Geography

Unit 2.4

In unit 2.4, we learned about arial photographs, which are real photos taken from in
the sky via a helicopter, plane, etc, etc. Then we made a sketch map (which is a non-
realistic map not drawn to scale) of Wakeworth in Northumberland using keys, labels,
and annotations. After that we looked at a map with grid lines and used them to
pinpoint where places are on the map.
Unit 2.5

In unit 2.5 we learned more about grid lines and how they divide up maps to find
things more easily. Next we learned about grid references, - which are built on the
numbers in the grid lines to find a place quickly. An easy way to represent grid
references is the board game battle ship. Which has its main mechanic built off of grid
lines and references. Next we learned about six-figure grid references, which are grid
references with and extra number to show where the place is in the square. The way to
do this is: 1) divide the sides of the square into tenths. 2) count the number of parts
you walk along the x-axis, and then count how many for the y-axis. 3) add the number
for the x-axis after the original value, then, do the same for the y-axis.
Unit 2.6

In unit 2.6 we used a type of key with centimetres to find out the distance in
kilometres. And used the key to answer various questions. After that we wrote a small
paragraph with “directions to show how to get from one place to another.
Unit 2.7

In unit 2.7 we learned about OS maps, which are maps with detail and precise keys to
show where different things are. They also have numbered grid lines and grid
references. After that, we used a key on a OS map to find where different places are.
Unit 2.8

In unit 2.8 we learned about height on OS maps. There are two types of ways to
measure height, contour lines and spot heights. Contour lines are lines that connect
every place with the same height. Spot heights are black dots that give the height of a
place in meters. And then we used these two methods to answer a couple questions
about height.
Unit 2.9

In unit 2.9 we learned about latitude and longitude lines, they are imaginary lines but
provide us with a new system of finding things on earth, coordinates! The 2 main
lines of latitude and longitude are the equator (latitude) and the Prime Meridian
(longitude). And after that we finished with a few questions concerning this topic.
Unit 3.2

In unit 3.2 I learned about how the UK is sort of like a jigsaw puzzle. I recognized the
different areas expanding from Great Britain to the Republic of Ireland. I answered
questions that expand on different places in England and give me a better sense of
what different cities, counties, and other places in the UK. In the final couple
questions I answered and researched about populations in the British isles using math
to calculate the total amount of area and people.
Unit 3.3

In unit 3.3 I learned about the weather in England. It had questions about the climate
in England, and how the position of England makes it very open for waves of rain to
come down every day. I learned more about how prevailing winds are a big reason
that England has rain because the winds contain a lot of moisture.
Unit 3.5

In unit 3.5, I learned about the different cities in England, and did more work on the
population. I learned about the population range from the bottom of England all the
way to Scotland. To finish everything off I wrote a quick “essay” about why people
should visit and/or live there.
Unit 4.1

In unit 4.1, we learned about glaciers, how they formed during the ice age, and how
long the ice age lasted. We learned about tundras, which are deserts that get extremely
cold and covered in snow during the winter. Most animals that habited these lands
were arctic foxes, bison, and woolly mammoths. Even to this day we’re still finding
remains of tusks, skeletons, etc, etc.
Unit 4.2

In unit 4.2 we learned about where and what glaciers are, rivers gain tons of snowfall
which causes the river and snow to compact creating a glacier. Glaciers tend to be in
northern and southern places on earth. A lot of glaciers are formed near or on
mountains, these are called mountain glaciers. Also 75% of the worlds fresh water is
frozen in glaciers.
Unit 4.3

In unit 4.3 we learned how glaciers flow and what they do as they flow, glaciers erode
material, the are 2 types of glacial erosion, plucking: pick up small materials like rock
from broken crevasses in rock, Abrasion: scrapes plucked rock against land and
creates marks called striations. Next we learned about deposition which is when a
glacier drops things of at some location, it drops a substance which is called till, it’s
stones, clay, sand, and rocks. After we learned about transportation which is when the
glacier takes material and carries it around.
Unit 4.4 and 4.5

In units 4.4 and 4.5 we learned about how erosion shapes landscapes, it pretty much
starts in the beginning with a Corrie, a Corrie is a Lake-ish looking area where the
glaciers are formed. The Corrie can create Arêtes, which are sharp ridges that lie
between two Corries. They can also create pyramidal peaks, which are sharp peaks
that lie at the top of mountains formed from glacial erosion. We then learned about
two more ways in which glacial erosion can shape landscape, the first being a U-
shaped valley, it starts of with a river creating a V-shape in the ground, a glacier will
later come and bulldoze its way through the valley, through the process of plucking
and abrasion, the valley turns into a U-shape. The second other way is a hanging
valley, the beginning of the formation of this process starts with 2 glaciers, the first
glacier flows down a normal valley and the other smaller one joins in from the side
next to the original valley, when the glacier melts, it creates the normal river with the
exception of a small waterfall from the smaller glacier.
Unit 4.6

In unit 4.6, we learned about how landscapes are altered using deposition. The first of
these processes is called a moraine, there are three types of moraines the first, a
terminal moraine, a terminal moraine starts when a glacier carries tons of till (sand,
clay, rocks and stones) and deposits it to create a ridge. The second, a lateral moraine
happens when a glacier melts and deposits the till of the sides of the glacier to the
sides of the moraine. The last one is called a ground moraine, this happens when all
the till is spread out on the valley floor. The next main process called erratics, when a
glacier carries large rocks and then melts, it leaves these rocks stray in random areas,
the rocks are called erratics. The final landscape alter is called drumlins, drumlins are
low hills that are shaped like the back of a spoon. Experts aren’t exactly sure how
they’re formed, but they have a strong consensus that the smooth shape is caused by a
glacier flowing over till that has already been deposited.
Unit 4.7

In unit 4.7, we learned about how the glaciers formed the Lake District. We looked at
an os map of the area which had contour lines which we used to identify u-shaped
valleys, tarns and corries. We looked at glaciers on the map by looking at the similar
heights In low areas on the map. The other information was quite arbitrary as it
discussed how tourism is held there plus the forestry and farming. Lastly we used are
information from previous units to identify grid references in the os map.
Unit 4.8

In unit 4.8 we learned about how glaciers matter to our modern society. Glaciers hold
a large population of the worlds fresh water, they provide water to grow crops and
drink in parts of Pakistan. Glaciers bring lots of entertainment as it provides tourism
for people to enjoy, the glacier tourism is normally in Antarctica or other cold places.
Mountain climbers enjoy a challenge and like trying to climb the worlds tallest
mountain, Mount Everest. And lastly if glaciers melt then we would be covered in
tons of kilometers of water.
Unit 5.1

In unit 5.1 we learned about Thames river, Thames river is the longest river in the uk,
Thames starts as a small puddle after 20km it slowly expands into a small river. In
Henley half way on its journey 15 other small rivers collapse into river Thames, these
are called tributaries. Later in its journey it goes under the millennium bridge in
London. 50km later it reaches the sea, its flows down the Thames estuary and into the
North Sea.
Unit 5.2

In unit 5.2 we learned about the water cycle (again), it explained how the water from
through flow and surface runoff help constitute to make a river, most other things we
“learned” about are arbitrary since most people know the fundamentals of it.
Unit 5.3

In unit 5.3 we learned about the different parts of a rivers journey. It starts at the
source (which is normally in a valley), but it can’t differ from a certain area called the
watershed. After the source small rivers (tributaries) join in the main river, the point
where these meet is called the confluence. Rivers may flood and overflow onto a
floodplain. The river will get to the mouth and then flow into the estuary.
Unit 5.4

In unit 5.4 we learned about how rivers shape the land, a really interesting thing is
glaciers and rivers deposit, transport, and erode in very similar ways. There is some
difference since the river isn’t frozen, for example, the river contains solutions and
suspensions. And since there’s water, it can have a process called hydraulic action
where there is tons of pressure build up and it cracks the stone. We also learned about
three parts of a river, the upper course, where the slope is steep. The middle course,
the slope is somewhat steep. And the lower course, the ground is mostly flat and it
leads to the river.
Unit 5.5

In unit 5.5 we learned about the 6 processes of river erosion. 1: v-shaped valley, rain
and water erode the sides of a river to make a v-shaped valley. 2: interlocking spurs,
the river likes to take the fastest route and will avoid hard rocks to erodes, the ridges
are spurs. 3: waterfall, water tumbles over a hard ledge of rock, the soft rock under the
hard rock gets eroded away and creates a immediate steep. 4: gorge, after tons of
erosion from the waterfall the waterfall try’s to retreat upstream and carves out a
gorge. 5: meander, a meander is when there is a bend in the river, this happens when
the outer bank is eroded and deposits material and creates a curve. 6: oxbow lake, this
happens when the meander develops a new trajectory and the river cuts straight
across, then the leftover curve is abandoned and creates a small curve not part of the
river.
Unit 5.6

In unit 5.6 we learned about how we use rivers. We don’t realise how much we depend
on rivers in day to day live, for example, water is of constant use and a lot of it comes
from filtered river water. It also generates electricity and is used to help factories,
cargo companies use rivers to transport material, and its used to farm or fish. But we
are polluting the rivers, for example all toxic makeup chemicals can flow through
sewers into rivers and kill animals, and besides that there is dirt and poop throughout
the whole river that must be cleaned.
Unit 5.7

In unit 5.7 we learned about features of and ESTUARY. An estuary is a partly

enclosed area of water that flows into the sea, it gives the water a brackish look. The
rivers and tides deposit sediment in the estuary which forms salt marshes and
mudflats. In the outer estuary waves deposit sand to make beaches. Cargo areas are
located at ports making it easy to transport material in and out. Abandoned areas near
the estuaries can be regenerated to make entertainment areas or something of the like.
Unit 5.8

In unit 5.8, we learned about flooding, flooding is when a river has to much water and,
well, floods over its banks. The process is very simple, 1st heavy rain coats the
ground, 2nd the ground gets soaked, 3rd the infiltration slows, 4th the rain can only
run over the surface and makes it way into the river, 5th the river slowly fills, and 6th
it flows over the banks.
Unit 5.9

In unit 5.9, we learned about flooding in river Thames, the two main reasons this
happens is 1: Thames river gets overrun with rain and floods over the top, 2: the
ground becomes saturated when it’s overrun with rain, and the rest of the water stays
on the surface. Thames gets flooded a lot, and if you see pictures people will boat to
get around, the places where it floods are cities right next to the floodplain.
Unit 5.10

In unit 5.10 we learned about protection from floods, to protect yourself, you could
put flood shutters of flood barriers as short term solutions or build embankments, dig
new river channels, or not build anything near the river. You could also let plants
absorb the water after floods.
Unit 6.1

In unit 6.1, we learned about Africa, where Africa is, and population and space. Africa
is west the Indian Ocean, east the Atlantic, under Europe, and next to the Middle East.
It’s very densely populated as the 3rd most densely populated continent in the world.
But there are a lot of stereotyped views which are incorrect which we should remove
so there’s no rudeness against Africa.
Unit 6.2

In unit 6.2 we learned about some history about Africa. The first human esque people
were in Africa and us Homo sapiens the evolved in Africa, but later migrated out of it.
Later after that European country started coming down to Africa and developing trade
routes and taking some of the native Africans as slaves. As time went on more and
more European countries continued to colonize Africa, the main countries that did this
were Britain and France, that’s why there are lots of French speaking countries in
Africa. And soon 90% of Africa had been colonized. But later Zimbabwe rebelled and
fought for independence. And now Africa is what is is today.
6.3

In unit 6.3, we learned what Africa is like today. Africa has a population of about 1.3
billion people. Africans jobs are mostly farming, as most countries don’t have an
industry. But Africa has a lot of raw material, they have large deposits of copper,
cobalt, uranium, iron, and diamonds. They also have about 10% of the worlds oil.
Africa lives in extreme poverty in most countries, this means each person gets around
$1.90 each day, so they get around $600 every year, which isn’t much to live on.
Unit 6.4

In unit 6.4 we learned about countries in Africa. There are 54 countries spanning
through Africa in 5 different regions, central, eastern, western, northern, and southern,
we looked at capitals and countries and are trying to memorize them.
Unit 6.5

In unit 6.5, we learned about the population and population density. The population is
the amount of people in a place, and the population density is the amount of people in
a place per km^2. A lot of places near the coast in Africa are densely populated since
the people there have access to thing like good food, water and transportation via the
sea. There is also a large population in Nigeria and the growth rate of people joining
looks like an exponential curve, this means the country is growing rapidly.
About the Nile river

What is the Nile river? Well, the Nile is a river flowing through Egypt, it is one of the
most famous rivers, and the longest river in all of Africa. But you might be wondering
“how was it formed” or “how long it existed”. The Nile may have emerged 30
MILLION YEARS AGO! And evidence has proven this since we tested rocks from
the area and the results showed up as 20-30 million years.
Unit 6.6

In unit 6.6 we learned about main features in Africa. Africa contains the largest river
in the world known as the Nile, this spans throughout Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, and
many others. Africa’s biggest mountain is Mount Kilimanjaro, this mountain is 5895m
high, that’s so high in fact that there are glaciers at the top of it. The Sahara desert is
Africa’s (and the worlds) biggest desert, it spans throughout all of North Africa.
Another one of Africa’s famous landmarks is Victoria falls, named after Queen
Victoria of England, this fall runs through the Zambezi river.
Unit 6.7

In unit 6.7 we learned about Africa’s biomes. A biome is a large regions with similar
climate, plants, and animals throughout. Africa has four biomes, the rainforest, the
savanna, the semi desert, and the hot desert. The hot desert is, well, extremely hot,
there are less than 1 person per km^2 in some areas, though obviously in places like
Egypt the population density is much higher. The rainforest is located in central Africa
and gets, as the name states, lots of rain, but also sun, this is why vegetation is
immensely populated there. The savanna of Africa is the prime place to visit and also
the most populated, with places like Nigeria (the most populated place in Africa) and
other places. The semi desert is mostly a mix of the savanna and the hot desert.
Unit 7.1

In unit 7.1 we said hello to Kenya. Kenya is a beautiful country with around 51
million people inhabiting the area with 50% of the population being under 20. The 2
official languages spoken there are English and Swahili. 85% of the population are
Christian with 10% being Muslim and the other 5% being other. Most of Kenya farms
to live, they produce things like coffee, tea, vegetables, and flowers. Kenya is a
touristy area so lots of Kenyans work in a touristy industry. Kenya has around 1 in 3
people living in poverty.
Unit 7.2

In unit 7.2, we learned about Kenya’s main physical features. But what exactly is a
physical feature? A physical feature is a natural feature of earths surface. Kenya has a
massive area called the great rift valley, a rift is an area which has a massive seep in
the ground, this forms when forces cause tectonic plates to diverge causing land to
sink into the mantle. Africa also has almost every physical feature, valleys, rivers,
volcanoes, mountains, lakes, deserts, dry lowlands, and speaking of mountains, Kenya
has mount Kenya, a 5100 meter tall mountain.
Unit 7.3

In unit 7.3 we learned about Kenya’s climate. Kenya is on the equator meaning that it
is very hot, though if you get near higher altitudes the temperature decreases. In some
parts of Kenya it rains a lot, though in some parts it doesn’t rain much at all. Most of
Kenya is also mostly savanna, though some other parts are cooler and moister.
Unit 7.4

In unit 7.4, we learned about a quick history of Kenya. 5000 years ago hunter gathers
resided in what was to be Kenya, slowly though, different people from other regions
began to move over to Kenya. Though in 800 AD, Arabs were beginning to establish
trade routes with Kenya. In 1498 the Portuguese arrived and tried to establish a trade
route but the Arabs ended driving them out in 1730. In 1920, the British colonized
Kenya and named it Kenya. Though in 1952, a group of Kenyan natives named the
Mau Mau decided to fight back. In 1963 the Kenyans gained independence and
resided in their home country.