Chapter 2: Intro and Roots and Beginning of Culture

1. What is the nature of geography and the role of human geography?

In simple terms, What is Geography and the role of human geography…

● Geography is a spatial science

- Analysis of space or the human interaction within spaces
- A study of spaces and its concepts

● Concerned with how the content of earth areas differs from place to place
- Emphasizes that although living things are in one earth, there are differences from the
places they’re in

● The emphasis of human geography is on the spatial variations in characteristics of peoples and
cultures, on the way humans interact over space, and the ways they utilize and alter the natural
landscapes they occupy
- concentrates on humans and how their culture and behavior are being affected by spatial
variations resulting in how humans interact with the environment, or how they live and
make use of the earth and its resources whether it may be positively or negatively.

2. What are the fundamental geographic observations and their underlying concepts?

● Basic (general) geographic observations all concern the ff:

- the characteristics
- Content
- Interactions of places

● Underlying concepts (specifics) involve:

- Location, direction, distance, size, and scale
- Physical and cultural attributes, interrelationships, and regional similarities and
differences

3. What are the regional concepts and generalized characteristics of regions?

● Regional concept [earth areas that display significant elements of internal uniformity and external
differences from surrounding territories]
- You can identify a region based on the similarities of the behavior and culture of people
within that region, and its differences with other regions.

● All recognized regions are characterized by location, spatial extent, defined boundaries, and
position within a hierarchy of regions.
- Formal: declared, politically accepted
- Nodal: prominent place, capital, center of resources, “node”
- Perceptual: less structured, beyond real, based on peoples thoughts and feelings
 4. Why do geographers use maps and how do maps show spatial information?

● Zoom In: To identify and delimit regions and to analyze their content
- To have a close look of what's happening in that particular location, to have a detailed
analysis of the activities

● Zoom Out: Maps permit the study of areas and areal features too extensive to be completely
viewed or understood on the earth’s surface
- To look out on its external forces that “zoom in strategy” cannot identify

● Thematic (single category): Maps may be either qualitative or quantitative

5. In what ways in addition to maps may spatial data be visualized or analyzed?

- What are other ways to interpret or visualize a certain location or place

● Informally: creating of “mental maps” reflecting highly personalized impressions and

information about the spatial arrangement of things
- It is subjective and perceptional
- may not be 100% accurate

● Formally: geographers recognize the content of the area [interdependency of components within
an area, e.g. studies on distance, space, and population] as forming a spatial system to which
techniques of spatial systems analysis and model building are applicable.
- More detailed and has a systematic approach

CULTURE

1. What are the components of culture and nature of culture-environment interactions?

-
● Culture traits and complexes may be grouped into culture regions and realms
- Culture traits are different from other culture, thus can identify

● Differing developmental levels color human perceptions of environmental opportunities

- different culture traits and levels of knowledge of people may affect the human’s
perceptions and their activities on environmental opportunities

● In general, as the active agents in the relationship, humans exert adverse impacts on the natural
environment
- as a result, humans make diverse/different impacts on the natural environment may it be
positive or negative because of their culture

2. How did the culture develop and diverge, and where did cultural advances originate?
● From paleolithic, hunting and gathering, to neolithic farming and then to city civilizations,
different groups made differently times cultural transitions
 - we can connect this to how humans have the “itch” to civilize in order to survive in their natural
world

● All early cultural advances had their origins in a few areally distinct “hearths”
- What is hearth? To be answered in the next bullet…

● Hearths are cradles/centers for innovation and invention from which key culture traits and
elements moved to exert an influence on surrounding regions
- there is spatial interaction between regions because of innovation and invention that a
certain region has

3. What are the structures of culture and forms of culture change?

● All cultures contain ideological, technological, and sociological components that work together to
create culture integration.
- in order to have a “fixed” culture, it has three (3) aspects which are stated above

● Culture change through innovations they themselves invent or that diffuse from other areas and
are accepted or adapted.
- culture are made or modified based on the innovations they invent that they either accept
or accept

Chapter 3: Spatial Interaction and Spatial Behavior

1. What are the three bases (flow-determining factors) for all spatial interactions?
- What makes people interact or not interact?....

A. Complementarity - the local supply of an item for which effective demand exists elsewhere
- basically, people produce demands on locations where products are available and their
demands can be met

B. Transferability - expresses the costs of movement from source of supply to locale of demand
- the greater opportunity to transfer supplies to another location

C. Intervening Opportunity - it serves to reduce flows of goods between two points by presenting
nearer or cheaper sources
- it has two (2) sides
1. the favored locale - the location wherein they are nearer to the demanding
location, the intervener
2. the unfavored locale - the location wherein they are the first ones to produce
goods but are farther to the demanding location, thus the lesser the
interaction/transaction,,, the intervened
2. How is the likelihood of spatial interaction probability measured: 3 Models
- How to measure or determine the interaction ranges…… or if its falling or rising

A. Distance Decay - reports the decline of interaction with increase in separation

- basically, the bigger the distance the lesser the interaction thus the increase of separation

B. Gravity Model - tells us that distance decay can be overcome by enhanced attraction
- no matter how far the location, if there is something that attracts people, the distance
decay can be solved or interaction between people will increase

C. Movement Bias - an aggregate regularity of flow: helps explain interaction flows contrary to
model predictions
- Perception. The people’s decision where to go or interact based on their personal biases
e.g. shorter distance, calmer environment, etc.

3. What are the forms, attributes, and controls of human spatial behavior?
- Self explanatory question

● Human spatial behavior is due to reaction to distance, time, and cost considerations of spatial
movement
- a human’s behavior to move locations is dictated by the distance of a location, the time it
would take, and the amount it would cost

● Human behavior is also affected by conditions of activity, awareness of space, individual

economic and life-cycle, degree of mobility, and perception of wants and needs.
- human’s behavior is also influenced by the opportunities, advantages, information
gathered on a particular location and a person’s personal wants and needs

4. What roles do information and perception play in human spatial actions?

- the roles of information and perception that influences human behavior or actions in spaces

● Perceptions affect feelings and decisions of humans in their spatial opportunity, feasibility, and
mobility

● Information helps balance the human decisions aiming at grasping the reality, particularly on
familiarity, rationalizations, and minimization of real natural hazards

To sum, the more information you have, the more you are aware of your options and it would affect your
decisions and perceptions towards something
5. What kinds of migration movements [the permanent relocation of space] can be recognized and what
influences their occurrence?
- What are the kinds of migration (permanent moving to another place), and why does migration
happen……….

● Negative home conditions (push factor) coupled with perceived positive destination attractors
(pull factors)
- basically, shunget imong place unya mas nindut and place nga imo transferan. Periodt.

● Age, gender
- this happens when younger generations prefer in a business areas to work, and older
generations prefer more quiet places … etc etc etc
- in terms of gender, maybe more opportunities for a certain gender to be more
liberated/free

● Step Migration - involves the place transition from, for example, rural to central city residence
residence through a series of ess extreme locational changes - from farm to small town to suburb
and, finally, to the major central city itself
- moving towards a location and another location one at a time based on its capability until
it reaches the final destination

● Chain Migration - assures that the mover is part of an established migrant flow from a common
origin to a prepared destination
- when a certain group of people follows an immigrant to that specific location, e.g. a US
green card holder’s family follows the card holder as their sponsor