STUDY GUIDE
CHAPTER 1: Geography of the United States.
Name: _________________
Geography: Geo means “earth” and Graph means “describing”. Geography is the study of our
physical world and how we interact with it.
7 continents and 4 main oceans
Notice: We live on a watery planet, in fact water covers almost ¾ (75%) of Earth’s surface!
Localization: You can localize any place on earth in 2 ways: Relative location or absolute location.
Relative location: You describe the location of a place by using the cardinal directions.
Ex: Africa is South of Europe; southwest of Asia; east of South America and north of Antarctica.
Cardinal directions: North, east, south, west.
Absolute location: You describe the location of a place by giving his latitude and longitude.
Latitude: The main parallel of latitude are: The equator (O latitude); the tropic of Cancer (North), the tropic of Capricorn (South), The Arctic circle (North) and the Antarctic circle (South).
These lines are IMAGINARY lines.
Longitude: The main line is the Prime Meridian (0 longitude). The meridians (line of longitude) show how far east or west a place is.
Geographic terms help describe landforms and bodies of water. (Page 8 in the textbook)
Notice: a delta forms at the mouth of a river.
Physical features of the United States. (Map on page 9 in the textbook)
The United States is on the continent of North America. It is the world third largest country. Russia is the largest and Canada is the second largest.
Identify on the map: The Rocky Mountains, the Appalachian mountain, the Sierra Nevada, the Great Plains, the Gulf Coastal Plain, the Mississippi river, the Ohio River, the Missouri river, the St Lawrence, and the Rio Grande.
Two rivers that form parts of the United States border are: The Rio Grande (between the US and Mexico) The St Lawrence (between Canada and the US).
A tributary flowing into the Mississippi from the west is the Ohio River.
A tributary flowing into the Mississippi from the east is the Missouri River.