The geography of the West, a flourishing economy.

This will be your cover. It should include a graphic(s), your name, and a title relating to the answer to the driving question.

Connecting Canada’s past to the present, and who we are today.

Contents:

The five the five themes of geography:
location, human environment interaction, place, movement and regions.
Answer to the driving question


The Last Spike
The Golden Skybridge
Cave and Basin
Lake Minnewanka
Sundre Museum and Pioneer Village
The Badlands
Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump
Revelstoke Pipe Mountain Coaster

Nature and geography of the West photos
Videos! Pioneer Village film, Favourite dinosaur film, Ghost Town silent film.

About the Author

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Before we jump right into my explanations that help answer the driving question, what are the 5 themes of Geography? Why do they matter?

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Well, the five themes of geography provides us with an outline to help understand the geography of a place, and form conclusions about it. It also helps geographers in their research to analyze geographical information. Let’s take a closer look and dive right into the definition of the five themes, and some visuals to help understand.

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There are 2 sub-categories
to location ; Absolute
Location and Relative Location.
Absolute Location is your exact location on the Earth and is often given in degrees of latitude and longitude (global location) or maybe a street address or intersection (local location). For example our absolute location right now is: 49.31836, -122.95056 or
1204 Caledonia Avenue.

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Location can also be described in relative terms. Relative Location is a description of one place relative to the other. It can be described by landmarks, time, direction or distance.
For example a relative location is: classroom opposite from the library or the house 4 blocks down on the corner.

We adapt to it.
Example: We used the land beside the lake as a perfect spot for farming crops.

We modify it.
Example: We cut into a rock face to continue a road.
We make a damn to control the water from flooding our cities, temples.
We build the tallest suspension bridge in Canada, as well as other tourist attractions for profit and the economy.

We depend on it.
Example: we drink water, we eat food, we use wood/trees for houses and furniture.

The term human environment interaction describes how humans are influenced and are influenced by the surrounding natural environment and ecosystems.

Place describes the natural features and cultural characteristics of any location on Earth.

Physical Characteristics of place are the : Natural features of the land
Landforms (mountains, rivers, soil, etc.)
Flora and fauna (plants and animals)
Climate (temperature, rainfall)
Ressources (petroleum, minerals)

Human/Cultural Characteristics of place are the cultural charachteristics:

every day life (Religion, food, music, art, language, architecture, holidays, as well as other aspects)
land use (housing, economic activities, roads)
political ideologies (types of government)

Movement is the travel of people, products, and ideas from one location to another.

Examples of Human movement: train, planes, car, bus, biking, walking,
Examples of Products movement: planes, cargo boats, lori trucks, trains
Examples of Ideas movement: talking, music, podcast, messages, books, art

A region is an area of land that has common features. A region can be defined by natural or artificial features. Regions, both large and small are the basic units of geography. There are 3 main types of regions.
Formal Regions:
Regions defined by governmental or administrative boundaries (States, Countries, Cities) Example: American-Canadian border

Functional Regions:
Regions defined by a function.
Examples: bus routes, Vancouver port, newspaper service area, cell phone coverage area

Vernacular Regions:
Regions defined by similar characteristics (Corn Belt, Rocky Mountain region) or people’s perceptions (Chinatown, Lower Mainland, Deep Cove)
Example: the shipyards

The geography of the West has shaped us by allowing us to have a thriving economy with multiple industries that have helped us settle and develop.

The natural landscape of the land, with an abundance of natural ressources, let us have great gold and mining, logging, fishing and tourism industries. The construction of the CPR that connected the west to the rest of Canada, was a great way to sell and ship our ressources to the Canadian Shield region, and for tourists to come to hotels and attractions, further building the economy of the West.