Lesson # 1  

 

Homework for Thursday, 1/15: 1) Study maps of the world and North America for online games on Thursday. 2) Choose a code name for your agent. 3) (extra) Review the material below. Visit the websites. pdf of North America, detailed * .pdf of North America, blank * U.S. States poem

 

WORLD & MAP FACTS

 

Maps -

Political maps emphasize countries and capitals.

Physical maps emphasize land masses such as mountains, deserts and rain forests. 

 

Topography: Graphic representation of the surface features of a place on a map, indicating their relative positions and elevations.

 

Highest Mountain: Mount Everest (Nepal, Asia)
Longest River: Nile River (Egypt, Africa)
Largest River: Amazon (South America)
Highest Waterfall: Angel Falls (Venezuela, South America)

 

Longitude and Latitude

Longitude and latitude are measured in degrees and minutes. 

Longitude is measured West of the Prime Meridian, which passes through Greenwich, England at 0o .  The International Date Line goes through the Pacific Ocean at 180 o longitude. Lines of longitude are also known as meridians.

Latitude is measured North and South of the Equator (0°), which separates the northern and southern hemispheres. 

Standard map notation example:  

Guatemala City            14° 37' N     90° 31' W

Extra Credit: Find and know about these famous latitudes: The Tropic of Cancer is located at 23°30' N and is the northern boundary of the tropics. The Tropic of Capricorn is located at 23°30' S, and is the southern boundary of the tropics. They mark the farthest point north or south at which the sun can be seen directly overhead at noon. The Arctic Circle is located at 66 1/2°N and marks the northernmost point at which the sun can be seen at the winter solstice (about Dec. 21) and the southernmost point of the northern polar regions at which the midnight sun is visible.

 

Useful Site! Learn Latitude and Longitude Basics with Loulou and Lou from Brooklyn! - http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/geology/leveson/core/linksa/latlong_menu.html

More detailed explanation of Longitude and Latitude - http://www.satsig.net/lat_long.htm

Want more?  NASA gives you some serious nitty-gritty.

http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Slatlong.htm

 

Look up the longitude and latitude of any place on earth

http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/tgn/

 

NASA will tell you the broadband  properties of any latitude and longitude!  Hmmm…

http://www-surf.larc.nasa.gov/surf/pages/lat_lon.html

 

Human Population - Approximately 6 billion, 300 million people (6,300,000,000)

Link - U.S. Census WorldPop site http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/ipc/popclockw gives monthly world population estimates.  Most populous countries:

1)      China (over 1 billion people)

2)      India (over 1 billion people)

3)      U.S.A. (290 million)

4)      Indonesia (234 million)

5)      Brazil (182 million)

 

Language - Top Most-Spoken Languages in the World:

1)      Mandarin Chinese

2)      Spanish

3)      English

4)      Arabic

See the top 30 languages, how many people speak them and where  at http://www.krysstal.com/spoken.html

 

 

Official Languages of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish

 

WorldAtlas.com has an easily digestible collection of facts about the Earth on one page.

http://www.worldatlas.com/geoquiz/thelist.htm 

 

NG Map of the World

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Copyright 2004 Alfia Wallace