Can you pick out the UK on this satellite view of part of the Earth?

The main area of study in geography is the Earth’s surface.

Learning objectivesWhat are you going to learn about in this chapter?

> The difference between physical and human geography

> The different landscapes on the Earth’s surface

> How to divide up the world for easier study

> How to find a place using latitude and longitude

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What is Geography all about?»

» What is Geography all about?

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The world is a big place. To make it easier to study,geographers divide it up in different ways.

One way is to split the world into northern and southernhemispheres. Look at diagram A. The Equator is theimaginary line between the two hemispheres. The UK isin the northern hemisphere. Australia is an example ofa country in the southern hemisphere.

Does it make any difference in which hemisphere aperson lives in? Water swirls anti-clockwise beforegoing down the plug hole in the northern hemisphere;in the southern hemisphere it goes clockwise. That is

one difference, but it is not important to a geographer.What is important is that seasons are different. Summer

in the southern hemisphere is December, January andFebruary. During these months the sun is overhead south of

the Equator so that it is the hot time of year. This is whenoutdoor sporting events are held in Australia. Look at photograph

B. This match was played in November. What was the season?

Another way of dividing up the world is into land and water (map C). Seventy percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans and seas. Less than one-thirdof the Earth’s surface is left for people to live on.

The Earth’s land surface is divided into seven continents. Asia covers the largestarea. More people live in Asia than in all the other continents added together.Only six of the seven continents are inhabited. One of them, Antarctica, has nopermanent settlements. Ice, snow and the bitter cold stop people from living

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How can the world be divided up?

UnitedKingdom

Australia

Equator

IND I AN OCEAN

NorthernHemisphere

SouthernHemisphere

Test match between Australia and England in Brisbane. B

Key wordsContinent – area of landcovering a large area of theEarth’s surfaceEquator – the imaginary linedividing northern fromsouthern hemisphereHemisphere – one half of theEarthNorthern hemisphere – thathalf of the Earth north of theEquatorOcean – great body of watersurrounding the Earth’s landmassesSouthern hemisphere – thathalf of the Earth south of theEquator

Northern and southern hemispheres

> Understanding how the world can be divided up> Practising your atlas skills

A

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there, but not penguins (photograph D). However, the Arctic is different. It is anocean, not a continent. There is no land at the North Pole. There is plenty of ice,but only the sea surface is frozen and there is water below the ice.

Activities1 Seasons in the UK

Winter December – February Spring March – May Summer June – August Autumn September – November

Make another box like this with the title Seasons in Australia.

2 Write out and complete the following sentences.

a) The three northern hemisphere continents are _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

b) The three continents with most or all of their land in the southernhemisphere are _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

c) The continent split in half by the Equator is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

d) The continent without any people living there all the time is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

3 a) Make a frame and draw a sketch of photograph D (see 0.0, Skills page 00 for how to do this). Add labels to describe what can be seen.

b) A wilderness is defined by geographers as ‘an area untouched byhumans, where the landscape is dominated by natural (physical)features’.Write down what you can see on photograph D that shows Antarctica isa wilderness.

4 In an atlas, find a world map of countries.

a) Name the countries that the Equator passes through.

b) What is the total number?

c) There are about 180 countries in the world. The Equator passesthrough only a small number of them. Why? (Hint – look at thedistribution of land and water.)

SKILLSHow to use an atlas 1Maps of countries1 Find the Contents page in

the front of your atlas2 Look for the heading World3 Then search for a political

map.A political map shows countryboundaries, names and majorcities.

For more help see 0.0, page00 of Skills.

115What is Geography all about?

A N T A R C T I C O C E A N

A R C T I C O C E A N

I N D I A NO C E A N

P A C I F I CO C E A N

A T L A N T I CO C E A N

A n t a r c t i c a

O c e a n i a

A s i a

Africa

E u r o p e

SouthAmerica

NorthAmerica

P A C I F I CO C E A N

D Hope Bay, Antarctica

The Earth’s oceans and continents C

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Strategy Symbol

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Worksheet Symbol

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