Page 12 - Chapter 1: How Geographers Look at the World

Aswan High Dam on the Nile River. The dam Geographers are interested in how locations are
altered the surface of the earth in profound ways chosen for various economic activities, such as farm-
and so has had an impact on the region’s people. ing, mining, manufacturing, and selling. A desirable
location usually includes plentiful resources and
Culture good transportation routes. Geographers are also
Human geographers use the tools of sociology interested in the interdependence of people’s eco-
and anthropology to understand the culture of soci- nomic activities throughout the world. New devel-
eties throughout the world. They study the relation- opments in communications and transportation
ships between the physical environment and social make the movement of information and goods
structures. They examine people’s ways of life in dif- faster and more efficient than ever before. A busi-
ferent parts of the world. Human geographers also ness can operate globally without depending on any
seek to understand how the activities of different one specific place to fill all of its needs.
groups affect their physical environments and how
the environment affects culture groups differently. Geography as a Career
Although people trained in geography are in
Economics
great demand in the workforce, many of them do
Geographers use economics to help them
not have geographer as a job title. Geography skills
understand how the locations of resources affect
are useful in so many different situations that geo-
the ways people make, transport, and use goods,
graphers have more than a hundred different job
and how and where services are provided.
titles. Geographers often combine the study of
geography with other areas of study. For example,
a salesperson must know the geographic character-
istics of the region in which he or she is selling
products. Also, a travel agent must have some
Student Web Activity Visit the Glencoe World Geography knowledge of other places in order to plan trips for
Web site at geography.glencoe.com and click on Student Web clients. Still, as the chart on page 26 shows, because
Activities—Chapter 1 for an activity about careers in geography.
geography itself has many specialized fields, there
are many different kinds of geographers.

Checking for Understanding Critical Thinking Analyzing Maps
1. Define physical geography, 3. Predicting Consequences What 6. Place Study the map of the United
human geography, meteorology, might happen if an economic geo- States in the Reference Atlas on
cartography, geographic grapher did not interview citizens pages RA6–RA7. What kinds of
information systems (GIS). when preparing a city transporta- information can you learn from
2. Main Ideas Copy the table below tion plan? this map? How does the informa-
on your paper, and fill in the ways 4. Making Inferences What kinds tion on this map differ from the
geographers study the earth and of geographers might be employed map on pages RA8–RA9?
use geography. by a manufacturing company?
Applying Geography
5. Making Generalizations How
Geography Branches
does the study of other disciplines 7. Research Methods As a
Geography Methods help geographers in their work geographer working on a
Other Disciplines as countries become increasingly plan for a new community
interdependent? center, what research
Jobs in Geography
methods would you use?
Explain your choices in a
paragraph.

Chapter 1 27