Studyfin
✨ Sign up free
Welcome! Today we will learn how to locate major landforms, oceans, continents, and key places on a map.
Our planet has seven major landmasses called continents and five giant bodies of salt water called oceans. To read a map, we look at where these continents and oceans sit in relation to each other.
We can locate specific places by zooming in from larger regions to smaller ones. For example, Texas is a state located inside the country of the United States, which sits on the continent of North America.
Countries also have capitals and shared borders. The United States borders Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The national capital is Washington, D.C., while the capital of Texas is Austin.
How do you find your local community's position relative to the U.S. capital on a map?
- 1. Locate the continent of North America on a globe or world map.
- 2. Find the United States in the central part of North America.
- 3. Identify Texas in the southern region of the United States.
- 4. Find your local community within Texas.
- 5. Locate Washington, D.C. near the east coast, and compare its direction to your community.
