Cultural Geography

GEOG 101Dr. Scott S. Brown

Human Geography 12e

Textbook

Human Geography

Chapter 1

Introduction

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Human Geography 12e

What Is Geography?

• “Description of the Earth”• Spatial Science• Study of Spatial Variation

– The fundamental inspiration for geographical thought probably originated with the recognition of “areal differentiation”—that one place is different than another

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Human Geography 12e

What Is Geography?

• Although space is central to geography, time is important, too. – How do places change over time, – how do structures and processes change

location over time, – and how do patterns of interaction

change over time?• Geography is about both static and dynamic

aspects of space and place

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Human Geography 12e

3 Characteristics of Geography

1. Science of Place2. Multidisciplinary field 3. Human – Environment Relationship

Human Geography 12e

5 Themes in Cultural Geography

1. Cultural Landscape2. Cultural Region3. Cultural Ecology4. Cultural Integration5. Cultural Diffusion

Culture = Learned, collective human behavior

Human Geography 12e

Human Geography• Subfields:

– Behavioral– Political– Economic– Cultural– Social– Urban– Medical– Population– Geomorphology– Biogeography

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Human Geography 12e

Core Geographic Concepts• The Geographer’s Questions

– Where is it?– What is it?– How it came to be and where it is?– Where is it in relation to other things?– How is it changing?

• Space and Place– Absolute and relative space– Sense of place and “placelessness”

• Spatial Behavior, Relationships, and Processes

• Fundamental Characteristics of Places9

Human Geography 12e

Core Geographic Concepts

• Space and Place– Absolute

• About fixed coordinate systems, like latitude and longitude, and measurement units, like miles or kilometers

• Remains the same in all contexts

– Relative space• Comparative and

varies with context • More flexible in

recognizing that different ways of “measuring” space are more relevant for particular domains of human activity

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Human Geography 12e

Core Geographic Concepts• Space and Place

– Sense of place• The attachment we have to specific locations

– Placelessness• Uniformity; elimination of uniqueness

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Human Geography 12e

Fundamental Characteristics of Places

• Location, Direction, and Distance• Size and Scale• Physical & Cultural Attributes• The Rational Structure of Place

• Density• Dispersion• Pattern

• Place Similarity & Regions• The Characteristics of Regions• Types of Regions

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Human Geography 12e

Location

• Absolute Location• Relative Location• Site vs. Situation

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Human Geography 12e

• Absolute Location– Identification of place by some precise and

accepted system of coordinates

• Relative Location– The position of a place in relation to that of other

places or activities

• Site – Physical and cultural attributes of a place

• Situation– Expression of relative location with particular

reference to items of significance to the place in question

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Human Geography 12e

Absolute Location: Latitude and Longitude

Human Geography 12e

Location

• Site vs. Situation

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Site:Lower

Manhattan Island

Site & Situation: Singapore

S. Brown

Human Geography 12e

Site & Situation: Hong Kong

Human Geography 12e

Direction

• Absolute Direction– Based on the global or

macroscopic features such as cardinal points of north, south, east, and west, or on the directions to prominent stars

• Relative Direction– Culturally based

locational reference, as the Far West, the Old South, or the Middle East

– Include body-centered terms like "left," "right," "in front of" and "behind"

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Human Geography 12e

Distance

• Absolute Distance– The physical

separation between two points on the earth’s surface measured by some accepted standard unit such as miles or kilometers for widely separated locales, feet or meters for more closely spaced points

• Relative Distance– Transforms those

linear measurements into other units that could be more meaningful for the spatial relationship in question

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Human Geography 12e

Physical & Cultural Attributes

• Natural Landscape– Climate, soil, water

resources, minerals and terrain features

– Provides the setting within which human actions occurs

• Cultural Landscape– Visible expression of

human activity

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Cultural Landscapes: Political Boundaries U.S./Mexico Border

Figure 1.11

Cultural Landscapes between Mexico and California, USA

Human Geography 12e

Places• The Rational Structure of Place

– Density• Usually thought of as a measure of the number or

quantity of some feature within a defined unit of area

• Does not apply only to areas

– Dispersion• A statement of how much features within a

distribution are spread out (dispersed or scattered) from each other, or clustered (agglomerated) together

– Pattern• The geometric arrangement of features in space

– Spatial Association

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Figure 1.17

Spatial Association

Human Geography 12e

Place Similarity & Regions• Types of Regions:

– Administrative • Created by law, treaty, or regulation • It includes political regions such as countries and

states, bureaucratic regions such as school and voting districts, and cadastral (real estate) regions

– Thematic• Sometimes called formal or uniform regions in other

texts, are based on one or more objectively measurable themes or properties

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Human Geography 12e

Place Similarity & Regions• Types of Regions:

– Functional• Emerge from patterns of interaction over space and

time that connect places• Have a point-like core from which interaction

originates, and are thus sometimes called nodal regions, but they do not have to

– Perceptual• Informal subjective regions defined by people's

beliefs, feelings, and images

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Human Geography 12e

Thematic &Functional Regions

Human Geography 12e

Perceptual Regions

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Human Geography 12e

Maps

• Map Scale• Remote Sensing• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)• The Globe Grid• Earth-Sun Relationship

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Human Geography 12e

Figure 1.21

Map Scale

Human Geography 12e

Figure 1.27

G.I.S.

3 Main Components•Data storage•Computer graphics•Statistical packages

Figure 1.22

Global Grid:Latitude

and Longitude

Latitude and Longitude• Location of any place can be

described precisely by meridians and parallels– Meridians (lines of longitude)

•Prime meridian – 0° Lon• International Date Line – 180° Lon

– Parallels (lines of latitude)•The equator – 0° Lat• Tropic of Cancer – 23.5° Lat N• Tropic of Capricorn – 23.5° Lat S• Arctic Circle – 66.5° Lat N• Antarctic Circle – 66.5° Lat S• North & South Poles - 90° Lat N/S

Human Geography 12e Longitude – Time

Human Geography 12e

Latitude – Climate

Earth – Sun Relationship

Calendars and Seasons

Stonehenge(Wiltshire, England, UK)

Pueblo Bonito(Chaco Canyon N.P.,

NM, USA)

Mayan Calendar

Dzibichaltún(Yucatan, Mexico)

Chichén Itza

(Yucatan, Mexico)