© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 1: Basic Concepts The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter 1: Basic Concepts

The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography


Defining Geography

• Word coined by Eratosthenes– Geo = Earth– Graphia = writing

• Geography thus means “earth writing”


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


Maps

• Two purposes– As reference tools

• To find locations, to find one’s way

– As communications tools• To show the distribution of human and physical

features


Early Map Making

Figure 1-2

A 7th century map of Catalhoyuk from Turkey.

A 6th century map of the world with Babylon as the center of the world


Maps: Scale• Types of map scale

– Ratio or fraction – shows the numerical ratio. Ex. 1:50,000, 1 unit represents 50,000 of the same unit

– Written – relationship between map & Earth distance. Ex. 1 inch equals 1 mile

– Graphic – bar line marked to show distance.

• Projection– Distortion

• Shape – appear elongated • Distance – increased or decreased • Relative size – appear larger or smaller • Direction – from one place to another



U.S. Land Ordinance of 1785• Township and range system

– Used to facilitate the sale of land to settlers in the West.

– Township = 6 sq. miles on each side• North–south lines = principal meridians• East–west lines = base lines

– Range = location east or west of principal meridians– Sections = divided into 36 1mile by 1 mile units,

then divided into 4 quarter-sections – ½ mile by ½ miles = 160 acres the size of western homesteads.


Township and Range

System

Figure 1-5


Contemporary Tools

• Geographic Information Science (GIScience)– Global Positioning

Systems (GPS)– Remote sensing– Geographic

information systems (GIS) Figure 1-7


A Mash-up

Figure 1-8


Place: Unique Location of a Feature

• Location– Place names

• Toponym – Texas city names.

– Site – physical features gives distinctive character

– Situation – relative location of other places– Mathematical location – Latitude & longitude


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


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


Types of Regions

• Formal (uniform) regions– Example: Montana

• Functional (nodal) regions– Example: the circulation area of a

newspaper

• Vernacular (cultural) regions– Example: the American South


What type of region?


What type

of region?

NYC Subway


What type of region?


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


Cultural Ecology

• The geographic study of human–environment relationships

• Two perspectives:– Environmental determinism– Possibilism

• Modern geographers generally reject environmental determinism in favor of possibilism


Physical Processes

• Climate

• Vegetation

• Soil

• Landforms– These four processes are important for

understanding human activities


Modifying the Environment• Examples

– The Netherlands• Polders

– The Florida Everglades

Figure 1-21


Scale

• Globalization– Economic globalization

• Transnational corporations

– Cultural globalization• Is local culture threatened by globalization?• What is needed for global culture?• Opposition to Globalization


Space: Distribution of Features

• Distribution—three features– Density

• Arithmetic• Physiological• Agricultural

– Concentration: clustered or dispersed– Pattern: geometric or irregular



Space–Time Compression

Figure 1-29


Spatial Interaction

• Transportation networks

• Electronic communications and the “death” of geography?

Figure 1-30


Distance decay

• farther from the source & the more time it takes, the less likely innovation adopted

Learn to think about distance decay in a “spatial” contextThink of distance decay in terms of an ‘x’ and ‘y’ axis


Diffusion

• The process by which a characteristic spreads across space and over time

• Hearth = source area for innovations

• Two Types – Relocation:– Expansion: Hierarchical, contagious &

stimulus


Relocation Diffusion

&Expansion Diffusion

Figure 1-31

‘A’ is relocation diffusion as the personperson goes.‘B’ is expansion diffusion as the idea/traitidea/trait moves or transports.


Relocation Diffusion:

This occurs when the people migrate and take their cultural attributes with them. Examples?

• Migrant Diffusion is when an innovation originates and enjoys strong, but brief, adoption there. The innovation may travel long distances (& be thriving), but could be faded out back at the point of origination. – e.g. influenza in China will reach the U.S., but the epidemic could be over in China by the time it takes hold in the U.S.


Expansion Diffusion

• Hierarchical – spread top-down or down-up, example: iphones, Wal-Mart

• Contagious – spread w/o regard of position. Example: Planking, Internet

• Stimulus – spread of principle w/o characteristic itself Example: McDonald’s in India


‘A’ is a diagram of contagious diffusion. Notice virtually all ‘adopt.’‘B’ is a diagram of hierarchical diffusion. Notice the leapfrogging over some areas.


An example of Stimulus Diffusion

• McDonald’s spread to India; however, Indian Hindus do not eat beef. Indian McDonald’s serve veggie burgers, which is culturally acceptable. The idea (McDonald’s burgers) was acceptable, but not in its original form – hence stimulus diffusion.


Nicholas Christakis: How social networks predict epidemics

http://www.ted.com/talks/nicholas_christakis_how_social_networks_predict_epidemics.html


Acculturation

• Acculturation – when smaller/weaker groups take on traits of the larger/dominant culture. Can be 2-way process – e.g. Aztecs acculturated into Spanish culture, but some Aztec traits remained and became Spanish culture.


Assimilation

• Assimilation – the adoption of cultural elements can be so complete that two cultures become indistinguishable – e.g. – jeans being worn here in the Czech Republic


The End.


Defining Geographic Scales, by James Rubenstein

• “Geographers think about scale at many levels, including global, regional, and local. At the global scale, geographers recognize that each place on Earth is in some ways unique. Between the local and global, geographers construct a regional scale; a region is an area characterized by a unique combination of features.”


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© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 1: Basic Concepts The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography