Chapter 1.1-1.2 Flashcards
Human geography
The study of how people make places, how we organize space and society, how we interact with each other in places and across space, and how we make sense of others and ourselves in our localities, regions, and the world.
Globalization
- a set of processes that are increasing interactions, deepening relationships, and accelerating interdependence across national borders.
- a set of outcomes that are felt from global processes and are unevenly distributed, vary across scales, and differently manifested across the world.
What are geographic questions?
The spatial arrangement of places and
phenomena (human and physical)
- How are things organized on Earth?
- How do they appear on the landscape?
- Where? Why? So what?
- No place “untouched by human hands” or activity
- Human organization of communities, nations, networks
- Establishment of political, economic, religious, cultural systems
Physical geography
study of spatial and material characteristics of a physical environment
Spatial
pertaining to space on the Earth’s surface; sometimes used as a synonym for geographic
Spatial distribution
- physical location of geographic phenomena across space
- processes that create and sustain a distribution
- EX. Map of cholera’s victims and water pumps in London in 1854 was essential to finding cause of the disease.
Medical geography
study of health and disease w/in a geographic context and from a geographical perspective. Among other things, medical geo looks at sources, diffusion routes, and distribution of disease.
-EX. Dr. Snow mapped distribution of cholera in London to find its cause.
Pandemic
Worldwide outbreaks of disease
-EX. The 1816-1823 spread of cholera from India to China, Japan, East Africa, and Mediterranean Europe
Epidemic
Regional outbreak of disease
-EX. Cholera outbreak in the slums of Lima, Peru in January 1991 spread to every country in the Americas. It began when ocean waters warmed off the coast, allowing plankton and cholera to multiply. Fish ate plankton and people ate raw fish, spreading cholera.
Dr. Snow
A noted anesthesiologist in London who mapped the cases of cholera in 1854 in London’s Soho District. He found that a large number of cholera deaths occurred around a water pump on Broad Street. When the Broad Street pump was removed, cholera cases went down. This proved the role of water in the spreading of cholera. Snow advised people to boil their water.
Cholera
An ancient disease associated with diarrhea and dehydration. Dr. John Snow proved that cholera spread through water.
-EX. After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, there was a choler outbreak, as water became contaminated with cholera and there was lack of access to soap. Cholera ended up contaminating the Artibonite River, which is the water supply for a large region, so cholera may be long lasting in Haiti.
Spatial perspective
observing variations in geographic phenomena across space.
-EX. study of phenomena such as political elections and folk music
Five themes of geography
Brings together many subfields of human geo and explain to non geographers what geographers do Created by National Geographic Society 1. Location 2.Human-environment interactions 3. Region 4. Place 5. Movement
Location
-position;situation of people and things
-highlights how the geographical position of people and things on Earth’s surface affects what happens and why
EX. The White House is located at 1600 W. Pennsylvania Ave.
Location theory
- an element of contemporary human geography that seeks answers to a wide range of questions, some of them theoretical, others highly practical
- a logical attempt to explain the locational pattern of an economic activity and the manner in which its producing areas are interrelated.
- EX. a geographer may assess whether a SuperTarget should be built downtown or in a suburb, given various details.
Human-environment interactions
reciprocal relationship between humans and environment
-EX. Why did the Army Corps of Engineers alter Florida’s physical environment so drastically when it drained part of the Everglades? Have changes in Florida’s environment created an easier path of destruction for hurricanes?
Regions
area on Earth’s surface make by a degree of homgeniety (uniformity) of some phenomenon
-EX. the Midwest in America
Types of regions
- FORMAL region: Defined by a common characteristic, whether physical or cultural, present throughout
e. g., German-speaking region of Europe - FUNCTIONAL (nodal) region: Defined by a set of social, political, or economic activities or interactions
e. g., an urban area, city and suburbs
-PERCEPTUAL (vernacular) Region: ideas in our minds, based on accumulated knowledge of places and regions, that define an area of “sameness” or “connectedness.”
e.g. the South
the Mid-Atlantic
the Middle East
Place
uniqueness of a location (or similarity between two or more locales); phenomena w/in an area
-EX. Phoenix
Sense of place
Perception of place
Sense of place: Infusing a place with meaning and emotion
Perception of place: Belief or understanding of what a place is like, often based on books, movies, stories, or pictures
EX. When college students in CA and PA were asked where there place of choice to live would be, most chose their home regions. The students also had negative perceptions towards the South, Appalachia, the Great Plains, and Utah.
Toponyms
-Place names that reflect local culture
-EX. Phoenix
Maricopa
Chandler
Apache Junction
Movement
- mobility of people, goods, and ideas; phenomena between areas
- expression of the interconnectedness of places
- EX. Trade between US and China is booming
Spatial interaction
: The interconnectedness between places, depending upon
- Distance
- Accessibility
- (transportation and communication) Connectivity
Distances
The measured physical space between two places
Accessibility
The ease of reaching one location from another
Connectivity
The degree of linkage between locations in a network
Landscape
refers to the material character of a place, the complex natural features, human structures, and other tangible objects that give a place a particular form
Types of location
- Absolute location
- -Precise location using a coordinate system
- -Latitude and longitude most common
- -Measured by geographic positioning systems (GPS)
- -EX: The Empire State Building is located at 40.7 degrees north (latitude), 74 degrees west (longitude). It sits at the intersection of 33rd Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City, New York.
- Relative location
- -Location in relation to something else
- -Changes over time with changing circumstances
- -EX. My house is east of I-75
Culture
- The whole tangible lifestyle of peoples, but also their prevailing values and beliefs
- -Cultural trait: A single attribute of a culture
- -Cultural complex: A combination of traits
- -Cultural hearth: Area where a culture began and from which it spreads
- -Independent invention: A culture trait that began in several places
Cultural landscape
The visible imprint of human activity on the landscape
-EX. Religion and cremation practices spread with Hindu migrants from India to Kenya
Sequent Occupance
Layers of imprints in a cultural landscape reflecting years of differing human activity
-EX. In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, African,
Arab, German, British, Indian “layers” can be seen.
For example, the apartments that replaced earlier single-
family houses in Dar es Salaam reflect this of Mumbai, India.
Site
the physical character of a place; what is found at the location and why it is significant.
EX. Lower Manhattan Island
Situation
the location of a place relative to other places
EX. Singapore is situated at a key location for international trade.
