GEOG 1001 Chapter : Key Terms And Concepts
Geography- its about how, why, and where human and natural activities occur and
how these activities are connected.
“geo” the earth
“graphy” to describe
myths:
Do you make maps?
What is the capital?
Do you study rocks?
5 Key Themes (traditions) of Geography
1. Location – specific location, where?
a. Relative; is relation to something else
b. Exact; is lat. and long.
2. Place – unique properties of a place, no two places on earth are alike
3. Movement – communication, circulation, migration, and diffusion across
the Earth’s surface
4. Region – an area defined by uniform characteristics
a. Take the world and generalize in order to make sense
5. Human-Earth Relationships – human interaction with an environment;
resource exploitation, environmental pollution, hazard perception
Example: resource exploitation, hazard perception (risks of people’s
environment),
Why Geography matters?
• To give context in an increasingly globalized complex world
Geography Matters: A cautionary tale...
Mauritius (lush with rainfall and off coast of Africa)
Mauritania (Sahara desert)
Its up to you to know
Differentiation (connected with Integration)
Describe and explain differences between places
Integration
Describe and explain linkages or connections between places
Cautions
No region is homogenous (the same) throughout
Regional borders are fuzzy (ex. Mexico)
Obscures global connections (regions are not isolated containers)
Vernacular
• Vague cognitive borders
• Used by the public to refer to a general area
• Combination of traits real or imagined
• Ex: The south; Acadian from Nova Scotia
Formal
• Distinct boundaries constructed using one specific trait
• Example: Mississippi river valley
Functional
• Based on a certain activity or organization
• Example: accention parrish
Globalization
• Defined as the increasing interconnectedness of people and places through
converging processes of economic, political and cultural change.
• How places remain distinct more interconnected and interdependent
Converging Currents of Globalization
• Global communication (instant connection with internet)
• Global transportation (also instant)
• Powerful transnational corporations and financial institutions
• International free trade agreements. (NAFTA)
• Market economies and privatization.
• Homogenous global consumer culture
• Economic inequity, disparities (not everyone is benefiting)
Proponents of Globalization (pros) (applies to sweat shops)
• Logical expression of modern international capitalism.
o Capitalism: Economic system wealth and means of producing wealth
are privately owned and controlled rather than public or state
controlled.
• New wealth will trickle down from rich to poor (countries and individuals).
• Will spread benefits of new ideas and technologies.
• Countries can produce goods best suited. (Jamaica grows coffee)
• Need to attract capital from abroad will force countries to adopt sound
economic policies. (Inefficient companies will be forced to be more efficient
because they are having to compete with other countries abroad)
• World’s poor countries will catch up to rich ones. (eventually improve)
Opponents of Globalization (cons)
• Not “natural”; economic policy promoted by core countries results in
inequities between “haves” and “have nots”
o Poor countries claim we are not all playing by the same rules.
• Promotes free-market, export-oriented economies at expense of localized,
sustainable economies.
o Local producers sometimes can not compete with foreign competition
• “Free market” economic model promoted for developing countries is not the
one that Western industrial countries used for their own development.
o Western countries used slave labor to build their economy
• Encourages “bubble” economies.
o Housing prices, discrepancies between price and ????
A Middle Ground
• Economic Globalization is probably unavoidable.
• Even anti-globalization movement is aided by the Internet.
• “Make globalization work” by investing in education and maintaining social
cohesion.
• Can be managed.
McDonald’s Strange Menu Around the World
By Beatrice Adams
Population
• Different rates of population growth around the world
o Some populations aren’t growing, they’re declining
• Also focus on migration rather than natural growth
• Rural to Urban Migration
• Population planning takes many forms, limiting or encouraging
o One Child Policy; Please Have Children Policy
• Rate of natural increase (RNI) – world average is 1.2 percent/yr: annual
growth rate for a country or region, expressed as a percentage increase or
decrease; equals the number of births minus the number of deaths; excluding
migration (positive is growing/negative is declining)
• Crude birth rate (CBR) the gross number of births divided by the total
population, giving a figure per 1,000 of the population; world CBR is 21 per
1,000
