What is the relationship between human geography and physical geography?

Shenki

8 years ago

The geography of a region and the human uses of that are interdependent in a number of obvious ways.
For instance, people living along a seacoast tend to fish, so they develop cultures involving the sea, boats,
fishing techniques, a diet rich in seafoods, etc. Of course this will also be combined with the resources of
the land they live on. In colder areas, such as Northern Europe, the raising of sheep for wool is common,
and knitting became important. In Ireland and in Norway, for example, people developed distinctive knitting
patterns for the sweaters so that unrecognizable bodies of drowned sailors or fishermen could be
recognized by the clothes. In the South Pacific island cultures, less clothing was needed to start with, and
clothes that were light kept the fishermen from overheating in the sun. The plants that grew there were
used as fibers for clothing, rather than the hair or skins of animals.
People who lived in mountainous geography developed entirely different cultures from sea-going peoples,
often isolationist in character. Clothes, customs, languages and tools all reflect the needs of a population to
a very large degree dictated by the geography and climate of the region where they live. Architecture is
effected, also. The open Roman villas, developed in a warm and sunny climate, would have been
unbearable in the forests of northern Europe, where wooden log houses developed, with greater insulating
properties. The movable yurts of the steppes cultures across northern and central Asia were a function of
the geography, which demanded a nomadic lifestyle. The links below will take you to sites with more
information.
One of the interesting things I've noticed is the difference between the Great Pyramid and other Egyptian
monuments with astronomical orientations and Stonehenge. In Egypt, their astronomical capabilities were
very limited. Something constant, such as the location of the sun on midsummer's day, was something they
could tell and build a sighting device for. But that was about all; their astronomy was actually quite limited.
Stonehenge, on the other hand, although built by an obviously more "primitive" culture was an extremely
versatile astronomical site, capable of telling in great detail exactly where the sun, moon and stars would be
in the sky at different times of the year. I believe this was because of geographical differences, which
effected the two cultures. In Egypt, life depended on the Nile River, which regularly flooded and receeded,
providing the basis of Egyptian agriculture. In Britain the changes of the seasons were more erratic, and
the growing season shorter. The culture there had a greater need to know precisely what time of year to
plant what types of crops, and thus the great degree of accuracy of their astronomical "clock".

Fortune01

8 years ago

Human Geography is the study of man and his environment, while physical Geography has to do with the reliefs, our environment and places around us. Human geography as the name implies has to do with humans, how we live and adapt to our environment, physical geographical typically talks about the environment and places around us. The only relationship i can give between the two is that they both deal with "environment" meaning that human geography has to do with our environment and so does physical geography.