Major geogr ographic qualities of RRussiatecsonline.weebly.com/uploads/2/6/8/2/26827965/world_regional_geography_survey_a.pdflocation: Russia always lacked warm-water ports. Had the

WORLD’S GEOGRAPHIC

Major geogr

1. Russia is the largest t

next ranking country (C

� The Russian state

relative location,

contiguous United

(the volcano-studd

western half of R

extend from the

Kazakhstan.

� Its total area i

Comparatively, it

than 1.7 times the

slightly more than

Lesson Objectives: 1. Describe the ove

2. Trace the histor

an empire.

3. Identify the imp

current circums

4. Explain the impand the detachm

political and eco

IC REGIONS: RUSSIA

ographic qualities of R

t territorial state in the world. Its area is nearly

(Canada).

ate constitutes a world geographic realm because

n, and substantial population; it is about three

ted States and it extends across 11 time zones fr

udded Kamchatka Peninsula) to its western port

Russia is bisected by the north-south trending U

e island of Novaya Zemlya in the Arctic Ocea

is 17,075,200 km²; land: 16,995,800 km²,

it is slightly more than 2.2 times the size of A

the size of Canada; slightly more than 70 times th

an 1.8 times the size of the U.S.

overall climatic pattern of the Russian realm.

torical and geographical evolution of Russia into

mportance of the Soviet period to the region’s

mstances.

mpacts of Russia’s political boundary problems chment of its former republics to the realm’s

economic development.

12

CHAPTER

2 Russia

rly twice as large as the

use of its territorial size,

e times as large as the

from its eastern frontier

rt of St. Petersburg. The

Ural Mountains, which

cean to the border with

², water: 79,400 km².

Australia; slightly more

the size of the UK; and


2. Russia is the northern

and/or dry. Extensive r

air; and the country lies

� As the northernmo

against the onslau

Russia; summers

outpost was doom

totals range from

Europe from the N

time it reaches R

remote from mod

frigid climatic con

� Climate and weat

favorable in the w

rainfall, and short

fertile and produc

Russia often had t

(Physical M

IC REGIONS: RUSSIA

ernmost large and populous country in the wor

rugged mountain zones separate Russia from

es open to Arctic air-masses.

most populous country on Earth, Russia has virtu

aught of Arctic Air. Winters are long, dark, and b

rs are short and growing seasons limited. Man

omed by cold, snow, and hunger. To make matte

m modest to minimal because of the warm, m

e North Atlantic Ocean loses much of its warmt

Russia. Russia’s climatic continentality (inland

oderating and moistening maritime influences) is

onditions on the planet.

eather have always challenged Russia’s farmers

west, but even there temperature extremes, varia

ort growing seasons make farming difficult. Dur

uctive Ukraine supplied much of Russia’s food

d to import grain.

l Map of Russia showing its land elevation and de

13

orld; much of it is cold

m warmer subtropical

tually no natural barriers

d bitterly cold in most of

any a Siberian frontier

tters worst, precipitation

moist air carried across

mth and moisture by the

nd climatic environment

is characterized by most

rs. Conditions are most

riable and undependable

uring the Soviet period,

od needs, but even then

depth)

WORLD’S GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS: RUSSIA

14

3. Russia was one of the world's major colonial powers. Under the czars, the Russians

forged the world's largest contiguous empire; the Soviet rulers who succeeded the czars

took over and expanded this empire.

� Russia, like Britain, France, and other European powers, expanded through colonialism.

Yet whereas the other European powers expanded overseas, Russian influence traveled

overland into Central Asia, Siberia, China, and the Pacific coastlands of the Far East.

What emerged was not the greatest empire but the largest contiguous empire in the

world. At the time of the Russo-Japanese (1904), the Russian czar controlled more than

8.5 million square miles (22 million km2), just a tiny fraction less than the area of the

Soviet Union after the 1917 Revolution. Thus, the communist empire, to a large extent,

was the legacy of St. Petersburg and European Russia, not the product of Moscow and

the socialist revolution.

� The czars embarked on their imperial conquests in part because of Russia’s relative

location: Russia always lacked warm-water ports. Had the Revolution not intervened,

their southward push might have reached the Persian Gulf or even the Mediterranean

Sea. Czar Peter the Great envisaged a Russia open to trading with the entire world; he

developed St. Petersburg on the Baltic Sea into Russia’s leading port.

� Centuries of Russian expansionism did not confine itself to empty land or unclaimed

frontiers. The Russian state became an imperial power that annexed and incorporated

many nationalities and cultures. This was done by employing force of arms, by

overthrowing uncooperative rulers, by annexing territory, and by stoking the fires of

ethnic conflict. By the time the ruthless Russian regime began to face revolution among


its people, czarist

representing more

Soviet Union did

empire’s framewo

would in theory g

to bondage and, in

4. For so large an area,

The population remains

� Russia’s difficulti

of 144 million (

uncertainties arisi

amounts to about

mid-1960’s to 59

alcoholism, suici

expectancy. In the

blame. The incide

cases are multiply

that threatens to o

Russia’s populatio

� The population of

historic peak at 14

then began a dec

declining birth ra

considerably in re

the first time in 15

� Russia's populatio

making it one of t

most dense in the

Petersburg. 73% o

IC REGIONS: RUSSIA

Russia was a hearth of imperialism, and its em

ore than 100 million nationalities. The commu

did not liberate these subjugated peoples. Rath

work, binding the peoples colonized by the czars

give them autonomy and identity. In practice, it

, in some cases, extinction.

a, Russia’s population of under 145 million is

ns heavily concentrated in the westernmost one

lties are underscored by the country’s population

(2004) is shrinking because of the dislocatio

rising from the post-Soviet transition. This po

ut 1 million per year. Male life expectancy has d

59 in the early 2000’s; it is also declining for w

icide, and other manifestations of social diso

he general population, drug abuse, heavy smoking

idence of disease is rising. Tuberculosis is takin

plying rapidly; cancer rates are rising. Russia co

overshadow all its problems. (See graph for som

tion growth)

of Russia is 141,927,297 as of 1 January 2010

148,689,000 in 1991, just before the breakup of

ecade-long decline, falling at a rate of about 0

rates and rising death rates. However the de

recent years, and in 2009 Russia recorded annual

15 years, with growth of 23.3 thousand.

tion density is 8 people per square kilometer

f the most sparsely populated countries in the wo

the European part of the country, centering arou

of the population is urban.

15

mpire contained peoples

munists who forged the

ather, they changed the

rs into a new system that

it doomed those peoples

is comparatively small.

ne-fifth of the country.

ion data. The population

tion, turmoil, fears, and

population decline now

s dropped from 66 in the

women. Among males,

isorder drive down life

ing, and poor diets are to

king a heavy toll; AIDS

confronts a health crisis

ome statistical figures of

10. The population hit a

of the Soviet Union, but

t 0.5% per year due to

decline began to slow

al population growth for

r (22 per square mile),

world. The population is

ound Moscow and Saint


5. Development in Russ

cities, leading industri

farming areas. National

mainly along a narrow

southern Far East aroun

� At the heart of th

prefer to call this t

km) in all directio

state. Moscow h

directions from U

Europe in the we

Nizhniy Novgoro

waterways of the

Russia’s most imp

that faces the Bare

IC REGIONS: RUSSIA

ssia is concentrated west of the Ural Mountain

trial regions, densest transport networks, a

al integration and economic development eas

w corridor that stretches from the Southern

und Vladivostok.

the Russian Core lies the Central Industrial Regi

is the Moscow Region, thereby emphasizing that f

ctions from the capital, everything is oriented to

has maintained its centrality: roads and railr

Ukraine in the south; from Mensk (Belarus) a

west; from St. Petersburg and the Baltic Coast i

rod (formerly Gorkiy) and the Urals in the eas

he Volga Basin in the southeast (a canal links M

mportant navigable river); and even to the sub-arc

arents Sea.

16

ains; here lie the major

and most productive

ast of the Urals extend

rn Urals region to the

gion. Some geographers

t for over 250 miles (400

toward this focus of the

ilroads converge in all

and the rest of Eastern

t in the northwest; from

ast; from the cities and

s Moscow to the Volga,

arctic northern periphery


� The major cities

Russia; Moscow

Petersburg, Russ

Yekaterinburg, Ru

6. Russia is a multicultu

internal republics, orig

geographical entities.

� When the USSR

independent coun

83 percent of the

days of the Sovie

new flag, and mi

former Republics.

� The spatial framew

of 89 entities: 2

(Okrugs), 49 Prov

the two Autonom

ethnic minorities i

IC REGIONS: RUSSIA

s of the realm are: Baki (Baku), Azerbaijan; Ir

w, Russia; Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia; Nov

ssia; Tbilisi, Georgia; Vladivostok, Russia;

Russia; and Yerevan, Armenia.

tural state with a complex domestic political ge

iginally based on ethnic clusters, continue to

SR dissolved in 1991, Russia’s former empi

untries, and Russia itself was a changed nation. R

he population of under 150 million, a far higher

viet Union. Nut numerous minority peoples rema

millions of Russians found themselves under ne

cs.

ework of the still-evolving Russian Federation is

2 Autonomous Federal Cities, 21 Republics, 11

ovinces (Oblasts), 6 Territories (Krays). Moscow

omous Federal Cities. The 21 Republics, recogn

s in the population, lie in several clusters. (See ma

17

Irkutsk, Russia; Kazan,

ovosibirsk, Russia; St.

ia; Volgograd, Russia;

geography. Twenty-one

to function as politico-

pire devolved into 14

. Russians now made up

er proportion than in the

mained under Moscow’s

new governments in the

is complex. It consisted

11 Autonomous regions

w and St. Petersburg are

gnized to accommodate

map of 21 Republics)


� These 21 Republ

� Dagestan; (6)Ing

Cherkessia; (10)

(Yakutia); (15) N

� Khakassia; (20) C

IC REGIONS: RUSSIA

blics are: (1) Adygea; (2) Altai; (3) Bashkortos

ngushetia; (7) Kabardino-Balkaria; (8) Kalm

0) Karelia; (11) Komi; (12) Mari El; (13) M

North Ossetia-Alania; (16) Tatarstan; (17) Tuva

Chechnya; and, (21) Chuvashia

18

tostan; (4) Buryatia; (5)

lmykia; (9) Karachay-

Mordovia; (14) Sakha

va; (18) Udmurtia; (19)


19

7. Its large territorial size notwithstanding, Russia suffers from land encirclement within

Eurasia; it has few good and suitably located ports.

� Except for its very long Arctic coastline (which is most of the times covered with ice),

Russia is encircled basically by lands; on its western side is Europe, on its southern

flank, its former territories—the Central Asian Republics, and on its eastern edge, East

Asian countries. Such encirclement limits Russia’s advantage in terms of good and

suitably located ports. Thus, Russia has historically justified interference in nearby

countries affairs in the name of its own national security and its desire to achieve a

warm water port for its navy and access to shipping lanes.

� Ports in Russia are among one of the means of transporting goods and freights from one

destination to another. The former Soviet Union had 92 seaports but after its

disintegration only 41 ports belong to Russian Federation. The development of the Ports

is one of the major concerns for the Russian federal and regional governments. They are

determined to rebuild the infrastructure of the ports so that international trade can be

increased through its own ports. (Mapsoftheworld.com, 2009)

8. Regions long part of the Russian and Soviet empires are realigning themselves in the

post-communist era. Eastern Europe and the heavily Muslim Southwest Asia realm are

encroaching on Russia’s imperial borders.

� When the USSR dissolved in 1991, Russia’s former empire devolved into 14

independent countries, and Russia itself was a changed nation. Russians now made up

about 83 percent of the population of under 150 million, a far higher proportion than in

the days of the Soviet Union. But numerous minority peoples remained under

Moscow’s new flag, and millions of Russians found themselves under new governments

in the former Republics.

� Russian minorities in Estonia, Latvia, Moldova, and other former colonies continue to

look to Moscow for support when their privileges or rights are abridged. In Moscow,

the geographic concept of a Near Abroad took hold, a sphere of influence in the former

Soviet periphery where Russia would reserve the right to protect the interests of its kin.

As time went on, and Russian expatriates either returned home or adjusted to their new

situation, that notion lost its urgency. Still Russia projected its power onto small

neighbors when it perceived the need and opportunity, as it did in the Georgian

province of Abkhazia, where its actions fomented secessionist ideas and had the effect

of destabilizing the government in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital.

� Among former Soviet republics, Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine have enjoyed the closest

political and economic ties. These three, along with Kazakhstan, agreed in 2003 to form

a “Common Economic Space” that also signaled closer political ties. Elsewhere,

Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Moldova formed the GUUAM group,

dedicated to facilitating trade through the Caspian-Black Sea corridor.


20

9. The failure of the Soviet-communist system left Russia in economic disarray. Many of

the long-term components of the country's infrastructure broke down in the transition to

the post-communist order.

� Fundamental economic changes have transformed the Russian domain since the demise

of the Soviet Union. Much of the highly centralized state-controlled economy of state-

run operations and private enterprise. The changeover has been very difficult.

Fundamental problems of unstable currencies, corruption, and changing government

policies plagued the system for much of the 1990’s. In Russia, steel output declined

from almost 70 million tons in 1992 to less than 50 million tons at the end of the

decade.

� The Russian economy underwent tremendous stress as it moved from a centrally

planned economy to a free market system. Difficulties in implementing fiscal reforms

aimed at raising government revenues and a dependence on short-term borrowing to

finance budget deficits led to a serious financial crisis in 1998. Lower prices for

Russia's major export earners (oil and minerals) and a loss of investor confidence due to

the Asian financial crisis exacerbated financial problems. The result was a rapid decline

in the value of the ruble, flight of foreign investment, delayed payments on sovereign

and private debts, a breakdown of commercial transactions through the banking system,

and the threat of runaway inflation. Russia, however, appears to have weathered the

crisis relatively well. As of 2009 real GDP increased by the highest percentage since the

fall of the Soviet Union at 8.1%, the ruble remains stable, inflation has been moderate,

and investment began to increase again. (Wikipedia, 2010)

10. Russia long has been a source of raw materials but not a manufacturer of export

products, except weaponry. Few Russian (or Soviet) automobiles, televisions, cameras, or

other consumer goods reach world markets.

� Russia is one of the most industrialized of the former Soviet republics. However, years

of very low investment have left much of Russian industry antiquated and highly

inefficient. Besides its resource-based industries, it has developed large manufacturing

capacities, notably in machinery. Russia inherited most of the defense industrial base of

the Soviet Union, so armaments are the single-largest manufactured goods export

category for Russia. Efforts have been made with varying success over the past few

years to convert defense industries to civilian use. (Wikipedia, 2010)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

REGIONAL ISSUE—Russia: CHECHNYA IN SUPPORT OF RUSSIAN CONTROL OVER CHECHNYA

"As a policeman here in Moscow, I strongly support the government and the army in their efforts to establish control over the criminal elements trying to take control of Chechnya. Let us remember what happened there. When the Russian government back in 1991 had to take charge of our country and its many components, there was lots of opposition. The Tatars (also Muslims, like

WHY CHECHNYA DESERVES INDEPENDENCE "My grandparents were born in what is today the Russian colony of Chechnya, and they died a horrible death somewhere in Soviet Central Asia. I am here to avenge their deaths and to punish the Russians for what they did to my people. "Russians seem to think that we are fighting for independence just because we want it. Why aren't we like all those other minorities that have come to terms


21

the Chechens) talked about establishing an independent state in their republic. The Kalmyks, the Udmurts, the Bashkirs, the Chuvash and many others proclaimed that they wanted everything ranging from autonomy to independence. There were even Russians demanding it in places like Yekaterinburg and Primorskiy. But the government under President Yeltsin negotiated all these claims and gave those people reasons to want to stay under the Russian flag. Except the Chechens. Nothing was going to satisfy them. "And the Chechens were even given their own republic after the changeover from Soviet to Russian administration. In 1991 they still shared their territory with the Ingush, who are also Muslims, in the so-called Chechen-Ingush Republic. So what did the Chechens do? They installed their separatist leader as ruler of the republic and started fighting with the Ingush minority. To help solve this crisis, Russia's government divided the republic's territory into two, the larger, richer part including the capital and the oilfields for the Chechens and the remainder for the Ingush. "But it wasn't good enough for the Chechens. They attacked the Russians living in Chechnya, causing the army to move in to protect Russians and Russian interests. They broke the truce that followed. Then they mounted a full-scale war from their mountain hideouts and caused us hideous casualties. They didn't care that their capital was totally destroyed; these Muslim warlords fought among themselves even as they fought us. Next they started using terror to get their way. Remember the autumn of 1999, when they blew up apartment buildings in Moscow, causing more than 300 dead? And how about what they did in Dagestan, where they took over a bunch of villages and declared an "independent Chechen republic"? Not to mention that hospital full of doctors, nurses, and patients, whom they took hostage, eventually killing hundreds of innocent victims. These are people to whom we should entrust the government of an independent country on our borders? Never. "So don't criticize us when it comes to our strategies to deal with these barbarians. Foreign governments say that the Russian army does terrible things to captured Chechens, but what about the treatment of Russian soldiers by Chechen rebels? War is brutal, and this is a war for the soil of Mother Russia. "lf we give up in Chechnya, other minorities will get ideas about independence too, and that would be the end of the nation. There is nothing to negotiate. Russia must and will prevail."

with their lives under Moscow's heel? Well, in our case there is more to it. We fought the Russian imperialists to a standstill less than two centuries ago, when the czars' armies colonized Islamic peoples from the Caucasus to Central Asia. Yes, we were eventually defeated, but those Russians never really penetrated our mountain hideouts. Then came the Soviets, who thought they did us a big favor by creating one of those "Autonomous Republics" for us along with the poor Ingush. But look at the map. They combined our traditional homeland with a stretch of flatland to the north, which was full of Russian farmers and oilmen. Do you think Groznyy was a Chechen town? Think again. 0r look for a mosque on those photographs of the 'good old days.' "But we might have put up with it all except for what happened during the war between the Soviets and the Germans, World War ll. Some of us Chechens were happy to see the Germans do to the Soviets what the Soviets had done to us, but Josef Stalin accused us all of collaborating with the enemy. In a few short months he packed all 500,000 of my people on trains and sent them to exile in Kazakhstan. Thousands died on the trains and were simply thrown onto the tracks. Many more, probably about 125,000, perished in the desert. I don't know where or when my grandparents died, but my parents survived. "We got our homeland back because the Soviet dictator Khrushchev reinstated our Republic in 1957, and the survivors straggled back. But nobody ever forgot what was done to us. We're not talking of a few hundred hostages here. We're talking about the killing of a quarter of a nation. Still, we tried to restart our society under those atheist Soviets, keeping our Islamic practices quiet and private. But then the Soviet Empire collapsed and we got our chance. ln 1991 we declared our independence from the new Russia, and at first it seemed that the Russians would be sensible and approve. "But before long the Russians changed their minds and tried to intervene in our internal affairs. We managed to defeat the Russian army once again, and the war devastated Groznyy, but the Russians would not even consider independence. We got assistance from Muslims elsewhere and money from many sources, but we can see that Russia will not give us what we want. So we turn to any means we can to wound the Russian bear, and we will chase it out of Chechnya with the help of Allah. "

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Major geogr

1. The European realm

maximum efficiency for

� Europe has astoun

land hemisphere,

“peninsula of pen

seaborne trade an

unmatched system

the waterways of t

� Europe consists a

and the Iberian Pe

and Sweden. Bey

Americas. Europe

circulation of goo

easily traversed b

and the mainland;

provided the aven

� The historic adva

mainland as well.

still lies in close

several corridors f

Lesson Objectives: 1. Identify Europe'

influence throug

2. Explain how Eu

economic develo

3. Describe Europe4. Discuss the ben

IC REGIONS: EUROPE

ographic qualities of E

m lies on the western extremity of the Eurasian

or contact with the rest of the world.

ounding locational advantages. Its relative locati

e, creates maximum efficiency for contact with th

eninsulas,” Europe is nowhere far from the oce

and conquest. Hundreds of miles of navigable riv

em of canals, open the interior of Europe to its n

f the world.

almost entirely of peninsulas and islands, from

Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) to the British Isl

eyond the Mediterranean lies Africa, and acros

pe has long been a place of contact between pe

oods and ideas. The hundreds of miles of nav

bays, straits, and channels between numerous i

nd; and the highly accessible Mediterranean, Nor

enues for these exchanges.

vantage of moderate distances on European wate

ll. Europe’s Alps form a transcontinental divider,

se juxtaposition (linkage) (Alpine passes have f

s for contact).

pe's remarkable geographic qualities that sustain

ough time.

Europe’s internal regional differentiation contribu

elopment.

ope’s places, people, and culture. enefits of and challenges confronted by the Europ

22

f Europe

an landmass, a locale of

ation, at the heart of the

the rest of the world. A

cean and its avenues of

rivers, augmented by an

neighboring seas and to

m Greece, Italy, France,

Isles, Denmark, Norway,

ross the Atlantic are the

peoples and cultures, of

avigable waterways; the

s islands and peninsulas

orth, and Baltic seas all

aters applies also on the

r, but what they separate

e for centuries provided

ained its world

ibuted to its

ropean Union.

WORLD’S GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS: EUROPE

23

2. Europe’s lingering and resurgent world influence results largely from advantages

accrued over the centuries of global political and economic domination.

� Two geographic advantages helped the Mediterranean to become the region where

European civilization was born: (1) mild climate, which made survival mush easier than

in other areas—thus societies had time to develop complex institutions such as

government; (2) the Mediterranean Sea encouraged overseas trade—when different

societies trade with each other, they also exchange ideas and this often leads to

advances in knowledge.

� Greek-Hellenistic and Roman Civilizations, Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire,

Renaissance, Commercial Revolution, Agrarian Revolution, Industrial Revolution, Age

of Colonization—are just part of a longer list of how Europe became as a world power

(politically and economically).

• CASE IN POINT: Greek civilization left a lasting legacy to modern civilization

for having developed the first democracy, a government in which people rule (at

least in theory). Such Greek culture would be spread across Asia by the

Macedonian Alexander the Great. As Greece lost power, Rome rose to become

master of the Italian Peninsula. Before it became an empire, Rome was a

republic—a government in which citizens elect representatives to rule in their

name. As an empire, Rome has been influenced by its Asian territories (e.g.

Mesopotamia and Persia). In Asia, Christianity was developed but the Roman

Empire would assimilate such religion and would spread it to the world.

� While Western Europe may have “stagnated” during the Medieval Ages, Eastern

Europe continued to interact with the Asian and African peoples, and undoubtedly such

interaction would prove advantageous as Europe would enter the Renaissance, and later

the Modern Period. During the so-called Age of Exploration, Western Europe would

gradually become an economic and political power to reckon with. China dominated

“half” of the world during the European Middle Ages, but Europe bounced back from

its dark ages to finally take over as world power during the 1500’s onward.

3. Europe’s nation-states emerged from durable power cores that formed the

headquarters of the world empires. A number of those states is now plagued by internal

separatist movements.

� Europeans place importance on a long-held tradition of “national spirit” or emotional

commitment to the state and what it stands for. As members of nation-states, Europe’s

people consider themselves to be a nation having certain emotional and other ties that

are expressed in their most tangible form in the state’s legal institutions, political system

and ideological strength. Switzerland, France, Britain, and Spain are example of durable

power cores.

• CASE IN POINT: Switzerland. This area is an important lesson in human

geography: all the tangible evidences suggest that here is a European area that


24

will be economically deprived and lack internal cohesion—but the actual

situation is exactly the opposite. (Fast facts about Switzerland: Landlocked,

few people, mountainous, has hardly any exploitable mineral deposits, uses four

languages, religious split between Catholic and Protestant)

The Swiss, through their skills and abilities, have overcome seemingly

restrictive environment; they have it into an asset that has permitted them to

keep pace with industrializing Europe. They took advantage of their Alpine

passes to act as middlemen in interregional trade; they used the water cascading

from the mountains to produce hydroelectric power that spawned a high-quality,

specialized industrial base; and finally they learned to accommodate with

professional excellence the tourists who came to visit their country. The Swiss

people have also specialized in dairy farming. Zurich functions as a banking

center of global importance. Geneva is the famous city of international

organizations and conferences. Switzerland’s precision machinery, instruments,

tools, and fine watches are also guaranteed a prominent place in world market.

4. Europe is marked by strong internal regional differentiation (cultural as well as

physical), exhibits a high degree of functional specialization, and provides multiple

exchange opportunities.

� Physical regional differentiation: Central Uplands form the heart of Europe. It is a

region of hills and low plateaus loaded with raw materials whose farm villages grew

into towns and cities when the Industrial Revolution transformed the realm; Alpine

Mountains in the South, a highland region named after the Alps, extend from the

Pyrenees on the French-Spanish border to the Balkan Mountains near the Black Sea,

and include Italy’s Appennines and Eastern Europe’s Carpathians; Western Uplands,

geologically older, lower, and more stable than the Alpine Mountains, extend from

Scandinavia through western Britain and Ireland to the heart of Iberian Peninsula; and

the great Northern European Lowland extends in a lengthy arc from southeast Britain

and central France across Germany and Denmark into Poland and Ukraine, from where

it continues well into Russia. This has been an avenue for human migration time after

time.


25

� Cultural regional differentiation: The persistence of internal cultural variations has

produced political and economic fragmentation across the European realm.

• CASE IN POINT: In terms of economic development, British Isles, Western,

Northern, and Southern Europe lie open to the influences and opportunities of

the Atlantic and/or the Mediterranean—thus, these regions are relatively well off

and politically stable. Eastern Europe, because of its remoteness, was

comparatively isolated from the innovations that accompanied the Industrial

Revolution. Eastern Europe suffered not only from economic stagnation but also

from ethnic fragmentation, weak and ineffective governments, and external

interference. Such fragmentation and division was especially pronounced in the

southern part of Eastern Europe, the area called the Balkan Peninsula. Thus the

term “balkanization” came into use to describe a politically fractured area.

� Since the domination of the Romans over Europe, areal functional specialization has

shaped European regions. Ever since particular peoples and particular places

concentrated on the production of particular goods. European economic geography has

always been stimulated by internal complementarities. For example, Italy—an

economically developed region imports coal from Western Europe, but at the same

time, Italy raises crops that cannot be raised in the north of the Alps.

Iberian Peninsula

Pyrenees Pyrenees Balkan Peninsula

Scandinavian Peninsula

Carpathians

Appennines

Iberian Peninsula

Pyrenees


26

5. Europe is served by efficient transport and communications networks that promote

extensive trade and other forms of international spatial interaction.

� A good circulation system has characterized Europe since the Roman times, and a

steady improvement of transport technology (e.g. bullet train of France) spawned

trading relationships involving ever more numerous and distant places.

� Conceptually, spatial interaction is best organized around a triad of principles

developed by Edward Ullman: (1) complementarity, (2) transferability, and (3)

intervening opportunity. Complementarity occurs when one area has a surplus of an

item demanded by a second area. The existence of a resource in a locality is no

guarantee that trade will develop—that resource must specifically be needed elsewhere.

Thus, complementarity arises from regional variations in both the supply and demand of

human and natural resources. Transferability refers to the ease with which a

commodity may be transported between two places. Sheer distance, in terms od both the

cost and time of movement, may be the major obstacle to the transferability of goods;

therefore, even though complementarity may exist between a pair of areas, the problems

of economically overcoming the distance separating them may be so great that trade

cannot begin. The third principle, intervening opportunity, maintains that potential

trade between two places, even if they satisfy the necessary conditions of

complementarity and transferability, will only develop in the absence of a closer,

intervening source of supply.

• CASE IN POINT: Italy lacks coal for its industries; hence, it imports from

Western Europe. Western Europe has a high demand for citrus fruits, olives,

grapes, and vegetables; hence, it imports from Italy (which produces such foods)

(COMPLEMENTARITY). Exchange of goods has been possible due to good

railways and highway routes (TRANSFERABILITY). Italy and northwestern

Europe are the closest sources of coal and fruits (absence of INTERVENING

OPPORTUNITY). Thus, the exchange of goods between the two areas is

nurtured.

6. The European natural environment displays a wide range of topographic, climatic,

vegetative, and soil conditions and is endowed with many industrial resources

� With warm summers and cool winters, the region enjoys a milder climate than do most

regions at such northern latitude. The nearby ocean and the dominant winds create this

mild climate. The North Atlantic Drift, a current of warm water from the tropics,

flows near Europe’s west coast. The prevailing Westerlies, which blow west to east,

pick up warmth from this current and carry it over Europe. No large mountain ranges

block the winds, so they are felt far inland. They also carry moisture, giving the region

adequate rainfall.

� People who are far from the Atlantic experience harsher conditions. Places like Sweden,

Poland, Hungary, and Romania experience humid continental climate. These places


27

have cold, snowy winters and either warm or hot summers (depending upon their

latitude).

� Europe has abundant supplies of two natural resources—coal and iron ore—needed for

an industrialized economy. Oil and natural gasses were found beneath the North Sea

floor in 1959. Energy companies began to tap gas fields between the United Kingdom

and Netherlands. Offshore oil rigs in the North Sea were constructed in 1971. The North

Sea oil fields are major sources of petroleum for the world. About 33 percent of

Europe’s land is suitable for agriculture. The world average is 11 percent, so Europe is

especially well off. The land produces a variety of crops: grains, gapes, and olives.

Timber is cut from the vast forests on the Scandinavian Peninsula and in the Alps.

7. European economies are dominated by manufacturing, and the level of productivity

has been high. Levels of development generally decline from west to east.

� Since the Industrial Revolution, manufacturing has been a dominant force in shaping

ways of life in Europe. Northern and central England were early centers of modern

manufacturing, as were the Ruhr and Saxony (Sachsen) regions of Germany, northern

France, Silesia in Poland, and Ukraine. Products such as iron and steel, fabricated

metals, textiles, clothing, ships, motor vehicles, and railroad equipment have long been

important European manufactures, and a great variety of other items also are produced.

The production of chemicals and electronic equipment and other high-technology items

have been leading growth industries of the post-World War II period. On the whole,

manufacturing is particularly concentrated in the central part of the continent (an area

including England, eastern and southern France, northern Italy, Belgium, The

Netherlands, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, southern Norway, and

southern Sweden) and in European Russia and Ukraine.

� Textile Industry—Paris Fashion; Merchants of Venice (Austria)—Travels of Marco

Polo; Volkswagen—Germany, Nokia Cell phones—Finland. This high level of

economic development; however, declines as one goes eastward—towards the former

territories of the Union Soviet (Poland, Ukraine).

� While the rest of Europe relatively enjoys better economies, Eastern European nations

have had trouble making economic progress—for many different reasons.

� Albania’s economic growth is slowed down by old equipment, a lack of raw

materials, and a shortage of educated workers.

� Few of Romania’s citizens have money to invest in business. In addition, the

Romanian government still owns some industries. Foreigners don’t want to

invest their money in those industries.

� The civil wars of the 1990s damaged Yugoslavia and its republics of Bosnia and

Herzegovina and Croatia. Equipment and buildings were destroyed; workers

were killed or left the country.


28

8. Europe’s rapidly aging population is generally healthy and well-fed, exhibits low birth

and low death rates, enjoys long life expectancies, and constitutes one of the world’s three

largest population clusters (India and China are the other two). Europe’s population is

highly urbanized, highly skilled, and well educated.

� The economic development of Europe has led to generally healthy, well-fed people; but

its low birthrate (e.g. West Germany, Denmark, Hungary, and Italy have actually zero or

negative population growth) has posed a problem, which is aging. Meanwhile, Europe’s

dense population clusters are primarily due to its ever-increasing urbanization and

scarcity of land.

� CASE IN POINT: Northern Europe. On the average, Northern Europeans enjoy a

life expectancy of 79 years, with an average infant death rate of 3.9 per 1000 (as of

year 2000). Most people in Northern Europe live in cities and have a high standard

of living. Overall, the governments of Northern Europe take great responsibility for

the welfare of their people. This is especially true of the Nordic countries, which

provide many welfare services for their citizens. For example, Finland, Norway, and

Sweden give families a yearly allowance to help raise their children. Nordic

governments help fund a national health insurance programs. To pay for the

programs, the people in those countries have very high taxes.

� The average annual growth rate for the European population from 1985 to 1995 was only

0.28 percent; in the same period the population of Asia grew by 1.69 percent per year,

and that of North America by 1.33 percent annually. By 2000 the population was

actually decreasing. The overall population decline was due primarily to a low birth rate

(10.2 births per 1,000 people in 2005 compared to 18.3 births per 1,000 people in South

America). Europeans generally enjoy some of the longest average life expectancies at

birth—some 75 years in most countries, compared with 65 years in India and less than

60 years in most countries of Africa.

� The growth of town and cities (primarily due to the commercial and industrial

revolutions); areal functional specialization; Enlightenment; and, existence of prestigious

universities are all factors contributory to a Europe that is urbanized, highly skilled, and

well-educated.

� Europe at 73 percent urban ranks among the most highly urbanized realms in the world,

though more so in the west and north than in the east and south. In both Northern and

Western Europe, the regional mean is now 84 percent urban, with United Kingdom, and

Belgium exceeding 90 percent. And even where the average percentage of urbanization

is lower in Eastern (63 percent) and Southern (68 percent), the towns and cities contain a

much larger share of the population than in Asian or African countries.

� Europe has a long tradition of excellence in literature, painting, sculpture, architecture,

music, and dance. In the late 20th century Paris, Rome, London, Madrid, and Moscow

were particularly famous as cultural centers, but many other cities also supported

important museums, musical and theatrical groups, and other cultural institutions. Most


29

European countries had highly developed mass-communications media, such as radio,

television, and motion pictures. European nations had excellent educational systems, and

the literacy rate was high in most countries. Some of the world’s oldest and finest

universities are in Europe, including the University of Cambridge and the University of

Oxford in England, the Universities of Paris in France, the University of Heidelberg in

Germany, Charles University in the Czech Republic, the University of Bologna in Italy,

and Moscow State University in Russia.

9. Europe has made important progress toward international economic integration, and,

to a lesser extent, political coordination.

� Before the end of WW II, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxemburg finalized plans to

create cooperative economic organization (to be called Benelux). Later in 1948, 16

Western European countries formed the Organization for European Economic

Cooperation (OEEC). In the recent years, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Europeans

established the European Union or EU (which traces its founding to the Economic

Cooperation or EC—the so-called Common Market). As early as 2006, EU had 25

members. Geographers call this unification process supranationalism—the voluntary

association in economic, political, or cultural spheres of three or more independent

states willing to yield some measure of sovereignty for their mutual benefit.

� Europe however faces a dilemma. The West wants closer economic integration with the

East but fears what the consequences might be for its own societies and economies. It

has preferred to encourage Eastern Europe to solve its own problems, providing

assistance for economic development while trying to keep the Eastern states at arms’

length. Although the EU is committed in principle to admitting members from Eastern

Europe, it has yet to address what that will mean for its own structures, policies, and

finances. At the same time, the EU fears that enlargement would encourage immigration

from East to West. The nature of future political and economic union will be affected by

how the EU expands its membership.

� The European future in the next century remains uncertain, with many issues to be

resolved. However, the continent has reason to be optimistic. It is, overall, a happier

place than it ever has been. Bodies such as NATO and the EU have made cooperation

the norm. Western countries are locked together in a multitude of cooperative

institutions and exercises that make war almost inconceivable. National differences in

policies and priorities will remain, but cooperation will continue because without it no

European country can guarantee its security or economic prosperity.


• France, Italy, B

members (join

• Ireland, Unite

Spain, Portuga

• Czech Republ

Cyprus—EU m

• Romania, Bulg

• Iceland, Norw

------------------------------- REGIONAL ISSUE—Eur

IN SUPPORT OF UNION "As a Public servant in thehave been personally affectpast half-century. I am i

IC REGIONS: EUROPE

y, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, [West] Ge

ined in 1958)

ited Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, [Ea

gal, Greece—Later EC/EU members (joined 1973

blic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Lithuania, Es

members joined in 2004

ulgaria, Turkey—countries anticipating negotiatio

rway—Countries voting against membership

------------------------------------------------------------

urope: How desirable is Economic and Politic

the French government I cted by the events of the in favor of European

IN OPPOSITION OF THE "l am a taxi driver in Viesomething to consider: tworkers, are the grea

30

Germany—Original EEC

East] Germany, Austria,

73-1995)

Estonia, Latvia, Poland,

tions to join EU

------------------------------

ical Union?

E EUROPEAN UNION

ienna, Austria, and here's the bureaucrats, not the eat proponents of this


31

unification because Europe is a realm of comparatively small countries, all of which will benefit from economic and political union. Europe's history is bedeviled by its fragmentation its borders and barriers and favored cores and disadvantaged peripheries, its different economies and diverse currencies, its numerous languages and varied cultures. Now we have the opportunity and determination to overcome these divisions and to create an entity whose sum is greater than its parts, a supranational Europe that will benefit it all of its members. "In the process we will not only establish a common currency, eliminate trade tariffs and customs barriers among our members, and enable citizens of one member-state to live and work in any of the others. We will also make European laws that will supersede the old "national" laws and create regulations that will be adhered to by all members on matters ranging from subsidies to help small farms survive to rules regarding environmental protection. In order to assist the poorer members of this European Union, the richer members will send billions of euros to the needy ones, paid for from the taxes levied on their citizens. This has already lifted Spain and Ireland from poverty to prosperity. But to ensure that "national" economies do not get out of line, there will be rules to govern their fiscal policies, including a debt limit of 3 percent of GDP. "The EU will require sacrifices from people and governments, but the rewards will make these worth it. 0ur European Parliament, with representatives from all member countries, is the harbinger of a truly united Europe. The European Commission deals with the practical problems as we move toward unification, including the momentous EU enlargement of 2004. Less than a half-century after the first significant steps were taken, the EU has 25 member-states including former wartime enemies, reformed communist economies, and newly independent entities. Rather than struggling alone, these member-states will form part of an increasingly prosperous and economically powerful whole. "l hope that administrative coordination and economic union will be followed by political unification. The ultimate goal of this great movement should be the creation of a federal United States of Europe, a worthy competitor and countervailing force in a world dominated by another federation, the United States of America."

European Union plan. Let me ask you this: how many member countries' voters have had the chance to tell their governments whether they want to join the EU and submit to all those confounded regulations? lt all happened before we realized the implications. At least the Norwegians had common sense: they stayed out of it, because they didn't want some international body to tell them what to do with their oil and gas and their fishing industry. But I can tell you this: if the workers of Europe had had the chance to vote on each step in this bureaucratic plot, we'd have ended it long ago. "So what are we getting for it? Higher prices for everything, higher taxes to pay for those poor people in southern Italy and needy Portugal, costly environmental regulations, and-here's the worst of it-a flood of cheap labor and an uncontrolled influx of immigrants. Notice that this new 2OO4 expansion wasn't voted on by the Germans (they're too small to matter much, but Germany is the largest EU member), and do you know why? Because the German government knew well and good that the people wouldn’t support this ridiculous scheme. This whole European Union program is concocted by the elite, and we have to accept it whether we like it or not. "Does make me wonder, though. Do these EU-planners have any notion of the real Europe they're dealing with? They talk about how those "young democracies" joining in 2004 will have their democratic systems and their market reforms locked into place by being part of the Union, but I have friends who try to do business in Poland and Slovakia, and they tell me that there may be democracy, but all they experience is corruption, from top to bottom. I’ll bet that those subsidies we'll be paying for to help these "democracies" get on their feet will wind up in Swiss bank accounts. By the way, the Swiss, you'll notice, aren't EU members either. Wonder why? "A United States of Europe? Not as far as I am concerned. I am Austrian, and I am and will always be a nationalist as far as my country is concerned. I speak German, but already English is becoming the major EU language, though the Brits were smart enough not to join the euro. I'm afraid that these European Commission bureaucrats have their heads in the clouds, which is why they can't see the real Europe they're putting in a straitjacket."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Major geogr

of North Am 1. North America encom

the second largest in siz

(Some geographers rank

2. The North American

� North America’s pphysically homogeby a certain degrenvironmental conExamples: Rocky

Land Area of Canada: 9,98km2 (3,855,100 mi2)

Land Area of U.S.A: 9,62(3,717,813 mi2)

Lesson Objectives:

1. Describe the ess

2. Compare and co

3. Explain the imp

region’s peoples4. Discuss the issu

IC REGIONS: NORTH AMERICA

ographic qualities

America

ompasses two of the world’s biggest states ter

size; the United States is fourth). Russia is firs

nk North America the third and China fourth)

n realm is marked by clearly defined physiogra

s physiography is characterized by its clear, welgenous regions called physiographic provinces. Segree of uniformity in relief, climate, vegetatonditions, resulting in a scenic sameness that coy Mountains (dominates western segment of th

Land Area of Ru(6,601,668 mi2)

,984,670

Land Area of C(3,721,904 mi2

,629,091 km2

essential physiographic characteristics of North A

contrast the physical and cultural features of Ca

mpacts of cultural and economic changes in North

les. ssues surrounding the immigration of non-Americ

32

territorially (Canada is

irst and China is third.

h)

raphic regions.

ell-defined division into . Such a region is marked

ation, soils, and other comes readily to mind. the continent from the

Russia: 17,098,242 km2 )

f China: 9,639,688 km2 2)

h America.

Canada and U.S.A.

rth America to the

ericans to the region.


Alaska to New Merises westward towcontaining North APlains (covered mathe late Cenozoic g

� Climatically, tempgets. Precipitation coastal strip itself.Effect—moisture-lacontinent because h

� Regions of the No

deep-seated changearrangement of themajor regions.

a. The Core Reg

was the unquesWar and the clover the past challengers to the Core as tmanufacturing has produced aendowed with r


exico); The Great Plains (the extensive sedimenttoward the Rocky Mountains); Canadian Shielh America’s oldest rock—northern part—towardmainly by glacial debris laid down by the melt w

glaciations

perature varies latitudinally—the farther north on generally tends to decline toward the west—lf. The dryness of the western North America isladen air moving onshore from the Pacific is u

e high mountains stand in the way.

North American Realm. North America’s regige as new forces uproot and redistribute people ahe United States and Canada is presented within t

egion. Synonymous with the American Manufactuestioned leader and centerpiece during the cent close of the industrial age (1865-1970). The rist three decades has diminished that linchpin roo the south and west will continue to siphon key this century unfolds. In certain parts of theg has traditionally played a secondary role, post- a number of new growth centers. The Boston areh research facilities and local investment capital.

33

ntary surface that slowly ield (geologic core area rds the Arctic); Interior

lt water and wind during

h one goes, the cooler it —except for the Pacific is due to Rain Shadow

s unable to penetrate the

gions are in a period of and activities. The areal n the framework of eight

acturing Belt, this region ntury between the Civil rise of postindustrialism role, and strengthening key functions away from the Core region, where

-industrial development area, for example, is well l. It also has become the

WORLD’S GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS: NORTH AMERICA

34

focus of innovative high-tech businesses. New York remains the national leader in finance and advertising, and it houses broadcast media.

b. Maritime Northeast. This is one the continent’s historic culture hearths. It has retained a powerful regional identity for almost 400 years. It consists of upper New England and the neighboring Atlantic Provinces of easternmost Canada. The urbanized southern half of New England has been the northeastern anchor of the Core The six New England states are Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut share many common characteristics. This region also extends its territories to encompass New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island as well as the outer island of Newfoundland and Labrador. A long association based on economic and cultural similarities has tied northern New England to Atlantic Canada. Both are rural in character; possess difficult environments in which land resources are limited. Development here has lagged behind the rest of the realm; development has centered on primary activities, mainly fishing the rich offshore banks of the North Atlantic, forestry in the uplands, and farming in the few fertile valleys. Recreation and tourism has boosted the regional economy in recent times, with scenic coasts and mountains attracting millions. Skiing has also helped the region’s tourist season to extend through the harsh winter months.

c. French Canada. Francophone Canada comprises the effectively settled (southern) portion of the province of Quebec. Significantly, this is the only North American region that is defined by culture alone, but the reasons are compelling: more than 80 percent of this region speaks French as a mother tongue. Most of the Anglophones are clustered in the Montreal metropolitan area. The economy of French Canada is no longer rural, exhibiting urbanization rates similar to those of the rest of the country. Industrialization is widespread, supported by cheap hydroelectric energy generated by huge dams in northern Quebec. Tertiary and post-industrial commercial activities are centered in Montreal; tourism and recreation are also important.

d. The Continental Interior. In the heart of the continent, agriculture becomes the predominant feature of the landscape. This region extends across the center of both the conterminous United States and the southern tier of Canada. The innermost areas are fruit-and-vegetable and dairying belts, the Mississippi Valley is a meat and grain production area. Mixed crop-and-livestock farming wins out over less competitive wheat raising in the eastern half of the Agricultural Heartland. Wheat raising is found in the fertile but semi-arid environment of the central and western Great Plains. Throughout the Heartland region, nearly everything is oriented to agriculture. Kansas, Minneapolis, Winnipeg, Omaha and Denver are cities that process and market beef packing, flour milling, and pork production. People in this region are generally of northern European ancestry, and conservative. Yet, rapid technological advances require that farmers keep abreast of increasingly scientific agricultural techniques and business methods if they are to survive in a hypercompetitive atmosphere.


35

e. The South. The American South occupies the realm’s southeastern corner. Of the region’s nine regions, none has undergone more overall change during the past half-century. Since the 1970’s, the South has undergone and is undergoing wave of growth and change. People and activities streamed into the urban South. Cities such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, and Tampa became booming metropolises practically overnight. This “bulldozer revolution” was matched in the most favored rural areas by an agricultural renaissance that stressed such higher-value commodities as soybeans, winter wheat, poultry and wood products. On the social front, institutional racial segregation was dismantled more than three decades ago. Yet for all the growth that has taken place since 1970, the South remains a region beset by many economic problems because the geography of its development has been decidedly uneven. Not surprisingly, the gap between rich and poor is wider here than in any other U.S. region.

f. The Southwest. Before the late twentieth century, most geographers did not even identify a distinct southwestern region. Today, however, this steadily developing area—constituted by the states of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona—has earned its place in the regional map of North America. This region is unique in the United States because it is a bicultural regional complex peopled by in-migrating Anglo-Americans atop the crest of the Sunbelt wave (a region of the United States generally

considered to stretch across the South and Southwest) as well as by the quickly expanding Mexican-American population anchored to the sizable long-time resident Hispanic groups, which traces its origins to the Spanish colonial territory that once extended from the Texas Gulf coast to San Francisco. If one counts the Native American (Indian) population, then the Southwest is actually a tricultural region. Rapid developments in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona are essentially built on a three-pronged foundation: (1) electricity—to power air conditioners trough long, brutal hot summers, (2) water supply—to supply everything from swimming pools to irrigated crops, and (3) automobiles—so that affluent newcomers may spread themselves out of much-desired low densities.

g. The Northern Frontier. This is the name for North America’s largest region by far. It covers most of Canada and all of Alaska. Its peripheral nature stems from its isolation and rugged environment, which have attracted only the sparsest of populations relative to the other seven regions. Yet, the region contains great riches because it is one of the earth’s major storehouses of mineral and energy resources.

h. The Pacific Hinge. The Pacific coastlands of the conterminous (having a boundary

in common) United States and south westernmost Canada has been a powerful lure to migrants. Major development here took place during the post-World War II era, accommodating enormous population and economic growth, but with the arrival of the 21st century, it is clear, in terms of its economic geography, the West Coast no longer represents an end but rather a beginning—a gateway to an abundance of growing opportunities. Amid the promising economic progress that the West Coast is enjoying, environmental hazards threaten this entire corridor, including inland droughts, coastal flooding, mudslides, brush fires, and earthquakes.


i. The Western

realm’s newestIn its east-westRocky Mountareaches from nsnow forest of transformation outside the regi

3. Both Canada and t

Canada’s is adapted fr

provinces and 3 territo

branches of governmen

and a number of island

Pacific Ocean.

� Canada is a consti

State. She appointthe prime ministegovernor-general governor-general.

� U.S.A.’s governmand government.


n Frontier. To the north of the western half of st region: the swiftly growing, economically boomest extent, this mountain-studded plateau region tains and the Sierra Nevada-Cascades chain; its l northern Arizona’s Grand Canyon country to thef the Canadian Rockies. The label Western Frontn under way is being driven by the influx of peo

egion.

the United States are federal states, but

from the British parliamentary system, an

itories. The United States separates its exec

ent, and it consists of 50 states, the Commonw

d territories under U.S. jurisdiction in the Ca

stitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II of ints a governor-general to represent her in Canadaister). The governor-general’s term has no limial is replaced after five years. The prime ministal.

ment is federal-presidential, with the President as

36

f the Southwest lies the oming Western Frontier.

on stretches between the s longer north-south axis the edge of the subarctic ntier emphasizes that the eople and activities from

t their systems differ.

and is divided into 10

ecutive and legislative

wealth of Puerto Rico,

aribbean Seas and the

f England as the head of ada (with the “advice” of mit but in practice, the ister is appointed by the

as both the head of state


4. Both Canada and

increasingly important

bilingualism. In the Unit

� In Canada: Linguand Francophonesculture in Canadtogether.

� In the U.S.A.: Thefrom the United K


d the United States are plural societies. A

nt, Canada’s pluralism is most strongly ex

nited States, major divisions occur along racial

guistic bifurcation (division) between Anglophoes (French-speakers) has inhibited the formation

ada, although other unifying elements continue

he dominant European ancestries—French, Irishd Kingdom were dispersed throughout the Unite

Political maps of Canad

37

Although ethnicity is

expressed in regional

ial/ethnic lines.

hones (English-speakers) on of a single overriding ue to bind the country

sh, and those originating ited States. Most of the

ada and U.S.A


38

others showed an affinity for a particular region: Italians, Portuguese, and Russians clustered in the Northeast; whereas Scandinavians and Czechs were localized in the north-central states. California, the most populous state, best exhibited the nation’s diverse ethnicity, with more Americans of English, German, Irish, French, Scottish, Dutch, Swedish, and Danish origin concentrated there than in any other state. About 12 percent of the total U.S. population is composed of Afro-American people. Two other minority groups are increasing in number, Asians and Hispanics. The biggest Asian group in the U.S. is the Filipinos, followed by Chinese, Vietnamese, Koreans, and Japanese. Hispanics, on the other hand, might have surpassed Afro-African populations already—becoming as the largest minority group in the U.S. These Hispanics include the Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Central South Americans, and Cubans.

5. By world standards, North America is a rich realm where high incomes and high rates

of consumption prevail. North America possesses a highly diversified resource base, but

non-renewable fuel and mineral deposits are consumed prodigiously [remarkably].

� North America, by every measure of national development, possesses the highest living

standards on earth, but the good life is not shared equally by all of North America’s residents. Malnutrition is commonplace although its severity pales by comparison to the daily misery experienced by the Third World poor.

� Presented with a rich abundance of natural and human resources over the past 200 years, Americans and Canadians have brilliantly converted these opportunities into continent-wide affluence as their booming Industrial Revolution surpassed even Europe’s. North America’s rich mineral deposits are localized in three zones: the Canadian Shield north of the Great Lakes; the Appalachian Highlands, and scattered areas throughout the mountain ranges of the West. The most strategically important resources of North America are its coal, petroleum, and natural gas supplies—the fossil fuels. The realm’s coal reserves are among the greatest anywhere on earth, the U.S. portion alone containing at least a 400-year supply.

� The United States, with less than 5 % of the global population, uses about a quarter of the world’s fossil fuel resources—burning up nearly 25 % of the coal, 26 % of the oil, and 27 % of the world’s natural gas. As of 2003, the U.S. had more private cars than licensed drivers, and gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles were among the best-selling vehicles. New houses in the U.S. were 38 % bigger in 2002 than in 1975, despite having fewer people per household on average.

6. North America’s population, not large by international standards, is the most highly

urbanized and mobile. Largely propelled by a continuing wave of immigration, the

realm’s total is expected to grow by more than 40 percent over the next half-century. (See

Regional Issue on Immigration)

� North America—the New World—is symbolized strongly by the skyscraper panorama of New York, Toronto, Chicago, or San Francisco. Americans are also hyper-mobile, with networks of superhighways, air routes, and railroads efficiently interconnecting the


39

realm’s far-flung cities and regions. Commuters stream into and out of suburban activity centers and central-city downtowns by the millions working each day. A U.S. family relocates, on the average, once every five and a half years.

7. North America is home of one of the world’s great manufacturing complexes. The

realm’s industrialization generated its unparalleled urban growth, but a new post-

industrial society and economy are rapidly maturing in both countries.

� (1870’s)—Industrial Revolution reached America and it took hold so successfully and

advanced so robustly that only 50 years later, America was surpassing Europe as the world’s industrial power.

� (1900-1970)—The impact of industrial urbanization occurred simultaneously at two levels: macroscale (national level); and, microscale (individual cities). At the national scale, a network of new cities rapidly emerged, specializing in the collection, processing, and distribution of raw materials and manufactured goods, linked together by an efficient web of long-distance and local railroad lines. At the microscale, individual cities prospered in their new roles as manufacturing centers, generating a wholly new internal structure that still forms the spatial framework of most of the central cities of America’s large metropolitan areas.

� (Since 1970’s)—U.S.A. and Canada had been and are experiencing the maturation of a post-industrial society and economy, which is dominated by the production and manipulation of information, skilled services, and high-technology manufactures, and operates within an increasingly global-scale framework of business interactions. The aging Manufacturing Belt (of the northern quadrant of the U.S. and southeastern Canada) is often called the “Rust Bowl,” whereas glamour and prestige are attached to such Sunbelt locales as suburban San Francisco’s Silicon Valley and its high-technology counterparts in Texas, North Carolina, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, and Southern California.

• CASE IN POINT: Silicon Valley. The best model of post-industrialism in North America is the Silicon Valley (southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in

Northern California, U.S.A., originally referred to the region's large number of

silicon chip innovators and manufacturers, but eventually came to refer to all the

high-tech businesses in the area; it is now generally used as a metonym for the

high-tech sector). Developers often cite the conditions that are likeliest to attract a critical mass of high-tech companies to a given locality: (1) A nearby major university that offers an excellent graduate engineering program; (2) Close proximity to a cosmopolitan urban center; (3) A large pool of skilled and semi-skilled labor; (4) 360 days of sunshine; (5) Recreational water within an hour’s drive; (6) Affordable nearby housing; (7) Even closer prestigious luxury housing for top executives; (8) Start-up capital worth at least $1 billion to lure new high-tech firms; (9) Lower-than-normal risk for establishment of profitable high-tech businesses; and, (10) Cooperative spirit among landowners, lenders, government, and business.


8. Agriculture in North

overwhelmingly comme

huge annual surplus for

� The increasing appincreased both theaccompanied by a (to less than 2 percthe international m

� An enormous exte

occurred in the subMexico. Citrus fruiValley of Californiprolonged summevegetables. Drougirrigation. Winter Plain and the southand ample rain. Comore than 200 dashores and deltas falternately planted for cattle or as adwhich long has bee

Geography of the m

Over the past centuryhas expanded faster than legume was one of domesticated, and for n


th America employs a less than 5 percent of

ercial, mechanized, and specialized, and it

or sale in overseas markets. (See Geography of

application of high-technology mechanization tothe volume and value of total agricultural prod a sharp reduction in the number of those actively ercent of the U.S. work force today). North Ameri market of wheat, dairy, cotton, grains, and fruits.

xtension of fruit, winter vegetable, cotton, andsubtropical and warm temperate areas of the Unitruits do well in Florida and the Rio Grande valleyrnia—guarded from frosts by the Sierras, with win

er sun for ripening—also is a prime area fught is a challenge, however, and has been mr vegetables are widely grown on the sandy soiheastern parts of the Atlantic coast, which have a

Cotton has proved a success in areas with less thandays free of frost. Tobacco is concentrated on ts from Virginia to Kentucky. Many tobacco anded with rye, corn (maize), soybeans, and winter wadditional cash crops. These help to maintain theen threatened by the practice of monoculture.

mighty soybean

ry, no crop in this realm n the soybean. This hardy f the earliest plants nearly 5000 years the

requirements were identplace for raising corn Moconstantly widened the beyond their use as a n

40

of the labor force; it is

it normally produces a

of the Mighty Soybean)

to farming has steadily roduction, and has been ly engaged in agriculture erica is a major player of

nd tobacco farming has nited States and northern ley of Texas. The Central inter rain for growth and for growing fruit and met only by extensive soils of the Gulf Coastal e a long frost-free season han 60 inches of rain and n the sandy soils of old nd cotton fields are now r wheat grown as fodder the fertility of the soil,

ntical to those already in oreover, clever marketing

e versatility of soybeans nutritious livestock feed,


41

Chinese have revered it as a grain vital to life itself. The advantages of soybeans are numerous. They are the world’s cheapest and most efficient source of protein, with a level of concentration double that of meat or fish. They are easy to cultivate, adapting to a wide range of environmental conditions, and they are less vulnerable to pests and diseases than other temperate-climate food crops. Economically, crop yields are comparatively high, and the demand for soybeans has steadily risen across the world in recent decades. The dramatic increase of soybean production in the United States has been propelled not only by these advantages but also by this crop's particular suitability to the Corn Belt. It was quickly discovered that soybeans were an ideal crop to rotate with corn because they recondition the soil with nitrogen and other nutrients needed by corn. In terms of cultivation, soybeans also proved highly profitable to grow on the large, flat fields of the Corn Belt (which continues to account for about 80 percent of all U.S. soybean production) where their farm-machinery

and today they are used in a variety of human foods (ranging from vegetable oil to a plethora of low-calorie products) as well as such industrial goods as fertilizers, paints, and insect sprays. All of the above also contributed to steadily rising foreign demand, and in many recent years soybeans have ranked as the leading U.S. export commodity. Other producing countries have recognized this opportunity as well, and intensifying global competition after 1990 has resulted in a leveling off of America's share of the world market. Nonetheless, the United States still produces roughly half of the world's annual soybean output. Most of its competition (another 33 percent of the global supply) comes from Brazil and Argentina in mid-latitude South America, but China is constantly expanding its acreage in a bid to become a major producer. Soybeans will continue to play a key role in North American and international agriculture as the twenty-first century unfolds, buoyed in no small part by this grain's important potential in the struggle to ease the global food shortage.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Regional Issue—Immigrants: How Many Can North America Accommodate? IMMIGRATION BRINGS BENEFITS-THE MORE THE MERRIER!

LIMIT IMMIGRATION NOW

"The UNITED STATES and Canada are nations of immigrants' What would have happened if our forebears had closed the door to America after they arrived and stopped the Irish, the Italians, the Eastern Europeans, and so many other nationalities from entering this country? Now we're arguing over Latinos, Asians, Russians, Muslims, you name it. Fact is, newcomers have always been viewed negatively by most of those who came before them. When Irish Catholics began arriving in the 1830s the Protestants already here accused them of assigning their loyalty to some Italian pope rather than to their new country, but Irish Catholics soon proved to be pretty good Americans' Sound familiar? Muslims can be very good Americans too. It just takes time, longer for some immigrant groups than others. But don't you see that America's immigrants have always been the engine of growth? They become part of the world's most dynamic economy and make it more dynamic still. "My ancestors came from Holland in the 1800s,

"The percentage of recent immigrants in the U.S. population is the highest it has been in 70 years, and in Canada in 60 years. America is adding the population of San Diego every year, over and above the natural increase, and not counting illegal immigration. This can't go on. By 2010, 15 percent of the U.S. population will consist of recent immigrants. One-third of them will not have a high-school diploma. They will need housing, education, medical treatment, and other social services that put a huge strain on the budgets of the States they enter. The jobs they're looking for often aren't there, and then they start displacing working Americans by accepting lower wages. It’s easy for the elite to pontificate about how great immigration is for the American melting pot, but they're not the ones affected on a daily basis. Immigration is a problem for the working people. We see company jobs disappearing across the border to Mexico, and at the same time we have Mexicans arriving here by the hundreds of thousands, legally and illegally, and more jobs are taken away.


42

and the head of the family was an architect from Rotterdam. I work here in western Michigan as an urban planner. People who want to limit immigration seem to think that only the least educated workers flood into the United States and Canada, depriving the less-skilled among us of jobs and causing hardship for citizens. But in fact America attracts skilled and highly educated as well as unskilled immigrants, and they all make contributions. The highly educated foreigners, including doctors and technologically skilled workers, are quickly absorbed into the workforce; you're very likely to have been treated by a physician from India or a dentist from South Africa. The unskilled workers take jobs we're not willing to perform at the wages offered. Things have changed! A few decades ago, American youngsters on summer break flooded the job market in search of temporary employment in hotels, department stores, and restaurants. Now they're vacationing in Europe or trekking in Costa Rica, and the managers of those establishments bring in temporary workers from Jamaica and Romania' "And our own population is aging, which is why we need the infusion of younger people immigration brings with it. We don't want to become like Japan or some European countries, where they won't have the younger working people to pay the taxes needed to support the social security system. I agree with opponents of immigration on only one point: what we need is legal immigration, so that the new arrivals will get housed and schooled, and illegal immigration must be curbed. Otherwise, we need more, not fewer, immigrants."

"And don't talk to me about how immigration now will pay social security bills later. I know a thing or two about this because I'm an accountant here in Los Angeles, and I can calculate as well as the next guy in Washington. Those fiscal planners seem to forget that immigrants grow older and will need social security too. And as for that supposed slowdown in the aging of our population because immigrants are so young and have so many children, over the past 20 years the average age in the United States has dropped by four months. So much for that nonsense. What's needed is a revamping of the tax structure, so those fat cats who rob corporations and then let them go under will at least have paid their fair share into the national kitty. There'll be plenty of money to fund social services for the aged. We don't need unskilled immigrants to pay those bills. "And I’m against this notion of amnesty for illegal immigrants being talked about these days. All that would do is to attract more people to try to make it across our borders. I heard President Fox of Mexico propose opening the U.S'-Mexican border the way they're opening borders in the European Union' Can you imagine what would happen? What our two countries really need is a policy that deters illegal movement across that border; which will save lives as well as jobs, and a system that will confine immigration to legal channels. These days, that's not just a social or economic issue; it's a security matter as well."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Major geogra

1. South America’s phy

the Amazon Basin in the

� The Andes are thchain of highland7,000 km (4,300 m18° to 20°S latitud

� The Amazon Bas

tributaries. The baseveral other counthe world, coverinhas protected the a

� The Pampas (fromthat include the Córdoba, most of covering more tha

ANDES MOUNTAINS

AMAZON BASIN

Lesson Objectives:

1. Describe the ma2. Identify the vari3. Describe the bro

historical, and p

IC REGIONS: SOUTH AMERICA

graphic qualities of South

hysiography is dominated by the Andes Moun

the central north. Much of the remainder is pla

the world's longest exposed mountain range. Thand along the western coast of South Americ

mi) long, 200 km (120 mi) to 700 km (430 mi) tude), and of an average height of about 4,000 m (asin is the part of South America drained by the

basin is located mainly (40%) in Brazil, but also untries. The South American rain forest of the Aring about 8,235,430 km2 with dense tropical fore area and the animals residing in it. rom Quechua, meaning "plain") are the fertile Soue Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pof Uruguay, and the southernmost end of Brazil, tthan 750,000 km2 (289,577 sq mi). These vast plai

PATAGONIA

PAMPAS

BRAZILIAN H

GUIANA HIGHLAND

major physiographic features of the region. arious influences that have shaped South Americbroad regionalization pattern of the region in termd political developments.

43

h America

untains in the west and

lateau country.

They lie as a continuous rica. The range is over i) wide (widest between (13,000 ft).

he Amazon River and its o stretches into Peru and

Amazon is the largest in forest. For centuries, this

outh American lowlands Pampa, Santa Fe, and , the Rio Grande do Sul, lains are only interrupted

HIGHLANDS

DS

rica's culture areas. erms of cultural,


by the low Ventanheight of 1,300 m

� Patagonia is a America. LocatedAndes Mountainsname Patagonia cpeople whom his e

� Geographically, thand Southern Con

2. Half the realm’s ar

country—Brazil.

Pos C

S

1 B

2 C

3 A

4 P

5 V

6 C

7 E

8 B

9 P

10 U

11 G

12 S

F

F

S

(Source: C

CARIBBNORTH

• Col

• Ven

• Guy

• Sur

• Fre


tana and Tandil hills near Bahía Blanca and Tanm (4,265 ft) and 500 m (1,640 ft) respectively. a geographic region containing the southernmed in Argentina and Chile, it comprises the southns to the west and south, and plateaus and low comes from the word patagón used by Magellanis expedition thought to be giants. (There average , the realm has 3 main regions: Caribbean North,one.

area and just over half its population are

Country

South America

Brazil

Colombia

Argentina

Peru

Venezuela

Chile

Ecuador

Bolivia

Paraguay

Uruguay

Guyana

Suriname

French Guiana (France)

Falkland Islands (UK)

South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (UK)

CIA World Factbook, est. 2012)

SOUTHER

• Argent

• Chile

• Urugua

• Paragu

ANDEAN WEST

• Peru

• Ecuador

• Bolivia

BBEAN H

olombia

enezuela

uyana

uriname

rench Guiana

44

andil (Argentina), with a

most portion of South thernmost portion of the plains to the east. The

lan to describe the native e height was 5’11”)

th, Andean West, Brazil,

e concentrated in one

Population

398, 316, 117

199,321,413

45,239,079

42,192,494

29,549,517

28,047,938

17,067,369

15,223,680

10,290,003

6,541,591

3,316,328

741,908

560,157

221,500 (est 2009)

3,140 (est 2008)

~20

RN CONE

ntina

uay

guay

BRAZIL


� Brazil is the larglargest and sixth pSouth American cleader. In spite ofcorruption, a hugewealth in a shoreconomic base.

3. South America’s pop

interior is sparsely peop

4. The leading populati

rapidly since 1980.

� As in other parts the land moving tpersists so strongdeveloped world tSouth Americans America and thiunderdeveloped re

� Regionally, the reArgentina, Chile, and towns. Brazil percent, and is gro


rgest and most populated of South America coh populated country in the world. Its large physin country except Ecuador. It is a resource rich an of this, Brazil is not yet a fully developed countrge foreign debt and an explosive economy based ort period of time without regard for buildin

opulation remains concentrated in periphera

opled.

ation trend is city ward migration. No realm

ts of the developing world, people in South Ameg to the cities. Urbanization process intensified shongly that “Latin” America’s percentages are d than those of the Third World realms. By the 19ns lived in urban areas. Rural-to-urban migrationthis is a process that affects modernizing soc realms.

realm’s highest urban percentages are found in Soe, and Uruguay had about 95 percent of their peil ranks next among the most heavily urbanized prowing rapidly.

Note: The darker the shathe population.

The interior of South Amgenerally not inhabited dcontinent’s physiographithe Central North, the thirainforest covers much oBordering the Amazon bmountain ranges that limhabitability. These mounparticularly the Braziliana host to a few peoples, sare isolated natives.

45

countries. It is the fifth ysical area borders every and a world agricultural ntry because of domestic ed on deriving maximum ing a stable, long-term

ral zones. Most of the

m has urbanized more

merica today are leaving sharply after 1950 and it re more typical of the 1990’s, three out of four on is so intense in South societies throughout the

South America. In 1991, people residing in cities populations by about 75

hade, the denser

merica is due to the hic features. In thick Amazon of the land area. basin are high

imits the realm’s untains ian Highlands are s, some of which


5. Strong cultural plur

pluralism is often expres

� Four main compAmerica—AmericIberians (Spanish beginning of the finally, post-indepalso Lebanon, Sou

� John Augelli devinternal cultural Region, EuropeanRegion, and Undigeneralized and ssocial, political an � Tropical-Plant

along the nortplantation cropdescendants do

� European Com

Uruguay). Ththis region Transportationare higher. It i


uralism exists in the majority of the realm’

ressed regionally.

ponents have contributed to the present-day rican Indians (Amerindians), who were the pre-C

sh and Portuguese who conquered and dominatede 19th century); Africans, imported as slaves b

dependence immigrants from overseas, mostly Itouth Asia, and Japan.

eveloped a map showing the five South Amerial regions—within the South American realman-Commercial Region, Indo-Subsistence Regiondifferentiated Region. It should be noted that the subject to further modification as South Americ

and economic changes.

ntation. It consists of several separated areas, ofortheastern Brazilian coast. Location, soils, and trops, especially sugar. It Initially relied on African dominate the racial makeup and cultural expressio

ommercial. It is the most “Latin” part of South AThis is a zone of livestock raising as well as corn economically more advanced than the reion networks are superior, living standards are bet includes the Pampas—temperate grasslands.

Urban Population as a Percentage of Total Population in Different Areas of the World, 1950-20

46

’s countries, and this

ay population of South Columbian inhabitants;

ed the continent until the by the colonizers; and, Italy and Germany but

erican culture spheres—alm: Tropical-Plantation ion, Mesizo-Transitional these culture spheres are rica continually undergo

of which the largest lies d tropical climates favor can slave laborers, whose ssion of these areas.

America (Argentina and rn production. In general, rest of the continent.

better, and literacy rates

2000

WORLD’S GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS: SOUTH AMERICA

47

Mestizo-Transitional. It surrounds the subsistence region, covering coastal and interior Peru and Ecuador, much of Venezuela, most of Paraguay, and large areas of Argentina, Chile, and Brazil (including the Amazon valleys and certain tributary rivers. It is a zone of mixture—European and Indian or African—culture. This region “tends to be less commercial than European sphere but less subsistent than Indian areas.

Undifferentiated. Its characteristics are hard to classify. Some of the Indians in the interior of the Amazon Basin had remained isolated and has resisted changes since the days of Columbus. Poor transportation and difficult location continue to contribute to the unchanging nature of these areas.

6. Regional economic contrasts and disparities, both in the realm as a whole and within

individual countries, are strong. In general, the south is the most developed, the northeast

the least.

TOPICAL PLANTATION

EUROPEAN COMMERCIAL

AMERIND- SUBSISTENCE

MESTIZO TRANSITIONAL

UNDIFFERENT-IATED

� Amerind-Subsistence. It forms an elongated zone along the length of the central Andes. The feudal socio-economic structure that was established here by the Spanish still survives. Indian population forms a large landless peonage, living by subsistence or by working on haciendas. It includes some of South America’s poorest areas, and commercial activities tend to be under the control of whites or mestizos.


48

� Most economies in South American countries are based upon agriculture and mining and extraction of resources such as oil and minerals. However the income gap between rich poor reflects the region’s poverty and failure to develop economically after independence.

� Brazil. South America’s Giant (5th largest state in terms of territory) � Contains half of the continent’s land and people � A federal republic of 26 states � Most diverse in terms of ethnic composition – there is a mixture of European,

African, and Amerindian peoples � A Portuguese-speaking and Roman Catholic adherent nation � Has substantial mineral resources: Iron, Aluminum, manganese, oil, and gas � GNP per capita is about $4,630 and its economy is number 8 in the world.

� The North (Caribbean South America)--Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname,

French Guiana � Venezuela relies on its oil from the Maracaibo Lowlands—one of the world’s

leading oil-producing areas. Venezuela’s oil industry transformed its economy in the 1970s, but since the 1980’s Venezuela has suffered the effects of global oil depression. The country is beset with huge foreign debt as it tries to revitalize its economy.

� Colombia relies much on its major exports, which are coffee, oil & coal; its leading economic activity is the production and processing of cocaine (which is its leading export also)

� The Guianas (French Guiana, Guyana, and Suriname) are poverty stricken and face environmental crisis; plantation economy still predominate.

� The West (Andean South America)--Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia

� Peru’s economy relies on fishing; its irrigated agriculture produce sugar, cotton, rice, fruit, and wheat; Cotton and sugar are important exports. In the highlands of Peru where isolated Indian population dominates, subsistence agriculture predominates.

� Ecuador is one of the world’s leading banana exporters. Cacao is another important lowland crop, and lucrative coffee is grown on the coastal hillsides of the country. In recent years, the production of petroleum in the jungles have reached substantial proportions

� Bolivia boasts of its tin deposits, which have yielded over half of the country’s annual export income; natural gas and oil are now contributing a growing share.

� The South (Mid-Latitude South America)--Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay � Paraguay is 95% mestizo, but with so pervasive an Indian influence that any

white ancestry is almost totally submerged. It is the poorest of the four countries of Indian South America. Development is slow probably due to its landlocked position.

� Argentina is 90% urbanized (Peripheral); its exports are cereals, meats, and vegetable oils


49

� Uruguay is the most European of South American countries; its exports are hides, meats, and textiles

� Chile exports mainly copper and nitrate; few of its agricultural products reach external markets; Chile remains a net importer of food.

7. Interconnections among the states of the realm remain comparatively weak. External

ties are frequently stronger

� The major factors why interconnection among the states of South America is weak are:

• Physiographic barriers: The Andes; the Amazon Rainforest; and Brazilian Highlands

• Non-complementary economies: While most of South America’s economy is considered free market economy, South American countries generally have similar resources; hence, internal trade is weak.

• Lack of developed infrastructure—due to the physiographic features of the realm; corrupt governments, and internal conflicts

• Individual countries oriented towards Europe and the U.S. – not towards each other � CASE IN POINT: Chile is South America’s greatest economic success

story. It has been able to participate in the global economy by trading the products of its mines and fields with nations as far away as Japan. The export of fruit and vegetables to North American markets is an important part of Chile’s economy because its harvest comes during the Northern Hemisphere’s winter.

• Efforts to strengthen economic ties between and among South American countries led to the founding of MERCOSUR (from Mercado Comun del Sur) in 1995. Mercosur is an economic common market that began operating in the southern cone of South America. The main goal of the cooperation is to establish a free-trade zone for the benefit of its members. Its members are Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. Its associate members are Chile and Bolivia. Also in 1995, the so-called Group of Three (G-3), which included Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia, was formed to implement free trade and it should have phased out all tariffs by 2005.

8. With the exception of small countries in the north, the realm’s modern cultural sources

lie in a single sub region of Europe, the Iberian Peninsula. Spanish is the lingua franca,

except in Portuguese-speaking Brazil.

• South Americans are culturally influenced by the historic connection with Europe, especially Spain and Portugal, and the impact of mass culture from the United States of America.

• Spanish-speaking South American countries are Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

• Suriname is a Dutch-speaking country; French Guiana is a part of France; Falkland Islands is a territory of the United Kingdom

9. Lingering politico-geographical problems beset the realm. Boundary disputes and

territorial conflicts persist.


• Oligarchy and mcountries of SouthSouth America, individual freedomcolonialism had underdeveloped ec

• During the Cold Wof the Cold WarUruguay and Paradictatorships in thtens of thousandsThroughout the 19

• Colombia currentlMarxist guerrillasideology as well a

10. The Catholic Churc

unifying elements.

� Historically, in th

were committed toany native culturathis were only patraditional idolatrytheir language toChurch's evangelicontinuous use of

• CASE IN

religion withe world.practice re


military rule have characterized the governmuth America since they won their independence fra, authoritarian rule—which stresses obediencdom—delayed the development of democracy. d their effects on South American governmen economies, and social class divisions still exist in

War, South America became a battlefield of worar were devastating: some governments of Arg

araguay were overthrown or displaced by United the 1960s and 1970s. To curtail opposition, theirds of political prisoners, many of whom were 1980s and 1990s, Peru suffered from an internal c

ntly faces an internal conflict, which started in 19las and now involves several illegal armed grol as the private armies of powerful drug lords.

rch dominates life throughout the realm and

the early years of Spanish domination of South A to convert their native subjects to Christianity an

ural practices that hindered this end; however, mpartially successful, as native groups simply blentry and their polytheistic beliefs. Furthermore, theto the degree they did their religion, althoughelization in Quechua, Aymara, and Guaraní actuof these native languages albeit only in the oral for

IN POINT: The Portuguese brought their langua with them to Brazil. Today, Brazil has the largest ld. Many other Brazilians, mainly those of Afric religions that combine African beliefs with Catho

50

ments of many of the from Spain. Throughout ence to authority over . Hundreds of years of ents. Strong militaries,

t in the region today.

orld powers. The effects rgentina, Brazil, Chile,

d States-aligned military eir governments detained e tortured and/or killed. l conflict.

1964 with the creation of groups of leftist leaning

d constitutes one of its

h America, the Spaniards and were quick to purge

, most initial attempts at lended Catholicism with the Spaniards did impose gh the Roman Catholic tually contributed to the form.

guage and their Catholic st Catholic population in rican or mixed ancestry, holicism.


51

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Regional Issue for South America--Who Needs Democracy? SOUTH AMERICA DOES! "I’m old ENOUGH TO remember the good as well as the bad old days here in Argentina. As a young man I worked for the national railroad company when that guy Peron came on the scene. I guess he learned his craft from the fascists in Italy, because he excelled in election by intimidation. He divided this country as never before, spending money on the workers and the poor while curbing freedoms and even abolishing freedoms guaranteed under our constitution. To tell you the truth, my salary actually went up a bit, and I even voted for him the second time around-largely, I think, because I wanted to do something for his beautiful wife Evita, who was loved by the whole country (except the military). "Anyway, if you looked around South America in those days, we could have done worse. Wall to wall dictators. The military and police, secret and otherwise, put the fear of God into the populace, helped by the church. At least we had a guy who went through the motions of election. While those others divided the wealth among their cronies, Per6n tried to spread it around. Even wealth we didn't have. Yes, he certainly put us into debt. And he had his cronies too. “When they finally deposed Per6n, I thought that we might see democratic elections here. (In retrospect, I don't know why I thought that-Spain and Portugal were ruled by two of the worst, Franco and Salazar; that's our "Latin" heritage). Well you already know how wrong I was. Instead of more democracy, we got military repression. We lived in terror, not just fear. You've probably heard of those nuns who asked questions about the fate of a baby whose mother had 'disappeared.’ They loaded them into a helicopter, in their outfits, and threw them out over the Rio de la Plata. Later I heard some soldiers joke about ''the flying nuns." Rumors of what could happen to you were rife. Everyone knew someone who knew someone who was a victim. "Our cloud of military terror lifted after they made their mistake in the Malvinas, 20 years ago, and since then we've had a taste of real democracy. It hasn't been easy, but let me tell you, It's better than 'strongman' rule so many of us South Americans are familiar with. Most of all, there's openness. You can express your views without fear. Political parties can argue their

SAY NO TO THE EXCESSES OF DEMOCRACY! "You can't help noticing that the Great Democratic Revolution that was supposed to be sweeping Middle and South America is not exactly a success. Here in Brazil we've had democratic government of a sort since 1989, when our man Fernando Collor de Mello was allowed by the military to win an election. You'll remember what happened to him. He resigned three years later after being implicated in a corruption and influence-peddling scheme. I'm sure the poor benefited hugely from this return to democracy. "South American countries have a history of being led by men who captured the imagination of the nation and whose vision forged the character of the state. These men knew that the state must serve the people. The state must ensure that its railroads and bus services are available at low cost to all citizens. The state must provide electricity, fuel, and clean water. The state must staff and maintain the schools. The state and the church are indivisible, and the networks of the church are in the service of the state. lf the military is needed to maintain order in the interest of stability, so be it. Call them strongmen if you like, but they personified their nations and did so for centuries. "Democracy is a luxury for rich countries. The Americans like to teach us about democracy, but as a geography high school teacher here in Santa Catarina, let me ask you this: how can the U.S. call itself a democracy when, in their Senate, a few hundred thousand people in Wyoming have the same representation as over 30 million in California? Oh, I see. You call yourself a 'representative republic.' Well, then don't lecture us about democracy. Even Juan Peron was 'democratically' elected, you know. In fact, most of those allegedly dictatorial rulers you so harshly criticize would probably win at the ballot box. "Anyway, look at what democracy has done for Argentina and for Venezuela before the Venezuelans had the good sense to throw the rascals out and elect Chavez. Look what it is doing for Peru, where democratically elected President Toledo was trying to sell off the electric company serving Arequipa before the citizens stopped him. That "openness" you hear pro-democracy advocates talk about just means that outsiders can come in, put your country in debt, demand 'privatization' of public companies, buy up corporations and banks and haciendas, fire


52

positions without military intimidation. Corrupt public officials can be found out by reporters, and they can't send machine-gun-toting colonels to kill their pursuers. Yes, there are downsides-that openness applies to the economy too, and as we've discovered, outsiders can interfere in our financial affairs. But I'd rather have democracy and open disorder than dictatorship and isolated order, and I’ve known them both."

thousands of workers to increase profits and share prices back home, and make the poor even poorer. What we need in this part of the world is a strong hand, not only to guide the nation but to protect the state."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WORLD’S GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS: AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND

53

Major geographic qualities of Australia-New Zealand

1. Australia and New Zealand constitute a geographic realm by virtue of territorial

dimensions, relative location, and dominant cultural landscape. Australia and New

Zealand lie remote from the places with which they have the strongest cultural and

economic ties.

� The Austral realm is geographically unique. It is the only geographic realm that lies

entirely in the Southern Hemisphere. It is also the only realm that has no land link if any

kind to a neighboring realm and is thus completely surrounded by ocean and sea.

Appropriately, its name is refers to its location (Austral means south)—a location far

from the sources of its dominant cultural heritage but close to its newfound economic

partners on the western Pacific Rim.

� Both countries are culturally European (since Australia and New Zealand have been

colonized by European) but are literally far from their place cultural origins. Both

countries are European outposts in an Asian Pacific World. But while, Australia and

New Zealand were spawned by Europe and its people and economy are Western in

every way, these two countries as geographic realm are a far cry from the crowded,

productive, complex European world. Australia’s entire population (jus over 19 million)

is only slightly larger than that of the Netherlands (about 16 million), but Australia is

about 200 times as large territorially.

2. Despite their inclusion in a single geographic realm, Australia and New Zealand differ

physiographically. Australia has a vast, dry, low-relief interior; New Zealand is

mountainous.

� A physical map of Australia would reveal that much of its surface terrain is low-lying

plains, desert, and plateaus, save for the Great Dividing Range on the eastern part of the

continent. Yet even the said range’s highest peak (Mount Kosciusko) is about 2,228

meters (7,310 feet)—far lower than many of the known high peaks of other continents

and islands.

� Australia is marked by a vast arid and semi-arid interior, extensive open plain-lands,

and marginal moister zones. This vast arid and semi-arid interior is popularly termed as

“Outback” or the “Inland”—of which the Ayer’s Rock is close to the continent’s

geographic center. The peripheries of Australia are open plain-lands, while its moister

Lesson Objectives:

1. Explain what makes Australia and New Zealand as a distinct geographic realm.

2. Compare the physiographic qualities of Australia and New Zealand. 3. Describe the economic potentials of Australia in relation to its untapped

resources.

4. Discuss the region’s changing political and social climate in relation to its

indigenous peoples.


zones are concen

Darling-Murray R

� New Zealand con

islands. The two

Island, look dimin

Britain. In contra

hilly, with severa

Island has a specta

numerous peaks re

IC REGIONS: AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND

entrated in the northern and eastern parts whe

River) flow and where the Australian Alps are loc

onsists of two large mountainous islands and m

o large islands, with the South Island somewhat

inutive in the Great Pacific Ocean, but togethe

trast to Australia, these two main islands are ma

eral peaks rising far higher than any Australian

ctacular snowcapped range appropriately called th

s reaching beyond 10, 000 feet (3300 m)

54

here river systems (e.g.

located.

many scattered smaller

at larger than the North

her, they are larger than

mainly mountainous and

an landmass. The South

the Southern Alps, with


55

3. Australia, with a large and diverse natural resource base, is a continent of substantial

untapped potential.

� Australia is rich in mineral resources, notably bauxite, coal, diamonds, gold, iron ore,

mineral sands, natural gas, nickel, petroleum, and uranium.

� Major gold discoveries in Victoria and New South Wales produced a ten-year gold rush

starting in 1851 and ushered in a new economic era/ by middle of that decade, Australia

was producing 40 percent of the world’s gold. Subsequently, the search for more gold

led to the discoveries of other minerals. New finds are still being made today, and even

oil and natural gas have been found both inland and offshore. Coal is mined in many

locations.


56

4. Australia’s population has very low arithmetic and low physiologic density. Australia’s

population distribution is decidedly peripheral as well as highly clustered. A very high

percentage of Australia’s population is concentrated in a small number of major urban

areas.

� Australia is the most sparsely populated of the inhabited continents. The estimated total

population in 2006 was 20,264,082, giving the country an overall population density of

3 persons per sq km (7 per sq mi). Australia’s population grew at a relatively modest

rate of about 1.3 percent annually from 1996 to 2001.

� The country is heavily urbanized. Some 92 percent of the population lives in cities,

about two-thirds in cities with 100,000 or more residents. The most rapidly growing

areas are the coastal zones near and between the mainland capitals in the east, southeast,

and southwest. In fact, four out of every five Australians live on the densely settled

coastal plains that make up only about 3 percent of the country’s land area. The fastest-

growing region is southeastern Queensland.

� The major cities of Australia are Sydney, a seaport and commercial center; Melbourne,

a cultural center; Brisbane, a seaport; Perth, a seaport on the western coast; and

Adelaide, an agricultural center. Canberra, the national capital, is much smaller in

population. These cities are where over 90 percent of Australia’s people reside. Nine

out of ten Australians live in cities.

Diamond

Gas/Oil

Iron

Gold

Coal

Zinc/Lead

Copper

Nickel


57

5. The realm’s human geography is changing—in Australia because of Aboriginal

activism and Asian migration and in New Zealand because of Maori activism and Pacific-

islander immigration. (See Regional Issue: Indigenous rights and wrongs)

� The Aboriginal population of 300,000 (including many of mixed ancestry) has been

gaining influence in the country’s affairs. In the 1980’s, Aboriginal leaders began a

campaign to obstruct exploration and mining on ancestral and sacred lands. Until 1992,

Australians had taken it for granted that Aborigines had no rights to land ownership; the

continent had been open and undemarcated, and there was no evidence of prior title. In

that year however, the Australian High Court ruled in favor of an Aborigine, Eddie

Mabo, and his co-inhabitants of the Murray Islands in the Torres Strait. The ruling

implied that Aborigines elsewhere, too, could claim title to traditional land.

� The Aboriginal land issue is essentially (though not exclusively) an Outback issue,

notably in Western Australia, South Australia, and Queensland States. It has had a

polarizing effect on politics and society, strengthening political parties and movements

opposed to making further “concessions” to Aborigines.

� A few Aboriginal communities still pursue their original life of hunting, gathering, and

fishing. Many are scattered across the continent, subsisting on reserves the government

set aside for them working on cattle stations, or performing mostly menial jobs in cities

and towns. In comparatively affluent Australia, the Aboriginal peoples suffer from

poverty, disease, inadequate education, and even malnutrition.

� The population question has pre-occupied Australia as long as Australia has existed.

Fifty years ago, 95 percent of the people were of European ancestry—most of them

from the British Isles. Eugenic (race-specific) immigration policies maintained this

Perth

Hobart, Tasmania

Brisbane

Sidney Adelaide

Melbourne Canberra


58

situation until the 1970’s. Today, of 19.9 million Australians, only about one-third have

British-Irish origins, and Asian immigrants outnumber European immigrants and the

natural increase each year. During the 1990’s nearly 150,000 legal immigrants arrived

in Australia annually, most of them coming from Hong Kong, Vietnam, China,

Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. The Asian immigration issue is essentially an urban

one: most Asian immigrants have settled in the cities and towns.

� In New Zealand, its population of 4 million is almost 80 percent European, and the

Maori form a minority of leas than 400,000, with many of mixed Euro-Polynesian

ancestry. Maori activism erupted when, in 1995, in February 6—a public holiday in

New Zealand called Waitangi Day (commemorating the signing of the Treaty of

Waitangi in 1840 ending British-Maori conflicts, which also guaranteed Maori rights

over tribal lands)—Maoris disrupted the proceedings; the prime minister was jostled by

the crowd; and an attempt was made to burn the Treaty House. This event signaled a

rise of Maori ethnic consciousness. Maori leaders insist that the terms of the Waitangi

Treaty be enforced, that large tracts of land in urban areas as well as rural areas be

awarded to the rightful Maori owners.

� The Maori issue has other geographic overtones. Nearly all Maori still live on the North

Island (where three-quarters of all New Zealanders reside), but Maori leaders are

making huge claims over much of the South Island.

6. The economic geography of Australia and New Zealand is dominated by the export of

livestock products (and in Australia also by wheat productions and mining). Australia

and New Zealand are marked by peripheral development—Australia because of its

aridity, New Zealand because of its topography.

� Australia has material assets of which other countries on the Pacific Rim can only

dream. In agriculture, sheep-raising was the earliest commercial venture, but it was

technology of refrigeration that brought world markets within reach of Australian beef

production. Wool, meat, and wheat have long been the country’s big three income

earners. Australia’s vast pastures in the east, north, and west constitute the ranges of

Australia’s huge herds. The zone of commercial grain farming forms a broad crescent

extending from northeastern New South Wales through Victoria into South Australia,

and covers much of the hinterland of Perth. Mixed horticulture concentrates in the basin

of the Murray River system, including rice, grapes, and citrus fruits, all under irrigation.

And, as elsewhere in the world, dairying has developed near the large urban areas. With

its considerable range of environments, Australia yields a diversity of crops.

� Sheep-raising and the production of livestock and dairy products lifted Australia in the

international market. Its wheat-production is highly mechanized that Australia is on one

of the leading exporters of wheat in the world.

� In New Zealand, the largest lowland is the agricultural Canterbury Plain, centered on

Christchurch. What make these lower areas so attractive, apart from their availability as

cropland, is their magnificent pastures. The range of soils and pasture plants allows both


summer and winte

produces a wide

Zealand is pastur

industry. Sixty m

activities, with w

island’s export rev

� Despite their con

Australia have mu

sizeable pastoral e

markets, and a des

IC REGIONS: AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND

nter grazing. Moreover, Canterbury Plain, the chie

e variety of vegetables, cereals, and fruits. Abou

ture land, and much of the farming provides f

million sheep and eight million cattle dominate

wool, meat, and dairy products providing nea

revenues.

ontrasts in size, shape, physiography, and histo

much in common. Apart from their shared British

l economy, a small local market, the problem of g

esire to stimulate domestic manufacturing.

59

hief farming region, also

bout half of the all New

s fodder for he pastoral

te these livestock-raising

nearly two-thirds of the

story, New Zealand and

ish heritage, they share a

f great distances to world


60

7. Australia and New Zealand are being integrated into the economic framework of the

western Pacific Rim, principally as suppliers of raw materials.

� Australian manufacturing remains oriented to domestic markets. One cannot expect to

find Australian automobiles, electronic equipment, or cameras challenging the Pacific

Rim’s economic tigers for a place on world markets—not yet, at any rate.

� For two centuries, Australia has been a European outpost facing the Pacific Ocean.

Now, with Australia well into its third century, its European bonds are weakening and

its Asian ties are strengthening. On the face of it, Australia and its northern neighbors

on the Pacific Rim would seem to exhibit a geographic complementarity: Japan and the

economic tigers need Australia’s excess food, metals, and minerals, and Australia needs

the cheap manufactures Asia produces. But it is not that simple. Australia still has tariff

barriers against imported goods, and the Asian countries on the Pacific Rim maintain

import barriers against processed foods and minerals, thus discouraging Australia from

refining its exports and earning from them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Regional Issue—Austral Realm: Indigenous Rights and Wrongs

THE LEAST WE SHOULD DO IS APOLOGIZE "l can’t believe this. Here we are more than a dozen years beyond our two-hundredth-year anniversary, the evidence of our mistreatment of the Aborigines is everywhere, and we can't, as a nation, say we're sorry? How could we get ourselves into a public debate over this? What does it take to offer sincere apologies to the original Australians and to tell them (and not only to tell them) that we'll do better? "We should remind ourselves more often than we do of what happened here. When our ancestors arrived on these shores there were more than a million Aboriginal people in Australia, with numerous clans and cultures. They had many virtues, but one in particular: they didn't appropriate land. Land was assigned to them by the creator (what they call the Dreaming), and their relationship to it was spiritual, not commercial. They didn't build fences or walls. Neither had they adopted some bureaucratic religion. Just think a world where land was open and free and religion was local and personal. Wouldn't that do something for the Middle East and Northern Ireland! Well, we showed up and started claiming and fencing off the land that, under British rules, was there for the taking. lf the Aborigines got in the way, they were pushed out, and if they resisted, they got killed. You don't even want to think about what happened in Tasmania. A campaign of calculated extermination. Between 1800 and 1900

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

"Prime Minister John Howard was right when he said that apologizing for history should be a private matter. I was born on this Outback sheep station 25 years ago, and we employ a dozen Aboriginal workers, most of who were born in this area. I had nothing to do with what happened more than a century ago, or even the first 75 years of the past century. What I would have done is irrelevant, and what my great-great grandparents may have done has nothing to do with me. All over the world people are born into situations not of their making, and they should all go around apologizing? "And as a matter of fact I believe that this country has bent over backwards, in my time at least, to undo the alleged wrongs of the past. Look, the Aboriginal minority counts about 300,000 or 2 percent of the population. Compare this to the map: they've got the Northern Territory and other parts of the country too, and that's close to 15 percent of Australia. And now we're going to give them more? I could see disaster in the making when that guy Eddie Mabo got the High Court to agree to his so-called 'native title' claim to land with which he and his people hadn't done a thing. Since when do Aboriginal customs take precedence over the law of the land? But even worse was that decision supporting the Wiks up there in Cape York. That was unbelievable: native title on land already held in pastoral lease? That


61

the Aboriginal population dropped from 1 million to around 50,000. And when we became a nation, they weren't even accorded citizenship. "None of this stopped some white Australian men from getting Aboriginal women pregnant, But from 1910 on church and state managed to make things even worse. They took the young children away from their mothers and put them in institutions, where they would be 'Europeanized' and then married off to white partners, so that they would lose their Aboriginal inheritance. This, if you'll believe it, went on into the 1960s! Think of the scenes, these kids being kidnapped by armed officials from their mothers. And we have to argue about saying we're sorry? "Well, at least we're discussing it in the open, and the misdeeds of the past are coming out. Aboriginal Australians finally got the vote in 1962, and they're able to get elected to parliament. I work in a State government office that assists Asian immigrants here in Sydney, and l only wish that we'd done for the Aborigines what we've done for the immigrants we admit."

affects all of us. Pretty soon the whole of Australia will be targeted by these Aboriginal claimants and their lawyers. And by the way, in the old days those people moved around all the time. Who's to say what clans owned what land when it comes to claiming native title? These court cases are going to tie us up in legal knots for generations to come. "And now I gather that some Aboriginal people are calling for a treaty between themselves and the government, for what purpose I'm not sure-l guess it'll be like the one the Kiwis made with the Maori there. Is this really what we need if we're going to put the past behind us? Look, I like the fellows working here, but you've got to realize that no laws or treaties are going to change all of the problems they have. They're getting preference for many kinds of government employment, remedial help in all kinds of areas, but still they wind up in jail, leaving school, giving up their jobs. Yes, I'm sure wrongs were done in the past. But apologizing isn't going to make any difference. They have their opportunity now. In a lot of countries they would have never gotten it: Aussies are pretty decent people. It's up to them to make the best of it."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Documents

Major geogr ographic qualities of RRussiatecsonline.weebly.com/uploads/2/6/8/2/26827965/world_regional_geography_survey_a.pdflocation: Russia always lacked warm-water ports. Had the