Geography vocabulary

Geography Vocabulary

Five Themes of Geography

• Location
  • Absolute Location
  • Relative Location
• Regions
• Place
• Movement
• Human-Environment Interaction (Relationships within Places)

Map terminology

• Latitude
• Longitude
• Equator
• Prime Meridian
• International Dateline
• Meridians
• Parallels
• a.m. / p.m.
• equinox
• solstice
• Tropic of Cancer
• Tropic of Capricorn

Water bodies

code:

text

• Click EXPAND to see list of important >>

canal

• man-made straits that connect two larger bodies of water
• canals provide important water passage to connect water bodies that would otherwise require long-distance water travel around land bodies or continents

• Bahr Yussef
  • connects the Nile to the Faiyum Oasis and Lake Moeris, built 2300 BC
• Canal of the Pharaohs
  • connected the Nile to the Red Sea
  • built by Necho II, Assyrian ruler of Egypt in 7th century BC
  • Persian king Darius I bragged of building a canal linking the Nile to the Red Sea (6th century BC)
• Corinth Canal
• Grand Canal
  • connected the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, built under the Sui dynasty (6th century AD)
• Suez Canal
• Panama Canal

• Click EXPAND to see list of important canals

channel

• synonymous with "strait" but usually referring to a smaller or less important strait
• see strait below

strait

• a narrow body of water that connects larger bodies of water, or, a narrow channel that separates land masses
• synonymous with channel, passage, or pass
  • implicit in the terminology is that the strait allows for navigation, or passage, from one larger body of water to another
• "strait comes from Old French "estreit" for "tight" or "narrow"

• important straits and channels
• Bosporus Strait
  • connects Black Sea to Aegean/Mediterranean Seas
• Strait of Gibraltar
  • connects Mediterranean Sea to Atlantic Ocean
  • ancient Greeks called the promontories on either side of the Strait of Gibraltar the "Pillars of Hercules", which marked the passage from the Mediterranean Sea into the Atlantic Ocean
• Strait of Magellan
  • connects Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
  • the passageway near the southern tip of South America that was navigated by the explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who led the first expedition to circumnavigated the globe
  • the Strait of Magellan is not "straight" -- is actually a U-shaped pathway formed by the Tierra del Fuego archipelago (chain of islands)
• Beagle Channel
  • a second, less navigable passageway near the southern tip of South America that was navigated by Charles Darwin on the HMS Beagle
  • NOTE: the open-ocean passageway, around the very tip of South America is called "Drake's Passage", named for English explorer Francis Drake who circumnavigated the globe
• Strait of Hormuz
• Bering Strait
• Strait of Messina
• Bab-el Mendeb Strait
• Strait of Malacca
• Strait of Dover
  • See:
    • [Strait (wiki)]
    • [Top 10 Straits and Channels (morethanshipping.com)]

• Click EXPAND to see list of important straits

Land forms

Cape

• a "headland", "promontory" or large body of land that extends into a larger water body, usually an ocean or a sea
  • "headland" is a "coastal landform," usually with a high point and cliffs
  • "promontory" is a raised land body that extends into lower land or water
    • promontories are often used a defensive positions for forts and castles
    • a promontory in water is a peninsula
• Cape Canaveral - Florida
• Cape Cod - Massachusetts
• Cape of Good Hope - South Africa
• Cape Discord - Greenland
• Cape Three Forks - Morocco
• Cape Kidnappers - New Zealand
• Cape Horn - Chile (northern boundary of the Drake Passage)
• Cape Verde -- verte? - Senegal
  • southernmost headland, or tip of land, on Hornos Island, one of the Hermite Islands, the southernmost of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago at the southern tip of South America

Click EXPAND for a list of important capes

• See [List of Well Known Capes (wiki)]

island

• archipelago

World Oceanic Regions

• Mediterranean
• Arabian Sea
• Indian Ocean
• Atlantic Ocean
• Pacific Ocean
• Gulf of Mexico
• Caribbean Sea
• China Sea
• North Sea

Oceania

Oceania UN Geoscheme Regions

• Oceania
  • Pacific region in general, divided into
• Australasia
• Melanesia
• Micronesia
• Polynesia

Independent nations of Oceana

• Fiji
• Tuvalu
• Nauru
• Federated States of Micronesia

=== Fun Facts ==-

• Pitcaren Islands in Polynesia, are the leasts populated political entity (67 residents)
  • Vatican City, for example, has 825 residents