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Chapter 1: Basic Concepts
The Cultural Landscape:
An Introduction to Human Geography
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Questions that “Geography” addresses
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Where are things located?
Why are they important?
How are places related?
How are places connected?
How are humans affected by these
locations?
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Defining Geography
• Word coined by Eratosthenes
– Geo = Earth
– Graphia = writing
• Geography thus means “earth writing”
• Map – two dimensional / flat scale model
of the earth’s surface
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Development of Geographic Thought
“Four Traditions of Geography”
• Earth Science Tradition (physical
geography approach)
• Locational Tradition (use of satellite
imaging-mapping)
• Cultural-Environment Tradition (impact of
deforestation)
• Area-Analysis Tradition (regional patterns of
development)
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5 Strands of Geography
• MR. LIP
• Movement – ppl, things, ideas
• Region – formal, functional - unifying
characteristic
• Location – position on earth’s surface
• Interaction – ppl and their environment
• Place – everywhere is unique human
features / physical
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Contemporary Geography
• Geographers ask where and why
– Location and distribution are important
terms
• Geographers are concerned with the
tension between globalization and local
diversity
• A division: physical geography and
human geography
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Development of Geographic Thought
“Why Geography Matters” (DeBlij)
• Age of Exploration (China, European, Islamic)
• Globalization(expansion of economic and political activities
aided by information technology and transportation)
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Devolution(regions within countries demanding autonomy)
Supranationalism(E.E.C., A.P.E.C., N.A.T.O.)
Environmental Degradation
Remote Sensing(spy satellites-used in Iraq and
Afghanistan)
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Geography’s Vocabulary
• Place – specific pt
• Region – area of cultural or physical
features
• Scale – portion of earth compared to
whole
• Space – physical gap btwn two objects
• Connections – relationships btwn ppl
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Tools and Methods of Geographers
• Cartography-the art and science of
creating, using and study of mapping
– The map is the most important tool of
geography
– Maps provide a wealth of factual
information such as visual comparisons
between areas and geographic features of
an area
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Maps
• Two purposes
– As reference tools
• To find locations, to find one’s way
– As communications tools
• To show the distribution of human and physical
features
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Tools and Methods of Geographers
Types of
Maps
Topographic
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Tools and Methods of Geographers
Types of Maps
Thematic
– Dot maps
– Choropleth maps
– Isoline maps
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Tools and Methods of Geographers
Types of Maps
Physical
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Tools and Methods of Geographers
Types of Maps
Political
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Early Map Making
Figure 1-2
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• Collecting Data
– Field Studies
– Secondary Sources (censuses, surveys, maps, and
photographs)
– Since WWII (aerial photography, radar, underwater
crafts (bathyspheres) and “Remote Sensing” with
satellites. Information obtained from the Landsat
satellite is used to map land use, manage forested
land, estimate crop prodution, monitoring grazing
conditions, access to quality water and protect wildlife
– Global Positioning System-a series of satellites that
provide precise information on location, altitude, and
time
Tools and Methods of Geographers
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Maps: Scale
• Types of map scale
– Ratio or fraction – 1: 100,000
– Written – 1 cent is 1 kilo
– Graphic - l_i_i_i_i_i_i_i_i_i_l
• Projection
– Distortion
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Shape
Distance
Relative size
Direction
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Relationship
of a feature’s
size on a
map to its
actual size
on earth
Scale –
level
detail /
amount
area
covered
Figure 1-4
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U.S. Land Ordinance of 1785
• Township and range system
– Township = 6 sq. miles on each side
• North–south lines = principal meridians
• East–west lines = base lines
– Range
– Sections
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Township and Range System
Figure 1-5
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Tools and Methods of Geographers
• Geographic Information Systems
– GIS is a computer technology that
manages georeferenced information
– GIS allows the analysis of mass amounts
of data in a two or three dimensional
imaging systems
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Contemporary Tools
• Geographic
Information Science
(GIScience)
– Global Positioning
Systems (GPS)
– Remote sensing
– Geographic
information systems
(GIS)
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Figure 1-7
A Mash-up
Chicago Mass Transit Authority shows location of buses / bus stops along 3 routes.
Rolling the mouse over a bus stop shows when the next 3 buses are expected.
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Conformal –
shows waters /
direction
important but
land towards
poles is
inaccurate i.e.
China is 4xs
the size of
Greenland
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Shows the land size
accurately but cylinder
- distances are not,
shapes are vertically
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Place: Unique Location of a Feature
• Location distinguished by
– Place names
• Toponym
– Site
• Physical character; area chosen; modified NY
– Situation
• Location of a place relative to others
– Mathematical location
• Precise point by meridians / parallels
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Why is each point on Earth unique?
A. Place: Unique Location of a Feature
1. Toponym is the name given to a
place on Earth
2. Site is the physical character of a
place. Includes climate, water
sources, topography, soil,
vegetation, latitude, and elevation
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Site:
Lower
Manhattan
Island
Fig. 1-6: Site of lower Manhattan
Island, New York City.
There have been many
changes to the area over
the last 200 years.
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Why is each point on Earth
unique?
3. Situation is the location of a
place relative to other places.
Situation helps us find an
unfamiliar place by comparing its
location with a familiar one.
Situation, also, helps us
understand the importance of a
location.
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Situation: Singapore
Fig. 1-7: Singapore is situated at a key location for international trade.
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Downtown Singapore
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Why is each point on Earth
unique?
4. Mathematical location
or in other words
latitude and longitude.
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Place: Mathematical Location
• Location of any place can be described
precisely by meridians and parallels
– Meridians (lines of longitude)
• Prime meridian
– Parallels (lines of latitude)
• The equator
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World Geographic Grid
Fig. 1-8: The world geographic grid consists of meridians of longitude and parallels of latitude. The prime meridian (
0º) passes through Greenwich, England.
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World Time Zones
Fig. 1-9: The world’s 24 standard time zones each represent about 15° of longitude. They are often depicted using the
Mercator projection.
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The Cultural Landscape
• A unique combination of social
relationships and physical processes
• Each region = a distinctive landscape
• People = the most important agents of
change to Earth’s surface
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Why is each point on Earth unique?
B. Regions: Areas of Unique Characteristics
1. A region derives its character through the
cultural landscape- a combination of
cultural features such as language, and
religion, economic features such as
agriculture and industry, and physical
features such as climate and vegetation.
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Types of Regions
• Formal (uniform) regions
– Example: Montana
• Functional (nodal) regions
– Example: the circulation area of a
newspaper
• Vernacular (cultural) regions
– Example: the American South
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Why is each point on Earth
unique?
2.Types of Regions
a)Formal, also called a uniform
region or homogeneous
region, is an area within
which everyone shares in
common one or more
distinctive characteristics.
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Why is each point on Earth
unique?
b) Functional Region- also called a
nodal region, is an area organized
around a node or focal point.
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Formal and Functional Regions
The state of Iowa is an example of a formal region; the areas
of influence of various television stations are examples
of functional regions
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Why is each point on Earth
unique?
c) Vernacular Region, or
perceptual region, is a place
that people believe exists as
part of their cultural identity.
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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.
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Culture
• Origin from the Latin cultus, meaning “to
care for”
• Two aspects:
– What people care about
• Beliefs, values, and customs
– What people take care of
• Earning a living; obtaining food, clothing, and
shelter
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Cultural Ecology
• The geographic study of human–
environment relationships
• Two perspectives:
– Environmental determinism – physical
enviroment causes social development
– Possibilism
• Modern geographers generally reject
environmental determinism in favor of
possibilism
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Physical Processes
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Climate
Vegetation
Soil
Landforms
– These four processes are important for
understanding human activities
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Climate
• Long term avg weather condition at a
particular location
• The modified Koppen system divides the
world into five main climate regions
• Letters A – E
• Which are further subdivided into
categories based on precipitation/season
(except B which is divided into
temperature / precipitation)
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Climate
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A Tropical Climate
B Dry Climate
C Warm Mid-Latitude Climate
D Cold Mid-latitude Climate
E Polar Climates
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Physical Processes
• Forest biome – trees continuous canopy
• Savanna biome – trees no canopy
• Grassland biome – grass no trees =
prairies
• Desert biome – dispersed patches of
vegetation
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Soil / landforms
• Erosion
– Soil washes away
• Depletion of nutrients
– Overproduction
• Topographic maps
– Relief= difference of elevation btwn pts
– slope = steepness
– Ppl live on flat land
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Modifying the Environment
• Examples
– The Netherlands
• Polders • land created drain water
– The Florida Everglades
Figure 1-21
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Scale
• Globalization
– Economic globalization
• Transnational corporations
– Cultural globalization
• A global culture?
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Why are different places similar?
1. Scale: From Local to Global
2. Space: Distribution of features
a) Density is the frequency with which
something occurs in space
b) Concentration is the extent of a
feature’s spread over space
c) Pattern is the geometric arrangement
of objects in space
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Distribution:
Density,
Concentration,
& Pattern
Fig.
1-18: The density, concentration, and pattern
(of houses in this example) may vary
in an area or landscape.
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Density and Concentration of
Baseball Teams, 1952 & 2007
Fig. 1-19: The changing distribution of North American baseball teams
illustrates the differences between density and concentration.
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U.S. Baseball Teams, 1952
Fig. 1-19: Baseball teams were highly concentrated in the Northeast and
Midwest in 1952.
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U.S. Baseball Teams, 2007
Fig. 1-19: By 2007, U.S. baseball teams were much more dispersed than in 1952,
and their number and density at a national level had increased.
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Space: Distribution of Features
• Distribution—three features
– Density
• Arithmetic
• Physiological
• Agricultural
– Concentration
– Pattern
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Space–Time Compression
Figure 1-29
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Why are different places similar?
3. Connections between places
a) Spatial Interaction
*distance decay-the farther away one
group is from another, the less likely the
two groups are to interact
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Spatial Interaction
• Transportation networks
• Electronic communications and
the “death” of geography?
• Distance decay
Figure 1-30
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Diffusion
• The process by which a characteristic
spreads across space and over time
• Hearth = source area for innovations
• Two types of diffusion
– Relocation
– Expansion
• Three types: hierarchical, contagious, stimulus
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a) Diffusion
*relocation-the spread of an idea through
physical movement of people from one
place to another
*expansion-the spread of a feature from one
place to another in a snowballing process
*hierarchical-the spread of an idea from
persons or nodes of authority or power to
other persons or places
*contagious-the rapid, widespread diffusion
of a characteristic throughout the population
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Relocation Diffusion: Example
Figure 1-31
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The End.
Up next: Population
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