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Understanding Human Geography: Exploring the Cultural Landscape and Geographic Concepts

This chapter offers an introduction to human geography by defining its core concepts, including geography's etymology and significance. It examines the tension between globalization and local diversity, and distinguishes between physical and human geography. Key terms like location, region, scale, and space are discussed, along with the vital role of maps as both reference and communication tools. It also addresses the impact of environmental factors on human activity and outlines cultural ecology, diffusion, and spatial interaction, providing insights into the interconnections between people and their environments.

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Understanding Human Geography: Exploring the Cultural Landscape and Geographic Concepts

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  1. Chapter 1: Basic Concepts The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography

  2. Defining Geography • Word coined by Eratosthenes • Geo = Earth • Graphia = writing • Geography thus means “earth writing”

  3. 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

  4. Geography’s Vocabulary Place Region Scale Space Connections

  5. 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

  6. Early Map Making Figure 1-2

  7. Maps: Scale • Types of map scale • Ratio or fraction • Written • Graphic • Projection • Distortion • Shape • Distance • Relative size • Direction

  8. Figure 1-4

  9. 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

  10. Township and Range System Figure 1-5

  11. Contemporary Tools Figure 1-7 • Geographic Information Science (GIScience) • Global Positioning Systems (GPS) • Remote sensing • Geographic information systems (GIS)

  12. A Mash-up Figure 1-8

  13. Place: Unique Location of a Feature • Location • Place names • Toponym • Site • Situation • Mathematical location

  14. 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

  15. 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

  16. 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

  17. 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

  18. Cultural Ecology • The geographic study of human–environment relationships • Two perspectives: • Environmental determinism • Possibilism • Modern geographers generally reject environmental determinism in favor of possibilism

  19. Physical Processes • Climate • Vegetation • Soil • Landforms • These four processes are important for understanding human activities

  20. Modifying the Environment Figure 1-21 • Examples • The Netherlands • Polders • The Florida Everglades

  21. Scale • Globalization • Economic globalization • Transnational corporations • Cultural globalization • A global culture?

  22. Space: Distribution of Features • Distribution—three features • Density • Arithmetic • Physiological • Agricultural • Concentration • Pattern

  23. Space–Time Compression Figure 1-29

  24. Spatial Interaction Figure 1-30 Transportation networks Electronic communications and the “death” of geography? Distance decay

  25. 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

  26. Relocation Diffusion: Example Figure 1-31

  27. The End. Up next: Population

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