I’m trying to learn for my Geography class and I’m stuck. Can you help?
Definitions:
Site—the physical surroundings of a place—or where it is located [similar to absolute
location]
Situation—the location of a place in relation to the surrounding cultural and physical
environment [similar to relative location]
Factors to consider with situation:
–natural and cultural resources in an area
–transportation connections to other places
–relative position in relation to other places
–what favorable characteristics explain why this city grew? (See backside)
Two Examples
Paris—origins based on site advantages and later situational advantages became
important.
Site—founded on an island in the Seine River
Situation—center of a rich agricultural region, the Seine is navigable and is joined by navigable tributaries, later canals, roads and railroads all converged on the city because it was the capital.
New York City
Site—mouth of the Hudson River, which is protected by Long Island Sound
Situation—Hudson River is the only river to penetrate inland along the east coast without
rapids or waterfalls.
–later the Erie Canal linked it to the Great Lakes
–some good agricultural lands surround it
–centrality along the eastern seaboard
Assignment:
Select three Wikipedia descriptions of major U.S. cities from the list below and read them so that you can ascertain the site and situation. You will be most likely to find site in the introduction and the geography sections, while situation can be found in the rest of the description. Remember that situation deals with why a city location became important not what they do in that city. Write out a brief description of the site and situation for each city modeling it after the Paris and New York City examples and submit on Moodle. You might also want to go to also search for a map of the city if one is not included in the Wikipedia article.
List of Cities to choose from for Site/Situation Assignment
Atlanta, Georgia
Baltimore, Maryland
Boston, Massachusetts
Chicago, Illinois
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Dallas, Texas
Denver, Colorado
Detroit, Michigan
Houston, Texas
Jacksonville, Florida
Los Angeles, California
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
New Orleans, Louisiana
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Phoenix, Arizona
Portland, Oregon
St. Louis, Missouri
San Antonio, Texas
San Diego, California
San Francisco, California
Seattle, Washington
Washington, DC
Order the answer to view it
