1. What is Human Geography and the History of Geography

2. Geo-Graphy Eratosthenes Greek Scientist
2200 years ago
Coined the word geography from two words
Geo = earth
Graphein = to write

3. Eratosthenes Invented a system of Longitude and Latitude
The first Greek to calculate the circumference of the Earth (with remarkable ½% accuracy)
The first Greek to calculate the tilt of the earth's axis (also with remarkable accuracy)
he may also have accurately calculated the distance from the earth to the sun and invented the leap day
Figured earth was divided into 5 climatic regions

4. Eratosthenes
He also created a map of the world based on the available geographical knowledge of the era.

5. Geography in ancient times
Thales of Miletus – Applied geometry to measuring land
Anaximander – Made a world map based on sailors information. Thought earth may be a cylinder
Hecateus – Produced first geography book
Aristotle – Proved Eratosthenes belief earth was spherical
Strabo – in a 17 volume work called Geography described the known world

6. Ptolemy 150 AD wrote an 8 volume called Guide to Geography
suggested precise methods for using a coordinate system with parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude
Included the following standard on all maps
scale, conventional signs with legends, and the practice of orienting maps so that north is at the top and east to the right of the map

7. Ptolemy’s Map
Admits he only knew about ¼ of the earth. His standards have been used for the next 1600 years and many are still in use today

8. Dark Ages
Europeans made very little advances were made from 330 AD to 1450 AD
Muslim Scholars continued the study
Al Idrisi prepared a world map with new knowledge in about 1150
Ibn-Battuata wrote Rihlah (Journeys) describing the Muslim world
China also a center of discovery while Europe was in the dark ages
Zheng He, an explorer, wrote of his journies in the mid 1400’s . As far as Kenya today and west coast of USA

9. End of the Dark Ages Europeans became interested in the world
Thanks to the exaggerations of Marco Polo
Europeans started to support voyages to explore the world in search of great wealths
Age Of Explorations
Gerardus Mercator (1512 – 1594) was one of the first to draw a world map that is relatively accurate
Voyages + Technology + improved cartography = More Interest in Geography

10. Pioneers In Scientific Geography

11. Alexander Von Humboldt
Urged geographers to adopt methods of scientific inquiry
Study of nature and social process are fundamentally same
Humboldt Park in Chicago is named for Alexander Von Humboldt

12. Carl Ritter Worked with Von Humboldt
Argued that geographers should apply natural science laws to humans to understand the relationship between people and environments
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINISM

13. ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINISM
That cultures are a direct result of where they exist
Where you live dictates how you live
Warmer climates tend to cause inhabitants to have a more relaxed attitude toward work and progress
Temperate climates were more motivated, intelligent, and culturally advanced

14. Ellen Churchill Semple Ellsworth Huntington
Friedrich Ratzel
Ellen Churchill Semple
Ellsworth Huntington
All continued the Environmental determinism approach to understanding how people interact with their environment or human geography

15. Possibilism
Approach that has grown to be more favorable in modern geography as opposed to environmental determinism
A culture’s way of life depends on the choices people make among the possibilities that are offered by the environment
Humans can change the environment
Environment can effect how we live but it just creates possibilities of how people will deal with that environment

16. In What ways have humans alter their environment as opposed to allowing environment to dictate how they live?

17. Polder
A polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes, that forms an artificial hydrological entity, meaning it has no connection with outside water other than through manually-operated devices. There are three types of polder:
Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a lake or the sea bed.
Flood plains separated from the sea or river by a dike.
Marshes separated from the surrounding water by a dike and consequently drained.

20. Human Geography was born early
As early as Strabo it was no longer enough to know where things were but geographers wanted to know more:
Why cultures and environments differ from place to place
NOT WHERE BUT WHY THERE

21. Two Sides of Geography Physical Geography Human Geography
Concerned with actual locations of places
Concerned with landforms and their distribution
Climatic patterns
Cartography
Map Making
Human Geography
Examines the relationships between people and places
Population, cultural, economic, urban, agriculture, and political geographies
Emphasis on people and culture