Use a regional approach and spatial perspective to study the Earth's physical features and atmosphere by exploring how humans' cultural, economic, and political activity are related to those features.
In this course, we explore the physical and human landscapes of the world by dividing them into ten regions. We explore physical characteristics, such as location, climate, terrain, and natural hazards, and human characteristics, such as culture, ethnicity, language, economics, and politics.
Our goal is to begin understanding each region's physical and human attributes from a spatial perspective and place them within a global framework. We will use maps to locate places and features within regions to help us understand global issues, such as international conflict, cooperation, environmental degradation, population growth, and globalization.
We will respond to the following questions, among many others.
- How does a regional approach to studying the world help us understand it?
- What tools and methods do geographers use to study the world?
- Who lives in each region?
- What languages do they speak there and why?
- What explains the locations of their cities?
- How does geography help explain conflicts in some regions?
- Why do so many earthquakes occur in some places?
- Why does the landscape look different from region to region?
Keep in mind that this course is designed to look at the world from a geographical perspective. We only touch on many aspects of local and regional history and political situations that are more appropriate as topics for another type of course.
In addition, the world is constantly changing. Inevitably, the issues we frame as current will become part of history. Of course, it is impossible to thoroughly explore the world in one course. One of our goals is to help you learn how to ask informed questions that you can put into a world regional geography framework. We hope to provide a spatial perspective you can use to seek data and information. We challenge you to explore on your own. Now, let's get started on our journey around the world, region by region.
- Unit 1: Introduction to Geography
- Unit 2: Europe
- Unit 3: Russia
- Unit 4: North America
- Unit 5: Middle and South America
- Unit 6: Sub-Saharan Africa
- Unit 7: North Africa and Southwest Asia
- Unit 8: South Asia
- Unit 9: East and Southeast Asia
- Unit 10: Oceania
- Locate the world's regions and identify the geographic features that define them;
- Use world regions to explain how a spatial perspective distinguishes geography from other disciplines;
- Use maps to interpret human and physical phenomena;
- Describe the tools and methods geographers use to visualize, explore and understand the world;
- Name the factors that influence population distribution;
- Explain the impact of colonialism on human geography and territorial borders;
- Outline the role location plays in terms of communication and economic development;
- Describe the interconnectedness of world regions in terms of natural hazards and environmental issues;
- Describe conflict from a human geography perspective;
- Apply geographical concepts such as diffusion, distance decay, centrifugal and centripetal forces, core and periphery, globalization, and rural-to-urban migration to understand places; and
- Explain how internal and external processes affect the physical landscape.
