Human Geography: Test 1

Study Guide

 Lecture 1: What is human geography?

o Geography
 To write about or describe the Earth
o Two Branches of geography
 1. Human
 The study of people, places, spatial variation in human activities, and the
relationship between people and the environment.
 2. Physical
 Mountain geography, geography of snow and ice, geomorphology,
meteorology/climatology
o Four nature-culture relationship theories
 1. Environmental determinism
 Nature affects/determines humans and their behavior—people do not
have freewill (individuals and communities will create practices and
norms that adapt to the environment)
 2. Possibilism
 People use their creativity to decide how to respond to conditions of a
particular environment (nature constrains humans and their behavior)
o Technological advances > environmental influences
 3. Humans as Modifiers of the earth
 Ability of humans to modify their landscape into cultural landscapes
(nature is socially constructed and changes over time)
o Ex. Wilderness
 Place to be feared => romantic place => place of
recreation/escape
 4. Earth as a dynamic, integrated system
 People are intricately connected with the natural world. The earth
functions as a system with interconnecting components. The earth is
constantly changing from human and natural forces.
 Lecture 2: Thinking like a geographer
o Three types of regions
 1. Formal—an area that possesses one or more unifying physical or cultural
traits (crops, climate, religion, political boundaries)
 2. Functional— an area unified by a specific economic, political, or social activity
(Main Hall and campus, metropolitan areas and suburbs)
 3. Perceptual— area defined by people’s feelings and attachment to different
areas (the south, the bible belt, Griz nation)
o Absolute and relative location
 Absolute Location—the location of a place based on a fixed point on earth
(latitude and longitude)
  Relative Location—the position of a place based on its location with respect to
other locations
o Sense of place
 Complex, emotional attachments that people develop with specific localities
(feeling of belonging, collective identity between cultural groups)
o Spatial—distribution, variation, association, diffusion, interaction
 Spatial distribution- the arrangement of a phenomenon across the Earth’s
surface (how resources, activities, demographics, or the physical landscape are
arranged across the earth’s surface)
 Spatial variation- changes in the spatial distribution from area to area
(illustration of income inequality)
 Spatial association- the degree to which two or more phenomena share similar
spatial distributions (forest cover vs poverty rate in Vietnam)
 Spatial diffusion—the movement of a phenomenon such as an innovation,
information, or an epidemic, across space and over time (like a ripple)
 Spatial interaction—connections between places/regions that develop as a
result of the movement or flow of people, goods, or information (near vs far,
access to people, goods, or information)
o Four types of diffusion
 1. Relocation diffusion- the spread of an idea through physical movement of
people from one place to another (migration)
 2. Contagious diffusion- the rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic
throughout the population (diffusion of disease)
 3. Hierarchical diffusion- the spread of ideas form nodes or persons of authority
to other people of places (top-down diffusion; fashion, innovation, technology,
music)
 4. Stimulus diffusion- the spread of an idea, practice, or phenomenon prompts
a new idea or innovation (advancements in technology affects the marketing of
goods, idea behind successful produce triggers application of that principle
other settings
o Distance decay
 The tapering off of a process, pattern or event over a distance (grocery
shopping, commuting, earthquakes)
o Map Scale
 Ratio of a distance on the map to the corresponding distance on the ground
 Representative fraction: ratio or fraction without any unites of
measurement (1: 24,000 or 1.24,000)
 Graphic scale: bar on the map that looks like a ruler
 Verbal scale: sentence or phrase “1 inch equals 2,000 feet; 1 inch equals
1 mile”
o Large Scale vs. Small Scale
 Large Scale- small area with a lot of detail
 Small Scale- large area with less detail
o Geospatial Technologies
  Modern tools contributing to the geographic mapping and analysis of Earth
systems and human societies
 Remote sensing- sensing of acquiring information from a distance
 GPS- developed by the department of defense in 1980s
 GIS- capture, store, retrieve, analyze, spatial/georeferenced data.
 Lecture 3: Maps and Map Basics
o Types of Thematic Maps
 Categorical—examples of data mapped using categorical thematic maps
 Qualitative data. Data can be assigned to distinct non-numerical
categories. Shows distribution not specific values
o Land use types, crop belts, religion
 Numerical—each type of numerical thematic maps
 Quantitative data (numbers)
 Choropleth map
o Uses differences in shading, coloring, and patterns within
predefined areas to indicate the average value or property in
those areas. (Data is grouped into classes that represent a range
of values)
 Proportional symbols
o Symbol proportional to size. (US Population: California has a
large dot, Montana’s is very small)
 Pie map
o Map with pie charts representing data for a specific region
 Dot or density map
o Each dot represents a constant number of things (1 dot = 3000
pigs) Dots are NOT placed in exact locations
 Cartogram
o Special case of proportional symbol map (area is proportional to
phenomenon shown (used to highlight inequality)
 HIV/AIDS: Africa very large and ballooned; US very thin
and squished
 Flow maps
o Movement between areas (lines connect different places (like a
map of planes leaving a city)
 Lecture 4: Globalization
o What is globalization?
 Processes contributing toward greater interconnections and interdependencies
among the world’s people, places, institutions. Interaction and integration
among people, companies, and governments of different nations. Driven by
global economy and global culture.

o What started globalization?

  Expansion of capitalism and international trade. Reduced cost of transportation
and communication technologies.
o Historical vs contemporary globalization
 Historical
 Silk Road- network of trade routes connecting China and the Far East
with the Middle East and Europe
 Contemporary
 Scope today is unprecedented; 20 times increase in global trade since
1950.
o Multination corporations (MNCs)
 Significance
 Strong influence on the global economy
 Reasons for development of MNCs
 Gain new markets, lower labor and production costs, acquire a needed
resource
 Foreign Affiliates
 MAP
 MNC revenue
 Many MNCs make more money than the economies of entire countries
o Cultural Consequences of Globalization
 Homogenization
 The reduction in cultural diversity through the popularization and
diffusion of cultural symbols, ideas, and values.
 Polarization
 Increasing sense of identity, opposite of homogenization, emphasis on
local values and practices
 “the fragmenting the world”
 Glocalization
 Global and local forces interact, and both are changed in the process.
MNCs alter business practices to reflect local preferences.
 Placelessness
 Increasing standardization, loss of unique character of places. Hard to
distinguish between different places because they all look the same.
o Local Knowledge
 Indigenous
 Local knowledge and culture versus popular (mainstream) culture
 Based on long experience with a particular place
 Typically, oral, not written

 Lecture 5: Population Fundamentals

o World population
 7.7 Billion
o Population explosion in MDCs and LDCs
 MDCs (more developed countries)
  Last 200 years or less
 Industrial revolution; improvements in sanitation and medicine
 LDCs (less developed countries)
 Transfer of technology to LDCs
o Food production
o Sanitation and medicine
 Growth is slowing down
o How populations change
 Natural/vital change
 Fertility (births)
 Mortality (deaths, quality of life measure)
 Migration change
 In-migrants, immigrants
 Out-migrants, emigrants
o Measures of Fertility
 Crude birth rate
 Birth per 1000 people
 Accounts for all genders of all ages
 Total fertility rate
 Births to a woman of childbearing age (births/1000 women)
 Better indicator of population growth by births
o Replacement Fertility
 Fertility rate necessary for a population to replace itself
 Two children replaces one couple, replacement level =2
 In reality, replacement level is higher than 2
o 2.1 is more realistic
o Measures of mortality
 Crude Death Rate
 Deaths per 1000 people
 Infant mortality rate
 Infant deaths (<1 yr) per 1000 live births
 Maternal mortality rate
 Death during pregnancy or post-partum (6 weeks) per 100,000 live
births
 Highest rates in LDCs (Africa and Asia)

 Life expectancy
 Average lifespan for a population
 Generally rising (measure of quality of life)
 Life expectancy for males is less than the life expectancy for females.
o Factors influencing fertility
 Individual
  Natural fertility
 Control over pregnancy (birth control)
 Societal
 Economic downturn
o Recession, war, famine
 Status of women
o Education, decision making, labor force participation
 Government policies
o Pro-natalist—encourage births
o Anti-natalist—discourages births
o Pro-natalist vs Anti-natalist
 Pro-Natalist (France)
 Promote three-children families
o A cash incentive for families with three children, paid parental
leave, government subsidized or free daycare, tax deduction,
reduced train fare
 Anti-natalist (China)
 Policy prevented 400 million births
o Gender imbalance (preference for boys)
o Few youths, aging population, not enough people to support
seniors
o Fines for having more than one child
 Lecture 6: Population Composition and Change
o Cohorts
 Groups of people born in the same time span
o Population pyramids
 Visual representation of the age and gender distribution of specific populations
(typically a 5-year time span). A bar graph showing the age and gender
composition of a population.
 Reveals
o Age dependency ratio
 People that do not work full-time, dependent on
someone else for income (0-14; 65+)
 Working age (15-65)
o Sex (gender) ratios
 Proportion of males to females, slightly more males at
birth, many more females at high age (in MDCs).
 Typical- reasonably symmetric pyramid
 Atypical- asymmetrical pyramid (demand for male labor
force)
o 5 stages of demographic transition
 Stage 1:
  High birth rates, high death rates, low growth rates, no country exists
today
 Population pyramid: very narrow at top, very wide at bottom (concave),
expansive
 Stage 2:
 High birth rates, declining deaths rates, rising growth rates
(improvements in sanitation and medicine)
 Population pyramid: Straight sides, decreased death rates, expansive
 Stage 3:
 Declining birth and death rates, declining growth rates (change in
fertility behavior, economic change (fewer kids))
 Population pyramid: Convex sides, increasing portion of population is in
65+ age group, stationary
 Stage 4:
 Low birth rates, low death rates, low growth rates, (currently: US,
Canada, France, Sweden)
 Population pyramid: convex sides, higher dependency ratio, contractive
(narrower at the bottom)
 Stage 5:
 Very low birth rates, rising death rates, declining growth rates,
(currently: Austria, Germany, Japan, Italy)
 Population pyramid: narrow at top and bottom, very wide at center,
contractive
o Rate of natural increase
 Population growth due to the number of births exceeding the number of deaths
(death rate minus birth rate)
 Used to estimate population doubling time
o Fertility rate in MDCs and LDCs
 Higher in LDCs because: more rural, more agricultural, cost of food low, cost of
shelter high, low opportunity cost for women, economic benefit from son high,
children are assets
 In MDCs: opposite of LDCs
o Growth in MDCs vs LDCs
 LDCs are growing rapidly.
 MDCs are growing, but very, very slowly (basically flat)
o Population distributions
 10% of the earth’s surface is populated
 70% of people within 250 miles of coasts
 Highest concentrations: East Asia, South Asia
 China and India account for 37% of the global population
 Lecture 7: Migration principles and internal migration
o What is migration?
 The movement of people from one territory to another for a long-term,
permanent change of residence
  Net migration: the different between the influx and the outflux of
people from an area in a given period of time (such as a year)
o Migration terms
 In-migration: moving into a new country or state within the same country
 Out-migration: moving out of a country or state within the same country
 Immigration: moving into a new country
 Emigration: moving out of a country
o Ravenstein’s principles of migration
 1. Most migrations cover short distances and do not cross international
boundaries (distance decay)
 2. Migration involves two opposite processes: dispersion and absorption
 Dispersion: out-/emigration: departure from place of origin
 Absorption: in-/immigration: arrival in a place of destination
 Each internal migrant is:
o An out-migrant at the origin an in-migrant at the destination.
 Each international migrant is:
o An emigrant in the origin country and an immigrant in the
destination country.
 3. Migrant flows produce counter flows
 Inflow results in outflow
 4. Urban areas are common destinations for long-distance migrants
 5. Urban residents tend to be less likely to migrate than rural residents
 6. Women migrate more than men within their country of birth, whereas men
more frequently migrate beyond their country of birth (no longer true)
o US Migration Rates by age
 Young adults move the most
 Families with young children are more likely to move
 Families with teenagers are less likely to move
 People move less as they get older

o Rural to Urban migration

 In MDCs (1750-1950)
 From rural (agricultural jobs) to urban (industrial jobs)
 Post 1950: urban growth= suburban growth
 Today
 Highly urbanized countries have limited urban growth
 LDCs
 Massive movements from rural areas to urban areas
 Rapid urbanization
o Including the growth of squatter settlements/slums
o Lee’s Push-Pull Model of Migration
 Decision based on personal preferences
  Push- negative conditions
 Pull- positive conditions
 Intervening obstacles- barriers (cost of migration, distance, boarders,
and laws)
 Personal factors- different people (different evaluation of push-pull,
negative-positive
o Reasons for migration
 Employment change, other family reason, other housing, start new household,
better housing, easier commute, change in marital status, cheaper housing,
unemployment.
o Internal Migration
 Rural outmigration (2 types)
 Rural to rural
o Pursuit of employment in rural sectors (forestry, fisheries,
agriculture), personal (marriage)
o Rural: < 2,500 people
 Rural to urban
o In 2008, urban population size surpasses rural for the first time
 Urban outmigration (2 types)
 Urban to urban
o Quality of housing, neighborhood, schools (less to do with jobs
for UPPER CLASS)
 Urban to rural (counter urbanization)
o 1970s, 1990: fueled by retirees and affluent urban professionals
o Urban areas (UAs) > 50,000 people
o Urban clusters (UCs) 2,500 > x > 50,000
o Factors that influence migration decisions
 Age (higher rates for families with young kids, lower for families with teenagers,
highest migration rates in young adults (20-34), small increase in migration at
retirement age
 Employment concerns (wage differentials, full-time employment)
 Natural or Environmental Amenities (very based on opinion)