1. Cultural Geography
GEOG 101
Dr. Scott S. Brown

2. Textbook

3. Human Geography Chapter 1 Introduction Insert figure CO1 3
© Thinkstock/Masterfile 3
Human Geography 12e

4. 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

5. 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

6. 3 Characteristics of Geography
Science of Place
Multidisciplinary field
Human – Environment Relationship

7. 5 Themes in Cultural Geography
Cultural Landscape
Cultural Region
Cultural Ecology
Cultural Integration
Cultural Diffusion
Culture = Learned, collective human behavior

8. Human Geography Subfields: Behavioral Political Economic Cultural
Social
Urban
Medical
Population
Geomorphology
Biogeography 8

9. 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 Places 9

10. 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

11. Core Geographic Concepts
Space and Place
Sense of place
The attachment we have to specific locations
Placelessness
Uniformity; elimination of uniqueness 11

12. 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

13. Location
Absolute Location
Relative Location
Site vs. Situation 13

14. Absolute Location Relative Location Site Situation
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

15. Absolute Location: Latitude and Longitude

16. Location
Site vs. Situation 16

17. Site: Lower Manhattan Island
FIGURE 1-10a

18. Site & Situation: Singapore
FIGURE 1-11
S. Brown

19. FIGURE 1-11a

20. FIGURE 1-11b

21. Site & Situation: Hong Kong

22. Direction Absolute Direction Relative 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

23. Distance Absolute Distance Relative 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

24. 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

25. Cultural Landscapes: Political Boundaries U.S./Mexico Border

26. Cultural Landscapes between Mexico and California, USA
Figure 1.11
Cultural Landscapes between Mexico and California, USA

27. Places The Rational Structure of Place Density Dispersion Pattern
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

28. Figure 1.17
Spatial Association

29. 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

30. 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

31. Thematic & Functional Regions

32. Perceptual Regions
Insert figure 1.17 32

33. Maps Map Scale Remote Sensing Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
The Globe Grid
Earth-Sun Relationship 33

34. Figure 1.21
Map Scale

35. G.I.S. 3 Main Components Data storage Computer graphics
Figure 1.27
G.I.S.
3 Main Components
Data storage
Computer graphics
Statistical packages

36. Global Grid: Latitude and Longitude
Figure 1.22
Global Grid: Latitude and Longitude

37. 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

38. FIGURE 1-12

39. FIGURE 1-13
Longitude – Time

40. Latitude – Climate
FIGURE 1-19

41. Earth – Sun Relationship

42. (Wiltshire, England, UK)
Calendars and Seasons
Stonehenge
(Wiltshire, England, UK)
Pueblo Bonito
(Chaco Canyon N.P.,
NM, USA)

43. Mayan Calendar Dzibichaltún (Yucatan, Mexico) Chichén Itza (Yucatan,