Geography Week Four - Capital Cities

Week Four – Geography

Well done to everyone who made the link between the clean water and the ability to defend the settlement which leads to the town being established in the first place. Then the town size increases through births and people moving to work in the local area. One of the keys to it becoming more profitable is the transport links to other towns. The more towns you can trade with and the easier it is to transport the goods between the towns helps the area grow both in wealth and power, which is where the river comes in to this. It is easier to transport heavy goods by water than up and down hills or over rough terrain. This is followed by a cycle of the town size increasing, the area getting richer and more powerful. As many of you have noted the bigger towns tend to be closer to the coast.

Therefore, this week I would like you to investigate capital cities. I would like you to look at three capital cities from each continent. We will of course exclude the continent of Antarctica because it has a scientific research centre and not a capital. But you can pick any capitals in Africa, Asia, Australia/Oceania, Europe, North America and South America. You need to make a chart showing which river and where on the river they are. Then answer these questions - Are most capital cities on rivers? Are most capital cities situated at the month of the river? Are capital cities in land locked countries also found on rivers?