i - CA - Mr. Wulf's Websiteyourhistoryteacher.com/Textbook/CJ6_8-13.pdfLandforms and Bodies of Water A landform is a feature of Earth’s land surface. Earth has many types of landforms,

MAIN IDEAS

Geography The geography of Earth consists of various landforms and bodies of water.

Geography Climate, weather, and vegetation influence the ways people live.

Geography Geographers use five themes to help them understand the use of space on Earth.

TAKING NOTES

Reading Skill: Finding Main IdeasFinding main ideas will help you organize the information in Lesson 1. A main idea is the major focus of a section or paragraph. Use a chart like the one below to list each main idea and details about it.

Lesson

1

▲ NASA Photograph of Earth Space travel has allowed us to see Earth in ways that humans of the past could only imagine.

Skillbuilder Handbook, page R2

Main Idea

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8 • Chapter 1

CST 3 Students use a variety of maps and documents to identify physical and cultural features of neighborhoods, cities, states, and countries and to explain the historical migration of people, expansion and disintegration of empires, and the growth of economic systems.

HI 1 Students explain the central issues and problems from the past, placing people and events in a matrix of time and place.

HI 2 Students understand and distinguish cause, effect, sequence, and correlation in historical events, including the long- and short-term causal relations.

Continents of the World

INDIANOCEAN

ATLANTICOCEAN

PACIFICOCEAN

PACIFICOCEAN

ARCTIC OCEAN

SOUTHAMERICA

AFRICA

ANTARCTICA

EUROPE ASIA

AUSTRALIA

NORTHAMERICA

90°W 60°W 30°W 0° 30°E 60°E 90°E 120°E 150°E120°W150°W

60°S

30°S

Equator 0°

30°N

60°N

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MapQuest.Com, Inc.

McDougal-Littell, 7th grade World History Programwh07pe-010101-003

Continents4th proof date: 6/23/04

Geography of the WorldBuild on What You Know Think about where you live. How does where you live affect what you do? Are there mountains to snowboard on or an ocean to surf in? Can you walk to school? Do you have to stay inside because of bad weather, or are you out in the sun? In other words, how has geography affected your history?

Looking at Earth ESSENTIAL QUESTION What covers the surface of Earth?

In this lesson, you will learn some of the basics of geography. You will also learn how geography can help you learn history. Geography is the study of Earth’s features, such as rivers and deserts. Geographers study how people and other living things interact with Earth’s features. That interaction is where history comes in. Geography has shaped where and how people have lived, as well as important historical events.

Continents Geographers divide the world into seven continents, or large landmasses. The seven continents are North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica. You might notice that the continents differ in size. That is because geographers define continents not just by size, but by landforms and even common cultural characteristics.

TERMS & NAMES

geography

continent

landform

weather

climate

The Tools of History • 9The Tools of History • 9

Landforms and Bodies of Water A landform is a feature of Earth’s land surface. Earth has many types of landforms, including mountains, plateaus, hills, valleys, and plains. Understanding landforms is important for historians. By thinking about landforms, historians can better understand the peoples they are researching. For example, the farming methods of people living in mountainous regions will differ from those of people living in plains regions.

Nearly 75 percent of Earth is covered by water. Bodies of water include oceans, lakes, and rivers. Some water is fresh, but most is too salty to drink. Still, most bodies of water can be important sources of food by providing fish. Since ancient times, waterways have allowed people to move goods and communicate with other regions. Some landforms and bodies of water are shown in the images above.

What are some ways in which geography might affect history?

Climate, Weather, and Vegetation ESSENTIAL QUESTION What is the difference between climate and weather?

Landforms and bodies of water are not the only parts of physical geography that have affected humans. Climate and vegetation have also shaped ways of life.

Climate and Weather The condition of the atmosphere at a particular place and time is called weather. The typical weather conditions at a particular place over a period of time are the place’s climate.

▲ The Alps are a towering mountain range in Europe.

The Chang Jiang of China is the longest

river in Asia.

▲

▲ The central part of North America is a mostly flat region that includes the Great Plains.

10 • Chapter 1

For a dramatic example of the relationship of climate and history, see the History Makers feature about the “iceman” on this page.

Throughout history, climate has affected the ways people live. For example, the Arabian peninsula has a very hot, dry climate with very short rainy seasons. During dry seasons, people would move with their animal herds to permanent sources of water. During rainy seasons, they would move their animals to pastures. Over time, people built a way of life that involved moving along established routes.

Vegetation Vegetation, or plant life, varies from place to place. The types of plants in a place depend on the place’s temperature, rainfall, and type of soil. For example, tropical rain forests grow in areas that always have warm, wet weather. The trees grow so close together that only a little sunlight reaches the forest floor.

Vegetation also affects ways of life. For instance, a thousand years ago, Northern Europe had many large forests. People used the forests as sources of fuel and building materials and hunted the animals in them. In contrast, parts of Southwest Asia had very few trees. Southwest Asians used mud bricks for building. Also, they developed trade relations with India and East Africa to get wood and other goods.

People living in the same climate and vegetation region can have different ways of life. In ancient Greece, the climate supported farming. But Greece also borders the Mediterranean Sea, and many Greeks sailed the sea as fishermen or as traders to other countries.

How have climate and vegetation affected people’s ways of living?

The IcemanIn 1991, a German tourist found a frozen body in the Ötztal Alps. The body, nicknamed Ötzi, is more than 5,000 years old. It is the oldest mummified human body ever found intact. A mummy is the body of a person or animal that has been preserved. Ötzi was between 25 and 35 when he died. Recent evidence shows that Ötzi was shot in the back with an arrow. Some scholars think he was murdered. Others believe he was a human sacrifice. Whatever the cause of his death, his body can tell scientists a great deal about climate and vegetation. The fact that his body is so well preserved shows that the climate when he died was very cold—the ice kept his body from decaying. Vegetation found with Ötzi came from very far away, indicating that he had traveled a great distance.

The Tools of History • 11

PACIFICOCEAN

SanJoaquin

River

Sacra mento

River

ChannelIslands

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Co a s t

Ra n g e s

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Sacramento

Oakland

San Diego

Los Angeles

SanFrancisco

Fresno

OREGON

NEVADA

MEXICO

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50 100 miles

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MapQuest.Com, Inc.

McDougal-Littell, 7th grade World History Programwh07pe-010101-007

California2nd proof date: 6/23/04

Map note:

Grids were not labeled since most were covered by the call outs.

Five Themes of Geography ESSENTIAL QUESTION How do geographers organize the study of geography?

One way to think about geography is in terms of major themes or ideas. The five themes of geography are location, place, region, human-environment interaction, and movement. The images and descriptions below show you how these themes apply to California. Keep these themes in mind as you read this book. Understanding the geography of a region helps you understand the history of the region.

Human-Environment Interaction This theme involves how people change or adapt to the physical world. Here, firefighters try to stop a California forest fire from spreading.

Movement This theme deals with the ways people, goods, and ideas move from place to place. Movement has grown easier and faster in modern times, as shown by this airplane departing from Los Angeles.

Region A region is an area of Earth’s surface with distinctive characteristics. The Central Valley of California (labeled on the map) is a region of good farmland. Many of the cities there have economies based on agriculture.

Place The theme of place deals with what it is like in a certain location. For example, San Francisco is very hilly. The weather is often foggy. People of many ethnic backgrounds live there.

Location The theme of location answers the question, Where is it? For example, San Francisco is on the Pacific Ocean, west of Oakland.

Themes of Geography

12 • Chapter 1

Activity

LessonReview

Historians and Geography In this lesson, you have read about geography and some ways in which a knowledge of geography is useful to historians. Historians study what people did in the past. One basic influence on what people did was the conditions in which they lived—their geography. For example, the “iceman” you read about on page 11 was wearing a fur robe because it was cold. But how did he get the robe? Did he kill the animal himself, or did he trade something for it? If you knew the geography of where the iceman lived, you might be able to answer these questions. Understanding geography is an important part of being a historian.

What are the five themes of geography?

Lesson Summary• Earth is covered with various landforms and

bodies of water.

• Climate and vegetation have shaped human history.

• The five themes of geography help people describe and explain the uses of space on Earth.

Why It Matters Now . . .Understanding the five themes of geography can make us more aware of the world we live in and our effects on it.

1Terms & Names1. Explain the importance of

geography landform climate continent weather

Using Your Notes Finding Main Ideas Use your completed chart to answer the following question:2. List one example of how geography shapes

human lives or history. (HI 2)

Main Ideas3. Bodies of water can be sources of food. What else

can they be used for? (HI 1)4. How does vegetation affect people? (HI 1)5. Use the map on page 12 to explain the difference

between place and location. (CST 3)

Critical Thinking6. Comparing and Contrasting How might the

lives of people living in a cold climate differ from those of people living in a warm climate? How might they be similar? (HI 2)

7. Making Inferences Why might the theme of movement be important to a historian? (HI 2)

Homework HelperClassZone.com

Internet Activity Pick a landform or body of water to research. Use its name as a keyword to research it on the Internet. Write a paragraph about what you find.INTERNET KEYWORDS: Rocky Mountains, Pacific Ocean

Main Idea

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The Tools of History • 13

(CST 3)