How has the geography of the West shaped who we are?

Comic Life On The Five Themes Of Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 - 6

The Last Spike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 - 9

Downtown Calgary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 - 11

Calgary Zoo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 - 13

Frank Slide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 - 15

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 - 17

Cave And Basin Historic Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 - 19

Columbia Icefield And Glaciers Skywalk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 - 21

Golden Skybridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 - 23

Surprise Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 - 29

About Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

PLACE— there are two characteristics of place: physical characteristics and human/cultural characteristics. The physical characteristics are defined by landforms (mountains, rivers, soil, etc), flora and fauna (plants and animals), climate (temperature, weather), and resources (minerals, oil). Human/cultural characteristics of place are defined by every day life, such as religion, food, music, and language. Land use, like housing or farming, and political ideologies, like types of government.

LOCATION— location has two different branches: absolute location, and relative location. An absolute location is where you could pin point the exact location, like using degrees of latitude and longitude, or an address. A relative location is described by landmarks, time, direction, or distance.

HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION— human-environment interaction is the environment and humans affecting each other. There’s adapting (clothes for warmth), modifying (bridges), and depending (food, water, and resources)

REGION— there are three types of region: formal, functional, and vernacular. Formal regions are defined by governmental or administrative boundaries. Places like cities, Provences, and countries are all formal regions. Functional regions are defined by a function. Cell phone coverage areas and railways are functional regions. Lastly, vernacular regions are defined by similar characteristics and people perspectives. The Rocky Mountains is a vernacular region defined by similarities. Chinatown and Deep Cove are vernacular regions defined by people’s perspectives.

MOVEMENT— there are three types of movement in this theme: human, product, and ideas movement. Some examples of human movement would be driving or riding on vehicles and moving on foot, like running and walking. Example of product movement would be cargos, shipments, trains, or companies like Amazon or FedEx. Finally, some examples of ideas movement would be emails, messaging online, letters, and even talking. In the photo above, it shows the movement of people because the boat Carrie’s people and moves them across water.

The Last Spike

The CPR moved people, ideas, and resources across Canada. When the it was first opened, it transported people and ideas. The ideas came from the people that traveled on the trains. However, the CPR only transports resources and ideas across Canada now. There is a lot of human-environment interaction that takes place within the CPR and the Last Spike. We adapted to the environment by building bridges across rivers, and tracks around mountains. We modify it by carving out tunnels under mountains and chopping down trees that are in the way. We depend on the environment’s resources to build the railway and to drive the last spike into the track.

Changing the West

The Last Spike is probably the one thing that has most shaped who we are in the West. It connected us to the rest of Canada and is the reason why B.C is a part of Canada. Once the railway was completed, people of the West could travel to the East and people from the East could travel to the West. We gained knowledge and ideas from each other. With so many people now traveling to the West, many tourist spots were built, and tourism attracted even more people. The different people has brought different cultures to the West. The CPR is like a iron ribbon connecting the west to the rest of Canada and the Last Spike is like the knot that tied the ribbon together.

My own connection
I have my own connections to the last spike and the CPR because I am Chinese. During the construction of the CPR, thousands of people from China were shipped over to Canada to help with the project. The Chinese people played a big role in constructing this railway. They worked really hard, and many literally worked to their deaths. There were about 15,000 Chinese worker that worked on the CPR, and more than 600 of them passed away.