Geography Notes

Human Geography

The study of human activities from a spatial context.

Basic Ideas of Geography

All places have location, direction, and distance with respect to other places.
Places may be large or small; the scale is important.
Places have both physical structure and cultural content.
The characteristics of places develop and change over time.
The elements of places interact with other places.
The content of a place is rationally organized.
Places may be classified into regions with similarities and differences.

Location

Position on the Earth’s surface.

Absolute Location

The exact position of a place.
Latitude and longitude are used to describe a point on earth in reference to degrees, minutes, and seconds.

Relative Location

The position of a place in relation to the position of another place.
Conveys interconnection and interdependence between different places.

Site

Describes the physical and cultural characteristics of a location.

Situation

Describes where a location is in reference to surrounding features in the larger region.

Scale

Relationship between the size of a feature as depicted on a map and the size of the feature in actuality.

The 4 Traditions of Geography - American Perspectives

Spatial Tradition

Emphasis on movement and location.
Deals with the shape of the land.

Area Studies Tradition

Emphasis on region, place, and history.
Deals with physical and cultural characteristics.

Man-Land Tradition

Emphasis on the relationship between external conditions and human actions.
Overlaps with the Area Studies Tradition.

Earth Science Tradition

Emphasis on geology.
Deals with how physical systems affect humans (hydrological cycle, wind patterns, etc.).

Maps and Map Types

Map: a two-dimensional representation of variables on the earth’s surface.

Thematic Map

Represents a single variable over an area.
- Dot
- Choropleth
- Isoline
- Symbol

Mental Map

An image in one’s mind about an area, location, or environment.

General Purpose/Reference Maps

Display a variety of variables in an area.

Region

An area with unifying characteristics.

Formal Region

An area that can be identified by its homogeneous cultural or physical characteristics.

Functional Region

An area in which there is a center from which social or economic activities spread.

Perceptual Region

An area not defined by any set of physical data but by human conception of the area.

Basic Geographic Models and Concepts

Cultural Change Theories

Environmental Determinism

Belief that the physical environment is solely responsible for shaping human actions and behaviors.

Possibilism

Belief that people, and not the environment, are the forces responsible for shaping culture.

Economic Development Models

Rostow Model (1950s)

Gauge of economic development, based on a Western point of view.
Contains 6 stages of development:
- Traditional Societies
- Preconditions for Takeoff
- Takeoff
- Drive to Maturity
- Age of Mass Consumption
- Post-Industrial (theoretical/debatable)

World Systems Model (1970s)

Looks at economic development based on the relationships between countries, as opposed to the Rostow Model.
The core consists of the economically dominant partners.
The sub-periphery and periphery are less dominant and typically contain more basic level employment; they are reliant upon the core.

Economic Sectors

Primary Sector

Agricultural and extractive activities.
Relied upon by many developing nations.

Secondary Sector

Processing activities – manufacturing, construction, and power production.
Many developing nations support secondary activities with lower labor costs than developed countries.

Tertiary Sector

Service activities.
Many developed countries’ economies are dominated by tertiary sector jobs.

Quaternary Sector

Informational activities.
The Quinary Sector is a new theoretical sector within the quaternary sector of high-level management jobs.

Economic Spatial Models/Concepts

Gravity Model (H. Carey)

The laws of gravity are applicable in describing the attractive force that exists between two areas (cities).
Large cities have greater drawing power for people than small cities.
There is a breaking point for each city beyond which people will not be drawn to the city to meet their needs.

Distance Decay

A term linked with the Gravity Model.
Describes the decline of attractive pull something has with increasing distance from the point of origin.

Central Place Theory (W. Christaller; 1930s)

A central place is a market center used for an exchange of goods and services.
People are attracted to a central place from the surrounding area.
The competition between central places creates a regular pattern of settlements.
Larger settlements are fewer and farther apart; they exist to provide a greater variety of services and specialized goods (the symphony, museums) that people are willing to travel a greater distance for.

Threshold

Minimum number of people needed to support a product or activity.

Range

Distance people are willing to travel for a product or activity.

Von Thunen’s Model (J. H. von Thunen; 19th century)

Describes the relationship between distance from market and land use.
There are four concentric rings around a central market.
Products grown inside each of the rings are determined by the crop’s transport gradient.
Perishable items like fruits and vegetables face higher transport rates, while the transportation rates for commodities like grain are less.
- 1st ring: Dairying and market gardening (perishable, high transport costs).
- 2nd ring: Cash grains and livestock.
- 3rd ring: Mixed farming.
- Farthest ring: Extensive grain farming and stock raising.

Least-Cost Theory (A. Weber)

Used to discover the optimum location of an industrial/manufacturing establishment.
Weighs three basic expenses against each other to try to determine the best location: relative transport costs, agglomeration costs, and labor costs.

Geopolitical Theories

Concerned with strategic advantage and the balance of political, economic, and military power on the earth’s surface.

Sea Power Theory (Mahan; late 1800s)

Argued that control of the sea lanes would lead to national strength.

Heartland Theory (Mackinder; early 1900s)

Based on land power.
Believed that the best base for world domination would be the Eurasian Heartland.

Rimland Theory (Spykman; 1944)

Based on coastal power.
Reasoned that the best base for global conquest would be the Eurasian Rimland.

Place Utility

Migration

The perception of a place.

Economic

The value of a good or service determined by transportation to a specific location where needed.

Population Growth Theories

Malthus’ Theory

Population grows exponentially while its food supply grows linearly.
A population is therefore limited by its food supply.
Checks that keep population in balance with subsistence methods are either “private” (moral restraint, celibacy) or “destructive” (war, pestilence, famine).

Neo-Malthusianism

Rose from Malthus’ original theory.
Consists of the advocacy of population control programs to preserve and improve general national prosperity and well-being.

Boserup’s Thesis (E. Boserup)

Contradicts Malthusianism.
States that, as a population increases, the necessity to produce more will be met using technology.
Population growth forces an increase in technology in the farming industry.

Population Models/Concepts

Demographic Transition Model

A model that evaluates economic development by examining population patterns.
The model consists of 4 stages.
- Stage One: High birth rates and high death rates.
- Stage Two: Death rates decline, but there is still a high birth rate.
- Stage Three: Birth rates also begin to decline as people begin to control family size.
- Stage Four: Very low birth and death rates with only a slight percentage of total population increase, if any.
This model is based primarily on countries that followed the European model of industrialization.
Countries usually follow a linear, progressive path through the model.
This model does not include immigration data.

Population Pyramid

A graph that represents a population by age and sex.
Population pyramids include immigration data.
- Growth: This shape indicates high birth and low death rates.
- Stability: This shape indicates low birth and death rates.
- Decline: This shape indicates low death rates and very low birth rates.
- Disruption: This shape indicates irregular birth and death rates.

Ravenstein’s Laws of Migration (E.G. Ravenstein; 1970s-80s)

A series of theoretical laws about migration.
These laws include:
- Most migrants travel only a short distance.
- Most migration is rural to urban.
- Most international migrants are young males.
- Each migration flow produces a counterflow.
- Most migration occurs in steps.

Urbanization Models/Concepts

Central Business District (CBD)

Centralized core of the city; generally center of finance and government.

Concentric Zone Model (E. Burgess; 1923)

A generalized model of urban growth and land use that varies slightly from the SECTOR MODEL.
A city grows outward in a series of rings from the CBD (the 1st zone).
- 2nd ring: Zone of Transition (industry, poor housing).
- 3rd ring: Zone of Working-Class homes (older homes - independent working-class).
- 4th ring: Zone of Better Residence (middle class).
- 5th ring: Commuter’s Zone (people who work in the CBD but commute there from the outer edges of the city - suburbs).

Sector Model (H. Hoyt; 1939)

A generalized model of urban growth and land use patterns.
The CBD is in the direct center.
Wholesale manufacturing and low-class residential housing areas are located next to the CBD but extend outward from it along a major transportation route.
The outer edges are a mix of medium-class and high-class housing.

Multiple Nuclei Model (C. Harris & Ullman; 1945)

Another generalized model of urban growth and land use patterns.
The CBD is not in the exact center.
The city spreads outward from more than one node of growth.
There are several other small centers from which growth occurs.
There is a CBD, a wholesale manufacturing area, a low-class residential area, a medium-class residential area, a heavy manufacturing area, an outlying residential area, a residential suburb, and an industrial suburb.

Note

The models for urban areas defined above are based on United States cities; cities in other areas of the world have their own models.

Population Geography

The study of population characteristics is defined as demography.
This includes the growth, composition, and distribution of the population.

Population Concepts

Net Population Growth

Number of deaths and the number of emigrants subtracted from the number of births added to the number of immigrants from a place per 1,000 people; it may be positive, negative, or zero.

Birth Rates

Number of live births per 1,000 people annually.

Infant Mortality Rate

Number of deaths per 1000 live births of babies up to 1 year of age.

Death Rate

Number of deaths per 1,000 people annually.

Rate of Natural Increase (RNI)

Derived from subtracting crude death rate from the crude birth rate; does not account for immigration/migration.

Replacement Level

2.1 RNI; the necessary level for a population to sustain itself but not grow or decline.

Doubling Time

The time it would take for the country’s population to double at its current RNI.

Total Fertility Rate

Average number of children a woman will have during her reproductive years; assumes the same rate for all women of 15 to 50 years of age.

Dependency Ratio

Number of dependents (under 15 and over 65) to number of productive people (ages 15-65).

Migration

The movement from one location to another with the intent of staying in the new location.

Step Migration

Long-distance relocation completed in stages.

Chain pattern

Path of movement from one location to another specific location initiated by (an) individual(s) and followed by others such as family, friends, or members of the community.

Channelized pattern

Pattern of movement generated over time between areas often characterized by economic and/or social connections.

Counter migrants

Migrants return to their point of origin.

Cohorts

A group of people, usually of the same age or connected by some other time-related characteristic.

Demographic Momentum

Population growth, due to an earlier baby boom, still seen when a population has reached replacement levels of fertility.

Population Distribution, Density, and Overpopulation

Ecumene

Habitable areas on the earth’s surface; populated areas.

Nonecumene

Uninhabitable areas of the earth’s surface; few people.

Population Distribution

Most people live on a low-lying region of the world close to the 30 degrees North latitudinal line.
Population is concentrated in Europe and Southeast Asia (including China, Japan, and India).

Carrying Capacity

Theoretical number of people a given area is able to support.

Overpopulation

Would occur if a population has exceeded the land’s carrying capacity.

Physiological Population Density

People per unit of arable land.

Arithmetic Population Density

People per unit of land.

Cultural Geography

Cultural Geography analyzes the spatial context of cultures.
This includes language, religion, hearths, folk and pop culture, and the human imprint on the land.

Ethnocentrism

Believing one culture (usually one’s own) is superior, and all other cultures must follow its example.

Humans and Culture

Culture

A people’s way of life; developed by a people to meet its fundamental needs.

Cultural Pluralism

Two or more groups that follow different ways of life within the same region.

Cultural Hearth

*   Early region of cultural innovation.
*   Origin point; ideas diffuse from this origin to other places around the world.

Cultural Components

Culture Traits

Units of learned behavior ranging from the language spoken to the tools used or the games played.

Culture Complex

Individual cultural traits that are functionally interrelated.

Culture Region

A portion of the earth’s surface occupied by populations sharing recognizable and distinctive cultural characteristics.
Basic spatial unit of culture; subjective term.

Culture Realm

A set of culture regions showing related culture complexes and landscapes.

Cultural Ecology

Study of the relationship between a culture group and the natural environment it occupies.

Landscape Transformation

When people alter, improve, or destroy the landscape.

Cultural Landscape

The imprint of human activity on the land.

Roots of Culture

Almost all culture originated in that of the hunter-gatherers.

Cultural Diversity

A result of different people moving through different stages of development in different areas at different times.

Cultural Development

Hunters and gatherers gradually became sedentary after the Neolithic Revolution, and societies became predominantly urban after the Industrial Revolution.

Cultural Structure/Integration

The interlocking nature of all aspects of a culture.

Non-Material Culture

Oral traditions, songs, beliefs that are representative of a culture.

Ideological Subsystem

Ideas, beliefs, and knowledge that build the ethical and moral base of a culture.

Mentifacts

Abstract belief systems from the ideological subsystem that are passed down.

Sociological Subsystem

The cultural expected patterns of personal relations and class rankings, dependent on a variety of factors and that culture’s values.

Sociofacts

Define the social organization of a culture; part of the sociological subsystem.

Material Culture

Objects shaped or created and used that represent a culture.

Technological Subsystem

The material objects that, together with the techniques for their use, enable a culture to survive.

Artifacts

Tools and other instruments dealing with the Technological Subsystem.

Cultural Convergence

Sharing of artifacts, mentifacts, and sociofacts between two cultures.

Culture Change

Cultural Lag

When a culture is slow to respond/adapt to changing circumstances.

Spatial Diffusion

The method by which cultural elements are spread.

Expansion Diffusion

The element spreads to other areas but remains strong in its hearth region.

Contagious Diffusion

The element spreads uniformly outward from its source region.

Hierarchical Diffusion

The process of spreading the element through tiers.

Relocation Diffusion

The element is physically and usually intentionally carried from one region to another as a result of migration.

Diffusion Barriers

Conditions that hinder either the flow of information or the movement of people.

Acculturation

Adopting some or all of the characteristics of another dominant culture.

Syncretism

Fusing old and new parts of culture together.

Cultural Concepts/Ideas

Folk Culture

Heritage of static, traditional customs of culture, usually specific to a certain group.
Tends to divide people from one another.

Popular Culture

Dynamic culture of a mass of people.
Tends to unify people.

Language

Organized method of spoken, and usually written, communication.

Dialect

Recognizable speech variant from the standard version of a language.

Pidgin

A simple mixture of basic elements of two (or more) languages.

Creole

A pidgin that has evolved to take on more complex grammar and syntax; it has also become the first language of a group.

Lingua Franca

Established language used for communication between people with incomprehensible native languages.

Religion

A system of worship of a divine entity; usually contains moral/ethical systems within it.

Universalizing Religion

Faiths that are applicable to all humans; a religion that actively seeks converts.
ex) Buddhism, Christianity, Islam

Ethnic Religion

May be recognized as both a religion and as an ethnic group.
ex) Hinduism, Judaism, Shintoism

Political Geography

Political Geography: the spatial study of the organization and distribution of political phenomena (boundaries, voting patterns, distribution of wealth).

Nations and States

Nation

A group of people with unifying cultural characteristics and a perceived homeland.

State

A sovereign political unit with government and boundaries recognized by outsiders.

Nation-State

A state that spatially coincides with a nation.

Centripetal Forces

Unify the people of a state.

Nationalism

Loyalty and identification with one nation or state and its goals, above all others.

Centrifugal Forces

Promote division within a state.

Regionalism

Identification with a minority group and region rather than a state.

Colonialism

Rule by an outside power; can be direct or indirect.

State Shapes

Compact

ex) Uruguay

Fragmented

ex) Maldives

Prorupted

ex) Thailand

Perforated

ex) South Africa

Elongated

ex) Chile

Political Regions and Organizations

Core Area

A state’s foremost center of population, transportation, and economic activity.

Unitary State

Country with a centralized government and cultural homogeneity.

Federal State

Country made up of several equal provinces with strong regional governments.

Forward-Thrust Capital

A capital deliberately sited away from a state’s core to encourage uniform development.

International Organization

A group of associated states whose jurisdiction is secondary to the governments of each individual state.

Supranational Organization

A group of associated states whose jurisdiction supersedes that of each individual state.

Shatter Belt

A region under continuous stress due to aggressive political or cultural rivalries.

Choke Point

A narrow area such as a strait or an isthmus where people or resources may bottleneck, leading to conflict.

Enclave

A foreign territory that perforates a larger state.

Exclave

An outlying portion of one state, usually inside another country.

Boundaries

Natural Boundaries

Based on recognizable, natural features of the earth’s surface.

Artificial (Geometric) Boundaries

Partitions that tend to take the form of a straight line.

Antecedent Boundary

Drawn before the cultural landscape is put into place.

Subsequent Boundary

Drawn after the cultural landscape was put into place.

Consequent Boundary

Partition drawn to accommodate cultural or economic differences between countries.

Superimposed Boundary

Forced onto a populated area by an outside power that is unconcerned with preexisting divisions.

Relic Boundary

Nonfunctional former partition still marked by landscape features or differences.

Agricultural Geography

Agricultural Revolutions

Neolithic Revolution

Marked by the domestication of animals and the planting and tending of plants.

2nd Agricultural Revolution

Began in Europe with the use of the 3-field system, crop rotation, introduction of new plants to Europe from the Americas, and improved technology.

3rd Agricultural Revolution

Green Revolution

The use of hybrid seeds, improvements in management, and technology in order to increase yields.

Biotechnology

The alteration of DNA/genetic engineering on crops and livestock to increase production levels.

Rural Agriculture

The growing of crops or livestock either for subsistence or for market sale.

Subsistence Agriculture

Growth of crops in order to sustain oneself.

Extensive Subsistence Agriculture

Involves large plots of land and small amounts of labor.

Intensive Subsistence Agriculture

Involving smaller plots of land, using a large labor force in an attempt to increase yield.

Nomadic Herding

Migration to allow livestock to feed by foraging.

Shifting Cultivation (Slash & Burn, Swidden)

Clearing of large plots of forest in order to farm on it.

Commercial Agriculture

Farming in order to sell yields for profit.

Intensive Commercial Agriculture

Farming that uses small amounts of technological and scientific input for each plot of farmland.
Generally applied to crops, which have high yields and a high market demand (fruit, vegetables, dairy).

Extensive Commercial Agriculture

Large amounts of land that are not intensively worked upon (wheat, livestock).

Agribusiness

Farms as part of corporate units.
Farms produce for a specific market and are often part of a vertically integrated business.
Usually leads to the concentration of certain farming activities in specific regions.

Collective Farms

Cooperative farming, in which producers lose their land and join large numbers of workers in order to perform different jobs within the collective for the good of the order.

State Farms

Government-owned farms, run by employees of the state.

Settlement Patterns

How people have organized villages and towns in order to engage in agriculture or land survey systems.

Clustered Village

Linear/Street Village

Village with Commons

Irregular Village

Checkerboard Village

Long-Lots

Settlement pattern used by the French and Spanish to allow all lots access to a waterway or road.

Metes and Bounds

System that makes use of natural features to set boundaries, causing very few regular boundaries to be formed.

Township/Range System

Land survey system instituted by the United States and Canada where land was surveyed and divided up using a grid system.
Provided an orderly way to divide and sell land in the West for settlement.

Industrialization and Development

Industrialization

The industrial revolution began in the United Kingdom in the late 1700s.
The root of industrialization was technology.
It began with the textile industry.
Before the Industrial Revolution, manufacturing took the form of cottage industry (manufacturing in the individual home).

Agglomeration

Concentration of production or businesses in one area for mutual benefit.

Deglomeration

Businesses or industries leave an area where they had been concentrated due to technology, increased costs, or competition.

Comparative Advantage

A business will produce goods and services that have the greatest ratio of advantage for that area in comparison to other areas; this is based on the assumption that free trade exists.

Bulk-Reducing Industry

Economic activity in which the final product weighs less than its inputs.

Bulk-Gaining Industry

Economic activity in which the final product weighs more than its input.

Labor-Intensive Industry

Industry where labor costs are a higher percentage of expense.

Fordist Industries

Industries where each person is assigned a specific task in an assembly line.
Ford was one of the first companies to organize its production in this way early in the twentieth century.

Post-Fordist Industries

Industries where relatively skilled workers master a wide variety of tasks.

Market Equilibrium

The price at which the supply equals the demand.

Ubiquitous Industries

Businesses that are distributed in direct proportion to the distribution of the population.

Break of Bulk Point

The location at which a good is transferred from one mode of transportation to another.

Line-Haul Costs

Transportation costs for a good.

Transnational Corporations (Multinational corporations)

Operates factories in countries other than the one in which its main headquarters are located.

Trading Bloc

Group of countries near each other that promote trade amongst themselves; barriers may be placed on other trading blocs.

Development

A comparative term measuring the extent to which a country's raw materials have been fully utilized/developed.

PPP (Purchasing Power Parity)

Number used by the World Bank; measures value of a country’s money in relation to what can be purchased with that amount.

GDP (Gross Domestic Product)

Measures the total value of goods and services produced within a country in a year.

GNP (Gross National Product)

Measures the total value of goods and services produced by individuals and businesses from a country within a year regardless of whether the individual or business is operated within that country.

Literacy Rate

Measures percentage of people who can read and write.

Cities and Urban Land Use

City/Town

A cluster of people in a “nucleated settlement.”
A city contains a Central Business District, residential sectors, and, depending on the city, commercial sectors, government sectors, and industrial sectors.
Cities perform functions.
They interact with the region around them and other cities.
Additionally, their location is often politically, economically, or socially strategic.
- For example, cities located at break-of-bulk points take advantage of the economic options of the area.

Conurbation (Megalopolis)

A series of cities that have grown into one urban area over time.
Ex) Washington D.C. – Boston corridor

Suburb

A residential, industrial, or commercial – specialized area of a city that is reliant upon other sectors of the city; it is not self-sufficient.

Economic Base

Basic Sector

The production of goods or services within the city that are exported outside the city.

Nonbasic Sector

Production of a service for residents within the city; responsible for city maintenance.

Multiplier Effect

As a city grows in size, the basic/nonbasic ratio is altered, increasing the number of nonbasic workers.

Urban Hierarchy

Ranking of cities on a scale.

Rank-Size Rule

A pattern observed in some countries where the nth largest city is 1/n the size of the largest city.

Primate City

One city is much larger than the size of the next largest and clearly dominates a country’s urban hierarchy.

World Cities (New York, London, and Tokyo)

International urban centers that are the core of global trade and finance.

Urban Ideas

Gentrification

Process of revitalizing an area of a city to make it more attractive to the middle and upper classes.

Ghettoization

The result of racial or economic prejudices that force people (overtly or otherwise) to live in certain sections of a city.

Edge City

An area on the fringe of a city with more office space and jobs than residents.
It may compete with or replace functions in the main city’s CBD.