Geography and Early China

1
Geography and Early China

• EQ How did geography determine where the first
  people of China settled?

2
Chinas Physical Geography

• Geography played a major role in the development
  of Chinese civilization.
• Many geographical features.
• Some features separated groups of people within
  China.
• Others separated China from the rest of the world.

EQ How did geography determine where the first
people of China settled?
3
Geography of China

• China covers an area of nearly 4 million square
  miles, about the same size as the United States.
• Physical barriers that separates China from its
  neighbors is a harsh desert, the Gobi.
• East of the Gobi are low-lying plains.
• cover most of eastern China
• form one of the worlds largest farming regions.
• The Pacific Ocean forms the countrys eastern
  boundary.

EQ How did geography determine where the first
people of China settled?
4
Geography of China

• Southwest - the Plateau of Tibet
• - has several mountain peaks that reach more
  than 26,000 feet.
• From the plateau, smaller mountain ranges spread
  eastward.
• The most important of these ranges is the Qinling
  Shandi it separates northern China from southern
  China.

EQ How did geography determine where the first
people of China settled?
5
EQ How did geography determine where the first
people of China settled?
6
Northeast China

• Climate is cold and dry.
• Winter temperatures drop well below 0F.
• Rivers are frozen for more than half of the year.
  

EQ How did geography determine where the first
people of China settled?
7
Northwest China

• the deserts are very dry.
• on the eastern plains of China, heavy rains

EQ How did geography determine where the first
people of China settled?
8
Eastern Plains

• Heavy rains fall.
• The tropical southeast is the wettest
• region.
• Monsoons can bring 250 inches of rain each year.
  Thats enough water to cover a two-story house!

EQ How did geography determine where the first
people of China settled?
9
Rivers of China

• Two great rivers flow from west to east in China.
  
• The Huang He, or Yellow River,
• stretches for nearly 3,000 miles across northern
  China.
• The river often floods and leaves behind layers
  of silt on the surrounding countryside.
• Sometimes called Chinas Sorrow because these
  floods can be very destructive
• Over the years, millions of people have died in
  Huang He floods.

EQ How did geography determine where the first
people of China settled?
10
Rivers of China

• the Chang Jiang, or Yangzi River,
• cuts through central China.
• Flows from the mountains of Tibet to the Pacific
  Ocean.
• The Chang Jiang is the longest river in Asia.

EQ How did geography determine where the first
people of China settled?
11

• In early China, the two rivers helped link people
  in the eastern part of the country with those in
  the west.
• At the same time, the mountains between the
  rivers limited contact.

EQ How did geography determine where the first
people of China settled?
12
Class Work and Homework

• Fill In
• What did I learn
• Confused
• Say
• Map activity Using a map of China in the green
  geography book (pp. 626-627) or the red geography
  book (pp. A 20-A23), label the features discussed
  in these notes.
• Answer the questions on the back of your map.

EQ How did geography determine where the first
people of China settled?