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Cultural Geography
GEOG 101Dr. Scott S. Brown
Human Geography 12e
Textbook
Human Geography
Chapter 1
Introduction
Insert figure CO1
© Thinkstock/Masterfile
3Human Geography 12e
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
4
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
5
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
10
Human Geography 12e
Core Geographic Concepts• Space and Place
– Sense of place• The attachment we have to specific locations
– Placelessness• Uniformity; elimination of uniqueness
11
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
12
Human Geography 12e
Location
• Absolute Location• Relative Location• Site vs. Situation
13
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
14
Human Geography 12e
Absolute Location: Latitude and Longitude
Human Geography 12e
Location
• Site vs. Situation
16
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"
22
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
23
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
Insert figure 1.10
© Doug Sherman/Geofile
24
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
27
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
29
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
30
Human Geography 12e
Thematic &Functional Regions
Human Geography 12e
Perceptual Regions
Insert figure 1.17
32
Human Geography 12e
Maps
• Map Scale• Remote Sensing• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)• The Globe Grid• Earth-Sun Relationship
33
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)