APHG CHAPTER 1:
INTRO TO HUMAN
GEOGRAPHY
KEY QUESTION #1:
WHAT IS HUMAN
GEOGRAPHY?
(3 SLIDES)
KEY QUESTION #1: WHAT IS
HUMAN GEOGRAPHY?

HG focuses on…
• How people make places
• How we organize space & society
• How we interact with each other in places &
across space
• How we make sense of others & ourselves in
our locality, region & world

Advances in communication &
transportation are making people & places
more interconnected every day
KEY QUESTION #1: WHAT IS
HUMAN GEOGRAPHY?

The world consists of…
• 195 states(we will use the term state now, not
country)
• Hundreds of religions(19 with at least 1 million
adherents)
• Almost 7,000 languages spoken
• Thousands and thousands of cultural
characteristics

Understanding & explaining this diversity
is the mission of human geography
KEY QUESTION #1: WHAT IS
HUMAN GEOGRAPHY?


Key term in HG is “globalization”
• Set of processes that are increasing
interactions, deepening relationships &
heightening interdependence
Human-environment interaction is critical as
well
• People adapt to, alter, manipulate, and
cope with their surroundings
• Each place is affected by and created by
people---and each place reflects the
culture of the people in that place over
time
KEY QUESTION #2:
WHAT ARE
GEOGRAPHIC
QUESTIONS?
(3 slides)
KEY QUESTION #2: WHAT ARE
GEOGRAPHIC QUESTIONS?

A simple definition(by geographer Marvin
Mikesell) of geography is the “why of where”;
this concept leads to several questions:
• Why and how do things come together in
places to produce particular outcomes?
• Why are some things found in certain places
but not in others?
• To what extent do things in one place influence
those in others?
• Why does it matter what things are different
across space?
• What role does a place play in its region & the
world?
KEY QUESTION #2: WHAT ARE
GEOGRAPHIC QUESTIONS?


Questions like these, and others, are
the core of geographic inquiry; they
are critical to understanding the world
To fully understand a concept, one
must understand its spatial(fancy
word for “geographic) distribution
• Once one understands this then
they have a “spatial perspective” of
the world
Spatial distribution
What processes create and sustain the pattern of a
distribution?
Map of Cholera Victims
in London’s Soho District
in 1854.
The patterns of victim’s
homes and water pump
locations helped uncover
the source of the disease.
KEY QUESTION #2: WHAT ARE
GEOGRAPHIC QUESTIONS?


Another commonly used phrase is
“cultural landscape”
• The visible imprint of human activity on
the landscape
• This term was created by geographer
Carl Sauer in 1927
A related term is “sequent occupance”
• Created by Derwent Whittlesey; refers
to cultural succession and the imprint
that successive occupiers can have on a
place
Cultural Landscape
The visible human imprint on the landscape.
Religion and
cremation
practices
diffuse with
Hindu migrants
from India to
Kenya.
Sequent Occupance
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
African, Arab, German, British, and Indian layers to
the city.
Apartment in Mumbai, India
Apartment in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
KEY QUESTION #3:
WHY DO
GEOGRAPHERS
USE MAPS, AND
WHAT DO MAPS
TELL US?
(2 slides)
KEY QUESTION #3: WHY DO GEOGRAPHERS
USE MAPS & WHAT DO MAPS TELL US?




Cartography is the science of mapmaking
Reference maps show locations of places
& geographic features(includes political &
physical maps)
Thematic maps tell stories, showing the
degree of same attribute or the movement
of a phenomenon
Mental maps are the maps we carry in our
mind(usually the closer a location is, the
more clear sense of accuracy exists in our
mental placement of it)

NBC NEWS
• CARTOGRAPHERS AND STUDENTS TRY
TO KEEP UP WITH THE CHANGING
WORLD
Reference
Map
Thematic
Map
What story
about median
income in the
Washington, DC
area is this map
telling?
KEY QUESTION #3: WHY DO GEOGRAPHERS
USE MAPS & WHAT DO MAPS TELL US?

Technology has transformed
mapmaking & uses
• GPS(Global Positioning Systems)
• Remote Sensing(data collected by
satellites & aircraft)
• GIS(Geographic Information
Systems)
 Uses layers of data
 Has unlimited uses
Remote
Sensing:
a method of
collecting data by
instruments that
are physically
distant from the
area of study.
Geographic
Information
System:
a collection of
computer
hardware
and software
that
permits storage
and
analysis of
layers of
spatial data.