GEOG 1HB3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Overfishing, Family Farm, Eastern Canada
8 Jun 2018
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Economic Activity Unit 05 Lecture A
Economic Base: the set of economic activities upon which a community relies in order to generate
income from elsewhere.
• Economic base can be broad and varied or narrowly focused and dominated. A list of economic
bases of some areas include:
• Hamilton & Pittsburgh – Steel
• Detroit & Oshawa— automobile
• San Jose & California – software, Silicon Valley
• Los Angeles, Las Vegas – Tourism, entertainment
• Ottawa & Washington DC –government
Some economic bases have connection to a regios community identity e.g. Pittsburg being referred to
as “teel it or Las Vegas “i it.
We can also consider sport teams e.g. Oshawa Generals, a small league sponsored by General Motors.
The primary economic base of a region can sometimes be reflected in the name of a sport team.
Sector (Activities) of the Modern Economy
The stages of the process of producing goods and services: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary
Goods Producing vs. Services:
A. Goods Producing Sectors:
• Primary: identification and extraction of raw materials. It includes agriculture, forestry, mining
(oil and gas), and fishing. It is not services based at all.
• Secondary: involves transforming raw materials into finished products—manufacturing,
industrial, and Construction sectors.
B. Service Sector
• Tertiary: involves the distribution and servicing of goods.
• Consumer (personal) services: merchants, grocers, mechanics, etc.
• Business services: doctors, lawyers, etc.
Sometimes, this sector is delineated into tertiary, quaternary (business) and quinary
(government).
Tertiary – food services, retail, hospitality, Hair salons, entertainment
Quaternary—transportation, communication, advertising, real estate, insurance, law, banking
finance
Quinary –education, health care, government services, R&D, policing, fire, military
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Economic sectors and development
Levels of economic development are often correlated with the relative sizes of these different sectors:
• Less developed economies: focused on primary and secondary sectors
• More developed economies: focused on service sector. In Canada & US, ~70-85% of
employment is in the service sector( varies by region)
Consider North America:
• Primary economic activity: there was steady drop in primary economic activity after 1850.
• Secondary economic activity: after ~1950, there was steady drop in secondary economic
activity
• Service-based economic activities: increase in service based economy in the 20th & 21st century.
Geographies of Economic Activity
Utilizing different spatial perspectives, we can explore the geographies of economic activity, i.e.
• Within cities, we notice commercial and retail businesses tend to agglomerate together near the
central business district. While industrial businesses agglomerate together in the outskirts of a
region.
• Within countries, they are regions used for specific things like the manufacturing belts areas in
North America, where most manufacturing is done. There are also agriculture heartlands for
agriculture practices, high-tech agglomerates in the west coast, etc.
• Globally, we notice variations in levels of economic development due to geographies of
economic activities.
• In Core areas, there is more focus on the tertiary sector
• In “ei-peripheral regions, they focus more on the secondary (industry) sector
• In Peripheral regios, the fous is o primary (agriculture) sector
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Geographies of Primary Economic Activities (Agriculture)
Lecture B
North Aerias earl eonomic success was due to abundance of natural resources (agricultural land,
timber, fish stocks, etc. These resources are essential products for food, clothing and to provide shelter.
They can also be traded globally.
There have been spatial and temporal changes to these key primary economic activities especially
changes in the agriculture, forestry, mining and fishing industry.
Primary Economic Activities: North America
Agriculture
• Beginnings of settlement in North America: In 1881, 48% of the Canadian Labour force was in
agriculture.
• Decline since industrialization in the mid-19th century: Today, small proportion of employment
& GDP in agriculture.
• Major food production economy: North America is a major exporter of wheat, corn, rice &
hundreds of other agricultural goods. North Aeria is ko as the read asket & uther
shop eause the are ig eport of heat ad geerall, produe ore eat opared to the
world.
• Technological advances & increased productivity: With new advances in technology, there is
less need of labour.
• Pressures to increase productivity via investment in technology: There is rise in agribusinesses
(recall TNC) at the expense of family farm – many small family farms at keep up ith the high
demands & agribusinesses push out family farms because of their power and high yield.
• Land suitability and the local environment, coupled with agricultural specialization (via
globalization) have reated distit geographies of agriulture in North America. North America
houses one of the biggest pig farms due to the region having good conditions for that kind of
activity.
Mining
• An important part of the economy for certain areas of North America. E.g. North Canada,
Western North America, Eastern North America, Southern United States, Great Plains/ Prairies is
mining Oil, gases, hard rock materials, etc.
Fishing
Over-fishing has reduced fishable stocks in most areas in North America.
• Fishing and aquaculture (farming fishes) is still a key industry for some areas e.g. Alaska, B.C.
Gulf of Mexico, East Coat, etc.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Economic base: the set of economic activities upon which a community relies in order to generate income from elsewhere: economic base can be broad and varied or narrowly focused and dominated. A list of economic bases of some areas include: hamilton & pittsburgh steel, detroit & oshawa automobile, san jose & california software, silicon valley, ottawa & washington dc government. Some economic bases have connection to a regio(cid:374)(cid:859)s community identity e. g. pittsburg being referred to as (cid:858) teel (cid:272)it(cid:455)(cid:859) or las vegas (cid:858) i(cid:374) (cid:272)it(cid:455)(cid:859). We can also consider sport teams e. g. oshawa generals, a small league sponsored by general motors. The primary economic base of a region can sometimes be reflected in the name of a sport team. The stages of the process of producing goods and services: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Goods producing vs. services: goods producing sectors, primary: identification and extraction of raw materials. It includes agriculture, forestry, mining (oil and gas), and fishing.
