Unit 2 – SSWG2

Chapter 4 – Human Geography

ELEMENTS of CULTURE

  1. Culture – the total of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors shared by and passed on by the members of a specific group.
  2. Culture involves the following factors:

8 Aspects of Culture / Characteristics
Food/Shelter / Using resources in your environment to provide nourishment and a safe living space.
Education / Formal and Informal. What a person knows and their ability to apply that knowledge.
Religion / Spirituality = Belief ; Religion = Practice/ Ritual
Security/Protection / People, organizations, and rules put in place to insure the best quality of life.
Relationships / Interactions between family, friends, and others
Political & Social Organizations / Any group that has a common goal; may be positive or negative.
Language/Dialect / Words that are spoken or written.
Creative Expression / Any form of dance, song, food, literature, art, etc… that expressions emotion and culture.
  • Society – a group that shares geographic region, sense of identity, and culture.
  • Ethnic Group – a group that shares a language, customs, and common heritage.
  1. CULTURE CHANGE & EXCHANGE

1. Innovation – taking existing technology and resources and creating something new to meet a need.

2. Diffusion – the spread of ideas, inventions, or patterns of behavior.

3. Cultural Hearth – place where important ideas begin and then spread to other cultures.

4. Acculturation – when a society changes because it accepts or adopts an innovation.

  1. LANGUAGE
  • Can build group identity and a feeling of pride in one’s nation or group
  • Can divide people when speakers of different languages in a region may come into conflict if one group feels the other is favored.
  • dialect– versions of a language that reflect changes in speech patterns related to class, region, or other cultural changes.
  • Spreads along trade routes, through contact between groups that blend their languages, and by migration (language diffusion).
  1. RELIGION
  • Three categories of religion
  • Monotheistic – belief in one god
  • Polytheistic – belief in many gods
  • Animistic – belief in divine forces in nature
  • Five major world religions

1. Judaism

  • Oldest monotheistic religion
  • Basic laws and teachings come from a holy book called the Torah.
  • Followers are called Jews
  1. Christianity
  2. Monotheistic
  3. Based on the teachings of Jesus
  4. Largest of all the religions
  5. Has 3 major groups ( Roman Catholic, Protestant, Eastern Orthodox)
  6. Islam
  7. Monotheistic religion
  8. Based on the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad
  9. Followers are Muslims who worship God, who is called Allah
  10. Holy book is the Qur’an.
  11. Hinduism
  12. Polytheistic
  13. Believe in the divine spirit, Brahman
  14. Caste system
  15. Founded by Siddhartha Gautama (also called Buddha or Enlightened One)
  16. Believes in reaching an enlightened spiritual state called nirvana

E. POPULATION

  • World Population Growth
  • Birth rate- # of live births per 1,000 people
  • Fertility rate – avg. # of children a woman would have in her lifetime
  • Mortality rate (death rate) - # of deaths per 1,000 people
  • Rate of Natural Increase(Population Growth Rate) – subtract the mortality rate from the birthrate (BR – MR = PGR)
  • Population Pyramid – graph that shows sex and age distribution of a population
  • Population Distribution
  • Climate, altitude, and access to water, influence where people live
  • Migration – movement of peoples within a country or region
  • Push factors – cause people to leave their home & migrate to another region
  • Ex. war, politics, economy, weather, natural disasters, sickness
  • Pull factors – attract people to another location.
  • Ex. flip the push factors (education, jobs, increase in salary, security)
  • Population Density
  • Average number of people who live in a measurable area
  • Carrying capacity- number of organisms a piece of land can support

F. GOVERNMENT

  • Three categories of government

1. state – independent political unit that occupies a specific territory and controls its internal and external affairs.

2. nation – group of people with a common culture living in a territory and having a strong sense of unity.

3. nation-state – when a nation and a state occupy the same territory.

  • Types of government
  • Democracy – citizens hold the power through elected representatives

ex. United States

  • Monarchy – ruled by king or queen

ex. United Kingdom

  • Dictatorship – individual or group holds complete political power

ex. North Korea

  • Communism – all political power and means of production are held by the govt.
  • Three geographic characteristics describing a country
  • size
  • shape
  • relative location
  • landlocked – country surrounded by other land and no direct outlet to the sea (ex. Bolivia)
  • Boundaries
  • Natural Boundaries – based on physical features of the land

ex. Rivers, lakes, mountains

  • Artificial Boundaries – fixed line generally following latitude or longitude lines. Drawn by people to divide lands.
  • Regional Political Systems
  • States, cities, provinces, counties, towns, villages, school districts

G. URBAN

  • How They Develop
  • Urban areas develop around a central city
  • Suburbs – areas border the central city or touch other suburbs that touch the city
  • Exurbs – smaller cities/towns with open land between them & central city
  • Metropolitan area – functional area linking the city, suburbs, and exurbs.
  • Urbanization – dramatic rise in the # of cities and result in changes of lifestyle.
  • Land Use Patterns
  • Residential – single family housing and apartment buildings
  • Industrial – manufacturing of goods.
  • Commercial – Private businesses; retail

- Central Business District (CBD) – core of a city based on commercial activity

  • Transportation
  • Essential to understanding how well a city is functioning.
  • Systems of mass transit to move people to and from areas of the city
  • Essential for trade

H. ECONOMIC

  • Four Basic Types

1. Traditional Economy – barter; no exchange of money

2. Command Economy – central govt. determines production of goods and services

3. Market Economy – demand from consumers determine production of goods and services

4. Mixed Economy – combination of command and market economies; all people benefit

  • Levels of Economy
  • Local
  • Regional
  • National
  • International
  • Types of Resources
  • Natural Resources– on or in the earth; has economic value ( ex. trees, oil, minerals)
  • Non-Renewable – “fossil”; once it’s gone, it’s gone (ex. water in the desert)
  • Renewable- can’t be used over and over (ex. recyclables)
  • Inexhaustible Energy Sources – used to produce power; unlimited (ex. solar, nuclear, geothermal, hydroelectric)
  • Key Components of Support for Economic Systems
  • Infrastructure – basic support systems needed to keep economy going. Includes:
  • Communication4. Water
  • Transportation – most important5. Sanitation
  • Power6. Education systems
  • Difference between Gross National Product (GNP) & Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
  • Per Capita Income– average amount of money earned by each person in a political unit
  • GNP – total value of goods and services produced by a country over a year
  • GDP – total value of goods and services produced within a country
  • Difference between a developing and developed country
  • Developing nations have a low GDP and limited development economically (ex. South Africa, Liberia)
  • Developed nations are westernized (ex. U.S., Japan)