PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY of the WORLD REGIONS
NORTH AMERICA
1) Gulf-Atlantic Coastal Plain (southern NY to TX)
2) Piedmont, Appalachian Mts., & Interior Highlands
3) Interior Lowlands (west central Canada to coastal lowlands near the Gulf of Mexico, inc.
Great Lakes & lower Ohio River Valley)
4) Rocky Mts. (from Alaska to northern NM)
5) Pacific Mts. & Valleys (SE Alaska, BC, WA, OR, CA)
LATIN AMERICA
1) Andes Mts. (NW Venezuela to Tierra del Fuego)
2) Uplands of Mexico – Mexican Plateau surrounded by:
a) Sierra Madre Oriental
b) Sierra Madre Occidental
c) Sierra Madre Del Sur
3) Uplands of Central America (Volcanic Axis):
a) Pacific Coast
b) Highland Interior
c) Humid Caribbean Coast
4) Shields (large upland areas of exposed crystalline rock): Brazilian, Patagonian, Guiana
5) Lowlands & River Basins: Amazon, Plata, Orinoco
CARIBBEAN (aka WEST INDIES)
1) Greater Antilles:
a) Cuba – primarily lowland with low mts. on the eastern & western ends
b) Hispaniola – steeply mountainous or hilly
c) Jamaica –
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d) Puerto Rico – “
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2) Lesser Antilles – form a double arc of smaller islands stretching from the Virgin Islands
to Trinidad:
a) low & flat limestone islands rimmed by coral reefs (e.g. Antigua, Barbados)
b) volcanic islands (e.g. Virgin Islands, Leeward Islands, Windward Islands)
3) Netherlands Antilles (Aruba, Bonaire & Curaçao)
4) Other Island Groups (ex: Cayman Islands, the Turks& Caicos, the Bahamas)
5) Rimland
a) Belize in Central America
b) Guianas in South America
i) Guyana
ii) Suriname
iii) French Guiana
[ c) Caribbean coast of Central & South America]
EUROPE
1) European Lowland (aka North European Plain): extends from SW France to Poland plus SE
England
2) Alpine Mt. System: E-W series of mts. From the Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea
a) Pyrenees: between Spain & France
b) Alps: from France to Austria
c) Apennines: south of the Alps; the “spine” of Italy
d) Carpathians: eastern edge of the Alpine system from eastern Austria to Romania &
“Yugoslavia”
3) Central Uplands: between the Alps & the Lowland from France to the Czech Republic
4) Western Highlands: from Portugal to Finland plus part of the British Isles
RUSSIAN DOMAIN
1) Russian Plain (European Russia) – eastward extension of the European lowland; as
four separate drainages:
a) Dnieper & Don to the Black Sea
b) West Dvina to the Baltic Sea
c) North Dvina to the White Sea
d) Volga to the Caspian Sea
2) Ural Mts. – 2000 miles long; separates the two plains
In the north is tundra, south of that is taiga (coniferous forest) which dominates a large part of
the Russian interior; in the east, there is much permafrost
3) West Siberian Plain – level & poorly drained
4) Central Siberian Plateau – remote, sparsely settled, permafrost
5) Yakutsk Basin – oil & gas
6) Eastern Highlands – ranges, ridges, volcanic activity, Lake Baikal (deepest freshwater lake)
7) Central Asian Ranges – dry & mountainous, sparsely settled
8) Caucasus Mts. – Russia’s southern boundary; bet. the Black & Caspian Seas
South of the Caucasus Mts. is Transcaucasia where Georgia & Armenia are located – lowland &
Low plateaus
CENTRAL ASIA
1) Central Asian Highlands in south center & SE
a) Mountains – Himalayas, Karakoram, Pamir, Hindu Kush, Kunlun Shan, Tien Shan
b) Tibetan Plateau – E-W: 1250 mi (2000 km), N-S: 750 mi (1200 km),
Avg. Ht: 15K ft (4600 m)
Origin of Ganges, Brahmaputra, Salween, Mekong, Yangtze, &
Huang He rivers
2) Plains & Basins
a) Deserts in center – Kara Kum & Kyzyl Kum in W center
– Taklamakan & Gobi in E center
b) Steppes in N
SOUTHWEST ASIA & NORTH AFRICA (aka MIDDLE EAST)
1) Maghreb Region: Morocco, Algeria & Tunisia
– dominated by the Atlas Mts. Near the Mediterranean coastline, S & E are rocky
plateaus or extensive lowlands
2) Levant Region: eastern Mediterranean, mountainous
3) Arabian Peninsula – separated from Iran by the Persian Gulf, tilted plateau
4) Anatolian Plateau (Anatolia = Turkish Peninsula, aka Asia Minor) – N of Arabian
Peninsula
5) Iranian Plateau – E of Arabian Plateau
6) Lowlands: Tigris & Euphrates (Mesopotamia), Jordan River Valley
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA (aka BLACK AFRICA)
1) Plateaus & Basins
a) High Africa (plateaus bet. 2K-5K ft (600-1500m) – southern & eastern Africa
b) Low Africa (lower plateaus) – west & central Africa
2) Great Escarpment* – rims southern Africa from SW Angola to NE South Africa, resulting
in narrow coastal plains, few harbors & impeded river navigation because of waterfalls
3) Great Rift Valley – eastern Africa is being separated from the rest of the continent;
contains the great eastern lakes (ex: Lake Turkana, Lake Albert, Lake Edward, Lake
Kivu, Lake Tanganyika, Lake Nyasa (Malawi)); in central eastern Africa, the rift zone
splits into 2 separate valleys with Lake Victoria (Africa’s largest body of water, world’s
3rd largest in area after the Caspian Sea & Lake Superior) in the middle; discontinuous
volcanic mts. are in the southern half of the Rift Valley (e.g. Mt. Kilimanjaro (tallest) –
19K ft, 5.9K m & Mt. Kenya (2nd tallest) – 17K ft, 5.2 m)
5) Rivers – 4 major ones: Congo (2nd to Amazon in discharge), Niger, Nile (world’s longest),
Zambezi
*escarpments form where the plateaus abruptly end
SOUTH ASIA
1) Mountains of the North
a) Karakoram Range in the west
b) Himalayas in the center, inc. Mt. Everest (29,028 ft / 8848 m) bet. Nepal & China
c) Arakan Yoma Mts. in the east, bet. India & Burma (Myanmar), separates S. Asia from
SE Asia
2) Indus-Ganges-Brahmaputra Lowlands
a) Indus – 1800 mi / 2880 mi, flows from the Himalayas thru Pakistan to the Arabian Sea,
site of one of the world’s earliest civilizations ~5000 y.a.
b) Ganges – 1500 mi / 2400 km, flows from the Himalayas southeasterly into the Bay of
Bengal, also was a site of an early civilization
c) Brahmaputra – 1700 mi / 2720 km, flows from the Tibetan Plateau easterly to join the
Ganges in central Bangladesh, the two rivers create the largest delta in the world
3) Peninsular India – consists of the Deccan Plateau
a) Western Ghats
b) Eastern Ghats
4) Southern Islands
a) Sri Lanka (Ceylon) – almost linked to India by small islands (Adam’s Bridge)
b) Maldives – 1200 flat, low coral atolls (116 mi2 / 290 km2) , < 2 m above sea level,
in Arabian Sea
c) Lakshadweep – part of India, N of the Maldives in Andaman Sea
d) Andaman Islands & Nicobar Islands – part of India in Andaman Sea
EAST ASIA
The insular portions of East Asia are located at the intersection of the Eurasian, Pacific &
Philippine plates & are therefore geologically active.
China – is divided into 2 parts separated by the Yangtze River (3rd largest river by volume in the
world). Southern China has hills & mts. w/ interspersed lowland basins; northern China is
virtually a flat plain w/ the Loess Plateau located to the west
Japan – slightly smaller than California; mts. cover 85% of the country
Taiwan – about the size of Maryland; its central & eastern regions are mountainous while the
west is flat
N & S Korea – is a peninsular surrounded by the Sea of Japan & the Yellow Sea; it is
mountainous w/ scattered plains
SOUTHEAST ASIA
1) Mainland Portion consists of rugged uplands interspersed with broad lowlands associated with
large rivers (e.g. Mekong, Irrawaddy). The northern boundary consists of mountains
located in a tropical wet & dry zone
2) Insular Portion consists of the convergence of four tectonic plates (Pacific, Philippine, IndoAustralian & Eurasian) resulting in frequent earthquakes & a string of volcanoes. It has
countless islands (Indonesia has > 13,000 & the Philippines > 7000) of all shapes & sizes
(Borneo & Sumatra, world’s 3rd & 6th largest islands). Also related to these islands is the
Sunda Shelf, the world’s largest expanse of shallow ocean (generally < 200 ft / 70 m
deep)
AUSTRALIA and OCEANIA
The region can be divided into:
1) Australia & New Zealand
Australia consists of the Western Plateau which occupies > ½ the continent, the Interior
Lowlands, & the Eastern Highlands containing the Great Dividing Range. Finally, off the
northeastern coast, is the Great Barrier Reef
New Zealand is a result of undersea mt. building & consists of 2 major islands containing
rolling foothills & rugged mts. (Note: bats are its only native mammals)
2) Oceania
a) Melanesia (dark islands) – west; includes Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands,
Vanuatu, New Caledonia (Fr.) & Fiji
New Guinea is dominated by E-W mt. ranges separated by plateaus
b) Polynesia (many islands) – east; includes French Polynesia (e.g. Tahiti), Hawaii,
Tonga, Tuvalu & Samoa. Also sometimes New Zealand because the native
Maoris share many of the same cultural & physical characteristics
c) Micronesia (small islands) – north; includes Nauru, the Marshall Islands, the
Mariana Islands (U.S.) & Guam (U.S.)
The islands of Polynesia & Micronesia originated from volcanic activity &
consist of high islands (from recent volcanic activity) & low islands (from eroding
coral reefs)