Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 1.23 left and right
New Delhi, India (left) and Jodhpur, India (right).
Hindus believe cows are holy, and in India, evidence of that can be seen
everywhere from cows roaming the streets to the menu at McDonald's. In 1996, the fi rst McDonald's restaurant opened in New
Delhi, India (left), serving Maharaja Macs and Vegetable Burgers with Cheese. In Indian towns, such as Jodhpur (right), cows are
protected and share the streets with pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists.
© Douglas E. Gurran/AFP/Getty Images (left) and (c) Alexander B.
Murphy (right).
to variations in climate. Over 2000 years ago, Aristotle
described northern European people as “full of spirit...
but incapable of ruling others,” and he characterized
Asian people (by which he meant modern-day Turkey) as
“intelligent and inventive... [but] always in a state of sub-
jection and slavery.” Aristotle attributed these traits to the
respective climates of the regions-the cold north versus
the more tropical Mediterranean.
Aristotle's views on this topic were long-lasting. As
recently as the fi rst half of the twentieth century, similar
notions still had strong support. In 1940, in the
Principles
of Human Geography
, Ellsworth Huntington and C.W.
Cushing wrote:
WHAT ARE GEOGRAPHIC CONCEPTS,
AND HOW ARE THEY USED IN ANSWERING
GEOGRAPHIC QUESTIONS?
Geographic concepts
include most of the boldfaced
words in this chapter, such as place, relative location, men-
tal map, perceptual region, diffusion, and cultural land-
scape. In doing geographic research, a geographer thinks of
a geographic question, one that has a spatial or landscape
component, chooses the scale(s) of analysis, and then
applies one or more geographic concepts to conduct
research and answer the question. Geographers use fi eld-
work, remote sensing, GIS, GPS, and qualitative and quan-
titative techniques to explore linkages among people and
places and to explain differences across people, places,
scales, and times.
Research in human geography today stems from a
variety of theories and philosophies. To understand what
geographers do and how they do it, it is easiest to start by
defi ning what geography is not. Today's geography is not
environmental determinism.
The well-known contrast between the energetic people of the
most progressive parts of the temperate zone and the inert
inhabitants of the tropics and even of intermediate regions,
such as Persia, is largely due to climate. . . the people of the
cyclonic regions rank so far above those of the other parts of
the world that they are the natural leaders.
Huntington and Cushing suggest climate is the critical
factor in how humans behave. Yet what constitutes an
“ideal” climate lies in the eyes of the beholder. For
Aristotle, it was the climate of Greece. Through the
eyes of more recent commentators from western Europe
and North America, the climates most suited to prog-
ress and productiveness in culture, politics, and tech-
nology are (you guessed it) those of western Europe and
Rejection of Environmental Determinism
The ancient Greeks, fi nding that some of the peoples sub-
jugated by their expanding empire were relatively docile
while others were rebellious, attributed such differences
