APHG CHAPTER 1:
INTRO TO HUMAN
GEOGRAPHY
KEY QUESTION #1:
WHAT IS HUMAN
GEOGRAPHY?
(3 SLIDES)
KEY QUESTION #1: WHAT IS
HUMAN GEOGRAPHY?
HG focuses on…
• How people make places
• How we organize space & society
• How we interact with each other in places & across space
• How we make sense of others & ourselves in our locality, region & world
Advances in communication & transportation are making people & places more interconnected every day
KEY QUESTION #1: WHAT IS
HUMAN GEOGRAPHY?
The world consists of…
• 195 states(we will use the term state now, not country)
• Hundreds of religions(19 with at least 1 million adherents)
• Almost 7,000 languages spoken
• Thousands and thousands of cultural characteristics
Understanding & explaining this diversity is the mission of human geography
KEY QUESTION #1: WHAT IS
HUMAN GEOGRAPHY?
Key term in HG is “globalization”
• Set of processes that are increasing interactions, deepening relationships & heightening interdependence
Human-environment interaction is critical as well
• People adapt to, alter, manipulate, and cope with their surroundings
• Each place is affected by and created by people---and each place reflects the culture of the people in that place over time
KEY QUESTION #2:
WHAT ARE
GEOGRAPHIC
QUESTIONS?
(3 slides)
KEY QUESTION #2: WHAT ARE
GEOGRAPHIC QUESTIONS? A simple definition(by geographer Marvin
Mikesell) of geography is the “why of where”; this concept leads to several questions: • Why and how do things come together in
places to produce particular outcomes? • Why are some things found in certain places
but not in others? • To what extent do things in one place influence
those in others? • Why does it matter what things are different
across space? • What role does a place play in its region & the
world?
KEY QUESTION #2: WHAT ARE
GEOGRAPHIC QUESTIONS?
Questions like these, and others, are the core of geographic inquiry; they are critical to understanding the world
To fully understand a concept, one must understand its spatial(fancy word for “geographic) distribution
• Once one understands this then they have a “spatial perspective” of the world
Spatial distribution
What processes create and sustain the pattern of a distribution?
Map of Cholera Victims
in London’s Soho District
in 1854.
The patterns of victim’s
homes and water pump
locations helped uncover
the source of the disease.
KEY QUESTION #2: WHAT ARE
GEOGRAPHIC QUESTIONS?
Another commonly used phrase is “cultural landscape”
• The visible imprint of human activity on the landscape
• This term was created by geographer Carl Sauer in 1927
A related term is “sequent occupance”
• Created by Derwent Whittlesey; refers to cultural succession and the imprint that successive occupiers can have on a place
Cultural Landscape The visible human imprint on the landscape.
Religion and
cremation
practices
diffuse with
Hindu migrants
from India to
Kenya.
Sequent Occupance Dar es Salaam, Tanzania African, Arab, German, British, and Indian layers to
the city.
Apartment in Mumbai, India Apartment in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
KEY QUESTION #3:
WHY DO
GEOGRAPHERS
USE MAPS, AND
WHAT DO MAPS
TELL US?
(2 slides)
KEY QUESTION #3: WHY DO GEOGRAPHERS
USE MAPS & WHAT DO MAPS TELL US?
Cartography is the science of mapmaking
Reference maps show locations of places & geographic features(includes political & physical maps)
Thematic maps tell stories, showing the degree of same attribute or the movement of a phenomenon
Mental maps are the maps we carry in our mind(usually the closer a location is, the more clear sense of accuracy exists in our mental placement of it)
NBC NEWS
• CARTOGRAPHERS AND STUDENTS TRY TO KEEP UP WITH THE CHANGING WORLD
Reference
Map
Thematic
Map
What story
about median
income in the
Washington, DC
area is this map
telling?
KEY QUESTION #3: WHY DO GEOGRAPHERS
USE MAPS & WHAT DO MAPS TELL US?
Technology has transformed mapmaking & uses
•GPS(Global Positioning Systems)
•Remote Sensing(data collected by satellites & aircraft)
•GIS(Geographic Information Systems)
Uses layers of data
Has unlimited uses
Remote
Sensing: a method of
collecting data by
instruments that
are physically
distant from the
area of study.
Geographic Information System: a collection of computer
hardware and software
that permits storage
and analysis of
layers of spatial data.