Human Geography Population Geography Cultural Geography Languages and Religions

Studying Population Want to understand the relationship between populations and their environments Demography: statistical study of human populations. – Help us to forecast future population trends – Use statistics to understand population changes and potential impact on the world. – Used in city planning

Population Study Tools Population Density: average number of people living in an area. Usually expressed as persons per square mile – Reflect size of country, size of population, and environmental conditions – Vary for each country (Canada 8 per sq mile, Bangladesh 2,324 per sq mile) Population Distribution: Where do people live and why? – 90% of world’s population live in N. Hemisphere (60% of those live in middle latitudes) – People tend to live in areas favorable for settlement. – Four great population clusters: East Asia, South Asia, Europe, North America

Density

Distribution

Population Study Tools Population Change: The number of people in any place is a result of three major factors: – Birthrate: # births per year for every 1,000 people – Death rate: # of deaths each year for every 1,000 people – Migration: people moving from one place to another Emigrants vs. Immigrants – Can have major implications on a country Push and Pull factors – used in study of migration Refugees: people forced to leave and cannot return to their homes

Population Study Tools Natural Increase: based on just births and deaths, migration is not taken into account. – Subtract birth from death rate (expressed as a %) – USA is 0.6% natural growth rate – Highest rates are found in Africa and Southwest Asia, averaging about 3% – Italy and Russia have negative rates – 3% increase can lead to doubling of population in 23 years – “doubling time”

World Population Trends Current world population is 6.8 billion – USA 300 million Increasing by nearly 80 million a year 220,000 people a day Historically: – Population year 1 AD – 300 million. – By 1600 doubled to 600 million – By 1850 doubled to 1.2 billion – By 1930 doubled to 2.4 billion – By 1975 doubled to 4.6 billion – By 2000 to 6 billion – Estimated to reach 9 billion by 2042!!!!! Growing at a rate of 1.2%

Cultural Geography Culture: All of the features of a people’s way of life. It is learned and passed down through teaching, example, and imitation. – Includes a group’s language, economics, religion, architecture, clothing, family life, food, and government

Culture Traits These are activities and behaviors that people often take part in. – Some such as learning to read and do math are almost universal – Others vary: USA we eat with a fork and knife, Chinese eat with chopsticks, Ethiopians use their fingers or bread to scoop food Each trait is considered correct where it is practiced.

Culture Regions An area in which people have many shared culture traits is called a culture region. – Some countries have one culture regions (Japan) while others have many culture regions (Africa, USA) or ethnic groups An ethnic group is a population that shares a common culture or ancestry Country borders can disrupt or separate ethnic groups. – Kurds of Western Asia (Iran, Iraq, Turkey)

Culture Change Cultures are changing all the time (fashion, music, food, communication, etc) When an individual or group adopts some of the traits of another culture the process is called acculturation – Immigrants to the USA provide perfect examples New language, customs, practices - assimilation Innovation – new ideas that a culture accepts – Can last or fade (baseball starts in USA & spreads) Diffusion – when an idea or innovation spreads from one group to another. – Jazz starts in New Orleans, spreads around the world – Shared languages can help diffusion – Types of diffusion: expansion, relocation, hierarchical

Culture Change – 80’s

Culture Change – 90’s

Culture Change – 2000’s

Assimilation

Culture Change Globalization: The process, in which connections around the world increase and cultures become more alike – Cultures blending together: cultural convergence – USA ideas, music, fashion spread through the world. Imports to the USA also change us. Spread of products and food are examples (STARBUCKS) Traditionalism: following longtime practices and opposing many modern technologies and ideas. – Opposite of globalization – Tied to fundamentalism – Cultural divergence: process of cultures becoming separate and distinct

Languages Language is important to culture because it is the main means of communication As many as 6500 languages spoken around the world – Broken into language families that are ten broken into branches (page 101 of text) English is a language in the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family. About 50% of the world speaks an Indo-European language Most spoken language is Mandarin Chinese Dialect: is a regional variety of language – British English and American English are dialects of same language Lingua Franca: a language of trade and communication – English is the main language of globalization – Millions speak as a second language

Religion It is a key culture trait that binds many societies together and gives meaning to people’s lives – Geographers are interested in the cultural traits, landscapes, and conflicts produced by religion Geographers identify 3 types of religions – Ethnic Religion: one ethnic group and has not spread. Do not seek to convert others. Hinduism, Confucianism, Judaism, and Taoism are all examples. – Animist Religion: believe in the presence of spirits and forces of nature. Closely tied to polytheism. – Universalizing Religion: seek followers. Hope to appeal to the masses. More than 50% of world follow this type of religion. Tied to monotheism. Christianity and Islam are examples.