Geography Basics

1. Geography Basics What is Geography? Core Geographic Concepts

2. Geography • Geography: • The study of how and why things differ from place to place on earth. • The study of how observable spatial patterns evolved over time. • Began in Ancient Greece, focused on both physical and human characteristics of places. • Modern geography began in 17th century; was fully established by 19th century.

3. Human Geography • Human Geography: • Focuses on people: where they are, what they are like, how they interact over space, and what kinds of imprints they leave on the natural landscape. • Draws from the other social sciences: economics, political science, sociology, history. • Helps us understand the world and appreciate the circumstances affecting people, both in our country and beyond. • Can help make us better informed citizens by enabling us to understand important issues facing people today.

4. Important Geographic Concepts • Geography is mainly concerned with the concepts of space and place. • Space: territorial extent. • Absolute space: measurable extent with definable boundaries. • Relative space: perceptual, variable; reflects activities and interrelationships between them. • Place: the attributes and values we individually associate with a location. • Ex: hometown, neighborhood, high school. • Has size, location, physical structure and cultural content. • Develops and changes over time.

5. Sense of Place • Sense of place: • The attachments we have to specific locations and their complex of attributes (our feelings toward them). • Individual and unique to each of us, though people may share similar regard for specific places. • Our sense of place shapes the lives and outlooks of people who inhabit them. • Reinforced by a place’s distinctiveness and diminished or lost by a place’s placelessness.

6. Location, Distance • Location – where a place is • Absolute: identified by coordinates. • Relative: location in relation to a reference point. • Direction • Absolute – based on cardinal points • Relative (relational) – uses cardinal points from point of reference, ex. “Out West” or “Down South” • Distance – combines location/direction • Absolute – spatial separation between two points on earth, measured by an acceptable unit. Ex. “10 miles away” • Relative – changes absolute distance into a more meaningful unit. Ex. “15 minutes away”

7. Landscape • Natural Landscape: • Physical characteristics of a place. • Examples: climate, resources. • Can play a major role in human activity: • Trade flows, population distribution, settlement patterns. • Cultural Landscape: • Visible evidence of human activity, i.e. characteristics created by man. The Natural & Cultural landscape are interconnected. We must understand both to study human activity.

8. Discussion:How do places change over time?

9. Interrelations between places • Spatial interaction: • We can study the way in which places interact with each other: • Friction of distance: a measure of slowing or restricting the effect of distance on spatial interaction. • The greater the distance, the greater the “friction” • Can be overcome through greater accessibility • Accessibility: How easy/difficult is it to overcome barriers for interaction, such as time, space, and the landscape? • Connectivity: All the ways, visible or not, in which places are connected: • Physical • Cultural • Technological

10. Discussion: What role has globalization played in accessibility and/or connectivity?

11. Spatial Diffusion • Ideas, people or items disperse (spread) from a center of origin (node) to more distant points in which it is connected. • The rate & extent of diffusion are affected by distance, technology, population density, means of communication, etc.