Human Geography
What is Human Geography and the
History of Geography
Geo-Graphy
• Eratosthenes
– Greek Scientist
• 2200 years ago
– Coined the word
geography from two
words
• Geo = earth
• Graphein = to write
Eratosthenes
• Invented a system of Longitude and Latitude
• The first Greek to calculate the circumference of
the Earth (with remarkable ½% accuracy)
• The first Greek to calculate the tilt of the earth's
axis (also with remarkable accuracy)
• he may also have accurately calculated the
distance from the earth to the sun and invented
the leap day
• Figured earth was divided into 5 climatic regions
Eratosthenes
• He also
created a
map of the
world based
on the
available
geographical
knowledge
of the era.
Geography in ancient times
• Thales of Miletus – Applied geometry to
measuring land
• Anaximander – Made a world map based on
sailors information. Thought earth may be a
cylinder
• Hecateus – Produced first geography book
• Aristotle – Proved Eratosthenes belief earth was
spherical
• Strabo – in a 17 volume work called Geography
described the known world
Ptolemy
• 150 AD wrote an 8 volume called Guide to Geography
• suggested precise methods for using a coordinate
system with parallels of latitude and meridians of
longitude
• Included the following standard on all maps
– scale, conventional signs with legends, and the practice of
orienting maps so that north is at the top and east to the
right of the map
Ptolemy’s Map
Admits he
only knew
about ¼ of
the earth.
His standards
have been
used for the
next 1600
years and
many are still
in use today
Dark Ages
• Europeans made very little advances were made
from 330 AD to 1450 AD
• Muslim Scholars continued the study
– Al Idrisi prepared a world map with new knowledge in
about 1150
– Ibn-Battuata wrote Rihlah (Journeys) describing the
Muslim world
• China also a center of discovery while Europe was
in the dark ages
– Zheng He, an explorer, wrote of his journies in the mid
1400’s . As far as Kenya today and west coast of USA
End of the Dark Ages
• Europeans became interested in the world
– Thanks to the exaggerations of Marco Polo
– Europeans started to support voyages to explore the
world in search of great wealths
• Age Of Explorations
• Gerardus Mercator (1512 – 1594) was one of the
first to draw a world map that is relatively
accurate
• Voyages + Technology + improved cartography =
More Interest in Geography
Pioneers In Scientific Geography
Alexander Von Humboldt
• Urged geographers to adopt
methods of scientific inquiry
• Study of nature and social
process are fundamentally
same
• Humboldt Park in Chicago is
named for Alexander Von
Humboldt
Carl Ritter
• Worked with Von Humboldt
• Argued that geographers should
apply natural science laws to
humans to understand the
relationship between people and
environments
• ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINISM
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINISM
• That cultures are a direct result of where they
exist
• Where you live dictates how you live
– Warmer climates tend to cause inhabitants to
have a more relaxed attitude toward work and
progress
– Temperate climates were more motivated,
intelligent, and culturally advanced
• Friedrich Ratzel
• Ellen Churchill Semple
• Ellsworth Huntington
– All continued the
Environmental
determinism approach to
understanding how people
interact with their
environment or human
geography
Possibilism
• Approach that has grown to be more favorable in
modern geography as opposed to environmental
determinism
• A culture’s way of life depends on the choices
people make among the possibilities that are
offered by the environment
• Humans can change the environment
– Environment can effect how we live but it just creates
possibilities of how people will deal with that
environment
In What ways have humans alter
their environment as opposed to
allowing environment to dictate
how they live?
Polder
• A polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by
embankments known as dikes, that forms an
artificial hydrological entity, meaning it has no
connection with outside water other than through
manually-operated devices. There are three types of
polder:
– Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a lake or
the sea bed.
– Flood plains separated from the sea or river by a dike.
– Marshes separated from the surrounding water by a dike
and consequently drained.
Human Geography was born early
• As early as Strabo it was no longer enough to
know where things were but geographers
wanted to know more:
– Why cultures and environments differ from place
to place
– NOT WHERE BUT WHY THERE
Two Sides of Geography
• Physical Geography
– Concerned with actual
locations of places
– Concerned with
landforms and their
distribution
– Climatic patterns
– Cartography
• Map Making
• Human Geography
• Examines the
relationships between
people and places
• Population, cultural,
economic, urban,
agriculture, and political
geographies
• Emphasis on people
and culture