Foster Perry

A1 Richardson
AP Human Geo
9/7/14

Chapter 1 Summary
Chapter one of Human Geography: People, Place, Culture covers
multiple major questions that provide understanding that is very important
later in the book. They are; What is Human Geography?, What are
Geographic questions?, Why do Geographers use maps, and what do maps
tell us?, Why are geographers concerned with scale and correctness?, and
lastly What are Geographic concepts, and how are they used in answering
geographic questions?
Firstly, What is Human Geography? well individually this term is
relatively simple, but when combined it creates a term of art. It is very
complex to fully understand it, but in simple terms it is the field that focuses
on how people move places, how they organize space, how they interact with
others, and how they make sense of the world. This is a field that
encompasses many different specializations. It takes in all other fields
including Psychology, Physiology, Biology, Physical Geography, as well as
many others to create a greater understanding of life as a whole. Secondly,

What are Geographic questions? These are the questions that we ask
every day, whether you are trying to get directions to the grocery store or
study the spread of Ebola in Africa. They are the questions that make people
think in geographic or special terms, some of these questions would be,
Where?, How far?, How big?, Why here?, What effect does this
have?. Thirdly, Why do Geographers use maps, and what do maps tell
us?, maps are hugely useful tools in our lives that we make tremendous use
of everyday. Maps are used for countless reason; War, propaganda, hazard,
and many other purposes are served by different maps. Different maps can
tell us different things, for example thematic maps tell stories, and
movement. Not only are maps useful for the general populous, but
geographers use them in many ways. Fourth off, Why are geographers
concerned with scale and correctness? Scale is hugely important, the lay
definition is that one object represents a larger object, but in geography
scale has two meanings. The first is used to compare distance on paper map
compared to distance in the real world, the second shows territorial extend
compared to the real world. Lastly, What are Geographic concepts, and how
are they used in answering geographic questions? There are many concepts
that are more than useful in Geography, the ones the book identifies are
relative location, mental map, perceptual region, diffusion, and cultural
landscape. These are the essentials which must be kept in mind while
geographic research is done, and must be kept in mind while evaluating
circumstance.

These are abstract terms until you begin to understand them, once you
can truly appreciate and comprehend the complexity of the world economy
and interactions that can all be mapped and understood through Geography
and the answering of these questions. They can help you understand why
coffee made in Mali is sold in a Starbucks coffee shop in Ohio. During our
days we must strive to understand these international implications in order
to fully understand the world as it is or as we want it to be.