudes physical and built environments) as well as relationships that people have with both of these types of enviroments.
• Physical Geography

  • The branch of geography that focuses on the study of the physical enviroment.
  • The physical enviroment consists of all living things and non-living things that are found naturally, as well as the natural processes that occur on the earth.
• 1. Lithosphere: Refers to the solid layer of rocks that form the earth's surface. It includes all landforms such as mountains and valleys.
• 2. Biosphere: Refers to all living things on earth, including humans, plant and animal life, on land and in the sea.
• 3. Atmosphere: Refers to the layer of gases and tiny particles that surround the earth.
• 4. Hydrosphere: Refers to all water found on earth and atmosphere in solid, liquid and gaseous states.

  The hydrological cycle enables water to move continuously from the earth's surface, atmosphere and underground.
• Human Geography

  • The study of human life in the built enviroment.
  • The built enviroment is created through human-made changes to the physical enviroment.
  • A variety of human activities and interactions among people take place in the built enviroment.
  • Some aspects of the built enviroment include housing and transport systems that we observe in cities!
• Human Geography

  • Housing: Refers to structures or buildings developed by people for shelter, which can be temporary or permanent.
• Human Geography

  • Housing: Refers to structures or buildings developed by people for shelter, which can be temporary or permanent.
  • Transport systems: Refer to the equipment, infrastructure and networks that support the movement of people and goods from one location to another.
• • A geography concept is an important idea that geographers make use of as a way of understand to understand the world.
• Space = Location

  • Refers to any physical area on the Earth's surface.
  • Space can be a physical area or geographical point on the Earth's surface, defined by latitude or longitude.
• Place

  • Refers to an area of the Earth's surface that holds special meaning for people.
• Environment

  • Refers to the physical and built enviroments.
  • Includes processes or phenomena that happen naturally or as a result of human actions.
  • Geographers are interested in studying the interactions between humans and the enviroment as well as finding ways to minimise negative impacts of human actions on these enviroments.
• Scale

  • Refers to the level of detail at which geographers study something.
  • Includes: - Map scale - Time scale - Geographic scale
• Latitude

  Horizontal lines running from west to east
• Longitude

  Vertical lines running from North to South
• Natural Vegetation

  • Natural vegetation refers to plant life which covers particular parts of the world's land areas and develops without human interference.
  • There are different types of natural vegetation but each of them are found only in certain parts of the world.
  • E.g. Rainforests, coniferous, grassland, deserts.
• Natural Vegetation

  • So what determines the type of natural vegetation found in different parts of the world?
  • Climate: Refers to the average weather conditions of a place over a long period of time, usually more than 30 years.
  • The climate of a given location determines the type of natural vegetation found there.
• Is 'Weather' the same as 'climate'? ( No! )

  • Weather- short term and unpredictable ( e.g. Rain or sunny )
  • Climate- long term and predictable ( e.g. 4 seasons )