What is Geography? Chapter Notes | IGCSE Oxford Geography Foundations for Year 6 - Class 6 PDF Download

Geography is about people and places. It helps us understand our world and makes it a more interesting place in which to live.

What is Physical Geography?

Physical geography is the study of the earth's natural features:

• It is about Land, seas, and the atmosphere around us
• Atmosphere: The atmosphere is the Air around the earth
• Changes in temperature, rainfall and pressure give us our weather and climate.
• Climate changes between seasons and across different regions. For example: the climate is hot during summers and cold during winters.
• Landforms are Natural features formed by rivers, sea, ice, volcanoes they are constantly changing
• Earth's surface made up of different types of rocks
• Soil formed from these broken rocks, support plant growth around the earth.

Physical Features

What is Human Geography?

Human geography is the study of where and how people live:

• Population geography: It studies Distribution of people around the globe, It studies places where population is growing rapidly 
• It also looks at why people migrate One place to another and the Effects this movement has on an area.
• Settlement geography: It studies, Where people live, growth of settlements and land use in cities
• Economic geography: It studies How people earn a living it is about industry, jobs, wealth
• Human geography also looks at quality of life. This is how happy or content people are with their lives and the environment where they live.

What is Environmental Geography?

The environment is a combination of:

• Physical (natural) environment: Climate, landforms, soils, vegetation
• Human environment: Settlements, economic activities

It is the study of the surroundings in which people, plants and animals live.

The environment includes natural resources:

• Some of these resources are renewable. This means that they can be used over and over again, such as rainfall. Others are non-renewable and can only be used once, such as coal.
• They are Used to meet human needs as water, minerals, forests
• They are Sometimes misused or polluted
• Different environments have different qualities and different uses. Each needs to be protected and carefully managed, like National Parks and the reserves of oil.

How Can We Find Out Where Places Are?

• We use maps and atlases to locate places
• Atlas is a Book with maps of the world.
• Globe: The most accurate way to show the whole world is on a globe. This is because a globe, being round, shows the actual shape of the earth.
• Latitude and longitude: Imaginary lines are drawn onto globe to identify locations
• It is impossible to draw the earth accurately on a piece of paper. Parts of it will always be either the wrong size or the wrong shape. This is because the earth is round, and a piece of paper is flat.

Using an Atlas

• The contents page at the front of the atlas shows on which page each map can be found. 
• The index at the back of the book shows exactly where a particular place may be found. 
• The index gives the latitude and longitude of that place to help you find it more easily.

How Can We Use Graphs in Geography?

• Graphs show information clearly and demonstrate relationships
• Graphs are drawn using facts and figures which are called data. We can obtain data either by collecting information from fieldwork or by looking it up in a book. 
• Information that we collect ourselves is called primary data. Information from other sources is called secondary data.
• Graphs Can be drawn by hand or using computer software
• They Help describe situations and analyze connections between different things.

What is the Value and Use of Geography?

• Develops interest in people and places, understanding of global events
• Helps form opinions on local and global issues
• Useful for various careers: Travel, town planning, weather forecasting, mapping, journalism, environment
• Provides knowledge and skills applicable to various aspects of life