4 3-regional & national geography

The Computer & Social Science Disciplines
The Computer Sciences The Social Sciences
Dr. L.T.M. Muungo, PhD

Introduction to Geography
(People, Places, and Environment)

What Is Geography?
• Geography is from two Greek words, Geo –
Earth, and Graphien – to write.
• It is simply the study of the earth, and
everything that goes on, on it.
• Geography is the one of the oldest and most
diverse fields of study.

Geography Today
• Association of American Geographers
– www.aag.org
– 55 topical specialties (page 5)
– Geography asks these questions: Where?, What?,
When?, Why?, and Why there?
• Spatial analysis – has to do with the distribution of
a phenomenon in “space” (this doesn’t refer to
outer space). Very Geographical concept.

Geography
• Physical – this makes it a natural science. These are the physical charateristics
of the environment.
• Consideration of Human & Cultural – these make it a social science. Human
groups and our activities.
• Cartography – All kinds of mapping.
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS) – using computers to help make and
display maps and analyze data. A sub-branch of Cartography.
• All these fields are interrelated (see table on page 5). That is Assignment #2.
therefore Geography is very useful when social science is being considered.

History of Geography
• Classical Western World
– Eratosthenes (276-194 B.C.). This is actually
Egyptian (Africa), he worked in the library of
Alexandria. See pg 3. He believed the world was
round.
– Hipparchus (180-127 B.C.) – 1st to draw grid lines.

History of Geography
Non-European World
• Isaiah (40:22) believed the world was round too! –
700 B.C.!
– Al-Edrisi (1099-1154)
– Ibn-Battuta (1304-1378)
– Ibn-Khaldun (1332-1406)
– The Tribute of Yu
– Kangnido, see map on pg 4 (read)
– Africans traveled a LOT – e.g. Timbuktu (pg 9), Queen of
Sheba, Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8), East Africa, etc.

“The information that any citizen
needs in order to make an
informed decision on an
important question of the day is
largely geographic.”

Regions
• A Geography region is an area that shows
similar characteristics.
• Does not have abrupt boundaries. E.g.
climate, culture, etc. It slowly/ gradually
goes into the next region.

Spatial Analysis & Movement
• Distribution of things. E.g.
– Density – the number of phenomena (e.g. people, houses,
trees, etc) per sq. mile.
• Distance
– Measurements
• Absolute
• Time
• Cost
• Distance Decay Effect
– As distance increases, importance of a particular
phenomena decreases
• Example: Newspaper circulation, radio signals, TV reception

Three Types of Diffusion
• Diffusion is the spread of ideas, etc. There are 3
main kinds:
• Relocation diffusion – e.g. immigration
• Contiguous diffusion – e.g. disease
• Hierarchical (leapfrog) diffusion – e.g. fashion in
cities
• Barriers to diffusion
– Cultural barriers e.g. political boundaries or differences,
cultural differences
– Oceans, deserts, distance, time

4 Physical Systems
• Atmosphere (air) e.g. Chapter 2 –
weather & climate
• Lithosphere (Earth’s solid rocks) e.g.
Chapter 3 - landforms
• Hydrosphere (water) e.g. Chapter 4 -
Biogeochemical Cycles
• Biosphere (living organisms) e.g.
Chapter 4 - Biogeochemical Cycles and
the Biosphere
L
A H
B
Interacting
spheres

Human-Environmental
Interaction
• Natural landscapes
– One without evidence of human activity. E.g.?
• Cultural landscapes
– Reveals how humans modify local environment.
E.g.?
– What about Central Park? Pg 20

The Geographic Grid
• Longitude - See Greenwich Photos & next slide
– Measures distance east to west around the globe
beginning at the Prime Meridian
– 2 most important lines of longitude: Prime Meridian &
the International Date Line
– 0-180 degrees East or West
• Latitude
– Location on the Earth’s surface between the equator
and either the north or south pole
– Also called parallels
– 0-90 degrees North or South

Map Making
• Called Cartography
• Scale
– Fraction 1/24,000
– Ratio 1:24,000
– Written statement “1 inch equals 1 mile”
– Bar style
• Detail and area
– Small scale map = less detail, large denominator
(1:1,000,000)
– Large scale map = more detail, small denominator
(1:100,000)
0 1 2 43

Projection
• Scientific method of transferring locations on Earth’s surface
to a flat map (“orange peel” concept). See Appendix on pg 591
(Goode’s Interrupted Projection).
• 4 types of distortion – see maps on next slide.
– Relative size and distance (Mercator). Here, shape is fine,
but size is not, esp. at the poles. So the scales are different
(see Greenland). Also called “conformal” maps. Pg 26
– Shape and direction (Equal Area projection). These are
maps that distort shape but preserve size.

Geographic Information
Technology
• Automated cartography
– Conversion of paper to digital formats
– Includes Computer Assisted Drawing (CAD)
• Sophisticated, specialized digital cartography systems
• Easier, cheaper editing. Manual techniques are expensive and
time-consuming, esp. when changes had to be made to maps
(e.g. Warren County Courthouse)

Remote Sensing
Acquisition of data about Earth’s
surface from a satellite orbiting the
planet or from high-flying aircraft

Satellites
• Landsat
– 1972; 1999
– Sensors measure radiation of colors of visible
light
• Uses:
• Weather satellites – for hurricanes, etc.
• GPS – uses longitudes & latitudes (pg 33).
• More uses are found on next slide.

Uses of Remotely Sensed Data & GIS
Spatial Analysis
• Human activities (see next slides)
– Changes in plant growth
– Drainage patterns (rivers)
– Monitoring environmental changes with satellite images, e.g. Lake Chad,
pg 1
– Counting lakes, pg 36
– Erosion associated with agriculture
– Analyzing changes in food production and land use
– Logging and forest management
– Wetland monitoring
• Wartime applications
• Calculating densities and distribution of population
**GIS means Geographic Information Systems

Reddes
t areas
are
most
recent
tree
cuts

GIS
• Database software for digital information
– Contains same information as regular database
• Stores spatial characteristics such as boundary
information or coordinates and addresses.
• Layers
– Information with specific characteristics
• Soils, hydrology, land ownership, etc.
– Can be combined into layers for analysis. Same
concept is used for making globes (see next slide).

Maps
• Flat pictures of
some portion of
the earth

Parts of a Map
• Map key or legend
tells what the symbols
mean
• Title tells what the
map is about
• Compass rose shows
the directions
• Scale shows the
distance between two
places on a map

Types of maps
• Political—shows political lines that divide
countries (or states)
• Physical—shows the physical features of
the earth (mountains, deserts, etc.)
• Climate—shows the different climate
regions of the earth

W h at t y p e o f
m a p i s t h i s ?

Types of maps
• Territorial—shows a territorial area such as
states (Zambia) or regions (Southern Africa) or
continent (Africa)
• Population—shows where people live or how
many people live in certain areas (Zambians)
• Road—shows the major roads in an area
(Kafue – Mazabuka Main Road)

Maps
• Cardinal directions (north, east, south, west)
are found on the compass rose
• Intermediate directions (northeast, northwest,
southeast, southwest)
• You use latitude and longitude to pinpoint
location

Use latitude and longitude to pinpoint the
location of each letter

Equator and Prime Meridian
• The Equator is located
at 0° latitude
• The Prime Meridian is
located at 0° longitude
• Lines of latitude are
called parallels
• Lines of longitude are
called meridians

Physical Features
• For civilizations to thrive, you need water, fertile soil and a
mild climate
• Mountains, deserts, oceans, rainforests, etc.. Are physical
features
• Mountains and deserts serve as natural geographic barriers-
they are hard to cross and separate communities

1. What is Mauna
Kea?
2. What island is
Red Hill on?
3. What do the dots
symbolize?
4. What direction is
Kailua from
Captain Cook?
5. Name one line of
latitude on the
map.

Reading charts, graphs and diagrams
• Graphs are used to show and compare
data
• Draw lines so you can see the information
in terms of rows and columns if the lines
are not already present.
• Read the row and the column that
corresponds to it.

1.Who read the
most books?
2.Who read the
fewest books?
3.How many more
books did
Yecenia read than
Hunter?
4.How many books
did the students
read?

1.How much
potatoes were
consumed on
Wednesday?
2.Which day were
the least amount
consumed?
3.Which day were
the most
potatoes
consumed?

1. What is a normal
blood pressure for
someone age 16?
2. What is the range
for moderate
hypertension?
3. What is the range
for severe
hypertension?

Big Geography
The Geography of
Global History

We need a mental picture of the whole world, not
just certain parts of it. This is “big geography.”

Hi. I’m Mundo.
Did you know
that how we
“see” the world
depends on how
we project the
world?

The Earth is a sphere. Therefore, it
cannot be projected on a flat map
without distortion. The question is,
which kind of distortion?

Three World Map Projections
Mercator, Peters, and Robinson

On a Mercator projection, invented by Gerardus Mercator in
1569, any straight line is a line of constant compass bearing.
This enables a navigator to plot a straight-line course.

Despite the values of the
Mercator Projection, it
distorts the size and shape
of land areas.
Fact: South America is
8 times as large as
Greenland.
Fact: Africa is 14 times
as large as Greenland.
The Peters Projection is an
“equal area” map. It
represents areas accurately,
but it seriously distorts shapes.
Compare the size of Europe to
Africa on the two maps.
Compare the size of the former
USSR to China on the two maps.

Human beings inhabit
the biosphere.
The biosphere is made up of three layers.
•The lithosphere: The solid earth, or outer crust of
rock, sand, and soil.
•The hydrosphere: The watery realm. About 97
percent of it is the oceans.
•The atmosphere: The thin layer of gasses, mainly
nitrogen and oxygen.

The lithosphere is in constant, though slow
motion.
The surface of the earth
and the location of its
land
masses have therefore
had a continuously
changing history.

The scene of history is continuously moving land masses.
Notice in the left column the names of distinct land
masses that no longer exist.
The red dot represents the location of the Grand Canyon. 
Laurasia
Gondwanaland
India
550 Million Years Ago
Today

The largest context of human
history is the entire planet.

70.9 % of the surface of the earth is
water.
Human beings, however, are a land-
dwelling species.
We call the biggest land areas
continents.

How many continents
are there?
Nine?
One?
Seven?
Five?
Four?

The conventional map of seven continents
But what IS a
continent?

Conventional definition of a continent
A large mass of land surrounded, or nearly surrounded, by
water.
If that is the conventional definition, why are
Europe and Asia separate continents?

Since the nineteenth century, most scholars have accepted the Ural
Mountains as part of the dividing Line between “Europe” and “Asia” as
continents.
The Urals as a border between continents?
They are not that impressive.

Another part of the
dividing line:
Bosporus and
Dardanelles
(Straits)
ASIA

What significance have the Bosporus and Dardanelles had as
a line dividing peoples from one another in history?
Almost
none!

The Ottoman Turkish Empire about 1550.
Its territory cut straight across the
Bosporus and Dardanelles.

Here’s a highway bridge across the Bosporus.
Today, you can drive from “Asia” to “Europe” in a
few minutes.

So, why is Europe a continent?
European scholars of the
nineteenth century decided that
it should be one.
One of the benefits of having
power in the world is that you
get to name things!

The dividing line between “Europe” and “Asia”
is not something that is “natural.” That is, it does
not exist as a fact of the natural world.
Many geographers have therefore been willing
to unite the two regions as a single continent
called “Eurasia.”

But is Africa
separated from
Eurasia by a wide
ocean?
No!
Why not think of
Eurasia and Africa
together as a single
“supercontinent?”
Let’s call it
“Afroeurasia.”

Africa + Asia + Europe = Afroeurasia

Think of Afroeurasia as having some
seas “inside” it.
Black Sea
Caspian Sea
Mediterranean Sea
Persian Gulf
Red Sea
You figure out
which is which?

One of the big geographical features of Afroeurasia is the Great Arid Zone.
This is the belt of arid or semi-arid land that extends nearly across Afroeurasia.

Scenes in the
Great Arid Zone
of Afroeurasia
Extreme dryness
Ahaggar Mts., Sahara Desert
Semi-aridity
Grassy steppes of Mongolia

Historically, peoples who herd animals as a way of life
have inhabited many parts of the Great Arid Zone. These
herders are pastoral nomads, that is, they move with their
herds or flocks from pasture to pasture.
Herders in Mongolia

A major theme in world history has been
the dynamic relations between pastoral
nomadic peoples of the Great Arid Zone…
…and peoples who
have been farmers
or city-dwellers.

Nomadic peoples of the Great Arid
Zone both traded and clashed with
farming and city-dwelling peoples
who lived adjacent to the Great Arid
Zone.
One of the greatest clashes was the
attacks of Mongol nomads on cities
of Eurasia in the 13th century.

2
3
4
5
6
8 9
10
11
The Eleven Seas of Afroeurasia
They made it easier for people to
communicate by water across Afroeurasia.
7
1
Name
these
seas!

Before modern times, merchants
relayed goods from one link in the
“chain of seas” to another. That is, a
single merchant did not make the trip
from one end of the chain to the other,
though it was theoretically possible.

Another feature of big geography is
the earth’s great mountain chains
Mountains have been barriers to human communication.
But passes across them have also served as
“valves” of communication.

The major winds and currents of the oceans
Until the coming of steamships in the 19th century, sailors had to know winds and currents to have
confidence that they could sail from one
place to another in an approximate amount of time. These winds
and currents follow large global patterns. It was a matter of
discovering what those patterns were.
Indian Ocean
Monsoon Winds

The wind cycle in the North Atlantic helped Christopher Columbus sail
both ways
across the ocean.
WIND
WIND

So, how many continents?
• Afroeurasia
• Australia
• North America
• South America
• Antarctica
• Afroeurasia
• Australia
• Americas
• Antarctica
But is it possible to
think of North and
South America as ONE
continent?

Are the
Americas
one
continent
or two?Try to think of
the Gulf of
Mexico and
the
Caribbean
Sea as bodies
of water
“inside”
the Americas.
Gulf of
Mexico
Caribbean
Sea

Columbia
Mississippi
Amazon Congo
Niger
Danube
Nile Tigris-
Euphrat
es
Indus Ganges
Mekong
Yangze
Yellow
(Huang
)
Darling
Finally, let’s not forget great rivers. They
have served as channels of communication
between seas and deep interior lands.

96
Archipelago: a string or chain of islands
In Zambia, there are some islands such as chilubi , isokwe, kilwa etc

97
Bay: a small body of water partially
surrounded by land
In Zambia, there are some islands such as Isanga, Mishembe, etc

98
Butte: a visible hill with steep, often
vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top
(Similar to but smaller than a plateau, mesa and table)
In Zambia, these are found in National Parks and valley areasIn Zambia, there are some islands such as chilubi , isokwe, kilwa etc

99
Canal: a man-made waterway for boats
or for draining or irrigating land
In Zambia, these are found Barotseland

100
Canyon: a deep valley or crevice in the earth’s
surface, with very steep sides and usually with a
river running through it
Also known as gorges; ravines are similar, but
not as deep e.g. Zambezi valley

101
Cape: a point of land that extends
into the sea or into a lake
In Zambia, is a landlocked, hence no cape parts

102
Delta: a triangular, fertile area of land
around the mouth of a large river
The Nile Delta– northern Egypt
In Zambia, is a landlocked, hence
no delta parts

103
Fjord: a narrow, winding ocean inlet with
steep cliff-like sides (carved out by a glacier)
In Zambia, is a landlocked, hence no Fjord parts

104
Glacier: a huge sheet of snow or ice moving
slowly down a slope (mountain) or valley
In Zambia, is a landlocked, hence no cape parts

105
What’s the difference between a
GLACIER and an ICEBERG?
A glacier is a river of ice, mostly on land. It is
fed by snowfields in the mountains and flows
down a valley, like a very slow moving river,
until it meets with the sea or a lake.
An iceberg is a large piece of ice floating in
water. It may have broken off a glacier.

106
Geyser: a spring from which boiling water
and steam gushes into the air in intervals
In Zambia, is a landlocked, hence no geysers
The only geothermal
activity in Zambia
are hot springs and
smallfumaroles in
the north -east.

107
Gulf: a large portion of the ocean,
partially surrounded by land

108
Island: a body of land completely
surrounded by water

109
Isthmus: a narrow strip of land
connecting two larger pieces of land
The Isthmus of Panama

110
Jungle: land densely covered with trees,
vines, etc. (typically found in the tropics)
Zambia being a tropical zone country, jungle is expected to be the main feature of the of
the country landscape, hence different species of trees. However, Zambia has no
significant jungles because much of the land is now arable and that woodland that
remains cannot be termed jungle

111
Lagoon: a body of shallow sea or salt
water that is separated from a larger sea
by some barrier (sand, rock, reef, etc.)
Blue Lagoon lies only 120kms west
of Lusaka on the Kafue Flats and
the vast floodplain attracts
thousands of Kafue lechwe, zebra,
sitatunga, some buffalo and
numerous waterbirds.
Mofwe Lagoon is the largest of
several lagoons in the Luapula
River swamps south of Lake
Mweru, in the Luapula Province of
Zambia.

112
Lake: a large inland body of standing
water (usually freshwater)
Lakes Kariba, Bangwelu, Mweru, Kashiba, Ishiba Ng’andu,
Kabompo

113
Mesa: a tall, flat-topped mountain with steep,
vertical sides (usually found in dry places)
Buttes are small mesas

114
Ocean: a large body of salt water
Pacific
Atlantic

115
Peninsula: a long piece of land
surrounded by water on three sides

116
Plain: a large, flat, and mostly treeless
area of land
Liuwa, Busanga plains in Zambia
The Great Plains

117
River: a natural stream of water larger
than a brook or creek (typically flowing into
an ocean or lake)
Zambezi Luangwa Kafue Chambeshi
Luapula

118
Sound: a wide channel linking two larger bodies
of water or separating an island from the mainland

119
Swamp: wet, spongy land often partly
covered with water
Bangweulu, Lufwisa, Lufwanyama,
Mininga, Lushwishi, Lukanga,
Busanga

120
Tundra: a vast, treeless arctic plain

121
Volcano: an opening in the Earth’s surface that
forms when lava, gases, and rocks erupt, or burst
out, from deep inside the Earth
Mt. Saint Helens

Define the following terms:
[Geography, Cartography, Region, Atmosphere, Lithosphere, Hydrosphere, Biosphere, Longitude,
Latitude, Territorial, Equator, etc]
Respond to the following questions:
Give a detailed descriptive account of Zambia’s geography in terms of its grid and region location
Give a detailed descriptive account of Zambia’s geography in terms of its population and economical
zones
Describe in details the geographical maps as they apply to the Zambian scenario
Describe various geographical terms with examples of Zambian-based sites
Group work discussional questions:
Explore pros and cons of the geographical location of Zambia within identified region
What are the economical advantages and disadvantages in terms of Zambia’s geographical location and its
population
Using the geographical terms as stated, relate and discuss them to those found in Zambia
Study Questions

4 3-regional & national geography

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