Human Geography

Geog 220
Chapter 1: What is Human Geography?
 Introducing Geography

• Each discipline studies the world in distinct ways

• Geography
–has its distinct language for description and analysis,
–maps and measures reality with distinct technologies and
social practices,
–focuses on the interconnectedness of people and places.
• These features help identify
–complex human-nature interactions,
–complex relationships at different spatial scales.
 Learning Objectives

1. Identify the perspectives of human and physical geography

2. Define key concepts relating to human geography
3. Recognize human geography as a spatial discipline,
focusing on human interactions and movements across
space
4. Recognize the importance of spatial tools, like maps
5. Explain the importance of geographic awareness
 1.1 Defining Human Geography

• Geo + graphie: literally “writing about” or “describing” the

earth
• Tries to both describe spatial patterns and identify their
underlying causes
 Defining Human Geography, cont’d

• Physical geography is concerned with the patterns and

processes of natural phenomena
–Severe weather, landforms, earthquakes, and volcanoes, as
well as soil, plant, animal ecology
• Human geography is concerned with patterns and processes of
human phenomena
–Development and expansion of urban and rural settlements,
food production, patterns of cultural activity, population
change, geopolitical relations
Figure 1.1A Political map of the world, 1900 (Left) & Figure 1.1B Political map of the world, 2021 (Right)
 What is Where, Why There, Why Care?

• Three illustrative questions:

1. What is where?
2. Why there?
3. Why care?
• Summarizes three types of inquiry
• Describe location and condition
• Explain why
• Consider pragmatic response
 A Geographical Perspective

• All disciplines have a focus

• Geography’s unifying focus?
–The arrangement of phenomena over space
–i.e., a spatial perspective
• All of geography’s subdisciplines examine the arrangement of
phenomena over space
• Use fundamental concepts
–Concepts of area
–Concepts of movement
• These help describe and interpret spatial patterns
 1.2 Concepts: Space, Place, and Region

• Space: an areal extent

• Location: a specific space
• Place: a specific location
• Region: an area defined by shared characteristics
• Distance: the space between two entities
 Space

• An areal extent
• Absolute space: measured in agreed upon units
–Therefore, agreed upon objectively
–Relative space varies between observers
• Perception is the process of acquiring information through
experience and interpretation
• Mental maps (or perceptual maps): internalized perceptions of
space
• Scale: a selected study area understood in the context of larger
and smaller areas or the earth’s scale
–Different scales may reveal different processes
Space - Perception
 Location

• A specific space
• Absolute location: constant between observers
–Established by overlaying space with a constant grid
• Relative location: varies with the observer
–Usually defined in reference to another location
• Nominal locations acquire identity and position through
commonly known names (toponyms)
• Components of location
–Site: a place’s internal characteristics
–Situation: a place’s relative location, connections
–Situation can have physical and social dimensions
c01pho005.tif
 Place

• Two dimensions
–A specific location
–A location or type of space with acquired meaning
• Places with a sense of place evoking communal or personal
attachment
• Highly valued places may be sacred places
–Have religious symbolism or function or other communal value
• Homogenous or standardized places may produce a feeling of
placelessness
–Fail to produce a sense of place or community
Example: Place - A specific location.tif
Example: Sacred Spaces – Sacred Location.tif
 Region

• An area defined by shared characteristics

• Regionalization: the process of classifying locations
• Types of Regions
• Formal (uniform) regions: share characteristic(s)
• Functional (nodal) regions: share function
• Vernacular (perceptual) regions: shared communal perception
• A region’s appearance is often described as its landscape
–Landscapes express human and physical influences
–Cultural landscapes are modified by humans
Cultural Landscapes.tif
Cultural Landscapes.tif
 Distance

• Distance: the space between two entities

–Varying distance is the basis for describing spatial diversity
• Standardized units: absolute distance
• Relative distance varies with experience
–Time
–Economic (cost)
–Psychological, or perceptual, distance
1.3 Concepts: Interaction, Communication, & Movement

• Distribution: varying distances create patterns

• Diffusion: Spatial connections through spread, growth
• Interaction: a measure of spatial relationships, through
movement or communication
 Distribution

• Distribution: Patterns identified through varying distances

between objects
• Components of
–Density
–Concentration: clustered, dispersed
–Pattern
Figure 1.2 Spatial Distribution : Concentration and pattern
 Figure 1.3 Urban centres in central Canada with populations greater than
Distribution 50,000 Figure 1.3 Urban centres in central Canada with populations
greater than 50,000
 Diffusion

• Diffusion: spread of geographic phenomena over space

through time
• Culture, people, organisms spread through space
• Cultural expansion: cultural diffusion of ideas, techniques or
practices
–Relocation
–Expansion: without movement of phenomenon
• Forms of expansion diffusion
–Contagious
–Hierarchical: through place or person hierarchy
 Interaction

• Relationship between places

–Nature and extent
• Space affects interaction
–Through distance between locations
–Through site specific qualities
• Distance: Tobler’s first “law” of geography:
• Everything is related to everything else, but…
• …near thing are more related than distant things.
 Interaction, cont’d

• Distance decay: The effects of

distance on spatial interaction
• Friction of distance: metaphor
–The effect of distance is not
static
–Affected by technology, other
factors
 Interaction, cont’d

• Site qualities: accessibility and connectivity

–Accessibility: Relative ease of interaction and communication
–Connectivity: Direct and indirect or intangible connections
• E.g., telephone lines
• E.g., common cultural modes of communication
• Distance, accessibility, and connectivity can overlap in context
 Concepts: A Concluding Comment

• Concepts can be used in multiple ways

• Reappear throughout the text
 1.4 Geographic Tools

• Social sciences share many techniques

–E.g., in-depth interviews, formal surveys, fieldwork
• Geography also has two distinct tools:
1. Maps: used to gather, convey, and analyze spatial
information
2. Recent geomatics technologies: enhance gathering,
conveying, and analyzing practices
 Maps

• Map-making can be traced for 8,000 years

• Diverse practices are found in different cultures
–E.g., the rebbelib from the Marshall Islands
• Advances in systematic mapping 3000 years ago
–Eastern Mediterranean, including the Greeks
–China,
–North Africa,
–South Central Asia
 Maps, continued

• Cartography emerged as a science and fine art

• Maps also embody social power relations
–Include and exclude information
–Emphasize and de-emphasize through visual technique
 What is a Map?

• Video 1.3 What Is a Map? (Crash Course Geography)

The Gasur, or Nuzi, map dates from around 2200 BC and was discovered in present-
day northeastern Iraq. It seems to have been intended to indicate the location of a
parcel of land west of a stream, perhaps for defining ownership or assessing taxes.
Marshall Island stick charts (also called rebbelibs, medoes, and mattangs) use coconut palm
fibre and shells to indicate the placement and interaction of islands, currents, and ocean
swells. Marshallese sailors used these charts, which they memorized before departure, to
successfully navigate thousands of miles of ocean in the South Pacific.
013.tif
 Critical Maps

• It is important to recognize that when producing maps, we hold a degree of power

or influence.
• The cartographer can decide what data get included (and left out) and how the data
get emphasized, through choices such as shading, colours, and the symbols used.
• In some cases, these decisions are driven by aesthetics, but in other cases, the
map’s design influences the message it delivers.
• Geographers and cartographers need to consider their personal ethics when
creating maps so they can make sure they are not intentionally misleading those
reading the map.
• But everyone, not just geographers, interpreting the data on maps benefits from an
awareness that maps can be deceptive. Just as statistics, graphs, and photographs
can be produced and manipulated to tell a certain story or even to deceive, so too
can maps, as shown in detail by the American geographer Mark Monmonier (1996).
• The key for any reader (and maker) of maps is to read with a critical eye and ask
questions about the author’s objective and message as well as the source material.
This late nineteenth-century map, designed to recruit Christian missionaries, features a number of monstrous creatures and figures from the
Book of Revelations. What does this kind of imagery tell you about the map-maker’s world view? What cultural anxieties are evident in this
map?
pho015.tif
Giacomo Gastaldi’s 1556 map of New France. What do the economic activities portrayed in this map tell you
about European goals for expanding into the “parts unknown” (parte incognita) to the west?
o016.tif
 Global Grid

• Two imaginary arc systems create a reference grid

–Latitude and longitude: define absolute space
• Distances between arcs are measured as angles
• Arcs of latitude or “parallels”
–The sun’s relative position sets the equator
–Parallels measured as angles from earth’s centre
• Arcs of longitude converge at the poles
–Political decisions set the prime meridian and international
date line
–Arcs measured as angles from the earth’s axis
Mercator’s map of the North Pole, 1595, showing lines of longitude descending from the North Pole,
with lines of latitude running in concentric circles around it.
017.tif
 Global Grid, cont’d

• Time zones were created in the late 19th century

• Co-ordinate increased international movement
• Idealized system: 24 zones of 15 degrees
• Variations show that space is also politically and socially made
Figure 1.5 Time zoFigure 1.5 Time zone map of the world
ne map of the world
 Map Scale

• Maps simplify and codify spatial information

• Scale relates map distance to absolute distance
–Expressed mathematically, visually, or verbally
–Large scale maps show small areas
Figure 1.6 Revolution of the earth around the sun
Figure 1.7 Areas obFigure 1.7 Areas observing daylight saving time
serving daylight saving time
 Map Projection

• Projections are required to convert three dimensional space

into a two dimensional images
–Distort size, shape, or distance of actual space
–Different projections suit different needs
• Mercator projection and navigation
Figure 1.8 Three comFigure 1.8 Three common forms of map scale
mon forms of map scale
FiFigure 1.9 A Mercator projection with circles ­depicting distortion
ion with circles ­depicting distortion
1.10 Comparison of Greenland and Africa in the Mercator projection
d and Africa in the Mercator projection
Figure 1.11 Gall–Peters projection
 Map Forms and Types

• Reference maps are designed to illustrate location

–Combine selected data as needed
• Natural and built landscape features
• Elevation
• Thematic maps are designed to illustrate analyses
–Illustrate patterns, trends by mapping select measures
Figure 1.12 Relief map of Nova Scotia—Example of a Reference Map map
Figure 1.13 The 2022 Ontario provincial election results for the City of
Toronto—Example of a thematic map
 Map Forms and Types, cont’d

• Four types of thematic maps

1. Dot maps
• Maps a measurement over an area
• Difference indicated by number of dots of identical value
2. Choropleth map
• Maps a measurement over an area
• Difference indicated by shades or colours
3. Isoline maps
• Link points with the same measurement
4. Cartograms
• Often maps a measurement for an area
• Difference indicated by distortion of area size
 Map Forms and Types, cont’d

1. Dot maps
–Maps a measurement over
an area
–Difference indicated by
number of dots of identical
value
In this map, the contaminated
water pump, which was the
source of the cholera outbreak,
was located at the intersection
of Broad Street and Cambridge
Street.
 Map Forms and Types, cont’d

2. Choropleth map
–Maps a measurement over
an area
–Difference indicated by
shades or colours
 Map Forms and Types, cont’d

3. Isopleth maps
– Link points with the same
measurement

On this map, the grey contour

lines depict areas of equal
elevation (above sea level). On this
map, the shift from one contour
line to the next reflects an
increase or decrease in 40 metres
of elevation. Mountain peaks or
valleys are quite easily seen on
such maps.
 Map Forms and Types, cont’d

4. Cartograms
–Often maps a
measurement for an area
–Difference indicated by
distortion of area size

The area of each province or

territory is scaled to its share
of the Canadian population.
 Spatial Analysis and Geomatics Technologies

• Geomatics includes four interrelated technologies:

–Remote sensing
–Computer-assisted cartography
–Global positioning systems (GPS)
–Geographic information systems (GIS)
 Remote Sensing

• Increase data perceived by viewing from a distance

• From simple elevation to satellite imagery
• Photographs standard for recording until 1960s
–Aerial photographs
–Recent unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or “drones”)
• Satellites measure electromagnetic radiation
 Computer-Assisted Cartography

• Changed production, data storage, updating

• Enabled rapid creation and updating
• Diffused the production and use of maps
–Other disciplines and professions
• Maps generated from the computer
–Loss of drafting skills
–Continued need for design skill
 Global Positioning System (GPS)

• Satellites now track position through transmitters

• Changing navigation practices
• Extensive data collection through personal devices
• Controversies:
–Potentially participatory
–Privacy and permission problems
–Biases: socially variable participation, design limits
 Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

• Adds analysis to data collection, storage, mapping

• Can overlay multiple data in a single map
• Allows spatial analysis
 People and Places

• There is no formula for enhancing a general geographical

awareness
• Knowing people, places, and their interactions requires
–Constant attention to world, regional, and local events
–Evaluation
–Relating events to location
 Conclusion

• Geography is both broad and practical

• Links events and process across space
• Provides practical skills for spatially-related tasks
• Disciplinary strengths include
–A broad perspective on what makes places
–Skills for addressing space and place specific questions
–Transferable analytical and communication skills
 Review Exercises
Multiple Choice Question

Which of the following terms is defined as the study of patterns and

processes of the earth’s human or social environments?
•a. Physical geography
•b. Geographical perspective
•c. Human geography
•d. Sense of place
•e. Regionalization
 Review Exercises
Multiple Choice Question

Which of the following terms is defined as the study of patterns and

processes of the earth’s human or social environments?
•a. Physical geography
•b. Geographical perspective
•c. Human geography
•d. Sense of place
•e. Regionalization
 Review Exercises
True or False

The word geography is derived from the Greek words geo, meaning “the earth,”
and graphie, meaning “to write about” or “describe.”
•a. True
•b. False
 Review Exercises
True or False

The word geography is derived from the Greek words geo, meaning “the earth,”
and graphie, meaning “to write about” or “describe.”
•a. True
•b. False
 Review Exercises
Essay/short answer question

Question: Describe the two main branches of geography

 Review Exercises
Essay/short answer question

Question: Describe the two main branches of geography

Geography comprises two main branches: physical geography and human

geography.
Physical geography focuses on the natural or physical environment and is
primarily concerned with the patterns and processes of natural phenomena,
such as severe weather, landforms, earthquakes, and volcanoes, as well as
soil, plant, and animal ecology.
Human geography, in contrast, focuses on the study of the social or human
environment. Human geography is the study of where people and activities are
found on the earth’s surface, and the reasons why they are located where they
are. Human geography includes the study of patterns and processes of human
phenomena, such as development and expansion of urban and rural
settlements, food production, patterns of cultural activity (e.g., language and
religion), population change, and geopolitical relations between different
countries.
 Class Activity (ca 10 minutes [5 minutes in groups + 5 minutes of presentation])
Instructions: Open your textbook and together with your group, answer the
following Essay/short answer question

• Identify and define the two types of expansion diffusion. Provide

examples of each.
 Class Activity (ca 7 minutes)
Instructions: Open your textbook and together with your group, answer the
following Essay/short answer question

• The two types of expansion diffusion are contagious diffusion and hierarchical
diffusion.
1. Contagious diffusion involves the spread of geographic phenomena in a
fashion similar to the spread of infectious disease. The greater the number
of contacts and connections, and the closer together the individuals and
places are, the more likely the cultural diffusion will occur. Disease is spread
in this way, but so too are things such as gossip or religion.
2. Hierarchical diffusion is the spread of cultural practices through the efforts of
key highly-connected and influential people and places. Examples of this
type of cultural diffusion include the spread of new technology, fashion, or
music, which is released to the public in key urban centres and adopted
there first before eventually spreading to other cities, towns, and eventually
rural areas. (pp. 19–20)