Chapter 1: Basic Concepts

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

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

3. Contemporary Geography • Geographers ask whereand 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: unique location or position on Earth Region: combination of cultural/ physical features Scale: portion of the Earth compare to the whole Space: gap between two objects Connections: relationship btw people/objects

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 • Above: oldest map (Turkey) 7th century BC • Below: Babylon (Iraq) 6th Century BC Figure 1-2

7. Maps: Scale • Types of map scale • Ratio or fraction: numerical ration btw distances on Earth’s surface 1:100 • Written: written word form of ratio • Graphic: bar line to show distance • Projection • Distortion: 4 types • Shape: appears more elongated • Distance: distance, more or less • Relative size: altered size • Direction: distorted

8. Map Scale • 1) Washington State 1:10,000,000 (1 in = 10,000,000 inches or 158 miles) • 2) Western Washington 1:1,000,000 • 3) Seattle 1:100,000 • 4) Downtown Seattle 1:10,000 • As the area covered gets smaller, the maps get more detailed. 1 in represents smaller distances Figure 1-4

9. 2 Types of Uninterrupted Maps Robinson Map: shape distortion/ more ocean Mercator Map: accurate shape/ distorted poles

10. 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 • Township: T1 (distance north or south on a particular baseline • Range: R1 (distance east or west on a particular meridian line • Sections: each township is divided into 36 sections, each of which is 1 mile by 1 mile.

11. Township and Range System • TL: north-south lines = meridian lines (red lines). East-west lines = base lines (green lines). • TR: West 6x6 miles/ East 6x6 (then divided into 36 1x1 mile subsections • BL: scale of 1:24,000 or 1 inch = 24,000 inches (2,000 ft) Figure 1-5

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

13. A Mash-up • Figure 1-8 https://developers.google.com/maps/

14. END of Key Issue 1 How Do Geographers Describe Where Things Are?

15. Key Issue 2 Why is Each Point on Earth Unique? pg13 - 28

16. Place: Unique Location of a Feature • Location: 4 ways to identify • Place names • Toponym: • Site: the physical characteristics of a place • Situation: location of a place relative to other places (helps locate a location) • Mathematical location:

17. Place: Mathematical Location • Location of any place can be described precisely by a numbering system • Meridians (lines of longitude) 74W • Prime meridian (Greenwich, England) • Parallels (lines of latitude) 41N • The equator

18. The Cultural Landscape • A unique combination of social relationships and physical processes • Each region = a distinctive landscape • People/Culture = the most important agents of change to Earth’s surface

19. Types of Regions • Region can apply to any area larger than a point but smaller than the planet. • Regional Studies: approach to geography that emphasizes the relationship among social and physical phenomena in a particular study.

20. Types of Regions • Formal (uniform) regions • Example: Florida or Red vs Blue state. • Functional (nodal or focal point) regions • Example: the circulation area of a newspaper • Vernacular (cultural) regions rather than a scientific model • Example: the American South

21. Vernacular Region by Mental Mapping • American South • Middle East • South America • Miami • Florida State University • Hawaii • Weston

22. Spatial Association • Spatial distribution of a region can be constructed to encompass an area of widely varying scale. • i.e. – cancer rates vary according to cultural, economic, and environmental factors

23. Culture • Origin from the Latin cultus, meaning “to care for”. Body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms that distinguish a group. • Two aspects: • What people care about • Beliefs, values, and customs • Three identifying factors of culture derive from: Language, Religion, & Ethnicity. • What people take care of • Earning a living; obtaining food, clothing, and shelter -

24. Cultural Ecology • The geographic study of human–environment relationships • Two perspectives: • Environmental determinism: • Possibilism • Modern geographers generally reject environmental determinism in favor of possibilism because humans have the ability to adjust to their environment/ resources • Determined by a group’s values • Crop selection determine by environment • Vegetarian vs Non-vegetarian • Cremation versus burial

25. Physical Processes determined by human activity/ 4 types • Climate: Tropics, Dry, Warm, Cold, Polar • Vegetation: Forest, Savanna, Grassland Desert • Soil: 12,000 soil types • Landforms: flat to mountainous

26. Modifying the Environment Figure 1-21 • Examples • The Netherlands • Polders: creating land by drainage • The Florida Everglades • Not so sensitive environmental modification/ unintended environmental/social consequences

27. Key Issue 2 Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique? Pg 13 - 28

28. Key Issue 3 Why Are Different Places Similar Pg 28 -38

29. Scale: Local to Global • Globalization: economically interdependent • Transnational corporations: conduct research, operate facilities, and sell product • Cultural globalization • Uniformed global landscapes & cultural values

30. What if we were on the other side of the Global Shotgun?

31. How would you feel if 75% of the movies/ tv shows that played in the US were Indian films with English subtitles?

32. Or 85% of fast food restaurants served Arabic cuisine?

33. Or 65% of the most admired women wore veils and the most respected men wore long beards?

34. Or if 90% of the models for advertisement were from Africa?

35. Or if Wal-Mart started selling, whole ducks, alligators, frogs, turtles, and pig faces to eat?

37. WAL-MART in CHINA

43. Opposition to Globalization? SAYING NO TO WAL-MART SAYING NO TO USA

44. Affects on Culture More & more similarities

45. Space: Distribution of Features • Distribution—three features • Density: frequency of occurrence • Arithmetic: total number people in an area/ divided • Physiological: # of people per unit of arable land • Agricultural: # of farmers to farm land (ratio)

46. Concentration • extent a feature is spread over space (described as clustered to dispersed) • PATTERN:geometric arrangement of objects in space • (irregular, linear, grid, square, rectangle, etc…)

47. Gender & Ethnic Diversity in Space • Local to global: general trends of how groups utilize space are influenced by one’s group. • Gender (activities that target males or females) • Ethnicity (where people live and work

48. Space–Time Compression Figure 1-29

49. Spatial Interaction • Transportation networks: land, water, air (ie. hub & spokes) • Distance decay: theory that further away the less contact. Is this true? • Electronic communications and the “death” of geography? • Email/ phones depend on access power… Figure 1-30

50. Diffusion • The process by which a characteristic spreads across space and over time • Hearth = source area for innovations • Two types of diffusion • Relocation: idea spread by people