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The ultimate map quiz site! Seterra will challenge you with quizzes about countries, capitals, flags, oceans, lakes and more! Introduced in 1997 and available in more than 40 different languages, Seterra has helped millions of people study geography and learn about their world.

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Stretching from Panama to northern Canada, North and Central America is the only continent where you can find every climate type. It is also home to over 500 million people in 24 countries. Use this online map quiz to illustrate these points along with other information from the North and Central American geography unit. Interactive educational games make for excellent classroom activities.

If you want to practice offline, download our printable maps of North and Central America in pdf format.

There is also a Youtube video you can use for memorization!

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Stretching from Panama to northern Canada, North and Central America is the only continent where you can find every climate type. It is also home to over 500 million people in 24 countries. Use this online map quiz to illustrate these points along with other information from the North and Central American geography unit.

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List the physical and human characteristics of different places (e.g., work, school, home).

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List the physical and human characteristics of different places (e.g., work, school, home).

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What Are Physical and Human Characteristics?

Physical characteristics are things that are part of the land itself. They are a description of the landforms of an area, ignoring human activities. This includes rivers, coasts, bays, mountains, canyons, valleys, and lakes, among other features. Physical maps are the best way to display the physical characteristics of an area. Human characteristics, in contrast, are the features of a geographical area caused by humans, including cities, towns, dams, roads, and communication links.

In this lesson, we'll summarize some of the human and physical characteristics of the United States. Since the United States is huge, and there are many such characteristics, we'll focus on the most important ones.

Human Characteristics

The largest cities in the United States are New York (with 8.4 million people), Los Angeles (with 3.9 million people), Chicago (with 2.7 million people), Houston (with 2.2 million people), and Philadelphia (with 1.6 million people). The wider Washington, DC metro area is also home to 5.8 million people, and the San Francisco Bay Area claims 7.44 million people. Other major U.S. cities include Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, and Dallas.

Why are these cities so big? In most cases, they're positioned near bodies of water, whether lakes, oceans, or rivers. River cities in the United States include New York (the Hudson), New Orleans (the Mississippi), Washington, DC (the Potomac and Anacostia), and Philadelphia (the Delaware). Coastal cities include Los Angeles (the Pacific), New York again (the Atlantic), San Diego (the Pacific), and San Francisco (the Pacific). Last of all, Chicago is along Lake Michigan. Water is important for population growth, especially in the early days of a city, because it provides fertile floodplain land for farming, ways to transport goods for trade, and in the case of rivers and lakes, freshwater for drinking.

Physical Characteristics

The U.S. is a rugged terrain with many mountains, probably the most well known of which are the Rocky Mountains. The Rockies are the country's backbone, stretching from New Mexico to Montana - a journey of 3,000 miles - and they're the second longest mountain range in the world. The USA also has the Appalachian Mountains, the Cascades, the Alaska Range, and the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The largest mountain in the whole United States is Mount McKinley in Alaska, and the largest mountain in the contiguous United States is Mount Whitney in California, which is part of the Sierra Nevada range. In terms of valleys and canyons, the most famous ones are probably Death Valley (the hottest and driest place in the United States), the Grand Canyon (18 miles wide, 1 mile deep and 277 miles long), and Napa Valley (home of some of Americas best wines).

Rivers and lakes are important, because they're like the circulation system of the United States. As we discussed earlier, many cities are close to bodies of water because water is so essential for human life, offering both drinking water and available water for farming. Floodplains of rivers also produce extremely fertile land. The Missouri and Mississippi Rivers are the largest and most important rivers in the U.S. The Missouri is the longest river (at 2,341 miles), and the Mississippi has the largest drainage system of all U.S rivers. There's also the Rio Grande, the Colorado River, and the Yukon.

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mapping the physical and human characteristics of the united states - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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Mapping the Physical and Human Characteristics of the United States - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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Physical characteristics are things that are part of the land itself. They are a description of the landforms of an area, ignoring human activities. This includes rivers, coasts, bays, mountains, canyons, valleys, and lakes, among other features. Physical maps are the best way to display the physical characteristics of an area.

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 Create different kinds of maps (e.g., your bedroom, your neighborhood, the school)

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 Create different kinds of maps (e.g., your bedroom, your neighborhood, the school)

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 Compare and contrast two maps of the same location.

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 Compare and contrast two maps of the same location.

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Compare and contrast two different types of maps of the same location.

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Compare and contrast two different types of maps of the same location.

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8 Different Types of Maps

1. Political Map

A political map shows the state and national boundaries of a place. A political map does not have any topographic features.

It also shows the location of cities, with respect to each other.

2. Physical Map

A physical map is one which shows the physical features of a place or country, like rivers, mountains, forests and lakes.

The physical features are usually shown in different colors.

Rivers and lakes are shown in blue, places of low elevation are shown in dark green and as the elevation increases, the color becomes light green and eventually orange.

Mountains are shown in brown.

3. Topographic Map

Topographic maps are similar to physical maps, which show the physical features of an area. Although in topographic maps, differences in elevation and changes in landscape are shown with the help of contour lines and not colors.

4. Climatic Map

A climatic map shows the information about the climate of different areas.
For example it shows areas which receive more rainfall or snow, or which have dry weather.

It uses colors to depict areas with different climate.

5. Economic or Resource Map

Economic or resource maps show the different resources present in the area or economic activity prevalent.

They show the kind of crops that are grown and the minerals found in places.

Symbols and letters are used to depict the activity or resource present in the area.

6. Road Map

Road map is the most widely used map which shows different roads, highways or railways present in the area.

It is a very detailed map and is generally used for direction purposes.

Road maps are usually made individually, city-wise.

There are road maps present for an entire country too, but they cannot be made very detailed.

7. Scale of a Map

The scale of a map shows the relationship between the distances on the map with respect to actual distances on the Earth. For example if the scale of a map is 1 cm to a kilometer, that means 1 cm on the map is equivalent to 1 kilometer on actual ground.

Using a scale you can quite accurately measure the distance between 2 places.

8. Symbols

On maps different symbols represent different things, for example black dots represent cities, circled stars represent capitals.

Different types of lines represent roads, highways and railways.

Trees and forests are depicted in green, mountains in brown and rivers and lakes in blue.

This done for making it easier for us to spot these features and study the map.

Related Article:
Read and download the World Map with Country Names.

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8 Different Types of Maps? - Geography for Kids | Mocomi

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Read and learn about 8 different types of maps. Political Maps, Physical Maps, Topographic Map, Climatic Map, Economic or Resource Map, Road Map and more.

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What you will learn from this video What you will learn

Maps show us where things are located on Earth.

Physical maps can show us landforms.

Political maps can show us the outlines of countries.

Weather maps can show us weather in different areas.

What does a physical map show us? What about a political map?

Name three types of landforms.

Draw a map with a map key that has mountains, forests and water.

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It was processed successfully! It was processed successfully! Oops! It looks like your security settings are blocking this video 🙁 If you are on a school computer or network, ask your tech person to whitelist these URLs: *.wistia.com, fast.wistia.com, fast.wistia.net, embedwistia-a.akamaihd.net Sometimes a simple refresh solves this issue.

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North America

When it comes to the regions of North America, they're as varied as their people. Today, we'll take a look at these five regions, paying special attention to their physical characteristics and the humans that inhabit them.

To kick things off, North America is made up of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Greenland, the countries of Central America, the Caribbean Islands and many bordering islands. As for land area, it's the third largest of the world's continents. As for population, it comes in fourth.

The vast lands of North America are often broken into five regions. They are the Mountainous West, the Great Plains, the Canadian Shield, the Eastern Region and the Caribbean Region.

Mountainous West

We'll start with the Mountainous West, which spans North America's Western coast. Aptly named, this region is full of mountains. In fact, a vast part of the region is covered by the Cordilleras, a series of mountain ranges that extend from Canada to Panama. The Rocky Mountains of Canada and the U.S., as well as the Sierra Madres of the U.S. and Mexico, are part of the Cordilleras.

The people of this mountainous region are as varied as the mountains themselves. We have the snow loving skiers of Colorado, the city dwellers of Los Angeles, the farmers of Mexico, the fisherman of Seattle and the native tribes of Central America.

Great Plains

Moving to the middle of the continent, we come to the Great Plains region, which is located in the U.S. and Canada. Home to many of the continent's farmers, the Great Plains region is often called the 'bread basket' of North America. It's earned this nickname due to its lush soil that supplies much of the continent with wheat and agricultural products aplenty! It's also home to the Corn Belt, the booming agricultural region of the Midwestern U.S.

Canadian Shield

Moving our eyes northward, we come to the Canadian Shield. The Canadian Shield is a raised plateau that covers much of Eastern, Central and Northwestern Canada. Defining our definition a bit more, a plateau is a flat, elevated landform that rises above the surrounding area.

Due to its rather harsh environment, the Canadian Shield is rather sparsely populated. Most who live there make their homes closer to cities, like Toronto. For those brave humans who take on the tundra and the cold, forestry is a very common occupation!

Eastern Region

With a much milder climate, we have the extremely varied, Eastern Region. Spanning the Northeastern coast of the continent, the Eastern Region is comprised of things like the Appalachian Mountains and the Eastern coastal plains of Canada and the U.S.

A large part of the Eastern Region is made up of wetlands, areas where the earth is saturated most of the time. Great examples of this are the swamps of Florida.

Like in many of the regions, the people of this area are as varied as the landscape. It's home to those who make a living in the cities of New York and Boston, while also being home to the farmers of Pennsylvania. It's home to the lumberjacks of New England and the beach lovers of Florida and the Carolinas.

Caribbean Region

Last, we come to the Caribbean Region. Famous for its amazing vacations spots, the region is made up of the islands of the Caribbean Sea. It's located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and east of Central America.

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mapping the physical & human characteristics in north america's regions - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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Mapping the Physical & Human Characteristics in North America's Regions - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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When it comes to the regions of North America, they're as varied as their people. Today, we'll take a look at these five regions, paying special attention to their physical characteristics and the humans that inhabit them.

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Physical & Human Characteristics of Canada

Canada is an enormous place. The second largest country in the world, with roughly 35 million Canadians stretched out across its landscape, there are more unique communities, breathtaking landscapes, and interesting geographical features than in many other countries. It'd be impossible to cover each and every one in a single book - let alone in a single video like this one! Instead, this lesson will explore just a few of Canada's most important physical and human characteristics - the things that have helped make Canada the country it is.

French Canada

If you've ever watched a Canadian TV show or been to Ottawa or Montreal, the first thing that probably struck you was Canada's bilingualism. Indeed, although more than four-fifths of the country speaks English, a vocal and important minority of Canadians speak French as their first language. This is due largely to historical accident: French exploration and subsequent colonization of the New World centered on the St. Lawrence River, the large waterway that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes.

When 'New France,' as this colony was called, was handed over to the British after the French and Indian War ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the British rechristened it the province of Quebec. Despite friction with its new British rulers, the Quebecois maintained their language and many of their French customs. As a result, competing systems grew up in Canada through Canadian confederation in 1867 and onto today. For example, Quebec's legal system was built, and largely still functions on, French common law, while the rest of Canada's was built and based on English common law.

The friction between English and French speakers in Canada continues to shape politics in the country. Quebec, for instance, held referendums in 1980 and 1995 when Quebecers narrowly decided to remain part of Canada and not declare their independence. Though the 21st century has seen considerably less friction - the Bloc Quebecois, for instance, the political party favoring Quebec independence, won only four seats in the 2010 federal elections - Anglophone-Francophone animosity remains an issue just below the surface in Canadian society.

First Nations

Another group that often considers itself disadvantaged in Canada is aboriginal, or First Nations, people. These are people who descended from native tribes who lived in Canada long before the arrival of European colonists.

According to the 2011 Census, aboriginal people make up 4.3% of the Canadian population, though issues with underreporting and misrepresentation likely push this number higher. Aboriginal people live throughout all of Canada, from Iroquois tribes in Ontario and Quebec, to coastal tribes in British Columbia, to the descendants of Inuit in the Canadian Arctic. Aboriginal people make up a comparatively larger portion of the population in Canada's northern provinces; for example, more than 50% of the Northwest Territories considers itself aboriginal.

While some aboriginal people choose to live within normal Canadian society, much of the aboriginal population chooses to live with other descendants of their tribes or bands on reservations. These aboriginals on reservations receive numerous benefits because of their aboriginal status, such as lower taxes, subsidized housing, and aboriginal communities often have greater independence than other Canadian communities. For example, they are often recognized as separate nations existing inside of Canada and not necessarily a part of the country.

Despite these benefits, Canada's aboriginal population has faced historic persecution and hardship at the hands of European colonists and, later, the Canadian government. For example, many aboriginal children as late as the 1950s were forced to leave their families and go to residential schools, where assimilation into white Canadian society was harshly - and at times violently - forced upon the children. Angst against these past and current injustices periodically erupts in protest, such as the 2012-13 Idle No More movement, which saw aboriginal people across the country join in demonstrations aiming to raise awareness about aboriginal issues.

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mapping the physical & human characteristics of canada - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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Mapping the Physical & Human Characteristics of Canada - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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Canada is an enormous place. The second largest country in the world, with roughly 35 million Canadians stretched out across its landscape, there are more unique communities, breathtaking landscapes, and interesting geographical features than in many other countries. It'd be impossible to cover each and every one in a single book - let alone in a single video like this one!

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Geography Affecting Settlement

Look at a physical map of Africa and the Middle East. Before we do anything else, soak in that geography. More than anything else, it has affected where people settle in these two regions. If you were to zoom in far enough, you'd see river valleys, fertile plateaus, big harbors, jungles and desert oases. In short, you'd see plenty of places that look ripe for human settlement! More than 10,000 years ago, the major cities of Africa and the Middle East were far from being formed. In fact, the vast majority of the few million people who lived here moved around in hunter-gatherer groups. However, as we will soon see, once people started to settle down, they chose so wisely that modern Africans and Middle Easterners still settle in those same places today.

River Valleys and Water

Have you had enough to drink today? A silly question, but if you are thirsty, chances are you can think of little else. After oxygen, humans need water more than anything. Beyond water to drink, it is also essential for crops to grow. As a result, in both the Middle East and Africa, the oldest societies were those close to rivers and streams. In Africa, the first settlements of the Kush, predating the Egyptians by thousands of years, were up on the Blue Nile in modern-day Sudan. Not yet able to control the floods that would both plague and benefit the Egyptians, these Kush simply lived close to the water in such a way that allowed them to escape the floods. The same could be said about the people of Catal Huyuk in modern-day Turkey - live close enough to the water to take advantage of it, but not so close as to be its victim.

As our ancestors became better farmers, they moved to take advantage of the rivers in a bigger way. Major civilizations sprung up on the Nile, Tigris, Euphrates, and Niger Rivers, as well as the well-watered Great Rift Valley. Today, these remain the most densely populated parts of the Middle East and Africa.

Plateaus

Yet not all major cultures sprung forth from these river valleys. Many rivers were still susceptible to floods, and low river valleys were easy for conquering armies to sweep through. As a result, some of the most enduring civilizations sprung up on the plateaus of the Middle East and Africa. In fact, the two oldest continuously independent cultures of the regions are both plateau-based. In the Middle East, Iran has maintained a very distinctly Persian culture since the time of the Ancient Greeks. In fact, the documents written in Persian by Cyrus the Great 2,500 years ago sound as odd but recognizable to modern Persian speakers as Shakespeare sounds to us. Likewise, the same Ethiopian culture that once sent the Queen of Sheba to meet with King Solomon, king of the Israelites in the Bible, continues to thrive in the highlands of East Africa. In both areas, the population is more spread out than in the river valleys of other cultures, but is nonetheless very enduring.

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mapping the physical & human characteristics of africa & the middle east - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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Mapping the Physical & Human Characteristics of Africa & the Middle East - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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Look at a physical map of Africa and the Middle East. Before we do anything else, soak in that geography. More than anything else, it has affected where people settle in these two regions. If you were to zoom in far enough, you'd see river valleys, fertile plateaus, big harbors, jungles and desert oases.

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Different Types of Maps. There are two main types of maps - political maps and physical maps. Physical maps show the shape of the land - hills, lakes, forests, the coast and so on. ... Most maps include a compass rose which indicates the directions of north, south, east and west.

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Different Types of Maps. There are two main types of maps - political maps and physical maps. Physical maps show the shape of the land - hills, lakes, forests, the coast and so on. ... Most maps include a compass rose which indicates the directions of north, south, east and west.