Human Geography

What is Human Geography and the History of Geography

Geo-Graphy

• Eratosthenes– Greek Scientist

• 2200 years ago

– Coined the word geography from two words• Geo = earth• Graphein = to write

Eratosthenes

• Invented a system of Longitude and Latitude• The first Greek to calculate the circumference of

the Earth (with remarkable ½% accuracy) • The first Greek to calculate the tilt of the earth's

axis (also with remarkable accuracy)• he may also have accurately calculated the

distance from the earth to the sun and invented the leap day

• Figured earth was divided into 5 climatic regions

Eratosthenes

• He also created a map of the world based on the available geographical knowledge of the era.

Geography in ancient times

• Thales of Miletus – Applied geometry to measuring land

• Anaximander – Made a world map based on sailors information. Thought earth may be a cylinder

• Hecateus – Produced first geography book• Aristotle – Proved Eratosthenes belief earth was

spherical• Strabo – in a 17 volume work called Geography

described the known world

Ptolemy

• 150 AD wrote an 8 volume called Guide to Geography • suggested precise methods for using a coordinate

system with parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude

• Included the following standard on all maps– scale, conventional signs with legends, and the practice of

orienting maps so that north is at the top and east to the right of the map

Ptolemy’s MapAdmits he only knew about ¼ of the earth. His standards have been used for the next 1600 years and many are still in use today

Dark Ages

• Europeans made very little advances were made from 330 AD to 1450 AD

• Muslim Scholars continued the study – Al Idrisi prepared a world map with new knowledge in

about 1150– Ibn-Battuata wrote Rihlah (Journeys) describing the Muslim

world• China also a center of discovery while Europe was in

the dark ages– Zheng He, an explorer, wrote of his journies in the mid

1400’s . As far as Kenya today and west coast of USA

End of the Dark Ages

• Europeans became interested in the world– Thanks to the exaggerations of Marco Polo– Europeans started to support voyages to explore the

world in search of great wealths• Age Of Explorations

• Gerardus Mercator (1512 – 1594) was one of the first to draw a world map that is relatively accurate

• Voyages + Technology + improved cartography = More Interest in Geography

Pioneers In Scientific Geography

Alexander Von Humboldt

• Urged geographers to adopt methods of scientific inquiry

• Study of nature and social process are fundamentally same

• Humboldt Park in Chicago is named for Alexander Von Humboldt

Carl Ritter

• Worked with Von Humboldt• Argued that geographers should

apply natural science laws to humans to understand the relationship between people and environments

• ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINISM

ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINISM

• That cultures are a direct result of where they exist

• Where you live dictates how you live– Warmer climates tend to cause inhabitants to

have a more relaxed attitude toward work and progress

– Temperate climates were more motivated, intelligent, and culturally advanced

• Friedrich Ratzel• Ellen Churchill Semple• Ellsworth Huntington– All continued the

Environmental determinism approach to understanding how people interact with their environment or human geography

Possibilism

• Approach that has grown to be more favorable in modern geography as opposed to environmental determinism

• A culture’s way of life depends on the choices people make among the possibilities that are offered by the environment

• Humans can change the environment – Environment can effect how we live but it just creates

possibilities of how people will deal with that environment

In What ways have humans alter their environment as opposed to allowing environment to dictate

how they live?

Polder

• A polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes, that forms an artificial hydrological entity, meaning it has no connection with outside water other than through manually-operated devices. There are three types of polder:– Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a lake or the

sea bed. – Flood plains separated from the sea or river by a dike. – Marshes separated from the surrounding water by a dike

and consequently drained.

Human Geography was born early

• As early as Strabo it was no longer enough to know where things were but geographers wanted to know more:– Why cultures and environments differ from place

to place– NOT WHERE BUT WHY THERE

Two Sides of Geography

• Physical Geography– Concerned with actual

locations of places– Concerned with

landforms and their distribution

– Climatic patterns– Cartography

• Map Making

• Human Geography• Examines the

relationships between people and places

• Population, cultural, economic, urban, agriculture, and political geographies

• Emphasis on people and culture