1. Why is each Point on Earth Unique?
Chapter 1 Key Issue 2 Lecture
Bellwork - How do we classify place?

2. Identifying a Location
Location can be identified in three ways…
Place Names
A toponym is the name given to a place on Earth.
Names derived from people of prominence, religious affiliation, physical features, or origins of its settlers
Site
Site is the physical character of a place.
Characteristics include climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, and elevation.
Situation
Situation is the location of a place relative to other places

3. You can also refer to a place by its…
Absolute Location
Mathematical location
Latitude & Longitude
degrees, minutes, seconds
Township & Range (1785 Land Ordinance)
Subdivision: parallels & meridians
Topographic quadrangle, US Geological Survey
Metes & Bounds Or
Relative Location
A place in relationship to other locations…
Situation
St. Louis is 38°43' North 90°14' West.
St. Louis is in eastern Missouri along the Mississippi River southeast of St. Charles

4. Region: A Unique Area
An area on Earth defined by one or more distinctive characteristics is a region.
Most often applied at two scales
Spanning political states
Constrained within one political state.
A region derives its unified character through the cultural landscape ─ a combination of cultural, religious, and physical features.
“Culture is the agent, the natural area the medium, the cultural landscape is the result.” – Carl O. Sauer, American Geographer

5. Describe the “South” You probably described… Culture Religion Physical
Butter, Home Cooking, Fried Chicken, Green, BBQ, etc.
Country Music
Huntin
Football
Religion
Christian
Evangelical
Fervent
Physical
Plantations
Hot

6. Geographers identify three types of regions.
Region: A Unique Area
Geographers identify three types of regions.
Formal Region (aka uniform region or homogeneous region)
An area in which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics
Common language, economic activity, or climate
Characteristic may be predominant rather than universal.
Ex. The Blue Valley School District, Kansas, NYC
Montana is an example of a formal region.
The North American Wheat Belt is a formal region in which wheat is the most commonly grown crop, but other crops are grown there as well.

7. Region: A Unique Area Geographers identify three types of regions.
Functional Region (aka nodal region)
An area organized around a node or focal point
The characteristic chosen to define a functional region dominates at a central focus or node and diminishes in importance outward.
Ex. Circulation of a newspaper, such as The New York Times
Vernacular Region (aka perceptual region)
An area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity.
Ex. The American South,
Functional Region –
New technology is breaking down traditional functional regions, because the Internet and satellite dish television reach patrons farther and farther away from a central node.
Vernacular Region –
A useful way to identify perceptual regions is to get someone to draw a mental map, which is a internal representation of a portion of Earth’s surface, as one perceives it.

8. Example: The state of Iowa is a Formal Region.
The colored circles represent the percentage of households served by a TV station and are Functional Regions
Iowa is in the Midwest, its Vernacular Region

9. Regions of Culture
Culture is the body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms that together constitute the distinct tradition of a group of people.
Origin of word, culture, is the Latin cultus, which means “to care for.”
Two meanings
To care about
To care of
What are some characteristics of your culture?

10. Regions of Culture Geographers study both definitions of culture.
Culture: What People Care About
Geographers study why the customary ideas, beliefs, and values of a people produce a distinctive culture in a particular place.
Especially important cultural values derive from a group’s language, religion, and ethnicity.
Culture: What People Take Care Of
The second element of culture of interest is production of material wealth, such as food, clothing, and shelter that humans need in order to survive and thrive.
Geographers can answer questions, such as why some areas have high cancer rates, by looking for spatial associations with the distributions of cultural traits.

11. Exploring American Regions...
How many regions are there?

16. The cultural geographer Wilbur Zelinsky studied the perceptual regions of North America-he identified 12 major regions. Notice that there is considerable overlap. Interviews or using phone books and noting when companies use the term southern or Dixie would indicate a perception of a region.

17. Appalachia

18. The Ozarks

19. Time Zones

20. Federal Reserve Districts

21. Court of Appeals Districts

22. Federal Regions

23. Label each state with the corresponding letters…
The Belts…
Bible Belt = BI
Mormon Corridor = M
Breadbasket = BR
Rust Belt = RU
Corn Belt = CO
Rice Belt = RI
Cotton Belt = CT
Sun Belt = S
Frost Belt = F
Black Belt = BL
Label each state with the corresponding letters…

24. Bible Belt

25. Bible Belt

26. Breadbasket

27. Breadbasket

28. Corn Belt

29. Corn Belt

30. Cotton Belt

31. Cotton Belt

32. Frost Belt

33. Frost Belt

34. Mormon Corridor

35. Mormon Corridor

36. Rust Belt

37. Rust Belt

38. Rice Belt

39. Rice Belt

40. Sun Belt

41. Sun Belt

42. Black Belt

43. Black Belt