Thinking Geographically

1. Thinking Geographically Ptolemy’s First World Map, circa A.D. 150

2. Thinking Geographically • Geography, the scientific study of the location of people & activities across the Earth, and the reasons for their distribution. • “Big Mac Attack”

3. Human v. Physical Geography

5. Divisions of Geography • Physical Geography Human Geography • Rocks and Minerals Population • Landforms Settlements • Soils Economic Activities • Animals Transportation • Plants Recreational Activities • Water Religion • Atmosphere Political Systems • Rivers and Other Water Bodies Social Traditions • Environment Human Migration • Climate and Weather Agricultural Systems .

6. Five “Key Themes” of Geography • 1. Location– specific location, where? • 2. Place–unique traits of a place • 3. Movement– diffusion, communications • 4. Region– an area’s uniform (similar) characteristics • 5.Human-Environment Interaction–human interaction with an environment

7. location • Relative Location, “place "in relationship to surroundings –compare it to something else • Mathematical/absolute location • Latitude & Longitude • degrees, minutes, seconds

8. Place • Situation-the relative location of a place in relation to the physical and cultural characteristics of the surrounding area and the connections within in the system • Site-The absolute location of a place, described by landforms, and other cultural or physical characteristics

9. regional concepts • 1. formal or uniform regions • Areas of uniformity • Physical or cultural • Sahara Desert, “Bible Belt”

10. 2. functional region • Have special identities because of the social and economic relationships that tie them together. • Rely upon each other Glendale Galleria Newspaper Route

11. 3. perceptual/vernacular regions • Exist in the minds of people • “Deep South” China Town The “Valley’

12. Fig. 1-7, p. 12

13. Globalization and Diversity Map of World Regions (fig. 1.2) Regions defined by Rowntree et al.

14. Globalization • The increasing interconnectedness (becoming more connected) of different parts of the world through common processes of economic, political, and cultural change. Economic globalization is happening fastest. Discussion: How is globalization affecting you? Can you see it in your everyday life? Panama, 1997

15. Globalization of Economy • The scale of the world is shrinking, in the ability of a person, object, or idea to interact with a person, object, or idea in another place. • Transnational Corporation, conducts research, opens factories, & sells its products in many countries

17. Globalization of Culture • Culture, the behaviors & beliefs distinctive of a particular social, ethnic, or age group • Material v. Non-material • English/Universal language • Conflict • Global Culture v. Local Culture

18. Folk Culture • Is traditionally practiced by small, homogenous groups living in isolated rural areas • Wearing a sari in India • Small Scale • Slow Change due to lack of communication

19. Popular Culture • Found in large, heterogeneous societies that share certain habits (like wearing jeans) despite differences in personal characteristics. • Varies from time to time at any given place • Changes rapidly • Global V. Local • Environment (Native Americans/Nature)

20. Diversity Amid Globalization • Globalization: the increasing interconnectedness of people and places through the converging processes of economic, political, and cultural change • Converging Currents of Globalization • Global communications link world regions • Global transportation moves goods quickly • Transnational conglomerate corporations; international financial institutions more powerful than many countries • Global free-trade agreements • Market economies replace state-controlled economies • Globalized market for consumer goods • Globalization of workers, managers, executives

21. Hybridization: sometimes occurs when forms of American popular culture spread abroad then are melded with local cultural traditions • Japanese comic books, global rap, that are now found worldwide

23. Global Consumer Culture • May erode local diversity • Can cause social tensions between traditional cultures and new, external globalizing influences • Examples: clothing, food, movies, and more

24. Environmental Concerns • Globalized economy creates and intensifies environmental problems, disrupts local ecosystems as transnational firms search for natural resources and factory sites • Native peoples may lose resource base • Globalization aggravates world environmental problems (climate change, air & water pollution, deforestation) • International treaties may help

25. Impact on Society • Increased international migration • Asians, Latin Americans to the U.S. • Africans, Asians to Western Europe • Japan and Korea less homogeneous • Immigrants from poor countries to less poor countries nearby • Criminal element to globalization • Terrorism (discussed later in the chapter) • Drugs • Illegal narcotics link remote mountains of Burma to the global economy • Economies reorient to drug smuggling & money laundering • Pornography and prostitution • Gambling

27. Drug Trade The Global Drug Trade (Fig. 1.6)

28. Globalization of Culture • Globalization has also allowed preservation of one’s unique culture • Example: Spanish Soap Operas in the United States

29. Advocates and Critics of Globalization • The Proglobalization Stance (Advantages) • Globalization is logical expression of capitalism • Removing trade barriers will increase efficiency, spread new technology and ideas • Free flow of capital will enhance global economic wealth • The world’s poorer countries will catch up through globalization

30. The Antiglobalization Stance • Today’s core, developed countries did not use globalization’s free-market economic model to foster their own development • Globalization creates greater inequalities • It promotes free-market, export-oriented economies, at the expense of local, indigenous economies • Spreads undesirable things (diseases, crime, harmful flora and fauna

31. Globalization • *Friction of distance, which is the degree to which distance interferes with some interaction • * Space-time compression, the increasing sense of accessibility and connectivity seems to bring humans in distant places closer • *Distance Decay, in which the interaction between two places declines as the distance between the two places increases.

32. Global Economic Inequity 1960-2000 (Fig. 1.9) Inequity

33. Diversity in a Globalizing World • Will globalization bring a homogenous, culturally bland world? • The world is still a diverse place • Language, religion • Foods, architecture, urban form • Politics, economics • Ethnic and cultural differences are contributing to separatist political movements • Politics of diversity demands attention to worldwide tensions over terrorism, ethnic separateness, regional autonomy (power over oneself), political independence

34. Population and Settlement: People on the Land • The human population is at its largest point: more than 6 billion people on earth • About 86 million born each year (10,000 each hour) • 90% of population growth in developing regions (Africa, Latin America, South Asia, East Asia) • Several important population issues • Population growth rates vary from region to region; some grow rapidly, others with slow or no growth • Regions and countries have vastly different approaches to family planning (to increase or decrease population), from regulation to incentives and social cooperation • Migration is very important; some migrate for better life, but others migrate to flee war, persecution, or environmental disasters • The greatest international migration in human history is occurring NOW

35. (Fig. 1.12)

36. Population Growth and Change • More population statistics you must know • Total fertility rate (TFR): the average number of children born by a statistically average woman (world average is 2.8, 1.4 in Europe to 5.2 in Africa) • Percentage of population under age 15 • Signals future rapid population growth • Percentage of population over age 65 • Older people need more health care, social security from younger workers • Population pyramids: show the gender and percentage of the population in specific age groups

37. Population Pyramids Population Pyramids (Fig. 1.14)

38. Demographic Transition Model The Demographic Transition (Fig. 1.15)

39. Migration Patterns • Today, about 125 million (2%) of total world population are migrants of some sort • Much international migration linked to global economy • Push factors: negative conditions that drive people from a location • Examples: cultural oppression, war, unemployment, natural disasters • Pull factors: favorable conditions at a destination that attract people • Examples: economic opportunity (jobs), freedom, good climate • Most migration involves both push and pull factors working together • Networks of families, friends, and sometimes labor contractors connect migrants from their origins to their destinations

40. An Urban World • Cities are the focal points of the modern globalizing world • The size and growth rate of some cities is staggering • Mexico City and Sao Paolo (Brazil) • More than 20 million residents • And they’re adding 10,000 new people each week • Both are predicted to double in the next 15 years • Urbanized population: percentage of a country’s people who live in cities • Currently, 47% of world’s population lives in cities • U.S., Europe, Japan, Australia are more than 75% urbanized • Rates of urbanization in developing world is usually less than 50%, and may be considerably lower

41. Growth of World Cities (Fig. 1.18)(2000 and projected 2015)

42. Culture • Culture is LEARNED (not innate), is shared (not individual) behavior, and includes both abstract (language, religion) and material elements (architecture, technology) • When Cultures Collide • Cultural imperialism: active promotion of one’s cultural system over another • Cultural nationalism: the process of defending a cultural system against offensive cultural expression while at the same time actively promoting local or national values • Cultural syncretism or hybridization: the blending of elements of culture to form a new culture

43. Language and Culture • Language and culture are closely tied • Language is often the characteristic that best defines cultural groups • Since language is the means for communication within a cultural group, it includes other aspects of cultural identity (politics, religion, commerce, folkways, customs) • Dialect: a distinctive form of a language associated with a specific region (e.g., American and British English) • Lingua franca: a third language that is adopted by people from different cultural groups within a country who cannot speak each other’s language (e.g., Swahili in Africa, or English in India)

44. Languages World Languages(Fig. 1.22)

45. Geography of World Religion • Religion is another extremely important defining trait of cultural groups • Universalizing religion: attempts to appeal to all people regardless of location or culture (examples: Christianity with 2 billion, Islam with 1.2 billion, Buddhism) • Ethnic religion: identified closely with a specific ethnic group; does not actively seek converts (examples: Judaism, Hinduism with 850 million in India) • Secularization: exists when people consider themselves to be non-religious or outright atheistic (about 1 billion)

46. Religions Major Religious Traditions(Fig. 1.36)

47. Geopolitics: Fragmentation & Unity • Geopolitics: term that describes the close link between geography and political activity • Focuses on the interaction between power, territory, and space at all scales • State: a political unit with territorial boundaries recognized by other countries and internally governed by an organizational structure • Nation: a large group of people who share many cultural elements (e.g.: language, religion, cultural identity) and view themselves as a single political community • Nation-state: a relatively homogenous cultural group with its own fully independent political territory (e.g.: Japan, France); Kurds are a nation without a state

48. Kurds: A Nation without a State (Fig. 1.26)

49. Geopolitics: Fragmentation & Unity Micronationalism: group identity with the goal of self-rule within an existing nation-state - On the rise, and a source of geopolitical tension in the world Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces Centrifugal forces: Cultural and political forces acting to weaken or divide an existing state - Examples: linguistic minority status, ethnic separatism, territorial autonomy, disparities in income and well-being Centripetal forces: Forces that promote political unity and reinforce the state structure - Examples: shared sense of history, need for military security, overarching economic structure

50. Global Terrorism • 9/11 terrorist attacks not attached to a nationalist or regional geopolitical aspiration to achieve independence or autonomy • Global terrorism is a product and an expression of globalization • Asymmetrical warfare: the differences between a superpower’s military technology and strategy and the lower level technology and decentralized guerilla tactics used by al Qaeda and the Taliban • Colonialism and Decolonialization • Colonialism: formal establishment of rule over a foreign population • Decolonialization: the process of a colony’s gaining (or regaining) control over its territory and establishing a separate independent government