Thinking Geographically: Key Issue 2

WHY IS EACH POINT ON EARTH UNIQUE?

Rubenstein, pp. 14-19
PLACE: A UNIQUE LOCATION
1. Vocabulary:
A. Define Place: A place is a specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular characteristic.

B. Define Toponym: A toponym is the name given to a place on Earth.

2. Identify four ways in which places can receive names

a) Named after a person (usually its founder or a famous person).
b) Names associated with religion.
c) Names deriving from ancient History.
d) Names may also indicate the origin of its settlers.

3. Define site: A site is the physical character of a place.

4. List some site characteristics

Important site characteristics include climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, and
elevation.

6. Complete the following sentence about site:

Human actions can modify the characteristics of a site.

7. Define situation (Relative Location): Situation is the location of a place relative to other places.

8. What role do familiar places have in understanding the situation of unfamiliar places? 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.

REGIONS: AREAS OF UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS

9. A region is an area of Earth defined by one or more
distinctive

characteristics.

10. Define: Cultural Landscape: A combination of cultural features such as language and religion,
economic features such as agriculture and industry, and physical features such as climate and
vegetation.

11. One contemporary (current) approach to studying the cultural landscape is called the Regional
Studies Approach. What do geographers who adopt this view believe regarding regions? Geographers
seek to merely identify these characteristics, geographers seek relationships among them. Geographers
recognize that in the real world, characteristics are integrated. Geographers identify three types of
regions-formal, functional, and vernacular

12. How did Carl Sauer describe the Cultural Landscape? Culture is the agent, the natural area the
medium, the cultural landscape is the result.

13. Complete the chart below, which details the types of regions identified by geographers.

Also
Called

Formal Region
Uniform Region

Definition Its an area within which

everyone shares in common
one or more distinctive
characteristics (cultural
values such as a common
language, an economic
activity and etc).
example
Montana is an example of a
formal region, characterized
with equal intensity
throughout the state by a
government that passes

Functional Region
Nodal Region

Vernacular Region
Perceptual Region

Its an area organized around a

node or focal point. The region
is tied to the central point by
transportation, communication
systems or by economic or
functional associations.

Its an area that people

believe exists as part of
their cultural identity,
Such regions emerge
from peoples informal
sense of place.

An example of a functional
region is the reception area of a
TV station. The signal is stronger
at the center of its service area.
At some distance from the

As an example of a
vernacular region,
Americans frequently
refer to the south as a
place with environmental,

laws, collects taxes, and

issues license plates.

center, more people are

watching a station originating in
another city.

cultural, and economic

features perceived to be
quite distinct from those
of the rest of the US.

14. Prepare a bullet chart about the word CULTURE

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.
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 intellectual outputs is said to be cultured.

15. How does a geographer conclude that two (or more) phenomena are spatially associated that is,
they bear some sort of cause and effect relationship? They do that by trying to identify cultural,
economic, and environmental factors that display similar spatial distributions.

16. From Key Issue 1, how could GIS be helpful in determining if two phenomena are spatially
associated/ eg. Higher cancer rates in lower income parts of Baltimore? If you put in a GIS higher cancer
rates in lower income parts and many income parts also have higher cancer rates, that means theres a
relationship between both.