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4
7.
iv
BRIEF CONTENTS
1 ThisIs Geography 2
2 Population Health 44
3 Migration 76
4 Culture Social Media 108
5 Languages 142
6 Religions 174
7 Ethnicities 216
8 Political Geography 254
9 Development 292
10 Food Agriculture 322
11 Industry 360
12 Settlements Services 388
13 Urban Patterns 416
14 Resource Challenges 450
Afterword: Careers in Geography AF-1
Appendix: Map Scale and Projections AP-1
5
8.
v
1 This IsGeography 2
KEY ISSUE
1.1 | Why Is Geography a Science? 4
Geography’s Basic Concepts 4 | Contemporary
Geographic Tools 6 | Development of the Science of
Geography 8 | Interpreting Maps 10 | Making Maps 12
KEY ISSUE
1.2 | Why Is Every Place Unique? 14
Place: A Unique Location 14 | Region: A Unique Area 16 | Regions:
Geography Culture 18
KEY ISSUE
1.3 | Why Are Different Places Similar? 20
Scale: Global to Local 20 | Space: Distribution of Features 22 |
Space Economic Patterns 24 | Space: Gender Identity 26 |
Space: Cultural Identity 28
KEY ISSUE
1.4 | Why Are Different Places
Connected? 30
Connections: Diffusion 30 | Connections: Spatial Interaction 32 |
Sustainability Earth Systems 34 | Sustainability Resources 36 |
Sustainable Ecosystems 38
SUMMARY REVIEW 40 | Key Terms 40 | Thinking
Geographically 42 | International Geographic Mapping Explorations 42
CONTENTS
Preface xiii
Digital Print Resources xviii
About the Author xx
About Our Sustainability Initiatives xxi
6
9.
vi
2 Population Health 44
KEY ISSUE
2.1 | Where Are People Distributed? 46
Population, Health, Geography 46 | High Low Population
Concentrations 48 | Population Density 50
KEY ISSUE
2.2 | Why Is Population Increasing? 52
Natural Increase in History 52 | Births Deaths 54 | The
Demographic Transition 56
KEY ISSUE
2.3 | Why Does Health Vary by Region? 58
Aging Health 58 | Health Gender 60 | Medical
Services 62 | Epidemiologic Transition 64
KEY ISSUE
2.4 | Why Might Population Change in the
Future? 66
Population Futures 66 | Family Futures 68 | Epidemiologic
Futures 70 | Population Resources 72
SUMMARY REVIEW 74 | Thinking Geographically 74 | Key
Terms 75 | International Geographic Mapping Explorations 75
3 Migration 76
KEY ISSUE
3.1 | Where Are Migrants Distributed? 78
Migration Geography 78 | International Internal
Migration 80 | Changing U.S. Immigration 82 | Government
Immigration Policies 84 | Gender Age of Migrants 86
KEY ISSUE
3.2 | Where Do People Migrate Within
Countries? 88
Interregional Migration: United States 88 | Interregional Migration
in Selective Countries 90 | Intraregional Migration 92
KEY ISSUE
3.3 | Why Do People Migrate? 94
Environmental Reasons for Migrating 94 | Economic Reasons for
Migrating 96 | Political Reasons for Migrating 98
KEY ISSUE
3.4 | Why Do Migrants Face Challenges? 100
Europe’s Immigration Challenges 100 | Quotas 102 | U.S.–Mexico
Border Issues 104
SUMMARY REVIEW 106 | Thinking Geographically 106 | Key
Terms 107 | International Geographic Mapping Explorations 107
7
10.
vii
4 Culture Social
Media 108
KEY ISSUE
4.1 | Where Are Cultural Activities
Distributed? 110
Culture, Social Media, Geography 110 | Elements of Cultural
Geography 112 | Diffusion of Electronic Communications 114
KEY ISSUE
4.2 | Why Might Culture Diffuse? 116
Origin Diffusion of Folk Popular Music 116 | Origin Diffusion
of Folk Popular Sports 118 | Distribution of Folk Popular
Clothing 120 | Folk Popular Housing 122 | Food Customs 124
KEY ISSUE
4.3 | Why Is Access to Culture Unequal? 126
Electronic Diffusion of Culture 126 | Social Media
Interconnectivity 128 | Challenges in Accessing Electronic
Media 130 | Spatial Dimensions to Cyberattacks 132
KEY ISSUE
4.4 | Why Do Cultures Face Sustainability
Challenges? 134
Maintaining Unique Folk Culture 134 | Uniform Landscapes of
Popular Cultures 136 | Tourism Overtourism 138
SUMMARY REVIEW 140 | Thinking Geographically 140 | Key
Terms 141 | International Geographic Mapping Explorations 141
5 Languages 142
KEY ISSUE
5.1 | Where Are Languages Distributed? 144
Languages Geography 144 | Language Families 146 |
Distribution of Languages 148 | Distribution of Indo-European
Languages 150 | Distribution of Other Language Families 152
KEY ISSUE
5.2 | Why Do Languages Diffuse? 154
Possible Origin of Languages 154 | Origin Diffusion of
English 156
KEY ISSUE
5.3 | Why Do Languages Vary Among
Places? 158
Dialects 158 | Sharing Languages 160 | Dialect or
Language? 162 | Multilingual Places 164
KEY ISSUE
5.4 | Why Do Languages Survive or
Perish? 166
Endangered Languages 166 | Preserving Languages 168 |
New Growing Languages 170
SUMMARY REVIEW 172 | Thinking Geographically 172 | Key
Terms 173 | International Geographic Mapping Explorations 173
8
11.
viii
6 Religions 174
KEYISSUE
6.1 | Where Are Religions Distributed? 176
Religions Geography 176 | Distribution of Christians 178 |
Distribution of Buddhists Muslims 180 | Distribution of Ethnic
Religions 182 | Distribution of Other Religions 184
KEY ISSUE
6.2 | Why Do Religions Have Distinctive
Distributions? 186
Origin of Christianity Islam in Southwest Asia 186 | Origin of
Buddhism Hinduism in South Asia 188 | Historical Diffusion
of Religions 190 | Recent Migration Patterns of Religious
Groups 192 | Recent Migration of Christians 194
KEY ISSUE
6.3 | Why Do Religions Organize Space in
Specific Patterns? 196
Places of Worship 196 | Administration of Religious Space 198 |
Religious Landscapes 200 | Pilgrimages to Religious Shrines 202 |
The Environment Religious Calendars 204
KEY ISSUE
6.4 | Why Do Territorial Conflicts Arise
Among Religious Groups? 206
Religions Social Change 206 | Challenges for Religions in
Southwest Asia 208 | Geographic Perspectives in Southwest
Asia 210 | Jerusalem’s Challenging Geography 212
SUMMARY REVIEW 214 | Thinking Geographically 214 | Key
Terms 215 | International Geographic Mapping Explorations 215
7 Ethnicities 216
KEY ISSUE
7.1 | Where Are Ethnicities Distributed? 218
Ethnicities Geography 218 | Classifying U.S. Race
Ethnicity 220 | Distribution of U.S. Ethnicities 222 | Ethnically
Complex Brazil 224
KEY ISSUE
7.2 | Why Do Ethnicities Have Distinctive
Distributions? 226
Forced Migration from Africa 226 | Internal Migration of Black
Americans 228 | Ethnic Racial Segregation 230 | Black Lives
Matter 232
KEY ISSUE
7.3 | Why Do Ethnicities Nationalities
Differ? 234
Ethnicities Nationalities 234 | Ethnic Diversity in Western
Asia 236 | Ethnic Diversity in West-Central Asia 238 | Dividing
Ethnicities Among Multiple Nationalities 240
KEY ISSUE
7.4 | Why Do Ethnic Cleansing Genocide
Occur? 242
Ethnic Cleansing in Asia 242 | Ethnic Cleansing Genocide
in Africa 244 | Conflict in Northeastern Africa 246 | Ethnic
Cleansing Genocide in Europe 248 | Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia
Herzegovina 250
SUMMARY REVIEW 252 | Thinking Geographically 252 | Key
Terms 253 | International Geographic Mapping Explorations 253
9
12.
ix
8 Political Geography254
KEY ISSUE
8.1 | Where Are States Distributed? 256
Politics Geography 256 | A World of States 258
KEY ISSUE
8.2 | Why Are States Challenging to
Create? 260
Evolution of States 260 | Nation-States 262 | Nation-States in the
Former Soviet Union 264 | Colonies 266
KEY ISSUE
8.3 | Why Do States Have Distinctive
Geographic Structure? 268
Boundaries Between States 268 | Physical Boundaries 270 |
Geometric Boundaries 272 | Shapes of States 274 | Electoral
Geography 276
KEY ISSUE
8.4 | Why Do States Face Threats? 278
Terrorist Attacks Against the United States 278 | Terrorist
Organizations 280 | Weapons of Mass Destruction 282 |
Challenges in Defining States 284 | Challenges to Democracy 286 |
Europe’s Fragile Cooperation 288
SUMMARY REVIEW 290 | Thinking Geographically 290 | Key
Terms 291 | International Geographic Mapping Explorations 291
9 Development 292
KEY ISSUE
9.1 | Why Does Development Vary Among
Countries? 294
Development Geography 294 | A Decent Standard of Living 296 |
Access to Health Knowledge 298
KEY ISSUE
9.2 | Where Are Inequalities in Development
Distributed? 300
Unequal Uneven Development 300 | Gender Inequality 302 |
GII Components 304 | Gender Development Bias 306
KEY ISSUE
9.3 | Why Do Countries Face Development
Challenges? 308
Two Paths to Development 308 | World Trade 310 | Financing
Development 312 | Challenges in Adopting International Trade 314
KEY ISSUE
9.4 | Why Are Countries Able to Make
Progress in Development? 316
Sustainable Development 316 | Fair Trade 318
SUMMARY REVIEW 320 | Thinking Geographically 320 | Key
Terms 321 | International Geographic Mapping Explorations 321
10
13.
x
10 Food Agriculture 322
KEY ISSUE
10.1 | Why Do People Consume Distinctive
Foods? 324
Food, Agriculture, Geography 324 | What We Eat 326
KEY ISSUE
10.2 | Where Did Agriculture Originate? 328
The First Agricultural Revolution 328 | The Second Third
Agricultural Revolutions 330 | Subsistence Commercial
Agriculture 332
KEY ISSUE
10.3 | Where Is Agriculture Distributed? 334
Agriculture Regions 334 | Crop-Based Agriculture in Developed
Countries 336 | Animal-Based Agriculture in Developed
Countries 338 | Commercial Agriculture: Mixed Crop
Livestock 340 | Subsistence Agriculture in Population
Concentrations 342 | Shifting Cultivation 344 | Pastoral
Nomadism Plantations 346 | Fishing 348
KEY ISSUE
10.4 | Why Do Farmers Face Sustainability
Challenges? 350
Global Food Trade 350 | Losing Agricultural Land 352 | Applying
Biotechnology to Agriculture 354 | Sustainable Farming 356
SUMMARY REVIEW 358 | Thinking Geographically 358 | Key
Terms 359 | International Geographic Mapping Explorations 359
11 Industry 360
KEY ISSUE
11.1 | Where Are Industries Distributed? 362
Industry Geography 362 | Industrial Regions 364 | Truck, Train,
Boat, or Plane? 366
KEY ISSUE
11.2 | Why Are Site Factors Important for
Industries? 368
Three Site Factors 368 | Site Factors: Clothing, a Labor-Intensive
Industry 370 | Clothing Production Trade 372
KEY ISSUE
11.3 | Why Are Situation Factors Important
for Industries? 374
Situation Factors: Inputs 374 | Situation Factors: Proximity to
Markets 376 | Proximity to Markets: The Auto Industry 378
KEY ISSUE
11.4 | Why Has the Distribution of Industries
Changed? 380
Emerging Industrial Regions 380 | Changing Situation
Factors: Steel 382 | Changing Distribution of North America’s
Industries 384
SUMMARY REVIEW 386 | Thinking Geographically 386 | Key
Terms 387 | International Geographic Mapping Explorations 387
11
14.
xi
12 Settlements
Services388
KEY ISSUE
12.1 | Where Are Settlements Services
Distributed? 390
Settlements, Services, Geography 390 | Increase in Size of
Settlements 392 | Services in Settlements 394
KEY ISSUE
12.2 | Why Do Services Cluster in
Settlements? 396
Services in Rural Settlements 396 | Services in Early Urban
Settlements 398
KEY ISSUE
12.3 | Where Are Business Services
Distributed? 400
Hierarchy of Business Services 400 | Business Services
in Developing Countries 402 | Economic Specialization of
Settlements 404
KEY ISSUE
12.4 | Where Are Consumer Services
Distributed? 406
Central Place Theory 406 | Market Area Analysis 408 | Hierarchy
of Consumer Services 410 | E-commerce Sharing Services 412
SUMMARY REVIEW 414 | Thinking Geographically 414 | Key
Terms 415 | International Geographic Mapping Explorations 415
13 Urban Patterns 416
KEY ISSUE
13.1 | Why Are Urban Settlements
Challenging to Define? 418
Defining Urban Settlements 418 | Origin Growth of
Suburbs 420 | The Central Business District 422 | Competing for
Space in CBDs 424
KEY ISSUE
13.2 | Where Are People Distributed Within
the Cities of Developed Countries? 426
Models of Urban Structure 426 | Applying the Urban Models in
North America 428 | Applying the Urban Models in Europe 430
KEY ISSUE
13.3 | Where Are People Distributed Within
the Cities of Developing Countries? 432
Premodern Cities in Developing Countries 432 | Applying the Urban
Models in Developing Countries 434 | Applying the Urban Models to
Mexico City 436
KEY ISSUE
13.4 | Why Might Urban Settlements Be
More Sustainable? 438
Urban Transportation 438 | Legacy of Public Transport 440 |
Challenges Hopes for Cities 442 | Challenges for Suburbs 444 |
Suburban Sprawl Smart Growth 446
SUMMARY REVIEW 448 | Thinking Geographically 448 | Key
Terms 449 | International Geographic Mapping Explorations 449
12
15.
xii
14 Resource Challenges450
KEY ISSUE
14.1 | Where Are Energy Resources
Distributed? 452
Energy Supply Demand 452 | Supply of Fossil
Fuels 454 | Petroleum Challenges 456 | Fossil Fuel Futures 458
KEY ISSUE
14.2 | Why Might We Rely More on
Alternative Energy Sources? 460
Nuclear Energy 460 | Energy Alternatives 462 | Solar
Energy 464
KEY ISSUE
14.3 | Why Are Resources Being
Polluted? 466
Air Pollution 466 | Water Pollution 468 | Solid Waste
Pollution 470
KEY ISSUE
14.4 | Why Are Resources Being
Protected? 472
Pollution Reduction Strategies 472 | Recycling
Remanufacturing 474 | A More Sustainable Future 476 | Key
Issues in Human Geography: Culture 478 | Key Issues in Human
Geography: Economy 480 | Conclusion: Revisiting Geography’s Key
Concepts 482
SUMMARY REVIEW 484 | Thinking Geographically 484 | Key
Terms 485 | International Geographic Mapping Explorations 485
AFTERWORD: CAREERS IN GEOGRAPHY AF-1
APPENDIX: MAP SCALE AND PROJECTIONS AP-1
GLOSSARY G-1
TEXT, PHOTO, AND ILLUSTRATION CREDITS CR-1
MAP INDEX M-1
SUBJECT INDEX S-1
13
16.
xiii
xiii
PREFACE
functionality, withhundreds of map layers leveraging
recent data from sources such as the PRB, the World
Bank, NOAA, NASA, USGS, United Nations, the CIA,
and more.
■ NEW International Geographic Mapping Explora-
tions features have students investigate in more detail
a concept or place discussed in the chapter and answer
questions based on their observations.
■ UPDATED Word clouds, on the first page of each
chapter visually depict the most important concepts
and terms to be addressed in the chapter.
■ UPDATED Location maps present a spatial overview
of each chapter, identifying select places explored in
each chapter’s applications and case studies.
New Enhanced Organization
A long-time strength of this book has been its clear, easy-
to-use organization and outline. Electronic versions of the
books now coexist with traditional paper format, format-
ted to facilitate reading on tablets and computers with-
out compromising the pedagogic strengths of traditional
paper formats. Valuable organizational features established
in previous editions have been retained and considerably
strengthened for this electronic age through the addition of
several new features.
Chapter opening. Each chapter opens with an introductory
paragraph, as well as an outline of four key issues along
with one or two sentences previewing the key issue. The
opener also has a word cloud and location map.
Key issues. Each chapter is organized according to an out-
line based on the four key issues.
Key issue introduction. The page in which a key issue
begins is numbered in accordance with the chapter and
key issue number (such as Key Issue 3.1) Immediately fol-
lowing the title of the Key Issue is a paragraph that intro-
duces the key issue.
Key issue topics. Each Key Issue is divided into several prin-
cipal topics. Each topic is always introduced by a promi
nent title. In the print version, the topic title always
appears at the top of each even-numbered page.
Self-contained spreads. Each topic is divided into several
subtopics. In the print version, a new subtopic begins at
the top of each odd-numbered page.
Placement of figures. Maps and photos appear next to
where they are discussed in the text. No more going
Geography is the study of where things are located on
Earth’s surface and the relationships between people and
those locations. According to the American Association of
Geographers, geography is the study of the complex, unfold-
ing relationships between people and the land they live on.
In other words, where are people and activities located
across Earth’s surface? Why are they located in particular
places? The Cultural Landscape seeks to answer these ques-
tions as they relate to our contemporary world. The book
provides an accessible, in-depth, and up-to-date introduc-
tion to human geography for majors and non-majors alike.
New Enhanced Features
This edition brings substantial changes in both organiza-
tion and content, as well as updated information and data.
Especially important is the consideration of digital as well
as paper versions of the book. This book has been designed
to be legible—and attractive—in either paper or electronic
format. Several features integrated into the text enhance
student understanding and analytic skills.
■ NEW Visual material Geography is a visual science.
The current edition includes more than 1,000 figures,
7 percent more than the 13th edition, which in turn
had 19 percent more than the 12th edition.
■ UPDATED Summary Review appears on the
printed page or digital spread immediately following
the final text material. This feature outlines as bulleted
items the key points made in each of the chapter’s four
Key Issues.
■ UPDATED Thinking Geographically questions consist
of several visual and thought-provoking “essay-style”
questions at the end of each chapter, suggesting direc-
tions for further reflection, based on concepts and
themes developed in the chapter. The feature includes
an image designed to illuminate the thought or suggest
directions for reflection.
■ UPDATED Geospatial Analysis activities leverage
GIS-inspired MapMaster in Mastering Geography,
allowing students to analyze spatial patterns and data
at regional and global scales through overlaying mul-
tiple maps. The fully-mobile interactive maps have
enhanced analysis tools, such as split screen, bivari-
ate mapping, data probing, map styling, and data
filtering. Students can geolocate themselves in the
data and upload their own data for advanced map-
making. MapMaster includes zoom and annotation
14
17.
xiv The CulturalLandscape
Chapter 2 (Population Health) reflects the important
demographic trends of the twenty-first century. World
population is growing at the slowest rate since the seven-
teenth century. China—the world’s most populous coun-
try since ancient times—is now experiencing population
decline. India is surpassing China as the world’s most pop-
ulous country, but population growth has slowed dramat-
ically there as well. Meanwhile, health issues—including
COVID-19, mpox, and HIV/AIDS—have become far more
prominent in the geography of population.
Chapter3(Migration)includescontemporaryexaminations
of the U.S.-Mexico border and the surge of migrants into
Europe from Africa and Asia. The principal reasons for
long-distance migration—environmental, political, and
economic—are illustrated with new examples, including
rising seas in Alaska and the massive forced migration of
millions of Ukrainians after the Russian invasion.
How Are Different Cultural Groups Distributed?
Geographers look for similarities and differences in the cul-
tural features at different places, the reasons for their distri-
bution, and the importance of these differences for world
peace. Chapters 4 through 8 analyze the distribution of dif-
ferent cultural traits and beliefs and the political challenges
that result from those spatial patterns.
Chapter 4 (Culture Social Media) includes an entirely
new section on tourism and overtourism, as well as vari-
ous approaches to responsible and eco-friendly tourism.
The chapter increasingly emphasizes the central role that
social media plays in contemporary culture, and the use-
fulness of geographic concepts in understanding features
of social media. Regional differences are described in the
use of the most popular social media, including YouTube,
Instagram, Whatsapp, and other social media platforms.
Also described is the distribution of attacks on the use of
social media by governments and criminals.
Chapter 5 (Languages) uses Ethnologue’s latest classifica-
tion of languages into just three main groupings: institu-
tional, stable, and endangered. As per Ethnologue, stable
languages are divided into developing and vigorous, and
endangered languages are divided into threatened and
dying. Examples of each are provided.
Chapter 6 (Religions) has been substantially reorganized
and rewritten, incorporating extensive detailed input
from some of the nation’s leading authorities on the
geography of religions, as well as individual religions.
In accordance with authorities, the world’s religions are
classified as the three largest universalizing religions, the
three largest ethnic religions, nine other religions with
at least 3 million adherents, and nonreligious people.
Further, in accordance with authorities, the largest ethnic
religions are now identified as Hinduism, Chinese folk
religions, and ethno-religions.
through a chapter to find a figure that has been referenced
in one location but actually appears somewhere else.
Learning outcome. Immediately below the title of each Key
Issue topic is a Learning Outcome that summarizes the
principal purpose of that topic.
Pause Reflect. Each topic includes a Pause and Reflect
feature that is presented as a question. Each question is
designed to stimulate further reflection or discussion on
the material being presented in the spread.
End of chapter. Each chapter ends with a variety of features
that review content and offer opportunities for the reader
to undertake additional exploration. End of chapter
material includes Summary Review, Thinking Geo-
graphically, Key Terms, and International Geographic
Mapping Explorations.
New Enhanced Content
Human geography is a dynamic subject. Topics that were
central to the discipline a generation ago have faded in
importance, while new ones take their place. Each chapter
naturally provides updates of the most recently available
data. Below are examples of entirely new material included
in each chapter.
What Basic Concepts Do Geographers Use?
The first portion of the book welcomes students to the study
of human geography and introduces basic concepts that
geographers use. Geographers employ several concepts to
describe the distribution of people and activities across
Earth, to explain reasons underlying the observed distribu-
tion,andtounderstandthesignificanceofthearrangements.
Chapter 1 (This is Geography) provides an introduction
to ways that geographers think about the world. Geog-
raphy’s five most basic concepts (place, region, scale,
space, connection) are introduced through examples
from Wuhan, China, where COVID-19 was first identified.
New material introduces contemporary issues of concern
to geographers, including patterns in space informed by
gender identity and Black Lives Matter.
An expanded discussion of mapping, GIScience, and geo
coding now explains differences among choropleth, isoline,
graduated symbol, dot distribution, and cartogram maps,
using U.S. COVID-19 case patterns as examples. A discussion
of sustainability includes new information on Louisiana’s
Cancer Corridor and climate change risks.
Where Are People Located in the World?
Why do some places on Earth contain large numbers of peo-
ple or attract newcomers whereas other places are sparsely
inhabited? Chapters 2 and 3 examine the distribution and
growth of the world’s population, as well as the movement
of people from one place to another.
15
18.
Preface xv
(3) therecent green revolution. The third key issue, which
addresses the distribution of different agricultural prac-
tices, now begins with the principal agriculture regions
in developed countries, as these may be more familiar for
most students than the regions in developing countries.
Chapter11(Industry)nowfocusesonmanufacturing;mate-
rial related to energy and pollution has been moved to a
new Chapter 14. The first key issue focuses on the develop-
ment and distribution of industry. The three site factors
are discussed in the second key issue, and the two main
situation factors are discussed in the third key issue. The
changing distribution of industry worldwide and within
industrial regions is discussed in the fourth key issue. To
help students relate to industrial location, the chapter
presents the journey of production of a T-shirt to illus-
trate site factors, how a car is made to illustrate situation
factors, and the journey of iPhone production to illustrate
the changing distribution of world industrial production.
Chapter 12 (Settlements Services) is substantially reor-
ganized. The first key issue now describes the distribution
and growth of settlements, a reflection of now placing
Settlements first in the chapter title. The second key issue
examines rural settlements and early urban settlements
as a way to introduce the concept of services. The third
key issues focuses on business services, which are dispro-
portionately clustered in large settlements. Finally, the
most challenging component of services—namely cen-
tral place theory underlying the distribution of consumer
services—is placed at the end of the chapter rather than
at the beginning, as in past editions.
Chapter 13 (Urban Patterns) begins with recent changes in
defining urban areas in the United States. The growth of
suburbs is brought forward to the first key issue. The dis-
cussion of the distinctive features of the central business
district now uses Louisville, Kentucky, as a case study. The
next two key issues apply the models of internal structure
to cities in developed countries and then to cities in devel-
oping countries. The fourth key issue focuses on urban
transportation.
How Are Earth’s Resources Distributed?
Geography is both a social science and a natural science.
Although focusing on human geography, the book con-
cludes with a new Chapter 14 concerned with an under-
standing of the impact on human activities of resources in
the environment.
Chapter 14 (Resource Challenges) is divided between
energy resources in the first two key issues and pollution
of resources in the third and fourth key issues. The first
key issue examines the distribution of fossil fuels supply
and demand. The second key issue of this new chapter
reviews alternative energy sources that are beginning to
replace fossil fuels. The third key issue of this new chapter
Chapter 7 (Ethnicities) reflects the current preference for
use of the term Black person instead of African American in
the United States. As a result, clarifying the difference
between the terms ethnicity and race becomes even
more essential in understanding geographic distribu-
tions.
Presidents Biden, Trump, and Obama illustrate the
diversity of ethnic identity in the United States. The Black
Lives Matter movement is presented with several exam-
ples from professional sports.
Chapter 8 (Political Geography) has been reorganized
to discuss geographic structure such as boundaries and
shapes of states, prior to threats such as nuclear weap-
ons and terrorism. Unitary and federal states are now
discussed in the first key issue, whereas challenges in
defining states are now discussed in the fourth key issue.
The third key issue includes examples of gerrymandering
following the 2020 census. The principal terrorist groups
discussed in the fourth key issue have changed, as some
groups have expanded attacks whereas others have fewer.
The fourth key issue also includes threats to democracy
through increased attacks on the freedom of the press.
How Do People Earn a Living in Different Parts of the
World?
Chapters 9 through 13 turn to economic elements of human
geography. Over the years, the economic geography com-
ponent of human geography has proved the most challeng-
ing for students. The order of chapters 9 and 10 has been
reversed. The internal organization of chapters 10, 11, and 12
has changed sharply, and new material has been introduced
to help students relate more closely to economic geography
concepts.
Chapter 9 (Development) now introduces the four chap-
ters covering economic geography material, instead
of positioned after agriculture in the previous edition.
The United Nations has introduced three new indexes to
measure progress in development: Gender Social Norms
Index, Multidimensional Poverty Index, and Planetary
Pressures-adjusted Human Development Index. These
join the existing Human Development Index,
Gender
Development Index, Gender Inequality Index, and
Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index. With so
many indexes to discuss, this chapter emphasizes the sig-
nificance of the indexes, rather than simply present the
statistics.
Pakistan is used as an example to relate these
many indexes to actual conditions.
Chapter 10 (Food Agriculture) now follows the chapter
on development. The chapter’s outline has been altered
to start with global patterns of food consumption, a
topic that students will hopefully find more familiar
than starting with patterns of food production. The sec-
ond key issue is now organized around the three agricul-
tural revolutions: (1) origin of agriculture, (2) productivity
gains during stage 2 of the demographic transition, and
16
19.
xvi The CulturalLandscape
New Enhanced Relevance
Many speculated that geography would be irrelevant in the
twenty-first century. Geography’s future was thought to be
grim because the diffusion of electronic communications
and social media would make it easier for human activities
to be conducted remotely. If any piece of information could
be accessed from any place in the world (at least where elec-
tronic devices work), why live, shop, work, or establish a
business in a crowded city or a harsh climate?
In reality, geography has become more, not less, impor-
tant in people’s lives and the conduct of business. Here are
several ways that location matters more now than in the past,
because of—not despite—the diffusion of electronic devices:
Geographical smartphone apps. Smartphones and
other electronic devices match specific demand to supply
in a particular locality. For example: Restaurant apps match
hungry people to empty seats in a locality’s restaurants. Real
estate apps help people find housing for sale or for rent in a
locality. Social apps let people know where their friends in
a particular locality are hanging out that night. Transporta-
tion apps match vehicles with available seats to people try-
ing to get to specific locations. These sorts of apps generate
data on people’s preferences in space, which in turn helps
even more location-based business get started and grow.
Instead of looking for restaurants in printed “Yellow Pages,”
we find places to eat that are mapped on our device and in
our locations. No wonder that geography apps, in the form
of maps (including navigation) and travel (including trans-
portation), rank among the five most frequently used ser-
vices on smartphones.
Navigation. Electronic devices are essential to the
smooth movement of people and goods. For example: Turn-
by-turn information can prevent you from getting lost or
steer you back if you do get lost. Traffic jams on overcrowded
roads can be avoided or minimized. Vehicles in the future
will be driverless, so you can spend driving time working,
learning, or social networking. Instead of turning on a radio
to hear traffic information, we look at the red and green traf-
fic flow patterns on an electronic map.
Ideas. The people who make all of these new location-
based apps are themselves highly clustered in a handful
of places in the world, such as the San Francisco Bay Area.
Ideas—both brilliant and farfetched—are still easier to com-
municate face-to-face than across long distances. Living and
working in places like Silicon Valley, despite high expenses
and choking traffic jams, put people next to other like-
minded innovators in the electronic-based geography of the
twenty-first century.
Cultural diversity. Electronic devices also impact
the changing geography of cultural diversity. What if you
searched for an available restaurant table in a foreign lan-
guage? Would you find the same places? What if you con-
ducted an internet search in a foreign country? Would you
find the same information?
is organized around the three main types of pollution:
air, water, and solid waste. The final key issue of the book
discusses pollution reduction strategies that can lead
to a more sustainable future. The book concludes with
a review of the five key geographic concepts introduced
at the beginning of the book, and applies the concepts
to two small very different countries—Luxembourg and
Timor-Leste.
New Enhanced Graphics
The main purpose of this book is to introduce you to the
study of geography as a social science by emphasizing the
relevance of geographic concepts to human problems. It is
intended for use in college-level introductory human or cul-
tural geography courses. The book is written for students
who have not previously taken a college-level geography
course.
Human geography is distinguished from other social
sciences by its reliance on communicating through visual
material. As a visual science, geography’s most fundamen-
tal tool is the map. This book has been prepared with the
visual material front and center.
We live in an electronic age. This book has been
designed to be equally usable—and attractive—in both
paper or digital formats. Most books are still composed in
pages designed for paper—as in the past—and converted
to electronic format after printing of the paper version. As
a result, the conversion to electronic format is frequently
awkward. For example, maps and photos are often placed in
the paper version in positions that don’t work well in elec-
tronic format.
Not only is this a good-looking human geography text-
book, it is also the best-designed book for electronic read-
ing. Furthermore, within the book, some of the learning will
take place through accessing information online.
We live in a visual age. This book has been composed
in the reverse order of traditional textbooks. A traditional
book has the text written first and the graphic material
is added later almost as an afterthought. Instead of begin-
ning with an author’s complete manuscript, this book
starts with an outline and a visual concept for each page
of the printed version. What would be the most important
geographic idea presented on the page, and what would
be the most effective visual way to portray that idea? The
maps, graphs, and photos are placed on the page first, and
the text is written around the graphics. From the outset,
the text is written to complement the graphics. As a result,
the digital version of this book is much easier to use than
books that are converted after the fact from print to digital.
Consistent with the importance of visuals, this edition has
7 percent more figures than the previous edition, which
in turn had 19 percent more figures than the edition prior
to that.
17
20.
Preface xvii
Titas Basu,Content Producer and Team Leader at Pearson
Education, serves as ringmaster. She has the job of juggling
all of the editorial and production responsibilities so that
everything is in the right place at the right time among mul-
tiple stakeholders.
Mary Tindle, Content Producer Project Manager at
Straive, oversees the production of the print and digital
versions of the book. Straive is especially adept at balanc-
ing the distinctive needs of a traditional print-based prod-
uct with the contemporary alternative of a digital product.
Mary smoothly manages the flow of copyediting and other
production tasks for this project.
Special thanks go to several other folks. Adam Gleim
teaches several sections of AP Human Geography at Lakota
West High School near Cincinnati. He was a font of great
ideas for making material more accessible for students,
especially the economic geography portion of the course.
Erika Nelson was a research assistant at the start of the proj-
ect, until she had to withdraw to handle a family tragedy.
Stuart Jackman, longtime Design Director at DK Education,
created the principal visual elements for the 12th edition of
the book, many of which have been retained here.
Reviewers
I would also like to extend a special thanks to all of my
colleagues who have, over the years, offered a good deal of
feedback and constructive criticism. Colleagues who served
as reviewers are: Reuben Allen (Ball State University), Sarah
Bednarz (Texas AM
University), Sharon Cobb (University
of North
Florida),
Martha Geores (University of Maryland,
College Park),
Christopher Hall (Davis School District,
Davis, Utah), Institute for Curriculum Services, Richard
Katz (Roosevelt High School, Seattle, Washington), David
Keeling (Western Kentucky University), Ann Linsley
(Bellaire High School, Bellaire, Texas), Shawn Mitchell
(University of South Alabama), Lili Monk (Walter Johnson
High School, Potomac, Maryland), Carrie Mott (Rutgers
University), Gordon Newby (Emory University), Bimal Paul
(Kansas State University), William Pitts (Baylor University),
Timothy Scharks (Green River College), Heather Sharkey
(University of Pennsylvania), Thomas Shaw (Central High
School, Louisville, Kentucky), Spencer Swindler (Mallard
Creek High School, Charlotte, North Carolina), Sigismond
Wilson (Rogers State University), and Tom Wurst (Magnolia
West High School, Magnolia, Texas).
The Publishing Team
The steps involved in creating most traditional textbooks
haven’t changed much. The book passes from one to
another like a baton in a relay race. The author writes a
manuscript, which then passes in turn through develop-
ment, editing, and production specialists on the way to the
printing press. The preface typically includes a perfunctory
litany of acknowledgments for the many fine people who
contribute to the development, editing, and production of
the book.
In contrast, this book starts as a genuine partnership
among the key development, editorial, and production
teams. The traditional separation of development, editorial,
and production has been deliberately blurred.
Aileen Pogran, Content and Product Manager at
Pearson
Education, is the captain of this team. The relationship
between author and editor is very special and is essential
for successful publishing. In the short time that Aileen and
I have worked together, we have quickly established that
special relationship. A close relationship between author
and editor has been especially important in recent years, as
the COVID-19 pandemic forced more interaction into video
conferencing.
After substantial reorganization at Pearson, Aileen
assumed responsibility for product management for the
most recent edition of Contemporary Human Geography.
This year she was both product manager and content man-
ager for this edition of The Cultural Landscape. Aileen has
taken over responsibility for life sciences at Pearson but has
retained leadership for The Cultural Landscape.
Susan Teahan, Developmental Editor, plays a more
central role than the title suggests. A development editor
typically provides assistance primarily at the early stage of
writing the manuscript. In contrast, Susan has been an inte-
gral part of the team all the way through to final page proofs.
How can each and every page of the printed book and the
digital version look their best? How can the text and the
figures work best together? These are examples of Susan’s
leadership that goes above and beyond what a typical devel-
opment editor does.
Kevin Lear, Senior Project Manager at International Map-
ping, and his team produce the outstanding maps for this
book. Back in the 1980s, Kevin was the first cartographer
to figure out how to produce computer-generated full-color
maps that are more accurate and more attractive than hand-
drawn ones. Now in the 2020s, Kevin has taken on even more
responsibilities for assuring that the art work is accurate,
attractive, and up-to-date.
18
21.
xviii
DIGITAL PRINTRESOURCES
Test Bank (Download Only from Mastering
Geography) (9780137917921)
This Test Bank includes over 1,000 multiple choice and short
answer/essay questions. Questions are correlated to learn-
ing outcomes from the book, as well as to the updated U.S.
National Geography Standards and Bloom’s Taxonomy, help-
ing instructors better map the assessments against both
broad and specific teaching and learning objectives. The Test
Bank is available in the Mastering Geography item library, as
well as in TestGen, a computerized test generator that lets
instructors view and edit Test Bank questions, transfer ques-
tions to tests, and print the test in a variety of customized
formats. The Test Bank is also available in Microsoft Word
as well as a version that is importable into Blackboard.
www.pearson.com/mastering/geography
Instructor Resource Materials (Download Only
from Mastering Geography) (9780137917709)
The Instructor Resource Materials include high-quality elec-
tronic versions of photos, maps, illustrations, and tables
from the book in JPEG and PowerPoint formats, as well as
customizable PowerPoint lecture presentations, Classroom
Response System questions in PowerPoint, and the Instructor
Resource Manual and Test Bank in Word and TestGen formats.
For easy reference and identification, all resources are orga-
nized by chapter.
www.pearson.com/mastering/geography
For Students Teachers
This edition provides a complete human geography program
for students and teachers.
Mastering Geography with Pearson
eText for The Cultural Landscape
The Mastering platform is the most widely used and effec-
tive online homework, coaching, and assessment system for
the sciences. It delivers self-paced coaching activities that
provide individualized coaching, focus on course objectives,
and are responsive to each student’s progress. The Mastering
system helps teachers maximize class time with customiz-
able, easy-to-assign, and automatically graded assessments
that motivate students to learn outside of class and arrive
prepared for lecture. Mastering Geography offers:
• Assignable activities that include GIS-inspired
MapMaster™ interactive maps, videos, end-of-
chapter questions, reading quizzes, Test Bank
questions, map labeling activities, and more.
• Student study area with GIS-inspired MapMaster
interactive maps, videos, geoscience animations, web
links, glossary flash cards, reference maps, an optional
Pearson eText, and more.
www.pearson.com/mastering/geography
For Teachers
Instructor Resource Manual (Download Only from
Mastering Geography) (9780137917662)
Updated for the 14th edition, the Instructor Resource Man-
ual is intended as a resource for both new and experienced
instructors. It includes lecture outlines, teaching tips, addi-
tional references, advice about how to integrate Mastering
Geography media and assessment, and various other ideas for
the classroom. www.pearson.com/mastering/geography
19
22.
Digital PrintResources xix
For Students
Practicing Geography: Careers for Enhancing
Society and the Environment
(9780321811158)
This book examines career opportunities for geographers
and geospatial professionals in business, government,
nonprofit, and educational sectors. A diverse group of aca-
demic and industry professionals share insights on career
planning, networking, transitioning between employment
sectors, and balancing work and home life. The book illus-
trates the value of geographic expertise and technologies
through profiles and case studies of geographers at work.
Dire Predictions: Understanding Climate Change,
2nd edition, by Michael Mann and Lee R. Kump
(9780133909777)
Periodic reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) evaluate the risk of climate change
brought on by humans. But the sheer volume of scientific
data remains inscrutable to the general public, particu-
larly to those who may still question the validity of climate
change. In just over 200 pages, this practical text presents
and expands upon the essential findings of the IPCC’s 5th
Assessment Report in a visually stunning and undeniably
powerful way to the lay reader. Scientific findings that pro-
vide validity to the implications of climate change are pre-
sented in clear-cut graphic elements, striking images, and
understandable analogies. The Second Edition covers the
latest climate change data and scientific consensus from the
IPCC Fifth Assessment Report and integrates links to online
media. The text is also available in various eText formats,
including an eText upgrade option from Mastering Geogra-
phy courses.
20
23.
xx
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr.James M. Rubenstein received his B.A. from the
University of Chicago in 1970, M.Sc. from the London
School of Economics and Political Science in 1971,
and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1975. He
was a Professor of Geography at Miami University for
37years,wherehetaughturbanandhumangeography.
Dr. Rubenstein is now a full-time writer. In addition to
this book, Dr. Rubenstein is the author of Contemporary
Human Geography (5th edition) as well as co-author of
Introduction to Contemporary Geography, both published
by Pearson Education. He also conducts research in
the automotive industry and has published four books
on the subject—on the subject—The Changing U.S. Auto
Industry: A Geographical Analysis (Routledge); Making
and Selling Cars: Innovation and Change in the U.S. Auto
Industry (The Johns Hopkins University Press); A Profile
of the Automobile and Motor Vehicle Industry: Innovation,
Transformation, Globalization (Business Expert Press); and
Who Really Made Your Car? Restructuring and Geographic
Change in the Auto Industry (W.E. Upjohn Institute,
with Thomas Klier). He also writes a weekly column
about local food for The Oxford Press. Winston, a lab-
husky mix with one brown eye and one blue eye, took
Dr. Rubenstein for long walks in the woods most days
for 15 years. Sadly, Winston passed away at age 15 a few
months before the completion of this book.
D E D I C A T I O N
This book is dedicated to my wife Bernadette Unger, the
love of my life, and my companion through life. I also want
to remember my mother Frances Rubenstein and several
other relatives who passed away during the darkest days of
the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
21
24.
xxi
Pearson recognizes theenvironmental challenges facing this planet, as well as
acknowledges our responsibility in making a difference. This book is carefully
crafted to minimize environmental impact. The binding, cover, and paper come
from facilities that minimize waste, energy consumption, and the use of harmful
chemicals. Pearson closes the loop by recycling every out-of-date text returned to
our warehouse.
Along with developing and exploring digital solutions to our market’s needs,
Pearson has a strong commitment to achieving carbon-neutrality. As of 2009, Pearson
becamethefirstcarbon-andclimate-neutralpublishingcompany,havingreducedour
absolutecarbonfootprintby22%sincethen.Pearsonhasprotectedover1,000hectares
of land in Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
In 2015, Pearson formally adopted The Global Goals for Sustainable Development,
sponsoring an event at the United Nations General Assembly and other ongoing
initiatives. Pearson sources 100% of the electricity we use from green power and
invests in renewable energy resources in multiple cities where we have operations,
helping make them more sustainable and limiting our environmental impact for
local communities.
The future holds great promise for reducing our impact on Earth’s environment,
and Pearson is proud to be leading the way. We strive to publish the best books with
the most up-to-date and accurate content, and to do so in ways that minimize our
impact on Earth. To learn more about our initiatives, please visit
https://www.pearson.com/corporate/sustainability.html
ABOUT OUR SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVES
22
25.
Photographing Paro Taktsangby smartphone (Photographer: Debdatta Chakroborty). Paro Taktsang, also known as Tiger’s
Nest, is a Buddhist Monastery constructed on a sheer cliff next to a hillside cave 900 meters (3,000 feet) above the Paro val-
ley in Bhutan. The monastery, which was built in 1692, may have named Tiger’s Nest, because, according to a local legend,
Padmasambhava (also known as Guru Rinpoche)—the man who introduced Buddhism into Bhutan—was carried to the cave
on the back of a tiger. Most of the people in Bhutan are Buddhist, one of the world’s major religions. Bhutan is one of the
world’s most remote and least familiar countries. If Bhutan was a U.S. state, its population of around 782,000 would rank
it 46th, ahead of only Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, and North Dakota, and its land area of around 38,000 square kilometers
(15,000 square miles) would rank it 42nd, ahead of Maryland. Its isolation has helped Bhutan retain many distinctive cul-
tural traditions, such as food and clothing. Nonetheless, contemporary cultural features have reached Bhutan. For example,
97 percent of Bhutan’s residents have smartphones, and half regularly use the internet and Facebook. Bhutan is a world
leader in environmental protection. Nearly half of the country’s land area is protected from development, and corridors
link protected areas so that animals can migrate freely. The country generates nearly all of its electricity through renewable
sources, such as hydroelectric dams. The Cultural Landscape explores the patterns and processes behind the human geogra-
phy of places like Bhutan. The book looks at where people and activities are located on Earth, the reasons that people and
activities are located in distinctive patterns, and the processes underlying these distinctive patterns. Every place on Earth—
like Bhutan—is in some ways unique and in some ways a part of an interconnected world.
23
This Is Geography
1
2
KEYISSUES
1.1 Why Is Geography
a Science?
Geography is the study of where
people and activities are found on
Earth’s surface and the reasons why
they are found there. Geographic
tools are essential for delivery of
online services through electronic
devices.
1.2 Why Is Every
Place Unique?
Geographers understand why each
place on Earth is in some ways
unique. Each area or region on Earth
also possesses a unique combination
of features.
1.3 Why Are Different
Places Similar?
Many features are organized in a
regular manner across space. Some
regularities are global in scale,
whereas others have distinctive local
character.
1.4 Why Are Different
Places Connected?
Distinctive to geography is the
importance given to connections
between human activities and the
physical environment. Some human
activities are sustainable, but others
are not.
▶ Students in Athens, Greece, calculate the Earth’s
circumference.
25
28.
What do youexpect from this
geography course? You may
think that geography involves
memorizing lists of countries
and capitals. Perhaps you
associate geography with
photographic essays of exotic
places in popular magazines.
Contemporary geography is the
scientific study of where people
and activities are found across
Earth’s surface and the reasons
they are found there.
LOCATIONS EX PLORED IN THIS CHAPTER
3
Chichicastenango
Everglades
Mississippi
Cancer Corridor
Preble County
Twin Cities
San Francisco
Istanbul
Çatalhöyük
Tokyo
Yoshino
Kolkata
World's Longest Name
Houston
Washington
Sierra Leone
Paris
Canberra
Wuhan
Chicago Dover The Netherlands
Ukraine
Boston
26
29.
4
KEY ISSUE
1.1 |Why Is Geography
a Science?
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 scientific study
of where people and activities are found across Earth’s surface
and the reasons why they are found there. Human geographers
ask two simple questions: Where are people and activities
found on Earth? Why are they found there?
Thinking geographically is one of the oldest human
activities. Perhaps the first geographer was a prehistoric
human who crossed a river or climbed a hill, observed what
was on the other side, returned home to tell about it, and
scratched the route in the dirt. The second geographer may
have been another prehistoric human who followed that route
to reach the other side and venture still farther.
To introduce human geography, we concentrate on two
main features of human behavior—culture and economy. The
first half of the text explains why the most important cultural
features, such as languages, religions, and ethnicities, are
arranged as they are across Earth. The second half of the
text looks at the distribution of the most important economic
activities, including agriculture, manufacturing, and services.
Geography’s Basic Concepts
Learning Outcome 1.1.1 Summarize geography’s basic
concepts.
This chapter introduces basic concepts that geographers
employ to address their “where” and “why” questions.
Ancient and medieval geographers created maps to describe
what they knew about Earth. Today, accurate maps are gen-
erated from electronic data.
Geographers employ several basic concepts to explain
why everywhere on Earth is in some ways unique and in other
ways related to other locations. Many of
these concepts are commonly used English
words, such as place and region, but they are
given particular meaning by geographers.
Everywhere Is Unique
To explain why everywhere on Earth is
unique, geographers have two basic concepts:
• A place is a specific point on Earth,
distinguished by a particular charac-
teristic. Every place occupies a unique
location, or position, on Earth’s sur-
face. The city of Wuhan, China, was the
place where COVID-19 was first identi-
fied, in December 2019, according to
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (Figure 1-1).
• A region is an area of Earth defined by
one or more distinctive characteristics.
Geographers divide the world into a num-
ber of regions. An example of a region
is a province of China, such as Harbei,
where Wuhan is located (Figure 1-2).
FIGURE 1-2 WUHAN: REGION The Harbei region, which
includes Wuhan, had more cases of COVID-19 per population than
China’s other regions in 2020, the first full year of the pandemic.
Beijing
Wuhan
South
China Sea
East
China
Sea
Beijing
Wuhan
C H I N A
above 115
4–8
1–3
below 1
COVID-19 cases per
100,000 in 2020
FIGURE 1-1 WUHAN: PLACE A street market in 2018, before
the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
27
30.
C H AP T E R 1 This Is Geography 5
All Locations Are Interrelated
To explain why different locations are interrelated, geogra-
phers rely on 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, ranging 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 resources. At the same time, local-scale processes
are increasingly important, such as preservation of dis-
tinctive cultural and economic activities (Figure 1-3).
• 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 (Figure 1-4).
• Connection refers to relationships among people and
objects across the barrier of space. Geographers study the
various means by which connections occur (Figure 1-5).
Geography History
Human geography and history both rely on the collection of
evidence about human activity. In his framework of all sci-
entific knowledge, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant
(1724–1804) compared geography and history (Figure 1-6).
History and geography differ in one especially impor-
tant 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. This ability
to reach other places lends excitement to the discipline of
geography—and geographic training raises the understand-
ing of other spaces to a level above that of casual sightseeing.
Pause Reflect 1.1.1 What are the principal connections
from your hometown to other places?
FIGURE 1-3 WUHAN: SCALE These health-care
workers in Wuhan were among the first in the world
to receive COVID-19
vaccinations. China’s vaccina-
tion cards look different than those issued in the
United States by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
FIGURE 1-4 WUHAN: SPACE During the COVID-19 pandemic, a
distance of 2 meters (6 feet) from other people was widely recom-
mended as a safe social distance, as these workers eating lunch at
a Honda factory in Wuhan demonstrate.
FIGURE 1-5 WUHAN: CONNECTIONS (a) In an early attempt
to control the spread of COVID-19, Australia quarantined people
traveling to the country from Wuhan for 2 weeks in Christmas
Island. (b) These Australian citizens returning from Wuhan arrive at
Canberra Airport in Australia after their release from quarantine.
Christmas Island
Wuhan
CHINA
AUSTRALIA
Quarantine zone
INDIAN OCEAN
PACIFIC
OCEAN
Christmas Island
Wuhan
Canberra
CHINA
AUSTRALIA
Quarantine zone
0 1000
0 1000
2000 Miles
2000 Kilometers
(a) (b)
FIGURE 1-6 IMMANUEL KANT’S COMPARISON OF GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
28
31.
6 The CulturalLandscape
Contemporary Geographic
Tools
Learning Outcome 1.1.2 Identify geography’s principal
contemporary mapping tools.
A geographer’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 distin-
guished from other disciplines by its reliance on maps to
display and analyze information.
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 cartogra-
phers are assisted by computers and satellite imagery.
A map serves two purposes:
• As a reference tool. A map helps us find the
shortest
route between two places and avoid getting lost
along the way. We consult maps to learn where in the
world something is found, especially in relationship
to a place we know, such as a town, body of water,
or
highway. The maps in an atlas or a road map are
especially useful for this purpose.
• As a communications tool. A map is often the best
means for depicting the distribution of human activi-
ties or physical features as well as for thinking about
reasons underlying a distribution.
Maps are not just paper documents in textbooks.
They have become essential for delivery of contempo-
rary online services through smartphones, tablets, and
computers. Location data used in applications and devices
are collected through electronic tools. While these digital
systems allow geographers to explore more of Earth, they
still rely on field work to collect data and ground-truth
conclusions. They interview people, conduct surveys, take
photographs, and have informal observations of the land-
scape around them.
GIScience: Analyzing Data
Geographic information science (GIScience) is the
analysis of data about Earth acquired through satellite and
other electronic information technologies. A geographic
information system (GIS) captures, stores, queries, and
displays the geographic data. GIS produces maps (including
those in this text) that are more accurate and attractive than
those drawn by hand.
A map is created by retrieving a number of stored objects
and combining them to form an image. Each type of infor-
mation is stored in a layer (Figure 1-7). For example, separate
layers could be created for boundaries of countries, bodies
of water, roads, and names of places. A simple map might
display only a single layer by itself, but most maps combine
several layers, and GIS permits construction of much more
complex maps than can be drawn by hand.
Some of the data used in GIS come from photos. The
science of taking measurements of Earth’s surface from pho-
tographs is called photogrammetry. The acquisition of data
about Earth’s surface from a satellite orbiting Earth or from
other long-distance methods is remote sensing. At any
moment, an aerial sensor attached to a satellite,
airplane, or
drone may be recording the image of a tiny area on Earth’s
surface.
Corporations and government agencies use photo-
grammetry and remote sensing to create high-quality 3D
virtual representations of portions of Earth. These maps
can depict the distribution of a wide variety of urban and
rural features.
GIScience helps geographers create more accurate and
complex maps and measure changes over time in the char-
acteristics of places. Layers of information acquired through
remote sensing and produced through GIS can be described
and analyzed. GIScience enables geographers to calculate
whether relationships between objects on a map are signifi-
cant or merely coincidental.
FIGURE 1-7 GIS Multiple layers may be combined to create maps.
Boundaries
Elevation
Hydrography
Land cover
Orthoimagery
Structures
Transportation
Geographic
Names
29
32.
C H AP T E R 1 This Is Geography 7
science, which is scientific research by amateur scientists,
and participatory GIS (PGIS), which is community-based
mapping. Citizen science and PGIS collect and disseminate
local knowledge and information through electronic devices.
OpenStreetMap is a collaborative project to create a free
editable map of the world (Figure 1-9). The geodata underly-
ing the map is considered the primary output of the project.
Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) is a global com-
munity of volunteers, community leaders, and professionals
who work together to create open map data to support sus-
tainable development, such as where to build new housing
for the least impact on the environment. They also help with
disaster response, such as where to send emergency medi-
cal teams during a disease outbreak (Figure 1-10). Cofounder
geographer Kate Chapman helped to develop HOT after
working in Indonesia to develop maps of flood damage.
A mashup is a map that overlays data from one source
on top of a map provided by a mapping service, such as
Google Maps or Bing Maps. The term comes from the practice
of mixing two or more songs. Individuals can create mashups
on their personal computers because mapping services pro-
vide access to the application programming interface (API),
which is the language that links a database such as an address
list with software such as a mapping application.
Pause Reflect 1.1.2 What is an example of a mashup
done for your community?
FIGURE 1-8 WHAT3WORDS Location of Leaning Tower of Pisa.
FIGURE 1-9 HUMANITARIAN OPENSTREET MAPPING Assisting
responders helping to reach Ebola victims in a rural area of Sierra
Leone.
FIGURE 1-10
OPENSTREETMAP
Miami University geog-
raphers help the Red
Cross map devastation
in Puerto Rico from
Hurricane Maria.
GPS: Pinpointing Locations
Most of the maps fed into our electronic devices are pro-
vided by a handful of companies. Our smartphones, tablets,
and computers are equipped with Global Positioning
System (GPS), which is a system that determines the pre-
cise position of something on Earth. The GPS in use in the
United States includes two dozen satellites placed in prede-
termined orbits; a series of tracking stations to monitor and
control the satellites; and receivers that compute position,
velocity, and time from the satellite signals. GPS is most
commonly used for navigation. Pilots of aircraft and ships
stay on course with GPS. On land, GPS detects a vehicle’s cur-
rent position, the motorist programs the desired destination
into a GPS device, and the device provides instructions on
how to reach the destination.
Thanks to GPS, our electronic devices provide us with a
wealth of information about the specific place on Earth we cur-
rently occupy. The locations of all the information we gather
and photos we take with our electronic devices are recorded
through geotagging, which is identification and storage of
a piece of information by its precise latitude and longitude
coordinates. Geotagging has led to concerns about privacy.
Geocoding: What3words
What3words is a geocode system that has divided the entire
world into 57 trillion squares of 3 meters (10 feet) per side.
Each 9-square-meter (100-square-foot) square is identified by
three English words. For example, the front door of the White
House is identified by ///curve.empty.buzz. This app allows for
finding the precise location of many places in the world that
do not have traditional street addresses (Figure 1-8).
VGI: Making Maps Yourself
Smartphones, tablets, and computers enable individuals
to make maps and share them with others.
Volunteered
geographic information (VGI) is the creation and dissemi
nation of geographic data contributed voluntarily and for
free by individuals. VGI is part of the broader trend of citizen
30
33.
8 The CulturalLandscape
Development of the Science
of Geography
Learning Outcome 1.1.3 Explain the development of the
science of geography.
Perhaps the Earliest Map
The science of geography has prehistoric roots. One of the
earliest surviving fully authenticated maps, depicting the
town of Çatalhöyük in present-day Türkiye, dates from
approximately 6200 B.C.E. Archaeologists found the map
on the wall of a house that was excavated during the 1960s
(Figure 1-11).
Geography in the Ancient World
Major contributors to geographic thought in the ancient
eastern Mediterranean included:
• Thales of Miletus (ca. 624–ca. 545 B.C.E.), who applied
principles of geometry to measuring land area.
• Anaximander (610–ca. 546 B.C.E.), a student of Thales,
who made a world map based on information from
sailors and argued that the world was shaped like a
cylinder.
• Pythagoras (ca. 570–ca. 495 B.C.E.), who may have been
the first to propose a spherical world, arguing that the
sphere was the most perfect form.
• Hecataeus (ca. 550–ca. 476 B.C.E.), who may have pro-
duced the first geography book, called Periodos Ges
(“Journey Around the Earth”).
• Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.), who was the first to
demonstrate that Earth was spherical on the
basis of evidence.
• Eratosthenes (ca. 276–ca. 194 B.C.E.), the
inventor of the word “geography,” who
accepted that Earth was round (as few
others did in his day), calculated its
circumference within 0.5 percent
accuracy, divided Earth into five
climatic regions, and described the
known world in one of the first
geography books.
• Strabo (ca. 64 B.C.E.–ca. 24 C.E.),
who described the known world in
a 17-volume work titled Geographica
(“Geography”).
• Ptolemy (ca. 100–ca. 170 C.E.), who wrote an
eight-volume Geographia, codified basic principles
of mapmaking, and prepared numerous maps that
were not improved upon for more than 1,000 years
(Figure 1-12).
FIGURE 1-11 AN EARLY MAP (a) This map, dating from 6200
B.C.E., depicts the town of Çatalhöyük, in present-day Türkiye, and
the eruption of the Hasan Dağ| (Mount Hasan) twin-peaks volcano,
which is actually located around 140 kilometers (87 miles) north-
east of the town. Archaeological evidence indicates that the volcano
did erupt around the time that the map was made. The map is
now in the Konya Archaeology Museum. (b) Artist’s impression of
Çatalhöyük, created from details on the map.
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 1-12 WORLD MAP BY PTOLEMY, CA.150 C.E. The map
shows the known world at the height of the Roman Empire, around
the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean.
31
34.
C H AP T E R 1 This Is Geography 9
Early Asian African
Geographers
After Ptolemy, little progress in geographic
thought was made in Europe for more than 1,000
years. Maps became less mathematical and more
fanciful, showing Earth as a flat disk surrounded
by fierce animals and monsters. Geographic
inquiry continued, though, elsewhere in the
world. Ancient and medieval contributors outside
Europe included:
• “Yu Gong” (“Tribute of Yu”), written by an
unknown author in the fifth century B.C.E.,
described the economic resources of China’s
different provinces; it was a chapter in a
book called Shujing (“Book of Documents”), considered one of five
classics of ancient Chinese literature.
• Pei Xiu (224–271 C.E.), the “father of Chinese cartography,” who pro-
duced an elaborate map of the country in 267 C.E.
• Muhammad al-Idrisi (1100–1165), an Arab geographer whose exten-
sive travels through Southwest Asia North Africa informed his
creation of a world map and geography text in 1154, building on
Ptolemy’s long-neglected work (Figure 1-13).
• Ibn Battuta (1304–ca. 1368), a Moroccan scholar who wrote Rihla
(“Travels”) based on three decades of journeys covering more than
120,000 kilometers (75,000 miles) through northern Africa, southern
Europe, and much of Asia (Figure 1-14).
Geography’s Revival in Europe
Geography revived in Europe during the Age of Exploration and Discovery.
Columbus, Magellan, and other explorers who sailed across the oceans in
search of trade routes and resources in the fifteenth and sixteenth centu-
ries required accurate maps to reach desired destinations without wreck-
ing their ships. In turn, cartographers took information collected by the
explorers to create more accurate maps. Influential European cartogra-
phers included:
• Martin Waldseemüller (ca. 1470–1520), a German cartographer who
was credited with producing the first map to use the label
“America”;
he wrote on the map (translated from Latin)
“from Amerigo the discoverer . . . as if it were the
land of Americus, thus America” (Figure 1-15).
• Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598), a Flemish cartogra-
pher, who created the first modern atlas and was
the first to hypothesize that the continents were
once joined together before drifting apart.
• Bernhardus Varenius (1622–1650), who produced
Geographia Generalis, which stood for more than
a century as the standard treatise on systematic
geography.
Pause Reflect 1.1.3 What is one main difference
between the world maps of Ptolemy (Figure 1-12) and
of Waldseemüller (Figure 1-15)?
FIGURE 1-13 WORLD MAP BY AL-IDRISI, 1154 Al-Idrisi built on Ptolemy’s
map, which had been neglected for nearly a millennium.
FIGURE 1-14 IBN BATTUTA Ibn Battuta on horse-
back in front of a map of his journeys, illustrated by
twentieth-century Polish artist Hanna Balicka-Fribes.
FIGURE 1-15 WORLD MAP BY WALDSEEMÜLLER, 1508
32
35.
10 The CulturalLandscape
Interpreting Maps
Learning Outcome 1.1.4 Explain how the geographic
grid locates points on Earth’s surface and helps to tell time.
Geographers can create a wide variety of maps. The most
suitable variety of map depends on the type of data to be
displayed.
The Geographic Grid
The geographic grid is a system of imaginary arcs drawn in a
grid pattern on Earth’s surface. The location of any place on
Earth’s surface can be described precisely by meridians and
parallels, two sets of imaginary arcs drawn in a grid pattern
on Earth’s surface:
• A meridian is an arc connecting the North and South
poles. The location of each meridian is identified
on Earth’s surface according to a numbering system
known as longitude. Longitude is the basis for telling
time.
• A parallel is a circle drawn around the globe paral-
lel to the equator and at right angles to the meridians.
The numbering system to indicate the location of a
parallel is called latitude.
Because Earth is roughly spherical, distances on the geo-
graphic grid are expressed in degrees of longitude and lati-
tude based on the 360 degrees in a circle (Figure 1-16).
Telling Time
Longitude is the basis for calculating time (Figure 1-17). Earth
as a sphere is divided into 360° of longitude (the degrees
from 0° to 180° west longitude plus the degrees from 0° to
180° east longitude).
As Earth rotates daily, these 360 imaginary arcs of lon-
gitude pass beneath the cascading sunshine. If we let every
fifteenth degree of longitude represent one time zone, and
divide the 360° by 15 ,
° we get 24 time zones, or one for each
hour of the day. By international agreement, Coordinated
Universal Time (UTC), known informally as Greenwich
Mean Time (GMT), which is the time at the prime meridian
(0° longitude), is the master reference time for all points on
Earth.
Each 15° band of longitude is assigned to a standard
time zone. The western United States, which is near 120°
west longitude, is therefore 8 hours earlier than UTC. (The
120° difference between the prime meridian and 120° west
longitude, divided by 15° per hour, equals 8 hours.) The
International Date Line for the most part follows 180° lon-
gitude. When the International Date Line is crossed head-
ing east (toward America), the clock moves back 24 hours,
or one entire day. When it is crossed heading west (toward
Asia), the calendar moves ahead one day.
Pause Reflect 1.1.4 Use an online search tool to find
the longitude and latitude of your community.
FIGURE 1-16 THE GEOGRAPHIC GRID
Greenwich
0°
1
0
0
°
W
8
0
°
W
6
0
°
W
4
0
°
E
2
0
°
E
40°W
0°
60°N
80°N
40°N
20°N
20°S
North Pole
Philadelphia
20°W
39° 57’ 9’’ N
75° 9’ 55” W
51° 28’ 37’’ N
0° 0’ 2” W
Equator
P
r
i
m
e
M
e
r
i
d
i
a
n
0°
1
0
0
°
W
8
0
°
W
6
0
°
W
4
0
°
E
2
0
°
E
40°W
20°W
0°
P
r
i
m
e
M
e
r
i
d
i
a
n
Equator
60°N
80°N
40°N
20°N
20°S
North Pole
Greenwich
Philadelphia
39° 57’ 9’’ N
75° 9’ 55” W
51° 28’ 37’’ N
0° 0’ 2” W
FIGURE 1-17 TIME ZONES
03:32
06:32
00:17
21:32
22:32
04:32
04:02
02:32
01:32
02:32
23:02
21:32
01:32
02:32
02:32
00:02
03:32
04:32
14:32
14:32
08:32
11:32
14:32
15:32
15:32
09:32
12:32
20:32
18:32
19:32
13:32
10:32 13:32
18:32
15:32
19:32
20:32
Tokyo
Dar es Salaam
Dubai
Sydney
Adelaide
Perth
Jakarta
Singapore
Tehran
Moscow
Krasnoyarsk
Irkutsk
Yakutsk
Vladivostok
Kathmandu Shanghai
Mumbai
Auckland
Anchorage
Caracas
Manaus
Honolulu
Denver
Santiago
Buenos Aires
Sao Paulo
Chicago
Cape Town
Dakar
Lagos
Lima
Los Angeles New York
London
Paris
Helsinki
Nuuk
Fiji
Easter Is.
Pitcairn
Marquesas
Kiribati
Samoa
Tonga
French
Polynesia
International
Date
Line
Prime
Meridian
+1
Day
–1
Day
Greenwich
Time
=
UTC
18:32
Tokyo
Dar es Salaam
Dubai
Sydney
Adelaide
Perth
Jakarta
Singapore
Tehran
Moscow
Krasnoyarsk
Irkutsk
Yakutsk
Vladivostok
Kathmandu Shanghai
Mumbai
Auckland
Anchorage
Caracas
Manaus
Honolulu
Denver
Santiago
Buenos Aires
Sao Paulo
Chicago
Cape Town
Dakar
Lagos
Lima
Los Angeles New York
London
Paris
Helsinki
Nuuk
Fiji
Easter Is.
Pitcairn
Marquesas
Kiribati
Samoa
Tonga
French
Polynesia
International
Date
Line
Prime
Meridian
+1
Day
–1
Day
Greenwich
Time
=
UTC
18:32
0° 15° 30°
45° 45°
60° 60°
75° 75°
90° 90°
105° 105°
120° 120°
135° 135°
150° 150°
165° 165°
180° 30° 15°
33
36.
C H AP T E R 1 This Is Geography 11
Types of Maps
Maps can represent the distribution of data for one or more
variables in a variety of ways. Figures 1-18 through 1-22 show
five ways to display the distribution of data gathered on the
COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
Choropleth Map. A choropleth map is a map where rec-
ognizable areas are shaded or patterned in proportion to the
data collected. For example, areas with darker colors may
represent the highest range of the data (Figure 1-18).
Graduated Symbol Map. A graduated symbol map dis-
plays a graphic, such as a circle, multiple times that changes
in size according to the value of data. A higher value is typi-
cally represented by a larger-sized graphic (Figure 1-19).
Isoline Map. An isoline map connects with lines all the
places that have particular values (Figure 1-20).
Dot Distribution Map. A dot distribution map depicts
data as points and shows how those points are clustered
together or spread out over an area. Each dot represents a
predetermined number of observations, which could be one
or many (Figure 1-21).
Cartogram. A cartogram is a map in which the size of a
territory, such as a U.S. state, is proportional to the value of
particular data (Figure 1-22).
FIGURE 1-18 CHOROPLETH MAP The darker the state, the
more deaths attributed to COVID-19 per capita, January 2020
through July 2022.
COVID-19 deaths per 100,000
350 and above
300–349
250–299
200–249
below 200
FIGURE 1-19 GRADUATED SYMBOL MAP The larger the circle,
the more deaths attributed to COVID-19 per capita, January 2020
through July 2022.
300
100
500
COVID-19 deaths
per 100,000
FIGURE 1-20 ISOLINE MAP The regions in the darker colors
experienced COVID-19 deaths earlier than did the regions in the
lighter colors.
Widespread
COVID-19 deaths
by April 15, 2020
by July 15, 2020
FIGURE 1-21 DOT DISTRIBUTION MAP More dots in a region
mean more deaths there attributed to COVID-19, January 2020
through July 2022.
Each dot = 10 COVID-19 deaths
FIGURE 1-22 CARTOGRAM MAP The larger the area of the
state, the more deaths attributed to COVID-19 per capita, January
2020 through July 2022.
CO
CA
AZ NM
UT
WA
OR ID
WY
NV
MT
OK
KS
TX
NE
PA
NY VT
NH
ME
WI MI
IN OH
WV
VA
DE
DC
MD
NJ RI
CT
MA
KY
AR
MO
IA
IL
MN
LA
TN
MS
NC
SC
GA
AL
FL
ND
SD
2
50 200
COVID-19 deaths per 100,000
34
37.
12 The CulturalLandscape
Making Maps
Learning Outcome 1.1.5 Explain the role of map scale
and projection in reading maps.
To make any map, a cartographer must make two decisions:
• How much of Earth’s surface to depict on the map
(map scale).
• How to transfer a spherical Earth to a flat map
(projection).
Map Scale
What is the purpose of the map? Is it necessary to show the
entire globe on a map, or just one continent, or a country,
or a city? To make a scale model of the entire world, many
details must be omitted because there simply is not enough
space. Conversely, if a map shows only a small portion of
Earth’s surface, such as a street map of a city, it can provide
a wealth of detail about a particular place.
The level of detail and the amount of area covered on
a map depend on its map scale. When specifically applied
to a map, map scale refers to the relationship of a feature’s
size on a map to its actual size on Earth.
Map scale is presented in three ways. Maps often display
scale in more than one of these three ways:
• Ratio. A ratio or fraction shows the numerical relation-
ship between distances on the map and Earth’s surface.
A scale of 1:1,000,000 means that 1 unit (for example, inch,
centimeter, foot, finger length) on the map represents
1 million of the same unit on the ground. The 1 on the
left side of the ratio always refers to a unit of distance on
the map, and the number on the right always refers to
the same unit of distance on Earth’s surface.
• Written. A written scale describes the relationship
between map and Earth distances in words. For exam-
ple, in the statement “1 centimeter equals 10 kilome-
ters,” the first number refers to map distance and the
second to distance on Earth’s surface.
• Graphic. A graphic scale usually consists of a bar line
marked to show distance on Earth’s surface. To use a
bar line, first determine with a ruler the distance on
the map in inches or centimeters. Then hold the ruler
against the bar line and read the number on the bar line
opposite the map distance on the ruler. The number on
the bar line is the equivalent distance on Earth’s surface.
Larger Smaller Scales
The appropriate scale for a map depends on the informa-
tion being portrayed. A map of a downtown area, such as
Figure 1-23(d), may have a scale of 1:10,000, whereas a map
of southeast Texas, such as Figure 1-23(a), may have a scale
of 1:10,000,000. One inch represents about 800 feet on the
Minute Maid Park map and about 158 miles on the south-
east Texas map.
At the scale of a small portion of Earth’s surface, a map
can provide detailed information about an area such as a
city’s downtown. At the scale of the entire globe, the amount
of detail must be greatly reduced, but the map can still
effectively communicate processes and trends that affect
everyone.
FIGURE 1-23 MAP SCALE The four images show an area
centered on Houston, Texas, at progressively larger scales:
(a) southeast Texas, (b) the city of Houston, (c) central Houston, and
(d) Minute Maid Park. Each map includes ratio and graphic scales.
0 25
0 25
50 Miles
SE Texas and Louisiana
1:10,000,000
Houston Metro Area
1:1,000,000
Central Houston
1:100,000
Minute Maid Park
1:10,000
50 Kilometers
0 2.5
0 2.5
5 Miles
5 Kilometers
0 1000
0 500
2000 Feet
1000 Meters
0 100
0 50
200 Feet
100 Meters
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
35
38.
C H AP T E R 1 This Is Geography 13
Projection
Earth is very nearly a sphere and is therefore accurately
represented with a globe. However, a globe is an extremely
limited tool with which to communicate information about
Earth’s surface. A small globe does not have enough space
to display detailed information, whereas a large globe is too
bulky and cumbersome to use. And a globe is difficult to
write on, photocopy, display on a computer screen, or carry
in a car. Consequently, most maps—
including those in this
text—are flat. Three-dimensional maps can be made but are
expensive and difficult to reproduce.
Earth’s spherical shape poses a challenge for cartog-
raphers because drawing Earth on a flat piece of paper
unavoidably produces some distortion. Cartographers have
invented hundreds of clever methods of producing flat
maps, but none has produced perfect results. The scientific
method of transferring locations on Earth’s surface to a flat
map is called projection.
FIGURE 1-24 WINKEL PROJECTION The relative sizes of the
landmasses on the map are the same as in reality. The projection
minimizes distortion in the shapes of most landmasses. Areas
toward the North and South poles, such as Greenland and Antarctica,
become more distorted, but they are sparsely inhabited, so distort-
ing their shapes usually is inconsequential. However, by allocating
space to the oceans, the land areas are much smaller than on inter-
rupted maps of the same size.
FIGURE 1-25
MERCATOR
PROJECTION Shape
is distorted very
little, direction is
consistent, and the
map is rectangular.
However, relative
size is grossly dis-
torted toward the
poles, making high-
latitude places such
as Antarctica look
much larger than
they actually are.
FIGURE 1-26 GOODE HOMOLOSINE PROJECTION This projec-
tion separates the Eastern and Western hemispheres into two
pieces, a feature known as interruption. It gives more prominence
to the landmasses. The meridians (the vertical lines), form right
angles with the parallels (the horizontal lines) on a globe, but not in
this projection.
FIGURE 1-27 GALL-PETERS PROJECTION This projection does
not distort relative size but does distort shape.
The problem of distortion is especially severe for maps
depicting the entire world. Four types of distortion can
result:
1. The shape of an area appears more elongated or squat
than in reality.
2. The distance between two points may become
increased or decreased.
3. The relative size of different areas may be altered, so
that one area may appear larger than another area on
a map even though in reality the reverse is true.
4. The direction from one place to another can be distorted.
Most of the world maps in this text use the Winkel
equal area projection (Figure 1-24). Other common world
projections are Mercator (Figure 1-25), Goode Homolosine
(Figure 1-26), and Gall-Peters (Figure 1-27).
Pause Reflect 1.1.5 Compare the sizes of Greenland and
South America in Figures 1-24, 1-25, 1-26, and 1-27. Which of
the two landmasses is actually larger? How do you know?
36
39.
14
KEY ISSUE
1.2 |Why Is Every Place
Unique?
Place was defined at the beginning of the chapter as a specific
point on Earth distinguished by a particular characteristic.
Every place occupies a unique location, or position, on Earth’s
surface. Although each place on Earth is in some respects
unique, in other respects it is similar to other places. The
interplay between the uniqueness of each place and the
similarities among places lies at the heart of geographic
inquiry into why things are found where they are.
Place: A Unique Location
Learning Outcome 1.2.1 Identify the distinctive features
of a place.
Humans possess a strong sense of place—that is, a feel-
ing for the features that contribute to the distinctiveness
of a particular spot on Earth—perhaps a hometown, vaca-
tion destination, or part of a country. Geographer Anne
Buttimer identified a sense of intimacy between people
and place. Describing the features of a place is an essen-
tial building block for geographers to explain similarities,
differences, and changes across Earth. Geographers think
about where particular places are located and the combi-
nation of features that make each place on Earth distinct.
Geographers describe a feature’s place on Earth by iden-
tifying its location, the position that something occupies
on Earth’s surface. In doing so, they consider three ways to
identify location: place name, site, and situation.
Place Names
Because all inhabited places on Earth’s surface—and many
uninhabited places—have been named, the most straightfor-
ward way to describe a particular location is often by refer-
ring to its place name. A toponym is the name given to a
place on Earth.
A place may be named for a person, perhaps its founder,
such as Lord Baltimore, or a famous person with no connec-
tion to the community, such as George Washington. Some
settlers select place names associated with religion, such
as St. Louis and St. Paul, whereas other names derive from
ancient history, such as Athens, Attica, and Rome, or from
earlier occupants of the place, such as Milwaukee and Pontiac.
A place name may also indicate the origin of its settlers
(Figure 1-28). Place names commonly have British origins in
North America and Australia, Portuguese origins in
Brazil,
Spanish origins elsewhere in Latin America, and Dutch ori-
gins in South Africa. Some place names derive from features
of the physical environment. Trees, valleys, bodies of water,
and other natural features appear in the place names of
most languages.
The U.S. Board on Geographical Names, operated by the
U.S. Geological Survey, was established in the late nineteenth
century to be the final arbiter of names on U.S. maps. In recent
years the board has been especially concerned with removing
offensive place names, such as those named for persons who
condoned racial oppression or committed crimes.
Pause Reflect 1.2.1 What is the origin of the toponym
of your hometown?
FIGURE 1-28 WORLD’S LONGEST PLACE NAME This place in New Zealand is recognized as the world’s longest one-word place name.
It translates from the Maori language as “The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed, and swallowed moun-
tains, known as the land-eater, played his flute to his loved one.”
37
40.
C H AP T E R 1 This Is Geography 15
FIGURE 1-31 SITUATION OF ISTANBUL: DOWNTOWN Most of the
image depicts the Europe portion of Istanbul. The Asia portion is in
the background.
EUROPE
EUROPE
ASIA
Golden Horn
Bosphorus
Site
The second way that geographers describe the location
of a place is by site, which is the physical character of a
place. Important site characteristics include climate, water
sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, and elevation.
The combination of physical features gives each place a dis-
tinctive character.
Site factors have always been essential in selecting loca-
tions for settlements, although people have disagreed on
the attributes of a good site, depending on cultural values.
Some have preferred a hilltop site for easy defense from
attack. Others have located settlements near convenient
river-
crossing points to facilitate communication with peo-
ple in other places.
Humans have the ability to modify the characteristics of
a site. Central Boston is more than twice as large today as it
was during colonial times (Figure 1-29). Colonial Boston was
a peninsula connected to the mainland by a very narrow
neck. During the nineteenth century, a dozen major proj-
ects filled in most of the bays, coves, and marshes. A major
twentieth-century landfill project created Logan
Airport.
Several landfill projects continue into the twenty-first
century. The central areas of New York and Tokyo have also
been expanded through centuries of landfilling in nearby
bodies of water, substantially changing these sites.
Situation
Situation, also known as relative location, is the loca-
tion of a place relative to other places. Absolute location
describes the position of a place in a way that never changes,
such as geographic coordinates of latitude and longitude.
Situation is a valuable way to indicate location, for two
reasons:
• Finding an unfamiliar place. Situation helps us find
an unfamiliar place by comparing its location with a
familiar one. We give directions to people by referring
to the situation of a place: “It’s down past the court-
house, on Locust Street, after the third traffic light,
beside the yellow-brick bank.” We identify important
buildings, streets, and other landmarks to direct peo-
ple to the desired location.
• Understanding the importance of a place. Many
locations are important because they are accessible
to other places. For example, because of its situation,
Istanbul has become a center for the trading and distri-
bution of goods between Europe and Asia (Figure 1-30).
Istanbul is situated along the Bosphorus, which
connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea
(Figure 1-31). Istanbul is an especially important route
for ships traveling between Europe and Asia.
FIGURE 1-29 CHANGING SITE OF BOSTON The site of Boston
has been altered by filling in much of Boston Harbor.
Charles River
Mystic River
Boston
Harbor
Old
Harbor
BOSTON
Charlestown
CAMBRIDGE
East
Boston
South
Boston
Boston
Logan
International
Airport
M.I.T.
TD Garden City
Hall
Boston
Common
Fenway Park
Charles River
Mystic River
Boston
Harbor
Old
Harbor
BOSTON
Charlestown
CAMBRIDGE
East
Boston
South
Boston
Boston
Logan
International
Airport
M.I.T.
TD Garden City
Hall
Boston
Common
Fenway Park
0 1/2
0 1/2
1 Mile
1 Kilometer
Land in 1800
Landfill 1803–1860
Landfill 1878–1883
Landfill 1922
EUROPE ASIA
Black Sea
Mediterranean Sea
Bosphorus
Istanbul
FIGURE 1-30 SITUATION OF ISTANBUL: SATELLITE IMAGE This
satellite image shows Istanbul is situated along the Bosphorus, a
waterway between the Black and Mediterranean seas. Europe lies
to the west and Asia to the east.
38
41.
16 The CulturalLandscape
FIGURE 1-32 FORMAL REGION The State of Ohio; (b) Preble County; (c) Israel Township.
725 725
177
177
6 5 4 3 2
8 9 10 11
17 16 15 14
20 21 22 23
29 28 27 26
32 33 34 35
1
7
18
19
30
12
13
24
25
31 36
Preble
County
Israel
Township
0 50 Miles
0 50 Kilometers
0 20 Miles
0 20 Kilometers
0 10 Miles
0 10 Kilometers
(b) (c)
(a)
Region: A Unique Area
Learning Outcome 1.2.2 Identify the three types of regions.
The “sense of place” that humans possess may apply to a
larger area of Earth rather than to a specific point. Region was
defined at the beginning of the chapter as an area of Earth
distinguished by one or more distinctive
characteristics.
People, activities, and environment display similarities and
regularities within a region and differ in some ways from
those of other regions. A region gains uniqueness from pos-
sessing not a single human or environmental feature but a
combination of them.
A particular place can be included in more than one
region, depending on how the region is defined. The des-
ignation “region” can be applied to any area larger than a
point and smaller than the entire planet. Geographers most
often apply the concept at one of two scales:
• Several neighboring countries that share important
features, such as those in Latin America.
• Many localities within a country, such as those in
southern California.
Cultural Landscape
A region derives its unified character through the cultural
landscape—a combination of cultural features such as lan-
guage and religion, economic features such as agriculture
and industry, and physical features such as climate and veg-
etation. The southern California region can be distinguished
from the northern California region, for example.
The contemporary cultural landscape approach in geog-
raphy—sometimes called the regional studies approach—
was initiated in France by Paul Vidal de la Blache (1845–1918)
and Jean Brunhes (1869–1930). It was later adopted by several
American geographers, including Carl Sauer (1889–1975) and
Robert Platt (1891–1964). Sauer defined cultural landscape as
an area fashioned from nature by a cultural group. “Culture
is the agent, the natural area is the medium, the cultural
landscape is the result.”
Formal Region
Geographers identify three types of regions—formal, func-
tional, and vernacular. A formal region, also called a
uniform region, is an area within which everyone shares in
common one or more distinctive characteristics. The shared
feature used to define the region could be a cultural value
such as a common language, an economic activity such as
production of a particular crop, or an environmental prop-
erty such as climate. In a formal region, the selected charac-
teristic is present throughout.
Some formal regions are easy to identify, such as coun-
tries or local government units. Ohio is an example of a for-
mal region, characterized with equal intensity throughout
the state by a government that passes laws, collects taxes,
and issues license plates. The formal region of Ohio has
clearly drawn and legally recognized boundaries, and every-
one living within them shares the status of being subject to
a common set of laws.
Formal regions smaller than states can be found across
the United States. For example, the U.S. Land Ordinance of
1785 divided much of the country into townships, 6 miles on
each side. A township, in turn, was divided into 36 sections,
1 mile on each side (Figure 1-32).
In identifying a formal region, it is important to recog-
nize the diversity of cultural, economic, and environmental
factors, even while making a generalization. A minority of
people in a region may speak a language, practice a religion,
or possess resources different from those of the majority.
Although a region may be described by certain positions its
inhabitants hold in society based on their gender or ethnic-
ity, individuals within that region may not all conform to
that description.
39
42.
C H AP T E R 1 This Is Geography 17
FIGURE 1-33 FUNCTIONAL REGION:
FLORIDA TV MARKETS (a) Designated market
areas (DMAs) within
Florida are examples of
functional regions. The state of Florida is an
example of a formal region. (b) The Miami ABC
affiliate.
Miami
Orlando
Jacksonville
Tampa
Gainesville
Tallahassee
Pensacola
Panama
City
St. Petersburg
West
Palm
Beach
Ft. Myers
Naples
ALABAMA
GEORGIA
Miami
Orlando
Jacksonville
Tampa
Gainesville
Tallahassee
Pensacola
Panama
City
St. Petersburg
West
Palm
Beach
Ft. Myers
Naples
ALABAMA
GEORGIA
(a)
(b)
than from scientific models developed through geographic
thought.
As an example of a vernacular region, Americans fre-
quently refer to the Midwest as a place with environmental
and cultural features perceived to be distinct from those
of the rest of the United States (Figure 1-34). However, the
actual location of the Midwest depends on the feature being
mapped (Figure 1-35). A useful way to identify a vernacular
region is to get a description of the region from the peo-
ple living in it and to draw a mental map, which is based
on what an individual relates about the place that contains
personal impressions of what is in the place and where the
place is located.
Pause Reflect 1.2.2 What environmental and cultural
features might help define the region of New England?
FIGURE 1-35 VERNACULAR REGION: PICTURING THE MIDWEST
A feature of the Midwest vernacular region is a large number of
fans of the Chicago Cubs, who play homes games at Wrigley Field.
FIGURE 1-34 VERNACULAR REGION: DEFINING THE MIDWEST
The Midwest is a vernacular region that can be defined in a number
of ways:
• U.S. Census definition
• At least 50% self-identify as a Midwesterner
• Eastern broadleaf forest or prairie parkland ecosystem
• At least 60% “like” a team in the MLB A.L. or N.L. Central Division
Chicago
Chicago
4 features
3 features
2 features
1 or no feature
Functional Region
A functional region, also called a nodal region, is an area
organized around a node or focal point. The characteristic
chosen to define a functional region dominates at a central
focus or node and diminishes in importance outward. The
region is tied to the central point by transportation or commu-
nications systems or by economic or functional associations.
Geographers often use functional regions to convey
information about economic areas. A region’s node may be
a shop or service, with the boundaries of the region mark-
ing the limits of the trading area of the activity. People and
activities may be attracted to the node, and information may
flow from the node to the surrounding area.
An example of a functional region is the reception area
of a TV station. At the center of its service area, a TV station’s
over-the-air signal is strongest, and the percentage of cable and
satellite dish receivers tuned to that station is highest. At some
distance from the center, more people are watching a station
originating in another city. That place is the boundary between
the nodal regions of the two TV market areas (Figure 1-33).
Social media offer numerous examples of functional
regions. Although social media can be used to interact
equally with someone nearby and someone far away, in real-
ity we interact more with people nearby and less with peo-
ple far away. Nonetheless, new technology can break down
some traditional functional regions. Through the internet,
customers can shop at distant stores, and newspapers com-
posed in one place are delivered to customers elsewhere.
Vernacular Region
A vernacular region, or perceptual region, is an area that
people believe exists as part of their cultural identity. Such
regions emerge from people’s informal sense of place rather
40
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18 The CulturalLandscape
FIGURE 1-36 CLOTHING IN DIFFERENT
REGIONS OF GUATEMALA (a) In rural areas and
small towns, the color and pattern of the clothes
often identify the specific cultural group and place
of residence of the wearer, such as Mayan women
in the small town of Chichicastenango in western
Guatemala. (b) In Guatemala City, the country’s
capital and largest city, women wear clothing
more typical of urban residents in other countries;
these women are enrolled in an entrepreneurship
course held in a shopping mall in Guatemala City.
(a) (b)
Regions: Geography Culture
Learning Outcome 1.2.3 Explain geographic elements in
defining culture.
Geographers refer to culture, which is the body of mate-
rial possessions, customary beliefs, and social norms that
together constitutes the distinct tradition of a group of
people. Geographers distinguish groups of people accord-
ing to important cultural characteristics, describe where par-
ticular cultural groups are distributed, and offer reasons to
explain the observed distribution. The distribution of cul-
tural groups and the ways different cultures are expressed
in the landscape gives rise to distinctive regions.
In everyday language, we think of culture as the collection
of novels, paintings, symphonies, and other works produced
by talented individuals. A person with a taste for these intel-
lectual outputs is said to be “cultured.” Intellectual culture is
often distinguished from popular culture, such as TV. Culture
also refers to small living organisms, such as those found under
a microscope or in yogurt. Agriculture is a term for the growing
of living material at a much larger scale than in a test tube.
The origin of the word culture is the Latin cultus, which
means “to care for.” Culture is a complex concept because
“to care for” something has two very different meanings:
• To care about—to adore or worship something, as in
the modern word cult.
• To take care of—to nurse or look after something, as in
the modern word cultivate.
Geography looks at both of these meanings of the concept
of culture to see why each region in the world is unique.
Geography Culture:
What People Care About
Geographers study why the customary ideas, beliefs, and
values of a people produce a distinctive culture in a particu-
lar place. Especially important cultural values derive from
a group’s language, religion, and ethnicity. These three cul-
tural traits are an excellent way of identifying the location
of a culture as well as the principal means by which cultural
values become distributed around the world.
Language is a system of signs, sounds, gestures, and
marks that have meanings understood within a cultural
group. People communicate the cultural values they care
about through language, and the words themselves tell some-
thing about where different cultural groups are located. The
distribution of speakers of different languages and reasons for
the distinctive distribution are discussed in Chapter 5.
Religion is an important cultural value because it is the
principal system of attitudes, beliefs, and practices through
which people worship in a formal, organized way. As dis-
cussed in Chapter 6, geographers look at the distribution of
religious groups around the world and the different ways
that the various groups interact with their environment.
Ethnicity is identity with a group of people who share
the cultural traditions of a particular homeland or hearth.
As addressed in Chapter 7, geographers find that problems
of conflict and inequality tend to occur in places where more
than one ethnic group inhabits and seeks to organize the
same territory.
Geography Culture:
What People Take Care Of
The second element of culture of interest to geographers
is production of material wealth—the food, clothing, and
shelter that human need in order to survive and thrive. All
people consume food, wear clothing (Figure 1-36), build shel-
ter, and create art, but different cultural groups obtain their
wealth in different ways.
Geographers divide the world into regions of devel-
oped countries and regions of developing countries. Vari-
ous shared characteristics—such as per capita income,
level of education, and life expectancy—distinguish devel-
oped regions and developing regions. These differences
are reviewed in Chapter 9. Possession of wealth and mate-
rial goods is higher in developed countries than in devel-
oping countries because of the different types of economic
activities carried out in the two types of countries. People
in developing countries are more likely to work in agricul-
ture, whereas people in developed countries are more likely
to earn their living through performing services in exchange
for wages. This fundamental economic difference between
developed and developing regions is discussed in more detail
in Chapters 10 through 13.
Pause Reflect 1.2.3 Describe differences that you see
in the clothing in Figures 1-36a and b.
41
44.
C H AP T E R 1 This Is Geography 19
FIGURE 1-38 CANCER CORRIDOR, LOUISIANA (a) Percent
Black; (b) cancer deaths.
Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge
New Orleans
Baton Rouge
New Orleans
Baton Rouge
Gulf of Mexico
Lake
Pontchartrain
Gulf of Mexico
Lake
Pontchartrain
70–100
45–69.9
24–44.9
7–23.9
0–6.9
Percent Black
575–1870
480–574.9
380–479.9
280–379.9
0–279.9
Cancer incidence
per 100,000
(a)
(b)
Local Diversity
Globalization has not destroyed the uniqueness of local culture
and economy. Human geographers understand that many con-
temporary social problems result from a tension between forces
promoting global culture and global economy on the one hand
and preservation of local economic autonomy and local cultural
traditions on the other hand. Strong adverse reaction to glo-
balization by many people in both developed and developing
countries has inspired efforts to restore local cultural traditions
and sever economic relations with other places. Lawmakers in
countries and regions within countries disagree sharply on the
appropriate policies to improve economic conditions.
Cultural differences within regions not only persist but
actually flourish in many cases. The communications revolu-
tion that promotes globalization of culture also permits preser-
vation of cultural diversity. TV, for example, was once limited
to a handful of channels displaying one set of cultural values.
With the distribution of programming through cable, satellite,
the internet, and streaming services, people now can choose
from an infinite number of programs in many languages. With
the globalization of communications, people in two distant
places can watch the same TV program. At the same time, with
the fragmentation of the broadcasting market, two people in
the same house can watch different programs (Figure 1-37).
Groups of people on every continent may aspire to wear jeans,
but unique clothing is still worn in regions of the world. In a
global culture, companies can target groups of consumers with
similar tastes in different parts of the world.
Geographers take a range of approaches to understand-
ing the uniqueness of local culture and economy. Post-
structuralist geography examines how the powerful in a
society dominate, or seek to control, less powerful groups,
how the dominated groups occupy space, and confronta-
tions that result from the domination. Post-structuralist
geographers understand space as the product of ideologies
or value systems of ruling elites.
Some post-structuralist geographers have studied how,
although it is illegal to discriminate against people of color,
local governments have pursued policies that impose haz-
ardous, polluting industries on minority neighborhoods. For
example, a 137-kilometer (85-mile) corridor in Louisiana is
known as “Cancer Alley” because cancer rates are around
50 percent higher than the national average. Most of the
residents in the corridor are Black (Figure 1-38).
The high cancer rate is attributed to the toxic air emanating
from the clustering of more than 150 petrochemical plants and
refineries in the corridor. State officials approved the construc-
tion of some petrochemical facilities that did not meet the stan-
dards set by the U.S. Clean Air Act. In 2021, the United Nations
defined Cancer Corridor as an example of environmental racism.
FIGURE 1-37 TOGETHER APART Each watching something
different.
42
45.
20
FIGURE 1-39 GLOBALIZATION:DISNEYLAND AROUND THE WORLD (a) Paris (b) Tokyo.
(a) (b)
KEY ISSUE
1.3 | Why Are Different
Places Similar?
Geographers recognize that each place or region on Earth
is in some ways unique, but they also recognize that human
activities are rarely confined to one location. Three basic
concepts—scale, space, and connections—help geographers
explain that similarities among places and regions result from
regularities rather than coincidences.
Scale: Global to Local
Learning Outcome 1.3.1 Relate the geographic concept
of scale to economic and culture change.
Scale was defined at the beginning of the chapter as the rela-
tionship between the portion of Earth being studied and
Earth as a whole. Geographers are especially concerned with
contrasts between the local scale and the global scale.
Scale is an increasingly important concept in geography
because of globalization, which is a force or process that
involves the entire world and results in making something
worldwide in scope. Globalization means that the scale of
the world is shrinking—not literally in size, of course, but in
the ability of a person, an object, or an idea to interact with
a person, an object, or an idea in another place.
At the same time, geographers recognize the increasing
importance of the local scale. In the face of globalization,
groups of people are preserving and reviving traditional cul-
tural characteristics and implementing distinctive economic
practices.
Scale Culture
Geographers observe that increasingly uniform cultural
preferences produce uniform “global” landscapes of mate-
rial artifacts and cultural values. Fast-food restaurants, ser-
vice stations, and retail chains deliberately create a visual
appearance that varies among locations as little as possi-
ble (Figure 1-39). That way, customers know what to expect,
regardless of where in the world they happen to be.
Underlying the uniform cultural landscape is globaliza-
tion of cultural beliefs and forms, especially religion and
language. Many Africans, in particular, have moved away
from traditional religions and have adopted Christianity or
Islam, religions shared with hundreds of millions of people
throughout the world. Globalization requires a form of com-
mon communication, and the English language is increas-
ingly playing that role.
As more people become aware of elements of global cul-
ture and aspire to possess them, local cultural beliefs, forms,
and traits may be practiced less often. The survival of a local
culture’s unique characteristics may be threatened by inter-
action with such social customs as wearing jeans and Nike
shoes, consuming Coca-Cola and McDonald’s hamburgers,
and communicating using smartphones and computers.
Pause Reflect 1.3.1 Give an example of a cultural
activity or preference from another part of the world that
has become popular among your friends or in your school.
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C H AP T E R 1 This Is Geography 21
Creating Uniform Space
More uniform space can occur for several reasons:
Assimilation. The process by which a group’s cul-
tural features are altered to resemble those of another
group is assimilation. With assimilation, the cultural
features of one group may come to dominate the cul-
tural features of another group (Figure 1-40).
Assimilation can take place on several scales, from
that of an individual adjusting to life in a new culture,
to the broader scales visible in urban areas, where
larger segments of society interact with one another
over time. Assimilation is not always voluntary, such
as the governmental policy in the nineteenth century
of forcibly assimilating Native Americans into the
European-based culture of the United States.
Acculturation. The process of changes in culture that
result from the meeting of two groups is acculturation.
Changes may be experienced by both the interacting
cultural groups with acculturation, but the two groups
retain two distinct cultural features (Figure 1-41).
In order to fit in or to follow a social trend, an
individual or group may adopt customs, practices, and
behaviors of another group, but retain the more deep-
seated and traditional values of their original culture.
Examples are children of immigrants speaking English
with school friends, while continuing to speak Arabic,
Spanish, or Japanese at home with their parents.
Syncretism. The combining of elements of two
groups into a new cultural feature is syncretism. With
syncretism, the two cultural groups come together to
form a new culture (Figure 1-42).
Viewing Other Cultures
Computers, tablets, and smartphones make it possible
for individuals to set up their own connections through
individually constructed networks such as Facebook
and Twitter. At the touch of a button, we can transmit
images and messages from one part of the world to our
own personalized network around the world.
Modern networks make it possible for us to know
more about what is happening elsewhere in the world,
and space–time compression makes it possible for us to
know it sooner. Distant places seem less remote and more
accessible to us. With better connections between places,
we are exposed to a constant barrage of cultural traits and
economic initiatives from people in other regions, and
perhaps we may adopt some of these cultural and eco-
nomic elements. At the same time,
others in the world
can learn more about us, whether we like it or not.
FIGURE 1-40 ASSIMILATION Vice President Kamela Harris
visits a
daycare center for recent immigrants, Washington D.C.
FIGURE 1-41 ACCULTURATION Disney employees celebrate Chinese
Lunar New Year.
FIGURE 1-42 SYNCRETISM Kinpusen-ji Temple in Yoshino,
Japan, is a place of worship for Shugendo, a syncretic religion
that combines Buddhism and Shintoism (see Chapter 6).
44
47.
22 The CulturalLandscape
Space: Distribution
of Features
Learning Outcome 1.3.2 Compare three properties of
distribution.
Space was defined at the beginning of the chapter as the
physical gap or interval between two objects. The arrange-
ment of a feature in space is known as its distribution.
Geographers observe that many features are distributed
across space in a regular manner, for discernible reasons.
Spatial thinking is the most fundamental skill that geog-
raphers possess to understand the arrangement of objects
across Earth. When geographers observe the arrangements
of people and activities found in space, they investigate why
and how those distributions come to be.
Geographers explain how features such as buildings and
communities are arranged across Earth. On Earth as a whole,
or within an area on Earth, features may be numerous or
scarce, close together or far apart. Geographers studying the
arrangement of a feature in space are observing its distribu-
tion. Geographers identify three main properties of features
as they are distributed across Earth—density, concentration,
and pattern.
Distribution Properties: Density
Density is the frequency with which an object occurs in a
defined space. The object could be people, houses, cars, trees,
or anything else. The area could be measured in square kilo-
meters, square miles, hectares, acres, or any other unit of area.
Keep in mind that a large number of objects does not
necessarily lead to a high density. Density involves two mea-
sures—the number of objects and the size of the area. China
is the country with the largest number of people—approxi-
mately 1.4 billion—but it does not have the world’s highest
density. The Netherlands, for example, has only 18 million
people, but its density of around 525 persons per square
kilometer (Figure 1-43) is much higher than China’s 153 per-
sons per square kilometer. The reason is that the land area
of China is 9.6 million square kilometers, compared to only
42,000 square kilometers for the Netherlands.
High population density is also unrelated to poverty.
The Netherlands is one of the world’s most developed coun-
tries, and Mali one of the world’s least developed. Yet the
Netherlands’ density of around 525 persons per square kilo-
meter is much higher than Mali’s density of 18 persons per
square kilometer (see Chapter 2 for more about density).
Distribution Properties: Concentration
The extent of an object’s spread over space is its
concentration. If the objects in an area are close together,
they are clustered; if relatively far apart, they are dispersed.
To compare the level of concentration most clearly, the two
areas need to have the same number of objects and the same
size area.
Geographers use concentration to describe changes in
distribution. For example, the distribution of people across
the United States is increasingly dispersed. The total number
of people living in the United States is growing slowly—less
than 1 percent per year—and the land area is essentially
unchanged. But the population distribution is changing
from relatively clustered in the Northeast to more evenly
dispersed across the country.
Distribution Properties: Pattern
The third property of distribution is pattern, which is the
geometric arrangement of objects in an area. Some objects
are organized in a geometric pattern, whereas others are dis-
tributed irregularly. Geographers observe that many objects
form a linear distribution, such as the arrangement of houses
along a street or stations along a subway line.
Some objects are purposefully arranged in a square
or rectangular pattern. Many American cities contain a
regular pattern of streets, known as a grid pattern, that
intersect at right angles
at uniform intervals to
form square or rectangular
blocks. For example, Wash-
ington D.C. was laid out in
a grid pattern, along with
several diagonal streets
(Figure 1-44).
FIGURE 1-43 HIGH DENSITY Amstelplein, the Netherlands.
FIGURE 1-44 PATTERN
Aerial view from the 1901
Plan for Washington D.C.
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C H AP T E R 1 This Is Geography 23
Distribution Properties:
Your Space
Understanding the difference between density and
concentration became essential during the COVID-19
pandemic. Look back and remember a room you
were in at a social gathering prior to the pandemic
(Figure 1-45a). How many people were in the room?
That number divided by the size of the room was
the density. Were people spread evenly through-
out the room, or were they huddled together in
one part of the room? That was the concentration—
either clustered or dispersed.
To stem the spread of a contagious, airborne
disease such as COVID-19, the number of people in the
same space should be limited—that is, the density reduced
(Figure 1-45b). And to stop a COVID-19 outbreak from spread-
ing, people should maintain a distance of 2 meters (6 feet)
from each other—that is, the concentration must be dis-
persed (Figure 1-45c). In other words, people who practice
what is known as social distancing, also called physical dis-
tancing, are keeping a safe space between each other in order
to reduce the risk of spreading the highly contagious disease.
Distribution of Baseball Teams
The distribution of major-league baseball teams illus-
trates the difference between density and concentration
(Figure 1-46). After remaining unchanged during the first
half of the twentieth century, the distribution of major
league baseball teams changed during the second half of
the twentieth century. The major leagues expanded from 16
to 30 teams in North America between 1960 and 1998, thus
increasing the density. At the same time, 6 of the 16 origi-
nal teams moved to other locations. In 1952, every team was
clustered in the Northeast United States, but the moves dis-
persed several teams to the West Coast and Southeast. These
moves, as well as the locations occupied by the expansion
teams, resulted in a more dispersed distribution.
Pause Reflect 1.3.2 Describe the distribution properties
of your classroom.
FIGURE 1-45 DISTRIBUTION OF PEOPLE DURING COVID-19
PANDEMIC (a) High density (many people in a room) and high
clustering (people close together) was unsafe. (b) Lowering
the density was safer, but the high clustering was still unsafe.
(c) Lowering the density and dispersing the concentration was safer.
(a) (b) (c)
Giants
Athletics
Phillies
Pirates
Orioles
Nationals
Dodgers
Mariners
Rockies
Rangers
Royals
Twins
Brewers
Cubs
White Sox Indians
Blue Jays
Red Sox
Cardinals
Braves
Reds
Mets
Tigers
Marlins
Rays
Astros
Angels
Padres
Diamondbacks
Yankees
Giants
Athletics
Phillies
Pirates
Orioles
Nationals
Dodgers
Mariners
Rockies
Rangers
Royals
Twins
Brewers
Cubs
White Sox Guardians
Blue Jays
Red Sox
Cardinals
Braves
Reds
Mets
Tigers
Marlins
Rays
Astros
Angels
Padres
Diamondbacks
Yankees
2022
Reds
Indians
Browns
White Sox
Cubs
Tigers
Senators
Pirates
Giants
Dodgers
Athletics
Phillies
Yankees
Braves
Red
Sox
Cardinals
Reds
Indians
Browns
White Sox
Cubs
Tigers
Senators
Pirates
Giants
Dodgers
Athletics
Phillies
Yankees
Braves
Red
Sox
Cardinals
1952
American League
National League
FIGURE 1-46 DISTRIBUTION OF BASEBALL TEAMS The changing
distribution of North American baseball teams illustrates the difference
between density and concentration. As a result of these relocations and
additions, the density of teams increased, and the distribution became
more dispersed.
These 6 teams moved to other cities during the 1950s and 1960s:
Braves—Boston to Milwaukee in 1953, then to Atlanta in 1966
Browns—St. Louis to Baltimore (Orioles) in 1954
Athletics—Philadelphia to Kansas City in 1955, then to Oakland in 1968
Dodgers—Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958
Giants—New York to San Francisco in 1958
Senators—Washington to Minneapolis (Minnesota Twins) in 1961
These 14 teams were added between the 1960s and 1990s:
Angels—Los Angeles in 1961, then to Anaheim (California) in 1965
Senators—Washington in 1961, then to Dallas (Texas Rangers) in 1971
Mets—New York in 1962
Astros—Houston (originally Colt .45s) in 1962
Royals—Kansas City in 1969
Padres—San Diego in 1969
Expos—Montreal in 1969, then to Washington (Nationals) in 2005
Pilots—Seattle in 1969, then to Milwaukee (Brewers) in 1970
Blue Jays—Toronto in 1977
Mariners—Seattle in 1977
Marlins—Miami (originally Florida) in 1993
Rockies—Denver (Colorado) in 1993
Rays—Tampa Bay (originally Devil Rays) in 1998
Diamondbacks—Phoenix (Arizona) in 1998
46
49.
24 The CulturalLandscape
FIGURE 1-48 TRANSNATIONAL
CORPORATION: LOCAL DIVERSITY
Toyota produces different vehicles
around the world. (a) Sienta, a mini
SUV, is sold in Japan and Southeast
Asia. (b) Etios, a small car, is sold
in Argentia, Brazil, India, Indonesia,
and South Africa. (c) Sequoia, a
large SUV, is sold in North America.
(a)
(c)
(b)
Space Economic Patterns
Learning Outcome 1.3.3 Analyze geographic
approaches to global and local economic patterns.
A few people living in very remote regions of the world may
be able to provide themselves with all of their daily necessi-
ties. But most economic activities undertaken in one region
are influenced by interaction with decision-makers located
elsewhere. The choice of crop is influenced by demand and
prices set in global markets. The factory is located to facili-
tate bringing in raw materials and shipping out products to
the markets.
Globalization of the economy has been led primarily
by transnational corporations, sometimes called multina-
tional corporations. A transnational corporation con-
ducts research, operates, factors, and sells products in many
countries, not just where its headquarters and principal
shareholders are located. An example is the Toyota Motor
Corporation (Figure 1-47).
Every place in the world is part of the global economy,
but globalization has led to more specialization at the local
level. Each place plays a distinctive role, based on its local
assets, as assessed by transnational corporations. A locality
may be especially suitable for a transnational corporation
to conduct research, to develop new engineering systems,
to extract raw materials, to produce parts, to store finished
products, to sell them, or to manage operations. In a global
economy, transnational corporations remain competitive
by correctly identifying the optimal location for each of
these activities. Factories are closed in some locations and.
opened in others, and distinctive products are tailored to
local
markets (Figure 1-48).
Changes in production have led to a spatial division of
labor in which a region’s workers specialize in particular
tasks. Transnationals decide where to produce things in
response to characteristics of the local labor force, such as
level of skills, prevailing wage rates, and attitudes toward
unions. Transnationals may close factories in locations with
high wage rates and strong labor unions. Particular produc-
tion tasks are clustered in specific geographic areas.
FIGURE 1-47 TRANSNATIONAL
CORPORATION: TOYOTA MOTOR
CORPORATION SALES AND
VEHICLE
ASSEMBLY PLANTS
100°
40°
20°
40° 40° 60° 80° 100° 120°
20° 20°
0°
0°
20°
40°
60°
60°
40°
20°
60°
80°
120°
140°
160° 0° 160°
140° 180°
EQUATOR
TROPIC OF CAPRICORN
TROPIC OF CANCER
0°
20° 20°
40° 40°
60°
80° 80°
100° 100°
120° 120°
140°
160° 140° 160°
60° 180°
80°
80°
100°
40°
20°
40° 40° 60° 80° 100° 120°
20° 20°
0°
0°
20°
40°
60°
60°
40°
40°
20°
20°
60°
80°
120°
140°
160° 0° 160°
140° 180°
EQUATOR
TROPIC OF CAPRICORN
TROPIC OF CANCER
0°
20° 20°
40° 40°
60°
80° 80°
100° 100°
120° 120°
140°
160° 140° 160°
60° 180°
80°
80°
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
ARCTIC
OCEAN
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
INDIAN
OCEAN
PACIFIC
OCEAN
PACIFIC
OCEAN
0 1,500
0 1,500
3,000 Miles
3,000 Kilometers
Annual vehicle sales
2,000,000 and above
1,100,000–1, 999,999
100,000–999,999
less than 100,000
Toyota assembly plant
47
50.
C H AP T E R 1 This Is Geography 25
Uneven Development
Global culture and economy are increasingly centered on
the three core, or hearth, regions of North America, Europe,
and East Asia. These three regions have a large percentage
of the world’s advanced technology, capital to invest in new
activities, and wealth to purchase goods and services. Sur-
rounding the core are developing countries on the periph-
ery with limited access to the world centers of consumption,
communications, wealth, and power, which are clustered
in the core (refer to Figure 9-40). The increasing gap in eco-
nomic conditions between regions in the core and periph-
ery that results from the globalization of the economy is
known as uneven development (Figure 1-49).
From “command centers” in the three major world cit-
ies of New York, London, and Tokyo, key decision-makers
employ modern telecommunications to send orders to fac-
tories, shops, and research centers around the world—an
example of hierarchical diffusion (discussed later in this
chapter). Meanwhile, “nonessential” employees of the com-
panies can be relocated to lower-cost offices outside the
major financial centers. For example, Apple maintains cor-
porate headquarters in Cupertino, California, but most of the
parts in its phones, tablets, and computers are made in Asian
countries, primarily China, India, Japan, and South Korea.
People in peripheral regions, who once toiled in isolated
farm fields to produce food for their families, now produce
crops for sale in core regions or have given up farm life alto-
gether and migrated to cities in search of jobs in factories and
offices. As a result, the global economy has produced greater
disparities than in the past between the levels of wealth and
well-being enjoyed by people in the core and in the periphery.
In a global culture and economy, every area of the world
plays some role intertwined with the roles played by other
regions. Workers and cultural groups that in the past were
largely unaffected by events elsewhere in the world now
share a single economic and cultural world with other work-
ers and cultural groups. For example, the fate of an auto-
worker in Detroit is tied to investment decisions made in
Mexico City, Seoul, Stuttgart, and Tokyo.
Inequality Within Countries
Unequal access and economic inequality have also increased
within countries. In the United States, the share of the
national income held by the wealthiest 1 percent increased
from 24 percent in 1979 to 32 percent in 2021, according
to the Federal Reserve Bank (Figure 1-50). The share of
Americans living in poverty has increased during that same
period from 12 percent to 13 percent.
Inequality in the distribution of wealth within the
United States was mapped in an innovative way by Sasha
Trubetskoy, when he was an undergraduate at the University
of Chicago. One-half of the economic activity in the United
States is clustered in a handful of small areas comprising
well under 1 percent of the country’s land area (Figure 1-51).
Pause Reflect 1.3.3 What sorts of places are the small
orange clusters on Figure 1-51?
FIGURE 1-49 INEQUALITY: INCOME GAP BETWEEN
DEVELOPED
COUNTRIES AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Income per capita
has increased much more rapidly in developed countries than in
developing ones. Chapter 9 discusses specific ways to measure
economic differences, including GNI PPP.
35,000
40,000
45,000
50,000
30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2022
2015
Year
Income
(GNI
PPP
per
capita
in
US
$)
World
Developing countries
Developed countries
FIGURE 1-50 INEQUALITY: INCOME GAP WITHIN THE UNITED
STATES The share of wealth held by the wealthiest 1 percent in
the United States declined from the 1930s through the 1970s and
began rising in the 1980s. The percentage of people living in poverty
declined during the 1960s but has remained relatively unchanged
since then.
1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Percentage
Year
Top 1 percent’s share
of total wealth
People living in poverty
FIGURE 1-51 INEQUALITY WITHIN THE UNITED STATES The
map created by Sasha Trubetskoy shows that one-half of the
economic activity in the United States is clustered in a handful of
urban areas, especially along the East and West Coasts.
50% 50%
GDP
48
51.
26 The CulturalLandscape
Space: Gender Identity
Learning Outcome 1.3.4 Analyze geographic
approaches to important elements of cultural identity.
Patterns in space vary according to gender, ethnicity, and
sexuality. Geographers study these cultural traits because
they are important in explaining why people sort them-
selves out in space and move across the landscape in dis-
tinctive ways.
Gender Sex
People often use “sex” and “gender” interchangeably, but
the two terms are actually different. A newborn baby’s sex
is typically either male or female, depending on biological
features. In a small number of cases, a baby is born with
biological features of both male and female. The United
Nations defines gender as the social attributes and oppor-
tunities associated with being male and female as well as
relationships between women and men. The U.N. points
out that women and men are typically assigned different
and unequal responsibilities and different decision-making
opportunities in society. They undertake different activities
and have access to and control over different resources.
As society creates masculine and feminine identities,
based on certain cultural features such as norms, roles, and
relationships, it also leads to stereotypes of beliefs, attitudes,
and assumptions about males and females. Geographer Mar-
cia England points out that the media plays a subtle yet
pervasive role in establishing and reinforcing gender stereo-
types in popular TV programs. When individuals do not “fit”
established gender stereotypical norms, they can face stigma
or exclusion. These groups seek out safe spaces where they
are free from discriminatory practices and violence.
Gender is an example of a social construction, which
is an idea that has been created and widely accepted by the
people in a
society.
Constructs are seen as natural by the
society but may or may not represent a reality shared by all
individuals in that group. These attitudes vary from society
to society and across time and can be changed.
Gender Roles
Girls and boys learn through a socialization process the
gender roles that they are expected to follow in the home,
community, and workplace of a given society. These gender
norms are beliefs about males and females that are passed
from generation to generation through processes of social-
ization. Gender relations refer to social relations between
and among women and men that are based on gender norms
and roles. Expectations about gender relations often create
hierarchies between and among groups of men and women
that can lead to unequal power relations, advantaging one
group over another.
Distinctive spatial patterns by gender, ethnicity, and sex-
ual orientation are constructed by the attitudes and actions
of cultural groups as well as the larger society. For example,
consider the implications for gender roles of the spatial pat-
terns associated with some American households.
The husband gets in his car in the morning and drives
from home to work, where he parks the car and spends
the day. In the late afternoon, he collects the car and drives
home. The location of the home may have been selected to
ease his daily commute to work.
The wife may also work outside the home, resulting in
a complex pattern of moving across urban space. Where is
her job located? If the family house was selected for access
to her husband’s place of employment, she may need to
travel across town. Yet the wife is often the one who drives
the children to school in the morning, walks the dog, and
drives to the supermarket. In the afternoon, she may drive
the children from school to sports practice or music lessons.
Who leaves work to take a child to a doctor’s office? Who
takes a day off work when a child is home sick? Who needs
but may not be entitled to extended time off from work to
give birth and nurse the newborn child?
The U.K. Department of Transport conducts an annual
survey of why people travel in that country. According to the
survey, women ages 30 to 39 on average are more likely than
men to take trips for taking care of children and other fam-
ily members. Men ages 30 to 39 on average take more trips
to commute to and from work than do women (Figure 1-52).
FIGURE 1-52 TRIPS BY PURPOSE AND GENDER,
AGES 30–39, UNITED KINGDOM
School
Child care
Home
Leisure
Park
Shopping
Paid work
Paid work
Care work
Lesisure
Shopping
Other
Women
(30-39)
Men
(30-39)
50%
7%
21%
13%
9%
30%
20%
24%
15%
11%
49
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