(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.
Andean landscape
The Central Andes occur as two parallel ranges separated by series of high basins or altiplanos. Ecuador is famous for its ice-covered stratovolcanoes. The intervening basins,with elevations ranging from 6,500 to nearly 12,000 ft, are filled with volcanic ash and related materials.They host most of Ecuador's major cities, including Quito, Riobamba, and Cuenca.
altiplano agriculture
Volcanic materials weather into fertile soils and agriculture on the altiplanos of Ecuador has supported relatively dense human populations since prehistory.
Cotapaxi
The cone of Volcan Cotapaxi in the eastern range of the Andes is a textbook example of the shape of a stratovolcano. At 19,347 ft asl, it is the second highest peak in Ecuador. Until the last decade its diurnally melting ice cap provided fresh water for the city of Quito.
Chimborazo
The summit of Chimborazo in the western range of the Andes is the spot on Earth farthest from the center of the planet and closest to the sun. Although its elevation above sea level (20,565 ft) is considerably lower than the summit of Mt. Everest, the bulge of the Earth in equatorial regions accounts for the greater distance from the center.
(01° 28' S, 78° 49' W)
ash layers
Ash layers document numerous eruptions of Chimaborazo over millennia.
High Andean fields
Small fields often planted with native Andean root crops such as potatoes, oca, and ulloca, extend high up mountian slopes.
Páramo
High elevation wet grasslands occur in the north of Ecuador. These habitats, known as páramo, have plants and animals uniquely adapted to withstand the daily freeze-thaw cycles of equatorial highlands. In other words, they tolerate winter by night and summer by day. The tallest plants seen here, the spiking puya and the treelike espeletias are similar in form to high elevation plants on African mountains such as Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya.
A drier type of páramo
This grass-dominated páramo occurs south of Quito and is used for grazing sheep, llamas, and alpacas.
Andean poverty
Some of the poorest of the poor live in grass huts such as this in the dry páramo. Fava beans, a European introduction, grow in the foreground. Their flocks of sheep and alpaca were corralled across the street.
Andean family
These Indigenous people speak Quechua (and Spanish) and represent the largest group of Indigenous people remaining in Ecuador. Other native groups in the Andes include the quite prosperous Otavalenos, the Salsalas, and Saraguros.
Guinea pigs
Among the Andean poor, guinea pigs are raised for food. As seen here, sometimes they live under the beds in the grass huts. They reproduce quickly, can be fed on food scraps, and since antiquity provided necessary fat in diets rich in vegetables and low in meat.
Quito
The capital of modern Ecuador was first established as the northern capital of the Incan Empire. Atahualpa's war general destroyed the city on 1532 before the Spanish could take it. The Spanish conquistidors reestablished the city in December 1534. Little physical evidence of the Incan period remains. Architecture, street plan, language today all reflect the Spanish presence.
Quito's government center
The columned presidential palace is on the right, forming one side of a traditional Spanish plaza.
Riobambo
Riobambo is an important commercial hub in the central part of the Andean region. It lies in its own basin. Its stone buildings date from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Cuenca
Cuenca is Ecuador's third largest cit and occupies a high mountain basin in the southern highlands.
Cuenca street
Colonial architecture and charm abound in Cuenca.
Panama hats.
Panama hats are manufactured in Cuenca. These are traditional products of Ecuador, not Panama. The misnomer derives from the fact that in the 1800s Spanish exporters shipped them to European and American markets out of Panamanian ports. They are made from the fibers of the toquilla palm, which grows on humid hills near the central coast of Ecuador.
Guinea pig on spit
For wealthy, urban consumers guinea pigs are a rare delicacy. Here one is barbecued along a city street.
Ingapirca
One of the few Incan ruins in Ecuador, Ingapirca lies north of Cuenca along what used to be the Incan road connecting Quito to Cusco, Peru, the empire's southern capital.
Tarwi and quinoa
Two native Andean seed crops are still produced in the Andean region. In the foreground is tarwi or chocho, a domesticated lupine that yields a nutritious white bean. In the background is quinoa, an ancient crop now finding favor in the US for its protein-rich, non-glutinous seed.
Tree tomato
Not truly a tomato, tree tomato is in the nightshade family. It is frequently prepared as juice.
Modern commercial agricuture: roses
Roses grown in vast greenhouse complexes are produced in the highlands and exported to the U.S. and Europe.
Rose production
Rose production is highly industrialized and operations and recipes for success are secret. Visitors are rarely allowed inside.
Rose packaged for export
Specific sizes and colors are destined for each foreign market. Many of our Valentine roses come from Ecuador, although Colombia is a larger source.
Salinas de Bolivar
Smaller towns dot the highlands and struggle to develop economically. Salinas, a town near Chimborazo, was "adopted" by a Catholic priest, who initiated several small industries initially based on local dairy production.
Salinas's salt
Salinas derived its name from naturally occurring salt seeps.
Salinas: collecting brine
The brine is still collected by hand. Evaporation leaves residues of table salt.
The Salinas dairy
Local farmers in the surrounding countryside bring their milk to the Salinas dairy. Much is processed into cheese, which is sold in Quito.
Pack animals wait outside dairy
Milk is brought to town for processing on the backs of donkeys and llamas.
Salinas chocloates
The Salinas chocolate factory is another small industry in town. It produces an array of candies.
Salinas futbols
Soccer balls are hand-sewn in a small Salinas shop
New home outside Salinas
Despite economic development in town, many residents leave and work abroad, often in Spain. They send remittances home to support families and to save for the construction of homes they will live when retired.
Descent to coast
The highway leading to the northern Pacific coast from Quito passes through a species-rich cloud forest ont he western slopes of the Western Cordillera. At elevations of 4,000-6,000 ft asl, upslope winds produce a fine mist each afternoon which baths the vegetation in moisture.
Cloud Forest
Trees of the cloud forest are draped in vines and epiphytes (air plants) such as orchids, bromeliads, and ferns. The great diversity of plants supports a multitude of animal species. Especially colorful are the tanagers and many kinds of hummingbirds, which make this forest a world-class destination for birders.
El Pahuma ORchid Reserve
Ecuador is trying to preserve as much of its great biodiversity as possible. One example is the El Pahuma Orchid Preserve in the cloud forest of the Western Cordillera. Its accessibility off the main highway demonstrates the promotion of ecotourism as a tool of conservation.
Road to Guayquil
The descent from the Andes to the southern coast and the main port of Guayaquil can be a hair-raising experience along a narrow road with precipitous slopes and no guard rails.
