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. Geographers divide it up in twodifferent ways.

1 Northern and southern hemispheresLook at diagram A. The equator splits the world intwo. The UK is in the northern hemisphere.Australia is in the southern hemisphere.

The big difference between the northern andsouthern hemisphere is the seasons. In thesouthern hemisphere, the seasons are atopposite times of the year.

In December, January and February, it is summerin Australia. At Christmas, many Australians have

barbeques (BBQs) on the beach or in the garden.The sun is south of the equator at that time: this

makes it the hot season in Australia. Look atphotograph B. This cricket match was played in November.

In the UK, we play football in November.

2 Land and waterAbout 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans and seas.This leaves only 30 per cent covered by land where people can live.

The land is divided into seven continents. Asia covers the largest area andhas most people.

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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 the northern fromsouthern hemisphereHemisphere – one half of theEarthNorthern hemisphere – thehalf of the Earth north of theEquatorOcean – great body of watersurrounding the Earth’s landmassesSouthern hemisphere – thehalf of the Earth south of theEquator

Northern and southern hemispheres

> Understanding how the world is divided> Practising your atlas skills

A

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People live in only six of the seven continents. No one lives in Antarctica allthe time. It is too cold. There is too much snow and ice for people, butplenty of penguins live there in summer (photograph D).

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.

The biggest continent is _________________. There are three continentswith land in the northern hemisphere; they are _________________,_________________, and _________________. There are two continentswith all their land in the southern hemisphere; they are_________________and _________________. Another continent has a lot ofland on both sides of the equator; it is _________________. No one lives in_________________.

3 a) Draw a sketch of photograph D. (See 0.0 Skills page 00 for more help).Add labels to show what you can see.

b) Write down two reasons why penguins and not people live there.

4 In an atlas, find a world map of countries. Write down a title: The Equator

a) Count and name all the countries the equator passes through.

b) From your list of countries, complete the sentences below.

(i) The largest country is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

(ii) The country named after the equator is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

(iii) The country made of many islands is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

(iv) One country without a coastline is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

SKILLSHow to use an atlas 1 –Countries of the worldA map of countries is calleda Political map 1 Find the Contents page in

the front2 Go to the heading World3 Search for Political map4 Look for countries

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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Worksheet Symbol

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