The Scope of Geography

268 Pages·1969·23.676 MB·English

by  Rhoads Murphey

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY
Volume 11

THE SCOPE OF GEOGRAPHY
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THE SCOPE OF GEOGRAPHY

Third Edition
RHOADS MURPHEY
Firstpublishedin1969byRandMcNally
Secondeditionpublishedin1973byRandMcNally
Thirdeditionpublishedin1982intheUSAbyMethuen&Co.
Thiseditionfirstpublishedin2014
byRoutledge
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©1969,1973,1982RhoadsMurphey
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ISBN:978-0-415-83447-6(Set)
eISBN:978-1-315-84860-0(Set)
ISBN:978-0-415-73347-2 (Volume11)
eISBN:978-1-315-84833-4(Volume11)
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Rhoads Murphey

Third Edition
Methuen
NEW YORK AND LONDON
First published in 1969 by Rand McNally
Second edition published in 1973 by Rand McNally
Third edition published in the USA by
Methuen & Co.
in association with Methuen, Inc.
733 Third Avenue, New York, ny 10017
Third edition first published in 1982 by
Methuen & Co. Ltd
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
© 1969, 1973, 1982 Rhoads Murphey
Photoset by Nene Phototypesetters Ltd, Northampton
and printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or
other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Murphey, Rhoads, 1919—
The scope of geography.
Includes bibliographies and index.
1. Geography. I. Title.
G116.M87 1982 910 82-6471
ISBN 0-416-33410-5 AACR2
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Murphey, Rhoads
The scope of geography.
1. Geography
I. Title
910 G128
ISBN 0-416-33410-5
CONTENTS

Introduction to the Third Edition page ix
1 Geography and social science 1
2 The region 8
3 Spatial form and spatial interaction 23
4 Spatial systems 42
5 The environmental factor 57
6 The ecological imperative 71
7 Culture, nature, and climate 84
8 The workings of weather and climate 96
9 Vegetation and human settlement 114
10 Soils and agriculture 128
11 Water and people 147
12 Land forms and settlement 162
13 Resources and population growth 176
14 Energy and development 190
15 Resource use, industrialization, and the future 208
16 Cities and manufacturing: spatial concentration 229
Suggestions for further reading 245
Possible study/discussion questions 249
Index 253
FIGURES

1 Overlapping regional traits page 13
2 Hypothetical spatial patterns of city hinterlands 29
3 City hinterlands in a hypothetical landscape 30
4 Simple interaction diagram 32
5 Sample spatial patterns 35
6 Projection comparisons 38
7 Latitude and longitude 40
8 A New Yorker’s view of the United States 44
9a Villages on a south Indian plain 47
9b Standard Asian village pattern 47
10 Models of urban spatial structure 49
11 Hypothetical land use zones around a city 50
12 World temperature trends 92
13 Cyclonic precipitation 98
14 Convectional precipitation 99
15 Orographic precipitation 100
16 Generalized wind belts of the world 103
17 Earth-sun relationships 105
18 Generalized vegetation sequence 116-17
19 World lumber, pulp, and wood cut 122
20 Sample soil profile 132
21 Ground water occurrence 149
Hypothetical settlements along a river 159
22
23 World population, 1968 and 2000 184
24 World population growth, 600-2000 188
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25 Urban-rural divisions by continents 229
MAPS

1 Sample regionalizations of the United States page 18
2 Land use in California and Nevada 19
3 Timbuktu in West Africa 25
4 Part of southeastern Michigan, from topographic sheet 37
5 Origins of commuters to Chicago 46
6 Land use in Boston 51
7 Cities of the fall line 61
8 Switzerland: altitudes and travel routes 64
9 Temperature inversions in the United States 76
10 World population density 89
11 World climatic types 91
12 United States railroads 109
13 United States population density 110
14 World vegetation types 115
15 Soil erosion in the United States 124
16 World soil types 129
17 Tenancy in Europe 140
18 World rainfall 148
19 Land subsidence in California 150
20 Irrigation in the United States 153
21 World land form types 164
22 Made land and land use in Seattle 174
23 World per capita income 204
24 World life expectancy at birth 205
25 World infant mortality 206