Dear Geographers,

This year we’ll spend a lot of time looking at maps. We’ll study tons of US maps that break our country up into physical and cultural regions, but most importantly we’ll think about what maps say both about the land they describe and also the people who make them.

People really do wild and creative things with maps (I’ll show you some examples today), which is why maps will never be replaced by satellites or GPS. Maps tell stories about land, history, people, cultures, attitudes, fears, and so much more. When you study maps, you not only learn about boundaries, capitals, proximities, and regions, you also learn about how humans imagine the world.

Let’s have a great day,

Mr. Heimbuck