Chapter 2: CONCEPTS

IN WORLD REGIONAL
GEOGRAPHY
Topic Outline

 Identify elements of Regional Geography basics:

- Explain Natural Environment
- Explain Human Geographies
- Explain Political Geographies
- Explain Economic Geographies
 Explain Natural Environment
- Discuss global climate change
- Discuss hazards and Resources
Topic Outline

 Explain Human Geographies

- Identify types of languages
- Identify types of Religions
 Explain Political Geographies
- Identify types of Governments
- Identify Global Governance (The United Nations)
 Explain Economic Geographies
- Identify types of World’s Economic Sector
(The primary Sector, The Secondary Sector, The tertiary Sector, a new
quaternary Sector)
 Explain Natural Environment

 The interactions between people and natural

environments are important.
 For many centuries, human activities relied on
natural resources.
 The growing seasons, water availability, soil
types and minerals influenced the locations
and concentrations of people.
 Physical features such as oceans, mountain
ranges and deserts influenced migration routes
Explain Natural Environment

 Tropical Rainy Climates

- Absolutely no frost in region, average
temperature of the coldest month at least 28ºC
 Boreal Climates
- 1 to 3 months with an average temperature at
least 10ºC

 Polar Climates
- Extremely cold through the year, average
temperature of the warmest month above 0ºC
Explain Natural Environment

 Global Climate Change

- Climatic warming since the early 1800 resulted
from Industrial Revolution that began in Europe
and spread to North America and beyond
- The concern of global warming focuses on the
carbon gases that humans release into the
atmosphere by the burning of coal, oil and
gasoline
- Will probably enhance the greenhouse effect
and natural climatic warming
- If ice sheets melt and the ocean levels rise, it will
affect the large numbers of people who live
close to the ocean
 Explain Natural Environment

 Hazards and Resources

- Natural resources and hazards are distributed
unevenly around the world and have important
influences on regional geographic differences
- Natural hazards such as volcanic eruptions,
earthquakes, hurricanes and other storms and floods
pose difficulties and challenges for human settlement
- They interrupt human activities for settling and
developing the region
- Hazards cause loss of life and destruction of property.
For instance, tsunamis in 2004, killing 230,000 people in
14 countries, Indonesia was the hardest-hit country,
followed by Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand.
 Explain Natural Environment

 Natural Resources
- People use resources to maintain their living systems and built
environments.
- Can be divided into 2:
i. Renewable Resources : can be replenish naturally.
The best example is solar energy which provides a constant
stream of light and heat. Water is also considered as renewable
resources. All renewable resources are, however, ultimately
limited if overused. For example: the limit of local water supply
along the Nile River Valley
ii. Nonrenewable Resources : include oil, natural gas, coal and
minerals available in rocks
 Class activity 1

 Please find information about Kyoto Protocol in 1997.

Present your information in class.
 Explain Human Geographies

 Concerned with material traits, social structures and

belief systems.
 Specific examples include language use, religious beliefs,
dress, food and social organization.
 People often behave according to their culture’s norms
and find comfort and security through identification with
a group who share common cultural characteristics.
 The most important thing to understand about culture is
that it is learned behavior.
 Explain Human Geographies

 LANGUAGE
- Which includes speech, writing and signing; is a means of
communication among people.
- Many European languages became world languages
(lingua franca), which are spoken by people who do not
share a common mother tongue. They are among the
world’s 12 most widely spoken languages each having
over 100 million speakers
- Six of these ( English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic &
Mandarin) are official languages of the United Nations
 Explain Human Geographies

 RELIGIONS
- Christianity has over 2 billion followers followed by Islam,
1.4 billion followers; Hinduism has 900 million believers,
Buddhism 500 million.
- Judaism, Christianity and Islam are the world’s most
influential religions originating from the same world
region.
 Explain Human Geographies

 World map on religious

 Explain Human Geographies

 Gender Inequalities: Case study in South Africa

 Explain Human Geographies

 Urbanisation
- Industrialisation dramatically increased urbanisation in
world regions such as Europe and North America in 1800
and early 1900
- In 1050, New York was the world’s largest city with just 12
million followed by Tokyo.
- Nowadays the number of cities with populations over 10
million, called megacities increased from 2 to 20 in 2010.
- Tokyo is now the world’s largest urban area with just
over 36 million people. Followed by Bombay, India; Sao
Paulo, Brazil; Mexico City, New York, Delhi and
Shanghai, China
 Explain Political Geography

 The study of how governments and political movements ( labor

unions, political parties) influence the human and physical
geography of the world and its regions
 The world is primarily divided into countries, which are bordered
territories with governments that have political control
 Each country is ideally recognised by other countries, but it is not
always the case
 For example, Taiwan is not recognised by China, which claims
Taiwan as its territory
 Explain Political Geographies

 Countries often called as nations, but these two terms do not

have the same meaning
 A nation is a group of people who share a common identity, a
sense of unity and a desire for self governance.
 Some nations are comprised of a single ethnic group such as
the English, Japanese and Korean.
 However, other nations are multi-ethnic such as American,
Malaysian and Singaporean
 Explain Political Geographies

 Government functions are concentrated in capital cities, where

the head of state lives and the administrative and government
offices are situated
 Many capital cities are the largest cities in the country, like
London (UK), Tokyo (Japan) and Kuala Lumpur ( Malaysia)
 Some countries have unitary government structure, administering
all parts from the centre for all aspects of governments. Although
political power in unitary states may be delegated through
devolution to local government by statute, the central
government remains supreme. The United Kingdom is an example
of a unitary state. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have a
degree of power, but such power is delegated by the Parliament
of the United Kingdom
 Other countries such as United States, Canada have a federal
government structure, dividing the authorities between central
governments and partition called states or provinces
 Explain Political Geographies

 Global Governance
- These entities are categorized as :
i. Intergovernmental Organisations (IGOs)
- The United Nations, which includes almost all of the world’s countries is
the largest IGOs
- Founded in 1945 at the end of World War II, its goals has been to prevent
and stop wars between countries and promoting cooperation in
international law and security, social progress, human rights,
environmental protection and economic development
- It is currently made up of 193 Member States. The mission and work of
the United Nations are guided by the purposes and principles contained
in its founding Charter.
 Explain Political Geographies

 Global Governance
- These entities are categorized as :
ii. Nongovernmental Organisations (NGOs)
- NGOs such as aid bodies have assumed responsibilities for
governmentlike activities including disaster relief.
- NGOs such as the International Red Cross, Greenpeace are
better known than many smaller countries.
 Explain Economic Geographies

 Concerned with the spatial patterns of material wealth and poverty, the
use of resources, the production, distribution, consumption of goods and
the flows of labor and capital
 Explain Economic Geographies

 A country’s economy can be divided into four major groups of

production:

i. Primary
- Concerned with the production of raw materials from natural
resources, including minerals, oil, gas, timber and fish
ii. Secondary
- Focuses on manufacturing and construction
- Since 1990s there has been an increase of manufacturing
operation to Asia and Latin America
- These movements began with textiles and clothing products
and electronic goods
 Explain Economic Geographies

 A country’s economy can be divided into four major groups of production:

iii. Tertiary
- Centres on the service industries
- Includes retail and wholesale trade, finance and legal industries, business
service, the media, information technology, health care and education
services
iii. Quaternary
- Focused on the information-based services (legal, financial, media, internet)
- The growth of call centre industry is one result of this trend, particularly in
India