Discussion on a country (e.g., Ghana), region (e.g., Kaliningrad, Russia), trend (e.g., migration into Germany), or cultura

World Regional Geography

World Regional Geography

CAITLIN FINLAYSON

World Regional Geography by Caitlin Finlayson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

http://caitiefinlayson.com/WRGTextbook.pdf

Contents

Preface 1

1. Introduction

1.1 The Where and the Why 3

1.2 The Spatial Perspective 5

1.3 Core and Periphery 8

1.4 The Physical Setting 9

1.5 The Human Setting 13

1.6 The World’s Regions 17

1.7 Sub-disciplines of Geography 20

1.8 Globalization and Inequality 22

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2. Europe

2.1 European Physical Geography and Boundaries 25

2.2 Cooperation and Control in Europe 28

2.3 The Industrial Revolution 33

2.4 European Migration 37

2.5 Shifting National Identities 38

2.6 Current Migration Patterns and Debates 41

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3. Russia

3.1 Russia’s Physical Geography and Climate 44

3.2 Settlement and Development Challenges 48

3.3 Russian History and Expansion 51

3.4 Russian Multiculturalism and Tension 53

3.5 Economics and Development in the Soviet Union 59

3.6 The Modern Russian Landscape 61

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4. North America

4.1 North America’s Physical Setting 64

4.2 North American History and Settlement 70

4.3 Industrial Development in North America 74

4.4 The North American Urban Landscape 75

4.5 Patterns of Inequality in North America 80

4.6 North America’s Global Connections 82

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5. Middle and South America

5.1 The Geographic Features of Middle and South America 84

5.2 Colonization and Conquest in Middle America 91

5.3 The South American Colonial Landscape 95

5.4 Urban Development in South America 98

5.5 Income Inequality in Middle and South America 102

5.6 Patterns of Globalization in Middle and South America 104

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6. Sub-Saharan Africa

6.1 The Physical Landscape of Sub-Saharan Africa 107

6.2 Pre-Colonial Sub-Saharan Africa 112

6.3 Sub-Saharan African Colonization 115

6.4 The Modern Sub-Saharan African Landscape 117

6.5 Economics and Globalization in Sub-Saharan Africa 121

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7. North Africa and Southwest Asia

North Africa and Southwest Asia’s Key Geographic Features 125

7.2 Cultural Adaptations in North Africa and Southwest Asia 130

7.3 The Religious Hearths of North Africa and Southwest Asia 134

7.4 Conquest in North Africa and Southwest Asia 138

7.5 The Modern Political Landscape of North Africa and Southwest Asia 139

7.6 Religious Conflict in North Africa and Southwest Asia 142

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8. South Asia

8.1 South Asia’s Physical Landscape 145

8.2 Patterns of Human Settlement in South Asia 150

8.3 Cultural Groups in South Asia 154

8.4 South Asia’s Population Dynamics 159

8.5 Future Challenges and Opportunities in South Asia 161

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9. East and Southeast Asia

9.1 The Physical Landscape of East and Southeast Asia 163

9.2 Natural Hazards in East and Southeast Asia 166

9.3 East and Southeast Asia’s History and Settlement 169

9.4 Political Conflicts and Changes East and Southeast Asia 174

9.5 Patterns of Economic Development in East and Southeast Asia 176

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10. Oceania

10.1 The Physical Landscape of Oceania 182

10.2 The World’s Oceans and Polar Frontiers 187

10.3 Biogeography in Australia and the Pacific 192

10.4 The Patterns of Human Settlement in Australia and the Pacific 194

10.5 The Changing Landscape of Oceania 198

182

Glossary 203

Preface

Geography is a discipline of explorers. Some geographers explore the world using satellite imagery and others by interviewing members of an indigenous community in an isolated area. What unites geographers everywhere is a desire to dig deeper, a desire to better understand why the spatial patterns and unique features we find in the world exist and how they interact and change. World Regional Geography presents an overview of the discipline by introducing students to key themes and concepts in the discipline of geography through a study of the world’s regions.

In a traditional World Regional Geography textbook, chapters are arranged around the various regions of the world with each chapter focusing on the geographic features of the particular region. Concepts such as climate, physical features, culture, economics, and politics are discussed in every chapter and particular places and names of physical features found in each region are emphasized. In essence, most World Regional Geography textbooks privilege breadth over depth.

There are two key problems with this traditional approach. First, most regional chapters follow the same basic outline of topics, perhaps beginning with physical features, then outlining historical developments, and then moving on to culture and economics. Countries and specific places within the region are emphasized rather than the patterns found across the region as a whole. There is rarely an over-arching theme or story that connects the regions to one another. Secondly, in most primary-level geography courses, breadth is already emphasized. Students may take map quizzes or learn a list of physical features, but have little exposure to the depth of concepts and theories that are central to geography as a discipline.

This book takes a different approach. Rather than present students with a broad, novice- level introduction to geography, emphasizing places and vocabulary terms, this text approaches geography as experts understand the discipline, focusing on connections and an in-depth understanding of core themes. This thematic approach, informed by pedagogical research, provides students with an introduction to thinking geographically. Instead of repeating the same several themes each chapter, this text emphasizes depth over breadth by arranging each chapter around a central theme and then exploring that theme in detail as it applies to the particular region. In addition, while chapters are designed to stand alone and be rearranged or eliminated at the instructor’s discretion, the theme of globalization and inequality unites all of the regions discussed. This core focus enables students to draw connections between regions and to better understand the interconnectedness of our world. Furthermore, the focus on both globalization and inequality helps demonstrate the real-world application of the concepts discussed. Colonialism, for instance, rather than a historical relic, becomes a force that has shaped geography and informs social justice. This thematic approach is also intended to facilitate active learning and

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would be suitable for a flipped or team-based learning-style course since it more easily integrates case studies and higher-order thinking than the traditional model.

Each chapter begins with a list of learning objectives. This text was written with the backward course design model in mind and the content of each chapter was structured around these learning objectives. Because of this backward design focus, the length of each chapter is considerably shorter than most traditional textbooks. The intention is for the instructor to supplement the text with problems, case studies, and news articles and to use the text as a springboard for discussing deeper issues. The chapters are written in an accessible style, often addressing the student directly, and the author’s voice has intentionally tried to remain present in the text. Following the Washington Post’s gender-inclusive style guide, the singular they is intentionally used throughout the text. Rhetorical questions are also used to help students reflect on concepts and to encourage them to dig deeper and consider concepts from different perspectives.

Finally, a key difference between this text and others on the subject is that it is provided at no cost under the CC BY license. This means that the content can be distributed, remixed, tweaked, or built upon simply by crediting the author. Geography is an open discipline. In truth, anyone can be a geographer as long as they are curious about the world around them.

This isn’t a perfect text and it doesn’t attempt to be. In emphasizing depth over breadth, some content was sacrificed. However, the intention is that students will not only know the material much more deeply, but in doing so, will also develop a passion for geography and a geographical imagination that will continue beyond this course.

Happy exploring, geographers.

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CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Learning Objectives

• Understand the principles of geographic study

• Summarize the key physical and human features of the world

• Distinguish between different types of regions

• Understand the major subfields of geography and their key conceptual frameworks

• Describe the process of globalization and the principal measures of inequality

1.1 THE WHERE AND THE WHY

What is “geography”? It might seem like a simple enough term to define. In middle school or high school, your answer might have been something to do with the study of maps, of where things were located in the world. In fact, much of primary and secondary school geography is explicitly focused on the where, answering questions like where a particular country is located, what a country’s capital is, and where major landforms are located. Just as simple arithmetic operations form the backbone of mathematics as a discipline, these kinds of questions are foundational to geographic study. However, one wouldn’t likely define math as the study of calculators or of multiplication tables. Similarly, there is much more to geography and geographic inquiry than the study of maps.

Geographers seek to answer both the “where” and the “why.” Simply knowing where a country is located is certainly helpful, but geographers dig deeper: why is it located there? Why does it have a particular shape, and how does this shape affect how it interacts with its neighbors and its access to resources? Why do the people of the country have certain cultural features? Why does the country have a specific style of government? The list goes on and on, and as you might notice, incorporates a variety of historical, cultural, political, and physical features. This synthesis of the physical world and human activity is at the heart of the regional geographic approach.

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The term “geography” comes from the Greek term geo meaning “the earth” and graphia meaning “to write,” and many early geographers did exactly that: they wrote about the world. Ibn Battuta, for example, was a scholar from Morocco and traveled extensively across Africa and Asia in the 14th century CE. Eratosthenes is commonly considered to be the “Father of Geography,” and in fact, he quite literally wrote the book on the subject in the third century BCE. His three-volume text, Geographica, included maps of the entire known world (see Figure 1.1), including different climate zones, the locations of hundreds of different cities, and a coordinate system. This was a revolutionary and highly regarded text, especially for the time period. Eratosthenes is also credited as the first person to calculate the circumference of the Earth. Many early geographers, like Eratosthenes, were primarily cartographers, referring to people who scientifically study and create maps, and early maps, such as those used in Babylon, Polynesia, and the Arabian Peninsula, were often used for navigation. In the Middle Ages, as academic inquiry in Europe declined with the fall of the Roman Empire, Muslim geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi created one of the most advanced maps of pre-modern times, inspiring future geographers from the region.

Figure 1.1: Reconstruction of Eratosthenes’ Map of the Known World, c. 194 BCE (© E. H. Bunbury, A History of Ancient Geography among the Greeks and Romans from the Earliest Ages till the Fall of the Roman Empire, 1883, Public Domain)

Geography today, though using more advanced tools and techniques, draws on the foundations laid by these predecessors. What unites all geographers, whether they are travelers writing about the world’s cultures or cartographers mapping new frontiers, is an attention to the spatial perspective. As geographer Harm deBlij once explained, there are three main ways to look at the world. One way is chronologically, as a historian might examine the sequence of world events. A second way is systematically, as a sociologist might explore the societal systems in place that help shape a given country’s structures of inequality. The third way is spatially, and this is the geographic perspective. Geographers, when confronted with a global problem, immediately ask the questions “Where?” and “Why?” Although geography is a broad discipline that includes quantitative techniques like statistics and qualitative methods like interviews, all geographers share this common way of looking at the world from a spatial perspective.

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1.2 THE SPATIAL PERSPECTIVE

At the heart of the spatial perspective is the question of “where,” but there are a number of different ways to answer this question. Relative location refers to the location of a place relative to other places, and we commonly use relative location when giving directions to people. We might instruct them to turn “by the gas station on the corner,” or say that we live “in the dorm across from the fountain.” Another way to describe a place is by referring to its absolute location. Absolute location references an exact point on Earth and commonly uses specific coordinates like latitude and longitude. Lines of latitude and longitude are imaginary lines that circle the globe and form the geographic coordinate system (see Figure 1.2). Lines of latitude run laterally, parallel to the equator, and measure distances north or south of the equator. Lines of longitude, on the other hand, converge at the poles and measure distances east and west of the prime meridian.

Figure 1.2: Lines of Latitude and Longitude (© Djexplo, Wikipedia Commons, CC0 1.0)

Every place on Earth has a precise location that can be measured with latitude and longitude. The location of the White House in Washington, DC, for example, is located at latitude 38.8977 °N and longitude 77.0365°W. Absolute location might also refer to details like elevation. The Dead Sea, located on the border of Jordan and Israel, is the lowest location on land, dipping down to 1,378 feet below sea level.

Historically, most maps were hand-drawn, but with the advent of computer technology came more advanced maps created with the aid of satellite technology. Geographic information science (GIS), sometimes also referred to as geographic information systems,uses computers and satellite imagery to capture, store, manipulate, analyze,manage, and present spatial data. GIS essentially uses layers of information and is often used to make decisions in a wide variety of contexts. An urban planner might use GIS to determine the best location for a new fire station,

INTRODUCTION 5

while a biologist might use GIS to map the migratory paths of birds. You might use GIS to get navigation directions from one place to another, layering place names, buildings, and roads.

One difficulty with map-making, even when using advanced technology, is that the earth is roughly a sphere while maps are generally flat. When converting the spherical Earth to a flat map, some distortion always occurs. A map projection , or a representation of Earth’s surface on a flat plane, always distorts at least one of these four properties: area, shape, distance, and direction. Some maps preserve three of these properties, while significantly distorting another, while other maps seek to minimize overall distortion but distort each property somewhat. So which map projection is best? That depends on the purpose of the map. The Mercator projection , while significantly distorting the size of places near the poles, preserves angles and shapes, making it ideal for navigation (see Figure 1.3).

Figure 1.3: Mercator Projection (© Daniel R. Strebe, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

The Winkel tripel projection is so-named because its creator, Oswald Winkel, sought to minimize three kinds of distortion: area, direction, and distance (see Figure 1.4). It has been used by the National Geographic Society since 1998 as the standard projection of world maps.

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Figure 1.4: Winkel Tripel Projection (© Daniel R. Strebe, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

When representing the Earth on a manageable-sized map, the actual size of location is reduced. Scale is the ratio between the distance between two locations on a map and the corresponding distance on Earth’s surface. A 1:1000 scale map, for example, would mean that 1 meters on the map equals 1000 meters, or 1 kilometer, on Earth’s surface. Scale can sometimes be a confusing concept for students, so it’s important to remember that it refers to a ratio. It doesn’t refer to the size of the map itself, but rather, how zoomed in or out the map is. A 1:1 scale map of your room would be the exact same size of your room – plenty of room for significant detail, but hard to fit into your glove compartment. As with map projections, the “best” scale for a map depends on what it’s used for. If you’re going on a walking tour of a historic town, a 1:5,000 scale map is commonly used. If you’re a geography student looking at a map of the entire world, a 1:50,000,000 scale map would be appropriate. “Large” scale and “small” scale refer to the ratio, not to the size of the landmass on the map. 1 divided by 5,000 is 0.0002, which is a larger number than 1 divided by 50,000,000 (which is 0.00000002). Thus, a 1:5,000 scale map is considered “large” scale while 1:50,000,000 is considered “small” scale.

All maps have a purpose, whether it’s to guide sailing ships, help students create a more accurate mental map of the world, or tell a story. The map projection, color scheme, scale, and labels are all decisions made by the mapmaker. Some argued that the widespread use of the Mercator projection, which made Africa look smaller relative to North America and Eurasia, led people to minimize the importance of Africa’s political and economic issues. Just as texts can be critiqued for their style, message, and purpose, so too can maps be critiqued for the information and message they present.

The spatial perspective, and answering the question of “where,” encompasses more than just static locations on a map. Often, answering the question of “where” relates to movement across

INTRODUCTION 7

space. Diffusion refers to the spreading of something from one place to another, and might relate to the physical movement of people or the spread of disease, or the diffusion of ideas, technology, or other intangible phenomena. Diffusion occurs for different reasons and at different rates. Just as static features of culture and the physical landscape can be mapped, geographers can also map the spread of various characteristics or ideas to study how they interact and change.

1.3 CORE AND PERIPHERY

One way of considering the location of places relative to one another is by examining their spatial interaction. In a given region, there is generally a core area, sometimes known as the central business district (CBD) and a hinterland, a German term literally meaning “the land behind” (see Figure 1.5). The hinterland is more sparsely populated than the core and is often where goods sold in the core are manufactured. It might include rural farmland, for example.

Figure 1.5: The Core and the Hinterland (Figure by author, Images courtesy of Espresso Addict, Wikimedia Commons; Mike – Flickr; Pam Brophy – Wikimedia Commons; CC BY-SA)

The core, on the other hand, is the commercial focus for the area where most goods and services are exchanged. The hinterland relies on the central city to sell its goods, but similarly the city relies on the hinterland to produce raw materials. Consider where the hinterland is located around your closest city; the hinterland is characteristically rural, while the core is urban. All countries contain core areas and hinterlands.

Globally, we can apply the hinterland-city model to an understanding of a global core and a global periphery (see Figure 1.6). The core areas are places of dominance, and these areas exert control over the surrounding periphery. Core areas are typically more developed and industrialized whereas the periphery is more rural and generally less developed. Unlike the interactions between the city and the hinterland, economic exchange between the core and periphery is characteristically one-sided, creating wealth for the core and patterns of uneven development. However, these interactions do contribute to economic stability in the periphery. Some argue that it benefits the core countries to keep the periphery peripheral; in other words, if the periphery can remain underdeveloped, they are more likely to sell cheap goods to the core. This generates more wealth for core areas and contributes to their continued influence and economic strength.

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Figure 1.6: The Global and Periphery (Map by Lou Coban, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

1.4 THE PHYSICAL SETTING

When we describe places, we can discuss their absolute and relative location and their relationship and interaction with other places. As regional geographers, we can dig deeper and explore both the physical and human characteristics that make a particular place unique. Geographers explore a wide variety of spatial phenomena, but the discipline can roughly be divided into two branches: physical geography and human geography. Physical geography focuses on natural features and processes, such as landforms, climate, and water features. Human geography is concerned with human activity, such as culture, language, and religion. However, these branches are not exclusive. You might be a physical geographer who studies hurricanes, but your research includes the human impact from these events. You might be a human geographer who studies food, but your investigations include the ecological impact of agricultural systems. Regional geography takes this holistic approach, exploring both the physical and human characteristics of the world’s regions.

Much of Earth’s physical landscape, from mountains to volcanoes to earthquakes to valleys, has resulted from the movement of tectonic plates. As the theory of plate tectonics describes, these rigid plates are situated on top of a bed of molten, flowing material, much like a cork floating in a pot of boiling water. There are seven major tectonic plates and numerous minor plates (see Figure 1.7).

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Figure 1.7: Map of Global Tectonic Plate Boundaries (United States Geological Survey, Public Domain)

Where two tectonic plates meet is known as a plate boundary and boundaries can interact in three different ways (see Figure 1.8). Where two plates slide past one another is called a transform boundary. The San Andreas Fault in California is an example of a transform boundary. A divergent plate boundary is where two plates slide apart from one another. Africa’s Rift Valley was formed by this type of plate movement. Convergent plate boundaries occur when two plates slide towards one another. In this case, where two plates have roughly the same density, upward movement can occur, creating mountains. The Himalaya Mountains, for example, were formed from the Indian plate converging with the Eurasian plate. In other cases, subduction occurs and one plate slides below the other. Here, deep, under-ocean trenches can form. The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami occurred because of a subducting plate boundary off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.

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Figure 1.8: Types of Tectonic Plate Boundaries (United States Geological Survey, Public Domain)

Interaction between tectonic plates and historical patterns of erosion and deposition have generated a variety of landforms across Earth’s surface. Each of the world’s regions has identifiable physical features, such as plains, valleys, mountains, and major water bodies. Topography refers to the study of the shape and features of the surface of the Earth. Areas of high relief have significant changes in elevation on the landscape, such as steep mountains, while areas of low relief are relatively flat.

Another key feature of Earth’s physical landscape is climate. Weather refers to the short-term state of the atmosphere. We might refer to the weather as partly sunny or stormy, for example. Climate, on the other hand, refers to long-term weather patterns and is affected by a place’s latitude, terrain, altitude, and nearby water bodies. Explained another way, “weather” is what you’re wearing today while “climate” is all the clothes in your closet. Geographers commonly use the Köppen climate classification system to refer to the major climate zones found in the world (see Figure 1.9).

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Figure 1.9: World Map of Köppen Climate Classifications (© Ali Zifan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0)

Each climate zone in the Köppen climate classification system is assigned a letteredcode, referring to the temperature and precipitation patterns found in the particular region. Climate varies widely across Earth. Cherrapunji, India, located in the Cwb climate zone, receives over 11,000 mm (400 in) of rain each year. In contrast, the Atacama Desert (BWk), situated along the western coast of South America across Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina, typically receives only around 1 to 3 mm (0.04 to 0.12 in) of rain each year.

Earth’s climate has gone through significant changes historically, alternating between long periods of warming and cooling. Since the industrial revolution in the 1800s, however, global climate has experienced a warming phase. 95 percent of scientists agree that this global climate change has resulted primarily from human activities, particularly the emission of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (see Figure 1.10). 17 of the 18 warmest years ever recorded have occurred since 2000. Overall, this warming has contributed to rising sea levels as the polar ice caps melt, changing precipitation patterns, and the expansion of deserts. The responses to global climate change, and the impacts from it, vary by region.

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Figure 1.10: Mean Land-Ocean Surface Temperature Index, 1880 to Present (NASA, Public Domain)

1.5 THE HUMAN SETTING

The physical setting of the world’s places has undoubtedly influenced the human setting, just as human activities have shaped the physical landscape. There are currently around 7.4 billion people in the world, but these billions of people are not uniformly distributed. When we consider where people live in the world, we tend to cluster in areas that are warm and are near water and avoid places that are cold and dry. As shown in Figure 1.11, there are three major population clusters in the world: East Asia, South Asia, and Europe.

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Figure 1.11: Map of Global Population Clusters (Derivative work from original by Cocoliras, Wikimedia Commons)

Just as geographers can discuss “where” people are located, we can explore “why” population growth is occurring in particular areas. All of the 10 most populous cities in the world are located in countries traditionally categorized as “developing.” These countries typically have high rates of population growth. A population grows, quite simply, when

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