Ukraine 11 клас Geography (profile level)
Chapters: 6
1. Introduction
Geography as a system of sciences
- Geography as a Discipline: What Geographers Study and How – Geography studies places on the Earth: what is there, where it is, why it is there and how it changes. It borrows ideas from many subjects (physics, biology, history, economics and more) and joins them for one place, so it is an integrating subject. It looks at space (where) and time (when) together. It can be studied one theme at a time across the world (systematic approach) or one region with all its themes (regional approach). Its main branches are physical geography, human geography and biogeography.
2. Topography, geodesy, cartography and GIS
Topography with basics of geodesy · Cartography · Geographic information systems
- Topographical Maps – Topographical maps are large-scale maps that show both natural and human features of a small area in detail, using agreed signs and colours. In India they are made by the Survey of India in a nested sheet series (1:1,000,000 → 1:250,000 → 1:50,000 → 1:25,000). Relief is shown by contours; their spacing and shape tell slope and landform, and a cross-section turns them into a side view.
- Map Projections – A map projection is a method of drawing the globe's network of parallels and meridians (the graticule) on a flat surface. No projection keeps area, shape, direction and distance all correct. Projections are grouped by the surface used (cylindrical, conical, zenithal), by method, and by the property kept. The conical projection with one standard parallel suits narrow mid-latitude areas; Mercator's cylindrical projection keeps shape and direction and is used for navigation.
- Spatial Information Technology: GIS (Class 12 Geography Practical) – A Geographical Information System (GIS) is a computer system that stores, links, analyses and shows data about places. It keeps the world in layers. It needs hardware, software, data, people and methods. Spatial data come in raster (grid of cells) and vector (points, lines, polygons) formats. Data are entered by digitising, scanning, GPS or satellite images and linked to attribute tables. Overlay combines layers to find where conditions meet; buffer draws a zone of fixed distance around a feature.
3. General patterns of the geographic envelope
Earth as a planet and its motions · Geographic envelope · Geological environment of humanity · Atmosphere and Earth systems · Hydrosphere and Earth systems · Biosphere and Earth systems
- Rotation and Revolution of the Earth – Earth has two main motions. Rotation: it spins on its axis from west to east once in about 24 hours, giving day and night, the daily path of the Sun, local time (15° of longitude per hour) and the bending of winds and currents (Coriolis effect). Revolution: it travels round the Sun on an elliptical orbit once in about 365¼ days. Because the axis is tilted 23.5° from the perpendicular to the orbit plane (the ecliptic) and always points the same way, the overhead Sun moves between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, day length changes, and we get seasons, solstices and equinoxes.
- Earth as a System: Spheres and Energy – Earth is like one big machine with five parts: rock (geosphere), water (hydrosphere), ice (cryosphere), air (atmosphere) and life (biosphere). The Sun powers it. Sunlight comes as many kinds of rays (the electromagnetic spectrum). The Sun heats Earth unevenly, and that makes winds, breezes and ocean currents. Water, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen move round and round between the spheres in cycles. Humans now change these cycles, so we must use Earth carefully.
- Distribution of Oceans and Continents: Drift, Spreading and Plates – In 1912 Alfred Wegener said all continents were once one landmass, Pangaea, surrounded by one ocean, Panthalassa, and that they drifted apart. Matching coastlines, rocks, fossils, glacier deposits and placer gold supported him, but he could not explain the force. Mapping the ocean floor showed ridges, plains and trenches; Harry Hess then proposed sea-floor spreading: new crust forms at mid-ocean ridges and old crust sinks at trenches. This led to plate tectonics: the lithosphere is broken into rigid plates that move on the soft asthenosphere and meet at divergent, convergent and transform boundaries. The Indian plate broke away from the south, moved north, and collided with Asia to raise the Himalayas.
- Atmospheric Circulation and Weather Systems – Air has weight, so it presses down: this is air pressure (about 1013 mb at sea level). Wind blows from high pressure to low pressure, pushed by the pressure gradient force, turned by the Coriolis force (right in the north, left in the south) and slowed by friction near the ground. Uneven heating makes pressure belts (equatorial low, subtropical highs, subpolar lows, polar highs) and three circulation cells, giving planetary winds: trade winds, westerlies and polar easterlies. Belts shift with the seasons, giving seasonal winds like the monsoon; local winds include land and sea breezes and mountain and valley winds. Big bodies of air with the same temperature and moisture are air masses; where two meet is a front. Cyclones are low-pressure storms: tropical cyclones form over warm seas; extratropical ones form along fronts. Thunderstorms and tornadoes are small but violent storms.
- Water (Oceans): Hydrological Cycle, Ocean Floor, Temperature and Salinity – The Earth's water keeps moving between oceans, air, land and living things in the hydrological (water) cycle; about 97% of it is in the oceans. The ocean floor has major divisions — continental shelf, continental slope, deep sea plain and ocean deeps (trenches) — and minor features like mid-ocean ridges, seamounts, guyots, submarine canyons, atolls and banks. Ocean surface water is warmest near the equator and colder towards the poles; with depth it falls sharply through a layer called the thermocline, below which the water is near 0–4 °C. Salinity is the salt in sea water, about 35 grams per 1,000 grams (35‰). It rises with evaporation and falls with rain, rivers and melting ice, so it is high in the subtropics and enclosed hot seas and low near the equator, poles and river mouths.
- The Biosphere – The biosphere is the part of Earth where life exists. It is a thin layer where the geosphere (rock and soil), hydrosphere (water) and atmosphere (air) meet, from about 10 km above sea level to about 11 km below it. It is one huge system made of all ecosystems together. Energy flows through it in one direction, from the Sun to plants to animals and out as heat, while matter such as carbon, water and nitrogen goes round in cycles. Living things also change the other spheres: they make oxygen, build soil and store carbon. Humans now change the biosphere strongly, so we must protect it.
4. General socio-geographic patterns of the world
World-system approach · Demographic processes in the world system · Global economy · Socio-cultural components · Political geography and geopolitics
- Human Geography: Nature and Scope – Human geography studies how people and nature shape each other in different places. Long ago, nature controlled people (naturalisation of humans, or environmental determinism). With technology, people started to change nature (humanisation of nature, or possibilism). Neo-determinism says: change nature, but stop at its limits. Over time the subject moved through many approaches, from exploration to post-modernism, and today it has many fields such as social, urban, political and economic geography.
- The World Population: Distribution, Density and Growth – People are not spread evenly on Earth. Most live on fertile plains near water; few live in deserts, high mountains or icy lands. Density tells how many people live on each square km. Geographical, economic and social factors explain the pattern. The world grew slowly for thousands of years and then very fast after 1800. Population changes through births, deaths and migration. The demographic transition theory shows how birth and death rates fall as a society moves from rural farming to urban industry. Countries use family planning and health care to control growth.
- Globalisation and Global Governance – Globalisation is the growth of flows of goods, capital, information and labour that tie places together. Technology, transport and trade deals drive it. The flows are unequal: rich economies hold more power, poorer ones have weaker market access. TNCs spread production of one product across many places. Agencies like the UN, WTO, IMF and World Bank try to govern these flows, and treaties protect global commons such as Antarctica. Globalisation brings growth and cheaper goods but also inequality, conflict and environmental harm.
- Cultural Geography: How Places Shape Culture and Culture Shapes Places – Cultural geography studies how human culture differs from place to place and how it spreads. Culture is a group's shared way of life: language, religion, food, clothing, buildings, art and festivals. People change the land to fit their culture, making a cultural landscape. The natural environment, especially climate and nearness to the sea, influences homes, food and clothing, though people also use technology and choice. Areas with similar traits form culture regions. Cultures start in hearths and spread by diffusion: relocation (people move) or expansion (the idea moves), which can be contagious, hierarchical or stimulus. Diffusion can lead to acculturation, assimilation, syncretism and, today, globalisation.
- Political Geography: How Land, People and Power Fit Together – Political geography studies how people divide and govern space. A state needs four things: land (territory), people, a government and sovereignty (no outside master). Boundaries can follow nature (rivers, mountains) or be drawn as straight lines. Inside a country, power is shared across levels: national, regional, district and local. Countries cooperate through organisations and trade blocs, but they can also clash over land, water, minerals or identity. Good rules and talks turn many conflicts into cooperation.
5. Social geography of Ukraine
The Ukrainian state · Population of Ukraine · Ukraine's economy in the international division of labour · Culture of Ukraine · Political organisation of Ukraine · Socio-geographic profile of one's region
- Political Geography: How Land, People and Power Fit Together – Political geography studies how people divide and govern space. A state needs four things: land (territory), people, a government and sovereignty (no outside master). Boundaries can follow nature (rivers, mountains) or be drawn as straight lines. Inside a country, power is shared across levels: national, regional, district and local. Countries cooperate through organisations and trade blocs, but they can also clash over land, water, minerals or identity. Good rules and talks turn many conflicts into cooperation.
- The World Population: Distribution, Density and Growth – People are not spread evenly on Earth. Most live on fertile plains near water; few live in deserts, high mountains or icy lands. Density tells how many people live on each square km. Geographical, economic and social factors explain the pattern. The world grew slowly for thousands of years and then very fast after 1800. Population changes through births, deaths and migration. The demographic transition theory shows how birth and death rates fall as a society moves from rural farming to urban industry. Countries use family planning and health care to control growth.
- Economic Geography: Where Things Are Made and How They Move – Economic geography studies where people produce, trade and consume, and why. Work is grouped into sectors: primary (farming, fishing, mining), secondary (factories, building) and tertiary (shops, transport, banks, software, tourism); a quaternary sector of research and information is sometimes added. Firms choose places that cut costs and reach buyers: raw materials, energy, transport, workers, markets, government support and nature all matter. Most products are now made in global value chains, with steps spread over many places; value grows most at design, branding and sale. Multinational firms and public actors (states, regions, cities) shape these spaces. Goods move in containers and trucks, while money, data and ideas flow through cables. Production crowds into big cities (metropolises) and coasts, and places compete to attract firms. Old industrial regions restructure, sometimes shrinking and sometimes turning to new industries and services.
- Cultural Geography: How Places Shape Culture and Culture Shapes Places – Cultural geography studies how human culture differs from place to place and how it spreads. Culture is a group's shared way of life: language, religion, food, clothing, buildings, art and festivals. People change the land to fit their culture, making a cultural landscape. The natural environment, especially climate and nearness to the sea, influences homes, food and clothing, though people also use technology and choice. Areas with similar traits form culture regions. Cultures start in hearths and spread by diffusion: relocation (people move) or expansion (the idea moves), which can be contagious, hierarchical or stimulus. Diffusion can lead to acculturation, assimilation, syncretism and, today, globalisation.
- Local Geography: Studying Your Own Region – Local geography is the study of the place where you live: your town, district or home region. A full description answers six questions: where it is (position), what nature gives it (relief, climate, water, soil, forests, minerals, protected areas), who lives there and how (population and settlements), how people earn a living (economy, jobs and services), what the environment is like and how it is monitored, and how all of this has changed over time. Geographers find the answers with a field study: ask a question, collect data by observing, measuring and interviewing, show it on sketch maps and graphs, and draw conclusions about strengths, problems and ideas for the future.
6. Global problems of humanity
Global problems · Global development strategies · Forecasts of the world's geospatial structure
- Environment and Sustainable Development – The environment gives us resources, soaks up our waste, supports life and gives beauty. When we take resources faster than nature renews them, or throw waste faster than it can absorb, we cross its carrying capacity and face an environmental crisis. India faces land degradation, air and water pollution, forest and biodiversity loss. Burning fossil fuels traps heat and causes global warming; CFCs thin the ozone layer. Sustainable development meets today's needs without harming the ability of future generations to meet theirs, using clean energy, less waste and traditional knowledge.
- 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.