Unit 1: Human Geography

1. Unit 1: Human Geography • History of Discipline • Geography Today • Thinking Geographically • Applications of Geography

2. 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

3. 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”

4. Ptolemy • Published “Guide to Geography” • Included rough maps of landmasses

5. Western European explorers • Bartholomeu Dias • Christopher Columbus • Ferdinand Magellan • Alexander von Humboldt • Lewis and Clark

6. 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” 18th - 20th Century

7. Carl Sauer • Cultural landscapes are product of complex interactions between humans and their environments • These should be main focus of geographic inquiry

8. 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 Sauer contd.

9. 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

10. Global Positioning System • Integrated network of satellites that orbit the earth broadcasting location information to hand-held receivers on the earth’s surface

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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 Other Areas of Geography

14. 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 W.D. Pattison

15. 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 What does it mean to think Geographically???

16. Why McDonald’s are located and successful in various parts of the world? How did McDonald’s spread to those locations? Why and How Questions

17. 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

18. 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 Scale

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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 Types of Regions

22. Regions (continued) . . . • Perceptual Regions • “fuzzy” borders • Involve important issues of identity • “Sense of place” - give people a special attachment to that geographic place

23. 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

24. 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 Idiographic vs. Nomothetic