POLITICS Denmark, together with Greenland, is claiming around 906,495 square kilometers (350,000 square miles) of the continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean, in an area that is bigger than Texas and includes the North Pole. (NPR) Use our resources to better understand why the region is so important—and then map it yourself! Teachers, scroll down for a short list of key resources in our Teachers’ … Continue reading Polarizing Region
By Seth Dixon, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Geography, Rhode Island College I have a confession to make; I’m a map geek. Even as a kid watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, I was fascinated by the map they used to segue between scenes to show Indiana Jones’ travels. Forget the one I mean? Watch the clip below. The spatial information stored in that single image heightened the level … Continue reading For the Love of Maps
This blog was written by Livia Mazur, a Mapping Specialist at National Geographic’s Center for Geo-Education. Have you ever seen a map and marveled over all of the information that it contains? It is incredible how maps can capture so much of the real world and depict so many places. From big cities to small towns, maps use characteristics such as topography, hydrography, industry, … Continue reading Mapping Monday: 9 Ways to Use State Maps in School
GEOGRAPHY A two-man team has embarked on a 2,900-kilometer (1,800-mile) walk across Antarctica to retrace the steps of British explorer Robert Falcon Scott. It’s the longest unsupported polar journey in history. (CNN, watch the video below!) Use our resources to plot their course, or chart your own! Discussion Ideas British explorers Ben Saunders and Tarka L’Herpiniere are retracing the ill-fated journey of legendary British explorer … Continue reading Explorers Begin Long Walk to the South Pole
Pitcairn is a small island in the South Pacific Ocean at about 25° South latitude, just a couple degrees away from the Tropic of Capricorn (23° S). It’s approximately 130° West in longitude, a line of longitude not shared with much land–except parts of Antarctica, the Pacific Northwest, and Arctic regions of Canada many thousands of miles north. In fact, there’s not much other land around Pitcairn and its tiny island neighbors. This small island group–including Pitcairn, Ducie, Henderson, and Oeno–is remote, but remote does not mean insignificant. Pitcairn has a rich history and is currently the site of an expedition being conducted by NG Explorer-in-Residence Enric Sala as part of the Pristine Seas project. Want to explore the geography of Pitcairn? Here are a few National Geographic Education mapping resources to get you started.
MapMaker Interactive: Use the National Geographic MapMaker Interactive to zoom into Pitcairn (25° 04′ 36” S, 130° 06′ 06” W) and explore. Zoom back out again to get the larger context of the geography of this remote archipelago. Use the measure tool to calculate the distance between Pitcairn and some of its closest yet distant neighbors, including Easter Island and Tahiti.
Continue reading “Exploring the Pitcairn Archipelago with Maps”
