Human Geography Midterm

Geography

the field of human knowledge that studies the earth

“Geo” =

earth

“graph” =

to write or describe

Physical geography

studies all of the natural (environmental) occurrences on the planet

Climatology

study of the earth’s climate

(physical geography)

geomorphology

study of the distribution of landforms

(physical geography)

oceanography

study of the ocean and its organisms

(physical geography)

biogeography

study of the distribution of plants and animals

(physical geography)

Human Geography

study of the location of people and activities across the earth’s surface and the reasons for their distribution

(where and why people live places)

Human Geography: Political

political regions that have developed, government/country indicated boundaries, and relations between governments and people

Human Geography: Economic

how we developed and organized roles economically, including trade and finance

Human Geography: Religious

the relationship of a society’s religious system regarding usage of resources, development of government, and environmental interactions

Ways to identify regions”

• language

• political orientations

• natural environmental boundaries

• religion

Demographics

data that is used to chart the various characteristics of a human population

Homogeneous region

a region that has shared characteristics (such as language or climate)

Formal region

a region determined by set artificial boundaries

Nodal region

an area organized around a focal point

• like how New York City is focused around Central Park and the subway

Vernacular region

based on customs of a particular social group

Relative space

gets meaning when related to other concepts or things

relative to SOMETHING

absolute space

concrete location (such as coordinates)

Site

the physical location of a place;

the exact place that somewhere is located, like latitude and longitude

Situation

relative location

the location of one place as it is related to another plaec

Scale

the size of a particular place, relative or absolute

Spatial interaction

studying how separate social groups interact (or lack there of) with each other

Factors of spatial interaction

• Distance

• Time

• Cost

• Opportunity

• Supply and Demand

Cultural ecology

subfield of human geography that studies how humans interact with and adapt to the ecological system

Alexander von Humboldt

• believed to have started modern geography

• (1769-1859)

• German, Upperclass, Scholar

• Theorized Latin America and Africa had once been connected

• Developed theory of isothermic lines (a method of examining the climates of various locations on earth)

• published 5 volume work “Kosmos” which showed his ideas for natural sciences and scientists working within a unified body of natural sciences

Carl Ritter

• (1779-1859)

• German scientist

• 19 volume work explaining how the earth’s structure influenced human activities

• Chairman of geography department at the University of Berlin

• Viewed earth like a patient and him as the doctor/examiner

• Believed the physical nature of earth affected how history unfolded

Ellsee Reclus

• (1830-1905)

• French geographer

• invented the term “social geography”

• 19 work volume “The Earth and Its Inhabitants”

Evelyn Stokes

• New Zealand geographer

• worked for the inclusion of marginalized groups

• especially women and the Maori people

Walter Christaller

• (1893-1969)

• German

• made groundbreaking discoveries on urban space and how towns and cities interact with each other

Doreen Massey

• (1944-2016)

• English geographer

• worked with the concept of poverty and wealth being determined by place

• specialized in Marxist and feminist geographics

Ancient geography focus

mapping and describing

Modern geography focus

cause and effect

WHY

Determinism

theory that predictable factors or causes lead to an occurring event

Environmental determinism

suggests that the influence of a physical environment determines the cultural characteristics of a specific social group

BAD AND RACIST

Environmental possiblism

a social group’s physical environment sets boundaries and limits to the social group, but that, ultimately, the social culture is not determined by the environment. Instead, social conventions and beliefs serve to develop a social group’s characteristics within the boundaries of the physical environment

Determinism and Possiblism show what important thing of modern geography?

Debate

the WHY

Carl Sauer

• (1888-1975)

• wrote “The Morphology of Landscape”

• theory of Landscape geography

Landscape geography

landscape was something developed from the natural environment by a social group. Stating a social group, by developing and cultivation, designs a natural environment to create a “landscape”

Major idea behind Landscape Geography

idea that a social group has a massive effect on their environment

Regional geography

isolates and examines precisely what characteristics define a specific region

accent

The particular pronunciation of a particular nation, location, or individual.

Indo-European

The largest language family with nearly half of the world’s languages, originating in the forests north of the Black Sea that spread westward to Europe, eastward to India, southward to the Mediterranean, and northward to Scandinavia.

Isogloss

A particular geographical area sharing the pronunciation of a particular vowel or other language characteristics.

Language

A method of communicating feelings and ideas using conventional signs and gestures, particularly vocally.

language familes

Languages that are related and share a common ancestor.

lingua franca

A specific language chosen or used to bridge a communication gap between different cultures

Multilingualism

Promoting or using multiple languages

Pidgin

A simplified language that develops so that two or more groups can communicate when they do not have a common language.

polyglot

A multilingual person

Slang

The use of expressions and words that are not considered standard to a language or a dialect

Taxonomy

The science and practice of classification.

Toponyms

The study of place names.

Language geography

a branch of human geography that studies the elements of language and the geographic distribution of language

First field of language geography

studies distribution and space of languages throughout history

Second field of language geography

studies the linguistic variation of languages

Which field of language geography is human geography most interested in?

First, distribution and space

Effect of a lack of commonality in languages or multiple languages

divisions/ inability to communicate

Language taxonomy

the practice and science of classifying languages (each language has its own taxonomy)

What determines classification?

• genetic classification of languages (how language evolved over time)

• typological classification (grammar and structure)

Proto-language

the common ancestor language in a language family

comparative linguistics

the branch of historical linguistics that compares languages to establish their relatedness through history

Branches

subdivisions in a language family

Number of language families

9

Sino-Tibetan

mainly east asia

Niger-Congo

mainly sub-saharan Africa

Afro-Asiatic

Mainly southwest Asia and Africa (North Africa and the Horn of Africa mostly)

Austronesian

Mainly Madagascar, Oceania, and maritime Southeast Asia

Dravidian

Mainly South Asia

Altaic

Mainly Central Asia, Northern Asia, Siberia, and Anatolia

Austro-Asiatic

Mainly mainland Southeast Asia

Tai-Kadai

Mainly Southeast Asia

Romance languages

subdivision of the Latin Branch (derived from Latin)

• after the Roman Empire fell different regions spoke Latin but became isolate so the language evolved into many languages

• 5 main languages are: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian

Monolingualism

Promoting or using one language

Vernacular

the native language of a country or area

Creole

when two languages form a pidgin and then is acquired by children so it becomes a primary language

pidgin rule (except for creoles)

always a second language

Centum-satem isogloss

one of the most well-known isoglosses

• from the Indo-European language family

• based on the evolution of three dorsal consonants (consonants that use the mid-body of the tongue to pronounce)

Culture trait

Features of a culture (language, clothing, religion, etc)

• Often a learned trait

Culture complex

The combination of related traits that identify a specific culture group

Examples of culture traits:

• How people dress

• Language

• Material culture

• Artifacts (utensils, furniture, etc)

• Skills

• Vaules

• Fine arts

• Attitude towards the unknown

• Social institutions (like government)

Diffusion

The distribution or spreading of a culture and/or culture trait

How many types of diffusion (and what are they!)

4

1. Relocation diffusion

2. 1Expansion diffusion

3. Hierarchical diffusion

4. Contagious diffusion

Relocation diffusion

People relocating and bringing culture complexes with them

Physical relocation —> transplanted culture

Expansion diffusion

Culture remains in original location but spreads out

Hierarchical diffusion

Diffusion that moves from large or powerful to weaker or smaller items

Contagious diffusion

Similar to expansive diffusion

BUT

Involves rapid and invasive diffusion of a trait through a culture group

(moves through all levels of a group all at once)

Acculturation

A process where a culture is changed because it has adapted traits or complexes from a different culture group

The change that results from two culture groups coming into contact with one another

Assimilation

Where an immigrant culture gradually adopts the language, beliefs, and behaviors of the host culture, gradually causing the immigrant culture to lose their own original culture identity

Syncretism

The acquired culture traits mix with the original traits to form a blend of culture traits

Culture regions

Areas where a social group possesses all the behaviors and structures that identify it as a culture group

Culture realms

Largest culture regions

Cultural differences

Broad categories or themes that geographers study such as a language or religion

Language families

Groups of languages that are very similar and have developed from an original parent language

• Example: indo-european

• greek, german, russian, hindi, urdu, spanish, etc

Migration

People moving from one place to another

Dialects

How a language is used in different regions