Geography is a multifaceted field that studies phenomena and spatial patterns. It concerns itself with the dynamics of the environment, landscapes, economies, societies, and cultures. It is a very interesting field that helps people understand the links between political systems, cultures, environments, and landscapes across the world. Geography is further divided into important parts namely physical features and human features. The physical features are pretty apparent to the eye and thus are known by all. On the other hand, not many know about human features in geography. This article here explains the importance of human geography and all the necessary things related to human features in geography.
1. What are the Physical Features and Human Features?
Both human and physical features are important parts of geography. You can easily see these features as they are present all around you. Things like climate, landforms, hydrology, and soil come under physical features. On the other hand, things like population distribution, language, religion, economic systems, and political systems illustrate the human features in geography. (See What are Physical Features in Geography?)
2. What are the 3 Main Types of Geography?
After learning about physical features and human features, let’s learn about the 3 main types of geography. Geography is concerned with the study of the earth, the phenomena surrounding the earth, its land, its inhabitants, and its features. This disciple tries to understand the environmental and physical complexities of the earth. On the basis of broad division, there are 3 main types of geography. These types are as follows:
A. Human Geography
This aspect of geography is involved in the study of the human race. The human features in geography study the origins and integrations of the human race. It tries to understand how different ideologies affect the human population and what perception the members of the human population have towards such ideologies. Additionally, it also studies how different groups of the human population inhabit the earth and organize themselves in these inhabited regions. The modern applications of this branch of geography involve showing the movement of food resources, finding out how food resources impact human communities, learning how people living in vulnerable areas are affected by climate change and mapping human migration. These are the following sub-branches of human geography:
- Population Geography
- Social Geography
- Historical Geography
- Health Geography
- Economic Geography
- Political Geography
- Rural Geography
- Urban Geography
- Transport Geography
- Cultural Geography
B. Physical Geography
This type of geography concerns itself with the study of the earth’s natural characteristics. It covers features near the earth’s surface as well as features on the earth’s surface. It’s used to see what lies beneath the earth’s lands, oceans, ice caps, etc. It also helps in the charting of landmasses. Its sub-branches are:
- Biogeography
- Hydrology
- Climatology
- Geomorphology
- Soil geography
C. Environmental Geography
This discipline studies the dimensional aspects of interactions between humans and their immediate environment. It also analyzes the repercussions of this interaction. It helps in comprehending the various human activities in an area and how these activities affect the area. (See What are Some Physical Factors Examples?)
3. What are Human Features in Geography?
The human features in geography include language patterns, the religious and ethnic makeup of the population, the size and density of the population, and some other characteristics of the culture. The built environment, such as roads, houses, bridges, and other infrastructure also comes under human features. Check out What does Centrifugal mean in Human Geography?
4. What is the Concept of Human Geography?
After learning about human features in geography, let’s further solidify your concept of human geography. The concept of human geography is the study of interrelations between the environment, people, and places. It also analyzes how these things fluctuate temporally and spatially across and between different locations.
It studies the interrelation between sociocultural and physical environments that humans have produced through their mutual interactions. The major divisions of this form of geography are concerned with human lifestyle and activities. Some examples of human geography are cultural geography, urban geography, demographics geography, and social geography. (See What is the Importance of Geography?)
5. What are the Important Concepts in Human Geography?
The most important concepts in human geography are space, time, location, spatial interaction, spatial distribution, hierarchy, spatial structure, spatial organization, spatial and ecological perception, culture, cognition and behavior, society, development, and inequality. Concepts such as spatial organization, spatial interaction, and space come under indigenous concepts of human geography. On the other hand, concepts such as time, culture, society, behavior, development and inequality, perception, etc come under derivate concepts of human geography. (See Nature and Scope of Physical Geography)
6. What are the Two Main Features of Human Geography?
After learning about the important concepts in human geography, you should also learn about the main features of human geography. Human geography is a branch of geography that studies the interrelation between environment, people, and place. It analyzes how these things vary spatially and temporally across and between locations. It is more inclined towards humanities and social sciences. The two main features of human geography are:
- Where humans are located
- Why humans are located
7. What are the Types of Human Geography?
Human geography is a branch of geography that studies the human race, its origins, and its interactions. It also tries to analyze how different ideologies affect the human population and what perception the members of the human population have towards such ideologies. It studies how the different groups of humans inhabit the earth and how the human population organizes itself in a region. The various types of human geography are as follows:
- Population Geography: It is concerned with the demographic distribution of the people. It studies the origin and growth of a specific region. It also analyzes migration and population distribution.
- Medical Geography: It studies the spread of diseases and their patterns. It studies the origins and distribution of pandemics, epidemics, etc over a given geographical location.
- Economic Geography: It studies the fashion in which different services and products are produced and distributed in the various niche markets. Along with this, it explores the fashion in which wealth is distributed across different regions on this planet.
- Political Geography: It examines the political aspects of the human population. It studies voting patterns, behaviors within each jurisdiction, borders of countries, development strategies put into place, etc.
- Religious Geography: It analyzes the distribution as well as the spread of different cultures and religious groups. It also studies their built environments.
- Historical Geography: This subdiscipline of human geography studies previous spatial processes and patterns. It examines how humans comprehend physical space and maps.
8. What is the Importance of Human Geography?
Human geography is holistic science with a deep and broad scope. The human features in geography are really relevant to humans as it teaches them a better way of co-existing with the planet earth. It conveys that humans need to take care of the earth as it is the only home of humankind. It is of the perspective that humans aren’t separate from the earth but are a part of it. Human geography is important because it recognizes the interconnection of things and helps in the analysis of the processes and patterns that classify this world.
It in turn helps in attaining goals like biodiversity conservation, sustainability, etc. With this, you have learned about the importance of human geography. (See What is a Subsequent Boundary in AP Human Geography?)
9. Who is Father of Human Geography?
Now that you are aware of the importance of human geography, let’s learn about the father of human geography. Human geography is a branch of geography that is concerned with the study of the human race. It studies the interactions, perceptions, and origins of the human race. It also studies how different groups of people organize themselves in their habitats. The father of human geography is Carl Ritter. He is most acclaimed because of his 19-volume work on how geography affected human history. Check out the Distinguish between a Physical Map and a Political Map.
