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BASIC HUMAN GEOGRAPHY - UNIT I

Longitude
(shown as a vertical line) is the angular distance, in degrees, minutes, and seconds, of a point east or west of the Prime (Greenwich) Meridian. Lines of longitude are often referred to as meridians.
Example: Guatemala, Long: 90° W, Lat: 15°N

Latitude
(shown as a horizontal line) is the angular distance, in degrees, minutes, and seconds, of a point north or south of the Equator. Lines of latitude are often referred to as parallels.
Example: The island of Martinique, Long: 61°W, Lat: 15°N

Absolute Location
The position or place of a certain item on the surface of the Earth as expressed in degrees, minutes, and seconds of latitude, 0° to 90° north or south of the equator, and longitude, 0° to 180° east or west of the Prime Meridian passing through Greenwich, England.

• Does not change.

• Determined by a frame of reference, typically longitude and latitude.
  Example: The absolute location of Chicago is 41°, 53 minutes North Latitude and 87°, 38 minutes West Longitude.

Site
The internal physical attributes of a place, including its absolute location, its spatial character, and physical setting.

• Contributes to a country’s economic success.

• Physical characteristics of a particular location determine its site.
  Example: New Orleans has a poor site due to its location below sea level. When Hurricane Katrina hit, the city was flooded. Natural disadvantages are difficult to overcome.

Situation
The external locational attributes of a place; its relative location or regional position with reference to other places. The relationship of a location with another location.
Example: Pittsburgh has an ideal situation for its production of steel. Pittsburgh is located on the confluence of two major rivers, the Allegheny and Monongahela, which form the Ohio River. This river system gave the city a perfect means to ship its steel products all over the world.

Relative Location
The regional position or situation of a place relative to the position of other places. The location is described relative to other features. Distance, accessibility, and connectivity affect relative location.

• Constantly modified and can change over time.
  Example: “Chicago is on Lake Michigan, south of Milwaukee.” “Chicago is located where the cross-country railroads met in the 1800s.”

Types of Maps

Mental Map

• The map you have in your mind.

• Revived from visual observation of the real world.

• Developed over years of looking at various maps/atlases.

• People use them every day.

Cartographer

• The science of map making.

• For centuries, geographers have worked to perfect the science of mapmaking.

• Contemporary cartographers are assisted by computer and satellite imagery.

Projection
The scientific method of transferring location on Earth’s surface to a flat map.

• Maps are a visual representation of the Earth’s surface, drawn to scale and made for a specific purpose.

• Each unique map projection serves a particular purpose.

Types of Maps:

• Physical maps show elevation, mountains, rivers, etc.

• Political maps show countries, cities, capitals.

• Special purpose maps are designed for a special purpose (e.g., highway maps, projection maps).

Types of Map Projections:

Sense of Place

• A state of mind derived through the infusion of a place with meaning and emotion by remembering important events that occurred in that place or labeling a place with a certain character.

• Easy definition: How people identify themselves because of what they call “home” and the places they know because of meanings, experiences, important events, or a certain character.

• Identity affects how we define and experience place.

• Sense of place is fluid and changing as people and places change.

Spatial Perspective

• Observing variations in geographic phenomena across space.

• Human geographers use spatial perspective to study various phenomena and their relationships.

• Explains why agglomeration and deindustrialization occur.
  Example: The distribution of McDonald’s corporations and restaurants around the world.

Scale

• Representation of a real-world phenomenon at a certain level of reduction or generalization.

• Geographers study various places and patterns at different levels to better understand the connections.

• Scale includes local, regional, national, and global levels.

Two meanings of scale in geography:

1. The distance on a map compared to the distance on the Earth.

2. The territorial extent of something.

• Scale tells us what level of detail we can expect to see.
  Example: Map keys, geographic hierarchies like neighborhood, urban area, region, watershed, ecosystem.

POPULATION GEOGRAPHY - UNIT II

Population Statistics

• Demography: The study of population characteristics.

• Crude Birth Rate (CBR): Births per 1,000 population.

• Crude Death Rate (CDR): Deaths per 1,000 population.

• Rate of Natural Increase (RNI): CBR – CDR.

• Net Migration Rate: Migration per 1,000 population.

• Infant Mortality Rate (IMR): Deaths of infants within the first year of life.

• Total Fertility Rate (TFR): Average number of children a woman would have over her lifetime.

• Dependency Ratio: Percent of population depending on people who work.

• Sex Ratio: Breakdown of population by gender.

• Life Expectancy: Number of years a person is expected to live.

• Arithmetic Density: Number of people per square unit of total land.

• Physiological Density: Number of people per square unit of farmable land.

• Doubling Time: Time it takes for a population to double.

Population Patterns

• Influenced by natural environment, economic development, and cost of living.

• Five main areas of population concentration:

  • East Asia

  • South Asia

  • Southeast Asia

  • Europe

  • Northeastern U.S. and Southeastern Canada.

Demographic Transition Model (DTM) and Population Pyramid Analysis

• The DTM represents the transition from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates as a country develops.

Stages of the DTM:

1. Stage One: High CBR, high CDR, low growth (no countries currently).

2. Stage Two: High CBR, declining CDR, rapid growth (e.g., Kenya).

3. Stage Three: Declining CBR, low CDR, slowing growth (e.g., South Korea).

4. Stage Four: Low CBR, low CDR, stable population (e.g., Switzerland).

5. Stage Five: CDR exceeds CBR, negative growth (e.g., Sweden).

Malthus and Neo-Malthusians

• Malthus believed that food production increases arithmetically while population increases geometrically, leading to overpopulation.

• Problems with Malthus’ Theory:

  1. Famine is caused by unequal distribution, not lack of food.

  2. Did not foresee technological advancements in food production.

  3. Did not predict changes in reproductive behavior.

• Neo-Malthusians: Support population control programs to ensure resources for future populations.

Population Policies

• Eugenic Policies: Favor one racial or cultural group.

• Expansive Policies: Encourage large families (e.g., Europe).

• Restrictive Policies: Attempt to reduce growth rates (e.g., China’s One Child Policy).

Migration

• Types of Migration:

  • Internal Migration: Movement within a country.

  • International Migration: Movement across country borders.

  • Refugees: People fleeing conflict or persecution.

• Push Factors: Conditions causing people to leave a place.

• Pull Factors: Conditions attracting people to a destination.

• Ravenstein’s Laws of Migration: Observations about migration patterns (e.g., most migrants move short distances, young adults migrate more than families).

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY - UNIT III

Culture Hearth, Culture Realm, Culture Region

• Culture Hearth: Where a culture originates.

• Culture Realm: A region influenced by a specific culture.

• Cultural Region: Defined by shared cultural traits.

Types of Diffusion

1. Contagious Diffusion: Spread to nearby places.

2. Hierarchical Diffusion: Spread from higher to lower importance.

3. Stimulus Diffusion: Spread of an underlying idea.

4. Relocation Diffusion: Movement of people spreading ideas.

Time-Distance Decay, Acculturation, Time-Space Compression

Time-Distance Decay

• States that as time and distance increase, the interaction between two areas decreases.

• Conversely, as time and distance decrease, interactions increase.
  Example: People living close to a supermarket are more likely to shop there frequently than those farther away.

Acculturation

• When a person or group adapts enough to a new culture to survive in a new area or situation.
  Example: Immigrants learning English to adapt to living in the United States.

Time-Space Compression

• Describes the effects of new technology and transportation making places seem closer than they actually are.
  Example: The Transcontinental Railroad reduced the travel time across the U.S. from months to weeks; today, airplanes can achieve this in hours.

Ethnicity, Race, Racism

Ethnicity

• The identity or relations between a group of people connected by common culture, ancestry, or traits.
  Example: An African American man may ethnically identify as Ethiopian.

Race

• Physical categorization of humans based on skin color or biological differences.
  Example: African Americans, Caucasians, Asians, etc.

Racism

• Hostile attitudes or discrimination toward a race because of certain physical characteristics.
  Example: The Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide.

Languages Throughout History

Language

• A set of sounds, combinations of sounds, and symbols used for communication.

Language Family

• Group of languages with a shared but distant origin.
  Example: Indo-European languages dominate Europe, Russia, and the Americas.

Language Diffusion

• Occurs through migration, trade, war, or cultural exchange.

• Pidgin Language: Simplified combination of two languages.

• Creole Language: A pidgin that evolves into a primary language.

• Lingua Franca: A language used for trade and commerce.

• Official Language: Chosen by a government for communication and unity.

Convergence and Diffusion of Language

• Language Convergence: Two or more languages with many bilingual speakers borrow words, grammar, or syntax from each other, making them similar.
  Example: Spanish speakers adopting English words and vice versa.

• Language Diffusion: Spread of a language or language family across regions.
  Example: Indo-European languages originating in Eurasia and spreading globally.

• Languages change through diffusion, convergence, and replacement.

  • Isolation can lead to the formation of dialects, and eventually, entirely new languages.

  • Convergence can lead to mixed languages like "Spanglish."

  • Replacement happens when one language overtakes another due to assimilation.

Lingua Franca, Pidgin, Creole, Standard Language, Official Language

Lingua Franca

• A language used among speakers of different languages for the purpose of trade and commerce.
  Example: Swahili in East Africa.

Pidgin Language

• A simplified mixture of two or more languages with limited grammar and vocabulary.
  Example: Hawaiian Pidgin mixes Hawaiian, English, and other languages.

Creole Language

• A pidgin that develops into a more complex language with native speakers.
  Example: Haitian Creole combines French with African languages.

Standard Language

• The language promoted as the norm in schools, government, and official settings.
  Example: English is the standard language in the United States.

Official Language

• The language chosen by a government to unite the population and conduct official business.
  Example: Nigeria uses English as its official language to avoid favoritism among local languages.