UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
FACULTY OF ARTS & SCHOOL OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies
TEACHING MODULE
CGP/SGP 107: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY I
WRITTEN BY
Dr. Mikalitsa S. Mukhovi and Ms.Teresa Mbatia
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies
EDITED AND REVIEWED BY
Dr. Kennedy Omoke
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies
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Published by the Centre for Open and Distance Learning (CODL)
University of Nairobi-Kenya
LIST OF TABLES
Table 5.1 Major climatic regions of the world...................................................................
Table 5.2 Major vegetation types of the world..................................................................
Table 7.1 Centres of origin for plants and animals.............................................................
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 6.1 Threshold and range of a good or a service..................................................
Figure 9.1 Causes of desertification.............................................................................
Figure 9.2 Biodiversity hot spots in Africa.................................................................
Figure 9.3 Number of drought episodes in Africa and rest of the world...................
Figure 9.4 Number of flood episodes in Africa and rest of the world...........................
Figure 9.5 The Greenhouse effect.................................................................................
Figure 9.6 Impacts of climate change in Africa...........................................................
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PREFACE
Dear learner, welcome to this course unit, CGP 107: Human Geography I. This is an
introductory course in the discipline of Geography. It is a core unit that must be taken by
all undergraduate Geography students. It is designed to provide you with a basic
understanding of Geography and also introduce you to Human Geography.
It is hoped that this introductory unit will give you a good foundation upon which you
can acquire more skills in Human Geography related sub-disciplines. Among other issues
covered, the unit emphasises the changes that have taken place in the discipline of
Human Geography over time, as well as how human beings have modified the natural
environment through their activities.
The module is divided into nine lectures. In lecture one, we introduce you to Geography
and Human Geography by defining major concepts and by explaining how the discipline
has evolved over time. In the second lecture, we shall explore the sub-disciplines of
Human Geography by discussing the various paradigm shifts that have characterised the
discipline, as well as the scientific method as applied in geographic research.
Lecture three introduces you to the nature and scope of Human Geography by looking at
the subject matter, the various sub-disciplines of Human Geography and the relationship
between Geography and other disciplines. The methodological approaches used in the
discipline are discussed in lecture four, while lecture five explains the physical
environment both as a deterministic factor in human decision making as well as a
constraint to human activities.
In lecture six, the human environment is discussed together with its characteristics.
Lecture seven introduces you to the changing nature of human activities from simple to
complex societies. In lecture eight, we shall study simple activities characterised by
hunting and gathering, the beginning of agricultural activities, early civilization and the
present complex activities associated with industrialisation.
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