(Note: When you search for a photo in the search engine at the top of the page, the options appear at the bottom of this page. Suggestion: try search for ”qanat.”)
We are building a collection of annotated photos and Esri “story maps.” In 2016, we are again soliciting annotated slide shows and story maps, especially those that can be related to specific SOLs. Authors will receive a small stipend upon acceptance of their work. See guidelines below.
World Regional Maps
Excellent sets of maps by Georgeanne Hribar have been developed using ArcGIS. Maps for World Geography, Human Geography Geoinquiries, and World History can be accessed at http://vga.maps.arcgis.com/home/index.html
The following maps were prepared for classroom use by Dr. Andrew Foy, Department of Geoscience, Radford University. Below is are first drafts of color maps of several world regions. They all appear as pdfs. Regional composition is in agreement with Virginia World Geography 2008 SOLs.
Australia and the Pacific Islands
Caribbean Islands
East Asia
Mexico and Central America
South America
South Asia
Southeast Asia
Note: Other world regional maps can found on the World History I pages.
Story maps
These are best viewed in the most recent version of your browser. To eliminate caption from the image, click the down arrow. to save photo for use in PowerPoints, right click and select “save image as.” A full resolution jpeg will download.
Currently available:
Taiwan by Don Zeigler, Old Dominion University.
South Africa by Penny Anderson, Spotsylvania County Schools.
Coming:
Germany, by Barbara Crain, Northern Virginia Community College.
Slide Collections
Slide collections for world regional geography now exist for Belarus, East Sea/Sea of Japan name controversy, Ecuador, Israel, Morocco, Moscow and Saint Petersburg (Russia), and Peru. Each appears as a separate “album,” available in the box below. You may view them as a slideshow or as a set of thumbnails, which can be enlarged by clicking on the photo. When descriptions are present, they can be seen in the slideshow version.
A separate collection, Aerial Views of Earth, contains photos from several parts of the world, including Virginia.
Llamas and Peruvian flag on the Altiplano of Peru
Lima, Peru
Established on coast in 1535 by the Spanish Conquistador Francisco Pizzaro, Lima served as the capital of the entire Viceroyalty of Peru during the colonial period. Unlike most other major cities in Spanish America, Lima was not constructed on a pre-existing urban complex but built to provide access to and from the riches of highland Peru. Shown is the government palace, seat of the executive branch of government. The multicolored flag flying next to the Peruvian flag represents all native Andean peoples.
Colonial architecture
Colonial architecture survives in modern Lima. Of note are the closed balconies from which the ladies of the Spanish elite could watch goings-on in the street below without themselves being seen.
Cusco (Cuzco)
The Southern Incan capital of Cusco, like major Incan (Quechua and Aymara) population centers throughout the Andes, is situated in a high, flat intermontane valley (altiplano) flanked by the two parallel ranges of the Andes Mountains. Cusco lies at an elevation of approximately 11,200 ft asl.
Cusco plaza
The Spanish town of Cusco was built on top of the old Incan city. Its layout is typical of Spanish colonial towns, following a grid pattern of streets around a central plaza (plaza major), a plan dictated by Spain’s Laws of the Indies.
Plaza des Armas
Cusco’s Plaza des Armas around which—according to decree—are the main Catholic cathedral and convent, government buildings, and military headquarters. Stone arcades and tile roofs are among architectural features common to Spanish colonial towns. This was also a plaza or square during the Incan period.
Cusco streets
Streets are steep in Cuzco, challenging to visitors from lower elevations!
Incan stonework
Large blocks of stone, expertly cut by precolonial peoples to fit close together without mortar, remain as foundations for colonial era buildings.
Sacred Valley
The Sacred Valley of the Urubamba River near Pisac (elevation 9, 751 ft asl). Pisac is about 20 miles northeast of Cusco.
Terracing
Stone-fronted bench terraces, constructed by pre-Incan and Incan peoples, created narrow fields on steep slopes. Many are still in use. Note people in lower left for scale.
Andean footplow
Andean farmer demonstrates foot-plow developed for use on the terraces. The steel blade would have been stone originally, as seen on the plow lying at his feet. Before the Spanish Conquest, native peoples did not have domesticated animals such as oxen, horses, or donkeys that could pull plows.
Native andean root crops
. A display of native Andean rootscrops at the Pisac market. Hundreds of local varieties of white potatoes were developed by Andean peoples in addition to oca and ulloca. Maize (corn) is also native to the Americas.
Chicha production
. Germinating corn provides malt for local, homemade beer (chicha) production.
Chicha
Chicha being sold and consumed at Pisac’s market. This is a cottage industry. When fresh brew is ready, homes fly flags to alert potential buyers.
Contemporary Andean agridculture
Andean agriculture today is a mixture of European and Andean crops. The yellow fields are wheat; plowed patches likely await planting with native root crops.
Wheat fields against backdrop of High Andes
Wheat fields dominate level lands on the Altiplano near Cusco. Wheat is a European introduction.
Ox-drawn plow
Oxen, introduced by the Spanish, are still used today for plowing in areas where tractors are unsuited or are too expensive to purchase and maintain.
Llamas
Llamas are domesticated forms of the wild guanaco. They remain common and are still used as beasts of burden at high elevations. Their close relative, the domestic alpaca, is raised largely for its wool.
Rural homestead
Rural homestead on the Altiplano
Guinea pigs
Guinea pigs were first domesticated in the high Andes for food. Here they are maintained in a miniature farmstead of their own.
Machu Picchu
Spectacular Machu Picchu, the iconic landscape of Incan Peru, lies above the Urubamba River north of Cusco and at a lower elevation (7,970 ft asl). Its remoteness prevented its discovery by the Spanish conquerors and so was relatively intact when first seen by an outsider, Hiram Bingham, in 1911.
Glaciated Andes
Some of the highest peaks of the Andes have glaciers remaining from the Pleistocene Epoch, but they are rapidly retreating.
Glacier
Close up of glacier. Climate change is quickly reducing the ice remaining in the central Andes.
Puna vegetation
To the south, the Altiplano becomes drier and a vegetation type known as puna dominates. Wild vicuna, a relative of domesticated alpacas and llamas and South American member of the camel family, are inhabitants of this high, cold grassland. Vicunas are endangered species, here protected on the Salinas and Aguado Blanco National Reserve at elevations near 13,000 ft asl.
Ichu grass
Tussocks of ichu or Peruvian feathergrass characterize the puna.
Corrals
walls and corrals in the puna attest to the main land use: grazing of sheep and llamas.
Bofedales
Poorly drained high altitude peatlands (bofedales) are dominated by cushion plants and grazed by sheep and llamas.
Vischacha
The viscacha is a wild, rock-dwelling rodent native to the high Andes. It is closely related to chinchillas and belongs to the diverse group of South American caviomorph rodents which also contains guinea pigs (cavies).
Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca, touted as the highest navigable lake in the world, straddles the Peru/Bolivia border on the Altiplano. The snow-covered mountains in the distance are in Bolivia.
Totora reed island
Lake Titicaca is perhaps best known for the 40-odd man-made floating islands of totora reed. They are inhabited by the Uros people and have been since pre-Incan time.
Reed house on a Uros island
Close up reed house on an Uros island. Note cooking stove and solar panel. Totora reed grows in marsh in background.
Amantani island
Islands of solid rock also occur in Lake Titicaca. Here on Amantani, potato fields supporting the local Quechuan-speaking population have recently been harvested.
Chuño
Small potatoes freeze-dry at night on the porch of this home on Amantani to produce traditional chuño. White chuño is washed (probably in the lake) and dried in the sun. Black chuño is dried by trampling on the tubers to squeeze out the water content.
Nazca Lines
The mysterious Nazca Lines occur on a low, arid plateau in the western foothills of the Andes in southern Peru. They consist of numerous lines, geometric patterns, and zoomorphic figures and are believed to date to 450–600 A.D. Shown is a hummingbird.
Nazca geoglyph
This figure lies close to a highway, where an observation tower has been constructed. Such development for tourism may threaten the very ancient geoglyphs that attract visitors.
Close-up of Nazca Line.
The geogyphs were produced by scratching aside the shallow desert pavement.
Fishing fleet.
Peru once had the world’s largest fishery. The main catch was anchovettas that thrived in the cold waters of the Humboldt Current offshore. Overfishing and a severe El Niño in 1972, which brought warm waters to the west coast of South America, led to its collapse. The fish was primarily used for meal to feed poultry in industrial farms in North America and Europe. In the absence of fish, soybeans replaced fish meal as feed.
Ballestas Islands
The Ballestas, sometimes promoted as Peru’s Galapagos Islands, lie off the Paracas Peninsula south of Lima
Guano industry
Another industry that collapsed due to over-harvest (mining) and innovations elsewhere was the guano industry. Nitrogen- and phosphorus-rich bird droppings (guano) were a fertilizer in high demand on 19th century North American and European farms until nitrates could be produced industrially. Infrastructure related to export remains on the Ballestas.
Guano birds
Seabirds producing prodigious amounts of guano include, left to right, guanay (cormorants), Humboldt Penguins—which burrowed into the guano deposits to nest, and boobies. Pelicans were also important guano birds. The cold Humboldt Current supported a huge fishery of small anchovetta upon which the birds fed. The current also created an arid climate, which meant rains rarely washed the guano into the sea. It accumulated to great depth and was
South American sea lions
. South American sea lions haul out on the Ballestas. Like the guano birds, they cycle nutrients from the rich waters of the Humboldt Current onto the land.
