UNIT 1: PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

Location is defined as a particular place or position. Most studies of geography begin with the mention of this theme of geography. Location can be of two types: absolute location and relative location. In the former case, the location of a place is defined by its latitude and longitude or its exact address. Let us consider the case of Montreal, a city in Quebec, Canada. The coordinates 45°30′N 73°34′W define the absolute location of Montreal. However, when we say that Montreal is at a distance of approximately 540 km from Toronto, we are mentioning the relative location of Montreal. In another example, when we say that the address of the Natural History Museum of London is Cromwell Road London, SW7 5BD, United Kingdom, we are referring to its absolute location. However, we are mentioning its relative location when saying that the Natural History Museum is at a distance of about 5 km from another major tourist attraction of London, the London Eye.

Place refers to the physical and human aspects of a location. This theme of geography is associated with toponym (the name of a place), site (the description of the features of the place), and situation (the environmental conditions of the place). Each place in the world has its unique characteristics. The landforms, hydrology, biogeography, soils, etc..., of each place, is different, and so are its patterns of human habitation. The human characteristics of place are defined by the nature and size of its human population, the distinct human cultures and their ways of life. The concept of “place” aids geographers to compare and contrast two places on Earth. For example, it helps to distinguish Antarctica from the Sahara Desert. One is a cold desert while the other is a hot one. While Antarctica has research stations and penguins, the Sahara has nomadic tribes and camels. The “place” theme of geography thus elaborates a clear picture of a place in our minds.

No other species that has lived on our planet, as per our knowledge to this date, has such a profound effect on the environment as humans. Humans have adapted to the environment in ways that have allowed them to dominate all other species on Earth. Humans have also achieved what no other species have been capable of doing (at least to such a radical extent): modifying the planet to attain their goals of living. Thus, human-environment interaction needs special emphasis and has been classified as one of the five themes of geography. It involves three distinct aspects, dependency, adaptation, and modification. Dependency explores the ways in which humans are dependent on nature for a living. For example, in India, farmers across the country wait for the monsoons to arrive for the successful growth of their rain-fed crops. If monsoons are late, or the rains are insufficient, droughts and food crisis might create havoc in the highly populated country. Adaptation relates to how humans modify themselves, their lifestyles and their behavior to live in a new environment with new challenges. The different types of clothing invented by humans is one of the finest examples of how humans adapted to varying environmental conditions since the early days. While people in the cold countries adorned wool and fur clothing, those in the warmer countries adhered to cotton. The third aspect of the human-environment interaction and the most important one that allowed humans to “conquer” the world is the modification of the environment for his comfortable living. Humans built dams to water their fields in the dry season. They invented air coolers and air heaters to modify the air temperatures of the environment they inhabited. Humans also tamed the wild animals for their use, converted large tracts of dense forests to human-dominated settlements, and developed automobiles and airplanes that shortened distances between places. It is this final aspect of the human-environment interaction, the modification of the environment, that has also created huge problems in the earth today. Global warming and climate change, mass extinctions of wild species, high levels of environmental pollution, etc., have all resulted from the drastic environmental modifications triggered by the human race.