Introduction

An understanding of the geography of East Asia — its land, water, people, agriculture, and why we call it "East Asia" — is crucial to understanding the history, civilization, and contemporary events in East Asia and the world. In this unit we will explore East Asia's geography using the guidelines of the National Council for Geographic Education.

We call the elements "essential" in that the world must be looked at in this way; we use the term "elements" to show that these are building blocks. Each Essential Element encompasses a number of Standards that incorporate "geographic ideas" and "geographic approaches." In the sections that follow (accessible through the menu at left), each of the 18 Geographic Standards is explored more thoroughly in the context of East Asia's geography.

The Five Themes are a popular way of organizing the elements and standards for classroom presentation. Throughout the unit the following five icons representing the Five Themes — Location, Place, Human-Environment Interaction, Movement, Regions — appear next to the Standards to which they are related:

Location

Place

Human-Environment Interaction

Movement

Region