UNIT 1: PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

Physical and Human Geography

There are two important sub-fields of knowledge with similar methodology that we are going to focus on throughout this course: physical geography and human geography. The following table helps to make the differences between these two types of geography more apparent. This table describes some of the phenomena or elements studied by each of these sub-fields of knowledge. Knowing what kinds of things are studied by geographers provides us with a better understanding of the differences between physical and human geography.

Physical Geography	Human Geography
Rocks and Minerals	Population
Landforms	Settlements
Soils	Economic Activities
Animals	Transportation
Plants	Recreational Activities
Water	Religion
Atmosphere	Political Systems
Rivers and Other Water Bodies	Social Traditions
Environment	Human Migration
Climate and Weather	Agricultural Systems
Oceans	Urban Systems