Ch 1: Intro

What is geography?

to describe or write about the Earth

First geographer is Eratosthenes

What is geography today?

science that studied lands, features, people, and phenomena of the earth

Can be a combination of physical and human geography

includes social and physical science

What is physical geography?

focused on Earth’s natural features and the interactions that happen in nature

What are some examples of physical geography?

meteorology/climatology, glaciology, biogeography, geodesy, oceanography, landscape ecology, hydrology, climatology, hydrology

What is human geography?

it focuses on:

• how we interact with others

• how people shape/make places

• how we understand ourselves and others in a social context

• how society and space is organized

What is globalization?

processes that increase interactive, deepen relationships, and increase interdependence across national borders

(basically exacerbates the impacts of human geography)

How does globalization and innovation impact human geography?

• innovations in technology and transportation increase connection between people, places and people are more interconnected to one another

• economic globalization and spread of popular culture like movies or items (coco cola/spiderman) and fashion or architecture are making more places look alike or have similar cultural elements.

What is Immanuel Kant’s perspective?

disciplines should not only be focused on one type of phenomena (sociology), but also on perspectives of space and time (geography)

What is Tobler’s law?

“Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things”

• first law of geography by Waldo Tobler

What are the different levels of scale?

• individual

• local

• regional

• national

• global

What are the five geographic themes?

• location

• environment and human interaction

• region

• place

• movement

the themes were introduced in 1986 by the National geographic society because of geography’s spatial concerns.

What is location?

• highlights how the geographical position of things and people on Earth’s surface affects what happens.

• established the context within where events and processes happen

What is environment and human interaction?

• a spatial perspective that considers the relationship between the physical world and people.

• asking questions about location means noticing the reciprocal relationship between the environment and humans.

What is region?

• regions are where features on Earth’s surface are concentrated in an area.

• understanding the regional geography of a place helps us understand the information we know about a place.

What is place?

• a sense of place is developed by a person when they connect with an meaning, emotion, or experience

• develop perceptions of places through media and other people.

What is movement?

the mobility of goods, people, and ideas across the planet

(connected to spatial interaction)

What is spatial interaction dependent on?

• the accessibility of places

• the transportation and communication between places

• the distances among places

What is a cultural landscape?

the visible imprint of human activity on the landscape

What is sequent occupance?

the imprints of occupants, whose impacts are layers one on top of the other, each layer affecting the other

Ex: colonialism in India

What is cartography?

the science and art of map making.

What are reference maps?

show locations of places and features

What are thematic maps?

tell stories like illustrating the degree of some attribute or the movement of a geographic phenomena.

What is medical geography?

mapping the spread of a disease with a map can help find the cause.

How were maps used during the cholera pandemic?

Dr. John Snow

• mapped cases of cholera in London’s soho district to find the water pump that had the contaminated water in 1854.

• he was a anesthesiologist

• cholera pandemic started in India but spread to Asia and Europe

• became a pandemic

• still found in places that lack sanitary sewer systems or prone to floods.

What is the difference between pandemic and epidemic?

pandemic is worldwide and epidemic is a specific area

What is a reference map?

depict the absolute locations of places using a coordinate system that allows for plotting where something is.

(lat, long) degree system or corrdinates

What is a global positioning system?

a satellite based system that helps locate things

What is absolute location?

does not change

What is relative location?

the location of a place in relation to other human and physical features.

What are mental maps?

maps that are in people’s minds about places they have heard of to been to

(can include activity spaces)

include unknown places that are terra incognita

What are activity spaces?

places that we travel routinely in our rounds of daily activity

What is culture?

• all encompassing term that identifies people’s lifestyle and prevailing values and beliefs.

• related to anthropology

What is a cultural trait?

a single attribute of a culture as decided by cultural geographers

What is a functional region?

defined by a specific set of activities or interactions

(Mountain view - is where school is)

What are perceptual regions?

intellectual constructs to help us understand the nature and distribution of phenomena in physical geography.

EX: 12 major regions in the US (like pacific, west, south)

by cultural geographer Wilbur Zelinsky

What is a culture complex?