1. Unit One Key Issue #2

3. How do we make these maps?
GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
Remote Sensing – uses satellites or planes to take still pictures of the earth’s surface
GPS – uses multiple satellites and a person on the ground to convey absolute location

4. The Township and Range System was created by the US Land Ordinance of 1785.
Each township is divided into 36 sections each 1 mile by 1 mile and numbered 1 in the NE and 36 in the SE.
The Homestead Act of encouraged the settlement of the West by giving each settler a quarter section or 160 acres of land.

5. Key Issue #2: Why is Each Point on Earth Unique?
Place: Unique Location as a Feature
Regions: Areas of Unique Characteristics
Spatial Association

6. Place: Unique Location as a Feature
Geographers think about where particular places are located & the combination of features that make each place or region distinct.
4 Ways to Identify LOCATION (the position that a place occupies on Earth’s surface)
Place Names
Toponym- the name given to a place on earth
Site
Situation
Mathematical Location

7. PLACE NAMES Toponym- the name given to a place on the earths surface
Any ideas to the origin of some local Toponyms?
El Dorado – City of gold sought by Spanish explorers
Cerro Gordo – From the Battle of Cerro Gordo in the Mexican American war
MacArthur, Eisenhower, Stephan Decatur

8. Site The physical characteristics of a place
Important site characteristics?
Climate, water sources, soil, vegetation, latitude & elevation
Why do you think Decatur was a good site for settlement
in the early 1800s?

9. Situation
The location of a place relative to other places, knowing this helps us in 2 ways
1. situation helps us find an unfamiliar place by comparing it to a familiar one.
Examples?
2. situation also helps us understand the importance of a location
What are some important cities throughout World History? Why are they important?
Constantinople, Paris, London, New York, Beijing, Tenochtitlan, Rome, Hong Kong, New Dehli, Alexandria, Mecca, Timbuktu
What makes Decaturs Situation unique? Why is it here?

10. Mathematical Location
Absolute location of any place can be described precisely by meridians and parallels
Meridians (lines of longitude)
Prime meridian (Int Date Line)
Parallels (lines of latitude)
The equator

11. Bell Work 1/22
What is the difference between a place’s site and a places situation?
Does the physical geography of a place completely control its destiny?

12. Regions: Unique Characteristics
Cultural Landscape – a unique combination of social relationships and physical processes (language, religion, agriculture, industry, climate, vegetation, etc.)
Each region = a distinctive landscape
People = the most important agents of change to Earth’s surface
“Culture is the agent, the natural area the medium, the cultural landscape is the result.” –Carl Sauer, proponent of Regional Studies approach

13. Types of Regions
Anything larger than a point and smaller than the entire planet
Formal Regions (uniform/homogenous region)
A region where everyone shares in common 1 or more distinct characteristics
Examples?
Japan, Tibet, The United States
Within the U.S Corn & Rust Belts

14. Types of Regions Functional (nodal) regions
An area organized around a node or focal point connected by transportation, communication or economic systems
Examples?
the circulation area of a newspaper, or the reach of a radio or television station
Functional Region: TV Markets

15. Types of Regions Vernacular or Perceptual Regions
A place that people believe exists as part of their cultural identities
Examples?
East and West end of Decatur, the Deep South, the Southside or North side of Chicago, the middle east
Activity -Mental Mapping

16. Culture Origin from the Latin cultus, meaning “to care for”
Two aspects:
What people care about
Beliefs, values, and customs
What people take care of
Earning a living; obtaining food, clothing, and shelter

18. Cultural Ecology
The geographic study of human–environment relationships
Two perspectives:
Environmental determinism – Argued that the general laws sought by human geographers could be found in the physical sciences. Geography was therefore the study of how the physical environment caused human activities.
Possibilism
Modern geographers generally reject environmental determinism in favor of possibilism – The physical environment may set limits on human actions but that people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives.