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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why is geography different from other disciplines, according to de Blij?
(a) It covers science and technology.
(b) It makes unexpected links between topics.
(c) It is always in the news.
(d) It is constantly changing.

2. In addition to population, what else does de Blij say will increase in the next century?
(a) Tax rates.
(b) Education levels.
(c) Infant mortality rates.
(d) The proportion of young people compared to old people.

3. What two countries were mixed up by President Nixon's staff?
(a) The Congo and Cuba.
(b) Brazil and Bolivia.
(c) India and Indonesia.
(d) Mauritania and Mauritius.

4. What approach to foreign affairs is fostered by the decision not to teach geography in public schools?
(a) Isolationism and parochialism.
(b) Callous disregard for the welfare of other societies.
(c) An international outlook.
(d) Paternalism toward developing countries.

5. What job does de Blij say should not have been eliminated by government budget cuts?
(a) Ambassador to foreign countries.
(b) Geographic attache.
(c) Government cartographer.
(d) Congressional aide.

6. How do scientists measure the movement of North America each year?
(a) In feet.
(b) In inches.
(c) In miles.
(d) In yards.

7. Who would be most likely to use a large scale map?
(a) A journalist writing about news events in a faraway country.
(b) A pilot following a route from one city to another.
(c) A tourist finding his or her way around a museum.
(d) A student learning about world geography.

8. What does the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea do?
(a) It gives biologists the right to study the ocean floor.
(b) It establishes fishing seasons and limits.
(c) It establishes a procedure for tsunami notification.
(d) It establishes recognized ocean borders.

9. How many mass extinctions have occurred during Earth's history?
(a) None.
(b) One.
(c) Hundreds.
(d) Three.

10. What kind of location must be given in degrees, minutes, and seconds of longitude and latitude?
(a) Absolute location.
(b) USGS location.
(c) Relative location.
(d) Prime meridian location.

11. How long ago did the glaciers from the last Ice Age begin to recede?
(a) The glaciers began to recede 10 million years ago.
(b) The glaciers began to recede 2 billion years ago.
(c) The glaciers began to recede 100 years ago.
(d) The glaciers began to recede 18,000 years ago.

12. Which of the following activities requires the skills of a geographer?
(a) Traveling to a distant place and blogging about the trip in an online journal.
(b) Studying the history and current events of a particular country.
(c) Comparing the structures of government in two different cultures.
(d) Tracking outbreaks of disease and predicting where diseases will spread in the future.

13. What kind of a map did Vladimir Koppen devise?
(a) A map that showed political boundaries.
(b) A map that showed lines of latitude and longitude.
(c) A map that showed the movements of glaciers.
(d) A map that showed climate regions.

14. Why was 1816 called "the year without a summer"?
(a) Because extensive flooding prevented farmers from being able to sow seeds or harvest crops.
(b) Because people were so depressed by the dark and cold that year.
(c) Because there was so much ash and debris in the air that sunlight could not warm Earth enough for summer.
(d) Because the Little Ice Age was beginning and it was getting colder.

15. What kind of map does not distort reality?
(a) A cynlindrical projection.
(b) An equal area projection.
(c) A conical projection.
(d) A globe.

Short Answer Questions

1. What life forms are threatened during Earth's Ice Ages?

2. When does de Blij say that geography began to decline in the United States?

3. Which of the following factors has the greatest effect on population growth?

4. Which ocean does de Blij say is becoming the dominant world ocean?

5. What event caused Earth's most recent mass extinction?

(see the answer keys)

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