Basic Geography Skills

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Basic Geography Skills

• Before we begin to study the regions of the
  world, we need to have a basic understanding of
  the geography of the world.

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• As you look at a globe, how much of the world do
  you see at one time?

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• Hemi is the Greek word for half
• Hemisphere means half of a sphere
• The imaginary line that divides the world into
  the northern and southern hemisphere is called
  the Equator.
• The imaginary line that divides the world into
  eastern and western hemisphere is called the
  Prime Meridian.

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• To locate places north or south of the Equator,
  geographers use lines of latitude.

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• The Equator is at 0 degrees latitude

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What is the lowest latitude and the highest
latitude?

• 0 degrees equator
• 90 degrees poles (but what poles)

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It is necessary to add N or S, so that its clear
whether you are north or south of the equator
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• Some latitude lines have special names. They
  divide the earth into regions according to the
  amount of direct sunlight they receive.

Arctic Circle
Tropic of Cancer
Tropic of Capricorn
Antarctic Circle
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Each degree north or south of the equator
represents approximately 69 miles
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Lets try a few locations

• If Im at 10 degrees North, how many miles am I
  from the equator and in which direction?
• If Im at 45 degrees North, where am I?
• The problem with LATITUDE alone is that I can
  tell how far from the equator I am, but I cant
  tell where I am on that latitude. I could be at
  45 degrees north and be in the Atlantic, Pacific,
  Europe, Asia or the United States.
• In order to pinpoint a location you need..

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• To locate places east or west of the Prime
  Meridian, lines of longitude are used.
• The Prime Meridian is at 0 degrees longitude.
• Lines of longitude begin and end at the North and
  South Poles

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DEGREES OF LONGITUDE

• The Earth was divided up by 360 evenly spaced
  lines running from pole to pole. These are
  called DEGREES OF LONGITUDE.
• If I start at ZERO and go one degree EAST, I am
  at ONE DEGREE EAST LONGITUDE. If I go 90 degrees
  to the west, or one fourth of the way around the
  world, I am at NINETY DEGREES WEST LONGITUDE
• So, now, to identify my location, I simply have
  to give a longitude and a latitude. If I am 20
  degrees north of the equator and 20 degrees east
  of the Prime Meridian, I describe myself at 20N,
  20E.

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Latitude and Longitude together will give you the
absolute location of a place
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Some interesting things

• If I go halfway around the world from the prime
  meridian, I get to a line identified as 180
  degrees of longitude. It is BOTH 180 EAST AND
  180 WEST. The highest line of longitude,
  therefore, is 180.
• The highest line of latitude is 90.
• This line of 180 degrees is also known as the
  International Date Line it marks a time zone
  change, but it also marks a date change

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World Time Zones

• Prior to the late 19th century, time keeping was
  done locally. Each town would set their clocks to
  noon when the sun reached its zenith each day. A
  clockmaker or town clock would be the "official"
  time and the citizens would set their pocket
  watches and clocks to the time of the town.
  Travel between cities meant having to change
  one's watch upon arrival.
• Once railroads began to operate and move people
  rapidly across great distances, time became much
  more critical. In the early years of railroads,
  the schedules were very confusing because each
  stop was based on a different local time.

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• In 1878, Canadian Sir Sanford Fleming proposed
  the system of worldwide time zones that we use
  today. He recommended that the world be divided
  into twenty-four time zones, each spaced 15
  degrees of longitude apart. Since the earth
  rotates once every 24 hours and there are 360
  degrees of longitude, each hour the earth rotates
  one-twenty-fourth of a circle or 15 of
  longitude.
• United States railroad companies began utilizing
  Fleming's standard time zones in 1883. In 1884 an
  International Prime Meridian Conference was held
  in Washington D.C. to standardize time and select
  the Prime Meridian. The conference selected the
  longitude of Greenwich, England as zero degrees
  longitude and established the 24 time zones based
  on the Prime Meridian.

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World Time Zones