Chapter 2 Cultural Regions in Our World Exploring Culture Chapter 2 Cultural Regions in Our World

What is a cultural region? an area where people share a distinct (noticeably different) way of life ex.) Atlantic Canada (NL, PEI, NS, NB) could be considered a cultural region ex.) your own community could be a cultural region ex.) an entire country could be a cultural region

Terminology GEOGRAPHY PHYSICAL FEATURES REGION the study of the Earth, its people, and the relationships among them PHYSICAL FEATURES landforms (mountains, rivers, lakes,…) climate soil natural vegetation REGION a large or small part of the Earth that has similar features the features can be physical, cultural (studying people), or both

MAPS important tool used by geographers to show many types of information about people and places 4 Basic MAP Features: (1). Title (2). Direction (north, south east, west) …sometimes a compass rose is used (3). Scale…used to find actual distances on Earth (4). Legend…patterns, colors, symbols of a map are explained

Thematic Map shows patterns for one type of information about an area, such as a province or country information could be about population, climate, etc. colors/symbols used to show patterns

Mental Map a person’s own way of seeing/imagining something…an individual’s view of the world … ‘a personal map of where you live’

How can we identify a cultural region? (1). Language an area where people speak the same language (2). Government an area where people share a similar form of government (note: we have a democracy) (3). Technology an area where people use a certain type of technology (ex. farm machinery) (4). History an area where people have a shared history (Ex. Acadian communities in Atlantic Canada…p.27 of text) (5). Economy an area where a common economy is evident (ex. years ago much of rural Newfoundland had an economy based on the fishery) (6). Beliefs and Values an area where a certain religion predominates (ex. Christianity, Islam, etc….see p.29 of text)

Cultural Diversity many small regions and large regions can be culturally diverse or varied…aspects of many different cultures may be evident in a certain region Canada is often described as a cultural melting pot