Chapter 1 Lecture

The Cultural Landscape

Eleventh Edition

Basic Concepts

Matthew Cartlidge
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
 Key Issues
• How do geographers describe where things
are?
• Why is each point on Earth unique?
• Why are different places similar?
• Why are some human actions not
sustainable?

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 Learning Outcomes
• 1.1.1: Explain differences between early maps
and contemporary maps.
• 1.1.2: Describe the role of map scale and
projections and making maps.
• 1.1.3: Explain how latitude and longitude are
used to locate points on Earth’s surface.
• 1.1.4: Identify contemporary and analytic tools,
including remote sensing, GPS, and GIS.

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 Learning Outcomes
• 1.2.1: Identify geographic characteristics of
places, including toponym, site, and situation.
• 1.2.2: Identify the three types of regions.
• 1.2.3: Describe two geographic definitions of
culture.
• 1.3.1: Give examples of changes in economy and
culture occurring at global and local scales.
• 1.3.2: Identify the three properties of distribution
across space.

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 Learning Outcomes
• 1.3.3: Describe different ways in which
geographers approach aspects of cultural
identity, such as gender, ethnicity, and
sexuality.
• 1.3.4: Describe how characteristics can spread
across space over time through diffusion.
• 1.3.5: Explain how places are connected
through networks and how inequality can
hinder connections.

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 Learning Outcomes
• 1.4.1: Describe the three pillars of
sustainability.
• 1.4.2: Describe the three abiotic physical
systems.
• 1.4.3: Explain how the biosphere interacts
with Earth’s abiotic systems.
• 1.4.4: Compare ecosystems in the Netherlands
and southern Louisiana.

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 How Do Geographers Describe Where
Things Are?
• Geography is the study of where things are found
on Earth’s surface and the reasons for the
locations.
• The word, geography, was invented by ancient Greek
scholar, Eratosthenes.
• Geo means earth
• Graphy means to write.
• Therefore, Geography can be thought of the discipline
charged with the task to write about and to describe
the phenomena spatially distributed on Earth.

• Human geographers ask two simple questions…

1. Where are people and activities found on Earth?
2. Why are they found there? 7
 Maps
• A map is a two-dimensional or flat-scale
model of Earth’s surface, or a portion of it.
• Cartography is the science of mapmaking.
• Maps serve two purposes…
1. As a reference tool to identify an object’s
absolute and relative location.
2. As a communications tool to convey the
distribution of human activities or physical
features.

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 Early Mapmaking
• Earliest maps were reference tools—simple
navigation devices to show a traveler how to get
from Point A to Point B.
• First world map prepared by Eratosthenes(276–
194 B.C.)
– Improvements to world map later made by Ptolemy.
– After Ptolemy, advancements in cartography
primarily made outside of Europe by Chinese and
Islamic world.
• Mapmaking revived during the Age of Exploration and
Discovery.

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FIGURE 1-3 POLYNESIAN “STICK CHART” A “stick chart” is a type of ancient map created by
people living in the present-day Marshall Islands in the South Pacific Ocean.
Islands were shown with shells, and patterns of swelling of waves were shown with palm strips.
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FIGURE 1-4 WORLD MAP BY ERATOSTHENES , 194? b.c. This is a nineteenth-century
reconstruction of the map produced by Eratosthenes.
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FIGURE 1-5 WORLD MAP BY AL-IDRISI, 1154 Al-Idrisi built on Ptolemy’s map, which had been
neglected for nearly a millennium.
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FIGURE 1-6 WORLD MAP BY ORTELIUS, 1571 This map was one of the first to show the extent of
the Western Hemisphere, as well as Antarctica.
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 Contemporary Mapping
• Shift from simply a tool that provides location
reference to a tool used by geographers to
communicate complex geographic
phenomena.

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 Map Scale
• Level of detail and the amount of area covered
on the map depend on its map scale.
– Relationship of a feature’s size on a map to its
actual size on Earth
• Map scale is presented in three ways…
1. Ratio or Fraction Scale: Ex. 1:24,000 or 1/24,000
• Number on left is one unit of distance, while number
on right represents same unit of distance on Earth’s
surface.

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 Map Scale
2. Written Scale: Ex. 1 inch equals 1 mile
• Number on left is one unit of distance, while number
on right represents a different unit of distance on
Earth’s surface.
3. Graphic Scale: Usually consists of a bar line
marked to show distance on Earth’s surface
• Distance between two points can be overlaid on the
scale bar to determine the distance on Earth’s
surface.

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FIGURE 1-8 MAP SCALE The four images
show (top) southeast Texas (second), the
city of Houston (third), downtown Houston,
and (bottom) Minute Maid Park. The map of
southeastern Texas has a fractional scale of
1:10,000,000. Expressed as a written
statement, 1 inch on the map represents 10
million inches (about 158 miles) on the
ground. Look what happens to the scale on
the other three maps. As the area covered
gets smaller, the maps get more detailed,
and 1 inch on the map represents smaller
distances.

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 Projection
• Scientific method of transferring locations on
Earth’s surface to a flat map is called
projection.
• Earth’s spherical shape causes distortion when
drawing it on a flat piece of paper.
– Four types of distortion
1. Shape of an area can be distorted.
2. Distance between points may become increased or
decreased.
3. Relative size of different areas can be altered.
4. Direction between points can be distorted.
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 Mercator Projection
• Cylindrical projection
• Advantage:
– Compass bearings (rhumb lines) can be drawn as
straight lines
• Disadvantage:
– Extreme area distortion near
the poles

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 Goode Homolosine Projection
• Interrupted oval projection
• Advantage:
– Area is preserved
• Disadvantage:
– Distorts proximity relationships

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 Robinson Projection
• Compromise between cylindrical and oval
• Advantages
– No interruptions
– Spatial relationships apparent
• Disadvantages
– Neither direction nor shape preserved

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Figure 1-9 PROJECTION (left) Mercator projection, (center) equal area projection,
(right) Robinson projection. Compare the sizes of Greenland and South America on
these maps. Which of the two landmasses is actually larger?

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 Geographic Grid
• Geographic grid is a system of imaginary arcs
drawn in a grid pattern on Earth’s surface.
– Meridians are arcs drawn between the North and
South poles. Each is numbered, according to a
system known as longitude.
• Values range from 0º (prime meridian) to 180º east or west
longitude.
– Parallels are arcs drawn parallel to the equator and at
right angles to meridians. Each is numbered, according
to a system known as latitude.
• Values range from 0º (equator) to 90º north or south.

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FIGURE 1-10 GEOGRAPHIC GRID Meridians are arcs that connect the North and
South poles. The meridian through Greenwich, England, is the prime meridian, or 0°
longitude. Parallels are circles drawn around the globe parallel to the equator. The
equator is 0° latitude, and the North Pole is 90° north latitude. 25
 Geographic Grid
• Points on Earth’s surface can be communicated
by referencing points of latitude and longitude
intersection.
– Ex. Denver, Colorado’s location is 40º north latitude
and 105º west longitude.
• Further accuracy can be achieved by dividing
each degree into 60 minutes and each minute
into 60 seconds.
– Ex. Denver, Colorado’s state capital building is
39º42’2” north latitude and 104º59’04” west
longitude.

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 Telling Time
• Earth as a sphere is divided into 360º of
longitude.
– Divide 360º by 24 time zones (one for each hour
of day) equals 15º.
• Each 15º band of longitude is assigned to a standard
time zone.
• Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is…
– Located at the prime meridian (0º longitude).
• Passes through Royal Observatory at Greenwich,
England
– Master reference time for all points on Earth.

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 Telling Time
• The International Date Line is…
– Located at 180º longitude.
• Position deviates from 180º longitude at times to
accommodate various nearby nation-states.
– Point you move the clock back 24 hours (one day),
if you are heading eastward toward America.
– Point you move the clock ahead 24 hours (one
day), if you are heading westward toward Asia.

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 Contemporary Tools
• Geographic Information Science (GIScience)
involves the development and analysis of data
about Earth acquired through satellite and
other electronic information technologies.
• Collecting Data: Remote Sensing
– Acquisition of data about Earth’s surface from a
satellite orbiting Earth or from other long distance
methods is known as remote-sensing.

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 Contemporary Tools
• Collecting Data: Remote Sensing Cont’d.
– After sensors scan Earth’s surface, the individual
pixels are transmitted to a receiving station on
Earth where a computer assembles each of them
into an image.
• Map created using remotely sensed data is essentially a
grid of rows and columns of pixels; each representing
the radiation being reflected on Earth’s surface at a
specific point.

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 Contemporary Tools
• Pinpointing Locations: GPS
– Global Positioning System (GPS)
• System that accurately determines the precise position of
something on Earth
• GPS in the U.S. includes three elements
1. Satellites placed in predetermined orbits
2. Tracking stations to monitor and control satellites
3. Receiver that can locate at least four satellites, figure out its
distance from each, and use the information to calculate its
precise location
• Applications
– Turn-By-Turn directions in vehicles
– Navigational aid to pilots and ship captains
– Provide location for social media applications in a
smartphone

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 Contemporary Tools
• Layering Data: GIS
– A geographic information system (GIS) is a computer
system that captures, stores, queries, analyzes, and
displays geographic data.
– Data are stored in layers.
– Layers can be compared to show relationships
among different kinds of information.
– Data can be overlaid in one GIS from a variety of
different sources through a process known as a
mashup.

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FIGURE 1-13 GIS Geographic information systems store information about a location in
layers. Each layer represents a different piece of human or environmental information.
GIS involves two types of data: vector and raster. Vector data consists of points (such as
forcities) and lines (such as for highways). Raster data consists of areas, such as
particular landforms. 35
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 Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique?
• A place is a specific point on Earth
distinguished by a particular characteristic.
• Describing the features of a place is an
essential building block for geographers to
explain similarities, differences, and changes
across Earth.
• Geographers describe a feature’s place on
Earth by identifying its location, the position
that something occupies on Earth’s surface.

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 Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique?
• Location can be identified in three ways.
1. Place Names
• A toponym is the name given to a place on Earth.
– Names derived from people of prominence, religious
affiliation, physical features, or origins of its settlers
2. Site
• Site is the physical character of a place.
– Characteristics include climate, water sources, topography,
soil, vegetation, latitude, and elevation.
3. Situation
• Situation is the location of a place relative to other
places.

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 Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique?
• Region: A Unique Area
– An area on Earth defined by one or more
distinctive characteristics is a region.
• Most often applied at two scales
1. Spanning political states
2. Constrained within one political state.
• A region derives its unified character through the
cultural landscape─a combination of cultural, religious,
and physical features.
– “Culture is the agent, the natural area the medium, the
cultural landscape is the result.” – Carl O. Sauer, American
Geographer

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 Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique?
• Region: A Unique Area
– Geographers identify three types of regions.
1. Formal Region (aka uniform region or homogeneous
region)
– An area in which everyone shares in common one or more
distinctive characteristics
» Ex. Common language, economic activity, or climate
» Characteristic may be predominant rather than universal.

• Montana is an example of a formal region.

• The North American Wheat Belt is a formal region
in which wheat is the most commonly grown crop,
but other crops are grown there as well.
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Figure 1-17 FORMAL REGIONS The three maps show the winner by region in the (left)
2004, (center) 2008, and (right) 2012 presidential elections. The extensive areas of
support for Democrats (blue) and Republicans (red) are examples of formal regions.
(left) In 2004, Democrat John Kerry won most of the states in the Northeast, Upper
Midwest, and Pacific Coast regions, while Republican George W. Bush won the
remaining regions. (center) In 2008, Democrat Barack Obama won the election by
capturing some states in regions that had been won entirely by the Republican four
years earlier. (right) In 2012, Democrat Obama won reelection because he carried nearly
the same states as four years earlier. 41
 Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique?
• Region: A Unique Area
– Geographers identify three types of regions.
2. Functional Region (aka nodal region)
– An area organized around a node or focal point
» The characteristic chosen to define a functional region
dominates at a central focus or node and diminishes in
importance outward.
» Ex. Circulation of a newspaper, such as The New York Times
– New technology is breaking down traditional functional regions,
because the Internet and satellite dish television reach patrons
farther and farther away from a central node.

3. Vernacular Region (aka perceptual region)

– An area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity.
» Ex. The American South is a region individuals recognize as
having distinct environmental, cultural, and economic
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preferences.
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 Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique?
• Regions of Culture
– Culture is the body of customary beliefs, material
traits, and social forms that together constitute
the distinct tradition of a group of people.
– Origin of word, culture, is the Latin cultus, which
means “to care for.”
• Two meanings
1. To care about
2. To care of

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 Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique?
• Regions of Culture
• Geographers study both definitions of culture.
– Culture: What People Care About
» Geographers study why the customary ideas, beliefs, and
values of a people produce a distinctive culture in a
particular place.
» Especially important cultural values derive from a group’s
language, religion, and ethnicity.
– Culture: What People Take Care Of
» The second element of culture of interest is production of
material wealth, such as food, clothing, and shelter that
humans need in order to survive and thrive.

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Figure 1-21 SPATIAL ASSOCIATION On the national scale, the Great Lakes and South regions
have higher cancer rates than the West. On the scale of the state of Maryland, the eastern region
has a higher cancer rate than the western region. On the urban scale, southern and western
neighborhoods of Baltimore City have higher cancer rates than northwestern ones. Geographers try
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to understand the reason for such variations.