Thematic Maps: Maps highlighting a particular feature or a single variable such as temperature, city, size, or acreage in potatoes (Gives extra information)

Isoline Maps: Show lines that connect points of equal value; Isolines are on topographic maps

Choropleth Maps: Show the level of some variable within predefined regions, such as counties, states, or countries

Dot Maps: Use a dot to represent the occurrence of some phenomenon in order to depict variation in density in a given area

Cartograms: Maps that have distorted population

Resolution: The amount of details or depth of a map

Scale: Generally, the relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole, specifically the relationship between the size of an object on a map and the size of the actual feature on Earth’s surface

The three main types of scales are ratio (fraction) scales, bar scales, and written scales

Small Scale: Depicts a large area (such as the state of Arizona) but with less detail

Large Scale: Depicts a small area (such as downtown Phoenix) with great detail

Cartography: The science of making maps

Projection: The system used to transfer locations from Earth’s surface to a flat map

The most common type is the Robinson Projection

However, maps depicting the entire world can distort shape, distance, relative size, and direction

Toponym: The name given to a portion of Earth’s surface

Has to be a natural feature

Site: The physical character of a place

Situation: The location of a place relative to other places (relative location)

Meridian: An arc drawn on a map between the North and South poles (longitude)

The two main meridians are the Prime Meridian and the International Date Line

Parallel: A circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator and at right angles to the meridians (latitude)

Time Zones:

There are four major time zones in the United States (Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific). The time zones are based on Greenwich, England because at the time England was the most powerful country. There is a new time zone ever 15 degrees longitude. One degree longitude is 69 miles, so there is a new time zone every 1,035 miles. If you go east you go forwards in time. If you go west you go back in time.

Greenwich Mean Time: The time in that time zone encompassing the prime meridian, or zero degrees longitude.

International Date Line: An arc that for the most part follows 180 degrees longitude, although it deviates in several places to avoid dividing land areas. When you cross the International Date Line heading east (toward America), the clock moves back 24 hours, or one entire day. When you go west (toward Asia), the calendar moves ahead one day.

Spatial Association: The distribution of one phenomenon that is related to another phenomenon. (The reason two things are placed where they are – if they’re related they will probably be close)

Spatial Distribution: The arrangement of phenomenon across the Earth’s surface

Environmental Determinism: A nineteenth- and early twentieth- century approach to the study of geography that argued that the general laws sought by human geographers could be found in the physical sciences. Geography was therefore the study of how the physical environment caused human activities. (States the physical terrain of the world dictates how the humans survive).

Possibilism: The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives. (States people can overcome the physical problems/features – humans conquer land instead of land conquering humans).

Distribution: The arrangement of something across Earth’s surface

Density: The frequency with which something exists within a given unit of area. Density does not tell you where something is, just strictly numbers

Arithmetic Density: The total number of people divided by the total land area

Physiological Density: The total number of people divided by all arable land (farmland)

Agricultural Density: The total number of farmers (and family) divided by all arable land

Concentration: The spread of something over a given area; Concentration tells you where something is; Can be clustered or dispersed

Pattern: The geometric or regular arrangement of something in a study area

Diffusion: The spreading of a feature or trend from one place to another over time

Relocation Diffusion: The spread of a feature or trend through physical movement of people from one place to another. Does not have to grow in numbers. AIDS is an example of relocation diffusion.

Expansion Diffusion: The spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in a snowballing process. Involves growing numbers.

Hierarchical Diffusion – The spread of a feature or trend from one key person or node of authority or power to other people or places. Example- grunge music.

Contagious Diffusion – The rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population. Example- influenza (flu).

Stimulus Diffusion – The spread of an underlying principle or thought process, even though a specific characteristic is rejected. Examples- Apple computers/Martin Luther King Jr. (he is dead but his thought process still lives on).

Cartography: The science of map making

Toponym: A name given to a place on earth.

Scale: The relationship to a feature’s size on a map to its actual size on earth.

Fractional Scale – numerical ratio 1:24,000

Written Scale – description in words “1 inch equals 1 mile”

Graphic Scale – bar line showing distance

0 5 10 MILES

Site: The physical characteristic of a place

Situation: The relative location of a place

Meridian: Lines of longitude running in the north-south direction ending at the poles

Parallel: Lines of latitude parallel to the equator

Time Zone:

Greenwich Mean Time – The time at the prime meridian

International Date Line – 180 degrees from Prime Meridian – 24 hours

Telling time from longitude – every 15 degrees. From Prime Meridian going west loose 1 hour/15 degrees – east gain 1 hour/15 degrees

Regions:

Formal (Uniform) – Everyone shared distinct characteristics

Functional (Nodal) – Area organized around a focal point

Vernacular – A perceptual region – beliefs and cultural identity

Spatial Association: The distribution of one phenomenon that is scientifically related to the location of another phenomenon

Spatial Distribution: The arrangement of phenomenon across the earth’s surface

Distribution: The arrangement of a feature in a space

Three types – density, concentration, pattern

Density: The frequency of which something occurs.

Arithmetic – the total number of objects in an area

Physiological – the number of persons per unit area of suitable agricultural land

Agricultural – number of farmers per area of farmland

Concentration: The spread of something over a given area

Clustered – close together

Dispersed – far apart

Pattern: The arrangement of objects in space

Culture: Customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a group of people in tradition

Hearth: Where an idea originates

Acculturation: The spread of cultural traits from one society to another

Diffusion: The spreading of a feature or trend from one place to another.

Relocation – spreading through physical movement.

Expansion – Spreading in a snowballing process

Contagious– rapid widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population – example - influenza

Hierarchical- The spread from authority or power to other people – example – political leaders or hip hop music

Stimulus– the spread of an underlying principal though the characteristic itself might diffuse – example – principals from Apple computer though the company diffused.

Globalization of Culture: Globalization due to interchanging beliefs and customs

Globalization of Economy: Globalization due to business

Environmental Determinism: Physical environment dictates the social environment

Possibilism: Humans have the ability to adjust to the environment

Population:

Demography: The study of human populations

Over Population: The definition of over population is having too many people and to little resources

Carrying Capacity: The largest number of people that the environment of a particular area can support

Doubling Time: The time it takes for a population to double

Four most over populated regions/Sparsely populated regions in the world (Over populated):

East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Western Europe

East Asia:

One fifth of the world’s people live in east Asia.

The region borders the pacific ocean.

East Asia includes: eastern China, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, and Taiwan.

South Asia:

Another one fifth of the world’s population lives in south Asia.

South Asia includes: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

Southeast Asia:

The world’s third largest population cluster is in southeast Asia.

A half billion people live in southeast Asia.

The islands are: Indonesia (Java, Sumatra, Borneo), Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines.

Western Europe:

World’s fourth largest population cluster.

Contains one ninth of the world’s population.

Most of Europe’s people live in cities.

This region ranges from Monaco to Russia.

Sparsely Populated Regions:

Dry Lands-

When an area is dry for farming not many people want to live there.

These areas cover about 20% of the earth’s land surface.

The largest desert region is the Sahara.

Deserts lack sufficient water to grow crops to feed many people.

Wet Lands-

Wet lands are lands that receive high levels of precipitation.

These areas are unfavorable for human life.

A combination of rain and heat depletes nutrients from the soil which prevents growing crops.

Cold lands-

Cold lands are areas that are covered with ice or have permanently frozen ground.

These regions have less precipitation than some deserts.

These polar regions are unsuitable for crops and animals.

High lands-

Few people live at high elevations.

The highest mountains in the world are steep, snowy, and sparsely settled.

Some people prefer to live at higher elevations if the temperature and precipitation are uncomfortable at lower elevations.

Population Increase:

Doubling time- The number of years needed to double a population.

Total fertility rate- The average number of children a woman will have during her childbearing years.

Infant mortality rate- The annual number of deaths of infants under one year old.

Life expectancy measures the number of years a newborn will be expected to live.

The current estimated world human population is 6,379,157,361. This figure is extremely precise, however, since there is no complete database on the world's population, and humans are constantly being born (at the rate of about 3 per second) and dying. However, it is clear that the world's population continues to grow, in other words, more people are being born than people dying.

Causes of Population Increase:

Crude birth rate (CBR)- The total number of live births in a year for every 1,000 people alive in the society.

Ex: a (CBR) of 20 means that for every 1,000 people in a country, 20 babies are born over a one year period.

Crude death rate (CDR)- total number of deaths in a year for every 1,000 people alive in the society. The annual number of deaths per 1,000 population.

Natural increase rate (NIR)- the percentage by which a population grows in a year. To compute you subtract CBR from CDR.

Natural Increase: Natural- means a country’s growth rate excludes migration. About 80 million people are added to the world’s population each year. The historic high was in 1989 with 87 million. The number of people added each year has dropped slower than the NIR because the population base is much higher now than in the past.

Fertility: TFR total fertility rate- the average number of children a woman will have throughout her childbearing years (15-49).

Mortality: Two useful measures of mortality in addition to the crude death rate already discussed are the infant mortality rate and life expectancy.

Infant mortality rate (IMR)-the annual number of deaths of infants under one year of age, compared with total live births.

Life expectancy- the average number of years a newborn infant can expect to live at current mortality levels.

Population Pyramid: A bar graph representing the distribution of population by age and sex. Population pyramids can be used to demonstrate the demographics of a certain area, and can be used as an indication of the development of a certain area

The Demographic Transition:

There are four stages to the demographic transition:

Stage 1-: Low Growth

Stage 2: High Growth

Stage 3: Moderate Growth

Stage 4: Low Growth

All countries are in one stage or another of the demographic transition. Once a country has entered a stage, it cannot go back down to a previous stage.

Stage 1:

No countries are still in stage 1.

Most of humanity’s several-hundred-thousand-year occupancy of Earth was characterized by stage 1 of the demographic transition.

Crude birth and death rates vary yearly but over time they were comparable.

National increase rate was essentially zero, and world population was constant at about half a million. During this period primary food relied on hunting and gathering.

As food became easier to obtain, population increased, but when food became more difficult to obtain, the population decreased.

About 8000 BC the population became to grow by several thousand per year.

Between 8000 BC and 1750 AD the population from 5 million to about 800 million. This was caused by the agricultural revolution.

This was the first time humans domesticated plants and animals.

Stage 2:

From about 10,000 years after the agricultural revolution, world population grew at a modest pace.

Around 1750 AD the population began to grow ten times as fast.

The natural increase rate rose from 0.05 to 0.5

Some demographers divide stage 2 of the demographic transition into 2 parts.

The first part is the accelerating population growth.

During the second part the population begins to slow, although birth and death rates remain very separated.

The sudden population boom was caused by the industrial revolution which began in England in the late 18th century.

The industrial revolution brought about rapid improvements in industrial technology. This brought about a lot of wealth which was used to make communities healthier.

New machines helped farmers increase agricultural production. The improved agricultural efficiency allowed more people to work in factories. This caused industrialization in communities.

European and North American countries entered stage 2 around 1750 or 1800. Countries elsewhere didn’t enter stage 2 till much later. Many African countries didn’t enter stage 2 until the late 1950’s due to the medical revolution.

The natural; increase rate for stage 2 countries was about 1.7 at the time.

The population increased by about 80 million in 2000 compared to 8 million in 1900.

Several medical advances were made during this time as well.

Stage 3:

A country enters stage 3 when the crude birth rate begins to drop sharply. The death rate continues to fall but not as much as in stage 2.

Natural increase is more moderate than stage 2 as well.

European and North American nations entered stage 3 in the early twentieth century. Latin American and Asian countries have entered rather recently, while most African countries still have not entered stage 3.

The decrease in death rates in stage 2 is caused by technological advances, while the decrease in births during stage 3 is a result of changes in social customs.

People in stage 3 countries are more likely to live in cities than in rural areas.

Stage 4:

A country achieves stage 4 when birth and death rates are nearly equal and natural increase is almost zero.

This is known as ZPG or Zero Population Growth. This term is usually applied to stage 4 countries.

Social changes again dictate the change between stages 3 and 4. Here the primary factor is women who enter the labor force.

Life style changes also tend to lead to smaller families in stage 4, and people with more birth control options tend to use them more in stage 4 countries.

Due to discrepancies, ZPG is not always accurate. Scientists use the more accurate term TFR or Total Fertility Rate. Typically a TPR of 2.1 is equal to the ZPG.

There are 4 stages in the Demographic Transition.

Low growth, high growth, moderate growth, and low growth.

When a country enters stage 4, it has in a sense completed a cycle. It began with low natural increase in stage 1, in stage 2 there is a huge increase in technology and population. During stage 3 it begins to slow down, though advances continue. In stage 4 the growth is minimal. The only difference is that at the end of stage 4 the country has a vast amount of technology and the population is much higher.

Stage 5:

Currently no Stage 5

Experts suggesting that there will be in the near future

Characterized by a negative population growth

This will first occur in Western Europe and make its way through most MDCs.

Malthus Theory:

States that the world will get wiped out by over population, starvation, and disease (mainly the ratio of people to food).

Thomas Malthus stated this in 1798 in his book- An Essay on the Principle of Population.

Today: 1 person, 1 unit of food

25 years from now: 2 people, 2 units of food

50 years from now: 4 persons, 3 units of food

75 years from now: 8 people, 4 units of food

100 years from now: 16 people, 5 units of food

Back in the 17 & 1800s, they didn’t have the same farming technology and methods we have today.

There wasn’t as much medicine to cure diseases.

Lester Brown a Stanford University biologist, said Malthus made critical points but missed a couple important points, gains in land productivity, and the preference for eating “higher up the food chain”.

Example-

In Sub-Saharan Africa, drought, poverty, and disease (mainly AIDS) are reducing life expectancy.

The population is bigger than the amount of arable land-which causes more than half of the children to be under-nourished or mal-nourished.

Neo-Malthusians:

Study Malthus’ theory

They point out that the amount of farmland is decreasing while the population is increasing.

Global Warming could interfere with food production.

Both extensification and intensification of agriculture will lead to land degradation.

Malthus’s Critics: Many geographers believe Malthus’ theory is very pessimistic because they based on a belief that the world’s supply is fixed not expanding. Malthus did not foresee the advancement in technology that would help mankind survive.

Census- A complete enumeration of a population.

Crude Birth Rate- The total number of live births in a year for every 1,000 people alive in the society.

Crude Death Rate- The total number of deaths in a year fro every 1,000 people alive in the society.

Demographic Transition- The process of change in a society’s population from a condition of high crude birth and death rates and low rate of natural increase to a condition of low crude birth and death rates, low rate of natural increase, and a higher total population.

Demography- The scientific study of population characteristics.

Dependency Ratio- The number of people under the age of 15 and over age 64, compared to the number of people active in the labor force.

Doubling Time- The number of years needed to double a population, assuming a constant rate of natural increase.

Epidemiologic Transition- Distinctive causes of death in each stage of the demographic transition.

Epidemiology- Branch of medical science concerned with the incidence, distribution, and control of diseases that affect large numbers of people.

Ecumene- The portion of Earth’s surface occupied by permanent human settlement.

Industrial Revolution- A series of improvements in industrial technology that transformed the process of manufacturing goods.

Infant Mortality Rate- The total number of deaths in a year among infants under one year old for every 1,000 live births in a society.

Life Expectancy- The average number of years an individual can be expected to live, given current social, economic, and medical conditions. Life expectancy at birth is the average number of years a newborn infant can expect to live.

Medical Revolution- Medical technology invented in Europe and North America that is diffused to the poorer countries of Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Improved medical practices have eliminated many of the traditional causes of death in poorer countries and enabled more people to live longer and healthier lives.

Natural Increase Rate- The percentage growth of a population in a year, computed as the crude birth rate minus the crude death rate.

Overpopulation- The number of people in an area exceeds the capacity of the environment to support life at a decent standard of living.

Pandemic- Disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects a very high proportion of the population.

Population Pyramid- A bar graph representing the distribution of population by age and sex.

Sex Ratio- The number of males per 100 females in the population.

Total Fertility Rate- The average number of children a woman will have throughout her childbearing years.

Zero Population Growth- A decline of the total fertility rate to the point where the natural increase rate equals zero.

Migration:

Migration: Form of relocation diffusion involving permanent move to a new location

Mobility: All types of movement from one location to another

Circulation: Constant, short term, repetitive movements by an individual

Emigration: Migration away from country

Immigration: Migration into a country

Net Migration: The difference between the number of immigrants and the number of emigrants

Net In-Migration & Net Out-Migration

Counterurbanization: Net migration from urban to rural areas in MDCs

Reasons For Migration: Usually people migrate for economic reasons

Although not as frequently, cultural and environmental reasons also induce migration

Push factor: when people are forced out of an area

Ex: Hurricane Katrina destroyed many peoples’ houses, so they were forced to move somewhere else.

Pull factor: when people desire to move into a new location

Ex: Better job opening in a new area, a good place to retire. Usually promises a better situation than the present one.

Economic Push and Pull Factors:

Pull- People emigrate to places with better job opportunities. They will also emigrate because of better natural resources. Metal and coal deposits might attract miners. A brand new industry or store could attract technicians, scientists, engineers, or other workers.

Push- When a industry goes bankrupt, workers will lose their jobs and might be forced to move to a different area because of a job opportunity.

Environmental Push and Pull Factors:

Pull- people are attracted to areas with warm climates, mountainsides, and seasides.

Push- certain physical conditions cause people to move to different areas like too much or too little water in an area can force people to move. Also an area that is storm prone can force people to migrate.

Cultural Push and Pull Factors:

The 2 main push factors are slavery and political instability. Millions of people were captured and shipped to many different countries as prisoners or slaves.

People called refugees are forced to migrate form their countries because of fear of persecution because of their race, nationality, religion, or political opinion.

Pull- people migrate for especially the lure of freedom. People are attracted to democratic countries that encourage individual choice in education, career, and a place of residence.

Brain Drain: Large-scale emigration by talented people

International & Internal Migration: International Migration- The permanent movement from one country to another.

Internal Migration- Permanent movement within a particular country.

Examples -

International Migration- Moving to Russia from the United States, or from Africa to Australia.

Internal Migration- Moving to Arkansas from Michigan, or from Georgia to California.

Internal Migration- People living in India must migrate to a different part of India to escape the flooding that occurs near them.

International Migration- Some Jewish people were able to escape the Nazis by migrating to the different countries away from them.

Internal Migration: Permanent movement within a country.

Divided into two types-

Interregional migration- movement from one region of a country to another. Rust Belt and Sun Belt

Intraregional migration- movement within on region

International Migration:

Divided into two types-

Voluntary migration- implies that migrant has chosen to move for economic improvements.

Forced migration- the migrant has been compelled to move by cultural factors.

Economic push and pull factors usually induce voluntary migration. Whereas cultural factors usually compel forced migration

Net Migration:

The difference between the level of immigration and the level of emigration.

In-Migration: synonym of immigration, moving into a country

Out-migration: leaving a country

Countries with net out-migrations include Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Countries with net in-migrations include North America, Europe, and Oceania.

Guest Workers: Workers who migrate to the MDCs of Northern and Western Europe, usually from Southern and Eastern Europe or from North Africa, in search of higher-paying jobs

Temporary Migration for Work:

1. Guest Workers – Citizens of poor communities who obtain jobs in Western Europe and the Middle East.

2. Time – Contract Workers -Recruited for a fixed period of time to work in mines or on plantations.

European Guest Workers

In Europe, these workers are protected by Minimum Wage laws and union contracts
About 700,000 of these workers enter Europe legally
500,000 workers enter illegally
The United Kingdom restricts the ability for foreigners to get work permits.
If you are allowed to work in another country there is usually a time limit for how long you can stay for your desired assignment.

Distinguishing Between Economic Migrants and Refugees

Very difficult to distinguish between those seeking economic opportunities and refugees fleeing from persecution etc.

In Western Europe, Canada, and the US economic migrants are not usually admitted however refugees receive priority in admission.

Intervening Obstacles

Immigrants may not always get to there destination because of an environmental or cultural obstacle.
Also, transportation is a problem with immigration. It is difficult to meet all the requirements to be able to travel in any way to a new country.
Oceans and lakes are an obstacle in migration because people are unable to cross the bodies of water.
Motor vehicles and airplanes are the easiest way to go from one place to another, but it is also the hardest requirements to meet when traveling.

Countries Attitudes Towards New Immigrants

Making it to the desired country isn’t always the end of the complications, once the immigrants reach the country, the citizens may dislike the new people because of cultural differences.
The guest workers are not always excepted and can be treated unfairly.

Vietnam:

The long Vietnam War ended in 1975 when Communist-controlled North Vietnam captured South Vietnam’s capital city of Saigon. The US evacuated from Saigon several thousand people who had been closely identified with the American position during the war and who were therefore vulnerable to persecution after the Communist victory. A second surge of Vietnamese boat people began in the late 1980s. Their most popular destinations were Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Thailand. 800,000 Vietnamese have reached the US since the end of the Vietnam War, another 1 million in other countries.

Pop & Folk Culture:

Popular Culture: Culture found in a large, heterogeneous society that shares certain habits despite differences in other personal characteristics

Folk Culture: Culture traditionally practiced by a small, homogeneous, rural group living in relative isolation from other groups

Origin of Folk Cultures: Folk customs often have anonymous hearths, originating from anonymous sources, at unknown dates, through unidentified originators

Origin of Pop Cultures: Popular culture is most often a product of the economically more developed countries, especially in North America, Western Europe, and Japan

Transition from Folk to Pop Culture:

Most of the world turns from folk to pop culture.

Folk culture diffuses slowly to other locations through the process of migration. Popular culture diffuses rapidly across Earth to locations with a variety of physical conditions.

Taboo: A restriction on behavior imposed by social custom

Diffusion Associated With Pop Culture: Rapid diffusion depends on a group of people having a sufficiently high level of economic development to acquire the material possessions associated with popular culture

Language:

Language Family: A collection of languages related to each other through a common ancestor long before recorded history

Language Branch: A collection of languages related through a common ancestor that existed several thousand years ago. Differences are not as extensive or as old as with language families, and archaeological evidence can confirm that the branches derived from the same family.

Language Group: A collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display relatively few differences in grammar and vocabulary

Dialect: A regional variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation

Old English Speakers: West Germanic invaders from Jutland (Denmark) known as the Anglos, Saxons, and Jutes began populating the British Isles in the 5^th and 6^th centuries AD

Pushed the native Celtic speaking people into Scotland, Whales, and Ireland

Creolized Language: A language that results from the mixing of a colonizer’s language with the indigenous language of the people being dominated

French Creole in Haiti

Papiamento (Creolized Spanish) in Netherlands Antilles (West Indies)

Portuguese Creole in the Cape Verde Islands off the African Coast

Indo-European Language Family:

The world’s most extensively spoken language family by a wide margin

Nearly 3 billion people speak an Indo-European language as their first language

Eight Branches:

Indo-Iranian

Romance

Germanic

Balto-Slavic

Albanian

Armenian

Greek

Celtic

10 most Spoken Languages in the World:

Position	Language	Family	Script Used	Speakers (Millions)	Where Spoken (Major)
1	Mandarin	Sino-Tibetan	Chinese Characters	885	China, Malaysia, Taiwan
2	English	Indo-European	Latin	332	USA, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand
3	Spanish	Indo-European	Latin	322	South America, Central America, Spain
4	Arabic	Afro-Asiatic	Arabic	235	ME, Arabia, North Africa
5	Bengali	Indo-European	Bengali	189	Bangladesh, Eastern India
6	Hindi	Indo-European	Devanagari	182	North and Central India
7	Portuguese	Indo-European	Latin	170	Brazil, Portugal, Southern Africa
8	Russian	Indo-European	Cyrillic	170	Russia, Central Asia
9	Japanese	Altaic	Chinese Characters and 2 Japanese Alphabets	125	Japan
10	German	Indo-European	Latin	98	Germany, Austria, Central Europe

Ideograms:

The system of writing used in China and other East Asian countries in which each symbol represents an idea or a concept rather than a specific sound, as is the case with letters in English

Religion:

Religion, Culture, and Physical Environment

People care deeply about their religion and draw from religion their core values and beliefs, an essential element of the definition of culture. Religious values are important in understanding not only how people identify themselves, as was the case with language, but also the meaningful ways that they organize the landscape. Like language, migrants take their religion with them to new locations, but although migrants typically learn the language of the new location, they retain their religion.

Religion Hierarchy:

A hierarchical religion has a well-defined geographic structure and organizes territory into local administrative units (has “rankings” amongst the religion). A good example is Roman Catholicism (Pope, Cardinals, Bishops).

Universalizing Religion:

A religion that attempts to appeal to all people, not just those living in a particular location

3 Big – Christianity, Islam, Buddhism

Christianity:

Origin – Israel

2 billion adherents

Known as Christians

Mainly in Western Hemisphere and Europe

Foundation based on the Ten Commandments

Major branches- Catholics (50%). Protestants (25%), Eastern Orthodox (10%)

Islam:

Origin – Saudi Arabia

1.3 billion adherents

Known as Muslims

Foundation based on the Five Pillars

Major branches- Sunnis (83%), Shiites (16%), Kurds (1%)

Buddhism:

Origin – NE India/Nepal

370 million adherents

Known as Buddhists

Mainly in China and SE Asia

Foundation based on the Four Noble Truths

Major branches- Mahayanists (56%), Theravadistis (38%), Tantrayanists (8%)

Different from Christianity and Islam- you may also participate in another existing religion

Ethnic Religion:

A religion with a relatively concentrated spatial distribution whose principles are likely to be based on the physical characteristics of the particular location in which its adherents are concentrated

2 Biggs – Hinduism and Judaism

Hinduism:

Origin – India/Pakistan

800 million adherents (3^rd largest overall)

97% live in India (80% of India’s pop.)

Believe in several gods – Brahma being the main one

Follow the Caste System

Believe in Karma and Reincarnation

Judaism:

Origin – Israel

14 million adherents

Mainly clustered in Israel and the US

Also prevent in former USSR (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania)

Have similar roots as Christianity and Islam

Ireland: The most troublesome religious boundary in Western Europe lies on Ireland. Most of Ireland is Roman Catholic, but Northern Ireland is 58% Protestant and 42% Roman Catholic.

Israel/Palestine: After the 1973 war, the Palestinians emerged as Israel’s principle opponent. Israelis have no intention of giving up control of the Old City of Jerusalem, and Palestinians have no intention of giving up their claim to it.

Religious Architectures:

Christians – Churches

Muslims – Mosques

Hindus – Temples

Buddhism – Pagodas

Jews – Synagogues

Religion Versus Communism:

Organized religion was challenged in the 20^th century by the rise of communism in Eastern Europe and Asia. The three religions most affected were Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism.

Ethnicity:

US Distribution of Ethnicities:

African American – (13%) Southeast

Hispanic American – (13%) Southwest

Asian American – (4%) West

American Indian (Native American) – (1%) Southwest and Plains States

Clustering of Ethnicities:

Within a country, clustering of ethnicities can occur on two scales. Ethnic groups may live in particular regions of the country, and they may live in particular neighborhoods within cities.

Sharecropper: A person who works fields rented from a landowner and pays the rent and repays loans by turning over to the landowner a share of the crops

Ghettos: When the African American immigrants reached the big cities, they clustered in the one or two neighborhoods where the small numbers who had arrived in the 19^th century were already living. These areas became known as ghettos. The ghettos today have been through expansion.

Ethnicity and Race: Race is biological. An example would be skin color, but its not just skin color. Ethnicity is the cultural aspect/category. An example would be a hearth.

Separate But Equal Doctrine: The Separate But Equal Doctrine occurred in 1896. It allowed segregation of Blacks, Jews, and Roman Catholics.

“White Flight”: “White Flight” comes from the Brown vs. Board of Education doctrine in 1954, which eliminated segregation. ‘White Flight” is when whites left their homes to where they knew would be a dominate white area because they were scared of the blacks.

South Africa Apartheid:

Apartheid is the physical separation of different races into different areas. The white-dominated government of South Africa repealed the apartheid laws in 1991. In 1994, Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa.

South Africa the country-

Black- 76%

White- 13%

Asian- 3%

Mixed- 13%

Each with different legal status

Nationality/Nationalism:

Nationality is identity with a group of people that share legal attachment and personal allegiance to a particular place as a result of being born there.

Nationalism is loyalty and devotion to a particular nationality.

Nation-State: A state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular ethnicity that has been transformed into a nationality

Have by far one dominate ethnicity/nationality – 1 country, 1 ethnicity

Self Determinism (Separatism):

The concept that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves

Quebec (Province in Canada) – early 1980s strong French

Australia

Israel/Palestine

Native Americans

Multi-Ethnic States/Multi-National States:

Multi-Ethnic state – state that contains more than one ethnicity

Don’t necessarily try to appeal to every ethnicity – sometimes happy, sometimes not

Belgium = (Dutch = Flemish = North + French = Walloons = South)

Multi-National state – state that contains two or more ethnic groups with traditions of self-determination that agree to coexist peacefully by recognizing each other as distinct nationalities

Try to appeal to every nationality/ethnicity (by giving them jobs) – get along just fine

United Kingdom = England + Scotland + Whales + N. Ireland

Block Busting: Real estate agents telling people that blacks or Indians were going to move next door to them so they could buy the peoples’ house for very cheap and sell it for double.

Balkanization: States/countries breaking down through ethnic conflict – constant conflict

Balkanized: A geographic area that can’t be stable/happy because there are too many ethnicities and too much ugly history between them.

Servia

Boznia

Balkan Peninsula

Political Geography:

Colonies, Early European States, and Ancient and Medieval States:

A colony is a territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than being completely independent.

The modern movement to divide the world into states originated in Europe.

Political unity in the ancient world reached its height with the establishment of the Roman Empire, which controlled most of Europe, North Africa, and Southwest Asia. The European portion of the Roman Empire was fragmented into a large number of estates owned by competing kings, dukes, barons, and other nobles.

The development of states can be traced to the ancient Middle East, in an area known as the Fertile crescent. The first states to evolve in Mesopotamia were known as city-states – sovereign states that comprise a town and the surrounding countryside.

Modern Colonies: Today only a handful of colonies remain. Nearly all are islands in the Pacific Ocean or Caribbean Sea

State Shapes:

Compact State- a state in which the distance form the center to any boundary does not vary significantly

Fragmented State- a state that includes several discontinuous pieces of territory

Elongated State- a state with a long, narrow shape

Prorupted State- an otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension

Perforated State- a state that completely surrounds another one

Boundaries:

Can see on a map:

Physical- natural boundaries (oceans, rivers, mountains)

Geometric- main official lines

Can’t see on a map:

Culture

Religious

Language

Federal State: An internal organization of a state that allocates most powers to units of local government (have a say so)

Centripetal forces

Example- US

Unitary State: An internal organization of a state that places most power in the hands of central government officials (not necessarily bad, but no say so- only government)

Centrifugal forces

Example- UK

United Nations: A cooperation under the political category; Deals with military, economic, agricultural, etc.

European Union: A cooperation under the economic category

Promotes development through economic cooperation (free trade, Euro, subsidizing)

Sovereignty: Ability of a state to govern its territory free from control of its internal affairs by other states

Development:

Gross Domestic Product (GDP):

The value of the total output of goods and services produced in a country in a given time period (normally one year)

Gross National Product (GNP):

Similar to GDP, except that it includes income that people earn abroad, such as a Canadian working in the United States

Human Development Index (HDI):

Indicator of level of development for each country, constructed by United Nations, combining income, literacy, education, and life expectancy

Job Types (Sectors):

Primary- extracting from Earth (agriculture, mining, fishing, forestry)

Secondary- manufacturing raw materials- taking something from the land and making it a product

Tertiary- Services, Banking, Retailing, Education

Rostow’s Stages of Development Model:

Rostow, in the 1950’s, made a 5 stage model of the international trade development approach.

The traditional society: the country has not yet started process of development
The preconditions for takeoff: the country initiates innovative economic activities
The takeoff: there is rapid growth in economic activities
The drive to maturity: modern technology diffuses
The age of mass consumption: the economy shifts to consumer goods

The model assumes that LDCs will achieve development by moving to a higher stage in the model.

The Four Dragons: Some of the first countries to adopt the international trade alternatives were South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and the then-British colony of Hong Kong (known as the four dragons). They promoted development by concentrating on producing manufactured goods, especially clothing and electronics.

Self Sufficiency: The more popular development alternative for LDCs for most of the 20^th century

Incomes in the countryside keep up with those in the city

Reducing poverty is more important than creating wealthy consumers

Fragile businesses can be independent and protected from businesses and governments in MDCs

Set barriers limiting goods being imported

International Trade: A country can develop economically by concentrating scarce resources on expansion of its distinctive local industries

Transnational Corporation: A company that conducts research, operates factories, and sells products in many countries, not just where its headquarters or shareholders are located

Centripetal Force: An attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support for a state

Centrifugal Force: An attitude that tends to break or make people fall apart- fight

AP Human Geography Outline

Ch. 1 Thinking Geographically

Key Issue 1: How do geographers describe where things are?

Map- a two-dimensional model of Earth’s surface, or a portion of it.

Place- a specific point of Earth distinguished by a particular character.

Region- an area of Earth distinguished by a distinctive combination of cultural and physical features.

Scale- the relationship between a map’s distances and the actual distances on Earth.

Space- the physical gap between two objects.

Connections- relationships among people and objects across a barrier of space.

Cartography- the science of map-making.

-Earliest surviving maps are from Babylonian clay tablets, (c. 2300 B.C.)

-Aristotle was first to demonstrate that Earth is spherical.

-Eratosthenes was the first person to use the word geography.

Projection- the method of transferring locations on Earth’s surface to a map.

Geographic Information System- (GIS) a computer that can capture, store, query, analyze, and display geographic date.

Remote Sensing- the acquisition of data about Earth’s surface for a satellite.

Global Positioning System- (GPS) a system that determines one’s exact location on Earth.

Key Issue 2: Why is each point on Earth unique?

Location- the position that something occupies on Earth’s surface.

Toponym- the name given to a place on Earth.

Place names commonly have:

-British origins in N. America and Australia

-Portuguese origins in Brazil

-Spanish origins elsewhere in Latin America

-Dutch origins in S. Africa

-The Board of Geographical Names was established in the late nineteenth century to be the final arbiter of names on U.S. maps.

Site- the physical character of a place.

Situation- the location of a place relative to other places.

Meridian- (longitude) an arc drawn between the North and South poles.

Parallel- (latitude) a circle drawn around the globe parallel to equator and perpendicular to meridians.

Greenwich Mean Time- (GMT) the internationally agreed official time reference for Earth.

International Date Line- the longitude at which one moves forward or backward 1 day.

Cultural Landscape- defined by Carl Sauer, it is the area of Earth modified by human habitation. Also regional studies.

Formal region- an area within which everyone shares one or more distinctive characteristics.

Functional region- an area organized around a node or focal point.

Vernacular region- a place that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity. Also the area in which a specific language dialect is widely used.

Mental map- one’s perceived image of the surrounding landscape’s organization.

Culture- the body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms that constitute the distinct tradition of a group of people.

Cultural ecology- the geographic study of human-environment relations.

Environmental determinism- belief that the physical environment causes social development.

Proponents include:

-Alexander von Humboldt

-Carl Ritter

-Friedrich Ratzel

-Ellen Churchill Semple

-Ellsworth Huntington (argued that climate was determining factor)

Possibilism- the counter to e.d. (above), it is the belief that while environment can limit certain actions of a people, it cannot wholly predestine their development.

Resources- the substances found on Earth that are useful to people.

-Climate is often classified using the system developed by German Vladimir Köppen. The modified Koppen system divides the world into five main climate regions:

-A Tropical Climates

-B Dry Climates

-C Warm Mid-Latitude Climates

-D Cold Mid-Latitude Climates

-E Polar Climates

Each of these divisions is further subdivided based on precipitation levels and seasons.

Polder- a piece of land that is created by draining water from an area. First built in 13^th century in the Netherlands.

Key Issue 3: Why are different places similar?

Globalization- a process that involves the entire world and results in making something worldwide in scope.

-The world, geopolitically and economically, has grown more globalized over the past few centuries. While leading to a wider dispersion of funds, and the increased development of nearly every inhabited place on Earth, the globalization of the economy has heightened economic differences among others. The gap between the rich and the poor has increasingly grown wider (uneven development). From a cultural standpoint, globalization is a delicate issue. While contributing greatly to increased standards of living globally, especially among LDC’s, the spreading of a uniform, and some argue, “western” culture is destroying some of the most defining cultures in the world.

Distribution- the arrangement of a feature in a space.

Density- the frequency with which something occurs.

Arithmetic density- the total number of people in an area.

Physiological density- the total number of people per unit of arable land.

Agricultural density- the total number of farmers per unit of arable land.

Concentration- the extent of a feature’s spread over space.

Pattern- the geometric arrangement of objects in space.

Space-time compression- the reduction in the time it takes for something to reach another place.

Distance decay- the farther away one group is from another, the less likely the two groups are to interact.

Diffusion- the process by which a characteristic spreads across space.

-Innovations spread from the place they originated, hearths.

-Two types of Diffusion:

-Relocation diffusion is the spread of an idea through the physical movements of people.

-Expansion diffusion is the spread of an idea through “snowballing” and is further divided into 3 subgroups:

-Hierarchical diffusion is the spread of something through only certain or elite classes of society, such as through a fax machine.

-Contagious diffusion is the spread of something rapidly through all levels of society, such a popular fads.

-Stimulus diffusion is the spread of an underlying principle, even if a characteristic itself fails to diffuse.

Ch. 2 Population

Key Issue 1: Where is the world’s Population Distributed?

Demography- the scientific study of population characteristics.

Overpopulation- the status of not just the total number of people on Earth, but also the relationship between the number of people and the availability of resources.

Nearly two-thirds of the world’s population live in 4 main regions:

-East Asia –One-fifth of world pop—Five-sixths live in China alone

-South Asia—One-fifth of world pop—Three-fourths live in India

-Southeast Asia—approx. one-twelfth of world pop

-Europe—One-ninth of world pop

All of the above mentioned population clusters are located w/in 500 miles of ocean coasts

Ecumene- portion of Earth’s surface permanently occupied by humans.

Approximately three-fourths of world population lives on less than 5% of Earth’s surface. Generally inhospitable lands are:

-Dry Lands too dry for farming cover 20% of land surface.

-Wet Lands too wet for habitation are generally near the equator.

-Cold Lands too frigid to support civilization.

-High Lands too steep, cold, snow-covered for habitation.

Arithmetic density- total number of people divided by total land area.

Physiological density- total number of people divided by total arable land area.

Agricultural density- total number of farmers divided by total arable land area.

Key Issue 2: Where has the world’s population increased?

Crude birth rate- (CBR) total number of live births per every 1000 people per year.

Crude death rate- (CDR) total number of deaths per every 1000 people per year.

Natural increase rate- (NIR) % by which a population grows in a year (excluding migration).

Doubling time- the number of years needed to double a population (assuming constant NIR)

Total Fertility Rate- (TFR) the average number of births a woman will have in her lifetime.

Infant Mortality Rate- (IMR) the annual number of deaths of infants under 1 year old compared to number of live births.

Life expectancy- the average number of years a newborn can expect to live at current mortality levels.

Agricultural revolution- domestication of animals.

Industrial revolution- a conjunction of major improvements in technology that transformed the process of manufactured goods.

Medical revolution- the diffusion of med tech from MDC’s to the LDC’s.

Zero population growth- (ZPG) occurs when TFR = 2.1. (again excluding immigration)

The NIR was 1.3 % during the first decade of the 21^st century, hit its all-time high of 2.2 % in 1963, slowly fell throughout the latter part of the century, and has declined sharply during the past decade. Although the NIR is lower now than in the 1960’s, the number of people being added to the population is still larger because there is a larger base number to multiply the percentage with. Virtually 100% of the natural increase is located in LDC’s, primarily sub-Saharan Africa. The TFR has dropped dramatically in MDC’s, normally hovering around 2, and has exceeded 6 in some African countries. Just as the NIR, TFR, CBR, and CDR, the IMR is also highest in LDC’s, again primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa. Only life expectancy and doubling time are higher in MDC’s.

Key Issue 3: Why is population increasing at different rates in different countries?

Demographic Transition- a geographic model that divides a country’s development into 4 stages based on its population growth patterns. It has been attempted to have been drawn and explained below:

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4

Low growth High growth Decreasing growth Low growth

STAGE 1: Fluctuating high death and birth rates produce little growth

STAGE 2: Death rate plummets as a country enters the ag and industrial revolutions, causing plentiful food supplies and enhanced hygiene are dispersed to the masses. Birth rate stays relatively constant, therefore the NIR skyrockets.

STAGE 3: The death rate continues to fall, not as dramatically as in stage 2 though. The birth rate also falls as more families decide to have fewer children for economic and social reasons. As a result, the NIR begins to taper off and fall.

STAGE 4: ZPG is obtained through both the improved standards of living as a result of development and also because of social customs.

*STAGE 5: Some argue that a stage 5 may exist and that some W. European countries and perhaps the U.S. will or have already entered. It is effectively the same as stage 1, except the birth and death rates are extremely low, but NIR fluctuates around 0.

Population pyramids- a representation of a country’s population displayed by age and gender groups on a bar graph. Normally shows the % of the total pop in 5-year age brackets with youngest at base of pyramid and oldest at the top. The length of the bar represents the % of total pop in that group. Males on left, females on right.

Dependency ratio- the number of people who are too young or too old to work, compared to the number of people who are.

Sex ratio- the number of males per 100 females.

Census- an enormous data source containing various geographical information about a population.

Key Issue 4: Why might the world face an overpopulation problem?

Thomas Malthus proposed in his Essay on the Principle of Population 1798, that the population grows faster than the food supply. He claimed that while population expanded at a geometric or exponential rate, food supply increased arithmetically or linearly.

However, the continued evolution of agriculture has continued to provide the world with an adequate amount of food. The problem now is distribution of food, not the actual production of it. Also, the birth rates declined sharply in the latter part of the 20^th century, thus the world population expanded to only 6 billion compared to Malthus’s predicted 10.

Neo-Malthusians claim that more LDC’s are in stage 2 of the demographic transition that ever before in history, thus putting a larger strain on the food supply. They also modified Malthus’s theory by stating that the population growth is out-stripping not just food production, but a wide variety of resources, such as oil, natural gas, etc.

Critics of Malthus claim that population growth stimulates new technology and that as strain is put on any resource, the inventive human being will simply develop an alternative method once it is economically feasible.

Pandemic- a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects very high proportion of the population.

Epidemiology- the study of diseases that affect large numbers of people.

Epidemiologic transition- an alternative form of the demographic transition that associates various degrees of medical advancement with the stages of population growth shown in the d. t.

STAGE 1: pestilence and famine. Infectious and parasitic diseases are primary causes of death. Black Plague

STAGE 2: receding pandemics; diseases spread quickly as poor people crowd into rapidly growing industrial cities. Cholera

STAGE 3 & 4: degenerative and human-created diseases; vaccination virtually eliminates infectious disease in MDC. The life expectancy continues to expand and chronic disorders such as heart attacks, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer begin to grow more prevalent.

STAGE 5: some propose that an age of the reemergence of infectious and parasitic diseases will happen, as the once eradicated diseases adapt and become immune to the antibiotics that have been used to control them

AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) has been the most lethal epidemic in years. 99% of new cases within the last decade have been in LDC’s, most notably in sub-Saharan Africa. As a result, these countries have seen their CDR soar when it should be dropping. (Most of these countries are in Stage 2 of the d.t.)

Ch. 3 Migration

Key Issue 1: Why do people migrate?

Migration- a permanent move to a new location.

Emigration- migration from a location.

Immigration- migration to a location

Net migration- difference between emigration and immigration.

If emigration is higher, than it is net out-migration.

If immigration is higher, than it is net in-migration.

Mobility- general term concerning all types of movement from place to place.

Circulation- the day-to-day movement/route of a person.

Most people migrate for economic purposes, others for cultural and/or environmental reasons, according to E.G. Ravenstein’s migration “laws.” Migration has been tremendously enhanced in the past century due to various types of transportation.

Push factor- a force that induces people to move out of their present location.

Pull factor- a force that induces people to move into a new location.

3 types of push and pull factors are:

-economic: more jobs, better pay, etc.

-cultural: forced migration because of political unrest or slavery.

Refugee- a people forced to migrate from their homes and not allowed to return for fear of persecution.

-environmental: harsh conditions tend to push people, i.e. floodplain- area around a river prone to flooding. Appealing conditions tend to pull people, i.e. Florida.

Intervening obstacle- an environmental or cultural feature that hinders migration, such as the Rocky Mountains, Atlantic Ocean, etc.

Ravenstein’s laws outline two points about migration distances:

-Most migrants relocate a short distance and remain w/in the same country.

-Long-distance migrants to other countries head for major centers of economic activity.

International migration- permanent move from one country to another.

Voluntary migration- migrant chooses to move for economic or environmental reasons.

Forced migration- migrant is compelled to move due to cultural pressures.

Internal migration- permanent move w/in the same country.

Interregional migration- move from one region to another w/in country.

Intraregional migration- move w/in one region w/in one country.

Migration transition- identified by Wilbur Zelinsky, it consists of changes in a society comparable to the demographic transition. Stage 1 consists of little migration; Stage 2 involves international migration; Stages 3 and 4 are characterized by internal migration.

Ravenstein claimed that migrants have typical characteristics:

-Most long-distance migrants are male.

-Most long-distance migrants are adults rather than families with children.

In recent years, these trends have softened somewhat and the numbers now show a more 50-50 split in the gender of migrants. The family status of migrants has remained largely the same though.

Key Issue 2: Where are migrants distributed?

GLOBAL MIGRATION PATTERNS

Annual Net Migration

500,000 100,000 10,000

US MIGRATION PATTERNS

The US experienced 3 main migratory periods:

-Initial settlement of colonies from Europe and Africa

-Mid-19^th century to early 20^th. First from N. and West Europe, later from S. and East Europe.

-1970s to today. Mainly from LDC’s, such as Mexico, China, India, etc.

Undocumented immigrants- individuals who enter the U.S. without proper documents.

More than one-half the immigrants to the U.S. are clustered in 4 states, California, New York, Florida, and Texas.

Chain migration- the migration of people to a specific location because relatives or members of the same nationality previously migrated there.

Key Issue 3: Why do migrants face obstacles?

Quotas- maximum limits on the number of people who could immigrate to the U.S. from a country in 1 year.

Brain drain- the large-scale emigration of talented or scholarly individuals.

Guest workers- citizens of poor countries who temporarily obtain dangerous low-paying jobs in MDC’s that the permanent citizens refuse to accept. (similar to time-contract workers)

There is often difficulty distinguishing betwixt economic migrants and refugees, especially during times of large-scale conflict. Ex. Cuba, Vietnam, Haiti.

Often immigrants to the U.S. and W. Europe face racism or prejudice from the permanent residents who see the migrants as economic competition, cultural oddities, etc.

Key Issue 4: Why do people migrate within a country?

Migration between regions of a country

Most famous example within the US is the movement West. For nearly 200 years, the dominant movement of American people was almost due west in the search for new farmland to satisfy an overwhelmingly agrarian society, causing the population center to continue its march westward into the country. (p.105)

In recent years, migration between regions has been dominated by the search for better jobs, not different land to perform the same job on. Also, environmental factors have played a large part, i.e. old people moving to Florida.

In other countries, interregional migration has been prompted for a variety of reasons. Some like in Russia, Brazil, or Indonesia were either forced or encouraged by the government to move in order to develop certain areas of the country.

Migration within a region of a country

In LDC’s, the migration trend recently has been rural🡪urban.

In MDC’s, the migration trend has been urban🡪suburban

Counterurbanization- net migration from urban to rural areas.

This has been a trend in MDC’s, as improved technologies enable people to live farther from their places of employment and still enjoy all the amenities the city offers. However, in the U.S., counterurbanization has stopped because of poor economic conditions in the rural. Once again, the trend is from non-metropolitan to metropolitan areas, only now it is characterized by a move into the suburbs rather than the inner city.

Ch. 4 Folk and Pop Culture

Key Issue 1: Where do folk and pop cultures originate and diffuse?

Habit- a repetitive act that a particular individual performs.

Custom- a repetitive act that a particular group performs.

Folk culture- the culture traditionally practiced primarily by small, homogenous groups living in isolated rural areas.

Popular culture- the culture found in large, heterogeneous societies that share certain habits despite differences in other personal characteristics.

A social custom originates at a hearth, a center of innovation. Folk customs tend to have anonymous sources, from unknown dates, through multiple hearths, whereas pop culture generally has a known originator, normally from MDC’s, and results from more leisure time and more capital.

EX: Folk music tells stories or conveys information about daily activities. Pop music is written by specific individuals for the purpose of being sold to a large number of people.

Diffusion of folk and pop culture differs:

Folk customs tend to diffuse slowly and then, primarily through physical relocation of individuals.

Pop customs tend to diffuse rapidly and primarily through hierarchical diffusion from the nodes. (Certain fads can diffuse contagiously)

Key Issue 2: Why is folk culture clustered?

ISOLATION promotes cultural diversity as a group’s unique customs develop over several centuries. Therefore, folk culture varies widely from place to place at one time. Since most folk culture deals in some way with the lives and habits of its people, the physical environment in which the people act has a tremendous impact on the culture.

People living in folk culture are likely to be farmers growing their own food, using hand tools and/or animal power. Local food preferences are a large part of the folk customs of that region. Religious, social, or economic factors often determine the type and amount of food consumed in a given region.

Taboo- a restriction on behavior imposed by social custom.

Ex: little to no pork is consumed in predominantly Muslim countries.

Housing preference is another major contributor to folk culture. Local traditions, as well as environmental factors determine the type of house that is built in a region.

Key Issue 3: Why is popular culture widely distributed?

Pop culture, compared to folk, varies widely from time to time in a given place. This is due to its widespread and rapid diffusion, and the relative wealth of the people to acquire the materials associated with pop culture. Pop culture flourishes where people have sufficient income to acquire the tangible elements of the culture and the leisure time to make use of them.

Housing in the US, from the 1940’s on, has been less dependent on what type of house is appropriate for what site or region, but more on what the dominant trend is in the architectural field at the time of construction.

The most prominent example of pop culture in the realm of clothing is the mighty blue jeans. They have become a symbol of youth and “westernization” throughout the world. Many people in foreign countries are willing to depart with a week’s earnings just for a pair of Levi jeans.

Food preferences in pop culture depend on high income and national advertising. The spatial distribution of many food or beverage trends are difficult to explain. However, the dist. of wine shows the environmental impact. Wine is generally consumed in areas where the vineyards grow best, and where people can afford to drink it. Religious taboos often are responsible for certain areas’ preference or dislike of specific foods, much as in folk custom. Ex: Wine is rarely consumed outside Christian dominate countries.

TELEVISION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MECHANISM FOR THE RAPID DIFFUSION OF POP CULTURE. It is also the most popular leisure activity in MDC’s throughout the world. There are four levels of television service:

Near universal ownership. US, Japan, Europe, etc.
Ownership common, but not universal. Latin American countries, etc.
Ownership exists, but is not widely diffused. Some African and Asian countries,
Very few televisions. Sub-Saharan Africa, some regions of Mid East.

Diffusion of the Internet is following roughly the same pattern as TV did at the start, which is the U.S. has a disproportionately large share of the Internet hosts compared to its share of the world population. As the Internet increasingly becomes the people’s resource of choice, pop culture will have yet another conduit to rapidly and effectively diffuse to nearly every inhabited place on the planet.

In the U.S., TV stations are typically private enterprises that receive licenses from the government in order to broadcast over a specific frequency. Elsewhere in the world, the governments normally control the stations or at least have a board that controls them. This censorship is used to minimize the likelihood that programs hostile to current policies will be broadcast. This 1984-esque government regulation has lost some of its strength in recent years however. The main reason is the increased number of small satellite dishes that allow the customer to receive signals from stations based in other countries. Although some countries outlaw the ownership of these dishes, individuals continue to invent new ways to hide the dishes and thus continue to receive their contraband signal.

Key Issue 4: Why does globalization of popular culture cause problems?

DIRECT THREAT TO FOLK CULTURE

As TV and Internet spread to more people in more social classes, many people are turning from their folk cultures to the new pop customs. As this occurs, people may also turn away from the society’s traditional values.

The spread of popular ideas concerning the role of women in society threatens to undermine the subservience of women to men that is central to many folk societies. While positive from a Western standpoint, this reversal of traditional roles may actually threaten the economy in some lesser developed areas of the world.

DOMINANCE OF WESTERN PERSPECTIVES

Three MDC’s, the U.S., the U.K., and Japan, virtually control the television industry. At least one of the three serves nearly every LDC on Earth. The U.S. serves primarily Latin America; the U.K. serves primarily Africa; Japan serves mainly S. and E. Asia.

Many LDC leaders claim that because the “westerners” own nearly all of the TV broadcast within their countries, a fair, unbiased report of local news is not presented. Instead, the media focuses only on sensational, rating-boosting stories.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Pop culture is less likely than folk to be considerate of physical features. For many popular customs, the environment is something to be modified to enhance a product or promote its sale. Ex: golf courses, destruction/modification of large expanses of wilderness to promote a popular social custom.

Pop culture also promotes uniformity of landscape, as evidenced by the prevalence of nearly identical fast-food restaurants at convenient stops along highways.

Quite obvious is the increased need of natural resources to feed the pop culture craze. As a new trend engulfs a population, a specific resource may be required to satisfy the demand, and little care is taken to ensure the preserving of that resource for posterity. This, in turn, can lead to higher pollution levels as a result of pop cultures.

Ch. 5 Language

Key Issue 1: Where are English-language speakers distributed?

Language- a system of communication through speech, or other conventional methods, that groups of people understand to have the same meaning.

Literary tradition- a system of written communication.

Many languages lack a literary tradition, therefore impeding advancement and documentation.

Official language- language designated for use by a country’s government.

English is spoken by one-half a billion people across the globe. It is the official language of at least 42 countries; two billion people live in one of these countries.

The widespread diffusion of English is thanks, in large part, to the colonial practices of the British. Through their colonization of the Earth, English was spread eventually to N. America, Ireland, S. Asia, S. Pacific, S. Africa, and numerous other remote locations.

Little is known of the British Isles until the Celts arrived around 2000 B.C., speaking languages that we appropriately call, Celtic. Around 450 B.C. Germanic tribes, the Anglos, Saxons, and Jutes, invaded and pushed the Celts farther north and ruled “England” for several hundred years. Modern English would resemble German to a large degree had not the Normans invaded in 1066 A.D. These French ruled for nearly 300 years, and made their language the official language of the Isles. Once they were driven out, few people wished to speak the “enemy’s” language anymore, but the French influence on the language had already taken place. Today’s English can be seen as a hybrid of the original Germanic languages, with some Celtic and French mixed in. (along with varying degrees of influence from a large number of other languages.)

Dialect- a regional variation of a language distinguished by a distinctive vocab, spelling, and pronunciation. English has the largest # of dialects b/c of its wide diffusion.

Standard language- a dialect well-established and recognized for government use.

British Received Pronunciation- the official dialect of English used by politicians, broadcasters, and actors in Great Britain.

“My Fair Lady” was a musical in the 50’s that depicted social effects of dialect.

Differences between British and American English are:

Vocab- different mainly because settlers in America encountered new objects and experiences, many of which were assigned Native American names.
Grammar- distinctly different because Americans had a strong national feeling for an independent identity. The first American dictionary, published by Noah Webster was purposely altered from British spelling to differentiate the two languages.
Pronunciation- the most obvious reason for differences is that large expanse of water that seems to separate the U.S. from the U.K. The extreme physical separation caused the language to diverge into two very distinct dialects.

Dialects within the States are numerous and varied due to the number of people in the U.S., the wide land area across which the language is spoken, the historical mobility of the American people as they ventured across the West, and the varied ethnicity of the English-speakers within this country.

Three main dialects exist in England:

-Northern

-Midland

-Southern

These are used to classify many of the dialects within the U.S.

Isogloss- the word-usage boundary that can be constructed for any word.

Key Issue 2: Why is English related to other languages?

Language family- a collection of languages related through a common ancestor that existed long before recorded history.

-Language branch- a collection of languages within a family that are related through a common ancestor that existed several thousand years ago.

--Language group- collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in relatively recent history.

Largest family is Indo-European, spoken by nearly 3 billion people.

Below is an example of the break-down of a language family:

INDO-EUROPEAN

GERMANIC ALBANIAN

-English, German, etc. ARMENIAN

INDO-IRANIAN GREEK

-Indic (eastern) Hindi, Urdu, etc. ARMENIAN

-Iranian (western) Farsi, Kurdish, etc.

ROMANCE *These 4 are used less

-Med. Sea languages, French, Italian, etc. extensively than the others.

BALTO-SLAVIC

-Russian, Polish, Czech, etc.

Vulgar Latin- the Latin that people in the provinces learned; substandard.

Evidence exists that a “superfamily” language once was used, known as Proto-Indo-European. However, little conclusive evidence has been found, and the issue is hotly debated among linguists. Most theories on the diffusion of language are conjecture and invalidated.

Key Issue 3: Where are other language families distributed?

The main language families of the world, other than Indo-European (spoken by 50% of world population) are:

-Sino-Tibetan spoken by 20% of pop; in China and S.E. Asia

-Afro-Asiatic spoken by 5% of pop; N. Africa and S.W. Asia and Mid East

-Austronesian spoken by 5% of pop; S.E. Asia

-Niger-Congo spoken by 5% of pop; sub-Saharan Africa

-Dravidian spoken by 5% of pop; in India

-Remaining 10% speak one of following:

-Nilo-Saharan

-Amerindian

-Caucasian (Georgian)

-Altaic

-Uralic

-Japanese

-Korean

-Ausro-Asiatic

Key Issue 4: Why do people preserve local languages?

Ideogram- “letters” that represent ideas or concepts, not specific pronunciations.

Extinct language- language no longer spoken or used in daily activities by anyone in the world.

Isolated language- a language unrelated to any other and not attached to any specific branch.

Ex. Basque, spoken by over 1 million people in the Pyrenees Mts. of Spain.

Icelandic, spoken by the Norwegians who originally emigrated to Iceland and remained isolated for several hundred years.

Lingua franca- a universal language understood globally.

Pidgin language- a simplified version of a lingua franca, used to communicate typically in areas where contact is just beginning.

Ebonics- the dialect spoken by many blacks who migrated from the South to the large cities in the North who wished to preserve their distinctive accents.

Franglais- the hybrid English-French language resulting from a combination of the two.

Spanglish- similar to franglais, only a English-Spanish hybridization.

The most obvious, and the main, reason for preserving a language is to preserve language diversity and to promote a self-identity. Many groups have revived their languages recently in order to help preserve an integral part of their culture. Examples include Hebrew and Celtic.

Ch. 6 Religion

Key Issue 1: Where are religions distributed?

There are 2 types of religions:

Universalizing- religions that attempt to be global and appeal to all people.

Ethnic- religion that primarily appeals to one group of people living in one place. More closely tied to the physical geography of a particular region, especially with agriculture.

Branch- a large fundamental division within a religion.

Denomination- a division of a branch that unites a number of local congregations in a single legal and administrative body.

Sect- a relatively small group that has broken away from an established denomination.

Pilgrimage- a sacred religious journey.

The 3 main universalizing religions are:

CHRISTIANITY- 2 billion followers in N. and S. America, Europe, Australia, and some Asian and African countries. 50% Roman Catholic, 25% Protestant, 10% Eastern Orthodox, and 15% miscellaneous. About 90% of the Western Hemisphere is Christian. 95% Roman Catholic in Latin American, 50% Protestant in the U.S.

ISLAM- 1.3 billion followers in Middle East, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh.

Core of beliefs is based on the 5 pillars of faith:

There is no god worthy of worship other than the one God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God.
A Muslim must pray 5 times daily facing the city of Mecca.
A Muslim gives generously to charity, as an act of purification and growth.
A Muslim fasts during the month of Ramadan, as an act of self-purification.
If physically and financially able, a Muslim makes a pilgrimage to Mecca.

The branches of Islam are Sunni (83%) and Shiite (16%).

BUDDHISM- 365 million followers in China and S.E. Asia mainly.

Based on the 4 Noble Truths:

All living beings must endure suffering.
Suffering, which is caused by a desire to live, leads to reincarnation.
The goal of all existence is to escape from suffering and the endless cycle of reincarnation into Nirvana (a state of complete redemption), which is achieved through mental and moral self-purification.
Nirvana is attained through an Eightfold Path that stresses rightness of belief, resolve, speech, action, livelihood, effort, thought, and meditation.

The branches of Buddhism are Mahayana (56%), Theravada (38%), and Tantrayana (6%).

The other two main universalizing religions other than the above three are:

-Sikhism 24 million followers, 21 of which are clustered in the Punjab region of India.

-Bahá’í 7 million followers dispersed across the globe.

Some notable ethnic religions are:

HINDU- the world’s 3^rd largest religion with 820 million adherents. 97% live in India

CONFUCIANISM- mainly in China, stresses ethical lifestyles

TAOISM- mainly in China also, followers seek the dao (tao) meaning the way or path.

SHINTO- mainly in Japan, before WWII was the state religion and emperor was regarded as divine.

JUDAISM- 6 million followers in U.S., 4 million in Israel, 2 million in Russia, 2 million elsewhere. First religion to support monotheism- the belief in only 1 god, as opposed to polytheism- the belief in many gods.

ANIMISM- traditional African religions that focus on the animate qualities of normally considered inanimate objects, like stones, water, etc. Animism is a sort of all-encompassing term rather than a specific religion. I will now shamelessly plug my own work and say that for more info on African religions, ask Mr. King to see the truly fabulous one-of-a-kind presentation that a certain student of his has prepared.

Key Issue 2: Why do religions have different distributions?

As a general rule, universalizing religions have origins based on a specific individual’s life in the past, ethnic religions typically have either no origin or an unclear one at best.

Some religious origins:

Christianity- based on the life of Jesus

Islam-trace lineage back through Abraham’s other son Ishmael; based on the life of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam.

Buddhism- based on the life of Siddhartha Gautama, who later became Buddha (the enlightened one)

Sikhism- founded by Guru Nanak about 500 years ago.

Hindu- did not originate with a specific founder. Beginnings of Hindu date back to before recorded history.

Missionaries- individuals who help to transmit a universalizing religion through relocation diffusion.

Pagan- followers of polytheistic religions in ancient times.

Ghetto- city slum designated for Jew habitation.

Cosmogony- creation story.

Solstice- day when sun is at highest or lowest point in the sky.

Diffusion of Religions

Christianity spread mainly through the work of missionaries, and also by some conquest and colonization.

Islam spread mainly through conquest.

Buddhism spread mainly through missionaries and trade merchants.

Ethnic religions rarely diffuse, and when they do, it is to a small extent. Thus, the universalizing religions diffuse mainly at the expense of the smaller ethnic religions, and often a semi-hybrid religion will result with concepts from both the ethnic religion and the universalizing religion intertwined. Judaism is an exception in that it has diffused widely throughout the years, mainly because its people have had to flee persecution from many areas in the world.

Buddhism and Islam are the universalizing religions that place the most emphasis on identifying shrines/holy places. In universalizing religions, the holy places are generally locations at which memorable events happened in the founder’s life, such as Mecca is in Islam because it is Muhammad’s birthplace. Holy places in ethnic religions are often physical features that are closely tied to the religion. For example, in Hindu one of the most important rituals is the bathing of oneself in the Ganges River.

Cosmogony and calendars also differ betwixt universalizing religions and ethnic religions. Ethnic religious creation stories tend to deal with the physical environment and natural events, whereas universalizing religion stories often attempt to explain the mystical. Ethnic religions typically organize their calendars around the seasons, other natural events, or the physical geography. Universalizing religions’ main purpose in calendars is to commemorate events in the founder’s life, thus the seasons or weather are not central to the structure.

Key Issue 3: Why do religions organize space in distinctive patterns?

The distribution of religious elements on the landscape reflects the importance of religion in people’s values.

In Christianity, the landscape is dominated by a high density of churches. They are critical because of the emphasis placed on regularly attending worship.

In Islam, mosques are the places for general assembly. They are not viewed as a sanctified place but rather a convening point for the community. A mosque normally has a central courtyard surrounded by classrooms.

In Hinduism, temples are built within the home or individual community. They have a central room to house a spirit, with rooms for rituals, and outer purifying pools.

In both Buddhism and Shinto, pagodas are the common architecture. They are typically built to enshrine sacred religious artifacts.

In Bahá’í, the church officials decided to open seven Houses of Worship on multiple continents to stress the universality of their religion.

The disposing of the dead differs from religion to religion. Some prefer to bury while others choose to cremate.

Religion often influences the place-names of certain regions. Ex. The vast amount of places named for saints in predominantly Roman Catholic Quebec.

Hierarchical religion- well-defined geographic structure with a high degree of organization.

Ex. The Roman Catholic Church

Diocese- the basic geographic unit of the R.C.C.

Autonomous religions- self-sufficient religions with little organization.

Ex. Islam prefers to unify by faith rather than specific boundaries.

Most ethnic religions are autonomous. Protestant faiths vary.

Key Issue 4: Why do territorial conflicts arise among religious groups?

RELIGION IS ARGUABLY THE MOST VOLITALE OF ALL HUMAN RELATIONS AND THE SOURCE OF MOST VIOLENCE THROUGHOUT HISTORY.

Fundamentalism- the literal interpretation and strict intense adherence to one’s religious principles. Fundamentalists try to return society to its religious ways. The most obvious example is the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Caste- the class or distinct hereditary order into which a Hindu was assigned according to religious law.

Religion is nearly always suppressed in communist countries. Leaders believe that religion has a tendency to upset stability and therefore ban it altogether, though often they just concrete the people’s religious adherence instead of destroying it.

Other times, when people of different religions live in close proximity to one another, engage in contact often, or share interests in a particular location, especially violent interaction will occur. Ex. The Middle East. Jews, Christians, and Muslims have fought for over 2,000 years to control the same small strip of land in the East Mediterranean. Historically the Crusades between Christians and Muslims played out as each fought to control the Holy Lands. Hostilities continue in the modern era over these same lands. Attempting to summate the issue in a few sentences would not be sufficient, see pgs. 213-220.

The controversy in Ireland occurred when predominantly Catholic South Ireland wished to secede from predominantly Protestant Great Britain. However, the northernmost six counties of Ireland are overwhelmingly Protestant and wished to remain part of the U.K. When the split occurred a small number of Roman Catholics in both N. Ireland and the Republic of Ireland joined the Irish Republican Army (IRA), a militant organization devoted to achieving Irish unity by whatever means necessary. A Protestant organization has formed in return. Violence continues as extremists from both sides disrupt the lives of peaceful civilians.

Ch. 7 Ethnicity

Key Issue 1: Where are ethnicities distributed?

Ethnicity- the identity of a group of people who share the cultural traditions of a particular homeland or hearth.

Race- the identity of a group of people who share a biological ancestor.

The most common ethnicities within the U.S. are African Americans and Hispanics/Latinos, about 13% each. Others include Asian American (4%) and American Indian (1%). The fourteen races w/in the U.S., as decided by the Census, are: white, black-African American-Negro, American Indian-Alaska Native, Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Native Hawaiian, Guamanian-Chamorro, Samoan, other Pacific islander, and lastly, other race.

Within a country, clustering of ethnicities may occur on a regional scale, or within particular neighborhoods of cities.

Regional:

-In the U.S., African Americans are clustered in the S.E., Hispanics in the S.W., Asians in the West, and Native Americans in the S.W. and Great Plains.

Within cities:

-African Americans are highly clustered within cities, greater than 50% of blacks live within cities. Ex- In Detroit, A-A comprise 80% of the pop, but only one-fourteenth the pop of the rest of Michigan. The distribution of Hispanics in northern cities is similar to that of African Americans, for instance NYC is ¼ Hispanic, but only 1/16^th the rest of New York.

-The clustering of ethnicities is especially visible on the neighborhood level. Such as in Chicago where many of the immigrants from S. and E. Europe tended to chain migrate to specific city blocks in such density that certain areas of town became known for a specific ethnicity. More recently, however, descendants of European immigrants are more likely to retain their ethnic identity through religion, food, and other cultural traditions rather than through location of residence. Increasingly the ethnic concentrations in the U.S. are African Americans from the South, Hispanics, or Asians.

The current clustering of African Americans w/in the U.S. results from three major migration flows:

Immigration from Africa in the 18^th century (slave trade)
Immigration from the South to northern cities during first ½ of 20^th century.
Immigration from inner-city ghettos to other urban neighborhoods in the second ½ of the 20^th century.

Triangular slave trade- an efficient triangular trading pattern used to transport trinkets from Europe to Africa, slaves from Africa to the Caribbean, and molasses from the Caribbean to Europe. An optional stop was from the Caribbean with molasses to the U.S. to exchange for rum and then back to Europe.

Sharecropper- an individual who works fields rented from a landowner and pays the rent by turning over to the landowner a share of the crops.

Racism- the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.

Racist- a person who subscribes to the beliefs of racism.

“White flight” is the rapid fleeing of whites from the cities as black families emigrate out of the ghettos, or as the ghetto expands. It was encouraged by blockbusting.

blockbusting- the real estate practice of scaring whites into selling their homes at low prices by telling them that blacks would soon be moving in and causing property values to fall. The real estate agents then turned around and sold the homes at extremely high prices to blacks that were emigrating from the inner city.

Apartheid- the physical separation of different races into different geographic areas, i.e. South Africa.

The apartheid laws were repealed in 1991 in South Africa, but many years will be needed to erase the legacy of such racist policies.

Key Issue 2: Why have ethnicities been transformed into nationalities?

Nationality- the identity of a group of people who share legal attachment and personal allegiance to a particular country.

Self-determination- the concept that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves.

Nation-state- a state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular ethnicity that has been transformed into a nationality. Denmark is an excellent example.

Ethnic groups have been transformed into nationalities because desire for self-rule is a very important shared attitude for many of them.

Nationalism- loyalty and devotion to a nationality.

Centripetal force- an attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support for a state.

Multi-ethnic state- a state that contains more than one ethnicity.

Multinational states- multi-ethnic states that contain two ethnic groups with traditions of self-rule that agree to coexist peacefully. The United Kingdom is an example. The Soviet Union was the largest multinational state until is fall in the early 1990s; it consisted of 15 different republics based on its largest ethnicities. Now Russia is the largest multinational state, with 39 nationalities.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, many new countries in the Baltic, E. Europe, and Middle East were created, sometimes corresponding to nationalities, sometimes not. An example of turmoil resulting from poorly drawn boundaries is in the Caucasus region, betwixt the Black and Caspian seas. Many ethnicities exist here, with several pushing for nationality.

Many Europeans believed at the beginning of the 20^th century that ethnicities were a thing of the past, however, they were quite incorrect. After the fall of communism in many states, ethnicities that had long been suppressed were allowed to expand and flourish. This is especially evident in the former Yugoslavia, which was utterly decimated as minority ethnicities exerted themselves and demanded independence.

Key Issue 3: Why do ethnicities clash?

Often the cause of violence is when different ethnicities compete to rule the same region or nationality. Especially common in sub-Saharan Africa, where the superimposed boundaries of the Europeans colonies poorly coincide with the thousands of ethnicities. The Horn of Africa has been the site of many ethnic disturbances: Ethiopia and Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, etc.

The other main source of ethnic violence occurs when ethnicities are divided among more than one state. Such as in S. Asia where the British divided their former colony into Pakistan and India. (East Pakistan became Bangladesh after 1971) As a result of the partition, millions of Hindus had to migrate from the Pakistans, and Muslims had to migrate from India. During the course of the migrations, many adherents were killed by members of the opposite religion. Also, controversy continues in the northern area of Kashmir over the proper border. Similar unrest is present on the island of Sri Lanka, betwixt the Tamil Hindus and the Sinhalese Buddhists.

Key Issue 4: What is ethnic cleansing?

Ethnic cleansing- the process in which a more powerful ethnic group forcible removes a less powerful one in order to create an ethnically homogeneous region. Probably the best example is WWII in which millions of Jews, gypsies, and other ethnicities were forcibly moved to concentration camps, where most were exterminated.

When Yugoslavia was one country, encompassing multiple ethnicities, dissent was kept under control. However, once Yugoslavia broke up into six republics, the boundaries did not align with the boundaries of the five largest nationalities, and ethnicities fought to redefine the boundaries. In some cases, as in Bosnia and Kosovo, ethnic cleansing was used to strengthen certain nationalities’ cases for autonomy. As a result, millions of ethnicities were forcibly removed from their homes, and marched elsewhere, or simply killed. Similar ethnic cleansing occurs in Central Africa betwixt the Hutus and Tutsis.

Balkanized- used to describe a small geographic area that could not successfully be organized onto one or more stable states because it was inhabited by many ethnicities with complex, long-standing antagonisms toward each other.

Balkanization- the process by which a state breaks down due to conflicts among its ethnicities.

Ch. 8 Political Geography

Key Issue 1: Where are states located?

State- an area organized into a political unit and ruled by a sovereign government. It occupies a defined area on Earth’s surface and has a permanent population.

Sovereignty- a state’s independence of internal affairs from other states.

Antarctica is the only large landmass that officially belongs to no state, as part of the Treaties of Antarctica 1959 and 1991. Several countries claim portions of the continent, but the U.S., Russia, and numerous other states refuse to recognize these claims.

Korea was originally a colony of Japan, but was divided into two occupation zones along the 38^th parallel by the U.S. and former Soviet Union after Japan’s defeat in WWII. The division became permanent in the 1940s when the zones were turned into autonomous states. North Korea became the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and South Korea became the Republic of Korea. In 1950, N. Korea invaded the South, sparking a three-year conflict that ended with a cease-fire line near the 38^th parallel. Both governments are committed to reuniting the country; however, attempts at reconciliation were halted when N. Korea decided to build nuclear weapons while its people starved.

Chinese Nationalists who fled the country after communist takeover, established control over the island of Taiwan. The Nationalists claim that they still are the legitimate rulers of China, but for the time being will rule Taiwan. The communists claim control over Taiwan, but most other world states believe the two are separate and sovereign states. After ruling power was shifted in 1971 from the Nationalists to the communists, Taiwan became the most populous state not in the United Nations.

A similar problem of defining a state is seen in Africa, where the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara) is considered by most to be a sovereign state but Morocco claims the territory and built a 3,000 km wall around it to keep out rebel forces. A cease-fire signed in 1991 is supervised by U.N. peacekeeping forces. Spain controls two cities in Morocco.

Microstates- states with very small land areas. The smallest U.N. state is Monaco (.6 square miles)

Development of the state concept

City-state- a sovereign state that comprises a town and the surrounding countryside. These were the first states to develop in ancient times. Reached highest point in the Roman Empire.

Early European states evolved after the fall of the Roman Empire as powerful nobles emerged and began consolidating surrounding estates into kingdoms. This method formed the basis for the development of states like England, France, Spain, etc.

Colonialism- the effort by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political, economic, and cultural agenda on an uninhabited territory. The three reasons for colonialism are:

European missionaries establishing colonies to promote Christianity.
Governments establishing colonies to access raw materials and resources.
Governments establishing colonies to increase prestige of that country.

These 3 reasons are often summated as “God, gold, and glory.”

Colony- a territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than being completely independent.

Imperialism- establishing control of a territory already occupied and organized by an indigenous society.

After colonization ended, many former colonies established their independence from the mother country. Thus, very few colonies exist in the modern world, nearly all of which are small islands in the S. Pacific or Caribbean.

Pitcairn Island is the world’s smallest colony, with 54 residents on an island less than 2 square miles. It was originally settled in 1790 by the crew of the British vessel Bounty. The islanders survive by selling fish and postage stamps to collectors.

Key Issue 2: Why do boundaries cause problems?

Boundary- an invisible line marking the extent of a state’s territory.

There are two types of boundaries:

-PHYSICAL BOUNDARIES

-Mountains are effective if they are difficult to cross.

-Deserts are effective if hard to cross and sparsely settled.

-Water boundaries can be effective for defense because an assailant’s troops must establish a beachhead in order to attack. Rivers pose problems because they tend to move across the Earth’s surface as a result of erosion. Oceans are the cause of some controversy because of arguments about how far a state’s boundary protrudes into the water. The Law of the Sea, signed by 117 countries in 1983, established the territorial limits for most countries at 12 nautical miles, and fishing rights at 200 miles

-CULTURAL BOUNDARIES

-Geometric boundaries are simply mathematical lines drawn on a map.

-Religious boundaries are rarely used, b/c they normally coincide with state boundaries.

-Language boundaries are especially numerous in Europe.

-Implemented boundaries are those established by the ruling organization. Ex. The “Green Line” boundary in Cyprus. (p.277-78)

-Relic boundaries are nonfunctional partitions that still exist. Ex. The Great Wall of China.

There are 5 shapes of states:

-Compact states- the distance from the center to any boundary varies little. Generally found in smaller states.

-Prorupted states- an otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension. Ex. Congo

-Elongated states- have a long and narrow shape. Ex. Chile

-Fragmented states- have several discontinuous pieces of territory. Ex. U.S.A.

-Perforated states- completely surround another state. Ex. South Africa

Landlocked state- a state that lacks a direct outlet to the ocean. Especially common in Africa.

Frontier- a zone where no state exercises complete political control.

Unitary state- a state that places most of the power in the hands of a central govt.

Federal state- a state that allocates strong power to units of local govt. w/in the country.

The trend in recent years has been more states moving from their unitary stance to a more federal government.

Gerrymandering- the process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power. “Packing” places many voters of one type into a single area, whereas “stacking” arranges the voters to win a majority of the seats.

Key Issue 3: Why do states cooperate with each other?

Balance of power- a condition of equal strength betwixt opposing alliances.

States cooperate for political and military reasons. The most important supranational organization is the United Nations. Established in 1945, it contained 49 members. As of 2003, 190 countries were part of the U.N. Though the power of the U.N. is somewhat limited, it is still a substantial step in the direction toward global peace. The U.N. nations can elect to create peacekeeping forces, and can request the military assistance from other states. Other significant military organizations are:

-Organization of American States (OAS) all 35 W. Hemisphere states

-Organization for African Unity (OAU) all African states

-Commonwealth of Nations the U.K. and 53 former colonies.

States also cooperate for economic purposes. The best example is the European Union. The EU main goal is to promote development within the member states through economic cooperation. Farmers subsidies, and the introduction of the common currency the EURO, are some of the methods through which the EU has developed W. Europe into the most viable market on Earth. Germany dominates the EU. Stringent guidelines prevent many Baltic states from being admitted, thus preserving the economic benefits reaped by the 15 older members.

Key Issue 4: Why has terrorism increased?

Terrorism is the systematic use of violence by a group in order to intimidate a population or coerce a government into granting its demands. The increasing level of radical fundamentalism in many religions and the creation of the terrorist network al-Qaeda have led to an increase in the number of terrorist attacks worldwide.

Al-Qaeda is a network founded by Osama bin Laden who used his several million dollar inheritance from his billionaire father to fund the program. Al-Qaeda (an Arabic word meaning “the base”) was formed in 1990 to unite jihad fighters from around the world in an organized offensive against the United States, whom bin Laden sees as the “Great Satan” because of U.S. support for the royal family of Saudi Arabia and for supporting the Jewish state of Israel. Al-Qaeda’s holy war against the U.S. reached its apex on Sept. 11, 2001.

Another reason for increased terrorist activity is the increased amount of state support for terrorism, defined as:

Providing sanctuary for terrorists wanted by other countries. Ex. The Taliban govt. of Afghanistan harboring al-Qaeda fugitives.
Supplying weapons, money, and/or intelligence to terrorists. Ex. Libyan Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi provided terrorists with money to kill his opponents living in exile.
Planning attacks using terrorists. Ex. The Libyan govt. hiring terrorists to bomb a Berlin nightclub frequented by U.S. soldiers.

The U.S. invaded Afghanistan to hunt down members of al-Qaeda. The Taliban govt. was also overthrown for its support of al-Qaeda. The U.S. then invaded Iraq in order to investigate reports that Iraq had been develop weapons of mass destruction. Little conclusive evidence has been recovered to justify that Iraq had WMDs or was in the process of developing them.

Other states considered by the U.S. to be state sponsors of terrorism are:

-Yemen

-Sudan

-Syria

-N. Korea

-Iran

Knowt