Geography Final Exam Study Guide
Intro & 5 Themes of Geography
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What is geography?
Map conventions:
o scale
o key
o compass rose
o typeface
5 Themes
o Place
o Movement
 What qualifies as geographic movement and what doesn’t?
o Region
 formal
 functional
 perceptual
o Location
 absolute
 latitude (Equator)
 longitude (Prime Meridian)
 What is a hemisphere?
 relative
o Human-Environment interaction
Physical Geography
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Climate vs. weather – how are they different? How are they connected?
o What factors influence a place’s climate?
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Renewable vs. nonrenewable resources
o fossil fuels
 natural gas fracking
o geothermal energy
o solar energy
Planetary movement
o rotation
o revolution
o solstice (summer & winter)
o equinox (spring & fall)
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o tilt of axis (influence on experience of seasons)
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Tectonic plates
o convergence
o subduction
o faulting
o spreading
o Which result in which surface experience?
o Ring of Fire
Climates
o Continental
 grasslands – prairies vs. savannas – cover centers of most continents
 forests – deciduous vs. coniferous
o Tropical wet
o Tropical wet & dry
o Arid/Semiarid
o Highlands
o Mediterranean
o Subarctic/tundra
o Which ecosystems are common in each climate zone?
Landforms & waterbodies
o ocean/sea
o gulf/bay
o delta
o strait
o plateau
o plain
o escarpment
o archipelago
o isthmus
Weathering & erosion – how are they different but connected?
Human Geography
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What is demography?
o birthrate
o deathrate
o population density
o population pyramids (know how to analyze them!)
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Population distribution
o How is earth’s population distributed?
o What are the factors that draw people to settle in a place?
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Culture
o convergence
o diffusion
o divergence
Urbanization
o countries where it is common
o positive & negative impacts
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Government
o authoritarian
 monarchy
 dictatorship
 oligarchy
o democratic
 republic
 confederation
 federation
Economics
o Command
o Market
o Traditional
o Mixed
o GDP
 GDP per capita
o Subsistence vs. commercial industries
o Tariffs
o Types of economic activities
 primary
 secondary
 tertiary
 quaternary
Pennsylvania
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Regions
o Allegheny Plateau
o Erie Plain
o Piedmont
o Ridge & Valley
o Atlantic Coastal Plain
Major cities:
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Resources
o coal
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types & locations
o natural gas
 Marcellus Shale
 fracking
Physical features
o Appalachian Mountains
o Susquehanna River
o Ohio River
o Delaware River
o Lake Erie
History
o founder
o Philadelphia & Valley Forge – American Revolution
o Gettysburg – Civil War
United States
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Regions
o Northeast
 water = major resource
 dense population
o South
 flat, fertile land = major resource
 mild climate
 bayou; mangrove
 “Sunbelt”
o Midwest
 fertile land = major resource (“nation’s breadbasket”)
 Mississippi River as trade/shipping route
 Great Lakes
 Great Plains
 grain exchange
o West
 mostly semiarid climate (except Alaska & Hawaii)
 gold rush in California; oil in Alaska
 Rocky Mountains
 forests
 aqueducts
Early cities built along waterways & railroads, and near natural resources
Where do most people in the U.S. live?
Nation’s capital?
Government?
Last states added? Their importance?
NAFTA
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Canada
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Regions
o Atlantic Provinces
 sea = major resource; “maritime”
 Gulf of St. Lawrence
 forestry, farming
o Ontario & Quebec
 major culture centers
 “heartland”
 St. Lawrence seaway
 Canadian Shield
 Quebec’s separatist movement
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o Prairie Provinces
 major cities built along railroads
 farming
o British Columbia
 marine west coast climate
 Pacific port = Vancouver
o Northern Territories
 subarctic/tundra climate
 mineral resources, difficult to access
 Inuit population
Which physical features are shared with the U.S.?
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How are Canada & the U.S. different in their global roles?
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Where do most people in Canada live? Why?
Latin America
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History of colonization
o Spain
o Portugal
o French, British, Dutch
Fights for democracy
o caudillos
o Mexican revolution
Physical features
o rainforests
 deforestation
 why is it done?
 why does it sometimes backfire?
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 biodiversity
 Amazon River basin
o Andes Mtns
o Sierra Madres Mtns
o Brazilian Highlands/sertao
o Caribbean Sea
o Gulf of Mexico
o Atlantic & Pacific Oceans
o Natural disasters: hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes
Economic activities
o farming (esp. on pampas)
 coffee (Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil)
 conflict over land distribution
o oil (Mexico, Venezuela)
Urbanization
o positive & negatives
o favelas
Europe
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Cooperation
o United Nations
o European Union
 euro – why was it developed? Positives & negatives?
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Conflict
o WWI
o WWII
o Cold War
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British Isles & Nordic nations
o Which countries make up the United Kingdom?
o What is the difference between Ireland & Northern Ireland?
What kind of energy does Iceland use?
Nordic/Viking ancestry
Celtic/Norman ancestry
climate = marine west coast; some subarctic
Physical features
 Thames River = England
 Scottish moors (bogs, peat)
 Kjolen Mtns
o aurora borealis
o England = major Industrial Revolution center
o Major industries of this region?
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Central Western Europe
o Benelux countries
 land reclamation – polders
 dense population
o France
 major industries?
 climates?
 Rhine River separates it from Germany
 Pyrenees Mtns separate it from Spain
 English Channel separates it from UK
o Germany
 major industries?
 involvement in world wars
o Switzerland & Austria
 high standard of living
 Alps Mtns
 political neutrality
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Mediterranean Europe
o Spain & Portugal
 Iberian peninsula
 Pyrenees Mtns
 several ancient cultures still represented
o Italy & Greece
 Po River Valley – major industry?
 Alps Mtns in Italy; Pindus Mtns in Greece
 Greek & Roman empires centered & still reflected here
Eastern Europe
o Balkan peninsula
o Baltics
o Former Yugoslavia
o Former Soviet Union
 When was the USSR active?
 What was their goal?
 Berlin wall
o Climates?
o Ecosystems
 steppe
 taiga
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