Transcript Chapter 1: Thinking Geographically Key Issue #2: Why Is Each Point

Chapter 1: Thinking
Geographically
Key Issue #2: Why Is Each Point
on Earth Unique?
Each place on Earth is in some respects unique and in other
respects similar to other places
-this interplay is the heart of geographic inquiry as to why
things are found where they are
Two Concepts Used to Show Why Each Point on Earth is
Unique:
1. Place (a point)
2. Region (an area)
Location: the position that something occupies on Earth’s
surface
The most fundamental concept in geography!
Four Ways Geographers Identify Location:
1. Place Name
2. Site
3. Situation
4. Mathematical Location
Place Names:
Toponym: name given to a place on Earth
-most straightforward way to describe a particular location
-may be named for a person (George Washington—1 state,
counties in 31 other states, national capital)
-may be religious (Saint Paul, Saint Louis)
may be historical (Athens, New Jersey, New Prague)
Board of Geographical Names:
-operated by the U.S. Geological Survey
-is the final say of names on U.S. maps
-has recently been involved in removing offensive pace names
-racial or ethnic connotations
-place names may change (Cincinnati was originally named
Losantiville)
-place names can change as a result of political changes (Eastern
Europe)
Site—the physical character of a place
-includes climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation,
latitude, elevation…
-this combination creates a distinct character
-people disagree on the attributes of a good site
-often is related to cultural values
-hilltops are good for defense
-rivers are convenient for communication and commerce
Site of Singapore: a small, swampy island about 1 km off of the
southern tip of the Malay Peninsula at the eastern end of the
Strait of Malacca
Situation: the location of a place relative to other places
-situation helps us find an unfamiliar place by comparing its
location to a familiar one
“Across the highway from the Mermaid, next to
McDonalds, behind the BP gas station”
-situation helps us understand the importance of a location
-New Orleans is situated at the mouth of the Mississippi
River…prone to (flooding, hurricanes…)
Mathematical Location: latitude and longitude
Meridian: drawn between North and South poles (longitude)
Parallel: a circle drawn on the globe parallel to the equator at
right angles to the meridians (latitude)
Prime Meridian: line of longitude that passes through the Royal
Observatory in Greenwich, England
-known as 0º longitude
the meridian on the opposite side of the globe is 180°
-all other meridians are located between 0° and 180° East or West
-New York City--74° West
-Lahore, Pakistan--74° East
-San Diego--117° West
-Tianjin, China--117° East
Mathematical Location (continued)
-longitude is important in calculating time
-every 15° is equivalent of traveling to a place 1 hour
earlier or later (360° / 24 hours = 15°)
Equator: 0° latitude
-North Pole is 90° North latitude
-South Pole is 90° South latitude
-New York City is 41° North
-Wellington, New Zealand is 41° South
-San Diego is 33° North
-Santiago, Chile is 33° South
Latitude and longitude are used together like a grid to identify
locations
Mathematical Location (continued)
-Midland, Texas: 32° N, 102° W
Degrees are divided into 60 minutes (“)
-minutes are divided into 60 seconds (‘)
-Denver, Colorado: 39° 44” N, 104° 59” W
-state capitol building in Denver:
-39° 42” 52’ N, 104° 59” 04’ W
Determining Longitude:
-Latitude is scientifically derived
-the Equator is at the Earth’s greatest circumference
-distance North or South of the Equator can be accurately
determined by the length of daylight and the position of the Sun
and stars
Determining Longitude (continued)
Longitude is a human creation
-any meridian could have become the Prime Meredian,
but England was the most powerful country when the
international agreement of longitude was signed
Inability to measure longitude was a huge obstacle to
exploration and discovery
John Harrison: created the first clock that didn’t need a
pendulum
-so when on a ship, when the Sun was directly overhead, it was
noon
-so, if the clock said it was 2PM when the Sun was directly
overhead, then the ship was located at 30° West longitude
-determined because each hour of difference equals 15°
Telling Time From Longitude:
Greenwich Mean Time—GMT (Universal Time--UT)
The idea of Standardized Time Zones was created by U.S.
railroads during the 19th Century
-the 48 contiguous states and Canada share 4 standard
time zones (Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific)
(Eastern Canada is in the Atlantic Time Zone)
i.e.—Los Angeles is 8 hours behind GMT
-if it is noon GMT, it is 4am Pacific
International Date Line: follows the 180° longitude line for
the most part
-if traveling eastward, move clock back 24 hours
-if traveling westward, move clock forward 24 hours
Regions: Areas of Unique Characteristics
Region—an area of Earth defined by one or more distinctive
characteristics
Cultural landscape—a combination of cultural features (such as
language and religion), economic features (such as agriculture
and industry), and physical features (such as climate and
vegetation)
-sometimes referred to as regional studies
The cultural landscape was
created in France during the
19th century but adopted by Carl
Sauer (U. of Cal—Berkeley)
who was one of the most famous
and respected U.S. geographers
of his time
The Cultural Landscape (continued)
-each region has its own distinctive landscape that results from a
unique combination of social relationships and physical processes
-within a region, people, activities, and environment will display
similarities and regularities within while differing from those of
other regions
-regions gain uniqueness not from possessing a single human or
environmental characteristic, but from a combination of them
-fundamental principle of the cultural landscape is that people are
the most important agents of change on Earth’s surface
Geographers try to sort out the associations among various
social characteristics
I.e.—the fact that the distributions of ethnicities and
resources do not match political boundaries in the Middle East
and Eastern Europe is in large part a source of political unrest
A region may be any area larger than a point and smaller than
the entire planet
Two Most Often Used Regions by Geographers:
1. Several neighboring countries that share important
features (Latin America)
2. Many common localities found within a country
(Southern California)
Three Types of Regions:
1. Formal
2. Functional (nodal)
3. Vernacular (perceptual)
Formal Region: an area in which everyone shares in common
one or more distinctive characteristics
-a selected characteristic is present throughout the area
-Minnesota: characterized by a common state government
-everyone within the clearly drawn and legally recognized
boundaries are subject to a common set of laws
-Wheat Belt: area where wheat is the most commonly grown
crop (other crops grown as well)
Geographers typically use formal regions to help explain broad
global or national patterns
Even while making generalizations, it is essential to recognize
the diversity of cultural, economic, and environmental patterns
found within formal regions
-groups within a formal region have different
characteristics
Functional (nodal) region: an area organized around a focal
point
-the characteristic chosen to define a functional region dominates
at a central focus and diminishes in importance outward
-the region is tied to the central point by transportation or
communication systems or by economic or functional
associations
Geographers use functional regions to display information
about economic areas
-focal point (node) is usually a shop or service
I.e.—circulation of StarTribune, Wall Street, reception
area of a television station
New technologies are breaking down traditional functional
regions (USA Today, Wall Street Journal, cable/satellite TV,
internet shopping)
Western Wisconsin shopper coverage
Vermont’s
Public
Television
reception
areas
Vernacular (Perceptual) Region: a place people believe exists
as part of their cultural identity
-created from people’s informal sense of place rather than from
scientific models developed through geographic thought
Mental map: an internal representation of a portion of Earth;s
surface
-it depicts what an individual knows about a place, containing
personal impressions of what is in a place, and where places are
located
-a mental map of the campus of the University of Minnesota
-this map will differ between a student and a professor
-also different between seniors and freshmen
Vernacular (Perceptual) Regions (continued)
-EXAMPLE: “The South”
-a vernacular region with unique environmental, cultural,
and economic features
-but, each definition results in slightly different borders
(see Figure 1-12)
-many people believe the South is a distinctive place that
transcends geographic measurement
-some people see the South as a source of pride; others
see it as a place to avoid
Vernacular Regions such as the Sunbelt and Frostbelt are
difficult to accurately define
Regional Integration of Culture
Culture: the body of customary beliefs, material traits, and
social forms that together constitute the distinct tradition of a
group of people
-helps geographers determine WHY each region on Earth is
distinctive
-geographers distinguish groups of people according to important
cultural characteristics
-culture from Latin word cultus (to care for)--this can have two
meanings:
1. To care about something (adore, worship, cult)
2. To take care of something (nurse, look after, (cultivate)
The concept of culture has several meanings
Cultural ecology: the geographic study of human-environment
relationships
-geographers consider environmental factors as well as cultural
factors when constructing regions
-geography emphasizes the relationships between culture and the
natural environment
Different cultural groups modify the natural environment in
distinctive ways to produce unique regions
Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Ritter:
-two German geographers who urged human geographers
to adopt the methods of scientific inquiry used by the
natural scientists
-one goal of human geographers is to discover general
laws…and the scientific method has helped natural
scientists develop many general laws
Environmental Determinism: Humboldt and Ritter’s approach
concentrating on how the physical environment caused social
development
-some geographers adopted the idea of environmental
determinism
-most modern geographers have instead rejected environmental
determinism in favor of possibilism: the physical environment
may limit some human activities, but people have the ability to
adjust to their environment
Resources: substances that are useful to people
-humans can use resources to alter the physical environment
Example: climate in any location influences human activities
(I.e.—food production)
-under possibilism, people can choose the crops they grow
to be compatible with their environment
A people’s level of wealth can influence its attitude toward
modifying the environment
-a farmer with a tractor may avoid hills, while a farmer
with only a hoe may farm the hills
Modern technology allows humans to alter the physical
environment
-air conditioning makes warmer climates more appealing
-insulation allows people to live more comfortably in
colder climates
Geographers are concerned that people sometimes are
insensitive as they use modern technology to modify the
environment
They deplete or destroy scarce and irreplaceable resources
The Netherlands: A Sensitive Environmental Modification
-more than half of the country’s land lies below sea level
Two Main Ways the Dutch Have Modified Their
Environment:
1. Polders: a piece of land created by draining water from an
area
-2600 square miles of the Netherlands is polders (16% of their
total land area)
-government has reserved most of the polders for agriculture
-to reduce dependence on foreign food
Schiphol: Dutch airport
located on polder
2. Dikes: walls built to hold back water from the North Sea
Zuider Zee: dike area that created freshwater Lake Ijssel
-620 square miles of this lake has been drained to create
several polders
In 1990, the Dutch created a plan to return 650,000 acres of
farmland to wetlands or forests
-much contaminated drinking water because of
widespread use of insecticides and fertilizers
-global warming may raise sea level from 8 to 23 inches
in next 100 years which is a major concern the Dutch will
have to address
South Florida: A Not-So-Sensitive Environmental
Modification:
The fragile landscape of southern Florida has been altered in
insensitive ways
Barrier islands are large sandbars that shield the mainland from
flooding and storm damage
-these are constantly being eroded and are shifting
-very attractive areas for constructing new homes and
recreational facilities because so near the sea
-several hundred thousand people live in Florida’s barrier
islands
-most are linked to the mainland by bridge, causeway, or
ferry service
Examples of Florida’s
barrier islands
Everglades: was a 50 mile wide, 6 inch deep river flowing very
slowly south from Lake Okeechobee
During 1940s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers drained the
northern third (about 750,000 acres) to grow sugarcane
The southern 2/3’s became
a national park
To protect the southern city
of Miami (and others) the
Corps also built elaborate
levees, canals, and
pumping stations
As a result, most water that
would have reached the
national park was instead
pumped out to sea
The water that did reach
the park was very high in
phosphorus
This water threatened native vegetation, rare birds, and other
animals
In 1999, a plan was developed to stop pumping water out to sea
and remove 60,000 acres from sugarcane production
-river flow has been permanently disrupted
-Everglades Park now depends on human management
Lake Okeechobee: provides fresh water for almost half of
Florida’s population
-Kissimmee River flows into the lake from the north
-the constant flooding of this river created an obstacle to cattle
grazing and urban growth in this area
In 1961, the Corps straightened the course of the river into a
canal
-completed in 1971
After the canal was completed, the water became very polluted,
mostly because of cattle grazing along the river banks
-fish began to die
-high levels of mercury, phosphorus, and other
contaminants found
This polluted water flowed through Okeechobee and also created
problems down in the Everglades
Now, millions of dollars are being spent trying to restore the
river to its meandering course
John Anderson—Seminole Wind