Contemporary Human Geography - Elgin Community … Thinking Geographically.pdf · 1/19/2016 1 Instructor Resource DVD for Contemporary Human Geography, 3e © 2016 Pearson Education,

1/19/2016

1

© 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.Instructor Resource DVD for Contemporary Human Geography, 3eJames Rubenstein

Chapter 1 Lecture

Contemporary Human

Geography3rd Edition

Chapter 1: This is Geography

Marc Healy

Elgin Community College

Contemporary Human

Geography3rd Edition

Chapter 1: This is Geography

Marc Healy

Elgin Community College


1.1 Welcome to Geography

• Geography and History– Immanuel Kant compared geography to history.

• Geographers identify places and explain why activities are found near each other.

• Historians identify dates and explain why activities follow each other chronologically.



• Geographers Explain Where and Why– A geographer’s most important tool is a map.

– Place and region explain why every place is unique.

– Scale, space, and connection explain why different places are interrelated.

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• Geographers Explain Where and Why


1.2 Ancient & Medieval Geography

• Geography in the Ancient World– Thales of Miletus applies principles of geometry

to measure land area.

– Anaximander made an early map based on information from sailors.

– Pythagoras may have been the first to propose a spherical world.



• Geography in the Ancient World– Hecataeus may have produced the first

geography book.

– Aristotle was the first to demonstrate that the earth was spherical.

– Eratosthenes invented the word geography and accurately calculated the circumference of the earth.

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• Geography in the Ancient World– Ptolemy codified the basic principles of

mapmaking.

– Yu Gong is a book chapter representing the earliest Chinese geographic writing.

– Pei Xiu is the father of Chinese cartography.



• Geography in the Ancient World



• Geography’s Revival– Scientific mapmaking resumed during the

Middle Ages.

– Al-Idrisi built upon Ptolemy’s map.

– Ibn-Battuta wrote a book about travels throughout much of the known world.

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• Geography’s Revival



• Geography’s Revival– Waldseemuller produced the first map to use the

label “America.”

– Ortelius created the first modern atlas and proposed the hypothesis of continental drift.



• Geography’s Revival

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1.3 Reading Maps

• Map Scale– Map scale can be presented as a ratio (fraction),

as a written scale, or as a graphic scale.


1.3 Reading Maps

• Projection– Transferring locations on Earth’s surface to a flat

map is called projection.


1.3 Reading Maps

• Projection– Drawing the Earth on a flat piece of paper can

cause distortion in shape, distance, relative size, and direction.

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1.4 The Geographic Grid

• Latitude and Longitude– Lines of longitude are humanly-created arcs

known as meridians.

– Lines of latitude are scientifically-derived circles known as parallels.



• Latitude and Longitude



• Time Zones– Longitude plays an important role in calculating

the time.

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1.5 Contemporary Geographic Tools

• GPS– Smart phones and computers use Global

Positioning Systems that determine precise positions on Earth.



• Mashups– Mashups are maps that overlay data from one

source on top of data provided by a mapping service.



• GIScience– Geographic Information Science analyzes

data acquired though satellite and other remote-sensing technologies.

– Geographic Information Systems capture, store, query, and display geographic data.

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• GIScience


1.6 Place: A Unique Location

• Place Names– Toponyms may be derived from the name of a

person, religious names, ancient history, or earlier inhabitants, among other things.



• Site– The physical characteristics of a place, such as

climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, and elevation comprise the concept of site.

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• Situation– Situation helps us find an unfamiliar place by

comparing its location with a familiar one.

– It also helps us understand the importance of a location.


1.7 Region: A Unique Area

• Formal Region– A formal region is an area within which

everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics.

– It is also called a uniform region or a homogeneous region.



• Formal Region

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• Functional Region– A functional region is an area organized around

a node or focal point.

– It is also called a nodal region.



• Vernacular Region– A vernacular region, or perceptual region, is

an area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity.


1.8 Scale: From Global to Local

• Globalization of the Economy– Globalization of the economy has been led

primarily by transnational corporations.

– Every place in the world is part of the global economy, but globalization has led to more specialization at the local level.

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• Globalization of the Economy



• Globalization of Culture– Globalization of culture

produces uniform “global”landscapes of material artifacts and of cultural values.

– Some local cultural beliefs, forms, and traits are threatened with extinction.



• Local Diversity– Globalization has not destroyed the uniqueness

of an individual place’s culture and economy.

– Cultural differences among places not only persist but actually flourish in many places.

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• Unequal Access– Because of unequal access, geography matters

even more today than ever before.

– Economic inequality has also increased within countries.


1.9 Space: Distribution of Features

• Distribution Properties: Density– The arrangement of a

feature in space is known as its distribution.

– Density is the frequency with which something occurs in space.



• Distribution Properties: Concentration– Concentration is the extent of a feature’s spread

over space.

– Geographers use concentration to describe changes in distribution.

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• Distribution Properties: Pattern– Pattern is the geometric arrangement of objects

in space.

– Some features are organized in a geometric pattern, whereas others are distributed irregularly.



• Distribution Properties: Pattern


1.10 Space: Cultural Identity

• Cultural Groups in Space– Geographers take a range of approaches to

cultural identity and space.

– Poststructuralist geography examines • how the powerful in a society dominate less powerful

groups.

• how dominated groups occupy space.

• confrontations that result from domination.

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– Humanistic geography emphasizes • different ways that individuals form ideas about place

and give those places symbolic meanings.



• Cultural Groups in Space– Humanistic geography





– Behavioral geography emphasizes • understanding the psychological basis for individual

human actions.

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• Cultural Groups in Space– Behavioral geography



• Cultural Identity and Movement Across Space– Movement by sexual orientation

• A relatively high percentage of men being public on Facebook about their sexual orientation might be a measure of a place’s tolerance of gays.



• Cultural Identity and Movement Across Space

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• Cultural Identity and Movement Across Space– Movement by gender: Husband

• Spatial patterns typically revolve around the daily work commute.

• This may influence the selection of the location of the home.

– Movement by gender: Wife• Demands of work and child care typically create a

complex pattern of movement across urban space.



• Cultural Identity and Movement Across Space– Movement by ethnicity

• Movement across space varies by ethnicity.

• Concern and deep respect for cultural diversity lies at the heart of geography’s understanding of space.


1.11 Interaction Between Places

• Relocation Diffusion– Relocation diffusion is the spread of a feature

through physical movement of people from one place to another.

– When people move, they carry with them their culture, including language, religion, and ethnicity.

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• Relocation Diffusion



• Expansion Diffusion– Expansion Diffusion is the spread of a feature

from one place to another in an additive process.

– It may result from hierarchical diffusion, contagious diffusion, or stimulus diffusion.



• Expansion Diffusion

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• Spatial Interaction– The farther away someone is from another, the

less likely the two are to have connections.

– Distance decay is much less severe today than in the past because of space-time compression.



• Spatial Interaction


1.13 Humans and Their Environment

• Possibilism: Adjusting to the Environment– Nineteenth century geographers argued for

environmental determinism, while modern geographers embrace possibilism.

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• The Netherlands: Sustainable Modification– The Dutch have modified their environment with

polders and dikes.

– Attitudes toward modifying the environment have changed, and the Dutch now advocate for reducing human actions that lead to global warming.



• The Netherlands: Sustainable Modification



• South Florida: Unsustainable Modification– Much of the Everglades, a sensitive ecosystem,

has been destroyed by human action.

– Recent plans attempt to restore the inland ecosystem in South Florida, but climate change threatens the barrier islands.

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• South Florida: Unsustainable Modification

Documents

Contemporary Human Geography - Elgin Community … Thinking Geographically.pdf · 1/19/2016 1 Instructor Resource DVD for Contemporary Human Geography, 3e © 2016 Pearson Education,