Ch. 1: Icebreaker Step 1 Think of a place in the world you are familiar with and write that place down in your notebook (Ex: St. Louis) Step 2 Pretend someone has no clue where your referring to, describe to them where it is to help them out by writing it out in your notebook Reflection Ques. 1 Did you use situation, site, or mathematical factors to describe your location? Reflection Ques. 2- Why are place names not the ideal way to describe a place?
Chapter 1: ThinkingGeographically
ThinkingGeographically Geo (earth) and graphy (write) No memorization of places!!! (however ) - Geographical Literacy Needed Scientific Study of Location of People, Activities across the Earth, and the reasons for their Distribution - In other words, Human Geographers ask where are people and activates found on Earth? Why are they found there? And, what impact does that have on the world? Geographical Tension: Globalization & Local Diversity
Physical Geography vs. Human Geography Physical Geography study where and why natural forces occur as they do Hurricane Katrina example of physical geography and human geography intersecting Human Geographers concerned with uneven impact of destruction and cultural & economic impact on New Orleans pop. Post-Katrina
How would you interpret these maps? What conclusions can you make by analyzing these maps?
SCALE Scale Relationship between portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole. Note: The smaller the scale the larger the area covered Which map is the largest scale? Which map is the smallest scale?
Scale: 1:10,000,000 Meaning 1 inch on map equal 10,000,000 inches on Earth s surface
-How do geographers describe where things are? MAPS!!!! -Political Boundaries: One of MANY patterns geographers observe -Cultural features, social customs, agricultural patterns, economic development, etc. transcend political boundaries -Ch. 8 will discuss where, why, and how we have developed these political boundaries to split up Earth s land amongst our 6.5 billion inhabitants
Technology Arrives Early form of layering GIS now makes it EASY! Technology has enhanced cartography (mapmaking) GIS (Geographic Information System) analyze, manipulate, display, etc. geographical data. WebLink Remote Sensing satellites scanning Earth s surface (think global warming patterns or deforestation) GPS (Global Positioning System) accurately determines position of something on Earth
Remote Sensing Examples
GPS
Uniqueness of Place Place (a point on Earth): Unique Location of a Feature - Place Names - Site - Situation Four Ways to Identify Location - Mathematical Location
Identifying Places Place Names (toponym) words we give to identify a location - Ex. St. Louis Site physical character of a place - Ex. Topography, climate, elevation, water sources, etc Situation location of a place relative to other places - Ex. Missouri s in the Midwest, south of Iowa, north of Arkansas, just west of the Mississippi River Mathematical Location - Longitude (West and East) and Latitude (North and South) - Ex. Denver, Colorado is 39 44 North Latitude and 104 59 West Longitude - GOOGLE EARTH EXAMPLE Exercise: Describe the site, situation, and mathematical location of your school
Geographical Grid
Calculating World Time Zones 360 total degrees of longitude (180 West and 180 East) 360 /15 = 24 Time Zones Prime Meriden (0 longitude) represents international time reference Each 15 West, turn clock one hour back Each 15 East, turn clock one hour forward If it s 2pm at the Prime Meriden, what time is it in New York City?
World Time Zones
Uniqueness of Regions Regions (an area on Earth): Area of Unique Characteristics - Cultural Landscape - Types of Regions - Spatial Association - Regional Integration of Culture - Cultural Ecology
Regions: Cultural Landscape Combination of cultural features: language, religion, ethnicity, physical features, etc. Cultural features do not always match political boundaries of individual countries/states/etc. Do we associate ourselves as living in a specific point (like West County)? Or are we St. Louisians, Midwesterners, Americans, etc?
Types of Region REGION larger than a point, but smaller than Earth 3 Types of Regions - FORMAL REGION a.) area where everyone shares one or more distinctive characteristics b.) Ex. Language, religion, commonly grown crop, predominant voting patterns - FUNCTIONAL REGION a.) area organized around a focal point b.) transportation, industrial, economical, etc. c.) Ex. Newspaper circulation, TV broadcasts, MetroLink - VERNACULAR REGION a.) place people believe exists as part of their cultural identity b.) also known as perceptual regions
Spatial Associations - Geographers try to identify cultural, economic, and environmental factors that display spatial distribution (cancer rates) - Ex: Distribution of factories is spatially associated with distribution of cancer rates
Cultural Ecology Geographic study of human-environment relationships Possiblism Physical environment may limit some human actions, but people have ability to adjust/adapt to their environment How do we adjust/adapt to our environment in St. Louis? Climate (physical environment) influences human actions (culture) food production, resources we use, economic development Ex: How might an Eskimo use a tree differently than an inhabitant in the rainforest?
World Climate Regions
Why Are Different Places Similar? Scale: Local to Global - Globalization of Economy - Globalization of Culture Distribution of Features - Density - Concentration - Pattern
Economic Globalization Globalization force or process that involves the entire world and results in making something worldwide in scope. Globalization means scale of world is shrinking Transnational Corporations Ex. Starbucks, Nike, Coca-Cola Has led to cultural diffusion (cultural globalization), heightened economic differences, sparked spatial division of labor, and may be widening economic gap between LDCs and MDCs NYC, Tokyo, and London = major financial markets
Cultural Globalization Globalization creating uniformed cultural around the world: - Fast Food Restaurants - Blue Jeans - McDonalds - Religion - English language Cultural Globalization creating extreme tension and opposition: - Al-Qaeda targets areas spreading and dominating cultural globalization (politics, culture, economy, etc.) - Restricting women s rights, banning TV and internet, stoning deaths are signes of globalization rebellion - Strong urges to resist cultural globalization GLOBALIZATION VS. LOCAL CULTURE
Space: Density and Concentration - Density and Concentration of MLB Teams - Density: Frequency in which something occurs within a space - Concentration: Extent of a feature s spread over space (clustered or dispersed) - Did density increase or decease in U.S. between 1952-2007? - Did concentration become clustered or dispersed in U.S. between 1952-2007?