World
Regional Geography
Spring 2005
Test Date:
(February 8- Lecture and by February 12- Internet)
Test One
Review
Chapter 1
Five themes of Geography: Location,
Place, Region, Movement and Earth-Human Interaction
Globalization: the growing interdependence on the world’s peoples
and the integration of economies, technologies, and even some aspects of
cultures.
Localization: the differentiation of places with
increasing demands for local decision making and devolution of power. Focuses upon the identity
of people and places.
Approach
above by examining flows of information,
ideas, people, money and technology.
World population: 6 billion
in 2000, 9 billion in 2050. (78 million/year and 97% in poorer countries. By 2025, 60% in cities.
YOU MUST SEE
THIS: http://www.ibiblio.org/lunarbin/worldpop
The Country Basis of Political Activity:
Even with the many changes associated with the end of the Cold War and the
decline of Communism, the country remains most important political unit and
level of political decision-making. In 1998 there were 193 countries. In 2002,
Nations: an ethnic group, a cultural grouping
of people, usually linked to an area of land, such as the Palestinians, Kurds,
Scots, etc. Example: The country of the
Brandt Line: a grouping of countries,
depicts the separation between the rich north and the poor south.
Capitalism:
Foundation of the world economy.
It is an economic system that emphasizes the private (corporate)
ownership of business and investment.
The existence of countries maintains this system. Governments provide support for their
countries businesses by providing infrastructure (this includes
education.)
First (US,
Core vs. Periphery- Geographic arrangement
of national economies based upon a country's economy. Successful countries (the core) are wealthy and use advanced
technology and have high labor costs.
They import raw materials and manufactured goods from the poorer (periphery) countries and sell them
high-end goods and services.
Geography means, "writing
about the earth." It is the study
of relationships and connections between places or events and within space and
systems. It is the study of the
distribution of objects (natural and human) upon the earth their
relationships. About the
"forms" that we find around the planet (cities, transportation
networks, mountain ranges, river valleys) and the "processes" that
create them (economics, travel/dispersion/war, tectonic uplift, erosion.)
Locations are often defined by latitude
and longitude.
Geographic Information
Systems (GIS) -- Combining computers, data, and
locations, GIS are used to examine a wide variety of issues. Aerial
photographs, satellite images, and remote sensing techniques are also useful.
Cartography: Science of map making
Maps- Large-scale vs
small-scale
Distance and Direction: Directions is
shown as an orientation from a point (north, south, east and west.) Distance requires "cost" to
move. Cost can be time (miles per hour),
money (a plane ticket), energy (gravity, friction, etc.), fuel (gasoline) or
other resource. This cost is known as
the "friction of distance" and is part of an important geographic
concept known as "distance decay."
Movement: Consider the concepts of distance and
distance decay.
Distance decay: the
presence or impact of a phenomenon that impacts movement across a distance.
Friction of distance is the
effort of cost of movement.
Spatial Perspective: Approach used by Geographers to study the why
and how of places and events- "Space and Place"
Spatial System: Organization
and identification of regions based upon functional integration. An example is a city with suburbs and
farmlands.
Formal Region: Regions
with measurable and internal homogeneity.
Functional Region: A
structured (such as- urban-centered) system of interaction w/ a core and a
periphery. Based upon interaction
(transactions) or flows
Global Choke points (trade and
military) – historic movement from land (passes), to water to air and now to
internet (servers.) Next
choke points will be launch sites for space access.
Chapter Two
Human Development: process of enhancing
human capabilities to enable each person live a respected life of
value. Often measured
by economic development.
Urban Population Growth in the Developing
World- Issues:
·
Population Densities
·
Urban Infrastructure (provision and funding)
·
Public Services (Education, Transportation, Security)
·
Health Care (as well as control of diseases)
·
Growth of Slums
·
Civil Unrest
Demography: study of population structure and
development
Demographic Transition: Model
relating stages of demographic development based upon relationships between
birth/death rates and economic development.
Four Stages of Demographic Transition
§
Stage One: longest
(98% of history), high birth rate and high death rate. Need high birth rate for
labor intensive economies. High death
rate linked to high infant mortality.
§
Stage Two: Rapid
population growth, with high birth rate and lower death rate due to medical
technology and lower infant mortality.
§
Stage Three: Death rate
continues to decline at low pace and big drop in birth rate. Linked to urban-industrial society.
§
Stage Four: Low birth
rate and low death rate. Slow rates of
population growth (zero population occurs when lines converge.) Requires a highly urbanized and shift to
post-industrial economy
Population doubling: a 1%
increase leads to doubling in 70 years.
Earth's Population will double in 50 years at present rate.
The
Malthus: predicted that population growth is so much greater than food production
that famine must occur to curb world populations.
Reasons this has not panned out:
§
Role of technological change
§
Control of epidemics (better medical
technology)
§
Birth control
§
Higher standard of living has not led to
faster population growth
HIV/AIDS Infection: 90% occurs
in poor countries where health care resources already spread thin.
Sectors of the economy (activities):
Primary- Resources
Secondary- Manufactoring
Tertiary- Markets and
Sales
Quaternary- Services
(largest/fastest growing sector)
Culture: the ideas, beliefs and practices held
in common by a group of people (Used to define the regional groupings in this
book.) Learned behavior in the ideas,
beliefs and practices of a people- two main defining characteristics are; 1)
Religion and 2) Language. Cultural hearth- early center of agriculture, writing, and
other technologies.
Languages:
Most important factor in geographic diversity.
Religion:
Organized set of practices, involving a system of values and
worship of a divine being/beings- Important in transferring cultural values/
practices
Major World Religions:
Christianity, Islam, Buddhism (universalizing religions) and Hinduism (ethnic
religion)
Great Monotheistic Religions: Judaism,
Christianity and Islam- built from Judaistic
heritage. Abraham
founder of all (Moses and Jesus as prophets in Moslem tradition.
Christian Splits: Roman
Catholicism (60%) (
Moslem Splits: 1/5 of world
population is Moslem. Sunni (orthodox; constitute at least
80% of all Moslems). Shi'a - Partisans of Ali. Ninety
percent of all Shi'a Moslems today are found in
Cultural
Fault Line (Shaterbelts): Where cultures meet. Often areas of intense and
lasting conflict.
Earth is 71% water. Climate is
categorized using precipitation and temperature.
Climate: long term average of local weather conditions
and extreme events for a region. Determined by energy (heat) and moisture transfers around the
globe.
Insolation (incoming solar radiation), (strikes
the earth directly at a right angle at the equator and oblique angles north or
south.) Changes the amount of heat
delivered and creates energy imbalances causing winds and currents. Equatorial
areas: Energy (heat) surplus Polar
Areas: Energy (heat) deficit
The rotation of the earth causes a coriolis effect- causing currents to be
deflected (right in Northern Hemisphere and left in Southern Hemisphere.)
Climate
regions: basic
classification components are temperature and rainfall. Based upon redistribution
of energy, atmospheric and ocean circulation movement of water from oceans
across water.
Relief
(height and slope of land):
developed by internal (endogenic)
and external (exogenic)
system activity such as the tectonic (endogenic),
rock (endo/exo-genic) and weathering (exogenic) cycles.
Interior
Forces: Energy
provided by earth's internal heat. Plate
movements produce major features of earth's surface (mountain systems and
continents.) Divergent plates: move
apart- trenches/oceanic crust
Convergent
plates collide
(creating mountains from recycled subducted
materials.) Earthquakes and volcanoes
occur along plate boundaries. Transform faults move horizontally
against each other (
Rock
Cycle: Process (endogenic and exogenic) of
building new rock materials from volcanic, mineral and organic sources, under
the forces of heat and pressure.
Weathering:
Process of breaking down exposed rock through mechanical and chemical
means.
Processes
of weathering: Erosion
(weathering), transport (runoff, streams and rivers) and deposition (sediment,
alluvial plains and deltas.)
Human Impact
upon environment: amplified by growing population
Modern
Impacts: Factories
concentrate waste in water and atmosphere.
Landfills leach pollutants into soil (and groundwater.) Urban landuse
causes more runoff, erosion and moves urban pollutants.
Desertification: destruction of land's productive
capacity- by removal of vegetation, topsoil, overgrazing, etc.