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Globalization

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Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope

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Local Diversity

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Expressing unique cultural traditions and economic pracitices

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Geography

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Literally: geo=earth graphy=to write

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Hurricane Katrina

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Physical and human geography intersect here physical: major damage, especially in areas like Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi; Mobile, Alabama; and New Orleans, Louisiana human: uneven impact of destruction- most victims were poor, African American, and older (living in the lowest-lying areas)

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Map

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two dimensional or flat scale model of Earth's surface, or a portion of it

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Place

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a specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular characteristic

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Region

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an area of Earth distinguished by a distinctive combination of cultural and physical features

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Scale

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the relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole

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Space

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the physical gap or interval between two objects

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Connections

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relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space

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Key Issue 1

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How do Geographers Describe Where things are?

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Cartography

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the science of mapmaking

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Purposes of a map

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tool for storing reference material and a tool for communicating geographic information

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Early Mapmaking

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2300 bc: earliest surviving maps were drawn by Babylonians on clay tablets 800 bc: Mediterranean sailors and traders made maps of rock formations, islands, and ocean currents Miletus (present day port in Turkey) became a center for geographic thought and map making Thales (624?-546? bc) and student Anaximander (610-546? bc) made maps

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Aristotle

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384-322 bc first to demonstrate that Earth was spherical matter falls together toward a common center, that Earth's shadow on the Moon is circular during an eclipse, and visible groups of stars change as one travels north or south

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Eratosthenes

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276?-194? bc first person of record to use the word geography, calculated circumference of Earth to .5% accuracy, correctly divided Earth into climate zones (torrid zone across middle, two frigid zones at extreme north and south, two temperate zones in between)

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Ptolemy

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100?-170? ad wrote eight volume Guide to Geography

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Map Making Outside of Europe

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during dark ages in Europe, not much progress in maps Chinese: Phei Hsiu- the father of Chinese cartography produced a map of the country in 267 ad Muslim Geography al-Idrisi (1100-1165) prepared a world map and geography text in 1154 building on Ptolemy

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Renaissance

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map making thrived again in Europe Columbus and Magellan and others sailed across oceans and required accurate maps Mercator and Ortelius took information collected by others to create more accurate maps by seventeenth century, maps accurately display outline of most continents Geographia Generalis

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Projection Or Distortions that occur while making maps

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most maps are flat and have distortion Distortions: 1. shape of an area can be distorted so that it appears more elongated or squat than in reality 2. distance between two points may become increased or decreased 3. relative size of different areas may be altered 4. direction from one place to another can be distorted

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US Land Ordinance of 1785

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divided most of country into townships initial surveying done by Thomas Hutchins, geographer to the United States in 1781 after Hutchins, surveying was done by Surveyor General a township is a square 6 miles on each side north south lines= principal meridians east west lines= base lines each township has a number corresponding to its distance north or south of a particular base line (example: T1N (township 1 North), t2n, t1s, etc) second number, known as range, correslponding to each principal merdian (R1E (range 1 east) divided into 36 sections and numbered in a consistent order from 1 in north east corner to 36 in the south east divided further into four quarter sections (.5 mile by .5 mile) which most settlers bought for land

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GIS

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geographic information system computer system that can capture, store, query, analyze, and display geographic data geocoding is key: position of any object on Earth can be measure and recorded with mathematical precision and then stored in a computer used to produce maps each type of information can be stored in a layer separate layers can include: boundaries of countries, bodies of water, roads, and names of places can be used to calculate whether relationships between objects on a map are significant or coincidental

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Remote Sensing

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acquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting earth map created by remote sensing is a grid containing rows of pixels (each pixel is an image)

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GPS

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global positioning system accurately determines the precise position of something on Earth gps system used in USA includes 2 dozen satellites placed in predetermined orbits, tracking stations to monitor/control satellites, and receivers that compute position, velocity, and time from satellite signals

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Key Issue 2

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Why is Each Point on Earth Unique?

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How to identify location

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four ways to identify location: place name, site, situation, and mathematical location

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Place name

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toponym is the name given to place on earth places are named for people (Washington DC), religion (St. Louis), ancient history (Athens), and have origins from countries that founded them Board of Geographical Names was established in the late nineteenth century to be the final arbiter of names on US maps place can change names after events occur

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Site

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physical character of a place including climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, and elevation essential in selecting locations for settlements, although people disagree on what makes a good site because of culture humans can modify the characteristics of a site (Manhattan Island is twice as large today as it was in 1626)

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Situation

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the location of a place relative to other places valuable way to find an unfamiliar place and understanding its importance find an unfamiliar place by comparing its location with a familiar one (giving directions) many locations are important because they are accessible to other places (Singapore)

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Mathematical Location

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latitude and longitude (parallels and meridians) meridians are north to south (prime meridian is 0 degrees longitude) longitude plays important role in telling time parallels are east to west (equator is 0 degrees latitude) latitude tells climate use longitude and latitude to find a place (divided further into minutes and seconds)

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Determining Longitude

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longitude is a human creation prime meridian runs through Greenwich because England was the most powerful country when longitude was first accurately measured British Parliament enacted the Longitude Act of 1714 and offered a prize equivalent to several million dollars today to the person who could first measure longitude correctly John Harrison won by inventing a portable clock that could accurately keep time on a ship because it had no pendulum each change in 15 degrees is one hour different than Greenwich GMT- Greenwich Mean Time or Universal Time When you cross the international date line you mus move the clock one day

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What makes a region

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derives character from the cultural landscape language, religion, economic features like agriculture and industry, and physical features such as climate and vegetation Carl Sauer- "Culture is the agent, the natural area the medium, the cultural landscape is the result"

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Cultural Landscape

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regional studies done by: Paul Vidal de la Blanche (1845-1918), Jean Brunhes (1869-1930), Carl Sauer (1889-1975), and Robert Platt (1880-1950) argued that each region has its own distinctive landscape that results from a unique combination of social relationships and physical processes regions are both human and environmental people are the most important agents of the change of the Earth's surface

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Types of Regions

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formal, functional, and vernacular

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Formal Region

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also called a uniform region or homogeneous region an area within which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics shared value could be language, economic activity like production of a crop, or climate Examples: Montana's government has equal intensity throughout the state the wheat belt in North America regions where the predominant voting is Republicans

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Functional Region

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also called a nodal region organized around a node or focal point and its boundaries often used to display information about economic areas Examples: circulation of a newspaper that dominates in one county versus the circulation of a newspaper that dominates in the next county reception area of a television station trading area of a department store

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Vernacular Region

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perceptual region place people believe exists as part of their cultural identity mental maps Examples: Americans refer to the South as high cotton production and low high school graduation rates (place of pride or a place to avoid)

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Scales

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regions have wide, varying scales scales include: national, state, urban

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What people care...

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What People Care About: derived from language, religion, ethnicity What People Take Care Of: derived from food, clothing, shelter, obtaining of wealth

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Human environment relations

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Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) and Carl Ritter (1779-1859) urged human geographers to adopt the methods of scientific inquiry used by natural scientists should apply laws from natural sciences to understanding relations between human actions and physical environments environmental determinism (how physical environment causes social development)

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Possibilism

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- the physical environment may limit some human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to their environment collection of resources

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Climate

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tropical, dry, warm mid-latitude, cold mid-latitude, polar humans have limited tolerances for extremes influences human activities like production of food

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Vegetation

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biomes- forest, savanna, grassland, desert forest: trees form a continuous canopy over the ground, large percentage of Earth's surface, North America, Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, Southeast Asia savanna: mixture of trees and grasses, trees don't form canopy, Africa, South Asia, South America, Australia grassland: covered by grass rather than trees, North America desert: not completely bereft of vegetation

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Soil

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Us Comprehensive Soil Classification System divides global soil types into ten orders 12,000+ soil types identified concerned with the destruction of the soil farmers have to plant crops that restore nutrients to soil and add fertilizers

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Landforms

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people prefer living on flatter land, which is generally suited better for agriculture great concentrations of people and activities in hilly areas may require extensive effort to modify the landscape use topographic maps to show physical features like bodies of water, forests, mountains, valleys, and wetlands and cultural features like buildings, roads, parks, farms, and dams

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The Netherlands

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one of the most thoroughly modified regions in the world more than half lies below sea level polder: piece of land that is created by draining water from an area construction of massive dikes to prevent the north sea from flooding most of the country Delta Plan: construction of several plans Dutch are sensitive with environmental modification

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Florida

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not so sensitive environmental modification several hundred thousand people live on barrier islands which are essentially giant sandbars with fragile conditions to fight erosion, people build sea walls and jetties that extend into the sea these projects are produce more damage on the down current side in Everglades, fish die from high levels of mercury, phosphorous, and other contaminants from polluted water from cattle grazing

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Köppen System

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Classify climates Tropical (a) Dry (b) Warm mid latitude (c) Cold mid latitude (d) Polar (e)

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