1. Chapter 1: Basic Concepts
The Cultural Landscape:
An Introduction to Human Geography

2. Defining Geography Word coined by Eratosthenes Geo = Earth
Graphia = writing
Geography thus means “earth writing”

3. Contemporary Geography
Geographers ask where and why
Location and distribution
Geographers examine the tension between globalization and local diversity
Physical and human geography

4. Geography’s Vocabulary
Place
Region
Scale
Space
Connections
Place
Region
Connections
Scale
Space

5. Maps Two purposes As reference tools As communications tools
To find locations, to find one’s way
As communications tools
To show the distribution of features

6. Early Map Making Eratosthenes Thales Ptolemy Anaximander Chinese
Muslims
Thales
Anaximander
Hecateus
Aristotle
Figure 1-2

7. Maps: Scale
Map scales
Ratio or fraction
Written
Graphic

8. Maps: Projection Projection Distortion Shape Distance Relative size
Direction

9. U.S. Land Ordinance of 1785 Township and range system
Township = 6 sq. miles on each side
N-S lines = principal meridians
E-W lines = base lines
Range
Sections
Figure 1-5

10. Contemporary Tools Geographic Information Science (GIScience)
Global Positioning Systems (GPS)
Remote sensing
Geographic information systems (GIS)
Figure 1-7

11. Aerial Photo of Banda Aceh Coast Before Tsunami

12. Aerial Photo of Banda Aceh Coast After Tsunami

13. Place: Unique Location of a Feature
Place names
Toponym
Site
Situation
Mathematical location

14. Place: Mathematical Location
Location of any place can be described precisely by meridians and parallels
Meridians (lines of longitude)
Prime meridian
Parallels (lines of latitude)
The equator

15. The Cultural Landscape
A unique combination of social relationships and physical processes
Each region = a distinctive landscape
People = the most important agents of change to Earth’s surface

16. Types of Regions Formal (uniform) regions Functional (nodal) regions
Example: Montana
Functional (nodal) regions
Example: circulation area of a newspaper
Vernacular (cultural) regions
Example: the American South

17. Culture Origin from the Latin cultus, meaning “to care for”
Two aspects:
What people care about
Beliefs, values, and customs
What people take care of
Earning a living; obtaining food, clothing, and shelter

18. Cultural Ecology Geographic study of human–environment relationships
Two perspectives:
Environmental determinism
Possibilism

19. Physical Processes Climate Vegetation Soil Landforms
These four processes are important for understanding human activities

20. Modifying the Environment
Figure 1-21
Modifying the Environment
Examples
The Netherlands
Polders
South Florida
Everglades
Barrier Islands

21. Scale Globalization Economic globalization Cultural globalization
Transnational corporations
Cultural globalization
A global culture?

22. Globalization

23. Space: Distribution of Features
Distribution—three features
Density
Arithmetic
Physiological
Agricultural
Concentration
Pattern

24. Gender and Ethnic Diversity in Space
Stereotypes of gender and family
Cultural identities
Pride vs. classification
Geographers use cultural identities to study spatial interactions

25. Space–Time Compression
Figure 1-29

26. Spatial Interaction Transportation networks
Electronic communications and the “death” of geography?
Distance decay
Figure 1-30

27. Figure 1-31
Diffusion
The process where a characteristic spreads across space and over time
Hearth = source area for innovations
Two types of diffusion
Relocation
Expansion
Three types: hierarchical, contagious, stimulus

28. The End