REGIONS OF THE WORLD

1. REGIONS OF THE WORLD Distribution of Resources Climate & Vegetation Landforms

2. Group Project • Your teacher will divide you into groups. • Each group will be assigned one of the 9 regions of the world. • You will research and present the following information about your region to the class: • Major Resources (limit to the top 5) • Climate • Vegetation • Major Landforms

3. United States and Canada • Resources – fertile soil, a lot of fresh water, vast forests, coal, oil and natural gas. • Climate – ranges from tundra to tropical • Vegetation – ranges from tundra to tropical rain forest • Landforms – Appalachian and Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, Great Lakes

4. Latin America • Resources – gold, silver, oil, natural gas, tin, lead, nickel and timber • Climate – ranges from hot and humid to dry and desert-like • Vegetation – varies from rain forest to grasslands to desert scrub • Landforms – Andes Mountains, highlands, plains, islands, Orinoco river, Amazon river and Parana River

5. Europe • Resources – coal, iron ore, oil, natural gas, a lot of agricultural land • Climate – marine west coast climate (warm summers/cool winters) • Vegetation – mostly broad fertile plains • Landforms – Europe itself is a peninsula and has many smaller peninsulas, the Alps, Danube river and fertile plains.

6. Russia and the Republics • Resources – coal, iron ore, other metals, oil, natural gas and timber • Climate – “climate of extremes”, humid continental (warmer) and subarctic (colder) climates • Vegetation – tundra, taiga, temperate grasslands and desert • Landforms – Northern European Plain, Lake Baikal, Ural mountains and many other mountains and uplands

7. Africa • Resources – large amounts of gold, platinum, copper, diamonds, many other minerals and oil • Climate – mostly warm and tropical, extreme conditions in the Sahara Desert • Vegetation – tropical grassland, rainforests and a variety of plantlife • Landforms – Africa’s plateau, Nile river, basins, Sahara Desert, volcanic mountains such as Mt. Kilimanjaro

8. Southwest Asia • Resources – oil (1/2 of the world’s oil reserves), water used for hydroelectric power • Climate – extremely arid (dry) or semiarid • Vegetation – can grow crops along the coastlines • Landforms – Arabian Peninsula, Anatolian Peninsula, deserts, plains, highlands, rugged mountains, Tigris and Euphrates rivers

9. South Asia • Resources – coal, chromium, iron ore, water, soil • Climate –wet and dry, hot and cold, monsoons (seasonal winds) greatly affect climate • Vegetation –rainforests, forests of evergreens, oak, chestnut and palms • Landforms – Himalaya mountains, rivers, deltas, plains and islands

10. East Asia • Resources – petroleum, coal, natural gas, water for hydroelectric power • Climate – subarctic to tropical • Vegetation – deciduous and coniferous forests, temperate grasslands, mosses and shrubs in colder areas • Landforms – mountains, plateaus, plains, peninsulas, islands, great river systems

11. Southeast Asia, Oceania & Antarctica • Resources – fertile soil, fish, some petroleum, tin and gems • Climate – parts have a moderate climate, others have hot and cold deserts • Vegetation – tropical plants, forests, deciduous forests • Landforms – mainland, islands, mountains and volcanoes

12. What do you think??? • Based on the distribution of resources, which regions of the world should be the wealthiest??? • In reality, are those regions actually the wealthiest? • Why do you think this is the case?

13. World Resource map • Label the 9 different regions of the world. • Draw in symbols for all of the major resources of the world and where they are located. • Provide a key with a description of all of your symbols. • Label the major resources that you listed in your notes packet. • Don’t worry about Southeast Asia, Oceania & Antarctica • Use the following pages in your text book to help: • P120, p204, p276, p462, p483, p554, p622,

16. The colored portion is all different types of timber