Do Now: Tuesday
9/15
• Get out your maps of the US
• In your notes, answer the following
questions:
• What states did you include in the
“South”?
• Where did you look for reference to
learn about the regions of the US?
“The South”?
“The South”?
“SoutheastXSouthwest
”?
“The South”
• Here is one list.
• Here is another.
• Here is one more.
• Why are there different ideas of what
states should be included in “The
South”?
Objective:
• We will be able to identify
characteristics and types of regions
• We will discuss why geographers group
places together into regions in order to
better study places
Regions
• generally defined as an area
larger than a city that
contains unifying social and
physical characteristics
• Regions are not well-defined
units; rather, they are
conceptual constructions that
geographers use for
comparison and
convenience
Regions
• could be as small as a neighborhood, or
all of Western Europe
• usually composed of several
neighboring countries that share
important features
• could be based off of physical
characteristics, climate, or cultural
characteristics such as language or
religion.
Regions Cont’d
•
•
Test Tip: don’t think of regions as just places, but
as processes. Regions change throughout time.
Example: 18th Century, European colonists
referred to the “American West” as including
upstate NY and Kentucky. By the early 19th
Century, the “American West” referred to the
region that we call the “Midwest”. By the late 19th
Century, “American West” meant the Rocky
Mountains, Great Basin, and the Pacific Coast.
P.S. Need to Know...
• Pattison - Regional
Studies Tradition
• Carl Sauer & Robert
Platt
3 Types of Regions
• Formal Region
• Functional Region
• Vernacular Region
Formal Region
• AkA: uniform region or homogeneous
region
• : an area within which everyone shares
in common one or more distinctive
characteristics. (ie. cultural value
(language), economic activity (crop),
environmental property (climate)
Formal Regions 2
• Example: Countries or local
government units are formal regions
• Example: Region where wheat is the
most commonly grown crop
• Example: Predominantly vote
Republican or Democrat
What to remember:
• Is any region really homogeneous?
• No.
• There are always minorities that differ
from the characteristic.
•2004 Election Results:
Kerry received 48% of the
votes, but he only one 1/6th of the country’s land
area (including big cities)
•Did each red state actually vote 100% for either B or
K?
• Bush won 60% of the rural vote, Kerry won 60% of
the city vote
Functional Region
• AkA: nodal region
• region organized around a node or focal
point
• region relates to the central focal point
(node) by transportation or
communications or by economic
associations
Example: San Francisco Bay
Area
• How is this a
functional region?
• What is the central
focal point of this
region?
• Hint: What is the
economic
relationship
between the area
and San Francisco
the city?
Vernacular Regions
• AkA: perceptual region
• a region that people believe exist as a
part of their cultural identity
• these regions represent peoples’
informal sense of place rather than a
scientific model that can be
geographically demonstrated
Vernacular Regions
• Peoples’ attachment to the region that
they perceive as their home is what
geographers call a “sense of place”
• Can you think of any other examples of
vernacular regions?
Regions Review
• What are regions?
• For what purpose do geographers
create regions?
• What are the 3 types of regions?
• How are these regions organized?
Do Now: Tuesday
9/29
• Pick up the Regions FRQ Answer
Guide
• As you get your essay, read it over in
comparison to the answer guide. Note
which points you could have included,
and which aspects of regions are still
unclear.
• Be prepared to share your findings.
What kind of region?
`
Spatial Association of
Regions
• Regions can be based on varying
scales form large to small
• Based on the scale of a region, very
different conclusions can be reached
• Example: number of Americans that die
of cancer each year.
Spatial Associations
• How do geographers use maps showing
cancer death rates?
• To explain why a region has a high cancer
death rate, geographers try to identify cultural,
economic, and environmental factors that
display similar spatial distribution.
• Factors w/ similar distribution have a spatial
association w/ cancer deaths
• By applying spatial perspective, geographers
can identify factors related to cancer deaths
Based on this map, which region has the highest
cancer rate? Why do you think they might have the
highest cancer death rate?
• spatial association: NE states distribution of cancer associated with
distribution of factories? SE - lower
education and income?
Which counties in MD have the highest cancer rates?
•
Spatial Association at state scale: Balto
City higher % of people w/ low income and
education? Eastern Shore exposed to
runoff chemicals that farms dump in
Chesapeake Bay?
Which
neighborhoods in
Baltimore have the
highest cancer rate?
•
•
What factors
influence cancer
death rates in
Baltimore City?
Southern
counties closer to
factories? Could
it be something
else?
• How could you apply this example to
the spatial perspective FRQ?
Cultural Landscape
• this is what gives a region
its unified character
• combination of traits:
cultural - language and
religion, economic agriculture and industry,
physical - climate and
vegetation
Types of Data
•
•
•
Quantitative Data - uses rigorous
mathematical techniques to develop
numerical data that can be analyzed
to demonstrate relationships
Important in economic, political, and
population geography
Example: Macau is the most densely
populated region on earth, with
47,728/sq mi
Quantitative Data
• In your notes, write
down an example of
Quantitative Data
that one could
collect regarding the
great city of
Baltimore.....
Types of Data
•
•
Qualitative Data - 'Soft'
data that approximates
but does not measure
attributes
Information associated
with cultural or regional
geography b/c it tends
to be more unique to
and descriptive of a
particular place.
•
Example: Macau’s
unique mixture of
Chinese and
Portuguese traditions
makes for interesting
restaurants that tourists
love to visit
Qualitative Data
• In your notes, write
down an example
of Qualitative Data
that one could
collect regarding
the great city of
Baltimore.....
Other types of Data
• Idiographic - facts or features that are
unique to a particular place or region,
such as its history or ethnic composition
• Nomothetic - concepts that are
universally applicable, such as erosion
processes, or the impacts of
industrialization on populations.
Cultural Ecology
•
•
•
•
What is cultural
ecology?
: the geographic study
of human-environment
relationships
Humboldt and Ritter
Which Geography
theme does this apply
to? Pattison’s
traditions?
Pattison’s
Man-Land
everybody!
Example: Cultural Ecology
• Why do we grow
grass in our front
yards, making more
work to water it,
mow it, and impose
fines on people that
let it grow too tall?
• What concept is this
an example of?
Environmental
Determinism
• The belief that cultural traits are formed
and controlled by environmental
conditions.
• Certain cultures from certain
environments may be smarter, more
attractive, or more able to govern
themselves
Environmental
Determinism
• Not a popular or
politically correct
theory in
geography.
• Contains racist
implications
• Used by European
colonists to justify
colonizing the
world
Guns Germs & Steel
• Could someone summarize
Dr. Jared Diamond’s
argument in Guns Germs &
Steel?
• Is his argument/theory
based on environmental
determinism? Why / Why
not?
“I may have a combover,
but I’m not racist”
Possibilism
• environment may set
some restraints, but
culture is determined by
mans’ actions
• : different environmental
conditions offer both
restraints and
opportunities to people
living in various regions.
Possibilism
•
•
•
•
Cultures in more developed parts
of the world develop ways to
counteract environmental
limitations
Example: cars with 4 wheel drive
Example: new types of technology
to create energy
Cultures in less developed
regions may be more restrained
by their environments
Which is it?
•
•
Environmental
Determinism - is culture
primarily determined by
where one lives?
Possibilism - can people
adjust to their
environment, and utilize
their resources to create a
culture that is their
creation?