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

Table of Contents

Page 1: My Answer(s) to the driving question.

Page 2: Definitions of The Five Different Themes of Geography.

Page 3: Five Themes of Geography Comic.

Page 4: Five Themes of Geography Comic explanation of first 3 panels.

Page 5: Five Themes of Geography Comic explanation of last 2 panels.

Page 6: Introduction to The Book With The Five Themes of Geography.

Pages 7 to 37 is Evidence of Learning.

Page 38: Three Valley Gap Ghost Town Silent Film.

Page 39: Pioneer Village Advertisement Video.

Page 40: Royal Tyrell Museum Dinosaur Video.

Page 41: Introduction to lakes we went to.

Page 42: Emerald Lake Collage.

Page 43: Lake Louise Collage.

Page 44: Lake Minnewanka Collage.

Page 45: About the Author.

My Answer(s) to The Driving Question

Before I get into my book I would like to start off with a short answer to the driving question:

The geography of the West shaped our rich history, influencing us to continue evolving our past accomplishments and learning from our mistakes.

For my longer answer I will be talking about the history of the west and how it shaped/shapes us today. I would like to talk about the CPR railway, the reason it’s so important to me and Canada is because it has opened up many different possibilities for our country. Did you know that If we didn’t accept the promise that Canada offered to BC we could be in Oregon right now? Everyone that lives in BC right now had a chance they could be living in the US. The CPR was something more important then just a railway, it’s where BC’s Canadian history started.

Definitions of The Five Themes of Geography

Place:
All characteristics that make a certain location unique from any where else.

Human Environment Connection/interaction:
Any interaction between humans and the environment they are in, especially if modified.

Location:
This is exactly where something is on a map or compared to another location.

Movement:
Anything that is transported from one area to another, some examples might be: people, goods, and ideas.

Regions:
Any location with distinctive qualities such as: climate and culture.

Let’s focus on the first few three.

For the first one I chose it is Place, the place I chose was the Sundre Museum. The reason I chose place for the Sundre Museum was because it is a place that shows tons of different animals from lots of different continents.

For the second picture I chose Human Environment Connection and the place I chose was the Royal Tyrrell Museum. I chose this because fossils and dinosaur bones found in the region were brought to the museum where people can study them.

For third panel I chose the Cave and Basin for relative location. I chose this because it is found in the lower slopes of Sulfur mountain. It is less then a two minute walk from the entrance of the cave before you arrive to the beautiful basin.

Let’s focus on the last two.

For the first panel I chose the Sulfur mountain gondola for movement. I chose this more movement because it shows transportation for people and ideas from the bottom to the top of the mountain. The gondola is also a transportation for goods for the gift shop at the top of the mountain and a way down for any garbage/recycling.

For the second panel I chose the Alberta sign for formal regions. This sign is way of welcoming you to one of western provinces of Canada and signifies its border with British Columbia. It also shows the most spoken language of the region is English.

The Last Spike

It shows the last peg in the railroad that was put into the ground for the CPR. It was used to transport newspapers, people, products and more. But, Newspapers were a great source of information and a great conversation starter.

5 Fun Facts:

1. 30 million iron spikes were used in the making of the railroad.
2. Leland Stanford hammered the last spike.
3. It was created to symbolize more then a completion of a railway.
4. November. 7, 1885 was when the last spike was hammered in.
5. The last spike was painted with 17.6 carat gold.

This photo and the Last Spike was showing a way of movement and ideas. It shows this because the train not only transported people but newspapers as well. The newspapers were great because it was the social media at the time, where people would get their gossip. It also connected one area to another, they didn’t have to stay in one area and could explore outside of their town.

The CPR was a big part of Canadian history and had effected everyone in British Columbia. Without the CPR apart of the trade for BC to become apart of Canada, we could have accepted the trade with the United States and could be apart of Oregon right now. This is a big part of our Canadian history and is where it started.

As a connection lots of Chinese immigrants used the CPR but even though my ethnicity isn’t Chinese, both of my grandpas were immigrants from Italy. Like the Chinese my grandpas both had to go through racism such as being called things like WOPs (With out Papers). They were looked down upon and treated like second class citizens. Even though they were bullied for years and treated poorly they both over came this and had successful lives and loved Canada.

Golden Skybridge

Golden Skybridge used the landscape to make money off of it to get more people to come to golden. It shows that humans can use an environment and turn it into something worth seeing. The reason I say this is because some people may go to see canyons but more people will see them if its expanded.

5 Fun Facts:

1. Drones made the bridges.
2. The zip line over the canyon are 500 feet high up.
3. The bridge is 150 meters long.
4. The bridge is 426 feet up high from the canyon.
5. It was open to the public on May 17, 2019.