Skip to main content
Loading Explore guides…
Introduction to Geography · Acedra
Home
Explore
Geography
Introduction to Geography
Sign in to save
Chat
If YouTube asks you to sign in, open the video on YouTube.
Watch on YouTube
Reload player
Transcript
55 segments
Copy
Hide video
0:00
Hello, and welcome to your online geography course. This presentation is our first one for the semester. So it's pretty exciting. It's going to introduce "Well, what is Geography?" I think that a lot of people when they enroll in the introduction to geography course, assume that this has to do with states and capitals and kind of some of that trivial stuff that you do on Thursday nights, you know, at your local hangout. But sure, geography does include some of that. But
0:27
it's a lot more than that. And so really, this presentation is to discuss what is geography, the people who set the foundation for geography and then we look a little bit more into critical thinking. So let's begin. So the first part is, you know, I pulled this from the Oxford Dictionary, what is the definition of geography as a whole? So geography is the study of the physical features of Earth. It's also a study of the atmosphere, human activity, looking at how that is affected
0:58
or affected by distribution of population resources, land, and even just industry. So this diagram is kind of like the circle of geography, this guy right here. And the reason I'm including this is to really show you that, you know, on the inside of the circle in the realm of geography, this is what I look at as discipline. This is what I identify it. On the outside is probably what you identify it. So maybe you're a history major. Well, I look at that as historical geography.
1:31
Maybe you are a marine scientist, well, I look at it as marine geography, or maybe you look at it as anthropology, or even sociology and I look at that as cultural geography. So
1:44
geography itself, as you can tell, is a very dynamic and multifaceted topic that covers a lot of different areas. And it's really important to have a good foundation of geography, in your your background academia because it gives you an opportunity to be able to look at the spatial landscape and make correlations and relate it to other places. So that being said, how do we see it as a geographer? How do I see things? Well, there's technically two very broad families of geography, there's
2:15
physical geography, and then there's more of the cultural aspect. Now, that being said, you know, you are enrolled in the physical geography course, but it's still important to talk about the broader spectrum of the word. Geographers also look at things as spatial analysis, as fieldwork, and as an earth science. So spatial analysis while looking at this map of Los Angeles, I'm looking at the way that the roads have been distributed, and I'm looking at how we're the location of the
2:45
Baldwin hills, which is right up in here. I'm looking at the names that were chosen for all of these cities and towns. I'm looking at the broader spectrum. Fieldwork is really me going out there walking the streets, learning the architecture, learning the language, learning the restaurants, the food, the music, and then obviously the physical landscape that really is within that. So being able to go out there and do the field work is very important. And then lastly, as you see this is earth
3:15
science, how do we look at things as an earth science? Well, I mean, we look at the geology, we look at the statistical numbers of the census, and that is a science, we're using those numbers to understand a group of people. So how do we see the world? Well in a very unique scope or lens, you know, we look at the landscape, the physical aspect, we look at the people and the culture. We also look at it as a data set. We look at it as information that has been collected. I often
3:45
think of geography as the word why, you know that's, that's a kind of a vague definition, but I think of it as the word why. Why are buildings where they're located? Why are mountains where they are, why is the ocean level, changing the sea level rise? Why are people moving to a new community? Or why did they leave what push and pull factors could affect a cultural landscape? So it's really an inquisitive, critical thinking factors what geography is. The next slide is looking at in
4:18
academia. So when we look at geography, and it's windy outside, in academia, how do we look at these things? Well, we look at as a physical geography course, we offer a human and cultural geography, we look at weather and climate, we look at world regional, so looking at really the human and cultural geography of a landscape all around. Looking at then California geography as a specific topic. And then lastly, looking at GIS, how do we take data and make maps with it and
4:52
how do we understand that and how do we interpret that data? How do we make those observations in the field and interpret them into the landscape and understand how things work? So these are some of the classes that lots of different colleges offer in the 100 level, I highly suggest that you know, if any of this seems interesting you should certainly take them. But again, this is physical geography, looking at the landscape, human and culture, looking at music, food,
5:20
people religion, even looking at politics and stuff like that. Weather and climate understanding how do we understand weather? How do we understand long term climate? How do we understand the world and the interactions that we have within that? How do we understand the Golden State that we live in? And lastly, how can we take data and be able to manipulate this? GIS is perfect for anyone who works in any type of retail, or academic or even business sector. You want to
5:49
make a map you want to look at, you know, where's the best place to put a Starbucks, where's the best place to put a home improvement store? We can actually manipulate that data and understand it. It's pretty cool. We'll talk more about that later in the semester though. So let's talk about the people of the discipline. So the people that make that made and make geography what it is. So, for the purpose of my courses, I put the dates on here and this is very specific, I guess, I think
6:19
because it makes it a complete slide. I'm not going to ask you to memorize the exact date that Eratosthenes passed away, just acknowledge that it was a long time ago, but I'm more interested in you being able to match the name to the contribution to geography that was created. So we'll start at the beginning. Eratosthenes. So, Eratosthenes is really like the founder of what we identify as geography. He invented the discipline of geography as we see it today. He also created
6:49
the grid system. What we identify today is latitude and longitude. Our computers use it, our cell phones use it, everything uses that grid system, which is much like Excel. We'll talk more about that later in a different presentation, but he is the one who created that grid system. He was also the first person to be able to calculate the circumference of the earth by utilizing a great circle. So, roughly based off of his calculations, we assume that he
7:17
understood that the Earth was between 24,000 and 29,000 square miles in distance and circumference, which he was closer to this number here. But it was pretty good for being able to calculate angles. He used the Pythagorean Theorem, looking at noontime angles of the sun and wells in two different locations. So we understood the angle of the sun coming in, he understood the shear angle of the shadow and the well. Understood the distance between the two places.
7:45
It was able to then calculate the fact that if you have the sun for X amount of time and the distance that travels, could you calculate along a great circle, which is the greatest circle drawn on the globe, the distance or circumference around the Earth. So again, Eratosthenes, he founded geography as a discipline. He created a grid system And he was the first to be able to identify and calculate the circumference of the earth. I like things of three, it makes it easier for me
8:15
to remember. So I'm gonna try to really pinpoint those three pieces. I will move to James Hutton. James Hutton is the father of modern geology. He was born Edinburgh. Hutton created the theory of geology and understanding that looking at the Earth's crust, we can look at the different layers and see that there is essentially stratigraphy. And the farther down you go in the Earth's crust, the older it should be. So he fundamentally designed deep time, which is a phrase
8:44
that we use in earth sciences, to acknowledge that the earth is almost unfathomably old, it's hard for us to understand how old earth really is. We can give it a number, but what does that number really mean to us? So we referenced deep time, which is a process in which we can identify the geologic timescales. So, James Hutton, father of modern geology, he was also the creator of deep time and looking mostly at just the geologic rock record. He was also an avid-- tried to be an avid fossil
9:15
collector, but he did more landscapes and understanding how the backup is for a quick moment. James Hutton was off of the coast, he was he found some rocks that had been tilted. And they're also layered. And that's where he began to create the theory and fundamental idea that well, if these layers are continuous, they must have been like this first. So the order must have been like this. Then it was tilted. So you started putting this together to be like, well, I can see that there
9:45
is a story that is occurring. There's been change. And you know, obviously he wasn't effective at putting a date. He didn't have carbon data. You didn't have absolute dating to put an exact date on these changes, but he was able to put them in order and mushc like stacking papers, if you stack a bunch of papers, the one on the bottom you put there first, I don't know when you put it there, but it was there first. And the one on top is the most recent. That's kind of the idea
10:14
there. Moving forward, we look at Alexander von Humboldt. So he was born in the Kingdom of Prussia, not important, but it is for him at least. But he really focused on botanical geography or what we identify as biogeography. So, that was really important because he was also the first to document human induced climate change. So obviously, climate change is a hot topic, a key word that is used often in discussion. And we're looking at someone who, in the 1800s, was able to identify
10:44
the human impact on the environment and seeing long term change in climate because of that. So again, he-- his big things, he was, he laid the foundation for biogeography. He also was the first to document the human impact on climate by looking at lots of different regions. Documenting leaves and [inaudible] pods and going back to these areas and seeing how when more and more people moved in and they change the landscape, how did that change the vegetation? How do they
11:13
change the biology and stuff like that? Moving forward, we look at Carl Ritter, so he's considered the modern father of geography. He was the first Department Chair of Geography in Berlin. And the big thing for him is that he traveled-- aside from being the department chair of geography and teaching in academia. He was incredibly progressive in his time, he went with a small group of people down to Northern Western Africa on behalf of the British government to negotiate treaties
11:43
to stop the trans-Saharan slave trade. So he looked at geography a little bit differently. He was more of a he was definitely a physical geographer, but he certainly had a cultural influence. I picked this quote of his because I think it's really telling of how his philosophy of geography was at that time, so it says geography has a comparative anatomy of the earth, looking at its rivers, mountains, glaciers, so many distinct organ's each with its own appropriate function. So he
12:13
certainly understood geography and our landscape and our earth as a system. And a system that interacts with each other. And by removing part of that system, the system will not work correctly or will have to make adaptations to try to piece it together to fix itself. So I thought that was kind of a cool piece. But the big thing for him is that he's obviously the father of modern geography, looking at it as a discipline, being the first Department Chair of Geography in Berlin. And then
12:43
just the fact that his philosophy is that the Earth itself is a system that works together. It's like we do, right. We work together. That's how we make progress. And move forward. Charles Lyell, so also born Edinburgh. He actually authored a very important book called "The Principles of Geology." So he took everybody before him, all of their research, all of their methods, all of their ideologies and brought it together and created a textbook with it, that is
13:11
actually still available to purchase. Although some of it is obviously antiquated and out of date, because now we have more absolute technology that can give us better dates and spectrums. But the big pieces that he was able to explain Hutton's deep time, and to be able to relate it more to our environment within his book. He was also the first to explain the correlation between volcanoes and earthquakes. And his big contribution to geography was that he understood
13:40
stratigraphy which is again that idea of how the earth layers on the Earth's crust haven't deposited in the order. But he also did extensive research in volcanics, glaciers, and actually worked a little bit with Darwin on the theory of evolution. So there's Charles Lyell. We'll look here with Ellen Semple. So she was actually the first president of the AAG, which is the Association of American Geographers. She was a human geographer, as her specialty.
14:08
But the big thing for her is that she was actually one of the first formal textbooks that was written in the US. She authored two of the most used geography textbooks in the United States. But what was interesting about her, I mean, obviously, at this specific time, it was a huge--
14:28
it was very big in the science world to be a woman and to be at the head of science because, you know, unfortunately, times very different then. So this was a really big deal for her to be able to be the president of this global organization, but her field technique research was really unheard of, by anybody. I mean, she did research in the Philippines, Japan, Egypt, Korea, she was all over Europe. And taking that data, learning about the cultures learning of the people learning about the
14:59
landscape. Then bringing it back into academia. And which was great because it really built for someone else on how we use geography in academics. But so Ellen Semple, you know, she was the first president of one of our biggest organizations that still exists today. She authored textbooks that she did incredible amounts of field research that no one had done regardless of the gender at that time, which was really important. We move forward the timescale itself, look at Alfred
15:29
Wegener. So he was known for his achievements in meteorology by pioneering Polar Research. But he also advanced theory of the continental drift. So you have to imagine that we all look at a map we look at all the continents, andwe can go okay, I get it. If I were to cut all the continents out, I could stick them together, I can see where they must have been together at one point, and you can pull them apart to today's orientation. But that wasn't talked about in the science community because we
15:58
did not know how they would possibly work. So it's been assumed that while he was studying glaciers, that he saw a large piece of ice calve off, or break off, and float to the ocean. And thinking about just that process. Well, if we have some form of liquid material that's moving underneath our continental crust, would that be enough to move the continents themselves? So, at a big conference in 1912, he presented the continental drift theory where essentially people said,
16:29
we understand what you're saying, we get it, but it doesn't make sense. How can you move an entire continent across the ocean? It doesn't make sense. And so he actually he continued to do research and actually died doing research, he froze to death unfortunately, but not in vain. Fast forward into World War II when we started looking at the the ocean by looking at sonar, we were able to see these very large divergence zones, which would then prove that, like a conveyor
17:02
belt system that would have been enough to create that conveyor belt system that would move a slab of rock with continents and oceans on top of it. And that was when we realized that oh my gosh, he was right. Moving forward, we'll look at Mary Arizona Baber. She was really important for two reasons. One is that she was a geographer and a geologist, best known for teaching pedagogy in academia, but for her, the big thing was field research. She realized that experiential learning is
17:38
really important in the field of sciences. So what does that mean? Well, I can show you a book of a mountain and I can explain how this mountain has you know uplifted looking at its weathering processes and stuff like that. But it's a lot more effective if I grab you, I pick up a transplant you and then show you a mountain and say look, we can talk about in a classroom, but I can actually show you how this works, I can show you how rivers transport material, I can show you, you
18:07
know, at the biogeography of an area and how it can change based on the salinity of the local water resource. So, you know, we're very thankful for her contribution to geography as geography is a field science. We love going outside, we love going out and doing field research. Again, whether it be physical landscapes or whether it be cultural, going out there and trying new food and learning about new cultures and new music and new style of dance. I mean, it's so important to go out and
18:38
get into the field. And then our last geographer on this list, are there more? Lots more, and I'll give you some notable mentions as well. But we'll do Luna Leopold, because we'll mention him again later in the term. He's known for his research looking at fluvial geomorphology or understanding how water changes the earth and how do we study that. So his big contribution to geography was that he wanted to create a new philosophy of water management, because water is a very
19:09
important resource. And oftentimes in history, it was not used or regulated appropriately. And, you know, water has a lot of power. You know, it has a lot of money involved. It's, as you see, according the slide here, to protect our water resources because it has economical, social and political factors. If you do not have water, you cannot have agriculture, you cannot have livestock, you can't have people. So you need to be able to regulate the water you
19:36
have. And the reality is, we don't have a lot of fresh water on our planet. We circulate through a lot of the same water and we have a lot of water stored in the ocean, which is not pottable or drinkable. And we have a lot of water stored in ice. But what we have is freshwater that circulates through a hydrologic cycle is really not a lot. So how do we regulate that? How do we store water? How are we fair with that storage? You know, bring up that word fair, because we find that
20:01
a lot of corporations, not to mention names, but we'll say, a very famous water bottle company. So they're known, especially in California to purchase streams, and to then bottle all the water in that stream. And then everyone else that was downstream of that river source no longer has water because it's all being consumed at the top right at source. So how is that fair? How do we regulate that? How do we understand, you know, the the impact of water? So that's what
20:28
he was about. So we mentioned a couple people, what was that, nine people or so? That are that were brought impactful pieces to geography. I do expect that, you know, all those people, and they're just primary, what do they bring to the table? Because we'll be mentioning these people further on in the term. But notable mentions that aren't on here, I mean, you've got people, such as John Muir. John Muir, you may know as being the father of the National Park System. He's the
20:59
reason why Yosemite was saved as a state park. You've got people
21:07
like Michael Jordan. He was a geographer, I'm a geographer. But you've got also Philip Playfair. He was the one who studied stromatolites and understood that that's where Earth got its original apportionment of oxygen through photosynthesis of a micro algae that precipitates rock. So there's lots of other people that will go throughout the semester. But to begin with, this is a good list of people that are really important to the diversity and understanding of
21:39
geography as a science. And again, we'll mention a lot of them again, in other presentations. So my last slide is looking at that, you know, geography itself is a critical thinking course, we think critically. Now, what's interesting about critical thinking, is people often assume that that means something bad like, "Oh, don't be so critical." But that's not what critical thinking is about. Critical thinking is about asking the right questions. And
22:01
it's about understanding what you're asking and what it is that you want. So this is a traditional scientific method. If we all thought this way, the world would be very different. And it's hard for us to think this way. You know, it's hard for us when we have social media at our fingertips to be able to go and look at someone's post and follow this process, because we don't do that, very rarely. So let's use it as an example. Someone posts a post on Facebook. It's like a screenshot
22:29
of something that was shared, that was shared, that was shared. So you need to ask a question, right? Well, I want to know if this is a credible post. So you need to do some background research. And some of that background research could include that you Snopes it, or you Google some of the facts and figures. You do some research about the person who posted it to begin with. And then you construct a hypothesis. And maybe your hypothesis is that this post is not credible, that
22:58
there is some there are some fallacies. Within those posts, so you can test that with an experiment, right? You can start click-- you can recollect the data to see if it's true. Is that working? Yes or no? If it's not, then you need to change the experiment that you're doing. You can then maybe-- you did, maybe you find a post, you do some research, you do your own numbers, you start collecting your own data, and it's working. And then you have to then, you know, with that data, construct
23:26
a conclusion. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Or do you want to reject and re-modify? Maybe, maybe it's like, well, you know, this worked out, but I need more research, or I completely agree this is factual and true, or this is totally bogus and not good. That's this idea. So if you don't agree, then you go back, ask new questions, form a new hypothesis and start over again. And that's okay. You know, in a science, you know, there's this overshadowing fear of failure. And failure s really
24:01
a wonderful thing. If you use that information to make changes, because most of the things that we know, were the results of a failed experiment. So we were trying to find this, but we found that, and sometimes that is much more important than what this would have been to begin with. And then we can reconstruct our methods and start over again. So all I'm asking you for our course is that everything that we talked about, we use that scientific method, we ask those questions,
24:29
we construct a hypothesis, your hypothesis is a funded idea with research. And then when we're done, then our result that we communicate is the theory. My theory is that this person posts credible information, or my theory is this person does not post credible information because of my hypothesis, which was my question. So when we get into more about what the theory is, we understand that the phrase theory is not some just random idea. We went from here and got all the way, as I move
25:01
it, all the way down here to the bottom, before we can label it as a theory. And that means it's already past all of this, it's been agreed upon by a scientific community. So there's a lot more that goes into it than just I have a theory, it doesn't work that way, I have a hypothesis. That's what you need to say. So we'll go back here. So I know this was a lot of information in a short amount of time. But I hope that it will be helpful, be
25:26
sure to watch it again, if you need more help with that. But again, geography, this is why I love it. You know, it's so multifaceted, so many different people, so many little nooks and crannies within our discipline that can really cater to anyone. And if you appreciate going outside, this is a perfect class for you because this is going to teach you how to observe and interpret our landscape and understand what it is that you stand facing. That being said, don't forget to subscribe and
25:56
like my channel and we'll talk soon.
Here to help you learn
Sign in to keep a private conversation with your course tutor.
Ask me anything about the material…
Sign in to chat