Netherlands VWO 2 (onderbouw) Geography

1. The world around you

A picture of your area, the country, Europe and the world · Using an atlas · Geographic features and perspectives (adopted, legal 2027) · Earth: landforms and processes (adopted, legal 2027)

• World Geography: Continents, Oceans and Regions of the World – Earth is split by the equator into Northern and Southern Hemispheres and by the prime meridian into Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Latitude sets the climate zones: tropical, temperate and polar. There are seven continents (Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, Oceania) and five oceans (Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, Arctic), which cover about 71% of Earth. Geographers group countries into world regions, each with physical features (mountains, rivers, deserts, climate) and human features (population, cities, languages, economy). Today the big world trends are population growth, city growth, climate change and the shift of economic weight towards Asia.
• Map Skills: Reading and Using Maps – A map is a flat, scaled-down view of a place from directly above. To read one you need: the key (symbols), the scale (to measure distance), direction (compass points and bearings), grid references (to find and give a location) and contour lines (to see height and slope). Today GPS finds our position from satellites, and GIS stacks many map layers of data on a computer to answer questions about places.
• Landforms: How the Earth's Surface is Shaped – The Earth has layers: crust, mantle, outer core and inner core. The crust is broken into plates that move slowly. When plates push, pull or slide, they make mountains, valleys, earthquakes and volcanoes. On the surface, weathering breaks rocks and agents like rivers, wind, glaciers and waves carry the pieces away (erosion) and drop them (deposition). Sudden events like earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, GLOFs and duststorms are natural hazards we can prepare for.