Week 1 - What is geography? Flashcards
What is geography?
is the study of the interaction of all physical and human phenomena at individual places and of how interactions among places form patterns and organize larger spaces
3 principal analytical methods for geography
area analysis, spatial analysis, physical and human
What is Physical geography?
studies the characteristics of the physical environment.
What is area analysis?
process of using location data to understand where people come from and how to place locations for maximum benefit
What is spatial analysis?
process of studying entities by examining assessing, evaluating, and modeling spatial data features such as locations, attributes, and relationships that reveal the geometric or geographic properties of data.
Who invented geography?
Ancient Greeks - Erathosthenes accepted the idea that the Earth is round and he even calculated its circumference with precision. Eratosthenes also drew detailed maps of the world as it was known to him.
Which lines are the latitude lines?
Parallel lines
Which lines are the longitude lines
Meridians
When was the first settlement in Columbia, Mo?
1818-1821
Who provided the development of geography as an academic discipline?
Alexander von Humbolt (late 19th century)
What is cartography?
how maps are made, the implications, and the division of earth following many imaginary lines
What are the implications of making a map?
distortion, necessary selection of information, issue of scale,
What are regions?
areas defined by one or more distinctive characteristics for features such as climate, soil type, language, or economic activity.
What is distribution?
The position, placement, or arrangement of a phenomenon in space
What is density?
The frequency of occurrence of a phenomenon in space, in relation to its geographic area
What is distance decay?
The diminution of the presence or impact of any cultural attribute away from its hearth area
What is diffusion?
The process of an item or a feature spreading through time
What is atmosphere?
A thin layer of gases surrounding Earth
What is a lithosphere?
The solid Earth, composed of rocks and sediments overlying them
What is a biosphere?
All living organisms on Earth
What is a hydrosphere?
The water realm of Earth’s surface, including the oceans, surface waters on land (lakes, streams, rivers), groundwater in soil and rock, water vapor in the atmosphere, and ice in glaciers
what is globalization?
The organization of any activity treating the entire globe as one place
What are conformal maps?
A map that distorts size but preserves shapes
What are equal-area maps?
A map projection that preserves size but distorts shape
what are scales?
A quantitative statement of the relative sizes of an object on a map and in reality
What is the equator?
Earth’s imaginary midline perpendicular to the axis and midway between the poles
What are tropics?
regions of the earth surrounding the equator defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer and in the Northern Hemisphere and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere
What was the role of human and environmental factors in shaping human settlements (Columbia, Mo)
human factors -population growth, economic development, and urbanization played a significant role in shaping the U of Missouri, the location in the Missouri River Valley made it an attractive place for human settlement.
environmental factors - The Missouri River provided a source of water for early settlers, and the surrounding land was fertile and well-suited for agriculture. The university grew into a main intellectual center.
What was the role of human and environmental factors in shaping human settlements (Talamakan desert)
human factors - population growth, economic development, and urbanization have played a role in shaping human settlements
environmental factors - its location along the Silk Road made it an important trade route, and several oases were established along the way to provide water and other resources to travelers. Eventually, these oases grew into towns and cities.
