APHG CHAPTER 1:

INTRO TO HUMAN

GEOGRAPHY

KEY QUESTION #1:

WHAT IS HUMAN

GEOGRAPHY?

(3 SLIDES)

KEY QUESTION #1: WHAT IS

HUMAN GEOGRAPHY?

HG focuses on…

• How people make places

• How we organize space & society

• How we interact with each other in places & across space

• How we make sense of others & ourselves in our locality, region & world

Advances in communication & transportation are making people & places more interconnected every day

KEY QUESTION #1: WHAT IS

HUMAN GEOGRAPHY?

The world consists of…

• 195 states(we will use the term state now, not country)

• Hundreds of religions(19 with at least 1 million adherents)

• Almost 7,000 languages spoken

• Thousands and thousands of cultural characteristics

Understanding & explaining this diversity is the mission of human geography

KEY QUESTION #1: WHAT IS

HUMAN GEOGRAPHY?

Key term in HG is “globalization”

• Set of processes that are increasing interactions, deepening relationships & heightening interdependence

Human-environment interaction is critical as well

• People adapt to, alter, manipulate, and cope with their surroundings

• Each place is affected by and created by people---and each place reflects the culture of the people in that place over time

KEY QUESTION #2:

WHAT ARE

GEOGRAPHIC

QUESTIONS?

(3 slides)

KEY QUESTION #2: WHAT ARE

GEOGRAPHIC QUESTIONS? A simple definition(by geographer Marvin

Mikesell) of geography is the “why of where”; this concept leads to several questions: • Why and how do things come together in

places to produce particular outcomes? • Why are some things found in certain places

but not in others? • To what extent do things in one place influence

those in others? • Why does it matter what things are different

across space? • What role does a place play in its region & the

world?

KEY QUESTION #2: WHAT ARE

GEOGRAPHIC QUESTIONS?

Questions like these, and others, are the core of geographic inquiry; they are critical to understanding the world

To fully understand a concept, one must understand its spatial(fancy word for “geographic) distribution

• Once one understands this then they have a “spatial perspective” of the world

Spatial distribution

What processes create and sustain the pattern of a distribution?

Map of Cholera Victims

in London’s Soho District

in 1854.

The patterns of victim’s

homes and water pump

locations helped uncover

the source of the disease.

KEY QUESTION #2: WHAT ARE

GEOGRAPHIC QUESTIONS?

Another commonly used phrase is “cultural landscape”

• The visible imprint of human activity on the landscape

• This term was created by geographer Carl Sauer in 1927

A related term is “sequent occupance”

• Created by Derwent Whittlesey; refers to cultural succession and the imprint that successive occupiers can have on a place

Cultural Landscape The visible human imprint on the landscape.

Religion and

cremation

practices

diffuse with

Hindu migrants

from India to

Kenya.

Sequent Occupance Dar es Salaam, Tanzania African, Arab, German, British, and Indian layers to

the city.

Apartment in Mumbai, India Apartment in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

KEY QUESTION #3:

WHY DO

GEOGRAPHERS

USE MAPS, AND

WHAT DO MAPS

TELL US?

(2 slides)

KEY QUESTION #3: WHY DO GEOGRAPHERS

USE MAPS & WHAT DO MAPS TELL US?

Cartography is the science of mapmaking

Reference maps show locations of places & geographic features(includes political & physical maps)

Thematic maps tell stories, showing the degree of same attribute or the movement of a phenomenon

Mental maps are the maps we carry in our mind(usually the closer a location is, the more clear sense of accuracy exists in our mental placement of it)

NBC NEWS

• CARTOGRAPHERS AND STUDENTS TRY TO KEEP UP WITH THE CHANGING WORLD

Reference

Map

Thematic

Map

What story

about median

income in the

Washington, DC

area is this map

telling?

KEY QUESTION #3: WHY DO GEOGRAPHERS

USE MAPS & WHAT DO MAPS TELL US?

Technology has transformed mapmaking & uses

•GPS(Global Positioning Systems)

•Remote Sensing(data collected by satellites & aircraft)

•GIS(Geographic Information Systems)

Uses layers of data

Has unlimited uses

Remote

Sensing: a method of

collecting data by

instruments that

are physically

distant from the

area of study.

Geographic Information System: a collection of computer

hardware and software

that permits storage

and analysis of

layers of spatial data.