Introduction+to+Geography

 **__1. What is geography? (What is where, and why?)__**  **__2. How do we define "location", and is it significant? How do the ideas of region and diffusion come into play?__**  **__3. How have humans interacted with their environment and what are the theories used to explain these interactions?__**  **__environmental determinism__**  **__possibilism__**  **__probabilism/cultural ecology__**  **__4. How do humans today view their relationship with the "natural" world?__**  **__5. How do humans presently act in the world and what are some of the geographic implications of those actions (e.g., movement and migration, globalization)?__**



**What is geography? (What is where,and why?)**

 __G E O__ - __G R A P H Y__  Geo- the Greek root meaning "earth"  Graphy- The Greek root for "to write, record, draw, describe."  Geography- literally means "written earth."  Geography looks at three major questons
 * 1) **What** is **where**?
 * 2)  **Why** is it **there**?
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> What **significance** does it have?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> These three questions all seem to deal with the same idea, but they do so in increasingly refined ways. The question "**What is** **where"** refers to the physical aspect of geography. Things as simple as rain fall, and temperature can answer this question. For example, rain forests are densely populated with different plant life beacuse of the high amounts of heat from the sun, and the vast amouts of moisture kept in from the canopy. Plants recieve their energy via photosynthesis which envolves waer and sun light. Both are plentyfull in the rainforest thus providing a perfect oasis for vast amounts of plant life to grow. Question 2, **"Why is it there"** refers to back to the last question, but leads more towards the human aspect of Geography. This question can be explained by a simple population map; look a this map of Africa for example. http://na.unep.net/globalpop/africa/images/p60.png. Egypt, the small country in the top right corner has a population of **77,505,756** people. Most of those people live along the Nile River because of its sorce of water. Without water life could not exist, which answers question 2, "Why is it there." Question 3, "What significance does it have," questions the structural basis of geography. Shipping goods is a relatively easy way to transport items, and an even better way to make money. A good example for the question, "what siginficance does it have," brings us back to ancient Rome, with the reign of Julious Caesar. Caesar captured the entire border of the Mediterranian sea in order to make profit via charging ships to dock, and pass through the ports. [|http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~ramon/RomanEmpire.jpg]. By controlling the ports, Caesar controlled the wealth, which explains what significance some landforms have and answers the question 'what significance does it have."

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **EXPAND THIS SECTION TO INCLUDE OTHER MATERIAL WE COVERED IN OUR NOTES... TOO SIMPLISTIC HERE... WHY IS "PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY" LABEL JUST BELOW THIS COMMENT... WHAT FOLLOWS IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **Physical Geography-** <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"> The branch of geography concerned with natural features and phenomena of the earth's surface, as landforms, drainage features, climates, soils, and vegetation. (Dictionary.com) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> These aspects of physical geography can be observed through maps, charts, and tables about a certain area.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Human Geography**

> -Human geography is a branch of social science that focuses upon the relationship between human societies and the built and natural environment in which they operate. Human Geographers believe that location, space and scale of phenomenon are crucial factors that must be taken into account when developing or applying academic theory. This contextual approach means that geographers often emphasize ‘real world’ examples as opposed to the theoretical abstractions that are emphasized in some other social science disciplines .(http://easweb.eas.ualberta.ca/page/56) > -Reveals how and why geographic relationships are important. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-Human Geography is responsible for causing a change to the physical geography. The two types are always related.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-Concerned with the spatial aspects of human existence - how people and their activity are distributed in space, how they use and perceive space, and how they create and sustain the places that make up the earth's surface.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **Theories of Geography:**


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Geography-** Geography is the science of place and space. Geographers ask where things are located on the surface of the Earth, why they are located where they are and how places differ from one another.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Human Geography-** how people and their activity are distributed in space, how they use and perceive space, and how they create and sustain the places that make up the earth's surface. Human geographers work in the fields of urban and regional planning, transportation, marketing, real estate, tourism, and business. -http://www.und.nodak.edu/dept/Geog/mainpage.htm
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Regional Geography**- certain regions have similar attributes to other regions. Other regions may have characteristics completely different. Research done on this topic makes it easy for people to understand the characteristics of certain similar places and help civilizations know where to develop based on the wanted resources.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**What do Geographers study?**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> "Most simply stated, geographers study what is where, why there, and why care in regard to the varied features--both physical and human--of Earth's surface. Application of the geographic (spatial) method, helps one better understand the complex and seemingly bewildering distribution of Earth's features, conditions, interrelationships, distributions, and patterns." (from http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/gritzner.html)

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Physical geographers study patterns of climates, land forms, vegetation, soils, and water. They forecast the weather, manage land and water resources, and analyze and plan for forests, rangelands, and wetlands. Many human and physical geographers have skills in cartography and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Geographers also study the linkages between human activity and natural systems. Geographers were, in fact, among the first scientists to sound the alarm that human-induced changes to the environment were beginning to threaten the balance of life itself. They are active in the study of global warming, desertification, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, groundwater pollution, and flooding." (from http://www.aag.org/careers/what_is_geog.html)

<span style="color: #1d00ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(http://easweb.eas.ualberta.ca/page/56)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Geographers study the hazards facing human societies, such as tornadoes, terrorist threats, wildfires, and floods and the way in which humans prepare for them
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Geographers study the different and contested meanings that people attach to places
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Geographers study the ways in which human societies interact with the natural environment, including their dependence upon and management of natural resources.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Geographers study an integrative approach to achieving economic, social and environmental sustainability at local, regional, national and global scales.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Geographers study the concept of ‘community’ and how communities use both conflict and cooperation to address issues such as local environmental degradation, homelessness, security, economic development, and landscape aesthetics.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Geographers study how humans design, plan, and construct the built environment and the impact of these environments upon human health and well being, environmental sustainability, and economic sustainability.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Geographers study how location of services, infrastructure, employment, commercial activities, retail activities, housing, and recreations sites impact travel patterns, transit choices, and accessibility for diverse groups of people.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Geographers are interested in: where things are located on the earth’s surface, why they are located where they are, how places differ from one another, and how people interact with the environment.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**THE DEFINITION THAT FOLLOWS SHOULD GO MUCH HIGHER... WATCH YOUR LOGICAL FLOW HERE.**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **__How do we define "location", and is it significant? How do the ideas of region and diffusion come into play?__**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> There are 5 major branches of location

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **Nominal location**- Ths is location based upon somthings name. When you ask yourself what is really in a name: History, language, religion, Mysterys? Puzzeltown, PA - Noodle, TX - ntercourse, PA - Frankenstein, MO - Hell, MI - Fossil, OR. These are allnames that seem strikingly odd, and bring up questions like why would someone name a place Puzzeltown? Maby theres a puzzel that no one could figure out? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **Site Location-** The question, "does site really matter." Yes! When you give somebody diections somewhere, do you tell them the Lattitude and Longitude? No, you tell them what they are going to see! Things like The topography, vegetation, water resources, and elevation. Site location is the physical character of a location. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **Relative/ Situation Loction**- If someone from out of town asks you how to get to a specific restauraunt for example, are you going to tell them using unkown features. No, you will direct them based on the features they know. Relative location is the importance of a place relative to others. The location of an unknow place, relative to a known place. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **Mathmatical/ Absolute Location**- Absolute location is the exact spot of somthing on the earth. Using lattitude and longitude anything can be placed exactly on the earth. Although it is possible to make globes very accurate, it is not possible to exactly plot somthing on a globe due to scale. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **Cognitive/ Perceptual Location**- How you percieve a place. A person's perception of the world is known as a **mental map**. A mental map is an individual's own internal map of their known world. Mental maps are maps that peole have pictured in therir minds of places they have been. If someone remembers a place based on a building for example, and that building is knocked down, they may not remember that place. This is Perceptual location, because you remember a place based on your own perception of that place. http://geography.about.com/cs/culturalgeography/a/mentalmaps.htm <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **Region and Diffusion**- A **region** is the basic unit of study in geography. A region is an area that displays a coherent unity in terms of the government, language, or possibly the landform or situation. Regions are human constructs that can be mapped and analyzed. There are three basic types of regions. __Formal regions__ are those defined by governmental or administrative boundaries (i. e., United States, Birmingham, Brazil). These regional boundaries are not open to dispute, therefore physical regions fall under this category (i. e., The Rockies, the Great Lakes States). __Functional regions__ are those defined by a function (i. e., TVA, United Airlines Service area or a newspaper service area). If the function ceases to exists, the region no longer exists. __Vernacular regions__ are those loosely defined by people's perception (i. e., The South, The Middle East). http://www2.una.edu/geography/statedepted/themes.html#REGION **Diffusion**
 * The process by which a concept, practice, or substance spreads from its point of origin to new territories
 * Two types
 * **Relocation diffusion**
 * Relocation diffusion is the process in which items being diffused are transmitted by their carrier agents as they evacuate the old areas & relocate to new areas.
 * The most common form of relocation diffusion involves the spreading of innovations by a migrating population.
 * **Expansion Diffusion**


 * The spreading of an innovation or idea through a fixed population in such a way that the number of those adopting grows continuously larger, resulting in an expanded area of dissemination
 * Two types
 * Contagious Expansion
 * Hierarchical Expansion

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Map making(ALSO SEE THE LINKS FROM CRANNET...GOOD STUFF THERE THAT SHOULD BE HERE!)**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Mercator Projection:** http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/contemporarymaps/world/world/world1.jpg <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **Robinson Projection:** http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/contemporarymaps/world/world/world4.jpg
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">one of the first map systems ever created was done by an ancient Greek man named Hipparchus, who made a grid system using latitude and longitude. Hipparchus measured latitude by measuring the degree that the sun made at its highest point. In total the latitude went 90 degrees north and 90 degrees south. The longitude system however, was flawed because as you got closer and closer to the north and south pole, the lines of longitude got closer and closer together.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Cartography** is a two-dimensional representation of the Earth's surface.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Maps always have some kind of **distortion**, related either to scale, shape, area, distance, or direction. No perfectly accurate two-dimensional map (in regard to distortion) has been created yet. The **Mercator Projection** has long been known for being inaccurately proportionate in terms of scale. Originally used for ship navigation, the projection makes Greenland appear about the size of Africa, when in reality it is about 1/11 of Africa's size. A common map used today, the **Robinson Projection**, has distortion in all these areas, however, the amount of distortion is clearly controlled when one looks at the map.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Examples of the map projections mentioned above:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **Map of European Languages:** http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/pizzler/Languages_of_Europe.png <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **38 States of America:** http://www.mentalfloss.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/1973_38-States.jpg <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **Map of the Internet:**[| http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Internet_map_1024.jpg]

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Spacial Maps: data that includes location, shape, and relationships between the physical and human aspects on the Earth's surface.



<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Review the material at the [|NationalAtlas.gov] site for a quick overview of [|map projections], then scurry over to [|A Multitude of Maps] for some interactive map and projection work. These 2 sites //**should**// provide you with enough working knowledge of map projection differences...

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> For some other useful map sites, visit:


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Cartographical Map Projections - http://www.progonos.com/furuti/MapProj/Normal/TOC/cartTOC.html
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">HowStuffWorks - How Maps Work: http://science.howstuffworks.com/map.htm

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**5. How do humans presently act in the world and what are some of the geographic implications of those actions (e.g., movement and migration, globalization)?** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Before summing up the four previous questions, it is valuable to realize that humans can obtain great knowledge being aware of what geography is. Especially human geography, knowing the activity of areas is helpful to making geographical judgments. Recognition of surrounding locations is using geographical inquiry. The significance of location relates to geography. Location is interdependent so as a whole its accessibility, such as complementarities, transferability, its intervening opportunity, and diffusion is dependent on humans. Regions are divisions of the Earth where different aspects of culture are universal. Divisions could be for language, ethnicity, religion, agriculture, or different lifestyles. It is the location of cultures, or traits. Explaining the geography of why or how there is a spread of culture is through diffusion. This spread could be from migration, communication, trade, and commerce. “The geography of culture is constantly changing” so to widespread a culture, they will move over space. The majority of human interaction with their environment is by relating their community with their culture. This means certain areas are centered on a cultures trait. People generally will locate to an area based on its community whether they share the same interests or culture. There are three major theories to explain how a culture is determined. Environmental determinism expresses that physical aspects (climate, topography, soil) are more prominent than social conditions. Opposing this is possibilism, which states that culture is identified by human actions (customs, manners and traditions). What synthesizes the two is cultural ecology also known as probabilism. It’s the half waypoint between the two explaining that there is a relationship between cultural and physical environments. Although it does have some effect, the physical environment does not control human actions. Today, one’s environment has the ability of influencing but ultimately humans are capable of altering their environment. The way people act determines their environment. Whether they desire to change their location because of family, economic issues, medical reasons, or on behalf of physical elements is their decision.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **Geographical Inquiry:** "When you are investigating the world and its events you are dealing with geography. As you move through space in your everyday life you are observing and interacting with geography and making geographic decisions based on those encounters". http://www.esri.com/industries/k-12/download/docs/geoginquiry.pdf. To resemble how geographers think, using the five steps of geographical inquiry will broaden initial impressions on ideas such as significance of location and spatial terms.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 1. Ask geographic questions <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 2. Acquire geographic resources <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 3. Explore geographic data <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 4. Analyze geographic information <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 5. Act upon geographic knowledge

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Example of Cultural Diffusion and Region: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> New York State generally lies within the English-speaking culture region. Nevertheless there are significant cultural communities within New York State in which Spanish, Chinese, Hebrew, Arabic, or another language is dominant (see Fig. 5). Similarly, while most of New York State is part of the Christian culture region, there also are local cultural communities in which Judaism, Islam, or Buddhism is dominant. What all these languages and religions have in common is that none originated in New York State or even in North America. Rather, each has come to characterize segments of the Empire State as a result of cultural diffusion. http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/socst/grade3/geograph.html

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> How population and places are connected to another: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> People are connected to a location for examples such as, physical and economic reasons, family issues, or movement of people and ideas. How locations are connected to another commonly is answered, because of spatial distribution or diffusion. Melinda Meade agrees, but believes that what also has great impact on movement of people and connections between locations, is medical geography. She suggested that, “health was the result of interactions between the three dimensions of population, environment, and culture”. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> http://www.csiss.org/classics/content/39

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Meade's approach on the impact of Medical Geography: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> http://www.csiss.org/classics/content/39

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**GIS:**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What is GIS?
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A geographic information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information. It is a computer-based system for storage, retrieval, manipulation, and analysis. =====
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Computer-based system refers to the hardware, software, and procedures necessary to operate the GIS
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Geographic data are data which vary over geographic space
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Storage, retrieval, manipulation, analysis, and display are the “tools” provided by GIS software for processing geographic data

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A GIS can be viewed in three ways:

> > > > > >  <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">By combining data and applying some analytic rules, you can create a model that helps answer the question you have posed. In the example below, GPS and GIS were used to accurately model the expected location and distribution of debris for the //Space Shuttle Columbia//, which broke up upon re-entry over eastern Texas on February 1, 2003. [|Learn more about this project]. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Together, these three views are critical parts of an intelligent GIS and are used at varying levels in all GIS applications.
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**The Database View:** A GIS is a unique kind of database of the world—a geographic database (geodatabase). It is an "Information System for Geography." Fundamentally, a GIS is based on a structured database that describes the world in geographic terms. [[image:http://www.gis.com/graphics/orangearrow.gif width="24" height="10" link="http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/geodatabase/index.html"]][|Learn more].
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**The Map View:** A GIS is a set of intelligent maps and other views that show features and feature relationships on the earth's surface. Maps of the underlying geographic information can be constructed and used as "windows into the database" to support queries, analysis, and editing of the information. [[image:http://www.gis.com/graphics/orangearrow.gif width="24" height="10" link="http://mappingcenter.esri.com/"]][|Learn more].
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[[image:http://www.gis.com/whatisgis/graphics/geovis1.jpg width="205" height="149"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[[image:http://www.gis.com/whatisgis/graphics/geovis2.gif width="101" height="143"]] ||
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**The Model View:** A GIS is a set of information transformation tools that derive new geographic datasets from existing datasets. These geoprocessing functions take information from existing datasets, apply analytic functions, and write results into new derived datasets. [[image:http://www.gis.com/graphics/orangearrow.gif width="24" height="10" link="http://www.esri.com/news/arcwatch/0207/tip.html"]][|Learn more].

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **Purpose of a GIS:**

<span style="color: #008100; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 19px; text-decoration: none;">[|www.thinkport.org/microsites/connections/gis.ppt]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A GIS provides tools for representing the real world as data about locations.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It is an important tool for understanding and managing the environment because it enables users to:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Map environmental (physical and human) characteristics
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Measure environmental factors
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Monitor changes in environmental factors over space and time
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Model alternatives of actions and processes operating in the environment.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**GIS and Environmental Health Links:**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">http://gis.cdc.gov/ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|__http://www.spatialhydrology.com/health/health.htm__]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Geographic Analysis Tool for Health and Environmental Research
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Health and GIS Links

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|__http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/gis.htm__]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">GIS and Public Health (National Center for Health Statistics)

** The Human Relationship to Nature: ** Nature is a social creation as much as it is the physical universe that includes human beings. It is not only an object, it is a reflection of society in that philosophies, belief systems, and ideologies shape the way people think about and use nature. “Society and nature shape each other simultaneously.” The relationship between man and nature evolves with the expansion of technology and globalization. One of the most famous scholars to examine this relationship was Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), but there are several other important figures who have categorized different theories about the cultural correlation to the earth:

Environmental determinism is a theory that states that the physical environment surrounding human beings determines characteristics of their relationships, culture, customs, rituals, beliefs, and way of life. The idea of human geography began as early as the days of the Greeks such as Herodotus and Hipparchus, but it saw exponential change of pace in the century between the 1850’s and the 1950’s. Philosophers in the 1920’s and thirties, such as Austin Miller, Friedrich Ratzel, Ellen Churchill Sempleman, and Ellsworth Huntington, fully supported the idea of environmental determinism. In one example, Miller inferred that the heat of tropic climates rendered the natives “indolent and lazy.” He may have sounded racist, but Huntington’s corollary that “maps speak for themselves” minimized the racist affect of Miller’s remarks. Years earlier, French philosopher Charles Louis Montesquieu conducted an experiment in which he froze and dethawed a sheep’s tongue. He observed that the frozen cells contracted and lacked sensation and the thawed cells expanded and were more sensitive. He inferred from this data that humans in warmer climates must be more emotional, sensitive, expressive, passionate, or even violent whereas humans living in colder climates were more reserved, rational, and civilized. This theory was readily accepted, especially by colonialists, because it gave “scientific proof” about something many had already intuitively observed. Imperialists applied this conclusion to their work and used it as a justification for commandeering civilizations in warmer cultures (such as Africa, India, and South America). Social Darwinism, another prominent theory used during colonialization, permitted imperialists to domineer “inferior” civilizations. In today’s world, these ideas are politically charged and professionals must tread lightly for fear of being called “racist.” A neutral position that some anthropologist have chosen states that yes, the atmosphere influences much of the culture and way of life of the inhabitants of each environment but it does not make any society inferior too those in other climates.
 * I. Environmental Determinism (1870-1915) **

Possibilism directly opposes Environmental Determinism in its ideology. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Cultural Determinism states that culture determines culture, regardless of the surrounding nature. This idea became increasingly popular with the advent of technology because technology allowed societies to alter their physical environment and control the atmosphere around them, thereby defying the very nature of Envirnomental Determinism (ex. Global warming). The Australian Marxist, Oskar Spate, was a proponent of the idea of Possibilism.
 * II. Possibilism/ Cultural Determinism (1902-1950’s) **

** III. Probabilism/ Cultural Ecology (mid 1950’s) ** Cultural ecology is the study of how human cultures adapt to their environments. A traditional approach to the study of cultural landscapes begs the question “How does the environment affect culture?” but Cultural Ecology asks, “In what ways does human kind adapt to its environment?” Cultural ecologists study functional behavior of groups (how they manage/consume/utilize resources, etc.) and how their lifestyles affect their non-material culture. Probablism recognizes that humans are a part of a complicated ecosystem and that the way they adapt to their surroundings determines their values, practices, and beliefs.

Sources Knox, Paul L., Marston, Sallie A. Human Geography: Places and Regions in Global Context IV Addition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2007.

Livingston, David. The Gegraphical Tradition__, Blackwell, 1992.__