AP Human Geography

Parkview High School

What is Geography?Geography is a representation of the whole

known world together with the phenomena which are contained therein

Ptolemy, Geographia, 2nd century A.D.

DefinitionScientific study of the location of people

and activities across Earth, and the reasons for their distribution

HistoriansWhen and why?

GeographersWhere and Why?

Globalization – cultural and economic interaction amongst the world

Local Diversity – cultural traditions and economic practices

Eratosthenes – first to use geographyGeo = “Earth” Graphy = “to write”

Physical GeographyWhere and why natural forces occur

Human GeographyWhere and why human activities occur

Physical Geography

Human Geography

Place Specific point on Earth distinguished by a

particular characteristic Region

Area of Earth distinguished by a distinctive combination of cultural and physical features

Scale Relationship between portion of Earth being

studied and the Earth as a whole Space

Physical gap or interval between two objects Connections

Relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space

How do Geographers Describe Where Things Are?

Definition: two-dimensional or flat scale model of Earth’s surface

Cartography – science of map making 2 Purposes

1. tool for storing reference material2. tool for communicating geographic

information

Earliest surviving maps – clay tablets from Babylon (2300B.C.)

Miletus – port in Turkey – became a center for geographic thought

Ancient Greeks – Aristotle(first to accept that Earth was spherical) and Eratosthenes (map that was within .5% accurate and had climatic zones

Roman TimesGreek Ptolemy traveled the Roman Empire –

8-volume “Guide to Geography”Codified mapmaking – more fanciful maps

Outside EuropePhei Hsiu(A.D. 276) – father of Chinese

cartography Ibn-Battutah (1304-1368) 30 years and

75,000 miles of travels – mapped Mediterranean and Asia

Age of ExplorationColumbus & Magellan

3 Representations

What is Appropriate? Depends on the information being portrayed Downtown area – 1:10,000 State – 1:10,000,000 World – 1:100,000,000

Definition – method of transferring locations on Earth’s surface to a flat map

Result of being flat = distortion of some type: shape, distance, relative size and direction

Mercator Shape distorted very little, direction is

constantArea is grossly distorted toward the Poles

RobinsonUseful for information across the oceansLand areas are much smaller

Western land in early United States divided into townships and ranges

Township – square 6 miles on each side Divided into 36 square mile sections Each section divided into 160 acres –

then sold to pioneers Explains – How states, streets, farms etc

got their shape and location

Geographic Information Science Study helping geographers create more

accurate and complex maps, can also measure changes

GIS (Geographic Information System) The computer system that can capture, store,

query, analyze, and display geographic data – each type of information is stored as a “layer”

Remote Sensing The acquisition of the data from satellites

GPS (Global Positioning System) device used for navigation from aircraft, ships,

now common in cars