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Contributor: Hallah Elbeleidy. Lesson ID: 10412
Do you say pop, soda, or cola to refer to a fizzy drink? What food is your area known for? Using maps, relevant videos, and a personal research paper, learn about region geography!
You’ve most likely heard of Southern hospitality, or that people are laid back in the West, or even that New Yorkers are always in a rush to get somewhere.
The final Related Lesson in our Themes of Geography series, found in the right-hand sidebar, is about region.
Region refers to an area of land that has common features.
A region can be defined by natural or artificial features. Language, government, and religion can define a region, as can forests, wildlife, and climate.
In other words, regions are developed to organize and simplify a vast amount of information. They are defined in such a way that the information they provide will be useful.
Regions in the U.S. are usually grouped into five, according to their geographic position: west, midwest, southwest, southeast, and northeast.
You’ll have an opportunity to explore other regions of the world defined by artificial features like language, religion, and political parties.
EXPLORE
Take a look at several different types of maps.
This Election 2012 President Map is an example of a cartogram. A cartogram purposefully distorts the geometry or base of a map in order to convey information of an alternative variable, like political parties.
Another way of visualizing the population distribution of the U.S. is with an interactive map like this Manifest Density. Read the entire length of the article. You can also change the variable to which you are comparing.
Check out the tabs of different cities and states located directly under the map of the U.S. This tool makes the concentration of where people live very visible.
Explore different maps and charts of the world’s languages with In graphics: a world of languages - and how many speak them. Zoom in to read the details!
TINKER
Explore this World Religions Interactive Map. It is important to recognize that the initial layout of the map depicts the prevailing beliefs of all countries, which means that you are only seeing what the majority of people in each nation believe.
Be sure to check out the breakdown of each religion by clicking on the Menu on the upper right-hand side of the map.
Although not 100% accurate, these Food Maps depict a country or continent’s food cuisine in fun and playful ways. Food cuisine can also be another lens through which to look at regional differences.
These differences are usually at a much smaller scale than religion or language.
This Pop vs Soda map divides the U.S. into regions based on the use of the words pop, soda, and cola.
As you can probably tell, there is an infinite amount of creative ways to spatially analyze differences among us!
WATCH
Watch this fascinating visualization on the spread of religion around the world.
Take a look at this Historical Timeline. You'll be able to select your desired year from the dropdown menu.
The following video is a well-done visual of the changing political landscape of the United States from the very beginning of its nationhood. You may remember or have heard of 2 or 3 of the most recent elections. Even in the span of 8 to 12 years, the political shifts are noticeable.
Continue on to the Got It? section to practice what you have learned so far.
FAVORITE
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