Geography Skills Analyze the Maps in “Setting the Stage” and Your Text

NAME: ______CLASS: ______

Geography Skills Analyze the maps in “Setting the Stage” and your text. Then answer the following questions and fill out the map as directed. Use maps on pages 378-379 / page 3 / the Whiteboard to answer the following questions.

LABEL MAP 1 1. What is the name of the horizontal line that divides Earth’s Northern and Southern Hemispheres? ______What vertical (up and down) line divides the Eastern and Western Hemispheres? ______ Draw and label the two lines on Map 1.

2. What are the names of the seven continents? ______What are the names of the five oceans? (one of them is called the Southern Ocean) ______ Label the continents on Map 1 using a black pencil. Outline each continent using 7 different colors  Label oceans on Map 1 using a blue pencil.

3. Find the United States on your map.  Label it on Map 1

LABEL MAP 2 4. Locate the continent of Africa on Map 2. The earliest human fossils have been found in the Great Rift Valley. Which continent lies to the north of Africa? ______Which continent lies to the northeast of Africa? ______ Use an X to mark the location of the discovery of the earliest human fossils  Label the Great Rift Valley  Label the body of water off the WEST coast of Africa. ______ Label the body of water off the NORTH coast of Africa. ______ Label the body of water off the EAST coast of Africa. ______

5. Locate the Nile River on Map 2. Into which body of water does the Nile River flow? ______. What sea lies to the east of the Nile River (between Africa and Saudi Arabia)? ______.  Label the Nile River  Label the sea between Africa and Saudi Arabia

6. What is the Fertile Crescent? ______

7. Which river(s) runs through the Fertile Crescent? ______Into which body of water do these rivers flow? ______ Label the rivers and the body of water into which they flow.

8. Carefully label the following features on your map: Sahara, Arabian Desert, Syrian Desert, Kalahari Desert, Namib Desert, Nubian Desert, and Libyan Desert.

Critical Thinking Answer the following questions in complete sentences.

1. Most of the land of North Africa and the Middle East is desert. How did this affect the settlement of early people?

______

2. Considering the geographical physical features, why do you think early humans migrated eastward to the Fertile Crescent, rather than north to Europe. ______

______

3. One region in the Middle East is called Mesopotamia. This name means the “land between the rivers.” Where do you think this region lies? ______

______

4. The Fertile Crescent was made up mostly of grassy plains. While this area was good for farming, it lacked resources such as stone, wood, and metal. What hardships might these shortages have caused for the people who lived there? ______

______

5. Why did most early civilizations develop near a water supply? ______

______