GEO200 World Regional Geography

GEO200WORLD REGIONAL

GEOGRAPHYDr. George OdhiamboDr. George Odhiambo

Introduction: GeographyIntroduction: Geography• The study of place and space

• Studies location and distribution of features on the Earth’s surface

• Studies human activity, the natural environment, and the relationship between the two

• Answers where human activities as well as geographic phenomenon occur and why

INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION

– Different fields of Geography

• Physical Geography, study of the environment, location of terrain, physical features of the land

• Human Geography, study of human occupation of the land

• Regional Geography, analysis of environmental and human patterns (and/or activities) within an area or region

Regional GeographyRegional Geography

• Regional Geography combines elements of both physical and human geography

• Is concerned with the unique combinations of environmental and human factors which produce territories with distinctive landscapes and socio-cultural attributes.

Regional GeographyRegional Geography

• Region: Large section that encompass many places, all or most of which share a set of attributes (characteristics) that differ from the attributes of places that mark a different region.

• The study of Regional Geography helps us understand how natural, social, political, and cultural phenomena come together to produce distinct geographic settings.

• Knowledge of Regional Geography is crucial to understanding international development.

RegionsRegions• Areas of the earth’s surface marked by

certain properties• Scientific devices that enable us to make

spatial generalizations• Based on criteria we establish • Criteria can be based on:

Human (cultural) properties Physical (natural) characteristics or Both

ApproachApproach

• Globalization and the links between global and local

• The unevenness of political and economic developments

• The connection between society and nature• The links among and between regions

North America

South America

Asia

Australia

Africa

Europe

Antarctica

PacificOcean

Atlantic Ocean

IndianOcean

ArcticOcean

New Global OrderNew Global Order

• Old Classifications– First World

• US, Europe, Australia, Japan• free market economies

– Second World• Eastern Europe• planned and controlled economies

– Third World • Africa, Middle east, South America, Asia• underdeveloped poor economies

New Global OrderNew Global Order

• New Classifications– Developed Regions

• Includes countries such as US, Europe, Australia• countries with diversification of economies

– service & technologically based countries

– Developing Regions• Africa, South Asia, Middle & South America• countries based primarily on agriculture and basic

manufacturing industries

THE CONCEPT OF REGIONTHE CONCEPT OF REGION

• Worlds within worlds

• Areas with unifying characteristics

• Regions may be large or small– continental or local– ie. World regions, countries, local regions

• Sub-regions– regions within regions


• Regions may be– economic– environmental– historical– cultural

• other ideas?


• Whatever method or procedure used in classifying the regions must ensure some homogeneity in the attribute or attributes used.


• Formal Region: Groups of areal units that have a high degree of homogeneity in terms of particular distinguishing features (such as religion adherence or household incomes).

• Functional regions (nodal regions): Regions that are defined and classified by patterns of spatial interaction or spatial organisation.

• De jure (spaces) regions: Territories marked by formal, legaly recognised boundaries-national states, provinces, counties etc


• Frontier Regions: occur where boundaries are very weakly developed or where population densities are especially low.

• Regionalism: Term used to describe situations where different religious or ethnic groups (whose members share cultural characteristics) within distinctive identities co-exist within the same state boundaries, often concentrated within a particular region and sharing strong feelings of collective identity.

INTERDEPENDENT WORLDINTERDEPENDENT WORLD

• Globalization: Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology.

• This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world.

GlobalisationGlobalisation• Globalization describes an ongoing process by which regional

economies, societies and cultures have become integrated through a globe-spanning network of exchange.

• The term is sometimes used to refer specifically to economic globalization: the integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, and the spread of technology.

• However, globalization is usually recognized as being driven by a combination of economic, technological, socio-cultural

and political factors. • The term can also refer to the transnational dissemination of

ideas, languages, or popular culture.

GlobalisationGlobalisation

• The Islamic Golden Age was also an important early stage of globalization, when Muslim traders and explorers established a sustained economy across the world resulting in a globalization of crops, trade, knowledge and technology.

• Globally significant crops such as sugar, dates and cotton became widely cultivated across the Muslim world in this period, while the necessity of learning Arabic and completing the Hajj created a cosmopolitan culture

Globalization-DriversGlobalization-Drivers

• Policy and technological developments (mainly IT) of the past few decades have spurred increases in cross-border trade, investment, and migration so large that many observers believe the world has entered a qualitatively new phase in its economic development. – policies that have opened economies domestically

and internationally.

Globalization-DriversGlobalization-Drivers

• Promotion of free tradePromotion of free trade: – elimination of tariffs; creation of free trade zones with small or no

tariffs – Reduced transportation costs, especially resulting from development

of containerization for ocean shipping. – Reduction or elimination of capital controls – Reduction, elimination, or harmonization of subsidies for local

businesses – Creation of subsidies for global corporations – Harmonization of intellectual property laws across the majority of

states, with more restrictions – Supranational recognition of intellectual property restrictions (e.g.

patents granted by China would be recognized in the United States)

Globalization-driversGlobalization-drivers

• Information technologies have given all sorts of individual economic actors—consumers, investors, businesses—valuable new tools for identifying and pursuing economic opportunities, including faster and more informed analyses of economic trends around the world, easy transfers of assets, and collaboration with far-flung partners.

• Media?• Language?

Globalization-drivers

• Voyages of exploration were another major stage in the process of globalization. Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus in the fifteenth century opened up a whole new chapter in the history of globalization.

• Economy and empire were the major motives.

Globalization and Cultural Globalization and Cultural exchangeexchange

• Cultural globalization, driven by communication technology (media) and the worldwide marketing of Western cultures has been argued to lead to the global domination of Western culture (mainly American culture) at the expense of traditional diversity.

GlobalizationGlobalization• Demographic globalization reached its height in the

Americas with the influx of millions of people from other hemispheres. In time the population of the United States became a microcosm of the population of the world - with immigrants from every society on earth.

• The industrial revolution in Europe: Europe's prosperity whetted its appetite for new worlds to conquer. The Atlantic slave trade was accelerated, moving millions of Africans from one part of the world to another. Europe's appetite also went imperial on a global scale.

GlobalizationGlobalization

• At the end of the twentieth century the human race is closer to having world languages than it was in the nineteenth century

GlobalizationGlobalization• One of the consequences of globalization is that

we are getting to be more and more alike across the world every decade.

• Homogenization is increasing similarity. The second accompanying characteristic of globalization is hegemonization - the paradoxical concentration of power in a particular country or in a particular civilization.

• While "homogenization" is the process of expanding homogeneity, "hegemonization" is the emergence and consolidation of the hegemonic center.

Economic DevelopmentEconomic Development

• The world is often divided into two broad categories of countries:– the More Developed Countries (MDCs), and – the Less Developed Countries (LDCs)

• Such a broad regionalization scheme is likely to be overly simplistic, yet it is commonly used and it can be quite useful. Often different terms are used to describe each region. Think of other terms that you have heard to describe the MDCs and the LDCs.

MDCs and LDCsMDCs and LDCs

• Generally, most people would classify the following realms as LDC's:– Sub-Saharan Africa – South Asia – Southeast Asia – China * – North Africa and Southwest Asia – Middle America – South America – the Pacific Realm

MDCs and LDCsMDCs and LDCs• The more developed realms generally include:

– North America – Japan – Europe – Australia / New Zealand – Russia *NB: Is China an LDC or an MDC? According to our

measures of economic development China is definitely a less developed country with a GNP per capita of $620 (could be slightly more than that now).

GDP nominal per capita world map IMF 2009GDP nominal per capita world map IMF 2009

Economic DevelopmentEconomic Development

• First World Countries and Third World Countries - Why?

• Well, what is the Second World? How can you have a first and a third without a second?

• The Second World used to be the command economy (communist) countries of the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, China, North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, and a few other countries. With the collapse of communism in most of these countries the "Second World" no longer exists.

Measures of Economic Measures of Economic DevelopmentDevelopment

• GNP per capita • Population Growth • Occupational Structure of the Labor Force • Urbanization • Consumption per capita • Infrastructure • Social Conditions

– literacy rate literacy rate – life expectancy life expectancy – health care health care – caloric intake caloric intake – infant mortality infant mortality – other other

Socio-Economic IndicatorsSocio-Economic Indicators

• GNP per capita • GNP is the total market value of all final goods and

services produced by a country in one year. • It is a measure of economic activity, or how much is

produced in a country. • The more that a country produces per person, the

more "developed" it is assumed to be.• Which country produces more (has a higher GNP),

India or Switzerland? Which is more "developed"?

Socio-Economic IndicatorsSocio-Economic Indicators• The GNP of India is $336 billion and the GNP of

Switzerland is $288 billion. India produces more than does Switzerland, but everybody would agree that Switzerland is more economically advanced. Why?

• The answer is population. The population of India is 1 billion and the population of Switzerland is 7 million. The GNP per capita of Switzerland is $40,630 and the GNP per capita of India is less than $ 340.

• Remember, always use GNP PER CAPITA when comparing the economic conditions of different countries.

Population Growth• In general, poorer countries have more rapid

rates of population growth. • Population Factors:

– Natality (birth rate)– Mortality (death rate)– Age Distribution– Sex Ratio– Emigration– Immigration

Source: http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/english/beyond/beyondco/beg_03.pdf

http://www.indexmundi.com/map/?v=24 Population growth rate map – Global 2011

http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/english/beyond/beyondco/beg_03.pdf

http://www.indexmundi.com/map/?v=24

Occupational Structure of the Occupational Structure of the Labor ForceLabor Force

• Economic geographers divide economic activities into primary activities, secondary activities, and tertiary activities. (Some add quaternary activities and quinary activities, but we will not.)


• PRIMARY ACTIVITIES are those that directly remove resources from the earth. Generally they include AGRICULTURE, MINING, fishing, and lumbering.

• SECONDARY ACTIVITIES involve converting resources into finished products. These are the MANUFACTURING activities.

• TERTIARY ACTIVITIES comprise the SERVICE sector of the economy. The tertiary activities include retailing, transportation, education, banking, etc.


• As countries develop the occupational structure of the labor force changes. In LDCs most people are engaged in primary activities.

• In high income countries like the United states and Japan most people are involved with the tertiary sector.

UrbanizationUrbanization

• Urbanization is the percentage of a country's population who live in urban areas.

• Urban areas generally mean towns and cities of 2,500 or more people.

• Currently more of the worlds population live in urban areas. Generally as countries develop urbanization increases.

• Note the high urbanization found in the more developed countries and in South America.

Consumption per capitaConsumption per capita

• Consumption per person is a good indicator of development.

• The richer a country is, the more its citizens consume.

• But also, the higher the carbon footprint-environmental degradation.

Consumption per capitaConsumption per capita

• One consequence of consumption is pollution. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is emitted when fossil fuels are used. Scientists are studying the connection between CO2 build up in the atmosphere ant global warming. this chart shows CO2 emissions for various countries

InfrastructureInfrastructure

• A country's infrastructure is defined as "the foundations of a society: urban centers, transport networks, communications, energy distribution systems, farms, factories, mines, and such facilities as schools, hospitals, postal services, and police and armed forces.”

Social ConditionsSocial Conditions• There are many other measures of economic

development. Many refer to the social conditions of a country. Here is a short list.

• literacy rate• life expectancy• health care • caloric intake • infant mortality• other

Human Development Index (HDI)Human Development Index (HDI)

• GNP per capita is the most used indicator of development yet there are some significant problems with it. Therefore, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) computes a Human Development Index for each country each year.

Human Development Index (HDI)Human Development Index (HDI)

• The human development index (HDI), composed of three indicators: life expectancy, education (adult literacy and combined secondary and tertiary school enrollment) and real GDP per capita. (Note: for our purposes, GNP and GDP mean the same thing and they are synonymous with income.)

• To see the Human Development Index for individual countries go to: http://hdrstats.undp.org/indicators/5.html

• http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/ • http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/data/hd_map/ • http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2011/download/en/

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.IMRT.IN/countries?display=map World bank Map on child mortality

Infant mortality rate is the number of infants dying before reaching one year Infant mortality rate is the number of infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year.of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year.

Life Expectancy at birth (years) over 80 77.5-80 75-77.5 72.5-75 70-72.5 67.5-70 65-67.5

60-65 55-60 50-55 45-50 under 45 not available

http://www.theglobaleducationproject.org/earth/human-conditions.php

http://www.indexmundi.com/map/?v=24 Population growth rate map - Global

http://www.imf.org/external/index.htm IMF website

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GEO200 World Regional Geography