Download 3 Geographical perspectives

Unit 1: Human Geography
 History of
Discipline
 Geography
Today
 Thinking
Geographically
 Applications
of Geography
Human Geography
• Study of human activities on earth’s surface
• Discipline began 3,000 years ago
• Looking at the earth from a spatial
perspective means looking at how objects
and processes vary over the earth’s surface
• Geographers look at how the world changes
over space
Eratosthenes
 Head librarian in
Alexandria
 Accurate
computation of
earth’s
circumference
 Based sun’s
angle at
summer solstice
and distance
between two
Egyptian cities
 Coined term
“geography”
Ptolemy
 Published “Guide to
Geography”
 Included rough
maps of landmasses
Western European explorers
Bartholomeu Dias
Christopher Columbus
Ferdinand Magellan
Alexander von Humboldt
18th - 20th Century

Period saw
development of:






Anthropology
Geology
Ecology
Charles Darwin - theory 
of evolution through
natural selection
Alfred Wegner - theory 
of continental drift

1864-George Perkins
Marsh - “Man and
Nature, or Physical
Geography as Modified
by Human Action
Described impact on
natural systems by
humans
Advocated
conservationist
approach
Considered to be first
“environmentalist”
Carl Sauer
 Cultural landscapes
are product of
complex interactions
between humans and
their environments
 These should be main
focus of geographic
inquiry
Sauer contd.
 Implied that most places, even natural
landscapes (those unaltered by human
activities) have been affected indirectly by
human activities
 Created new form of human
environmental relations
 Coined the phrase “cultural landscape.”
Quantitative Revolution
Stressed use of empirical measurements
 Uses hypothetical testing
 Develops mathematical models
 Uses computers to explain geographic
patterns
 Led to use of GPS and GIS

Global Positioning System
 Integrated network
of satellites that
orbit the earth
broadcasting
location information
to hand-held
receivers on the
earth’s surface
Geographic Information Systems


Use thematic layers
Each layer consists
of a map of specific
features
 May be combined
into one
comprehensive map
 Helps geographers
understand
relationships
between themes
Human Geography
 Combines following subfields
 Political Geography - Political Science
 Population Geography - Demography
 Urban Geography - Urban Studies, Urban Social
Science Planning
 Social Geography - Sociology, Language, Religious
Studies
 Economic Geography - Regional Economics,
Economics
 Behavioral Geography - Psychology, Economics
 Cultural Geography - Anthropology, Sociology,
History
Other Areas of Geography
• Physical Geography
 Study spatial characteristics
of earth’s physical and
biological systems
 Earth System Science new field that studies
interaction between
physical systems on a
global scale
Systematic Geography
study the earth’s integrated
systems as a whole instead
of one phenomenon in a
single space
• Environmental Geography
 Where physical and human
geography meet
 Anthropogenic - human
induced environmental
change
 Sustainability - implies an
approach to the
environment that
emphasizes the restraint in
the use of natural resources
W.D. Pattison

1964
 University of
Chicago
 Claimed geography
drew from four
distinct traditions

The earth science
tradition
 The culture
environment
tradition
 The locational
tradition
 Area-analysis
tradition
What does it mean to think
Geographically???
Develop
a spatial
perspective, an
appreciation of
scale, and ability to
analyze and
interpret forms of
geographic data
Spatial
Perspective
- intellectual
framework that
allows geographers
to look at earth in
relationships
Why and How Questions
• Why Starbucks are
located and successful
in various parts of the
world?
• How did Starbucks
spread to those
locations?
 Geography based on premise that all
places are different, with similarities
 All places on earth are related - some
more than others
 Geographers look at spatial patterns
and spatial relations
Scale
• Map scale
• Ratio between the
distance on a map
and the actual
distance on the
earth’s surface
• Geographic scale
• Conceptual hierarchy of
spaces - from large to
small, that reflects actual
levels of organization in
the real world
• Neighborhood, urban
area, metropolitan area,
the region
• Watershed, ecosystem,
landscape, and biome
Regions
 Shared
characteristics
between places
provide a means
to group places
together into a
more manageable
unit of study
 Area larger than a
single city that
contains unifying
social or physical
characteristics
Regions (continued) . . .
 A unifying characteristic of a particular region may
be anything that defines that place for the purpose
of the particular question being asked
 Regions do not exist as well defined units in the
landscape
 Conceptual constructions that geographers use for
convenience and comparison
 Regional Geography - Pattison’s area-analysis
tradition, is the study of regions
Types of Regions
Functional
Regions
Special identities
because of social
and economic
relationships
Referred to as
“Nodal Regions” due to
connections and
interactions that
occur between
them and
surrounding areas
Formal Regions
Specific
characteristics
that are “uniform”
from one area to
another within the
region
Specific
characteristics physical features,
cultural properties
Regions (continued) . . .
Perceptual Regions
“fuzzy” borders
Involve important issues of identity
“Sense of place” - give people a
special attachment to that geographic
place
Thinking geographically
• Qualitative data - often associated
with cultural or regional geography
because they tend to be more
unique to and descriptive of
particular places and processes
• Quantitative data - use rigorous
mathematical techniques and are
important in economic, political,
and population geography - where
numerical data abounds
Idiographic vs. Nomothetic
 Idiographic
Refers to facts or
features that are
unique to a particular
place or region
 Such as its history or
ethnic composition
 Nomothetic
Refers to concepts
that are universally
applicable