AP Human Geography – Unit 1 – Section 6 – Flashcards

To consider; the work of human geography is to determine the relationships among physical and social phenomena in a particular area that is studied. Then everything in the landscape is related.

Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) and Carl Ritter (1779-1859):German geographers Responsible for the "where" and "why" approach to geographic study argued that geography should move beyond describing earth;s surface to explaning why certain phenomena were present or absent urged Human eographers to adopt scienctific inquiry used by natural scientists

Von Humboldt and ritter concentrated on how the physical environment cause for socail development

This is the belief that the physical environment determies social development. It is the idea that human behavior, individually and collectively, is strong affected by, even controlled or determined by, the environment. The ideal climate: Western Europe, or the Notheastern United States. The term was coined by Ellsworth Huntington (1876-1947). What is cultural ecology? It's the study of human cultures and their ability to adapt and exist within a particular physical environment. *The environment can have both positive and negative affects on people*

Are such sweeping generalizations, as those asserted by environmental determinists, valid? Isn't humanity capable of much more than merely adapting to the natural environment? What about highly developed civilations outside of Western Europe. Examples: Northern Africa, East Asia

It was a reaction to environmental deteriminism. This is the belief that the natural environment merely serves to limit the range of choices available to a culture. The choices that a society make depend on its members requirements and the technology available to them. Possibilism advances the idea that the environment may limit some human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to their surroundings.

The influence of the natural environment declines with increasing technological sophistication. Humans can transform their surroundings and have the capacity to modify their natural environments.

Paul Vital de la Blache (1845-1918) and Gene Brunhes (1869-1930) French. They rejected the idea that physical factors simply determined human actions. They argued that each place has its own distinctive landscape that results from a unique combination of social relationships and physical processes. they also argued that geographers should examine the social and physical processes of each place or location studied.

Changing weather, heat and cold waves, influence the activites of significant numbers of people, even when they spend most of their time indoors in controlled environments. many people agree that the natural environment affects human activity but people are the decision makers and the modifiers, not the slaves of environmental forces. The decisions that people make about their environments are influenced by culture. We cannot escape the environmental context in which we are situated.

Any explanation of human environment relations that does not give credence to the power of cultural ideas and practices embarks on a simplistic path. Perhaps even being wrong.

They reject the extreme position of environmental determinalists. They have modified the regional studies approach. Affected: Environmental determinalism Possibilism Regional approach Regional approach dealing with culuture