AP Human Geography Chapter 1 Notes

7/24/2019 AP Human Geography Chapter 1 Notes

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AP Human Geography Chapter 1

How do geographers describe where things are?

- Geography is the study of where things are found on the earth.

- Thinking geographically is one of the oldest human activities.

Maps

- A map is a 2d or flat scale model of the real world.

- Maps serve two purposes:

- As a reference tool, for getting from one point to another.

- As a communications tool, to understand the distribution of

human activity.

Early Mapmaking

- Earliest maps were reference tools.

- First recorded map was made by Eratosthenes in 194 BC. Ptolemy

produced maps based on information from merchants and soldiers.


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- Mapmaking didn't change much for 1000 years, but became more

fanciful. Outside Europe, Pei Xiu created a map of China and Muham-

mad al-Idrisi prepared a world map.- Mapmaking was revived during the age of exploration. Martin Wald-

seemller made first map with "America" on it. Ortelius created first

atlas.

- By 17th Century, maps accurately displayed the continents.

- Contemporary Mapping was still a reference tool, but now primarily a

tool for communication.

Mapping a Disaster: Hurricane Katrina

- Aftermath of Katrina provides a useful introduction to geographical

perspectives on contemporary global issues of sustainability and in-

equality.

- New Orleans was vulnerable because it is below sea level.

- Inequality of destruction.

- Inequality of reconstruction.

Map Scale

- Smaller scale maps show more detail

- Larger scale maps show more more area- Map scale is represented in three ways

- Ratio/fraction ex. 1:24,000 or 1/24,000


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- Written scale ex. 1 inch equals 1 mile

- Graphic scale ex. Miles: 123

- Scale will be larger for map with larger area shown

Projection

- Globes are accurate but inconvenient

- Maps are convenient but less accurate because of distortion

- Scientific method of transferring locations on Earths surface to a flat

map is projection

- 4 types of distortion:

- Shape of area can be distorted

- Distance between two points can be distorted

- Relative size of different areas can be distorted

- Direction from one place to another can be distorted

- Equal area projections

- Relative sizes arent distorted

- Shape distortion is minimized

- Areas close to the poles become more distorted

- To preserve size and shape of landmasses, this forces other

distortions:

- Eastern and Western hemispheres are separated, aka.

interruption


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- Meridians do not converge or form right angles with

parallels

- Robinson projections allots more space to the oceans- Mercator projection has several advantages:

- Shape is distorted very little

- Direction is consistent

- Rectangular

- Disadvantage: extremely distorted toward

poles

Geographic Grid

- Imaginary arcs drawn in a grid on Earths surface

- Meridians and parallels

- Meridians are longitude and parallels are latitude

- Prime meridian passes through Greenwich, England, at 0

- North and south poles are at 90 latitude

- Parallels and meridians together are used to determine location

- Degrees are divided into minutes

- Minutes are divided into seconds

- 60 seconds per minute, 60 minutes per degree

- GPS divides degrees into decimals

- Latitudes are scientifically derived

- Longitude is human invention


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- Prime meridian is in England because it was the most powerful coun-

try in the world at the time that longitude was first measured accurate-

ly- John Harrison measured longitude by using a clock

Telling Time

- Longitude helps calculate time

- Earth is divided into 360 of longitude

- 180 east and 180 west

- 24 time zones

- Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

- Time at prime meridian

- Master reference time

- Each 15 of longitude is assigned a time zone

- When crossing International Date Line:

- Set clock back 24 hours if going east

- Set clock forward 24 hours if going west

- Several islands in Pacific moved International Date Line

Contemporary Tools

- Geographers have turned to geographic information science

- GIScience


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- Develops and analyses data about Earth

- Is used to create more accurate and complex maps

- Made possible by satellites in orbit

Collecting Data: Remote Sensing

- Remote sensing - acquisition of data about Earths surface from a

satellite or other long-distance method

- Satellite sensor records image of tiny area called a picture element or

pixel

- Scanners detect radiation reflected from that area

- Maps are created from scanner data

- Smallest feature that can be detected is scanners resolution

Pinpointing Locations: GPS

- GPS - the system that accurately determines the precise location of

something on Earth

- GPS in the United States has 3 elements:

- Satellites placed in predetermined orbits by US military

- Tracking stations to monitor and control satellites

- Receiver that can locate at least 4 satellites, figure out distance

to each, and use this information to pinpoint location


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Layering Data: GIS

- Geographic information System - computer system that captures,

stores, queries, analyses, and plays geographical data- Creates better-looking and more accurate maps

- Each type of data is stored in a layer

- GIS combines layers in a map

- Layers can be compared to show relationships among data

Mixing Data: Mashups

- You can create a GIS because of public APIs, such as the Google Maps

API.

- Mashup - the practice of overlaying data from one source on top of

one of the mapping services

Why is Each Point on Earth Unique?

- Place - specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular character-

istic

Place: A Unique Location

- Humans have a strong sense of place


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- Geographers think about where places are located and the combina-

tion of features that make each place distinct.

- Location - position that something occupies on Earths surface

Place Names

- Toponym - the name given to a place on Earth

- Place may be named for a person or origin of its settlers

Site

- Site - physical characteristics of a place

- Humans can modify site

Situation

- Situation - location of a place relative to other places

- Valuable way to indicate location

- Finding an unfamiliar place

- Understanding its importance

- Compares location with a familiar place

- We give directions by situation

- Uses landmarks

- Many locations are important because they give access to other

places


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Region: A Unique Area

- Humans sense of place may apple to a larger area of Earth rather

than a specific point

- Region - area of Earth defined by one or more distinctive characteris-

tics

- A place can be in more than one region

- Region is often used to describe:

- Several neighboring countries that share important features

- Many localities within a country, such as those in southern Cal-

ifornia

- Derives its unified character through the cultural landscape - a combi-

nation of cultural features such as language and religion, economic

features such as agriculture and industry, and physical features such as

climate and vegetation

- Gains uniqueness from possessing a combination of human and envi-

ronmental characteristics

- 3 types:

- Formal

- Functional

- Vernacular

Formal Region

- Also called a uniform region


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- Area within which everyone has something in common

Functional Region

- Also called a nodal region

- Area organized around a node or focal point

- Distinguishing characteristic diminishes in importance outward from

the node

- Tied to central point by transportation, communication systems, or

economic or functional associations

- Often used to display information about economic areas

Vernacular Region

- Also called a perceptual region

- Area people believe exists as part of their cultural identity

- Emerge from peoples sense of place

- Mental map region

Regions of Culture

- Culture - body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms

that together constitute the distinct tradition of a group of people

- Root word: cultus (Latin) to care for


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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.- Language is a big part of culture

- Religion is an important cultural value because it is principal system of

attitudes, beliefs, and practices

Culture: What People Take Care Of

- Production of material wealth

- Divide into regions of developed and developing countries

- Possession of material wealth is higher in developed countries

Spatial Association

- Region can be constructed for widely varying area size

- Different conclusions may be reached about the regions characteris-

tics depending on the size

Why Are Different Places Similar?

- Human area is rarely confined to one area

- Similarities among places and regions arent coincidental


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Scale: From Local to Global

- Scale - relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and

Earth as a whole

- Many levels of scale

- More concerned with global-scale patterns and processes

- Globalization - force or process that involves the entire world and re-

sults in making something worldwide in scope

- Scale of the world is shrinking

Globalization of Economy

- Recession in 2008 was the first global recession

- Global financial crisis began in US and EU with bursting of

housing bubble

- Housing bubble - rapid increase in the value of houses fol-

lowed by a sharp decline in their value

- Low interest rates caused house prices to rise

- Poorer people bought houses because they could get

loans

- Wealthy people bought more houses for the financial

advantage later on

- The government encouraged low-income families to

buy housing even though they might not be able to


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pay off loans; less government oversight made this

possible

- Decline in demand for housing leads to lower prices- Many defaulted on their loans

- Leads to crisis

- Transitional corporation - conducts research, operates factories, sells

products in many countries

- Globalization has led to more specialization at local level

- Spatial diversion - when regions workers specialize in certain tasks

Globalization of Culture

- Uniform cultural preferences make uniform global landscapes of

material artifacts and cultural values

- Cause of uniformity is globalization of cultural beliefs

- Despite globalization, cultural differences flourish

Space: Distribution of Features

- Space - physical gap or interval between two objects

- Spatial thinking is the most fundamental skill geographers have

- Geographers explain how features are arranged

- Distribution - arrangement of a feature in space


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Distribution Properties: Density

- Density - frequency with which something occurs in space

- High population density is unrelated to poverty

Distribution Properties: Concentration

- Concentration - extent of a features spread over space

- Use concentration to describe changes in distribution

Distribution Properties: Pattern

- Pattern - geometric arrangement of objects in space

- Some features in geometric pattern, while others irregular

Cultural Identity In Space

- Patterns may vary according to gender, ethnicity, and sexuality

- Cultural traits are important in explaining why people move in differ-

ent ways

Distribution Across Space

- Space is very important

- Space may be designed for one cultural group


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- Behavioral geography - branch of human geography that emphasizes

the importance of understanding the psychological basis for individ-

ual human actions- Humanistic geography - branch of human geography that emphasizes

the different ways that individuals perceive their surrounding environ-

ment

Movement Across Space

- Tradition influences how people move across space

- Typical spatial patterns of married couple:

- Movement by gender: Husband

- Drives to work every morning

- Drives home in the afternoon

- Movement by gender: Wife

- Drives kids to school every morning

- Walks the dog

- Drives to the supermarket

- Visits mother

- Picks up kids from school

- Drives kids to baseball practice or ballet

- Movement by ethnicity


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Cultural Identity In Contemporary Geography Thought

- Poststructural geography - emphasizes the need to understand multi-

ple perspectives regarding space- Cultural groups compete to organize space

- Critical geographers focus on underprivileged

- Spatial segregation still exists

Connections Between Places

- Connection - relationships among people and objects across the bar-

rier of space

- Rapid connections have reduced the figurative distance between

places

Relocation Diffusion

- Hearth - place from which an innovation originates

- Diffusion - process by which a characteristic spreads across space

from one place to another over time

- Hearth emerges by a cultural group doing something new and sus-

taining it

- Innovations may originate independently in more than one hearth

- For a person, object, or idea to interact with another region, diffusion

must occur


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- 2 types of diffusion - relocation and expansion

- Relocation diffusion - spread of an area through physical movement of

people from one place to another- People migrate for a variety of reasons

- Most common languages spread through relocation diffusion

Expansion Diffusion

- Expansion diffusion - spread of a feature from one place to another in

an additive processes

- Expansion may result from one of 3 processes

- Hierarchical diffusion - spread of an idea from persons or

nodes of authority of power to other persons or places

- Contagious diffusion - rapid, widespread diffusion of a charac-

teristic throughout the population

- Stimulus diffusion - spread of an underlying principle even

though a characteristic itself apparently fails to diffuse

Spatial Interaction

- In the past, most connections required traveling

- Distance decay - how contact diminishes with distance

- Space-time compression - reduction in the time it takes for somethingto reach another place

- Network - chain of communication that connects places


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- Ideas from hearths can diffuse through the Internet

Unequal Access

- Electronics have been essential to removing barriers of interaction

- Barriers of interaction are more likely from lack of access to electron-

ics or the Internet

- Africa, Asia, and Latin America have less access to technology

- US has become more wealthy since 1997

Why Are Some Human Actions Not Sustainable?

- Geography is unique because it encounters both social science and

natural science

- Resource - substance in the environment that is useful to people, eco-

nomically and technologically feasible to access, and socially accept-able to use

Sustainability and Resources

- Renewable resource - produced in nature more rapidly than it is con-

sumed by humans

- Nonrenewable resource - produced in nature more slowly than it is

consumed by humans


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- Two major misuses of resources:

- Humans deplete nonrenewable resources

- Humans destroy otherwise renewable resources through pol-lution

- Sustainability - use of Earths renewable and nonrenewable resources

in ways that ensure resource availability in the future

- Recycle

Three Pillars of Sustainability

- According to the US, sustainability is divided into three parts

- Sustainability is a combination of natural and human elements

The Environmental Pillar

- Conservation - sustainable use and management of Earths natural re-

sources to meet human needs such as food, medicine, and recreation

- Natural resources are conserved if they are consumed slower than

they are created

- Preservation - maintenance of resources in their present condition,

with as little human impact as possible

The Economy Pillar

- Natural resources are worth money when traded in a market

- Price is based on supply and demand


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- Price depends on societys ability to obtain and adapt to it

- Potential resources - things that might become resources in the near

future

The Society Pillar

- Humans make use of resources to meet their needs

- Consumer choices reflect sustainability when consumers value it

Sustainabilitys Critics

- Some people believe it is too late to discuss sustainability

- Some believe we are too late and that Earth is doomed

- Some believe that sustainability is not an issue because the definition

of resources varies over time

Earths Physical Systems

- Natural resources are classified under 4 systems

- Biotic system - composed of living organisms

- Abiotic system - composed of nonliving or inorganic matter

- 3 of Earths 4 systems are abiotic

- Atmosphere - a thin layer of gases surrounding Earth

- Hydrosphere - all of the water on and near Earths surface- Lithosphere - Earths crust and a potion of upper mantle di-

rectly below the crust


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- Biosphere - all living organisms on Earth, including plants and ani-

mals, as well as microorganisms

Atmosphere

- 300 miles up

- Air contains:

- 78% nitrogen

- 21% oxygen

- 0.9% argon

- 0.036% carbon dioxide

- 0.064 other gases

- Pressure is created by gases in the atmosphere and gravity

- Variations in pressure are responsible for weather

- Climate - long-term average weather condition at a particular location

- Climates classified by the modified Kppen system

- 5 climate regions

- A: Tropical Climates

- B: Dry Climates

- C: Warm Mid-Latitude Climates

- D: Cold Mid-Latitude Climates

- E: Polar Climates

Hydrosphere

- 97% of Earths water is salt


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- Water moderates temperatures around Earth

- Climate influences human activities, especially food production

- Monsoon - rainy season

Lithosphere

- Earth is composed of concentric spheres

- Surface features are influenced by plates in Earths crust

- People prefer to live in flat land near water and resources

Sustainability and Human-Environment Relationships

- Modern technology has altered the historic relationship between peo-

ple and the environment

- People can modify the environment greatly

Interactions in the Biosphere

- Biosphere includes portions of other 3 systems because life cannot

function without them

- Most living organisms interact within the top 10 feet of the lithos-

phere, top 650 feet of the hydrosphere, and lowest 100 feet of the at-

mosphere

- Lithosphere is where most plants and animals live and where

they obtain food and shelter


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- Hydrosphere provides water to drink and physical support for

aquatic life

- Atmosphere provides air for animals to create and protectsthem from the Suns rays

- Ecosystem - group of living organisms and the abiotic spheres with

which they interact

- Ecology - scientific study of ecosystems

- Humans contribute to the destruction of soil

- 2 main problems:

- Erosion

- Depletion of nutrients

Cultural Geology: Integrating Culture and Environment

- Cultural ecology - geographic study of human environment relation-

ships

Environmental Determinism

- Environmental determinism - belief that physical environment causes

social development

Possibilism

- Possibilism - belief that physical environment may limit some human

actions, but people have the ability to adjust to their environment


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- Peoples wealth can influence their attitude toward modifying the envi-

ronment

Possibilism and Sustainability

- Use cultural ecology to determine whether particular patterns and

processes are sustainable

- Physical environment is not always the most significant factor in hu-

man decisions

Modifying the Environment

- Netherlands and Everglades have been modified the most by humans

The Netherlands: Sustainable Ecosystem

- Dutch have modified their environment with 2 constructions

- Polder - piece of land that is created by draining water from an area

- 2600 square miles of polders

- Dike - a long wall of embankment built to prevent flooding from the

sea

- Global warming could threaten the Netherlands by raising sea levels

South Florida: Unsustainable Ecosystem

- Sensitive environmental areas in Florida include

- Barrier islands


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- Wetlands between Lake Okeechobee and Everglades

- These wetlands have been modified more poorly

- US Army built dikes and canals around the Everglades- Kept Florida from flooding

- Polluted water flowed into Lake Okeechobee

- Polluted water flowed south into the Everglades

- Plans were developed to unpollute the Everglades but few were ever

used

- Half of the Everglades has been lost

Documents

AP Human Geography Chapter 1 Notes