1. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 1: Basic Concepts The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography

2. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Defining Geography Word coined by Eratosthenes –Geo = Earth –Graphia = writing Geography thus means “earth writing”

3. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Contemporary Geography Geographers ask where and why –Location and distribution are important terms Geographers are concerned with the tension between globalization and local diversity A division: physical geography and human geography

4. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Geography’s Vocabulary Place Region Scale Space Connections

5. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Maps Two purposes –As reference tools To find locations, to find one’s way –As communications tools To show the distribution of human and physical features

6. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Early Map Making Figure 1-2 A 7 th century map of Catalhoyuk from Turkey. A 6 th century map of the world with Babylon as the center of the world

7. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Maps: Scale Types of map scale –Ratio or fraction – shows the numerical ratio. Ex. 1:50,000, 1 unit represents 50,000 of the same unit –Written – relationship between map & Earth distance. Ex. 1 inch equals 1 mile –Graphic – bar line marked to show distance. Projection –Distortion Shape – appear elongated Distance – increased or decreased Relative size – appear larger or smaller Direction – from one place to another

8. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Figure 1-4

9. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

10. U.S. Land Ordinance of 1785 Township and range system –Used to facilitate the sale of land to settlers in the West. –Township = 6 sq. miles on each side North–south lines = principal meridians East–west lines = base lines –Range = location east or west of principal meridians –Sections = divided into 36 1mile by 1 mile units, then divided into 4 quarter-sections – ½ mile by ½ miles = 160 acres the size of western homesteads.

11. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Township and Range System Figure 1-5

12. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Contemporary Tools Geographic Information Science (GIScience) –Global Positioning Systems (GPS) –Remote sensing –Geographic information systems (GIS) Figure 1-7

13. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. A Mash-up Figure 1-8

14. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Place: Unique Location of a Feature Location –Place names Toponym – Texas city names. –Site – physical features gives distinctive character –Situation – relative location of other places –Mathematical location – Latitude & longitude

15. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Place: Mathematical Location Location of any place can be described precisely by meridians and parallels –Meridians (lines of longitude) Prime meridian –Parallels (lines of latitude) The equator

16. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. The Cultural Landscape A unique combination of social relationships and physical processes Each region = a distinctive landscape People = the most important agents of change to Earth’s surface

17. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Types of Regions Formal (uniform) regions –Example: Montana Functional (nodal) regions –Example: the circulation area of a newspaper Vernacular (cultural) regions –Example: the American South

18. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. What type of region?

19. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. What type of region? NYC Subway

20. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. What type of region?

21. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. 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

22. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Cultural Ecology The geographic study of human– environment relationships Two perspectives: –Environmental determinism –Possibilism Modern geographers generally reject environmental determinism in favor of possibilism

23. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Physical Processes Climate Vegetation Soil Landforms –These four processes are important for understanding human activities

24. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Modifying the Environment Examples –The Netherlands Polders –The Florida Everglades Figure 1-21

25. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Scale Globalization –Economic globalization Transnational corporations –Cultural globalization Is local culture threatened by globalization? What is needed for global culture? Opposition to Globalization

26. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Space: Distribution of Features Distribution—three features –Density Arithmetic Physiological Agricultural –Concentration: clustered or dispersed –Pattern: geometric or irregular

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28. Space–Time Compression Figure 1-29

29. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Spatial Interaction Transportation networks Electronic communications and the “death” of geography? Figure 1-30

30. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Distance decay farther from the source & the more time it takes, the less likely innovation adopted Learn to think about distance decay in a “spatial” context Think of distance decay in terms of an ‘x’ and ‘y’ axis

31. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Diffusion The process by which a characteristic spreads across space and over time Hearth = source area for innovations Two Types –Relocation: –Expansion: Hierarchical, contagious & stimulus

32. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Relocation Diffusion & Expansion Diffusion Figure 1-31 person ‘A’ is relocation diffusion as the person goes. idea/trait ‘B’ is expansion diffusion as the idea/trait moves or transports.

33. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Relocation Diffusion:  This occurs when the people migrate and take their cultural attributes with them.  Examples? Migrant Diffusion is when an innovation originates and enjoys strong, but brief, adoption there. The innovation may travel long distances (& be thriving), but could be faded out back at the point of origination. – e.g. influenza in China will reach the U.S., but the epidemic could be over in China by the time it takes hold in the U.S.

34. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Expansion Diffusion Hierarchical – spread top-down or down-up, example: iphones, Wal-Mart Contagious – spread w/o regard of position. Example: Planking, Internet Stimulus – spread of principle w/o characteristic itself Example: McDonald’s in India

35. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. ‘A’ is a diagram of contagious diffusion. Notice virtually all ‘adopt.’ ‘B’ is a diagram of hierarchical diffusion. Notice the leapfrogging over some areas.

36. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. An example of Stimulus Diffusion McDonald’s spread to India; however, Indian Hindus do not eat beef. Indian McDonald’s serve veggie burgers, which is culturally acceptable. The idea (McDonald’s burgers) was acceptable, but not in its original form – hence stimulus diffusion.

37. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Nicholas Christakis: How social networks predict epidemics http://www.ted.com/talks/nicholas_christakis_ how_social_networks_predict_epidemics.html http://www.ted.com/talks/nicholas_christakis_ how_social_networks_predict_epidemics.html

38. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Acculturation Acculturation – when smaller/weaker groups take on traits of the larger/dominant culture. Can be 2-way process – e.g. Aztecs acculturated into Spanish culture, but some Aztec traits remained and became Spanish culture.

39. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Assimilation Assimilation – the adoption of cultural elements can be so complete that two cultures become indistinguishable – e.g. – jeans being worn here in the Czech Republic

40. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. The End.

41. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Defining Geographic Scales, by James Rubenstein “Geographers think about scale at many levels, including global, regional, and local. At the global scale, geographers recognize that each place on Earth is in some ways unique. Between the local and global, geographers construct a regional scale; a region is an area characterized by a unique combination of features.”

42. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.