INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN

GEOGRAPHY

Unit 1: It’s Nature and

Perspective
 QUESTIONS THAT
“GEOGRAPHY”
ADDRESSES:
• Where are things located?
• Why are they important?
• How are places related?
• How are places connected?
• How are humans affected by these locations?
 DEFINITION OF GEOGRAPHY

• scientific and systematic study of both the physical and

cultural features of the earth’s surface. It is a spatial
perspective looking at patterns and distributions on the
earth’s surface
• The word geography was invented by the Greek scholar
Eratosthenes. It is based on 2 Greek words:
-Geo – “Earth”
-graphy – “to write”
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
“PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY” AND
“HUMAN OR CULTURAL
•
GEOGRAPHY:
Physical Geography is the study of the four spheres (Lithosphere,
Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, and Biosphere)
• Human (or Cultural) Geography is the study of the spatial differentiation
and organization of human activity on the earth’s surface.
 APPROACHES TO THE
Latin America
STUDY OF GEOGRAPHY
• Regional (Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia)
Sub-Saharan Africa
Southeast
• Systematic (Human Geography, Asia
Physical Geography, Historical
Geography)
 More specific!

WHAT IS PHYSICAL
GEOGRAPHY?
 THE DIFFERENT
DISCIPLINES IN PHYSICAL
GEOGRAPHY.
• Geomorphology : studies the form and structure of the
surface of the earth
• Climatology: involves the study of long term weather
conditions on the earth
• Hydrography: concerns the distribution of water
(oceans, rivers, lakes, and their uses)
• Biogeography: studies the flora (plant life) and the
fauna (animal life)
• Pedology: study of the soils
• Ecology: studies the interactions between life forms
and the environment
• Geology: study of rocks and the earth’s interior
 Key Question!

WHAT IS HUMAN GEOGRAPHY?

 HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
(DEFINITIONS)

• The study of how people make places, how we

organize space and society, how we interact with each
other in places and across space, and how we make
sense of others and ourselves in our locality, region,
and world. (De Blij)
• The scientific study of the location of people &
activities on the Earth’s surface, where & why human
activities are located where they are, reasons
geographers look at the world from a spatial
perspective & interaction, and diffusion of people &
ideas. (Rubenstein)
 WHAT WE STUDY IN HUMAN
GEOGRAPHY?
• Historical Geography
• Demography and Population Geography
• Political Geography: nations, boundaries, geopolitics, military
movements, treaties, devolution, choke points, and imperialism
• Geography of Religions
• Geography of Languages
• Urban Geography: settlements, cities, and transportation systems
• Economic Geography: industries, economic development, and
manufacturing regions
• Agricultural Geography
• Medical geography
• Social Geography
• Environmental Geography
 HG TOPIC EXAMPLE:
GLOBALIZATION
A set of processes that are: A set of outcomes that are:
- increasing interactions - unevenly distributed
- deepening relationships
- varying across scales
- heightening interdependence
- differently manifested
without regard to
country borders.
throughout the world.
 AFFECT OF COMMUNICATION AND
TRANSPORTATION
Buggy's are slow and cars can
• We are more
travel interconnected
at higher speeds. as modes of communication and transportations
become information
Therefore, more advanced.
and goods
can reach destinations faster.
• The advances in the these two things have made us more interconnected.
The advances in technology make
• Example: our world more interconnected.
• Buggy's ----> Cars
• Sailboats ----> Steamboats
• Postal mail ----> e-mail
 1ST – HYPERGLOBALIZATION
VIEW
• Open markets and Free Trade are good for everyone in the long run and
will allow everyone to share in economic prosperity
• Work will eventually become borderless as national governments
become meaningless, government’s only role will be to foster trade
 2ND – SKEPTICAL VIEW

• Globalization is “much ado about nothing”

• Globalization is exaggerated
• The world has been to this point before = Gold Standard
• Accentuate Regionalization (Europe, N. America, Japan)
 3RD – TRANSFORMATIONALIST
VIEW
• View globalization as a powerful force that is changing the world not
just a repeat of the 19th Century. However, they make no assumptions
to the effect of globalization on the nation state
 NEGATIVE ISSUES ASSOCIATED
WITH GLOBALIZATION
• Environmental

• Health Issues (HIV/AIDS, SARS)

• Security (9/11)
Remember your summer reading…………
IMAGINE AND DESCRIBE THE
MOST REMOTE PLACE ON EARTH
YOU CAN THINK OF 100 YEARS
AGO. NOW, DESCRIBE HOW
GLOBALIZATION HAS CHANGED
THIS PLACE AND HOW THE
PEOPLE THERE CONTINUE TO
SHAPE THE PLACE – TO MAKE IT
THE PLACE IT IS TODAY.
GEOGRAPHIC
THOUGHT
FIVE THEMES OF GEOGRAPHY
• Location
• Place
• Region
• Movement
• Human-Environment
 LOCATION

Location-position on the earth’s surface

• Absolute Location: use of grids – (i.e. latitude and longitude)
• Relative Location: a way of expressing a location in relation to another
site
 SITE AND SITUATION
• Site-the physical character of a place. (climate, water sources,
topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, elevation) the
combination of physical features gives each place distinctive
character.
• Situation– the location of a place relative to other places.

Fig. 1-7: Singapore is situated at a key location for international trade.

 PLACE
Place – specific geographic settings with distinctive
physical, social, and cultural attributes
• Sense of place: infusing a place with meaning and
emotion.
• Perception of place: belief or understanding of what a
place is like, often based on books, movies, stories, or
pictures.
 Perception
of Place

Where Pennsylvanian
students prefer to live

Where Californian
students prefer to live
 THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE
Religion and
• The visible expression of human cremation
practices
activity diffuse with
Hindu migrants
• The natural landscape as modified from India to
by human activities and bearing the Kenya.

imprint of a culture group

• Can also be called the “Built
Environment”
 SEQUENT OCCUPANCE
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
African, Arab, German, British, and Indian layers to the city.

Apartment in Mumbai, India Apartment in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

 MOVEMENT

Spatial analysis: the study of geography

phenomena on the earth’s surface

- how are things organized on Earth?

- how do they appear on the landscape?
- Why of where? and so what?
 GEOGRAPHIC INQUIRY
FOCUSES ON THE SPATIAL:

1. Distance
2. Accessibility
3. Connectivity
 DISTANCE DECAY
• Tobler’s First law of geography:
Everything is related to everything else,
but near things are more related than
distant things.
• Therefore the interaction between places
diminishes in intensity and frequency as
distance between them increases
DISTANCE DECAY
 FRICTION OF DISTANCE
• The deterrent or inhibitory effects of
distance on human activity
• - The farther people have to travel, the
• less likely they are to do so.
• - Examples?
 UTILITY

• Utility: refers to a place’s usefulness to a particular person or group.

• 1. Maximize the overall utility of places at
• minimum effort
• 2. Maximize connections between places at
• minimum cost
• 3. Locate related activities as close together
• as possible
 UTILITY

• 1 Beach
• 2 Ice Cream stands
 ACCESSIBILITY

• The opportunity for contact or interaction

from a given point in relation to other points
• -“How easy or difficult is it to overcome the friction
of distance?”
• -Is the “Place” isolated or easily accessible?
• Levels of Accessibility have changed
throughout time
 CONNECTIVI
TY

• Contact or interaction depends

on channels of communication
and transportation
• The tangible and intangible
ways in which places are
connected

Ex: Telephone Lines, streets,

pipelines, radio and TV broadcast
 4 BASIC CONCEPTS OF SPATIAL
INTERACTION
1. Complementarity: There must be some form of Supply and Demand
that match between places
• - world resources:
• oil, division of labor
 4 BASIC CONCEPTS OF
SPATIAL INTERACTION
2. Transferability: Factors = the Cost of moving a particular item and
the ability of the item to bear the cost
- coal, fruits/vegetables, information
- changes over time
 4 BASIC CONCEPTS OF SPATIAL
INTERACTION
3. Intervening Opportunity: Alternative origins and destinations that arise
between two points
• Principle of Intervening Opportunity
“Spatial Interaction between an origin and a destination will be proportional to
the number of opportunities at that destination and inversely proportional
to the number or opportunities at alternative destinations”
 4 BASIC CONCEPTS OF SPATIAL
INTERACTION
4. Spatial Diffusion: the way that things spread through space and
over time
• Diffusion occurs as a function of statistical probability, based on
principles of distance and movement
• Typically follows an S-curve:
Slow Build, Rapid Spread, and Leveling Off
S-CURVE FOR DIFFUSION
 CULTURE

Culture is an all-encompassing term that identifies not only the whole tangible
lifestyle of peoples, but also their prevailing values and beliefs.

- cultural trait
- cultural complex
- cultural hearth
 DIFFUSION

- the process of dissemination, the spread of an idea or innovation from its

hearth to other areas.

What slows/prevents diffusion?

- time-distance decay
- cultural barriers
 TWO TYPES OF DIFFUSION

1. Expansion Diffusion – idea or innovation

spreads outward from the heart
 Expansion Diffusion
a. Contagious
– spreads adjacently
b. Hierarchical
– spreads to most
linked people or places
first.
c. Stimulus
– idea promotes a
local experiment or change
in the way people do
things.
Stimulus
Diffusion

Example:
Because Hindus believe cows are
holy, cows often roam the streets in
villages and towns. The McDonalds
restaurants in India feature veggie
burgers.
 TYPES OF DIFFUSION

2. Relocation Diffusion – movement Paris, France

of individuals who carry an idea
or innovation with them to a
new, perhaps distant locale.
Kenya
 EXAMPLE: SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
What processes create and sustain the pattern of a distribution?

Map of Cholera Victims

in London’s Soho District
in 1854.

The patterns of victim’s

homes and water pump
locations helped uncover
the source of the disease.
 SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION

• The arrangement of items on the

earth’s surface
• Analyzed by the elements common
to all spatial distributions
• Density, Dispersion, and Pattern
 DENSITY

• The measure of the number or

quantity of anything within a
defined unit of area
• Always number in relation to area
• Normally used comparatively
 DENSITY

• GA pop. Density = 141 per/sq mi

• Is that a high density?
• Who knows… we must look comparatively
• Ohio = 277, Michigan = 175,
• New Jersey = 1134
• Therefore GA has a low Density
• Wyoming = 6
• Gwinnett?

1360
 DISPERSION
• Spread of a phenomenon over an area
• Not how many or how much but how far
things are spread out
1. Clustered/Agglomerated = spatially close
together
2. Dispersed/Scattered = spread out
• - Dispersion can change depending on scale
 PATTERN

• The geometric arrangement of objects in

space
• Pattern refers to distribution, but the reference
emphasizes design rather than spacing
• Types of Patterns: Linear, Centralized, and
Random
LINEAR PATTERN

•Linear Patterns
typically depict
houses along a
street or towns
along a railroad
CENTRALIZED PATTERN

•Centralized
Patterns typically
involve items
concentrated
around a single
node
•Ex: Center City
with surrounding
suburbs
RANDOM PATTERN

•An unstructured
irregular
distribution
 REGIONS

1. Formal/Uniform region: defined by a commonality, typically a cultural

linkage or a physical characteristic.
e.g. German speaking region of Europe
 REGIONS

2. Functional/Nodal region: defined by a set of social, political, or economic

activities or the interactions that occur within it.
e.g. an urban area, magazine circulation, radio station
 REGIONS
3.Perceptual Region/Vernacular: ideas in our minds, based on
accumulated knowledge of places and regions, that define an area of
“sameness” or “connectedness.”
• e.g. the South
the Mid-Atlantic
the Middle East
The meanings of regions are often contested. In Montgomery,
Alabama, streets named after Confederate President Jefferson Davis
and Civil Rights leader Rosa Parks intersect.
Photo credit: Jonathan Leib
 REGION V. REALM

• Realms are larger, and often encompass several regions

• e.g.
“CORE-DOMAIN SPHERE” MODEL

• Created by Donald Meinig

• - Core Region: distinctive attributes
• - Domain: dominant but not exclusive
• - Sphere: present but not dominant
 Key Question:

WHAT ARE GEOGRAPHIC

QUESTIONS?
 Key Question:

WHY DO GEOGRAPHERS USE MAPS,

AND WHAT DO MAPS TELL US?
 TWO TYPES OF MAPS:

Reference Maps Thematic Maps

- Show locations of places and - Tell a story about the degree of an
geographic features attribute, the pattern of its
- Absolute locations distribution, or its movement.
- Relative locations

What are thematic maps used for?

What are reference maps used for?
Reference
Map
 THEMATIC MAPS

• Thematic Maps: a map depicting a specific spatial distribution or

statistical variation of abstract objects (e.g. unemployment) in space
• TYPES: Graduated Circle, Dot-Distribution, Isopleth, and Choropleth
Thematic
Map

What story
about median
income in the
Washington, DC
area is this map
telling?
• Graduate Circle Map
• Uses circles of
different sizes to
show the frequency
of occurrence of a
certain topic
• Dot-distribution Map
• A single of specified
number of
occurrences are
recorded by a single
dot
• Isopleth Map
• Calculation refers
not to a point but to
an areal statistic
• The isoline connects
average values per
unit
• Choropleth Map
• Present average
value of the data
studied per
preexisting areal
unit
• Mental Maps:
• maps we carry in our minds of places we have
been and places we have heard of.
– can see: terra incognita, landmarks, paths, and accessibility

• Activity Spaces:
• the places we travel to routinely in our rounds
of daily activity.
– How are activity spaces and mental maps related?
• Geographic
• Information
• System:
• a collection of
• computer hardware
• and software that
• permits storage and
• analysis of layers of
• spatial data.
REMOTE
SENSING:
A METHOD OF
COLLECTING
DATA BY
INSTRUMENTS
THAT ARE
PHYSICALLY
DISTANT FROM
THE AREA OF
STUDY.
 Key Question:

WHY ARE GEOGRAPHERS

CONCERNED WITH SCALE AND
CONNECTEDNESS?
 SCALE

Scale is the territorial extent of something.

The observations we make and the context
we see vary across scales, such as:
- local
- regional
- national
- global
SCALE
 SCALE IS A POWERFUL CONCEPT
BECAUSE:
• Processes operating at different scales influence one another.

• What is occurring across scales provides context for us

to understand a phenomenon.

• People can use scale politically to change who is

involved or how an issue is perceived.
• e.g. Zapatistas rescale their movement
• e.g. laws jump scales, ignoring cultural differences
• Old Approaches to
• Human-Environment Questions:
– Environmental Determinism (has been
rejected by almost all geographers)
– Possibilism (less accepted today)

• New Approaches to
• Human-Environment Questions:
– Cultural ecology
– Political ecology
 THE IMPORTANCE OF
“PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY” TO
“HUMAN GEOGRAPHY”
(ENVIRONMENT)
 KOPPEN CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM OF
CLIMATES
HTTP://WWW.UWSP.EDU/GEO/FACULTY/RITTER/GEOG101/TEXTBOOK/CLIMATE_SYSTEMS/CLIMAT
E_CLASSIFICATION.HTML
Climate Types
1. Humid Equatorial Climates (Tropical: Class A)
• Af – no dry season
• Am – Short dry season
• Aw – dry winters (S.W. Florida)
2. Dry Climates (Dry: Class B)
• Bs – Semiarid
• Bw – Arid
3. Humid Temperate Climates (Temperate: Class C)
• Cf – no dry season
• Cw – dry winter
• Cs – dry summer
4. Humid Cold Climates (Cold: Class D)
• Df – no dry season
• Dw – dry winter
5. Cold Polar (tundra and ice) (Polar: Class E)
6. Highland Climates (Vertical)
 OTHER IDEAS RELATED TO
• CLIMATE…
Greenhouse Effects (anthropogenic – human caused) – Global Warming
caused by the release of greenhouse gases
• ENSO – (El Nino Southern Oscillation) – areas of regional warming
• Soils – (fertility and degradation)
• Global Distribution of Precipitation
• Monsoons – system of low-level winds blowing into a continent in
Summer and out of it in the winter (Southern Asia)
• Intensity – Regularity
 ECOSYSTEMS OR ECOLOGICAL
SYSTEMS
• Ecosystems are living communities of plants and animals that share common
characteristics – primarily related to climate, soil, and vegetation
• Abiotic Elements – those that are non-living but that affect systems (water, heat,
relief, nutrients, rocks, atmosphere)
• Biotic Elements – those living elements of the ecosystem (plants and animals)

• Food Chains (sequences of consumption)

• Biomes (large subdivisions of terrestrial ecosystems found in the world)
 MAJOR BIOMES AND DESERTIFICATION
OF THE SAHEL
• Major Biomes
• Tundra
• Boreal Forest or Taiga
• Temperate Broadleaf Deciduous Forest
• Tropical Broadleaf Evergreen Forest
• Tropical Savanna
• Desertscrub
• Temperate Grasslands
• Mediterranean Scrub
• Desertification of the Sahel
• A semiarid region of north-central Africa south of the Sahara
Desert. Since the 1960s it has been afflicted by prolonged periods
of extensive drought.
 THE MANAGEMENT OF
GLOBAL ECOSYSTEMS
• sustainability – main method of management
• Major Problems
• Tropical Rainforests – Removal of trees results in removal of nutrients for soil,
less oxygen produced and more CO2 remains in the atmosphere
• Acid Rain – sulfur dioxides and nitrogen oxides emitted from power stations are
carried by winds and when precipitation occurs it pollutes lakes and rivers
(pollution from Britain and Western Europe has damaged Scandinavia and
Eastern European countries: also, pollution from the Midwestern states has
damaged the Great Lakes and Eastern Canada
 ABSOLUTE LOCATION

• Mathematical location
• Latitude & Longitude
• degrees, minutes, seconds
• Township & Range (1785 Land Ordinance)
• Subdivision: parallels & meridians
• Topographic quadrangle, US Geological Survey
• Metes & Bounds
• is a system or method of describing land, 'real' property (in contrast to
personal property) or real estate
LATITUDE & LONGITUDE

Hong Kong

22º N, 114º E
 LONGITUDE AND LATITUDE

• Meridian: an arc drawn between North and South Poles

• Parallel: circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator and at
right angles to the Meridians
 LONGITUDE AND LATITUDE

• Location of Meridians are determined by a numbering system known as

Longitude
• 0° Longitude = Greenwich England
• The Prime Meridian
 LONGITUDE AND LATITUDE

• Latitude: numbering system used to represent parallels

• Equator = 0°
• N. Pole = 90 °N
• S. Pole = 90 °S
 LONGITUDE AND LATITUDE

• Longitude: numbering system used to represent meridians

• Prime Meridian = 0 °
• Longitude Lines in 15 ° intervals either East or West
 RELATIVE LOCATION

“Place” in relationship to
surroundings
 THE NATURAL LANDSCAPE
• the physical environment unaffected by
human activities
• Climate and soil, the presence or
absence of waters supplies and mineral
resources, terrain features
• Help provide the setting for human
action
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
 SEQUENT OCCUPANCE
Layers of imprints in a cultural landscape that reflect years of differing human
activity.

Athens, Greece
ancient Agora
surrounded by
modern buildings
 DEVELOPMENT OF
GEOGRAPHIC THOUGHT
“Four Traditions of Geography” (Patterson’s - U. of
Chicago – 1964)
• Earth Science Tradition (physical geography
approach)
• Locational Tradition (use of satellite imaging-
mapping)
• Cultural-Environment Tradition (impact of
deforestation)
• Area-Analysis Tradition (regional patterns of
development)
 Asia-Pacific
DEVELOPMENT Economic
OF
WhyGEOGRAPHIC THOUGHT
Geography Matters [DeBlij’s address to NCGE
(National Council of Cooperation
Geographic Education) –
1999]
• AgeEuropean
of Exploration (China, European, North
Islamic)American
Economic (expansion of economic and political
• Globalization Trade
Commission
activities aided by information technology and
Organization
transportation)
• Devolution (regions within countries demanding
autonomy
• Supranationalism (E.E.C., A.P.E.C., N.A.T.O.)
• Environmental Degradation
• Remote Sensing (spy satellites – used in Iraq and
Afghanistan)