World Regions - Chapters 2, 3, and 4

Exam Review

Cultural Landscape

The visible imprint of human activity and culture on the landscape

Cultural Diffusion

The expansion and adoption of a cultural element, from its place of origin to a wider area.

Environmental Perception

Your perception of what the culture and physical landscape is of a particular place without having be there

Push and Pull factors

Factors that draw people to one area (job opportunity, political) or factors that could push them away (poverty, natural disasters)

Historical migration patterns and settlement, and their relation to the geographic distribution of Christian denominations example areas

The Ohio Valley

Mississippi River

Appalachian Mountains

Rocky Mountains

Man-made features also attract in-migration

Catholic Migration Distribution

Urban Areas

Episcopal Church Migration Distribution

Urban Areas

Baptist Church Migration Distribution

aka "Bible Belt" highest concentration of African American

mostly southeastern US

Presbyterian Church Migration Distribution

Miners, looked for places to continue their trade, western Pennsylvania (steel industry)

Methodist Church Migration Distribution

Found everywhere in the US, concentrated in Northeastern

Lutheran Church Migration Distribution

Migratory root of Germans, Poles, and Scandinavians

North Mid-west

Mennonites Church Migration Distribution

"Pennsylvania Dutch" but actually German

Northeast

Mormans

West coast, uniquely an American religion

Are there certain regions dominated by particular ethnic groups in North America? By religious groups?

Yes, many religious groups and ethnic groups, mainly English

Includes Spanish, French, Dutch and Swedes

What is the basic premise of Joel Garreau's "Nine Nations of North America"?

Basically, saying that North America is so different can be separated into 9 different nations

Mexamerica

Mexican culture already is an influence on southern area

Ecotopia

Named after a strong environmental movement

Empty Quarter

Low population density

Dixie

Has a culture of its own, southern hospitality, family traditions

Breadbasket

Agrarian culture, Prairie States

Foundry

Core of North America, industrial areas that helped build North America

The Islands

Multicultural Latin-Influenced

New England

English countryside and to promote English colonization

Population characteristics of North America

Population is 333 million

4th largest countries in terms of territory

Population Center

Started at the east coast, slowing moving southwest

Population Core

Northeast, connecting U.S to Canada

How is migration still a factor in today's society?

Economic impact, job markets

Global crises and displacement, conflict, climate, poverty

Cultural exchange

Rust Belt

Term used to describe the aging smokestack industry facilities of the northeastern quadrant of the U.S/southeastern Canada

Sun Belt

Southern tier states of the U.S with a growing population and increasing high-tech industries

3 stages of economic development in North America

1. Agriculture and rural life

2. Industrial urbanization

3. Postindustrial society

Why is Quebec a particularly interesting topic of conversation for political geographers studying Canada?

There were two main choices for Quebec to maintain provincial associated with Canada or separate

Ottawa

Canada's capital city located in Ontario

Provinces in Canada (west to east)

Yukon

British Columbia

Northwest Territories

Alberta

Saskatchewan

Manitoba

Nunavut

Ontario

Quebec

New Brunswick

Prince Edward Island

Nova Scotia

Newfoundland and Labrador

Interurban

Examines cities as a system of interacting points that have a large surrounding area (Macroscale)

Intraurban

Addresses internal structure of cities

Suburban Downtowns

Concentration of diverse economic activities centered around a highly accessible suburban location (usually centered around very large regional shopping malls)

Ghettos

Inner city poverty zone. Residents often involuntarily segregated from other income and racial groups

Gentrification

Upgrading of older residential areas by new higher income residents (urban renewal)

Planning and Policy Making

Using spatial concepts and methods to help solve social economic, and environmental problems in cities

Historical Urban Evolution

Examining the birth and death of urban spaces

4 stages of Intraurban Growth

1) Walking Horsecar Era (1800-1890)

2) Electric Streetcar Era (1890-1920)

3) Recreational Automobile Era (1920-1945)

4) Freeway Era (1945-Present)

Walking Horsecar Era (1800-1890)

Walking primarily, 30 minutes commute average, compact; high density; regular shape, 1850 horse-drawn trolleys begin to operate

Electric Streetcar (1890-1920)

More decentralized, streetcars at speed up to 20mph, era marks desegregation ethnic groups, commerce, and industry

Recreational Automobile Era (1920-1945)

More decentralized (growth rate in suburbs exceeds that of the downtown), compact, regular shape, mostly radial road construction, experiences economic peak, pollution congestion becomes factors, lack of green space now an issue

Freeway Era (1945-Present)

More decentralization, highly irregular shape, construction of beltway (circular road systems), construction of a lot of light trails (METRO), decline of downtown

Transportation and the development of the North American city. How did our freeway system come about?

Dwight D. Eisenhower creator

Wanted to see how long/difficult it was to move military equipment from coast to coast

Created in 1956

Federal Highway Act of 1956, justified through an essential to American security during the Cold War

Edge Cities

A large node of office and retail activities on the edge of an urban area

The idea of "Progress" and how it's been interpreted in DC

Political and institutional progress

Civil rights and social progress

Urban development and gentrification

Megalopolis

a very large, heavily populated city or urban complex, can adjoin each other

How do we divide America culturally and physically?

Division culturally could be made between LATIN and ANGLO America

Physically - Geography, climate, topography

What is a culture hearth?

Source areas radiated ideas, innovations, and ideologies that changed the world beyond

Characteristics that define this realm, South America and Middle America

Intense political fragmentation

Complex cultural geography (African, European, and Native Indian)

Least developed of the Americas

Common characteristics among Latin American Countries

Language (strong Latin influence)

Population (predominantly urban)

Mesoamerica

A geographic region in the western hemisphere that was home of the Mayan and Aztec civilizations

Middle America

Refers to a broad geographic region that includes Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean Islands, culture bridge between North and South America

What are the Guianas? Are they all countries?

Were settled by Northern Europeans, main languages spoken here are English, Dutch, and French

Not all Independent countries (Guyana (Yes), Suriname (Yes), French Guiana (No))

Lowland Mayans

Where were these civilizations found? Why is studying them important to geography?

Occupied low lying tropical plains, now Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico

Unified area larger than any of the modern Middle America countries except Mexico

Language still spoken today

Highly advanced society

Theocracy

3000 years ago

Highland Aztecs

Where were these civilizations found? Why is studying them important to geography?

Found in the intermontane highland zone of Mexico, now Mexico City

14th Century
Tenochtitlán and Teotihuacán

Mexica People

Known as borrowers and refiners

Tenochtitlan

Capital of Aztec Empire

Now Mexico city

Greater than 100,000 people

Teotihuacán

Aztec related

First urban center in the western hemisphere

Greatest contributes were in agriculture

Corn, sweet potato, various kinds of beans, tomato, squash, and tobacco

Incas

Where were these civilizations found? Why is studying them important to geography?

Centered around Cuzco (modern Peru)

Language is Quechua

Altiplano

Chasquis

Tambos, waystations

Quipu

Altiplano (Incas)

Between mountains, made of sediment over thousands of years, people live there

Helped establish an impressive transportation network to the empire, was key to settlement patterns

Chasquis (Incas)

Runners who delivered messages throughout the empire

Quipu (Incas)

A record system that allowed the Inca to have their own accounting system

Punas

Smaller scale altiplano

The Columbian Exchange

The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages

Acculturation

Change that occurs in the culture of indigenous peoples when contact is made with a society that is technologically superior

Transculturation

Culture borrowing a two-way exchange that occur when different cultures of approx. equal complexity and technological level come into close contact

Greater Antilles

Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), Puerto Rico

Lesser Antilles

Everything that does not include, Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), Puerto Rico

The Cuban Revolution

(1958) A political revolution that removed the United States supported Fugencio Batista from power. The revolution was led by Fidel Castro who became the new leader of Cuba as a communist dictator

Guantanamo Bay

Acquired by sending marines. The United States assumed territorial control over Guantanamo Bay under the 1903 Cuban-American Treaty, which granted the United States a perpetual lease of the area without the Cuban Government reacting.

Now detention camp

Sierra Maestra

A mountain range in southeast Cuba. It is the highest system in Cuba and rich in minerals. Where Castro would flee in the Granma

Tourism in the Caribbean

Diaz-Canal

Dominican Republic

Relatively stable democratic country

Mountainous interior: coastal beaches are attractive to tourism

Economy is highly dependent on the United States (60% of exports)

Population 10.5 million

1978 Independent

President Joaquin Balaguer (modernizes country, pillages national treasury.)

Puerto Rico

Question of wanting independence from the US or become a US state

Votes showed they wanted to stay with the US but nothing came from it

What were the principle European powers that settled Middle America?

Spain, France, Britain, The Netherlands, Denmark

Maquiladoras

Foreign owned factories (mainly by large U.S companies) that assemble imported, duty free components and raw materials into finished industrial products

Ejidos

Cultivated land, owned by the government, but given to mostly peasant communities to work and farm (Government retains title to the land)

Chiapas

A state in Mexico that is home to one of the largest indigenous populations in the country, with about one-fourth of the population speaking Mayan dialects or related languages. More than half of the people inhabit impoverished rural areas, making subsistence agriculture the basis of the state's economy

Basic climate areas of Mexico

Variety of climates

Tropical

Arid and semi-arid

Temperate

Highland/Alpine

Subtropical Monsoon

Sierra Madre Mountains

A mountain range located on the western coast of Mexico

Problems stemming from the illicit drug industry

Began to escalate in the early 2000s as drug cartels began to move operations from Columbia to Mexico

Fueled by fear, intimidation, and rampant corruption on all levels of society

Mexico politics

Independence since 1821

Immediately divided between conservative and liberal

Claudia Sheinbaum (President since October 2024)

Mexico Urbanization

Mexico City ~ 26.8 million inhabitants

largest urban agglomeration in all of Latin America

1/4 of the total Mexican population

Water availability will be a major issue in years to come

74% of Mexicans reside in towns and cities

Plantations

More northernly European origin

Located in humid tropical coastal lowlands

Produce almost exclusively for export

Labor seasonal

Much more efficient than the Hacienda "Factory in the field" operation

Objective is profit, wealth, rather than social prestige

Haciendas

Spanish origin

Landowners possess a large area that is underutilized (inefficient)

Owning land bought with it social prestige

Altitudinal Zonation

Vertical Climate Zone

Tierra Caliente (Hot land)

Tierra Templada (Temperate land)

Tierra Fria (Cold land)

~ Tree land ~

Tierra Helada (Frost land)

~ Snow line ~

Tierra Nevada (Snow land)

Tierra Caliente (Hot land)

Bananas, cocoa, sugar, rice

Tierra Templada (Temperate land)

Coffee, rice, corn, sugar, vegetables

Tierra Fria (Cold land)

Corn, wheat, barley, potatoes, dairying

Tierra Helada (Frost land)

Livestock, grazing

Tierra Nevada (Snow land)

No economic activity

Know the Guianas (Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana). Though not covered in the lectures in detail, please know a little about them. Where are they located and what languages are spoken there? Are all three considered countries?

Located in northern South America

Guyana (English, Country)

Suriname (Dutch, Country)

French Guiana (French, Not country)

General characteristics of South America (populations dynamics and population distribution, cultures, and physical geography).

Andean West

Brazil (concentrated in east and southeast)

Southern cone
Caribbean north
Most people live near the coast

Urbanized (80% of the population)

Mestizo dominant, European, Indigenous

Predominantly roman catholic

Andes mountains

Amazon basin

Tropical, Arid Desert, Temperate, Highland

Colombia

Capital is Bogota

Sometimes referred to as "The Great Hispanic Cultural Headquarters"

Population 49.1 million

Single language
58% Mestizo

FARC

ELN

AUC

More than twice the size of France

Widely varied

2nd largest reserves of oil and natural gas

The Llanos (Savanna like grasslands 60% of Colombia

FARC (Southeastern Colombia)

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Left-Wing)

ELN (Eastern/Pacific Coast Colombia)

National Liberation Army (Left-Wing)

AUC (Northern Colombia)

United Self Defense Forces of Columbia (Right-Wing)

Cordillera (Colombia)

A mountain chain consisting of sets of parallel ranges

Western (Occidental)

Central eastern (Oriental)

Most of the population concentrated in the basins of the Andean ranges

Venezuela

67% Mestizo

Core = north, northwest part of the country