COMPUTER FUN ~ How Well Do You Know Your Geography??

How well do you know your World Geography?  Back in 1989, I convocated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a Major in English and a Minor in Geography, so I thought I knew something about the topic.  But last night, when I was looking online for math games to play with Alisdair to reinforce his numeracy, I discovered I knew a whole lot less than I gave myself credit for.

We found a site called "Cool Math" and, in addition to various puzzles and games to assist pupils with that subject, there were also other things posted.

One of the things we found we several "Snap Maps".  We started with a game featuring the 50 States.  The outline of a state would pop up and you were given four choices to choose from to provide the proper name of that particular shaped piece of the map.  Some were easy (like Hawaii and Alaska), while others (like the New England States) were pretty complicated.

Then we found a "Snap Map" of Canada.  Of course, being Canadian and having such large portions for most of the provinces and territories, we were able to complete the task very quickly.  Next, Alisdair and I decided we should do the map of Europe!  That was a completely different ball game . . . Do you realize how small Litchtenstein really is?  You could hardly click on the tiny green shred representing that country!  And the countries in the Balkans were really difficult to piece together, too.  Slovakia? Croatia? Tricky, indeed!

Like the Canadian map, the one for Australia is also fairly easy.  Then I tried South America and on to Asia... again unbelievably tiny pieces for countries like Oman and Kuwait, or Lebanon and Israel.  You know countries like Laos exist, but where exactly ARE they??  I persevered and eventually got all the pieces snapped in and the clock stopped but the minutes had added up to a ridiculous total.  I didn't even try to do the map of Africa!

This is a website we will be bookmarking as I am sure we can learn a lot more about the world around us if we try to become more familiar with Geography facts.  I'm just glad my old professors weren't around to witness my struggle with the various "Snap Maps."

Try your hand at some of the maps and leave us a comment about how you managed!  Good luck . . .

GEOGRAPHY ~ "Miracle Rock" ~ Colorado

Miracle Rock



Geronimo Stilton's "The Race Across America" also describes an interesting landmark in Colorado. 

On Page 80 the author tells us, "In the sixteenth century, Spanish explorers named the area Colorado because of its red-colored earth.  Colorado means "red" in Spanish.  Colorado has fifty-four mountain peaks that are more than 14,000 feet high.  Colorado National Monument preserves 32 square miles of canyons and mesas sculpted from years of erosion.  A few miles west is Miracle Rock, a huge sandstone outcropping perched on a narrow cliff.  It may be the biggest wobbly rock in the world."

GEOGRAPHY ~ Arizona ~ Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park

Another geography lesson from Geronimo Stilton, highlighted in the novel "The Race Across America," provides information about Arizona's Monument Valley.  Readers are told, on Pages 76 and 77:  "Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is 91,696 acres (143 square miles), and it's filled with many strange and unique sandstone formations that have been shaped through time.  They include buttes, mesas, canyons, and freestanding formations with enchanting names."

Ear of the Wind

"EAR OF THE WIND:  If you listen carefully, you can hear the sound of the wind passing through the hole in this formation."

Eye of the Sun Arch

"EYE OF THE SUN ARCH:  At a particular time of day, you can see the sun through the middle of the hole.  It acts like a natural clock."

Three Sisters

"The most famous formations are the unmistakable THREE SISTERS, which appear in many Westerns."

***

"Some of the most famous Westerns of all time were shot right in Monument Valley:

Stagecoach (1939)

My Darling Clementine (1946)

Fort Apache (1948)

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

Rio Bravo (1950)

The Searchers (1956)

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

How the West Was Won (1982)"

GEOGRAPHY ~ "The Grand Canyon"

Another stop on the "The Race Across America" for Geronimo Stilton was "The Grand Canyon."  Pages 68 and 69 of the novel, of the same name, tells readers "the Grand Canyon is a World Heritage Site in the state of Arizona.  It is considered one of the wonders of the world.  The canyon is a huge crack in a rock that averages 4,000 feet deep for its entire 277 miles.  It is 6,000 feet deep at its deepest point and 15 miles wide at its widest point."

The Grand Canyon

"The canyon was formed by the path of the Colorado River over the past five or six million years.  Over time, the canyon's walls grew wider and wider from summer thunderstorms and winter snowmelts.

"The Colorado River cuts through the Grand Canyon.  It begins in Rocky Mountain National Park, and flows approximately 1,450 miles to the Gulf of California in Mexico.  Its waters change color from red to blue to green, depending on weather conditions and the different sediments in the riverbed."

GEOGRAPHY ~ San Diego, California

           
Since the "The Race Across America" begins in San Diego, California, the Geronimo Stilton book, of the same name, has a full colour page of information about this city on Page 40 of the novel.

CALIFORNIA ~ SAN DIEGO

Geronimo tell us, "California is the third largest state in the United States, after Alaska and Texas.  It is also the most populous.  One of its largest cities is San Diego, which is located at the southern tip of the state on the Pacific coast."

"The Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo first sailed into San Diego Bay in 1542, hoping to find the wealthy cities known as Cibola.  Today, if you walk along the waterfront, the Embarcadero, you will reach the Maritime Museum, which features one of the finest collections of historic ships in the world.  One of the ships there, the Star of India (1863), is the world's oldest working ship."

The Star of India

"In the heart of San Diego is Balboa Park.  It is the largest urban cultural park in the United States.  Founded in 1868, it is home to major museums, botanical gardens, performing arts centers, and the San Diego Zoo, which holds more than 4,000 animals."


A view of Balboa Park


Thanks for the geography lesson, Geronimo!