Geographic Characteristics of a Place - Anne Arundel County Public Schools

Geographic Characteristics of a Place

Places are parts of the Earth's surface, large or small, that have been given meaning by and for humans. They include: continents, islands, countries, regions, states, cities, neighborhoods, villages, rural areas, and uninhabited areas. Places usually have names and boundaries.

Each place has distinctive characteristics that distinguish it from other places. These characteristics are divided into two categories: Physical Characteristics and Human Characteristics.

Physical characteristics describe the natural environment of a place.

Physical characteristics include:

? physical features - are landforms and bodies of water. ? weather and climate

weather - is how hot or cold and how wet or dry a place is. climate - is the kind of weather a place has over a long period time. ? soil - is the top layer of the Earth in which plants can grow. Sand, silt, and clay are

the basic types of soil. Types of soil vary from place to place. ? minerals - natural substances, such as coal or gold, which are found in rock and in the

ground. Different types of minerals are found in different places on Earth. ? vegetation - is plant life. Types of vegetation vary from place to place, such as, forest,

grassland, tundra and desert. Climate affects the vegetation of a place. ? animal life - includes all the large and small animals that live on Earth.

Human characteristics describe the people of a place (past and present), their languages, religions, economic activities, political systems, population distribution and their modifications of the environment.

Human characteristics include: ? human-made features - are modifications people have made to the land.

(buildings, bridges, tunnels, railroad tracks, dams, monuments, piers, cultivated land) ? language - is a way of communicating with words, symbols, signs, or gestures that are used and understood by a group of people. ? religion - is a belief in a god or gods and the way people express this belief in their life and worship. ? political system - is how people develop and change structures of power, authority and government. ? economic activities - show how people make a living in a place. ? population distribution - is the pattern of the number of people who live in a place. For example, more people live in cities than in rural areas. More people live near bodies of water than in very dry places.

Geographic Characteristics of a Place

Physical Characteristics Human Characteristics

of a place include:

of a place include:

? physical features landforms bodies of water

? weather and climate

? soil

? minerals

? human-made features - modification to the environment buildings bridges tunnels railroad tracks dams monuments port cultivated lands

? religion

? political system

? vegetation

? economic activities (how people make a living)

? animal life

? population distribution

Physical Characteristics Human Characteristics

physical features

human-made features

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weather and climate

language

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religion

soil

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_______________________________ _____________________________

_______________________________

political system

minerals

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_______________________________ _____________________________

_______________________________ _____________________________

vegetation

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economic activities (how people make a living)

_____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________

_______________________________ ________________________

animal life

_______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________

population distribution

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