HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

1. Cultural Geography: study of the earth in relation to the cultural activities of man, that is, his mode of living and achievements as they are influenced by the physical environment. This is related to anthropology.

2. Economic Geography: study of the earth in relation to the productive activities of man. The earth is the main source of wealth, such as forests, mines, soils, waters, and fisheries. This overlaps with economics.

3. Social Geography: study of the earth in relation to the social activities of man. The various human communities and settlement patterns are affected by the nature of the landscape. This is related to sociology.

4. Political Geography: study of the earth in relation to the social activities of man. The policies of a state, local and foreign, are influenced by the physical environment. This is related to political science and history.

Objectives of Geographic Study:

1. It interprets the interrelations between the natural and human resources and how these can serve as the basis for socio-economic and political development. Progress is brought about by the proper utilization of the human and natural resources.

2. It stimulates the observation of natural and cultural patterns of the earth’s surface which bring about a better appreciation on the landscape. The cultural works on man are invariably affected by the nature of his physical surroundings.

3. It provides the key to the promotion of international understanding among the peoples of the world on the realization that there is a world –wide interdependence among all men. No man is an island. Since the countries produce different goods and services, trade is necessary to satisfy human wants.

4. It promotes the study of environmental education and conservation of the natural resources to maintain a desirable quality of the environment. The growth of population, urbanization and industrialization are affecting the quality of the human habitat and the survival of man.

5. It fosters the appreciation of similarities and differences from one region to another; the haves and the have-nots, the developed and the underdeveloped areas of the globe and to find causes there from. This will promote understanding, tolerance, and good will among men.

Natural Resources:

•The physical elements of the earth which are within the domain of geography are weather and climate, landforms, the oceans, and the natural resources.

•Natural resources are the material things of economic value which man did not bring into existence such as waters, soils, forests, fisheries, and minerals including coal and oil. Climate, topography, and geographic location relative to world market should also be included.

•According to Norton Ginsburg (Natural Resources and Economic Development), natural resources include all the freely given material phenomena of nature within the zone of man’s activities, plus the additional non-material quality of situation or location. The association of these elements of land, air, sea, and situation in a single area is called its “resource base” or “resource endowment”.

•Land: synonymous with natural resources; includes location, size, shape, and everything found below, on the surface, and above it.

•  •Natural Resources: embrace the whole

physical base in geographic study. Geography is concerned with the use of space and land.

Geography and Natural Resources

1. Natural resources are the foundation of our wealth and this field of geography is essentially a study of the influence and the use of these resources for social, economic, and political development.

2. Economic development refers to an efficient use of the resources in order to bring about a higher and rising per capita real income that is widely diffused to the mass of the population.

•Economic development is linked with the proper use of the natural resources that will sustain the growth of the economy.

•Economic development means better food, better clothing, better shelter, more opportunities for improvement and higher standard of living for the inhabitants.

•The economic development of any area is dependent on its resource endowment. This comprises the location, size, shape, landforms, climate and the earth resources.

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