Geography Chapter 1

What are the three good reasons identified in the textbook as to why people study geography?

1. Geography is the only discipline concerned with differing physical and cultural phenomena on the surface of the earth 2. A grasp of geography is vital to understanding the national and international problems highlighted in news reports 3. Geographic training opens the way to careers in a wide array of fields

Modern geography had its origins in the surge of European scholarly inquiry that began in which century?

17th century

Which map would have the largest scale, a regional map of the United States or a city map of Portland, Oregon?

A city map of Portland, Oregon

What are the two ways in which geographical location is described?

Absolute location and relative location

What term refers to how easy or difficult it is to overcome the friction of distance?

Accessibility

By leading ambitious scientific expeditions and synthesizing vast amounts of geographic data, a key figure during the period of early modern geographic research was

Alexander von Humboldt.

The term "geography" was reportedly coined by which Greek scientist?

Eratosthenes

By combining the words 'geo' and 'graphein', the name "geography" was reputedly coined over 2,200 years ago by the Greek scientist named

Eratosthenes.

T/F A place may be described by its physical or its cultural characteristics, but not by both.

FALSE

T/F Because geographers deal with patterns of spatial interaction that remain constant, scale is not important.

FALSE

T/F Geography means "measurement of the earth."

FALSE

T/F The only true formal geographic regions are recognized political entities such as states, provinces, and countries.

FALSE

T/F To a geographer, site and situation are interchangeable concepts.

FALSE

The physical characteristics of a place dictate exactly the manner in which people will live in an area

FALSE

The term Lower East Side of New York identifies an absolute location

FALSE

What term refers to the increasing interconnection of all societies in all parts of the world?

Globalization

The discipline of geography traces its roots back to the early ______

Greeks.

What are the five fundamental themes of geography?

Movement, regions, relationships within places, location, place

Many buildings collapsed when the country of Nepal was rocked by a powerful earthquake in 2015 due to the fact that-

Nepal is among the world's least developed countries and builders could not afford the cost of earthquake safety measures.

Explain how perceptual (also known as vernacular or popular) regions are different from functional and formal regions.

Perceptual regions persist in people's mind as they are the mental maps as perceived by their inhabitants. Formal and functional regions are constructs of geographers and researchers. The characteristics used in delimitating formal regions are uniform everywhere throughout the territory. Functional regions are defined on the basis of interactions and interdependence.

The distinctive and distinguishing physical and human characteristics of locales are associated with which of the five fundamental themes of geography?

Place

Three Human systems in geography include

Population, political, cultural

What do geographers call an area that throughout its extent possesses similar characteristics?

Region

What geographic unit is based on the recognition and mapping of spatial distributions - the spatial arrangement of environmental, human, or organizational features?

Regions

A Canal is not considered a feature of the natural landscape.

TRUE

An example of a functional region is the trade area of a city.

TRUE

Cornfield, Farmhouse and Hyroelectric Dam are all considered features of the cultural landscape-

TRUE

Lake, River, and Brook are all example of features of the natural landscape-

TRUE

Location, Distance, and Direction are three everyday ways of assessing the space around us and identifying our position in relation to other things-

TRUE

Perceptual regions are based on the mental maps of ordinary people

TRUE

Perceptual regions are less rigorously structured than formal or functional regions

TRUE

Perceptual regions reflect feelings and images rather than objective data

TRUE

Study of place names is NOT a dominating interest characterizing all of geography's subdivisions

TRUE

T/F Absolute location is determined by reference to an agreed-upon system of coordinates.

TRUE

T/F Between the Middle Ages and the revival of geography in the 17th century, Muslim scholars were engaged in describing and analyzing their known world and its physical, cultural, and regional variation.

TRUE

T/F Geography may be described as the study of spatial variation.

TRUE

T/F Globalization refers to the increasing spatial interconnection of the world's social, cultural, and economic activities.

TRUE

T/F Scale implies the degree of generalization permissible or supportable.

TRUE

T/F The term cultural landscape suggests the visible imprint of human activity upon the natural environment.

TRUE

Three dominating interest characterizing all of geography's subdivisions include- the spatial variation of physical and human phenomena, regional analysis, spatial systems that link the physical environment and human activities

TRUE

True/False The natural landscape is perceived, interpreted, and used in different ways by different cultures

TRUE

True/False The natural landscape is shaped by human action into a cultural landscape.

TRUE

True/False The natural landscape provides the setting for human action.

TRUE

With respect to "places"- they have location, they may be large or small, and they may have both physical and cultural characteristics

TRUE

Discuss the ways that changes in communications or transportation technology can change the friction of distance and thus change processes of spatial interaction.

Technologies that reduce the friction of distance might include new highway construction, container ships, fiber optic cables, communications satellites, and the internet.

Explain the concept of "friction of distance" and give an example of the friction of distance from everyday life.

The barrier of time and space separating places which must be overcome

The concept that, in a spatial sense, everything is related to everything else but relationships are stronger when things are near one another is known as

Tobler's First Law of Geography.

Physical systems in geography include

Weather and climate, landforms

The term "formal region" implies

a uniformity of the attributes within an area.

A one mile walk is an example of a distance measure of __________ distance

absolute

A street address is an example of _________ location

absolute

The location of Chicago at 41 49' N latitude and 87 37' W longitude is an example of _________ location

absolute

Geography as a discipline originated in

ancient Greek interest in the nature of the universe and the varying character of the known parts of the earth.

With regard to spatial interaction, telephone lines, road systems, and pipelines are all examples of

connectivity.

The attributes of a place represent the current state of

continuing processes of change and development.

According to Strabo, the purpose of geography was to

describe known parts of the world and to assess the differences among countries.

Spatial interaction is affected by

distance, accessibility, and connectivity.

In describing the processes and patterns of spatial interaction, geographers employ the ideas of

distance, location, accessibility, and connectivity.

Earth areas that display significant elements of uniformity are called _________ regions

formal

The area of France where the Breton language is spoken is an example of a ______ region

formal

The term scale implies the degree of ___________ represented.

generalization

Geography is BEST described as the study of

how and why human and physical attributes vary from place to place on the surface of the earth.

Since humans are the active agents in human-environmental interactions, people in general are frequently unmindful of the dangers of

inappropriate environmental exploitation.

The relationship between the size of an area on a map and its actual size on the earth's surface is called the

map scale.

The best description of the cultural landscape is the ______________ landscape as modified by ______________

natural, human occupancy

"Site" refers to the ________ and __________ characteristics of a place.

physical and cultural

Absolute location is a precise

position on the surface of the globe.

Absolute location records a _____ ______ on the surface of the earth.

precise position

"Out West" and "down South" are examples of ___________ direction

relative

The term "location matters" refers to ________ location.

relative

When real estate agents say that "location matters," they are referring to a __________ location

relative

The cultural landscape exists at different_____________ and ____________ of visibility

scales, levels

Regional boundaries are marked by _______ __________ in the region's unifying characteristics.

significant changes

Geographers believe that the essential starting point for understanding how people live on and shape the earth's surface is recognizing ______________ patterns

spatial

The dispersion of an idea or thing from a center of origin to more distant points is known as

spatial diffusion.

As opposed to absolute location, the concept of relative location expresses

spatial interconnection and interdependence.

Geographers who focus their studies on one or a few related aspects of the physical environment or of human populations and societies are known as

systematic geographers.

The visible imprint of human activity is known as

the cultural landscape.

The word geography is derived from Greek words meaning

the description of the earth.

As geographers use the term, scale tells us

the relationship between earth distance and map distance.

Distance can be measured as linear, __________, __________, or ____________ distances

time, cost, or psychological

Geography differs from disciplines such as geology, meteorology, and cultural anthropology in that it

uses data from related disciplines to study spatial relationships.

Diffusion rates of ideas or things may be affected by distance, population density, and means of communication, but are least affected by

weather.