KEY CONCEPTS
1
The study of the Earth
1. The world’s natural environment
29
❚
Geography is the science that describes and explains areas of
the Earth’s surface. It is divided into three branches:
physical
geography
,
human geography and regional geography
.
❚
Cartography represents the Earth or part of it through maps
using map projections. The maps have scales (small, medium
and large).
The natural environment of Europe
❚
Europe has two very different regions,
Eastern Europe
, and
Central and
Western Europe
.
❚
The mainmountain ranges of Eastern Europe are the CarpathianMountains,
the Urales and the Caucasus Mountains. Its rivers are long and voluminous.
❚
The main mountains of Central and Western Europe are the Alps, the
Carpathians, the Central Massif in France, the Scandinavian Alps, the
Apennines, the Dinaric Alps, the Balkan and the Rhodope. The main rivers
are the Danube, Oder, Elba, Rhine and the Rhone.
❚
The European climates are
warm
.
The natural environment of North America
❚
There are three main geographical regions: the
Appalachians
to the east, and a series of young
mountain ranges to the west. The
Great Plains
extend over the centre. The main river is the
Mississippi
. There are numerous glacial lakes.
❚
Cold
and
temperate climates
predominate.
The natural environment of Asia
❚
Asia is the largest continent. It has the highest mountain range, the
Himalayas
. It also
has the largest lake (the
Caspian Sea
) and the deepest lake (
Baikal
). It has numerous
islands and archipelagos.
❚
The Asian rivers are very
long
.
❚
To the north of Siberia, extends the
Arctic tundra
. In the centre, is the forested region of
the
taiga
. To the south, the
steppes
predominates. The
jungle
is the typical monsoon
vegetation.
The natural environment
❚
The natural environment is made up of the
relief
,
climate
,
hydrography
(marine and continental
waters) and the biogeography (vegetation, soil and
fauna).
❚
Images provided by photography, satellites and
remote sensing
helps to analyse the territories.
The natural environment of Central and South America
❚
Central America covers the isthmus that joins North America and South
America, and the Antilles islands that separate the
Caribbean Sea
from the
Atlantic Ocean. South America is traversed by the
Andes
mountain range.
❚
The
Amazon
is a great river on the continent at the centre of a region that
has great biodiversity (forests and fauna). Other rivers are the
Orinoco
and
the
Parana
.
❚
Hot climates predominate.
Oceania and the Antarctica
❚
Oceania
is made up of the island
of
Australia
, the archipelago of
New Zealand
and several groups
of islands, such as
Polynesia
,
Melanesia
and
Micronesia
.
❚
Antarctica
is a
frozen continent
.
The natural environment in Africa
❚
Africa is a compact continent with only one mountain range: the
Atlas
Mountains
. Volcanoes are numerous, such as
Kilimanjaro
. It has great
rivers such as the
Nile
, the
Congo
and the
Niger
.
❚
Most of its climates are hot.
❚
Africa has the largest desert in the world, the
Sahara
, but there are also
equatorial jungles and extensive tropical
savannahs
. It has the greatest
concentration of wildlife in the world.
Natural hazards in the world
❚
Some
natural hazards
can suppose a great
risk
to people and places. The most dangerous
are earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes and
volcanoes.
❚
Other natural hazards are those that cause
torrential rains, avalanches, droughts and climate
change in general.
Alpine landscape in Europe
