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

What is geography This photo shows culture because of the need to hunt animals in Alberta. We had to use to resources that the land provided, and archery was a way of hunting that was used throughout the history of the plains people.

How does this relate to our culture? The painted warriors ranch taught people how to shoot bows as if we were in a real life hunting situation. This is an example of movement of ideas. We were being taught ideas that were from the prairies, and we brought them back to the coast as you can see bows were being used in the west. These ideas were thought up thousands of years ago, and still are useable for hunting today.

How does this relate to me? When we were at Painted Warriors ranch we learned how to shoot bow and arrows. After learning the basics, we went out and shot foam animals as if we were hunting. It must’ve been hard to survive back then because we missed a LOT of shots. With nice bows too. Imagine if our dinner depended on if we could hit those shots.

This is a Timelapse that I took of my descent down sulphur mountain. 

I can safely say that you can’t go anywhere in Van without finding evidence of humans. We have turned the once forest into a metropolitan behemoth. MetroVancouver covers 2,883 kmsq of land, and houses 2.6 million people. The once forested land is now one of the biggest cities in Canada.

How does this relate to me? I used to be a huge dinosaur fan when I was ten, and I learned about cool dinosaurs. I was very excited the first time I went to Drumheller, since I was still fully in the Dino phase of my life. Going back there 4 years later made the think about how the place changed, but more how I changed. There were still exhibits that fascinated me, like the Burgess Shale exhibit. I find it fascinating how my past taught me, and how coming back to it brings back memories and reflection.

What is geography? Geography is the history of the land influencing the present, and future. Drumheller got very famous for it’s great fossil finding environment, but why is it so great to find fossils in? How does this relate to our history? Drumheller valley used to be a very big glacier, which while the ice age was ending melted. The valley though, seems a little big for just melting ice. Drumheller has profited greatly off of their renowned fossils and they own it. When driving through the town, we spotted 18 different dinosaurs! One of which being the largest dinosaur statue in the world!

Even the entrance sign to Drumheller has a Dino on it!

Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom

About me vid

Master of the blog🗿 – Queso🧀🥶

Geography is the movement of people The Banff gondola was built in 1959, when Banff had already secured it’s place as a famous tourist destination. It was built to transport people up the mountain for the views. Now there is a museum, cafe and gift shop, leaning in to the tourism. How does this relate to the economy? The Banff gondola brought workers to build the gondola, and it was quite the chore. Spanning over 1,560 meters and a 51% incline it wasn’t an easy task. The other problem was that Banff didn’t have a big living community, as it was powered by tourism. The people who lived there weren’t big construction workers or civil engineers. They worked for the tourists.

My relation to this photo, and the place where I took it I took this photo on the trail up sulphur mountain, the same mountain that Banff gondola is on. In the photo you can see smoke in the background. This smoke is from the wildfires that happen every Summer in BC, result of changing environment due to human activity.

Cultures of The West - How did they shape Me?

T h e B a d l a n d s

This is a early 1900’s styled silent film that we made on our last day of the trip. It was filmed in the Three Valley Gap hotel’s own ghost town. It is a collection of vintage cars appliances, trains, and even mining equipment!

My connection to the photo is that my brother is very well knowledge and is a big fan of trains. He talks a lot about public transit and how “we should make it easier to live without a car in modern cities”. This ties into my life because I think a lot about what form of travel is the best. I have to consider the efficiency of trains, the flexibility of cars and busses being cheap. The use of transportation is vital to modern society, so being aware of your options is very useful.

Photo 8: Takakkaw Falls or Pipe Mountain Coaster Remember: you want your photo to not just represent what made and makes the West, but also you will need to explain how it shows one or more of the Five Themes of Geography. For now, you can put multiple photos on the page, then you will be able to edit and choose from them later.

The (wild) West - my answer to the Driving Question The geography of the west has shaped us by teaching us the diverse traditions and cultures that reside in western Canada. I came to Canada when I was young, so I can see very clearly the cultures of Canada. My brother has more German culture than I do, my mom has even more and my dad the most. I can see habits that repeat in my German relatives, and how they appear to not happen amongst my Canadian friends. I see in the west how there are different people, and how they act different, how they value different things. One big difference that I saw very clearly is how the parents treat and teach their kids differently. Here they are much more protective of their kids, and act much more forgivingly. All this evidence that I see in my life, is all about culture. My friends have different culture, my school has different culture, even other schools are different. To me this feels much closer than economy or history

The Five Themes of Geography are five terms that are often used by geographers to describe geography. The five themes of geography are Human Environment Interaction, Movement, Location, Region and Place. Some of these photos are also used in the book, and will explain more in depth what I mean with each theme of geography. Scroll down to page 11 to see an example!

Geography is the land, and it is something that I think impacts us every day. The geography around us shapes us. The cultures we see and are taught, the habits we encounter and partake in. Geography used to be this word to describe the unmovable objects that lay around us. Now? We have dug through mountains, built whole Islands, and looking at cities compared to what they used to be is night and day. We now control our geography. Take a look at Vancouver.

This is a great example of how we depend on our land because we are making an economy that’s based solely off the land that we inhabit. The problem with this kind of dependence is that it is depleting this resource 1000s of times faster than it renews.

These next pages are photos and videos that I thought were nice, or helped further explain my answer to the driving question.

3 - 7 What is geography 8 - answer to the Driving Question 9 - 27 reflections and photos 28 - 34 extra photos 35 About Me Page

Geography is the movement of ideas. The pipe mountain coaster is very popular in Germany and a lot of the Alps, but is known as the sommerrodelbahn. The idea for this fun ride came from the European sommmerrodelbahn, which is very much movement of ideas and culture. This relates to our culture because it shows how the west is built up of so many cultures who all have their own ideas. I relate to the pipe mountain coaster because I was in Czech once and we were supposed to spend a day riding a sommerrodelbahn, but the motor broke down. We ended up waiting in line for hours just for the generator to break down too and get no ride at all. At least we didn’t get a ride and get stuck down there!

Geography is how we depend on the land Region. The culture is local to the buffalo jump, and no one anywhere else uses this kind of hunting. Nowhere else can practice the buffalo jump because of the precise circumstances necessary for a jump to work. The buffalo need to graze at a close spot, it needs to be before winter when the buffalo are bulking up, and it’s only females. Not to mention the cliff at the end of the grazing area. And the idea for it is really hard to come by. How does this relate to the culture of the West? Indigenous peoples learn traditions, and hunting skills through their families, and one of those sacred hunting skills was the buffalo jump. The buffalo jump is when a herd of bison are chased to a cliff, were the back can’t see the cliff, and the front can’t stop, so they all fall. This wouldn’t happen without human intervention. People with wolf furs would come slowly from behind, and at the front would be “buffalo runners”, who wear bison skins and lead the herd to the cliffs by acting like lost calves. Those who did not have those positions set up trees and made a runway so that the bison couldn’t turn away from the cliff. My relation to the story The guide that we had told us a thought provoking story about how we are using upon the land faster than it can replenish itself. Stuff about global warming, I can’t remember. The feeling left with me after this speech was quite harrowing. I felt a fear of the future, like when I think about moving out and going to uni. I am still young, so they say, but the future is scary. Hopefully the bark is worse than the bite.

Cave and Basin National Historic Site

Geography shows location The Banff hot springs are a very important landmark. It is prominent in Canadian history because it was the very first provincial park. The hot springs were important to the CPR railway because it was one of the first tourist destinations. Tourism is one of the biggest industries in Canada. Canada is known around the world for being beautiful, and the reason is these provincial parks. How does this relate to our history and economy? The first provincial park was in Banff, because of the hot springs. Provincial parks protect, preserve, and advertise the beautiful Canadian land. We are depending on the land to provide for our relaxation in the pools, our wages in the jobs and our home in the hotel. My connection to the photo is in the water I enjoyed playing in the water, and I have liked swimming and playing in the water since I was a baby. My parents valued my basic skills, and I agree with that, so they taught me to swim. I was never naturally a good swimmer, but since my parents thought it so important, they taught me and sent me to classes. Since then I have been able to swim, and still do on hot days.

At first Vancouver was just a forest, with very few indigenous people scattered throughout, then settlers came, and built a port. Then a sawmill. Then a pub. Once settlers came, it started to change like crazy. Whole forests started to fall down, to be milled. For shipping, or housing space or even to build the houses they were being cut down for!

The Golden Skybridge represents our values, and what we as westerners value. We value appreciating nature, giving opportunities for tourists bringing jobs to the community How does this relate to the economy? The Golden Skybridge is showing how we have brought people from around the world to enjoy the nature, and have fun experiences everywhere. We only stopped at the golden skybridge because it was on the way and something fun to do. It would be useless if it was in the wrong place. It needed to be close to the general route which people take to travel through BC, but needed a specific unique attribute to make it stand out. Golden skybridge to great advantage of the land, and made the experience great on many levels. I would’ve been happy with a ropes course or a huge zip line, but both! And they are building a roller coaster. My connection to the golden skybridge is that I went there, and I rode the zip line, despite being quite scared of how tall it was. It was a personal achievement because I don’t want to hold myself back from experiencing things because I’m too scared. I pushed myself beyond my comfort zone, and I am now less scared of heights.

The Last Spike Geography can be shown through movement and the train line that goes from coast to coast is very much a form of movement. We move people, goods and ideas through this train line. The last spike sticks out from the millions of other spikes because it was the last one to be put in. And it wasn’t just any railway that was finished, it was the CPR railway that connected the country of Canada to the west.

How does this relate to our culture? The seemingly unachievable dream came true. The railroad was finished. The last spike was the monumental finish to the country. We were now connected as a country. What better way to capture the moment than a statue. The statue has even more significance when you find out that it is built out of stones from every province. We changed the land to our benefit, we helped the economy, gained a province and connected our coasts. The change was very significant as the pillar is a part of our culture. As you look around the world, these pillars and statues are everywhere representing what’s important to the people of that place.

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