INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN GEOGRAPHY Chapter 1
What Is Human Geography? The study of How people make places How we organize space and society How we interact with each other in places and across space How we make sense of others and ourselves in our locality, region, and world
Globalization A set of processes that are Increasing interactions Deepening relationships Heightening interdependence without regard to country borders A set of outcomes that are Unevenly distributed Varying across scales Differently manifested throughout the world Impact of individual, regional, national scales on processes and outcomes of globalization
What Are Geographic Questions? The spatial arrangement of places and phenomena (human and physical) How are things organized on Earth? How do they appear on the landscape? Where? Why? So what? No place untouched by human hands or activity Human organization of communities, nations, networks Establishment of political, economic, religious, cultural systems
Spatial Distribution Spatial distribution and pattern Processes that create and sustain a distribution Map of Cholera Victims in London s Soho District in 1854 Patterns of victim s homes and water pump locations key to the source of the disease
Five Themes of Geography Location Human-environment interaction Region Place Movement
Place Sense of place: Infusing a place with meaning and emotion Perception of place: Belief or understanding of what a place is like, often based on books, movies, stories, or pictures
Perception of Place Where Pennsylvanian students prefer to live Where Californian students prefer to live
Movement Spatial interaction: The interconnectedness between places, depending upon Distance Accessibility Connectivity Elizabeth J. Leppman
Cultural Landscape The visible human imprint, the material character of a place Religion and cremation practices spread with Hindu migrants from India to Kenya
Sequent Occupance Layers of imprints in a cultural landscape reflecting years of differing human activity Apartments in Mumbai, India Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: African, Arab, German, British, Indian layers. Apartments replaced earlier singlefamily houses
Why Do Geographers Use Maps, and What Do Maps Tell Us? Types of maps Reference maps Locations of places and geographic features Absolute locations Thematic maps Degree of an attribute Pattern of distribution Movement Relative locations
Reference Map
Thematic Map
Location Absolute location Precise location using a coordinate system Latitude and longitude most common Measured by geographic positioning systems (GPS) Relative location Location in relation to something else Changes over time with changing circumstances
Mental Maps Maps we carry in our minds of places we have been and places we have heard of Activity Spaces The places we travel to routinely in our rounds of daily activity
Remote Sensing and GIS Satellite image Photograph Hurricane Katrina, 2005: Area of impact and destruction
Geographic Information System (GIS) Computer hardware and software that permit storage and analysis of layers of spatial data
Why Are Geographers Concerned with Scale and Connectedness? Scale: Territorial extent of something Varying scales of observations Local Regional National Global
Scale
The Power of Scale Influence of processes operating at different scales Context of a phenomenon in what is happening at different scales Political use of scale to change who is involved or how an issue is perceived
Regions Formal region: Defined by a common characteristic, whether physical or cultural, present throughout e.g., German-speaking region of Europe Functional region: Defined by a set of social, political, or economic activities or interactions e.g., an urban area, city and suburbs
Regions Perceptual Region: Ideas in our minds, based on accumulated knowledge of places and regions, that define an area of sameness or connectedness
Culture The whole tangible lifestyle of peoples, but also their prevailing values and beliefs Cultural trait: A single attribute of a culture Cultural complex: A combination of traits Cultural hearth: Area where a culture began and from which it spreads Independent invention: A culture trait that began in several places
Diffusion The process of the spread of an idea or innovation from its hearth to other areas Factors that slow or prevent diffusion Time-distance decay Cultural barriers
Types of Diffusion Expansion diffusion: Idea or innovation spreading outward from the hearth Contagious: Spreads to next available person Hierarchical: Spreads to most linked people or places first Stimulus: Promotes local experiment or change
Types of Diffusion Relocation diffusion: Movement of individuals who carry an idea or innovation with them to a new, perhaps distant locale Paris, France Kenya : H.J. de Blij : A. B. Murphy
What Are Geographic Concepts, and How Are They Used in Answering Geographic Questions? Ways of seeing the world spatially that geographers use in answering research questions Old approaches to human-environment questions Environmental determinism (has been rejected by almost all geographers) Possibilism (less accepted today) New approaches to human-environment questions Cultural ecology Political ecology