AP Human Geography Lecture Notes
Latitude and Longitude
• Lines on globes and maps provide information that can help you easily locate places on the earth.
• These lines—called latitude and longitude—cross one another, forming a pattern called a grid system.
Latitude
• Lines of latitude, or parallels, circle the earth parallel to the Equator and measure the distance north or south of the Equator in degrees.
• The Equator is at 0° latitude, while the Poles lie at latitudes 90°N (north) and 90°S (south).
• Degrees are the angular measurement north or south of the equator
Longitude
• Lines of longitude, or meridians, circle the earth from Pole to Pole.
These lines measure distances east or west of the starting line, which is at 0° longitude and is called the Prime Meridian.
The Prime Meridian runs through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England.
Lines of longitude go 180 degrees east and west of the prime meridian
International Date Line: An arc that for the most part follows 180° longitude, although it deviates in several places to avoid dividing land areas.
When you cross the International Date Line heading east (toward America), the clock moves back 24 hours, or one entire day. When you go west (toward Asia), the calendar moves ahead one day.
Absolute Location
The grid system formed by lines of latitude and longitude makes it possible to find the absolute location of a place. Many places can be found along a line of latitude, but only one place can be found at the point where a certain line of latitude crosses a certain line of longitude. By using degrees and minutes (points between degrees), people can pinpoint the precise spot where one line of latitude crosses one line of longitude—an absolute location.
Degrees are divided into minutes
• 1 degree equals 60 minutes
Minutes are divided into seconds
• 1 minute equals 60 seconds
(airplanes need to land on the correct runway and bombs need to hit the right building.)
Degrees can be turned into decimals to make them easier to work with
• 51 minutes = .85 degrees
• 30 minutes = .5 degrees
• 20 minutes = .33 degrees
Southern California Vernacular Regions
Geography Introduction
There are two main branches of geography:
human geography and physical geography.
Human geography: the study of the location of people and human activities across Earth’s surface, and of their relationships to one another.
Physical geography studies the natural environment: climates, landforms, and types of vegetation.
San Gabriel Mts, San Bernardino Mts, Santa Monica Mts., Santa Ana Mts, LA River, San Gabriel River, Santa Ana River, Puente Hills, Chino Hills, San Jose Hills, San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel Valley, Inland Empire
Geography looks at the world from a spatial perspective, seeking to understand the changing spatial organization of the earth’s surface.
• the science of location
• spatial patterns,
• inter-relationships (interconnections, interdependence)
• Geography is the study of Earth’s physical and cultural landscapes,
• Geography’s slogan: Where, why, and why care.
Tobler's First law of geography: All things are related, but near things are more related than far things.
One of the most important ideas in geography is Distance decay: the effect of distance on cultural or spatial interactions. The distance decay effect states that the interaction between two locales declines as the distance between them increases.
Related terms include friction of distance: the notion that distance usually requires some amount of effort, money, and/or energy to overcome.
Because of this "friction," spatial interactions will tend to take place more often over shorter distances; quantity of interaction will decline with distance.
• For example land decreases in value as distance from the center increases
Distance decay is graphically represented by a curving line that swoops concavely downward as distance along the x-axis increases.
• Geographers try to understand the Human Environmental Interaction: how places shape culture and how culture shapes places.
• Geography is also considered the study of place and space
Space or location is the where
Place: meaningful human associations with a location.
Human nature has a need to identify with a place and to differentiate ourselves through that place. Place suggests qualities of distinctiveness and identity with a location.
sense of place: feelings evoked among people as a result of the experiences and memories that they associate with a place
Places exert a strong influence on people’s physical wellbeing, and their opportunities.
Living in a small town dominated by petrochemical industries, for example, means a higher probability than elsewhere of being exposed to air and water pollution.
Small towns have only a limited range of job opportunities, and may have a relatively narrow range of lifestyle options because of a lack of amenities such as theaters, specialized stores and restaurants, and recreational facilities.
Cartography:
• The art and science of map making (paper maps, globes, relief models, computer images or others)
• The most accurate way to depict the earth is as a globe, a spherical scale model of the earth.
• A globe gives a true picture of the continents’ relative sizes and the shapes of landmasses and bodies of water.
• Globes are proportionately correct accurately representing distance and direction.
• A map is a flat drawing of all or part of the earth’s surface that can show small areas in great detail.
• Maps have their limitations. As you can imagine, drawing a round object on a flat surface is very difficult.
• Think about the surface of the earth as the peel of an orange. To flatten the peel, you might have to cut it like the globe shown here.
• Cartographers, or mapmakers, use mathematical formulas to transfer information from the three-dimensional globe to a two-dimensional map.
• To create maps, cartographers project the round earth onto a flat surface—making a map projection.
• There are more than a hundred kinds of map projections, each with some advantages and some degrees of accuracy.
Geographic Information Systems
• Technology has changed the way maps are made. Most cartographers use software programs called geographic information systems (GIS).
• A GIS uses data from maps, satellite images, printed text, and statistics.
• Cartographers can program the GIS to produce the maps they need, and it allows them to make changes quickly and easily.
Types of Maps
• Maps are prepared for many uses. The information depicted in the map depends on how the map will be used.
Isoline: a line that connects places of equal data value
(air pollution or religion)
Isoline maps: show changes in the variable being mapped across a surface by lines that connect points of equal value
Topographic maps are isoline maps
Image map: Satellite images or aerial photos
Cartogram: space is distorted to emphasize a particular attribute
Dot maps: use a dot to represent the occurrence of some variable
in order to depict variation in density in a given area
Cloropleth Map: ranked classes of some variable are depicted with colors for predefined zones (counties, states, countries)
Scale
Spatial scale provides a "shorthand" for discussing relative lengths, areas, distances and sizes.
small scale maps: the place being mapped looks small on the map (i.e. a world map) but has a large denominator (making it a small number)
Large scale maps: local area
(the place being mapped looks fairly large compared to what is shown on a world map for example a stadium)
• Representative Fraction: The relationship between the size of an object on a map and the size of the actual feature on Earth’s surface. (This maps is 1:55,000,000)
Just as ½ is larger than 1/10, 1:10,000 is larger than 1:10,000,000
Spatial Distribution Of Features
Distribution: The arrangement of something across the earth’s surface
Density and Concentration
1. Density: frequency in a space
2. Concentration: the spread of something over space
Clustered: objects in an area are close together
Dispersed: objects are relatively far apart
California is not densely populated its population is clustered
Malls in Southern California are dispersed
3. Pattern: The geometric arrangement of something in a study area (space)
Four ways to identify location:
1. Name (a toponym is a name derived from a place or region)
List 5 California cities that are toponyms?
• Riverside
2. Mathematical
3. Site: the physical attributes of a location (ex. terrain, vegetation). Economically the Land, labor and capital
4. Situation (relative location): the location of a place relative to other places and human activities. Economically it’s the transportation costs
California’s Situation
• On the Pacific Rim
• North of Mexico
• Far from U.S. populated East
• Cold current flows adjacent to the state
Regions:
• mental constructs (not absolute)
• that can be of any size
• are unique
• have boundaries that are broad areas of transition.
Terms that express the decreasing influence of a culture with increasing distance from the center of the culture region.
• core: the heart and soul of a culture region, its vital center and focus of circulation.
• domain: the area in which the particular culture is dominant but less intense.
• sphere: the zone of outer influence, where people with the culture traits in question may even be a minority within another culture region.
Why is mapping a culture region difficult and prone to problems in geography?
Different people will use different traits in different combinations to define the culture area
• Many regions have several characteristics, usually a combination of physical and human, to describe the regional character.
3 Types of Regions
1. Uniform Regions (or formal regions) -Areas with distinctive characteristics and/or similar landscapes
These characteristics may be:
• economic
• cultural (religion, language, etc)
• agricultural (corn belt or wheat belt)
• land use
• physical
• or many others
Formal Region definition #2- all members legally share a characteristic Example: a city, state, or country (every one living in Canada has to follow their laws)
2. Functional region: defined by a node of activity and distance decay from center
Examples: Newspaper, mall, a university, cell phone coverage
3. Vernacular (or perceptual) region: a region perceived to exist by its inhabitants.
Political Geography
Political Geography: the spatial study of political processes; from self-determination to voting patterns
Political geography deals with the phenomena occurring at all scales from the global to the local.
Nation State Section
Nation or nationality: a group of people sharing a common cultural identity (religion, language, history, art, and/or political identity) tied to a place through legal status and tradition.
The Japanese (not Japan),
Nationalism: loyalty and devotion to a particular nation (shared emotions, attitudes, emotions)
Nationalism may also be loyalty and devotion to a state that represents a particular group's culture (but the nation doesn’t always have a country)
State: An area organized into an independent political unit (country)
Necessary components to qualify as a full-fledged state:
1. has a defined territory
2. has an organized economy (regulates foreign/domestic trade)
3. provides public services and police power
4. Sovereignty (control over its internal affairs)
5. external recognition
6. a permanent residence population
Are Indian Reservations states?
Native American tribes have some rights given to them by the United States government. For example they are given a large amount of autonomous rule over their tribal lands.
However, the tribal governments do not have independence from the federal government. However, they are exempt from jurisdiction of some state laws and regulations, such as allowing gambling on their reservations.
Is Puerto Rico a state? No. It is not a country (State) or a state of the U.S.
Puerto Ricans pay no federal income tax and they cannot vote for president
On 6 November 2012, a two question referendum took place.
The first question asked voters whether they wanted to maintain the current status under the territorial clause of the U.S. Constitution.
The second question posed three alternate status options if the first question was approved: statehood, independence or free association. For the first question, 54 percent voted against the current Commonwealth status, and in the second question, of those who responded, 61.1% favored statehood.
On April 10, 2013, the White House announced that it will seek $2.5 million to hold another referendum, this next one being the first Puerto Rican status referendum to be financed by the Federal government.
Is Taiwan a state? It’s not recognized by the major powers
Is Macedonia a state? It’s in the UN but not recognized as an independent state by Greece.
Kosovo became a country in 2008. They broke off from Yugoslavia, speak Albanian and follow Islam. Why didn’t they become part of Albania?
Why are China and Russia almost always against new countries forming?
How many countries are in the world?
United Nations
There are 196 members of the United Nations. Although this number represents almost all of the countries in the world, there are still two recognized independent countries, the Vatican City and Kosovo, that are independent and are not members of the U.N.
U.S. Department of State
The United States' State Department recognizes 198 independent countries around the world. Their list of 196 countries reflects the political agenda of the United States of America and its allies. Missing from the State Department's list is one entity that may or may not be considered a country, depending on who you talk to.
The One Outsider
Taiwan meets the requirements of independent country or state status. However, due to political reasons, it fails to be recognized by the international community as independent. Nonetheless, it should be considered as independent.
Taiwan was actually a member of the United Nations (and even the Security Council) until 1971, when mainland China replaced Taiwan in the organization. Taiwan continues to press for full recognition by other countries, to become "part of the club" and fully recognized worldwide but China claims that Taiwan is simply a province of China.
That makes199 countries
However, there are dozens of territories and colonies that are sometimes erroneously called "countries" but don't count at all - they're governed by other countries. Places commonly confused as being countries include Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Greenland, Palestine, Western Sahara, and even the components of the United Kingdom (such as Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England)
Nation-State: A state that has the same boundaries as a nation. (relatively rare, no perfect example but a lot of good ones), most European countries,
Nation-states in Europe were formed by drawing boundaries around nations based on language.
Denmark is a good example of a nation-state because nearly all Danes speak Danish and live in Denmark.
Multinational State: a country that has more than one nation.
Example: Canada, China, Rwanda,(and every other country in Africa with the exception of Egypt)