Geography - Chap 1: Discovering Geography -

1.1 Geography Focus on Change

Why Learn About Change in Geography?

When you look around, you’ll notice that places don’t stay the same forever. Cities grow, villages shrink, farmland turns into housing areas, and sometimes disasters suddenly change the land. Geography helps us understand why these changes happen, how they affect people’s lives, and how we can prepare for the future.

How Places Change Over Time

Geography studies both the natural world and the human-made world:

Natural Environment: Nature changes land slowly or suddenly. For example, mountains are shaped by weathering and erosion over millions of years, but earthquakes or volcanic eruptions can change the land in just minutes.
Constructed and Managed Environments: Humans also reshape their surroundings. Cities grow as old buildings are replaced with new ones, farmland is turned into housing, and waterways or roads are built to connect people.

Example: Changes in Cities

If you visit a city after many years, you may not recognize it. This is because:

Residential Changes: Old houses are demolished to build new apartments. Farmland on the edge of cities becomes new suburbs.
Commercial Changes: Local shops sometimes close, replaced by large shopping malls or online businesses.
Infrastructure Changes: New highways, bridges, and ports are built, but they may cut across old neighborhoods, forcing people to move.

Why Do These Changes Happen?

Changes are not random — they happen for clear reasons:

Economic Problems: Small farmers may lose land because they cannot compete with big companies or survive natural disasters. Families may be forced to leave farming behind.
Environmental Problems: Issues like too much salt in the soil (salinity), soil erosion, or new invasive plants make farming difficult, pushing people to look for work elsewhere.
Social Changes: As people move to bigger cities for jobs and services, small rural towns lose population. This can cause unemployment and reduce confidence in the community’s future

1.2 How People See the Environment

Why Learn This?

Different people think differently about how humans should use or care for the Earth. These different ways of thinking are called worldviews.
Understanding worldviews is important because:

They explain why people disagree about environmental problems.
They help us see how decisions about nature are made.
They show us our own role in protecting (or harming) the planet.

What Is a Worldview?

A worldview is simply how a person looks at the world — their perspective.
An environmental worldview is about how people believe the Earth and its resources should be treated.

Your worldview is shaped by things like:

How you think the Earth works.
What role humans should play in nature.
What you believe is the right or wrong way to treat the environment.

Main Types of Environmental Worldviews

There are three main ways people see the relationship between humans and nature:

Human-Centered Worldview
- Believes humans are the most important species.
- Nature exists mainly to serve human needs.
- Technology and human control are seen as the solution to problems.
- Example: Cutting down a forest to build factories because jobs and business are seen as the priority.
Stewardship-Based Worldview
- Believes humans are “caretakers” or stewards of the Earth.
- Resources should be used carefully so they don’t run out.
- Any development must not damage other species.
- Example: Building houses but leaving green spaces and protecting rivers.
Nature-Centered Worldview
- Believes all living things have equal rights to exist.
- Nature exists for its own sake, not just for humans.
- Often linked to indigenous traditions and spiritual respect for the land.
- Example: Protecting a forest completely, even if humans want to use the land for farming or business.

Feature	Human-Centered View	Stewardship View	Nature-Centered View
Relationship with Nature	Humans are the bosses of nature and can use it for their own needs.	Humans are caretakers of the Earth and must look after it responsibly.	Humans are just one part of nature and depend on it completely.
Technology	Technology can fix any problem caused to nature.	Resources are useful, but people must be careful not to waste them.	Resources are limited, and humans should not take more than nature can give.
Economic Growth (Money & Business)	Growth and development can go on forever, no matter what.	Growth should happen, but not if it damages the environment.	Growth is okay only if it respects and protects the environment.
Well-being (Human Health & Happiness)	Our health depends on how well we use Earth’s resources.	Our health depends on using resources wisely while also caring for nature.	Our health depends on keeping nature healthy and letting it look after itself.

1.3 Maps

What Are Maps?

Why Learn About Maps?

Imagine trying to find your way in a new city without Google Maps or a paper map — you’d get lost! Maps are important because they help us see where things are, understand patterns, and notice changes in places over time.

A map is simply a drawing of a place or even the whole Earth, made smaller so we can study it easily.

Types of Maps

Different maps are used for different jobs. Map makers use symbols, colors, and shading to keep things simple. Some common maps are:

Topographic maps – show detailed features like mountains, rivers, and valleys.
Weather maps – show rainfall, storms, and temperature.
Thematic maps – focus on one theme, like population or farming.
Street maps – show streets and roads to help us travel.

Elements of a Map (BOLTSS)

Every good map needs some basic parts. You can remember them with BOLTSS:

Border – the line around the map.
Orientation – direction (north, south, east, west), often shown with a compass.
Legend – explains the symbols and colors used.
Title – tells you what the map is about.
Scale – shows how map distances match real distances.
Source – tells where the map’s information came from.

Quadrants

Sometimes geographers divide a map into four quadrants:

North-West (top left)
North-East (top right)
South-West (bottom left)
South-East (bottom right)

This makes it easier to describe where something is. For example, “the school is in the North-East quadrant.”

Finding Patterns with Maps

Maps aren’t just for directions — they also show patterns. For example:

A rainfall map of Australia shows dry (arid) areas.
A climate map shows those same dry areas also have very little rain.
By comparing maps, geographers can explain why some regions are deserts and others are tropical.

Rainfall and Climate

Areas with more than 2000 mm of rain per year → tropical or maritime climate.
Areas with less than 250 mm of rain per year → semi-arid climate.

1.4 Geoskills: Relief

Why Learn About Relief?

When you look at a flat map, it is hard to imagine what the land really looks like. Is it flat like a plain, gently rising like a hill, or steep like a mountain? Relief shows the shape and height of the land. Geographers use special techniques on maps so that we can picture the land in three dimensions, even though the map itself is two dimensional.

Topographic Maps and Relief

A topographic map is a detailed map that shows natural and human-made features. To show relief, geographers use:

Spot Height: A small black dot with a number beside it. The number shows the exact height above sea level.
Contour Lines: Lines that join places of the same height. The number on the line shows the height. The space between lines is called the contour interval.

Reading Contour Patterns

Contour lines tell you about the steepness of the land:

Closely spaced lines mean the slope is steep, like a mountain.
Widely spaced lines mean the slope is gentle, like a hill or plain.

By looking at contour shapes, you can identify features such as hills, valleys, cliffs, or plateaus.

Other Ways to Show Relief

Layer Colouring: Colours are used between contour lines. Each colour shows a height range and makes it easy to see high and low areas.
Landform Shading: Shading makes hills and mountains look three dimensional. It works by making one side darker so it looks like sunlight is shining from a particular direction.
Aspect: This is the direction a slope faces, such as north, south, east, or west. By studying the contour lines, you can work out the aspect.

Why This Matters to You

Relief maps help in real life. They are used to find safe places to build houses, roads, and dams. They help predict floods or landslides in steep areas. They are also useful for planning hiking trips because you can see where the land is steep or gentle.

1.5 Latitude and Longitude

Why Learn About Latitude and Longitude?

The Earth is huge, so geographers need a system to find exact locations. Latitude and longitude are imaginary lines that form a grid on maps and globes. They not only tell us where a place is, but they also help us understand time zones and even climate.

Latitude

Latitude lines run east to west across the globe, parallel to the Equator.
They measure how far north or south a place is from the Equator.
The Equator is at 0° latitude, while the North Pole is at 90°N and the South Pole is at 90°S.

Impact on Climate
Latitude strongly affects climate. Places near the Equator are usually hot because the sun’s rays fall directly overhead. As you move farther from the Equator toward the poles, the rays spread out over a larger area, making the climate cooler.

Longitude

Longitude lines run from the North Pole to the South Pole.
They are not parallel, because they meet at the poles.
The most important longitude line is the Prime Meridian, which is at 0° and passes through Greenwich, England.
Longitude is especially important for measuring time zones.

Longitude and Time

The Earth is divided into twenty-four time zones, each linked to longitude.
The International Date Line (IDL) lies at 180° longitude, directly opposite the Prime Meridian.
The IDL marks where the calendar date changes.
- If you cross it traveling east, you add a day.
- If you cross it traveling west, you subtract a day.