Transcript Introduction to Geography

Introduction to AP Human
Geography
Introductory Questions
1) Why do students study geography? (3
examples)
2) How does geography affect your life? (3
examples)
3) How would your life be different if you
lived in Japan? (3 examples)
Intro. Cont..
I.
II.
III.
In this course, we will examine why different areas
have developed differently in terms of culture,
economics, politics, and urban development.
Geography is a means to understand why certain areas
are similar to and different from each other. Human
geography in particular, helps us to focus on “how the
world is and how it might be.”
Geography is a means to understand why certain areas
are similar to and different from each other. Human
geography in particular, helps us to focus on “how the
world is and how it might be.”
Intro. Cont…
I.
Human geography is different from other branches of geography because its
primary focus is people. It studies human groups and their activities, such as
language, industry, and the building of cities; it is a social science. (It looks at how
people modify their environment, how they interact over space, as opposed to with
space).
Other Fields of Geography
II.
i.
ii.
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vii.
Population geography – The study of the distribution of humankind across the earth
Cultural geography – The study of the geography of human cultures
Political geography – The study of the interaction between political processes and the
distribution of all other activities
Economic geography – The study of how various people make their living and what they
trade
Urban geography – The geographic study of cities
Physical Geography – The study of the characteristics of the physical environment
Historical Geography – The study of the geography of the past and how geographic
distributions have changed.
Are You a Geo-Genius
1) Which state is bordered on the southwest by the
Savannah River- South Carolina or Indiana?
2) Which state produces more gold than any other stateNevada or Nebraska?
3) Which state is located closer to the Tropic of Cancer –
Louisiana or Wyoming?
4) Which state has a longer border with Canada – Alaska
or Idaho?
5) Which state does not have a coastline New Mexico or
New Hampshire?
Chapter 1
Introduction to Geography
History of Geography
Classical Western World
(1) Erastosthones (275-195 B.C.) Director of library in
Alexandria, calculated circumference of the Earth
Hipparchus (180-127 B.C.) – Alexandria library director, first two
place a grid on the earth
(2) Ptolemy ( 127 A.D. – 150) – Wrote Guide to Geography
Non-European World
Muslim Scholars - Al-Edrisi (1099-1154), Ibn-Battuta (13041378), and Ibn-Khaldun (1332-1406) produced texts
The Tribute of Yu 5th Century B.C. describes geogrpahy of Chinese
Empire
Phei Hsiu – father of Chinese cartography
(3) Kangido – Korea 1402, included East Asia, India, Islamic
World, Africa, and Europe, far more extensive than knowledge of
the Roman World
Since the 1400’s…
General geography (1650)
Bernhard Varen – German professor
• (4) Special geography = regional geography, begins with explanation of
local physical env. and then analyzes places in terms of categories, such as
local population, customs, and politics.
• (5) General geography = topical/systematic geography, examines topics of
universal application, basic approach for the outline of your textbook
Human-environment tradition
(6) Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859)
• Cosmos – enormous intellectual impact in the United States, statue central
park
(7) George Perkins Marsh (1801-1882)
• Man and Nature (1864) – U.S. ambassador to several Mediterranean
countries, precursor of today’s env. movement
“The information that any citizen
needs in order to make an
informed decision on an
important question of the day is
largely geographic.”
Geography Today
Association of American Geographers
(8) 55 topical specialties
www.aag.org
Where?, What?, When?, Why?, and Why there?
Four approaches
Area analysis – examines site, situation, and region.
Spatial analysis – examines patterns in the distribution of human
actions, movements and env. processes across Earth’s surface
(9) Physical System Analysis – use models to analyze physical
env.
Geographic information systems analysis – use computer based
GIS and GPS systems
Area Analysis
Site
(10) Exact location of a place
Situation or relative location
Location of a place relative to other places
Accessibility
(11) Constant change
Scale
Regions
Formal regions
Exhibit uniformity across a cultural or physical
characteristic
Functional regions
Defined by interactions among places
Vernacular regions
(12) Widespread popular perception of
existence
Spatial Analysis
Distribution – the distribution of a phenomenon
means its position, placement or arrangement
throughout space
Three properties of distribution
(13) Density – describes the frequency of occurrence of
a phenomenon in relation to a geographic area (fig. 111)
Concentration – refers to the distribution of a
phenomenon within a given area
(14) Pattern – geometrical arrangement of objects in
an area
Movement
Distance – Interaction of people and places across distance
Measurements (several ways to measure)
• (15) Absolute – measured in terms of miles or kilometers
• Time – i.e. something is 20 minutes away
• Cost – monetary amount required to overcome a distance (explains
importance of water to growth of cities)
(16) Friction of distance – effort to overcome distance when we
transport items
Distance decay
As distance increases, importance of a particular phenomena
decreases
• Ex. Newspaper circulation
Three Types of Diffusion
(17) Relocation diffusion – i.e. a nomadic tribe relocating
Contiguous diffusion – occurs from one place directly to
another place
(18) Hierarchical diffusion – upward or downward in an
organization (Roman Catholic Church)
Barriers to diffusion
Cultural barriers
• Oceans, deserts, distance, time
• Political boundaries, cultural differences
4 Physical Systems
Atmosphere (air) –surrounding Earth to an altitude of less
than 300 miles (lower atm. pure air is 78% N and 21% O)
(19) Lithosphere (Earth’s solid rocks) – consists of
Earth’s crust and a portion of upper mantle directly below
the crust, extending down 45 miles
Hydrosphere (water) – surface water, vapor in the
atmosphere, ice in glaciers, and groundwater in soil and
rock
(20) Biosphere - living organisms on Earth
Human-Environmental
Interaction
(21) Reciprocal interaction – env. affects human
life and cultures and humans alter the env.
Culture
Everything about the way people live: language, food,
religion, social ceremonies
(22) Natural landscapes
Without evidence of human activity
Cultural landscapes
Reveals how humans modify local environment
The Geographic Grid
Longitude
Measures distance east to west around the globe
beginning at the Prime Meridian
Prime Meridian – 0 Degree
International Date Line – see figure 1-19
0-180 degrees East or West
(23) Greenwich Mean Time
Latitude
Location on the Earth’s surface between the equator
and either the north or south pole
(24) Parallels – lines connecting all points at the same
latitude
0-90 degrees North or South
Map Making
Cartography
Scale
Fraction 1/24,000
Ratio
1:24,000
Written statement “1 inch equals 1 mile”
Bar style
0 1 2 3 4
Detail and area
(25) Small scale map = less detail, large denominator
(1:1,000,000)
(26) Large scale map = more detail, small denominator
(1:100,000)
Projection
Scientific method of transferring locations
on Earth’s surface to a flat map
4 types of distortion – (see page 30)
(27) Shape – objects are stretched more in
some parts so that their shape changes
Distance – latitude and longitude lines
(28) Relative size – items become larger or
smaller
Direction – lat. & long. orientation changes
Geographic Information
Technology
Automated cartography
Manual techniques - expensive
(29) Computer Assisted Drawing (CAD)
• Sophisticated, specialized digital cartography
systems
• Easier, cheaper editing
• Also used for product design, i.e. Cannondale
Natural Landscape – w/o evidence of
human activity
Cultural Landscape - Reveals how humans
modify local environment
Questions:
1) When does an area become a cultural
landscape and stop becoming a natural
landscape?
2) Are all landscapes cultural landscapes?
3) How much of land in the U.S. should be
preserved?
Accessibility – can be as valuable as
mineral deposits or fertile soil
Accessibility Survey
1. How accessible is NYC? Philadelphia? Tanzania?
2. How accessible are your teachers?
3. How accessible are you, can your friends easily
contact you?
4. How might your answers have been different
50 years ago?
5. What are the positives and negatives of increased
accessibility?
Remote Sensing
Acquisition of data about Earth’s
surface from a satellite orbiting the
planet or from high-flying aircraft
Satellites
(30) Landsat – see page 35
First launch 1972; most recent launch 1999
Sensors measure radiation of colors of visible light
Pixel size at first (resolution): 59 x 59 meters
IKONOS resolution now: 1.5 x 1.5 meters
Weather satellites
Very large pixels – cover several kilometers on a side
Remotely Sensed Data
Human activities
Changes in plant growth
Drainage patterns
Erosion associated with agriculture
(31) Logging and forest management
Wetland monitoring
Wartime applications
GIS – (32) Geographic Information
Systems
Database software for digital information
Contains same information as regular database
PLUS
• Spatial characteristics such as boundary information or
coordinates
• An identifying characteristic that locates the item in space (i.e.,
address)
Layers
Information with specific characteristics
• Soils, hydrology, land ownership
Can be combined for analysis
Digital Geographic Information
(33) Raster
Grid cells of data
• Remote sensing images
• Pixels
(34) Vector
Point, line, polygon data
X and Y coordinates
Different uses and spatial accuracies
Digital Data
Conversion of paper to digital formats
Digital database creation
Remote sensing images
Digitizing
• Tracing lines
Available types of data
(35) Topographic maps
• DRG and DLG
US Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands
Inventory
Census Bureau TIGER files
GIS Spatial Analysis
Calculating densities and distribution of
population
“Counting” lakes
Monitoring environmental changes with
satellite images
Analyzing changes in (36) food production
and land use
Chapter 1 Vocab.
Space-time compression – the reduction in the time it takes
for something to reach another place
Hearth – the place where an innovation originates
Expansion diffusion – spread of features from one place to
End of Chapter 1
another
Contagious diffusion – rapid widespread diffusion
throughout a population, for example a disease
Stimulus diffusion – spread of an underlying principle, like
the use of Windows
Uneven Development – Increasing economic gap between
regions in the core and periphery as a result of
globalization
Chapter 1 Vocab. Cont..
Transnational Corporation – multinational corp. operates
factories and sells products in many factories
Polder – piece of land created from draining water
Cultural Ecology – geographic study of humanenvironment relationships
Environmental Determinism – Human environment causes
social development
Possibilism – People have the ability to adjust to their
environment
MDCS and LDCs
Culture – body of customary beliefs, material traits and
social forms that constitute a distinct group
Chapter 1 Vocab. Cont..
Regions
Formal
Functional
Regional