ShmoopTube

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[Dino and Coop singing]

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The study of geography and the United States is usually the study of many, many different

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subtopics. Well great, that sounds like a lot of work. [Coop pointing at a blackboard]

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Eh, sorta..

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See, geography is defined as the study of Earth. [Dino pointing at a blackboard]

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And Earth is a pretty big place, with a whole lot of different stuff going on.

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Not the kind of subject you can study for 10 minutes and call it a day. [Student closing his laptop]

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There's physical geography, which includes landforms also known as the surface of the [Coop pointing at a blackboard]

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Earth like mountains, plains and plateaus...

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...bodies of water, including oceans, seas, rivers, lakes,

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and everything in between.

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In this one subtopic alone, we've got the vastness of the ocean and the entire surface [Boy in a dingy being circled by sharks]

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of the Earth.

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And we're only skimming the surface, like this guy. [Man water skiing flies into the air]

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The Earth also has many different climates and climate zones.

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If this subtopic is the focus of a particular geographer

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they could look at the weather and temperature of an [Man looking confused at a computer]

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area over time.

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And then compare it to the climate of another area.

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And another area.

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And another.

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It doesn't leave a lot of time for Sudoku solving. [Person playing Sudoku]

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Another subtopic of geography is population.

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Focusing on this subtopic would lead a researcher to look at where people live, why they live

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there, and how they move about. [Man looking at screens about people]

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They might also consider the population density of a specific area... [Video of a busy city]

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And then compare it to another area.

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And another.

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And well, yeah, you're probably starting to get the idea.

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Biomes are another subtopic.

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A biome is an area of natural land where certain plant and animal wildlife are able to survive. [Dino pointing at a blackboard]

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As you can probably imagine, America has plenty of different biomes, ranging from cactus-filled [Man stuck in a biodome]

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deserts to lush green forests, to studio apartments. [Man in his apartment]

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Believe it or not, even the economy can be considered a geographic subtopic. [Coop pointing at a blackboard]

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Sure, you might think it's better suited for the field of finance, but the physical geography [Lots of dollar bills going round in circles]

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and climate of a region can significantly impact an area's economy. [A clown in a busy city]

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Hawaii's warm weather and beautiful beaches attract tourists year-round, while the Midwest's

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low population density allows for many of its states to be filled with farms instead.

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Yeah, not a lot of guided wheat field tours. [Tour guide showing people round a field of wheat]

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Regardless of subtopic, geographers in the United States often use maps as tools to represent [Dino pointing at a blackboard]

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the various areas they study, while commonly dividing America into four regions: the North, [The US broken into four different colours]

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South, Midwest and West.

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To say you're studying “geography” means you're simply studying Earth. [Planet Earth rotating]

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But within that topic exists countless subtopics, each with an endless amount of information

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to learn and consider.

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Unfortunately, no matter how much you learn about the planet we call home, you will never [Man looking annoyed because he can't find the remote]

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be able to find the television remote.

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It's whereabouts are one of life's great mysteries. [The dog has the remote in its mouth]

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