World Regional Geography PDF

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Professor Dymond's World Regional Geography. ...

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Introduction  I. Location, Direction, and Distance  Geography: the study of the spatial pattern or distribution of human and physical phenomenon on the surface of the earth. Why things are the way they are.  They are Human constructs. 

It doesn’t always have to be physical mass o Demography- it has spatial characteristics and patterns

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Human patterns o Linguistic patterns, race, ethnicity, flow of capital, urbanization, distribution of food, immigration

 Absolute location: location of something on Earth surface with respect to a fixed position that is mathematically verifiable that is universally accepted. Location that is fixed.  Latitude and longitude  Can tell where you are on earth’s surface precisely in degrees, minutes, and seconds.

 Relative Location: where something is located relative (with respect) to

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something else.  Baltimore, MD is 40 miles NE of DC Site: internal characterizes of a place  It can be physical and human  DC: seat of government, rivers, humidity, etc. Situation: the region; the stuff around it.  East Coast, situated between the MD and VA, Chesapeake waterside, etc.

 Absolute Direction: North, South, East, and West 

Not really absolute because it is a human construct. o There isn’t really north, south, east, or west, but it is only meaningful and real to us because we give it meaning.

 Relative Direction: Culturally based relational direction. Relative to where you are  Ex: Middle East and Far East was named by the people west of the location.

 Absolute Distance: Calculated, mathematical distance on earth’s surface. Distant measurements in miles or kilometers.  Ex: 10 miles from point A to point B

 Relative Distance: Time based. How long does it take you to get there? 

Ex: 10 min to get from point A to point B

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Relative distance can be different depending on the conditions and geography.

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It is meaningful to us II. Regions

  Region: Area on the surface of the earth that share common characteristics. Different from the areas around it. Certain characteristics that distinguish this place from other places. (religion, nationality, and language)  It is a human construct, so they are subject to bias  They are flexible and dynamic  

They must have a location on the surface of the Earth. Spatial extent- take up space in that somewhere

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They have boundaries They can encompass any scale, from very small to very large.

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They have to have commonalities distinguishing features. They may be hierarchically arrange, but not always. (politics) Formal Region: it is a region that is bound by common characteristics (language, climate, region, vegetation, etc. )  Region designated by common characteristics

 Functional Region: Region that works together as a integrated functional system. It is bound by connectivity, integration, and functionality. (Metropolitan area like Washington DC)  Bound by or delimited by.  We identify this region because of its connectivity, integration and functionality

 Perceptual Region: The way that you would see a place and identify it. Something that has to do with beliefs.  Ex: There are a lot of perceptions about the South and the way each individual draw the southern border is different.

 III. Latitude and Longitude 

Human grid system (Human construct) that we put on the surface of the earth.

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It is based in part to the Earth-Sun relationship, and it could have been done differently.

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Nautical navigation (exploration) led us to create it. Latitude: horizontal/ parallel lines Equator: 0 Latitude. It divides Earth into 2 hemispheres/spheres, southern (South Latitude) and northern (North latitude) hemisphere

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Parallels because they are equidistant. They never get closer or farther apart.

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It tells us the position North and South of the equator.  With respect to the equator, and/or with respect to the north or south pole

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Gives us the angular distance, the angle up from zero. We can understand mathematical distance because they are equidistant.  1 latitude=69 miles (111km) o 60min in 1  1=1.15 mi o 1.15 mi=1 nautical mile 

1’’=0.0192 mi

 Longitude: vertical lines from pole to pole 

Prime Meridian: O Longitude  The Prime Meridian and the International Dateline divide Earth into 2 spheres, Eastern and Western.  West of the line is Western hemisphere and East of the line is the Eastern hemisphere 

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Greenwich, England

They are not parallel because they converge at the poles. They are wider at the equator Angular distance from the center of the Earth, and then going East and West of 0 International Dateline (IDL): The opposite (180 of longitude) of the Prime Meridian and you need both to create 2 hemispheres.  West of the IDL is the Eastern Hemisphere 

DATELINE IS ALWAYS WHERE WE HAVE 24 HOURS OF DIFFERENCE o 2 places on the surface of the Earth where the date is different  There is 7pm of the 4th and 7pm of the 5th o While a day ends in one place it starts in another place

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The day starts West of the IDL (Eastern hemisphere)

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Lines are squiggly because of the countries on the IDL. Governments don’t want 24 hour difference in their country. Earth rotates 360 every 24 hours; divide that by 24 time zones and there are 15 of longitude in every time zone. 

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Time zones were first created by US-Canadian rail company because of the change over distance.

Poles  The Earth is moving together, but not at the same rate. o The sphere moves less (covers less ground distance) at the poles.

 Upper Mantle 

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Lithosphere: Rigid/hard (plates) Plates rest on the soft asthenosphere. This means that plates move and create mountain ranges, volcanoes, volcanic islands, trenches, earthquakes and tsunamis.  Transform: slide alongside each other o Ex: San Andreas fault 

Diverging: plates pull apart from each other o Get rifts or trenches o Can also get mountain ranges in the middle of a divergent plate boundary as lava comes up

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Converging: Plates come together o Get mountains, earthquakes, uplift, etc. o Results in the worst kinds of earthquakes o Subduction: Plate that slides under the other plate o Overriding plate: plate the is above the subducting plate

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Asthenosphere: soft/molten/plastic Low and High Pressure Low pressures: cyclonic/convergent circulation (air coming together)  Warm surface air o Warm surface air in a cyclonic circulation converging toward the center lifting up.  

Inward counterclockwise circulation (Northern hemisphere) Warm air is less dense and lighter (low density, “low pressure”).

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Air rises from surface and eventually cools Low density air can hold more moisture because it is spacious.

o Take the low density air and we “densify” it. When you condense it you increase the pressure, which makes clouds and gravity will pull it back down. 

High pressure: Anti-cyclonic/divergent  Cool/cold air in lower atmosphere sinks to surface  Outward clockwise circulation (Northern Hemisphere)  Cold air is more dense (high density, “high pressure”)  High density air can’t hold much moisture. It is heavy and it sinks.  Air sinks to surface and eventually warms  Not spacious air  Diverges in the opposite circulation that the low pressure circulates

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One turns into the other and the other is going to turn back into the first things. The two work together and it is a constant cycle.

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Air moves from high to low or high turning into low Pressure gives us wind, which gives us climate, which gives us weather

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Low pressure circulates counterclockwise northern hemisphere and clockwise southern hemisphere. High Pressure circulates clockwise northern hemisphere and counterclockwise southern hemisphere.  It is because of the way the wind is bent over the curved sphere as the sphere moves.  All divergent air and mechanics are the same

 Sea Breeze and Land Breeze  

Air over land cools off and heats up faster than air over water o It could be weeks or months

Sea breeze  Sun heats up the land and warm air rises. The cooler air comes in and gives the daytime sea breeze  Don’t usually experience bugs because the wind pushes the bugs away from the beaches.

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Land breeze  At night, it is not as strong because the land is cooling off dramatically, so the air over the land cools off, but the air over water doesn’t change much.  Not nearly as strong as the daytime sea breeze

 Primary Precipitation Mechanisms:  1. Fronts: Barrier of air so you can have cold air or hot air

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Cold air is heavier and dense, so it moves warm air more easily Fronts are named for the air that it is advancing o Cold front means that cold air that is advancing, and vice versa

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Fronts generate precipitation o Cold air lifts up warm air up into the lower atmosphere -> condense it -> cools off -> droplets are going to form -> gravity is going to pull it down and create precipitation. o Warm air mass can also create precipitation o Cold air precipitation is stronger because it creates more instability as it lifts up and cools warm air.

 2. Convection: Typical daytime heating; rapid daytime heating 

Low pressure is going to be created very quickly, and air rises up quickly, cools off, and sinks back down in precipitation.

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When there is rapid daytime heating, there is moisture in the air. The air is going to rise and form thundershowers

 3. Orographic Lift 

Windward Side o Low pressure o Warm/humid (moisture) air  Precipitation  Vegetation exists

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Leeward Side o High pressure o Dry and not much precipitation  Rain shadow 

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Not much vegetation exists because there is no precipitation

Happens on all scale, local and regional

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100 million people get water because of Orographic lift  Maritime vs. Continental Interior Climates Maritime: mild/moderate climate  Tends to modify their temperature regimes on average because they are influenced by large body of water. It doesn’t change temperatures quickly and tends to decrease their extremes.

 Continental Interior: wide range from cold to hot

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Interior of the land mass can have extreme temperature differences. Really cold in the winter and really hot in the summer time o It depends on the size of water, mountain ranges, air flow and direction.

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Middle of the US and middle of Russia In the Temperate latitudes (between the poles and tropics), the air pattern (on average) from west to east in the temperate latitudes north and south of the equator.

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In the Tropical Latitudes, air flows east to west all the way around the world

Large water body temperatures change slowly (slower than air and terrestrial temperatures)  Bigger the body of water, the more significant.

 Altitudinal Zonation: elevation, wind direction, and latitude 

Different things will grow depending on elevation, wind direction, and latitude.

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Elevation o There are different temperatures at different altitudes o As you go up in the lower atmosphere, altitude air cools.

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Latitude o You have to alter the zones as you change latitudes North and South of the equator.  Depending on the latitude, there are different temperatures in different zones.  As you go up in latitudes, average temperatures decrease as well.

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Wind direction o Changes precipitation

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Different soil, vegetation, mixture of oxygen, exposure to sunlight, and orographic lift also affects vegetation

 The Demographic Transition Model  

Theoretical Model based on actual population trends in the countries of the (“western”?) world.

Phase 1  BR= high & DR=high

o Not much population growth. Very flat, low, and small.  

Agricultural, pre-industrial, and rural society. Have a lot of children because of high mortality rates o They are an asset because they worked on the farm and they were their retirement plan and social security (especially male). o High infant mortality, child mortality o No family planning or birth control

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High Death rates because of poor sanitation, health care, etc. Phase 2  BR= High/Early & DR=Rapid Decline  Phase when doubling time is shortest (especially 2nd half of Phase 2)  Decreasing death rates and increasing birth rates -> population is going to increase rapidly 

Starting to industrialize (urbanize).

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Death rates are declining because we’re starting to understand hygiene, medical infrastructure.

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Birth rates are high because children are still considered as assets and we’re used to having large families. It takes time for cultural norm and people to adjust and change habits.

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Phase 3  BR=Rapid Decline & DR= Declining/Beveling

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Phase 4  BR=Low & DR=Low o Static population growth  Children are liabilities due to the high costs of education  Urban (also more costly)  Women are more involved in society

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Phase 5  Birth rates fall below death rates -> population diminishes o DR increases as BR decreases  Governmental challenges as the population is shrinking because it means that you are maxing out your social security and less are drawing on the system

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Encourage young immigrants to come and have kids and assimilate into the culture in order to have more people contributing to the system

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Encourage people to have kids through financial incentives, tax breaks, healthcare incentives, etc.

 Nation, State, and Nation-State 

Nation=people; it is NOT a place  UK is a state, but not a nation because Irish and Scottish do not identify themselves as a Brit, It is a multinational state.  Unified culture group of people bound together by a historically rooted consciousness of identity, which is tied to space (place) territory/political IDEALS 

People in a nation see themselves as distinct from other groups and (self) identity as member of nation.

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Nation is a politicized culture group- often through a desire for selfrule o Nationalism: express pride and support for the beliefs in and identity with the nation.

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To be part of a nation or to be a national you are buying into a supporting a political ideal (ideology)

State=place=country is the place.  Legally defined territory on Earth’s surface. Delineated with boundaries are generally agreed upon by other states. Theoretically governed by a central authority, theoretically representative of the majority of the people within, which theoretically has sovereignty over its territory

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Nation-State  Where the state/polity/territory is inhabited by a very “significant” majority of people who identify as and with the nation in the state (there is no perfect numerical cut-off)  Where nation and state neatly coincide o People identify themselves as a national identify in a state

Europe: Physical Geography  I. Europe Physical Geography 

Europe is situated on a high latitude region, and it is relatively far north of the equator (it is equal to Canada).

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The site (characteristics) is a collection of islands and peninsulas  Peninsula: land mass that is surrounded by three sides of water o Europe is pretty much a peninsula, and there are also smaller peninsulas in the region. o There are also a lot of islands o Europe is never far from water 

It is primarily a maritime climate, and it is a moderate climate region o The prevailing wind flow in Europe is west to east and off from the Atlantic  Caribbean -> North Carolina -> British Isles -> Western Europe -> Northern Africa -> Caribbean and Americas o The Gulf Stream (warm current) and the Atlantic Ocean (cold current) create the moderate climate in Europe.

Topography  The Alps is the youngest, highest, and most active mountain range in Europe.  There is active convergence and geocurrent activity. The plate are still converging, moving, growing, and getting higher. o This causes earthquakes (especially in the plate margin area) and volcano eruptions (especially in Italy). 

The mountain ranges in Northern British Isles and Scandinavia are old and it is not an active area anymore.  Erosion has been wearing down because they are not active.

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Iceland is still active and there are a lot of hot springs, volcanic activities, and earthquakes

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The North European plain is a lowland level area that runs through Southern Britain, Northeastern France, Northern European continent, former USSR, and parts of Russia.  It is (on average) sea level to about a thousand feet. 

It is very broad and relatively flat, which makes it a key agricultural zone. It is the most productive agricultural zone in the world.

 Dominant Climate Patterns

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Maritime/oceanic climate (never too far from water) West to east (westerly) wind flow Temperate to polar climates and patterns (latitude and altitude)  The dominate climate in Europe is temperate climate and it is situated on temperate latitudes. o Oceanic Temperate Climate: maritime climate  It is greatly influenced by water o Continental temperate Climate 

Boreal Climate: high latitude and altitudes climate o In the cold temperate regions like the Alps and high latitude regions of Europe

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Tundra Climate: Very high altitude climates o In the highest areas of the Alps, Scandinavia, and Iceland.

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Mediterranean Climate: subtropical rainy climate Latitude and altitude  Europe- high latitude and altitude o However, in general, as you go up in latitude there are colder climate zones.

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CS subtropical/winter rain (Mediterranean)  In the Mediterranean region, where the typical pattern is a long, warm, dry summer season (from spring to fall) and short, mild, wet winter. 

It is a prime wine region, and certain types of agriculture thrive in Mediterranean conditions like citrus and olives. It also givers us certain soil characteristics. o In relation to water, air, circulation patterns, etc., it gives us these Mediterranean climates

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Climate change Climate Change  Meteorology: A discipline of science that came from physics and it studies short term weather  Climatology: It is a sub-discipline of geography and studies longterm weather. o Look at the organic matter, study the composition, and put the information together

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Climate change

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It has been happening very significantly for the last 30-40 years at different latitudes and altitudes all around the world.

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All discipline of science com...