Unit 1 Key Questions Flashcards
Who coined term geography? What is the definition of geography
- Eratostheres
- The study of where things are found on earth’s surface and the reason for the locations
What are the two key questions asked by geographers
- Where are people and activities found on earth
- Why are they found there
Cartography
The science of mapmaking
Two purposes that maps serve
- As reference tool (Where things are, absolute and relative location)
- As a communications tool (shows the distribution of human activities or physical features
How did maps/geography develop because of china
-Pei Xiu made elaborate map of China-> China better mapped
How did maps/geography develop because of Muslims
- Muhammad al-Idrisi built on ptolemy’s map
- Prepared/made world map and geography text
How did maps/geography develop because of Age of Discovery
- Explorers sailed across the world to new lands and cartographers used their info to make more accurate maps
- Martin Waldseemuller-> first map with “America” as label
- Ortelius-> created 1st modern atlas
- Varenius-> made Geographia Generalis, which was standard written work on systematic geography for 100 years
Map scale
The relationship of a feature’s (thing’s) size on a map compared to its actual size on Earth
Describe the three ways in whcih map scale can presented/expressed
- Ratio or fraction: Shows ratio between distances on the map and the Earth’s surface in numbers (1: 24,000, map:earth)
- Written scale: shows relationship in words (1 inch equals 1 mile, map to world)
- Graphic scale- bar line marked to show distance on earth’s surfac. use ruler to measure the bar line and compare to map
What is advantage of map with large scale (small portion of earth)
- Map is more detailed
- Big maps have to leave out details bc not enough space
What advantage does a small scale map (globe) have
-Can show processes and trends that affect everyone/a lot of people
What can be distorted when geographers convert the round earth to a flat map with projection
- Shape: Become more elongated or squat
- Distance: Between 2 pts change
- Relative size: One area may appear larger than another when its actually smaller in reality
- Direction: can be distorted
Robinson
- Curved and globe-like
- Displays info across oceans well
- Solves some problems with mercator
- Everything (shape, size, distance, direction) is a little distorted
Mercator
- Flat map
- Shape distorted very little
- Direction consistent
- Meridians and parallels meet at right angles like irl
- Relative size is very distorted, especially towards the poles
What is a geographic grid
A system of imaginary arcs drawn in a grid pattern on Earth’s surface
Longitude-> name of lines, center, how other lines are measure
- Meridians
- Prime meridian-> 0 degrees
- On opposite side of globe is 180 degrees and between 180 and 0 the lines are measured with east or west if they are east or west of prime meridian
Latitude->name of lines, center, how other lines are measure
- Parallel
- Equator-0 degrees
- 90-90 n/s of equator
- The 90s represent north and south poles
How many time zones are there
24
What is the international date line
- Kind of follows 180 degrees
- You turn the clock + 24 hrs if you go east (to America) and -24 hrs if you go west (to China)
What is geographic information science (GIScience) How does it help geographer
- Involves development and analysis of data about Earth acquired through satellite and other electronic information technologies
- Allows geographers to access info about Earth
Remote sensing def
Getting data about Earth’s surface from a satellite orbiting Earth or from other long-distance methods
Global positioning system (GPS)
Def
System that accurately determines the precise position of something on earth
Global positioning system (GPS)
How does it work
- Satellites are placed into orbits
- Tracking stations monitor and control the satellites
- A reciever that can locate 4+ satellites figures out the distance to each and uses that info to pinpoint its own location and yours
Global positioning system (GPS)
Most commonly used for
Navigation: Planes, ships, driving, monitoring delivery, getting emergency help, cell phones, scocial media
GIS
- Geographic information system
- Stores layers of data
- Stores and manages geographic data
What kind of info is stored in GIS
- Roads
- Bodies of water
- Names of place
- Cities
GIS: Mashup
-Overlaying layers
-Mixing tow pieces of data so you can see both at same time
EX: seeing roads and state boundaries
What is dif between place and location
Place: A specific point on earth distinguished by a particular characteristic
Location: the position that something occupies on earth’s surface
-Place is a section of earth, location is where it is
Three ways to identify location
- Place name
- Site
- Situation
Toponym
The name given to a place on Earth
For ways in which a place can receive its name
Named after:
- A person
- Associated with religion
- Derived from ancient history
- May indicate the origin of its settlers
Site def
The physical character of a place
Five examples of site characteristics
- Climate
- Water sources
- Topography
- Soil
- Vegetation
- latitude
- Elevation
What can humans do to a site and example
Human actions can modify the characteristics of a site
-New york and Tokyo have been expanded with landfilling
Situation def
The location of a place relative to other places
The two reasons situation is important in indicating a location
- Finding an unfamiliar place
- Understanding its importance
What is a region
An area of Earth defined by one or more distinctive characteristics
What two scales is region applied to
- Several neighboring countries that share important features such as those in Latin America (spanning political states/areas)
- Many localities within a country, such as those in Southern California (confined within one state)
How did Carl Sauer define the cultural landscape
- An area fashion from nature from a cultural group
- A region that derives its unified character through cultural landscape- a combo of cultural, religious, physical featues
Formal region
- AKA uniform or homogenus
- An area within which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics
- Characteristic can be predominant rather than universal
- Language
- Economic
- Climate
Functional region
- AKA nodal (focus)
- An area organized around a node or focal point. Has a central focus (node) and diminished in importance outward
- Reception of TV station (strongest closest to it)
- Circulation of Newspaper
Vernacular region
- AKA perceptual region
- An area that people believe exists as a part of their culural identity
- Mental map
- definition of south in USA
What is a mental map
An internal representation of a portion of earths surface
-Impressions, where, whats there
Two meaning of culture that geographers study
- To care about: Why the customary ideas, beliefs, values of a people produce distinctive culture in a place. V. important cultural values come from language, ethnicity, and religion
- To care of: Production of material wealth (food, clothing, shelter, humans need to survive and thrive)
Things included in a groups culture
- Ideas
- Beliefs
- Values
- Language
- religion
- food
- Clothing
- Shelter
- Art
- Economics
In order to find out why a region has distinct features (like a high cancer rate) what do geographers do
Try to identify cultural,economic, and environmental factors that display similar spatial distributions
-Great lakes= more cancer bc more factories
Three concepts to explain why similarities exits among places and regions and not coincidence
- Scale
- Space
- Connections
Geographic scale
The relationship between the portion earth being studied and earth as a whole
At what scales do geographers explore the world
Global
What is globalization and what does it do to the scale of the world
- A force or process that involves the entire world and results in making something worldwide in scope
- Scale of the world is shrinking
How is recession of 2008 an example of globalization
The economy of the entire world recessed, not just one country
What is meant by a “uniform global landscape”
- Globalization of cultural beliefs and forms, especially religion and language
- Geographers observe that increasingly uniform cultural preferences produce uniform “global” landscapes of material artifacts and of cultural values
How has the communications revolution both promoted globalization while at the same time preserving cultural diversity
- TV used to play channels with one set of cultural vales
- ppl can now choose from 100s of programs in dif languages
Space
The physical gap or interval between two objects
Distribution
The arrangement of a feature in space
Density
The frequency with which something occurs in space
What two measures determine an areas density
The number of a feature and the land area
Concentration
The extent of features spread over space
What are the opposite ends of spectrum for concentration
Clustered: Close together
Dispersed: Far apart
Why do geographers use concentration
To describe changes in distribution
What is pattern
The geometric arrangement of objects in space
-Some features are organized in a geometric patter, while others are distributed irregularly
Why are many American cities arranged in a square or rectangular pattern
- To form square or rectangular blocks
- AkA grid pattern
Behavioral geography
-Emphasizes the importance of understanding the psychological basis for individual human actions
Humanistic geography
-Emphasizes the different ways individuals perceive their surrounding environment
-Poststructuralist biology
-Emphasizes the need to understand multiple perspectives regarding space
Diffusion
The process by which a characteristic spreads across space
Hearth
A place from which an innovation originates
Relocation diffusion
The spread of an idea through the physical movement of people from place to place
Expansion diffusion
The spread of feature from one place to another in an additive process
Hierarchical diffusion
The spread of an ideal from persons or nodes of authority or power to other persons or places
Contagious diffusion
The rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population
Stimulus diffusion
The spread of an underlying principal even though a characteristic itself apparently fails to diffuse
What did most interaction require in the past
The physical movement of settlers, explorer, and plundered from one place to another
Distance decay
When people get farther away from each other and contact diminishes with increasing distance
Global culture and economy are increasingly centered around 3 core (hearth) regions
North america, west europe, japan
Why is North america, west europe, japan culture hearths
- They have a large % of the world’s advanced tech, capital to invest in new activities, wealth to purchase goods and services
- Acess to tech
What areas of the world are on the outer edge, or periphery
-Africa, Asia, latin america
Renewable resources
Produced in nature more rapidly than it is consumed by humans
-Will regrow within one’s lifetime
Nonrenewable resources
Consumed by humans more rapidly than it is produced in nature
Sustainability
The use of Earth’s renewable and nonrenewable resources in ways that ensure resources availability in the future
Environmental determinism
The physical environment determines social development
- Based on studying natural sciences
- Mid 1700s
- Human culture is at the mercy of the physical environment and we can do little to change it
How do geographers feel to environmental determinsim
They reject in in favor of possibilitism
Environmental possibilism
The physical environment may limit some human actions but people have the ability to adjust to their environment
Two major issues of sustainability and resourves
- Humans deplete nonrenewable resources
- Humans destroyed otherwise renewable resources through pollution of air, water, and soil
