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

Geography of the West: How has it shaped us and our economy?

The Golden Skybridge represents Human-Environment Interaction because they built a very high suspension bridge for tourism in Golden. This has affected me because I went on the Golden Skybridge and spent money to go there. This connects to economy because people travel from across the world to go to to Canada, and then they will spend money to go to the Golden Skybridge.

Lake Minnewanka represents place because of the mass of water in the Rocky Mountains. This place is culturally significant towards both First Nations and Europeans, but for different reasons. I went on a boat ride and saw all of that at Lake Minnewanka. Lake Minnewanka is in a great place for tourism, and it brings in money for economics in Alberta.

The Badlands represents Place because of the stark difference between it and the plains, which is flat and full of grass. The Badlands were made by glacial outflow, and when there was a big split between North America down where the Badlands are today. This connects to me because the Badlands is the best place to find dinosaur bones, connecting the past to now, and finding out about life from millions of years ago. When people first started finding bones, they would sell them for money to places like the US and England. Soon, Alberta made it illegal to own or sell dinosaur bones, and instead were forced to give the bones to their local museum. This museum, the Royal Tyrell Museum, is in Drumheller. Drumheller, in order to make more money for the town, decorated the whole place with dinosaurs, including the world’s largest plastic dinosaur, and made it dinosaur themed.

Hi! I’m Andrew, and I go to Seycove Secondary. I am in PLP 9, and I just came back from a Field School to Alberta. I do many sports, including cycling, and Nordic skiing.

The Last Spike represents Movement, and the connection of the whole of Canada. The Last Spike was when the last spike was nailed in to a railroad connecting the east to the west of Canada. If not for this railroad, BC might be in the United States! This connects to me because I might be living in the US, even though BC is currently a part of Canada. This connects to economy because the CPR brought money and goods to trade with.

The Pipe Mountain Coaster represents Human-Environment Interaction because Revelstoke put in a pipe to ride down the mountain for tourism. This connects to me because I rode down the coaster, and its fun watching everyone having a great time riding it. I have been to Revelstoke a lot, and whenever I go there, I see a lot of people riding down it, and the wait times are usually from a couple hours to a couple days! This coaster gets a lot of money for the town, which owns the ski hill and the coaster.

Cave and Basin represents place, because of its unique features. The hot springs make it very unique to other regular springs/lakes. This connects to me because the railway through Canada went through there, where the hot springs were, making the railway better for tourism. The Cave and Basin and all Canada parks bring in a lot of tourism money to Canada and the West, because the West is renowned for its natural beauty.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump represents location, specifically relative location. This is because of one of the only cliffs in the prairies, made by glaciers thousands of years ago. Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump connects to me because I love eating bison, and the First Nations were the first to try and eat the bison, which they did for one and a half thousand years. When the Europeans came, they sold some of their skins to the Europeans, but the Europeans instead killed all of the buffalo to dominate the Albertan Indigenous people and force them into unfair trades. Now THAT’s some business! 

1 - Title<br/>2 - Table of Contents<br/>3 - Comic for the 5 themes of Geography<br/>4 - What is Geography?<br/>5-22 - How does Geography shape the West

Geography shapes us in many ways, from what we eat, to where we live, to how we act. We usually eat what is around us. For example, if you live in the plains, you will eat a lot of buffalo. If you live on the coast, you will eat a lot of fish. 

The geography of the West is very unique, as it varies constantly. At one moment you might be in a beautiful old growth forest next to a clear creek running into the ocean, and the next you might be in a wide plains area with grass flowing in the wind next to to a tall and imposing mountain. BC has always has variables, and so has its economy. The First Nations people would trade their goods that they had from their area with another group with other items that the first group didn’t have. Geography even played a big role when the Europeans came, because they had to survive on what they had, and some parts of the geography were harder to pass and survive on than others, and they had to sometimes trade with First Nations people to live. There are a lot of dinosaurs in Alberta because it suited the dinosaur’s preferred geography the best. We find a lot of dinosaurs there today because of the geography of the badlands, and that brings tourism and money from selling the bones. Alberta’s main source of income is from oil, which is made from dinosaurs that have decomposed in the earth.

The Sundre Museum and Pioneer Village represents movement because of the movement of people migrating to the west, their products being sold to the First Nations, and the movement of Western Ideas. This affects me because I know about these Western Ideas, and my family originates from England, so if not for the Pioneers, I might be in England or Ontario. Pioneer village had many shops, and it brought in money for one of the first economies in Western Canada, and one of the reasons why Ontario built the CPR.

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