Geography - AP Human Geography

Cartography is the science of making maps. While historically this involved exploring the land to map and then drawing maps by hand, technology has greatly improved this process. Today, cartographers are trained in GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and produce maps through computer programs. Data is collected mostly by satellite imaging but also some by field research.

The etymology of the term Cartography comes from French and Greek. The first half of the word, "carto" comes from the French word for map, "carte". Graph comes from the Greek word "graphein" meaning to write or to draw. Combining these two words thus signifies the writing or drawing of maps. The "y" at the end of the word signifies that it is the scientific study or skill of this specialty.

Relative location is how we describe any give location. This can be done in a nearly infinite number of ways. Texas, for example, is south of Oklahoma and North of Mexico. It is also west of the UK and north of South Africa. Relative location is one of the two types of location which is one of the Five Themes of Geography.

Human-environment interaction is how we modify and adapt our environment and is one of the Five Themes of Geography.

Absolute location is the method we use to designate a specific place using map coordinates. Absolute location is one of the two types of location, which is one of the Five Themes of Geography.

Physical Geography is one of the two major branches of geography. It studies the natural features of earth, as well as earth's natural processes. Physical Geography includes the study of mountains, geology, weather and climate, and much more. It looks at how the physical formation of the earth affects other aspects of geography. It does not directly deal with humans and social constructs — that is cultural or human geography.

A region is a man-made construct that geographers utilize to distinguish the features of an area. Formal regions, also known as uniform regions, are determined by having similar physical, cultural, or political traits. An example of a formal region is the state of North Carolina or the French-speaking region of Canada.

Global Positioning System, or GPS, is commonly used to determine an individual's exact location on Earth. GPS utilizes a satellite navigation system to provide location information anywhere on Earth.

Remote sensing refers to the process of taking pictures of the Earth’s surface from satellites (or, earlier, airplanes) to provide a greater understanding of the Earth’s geography over large distances. The ability to use airborne vehicles to take pictures of the Earth’s surface has been instrumental for geographers in the last century and has greatly advanced the sum of human understanding about the geography and composition of the Earth.

A geographic information system (GIS) is designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, and present numerous types of spatial and/or geographical data.

Switzerland is found in Western Europe. For much of human history Western Europe was a less developed region, in terms of human civilization. For several hundred years this changed with the emergence of the Roman Empire in modern-day Italy, but after the fall of the Roman Empire circa 500 C.E. the region returned to a place of relative insignificance. This all changed during the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution when philosophy, scientific inquiry, technological innovation, and personal liberty flourished in a way never previously seen in human history. This all begat the Industrial Revolution, which led to a European hegemony over the world. Today Western Europe continues to be of greater significance on the world stage than its population size and land size would logically suggest.

The Ruhr Valley is found in western Germany, near the border with France. It is the industrial center of Europe and has been since the end of the nineteenth century (not including some interruptions due to the two devastating world wars of the twentieth century). For much of the nineteenth century Northern England was the center of European industry, but the production of the Ruhr Valley overtook that of Northern England around the 1890s.

Syria is found in South-West Asia. South-West Asia has often served as a relatively significant part of the world throughout human history. It includes all of the region generally referred to as the “Middle East”; it is where agriculture first emerged in the region sometimes called “Mesopotamia” and sometimes called “The Fertile Crescent”; and due to its position as an intermediary between Europe, Africa, and Asia it has long been a center of global trade and a facilitator for the exchange of ideas.

Siberia is the name given to the massive region of eastern and northern Russia. It is incredibly sparsely populated and mineral rich. It has long been a source of fur, timber, coal, and iron ore for Russian rulers and the Russian people, and in more recent decades has been one of the world’s leading producers of petroleum and natural gas.

Indonesia is found in South East Asia. Japan is found in East Asia. South East Asia is one of the most densely populated regions on the planet and includes such countries as Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Turkey and Russia are the two countries in the world which overlap two continents, Europe and Asia. In Turkey, from Istanbul to the north is on the continent of Europe while the rest of the country lies in Asia. While the majority of Russia's land mass is in Asia, the majority of population and its economic centers are in Europe.

Culturally Geographers tend to group Russia with Europe as it is more similar to European cultures including language, food, and also ethnicity. Economically Russia also lines up with Europe more than Asia. However, the majority of the land area of Russia is East of the Ural mountains, placing it on the Asian continent.

Culturally Geographers usually group Turkey within the Middle East, a region of Asia. Although the city of Istanbul is half in Europe and half in Asia. Also, culturally Istanbul has a more European influence. The major religion in Turkey is Islam, which influences many Geographers to group Turkey with other countries of this similarity --the Middle Eastern countries.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are two countries which Geographers disagree on which region to place in. However, neither is considered to be in the region of Europe. The debate between Geographers on these countries is whether they are part of the region known as the "Middle East" or part of the "Central Asia" region. Location would deem them part of Central Asia, but culture is more similar to the Middle East.

Egypt is also debated by Geographers. Yet again, however, Egypt is never considered as part of Europe. The two regions that Geographers switch Egypt back and forth between are the Middle East and Saharan Africa. More often, Geographers settle on grouping Egypt with Saharan Africa as many of the countries in this region have a more Middle Eastern culture but geographically are located entirely on the continent of Africa. However, Egypt is not entirely located within the boarders of the African Continent. The Sinai, a very important historic and economic part of Egypt lies on the Saudi Arabian Peninsula, on the continent of Asia and in the region of the Middle East.

Though the majority of Geographers can agree on distinct regional divisions, there are always debates with these particular countries. So in the end, it really takes a lot of understanding and is a matter of circumstance for dividing the world into distinct regions.

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in London. This time zone encompasses the Prime Meridian, seeing as it is located at 0 degrees longitude!

The terminology that describes the region that includes Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria is known as the Maghreb. It was an especially popular area during the colonization era.

The "torrid zone" is another name for the tropics, which describes the areas between the Northern Hemisphere's Tropic of Cancer and the Southern Hemisphere's Tropic of Capricorn. These lines of latitude mark the points furthest from the Equator where the sun can still be directly overhead at any point during the year. The areas within the "torrid zone" are the warmest places on earth, featuring rainforests and other tropical environments.

As its name suggests, the Arabian peninsula is the home region of the Arabic language, which was then spread by conquering armies along with the Islamic religion in the sixth through eigth centuries. While many Muslim nations kept their native tongues, across North Africa, the common Greek tongue spoken there was generally replaced by Arabic. Still to this day, from Morocco to Egypt, Northern Africa is part of the larger Arabic world.

Studying geography and especially focusing on bodies of water and its interconnections with other aspects of geography, people groups, culture, etc. is known as marine geography. It should not be confused with marine biology, which is usually from a scientific view.