Chapters 1-3

GEOGRAPHY

C.F.A. # 1

1. Geography is the study ofa) Transportation systems throughout history.

b) The land, its environment, resources and its peoples.

c) Precipitation, wind and drought over a period of time.

d) Migration patterns in rural areas.

2. What are the names of the four natural regions of Texas?a) Panhandle, Gulf Coast, East Texas, West Texas

b) Mountains and Valleys, Great Plains, North Plains, Gulf Coast

c) Mountains and Basins, Great Plains, North Central Plains, Coastal Plains

d) Mountains and Basins, Valleys, North Central Plains, Coastal Plains

C.F.A. # 1

3. A key that explains symbols or colors on a map is a _____________.a) Legend

b) Grid

c) Compass

d) Scale

4. This forms the boundary between Texas and Louisianaa) Gulf of Mexico

b) Red River

c) Sabine River

d) Rio Grande

C.F.A. # 1

5. How does elevation affect climate in the Mountains and Basins region?a) Higher elevations have cooler temperatures.

b) Lower elevations have cooler temperatures

c) Higher elevations have strong hurricane force winds.

d) Higher elevations have lots of humidity and rain.

climate drought

precipitation landform

DefinitionDraw a Picture

Examples1.2.

region latitude

longitude plains

DefinitionDraw a Picture

Examples1.2.

Climatedrought

precipitationlandform

regionlatitude

longitudeplains

CensusTrend

Migrate

VocabularyDefine & Draw a picture

TEXAS HISTORY

belongs to:___________class period:__________

Fall 2013

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GEOGRAPHY:

• The study of the land, its environment & resources, and the people who live in it.

– Physical Geography: features such as landforms, elevation, water, climate & vegetation

– Human Geography: How people change their environment. Ex: farming, mining, transportation, jobs

Knowing What to Expect

• The world is constantly changing. Knowing something about the past can make it easier to predict which trends will continue in the future.

– A trend is a general movement toward change over the course of time.

– A census is a periodic count of the population.

• Geographers use a variety of tools to organize & analyze information.

• Tools such as graphs, charts and tables help geographers organize data.

A Line graph can show two things on a graph. This graph shows an amount and a span of time.

What is a century?What trend does this line graph show?

Pie Charts are used to compare parts of a whole.

Immigrants to Texas, 2001

Bar graphs use bars of different lengths to show & compare the relationship between two or more kinds of information.

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Austin Dallas Houston SanAntonio

HispanicAsianEuropean

Four Largest Cities in Texasand the Population Density, 2000

Tables are used to compare several facts about many items. A table is like a grid which helps geographers organize many facts and numbers.

U.S. Cities 2009 Census Population

New York, NY 8,391,881

Los Angeles, CA 3,831,868

Chicago, IL 2,851,288

Houston, TX 2,257,926

Top 4 U. S. Cities by Population

A timeline shows the sequence of events.

Timelines are useful for studying how one event may have led to or caused later events.

Five Themes of Geography

– Location: Position on the Earth’s Surface• Relative Location (buildings / landmarks)• Absolute Location (map location / coordinates)

– Place: Physical environment

– Human/ Environment Relationships:• Shaping the Land (hills, bodies of water, leveling land etc)

– Movement: Migration • Migrate is to move from one place to another.

– Regions: • Geographers divide the world into geographic regions by

areas that have certain features in common

How might you describe the relative

location of the school in this illustration?

Human activities can have a significant impact on the environment. A lignite (coal) mine such as the one

below can transform a landscape.

What is one way humans are trying to limit the damage they do to the environment?

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Latitude and Longitude

5 Parts of a MapFlip Chart

►Title►Legend►Grid System►Direction►Scale

Map Legends:►A legend is an explanation of a

maps colors & scales.

Legend

Latitude & Longitude Lines Make up a Grid System.►Longitude lines run north and

south.►Latitude lines run east and west. ►These lines measure distances in

degrees.

Grid System:

Pg 31

Equator & Prime Meridian

►Equator: an imaginary line at 0° latitude

►Prime Meridian: an imaginary line at 0° longitude

►Cardinal directions►north, south, east, west

►Intermediate directions►northeast, southeast, southwest and northwest

Directions describe the location of places in relation to other places.

Directions:

Scale►The relationship between a distance

on a map and the actual distance it represents.

Warm-up

Copy question and answer in 3-5 complete sentences.

Why would you want to live near a River?

Activity 2:Label the Major Texas Rivers (Text. Pg.50)

Activity 1:Create an acronym to help you locate major Texas rivers on a map.

Rio GrandePecosNuecesSan AntonioGuadalupeLavacaColoradoBrazosSan JacintoTrinityNechesSabineRed Canadian

Real people never say good luck charlie because sometimes they need some real cheese.

Major Texas Rivers

4 Regions of Texas Flipchart

1. Outside:• Color & label 4 regions • Label major cities

2. Inside:• Climate• Landforms• Crops / Vegetation• Businesses / Industry

Mountains & Basins

CoastalPlains

Great Plains North Central Plains

Texas Bus Tour

Texas Bus Tour

Welcome!• Our tour guide today is

Tumbleweed Tonya

• Fasten your seatbelts• Enter and Exit through the aisle• Take notes in your Texas Travel

Guide as we make four stops, so hold on tight!

• By the way, tips for the tour guide are encouraged.

FIRST STOPMountain and Basin Region

Our first stop is the Mountains and Basins region!

The Mountains and Basins region is the most western region of Texas. It has many mountain ranges and is very dry.

Mountains and Basins Region

Mountains and Basins Region

A basin is a low, bowl-shaped land with higher ground all around it. The basins in this Texas region are deserts.

There are three mountain ranges in this part of Texas.

The mountains in Texas are part of the Rocky Mountains which stretch through the western United States from Mexico to Canada. The Texas Rocky Mountains are made up of many small mountain ranges.

Mountains and Basins Region of Texas

The Davis Mountains are in the center of the Mountains and Basins region.

The Chisos Mountains are located in the Big Bend National Park.

The Guadalupe Mountains border Texas and New Mexico.

Guadalupe Peak is the highest point in Texas at 8,749 feet above sea level.

The Chihuahuan Desert is located in this region. Prickly pear cactus grows here.

Big Bend National Park is located in a gigantic bend in the Rio Grande River. 99% of the park is desert!

Did you know the largest pterodactyl bone ever discovered was found right here in Big Bend National Park? It had a wingspan of 51 feet and was found by Douglas A. Lawson in 1971.

This is the city of El Paso. The name is Spanish for “The Pass”. El Paso is the largest city in this region of Texas.

Mountains and Basins Notes

Landforms• Desert-like to mountainous to forests

Climate• Higher elevation – cool• Lower elevation – dry• Extreme temperatures• Little rainfall

Vegetation and Crops• Cactus and other desert plants• Forests on mountains• Cotton crops

Mountains and Basins Notes

Businesses & Industry• Oil & Gas• Copper mining• Salt mining• International trade

Major City• El Paso

SECOND STOP!Coastal Plains Region

Our second stop is the Coastal Plains region!

The Coast Plains are mostly flat land that lies alongside an ocean. Coast Plains cover near one third of the state of Texas!

Coastal Plains Region

This the Piney Woods of East Texas. It was once the home of the Caddo Indians.

Our state bird, the Mockingbird, lives here. They got their name from their unique ability to copy or “mock” other birds. Another state symbol is found in abundance here. The pecan tree is the state tree of Texas.

Pecan tree

Mocking bird

Weather in the Coastal Plains region is usually mild. That means that winters are short and warm compared to other parts of the country. Summers are long, hot, and humid.

There are lots of rivers and lakes in this region. Perfect for fishing and water sports.

Fishing in Texas

The Coastal Plains of Texas lie alongside an ocean. All rivers that flow west drain into the Gulf of Mexico. Many people visit the beaches that lie along Texas.

Shipping is a huge industry in this region. Corpus Christi and Houston have huge ports where ships from all over the world visit to load and unload goods.

A cargo ship

Corpus Christi

Houston

Farming and ranching are important industries in the Coastal Plains region.

In Kingsville, you will find King Ranch. It was started in the late 1800s by Captain Richard King and his wife Henrietta. It is still one of the largest cattle ranches in Texas today.

In the southern most area of Texas known as “The Valley”, some crops are grown all year due to the warm weather. Crops include cotton, sugar cane, citric fruits, soybeans, and corn.

Oil is found in the Coastal Plains region. These tall structures are oil derricks. Many people call the oil found in Texas “Black Texas Tea”.

Many large cities are located in the Coast Plains including Dallas, Austin, and Houston. Although Austin is our state’s capital, Houston is the state’s largest city. Houston is also the fourth largest city in the U.S.!

Austin

Houston

Dallas

Coastal Plains NotesLandforms• Land varies from sea level to very hilly, small

mountains to flat dry plains

Climate• Warm• Mild Winters• Humid• Plentiful Rain

Vegetation and Crops• Prairie in the northeast• Pine/Oak forests in Northwest• Excellent ranch land in Coastal Prairie• Long growing seasons• Fruits, vegetables, corn, grain, cotton, rice

Businesses & Industry (variety)• Lumber• Oil & Gas• NASA – space• Fishing, Farming & Livestock• Tourism• Technology• Government

Major Cities• Dallas• Houston• San Antonio

Coastal Plains Notes

THIRD STOP!North Central Plains Region

Our third stop is the Central Plains Region! The Central Plains region is in the center of Texas. It has a little higher elevation than the Coastal Plains and is covered with rolling prairies.

North Central Plains Region

The Central Plains Region is a rural area. This means a small population and a lot of open country. It has warm summers and cool winters. There are many cattle ranches and farms here.

This region does have some wild weather. During the spring there is a chance of tornados. These are funnel-shaped storms with swirling winds that do a lot of a damage to a community.

Fort Worth is one of the larger cities in the Central Plains region. It is known for its stockyards and cowboys.

Fort Worth was one of many stops along the famous cattle drive trail known as the Chisholm Trail. The Chisholm Trail was started by a Cherokee trader.

Cowboys and cowgirls in this region still work on cattle ranches. Many compete in rodeos around the country.

Did you know that after the Civil War, about one third of the Texas cowboys were African-American or Mexican-American? And several were women!

North Central Plains Notes

Landforms• Flat to gentle rolling land

Climate• Cool summers• Cold winters• Windy• Good rainfall

Vegetation & Crops• Prairie in east and west separated by forests• Rich soil• Wheat, cotton, pecans , peanuts, corn, fruits and

vegetables

North Central Plains Notes

Businesses & Industry• Agriculture• Dairy farms• Beef cattle• Horses• Sheep• Goats• Oil Manufacturing

Major Cities• Fort Worth• Abilene

LAST STOP!Great Plains Region

Our last stop is the Great Plains Region! Most of the Texas Panhandle is located here.

Great Plains Region

Land in the Great Plains region very high in elevation, but is still very flat.

In the southern part of the Great Plains is a landform called the Edwards Plateau. It’s very high and flat, like a table. The southern and eastern parts have hills though. This area of Texas is often called the “Hill Country”.

The Cap Rock Escarpment is in the Texas Panhandle. This is where the rolling Central Plains meet the high, flat land of the Great Plains.

In the southern part of the Great Plains is another escarpment called the Balcones Escarpment. Spanish explorers called it that because it looked like “balconies”

Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest canyon in the U.S. It is sometimes called the “Grand Canyon of Texas”.

Palo Duro Canyon is located just south of Amarillo.

The Great Plains region is very dry and few water sources. Early settlers faced many droughts and sandstorms. However in the winter, the Panhandle will often get blizzards which are very harsh snow storm.

Sandstorm in the Panhandle

Blizzard in the Panhandle

Ranching is very popular in the Great Plains. Flat grassy land is perfect for raising cattle. What you don’t see are armadillos. It’s much too cold here!

Not up in the panhandle!

Longhorn cattle

Wheat and cotton are important crops in the Great Plains. Wheat can grow in areas with little water.

Two major cities in the Great Plains are Lubbock and Amarillo. Both cities grew after railroads were built in Texas. Railroads carried the cattle to markets back east.

Today, both Lubbock and Amarillo are home to many different industries, including farming, cattle ranching, gas, oil, health care, and tourism.

Great Plains Notes

Landforms• High flat land

Climate• Cool summers, cold winters• Dry, but adequate rainfall

Vegetation & Crops• Grassland with few trees• Wheat and cotton crops

Great Plains NotesBusinesses & Industry• Tourism• Hunting• Cattle• Pecans• Sheep, goats• Farming• Oil• Cottonseed• Helium

Major Cities• Amarillo, Lubbock, Midland

Texas Bus Tour

Postcard Home• Choose a region we just

visited. • Write to someone and

tell them all about it.

Choose a region we just visited. Draw a picture to represent that region. You may use your notes. Make sure to include pictures of specific details we discussed.

Now, write a note to someone and tell him or her about your trip to one of the regions. Be sure to include the name of your region and two facts about the region (things you might see, etc.)

TO: ____________________

____________________

____________________

____________________

Imagine that you work for the Tourism Division of the Texas Department of Commerce. Create a tourism guide for a Texas region of your choice. Be sure to include the following in your tri-fold brochure:• Front of Brochure:

• A title and a slogan for the region• Illustration representing the environment or attractions in the

region• Inside Pages:

1. An introductory paragraph (4-5 sentences) that highlight why the particular region is a good tourist location

2. A calendar that shows significant events in the region (festivals, fairs, or other local events)

3. A description with illustrations of state and national parks in the region

4. A table that shows the average monthly temperatures and rainfall for the major cities in the region

Regional Tourism Guide