Geography Semester 2 - Globalisation

Globalisation

increased interconnectedness and interdependence of people and countries resulting from the expanding integration of trade, finance, people and countries resulting from the expanding integration of trade, finance, people, and ideas in one global market place. Advancements in technology, communication, transport and industry have accelerated the pace of this integratation over the past few decades.

Diffusion

Transfer or dispersal of cultural elements (organization of products: Mcdonalds, jeans, sport, music, fashion) from one group of people to other groups of people.

Adaption

Alteration or adjustment in response to a changed environment. e.g. McDonalds in India has more vege, mutton and spice options rather than a western menu like the USA

Sustainability

Meeting the needs of current and future generations through simultaneous environmental, social, and economic adaption and improvement.

A shrinking world

Physical distances have not changed, but faster transport and instant communication reduce the time, cost and effort needed to connect places.

Containerships

• used since 1950s

• 80% of worlds merchandise trade by volume

• making international trade affordable for both producers and consumers → allows for mass production

• carry 24000 sea containers (on one large containership)

• allows greater volume of goods

• greater volume = more efficient

• reduced loading and unloading times, lowered labor costs, minimized cargo damage, and improved supply chain efficiency.

• 2024 ports worldwide handled approx. 920 million containers

• increased technology used at ports has increased loading and unloading efficiency, resulting in faster processing and transport times

• governments need to ensure ports are large and deep

• Australian exports and imports 2024 totaled $395 billion and $255 billion AUD respectively.

• Iron ore 36%, Metals and minerals 14%, coal 14%, agriculture and food products 13%

Timeline on transport

Friction of distance

was a major barrier to globalization. It meant that the further away a culture was, the less likely its ideas, food or traditions would spread to you because travel was slow and expensive. Transport and telecommunication improve this friction decreases.

Time Space Convergence

• the lessening of the distance between two points when that distance is measured in time rather than kilometers

travel time vs friction of distance

• As travel time drop, the friction of distance is eroded, making global cultural exchange feel effortless as a local conversation

• American geographer Donald Janelle observed this

what has led to time space convergence?

Advances in transport (jet aircraft, containerships) and telecommunications have led to time-space convergence

what spreads due to this

this allows cultural elements like music, fashion, and food to spread almost instantly

comparative advantage

because transport is cheap, countries can specialise in what they do best.

e.g. Australia: Iron Ore, India: IT services/telecoms

Specialisation

a region focusses on producing goods or services efficiently compared to others

Global exchange

cheap transport allows these specialised products to be traded worldwide, spreading cultural elements (cuisine, tech etc.) along the way

lower opportunity cost and improved transport efficiently allows specialization and trade.

Bulk Transport

giant carriers make exporting iron ore to China profitable despite distance

Cold Chain

refigerated shipping enables tasmania to export premium cherries to Asian luxury markets.

Telecommunication Stats

Global uptake rose from less than 1% of people in 1990 to 7% in 2000, 29% in 2010 and 63% in 2023

telecommunications allow cultural elements to spread

Diffuse through social media, streaming etc.

Spatial Production

• late 20th century, manufacturing has become more fragmented

• design assembly, marketing, repair, components may occur in different countries, forming global value chain

• east and southeast Asia became major production hubs

Spatial Consumption

• consumption is widely distributed

• high income countries have a disproportionate share of resources and imported goods

The Silk Road

• under Han dynasty from 206 BCE to 220 BCE Chinese silk travelled westwards through central Asian Middleman

• 2nd century BCE to 15th century CE it linked Chinese, Central Asian, Indian, Persion, Arab and Mediterranean markets.

• merchants rarely travelled the entire distance, goods changed hands at trading cities e.g. Samarkand, Kashgar etc.

• It created repeated connections between places

• early form of spatial specialization

• turned local trade into a vast web of interconnected land and sea routes

• network bridged religions like Buddhism and Islam

Paper

• allowed for better record keeping, administration and the spread of literacy across borders

• invented during Han Dynasty

• moved west via silk road

• After battle of Talas 751CE Chinese paper makers were captured by Abbasid Caliphate, leading to production in Samarkand and Baghdad eventually reaching Europe through Islamic Spain

Gunpowder

• Discovered 19th Century

• spread by Mongol conquests

• Mongol armies moved across Eurasia

• knowledge of explosives reached middle east and Europe changing global warfare and territorial control

• allowing empires to expand

• secured trade routes

European Colonisation

• 1500-1960

• 15th century, European maritime connected Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Pacific worlds.

• Controlling ports, territories, routes

• colonies exported raw materials e.g. sugar, spice, rubber, minerals while importing manufactured goods

• global production today shaped by unequal political power, land seizure and forced labor

• under a system called mercantilism, colonies were designed to serve the ‘mother country’

• Raw material extraction → colonies forced to produce commodities like sugar, minerals and tobacco

• Imperial powers banned colonies from trading with other nations ensuring monopoly on both production and consumption

• Colonial expansion relied on armed sailing ships

• Routes linked Europe, Africa and the America’s

• Ships carried manufactured goods to Africa and enslaved people to the America’s and raw commodities back to Europe (triangular trade)

• spatial distribution of global trade today is still influenced by colonial era structures

Government Limits on Trade

Governments use protectionism to restrict trade and control imports.

Import tariffs: taxes on foreign goods to increase their price

Quotas: physical limits on the volume of imported products

Subsides: financial aid for local firms to boost competitivness

Global Citizen

an individual whose values and lifestyle are interconnected on a global scale

Hearth

point of origin from which a cultural innovation or idea first emerges

Adaption

Culture is rarely adopted exactly as it is in the hearth. It undergoes adoption to suit the new environment.

Types of Diffusion

1. Forced Adoption: imposed by conquest or colonization.

2. Voluntary Adoption: taken up because people find the new item useful or desirable.

Diffusion

ideas, values or technologies spread from their hearth and are adopted elsewhere.

Resistance to Diffusion

Some groups actively reject modern tech or ‘western values’ to preserve their unique identity e.g. Armish Communities

Modern Diffusion