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What is Geography?
Geography is the study of what is
where and why it’s there.
What Is Geography?
 Geo:
Earth
 Graphy
write, map, describe
 Geo vs. History
 Human
Patterns & processes of human understanding, use, and
alteration of the Earth’s surface
Employ spatial concepts & landscape Analysis
 Overlaps with other fields:
What is geography?
 Connects to:
Psychology
Sociology
Anthropology
Economics
Political Science
Environmental Science
History
Physical Geography
(Earth Science)
Why do we study geography?
 Increased
interconnected world
 Overlaps with other
disciplines when
viewed spatially
 Place matters!
 Science and art
 We balance…
 World patterns/processes
 Individual uniqueness of
place (sense of place)
 Globalization – greater
connectedness that does not
recognize traditional human
divisions (borders).
 De Blij: “What happens at the
global scale affects the local,
but it also affects the
individual, regional and
national, and similarly the
processes at these scales
impact the global.” (8)
Globalization of the Economy
Fig. 1-17: The Denso corporation is headquartered in Japan, but it has
regional headquarters and other facilities in North America and
Western Europe.
Big Mac Geography
Physical and Human Geography
 Physical Geography:
 Earth’s natural environs
 Processes that shape the earth’s surface
 Distribution of landforms
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Rocks and Minerals
Landforms
Soils
Animals
Plants
Water
Atmosphere
Rivers and Other Water Bodies
Climate and Weather
World Climate Regions
Fig. 1-14: The modified Köppen system divides the world into five main climate region
Physical and Human Geography
 Human Geography
 Distribution and characteristics of people
 How people use space
 What people do
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Population
Settlements
Economic Activities
Transportation
Recreational Activities
Religion
Political Systems
Social Traditions
Human Migration
Agricultural Systems
Five “Key Spatial Themes” of Geography
Place – Local human and physical
characteristics uniquely defines place
Usually have name and boundaries
Examples
Imparts meaning on inhabitants
Five “Key Spatial Themes” of Geography
 Human-Environment Interaction
The ways in which human society and the natural
environment affect each other
How do people use features of place in
different ways?
How do people adapt to the environment?
How do people change their environment?
How have people created problems with
their environment?
Five “Key Spatial Themes” of Geography
Human – Environment Interaction
Environmental Determinism – people more
determined by their environment
Possibilism – People adapt and change their
environment
Cultural Ecology - A branch of ecology. The
study of the interaction of human societies with
one another and with the natural environment.
Five “Key Spatial Themes” of Geography
 Movement – interconnectedness of places…this is
spatial interaction.
People, goods, and ideas between places
Historically
People are interdependent
Accessibility – reaching one location from another
Connectivity – linkage between places
Intervening Opportunity (think accessibility) – a more
attractive option closer at hand. Reduces the pull of
opportunities of a distant location.
Migration? (A human commodity flow?)
WWI African Americans, Latin America to U.S.
Five “Key Spatial Themes” of Geography
Movement – spatial interaction
Measuring interaction:
Time-space convergence – accelerated
movement due to technological innovations
(comm., trans.)
Time-space compression – psychological
and social effects of the intensity of timespace convergence.
Distance decay – the effects of distance on
interaction.
Space-Time Compression, 1492-1962
Fig. 1-20: The times required to cross the Atlantic, or orbit the earth, illustrate
how transport improvements have shrunk the world.
Five “Key Spatial Themes” of Geography
Region
formal region –
Functional Region –
Perceptual Region –
Election of 1860
Formal Region - Ecoregions
Colorado Landforms
Colorado - physiographic
Functional Region - economics
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.
Perceptual Regions - Baseball
Five “Key Spatial Themes” of Geography
Location
Distribution:
Density,
Concentration, &
Pattern
Fig. 1-18: The density, concentration, and
pattern (of houses in this
example) may vary in an area or
landscape.
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.
Al Franken
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HfcrqXtxOM
Ignorant Americans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6W3T7MTh
4M
BBC Article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2496427.st
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