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 are important terms
Geographers are concerned with the tension between globalization and local diversity
A division: physical geography and human geography

4. Geography’s Vocabulary
Place: a specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular characteristic.
Region: an area of Earth distinguished by a distinctive combination of cultural and physical features.
Scale: the relationship of between the portion of the Earth being studied and the Earth as a whole.
Space: refers to the physical gap or interval between two objects.
Connections: relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space.

5. Maps Two purposes As reference tools As communications tools
To find the shortest routes between locations and to avoid getting lost along the way
As communications tools
To show the distribution of human activities and physical features, and to understand reasons for the distribution

6. Early Map Making Above: oldest map (Turkey) 7th century BC
Below: Babylon (Iraq) 6th Century BC
Figure 1-2

7. Maps: Scale Types of map scale Projection
Ratio or fraction: numerical ration between distances on Earth’s surface 1:100
Written: written word form of ratio
Graphic: bar line to show distance
Projection
Distortion: 4 types
Shape: appears more elongated or squat
Distance: distance becomes increased or decreased
Relative size: altered size so one area appears larger than another but is in reality smaller
Direction: may be distorted

8. Map Scale
1) Washington State 1:10,000,000 (1 in = 10,000,000 inches or 158 miles)
2) Western Washington 1:1,000,000
3) Seattle 1:100,000
4) Downtown Seattle 1:10,000
As the area covered gets smaller, the maps get more detailed. 1 in represents smaller distances
Figure 1-4

9. 2 Types of Uninterrupted Maps
Robinson Map: shape distortion/ more ocean
Mercator Map: accurate shape/ distorted poles

10. U.S. Land Ordinance of 1785 Township and range system
Township = 6 sq. miles on each side
North–south lines = principal meridians
East–west lines = base lines
Each Township has a number corresponding to a distance: T1 (distance north or south on a particular baseline
Also a second number known as Range: R1 (distance east or west on a particular meridian line
Sections: each township is divided into 36 sections, each of which is 1 mile by 1 mile.

11. Township and Range System
TL: north-south lines = meridian lines (red lines). East-west lines = base lines (green lines).
TR: West 6x6 miles/ East 6x6 (then divided into 36 1x1 mile subsections
BL: scale of 1:24,000 or 1 inch = 24,000 inches (2,000 ft)
Figure 1-5

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

13. Figure 1-8 https://developers.google.com/maps/
A Mash-up
Figure
Chicago Transit Authority mash-up shows location of buses and bus stops along three routes. (computer interactive; rolling the mouse over a bus stop shows when the next 3 buses are expected.

14. Why is Each Point on Earth Unique? pg13 - 28
Key Issue 2
Why is Each Point on Earth Unique? pg

15. Place: Unique Location of a Feature
Location: 4 ways to identify
Place names
Toponym:
Site: the physical characteristics of a place
Situation: location of a place relative to other places (helps locate a location)
Mathematical location: the use of meridians and parallels (longitude and latitude )

16. Place: Mathematical Location
Location of any place can be described precisely by a numbering system
Meridians (lines of longitude) 74W
Prime meridian (Greenwich, England)
Parallels (lines of latitude) 41N
The equator

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

18. Types of Regions
Region can apply to any area larger than a point but smaller than the planet.
Regional Studies: approach to geography that emphasizes the relationship among social and physical phenomena in a particular study.

19. Types of Regions Formal (uniform) regions
Example: Florida or Red vs Blue state.
Functional (nodal or focal point) regions
Example: the circulation area of a newspaper
Vernacular (cultural) regions rather than a scientific model
Example: the American South

20. Vernacular Region by Mental Mapping
American South: characteristics that make it different from the rest of the United States
Environmental
Cultural
Economic
Slingshot Artist

21. Culture
Origin from the Latin cultus, meaning “to care for”. Body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms that distinguish a group.
Two aspects:
What people care about
Beliefs, values, and customs
Three identifying factors of culture derive from: Language, Religion, & Ethnicity.
What people take care of
Earning a living; obtaining food, clothing, and shelter -

22. Cultural Ecology
The geographic study of human–environment relationships
Two perspectives:
Environmental determinism:
The idea developed in the 19th c. by Humboldt and Ritter, through the examination of natural processes using scientific enquiry, that the physical environment caused social development
Possibilism
Modern geographers generally reject environmental determinism in favor of possibilism because humans have the ability to adjust to and manipulate their environment

23. Physical Processes Climate: Tropics, Dry, Warm, Cold, Polar
Vegetation: Forest biome, Savanna biome, Grassland biome, Desert biome
Soil: 12,000 soil types
Landforms: flat to mountainous
These four processes are important for understanding and interpreting Human Activities

24. Modifying the Environment
Examples
The Netherlands
Polders: creating land by drainage
The Florida Everglades
Not so sensitive environmental modification/ unintended environmental/social consequences
Figure 1-21

25. Why Are Different Places Similar? Pg 28 - 39
Key Issue 3
Why Are Different Places Similar? Pg

26. Scale: From Local to Global
Globalization is….
a force or process that involves the entire world and results in making something worldwide in scope. (Rubenstein)
the process of international integration arising from the interchange of world views, products, ideas, and other aspects of culture.
a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world. (globalization101.org)
Results in a more uniform world
Increase in transnational corporations

27. Space: Distribution of Features
Distribution—three features
Density
Arithmetic (total number of objects in an area)
Physiological (number of persons per unit of area suitable for agriculture)
Agricultural (the number of farmers per unit area of farmland
Concentration
The extent of a features spread over space
Pattern
The geometric arrangement of objects in space

28. Space–Time Compression
Describes the reduction of time it takes for something to reach another place.
Examples:
Internet video that goes viral
an received from someone in another country
Figure 1-29

29. Spatial Interaction
Improved Transportation networks and Electronic communications vs the “death” of geography?
The Friction of Distance
The degree to which distance interferes with some interaction
Distance decay
The interaction between two places declines as the distance between the two places increases.
Contact between places will diminish with increasing distance until it ultimately disappears.
The idea that distance makes it difficult to stay connected has been reduced in many aspects of life due to improved transportation and communication
Figure 1-30

30. Diffusion
The process by which a characteristic spreads across space and over time
Hearth = source area for innovations
Two types of diffusion
Relocation
Expansion
Three types: hierarchical, contagious, stimulus

31. Diffusion: Examples Relocation Diffusion Expansion Diffusion
The spread of a feature from one place to another through a snowballing process
Hierarchical: spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority
Contagious: spread of an idea like a contagious disease, without regard to hierarchy
Stimulus: spread of an underlying principle even though the characteristic fails to spread
The spread of an idea through physical movement
Figure 1-31

32. The End.
Up next: Population