Basics Of Geographic Study
Download as PPT, PDF4 likes2,849 views
This document provides an overview of the key concepts in geography. It defines geography as the study of the Earth's physical environment and human habitat. There are two main branches: physical geography, which examines natural phenomena like mountains and oceans, and human geography, which studies human-environment interactions and patterns of culture. Geographers ask questions to understand locations, places, movement, and regions. The most important question is "why?". Key themes include location, place, human-environment interaction, movement, and regions.
Basics Of Geographic Study
- 1. SOME BASICS OF GEOGRAPHIC STUDY
- 2. What Does a Geographer Do? Using the most basic of definitions, a geographer’s job is to ask questions to gain knowledge about the earth, its people, and the interaction of both.
- 3. There Are Two Subsets of Geography Physical Geography This field focuses on what forms the natural environment Example: The study of the location and effect of mountains, oceans, rivers, and such Human Geography This field focuses on what shapes human interaction with the environment Example: The study of how one culture develops in one place while another culture develops in another
- 4. What is a Geographer? A geographer is a scientist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's physical environment and human habitat.
- 5. What Sorts of Questions Do Physical Geographer’s Ask? What is it? Where is it? How large is it? Why is it here? How did it get here? How is it changing? What would it be like in the future?
- 6. What Sorts of Questions Do Human Geographer’s Ask? Who are the ancestor’s of these people? When did these people arrive? Why did these people come here? What problems do these people face? How do these people care for themselves? Where are these people going? What causes these people to survive? What causes these people to fail?
- 7. The Most Important Question a Geographer Will Ask Is… WHY?
- 8. What are the Five Key Themes for Geography? Location Place Human-Environment Interaction Movement Regions
- 9. Location Location is a position or point that occupies some of the Earth’s surface Location is defined in two terms: absolute location and relative location Absolute location refers to the latitude and longitude coordinates of a certain place Relative location refers to the location of one place in relation to its surroundings
- 10. Place Place refers to both the human and the physical characteristics of a location Physical characteristics might include mountains, rivers, soil, beaches, wildlife, etc. Human characteristics result in the ideas and actions of people that change the environment, e.g. roads, buildings, etc. The images we create about a place are based on experience, both intellectual and emotional
- 11. Human-Environment Interaction There are three key concepts to H-E Interaction: Humans adapt to their environments Humans modify their environments Humans depend on their environment Humans both shape and are shaped by the physical and human characteristics of their environment
- 12. Movement Movement refers to the transportation of people, goods, and ideas throughout the world As people travel from one location to another they bring with them and transmit their ideals and understandings with those that they interact As goods are exported and imported throughout the world’s nations, the world becomes smaller and nations become more dependent on outside sources As technology improvements increase, so do the dissemination of ideas throughout the world
- 13. Regions There are three types of regions: formal, functional, and vernacular Formal regions are those regions that are specifically spelled out by government bodies Functional regions are those regions that exist because they serve a particular function, such as school boundaries Vernacular regions are those regions that are very loosely defined by people’s understanding, e.g. The South or The Middle East
- 14. Assignment Define: absolute location Define: relative location Using the absolute location coordinates provided below, name the following countries/places: 0° N, 90° W 40° N, 140° E Using relative location, describe the location of the following places: Germany Indonesia Japan