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WORLD REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY: EXAM 1 INTRO TO WORLD REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY a. GEOGRAPHY i. Study of PLACE and SPACE ii. “Exploring the world and writing about it” iii. Studies the LOCATION and DISTRIBUTION of features (people/places/animals) on Earth’s surface iv. Studies human activity, the natural environment, and the relationship between them 1. Combines natural/physical and social sciences v. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION vi. Explains the WHY OF WHERE vii. Place names are a clue to cultural history b. 5 THEMES OF GEOGRAPHY i. LOCATION  geography’s special nature 1. “Why of where” 2. Absolute: latitude and longitude 3. Relative: location relative to other places ii. PLACE  physical and human characteristics iii. MOVEMENT  transportation, people, innovation, disease, culture, etc. iv. HUMAN/ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION  perception v. REGIONS c. CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM i. Geographers  geographic realms/regions based on sets of special criteria ii. Concept of SCALE 1. World  realms  regions d. REGIONS i. Areas of earth’s surface marked by certain degree of homogeneity in one or more phenomena ii. Mental construct of organizing info iii. Scientific devices that enable us to make special generalizations iv. REGIONS ESTABLISHED BY CRITERIA 1. Human (cultural) and/or physical (natural) 2. Core  heart/center of region’s culture (doesn’t have to be the exact middle) 3. Periphery  fringes of region’s culture (edges) v. All regions have: 1. Area 2. Boundaries 3. Location a. Ex: corn belt, megalopolis vi. Focus on: 1. Cultural 2. Political 3. Economic 4. Population 5. Geography a. Different aspects have more/less importance in some regions b. Can be studies topically or regionally (or both) e. CULTURE: shared patterns of learned behavior

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i. Learned from each other (social groups/peers and family) ii. Components: 1. Beliefs 2. Institutions 3. Technology f. CULTURAL LANDSCAPE i. Composite of human imprints on earth’s surface ii. Gives variety to earth’s surface iii. Drives tourism (cultural difference) iv. Visible aspect of culture v. Everything we do shapes cultural landscape WORLD POPULATION TRENDS a. MAJOR CLUSTERS (where people cluster to live in urban cities near water) i. Europe ii. India iii. East China 1. India will become most populated (over China) if trends continue iv. Japan v. Indonesia vi. Nigeria vii. Egypt (near Nile) viii. New England (Megalopolis) 1. Mostly in East US bc history and desert b. PEOPLE NOT LOCATED IN (due to extreme weather) i. Australia ii. Alaska iii. Western China iv. Russia v. Amazon c. THOMAS MALTHUS i. 1798 theory of population growth 1. Population grows at geometric rate (1, 2, 4, 16, 32…) 2. Food production increases at arithmetic rate (1, 2, 3, 4…) ii. Today  more obesity than malnutrition 1. Aka there is a SURPLUS of food and we can still produce more a. Putting food in gas tanks (ethanol – corn and sugar cane) b. 10-15 years ago in the US  so many potatoes that they were left in the ground to rot iii. Farm Bill: subsidies to grain farms to NOT grow things to promote steady price iv. Green Revolution : large increase in crop production by using modern agricultural techniques d. ARE HUMANS RESOURCES? i. “Necessity is the Mother of Invention” ii. Ester Boserup 1965 1. Believed people have resources of knowledge and technology to increase food 2. Opposite of Malthus 3. Carrying capacity  amount of people the world can support 4. More intensive system and used when population grew 5. Demographic pressure promotes innovation

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a. Irrigation, weeding, tools, techniques 6. People can create resources 7. The Population Bomb by Ehrlich a. More Malthusian than Malthus b. “People will starve to death by 1970s” 8. Ultimate Resource 2 by Simon a. Bet between both authors e. DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION MODEL i. Applies to Germany, Japan, US (without immigration), and Europe ii. Preindustrial 1. Death and birth fluctuates but evens itself out iii. Transitional 1. Birth increase and death decrease = increase in total population a. Higher life expectancy b. Infant mortality decrease (more babies living to have more babies) iv. Industrial 1. Lower birth rate bc of cost a. Don’t need more children working for farm v. Postindustrial 1. Decreased birth rate = decreased total population 2. Birth rates all around are shrinking 3. TOTAL FERTILITY RATE a. Average # of children born per woman b. World average = 2.5 (replacement rate = 2.1) PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE US a. PHYSIOGRAPHIC (LANDFORM) REGIONS b. FRONTIER EXPANSION i. Appalachians (ridge and valley) were a barrier to transportation and settlement ii. Frontier expansion less uniform in Great Plains and West iii. 20” rainfall line at roughly the 100th meridian iv. Generally, the Great Plains and West still have lower population densities today v. Certain geography (mountains, deserts) made settlement more difficult vi. Cities formed in places where sailing vessels could (and had to) “park” c. FALL LINE CITIES i. Baltimore, Richmond, Philadelphia ii. Site: Philadelphia was located at the intersection of the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers and at the head of navigation (where ships had to stop) on the Schuylkill River iii. Water transport and water power for mills d. LANDFORMS OF THE WESTERN US i. Valleys, plateaus, GREAT BASIN, mountains ii. GREAT BASIN (like a sink) 1. Interior drainage of an precipitation a. Great Salt Lake 2. Extremely flat land 3. Dry climate iii. Orographic Precipitation : (mountain-induced precipitation) especially when air masses are forced to cross topographic barriers

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1. Precipitation that results from a parcel of air when rising over mountains cools enough for condensation and clouds to form – eventually enough condensation occurs for precipitation iv. Rain Shadow Effect: the relative dryness of areas downwind of mountain ranges due to Orographic precipitation, wherein air masses deposit their moisture as they cross the highlands US ETHNIC PATTERNS AND IMMIGRATION a. IMMIGRATION i. Heavily populated areas (clusters) around coast (especially east) and major cities ii. “Main Street” Canada  along St. Lawrence River 1. Most Canadians live within 200 miles of US border b. TUNNELS (US-Mexico border) used for smuggling drugs and people 1. First found after 9/11 under customs agency in Arizona 2. Hidden openings in buildings, warehouses, etc. 3. More tunnels encouraged since security crackdown after 9/11 c. CUBANS i. Used to have special status in US – refugees ii. Wet-Foot Dry-Foot (1980s-present) anyone migrating from Cuba could stay if they made it on dry ground 1. Detained in water, feet still wet  sent back to Cuba iii. Truck-Boat 1. 12 Cuban migrants attempt to cross the Straits of Florida 2. Hoping Coast Guard would understand how intent he was – detained anyway 3. Tried again with car-boat 4. Eventually made it to US by crossing like everyone else iv. Patterns 1. More people crossing through Mexico than 90 miles in water to Florida 2. Many Cubans stranded after Obama’s legislation change d. IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE i. PUSH FACTORS 1. Need a job 2. Persecution 3. Religious freedom 4. 1840s  Irish potato famine 5. 1850-1920  overpopulation (land hunger), war 6. Recent  overpopulation, war, oppression ii. PULL FACTORS: like magnets, attract immigrants (US, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Argentina) 1. Economic opportunity 2. Political/religious freedom 3. Land availability 4. 1862 Homestead Act (free land) 5. Industrial Revolution 6. SOONERS  immigrants who left early to settle land in Oklahoma iii. First Effective Settlement: the influence that the characteristics of an early dominant settlement group exert on the later social and cultural geography of an area. 1. Europeans

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NORTH AMERICA – I a. DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS i. Anglo-American label ii. English language iii. Christian faiths iv. European norms 1. Government, architecture, diet, arts v. Highly urbanized vi. Mobile populations vii. High incomes viii. Manufacturing output ix. Federal states with plural societies x. Cities grow along interstate b. METROPOLIS: areas where large cities are merging together i. Megalopolis - Northeast ii. Metroplex iii. Texas Urban Triangle iv. California v. Pacific Northwest c. CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT (CBD) i. Land value increases by height of buildings (skyscrapers – makes more economic sense) ii. Restricted land availability d. SAN FRANCISCO CBD: the downtown heart of a central city marked by high land values, a concentration of business, and the clustering of the tallest buildings e. ETHNIC NEIGHBORHOODS i. Varieties of cultures that spread f. ADAM’S MODEL i. How cities have grown ii. Focused on intraurban growth iii. Based on breakthroughs in transportation technology 1. Time-space Convergence: increasing nearness of places due to breakthroughs in transportation technology iv. A pattern of outward-areal expansion v. Horse and wagons  jets vi. US culture  we give distance in time (3 hours away vs. 230 miles) vii. 4 STAGES OF INTRAURBAN GROWTH 1....