AP HuG
UNIT 1 GEOGRAPHY: IT’S NATURE & PERSPECTIVES
(BASIC CONCEPTS)
Advanced Placement Human Geography
•First year taught as an AP course nationwide was during the
2000-2001 school year.
•1,700 students took the test in May 2001
•Over 67,500 students took the test in May 2010 making Human
Geography one of the fastest growing Advanced Placement
courses.
•Many across the US may not fully understand the impact Human
Geography has on society. The next few slides will show the
importance of Human Geography.
What Do You Call It?
Most people would call this area the Middle East. But when you
think about it geographically, what is it the Middle East to?
Can this be the
Middle East too?
Is This the Far East?
Or Is This the Far East?
The terms “Middle East” and “Far East” were in relation to
Western Europe (mainly the British Empire) during the 18th and
19th centuries. The correct geographic terms for these places
are Southwest Asia and East Asia.
Southwest
Asia
East Asia
THE FIVE THEMES OF GEOGRAPHY
Location
Place
Human-Environment
Movement
Regions
Interaction
LOCATION
Where are we?
 Absolute

Location
A latitude and longitude (global
location) or a street address (local
location).

Paris France is 48o North Latitude
and 2o East Longitude.

The White House is located at 1600
Pennsylvania Ave.
 Relative

Location
Described by landmarks, time,
direction or distance. From one
place to another.

Go 1 mile west on main street and
turn left for 1 block.
PLACE
What is it like there, what kind of place is it?
 Human
Characteristics

What are the main languages,
customs, and beliefs.

How many people live, work, and
visit a place.
 Physical
Characteristics

Landforms (mountains, rivers, etc.),
climate, vegitation, wildlife, soil,
etc.
Uniqueness of Places & Regions

Place – location describes feature’s place on Earth

4 Ways to Identify:
1.
Place names - toponym
2.
Site – physical character of a place; essential in selecting locations for settlement;
can be modified
3.
Situation – location of a place relative to other places; valuable because (1) can
find unfamiliar place, (2) understand importance of location (accessibility)
4.
Mathematical location – precise description
1.
Meridians (longitude) – arcs drawn between North & South; human creation (John
Harrison); 15° = 1 hr of travel; Greenwich Mean Time & International Date Line
2.
Parallels (latitude) – circles drawn around globe; measured by length of daylight &
position of Sun & starts; 0° = largest circumference
Situation: Singapore
Fig. 1-7: Singapore is situated at a key location for international trade.
HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION

How do humans and the environment affect each other?

We depend on it.
 People
depend on the Tennessee River for water and
transportation.

We modify it.
 People
modify our environment by
heating and cooling buildings for comfort.

We adapt to it.
 We
adapt to the environment by wearing
clothing suitable for summer (shorts) and
winter (coats), rain and shine.
MOVEMENT

How are people, goods, ideas moved from place to place?

Human Movement


Information Movement


Trucks, Trains, Planes
Phones, computer (email), mail
Idea Movement

How do fads move from place to place?
TV, Radio, Magazines
Uniqueness of Places & Regions
 Region – area of Earth defined by one or more distinctive characteristics
 Cultural
landscape
 combination
of cultural, economic, and physical features (Carl
Sauer)
 region
gains uniqueness from possessing combination of
humans & environmental characteristics
principal – people are the most important agents of
change on Earth’s surface
 fundamental
 Spatial Association – region can encompass area of widely
varying scale causing different conclusions
 Cultural,
economic, environmental factors w/ similar
distributions have spatial association
REGIONS
 How
are Regions similar to and different
from other places?
 Formal
Regions

Regions defined by governmental or administrative
boundaries (States, Countries, Cities)

Regions defined by similar characteristics (Corn Belt, Rocky
Mountain region, Chinatown).
 Functional

Regions
Regions defined by a function (newspaper service area, cell
phone coverage area).
 Vernacular

Regions
Regions defined by peoples perception (middle east, the
south, etc.)
3 TYPES OF REGIONS
1.
2.
3.
FORMAL (Uniform/Homogeneous)
o
Area within which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive
characteristics
o
Selected characteristic is present throughout; some easy to identify
o
Predominant rather than universal
o
Help explain broad global or national patterns
FUNCTIONAL (Nodal)
o
Organized around a node or focal point; characteristic chosen dominates at
central focus & diminishes in importance outward
o
Use to display information about economic areas
o
Technology breaking down traditional functional regions
VERNACULAR (Perceptual)
o
Place that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity; emerge from
people’s informal sense of place rather than scientific model
o
Mental Map – internal representation
Formal and Functional Regions
Fig. 1-11: The state of Iowa is an example of a formal region; the areas of influence
of various television stations are examples of functional regions.
Vernacular Regions
Fig. 1-12: A number of features are often used to define the South as a vernacular region,
each of which identifies somewhat different boundaries.
Remembering the 5 themes
 If
you can’t remembering what
they are just ask MR. HELP!!!
M
– Movement
R – Regions
HE – Human Environment interaction
L – Location
P - Place
How Geographers Address Location

Maps

Early mapmaking
 Babylonians –
earliest surviving on clay tablet about 2300BC
– 1st to use “geography”; accepted earth as
spherical; correctly divided Earth into 5 climatic regions
 Eratosthenes
– used info from merchants & sailors; codified basic
principles of mapmaking
 Ptolemy
of Exploration & Discovery – Ptolemy rediscovered &
translated
 Age
 Mercator
& Ortelius – created more accurate maps
17th century, accurately displayed the outline of most
continents & positions of oceans
 By
Types of Maps

Cylindrical

Shows direction BUT loses distance


Planar
Mercator Map Projection
MAPS (con’t)

Map scale  How much of Earth’s surface to depict on the map?

Scale – relationship of a feature’s size on a map to its actual size on Earth

Appropriate scale depends on the information being portrayed

3 ways to present: (1) fraction; (2) ratio; (3) written word
Scale
Differences
Maps of
Washington
State
Fig. 1-3: The effects of scale in maps of Washington State. (Scales from 1:10 million to
1:10,000)
MAP PROJECTION

Scientific method of transferring locations on Earth’s surface to a flat
map

4 types of problems of distortion (especially severe on world maps)

1.
Shape – more elongated or squat than in reality
2.
Distance – may be increased or decreased
3.
Relative Size – one area may appear larger than another on a map but is in
reality smaller
4.
Direction – from one place to another can be distorted
Types of projection:

Equal area – minimizes distortion; problem of interruption

Robinson – uninterrupted; allocates space for oceans, land areas smaller

Mercator – uninterrupted; little shape distortion; area towards poles is grossly
distorted (Greenland vs Africa/South America)
CULTURAL ECOLOGY

Geographic study of human-environment relationships

Humboldt & Ritter urged the adoption of scientific inquiry;
concentrated on how physical environment caused social
development => environmental determinism

Possibilism  physical environment may limit some
human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to their
environment
 People
can choose a course of action from many
alternatives in the physical environment
PHYSICAL PROCESSES

Climate – long-term average weather condition at a
particular location
 Koppen
System => divides world into 5 main regions
 Influences human activities  food production

Vegetation

4 MAJOR BIOMES
1.
FOREST – trees form continuous canopy; covers large % of Earth’s
surface
2.
SAVANNA – mixture of trees & grasses
3.
GRASSLAND – grass rather than trees; low precipitation (American
prairies)
4.
DESERT – essentially no vegetation; dispersed adaptive plants
Similarity of Different Places

Scale: From local to global
 Globalization
of economy

most economic activities in one region are influenced by interaction w/ decision makers
elsewhere

transnational corporations; has led to specialization at local level

has increased economic differences
 Globalization
of culture

increasingly uniform cultural preferences produce uniform “global” landscapes of
material artifacts & of cultural values

religion & language part of globalization of cultural beliefs & forms

Determination to keep local cultural traditions can lead to intolerance

People residing in different places are displaying fewer differences & more similarities
in their cultural preferences

Has not destroyed uniqueness of an individual place’s culture & economy
Diffusion
movement of any characteristic

Relocation Diffusion

Physical spread of cultures, ideas, & diseases through people


Migration…..people bring culture with them (migration diffusion)
Expansion Diffusion

Physical spread from a central node or hearth

Hierarchical…..group spreads (usually social elite)


Contagious…..usually associated with disease


The “way to dress”……the “music to listen to”
Others…..the internet
Stimulus…..take part of an idea and spread to create a new product

Windows operating system taken from