What is Geography?Geography is the study of what is where and why it’s there.

What Is Geography?

Geo:Earth

Graphy write, map, describe

Geo vs. History Human

Patterns & processes of human understanding, use, and alteration of the Earth’s surface

Employ spatial concepts & landscape Analysis

Overlaps with other fields:

What is geography?

Connects to:PsychologySociologyAnthropologyEconomicsPolitical ScienceEnvironmental ScienceHistoryPhysical Geography

(Earth Science)

Why do we study geography?

Increased interconnected world

Overlaps with other disciplines when viewed spatially

Place matters!Science and art

We balance… World patterns/processes Individual uniqueness of

place (sense of place) Globalization – greater

connectedness that does not recognize traditional human divisions (borders).

De Blij: “What happens at the global scale affects the local, but it also affects the individual, regional and national, and similarly the processes at these scales impact the global.” (8)

Globalization of the Economy

Fig. 1-17: The Denso corporation is headquartered in Japan, but it has regional headquarters and other facilities in North America and Western Europe.

Big Mac Geography

Physical and Human Geography

Physical Geography:

Earth’s natural environsProcesses that shape the earth’s surfaceDistribution of landforms

Rocks and Minerals Landforms Soils Animals Plants Water Atmosphere Rivers and Other Water Bodies Climate and Weather

World Climate Regions

Fig. 1-14: The modified Köppen system divides the world into five main climate regions.

Physical and Human Geography

Human GeographyDistribution and characteristics of peopleHow people use spaceWhat people do

Population Settlements Economic Activities Transportation Recreational Activities Religion Political Systems Social Traditions Human Migration Agricultural Systems

Five “Key Spatial Themes” of Geography

Place – Local human and physical characteristics uniquely defines place

Usually have name and boundariesExamples

Imparts meaning on inhabitants

Five “Key Spatial Themes” of Geography

Human-Environment Interaction

The ways in which human society and the natural environment affect each other

How do people use features of place in different ways?

How do people adapt to the environment?How do people change their environment?How have people created problems with

their environment?

Five “Key Spatial Themes” of Geography

Human – Environment InteractionEnvironmental Determinism – people more

determined by their environment

Possibilism – People adapt and change their environment

Cultural Ecology - A branch of ecology. The study of the interaction of human societies with one another and with the natural environment.

Five “Key Spatial Themes” of GeographyMovement – interconnectedness of places…this is

spatial interaction.People, goods, and ideas between placesHistoricallyPeople are interdependentAccessibility – reaching one location from anotherConnectivity – linkage between placesIntervening Opportunity (think accessibility) – a more

attractive option closer at hand. Reduces the pull of opportunities of a distant location.

Migration? (A human commodity flow?) WWI African Americans, Latin America to U.S.

Five “Key Spatial Themes” of Geography

Movement – spatial interactionMeasuring interaction:

Time-space convergence – accelerated movement due to technological innovations (comm., trans.)

Time-space compression – psychological and social effects of the intensity of time-space convergence.

Distance decay – the effects of distance on interaction.

Space-Time Compression, 1492-1962

Fig. 1-20: The times required to cross the Atlantic, or orbit the earth, illustrate how transport improvements have shrunk the world.

Five “Key Spatial Themes” of Geography

Regionformal region –

Functional Region –

Perceptual Region –

Election of 1860

Formal Region - Ecoregions

Colorado Landforms

Colorado - physiographic

Functional Region - economics

Vernacular Regions

Fig. 1-12: A number of features are often used to define the South as a vernacular region, each of which identifies somewhat different boundaries.

Perceptual Regions - Baseball

Five “Key Spatial Themes” of Geography

Location

Distribution:Density, Concentration, & Pattern

Fig. 1-18: The density, concentration, and pattern (of houses in this example) may vary in an area or landscape.

Density and Concentration of Baseball Teams, 1952 & 2007

Fig. 1-19: The changing distribution of North American baseball teams illustrates the differences between density and concentration.

Al Frankenhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HfcrqXtxOM

Ignorant Americanshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=e6W3T7MTh4M

BBC Articlehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/

2496427.stm