Introduction to Human Geography

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Introduction to

Human

Geography

What is Human Geography?

The study of how people make places, how we organize space and society, how we interact with each other in places and across space, and how we make sense of others and ourselves in our locality, region, and world

Key Geographic Skills

How to use and think about maps and spatial data sets

How to understand and interpret the implications of associations among phenomena in places

How to recognize and interpret at different scales the relationships among patterns and processes

How to define regions and evaluate the regionalization process

How to characterize and analyze changing interconnections among places

Spatial distribution

What processes create and sustain the pattern of a distribution?

5 Themes of Geography

Location

Position on Earth’s surface

Human/Environmental Interaction

Cultural ecology - relations between cultures and environment

Regions

Areas of unique characteristics, ways of organizing people geographically

Place

Associations among phenomena

in an area

Movement

Interconnections between areas

Location

Place-name

A name given to a portion of the Earth’s surface

( “ Miami ” )

Site

Physical characteristics of a place; climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, and elevation

Absolute location

Latitude and longitude (parallels and meridians), mathematical measurements mainly useful in determining exact distances and direction (maps)

Relative location

Location of a place relative to other places (situation)

Human/Environmental

Interactions

Cultural landscape includes all human-induced changes that involve the

“ … the forms superimposed on the physical landscape by the

Environmental Determinism

 affected by, and even controlled or determined by the environment

Possibilism

Environmental Modification positive and negative environmental alterations

Regions

Distinctive characteristics

 area: defined spatial extent

 location: lie somewhere on Earth ’ s surface boundaries: sometimes evident on the ground, often based on specifically chosen criteria

 other: cultural (language, religion), economic (agriculture, industry), physical

(climate, vegetation)

Three types of regions:

Formal – (a.k.a. uniform, homogeneous), visible and measurable homogeneity

(link to scale and detail)

Functional – product of interactions, and movement of various kinds, usually characterized by a core and hinterland (e.g. a city and its surrounding suburbs)

Perceptual – (a.k.a. vernacular), primarily in the minds of people (e.g. Sunbelt)

Regions can be seen in a hierarchy (vertical order, scale), (e.g. Ft. Lauderdale –

Broward County – Florida – Southeastern US …)

Regions

Perceptual Region

Ideas in our minds, based on accumulated knowledge of places and regions, that define an area of

“sameness” or “connectedness”

Place

Culture – people ’ s lifestyles, values, beliefs, and traits

What people care about: language, religion, ethnicity

What people take care of: 1) daily necessities of survival (food, clothing, shelter) and 2) leisure activities

(artistic expressions, recreation)

Cultural institutions: political institutions (a country, its laws and rights)

Components of culture:

Culture region – the area within which a particular culture system prevails (dress, building styles, farms and fields, material manifestations,…)

Culture trait – a single attribute of culture

Culture complex – a discrete combination of traits

Culture system – grouping of certain complexes, may be based on ethnicity, language, religion,…

Culture realm – an assemblage of culture (or geographic) regions, the most highly generalized regionalization of culture and geography (e.g. sub-Saharan Africa)

Physical Processes – environmental processes, which explain the distribution of human activities

Climate – long-term average weather condition at a particular location. Vladimir Koppen ’ s five main climate regions (expresses humans ’ limited tolerance for extreme temperature and precipitation levels)

Vegetation – plant life.

Soil – the material that forms Earth ’ s surface, in the thin interface between the air and the rocks. Erosion and the depletion of nutrients are two basic problems concerning the destruction of the soil.

Landforms – Earth ’ s surface features (geomorphology), limited population near poles and at high altitudes

Perception of Place

Movement

Culture Hearths

• sources of civilization from which an idea, innovation, or ideology originates (e.g. Mesopotamia, Nile

Valley), viewed in the context of time as well as space

Cultural diffusion – spread of an innovation, or ideology from its source area to another culture

Expansion diffusion – an innovation, or ideology develops in a source area and remains strong there while also spreading outward

Contagious diffusion – nearly all adjacent individuals are affected (e.g. spread of Islam, disease)

Hierarchical diffusion – the main channel of diffusion some segment of those who are susceptible to

(or adopting) what is being diffused (e.g. spread of AIDS, use of fax machines)

Stimulus diffusion – spread of an underlying principle (e.g. idea of industrialization)

Relocation diffusion – spread of an innovation, or ideology through physical movement of individuals

Migrant diffusion – when an innovation originates somewhere and enjoys strong-but brief-adoption, loses strength at origin by the time it reaches another area (e.g. mild pandemics)

Acculturation – when a culture is substantially changed through interaction with another culture

Transculturation – a near equal exchange between culture complexes

Forces that work against diffusion:

Time-distance decay – the longer and farther it has to go, the less likely it will get there

Cultural barriers – prevailing attitudes or taboos

Two Types of Maps:

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-

Reference Maps

Show locations of places and geographic features

Absolute locations

What are reference maps used for?

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-

Thematic Maps

Tell a story about the degree of an attribute, the pattern of its distribution, or its movement.

Relative locations

What are thematic maps used for?

Reference Map

Thematic Map

Daily Travel

Mental Maps: maps we carry in our minds of places we have been and places we have heard of.

Can see: terra incognita, landmarks, paths, and accessibility

Activity Spaces: the places we travel to routinely in our rounds of daily activity.

How are activity spaces and mental maps related?

Practical Application

Geographic

Information

System

A collection of computer hardware and software that permits storage and analysis of layers of spatial data

Practical Application

Remote Sensing

A method of collecting data by instruments that are physically distant from the area of study

Place, Space, and Scale

Place:

Place identity – shaped by physical and cultural forces, associations among phenomena in a given area

Space:

Spatial relationships between people, places, and the environment

Scale:

Truth is scale dependent, phenomena you study at one scale (e.g. local) may well be influenced by developments at other scales (e.g. regional, national, or global)

Scale

Scale is the territorial extent of something.

The observations we make and the context we see vary across scales, such as:

- local

- regional

- national

- global

Globalization

A set of processes that are:

 increasing interactions

 deepening relationships heightening interdependence

 without regard to country borders.

A set of outcomes that are:

 unevenly distributed

 varying across scales differently manifested

 throughout the world.

Knowledge Issues?

Yes, of course.

Knowledge Issues

Are the findings of the natural sciences as reliable as those of the human sciences? What is the meaning of “a scientific law” in each area?

To what extent do maps reflect reality?

Do regions have boundaries?

To what extent might it be true that geography combines the methods of human and natural sciences?

Some geographical topics, such as climate change, are controversial. How does the scientific method attempt to address them? Are such topics always within the scope of the scientific method?

Knowledge Issues

What scientific or social factors might influence the study of a complex phenomenon such as global warming?

Often in geography a model of reality is created. What does this mean? What are the advantages and disadvantages of creating a geographic model? In what areas of geography are models most common?

Arguably, while some aspects of geography can be measured, others cannot. Is this the case? What is it about a quality that means it cannot be quantified?

If humans are individual and unique, does this mean that there can be no reliable laws in human geography?

Many geographers and others value diversity in human affairs. Is globalization therefore a bad thing?

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