Lesson video

Hello, geographers.

It's Mr. Robertson here, and I'm delighted that you are going to be learning with me today.

Today, we are carrying on with our unit, big geographical question, Europe, how diverse are its landscapes and places? So put on your geography caps, put on your exploring rucksack, and we are ready to go.

Learning outcome today is this.

I can describe key features of the human geography of Europe, including major cities and transport routes.

We have some key words today.

Our first key word is this.

I'm going to say it and then you say it.

Settlements.

Fantastic.

Major city.

Absolutely brilliant.

And finally, capital city.

Amazing.

Brilliant.

So what do these key words mean? Well, settlements are places where groups of people live and work.

A major city is a large city with a population of over 100,000, and maybe the largest city in the region.

Capital city is the place in a country where the government sits and has its centre of power.

These keywords coming up as we progress through this lesson.

By the end, I expect you'll know exactly what they all mean.

Our lesson today on major cities in Europe is split into two parts.

The first part, we are going to look at capital cities in Europe, and in our second part, we're going to investigate a major city in Europe.

So geographers, let's get exploring and investigating.

Are you ready? Let's go.

So a settlement.

A settlement is a place where people live and sometimes work, and there are different types of settlement.

On your screen, you can see four different types of settlement.

So the farthest left, we have a hamlet.

As you can see, a hamlet is just a group of one, two, a few houses put together, so a very small settlement with very few people living there.

Next, we have a village.

A village is a larger group of buildings with a slightly larger population.

Next, we have a town.

A town is a more substantial group, a more substantial settlement with houses, buildings, churches, all sorts of things.

And then that will have an even larger population.

Finally, we have a city.

And a city has the largest area and the biggest population and a huge variety of buildings and set things within the settlement.

So as we move from a hamlet to a city, the size will get bigger in terms of area and in terms of population.

In Europe, we find great range, different types of settlement.

On our left, we could see a tiny village, just a few scattered dwellings amongst trees and grass.

And on our right, we can see a photograph of a city.

We can see that lots of people live there, there is a lot of different housing and other things, boats and churches, shops.

What kind of settlement do you live in where you are? How would you describe it? Interesting.

So what I want you to do now is to check what we've learned so far.

I'd like you to put these types of settlement in order of size from the smallest to the largest.

These are our words.

We've got a village, a city, a hamlet, and a town.

Which of those is the smallest? Which is the next biggest, biggest again, and what's the most, the largest of all? Pause the video, talk to the person next to you, and put them in order for me.

Okay, let's see how you've done.

The smallest settlement is called a hamlet.

Next, we have a village.

Next, we have a town.

Finally, the largest sort of settlement is a city.

Well done if you've got those right.

Great geographical thinking.

We also have capital cities.

Now, a capital city of a country is the city that is recognised as the most important, and it usually the city where a country's government works from.

You could see on this slide we've got a photograph, four photographs of different capital cities that we find in countries that make up our United Kingdom.

What are the names of the capital cities of the countries in the UK.

Talk to the person next to you.

Pause the video.

Can you think of the different names? And I wonder which of those photographs you might recognise and predict which city they belong to.

Let's have a look.

The top left is the city of Belfast.

That is in Northern Ireland.

The top right is the city of Cardiff, that's found in the country of Wales.

Bottom left is the city of Edinburgh, that's found in the country of Scotland.

Finally, we have the city of London, which is found in the country of England.

So the United Kingdom, four countries, four capital cities.

But, of course, there are many capital cities in Europe.

The photograph we saw earlier, we can see it again.

This is a photograph of Copenhagen, and Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark.

So that's one example of a capital city in Europe.

But do you geographers know of any other capital cities in Europe? If you do, talk now to your talk partner or the people around you.

How many other capital cities can you name? Pause the video and have a talk.

Jun says, I know Berlin in Germany and Rome in Italy.

Well done, Jun.

He knows two other capital cities in Europe.

I wonder if you mentioned some ones which he didn't mention? What other capital cities did you think of? Capital cities are chosen for different reasons.

It could be having the largest population or it could be because they're in an important location.

This is a photograph of Madrid, and Madrid is the capital of Spain.

It's located right in the centre of Spain and has a population of over 3 million people.

Here, we can see a map.

This map shows the location of Europe's capital cities.

We can see lots of countries in Europe and therefore lots of capital cities.

Can you find the capital cities of Hungary and France on this map? Do you know any facts about these cities? Pause the video and have a go.

Jun says, Paris is the capital of France.

He's right, isn't he? We look at the United Kingdom.

Just to the south, we can see the country of France, and up in the north France, the city of Paris.

He also says Budapest is the capital of Hungary.

So how do we find Hungary? Perhaps you can see Poland in Eastern Europe, and if you go south, you have Slovakia, and south again, we have the country of Hungary, again, we can see its capital is Budapest.

Let's check our understanding.

So we have some capital cities on the left.

We have Copenhagen, Budapest, Paris, and Madrid.

And on our right, we have some countries, Spain, France, Denmark, and Hungary.

I'd like you to match the capital city with its country.

Come on, geographers.

We can do this, can't we? Pause the video and off you go.

Let's have a look at the answers.

So Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark.

Budapest is the capital of Hungary.

Paris is the capital of France.

And Madrid is the capital of Spain.

Well done if you've got that right.

Great geographical knowledge.

So some more practise for you here.

We've got a different selection of countries and capital cities.

Your job is to match them together.

Which of those countries belongs with which of those cities? You're probably going to need to use an atlas or a map to help you solve this.

Okay, off you go.

Enjoy your geographical questing.

So how did you do? Did you match all those capital cities to their country? So we have Finland and its capital was Helsinki.

We have Norway and its capital, Oslo.

We have Poland and its capital, Warsaw.

We have Croatia and its capital, Zagreb.

We have Bulgaria and its capital, Sofia.

Ireland with its capital, Dublin.

Germany with its capital, Berlin.

Romania with its capital, Bucharest.

Austria with its capital, Vienna.

And finally, Italy, with its capital, Rome.

How many of those did you get correct? Have you ever been to any of those cities or do you have friends or relatives who've been or live there? What an amazing continent Europe is with all these incredible, beautiful, diverse cities.

So we looked at capital cities in Europe.

Now, we're going to investigate a bit further and deeper and we're going to investigate a major city in Europe.

Let's go.

So as well as the capital cities, there are many other major cities in Europe, and these are often cities with the largest populations.

You can see a photograph and a map, and it's showing us a major city in England in the United Kingdom.

That is the city of Liverpool.

We can see the docks in Liverpool and we can see on the map that it's located in the north of England.

Can you think of any other major cities in the UK that isn't a capital city? You might have thought of a city like Manchester or Glasgow.

Okay, a true or false question for you now.

True or false, not all major cities are a capital city.

Is that true or false? You are right, it's true.

Not every major city is a capital city.

But why is that true? We've got two possibilities here.

Is it A, major cities are often the cities in a country with the largest populations, but they are not always capital cities, or is it B, countries usually only have one major city? Which of those answers makes more sense thinking about what we've learned so far, A or B? Pause the video and let's have a think.

Yes, excellent.

Major cities are often the cities in a country with the largest populations, but they're not always capital cities.

So you can have a city with a really large population, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a capital city.

A beautiful photograph you can see there.

Isn't that a stunning place? This is the city of Venice in Italy.

And you can see on the map that Venice is situated in the north of Italy.

It's an absolutely beautiful city.

It's known as a city of canals.

As canals crisscross it, it's a beautiful mediaeval city with amazing buildings.

And because of that, people from all over Europe, in fact, all over the world, come there every year to sail along its canals and to marvel at beautiful buildings, and probably to eat some fantastic food as well.

Look at this photograph here, this is a photograph of Marseille, and Marseille is a major city in France.

If you look at the map in the middle, you can see that Marseille is situated in the south of France, on the Mediterranean coast.

It's the older city in France, founded in 600 BC.

That's really ancient, isn't it? It's also a working port.

And you could see, can't you? Lots of boats in the marina in the photograph.

And this city attracts 30 million tourists every year.

So people from all over France and Europe and the world will come and visit the major city of Marseille in France.

Have a look at this photograph, another beautiful city.

This is a photograph of Split, and Split is a major city in Croatia.

Croatia is a country in the east of Europe, and Split, again, is found on the coast, the southwest of Croatia, next to the Adriatic Sea.

And you can see that beautiful bay there, can't you, with the Adriatic sea? The city has ancient Roman landmarks, so it's another ancient city in Europe.

It also has many beautiful beaches and restaurants, and so many people come from all over Europe and the world to look at the amazing landmarks, to go to the beautiful beaches, and to eat in the beautiful restaurants.

What a wonderful place Split looks as well.

We've seen this photograph before.

Yes, it's Copenhagen.

And Copenhagen is the capital city of Denmark, but also the biggest of its four major cities.

Now, Copenhagen is home to modern museums, historic castles, and beautiful architecture.

It's also known as being one of the happiest cities in the world.

So that sounds like a fabulous place to live or visit, doesn't it? And you can see there, there are boats, really beautiful buildings, churches, and really happy people.

What a wonderful city Copenhagen must be.

Investigate a major city in Europe.

Well, we could use different sources of information to research.

We might have an information book, which can tell us about a major city in Europe.

We can look at maps to help us find where the city is located, what part of the country it's found in.

We could use the internet to find information about the major city or photographs or examples of landmarks or things to do there.

We could look at tourist guides produced to help you look around the city, calling to mind things to do, restaurants to go to, landmarks to visit.

So we can use lots of different sources of information to research a major city and find out more about it.

Let's check our understanding.

We have four major cities in Europe here.

We have Copenhagen, Split, Marseille, and Venice.

And we have four countries, Croatia, Denmark, Italy, and France.

I want you to match the major cities with a country that they're found in.

And as a bonus, one of those cities is also that capital city.

I wonder if we know which that one is.

Pause the video and let's match them.

Let's see how we did.

Copenhagen is a major city in Denmark, and it's also its capital city as well.

Did you remember that? Did you get that right? Well done if you did.

Split is found in Croatia.

Marseille is found in France.

And Venice is found in Italy.

Brilliant geographical thinking if you manage to match those all correctly.

So for our final task, we are going to do some investigating.

So geographers, let's get researching.

Your task is going to be to research a major city in Europe.

And you are going to complete a fact sheet about this city.

You are going to say the name of the city, the country where it's located, some important landmarks that we might find there, that's some interesting buildings, monuments, museums, and an interesting fact about it.

When you've completed your research, you're going to share your work with other people in the class.

And when you've done that, you could discuss some similarities and differences between the major cities you researched.

What did you find out about them? What landmarks, what (indistinct) might they have similar, and in what ways might they be different from each other? Think about the sources of information you are going to use to research.

Think about the slide we looked at previously.

Could you look at a map? Could you use an information text? Could you research on the internet? Do you have any tourist guide that can help you? I'm really looking forward to seeing what you found out.

Well done, geographers.

Off you go.

How did you do? Here is an example from Jun.

He says, my city was Athens.

It's in southern Europe and has more historical landmarks than a lot of cities.

On his fact sheet, he's written name of the city, Athens, country where it's located, Greece, some important landmarks, the Parthenon, the Acropolis Museum, and Mount Lycabettus.

And his interesting fact is this, Athens takes its name from Athena, a Greek goddess.

Isn't that an interesting fact? I didn't know that myself.

Well done, Jun.

You really helped me learn some geography today as well.

I hope you enjoyed researching your major city, and I hope you had an interesting discussion about some similarities and differences that you found out.

Let's summarise our learning today.

We've been learning about major cities in Europe.

We've learned that, as well as the capital cities, there are many major cities in Europe with diverse human and physical features.

We also learned that the locations and features of European cities can be investigated using a wide range of resources, atlases, and maps.

Thank you so much for learning with me today.

I've really enjoyed finding out more about major cities in Europe.

I really like that fact about Athens being named after Athena, the Greek goddess, because I didn't know that.

And the wonderful thing about geography is that you are always learning.

I hope you'll join me for some more learning soon.

Thank you for your time, and keep safe and well.