Introduction to Human Geography

What is Human Geography? 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

Key Geographic Skills How to use and think about maps

and spatial data sets

How to understand and interpret the implications of associations among phenomena in places

How to recognize and interpret at different scales the relationships among patterns and processes

How to define regions and evaluate the regionalization process

How to characterize and analyze changing interconnections among places

Spatial distribution

What processes create and sustain the pattern of a distribution?

5 Themes of Geography

Location Position on Earth’s surface

Human/Environmental Interaction Cultural ecology - relations

between cultures and environment

Regions Areas of unique characteristics,

ways of organizing people geographically

Place Associations among phenomena

in an area Movement

Interconnections between areas

LocationPlace-name

A name given to a portion of the Earth’s surface (“Miami”)

SitePhysical characteristics of a place; climate, water

sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, and elevation

Absolute locationLatitude and longitude (parallels and meridians),

mathematical measurements mainly useful in determining exact distances and direction (maps)

Relative locationLocation of a place relative to other places

(situation)

Human/Environmental Interactions Cultural landscape

includes all human-induced changes that involve the surface and the biosphere. Carl Sauer: “… the forms superimposed on the physical landscape by the activities of man.”

Environmental Determinism human behavior, individually and collectively, is

strongly affected by, and even controlled or determined by the environment

Possibilism the natural environment merely serves to limit the

range of choices available to a culture Environmental Modification

positive and negative environmental alterations

Regions Distinctive characteristics

area: defined spatial extent

location: lie somewhere on Earth’s surface

boundaries: sometimes evident on the ground, often based on specifically chosen criteria

other: cultural (language, religion), economic (agriculture, industry), physical (climate, vegetation)

Three types of regions:

Formal – (a.k.a. uniform, homogeneous), visible and measurable homogeneity (link to scale and detail)

Functional – product of interactions, and movement of various kinds, usually characterized by a core and hinterland (e.g. a city and its surrounding suburbs)

Perceptual – (a.k.a. vernacular), primarily in the minds of people (e.g. Sunbelt)

Regions can be seen in a hierarchy (vertical order, scale), (e.g. Ft. Lauderdale – Broward County – Florida – Southeastern US …)

Regions

Perceptual Region Ideas in our minds, based on

accumulated knowledge of places and regions, that define an area of “sameness” or “connectedness”

Place Culture – people’s lifestyles, values, beliefs, and traits

• What people care about: language, religion, ethnicity• What people take care of: 1) daily necessities of survival (food, clothing, shelter) and 2) leisure

activities (artistic expressions, recreation)• Cultural institutions: political institutions (a country, its laws and rights)

Components of culture:• Culture region – the area within which a particular culture system prevails (dress, building styles,

farms and fields, material manifestations,…)• Culture trait – a single attribute of culture• Culture complex – a discrete combination of traits• Culture system – grouping of certain complexes, may be based on ethnicity, language, religion,…• Culture realm – an assemblage of culture (or geographic) regions, the most highly generalized

regionalization of culture and geography (e.g. sub-Saharan Africa) Physical Processes – environmental processes, which explain the distribution of human activities

• Climate – long-term average weather condition at a particular location. Vladimir Koppen’s five main climate regions (expresses humans’ limited tolerance for extreme temperature and precipitation levels)

• Vegetation – plant life. • Soil – the material that forms Earth’s surface, in the thin interface between the air and the rocks.

Erosion and the depletion of nutrients are two basic problems concerning the destruction of the soil.• Landforms – Earth’s surface features (geomorphology), limited population near poles and at high

altitudes

Perception of Place

Movement Culture Hearths

• sources of civilization from which an idea, innovation, or ideology originates (e.g. Mesopotamia, Nile Valley), viewed in the context of time as well as space

Cultural diffusion – spread of an innovation, or ideology from its source area to another culture

• Expansion diffusion – an innovation, or ideology develops in a source area and remains strong there while also spreading outward

Contagious diffusion – nearly all adjacent individuals are affected (e.g. spread of Islam, disease)

Hierarchical diffusion – the main channel of diffusion some segment of those who are susceptible to (or adopting) what is being diffused (e.g. spread of AIDS, use of fax machines)

Stimulus diffusion – spread of an underlying principle (e.g. idea of industrialization)

• Relocation diffusion – spread of an innovation, or ideology through physical movement of individuals

Migrant diffusion – when an innovation originates somewhere and enjoys strong-but brief-adoption, loses strength at origin by the time it reaches another area (e.g. mild pandemics)

Acculturation – when a culture is substantially changed through interaction with another culture

Transculturation – a near equal exchange between culture complexes

• Forces that work against diffusion:

Time-distance decay – the longer and farther it has to go, the less likely it will get there

Cultural barriers – prevailing attitudes or taboos

Two Types of Maps:Reference Maps- Show locations of

places and geographic features

- Absolute locations

What are reference maps used for?

Thematic Maps- Tell a story about the

degree of an attribute, the pattern of its distribution, or its movement.

- Relative locations

What are thematic maps used for?

Reference Map

Thematic Map

Daily TravelMental 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?

Practical ApplicationGeographic

Information System A collection of

computer hardware and software that permits storage and analysis of layers of spatial data

Practical Application

Remote Sensing A method of

collecting data by instruments that are physically distant from the area of study

Place, Space, and Scale Place:

Place identity – shaped by physical and cultural forces, associations among phenomena in a given area

Space: Spatial relationships between people, places, and the

environment Scale:

Truth is scale dependent, phenomena you study at one scale (e.g. local) may well be influenced by developments at other scales (e.g. regional, national, or global)

ScaleScale is the territorial extent of something. The observations we make and the context we see vary across scales, such as:

- local- regional- national- global

GlobalizationA set of processes

that are: increasing

interactions deepening

relationships heightening

interdependence without regard to country borders.

A set of outcomes that are:

unevenly distributed

varying across scales

differently manifested throughout the

world.

Knowledge Issues?Yes, of course.

Knowledge Issues Are the findings of the natural sciences as

reliable as those of the human sciences? What is the meaning of “a scientific law” in each area?

To what extent do maps reflect reality? Do regions have boundaries? To what extent might it be true that geography

combines the methods of human and natural sciences?

Some geographical topics, such as climate change, are controversial. How does the scientific method attempt to address them? Are such topics always within the scope of the scientific method?

Knowledge Issues What scientific or social factors might influence the study

of a complex phenomenon such as global warming? Often in geography a model of reality is created. What

does this mean? What are the advantages and disadvantages of creating a geographic model? In what areas of geography are models most common?

Arguably, while some aspects of geography can be measured, others cannot. Is this the case? What is it about a quality that means it cannot be quantified?

If humans are individual and unique, does this mean that there can be no reliable laws in human geography?

Many geographers and others value diversity in human affairs. Is globalization therefore a bad thing?