Day 1

[Some maps may be difficult to read. To see a clear image, RIGHT CLICK on the image and select VIEW IMAGE]

OUTLINE

• Introduction to Geography
• Human vs. Physical Geography
• Geography is a "spatial" science
• The "Why There" question

INTRODUCTION TO GEOGRAPHY

• Two Broad Fields:
  • The study of geography can be divided into two broad fields:

   

  • Human (Cultural) Geography (at Harper includes GEG 100, 101, 103, 104, 210)
    A SOCIAL SCIENCE CLASS

  and

  • Physical Geography (GEG 111 and 112)
    A PHYSICAL SCIENCE CLASS

   

• Human Geography is often studied from two different Perspectives:
  • Systematic (Topical) Perspective (GEG 100 - Cultural Geography)
  • Regional Geography (GEG 101 - World Regional Geography)

[TOP]  

• Geography is a "spatial" science

   

  • Geographers can study anything that has a significant spatial component. Geographers concentrate on the "where" and by doing this they may be able to gain a better understanding of what is being studied than if the "where" were ignored. This is the "Spatial Perspective" that is peculiar to the study of geography. This perspective is useful in a wide variety of fields and therefore you have a wide variety of sub-disciplines in the field of geography (like political geography, cultural geography, physical geography, etc.). Businesses use geography when they decide WHERE to locate a new plant. Real estate developers use geography when they decide WHERE to build a new housing development. You have used geography when you decided WHERE to look for a job, or WHERE to go on vacation, or WHERE to go to school. If the WHERE is important, then geographers can study it.

   

  • geography differs from other social science in its SPATIAL approach
  

   

• So WHAT IS GEOGRAPHY? -- Geography answers Three Questions

• Most students think that geography is memorizing the locations of countries, capitals, rivers, etc. Geography is really much more than this. I think it is best to remember that geographers try to answer three questions:
  • WHERE?
  • WHY THERE?
  • WHY DO WE CARE? or WHAT CAN WE LEARN?
    

• History Analogy
  • History and Geography are quite similar. When historians study a topic they focus on the WHEN. Hence you can have subjects like the: history of war, the history of sports, the history of comic books, etc. Geographers can study these same issues, and virtually anything else, but the geographer's perspective is SPATIAL, rather than TEMPORAL like the historians. Hence there can also be the geography of war, the geography of sports, and the geography of comic books. What geographers add to such topics is the spatial perspective.

   

  • History takes a TEMPORAL approach and geography take a SPATIAL approach

   

  • History studies
    • WHEN?
    • and WHY THEN?

   

  • Geography studies
    • WHERE?
    • and WHY THERE?

   

  • So you can study:
    • the history of South America or the geography of South America
    • the history of sports or the geography of sports
    • the history of women or the geography of women
    • the history of beer or the geography of beer
    • etc.

[TOP]  

• WHY THERE?
  • but, we will NOT just memorize where things are, we will also try to explain WHY they are THERE.

     

  • Example 1: The location of breweries in Illinois during the 1870s

    The first map below shows the location of breweries in Illinois in 1870 .

    The second map shows the location of German born immigrants in Illinois during the 1870s.

    The location of German born immigrants helps explain the location of breweries.

    

     

     

    • Example 2 (ski resorts)
      What are some of the factors that would help us explain / predict where ski resorts are located?

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    • mountains / hills
    • cold / snow

   

   

   

   

   

  • Countries with ski resorts
    

  [What is a "dry slope"?]

   

   

   

  • States with ski resorts

    

   

   

   

  • Which state has more ski resorts - Wisconsin or Colorado? [USA]

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  • Wisconsin - 24
  • Colorado - 18

   

  • What else might determine the location of ski resorts?

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  

   

   

   

  CUSTOMERS ! (skiers)