Objective: Students will be able to understand why geography is a science.

Do Now: Answer the questions based on the image below. Share your answer with a partner.

ABACO, Bahamas (AP) — ABACO, Bahamas (AP) — Carrying possessions in plastic bags, some
weary Bahamians whose homes were smashed by Hurricane Dorian waited Thursday for a flight
out of the disaster zone as an international humanitarian effort to help the Caribbean country
gained momentum. The death toll rose to 30.
A few hundred people gathered at the partly flooded Leonard M. Thompson airport on Abaco
island in hopes of getting a seat on one of the small planes picking up the most vulnerable
survivors, including the sick and the elderly. However, the evacuation was slow and there was
frustration for some who said they had nowhere to go after the Category 5 hurricane tore
through the area, shattering whole neighborhoods.
"They told us that the babies, the pregnant people and the elderly people were supposed to be
first preference," said Lukya Thompson, a 23-year-old bartender. But many were still waiting, she
said.
1. Write three sentences related to the image and article above using but, because and so.
But:

Because:

So:

2. In what ways, can an understanding of geography help a person understand this situation
better.
3. Who might need to understand this situation better?

Content Vocabulary
Geography Human Geography Place Region
Scale Space Connection Global Scale
Local Scale Map Cartography

Mini – Lesson: Close Reading – Introducing the important of the why and where of
geography
What is geography and how is it different from the study of history?
The word geography, invented by the ancient Greek scholar Eratosthenes, is based on two Greek
words. Geo
means “Earth,” and graphy means “to write.” Geography is the study of where things are found
on Earth’s surface and
the reasons for the locations. Human geographers ask two simple questions: Where are people
and activities found on
Earth? Why are they found there?

In his framework of all scientific knowledge, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)
compared
geography and history:

History and geography differ in one especially important manner: A geographer can drive or fly
to another place to study Earth’s surface, whereas a historian cannot travel to another time to
study other eras firsthand. The ability to reach other places lends excitement to the discipline of
geography—and geographic training raises the understanding
of other spaces to a level above that of casual sightseeing.

1. Who was the first to use the term “geography?”

2. What does the term geography mean?
3. What are two differences between geography and history?

Introducing Geography
To introduce human geography, we will concentrate on two main features of human behavior:
culture and economy. The first half of the book explains why the most important cultural
features, such as major languages, religions, and ethnicities, are arranged as they are across
Earth. The second half of the book looks at the locations of the most important economic
activities, including agriculture, manufacturing, and services.

What are some basic concepts used by geographers explain where and why basic
human activities are found?
This chapter introduces basic concepts that geographers employ to address their “where” and
“why” questions. To
explain where things are, one of geography’s most important tools is a map. Ancient and
medieval geographers created
maps to describe what they knew about Earth. Today, accurate maps are generated from
electronic data. Geographers employ several basic concepts to explain why every place on Earth
is in some ways unique and in other ways related to other locations. Many of these concepts are
commonly used English words, but they are given particular meaning by geographers.

To explain why every place is unique, geographers have two basic concepts:
 A place is a specific point on Earth, distinguished by a particular characteristic. Every place
occupies a unique location, or position, on Earth’s surface.
 A region is an area of Earth defined by one or more distinctive characteristics. Geographers
divide the world into a number of regions, such as North America and Latin America.

To explain why different places are interrelated, geographers have three basic concepts:
 Scale is the relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole.
Geographers study a variety of scales, from local to global. Many processes that affect
humanity’s occupation of Earth are global in scale, such as climate change and depletion of
energy supplies. At the same time, local-scale processes—such as preservation of distinctive
cultural and economic activities—are increasingly important.
 Space refers to the physical gap or interval between two objects. Geographers observe that
many objects are distributed across space in a regular manner, for discernible reasons.
 Connection refers to relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space.
Geographers are concerned with the various means by which connections occur.

Luxembourg can be used to illustrate the five concepts:

Place The City of Luxembourg is
a place located on a
hillside
perched above the Alzette
River.

Region The City of Luxembourg is

the capital of the country
of Luxembourg, located in
the world region of
Europe

Scale Luxembourg plays a major

role at a global scale, as
one of the principal
headquarters of the
European Union, which
unites 28 countries (Figure
1-3a). At the same time,
Luxembourg, like other
places, has a distinctive
local scale; one example
is the availability of
distinctive local products
not available elsewhere.

Space The space occupied by Luxembourg has distinctive features; for example, most
people live in the south of the country, whereas the north is sparsely inhabited.
Connect Connections between
ion Luxembourg and other
places are provided by
road, rail, and river.

4. Define scale:

5. What is the advantage of a map which shows only a small portion of the earth’s surface – like
a neighborhood – that is, a large-scale map?

6. What advantage does a map which shows the entire globe, a small-scale map, have?

How cartography developed as a science?

Geography’s most important tool for thinking spatially about the distribution of features across
Earth is a map. A
map is a two-dimensional or flat-scale model of Earth’s surface, or a portion of it. Geography is
immediately distinguished from other disciplines by its reliance on maps to display and analyze
information.
A map serves two purposes:
 As a reference tool. A map helps us to find the shortest route between two places and to
avoid getting lost along the way. We consult maps to learn where in the world something is
located, especially in relationship to a place we know, such as a town, body of water, or
highway. The maps in an atlas or a smart phone app are especially useful for this purpose.
 As a communications tool. A map is often the best means for depicting the distribution of
human activities or physical features, as well as for thinking about reasons underlying a
distribution.

A map is a scale model of the real world, made small enough to work with on a desk or computer.
It can be a hasty here’s-how-to-get-to-the-party sketch, an elaborate work of art, or a precise
computer-generated product. For centuries, geographers have worked to perfect the science of
mapmaking, called cartography. Contemporary cartographers are assisted by computers and
satellite imagery.

7. Define map:

8. What is the science of mapmaking called?

9. What are the two purposes that maps serve?

Geography in the Ancient World

Maps have been created for thousands of years. The earliest maps were used as reference tools
—simple navigation devices designed to show a traveler how to get from Point A to Point B.
Following the mapmakers of the ancient eastern Mediterranean world (Pythagoras, Aristotle,
Eratosthenes and Ptolemy) and China (Yu Gong and Pei Xiu). After Ptolemy, little progress in
mapmaking or geographic thought was made in Europe for several hundred years. European
mapmaking and geographic thought became less mathematical and more fanciful, displaying
Earth as a flat disk surrounded by mythical figures and fierce animals. Geographic inquiry
continued, though, outside Europe in the Muslim world. Contributors outside of Muslim world
included Muhammad al-Idrisi and Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn-Battuta.

Geography’s Revival
Mapmaking as a reference tool was revived during the Age of Exploration and Discovery.
Explorers such as Columbus and Magellan who sailed across the oceans in search of trade routes
and resources in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries required accurate maps to reach their
desired destinations without wrecking their ships. In turn, cartographers used information
collected by the explorers to create more accurate maps. Influential European cartographers
included Martin Waldseemuller, Abraham Ortelius and Bernhardus Varenius.

Medial Summary: What are some tools and concepts that a geographer can use to describe
the where and why of Brooklyn, NY?
 Place

Region

Scale

Space

Connect
ion

Activity: Use the basic tools of a geographer that you learned about above to explain the
where and why of the Bahamas.

Place

Region

Scale

Space

Connect
ion
Summary / Evaluation: Review the answers to the questions
Homework: Answer the following questions below based on your class notes and your
knowledge of geography:
1) What elements of study do human and physical geography have in common?
a) They are taught or studied within the same department in major universities, but only rarely.
b) They are concerned with where things occur and why they occur where they do.
c) They are dedicated primarily to managing national park systems.
d) They are focused primarily on managing the world's growing human population.
e) They represent a network of academic professionals dedicated primarily to studying coal mining's effects on
physical and human systems.

2) Which of the following does NOT distinguish Geographers from Historians according to Immanuel Kant?
a) Geographers organize material spatially while historians organize material chronologically.
b) Geographers identify the location and explain why human activities are there while historians focus on
chronological events at a particular location.
c) Geographers ask "where and why" and historians ask "when and why."
d) Geographers examine the world as a whole while historians segment the world into regions for easier
examination.
e) Geographers recognize actions at one location can influence conditions elsewhere while historians examine past
actions to explain future actions.

3) The relationship among people and objects across space is defined as

a) scale.
b) connection.
c) diffusion.
d) density.
e) location.

4) A geographer's spatial analysis would entail

a) examining relationships and patterns across the physical distance between two objects.
b) confining the analysis to political boundaries.
c) restrictive examination of government control of territory.
d) examining only physical characteristics of the globe.
e) observing conditions only from a planetary and universal scale.

5) Which of the following is NOT true?

a) Scale is the relationship between a portion of the earth being studied and the whole earth.
b) Space refers to the physical gap between two objects.
c) Place is a specific point on earth distinguished by specific qualities.
d) Space and place are the same thing.
e) Scale may be represented by a city block, a neighborhood, a city boundary or an entire metropolitan area.

6) Which of the following statements is most correct regarding the origins of geography?
a) Geography was invented as a science in the late eighteenth century.
b) Physical geography has been studied since ancient times, but human geography was first studied in the twentieth
century.
c) Geography owes its existence to the Renaissance period in Western Europe.
d) Humans have practiced geography at least since the time of ancient Greek civilization.
e) Human geography was not practiced until powerful computers capable of mapping detailed information were
invented.
7) According to the surviving evidence, the first person to write the word geography was
a) Aristotle.
b) Eratosthenes.
c) Strabo.
d) Thales of Miletus.
e) Thucydides.

8) What are the principal connections from your hometown to other places?

9) Give two similarities between geography and history?

10) Look up one historical figure mentioned in today’s notes and explain their contribution to cartography in three
sentences or more. The person’s name as well as birth and death have to be also given.