Human Geography Exam Review

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• Tober’s First Law of Geography

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All things are related, but (all things being equal) those things closer together are more related

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o Distance decay

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the diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin

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pull people in opposite directions

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• Globalization and local diversity

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o Globalization

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actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope – greater cultural and economic interaction with others because of modern communications and technology (Example – people speak English in France; McDonald’s menu and standards are the same everywhere)

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o Local diversity

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the search for more ways to express unique cultural traditions and economic practices (Example – the French pass laws against speaking English; McDonald’s may add menu items in India)

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• “Geography” =

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“Earth” + “to write” [Greek]

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• Map

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2D representation of Earth’s surface or a portion of it (globes are now possible, but they do not present enough detail)

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• Cartography

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the art and science of making maps

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• Maps use legends/symbols to

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(1) store reference material and (2) communicate geographic information

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• History of Mapmaking

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o Babylonians (2300 B.C.) – earliest surviving maps on clay tablets
o Mediterranean sailors/traders (800 B.C.) – map rock formations, islands, ocean current
o Miletus, present-day Turkey – center for geography
o Thales (580 B.C.) – apply geometry to measure land area, taught
o Anaximander – use sailors’ info to portray Earth as cylinder
o Hecateus (500 B.C.) – first geography book
o Aristotle (350 B.C.) – spherical earth from (1) matter falls to common center, (2) Earth’s circular shadow on moon during eclipse, (3) visible stars change traveling north or south; Barbarians invaded, recovered during Renaissance
o Eratosthenes (230 B.C.) – coin “geography,” accept Aristotle’s work, correctly divide Earth into five climatic regions, Alexandria head librarian, calculate Earth’s circumference within 0.5% accuracy

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• Map scale

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the relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole, or the size on the map and the actual size on Earth

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• Projection

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the scientific method of transferring locations on Earth’s surface to a lat map

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o Four types of distortion

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 Shape of an area
 Distance between two points
 Relative size of different areas
 Direction from one place to another

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o Types of projections

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(Equal-area, Conformal, and Compromise describe all)

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 Azimuthal

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or planar – one point – distortion around edges –

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Oblique Zenithal Equidistant

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air route distances

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 Cylindrical

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one line – world map

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• Conformal

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does not distort shape

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Mercator

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allows navigators to draw straight lines – “Greenland Problem” distorts size

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• Equal-area

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only distortion of size is near poles – sometimes uses interruption – meridians do not merge at poles and are not perpendicular to parallels

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Peters

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debated, accepted everywhere except U.S., uses own metric system

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Eckert IV

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has less shape distortion near poles,

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Goode’s Homolosine

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is interrupted like a squashed orange peel

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Mollweide

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meridians are not parallel, interrupted

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• Compromise

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used by National Geographic

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Van der Grinten

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old

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Robinson

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shrinks land masses

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Winkel Tripel

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minimizes shape distortion in polar areas

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 Conical

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one parallel – distortion away from region/parallel –

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Bonne’s

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is equal-area, distorts shape around edges

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o Land Ordinance of 1785

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divide much of the U.S. into a system of townships and ranges to facilitate the sale of land to Western settlers

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o Township

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– square six miles on each side, divided into 36 1-mile sections, which are divided into 4 half-mile quarter-sections each

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townships are separated by

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o Base lines –

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E-W lines

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o Base lines

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N-S lines

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Principal meridians

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computer software that can capture, store, query, analyze, and display geographic data using geocoding – designed by McHarg in the 1960’s

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• GIS (Geographic Information System)

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o Thematic layers –

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individual maps containing specific features

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• Remote sensing

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the acquisition of data about Earth’s surface from long-distance methods (balloons, birds, planes, satellites, and infrared waves) – used to study the environment, urban sprawl, and agriculture

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• GPS (Global Positioning System) –

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a system that accurately determines the precise position of something on Earth using satellites, tracking stations, and receivers – now uses latitude and longitude – useful for navigation and finding information to be entered in a GIS

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• Place

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a specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular characteristic

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o Location

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the position that something occupies on Earth’s surface

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toponym, site , situation, mathematical location

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 Four ways to identify location

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• Toponym

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name given to a place on Earth

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• Site –

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physical character of a place – climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, laitude, elevation

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• Situation –

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the location of a place relative to other places – helps (1) find an unfamiliar place and (2) understand its importance

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o Meridian –

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an arc drawn between the North and South poles that runs N-S but measures E-W – imaginary and used in grid system

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o Parallel

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a circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator and at right angles to meridians – runs E-W but measures N-S

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o Longitude

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a numbering system that identifies each meridian measuring E-W of the prime meridian

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o Prime meridian –

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the meridian that passes the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England (0°)

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o Latitude –

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the numbering system to indicate the location of a parallel measuring N-S of the equator (0°) The distance between each degree is about 69 miles.

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0°

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o Degrees calculated using a point, the center of the earth, and a point on

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60

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degree = __ minutes

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o Greenwich Mean Time –

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the time in that time zone encompassing the prime meridian

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o International Date Line –

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An arc following 180° longitude, although it deviates to avoid dividing land areas. East, toward America, moves back one day, and West, toward Asia, moves ahead

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• Regional studies – or cultural landscape studies – or Pattison’s area-analysis tradition

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an approach to geography that emphasizes the relationships among social and physical phenomena in a particular study area

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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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o Vernacular

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perceptual – ex. The “South” – changes and is “fuzzy”

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Formal

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or uniform – ex. “Bible Belt” or “Wheat Belt” or Tibet (not actually a state) - relatively uniform: surveys, not political lines

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o Functional

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or nodal – see distance decay – ex. Whitney Bank or Times Picayune or Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) (NO, San Fran)

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Spatial interaction

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the movement of people, goods, and ideas within and among regions

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o Geographical scale

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(see map scale above) – conceptual hierarchy of spaces, from small to large, that reflects actual levels of organization in the real world (neighborhood, urban area, metropolitan area, region; OR watershed, ecosystem, landscape, biome – one can affect other parts)

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o Space –

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the physical gap or interval between two objects
 Geographers study regular distributions of objects across space

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 Spatial perspective

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intellectual framework that looks at the earth in terms of how and why a phenomenon is where it is and the relationships between various places (how and why for McDonald’s)

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o Connections –

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relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space

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location

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“where” – (AP Exam: Give examples)

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• Place

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unique characteristics
o Physical – landforms, climate, soils, flora, fauna, water
o Human – religion, languages, population, settlement, economics

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Movement

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links of transportation and communication

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Regions

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areas with shared characteristics (physical and human)

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• Geographical scale

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conceptual hierarchy of spaces, from small to large (size of a region), that reflects actual levels of organization in the real world

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Culture

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the body of customary beliefs, material traits (ex. tools, clothes, toys like cobbler, architecture like garages instead of porches), and social forms that together constitute the distinct tradition of a group of people; defines why each region is distinctive

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“cultus” = “to care for”

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o “Culture” = Latin

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• Cultural ecology

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the geographic study of human-environment relationships

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 Imitation (like Britney Spears)
 Instruction (pill commercials, P-Rock’s dad, Sex Ed.)
• U.S.A. lacks instruction and sharing of culture
 Example

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Culture is Transferred by three methods:

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cultural ecology

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– the geographic study of human-environment relationships

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o Environmental determinism

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an approach focusing on how the physical environment causes social development

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 HUMBOLDT AND RITTER

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(early 1800s)– emphasize using scientific method to discover general laws, concentrate on

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 RATZEL AND SEMPLE

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( late 1800s) claim that geography and environmental determinism are one and the same

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 ELLSWORTH HUNTINGTON

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(early 1900s) – “prove” racism; argue climate is major determinant of civilization and Europeans are superior because of temperate climate

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o Possibilism

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an approach that states the physical environment may limit some human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to their environment

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Resources

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substances that are useful to people, economically and technologically feasible to access, and socially acceptable to use – THEY CHANGE

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Climate, vegetation, soil, landforms

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o Physical factors that interest human geographers:

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climate

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the long-term average weather condition at a particular location

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vegetation

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Earth’s plant life

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: forest, savanna, grassland, desert

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• Four major biomes:

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 SOIL –

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the material that forms on Earth’s surface; the thin interface between the air and rocks that contains nutrients necessary for growth of plants

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 LANDFORMS –

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Earth’s surface features; can vary from relatively flat to mountainous.

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o Geomorphology

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helps to explain the distribution of people and the choice of economic activities at different locations.

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polders

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pieces of land that are created by draining water from an area

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Barrier Islands

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large sandbars that shield the mainland from flooding and storm damage – are used for homes and recreational facilities. Causing more erosion.

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 Lake Okeechobee to Everglade National Park

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wetlands destroyed; irrigation from marsh for citrus industry

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 Kissimmee River to Lake Okeechobee –

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drained for water and land; polluted water from cattle flow into lake and park

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• Globalization

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a force or process that involves the entire world and results in making something worldwide in scope

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transnational corporations –

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multinational corporations that conduct research, operate factories, and sell products in many countries away from where their headquarters and principal shareholders are located

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Historians

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chronological, ask when and why, cannot travel through time; must INTERPRET artifacts (study of history changes

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Geographers

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spatially, ask where and why, able to travel to places to do field work.

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Distribution

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the arrangement of a feature in space

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Density

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the frequency with which something occurs in space (AMOUNT/AREA)

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arithmetic density

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the total number of objects in an area

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• Physiological density

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the number of persons per unit of area suitable for agriculture

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agricultural density

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the number of farmers per unit area of farmland

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concentration

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the extent of a feature’s spread over space

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clustered

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closer together; more concentrated

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dispersed

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– relatively far apart

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pattern

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the geometric arrangement of objects in space
 Often grid-like like townships and blocks

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space-time compression

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the reduction in the time it takes for something to reach another place

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distance decay

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the diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin

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diffusion

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the process by which a characteristic spreads across space from one place to another over time

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hearth

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the place from which an innovation originates, or a node and diffuses from there to other places – someone has to be willing to try and maintain the new idea

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relocation diffusion

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the spread of an idea through PHYSICAL MOVEMENT of people from one place to another – can skip places (like UPS shipping)

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expansion diffusion

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the spread of a feature from one place to another in a snowballing process – IDEA TAKES OVER

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hierarchial diffusion

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the spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority or power to other persons or places – from just one person/group/place
o Example: hip-hop and rap from poor blacks

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contagious diffusion

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the rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population – all at once

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stimulus diffusion

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the spread of an underlying principle, even though a characteristic itself apparently fails to diffuse

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uneven development

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the increasing gap in economic conditions between regions in the core and periphery that results from the globalization of the economy

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Core

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U.S., Europe, Japan, Australia – wealthy, powerful, controls media and technology

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periphery

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Less developed, poor, dependent on core countries for education, technology, media, and militia

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brazil video

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“unfair” – some need more education and technology to keep up with transnational corporations – free enterprise versus socialism/nationalizing

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o (1) More people are alive at this time – about 6.75 billion – than at any point in Earth’s long history.
o (2) The world’s population increased at a faster rate during the second half of the twentieth century than ever before in history.
o (3) Virtually all the global population growth is concentrated in LDCs.

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population study is important because...

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demography

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the scientific study of population characteristics (spatial distribution, by age, gender, occupation, fertility, health, and so on)

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demographers

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gather statistics (math only) by fieldwork.
 Associate’s degree or Bachelor’s

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population geographers

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analyze and make recommendations
 Doctorate or Master’s (more experience than demographer)
 Usually pick “low” options to save money, time, resources
 Never wrong (only show possibilities); only recommend on past information, while things change and make things risky

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East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Western Europe
Maybe East North America

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• Two-thirds of world population are in

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south asia

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 One-fifth; 1.2 billion
 India, 986 million

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east asia

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 One-fifth; 1.5 billion
 China: 1.254 billion

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southeast asia

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 500 million
 Indonesia, 206 million
• 13,677 islands, including Java, the world’s 4th most populous country
• Muslim – largest religion in the world

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western europe

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 One-ninth
 Old people

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50% , 10%

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• More than _% of the world’s total population is clustered in the three Asian centers, less than _% of earth’s land area.

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ecumene

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the portion of Earth’s surface occupied by permanent human settlement

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non-ecumene

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the areas of Earth that humans consider too harsh for occupancy

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cold, wet, dry, high

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• 4 types of land humans avoid:

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population density

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a.k.a. arithmetic density, the total number of people divided by total land area

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physiological density

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the number of people supported by a unit area of arable land.

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agricultural density

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the ratio of the number of farmers to the amount of arable land.

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crude

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total population; concerned with society as a whole rather than a refined look at particular individuals or groups

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rate

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frequency of occurrence of an event

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cohort

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unifies a rate for a specific population group unified by a characteristic; more useful and accurate

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crude death rate

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the total number of deaths in a year for every 1,000 people alive in the society.

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crude birth rate

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the total number of live births in a year for every 1,000 people alive in society.

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brazil

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•  30 per 1000 – HIGH
country?

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o China – one-child family planning policy
o Indonesia – birth control, then Muslim
o Philippines – Marcos dictator, then Catholic
o India – Gandhi’s daughter’s broken promise

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government policy to help stop high CBR

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natural increase rate

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the percentage by which a population grows in a year.
 % CBR – % CDR

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natural

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– a country’s growth rate excludes migration.

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doubling time

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the number of years needed to double a population, assuming a constant rate of natural increase.

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total fertility rate

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the average number of children born to each woman throughout her child-bearing years (roughly ages 14 through 49)

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infant mortality rate

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the annual number of deaths of infants under one year of age, compared with total live births

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life expectancy

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at birth measures the average number of years a newborn infant can expect to live at current mortality levels (that vary with location; Western Europe expects late seventies, whereas sub-Saharan African countries expects forties)

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demographic transition

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the similar process of change in a society’s population among countries

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agricultural revolution

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DT:  Low growth until 1750

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industrial revolution

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DT: High growth from 1750 to 1880,

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medical revolution and sanitation

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DT: Moderate growth from 1880 to the early 1970s

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low birth and low death, presently

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 Low growth from the early 1970s to the present.

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ZERO population growth

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CBR > CDR

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population pyramid

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visual representation (bar graph) that displays a country’s population by age and gender groups; influenced by the country’s demographic transition.

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dependency ratio

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simple measure of # people who are too young/old to work that every 100 people in productive years (15 to 70) must support

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sex ratio

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# males per 100 females in population.

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census

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periodic gathering of statistical data (usually population)

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malthus theory of population increase

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population growing more rapidly than Earth’s food supply because population increases geometrically, whereas food supply increases arithmetically.

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malthus

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a DEMOGRAPHER more than 200 years ago

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S curve

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o Visual representation of population size consistent with and supportable by an exploitable resource base

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homeostatic plateau

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when population equals carrying capacity of occupied area

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epidemiologic transition

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focuses on the distinctive causes of death in each stage of the demographic transition

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epidemiology

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the branch of medical science concerned with the incidence, distribution, and control of diseases that affect larger numbers of people.

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pestilence and famine

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b. Stage 1 & 2 of Malthus theory

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pandemic

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disease that occurs over wide geographic area and affects a very high proportion of the population

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degenerative and human-created diseases

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stage 3 &4

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reemergence of infectious and parasitic diseases

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stage 5

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evolution

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infectious diseased microbes have continuously changed by developing resistance to drugs, insecticides, antibiotics, and genetic engineering (used too much).

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poverty

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many diseases such as tuberculosis are more prevalent in poor areas because the long expensive treatment poses a significant economic burden.

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improved travel

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people carry diseases with them and are exposed to the diseases of others.

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evolution, poverty, improved travel

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three reasons why there could be a reemergence of infectious and parasitic diseases (stage 5)