History AP

• Geography


  The study of interrelated spatial patterns - the description and explanation of differences and similarities between one region and another

  
• Geography


  • Concerned with place and location - two concepts that are inherently important parts of everyday life
  • Invites you to see the world through the lens of the geographer and enlarge your vision to encompass other places and locations and consider them in new ways

  
• Geographers are not just people who can name all the rivers, lakes, cities, and countries of the world

  
• Human geography


  Focuses on people - where they are, how they are alike and different, how they interact, how they change the natural landscapes, and how they use them
• Key concepts that define geography as a field of study

  • Location
  • Space
  • Scale
  • Place
  • Pattern
  • Regionalization
  • Globalization
• Spatial organization


  The location of places, people, and events, and the connections among places and landscapes
• First gave structure to geography as a field of study

  Ancient Greeks
• The Greeks laid the foundations for cartography, the art and science of map-making
• Ptolemy estimated the circumference of the earth was about 16,000 miles, about 9,000 miles short of reality
• Ancient Chinese also studied geography, although they did not have contact with Mediterranean geographers until much later
• Muslim scholars in the Middle East built on Greek and Roman geographical knowledge to describe and analyze their known world
• Geography was reborn in Europe as a broad study of both physical landscapes and the roles that humans play in shaping them

  17th century
• Immanuel Kant defined geography as the study of interrelated spatial patterns

  
• By the turn of the 20th century, students in universities throughout Europe were studying geography as a distinct discipline
• Sub-fields of geography that emerged in the 20th century


  • Cultural
  • Social
  • Urban
  • Population
  • Medical
  • Economic
  • Political
• Two great branches of geography today

  • Physical geography
  • Human geography

  
• Geography


  A field of study that examines the location, space, scale, place, pattern, regionalization, and globalization of the world
• Key concepts in geography

  • Location
  • Space
  • Scale
  • Place
  • Pattern
  • Regionalization
  • Globalization
• Location


  The position of something on earth's surface
• Space


  The physical gap or distance between two objects
• Scale


  The relationship between the size of an object or distance between objects on a map and the size of the actual object or distance on earth's surface
• Place


  A specific point on earth with human and physical characteristics that distinguish it from other points
• Pattern


  The arrangement of objects on earth's surface in relationship to one another
• Regionalization


  The organization of earth's surface into distinct areas that are viewed as different from other areas
• Globalization


  The expansion of economic, political, and cultural activities to the point that they reach and have impact on many areas of the world
• All of these concepts help you to understand the importance of spatial organization – the location of places, people, and events, and the connections among places and landscapes (the overall appearance of an area that is shaped by both human and natural influences)
• Geographers believe that the "why of where" is critical – explanations for why a spatial pattern occurs
• Geographers sometimes ask questions about how particular human patterns came about, so that specific places become distinct from all others
• Human geography


  Emphasizes people and the way they interact with their natural environment
• Physical geography


  Focuses on the natural environment itself, such as mountains, glaciers, coastlines, climates, soils, plants, and animals
• Human and physical geography are inextricably bound to one another because the two fields inevitably intersect and interact
• Key geographical skills


  • Using the vocabulary of geographers
  • Using maps
• Absolute location


  Maps provide the exact location of a place on a mathematical grid of the earth divided by meridians and parallels

  
• Meridian


  An arc drawn between the North and South Poles that measures longitude, a numbering system that calculates distance east and west of the prime meridian

  
• Prime meridian


  Located at the observatory in Greenwich, England at 0°
• Parallel


  A circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator, an imaginary circle that lies exactly half way between the North and the South Poles

  
• Latitude


  Distance north and south of the equator

  
• Relative location


  Where a place lies relative to other human and physical features on the landscape
• Relative location is important because it defines a place in terms of how central or isolated it is in relation to other places
• Maps as reference material


  Efficient tools for storing information about relative locations, roads, waterways, etc.