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Culture – A Big Geographic Idea, Illustrated in South Asia
A culture is a shared set of mental rules about how to behave. People with different cultures can lead very different lives in places with similar natural conditions. South Asia is a good place to illustrate the influence of different cultures. Somewhat isolated by ocean, desert, and the highest mountains in the world, South Asia has been ruled by several distinctly different cultures, including early Dravidians, Hindu dynasties, Islamic sultanates, and British colonists. Each of these has persistent effects in different parts of this subcontinent.
Complexity – A Big Geographic Idea, Illustrated in Europe
A geologically complex area is likely to have a variety of landforms and resources. Europe has a complicated mix of rocks: old and more recent, resistant and weak. Consequences include mountain ranges that help protect against enemy armies, intricate shorelines that provide many safe harbors, and scattered deposits of coal and metal ores. Not surprisingly, Europe has small countries with separate industrial areas and multiple trade connections with each other and with overseas colonies. It also has a history of conflict among neighbors, including two world wars in the 20th century.
What is a “Big Geographic Idea”?
A big geographic idea is something that is easy to remember (or easy to spot on a map) and has many predictable effects in different places. Take latitude (distance north or south of the equator), for example. The latitude of a place helps determine how much sunlight that place gets. Sunlight influences all kinds of things: the plants and animals that live there, the crops people can grow, how they build their houses, and even how they spend their free time.
Click on the Africa circle on the map below to see more about latitude. Or click other circles to explore other big ideas. In each case, you’ll find an interactive map and reading, an explanatory presentation, and other resources.
Click the gold buttons on the right to learn more about what big geographic ideas are—and what they aren’t.
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Population – A Big Geographic Idea, Illustrated in China
Population density (the number of people per square mile) can affect many aspects of life, from job opportunities, inventions, recreational options, and cultural variety to congestion, house prices, pollution, and the spread of disease. China is a good place to illustrate some of these effects. It has had a large population for a long time, with several times when population actually went down due to flooding, famine, disease, or war. The one-child policy, a recent government attempt to limit population growth, has also had many economic, social, and political effects.
Distance – A Big Geographic Idea, Illustrated in Australia
Distance affects the time and cost of movement. Australia is a good place to illustrate some effects of distance. These effects include ecosystems with unusual plants and animals, relatively late arrival of humans migrating out of Africa, and a historic role as a remote prison. More recently, this formerly distant European colony is becoming a major supplier of coal, iron ore, and other raw materials for the rapidly growing economies of much closer Asian countries like China, India, and Japan.
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Latitude – A Big Geographic Idea, Illustrated in Africa
Latitude (distance from the equator) is the major influence on climate. Lowlands near the equator are hot and rainy. Deserts are common near the Tropic lines, and areas near the Poles are cold. Climate, in turn, can affect hunting, farming, diseases, clothing, building, transportation, recreation, and many other aspects of life. Africa is a good place to illustrate the effects of latitude, because it is the only continent that reaches similar latitudes and therefore has similar climates both north and south of the equator.
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Resources – A Big Geographic Idea, Illustrated in S.W. Asia
Natural resources are things in nature that people have learned how to use, like trees, fertile soils, and metal ores. Southwest Asia is a good place to observe how resources influence economies. Some of the world’s earliest civilizations developed where people learned to plant crops in soils that were watered, softened, and made more productive by flooding rivers. Vast deposits of petroleum are sources of wealth in some parts of this region. Abundant sunshine in a desert climate has become a resource for generating electricity.
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Area (Size) – A Big Geographic Idea, Illustrated in Russia
The size of an area has many influences on what people do. Russia, the largest country in the world, is a good place to illustrate some effects of size. Large areas are likely to have more natural resources, and Russia is an exporter of oil, gas, and other minerals. Several times in history, the size of the country has helped Russian people resist invading armies. On the other hand, transport costs are high, which can limit economic options and make governing more difficult.
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Elevation – A Big Geographic Idea, Illustrated in South America
Elevation (vertical distance above sea level) affects both temperature and precipitation (rain and snow). Effects of elevation are easy to illustrate in South America, with its large lowland rainforest and the longest high mountain range in the world. Early human populations include the Nazca, near the Pacific coast, and the Inca, one of very few early civilizations in high mountains. Modern economies include tree harvesting in the Amazon Basin, soybean fields and grape vineyards at middle elevations, and mining in the high Andes Mountains.
Region – A Big Geographic Idea, Illustrated in North America
A region is a group of places that are close together and have something in common. People can draw a line around the places and give the resulting area a name, like High Plains, Rust Belt, or Silicon Valley. Because people in the United States already have some prior knowledge about different parts of their home country, North America is a good place to illustrate the process of regionalization and how this skill can be used to organize a lot of other geographic information.
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