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The sex ratio is a very useful and flexible demographic statistic. This measurement considers the balance between males and females in a population, usually expressed as males per 100 females. A low sex ratio is fewer than 100 males for each 100 females, while a high sex ratio shows more than 100 males for each 100 females.
There are numerous factors that affect the sex ratio. Although non-intuitive to contemplate, due to human biology, the sex ratio at birth is normally 105-107. Again, that would mean 105-107 boys born for every 100 girls born. While it seems that the sex ratio at birth ought to be 100 (it’s a boy or a girl, thus seemingly even odds), this is not the case. Given that males die at every age more often than females, males need the head start in the biological run. Actually, the race begins even before conception, as the sex ratio at conception is about 115. This means that countries with high birth rates will have a higher share of children (more boys than girls, because of the birth head start) in their populations, thus a high sex ratio. Given Russia’s current long trend of low birth rates (12.2 in 2020), the boys’ head start does not produce a high sex ratio in Russia.
Significant factors influencing sex ratios and life expectancy include risk levels of male jobs, behavior, and war. Clearly military service is performed by more men than women; in some countries, women are not allowed in the military. Military service creates risks, obviously magnified greatest in actual military conflicts, skirmishes, and wars. True throughout the world, more male soldiers die than women soldiers. Definitely, this factor has influenced Russia’s sex ratio, primarily decades ago with World War II and to a modest extent in Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan and its civil wars with Chechnya. Russia’s low sex ratio after World War II has failed to recover in any significant ways.
Russia has many rugged lands where resource extraction is important. Typically, workers in these harsh settings are men. Definitely inherited from Soviet days, Russia’s industrial cities face significant levels of pollution. More men than women work in these dangerously toxic settings, thereby reducing life expectancy and the sex ratio. Indeed, these factors contribute to a lower sex ratio in Russia.
Lifestyle choices affect sex ratios, particularly when risks are not shared evenly between men and women. Levels of alcohol consumption in Russia are vastly different for men than for women. Very high levels of alcohol abuse by men in Russia has led to significantly high ranges of illness and death. Addiction in Russia has expanded beyond alcohol to a variety of drugs, but particularly to heroin. Russia is now the world’s largest user of heroin, as brought across former Soviet Central Asia from Afghanistan. Like anywhere else, more men are addicted users than women are. Smoking long has been known to reduce life expectancy, but in Russia and throughout the world, more men smoke than do women. These and other lifestyle choices reduce male life expectancy sharply in Russia, while only marginally affecting the female population. Many more male deaths than female deaths have distinctly lowered the sex ratio in Russia.
Since 1985, Russia ranks number one in the world in total number of suicides. For an interesting animated graphic comparing countries on this measure go to – https://tinyurl.com/suicides1985 . Russia and the United States are the only two countries with over one million suicides in that time frame. France and Ukraine ( also in the Russian Domain) are neck and neck for fourth and fifth place, while Japan is third. Suicide rates and totals in China and India are disputed.
Which countries have the highest rates of suicide (that is different than total numbers)? Several of the top rates are revealed in countries formerly in the Soviet Union. #1 – Lithuania, 2 – Russia (31 per 100,000 people – but 56 male, 9 female), 5 – Belarus, 7 – Kazakhstan, 8 – Ukraine, 9 – Latvia. Numbers 2, 5, and 8 are in our region defined as the Russian Domain. Note that globally men kills themselves more than women kill themselves. Obviously, that trend affects the sex ratio.
Aging of a population lowers its sex ratio, as biologically women live longer than men, hence the head start given to baby boys. With Russia being in Stage 5 (or the extended Stage 4) of the Demographic Transition, Russia has had many years for declining birth rates and declining death rates. With lower death rates come longer life expectancies that produce relatively more older women than older men. Compared to countries around the world, Russia and several other post-Soviet countries have some of the largest gaps between male and female life expectancies.
Life Expectancy - Male and Female in Post-Soviet Countries
World Rank in Gap Years Post Soviet Country Male Life Expectancy Female Life Expectancy Gap in Years
2 Belarus 65.3 77 11.7
3 - tied Russia 64.2 75.6 11.4
3 - tied Lithuania 67.4 78.8 11.4
5 Ukraine 65.7 75.7 10
6 Latvia 68.9 78.7 9.8
7 Kazakhstan 64.3 73.9 9.6
9 Estonia 71.6 81.1 9.5
13 Turkmenistan 61.3 69.7 8.4
15 Moldova 67.2 75.4 8.2
World - 2010-2015 68.3 72.7 4.5
USA 76.3 81.1 4.8
Besides these noted above, there are other factors that may affect sex ratios (e.g., male migration into Middle Eastern countries), but these are not significant in Russia. Or war, as #1 is Syria.
As a result of these many factors, Russia has one of the lowest sex ratios in the world. Given that societal elements inherited from the communist period had wide distribution across the USSR, it is not surprising that other former Soviet republics, now independent countries, also feature very low sex ratios. Of note, the other locations in the top ten are small Caribbean islands.
Sex Ratio in Post-Soviet Countries
Ranked in World Post-Soviet Country Sex Ratio
2 Latvia 84.8
3 Lithuania 85.3
6 Ukraine 86.3
7 Armenia 86.5
8 - tied Russia 86.8
8 - tied Belarus 86.8
10 Estonia 88
World in 2015 101.8
USA 98.3
Did you know?
Sex ratios in China are skewed from the norm, significantly due to the country’s former One-Child Policy that heightened existing levels of son preference, thereby leading to noteworthy levels of gender-based abortion and higher levels of female mortality.
A curious finding among a few studies suggests that during wars, the sex ratio at birth may rise slightly, as if in biological response and adjustment for male lives lost in the war.
Cited and additional bibliography:
Gao, George. 2015. “Why the Former USSR Has Far Fewer Men than Women.” Pew Research Center. August 14, 2015. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...en-than-women/.
Hesketh, T., and Z. W. Xing. 2006. “Abnormal Sex Ratios in Human Populations: Causes and Consequences.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103 (36): 13271–75. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0602203103.
Sintia Radu. 2018. “Countries With the Highest Rates of Suicide.” US News & World Report. U.S. News & World Report. 2018. www.usnews.com/news/best-cou...-rates?slide=2.
Steinberger, Ralf. 2013. Drunk Man in Saint Petersburg, Russia. https://tinyurl.com/russiadrunkard. Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0). | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/The_Western_World_-_Daily_Readings_on_Geography_(Quam_and_Campbell)/06%3A_Russian_Domain/6.15%3A_Russian_Domain-_Population_Geography_II.txt |
The Rank-Size Rule was derived by Harvard Professor George Kingsley Zipf. When used to express the relationship between ranked urban population size within a single region or country, it has the mathematical equation shown to the left,
where P equals population of a given city, while n equals the ranked order of that city among all cities in that region or country. Thus, P1 is the population of the number one or largest city. When applied to countries across the globe, few countries show a distribution that matches the Rank-Size Rule.
It can be asserted that countries that fulfill three specific characteristics are likely to have a population distribution that can be modeled at least to some extent by the Rank-Size Rule. Keep in mind that such a country will have numerous large cities with a progressively declining population distribution by ranked order.
First, countries that have large areas may have a rank-size distribution, for a large area allows many cities to grow significantly in size. Ever since the progressive annexation of Siberian territory, Russia has been the largest land of the world. Even before the Russian Revolution, the Russian Empire held vast lands across Siberia and over Central Asia, so that the new Soviet Union also was a huge country. The breakup of the USSR created fifteen new countries, with Russia still by far the largest. As the largest country in the world by land area, clearly Russia meets this first criterion.
Second, countries that have large populations may have a rank-size distribution, for a large population provides enough people to inhabit many cities of significant size. In 1900 Russia held a population of about 125 million people, certainly large enough to meet this criterion. However, while Moscow had gained urban preeminence from early Russian history, under Tsar Peter the Great a new city St. Petersburg was built and designated as the new capital city. With this change, St. Petersburg challenged Moscow for importance and population size. Until Moscow regained its role as capital city under Bolshevik rule in the Soviet Union, St. Petersburg’s rivalry prevented Russia from matching the rank-size distribution. The two major cities were too close together in population; for under the rank-size rule, the population of the second largest city is projected to be only half that of the largest city.
Third, countries that have a long history of urbanization and industrialization may have a rank-size distribution. In this case a sufficient amount of time is necessary for the development of a number of large cities. For this criterion tsarist rulers of Russia had brought industrialization and urbanization patterns from Europe; however, these trends were far behind those of Europe, and especially those of Western Europe. While Russia may have been ahead of countries and regions that we now often designate as in the Third World, Russia was not advanced in terms of industrialization and urbanization. This was to change, however, under Soviet rule. The dominance of heavy industry and the planned socialist economy in the Soviet Union prompted substantial industrialization and urbanization.
Thus, in the USSR all three of these criteria were met, strongly suggesting that a rank-size distribution of urban population may be present. The USSR had the large area, the large population, and sufficient years of urbanization to develop many large cities. Additionally, the secondary importance of capital cities of Soviet republics protected against the single dominance of Moscow, while the ascendancy of Moscow over St. Petersburg left Moscow as the single top city.
An examination of the 1989 population figures for the largest seven cities of the USSR indeed does show a rank-size distribution. Of course, it must be noted that the Rank-Size Rule cannot possibly predict actual urban populations down to the last man, woman, and child. Some error is expected of the magnitudes shown here. It is the general pattern and the geographic causes of that pattern that are important to understand. Indeed, using the Rank-Size Rule for 1989, St. Petersburg is projected or predicted to be 4.4 million when it actually was 4.5 million; thus, the projection was only wide by about 2%. These small variations are acceptable in demonstrating the Rank-Size Rule.
City by Rank Population (in millions) Projected Rank % Unrounded Error
Moscow 8.8 1
St. Petersburg 4.5 4.40 2 2.22%
Kiev 2.6 2.93 3 -11.26%
Tashkent 2.1 2.20 4 -4.76%
Kharkov 1.6 1.76 5 -10.31%
Minsk 1.6 1.46 6 8.33%
Nizhniy Novgorod 1.4 1.25 7 10.20%
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union into fifteen separate countries, no longer can Russia be considered to match the rank-size distribution. This is apparent just in a careful examination of the very data above. Four of the top seven cities of the Soviet Union are not in Russia – specifically, Kiev (Ukraine), Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Kharkov and Minsk (both in Belarus). Three, as noted, were capital cities of republics that then became countries. Thus, we are left with the interesting situation that Soviet urbanization and industrialization provided the third link in the creation of the country’s rank-size distribution, but the end of the same Soviet authority has now left Russia without an ideal rank-size pattern, even though it still possesses the three expected criteria.
Statistics from the Russian Federal State Statistics Service display the continued lack of a match of the Rank-Size Rule for contemporary Russia. Here are the numbers for 2017, as they show very substantial prediction errors. The pattern of overestimating the size of lesser cities in Russia demonstrates that Moscow might be considered a primate city.
City by Rank Population Projected Rank % Unrounded Error
Moscow 12.38 m 1
St. Petersburg 5.28 m 6.19 m 2 -17.23%
Novosibirsk 1.60 m 4.13 m 3 -158.1%
Yekaterinburg 1.45 m 3.10 m 4 -106.9%
Nizhny Novgorod 1.26 m 2.48 m 5 -96.82%
Did you know?
George Kingsley Zipf was a linguist and philologist, not a geographer. The principles of Zipf’s equation can be applied to a variety of topics.
Also, the primate city distribution, where one city dominates all urban functions within a country, in a sense is the opposite of the rank-size distribution, for it is the absence of one or more of the three cited criteria that typically lead to the primate city distribution, where one city tends to dominate in all urban ways.
Cited and additional bibliography:
“Cities and Urban Geography – Russia.” n.d. Sites.Google.Com. https://sites.google.com/a/richland2.org/russia—norman—foti-5/cities-and-urban-geography.
Iyer, Seema D. 2003. “Increasing Unevenness in the Distribution of City Sizes in Post-Soviet Russia.” Eurasian Geography and Economics 44 (5): 348–67.
Kinoshita, Tsuguki, Etsushi Kato, Koki Iwao, and Yoshiki Yamagata. 2008. “Investigating the Rank-Size Relationship of Urban Areas Using Land Cover Maps.” Geophysical Research Letters 35 (17). doi.org/10.1029/2008gl035163.
Lapp, G. M., N. V. Petrov, and John Adams. 1992. Urban Geography in the Soviet Union and the United States. Edited by Craig ZumBrunnen. Translated by Joel Quam and Craig ZumBrunnen. Roman and Littlefield, Inc. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/The_Western_World_-_Daily_Readings_on_Geography_(Quam_and_Campbell)/06%3A_Russian_Domain/6.16%3A_Russian_Domain-_Urban_Geography_II.txt |
By geographic definition, a strait is a narrow passage of water that separates two large landmasses. The Bering Strait meets this definition, for it is a stretch of water about 58 miles across, separating Cape Prince of Wales, the westernmost point of Alaska (USA), from Cape Dezhnev, the easternmost point of the Far East region of Russia.
The features of the broader region near the Bering Strait can be remembered with the acronym CRIPPLE, perhaps appropriate given the difficulties of life there.
C – Caribou
Few people chose to live in this extreme location of the Russian Far East. Historical patterns of in-migration of Russians into Siberian locations have made Russians the majority population. However, the ethnic natives in the region, among the so-called “numerically small peoples” of Russian/Soviet censuses, remain the few who practice outdoorsmen habits in the Bering Strait region. The most numerous here are the Chukchi, whose name is derived from the term for “rich in reindeer.” Indeed, caribou herding remains a way of life, sometimes supplemented by fish from the cold coastal waters.
R – Resources
As is true with Siberia and the Far East in general, the Bering Strait region possesses a variety of resources, such as tin, lead, zinc, gold, and coal in the Chukchi Peninsula. The challenging climate and landscape causes great difficulties in extracting and transporting these resources, prompting high wages for those willing to work with these resources.
I – Isolation
In terms of different measures of isolation, the Russian shores along the Bering Strait may be the world’s most isolated continental location.
Accessibility right at the Bering Strait is limited to tiny coastal locations of Uelen and Provideniya. Farther down the coast is the town of Anadyr (about 15,800 people) which provides port and airport service.
Population density in the region is exceedingly sparse, fewer than one person per square mile for rural areas. Distance to large cities measures in the hundreds and even thousands of miles.
P – Prison Camps
In Tsarist and more so in Soviet times, Siberia was a notorious location for the exiling of criminals and political prisoners. Soviet prison camps went almost to the waters of the Bering Strait itself. Of course, isolation often is considered desirable for prisons. In addition, prison labor here contributed to resource extraction and transportation construction, without regard for the miserable conditions.
P – Permafrost
Nearly half of the Russian landmass is permafrost, permanently frozen soil. Far northern locations like the Bering Strait region uniformly have permafrost. Even the warming effects of the sea do little to reduce the frigid conditions of the region. Short summers and winters reaching –40°F chill this tundra region. Wind chill in nearby Anadyr has reached –90°F.
L – Land Bridge
Anthropologists tell us that during the world’s last ice age, which peaked at about 18,000 BC, native peoples from Siberia and the Far East crossed the Bering Strait into Alaska. Within this time frame lower water levels in the Bering Strait likely would have exposed the continental shelf, so that people could have crossed on land or ice bridges. These peoples became the ancestors of the native peoples of North and South America.
There has long been interest in recreating this bridge, but now in terms of a transportation link between America and Russia. In 1890, William Gilpin, the Governor of Colorado, suggested a grand plan to connect all the great cities of the world by means of railroads. Thus, the idea was tossed around in the early days of the 20thcentury; however, disinterest and opposition from American President Theodore Roosevelt and from the Russian ruling elite slowed enthusiasm greatly.
A railroad bridge? A rail tunnel? Both? With conduits for oil and natural gas? These ideas popped up now and then throughout the 20thcentury. Currently, some experts continue to devise plans. The InterContinental Railway group has a plan that would cost over \$100 billion. It would include a tunnel beneath the Bering Strait, reaching more than 160 feet deep. With this seventy-mile long tunnel, railroad tracks would be added to reach from Yakutsk, Russia, to Fort Nelson, Canada. These rail sites already connect to tracks throughout Russia and all across Canada and the United States.
E – Exploration
Russian settlement reached Anadyr in 1649, with the exploration of Russian navigator Semyon Dezhnev. In 1725 Tsar Peter the Great sent Vitus Bering to captain a navel expedition to chart Siberia’s northern shores. Though it took Bering 3000 miles and three years of sailing to reach the region, he did found no land bridge to Alaska, but did chart Russian coastline and did discover that Siberia extended farther eastward than previously understood.
Did you know?
The International Dateline runs through the Bering Strait.
Vitus Bering was a Dane who was recruited as a young man in 1704 to join the new Russian Navy. In 1741 on another expedition to the strait now bearing his name, he was shipwrecked by stormy weather and died on the small island that also bears his name, Bering Island, just east of the Kamchatka Peninsula.
“Bering Strait” was the name of a popular music group, consisting of several young classically trained Russian musicians who grew enamored with American bluegrass music and emigrated to the United States to find a few years of success with their country, bluegrass, and pop tunes. However, these Russian musicians are not from the Bering Strait region, but are from Obninsk, near Moscow.
For a quick look at how far a rail line across the Bering Strait could go, look at: https://i.redd.it/x4dl2058q2651.png
Cited and additional bibliography:
DeGeorge, Krestia. 2019. “Is the World Ready for a Bering Strait Rail Link between Alaska and Russia?” ArcticToday. April 1, 2019. https://www.arctictoday.com/is-the-w...it_nosession=1.
Humber, Yuriiy, and Bradley Cook. 2007. “Longest Tunnel to Connect Russia and Alaska.” Red Orbit, April. www.redorbit.com/news/science...ska/index.html.
“R/MapPorn – A Europe–U.S. Superhighway Proposed by the Former President of Russian Railways.” 2020. Reddit. June 20, 2020. https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/com...by_the_former/.
Shirk, Adrian. 2015. “What If You Could Drive From Paris to New York?” The Atlantic. July 1, 2015. https://www.theatlantic.com/technolo...-paris/397370/. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/The_Western_World_-_Daily_Readings_on_Geography_(Quam_and_Campbell)/06%3A_Russian_Domain/6.17%3A_Russian_Domain-_Physical_Geography_III.txt |
In the various essays about Russia in this textbook, there are many facts presented and many ways of life understood. After reading the textbook, students or other readers should know and understand many things about Russia. Also, as has been stated, it is not the point of this textbook to attempt to convey every possible bit of knowledge about Russia. However, there are certain basic facts about Russia that the reader should know, whether picked up in previous chapters or not.
In area, Russia is huge. Straddling the Eurasian landmass, Russia covers eleven time zones, stretching from the Baltic and Black Seas to the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean. This is not a new phenomenon, for once the Russians passed the Ural Mountains into Siberia, there were few people to stop the tsars, the Cossacks, and others from expanding the empire to the eastern shores of Asia.
Being huge, Russia has vast quantities of natural resources. Oil and natural gas pipelines extend from western Siberia to a variety of European countries. Much of Russia’s economy depends on resource exports. Russians are proud of their huge country and enjoy noting its singular features – Lake Baikal is the world’s deepest lake, Siberia has the world’s largest coniferous forest, the Trans-Siberian Railway is the world’s longest railroad, etc.
Russia is often cold. Being parallel to Canada, of course Russia will have a relatively cold climate. With almost its entire coastline being on the frigid Arctic Ocean, Russia receives little warming from the sea. Being cold, Russia’s land often is inhospitable to sizeable human population. Indeed, Siberia averages about eight people per square mile.
Although often cold, Russia is not simple one slab of ice. Being huge, Russia incorporates numerous landscape features. Yes, the tundra is cold. Tundra is land that is sufficiently cold so that even trees are uncommon or absent. In fact, the term tundra, meaning treeless, is a word taken from the language of the Sami peoples who are native to these far northern lands. In Russia the tundra extends across the length of the Arctic coastline from the Kola Peninsula to the Bering Strait (Chapter 97), typically dipping 100-400 miles south of the northern ocean.
However, the dominant physical landscape of Russia is mainly coniferous forest, known there as taiga. Although the roots of the word тайга are Turkic, this is a vast Russian landscape. This too stretches the length of the country from Karelia bordering Finland to the Sea of Okhotsk. In contrast to the tundra, taiga lunges fully southward, so that in central Siberia is reaches Russia’s southern border there with Mongolia. While much of these forests is comprised of evergreen trees such as larch, there are some deciduous species present. For instance, Russian birch trees often are seen as emblematic of Russian forests. A majority of the land of the world’s largest country is taiga. There also are forests in western Russia; however, these show a much higher share of deciduous (broadleaf) trees than found in Siberia.
The Ural Mountains as discussed sometimes mark the division between Europe and Asia. to both the southwest and the southeast of these mountains, Russia features the steppe (степь) landscape. Steppe is a treeless plain, indeed similar to the American Great Plains in its characteristics. This means that for a share of Russia (perhaps 40%), its forests are bounded on north and south by treeless regions.
Although the Soviet Union had considerable desert area in Central Asia, by itself Russia has little desert or near-desert land, that being a small area along the borders with Kazakhstan and the Caspian Sea.
The Soviet Union had significant mountainous areas in Central Asia and the Caucasus that again by itself Russia no longer holds. In this case, though, Russia has other mountain ranges. The low Ural Mountains are somewhat similar to America’s Appalachian Mountains is low elevation, age, and raw material wealth. Some of the mountains of the Caucasus region extend into Russia past the trio of countries there – Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. This includes Mt. Elbrus, the highest mountain of Russia at 18510 feet. In Siberia, there are several mountain ranges. The Altai Mountains cross Russia’s southeastern border with Kazakhstan, as the Sayan Mountains do with China’s western border with Russia. East of Lake Baikal are the Yablonoi Mountains which sit south of the Stanovoy Range. Farther north and then east of the Lena River is the Verkhoyansk Range that lie west of the Kolyma Mountains that sit across from the Kamchatka Peninsula (Chapter 92) and its volcanoes.
There are plenty of lakes in Russia, but by far the most noteworthy are Lake Baikal and the Caspian Sea. Lake Baikal is the world’s oldest and deepest lake, filling a mile down between stretches of mountains. The Caspian Sea technically is a lake, for it fails to connect to the world’s oceans, thus not meeting the geographic standards to be a sea. While the Soviet Union held about 3/4 of the shoreline and thus waters of the Caspian Sea (the rest for Iran), now Russia’s share is only about 1/4. In terms of waterways, the historic Volga River is crucial to western Russia, but is considerably smaller and shorter than Siberian streams that are discussed in Chapter 85.
Even by random chance, we would expect that the vast lands of Russia would hold a variety of natural resources. This certainly is true, though the remote locations of many of these resources has presented challenges for the extraction and transportation of energy and mineral wealth. Siberia is a treasure trove of energy sites – oil and natural gas (Chapter 83) – and mineral resources – nickel, gold, platinum. In the 1930s Stalin had the city of Magnitogorsk constructed to specialize in the extraction and processing of immense deposits of iron ore nearby. Bordering Ukraine, the Kursk Magnetic Anamoly holds another huge supply of iron ore. The resource city of Norilsk is discussed in Chapter 88.
Again to be clear, Russia is not and was not the same place as the Soviet Union (USSR). Under the tsars, the Russian Empire expanded greatly, especially across Siberia. The land area of the Russian Revolution that overthrew the Romanov dynasty was roughly the same as the extent of the Soviet Union after World War II. Russia was by far the largest piece of the Soviet Union, both in population and in area; however, there were numerous other pieces too. When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, Russia became an independent country, but the other fourteen republics of the USSR did so as well. This geopolitical event distributed a lot of land and a large number of people from the USSR into these new countries. So, Russia is huge in area and big in population, but it is smaller than the Soviet Union was. During the decades of the Soviet Union and ever since then Russia has faced demographic challenges that eventually resulted in Russia having several recent years of more deaths than births. Most population scholars anticipate that Russia’s population will shrink in upcoming years and decades.
The breakup of the Soviet Union led to great disruption within the fifteen successor States. Russia experienced considerable social, economic, and political turmoil. The country’s eventual relative stability under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin is responsible for much of his popularity. Putin’s emphasis on pushing Russia’s international status and clout toward that of the Soviet Union also has been effective in boosting his appeal. Russia annexed Crimea from neighboring Ukraine in 2014 and continues to battle in eastern Ukraine.
Even so, the chaos following the dissolution of the USSR led to great economic disparities and the development of the super-rich oligarch class (Chapter 90). Moscow ranks fourth in the world among cities with numbers of billionaires. In 2019 Credit Suisse Bank in Switzerland ranked Russia as the world’s most unequal economy with the top 10% of people owning 83% of Russia wealth.
Russia has inherited many elements of life from the Soviet days. The skewed sex ratio (Chapter 94), heavily favoring numbers of women, is an artifact of male life expectancy in the late Soviet period. Considerable environmental pollution is a legacy of Soviet near total disregard for protecting the natural environment. The ethnoterritorial system (Chapter 86) of managing a multinational State moved from the Soviet Union to the governing system of Russia. The autocratic leadership under Putin is a morphed inheritance of the authoritarian Soviet system, which in its harsh control was an altered version of tsarist autocratic rule.
Although World War II is even further back in history than is the breakup of the Soviet Union, WWII still is noteworthy for Russians. At a bare minimum there were twenty million deaths on the Soviet side. The Battle of Stalingrad caused 3.5 million Soviet deaths alone. While the Stalin era also cost millions of lives as caused by the communist system, unlike the history of WWII, Stalinist history has not been taught well in Russian schools. In fact, in a survey by the Levada-Center in 2019, when asked what role Stalin played in the history of Russia, 70% of answering adults in Russia either said entirely positive or mostly positive. It should not be a surprise that Putin seems to secure the highest ratings of popularity when he emphasizes nationalism, even as far as annexing Crimea away from Ukraine.
Russians comprise a remarkable nation, locked into a huge and often cold land, governed by autocratic leadership.
For this textbook, we are counting Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, and perhaps Moldova in a region to be called the Russian Domain. The peoples of Ukraine and Belarus are mainly Slavic, sharing ethnic and linguistic characteristics with Russians. The lands of Ukraine and Belarus border western Russia and not surprisingly share similar landscape features of forests and the North European Plain. These several lands that now are the countries listed here share historical links with Russia, territorial occupation and conquest both in the tsarist era and during the Soviet Union.
Did you know?
The steppe eagle breeds in Siberia and Kazakhstan. In 2019 a tagged steppe eagle send accumulated GPS data back to scientists in Russia. Unfortunately, the eagle had flown to Iran, so that when the data was sent, it accumulated huge roaming charges.
The Siberian tiger does live in the taiga.
Cited and additional bibliography:
Bulyankova, Tatiana. 2014. Sable Home. https://tinyurl.com/sabletaiga. Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0).
Frank, Robert. 2018. “The 10 Cities with the Most Billionaires.” CNBC. May 17, 2018. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/17/the-...lionaires.html.
Pesterev, Sergey. 2016. Lake Baikal. https://tinyurl.com/baikallake. Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0).
———. 2016b. Lake Baikal Panorama. https://tinyurl.com/lake2baikal. Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0).
“Stalin’s Perception.” 2019. Levada-Center. April 19, 2019. www.levada.ru/2019/04/19/dyna...n-s-perception.
Times, The Moscow. 2019. “Russia Named World’s Most Unequal Economy.” The Moscow Times. October 22, 2019. themoscowtimes.com/2019/10/2...economy-a67836.
Veronesi, Francesco. 2013. Steppe Eagle. https://tinyurl.com/steppeeagle. Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0). | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/The_Western_World_-_Daily_Readings_on_Geography_(Quam_and_Campbell)/06%3A_Russian_Domain/6.18%3A_Russian_Domain-_Overview.txt |
Re-framing Geography
When most students hear the word "geography", there is a quick association with the memorization of countries, capitals, rivers, flags, and facts associated to places. Nervousness tends to follow, as many students lack familiarity with world maps and related geographical information. Apprehensions around learning geography are often based on misconceptions about what this field of study has to offer. Consider a recent study[1]: Researchers asked undergraduate students from various American universities to rank key-terms of study topics based on their study interests. The survey results showed that students ranked the term “geography” lowest in comparison to other geography-related key terms. Yet, students expressed interest in studying “society,” “global,” “environment,” “immigration,” “human rights,” “sustainability,” and “climate change” – all of which are topics of study in geography. The researchers also found that exposure to geography matters. Students who had taken geography before ranked courses with the word “geography” and associated key terms notably higher than those who had not, regardless of if they majored in geography or not. In reading these results, we interpret that there is a gap of understanding in student perceptions of geography courses. This gap could be bridged with a little exposure to geography education but also with the use of transparent and relatable terms in course titles and descriptions to capture the wonder and curiosity that college students already have for topics in geography.
We take these research findings with much enthusiasm knowing that the geography discipline offers a unique and holistic approach to better understand topics that our students care about. We hope that this book is a conveyor of knowledge about our world and its most pressing matters. Starting with this first chapter, we seek to lift the veil on what geography is, challenge some of its traditions, and accentuate its potential to engage students in thinking critically about world-making. This is a foundational chapter connecting readers to our approach to World Geographies, an exploration of the world as a pluralistic human experience. If this is your first geography course or not, we welcome you to reflect on the food for thought this chapter provides. We hope these initial lessons reaffirm the terrific decision that you made by choosing to take a world geography course. Let’s begin!
References:
[1] Stoler, J. et al. 2020. What’s In a Name? Undergraduate Student Perceptions of Geography, Environment, and Sustainability Key Words and Program Names. Annals of the American Association of Geographers 111 (2), pp 317-342.
01: Geography Matters
Learning Objectives
1. Describe what distinguishes a geographer's approach to examining the world.
2. List the sub-fields of geography and examples of their respective topics of study.
3. Define geo-literacy and explain the state of geo-literacy among Americans.
4. Define and identify world regions and explain some of the challenges of studying the world through regional geography.
5. Speculate how geographical knowledge may be powerful and relevant for 21st-century students.
What is geography?
The Latin roots of the word geography translate as “Earth (geo) writing (graphia).” As an academic discipline, geography can be defined as the holistic study of the Earth’s surface and the interrelationships of its human and physical features. Geographers seek to understand the world as an interconnected web where human and physical systems interact at various intensities and scales. Geographical study essentializes spatial variability, or that events, connections, and processes vary within, between, and among places. As such, geographers adopt a spatial perspective, a disciplinary lens focused on explaining what, where, how, and why phenomena are distributed as a way of understanding the world. For example, why are some places more vulnerable to the effects of climate change? Why was the covid-19 pandemic especially deadly in some US counties? What factors explain increased rates of tropical deforestation? Why is there a disproportionately high concentration of pollutants and a lack of trees in many poor urban neighborhoods? These are questions about specific patterns of spatial difference that shape lived experiences in the world. It is from this perspective that geographers study landscapes, pandemics, climate change, population, migration, socioeconomic inequality, biodiversity, agriculture, biogeography, urbanization, and much more.
You might note that other fields might pursue similar research questions and topics. Geography is an interdisciplinary discipline with a lot of commonalities with other disciplines. It also bridges both the natural and social sciences as a way of producing a more holistic understanding. Geographers tend to focus on places, locations on Earth distinguished by cultural and physical characteristics. Geographers seek to understand processes that make places unique or similar to other places and the power of place in shaping experiences and opportunities. Places can also be aggregated into larger spatial units, or regions, an area of the Earth with one or more shared characteristics. Geographers divide the world into regions such Europe or East Asia, or more localized regions such as Southern California or the African Sahel, for example. Regions are based on selected cultural, historical, functional, and/or environmental similarities of places. The geographical units of regions can vary in scale, the portion of Earth being studied. Geographers study in a variety of scales, from local to global. Many of our contemporary issues are global in scale, such as climate change and biodiversity loss. However, global issues have complex localized contexts, and geographers often study the relationship of global and local phenomena. The discipline’s holistic approach treats spatial units as connected pieces of a greater whole, focusing on connections among peoples and environments. While geographers often isolate geographical units of the world in their analyses, studies of the world’s interconnectedness, how its human and physical features are intertwined, are what makes geography unique, relevant, and powerful. No other academic discipline takes such a comprehensive approach.
Sub-fields of Geography
Geographers tend to specialize in certain spheres of geographical inquiry, generalized into the following sub-fields:
• Physical geography explores natural processes and patterns of the physical Earth. Physical geographers study topics such as plate tectonics, climate, biogeography, hydrology, and geomorphology to better understand the dynamics of the Earth’s natural environments.
• Human geography explores the human processes and patterns of the Earth. Human geographers study topics such as population, migration, language, religion, place, spatial inequality, economics, development, urbanization, and geopolitics to better understand the forces shaping diverse and inequitable human experiences in the world.
• Environmental geography explores human-environment interactions. Given the immense human impact on Earth’s natural systems, environmental geographers often focus on understanding the causes and consequences of environmental problems. These include deforestation, climate change, biodiversity, water distribution, soil erosion, food systems and a variety of sustainability issues such as green energy, walkable cities, environmental justice, etc.
The interconnectedness of geography often requires geographers to train across geographical subfields (to at least some degree). Some observers have perceived this as a weakness. Geographical studies run the risk of being “a mile wide and an inch deep” since geographers tend to study topics more broadly (and therefore less in depth) than other disciplines might. Nonetheless, geographers have argued that this breadth is a strength and a defining characteristic, creating an integrative disciplinary approach that distinguishes geography from other fields of study.
World Regional Geography
In a world regional geography course, we explore topics across physical, environmental, and human geographies in the context of regions. Regions are land areas with characteristics that distinguish them from surrounding areas and thus group them together. These can be physical, geological, cultural, historical, economic, demographic, and so on. There are several types of regions that geographers use in their regional studies. Formal regions are clearly defined by political or natural boundaries. One example would be Los Angeles, defined as a basin or as a city since both have a well-defined geographical area. Functional regions are defined by the spatial connections of an area. Los Angeles, for example, functions well beyond its defined borders, with a system of freeways connecting commuters and trade to nearby urban centers. Economic, infrastructural, and cultural connections means that the LA area functions over a broader region that includes areas around LA, what we might refer to as a metropolitan area. The city is also part of Southern California, which is a vernacular region, based on socially constructed perceptions of an area, bound together in this case by sunshine, palm trees, beaches, and highways. We all use vernacular regions based on the collective or culturally based associations and understandings that we form about places, like the characteristics we highlight to differentiate North, Central, and Southern California.
While we use these examples to exemplify the types of formal, functional, and vernacular ways we might organize space, we could use regions to make sense of the Earth using varying scales. Regions can be as focused as a neighborhood or a small city or include multiple countries. World regions are among the broadest spatial units that geographers use. If we imagine the world as one interconnected “global village,” then we can imagine that each world region is a neighborhood in that village, neighborhoods with names like South Asia or North America. Each of these neighborhoods share some degree of similarity across their histories, environments, cultures, and economies, leaving a unique spatial imprint on our planet. Studying world geography is a way to identify these various regions and understand their physical, cultural, and political characteristics. As such, in World Regional geography we read the world as a diverse collection of interconnected parts to identify qualities that set world regions apart, the processes that shape these qualities, and the relationships they share with other regions and places.
What Makes a World Region?
The dividing up of our planet into regions requires geographers to apply consistent criteria to justify their choices. Our planet is diverse. We have diverse biomes, or natural regions with distinguishable climate and weather patterns, vegetation, and animal life. We also have diverse cultures, histories, demographic patterns, and cultural, economic, and political systems. Yet, geographical similarities exist across places, which leads geographers to attempt to understand them as aggregates. For example, North American students might easily recognize the characteristics that set the US and Canada apart from the remainder of the Americas, pointing to the English language, temperate climates, and the global influence and affluence of US and Canada. At the same time, students might struggle with placing Mexico. Physiographically it is part of North America. It also shares a history of Spanish colonization with the American southwest, and it is economically tied with US and Canada. Many counties in the American southwest are also predominantly Hispanic and Spanish-speaking. Thus, depending on what characteristics are emphasized, Mexico could be studied in the context of North America, or it could be considered as part of Middle America based on strong cultural and historical ties with that region.
Regions are not always bound neatly by geographical proximity. For example, physical geographers often dissect the world into natural regions based on patterns of temperature and precipitation. As such, we can identify the tropical regions near the equator, with warm and wet climates and lush vegetation spanning across the Americas, Africa, and South and Southeast Asia. Similarly, expansive deserts can be found in the mid-latitudes across the continents. This spatial pattern is visible in satellite images, with green equatorial regions that transition into barren landscapes along the mid-latitudes. When thinking of human characteristics, too, geographers often use various transcontinental regions. Take for example the term “the Muslim world,” a term used to identify places with large Muslim populations. This cultural region sweeps North Africa, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Other terms like “high income countries” or the “Spanish speaking world” are examples of how we mentally aggregate places based on selected similarities. In other words, regions are creative imaginings of geographical contexts, constructed spatial aggregates. As such, we should think of them as dynamic entities, constantly changing over time, and always subject to perspective, historical context, and decision making.
World Regions as Generalizations
World regions are a form of spatial heuristics (heuristics is a Greek word for “I find, discover”), and, for our purposes, it means a cognitive shortcut to come to a short-term conclusion. World regions are intellectual tools for classifying and organizing places both physically and in our imagination. It is important to recognize, however, that dissecting the world into world regions results in broad generalizations. While they are useful for synthesizing spatial variability across the vast Earth, there is great diversity in physical, cultural, functional, and historical factors within regions that drives geographers to “zoom in,” or examine phenomena at finer scales to better understand more localized contexts and places.
Each of the world regions can be and often are divided into smaller regions and sub-regions. For example, in this book we explore East and Southeast Asia as one world region. Each of these could instead be declared its own region, based on unique distinguishing characteristics. There is not a single world region that demonstrates physical or cultural homogeneity, they are instead immensely diverse, or heterogeneous, and geographers often use sub-regions to make sense of the diversity within regions. Africa South of the Sahara, for example, can be further regionalized into east Africa, south Africa, west Africa, and central Africa. Europe, too, could be studied in sub-regions like Scandinavia or the Mediterranean, places with distinctive cultural and environmental features that bind them together. We titled this book World Geographies because regions aggregate diverse spatial contexts, and there is no such a thing as a singular world geography nor a homogenous world region.
There might be times when generalizations about a specific unique place on the planet might be helpful, and there are other times when generalizations can be limiting and can even turn into stereotypes. Thus, regional studies have fallen in and out of favor among geographers as we debate how a region is to be represented and how these representations impact how that part of the world is understood. For example, designating the “rust belt” as an economic region in the the Mid-Western US carries negative connotations of abandoned or disinvested places and suggests areas such as Pennsylvania or Ohio are in decline. These generalizations are based on facts and historical processes but are subject to debate because they are one-dimensional social constructions. In other words, they tell a single story of economic decline without contextualizing other cultural and environmental characteristics that make the region more than just the “rust belt.” This exercise in labelling also shows the power and importance of naming. What and how we choose to name places matters. Regional geography always runs the risk of flattening multi-dimensional geographical contexts for the sake of focus and simplification. Even as we make our best attempts at a multi-dimensional approach to world regions, keep this tension in mind as we move forward through the chapters in this textbook.
Boundaries and Transition Zones
Geographers study world regions as spatial units bound by some sort of natural or political delineation. When you look at Figure 1.1.2, what do you notice about the natural features that separate regions? Perhaps you noticed how water bodies serve as natural boundaries, or separations, that help spatially define each realm. For example, the Atlantic Ocean separates the Americas from Africa and Europe, and the Pacific Ocean separates them from Asia. These oceans remained a formidable barrier to the connections between Eurasia and the Americas for millennia. The separation of the continents was driven by the forces of plate tectonics that over millions of years broke up the supercontinent of Pangea into the landmasses we recognize today. However, world regions are not continents. Some continents contain several world regions, sometimes delineated by physical features, like deserts, mountains, or rivers. For example, rivers form about 23 percent of the world’s international borders. Rio Grande partially forms the border between Mexico and the US, the Amu River between China and Russia, and the Ruvuma River separates Mozambique and Tanzania (See Figure 1.1.3).
Boundaries, however clear they might seem, are not clear-cut lines of physical separation. World regions cannot be dissected from their connections to our larger interconnected planet, so we can think of the boundaries where two or more regions meet as zones of gradual transition. These transition zones are marked by gradual spatial change among cultural and environmental characteristics. For example, the Sahara Desert is a physical feature diving Africa into two distinctive regions north and south of the Sahara. The Sahel is a transitional belt in the southern limits of the Sahara, where the climate transitions from arid to semi-arid before it becomes humid further south. The Sahel is also home to a cultural transition zone where the predominant religion of the north, Islam, coexists with the predominant religion of the south, Christianity. Sahelian countries tend to have an evenly split Muslim and Christian population. These transitional spaces are at the crossroads of world regions and are thus difficult to categorize.
Political borders are often arbitrary lines that abruptly sever natural and cultural landscapes. The United States, for example, shares political borders with Canada and Mexico. The Canadian-US border is the longest international border in the world and was closed off after the September 11th attacks and as a response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. The US-Canada border severs six federally recognized tribal lands, including the Akwesasne Mohawk territories. The Akwesasne territories span New York state and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec on both banks of the St. Lawrence River. Thus, the political boundaries of the two countries do not correspond with established Indigenous geographies. This is also true along the Mexico-US border where it bisects the Tohono O’odham Nation of southern Arizona and northern Mexico (See Figure 1.1.4). For thousands of years, O’odham people crossed the Sonoran Desert freely, both before and after the US-Mexico border imposed upon their ancestral lands. Today, the Indigenous Nation controls about 75 miles of the highly contested border region, even as fences, walls, and border security have continued to expand over the last three decades. O’odham leaders have resisted the construction of physical barriers severing their lands, noting threats to migratory wildlife and damage to sacred sites, including sacred water springs and burial sites.
The connections between US and Mexico can also be noted in the contemporary relationships between the two countries. At the San Ysidro port of entry, many US and Mexican citizens cross daily, helping to make the US-Mexico border the most frequently crossed political boundary in the world. Many businesses in San Diego are dependent on manufacturing in Tijuana. Tijuana is also a popular destination for American tourists who visit the city for its nightlife and cultural attractions or to fly out to other parts of Mexico, a top destination for international travel for Americans. The Tijuana Cross-Border terminal represents a bi-country airport where travelers can board in terminals in San Diego but take-off from the runaway in Tijuana. These are a few examples of how San Diego-Tijuana represents a transitional space with so many lines of connections that permeate an increasingly fortified border zone.
Many of the world’s borderlands, land areas around political borders, are tense spaces. The borders of Morocco-Western Sahara, for example, were drawn based on European interests and continue to be fervently contested. Similar tensions around colonial borders exist in many parts of the world, notably in Africa South of the Sahara and in South Asia. As we write today, Russia is fighting a war of conquest to expand its borders and claim Ukraine. The state of Israel continues to expand its claims to territory into the West Bank, beyond internationally recognized cartographic borders. In Europe, too, borders have not been fully settled. The country of Cyprus’s capital Nicosia is the only divided capital in the world - North Nicosia is the capital of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a state only recognized by Turkey with a mainly Turkish population, while southern Nicosia is the Republic of Cyprus home to Greek Cypriots. Geographic borders change, they are fluid and dynamic, and they can be the source of violent conflict. Dividing up land and deciding who the land “belongs” to is one way we witness the spatial materialization of power.
Geo-literacy & Geography Education
Studying world geographies is an opportunity to build geo-literacy, or a basic understanding of how the world works. The National Geographic Society describes geo-literacy to be encompassing of three general concepts, something they call “the three I’s”: 1) that the world is interconnected, or that we interact and connect with peoples and environments in other places, often economically and culturally; 2) that nature and society are interacting systems; and 3) that these connections and interactions between people and places often result in implications, including socioeconomic and environmental issues. Studying geography could entail researching how energy use in the US impacts various parts of the world; how countries disproportionately contribute to and are disproportionately burdened by climate change; the causes and consequences of a global crisis of refuge; or the historical and geographical processes that enable empires to rise and fall. These explorations are examples of how geographical studies explore the connections between places, the interactions of human/environmental systems, and their associated real-world implications. These elements of geo-literacy make it a fundamental skill to help us make sense of the world and envision solutions to its most pressing challenges.
Americans & Geo-literacy
Geography has been called the “unloved stepchild of American education”[1] - only six states in the US require geography stand-alone courses in fundamental education and out of the nine areas listed as core academic subjects, geography is the only one that does not have a dedicated federal program and funding for research or innovation. As a result, many college students in introductory geography classes have no background in the discipline.
The institutionalized neglect of the discipline of geography in the US education system has a dire impact on geo-literacy among students. The 2018 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), known as “The Nation’s Report Card,” indicated that less than 25% of American students were proficient in geography, that is, able to perform at the level expected for their grade.[2] In 2019, NAEP announced geography would be eliminated from its assessments. Similarly, the Survey on Global Literacy by Foreign Relations and National Geographic Society (2016) assessed the understanding of college-aged adults on basic global literacy and issues of pertinence to the United States. Questions inquired about American military alliances, locations of countries where the US has long-standing military involvement/tensions (such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran), and global issues such as climate change. The results showed “significant gaps between what young people understand about today’s world and what they need to know to successfully navigate and compete in it. On the knowledge questions asked, the average score was only 55 percent correct. Just 29 percent of respondents earned a minimal pass..."[3]
We share these findings not to shame or discourage novice geography learners. Instead, we intended to explore some national indicators to shed light on the state of geo-literacy and provide some explanations for why geography is a weak spot for many American college students. At the same time, while levels of geo-literacy vary among individuals, everyone has geographical experience. May it be through the migration stories in our family trees, our local or distant travels, our participation in our communities, or the bits and pieces of information that we put together to make sense of the world. A geography education can be an opportunity to subject our knowledge and perceptions to scrutiny and to consider new information, ideas, and perspectives as a part of the journey for learning and growth. We invite you to come as you are. Let us engage in the vulnerable act of learning, in shared openness and humility. It is in this demeanor that we believe we can best nourish the ongoing act of learning and growth.
Beyond Geo-Literacy: Powerful Knowledge
“Whether it is through appreciating the beauty of Earth, the immense power of Earth-shaping forces or the often ingenious ways in which people create their living in different environments and circumstances, studying geography helps people to understand and appreciate how places and landscapes are formed, how people and environments interact, the consequences that arise from our everyday spatial decisions, and Earth’s diverse and interconnected mosaic of cultures and societies. Geography is therefore a vital subject and resource for 21st century citizens living in a tightly interconnected world. It enables us to face questions of what it means to live sustainably in this world. Geographically educated individuals understand human relationships and their responsibilities to both the natural environment and to others…” – International Charter on Geographical Education, 2016.[4]
Like language literacy, the ability to read combinations of words does not necessarily result in comprehension of the complex ideas in a text. While literacy is essential in retrieving written information, it is a basic skill. Literate students continue to enhance their knowledge and abilities through practices and skills building that helps them think beyond their own experiences. Education sociologist Michael Young has argued that a meaningful education should instill powerful knowledge, or subject knowledge that provides more reliable explanations about the world and intellectually empowers those who attain such knowledge. Maude argues[5] that geographical knowledge empowers us by...
• providing new ways of thinking about the world. Everything exists and happens in a given place, each place is unique, and the characteristics of places can provide at least partial explanations for the outcomes of environmental and socioeconomic processes. A focus on spatial variability is practical and provides a unique way of seeing and explaining the world.
• providing ways to analyze, explain, and understand the world: 1) through comparative analysis, noting how places may be similar and/or different; 2) through explanatory concepts, explaining causal connections and mechanisms that shape places; and 3) through generalizations, or synthesizing a lot of information to discern, compare, and question geographical contexts and phenomena.
• enabling us to find, evaluate, question, and use knowledge to challenge those in positions of power. Thus, this knowledge is powerful because it is not restricted to the powerful, engaging learners with how knowledge is produced, vetted, and applied in decision making.
• enabling engagement in debates on significant local, national, and global issues. The ability to integrate scientific knowledge of topics of great relevance, in both the social and natural sciences, enables learners to attain a holistic understanding that equips them to participate in pressing societal issues.
• providing knowledge of the world. Geography teaches us to think beyond our individual experiences and helps us identify our connections to distant places and peoples. This knowledge stimulates curiosity and appreciation and improves our sense of global citizenship.
Learning geography ought to be powerful. And it is powerful specifically because we are enveloped in real-world geographical experience and real-world challenges. Amidst the climate crisis, the inequities highlighted and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, global declines in human freedoms, unprecedented levels of economic inequality, persistent violations of human rights, and so many other indicators of a world in disarray, the need to connect with and beyond (y)our individual experience to thinking critically about the world, to expand (y)our circles of compassion, and to engage in solutions for a brighter future has never been more urgent. As Derek Alderman, a former president of the American Association of Geographers, highlighted: "Absent, at least prominently, within standard definitions of geographic literacy is the relationship between geographic education and the promotion of peace, social and environmental justice, and anti-discrimination—the very matters that seem to matter the most at this historical juncture…” [6] This kind of geographical knowledge is a core element of a meaningful education and an essential component of world-making.
A failure to maximize geography classrooms to advance this mission is extremely consequential. As Harm De Blij wrote in his book, Geography Matters, “the American public is the geographically most illiterate society of consequence on the planet, at a time when United States power can affect countries and peoples around the world.” Economic and political decisions made in the US have far-reaching consequences. We share this planet and its precious resources with billions of others, and yet have a disproportionate hand in many of its contemporary issues as we consume more resources and exert most military power/influence on international matters. Improving geo-literacy through geographical knowledge means that individual Americans can leverage their centrality and influence with greater global citizenship, stewardship, and accountability. We look forward to maximizing the opportunity.
Attributions:
“Kant’s Three Ways of Ordering Knowledge” by Mark Conson, William Doe, Michael Thomas, and Greg Thomas, Penn State University (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
Sub-fields of geography is adapted from “History of the Geography Discipline” by Darstrup (CC BY 4.0). | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/01%3A_Geography_Matters/1.01%3A_Geography_and_Geo-Literacy.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Define latitude and longitude, and explain how they work as a global coordinate system for absolute and relative location.
2. Explain the role of instruments and Indigenous knowledge and tradition in wayfinding.
3. Explain how longitude relates to time zones and how latitude relates to seasons and climate zones.
4. Identify and describe the general characteristics and latitudinal distribution of the world's major biomes.
The Geographic Coordinate System
Geography’s focus on where requires a system to detect specific positioning in the world. Historically, global positioning was calculated through complicated celestial navigation which dependent upon observing and calculating one’s position relative to the sun, planets, and stars at a given latitude. Today, technological innovations such as satellites and global positioning systems (GPS) enable accurate ‘pinpointing’ of where on Earth selected features are located within the geographic coordinate system, a locational matrix that measures location based on latitude and longitude.
Latitude is an angular measurement north or south of the Equator relative to the center of the Earth. The Equator represents the Earth’s largest circumference and is the line of reference (0 degrees of latitude) for North and South orientation on Earth. A line of latitude, called a parallel, encompasses locations on Earth that are up to 90° degrees North or South of the Equator.
Longitude is the angular measurement east and west of the Prime Meridian, relative to the center of the Earth. The Prime Meridian was determined by international agreement to be in line with the location of the former astronomical observatory at Greenwich, England. Geographers placed this arbitrary line in Great Britain during a time when the British Empire was at the height of its power. This shows how knowledge and science are always shaped by political power. Since the Prime Meridian is the line of reference (0°) for longitude, locations on Earth became East and West relative to Europe. A line of longitude, called a meridian, measures up to 180° East or West of the Prime Meridian.
The geographical grid system works as a locational matrix. The intersections of lines of latitude (y) and longitude (x) enable us to determine absolute locations, or a numerical address on Earth (the coordinates are symbolized as first latitude then longitude. Example: 33°N, 118°W). The geographical grid also establishes a conceptualization of relative location, or the location of places relative to other places, as it identifies continents and peoples East or West or North and South relative to the grid’s imaginary center. Based on this system, all locations on Earth are relative to the central point (0°,0°) of the coordinate system, the point where the Prime Meridian and the Equator intersect. This point is named Null Island, a humorous reference to the fact that no island exists here. The location is marked by a weather buoy located in the international waters of the Atlantic Ocean, in the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa. Yes, everything on Earth is measured in absolute terms (latitude and longitude coordinates) and relative terms (east/west, north/south) in reference to an imaginary center marked by a buoy.
Wayfinding: the stars, the chronometer, and GPS
Humans have a long history of wayfinding, figuring out ways to journey across oceans and deserts and to settle in new places. Polynesian navigators provide a telling example of this legacy, based on their vast expansion across the Pacific Ocean. Over thousands of years, Polynesians have navigated an oceanic expanse equivalent to twice the size of Canada - without instruments.[1] Their ventures were guided by their expert knowledge of oceanic currents, winds, and especially the stars. For thousands of years Polynesian navigators have collaborated to develop a mental compass based on a sophisticated understanding of the movement of stars and their constellations through the night sky. A rising star cuts the horizon at a low point but can only be used as a positioning reference for a certain time before it has risen too high, and the next star to rise is then used to keep the craft on course. By day or when the night was cloudy, Polynesians steered their canoes by reading ocean currents and winds. Throughout the Pacific, island navigators used a rich oral tradition to pass down their sea faring knowledge from one generation to the next[2]
The Polynesian mastery of the seas became an enigma for Europeans who encountered the Pacific Islands in the 16th Century. Europeans puzzled over Polynesian knowledge and wondered how they came to inhabit such vast expanse in the Pacific Ocean without any navigational instruments, not even a compass. At a time when Polynesians had already sailed more distance than any other known civilization, European sailors feared the open sea, keeping their journeys within proximity of coastlines. For thousands of years, navigators have struggled to learn a frame of reference to sufficiently guide long-distance travel into featureless terrain such as the open ocean. Over the centuries, increasingly sophisticated devices were used to measure the height of the sun and stars above the horizon to measure latitude.
Figuring out longitude remained a problem for navigators for centuries. Columbus reached the Americas without having an accurate and reliable method or device to calculate how far west he had sailed into the Atlantic Ocean. Great minds had tried for centuries to develop a method of determining longitude, to accurately position travelers as they journeyed east and west. Hipparchus, a Greek astronomer (190–120 BC), proposed that longitude be determined by finding the difference between an absolute time and local time. However, his method required an accurate clock, something yet to be invented. It was not until centuries later that this would be solved, motivated by an act of the British Parliament in 1714 that offered financial reward to anyone who would solve the longitude problem. Amateur clock maker, John Harrison, saw time as the key and realized that if you could determine local time (from the position of the sun) and the time at some reference point (like Greenwich), you could calculate the time difference between the two and work out how far apart the two places were in terms of longitude. In 1730, he produced his first design of a marine chronometer. Harrison’s solution revolutionized navigation for hundreds of years until the development of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) improved our ability to locate points on the Earth through a constellation of satellites and ground stations. They are like artificial stars used as reference points to calculate a terrestrial position within an accuracy of a few meters.
Instruments have undoubtedly revolutionized navigation, but scholars for far too long have attributed navigational capabilities to technological development. During the centuries of the European colonial empire, the Polynesian mastery in navigation was largely dismissed because of the lack of technological instruments. Early academic theories denied the seafaring expertise of the Polynesians, hypothesizing that they had come to inhabit a wide expanse of the Pacific by accidentally drifting from island to island. Scholars now widely recognize that Polynesians settled these islands over thousands of years based on ancestral navigational techniques rooted in their rich knowledge of the natural world. Over time, much of this knowledge was lost due to colonization and the influx of navigational technology. Seeking to revive and reaffirm a seafaring tradition, the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) was founded in 1973. They sought to recover the little knowledge that was left, from the very few Polynesian navigation masters that still lived, to counter the hypothesis of “accidental drift” by reenacting navigation based entirely on Indigenous knowledge of the sun, stars, ocean currents, and the winds. Their inaugural sail in 1976 was completed on a newly crafted Hōkūle'a, a Polynesian voyaging canoe, taking 33 days to sail from Hawaii to Tahiti with only traditional knowledge. Over the course of fifty years, the PVS has trained thousands new navigators, including women who had traditionally been excluded.[3] PVS expeditions symbolize a renaissance of traditional Polynesian wayfinding, a reclamation of culture and history. Hōkūle'a voyages brought much pride to the Pacific Islands, reasserting that Polynesian wayfinding belongs not merely in museums, but in the ancient star-lit tracks drawn in the mental maps of master navigators who are reviving and passing their ancestral knowledge to many generations to come.
Longitude and Time Zones
The quantification of time is essentially the counting of how many times the Earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun. It is a helpful social construct that relates the world to a central clock in Greenwich, London (where the Prime Meridian is referenced). The Earth rotates on its axis 15 degrees every hour. Time zones are established roughly every 15 degrees longitude so that local times correspond to similar hours of day and night. With this system, the sun is generally overhead at noon in every time zone that follows the 15-degree-wide system. Every fifteen degrees of longitude west of the Prime Meridian is one hour earlier, and every fifteen degrees east of the Prime Meridian is one hour later.
The Universal Time (UT), Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or Zulu Time (Z): all four terms can be defined as local time at 0 degrees longitude, which is the Prime Meridian. This is the same time under which many military operations, international radio broadcasts, and air traffic control systems operate worldwide. UTC is set in zero- to twenty-four-hour time periods, as opposed to two twelve-hour time periods (a.m. and p.m.). The designations of a.m. and p.m. are relative to the central meridian: a.m. refers to ante meridiem, or “before noon,” and p.m. refers to post meridiem, or “after noon.” UT, UTC, GMT, and Z all refer to the same twenty-four-hour time system that assists in unifying a common time in regard to global operations. For example, all air flights use the twenty-four-hour time system so the pilots can coordinate flights across time zones and around the world.
The 15-degree time zones are not uniform and do not necessarily follow state, regional, or local boundaries. Time zones are seldom exactly 15 degrees wide and usually have varied boundary lines. In the United States, the boundaries between the different time zones are inconsistent with the lines of longitude; in some cases, time zones zigzag to follow state lines or to keep cities within a single time zone. Other countries address the problem differently. China, for example, is as large in land area as the United States yet operates on only one time zone for the entire country. Ultimately, time as we know it is imaginary and constructed. The progression of life, aging and decaying, certainly materialize the notion of a temporal element to physical existence on Earth. However, the quantification of time is a social construct – countries decide what time zone they wish to follow.
Latitude, Seasons, and Global Climates
Latitude, solar radiation, and seasons
Where we are north or south of the equator is particularly important because of the Earth’s relationship to the sun. The earth is tilted on its axis 23.5 degrees. As it rotates around the sun, the tilt of the earth’s axis exposes the northern and southern hemispheres to direct solar radiation during their respective Summer Solstice. The northern hemispheric summer occurs when direct solar radiation reaches its northernmost latitude, the Tropic of Cancer (23.5°N). Likewise, the southern hemispheric summer occurs when direct solar radiation reaches its southernmost latitude, the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5°S). Thus, the rotation of a tilted Earth around the sun results in an uneven and shifting distribution of direct solar radiation. Because direct solar radiation shifts between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn throughout the year, there is a warm region in between these parallels known as the tropics. This area does not experience dramatic seasonal changes because the amount of direct sunlight received does not vary widely. The higher latitudes (north of the Tropic of Cancer and south of the Tropic of Capricorn) receive more diffused solar radiation, are colder, and experience significant seasonal variations in their climates.
High latitudes are also susceptible to greater variations in daylength. Because the tilt of the earth, hemispheres are tilted either towards or away from the sun during the Solstices, exposing extreme latitudes to greater hours in light or darkness (see Figure#). This is true in the North Pole (90°N), the northernmost latitude or the South Pole (90°S), the southernmost latitude. Both points are the places are associated with frigid climates and lengthy days and nights during the solstices. This susceptibility to great variations in daylength extends to lower polar latitudes. The Arctic Circle (66.5°N) is the northernmost parallel to experience daytime in the northern hemisphere’s winter (December). The Antarctic Circle (66.5°S) is the southernmost parallel to experience daytime in the southern hemisphere’s winter (July). In other words, the Artic and Antarctic Circles mark northern and southern latitudes and are susceptible to 24-hour days and 24-hour nights. North of the Arctic Circle, the sun is above the horizon (during the summer) for twenty-four continuous hours at least once per year. It is then below the horizon (during the winter) for twenty-four continuous hours at least once per year. Latitudes south of the Antarctic Circle experience the same patterns of polar days/nights respective to the hemispheric season. This wide variation in daylength is paused during the Equinoxes, when no hemisphere is tilted towards or away from the sun and all latitudes experience 12 hours of day and night.
Latitude, climates, and biomes
The variations in solar radiation relative to the Earth’s tilt means that global climates are also shaped by latitude. Falling between the Tropic of Cancer (23.5°N) and the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5°S), the tropics receive the most direct solar radiation throughout the year, which creates cloud formations around this equatorial region. The intense sun over tropical landmasses and oceans results in a rising and moist airmass, making it the world’s warmest and wettest climate region. The [Ww4] sub-tropics are a transitional zone within a few degrees of the tropics and the mid-latitudes (also called temperate zones), extending roughly 30-60° in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The transition between temperate and polar zones are often referred to as subpolar regions, while the Antarctic (66.5°S) and Arctic Circles (66.5°N) delineate polar latitudes.
Geographers use a diverse variety of data, collected over multiple decades and even millennia, to better understand climate, or the long-term patterns of weather, along these latitudinal regions. A climate zone results from an area’s temperature, humidity, amount and type of precipitation, and seasonality. These factors are largely attributed to latitude but also vary according to ocean currents, air circulation patterns, and the location and size of landmasses. In general, climate zones remain roughly the same across similar latitudes and in similar positions on nearly all continents, both in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The one exception to this pattern is the continental climates, which are not found at higher latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere. This is because, as landmasses extend into the Southern Hemisphere, they become too narrow to generate a continental climate.
The most common system used to classify climatic zones is the Köppen classification system. This system is based on the temperature, amount of precipitation, and the time of the year when precipitation occurs. The Köppen classification system recognizes four major climate groups based on temperature values (identified by the capital letters A, C, D, and E), and the fifth based on moisture (identified by the capital letter B), to describe global climate patterns. The major climate groups can then be subdivided into more specific categories based on a combination of temperature and moisture patterns for any region in the world. The Köppen classification system in wide use today includes several modifications by geographers and other climatologists. The modified version maintains the five major climate categories, now broken down into fourteen subcategories. The modified version also has a new category for “highland,” represented with the capital letter H, and focused on mountainous regions.
The Köppen classification system is widely used in geography, and it is particularly helpful in understanding the nuances of temperature and precipitation patterns that exist within moist, arid, temperate, coastal, and polar climate types. Throughout this book, however, we will approach the world’s environments in a broader sense. Since climate determines the type of vegetation that grows in an area, vegetation is often used as an indicator of climate type. A climate type and its plants and animals make up a biome, or a natural life region. Biomes are typically distinguished by the characteristics of their vegetation (which makes up the largest portion of an area’s biomass). The organisms of a biome share specific characteristics worldwide because their environment offers similar advantages and challenges, so they have adapted to that environment in similar ways over time. For example, distinct cactus species live on different continents, but they have adapted to the deserts and other arid environments in similar ways. Biomes can be a useful way of making sense of similarities across world regions. It is important to remember, however, that they represent broad categories. Each biome can be understood through various sub-types that occur in unique geographical contexts, some of which we will explore in each regional chapter.
Table 1.2.1: World Wildlife Fund Biome Descriptions and Geographic Distributions
Biome Scientific Name (World Wildlife Fund) Biome Simplified Names and Descriptions[4] Geographic Distribution (see map)
Tropical and sub-tropical moist broadleaf forests Tropical rainforests are biomes that experience warm temperatures year-round, with abundant rain, approximately 80 inches of rain per year. Relative climate stability is a key characteristic, and temperature is around 78°F all year. Where climate variability exists, seasons are marked by rainy and dry seasons. Tropical rainforests are dominated by evergreen and deciduous trees with large leaves that form multilayer forests. Shade-tolerant plants exist at lower layers and trees filled with life form the forest canopy. Trees cope with nutrient-poor and acidic soils, featuring shallow roots and large dark green leaves. Other plants like orchids, bromeliads, vines (lianas), mosses, palms, and ferns are common. This is the terrestrial biome with highest species diversity. Tropical and subtropical. Tropical rainforests form discontinuous patches along a global equatorial belt between 15-25 degrees north and south of the equator. The largest tracts are found in Amazon in South America, Central Africa, and Southeast Asia. Other coastal rainforests exist in eastern Middle and South America, in South Asia, and in the East Arc in Africa and in Madagascar.
Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests Tropical dry forests are biomes that mirror the patterns of rainforests, receiving abundant precipitation, but with a pronounced dry season. The forest canopy is not dominated by evergreen trees but by deciduous trees. Tropical and subtropical. Prominent examples of tropical dry forests are most prominent in India, Madagascar, Bolivia, Mexico, and Southeast Asia.
Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests Tropical coniferous forests experience low precipitation and moderate temperature variability. They showcase diverse species of conifers and a thick closed canopy that allow very little sunlight to penetrate lower forest level, so there is little underbrush. Fungi and ferns thrive in the forest floor. Tropical and subtropical. These coniferous forests are found in the Americas, from Nicaragua to the Greater Antilles. Mexico harbors the world's richest subtropical coniferous forest. Other tracts can also be found near the Himalayas in Asia.
Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas and shrublands Tropical savannas are tropical biomes that experience warm or hot climates receiving 20-50 inches of rain annually. This rain falls over six-eight months of the year, followed by a long period of drought. Grasses and sparse trees are the predominant vegetation. They are well adapted to the extended droughts as well as periodic fires. Herbivores and iconic large mammals are abundant. Reliant on abundant grasses, they follow the rains and migrate extensive areas. Predators are also abundant due to the many herbivores. Tropical and subtropical. Africa has the world's most extensive savannas outlining north and south of the Congo Basin, but vast savannas also exist in South America and Australia.
Flooded grasslands and savannas Also referred to as wetlands, flooded savannas are areas where water frequently saturates the soil and become flooded either all year long or seasonally. They support a large diversity of plants and animals and support migratory species of waterbirds and mammals. Tropical and subtropical. Flooded savannas exist along rivers and river deltas. The most prominent examples include the Okavango Delta in Botswana, the Pantanal in Brazil, and the Everglades in the US, Florida.
Deserts and xeric shrublands Deserts are found in arid regions that experience dry climate conditions, receiving less than 10 inches of rain annually. The evaporation rates exceed rainfall, so deserts experience a moisture deficit. Desert regions tend to have abundant sunshine, hot summers, cold winters, and irregular rains. Droughts are frequent, which can last several years or even decades. There are also great temperature variations by day and night and from summer to winter due to lack of plants and global distribution. Deserts are home to specialized vegetation and animals that are well adapted to dry conditions. Deserts can be categorized as semi-arid, coastal, hot and dry, and cold. Mid-latitude/temperate. The world's largest desert is the Sahara Desert, in Africa. Other deserts span across the continents around the mid-latitudes, including the southwest of the United States, Mexico, the Arabian Peninsula, South Africa, and Australia. Deserts also occur in tropical regions due to ocean currents and the rainshadow effect (explained in future chapters).
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrubs Mediterranean biomes are regions that experience unique coastal climates. Because of their relative location near the subtropical high-pressure zones, these climates tend to have plenty of sunshine during the summer. Most of their annual precipitation occurs during the winter months with totals of 30 to 90 cm (14 to 35 inches) and hot and dry summer months. Plants like hardy shrubs and trees are adapted to hot and dry summer conditions and many plant species are fire-dependent Mid-latitude/coastal. Mediterranean woodlands and shrubs exist in the mid-latitudes between 30-45 degrees north and south of the equator. Prominent examples can be found in Mediterranean Europe, South Africa, Central Chile and Australia.
Temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands Temperate grasslands differ from tropical savannas by having greater temperature variations from summer to winter, having hot summers (sometimes over 100F) and cold winters (sometimes below freezing). They also receive less precipitation (20-30 inches), usually in the late spring and early summer. This biome is dominated by grasses and large trees and shrubs are absent. The height of grasses varies by rain, with taller grasses being dominant in places of greater rainfall. Temperate grasslands have among the most fertile soils. Globally, they have been largely converted into farms or rangelands. Mid-latitude/temperate.
Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests Temperate deciduous forests experience a wide variability in temperature and precipitation. Hot summers (86°F) and cold winters (-22°F) are typical in this biome, with an average annual temperature of 50°F and 30 to 59 inches of rain per year. Temperate deciduous forests are most notable because they go through four seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Leaves change color in autumn, fall off in the winter, and grow back in the spring. This adaptation allows plants to survive cold winters. These forests feature broadleaf trees like oaks, maples, cottonwoods, and beeches, and shrubs, perennial herbs, and mosses. The forest canopy is somewhat dense but allows light to penetrate and providing for a rich and diverse understory. Temperate
Temperate Coniferous Forest The temperate coniferous forests are evergreen forests that experience warm summers and cool winters. They are common in coastal areas with mild winters and heavy rainfalls. This is a contrasting characteristic from the colder taiga/boreal forests of the north and the greater temperature variability of the temperate deciduous forests. Many species of trees inhabit this biome including the pine, cedar, fir, and coastal redwood. The forests often have overstory and understory, sometimes supporting a layer of shrubs or grasses that fuel ecologically important wildfires. Temperate
Boreal forests/Taiga The taiga/boreal forest is the largest terrestrial biome, occurring in vast swaths of land in the northern latitudes. They are dominated by continental polar air over frigid continents that experience very low temperatures, well below freezing during the winter. Snowfall is light (about 20 inches per year), but cold temperatures keep snow on the ground for months. There is low biodiversity. Nutrient poor soils and permafrost favor cold-tolerant coniferous trees like pine, fir, and spruce. Polar/Montane
Montane grasslands and shrublands Highland biomes are found at the higher altitudes of the world’s mountains, resembling climates and biomes of higher latitudes. Many mountains are high enough to experience polar conditions along its peaks. Mountain biomes experience differential conditions depending on the altitude, slope, aspect, and situation relative to local wind patterns. Highlands have complex climates and a variation of tropical, subtropical, and temperate life forms at different elevation zones. These are often described as montane grasses or shrubs. Highlands are also characterized by high levels of endemism, of life forms that only exist in within their geographical extent. Polar/Montane
Tundra The tundra is polar biome with average winter temperatures of about -30°F, and the average summer temperature 37-54°F. Temperatures in tundra climates are so cold that a layer of permanently frozen ground, called permafrost, can extend hundreds of feet below the surface. The average temperature of the warmest months is above freezing, so summer temperatures defrost the uppermost part of the permafrost, sometimes causing soggy conditions. Although the precipitation is low (less than 10 inches), evaporation rates are also low, so the landscape receives more usable water than a desert. This cold environment poses great challenges for sustaining life, and the tundra is marked by low biodiversity. Nonetheless, there are many unique organisms that inhabit the tundra like low shrubs, sedges, reindeer mosses, and grasses. Polar/Montane
Mangroves Mangroves are biomes of tropical and subtropical coastlines that act as a buffer zone between land and sea. Mangrove forests are typically made up of trees and shrubs that have unique adaptations to cope with the harsh conditions of high salinity, warm air and water temperatures, extreme tides, muddy waters, and oxygen-depleted soils. Mangroves are among the most biologically important ecosystems on the planet, home to many unique flora and fauna. They are a powerful natural barrier that serves as a first line of defense against hurricanes by dissipating wave and wind energy and reducing erosion. Coastal areas
Attributions:
“Wayfinding: Polynesian Mastery in Navigation” is adapted from “Latitude and Longitude” by the Open Learn University, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; and from Martins, K. (Aug 7, 2020). Polynesian Navigation and Settlement of the Pacific, World History Encyclopedia, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
"Biomes" is adapted from Darstrup, A. Koppen Climate Classification System. Physical Geography & Natural Disasters; CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; and Southworth, J., Ryan, S. J., Herrero, H. V., Khatami, R., Bunting, E. L., Hassan, M., ... & Waylen, P. Latitudes and Land Use: Global Biome Shifts in Vegetation Persistence Across Three Decades. Frontiers in Remote Sensing, 4, 3. CC BY 4.0; and Biomes by NASA, permitted use.
This page contains adaptations from “The Spatial Perspective” by Caitlin Finlayson and “Geography Basics: Latitudes & Global Climates” by University of Minnesota, both CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/01%3A_Geography_Matters/1.02%3A_Where_on_Earth_The_Geographic_Grid.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Describe cartography, map types, and how geospatial technologies aid contemporary map-making.
2. Critique the appropriateness of map scales, projections, and orientations for various purposes.
3. Explain and exemplify maps as tools and representations of power.
4. Describe countermapping and participatory making and their various applications.
5. Imagine cartography from non-conventional and Indigenous perspectives.
Cartography
The use of maps to illustrate, explain, and analyze spatial phenomena is a distinguishing characteristic of the discipline of geography. Maps as we know them are a result of thousands of years of humans seeking to understand the Earth. Early geographical endeavors were often centered around cartography, the art and science of mapmaking. Many early geographers practiced a form of Earth writing through maps. A map attempts to represent human knowledge of the Earth's lands and peoples, and mapping continues to be a central element of the geography discipline.
Given the importance of spatial awareness in human history, it is difficult to attribute the beginning of geography or cartography to one founding figure or document. Geographical knowledge has been an essential part of the story of humans, a species that over thousands of years migrated out of Africa to occupy most corners of the world. Humans have always had the need and desire to explore and understand their surroundings, expand their influence over new lands (in ways ranging from life-affirming to destructive), and then to communicate and represent knowledge, whether in maps or stories (or both). Humanity’s geographical knowledge is both ancient and diverse, and certainly not entirely understood or represented in academic geography today. With that in mind, the historical maps and documents that survive provide us with a sense of early geographical explorations that can help us appreciate the beginnings of geography as an academic discipline.
The earliest known world map was inscribed in clay tablets by the Babylonians more than two thousand years ago. It centers Babylon (in modern-day Iraq) bisected by the Euphrates River and includes descriptive text in cuneiform, the earliest known writing system. The Babylonians were also the first to divide a map into quadrants, indicating a coordinate system (East/West/North/South). Many academic geographers, especially in the West, attribute the beginnings of the discipline of geography to the Greeks. In their maps we find detailed geographical knowledge and important improvements in the accuracy of geographical depictions of the Earth. Crates created the first globe (200 BCE), still the most accurate way to represent the Earth. It was Eratosthenes (ca. 285-205 BC), however, who likely coined the term “geographia” to describe the field of study. Eratosthenes was the first to calculate the Earth's circumference (with remarkable accuracy) and his publication Geographika maps over four hundred places in the world, connecting them through a system of parallels and meridians and scaled distances[1] [2]. Other important achievements include that of Arab-Islamic geographers, notably Muhammad al-Idrisi (circa 1100–66) who was commissioned by King Roger II of Sicily to produce a highly regarded historical map, Tabula Rogeriana. This map stood as a valuable reference of geographical knowledge for hundreds of years. Its inclusion of detailed geographical knowledge was crowdsourced, meaning that al-Idrisi interviewed merchants and travelers to compile detailed information from the major population centers of the known world.[3]
Map Types
Reference maps: where we are
A reference map helps us learn where we are. Reference maps are used as navigational tools, as a reference for the absolute and relative locations of human and physical features. Developing an understanding of the Earth sufficient enough to create an accurate representation of it challenged cartographers for centuries. The early years of the discipline of geography were dedicated to understanding the shape, size, and distances of continents, a strenuous task before the development of geo-spatial tools such as GPS, remote sensing, and GIS. Today, technological innovations enable us to access zoomable and detailed reference maps on our smartphones that allow us to locate places and navigate the world. When you open your map app for navigation, you are accessing (and contributing data to) a reference map.
Thematic maps: who we are
A political map of the world emphasizes political borders that divide territories. They tell us very little about the world, except for the territorial delineations of countries, a reference map of where countries are in relation to other places. Political maps do not tell you where people live, the characteristics of places, or how people and places are connected. We need thematic maps for that. Thematic maps communicate information that help us learn who we are. These are maps that help us understand what places might be like. For example, a map of global transportation and communications shifts the emphasis from how we divide the world to how we use the world, showing us functional lines (like cables and rails) that dissolve political borders and connect us daily. A global map of biomes and topography gives us a greater sense of the natural world. A population density map conveys the number of people per area (often in square kilometers or square miles) and gives us a sense of patterns of human settlement. There is limitless information that thematic maps can communicate. Using maps as communication devices is a key element of contemporary geography, as thematic maps serve as visualizations and analytical tools for presenting and understanding geographical patterns.
Geospatial Technologies
The ability to connect maps to data has revolutionized many facets of decision-making in our society. Spatial data, also called geospatial data, are data directly related to a specific location on Earth. Non-spatial data are data that cannot be traced to a specific location, like the number of people enrolled in an online course. Non-spatial data can easily become spatial data if they can be linked in some way to a location, like the address of each student enrolled in that course. Geospatial technology specialists have a method called geocoding they use to place non-spatial data at a particular geographic location (latitude and longitude). Once data become associated with a location, we can ask more complex questions. For example, at Fullerton College, geographers mapped the student population to better understand the geographical contexts of students amidst the covid-19 pandemic. The study showed that most students enrolled in online classes still lived within the vicinity of the college, and that despite distance education, students were choosing their colleges based on geographical proximity. More significantly, the study revealed that thousands of students lived in neighborhoods with poor access to green spaces and fresh foods, a specially challenging geographical context given the loss of access to campus resources due to the covid-19 state of emergency closures. This enhanced geographical understanding broadened the support for students’ basic needs in various areas of institutional planning.
Imagine, for example, levels of air pollution being collected at multiple stations - these data can then be mapped, and therefore help decision-makers understand disproportionate concentrations of pollution. When combining various data in layers of information about places, cartographers can identify populations most vulnerable to high levels of toxicity and what factors they have in common. The California Environmental Protection Agency has created a tool called EnviroScreen which does just that: it compiles a multilayer map that helps decision-makers correlate pollution to other demographic information such as income and race and ethnicity. Most commonly, we find that in California (and elsewhere in the US) low income and ethnic/racial minorities are disproportionately exposed to high levels of pollution. California knows this only because of the geospatial data it collects at various points throughout the state.
The efforts by the California Environmental Protection Agency to identify these areas of disproportionate impact rely on important technological innovations in cartography. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a combination of computer hardware and software that captures, stores, queries, and displays geospatial data. GIS has revolutionized mapmaking for its ability to produce maps that layer various data sets, thus revealing important correlations (such as the correlation between pollution, race, and income). Nearly all cartography today is done using GIS and its uses are limitless: Firefighters use GIS to monitor wildfires and to establish and communicate evacuation zones, conservation biologists to establish high priority areas for conservation, public health professionals to determine areas of high risk for infectious diseases, and insurance companies to identify proximities to geographical risks such as flooding and earthquakes. Given the heavy lifting potential of GIS to store, display, and analyze big spatial data for various purposes, the job prospects for GIS analysts continue to grow.
Geographers have developed a variety of ways to gather images and other data related to the Earth. One prominent technique is remote sensing, the collection of data about an object from a distance, usually done with the help of mechanical devices known as remote sensors which may be placed in planes or satellites. These sensors receive and record information about places/objects by measuring the transmission of electromagnetic energy from reflecting and radiating surfaces. These devices allow tropical ecologists to investigate the rainforest floor from half a world away, oceanographers to research the depths of the ocean, and students to count the trees in their backyards, all without leaving their desks. Remotely sensed images allow geographers to identify, understand, or explain a particular landscape, determine land use, and otherwise research places across the Earth. Remotely sensed images often serve as important components in the cartographic (map-making) process and can provide the means to examine and analyze changes on the earth’s surface caused by natural or human forces. Google Earth is an excellent example of a freely available online tool that collects and organizes remotely sensed images of the Earth. It now covers images for over 97 percent of the world’s surface, effectively compressing an interactive world map that fits in our phones.
Maps Are Not Mirrors
Maps are depictions of the Earth’s surface or a portion of it. They are not a reflection of the world but representations of it. All maps are imperfect representations, and the map is not the territory. What makes a "good map” varies depending upon its ability to fulfill an intended purpose. As noted above, a map designed for navigation might not tell us anything about the characteristics of places. Similarly, a map designed to communicate the population density of East Asia may also be useless for finding specific locations in Asia. Cartographers, or mapmakers, first and foremost consider what the map will be used for prior to designing it, then make important decisions to produce maps to fulfill that purpose. After determining the purpose of a map, cartographers face important decisions to convey geospatial data as objectively, accurately, and clearly as possible. Let’s explore some of these decisions.
Zoom In or Zoom Out?
Scale is the relationship of distance in the map versus the distance in the real world. A 1:1000 scale map, for example, would mean that 1 meter on the map equals 1000 meters, or 1 kilometer, on Earth’s surface. Scale can sometimes be a confusing concept, so it’s important to remember that it refers to a ratio. “Large” scale and “small” scale refer to the ratio, not to the size of the landmass on the map. 1 divided by 5,000 is 0.0002, which is a larger number than 1 divided by 50,000,000 (which is 0.00000002). Thus, a 1:5,000 scale map is considered “large” scale while 1:50,000,000 is considered “small” scale. In other words, small scale maps depict larger areas (ex: a world map) and large-scale maps smaller areas (ex: a map of your neighborhood).
Decisions pertaining to scale are important because geographic patterns vary depending on the scale of the map. Typically, as scale decreases (or as you zoom out), so too does the number of different features and the detail with which they are represented. Not only printed maps, but also digital geographic data sets that cover extensive areas, tend to be more generalized than datasets that cover limited areas. The scale of a map can be used to omit or reveal detail, depending on the message it intends to convey. Scale choices can significantly alter what the maps communicate.
A Distorted View
Maps turn a three-dimensional spherical Earth into a flat representation of it. This makes it inevitable that all maps are inaccurate in one way or another as ‘flattening the Earth’ always involves some form(s) of distortion. A map projection, how the spherical Earth is laid out on a flat plane, always distorts at least one these four properties: area, shape, distance, and direction. Some projections preserve as many as three of these properties while significantly distorting another. Other projections might distort all properties but to a smaller degree. In other words, cartographers make difficult compromises in mapmaking, giving up accuracy of some properties over others. See the video below:
Some familiar maps are distorted in ways that help perpetuate erroneous conceptions about the world. As the video discussed above, the wide adoption of the Mercator projection, which is used in Google maps and most other websites and online mapping platforms, materialized a common mental map that exaggerates the size of Europe in relation to Africa and other tropical and sub-tropical territories. Since humans often associate larger landmasses with prominence, such distortions may contribute to a mental map of the world that diminishes many of the territories formerly colonized by Europeans. Given the extensive ways in which European colonialism carved up and remade the world, it is essential to deconstruct maps and expose their biased geographic conceptions if we are to seek a greater understanding of the world.
Flipping the Map
Throughout history, cartographers have made maps with varying orientation, meaning the map’s directionality or relationship to the four directions of the compass. Historically, the North of the map was rarely oriented to the top of the page. Recall the Tabula Rogeriana by Muslim cartographer Muhammad Al-Idrisi (Figure 1.3.1). The orientation of the total map places Mecca, the center of the Musim world in modern Saudi Arabia, at the center of the map, and with the South at the top of the page. Why did Al-Idrisi orient a map that remained the world’s most accurate map for three hundred years with South facing up? Well, why not? Most Westerners are conditioned by the last 500 years of cartography when most of the maps, produced mainly in North America and Europe, have been oriented with the North at the top. The perspective of North American and European cartographers emphasized the geography of the Northern Hemisphere while placing other continents “at the bottom” of the page, an arbitrary political decision that has casually become the norm.
The orientation of a map does not affect its accuracy (Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew, and Urdu are read from right to left). There is no scientific reason for a magnetic north to be perceived as the top of the world. Keep in mind that the Earth is an oblate spheroid spinning through space; there is no accurate “up” or “down.” Where the magnetic north should be represented depends on the cartographer’s relative position—from where they draw the map and to where they imagine distant places. What is North to the Inuit people of the Arctic looking out to the world, when everywhere is South in relation to their communities? What is a map of the world's continents for Polynesian cultures rooted in Pacific Islands? By diversifying map orientations to center the Southern Hemisphere, the Polar worlds, or the Pacific Ocean, for example, cartographers challenge (often Eurocentric) conventions and help better represent the kaleidoscopic geographical perspectives of the world – flipping the script by flipping the map. Take for example América Invertida (1929) by Uruguayan cartographer Joaquín Torres, illustrated below. The map is a cartographic manifesto: “Our North is the South.” Like all maps, this depiction carries and conveys political and social messages.
Maps and Power
“Cartography has a troubled history as a technology of power. The production and distribution of maps, often understood to be ideological representations that support the interests of their developers, have served as tools of colonization, imperialism, and global development, advancing Western notions of space and place at the expense of Indigenous peoples and other marginalized communities.” – Bjørn Sletoo[4]
“As a political technology, mapping has long played a key role in the world-making practices of colonialism through the appropriation, demarcation, naming, and partitioning of territory as part of the process of colonization and assertion of imperial rule over peoples and places.” - Rose-Rosewood et al[5]
Maps and colonization
How do you think about maps? Even though many of us think of maps as impartial documents that reflect the objective reality of the world, maps are instead subjective political projects that actively reimagine and remake the world. As introduced in the section above, political maps of the world hanging in most geography classrooms (in North America and elsewhere) are filled with an array of arbitrary decisions based on Western biases: they display an orientation that centers Europe, a projection (Mercator) that distorts the relative size of dispossessed territories, and political borders and place names superimposed by colonizers. These not-so-subtle cues make a familiar world map Eurocentric.
Our most familiar maps have evolved as tools and representations of power.[6] Throughout the rise and fall of so many empires, elites have cultivated the art and science of cartography – like the religious rulers of dynastic Egypt and Christian medieval Europe, the Greek and Roman philosophers, the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire, and India’s Mogul emperors. From the 16th Century on, cartography as we know it had become closely intertwined with European imperialism, insomuch that the processes of colonialism and mapmaking each reinforced the other.[7] Take for example Gerardus Mercator (1512–94) whose widely influential projection we discussed earlier. Mercator also produced earlier remarkable works in cartography, including one of the first European maps of the Americas and the first to name it as such. His early map depicts the earth in two heart-shaped spheres as seen from the North and South poles. This spherical representation was an attempt to mediate distortions and provide a picture-like representation of the Earth. However, this type of map was impractical for navigational purposes and eventually led Mercator to create a different projection. The 1569 Mercator map of the world provided a squared grid that could be used for navigation, maintaining accuracy in distance and direction around the equator, regions Europeans were actively colonizing. Mercator thus adapted his cartography to facilitate European (con)quests. Despite its distortions of the size of landmasses moving away from the Equator, his 1569 map, actually a navigational chart, remains one of the most influential.
But maps were not only mere navigational tools for exploration. Like arms, germs, and ships, maps were a weapon of colonization as they allowed invaders to expropriate territories and displace Indigenous communities with arbitrary lines drawn on paper.[8] Take for example the 1494 Tordesillas Treaty, an agreement between the monarchs of Spain and Portugal that aimed to settle their squabbles over claims to foreign lands. By placing a line on a map through what was thought to be the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, but what was actually eastern South America, the treaty declared territories to its West for the Spanish and territories to its East for the Portuguese (see Figure 1.3.6). Imposed by distant monarchs, this line fundamentally shaped European colonialism in the Americas and remade the world. Even though European navigators had no means to accurately calculate longitude and thus locate the treaty's line. Still, maps based on the Line of Tordesillas documented European claims to lands across the Earth and set in motion processes of expropriation and colonization that unfolded over the next several centuries. The accidental placement of the Line of Tordesillas led the Portuguese to colonize the lands that became Brazil, Goa in India, and Macau in East Asia. Meanwhile, the Spanish received authority to colonize the Americas and the Caribbean west of Portuguese America. As such, these maps became weapons of power and plunder that divided and reproduced the world into territories of European expansion.[9]
From the 16th to 20th centuries, the materialization of colonial political borders from paper to reality continued to carve the world into European spheres of influence. Created by colonizers in support of their own interests, these colonial borders continue to shape contemporary geographies. The so-called “Scramble for Africa” is probably the most well-known example of how cartographic strokes have fragmented Indigenous homelands and their political organizations and environments. This legacy of colonial cartography and its arbitrary lines continues to sever African peoples and lands in problematic ways (discussed in Chapter 3). The 1947 British partitioning of India serves as another example of colonial impositions, leading to one of the greatest forced migrations and displacements in history and determining life and death for millions of people in the Indian subcontinent (discussed in Chapter 7). To this day, the border between India and Pakistan is marked by violence and military tension, creating one of the most dangerous political borders in the world. Similarly, the colonial legacy of the partition is the root cause for tensions and violence along the eastern Indian border with neighboring Bangladesh.
The United States is no exception as we can point to many historical (and ongoing) examples of the many ways that maps wield power, helping to perpetuate systemic racism and the disenfranchisement of Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color. For example, “redlining” maps funded by the US government prevented African Americans and immigrants from getting mortgages to buy homes and helped to solidify the racially segregated and inequitable cities that continue to plague the country (explained in Chapter 10). Similarly, electoral maps and voting district boundaries have been drawn and redrawn with the intent to diminish electoral power and representation of Black and Latinx voters – a type of cartographic manipulation known as gerrymandering. Even in the creation of US national parks, famously referred to as “America’s Best Idea,” territorial delineation for conservation dispossessed and displaced Indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands, imposing exclusionary ecological museums and institutionalizing Western conceptions of wilderness, an inaccurate way of seeing the natural world as disconnected from Indigenous communities and histories. All over the world, the making and remaking of territories begins on, and takes shape through, maps and cartography.
Guerilla Cartography
Powerful organizations and companies are far from the only groups that wield power with maps and cartography. Maps are also used as tools to convey and carve our world from the ground up, by people from all backgrounds and social classes. They can be venues for performance, expression, memory, and art. They can be imaginary and visionary. And, most importantly, mapping need not to be exclusionary. As mentioned in the opening of this chapter, every single one of us is enveloped in geographic experience. Representing, imagining, and envisioning our worlds in cartographic forms is something we all do; it could never be restricted to academics or elites. Maps today are more accessible than ever before. Even without formal training, producing and publishing paper or digital maps is easier today than ever before. Individuals and communities can engage in mapmaking for a cause, for art, for fun, for recollection, for navigation, for representation, and so much more.
Cartography is one way to critique, disrupt, and reclaim power. We can use maps as important visual communicators to confront injustice, demarcate and protect Indigenous territories, share placed-based community experience, and rename places, to name just a few examples. Many contemporary cartographers, artists, and activists use maps to challenge power and promote “bottom-up” approaches to mapmaking, in their own terms. This is because maps can be powerful tools for marginalized peoples to reimagine and reconstruct their worlds in avoidance of, or resistance to, the structures of authority. This is called countermapping, or a political practice of mapping back. It is mapping against tradition or prevailing power or knowledge systems, guerilla style. Much of countermapping is done via participatory mapmaking, a practice of co-creating maps with or by the communities most closely associated with the places or territories being mapped. In other words, participatory map-making is a method for collective cartography that allows community members to become mappers rather than passive subjects of maps.
Countermapping is rooted in self-determination and resistance. It can be traced back to the struggles of First Nations political organizations in Canada and Alaska in the 1970s and has played a crucial part in the First Nations campaigns for autonomy in North America. The maps created from these foundational struggles eventually led to the establishment of Nunavut, a self-governed Inuit territory of two million square kilometers in northern Canada. This success initiated the spread of Indigenous countermapping all over the world. Countermapping has also been an important part of the African American struggle for freedom. Civil rights leader W.E.B Du Bois, for example, prepared a variety of maps to deconstruct racist stereotypes and highlight Black cultural and economic achievements. Civil rights activists also utilized maps to record, tabulate, and map lynchings throughout the United States as a form of gathering and displaying scientific information to promote anti-lynching legislation. Activists of the women’s suffrage movement of the 20th Century, too, used suffrage maps in flyers and pamphlets as a persuasive tool on the struggle for the right to vote.
These few examples illustrate how cartography can be a practice for equality, liberation, and world-making. Today people everywhere participate in countermapping. This Is Not an Atlas compiles many powerful examples of counter-cartographies from all over the world illustrating the deep connections between maps and political struggle. In a related venture, mapmakers with Guerilla Cartography promote “decentralized mapping” that combine diverse methodologies, perspectives, and expressive forms to create innovative thematic maps on topics such as water, shelter, food, and migration. Decolonial Atlas publishes maps that challenge our conceptions of mapmaking and our relationships to lands, people, and the state. Each of these cartographic repositories help us expand our perspectives through the power of maps.
Towards A Safer City: Participatory Mapping of Sexual Harassment in Cairo, Egypt
Sexual harassment is misunderstood and underreported all over the world. Stigma and shame prevent many women from talking about it or reporting it, and data on the problem is scarce. New web and mobile technologies have, however, opened new possibilities to overcome some of the barriers to documentation and data collection. HarassMap.com offers an innovative tool for reporting and generating data on sexual harassment, and has enhanced debates and discussions around the issue in Egypt and worldwide.
HarassMap uses web and mobile technologies to crowdsource and map incidents of sexual harassment from all over Egypt. Anyone who experiences or witnesses sexual harassment can anonymously submit a report through the web interface (or through Facebook and Twitter). Reports that include basic geographical information (location and date/time of the incident) are automatically mapped using Google Maps and made publicly available on the HarassMap website. Each report appears as a red dot on the map that, when clicked, displays the full information of the report in its original language (Arabic or English). Besides the location and the date/time, each report also includes a narrative description of the incident, the type(s) of sexual harassment (for example comments, stalking, or following). Each report receives a response with information on how to access free legal services and psychological counseling.
HarassMap has gathered information that can be used to tailor advocacy campaigns and educational programs and serves as an important tool for motivating the public to report and stand up against sexual harassment. Immediately after launching the map in 2010, HarassMap received a large number of reports of sexual harassment, and over the years the crowdsourced data has helped to reformulate the discussion on sexual harassment in Egypt. It has also helped to challenge stereotypes and misinformation about the issue.
“Writing versus Righting”
“In essence, maps are images designed to represent spatial relationships, connecting land to other beings in one way or another... Maps are storytelling devices" – Annita Lucchesi
Cartography is an ancestral practice, well-rooted in Indigenous traditions all over the world. Consider the rich Mayan libraries containing many complex astronomical charts and maps, many of which were burned down by Spanish intruders. Or consider the Polynesian wayfinders who navigated one quarter of the Earth’s surface without instruments or Western-style maps, well before Europeans managed to cross the Atlantic. Over several centuries in Kaallit Nunaat (an Indigenous name for Greenland), Inuit peoples carved portable maps into driftwood to aid in navigating the rugged Arctic coastlines. These and countless other cases of Indigenous cartographic wisdom challenge the Western canon of geographical knowledge and its relatively narrow perceptions of maps.[11] They help us understand cartography as ancestral, dynamic, communal, and multi-dimensional.
These examples also help us reflect on the notion of a map as more than writing, or even the physical inscription of symbols. Most of the world’s languages are unwritten. Yet, everywhere in the world humans convey and build on geographic knowledge. History, traditions, and wisdom have been transmitted orally for thousands of years. Similarly, the practices of and possibilities for “writing the Earth” extend far beyond the illustrated map. Communities represent their relationships to land and navigation in an astounding variety of ways, each of them valid and valuable in their own ways. Indigenous languages, both with and without writing systems, often convey land and its uses orally, describing territory as a living fabric that weaves communities to their environments, free of definite borders. Indigenous scholar and organizer Maquiades Cruz describes Zapotec traditions of sharing of spatial knowledge in oral maps in Mexico’s Ricon de la Sierra Norte region:
“The story that the elders tell is a history they know from memory. It is not an object that can be tucked away in a museum like any old artifact. It is an oral map that circulates by word of mouth, contrasting with textual maps that circulate from hand to hand, eye to eye… Language allows us to relate people and things, weaving a fabric from their relations… The semiotic relationship between textile, fabric, and text (textile, tejido y texto) helps us reflect on the webs of knowledge and exchange that we try to make when we weave things together through contact, collaboration, knowledge, experience, sources, production, and circulation, creating the fabric of community.”[12]
These community-land weavings embody Indigenous traditions and ancestral wisdom through toponyms, or place names. Toponyms vary depending on perspective. An endonym is the name ascribed to a place by the people who live there. Endonyms reflect the language and cultural traditions of places. In contrast, exonyms are place names superimposed by outsiders. For example, “America” is an exonym placed on a landmass by a German cartographer, Martin Waldseemüller, who had never been there, and who named it for another European cartographer, Amerigo Vespucci. There are, however, many endonyms for “America,” including Turtle Island (See Figure 1.3.11).
Many efforts have been made to restore and reclaim Indigenous place names as a way of combating the invisibility of Indigenous communities and their knowledge, an endeavor some researchers refer to as “decolonizing the map.” As part of this effort, Native-Land.ca, an Indigenous-led non-profit organization, offers an interactive participatory map displaying various Indigenous claims to North American lands, as defined by the Indigenous groups themselves. The depth of oral traditions, however, means that the mere attribution of Indigenous place names remains insufficient because it lacks the interpretive storytelling content and practices necessary to convey the meaning and the history attached to places. To address this shortcoming of two-dimensional maps, some groups are creating multimedia “Indigital story maps” to accompany the conventional graphic map with narratives and other forms of storytelling, allowing Indigenous communities to incorporate their own voices, languages, toponyms, and stories.[13]
Open maps: A note from the authors
Perhaps in a geography course you could expect a long-winded lesson about maps. In this book, we accept maps to be neither impartial nor standard. They are valuable visuals that can be construed from diverse perspectives and for diverse purposes. We encourage you to apply critical scrutiny when examining maps, evaluating not only their technical features and functions but also their perspectives and contributions that might deepen our understanding of the world. Throughout the book, we have curated maps from the creative commons and public domain, meaning those we are permitted to publish in an open textbook. For example, you might notice that many of our images come from Wikimedia Commons or from Flickr. These are common publication venues not only for cartographers wishing to share their work freely but also national and international governmental agencies that share professional cartography with the public. We made an effort to source reliable and effective maps, examining their sources, perspectives, and their ability to communicate valid and valuable geographic information. In curating images, we embraced the power of maps as visual supplements to the topics discussed throughout the book. Still, all maps are limited and exclusive, some more than others, and even in ways that the authors may have missed. Read the maps in this book, and everywhere else, with care and critical appraisal.
Attributions:
“The Spatial Perspective” by Caitlin Finlayson, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
“Map and Scale Accuracy” by David DiBiase & John A Dutton, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
“Sub-fields of geography” and "Geospatial Technologies" is adapted from “Introduction to Geographic Science” by Darstrup via, Open Geography Education, CC-BY-4.0.
This is Not An Atlas, editorial by Severin Halder and Boris Michael and "Mapping Sexual Harassment in Egypt" by HarassMap, CC-BY-4.0. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/01%3A_Geography_Matters/1.03%3A_Maps-_Place_Power_and_Representation.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Describe the uneven geographies of knowledge production and identify some of its implications.
• Identify ways in which the co-development of geography as a discipline and colonialism.
• Define race and the ways scientists, including geographers, contributed to the construction of racial hierarchies.
• Explain the concept of the cultural landscape and the turn it represents in the geography discipline.
Racism and Geography: Past and Present
Whose Geography?
As we approach an introduction to world geographies, it is important that we take a moment to reflect on the stories that we tell, who tells the story, and how our stories perpetuate exclusions and hierarchies.[1] This textbook is a collaboration among authors studied and live in North America, and while we have diverse backgrounds, our geographic situation follows established patterns of knowledge production. For instance, a map of the top 400 universities in the world illustrates that most universities are located within the wealthy countries of North America and Western Europe (See Figure 1.4.1), where most of the world’s academic knowledge is produced. This map provides us a window into the deeply uneven global geography of storytelling and of knowledge production, imbricated in power relationships. Some people have far more control over knowledge than others, and some places are central in information ecosystems whilst others are peripheral.
With the rise of the internet, it has been expected that this will change, that this new platform will disrupt the geographic concentration of access to information and knowledge production. The internet allows billions of users all over the world to access and contribute human knowledge. However, globalized internet access is still an aspiration more so than a reality. There are real geographic inequalities in the digital world. The web is not worldwide as nearly half of the world’s population still does not have access to the internet (although that is changing rapidly), and most internet users cannot freely access or share information due to governmental censorship. People’s uneven contributions on the web can also be see through Wikipedia, the world’s largest and most used user-generated encyclopedia. In theory, Wikipedia allows anyone in the world to submit information to it. In practice, though, we also see massive inequalities in the amount of content submitted to Wikipedia from different parts of the world (See Figure #). Most Wikipedia entries is written by people in rich countries, and only a tiny amount of content comes from elsewhere. This matters because the numerous editors can shape the narrative and the perspectives of entries when writing about contested topics. The uneven access and participation in the digital world reiterate a familiar global power matrix where people in just a few parts of the world seem to have much more voice than everyone else.[2]
Atop these established exclusions, the geography discipline faces the additional problem of being unworldly, a great paradox for a discipline that is concerned with understanding and explaining the world. In line with the patterns of academia at large, geographical knowledge production has been greatly concentrated in North America and Europe, an Anglo-tradition that has been (and still is) largely exclusive of women, LGBTQA+, non-white, and non-Western peoples. Geography departments across colleges and universities in the United States reflect this pattern by being vastly white male dominated.[3] [4] This lack of representation in academic geography deeply shapes the stories that are told, the stories that are not told, and from what point of view – at the detriment of geographers’ work and of geography students seeking to make sense of their worlds.[5] Considering this reality, vigorous scholarly discussions within geography have taken place reflecting on the discipline’s (mis)representations and inequities.[6] [7] Part of this scholarly reckoning has helped geographers first and foremost acknowledge the discipline’s haunting entanglements with colonialism, Eurocentrism, and racism.
Spatial Hierarchies: Imperialism, Colonialism, Eurocentrism
“Geography is a power laden venture…saturated with colonial and imperial themes”- D. Clayton[10]
Geography has deep roots in colonialism and imperialism. Colonialism is a term derived from the Latin word colonia (estate, distant settlement), and it refers to the acquisition and control of other territories. It is a modality of power between a majority (the colonized) and a minority (the colonizer) and takes the form of taking over the life systems of one group of people by another. Settler colonialism is defined as when a group of people claim inhabited land as their own and is often associated with the genocide of Indigenous peoples and the reorganization of the land for the purposes and interests of the settlers. The contemporary world carries a deep legacy of colonization as most of it has been colonized by Europeans over centuries of dispossession in the Americas then later in Africa and Asia – it’s a recent past for many countries in the Caribbean, Africa and South/Southeast Asia that have a short history as independent states.
Colonialism is often used interchangeably with imperialism. Imperialism, a term derived from the Latin word imperium (sovereign authority), means the geographic expansion of power, authority, and dominance either via diplomacy or military. Imperialism is discerned from colonialism as a form of control from a distance, without necessarily entailing the political appropriation and physical occupation of the land. Colonialism was the principal way in which Britain became a powerful empire. “The sun never sets on Britain” is a phrase that encapsulates the extensive global reach of the British Empire, the largest in history. In its peak, it covered nearly a quarter of the world’s land area. Former colonies include Australia, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Iraq, Malaysia, Kenya, the Bahamas, Jamaica, and India (and the list goes on). Britain’s ambitions of conquest spared only a few places, and only 22 countries in the world today have never been invaded by Britain.[8] Its extensive sphere of influence has deeply transformed peoples and places.
Imperialism did not necessarily end as countries fought and won their independence. For example, as Haiti expelled French colonists, and declared its independence as a Black republic before any country in the Americas or in the colonial world, the French exerted its economic influence to extort millions of dollars from the newly independent Haiti in exchange for its recognition of Haitian sovereignty. Thus, the French Empire exerted power and influence on its former colony, to extract capital from Haiti for nearly seventy years. Today, Haiti is one of the poorest nations in the world.
These long-lasting legacies are also far from solely monetary. In the 1970s there was a rise in Indian and British scholarship around how colonialism had impacted colonized peoples and places. Antonio Gramsci coined the term subaltern, a designation for groups of people who have been systematically excluded from cultural, social, political, and economic decision-making practices. For example, colonized peoples were forced to adopt religious belief systems that were not of their own making, agricultural practices not of their own design, and modes of dress that were imposed upon them from an outside entity. Gramsci understood this as cultural hegemony, where the ruling elite strategically coerces through exploitative tactics to superimpose their cultural ways. This long-lasting legacy is also illustrated by legacies of colonial toponyms, place names. For example, there are 23 Manchesters, 18 Plymouths, and 16 Oxfords throughout the United States, all of which are important places in England.[9] Many of the place names we use in geography today are exonyms, or names given by outside entities, often colonial powers. Exonyms contrast with endonyms, which are how people name their homelands, in their own language and writing.
Geography and the Racist Colonial Project
Colonialism and the building of European empires both enabled and was enabled by geographical knowledge. Cartography, one of geography’s most distinguishing characteristics, was an indispensable tool for identifying, representing, and documenting to-be colonized territories. As discussed in Sect 1.3, maps ware part of the arsenal of weapons of conquest, used to promote colonial interests, to carve up a world that was up for taking. Maps incrementally recorded geographical knowledge about lands largely unknown to Europeans. They were such an invaluable competitive edge that many Spanish and Portuguese maps were empire secrets, like classified documents accessible only to a privileged few.[11]
Geography’s entanglement with empire building is not only in cartography, but also in the discipline’s participation in humanity’s “most dangerous myth”[12]: the construction of race and racism. Race is the categorization of human difference based on perceived physiological traits such as skin color, hair type, head shape, among other features. It is a concept that was once claimed to be scientifically identifiable. The infamous 19th century cranium capacity studies by American scientist Samuel Morton falsely contended that the shape and size of human cranium samples indicated distinctive human races that were directly related to capacity for intelligence. Morton’s work and other reiterations of this scientific myth sought to legitimize a hierarchy of humans highlighting the superiority of what was identified as the Caucasian race. Today, we know race to be a social construct. Scientists, now able to look at humans at the DNA level, have widely discredited the concept of race as scientifically and genetically unfounded. Physically expressed traits are minimal components of a person’s overall genetic makeup and are simply insufficient to create discrete human categories, let alone hierarchies. And, it turns out, genetic traits (like the size of the human head) tend to vary just as much within constructed racial groups as between them. Morton is known as the father of scientific racism, or the ways in which biased “scientific” explanations constructed hierarchies of racial difference.
Morton was not a geographer, but many 19th and 20th century geographers were hard at work to elucidate exotic otherness and racial hierarchies as conventional wisdom. Geographers utilized illustrative work to map “racial types”. Perceived as matter-of-fact documents, maps added a form of scientific legitimacy to racial difference. The fundamental conviction behind many of these maps was that race was not only biological but also an intellectual moral hierarchy that placed Europeans and their descendants at the pinnacle of intelligence and civilization.[13] Racial mappings deserve our attention because they represent the connections geographers were making to race, spatial distributions, and the natural environment – making these connections became a central theme of geography in the United States and Europe for decades to come.
Geography’s main contribution to the racial myth was its attempts to craft a racial science explaining the geographic origins of racial hierarchies, drawing causal relationships between the Earth’s environments and the human genius. Environmental determinism contends that the natural environment predisposes the characteristics of people in each society. The foundational assumption is that nature (the atmosphere, the land, animals, plants, minerals, rocks, and so on) and culture (human beings) are two separate entities, and that the environment largely shapes human beings. Environmental determinism promoted a false claim that the environment or geography of a given place made the humans in that place “more developed” or “less developed.” As such, the logic followed that temperate environments were optimal for the development of ingenious humans, a factor that enabled Europeans to reach great intellectual achievements. Conversely, the tropics, being inhospitably hot and humid, resulted in a hereditary intellectual inertia, dishonesty, and immorality. For decades, such rationale would naturalize race and racial hierarchies, and geographers continued to draw (faux) causal connections between race, climate, environments, intellect, and morality.[14]
Environmental determinism is in reciprocity with Eurocentrism, or the belief, attitude, and ideological apparatus that Europe is at the center of human progress made evident by its economic, political, social systems, and the high quality of life of its citizens. Egyptian-French economist and political scientist Samir Amin coined the term to name an ideological system that perpetuates the so-called superiority of Europe. From a Eurocentric viewpoint, Europe is the center of science, capitalism, democracy, and freedom partially because of its deep ties to Greek and Roman histories. In textbooks, you might see phrases like “the rise of Europe,” and that rise explained in the context of Europe’s rationality, forward thinking, and the benefits of its climate and geography. This Eurocentric approach is also reflected in the vocabulary used to describe colonization as “The Landing of Columbus” (as in he fell from heaven?) or “The Discovery” or “Conquest” of the Americas as “The New World” (as it did not already exist? or as if it was up for conquering?). Eurocentrism is also perpetuated in dichotomies like barbaric vs. civilized, backwards vs. advanced, which only serve as vocabulary claims of racial superiority. Other terminology like Global North vs. Global South, modern vs. traditional, or First World vs. Third World differentiate nations along a continuum of development. While these terms do not essentialize race, they have the same outcome of creating spatial hierarchies with implicit racial associations.
The cartographic and theoretical contributions shortly described here provide examples of the geography discipline as a participant in the proliferation of racism, or the notion of superiority of a constructed race over another. Racism was part of the larger colonial project to establish a racial global hierarchy that recognized human worth in a categorized continuum.[15] Eurocentric explanations of the world dominated (and still dominate) academia and helped justify the subjugation of peoples in colonized territories in a way that did not exist before Columbus. Within less than 200 years of Columbus stumbling upon the Americas, Indigenous populations had been decimated through war and disease and African peoples violently displaced from their homelands and enslaved. The Americas were the first continent to be plundered, depopulated, and repopulated. While religious leaders in both Spain and Portugal were opposed to the eradication of whole groups of people for gold and other resources, they advanced converting of Indigenous people to Christianity. These “civilizing missions” were not opposed to colonization nor racism but rather justified material and cultural theft with religion. Thus, this process of dehumanization and dispossession had been “morally justified” and would continue to proliferate to other parts of the world, deeply traumatizing people and places.[16]
Beyond Environmental Determinism: Human Agency and the Cultural Landscape
Carl O. Sauer (1889-1975), an American geographer, is often credited with countering the claims of environmental determinism in geography with a school of thought centering analysis of human landscapes fashioned by cultural systems. One of the most cited articles in geography is Sauer’s seminal article “The Morphology of Landscape” (1925), an influential work in establishing the concept of the cultural landscape. The cultural landscape as defined by Sauer is “fashioned from a natural landscape by a cultural group. Culture is the agent, nature is the medium, the cultural landscape is the result”.[17] As such, the varied and complex landscapes that make up our world are a result of human culture working as a geographical agent.
Sauer taught at the University of California at Berkeley and was an influential figure in developing the distinctive geography program at Berkeley known as the Berkeley School. Sauer was educated at the University of Chicago and studied with Ellen Churchill Semple (the first woman to serve as president of the Association of American Geographers), an early proponent of environmental determinism. In a direct challenge to environmental determinism, Sauer argued that humans transform physical landscapes to reflect culture and are also influenced by those physical landscapes. Instead of human societies passively being determined by the natural world, Sauer argued that culture, as a collective acquired habit, is a shaping agent of the world around us independent of race. By the time Sauer became president of the AAG in the 1945, WEB Du Bois had already extensively written about race and notions of racial equality and the concept of race as an artifice were already developed in academia.[18]
Sauer’s approach to geography was to first bring the geographer down from the “ivory tower” and into lived spaces to closely study the space in question. Sauer called for a more qualitative, subjective, or creative approach to geographical study. This approach was likely influenced by Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), a polymath that contributed significantly to the discipline of geography. Humboldt was active in the 18th and 19th centuries well before Sauer. Humboldt straddled the invisible border between physical and human geography and insisted that art and creativity were central to scientific development. In fact, it has been argued that Humboldt advocated for both “scientific mastery of biological and geophysical processes” in combination with “poetics, aesthetics, emotion, and reason.”[19]
The divide between nature (the physical world and non-humans) and culture (human beings) is questionable, and the relationships of nature and culture is complex. Denis Cosgrove, an influential cultural geographer, says that all landscapes are simultaneously cultural and natural. Indigenous philosophies describe territory as a loving weaving between people and their land.
Attributions:
"Whose Geography" is adapted from Attribution: Graham, M., De Sabbata, S., Straumann, R., & Ojanpera, S. M. O. (2018). Uneven digital geographies... and why they matter. In This is not an atlas. CC BY 4.0.
2.01: Globalization
Defining global connections
Culturally, ecologically, transitioning to political/economic | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/01%3A_Geography_Matters/1.04%3A_Geographical_Thought-_Critical_Reflections_and_Imagination.txt |
Re-framing Africa South of the Sahara
Africa is often viewed as a monolith, in broad continental strokes depicting the “Black continent.” Yet, Africa is home to more than one billion people, and there is no such thing as a singular African identity, nor an African race. By every measure, Africa is the cradle of human diversity and the most diverse region on Earth. Racial constructions based on skin color and other physical human characteristics have served as ideological justifications for the plundering of Africa, including the enslavement and trade of millions of Africans across the Atlantic. Furthermore, persisting depictions of backwardness perpetuate a geographic imagination that is often de-contextualized from the looting of Africa via exploitative economic relationships with the outside world.
Geographers tend to split the African continent in two separate regions, North and South of the Sahara. The African Transition Zone, along the Sahel, represents a buffer region where regional characteristics begin to shift and become more dissimilar from the patterns of the predominantly Islamic and arid North Africa. Dividing Africa north and south of the Sahara is sometimes accompanied by racist rhetoric as 19th-century constructions separate the predominantly Arab north and Black Africa of the south based on their degree of European cultural influence. The northern part of the continent is sometimes perceived as “European Africa,” highlighting Egypt as the center of cultural achievements while denying the role of the whole continent in the march of history. Cultural achievements of the south have commonly been dismissed as imports from the north. Like the architectural ruins of Great Zimbabwe that scholars, until recently, could not accept as monumental ruins of indigenous Africa. Or the indigenous Ife sculptures that were once perceived as too advanced to be independent artistic expressions rooted in Black Africa. Important food crops, too, are not commonly associated with African contributions to world cuisines. Even the term commonly used to describe the region, "Sub-Saharan Africa", implies a position below, rather than a latitudinal orientation south of the Sahara. We hereby attempt to correct this misalignment in vocabulary by rejecting the more common name for the region.
Lastly, Africa and its peoples are far too often portrayed as spectators of the past and recipients of the future. This misrepresentation refuses the centrality of African labor, resources, and culture in the making of world history and in the making of today's world powers. First, through the profits accumulated from centuries of forced African labor. Then through the extraction of a wealth of minerals that continue to be key inputs in globally significant technological developments – may it be the uranium used in the atom bomb that brutally defeated Japan and empowered the US and allies to carve the post-WWII world, or the cobalt in lithium-ion batteries fueling a green energy revolution amidst a global climate crisis. Africa today also has people power. It is already home to the world's youngest and fastest-growing population, an epicenter of humanity that will continue to play a key role in the global future.
In this chapter, we seek to avoid the dangers of a single story, as described by Chimanda Ngozi Adichie in the video below. In each of the sections of this chapter, we hope that you will find a multi-faceted exploration that will help you conceptualize Africa South of the Sahara as a world region and build an understanding of multiple geographical stories of struggle and resistance.
TED Talk: "The Danger of a Single Story" by Chimanda Ngozi Adichie
Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding. The video transcript is available in 49 languages.
The World Geographies Atlas: Navigate each world region through maps
For each of the world regions, our original atlas provides detailed maps to help you navigate the places discussed in this book. These maps are meant to be explored before and during the reading of this chapter. They were designed at a high resolution and best enjoyed enlarged. Click on each map for an enlarged view, and zoom in to see the prominent biomes, physical features, and population centers of Africa South of the Sahara. We recommend that you download these for reference as you read this chapter's content and hope that you enjoy this original compilation.
03: Africa South of the Sahara
Learning Objectives
1. Describe Africa's latitudinal situation and how it shapes its major biome regions.
2. Explain the mechanisms of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and how it shapes climate and seasonability in tropical regions.
3. Identify the major river basins of Africa South of the Sahara and their significance.
4. Explain the tectonic dynamics of the Great Rift Valley and some of its geographical features.
Correcting Mental Misplacements
Even though most people know that the African continent is a large landmass, its size is sometimes underestimated. As we discussed in Chapter 1, geography students may have shaped their mental maps of the world based on the Mercator projection that was widely used in many geography classrooms in the United States. This projection exaggerates the size of northern regions, contributing to misconceptions by distorting the relative size of Africa. Africa is the second largest continent after Asia - as large as the US, China, India, Japan, Mexico, and many European countries combined. It is a massive landmass that is positioned further north than what most people think, with most of its land area located north of the equator. The northernmost latitudes are as far north as San Francisco and the southernmost about as far south as Buenos Aires. It is the only continent that is crossed by both the Tropic of Cancer (23.5°N) and the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5°S) making it the most tropical continent in the world. This latitudinal range shapes important climate mechanisms and life regions in Africa South of the Sahara.
The Dynamic Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)
Given that the African continent lies within tropical and subtropical latitudes, most of the continent experiences more direct solar radiation throughout the year than regions outside of the tropics. Recall (from Chapter 1) that as the Earth rotates around the sun, the northern and the southern hemisphere are either tilted towards or away from the sun in their respective solstices. Thus, in July, the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun, exposing the Tropic of Cancer to direct rays of the sun. July is when the Northern Hemisphere experiences its summer. Conversely, the Southern Hemisphere is tilted towards the sun in December and experiences summer at that time.
The relationship between the Earth and the sun shapes global pressure systems and air circulation patterns. Direct solar radiation warms up the lands and oceans and their adjacent air masses – the tropical Atlantic Ocean, for example, is a major source of moisture as warm Atlantic waters eventually evaporate into the adjacent warm air mass. This moist warm air rises, as it rises it cools, and as it cools it is less able to hold moisture. Thus, the tropics are marked by the presence of an enveloping cloud, a warm rising air mass that generates abundant rainfall in tropical regions. This tropical low-pressure system (characterized by rising air and rain) is called the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The ITCZ shifts north and south of the equator with the seasons, following the direct rays of the sun. Therefore, in July it shifts north and in December it shifts south. The presence and seasonality of the ITCZ shapes Africa’s tropical biomes.
Major Biomes South of the Sahara
African Tropical Rainforests
Tropical rainforests typically exist near the equator (5-10° north and south of the equator) due to the prominence of the ITCZ. They are characterized by their tropical climates, or climates that are warm (average annual temperatures range from 68°-81°F) and wet (exceeding 80 inches per year). Tropical rainforests have dense tree cover and a high diversity of plant and animal species, many of which exist exclusively within the region. African rainforests are concentrated in the Congo Basin - most notably in the Democratic Republic of Congo but also in the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, and the The forests in the Congo Basin are the heart of African tropical biodiversity. Only second to the Amazon in their geographical size, the Congo Basin is home to 70 percent of forest cover in Africa. It displays diverse environments in differential topography, from swampy rainforests along riverine floodplains to higher elevation forests. Topographical differences in the Congo Basin provides for differential environments that are home to diverse flora and fauna, including the endangered forest elephant, lowland gorillas, bonobos, and chimpanzees.[1] Rainforests can also be found in parts of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and in eastern Madagascar, for example. Tropical rainforests have a long history of human settlement. The African rainforests has been intertwined with local peoples for more than 50,000 years. Today, it provides resources and sustenance for more than 75 million people of diverse ethnic identities.[2]
Tropical Savannas
Savannas are grassy plains with sparse trees that represent transitional zones between the wetter tropical rainforests and the drier grasslands. This biome represents a noticeable climatic shift north and south from central Africa. Unlike tropical rainforests, which experience abundant rain year-round, tropical savannas experience warmer temperatures, less rain, and more seasonality. Most of the rain comes in a pronounced wet season (summer) followed by a pronounced dry (winter) season – a biproduct of the shifts of the ITCZ. This is the most prominent biome of Africa South of the Sahara, covering more than half of the African continent. Given its abundance of grasses, African savannas are known for its large populations of herbivores and the predators that hunt them - the wildebeest, zebras, elephants, and African buffalos and the hyenas, lions, and cheetahs. The most familiar example of the African savanna is the famous Serengeti Plains in Tanzania (and, to a less extent, Kenya). Other examples are found in Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, and Namibia, where large swaths of savanna have been designated for wildlife protection or as hunting reserves.
From the Maa word meaning "endless plains", the Serengeti is an ecoregion with most of its extent in northern Tanzania. It is host to an extraordinary diversity of animals and is known to have the highest concentration of large mammals in the world. These are migratory species that march by the millions following seasonal rains and escaping dry conditions. Every fall and spring, as many as two million wildebeests, antelopes, and other grazing animals and the predators that hunt them migrate from the northern hills to the southern plains in search of grass and food. The Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area are both listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites based on their natural importance. Both governments of Tanzania and Kenya maintain national parks, national game reserves, and wildlife sanctuaries protecting 80 percent of the Serengeti. Several ethnic groups live in and depend on the Serengeti ecosystem, namely the Maasai, the largest cattle herding group living in Eastern Africa whose villages are concentrated on the eastern edges of the Serengeti National Park.
The Serengeti
The Serengeti, from the Maa word meaning "endless plains", is a transboundary ecoregion extending from northern Tanzania to southern Kenya. It is host to an extraordinary diversity of fauna and known to have the highest concentration of large mammals in the world. It is here that the largest migration of land animals in the world occurs as local fauna follow the seasonal rains and escape dry conditions. Every fall and spring, as many as two million wildebeests, antelope, and other grazing animals and the predators that hunt them migrate from the northern hills to the southern plains in search of grass and food. The Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area are both listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites based on their natural importance. Both governments of Tanzania and Kenya maintain national parks, national game reserves, and wildlife sanctuaries protecting nearly 80 percent of the Serengeti. Several ethnic groups live in and depend on the Serengeti ecosystem, namely the Maasai, the largest cattle herding group living in Eastern Africa whose villages are largely concentrated on the eastern edges of the Serengeti National Park.
Arid Environments
Deserts are usually found in areas 15-30° north and south of the equator. They outline latitudes north and south of the savanna, and major deserts exist in the northernmost and southernmost regions of the African continent. Deserts are marked by low precipitation (less than 10 inches of rain a year) and wide daily and annual temperature ranges, with summer temperatures often exceeding 100°F in hot deserts. The Sahara Desert, the world’s largest hot desert, is an extensive and pronounced physical feature dividing the continent’s regions. The Sahel sits at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, and it is a pronounced natural region that transverses Africa. This semi-arid belt crosses the continent from Senegal to Djibouti and supports many subsistence farmers and semi-nomadic herders. South of the Sahel, environments become more verdant until the next dry region takes place in the southern part of the African continent.
The Namib Desert, a costal desert in southwestern Africa extends through Angola, Namibia, and South Africa. It is one of the world’s driest deserts receiving less than 1 inch of moisture per year. This is influenced by three factors: First, the desert is located within a dry latitudinal range, where dry air masses are compressing and sinking (a high-pressure system). Secondly, it is a cold-water desert because of the adjacent Benguela current, a cold oceanic current carrying Antarctic waters north to southwest Africa. The cold water chills the air above resulting in fog and precipitation over water, thus the incoming cold air masses hold little moisture. Third, the desert is found in the rain shadow of the Great Escarpment and Central Plateau, a topographic feature that blocks moisture carrying air masses from reaching the Namib Desert.[3]
The Kalahari Desert in Botswana is an extensive desert region. When there is adequate rainfall, the grasslands provide excellent grazing for wildlife. Precipitation varies from three to ten inches per year. Large areas of dry salt pans stretch over ancient lake beds fill with water after heavy rainfall but are dry the remainder of the year. It is replete with unique resilient life forms like meerkats, pangolins, and cheetahs, all of which are adapted to its harsh hot and dry conditions that are only relieved by brief flash seasonal rains.
Water Towers and the Great Rift Valley
Elevation is another principal factor shaping Africa’s biomes since higher altitudes experience cooler temperatures and even snow peaks. The highest mountain in Africa, Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,340 ft), is in Tanzania near the border with Kenya. The second highest peak, Mt. Kenya (17,058 feet), is located just north of the country’s capital of Nairobi, near the equator. Both mountains are inactive volcanoes and are high enough to have permanent snow at their peaks. Another high range is the Rwenzori Mountains (upwards of 16,000 ft) on the Congo–Uganda border. It is referred to as “Africa’s botanical big game” due to its distinctive snow-capped peaks, glaciers, valleys, biodiversity, waterfalls, fast flowing rivers, and overall natural beauty.[4] Lastly, the Ethiopian Highlands average more than 5,000 feet in altitude. Although its territory represents only 4 percent of the African land surface, Ethiopia contains 80 percent of the continent’s high terrain (over 10,000 feet).[5] Its highest peak, Ras Dashan, reaches up to 14,928 feet. The Ethiopian Highlands are home to Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile, the main tributary of the Nile River. Highlands and mountain peaks create distinctive ecosystems that vary depending on their elevation and situation to incoming air masses.
The highlands and volcanic mountains of East Africa surround the Great Rift Valley, a geological region of tectonic diversion where the African Plate has been splitting for at least the past 30 million years. It is dividing into two smaller tectonic plates: the Somalian Plate and the Nubian Plate. It is not one continuous fracture but a complex system, a series of rifts of the same geological origin. It extends from southern Mozambique to Lebanon. The region is dotted with lakes, notably Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika, Lake Albert, and Lake Malawi which are among the world’s largest lakes. Lake Victoria is the primary reservoir and the inland starting point for the White Nile River (white in color due to carried clay), a river that flows northward to the Blue Nile connection. The Western side of the Rift, also called Albertine Rift, is among the most biodiverse regions in Africa featuring dramatic peaks and valleys, lakes, highland forests, savannas, and wetlands. The Rift Valley’s fertile volcanic soils have a long history of human settlement and sustain the highest population densities in rural Africa today.[6]
High Africa contributes disproportionately to the total stream flow of Africa’s major rivers. These areas receive more rainfall than their lower surroundings and tend to lose less water to evapotranspiration because temperatures are cooler. Downstream areas often benefit from the abundant runoff. These important, high-elevation watersheds are the water towers of Africa, for their role in storing water in glaciers, permafrost, snow-packs, soil, and groundwater and for supplying millions of people with water. These water towers are important sources for many of Africa’s transboundary rivers, river systems that permeate political borders. This means that upstream communities can influence the management of water resources downstream, a reality that shapes tensions and cooperation in Africa and everywhere where transboundary rivers exist.
The main rivers of Africa include the Nile, Niger, Congo, and Zambezi. The Nile River competes with the Amazon River for its ranking as the world's longest river. The White Nile branch begins in Lake Victoria in East Africa, and the Blue Nile branch starts in Lake Tana in Ethiopia. The water collected from tropical rains in the Ethiopian highlands eventually flows north through arid landscapes. For half of its course, the Nile runs without added water until it discharges into the Mediterranean Sea. In West Africa, the Niger River flows drains West Africa. Its delta is in Nigeria where the Niger’s waters flow out into the Atlantic Ocean through Benin. The Congo River is Africa’s most voluminous river, crossing the equator with a large tropical drainage basin that creates a flow of water second only to the Amazon in volume. The Zambezi River in the south is famous for the extensive Victoria Falls on the Zambia and Zimbabwe border. Victoria Falls is considered to be one of the largest waterfalls in the world, an astonishing natural wonder. All these rivers have long histories of human settlement. Their basins were sites of great ancient African civilizations and their tributaries important waterways for trade. To this day, they remain important sources of livelihood and mobility supporting high population densities.
Attributions:
"Peaks, Valleys and Lakes" and "The Serengeti" is adapted from East Africa, World Regional Geography by the University of Minnesota, CC BY-NC-SA.
"Water Towers" is adapted from Water Atlas by the United Nations Environmental Programme, within terms of use for non-commercial educational purposes.
"African Rivers" is adapted from World Regional Geography by University of Minnesota, CC BY-NC-SA. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/03%3A_Africa_South_of_the_Sahara/3.01%3A_Africa%27s_Natural_Environments.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Describe early human migration.
2. Identify and describe early empires of Africa South of the Sahara and the monuments/cities associated with them.
3. Explain some of the challenges in reconstructing African history.
4. Describe and differentiate protocolonialism and colonialism in Africa South of the Sahara.
Africa, the Motherland
Over the last few decades genetic research has been able to piece together the history of our species, the Homo sapiens. Through DNA, fossil records, and artifacts, this research has revealed that humans as a species are very closely related, more so than our closest non-human relatives, the chimpanzees (even though there are a lot more humans in the world). Our human family traces back its ancestry to East Africa, the cradle of our species, where our closest human ancestors are thought to have originated. While the exact place and time is unclear, the earliest fossils of recognizable modern-day humans date to around 250,000 years ago. Humans remained in Africa for thousands of years and developed tools and complex belief systems - suggested by the earliest evidence of ritual human burials found in East Africa, Kenya.[1] Then, in an expansion of smaller regional migrations, humans began migrating out of Africa some 60,000 years ago. This was the beginning of a treacherous journey of more than 20,000 miles over thousands of years, likely driven by environmental factors like climate and food availability.[2]
Transformations: Agriculture, Metal, and Expansion
Agriculture is a great marker of the rise of civilizations. The earliest centers of agricultural innovation, or cultural hearths, rose independently in various parts of the world, first in the Fertile Crescent around 10,000 years ago and later along the Nile River valley. Agriculture also started independently in East Africa with the domestication of coffee Arabica, finger millet, sorghum, cattle, and sheep and in West Africa with the domestication of yam, African rice, and the dwarf goat, and pearl millet. West Africa is gradually being identified as a major cradle of ancient civilization, on par with more widely recognized cultural hearths such as Mesopotamia and Mesoamerica. The story of African agriculture is often de-Africanized, as it tends to focus on Egypt, commonly associated as “apart from” the remainder of Africa. Yet, agriculture north and south of the Sahara are innovations rooted in Africa, not something merely imported from elsewhere. Scholars now know that early settlers of the upper and lower Nile River were Africans that had come from Eastern Sahara, pushed by climatic changes.[3]
Forging iron into tools for agriculture and war marks another important African development. Ironworking was most likely a skill introduced south of the Sahara via trade with North Africa.[4] The earliest evidence of iron smelting comes from the Jos Plateau in central Nigeria, a place rich with surrounding iron ores where excavated furnaces date as far back as 2,600 years ago and where the Nok Culture flourished. The Nok were perhaps the first to perfect iron-smelting technology south of the Sahara. The wide distribution of ancient furnaces indicate that Iron Age agriculture inspired a profound change in Africa transforming agriculture, landscapes, and hastening one of the most important transformations in Africa: the expansion of the Bantu.
The Bantu were agriculturalists who spoke various dialects of the Bantu language. Their heartland was the savannah and rain forest regions around the Niger River (modern Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon). The Bantu began expanding and dispersing from West Africa sweeping through the central, eastern, and southern parts of the continent – a remarkable event known as the Bantu Migration (2,000 BCE – 1500 CE). The Bantu brought innovative technologies and skills such as cultivating high-yield crops and ironworking everywhere they went. Eventually, the Bantu dominated most of Africa south of the Sahara. Bantu speaking peoples spread settled agriculture, improving food supply, transforming the landscape, and transmitting their knowledge and innovations in Bantu languages. In all, some 500 languages spoken today in Africa south of the Sahara are derived from a Proto-Bantu language.[5]
African Kingdoms and Empires
Prior to European arrival or Islamic influences, thousands of states and kingdoms of varied sizes and structures existed in Africa. Access and control of regional trading routes enabled the rise of great empires, some of which are discussed below.
West African Empires
The Ghana Empire (6th to 13th century) was the first major political power in West Africa to create an empire based on military might and wealth gained from regional trade. It eventually collapsed, likely due to civil wars, rebellions of subjugated chiefdoms, and poor harvests. The Mali Empire (1240-1645) conquered what was left, and, like its political predecessors, prospered thanks to trade and its prime location. The Mali Empire became rich from its control of gold-bearing regions. Salt from the Sahara Desert, used for its preservative properties prior to refrigeration, was one of the major desirable goods in ancient West Africa. Transported via camel caravans and by boat along such rivers as the Niger and Senegal, salt found its way to trading centers like Timbuktu. From there, it was either passed further south or exchanged for other goods such as ivory, hides, copper, iron, and grains Internal conflicts and territorial expansion by the Songhai Empire (1460- c.1591) eventually led to the fall of the Mali Empire. Like its predecessors, Songhai grew from its control of the Trans-Saharan trade through centers as Timbuktu and Djenné. It prospered until, ripped apart by civil wars, it was attacked and absorbed into the Moroccan Empire. It was the largest and the last of the great empires that had dominated West Africa for centuries.
The West African empires flourished because of their use and control of established trade routes and the vast amount of goods that were bought and sold. Situated between the rain forests of southern West Africa and the shores of the Sahara Desert, these empires stood at the crossroads of camel caravans bringing valuable commodities to be traded along the Niger River and its tributaries. The Sahara Desert, although a magnificent geographic barrier, has always been permeable. The Trans-Saharan trade created an economic network between Southern parts of Europe, North Africa, and Africa South of the Sahara, interconnecting worlds across the Saharan desert for millennia (its peak at around 1400-1600). These empires gained wealth from their taxation of trade goods, reselling goods at higher prices, and profiting from access to their own natural resources and royal farms.[6]
Timbuktu (Mali): A Center of Commerce, Culture, and Knowledge
"Salt comes from the north, gold from the south, and silver from the country of the white men, but the word of God and the treasures of wisdom are only to be found in Timbuktu." - African Proverb
Timbuktu is a city at the edge of the Sahara Desert connecting the trans-Saharan caravan routes and the Niger River. Both the Mali Empire and the Songhai Empire attained great wealth from their control of Timbuktu, a strategically located center of commerce that flourished in the 15th and 16th centuries. The wealth generated by trade, especially of gold and salt, fueled Timbuktu’s rise as a center of culture and knowledge. Mosques of pounded earth and a university brought fame to the city as a center of Islamic learning. Islam diffused to the region from the extensive trading networks with Arab merchants. Both Mali and Songhai Empires established Timbuktu as a cultural and religious center. Islamic learning in Timbuktu included not only theology but traditions, law, grammar, rhetoric, logic, history, geography, astronomy, astrology, and medicine. At its height, it is estimated that Timbuktu’s libraries held hundreds of thousands of manuscripts attracting scholars from as far as Cairo and Cordoba, in present-day Egypt and Spain, respectively. Having survived many conflicts prior to and after colonization, there are continued efforts to recover and maintain its ancient and treasured manuscripts.[7] Today, Timbuktu is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, valued for its earthen architecture and its mosques, libraries, and holy public spaces.
Northeast: Upper Nile and Ethiopian Highlands
Under the influence of ancient Egypt, the upper Nile River experienced the rise and fall of several kingdoms in the vicinities of the Ethiopian Highlands – present day Sudan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia. Out of these kingdoms, the Kush Kingdom (c. 1069 BCE – 350 CE) was the oldest and most enduring. During the Kushite reign, the kingdom was wealthy from its iron works, gold, ebony, and ivory trades. This wealth drew the attention of the Egyptians and resulted in conflict over Kushite resources. The Kushites eventually became more powerful than Egypt itself, invading Egypt and ruling as pharaohs for more than sixty years before being forced to Meroe, a wealthy metropolis and lasting capital of the Kush. Meroe’s architectural remains in Sudan are a testament of its grandeur. The Kush flourished for almost a thousand years before dissolving and dispersing into other nearby regions after Meroe was sacked by a nearby rival, the wealthy Kingdom of Aksum (or Axum). The Kingdom of Aksum (300-400CE) prospered thanks to agriculture, cattle herding, and control over trade routes of gold and ivory. This kingdom built massive and long-lasting monuments in the ancient city of Axum, Ethiopia. Situated in an ecologically isolated high terrain but close enough to surrounding civilizations to intake advantageous innovations, the Aksum Kingdom achieved several firsts. They were the first civilization south of the Sahara to adopt a coin currency (made of gold and silver) and the first to officially adopt Christianity. The Aksumites also developed the only indigenous African writing system, Ge'ez, from which written forms of contemporary Ethiopian languages have evolved. This literate and wealthy civilization thrived for centuries but went into decline due to increased competition from Muslim Arab traders. Aksum endured Islamic invasions and remains to this day a symbol of African Christianity.[8]
Central/Southern Africa: Great Zimbabwe
The idea that innovations flowed upstream from the Nile River Delta to the rest of Africa is rooted in a false and Eurocentric notion that is contrary to evidence. Take for example Great Zimbabwe, an important archeological site twice the size of New York’s Central Park where the ruins of stone buildings constructed by the Bantu-speaking Shona people memorializes the heights of the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe (c. 1200 - c. 1450). A sophisticated 32-foot stone wall known as the Great Enclosure is a massive structure encircling the capital city. It is by far the largest ancient monument in Africa south of the Sahara. Agriculture, gold, and a trading network that reached the East African coast enabled its rise, but Great Zimbabwe was abandoned by 1450 for unknow reasons, perhaps due to exhausted gold sources. In 1871, a German explorer named Karl Mauch encountered the ruins of Great Zimbabwe and concluded the ruins to be too impressive. That its architecture must have been the works of other civilizations, like the Phoenicians or Israelites, not local Africans.[9] For all that is known about Great Zimbabwe today, the evidence points to one significant consensus: it is definitively African, a creation from Bantu-speaking peoples south of the Sahara.[10]
Herstory: Womxn Leaders in Dahomey and Beyond
In 2018, Black American film director Ryan Coogler released the highly anticipated Marvel film “Black Panther”. One of the highlights of this film was the fierce guard of signature bald women warriors that served as the protectors and counsel of the King. It was not common knowledge at the time of the movie’s release, but most of the characters in the film were a representation of ancient African civilizations. The “Dora Milaje,” a fictional name for the women warriors in the film, was a depiction of the Agojie warriors, historical figures that are also the subject of the movie "The Woman King". The Dahomey Kingdom existed in an interior-coastal expanse of modern-day Benin from 1600-1900s, as an expansionist kingdom that solidified its economic and military power through the slave trade. The name Dahomey was given by the French while fighting the kingdom in the early 1700s in modern-day Benin. Colonists called the all-female military the "Dahomey Amazons" in reference to women warriors in Greek Mythology. The Agojie were known for their ruthlessness and fearlessness in battle.[11] By 1894 after France seized southern Benin, they disbanded the territory’s women warriors, opened schools, and made no mention of the Agojie’s existence.[12] Along with written and oral history and Hollywood films, a 100-foot-high golden monument was erected in Benin in 2022 immortalizing Queen Tassi Hangbe, a fearless Dahomey leader.
The centrality of women in royal, religious, and military functions was not restricted to Dahomey. Feminine value and strengths were very much entrenched in many West African pre-colonial societies where women have been food providers, educators, economic contributors, inheritors of lineages of wealth, and religious, political, and military leaders.[13] There are various African women who left their mark in history as symbols of resistance to colonization. One infamous example is the Queen of Ndongo and Matamba (present-day Angola), Nzinga Mbandi (1581–1663). Following the death of her father, she carried his legacy to resist Portuguese colonization through whatever means necessary – diplomacy, alliances, or war. Having had failed attempts at diplomacy, including her own conversion to Christianity, Nzinga Mbandi made alliances and welcomed fugitives of the slave trade to join her in battle against the Portuguese. A queen who called herself king, Nzinga Mbandi fought for the autonomy of her people for decades until her death. Queen Yaa Asantewa (c. 1840 - 1921) was a Queen of Edweso, a state within the larger Asante Empire (in today’s Ghana). Queen Yaa Asantewa was famed for rallying 20,000 soldiers and leading them in combat to protect the ‘Golden Stool’, a sacred throne made of solid gold that was stolen by a British officer. She fought alongside of her people until the very end, until she was captured and exiled.[14] Queen Ndaté Mbodj was born in the 1810s and became leader of the Waalo Kingdom in Senegal. The queen is regarded as a Senegambian hero for leading a war of resistance against the French colonization that continued into the 20th century.[15]
Reconstructing African Precolonial History
There are several noteworthy considerations as we recount history south of the Sahara. First, African history remains perilously peripheral in historical scholarship. For example, only 3 percent of publications in four prestigious history journals from 1997-2020 were about Africa, and out of these, only 10 percent were authored by scholars in Africa.[16] The African underrepresentation is a partial explanation as to why outsiders telling stories about Africa often get it wrong. Other explanations include the prejudice and racism that has plagued these scarce explanations, well exemplified by the denied indigenous roots of Great Zimbabwe, as described in this section. Another good example is in the world of art, from the sculptures of Ife, a sacred Yoruba city in Nigeria. One thousand years ago, Ife artisans carved the heads of royalty in terracotta and copper in astonishingly symmetrical and detailed sculptures. Despite great admiration and regard for the sculpture art, German ethnologist Leo Frobenius could not accept that they were made by Africans and theorized that the works must had been the works of a “far superior” Greek Civilization. These ideas were pervasive in European “science” of the 20th Century. As Nigerian archeologist Ekpo Eyo explains, this thinking “…denied the art of Africa a proper place in the history of universal human creative endeavor.”[17]
Piecing together history depends upon recovering artifacts, tools, and deciphering paintings and carvings as they serve as windows into civilizations from a distant past. Much of the African artifacts, art, and treasures have been destroyed or stolen from Africa under colonial rule. It is estimated that more than half a million objects, as much as 90 percent of all artifacts known to originate in Africa, are held captive in Europe. Leo Frobenius’s personal collection of Ife royalty sculptures, for example, are on display at the ethnological museum in Berlin, Germany. Another notable case is the Benin Bronzes that were stolen in 1892 by British forces. Thousands of these stolen pieces are in European museums. As part of a reckoning brought by the work of activists, the case to repatriate African art became known in 2020. The Smithsonian and many museums have committed to returning stolen items to African governments, but most of it has yet to be returned.[18] To help the process, Kenyan artisans are creating replicas of Luo traditional head dresses via 3D printing to incentivize the replacement the original stolen pieces currently in European museums. “If Americans and Europeans want to see the originals, they can come to Africa.”[19]
Protocolonization, The Scramble for Africa, and Reclaiming Independence
European Lust: Gold and Slaves
Africa had Europe’s attention for quite some. African gold had been flowing north through Trans-Saharan caravans and fueling Mediterranean economies and financing European growth for centuries. The lavish expenditures of Mali’s most famous ruler, Mansa Musa I (1312-1337CE), spread news about an exotic ruler being the richest man in the world.[20] Indeed, West Africa was one of the world’s greatest producers of gold. This abundance certainly created a pressing desire to forge connections and access African wealth.
The Portuguese were restless around African coasts. They started a “voyage of discovery” in 1413 and established some early settlements in west Africa thereafter to bypass the Trans-Saharan caravans’ traders and gain direct access to West African goods: not only gold but also slaves. Portugal was the first of the Europeans to begin buying enslaved Africans. Originally interested in trading for gold and spices, they set up several sugar plantations on the islands of São Tomé, off the western coast of Equatorial Africa. Portugal then brought in slaves to help cultivate the sugar, effectively trialing a plantation economy that would enrich them. The Spanish then began buying slaves to send to the New World in the early 16th century, bringing them first to the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola. Initially, Europeans raided coastal African villages to secure slaves, but over time, began purchasing slaves from African rulers and traders.
From antiquity and in every corner of the world, slavery had existed. In Africa and other parts of the world, people became enslaved due to war and conquest. Slaves were bought and sold in the continent well before the first purchases of the Portuguese and trade routes existed beyond the Atlantic. However, it is unquestionable that the immense labor demands of the new European colonies in the Americas to produce crops like sugar, tobacco, and cotton initiated an unprecedented trade of enslaved humans. The Trans-Atlantic trade transformed slavery into an immensely profitable business based on human beings as a primary extractive resource – in this extractive economy, slaves were not a bi-product of conflict but a conflict resource. As W.E.B Du Bois described, “instead of man-hunting being an incident of tribal wars, war became the incident of man-hunting.”[21] The trans-Atlantic trade also reached an unprecedented scale. For the first time in history, an estimated 12 million enslaved Africans were taken across the Atlantic as forced laborers in the Americas.
Surely, European merchants accumulated immense profits from slavery, doubling down on both the large profit margins from selling enslaved Africans at double-triple what they paid and from their sales of manufactured goods to Africans. As for Africa, the transformed nature and scale of the slave trade brought wealth to the West African elites. The Dahomey Kingdom, for example, became an infamous enslaving state and forged its political and economic power by capitalizing on the insatiable European demand and raiding the hinterlands on their behalf.
In explaining African participation in the slave trade, Henry Louis Gates Jr. mentioned the difficulty of having "to confront the curious ease with which black Africans could sell Africans to the white man."[22] This notion of betrayal demands exploration. First, Africans enslaved their enemies – strangers, people they considered “others,” from outside of their cultural groups and relationships – not their siblings. Secondly, the monolithic notion of Africanness or an “African race” is a Eurocentric construction that bounds African identity to hue, to Blackness. Africans did not share a monolithic identity and surely not one based on skin color. As Hartman explains: "In order to betray your race, you had first to imagine yourself as one."[23] Thus, to contextualize otherness from an African perspective, one must consider that Africans identified along language, religious, and political affiliations not by the color of their skin.[24]
King Alonso of the Kongo Kingdom, an amicable Christian partner of Portugal, expressed discontent with how Europeans perceived even African Christians. In a letter to the king, he complained about the indiscriminate way the Portuguese and their “voracious appetite” for slaves was resulting in the enslavement of Kongo’s own people, their own nobility, and their relatives. He condemned it and called for an end to the “corruption and licentiousness” of enslaving from within Kongo. Seemingly unconcerned, the Portuguese king replied along the lines that “Kongo had nothing else to sell.” [25] The correspondence suggests the Portuguese crown viewed even Kongo’s nobility, their Christian allies, with a level of African sameness – and as mere merchandise. This notion of an African race rooted in Blackness is a European construction developed in the context of the slave trade. It became an ideological and moral basis for the dehumanization of Africans in Kongo and beyond. Its conception forged racial slavery, a new form of slavery based on new constructions or race based on skin color.
The Trans-Atlantic slave trade brought the devastation of war, conflict, and drained African communities of able-bodied men, creating a gender imbalance and an economic deficit. Enslaved peoples were sold for a mere fraction of their economic worth as lifetime laborers, artisans, and leaders in Africa.[26] Even more profoundly, the slave trade represented a lasting and disadvantageous economic system in Africa that is based on diverting indigenous resources from indigenous applications and development in an exchange for European goods. The exchange presented a net deficit to the continent. In other words, the slave trade unleashed a form protocolonialism, an earlier expression of an exploitative and violent economic relationship with Europe that would soon consume the continent.
The Scramble for Africa
By the 19th Century, the moral and capital imperatives of slavery had been challenged and the slave trade was banned. With the end of the slave trade, European powers turned to possess Africa itself. As the Industrial Revolution was spreading across Europe, colonial empires were seeking to expand their colonial holdings to gain mineral resources and expand agricultural production. As Europeans began exploring the interior of Africa and recognized its resource potential, competition among European empires grew fierce. France, Italy, Britain, Portugal, and Belgium were in an arms race to expand their territories. When Germany entered the race, the colonial empires decided that it was in Europe’s best interest to avoid conflict over the landgrab and clearly demarcate and “partition” the African continent into European colonies.
Without a single African present, and without any input from African leaders, representatives of European nations and the United States attended the Berlin Conference (1884-1885). At this conference, the colonial powers established the procedure for a Western country to formally control African territory and re-shape the map of Africa. Arbitrary political boundaries were superimposed in a continent previously divided into territories held by tribal groups and some larger kingdoms. The cartographic lines, drawn based on the interests of colonial powers, often did not correspond with the cultural, political, and physical geographies of Africa. They severed hundreds of ethnic groups and disrupted political structures and access to resources. These superimposed territorial divisions remain problematic to this day (discussed in Section 3.3).
By the early 20th century, around 90 percent of Africa was directly controlled by Europeans, effectively turning the continent into a European colony. Colonialism broadly refers to the control of a territory by another group and colonial policies varied across Africa. In the far-reaching French colonies, from present-day Madagascar to Morocco, the colonizers emphasized an assimilationist policy, spreading the French culture through language, laws, and education. In the British colonies, like present-day Uganda, Ghana, and Nigeria, settlers partnered with local rulers who were made representatives of the British crown. This was known as indirect rule. The Portuguese, however, continued to be primarily interested in resources rather than local politics or culture. Their policy of exploitation in places like Angola and Mozambique ignored local development and the empire kept rigid control over local economies.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has a particularly violent colonial legacy. In a personal undertaking, Leopold II of Belgium declared himself the absolute ruler of the Congo Free State (now the viewed as subjects. He envisioned rooting “civilization” in Central Africa while plundering its wealth, especially from arduous forced rubber extraction. Leopold II is known for a reign of terror marked by a genocide and the mutilation of millions of Congolese people. His rule violently decimated the Congo population from 20 million to 8.5 million, a demographic collapse only second in magnitude to the slave trade.[27]
Reclaiming Independence
Before 1950’s, only Ethiopia, South Africa, and Liberia (and Egypt in North Africa) were independent. Ethiopia was never colonized, having declared itself a long-established and independent Christian nation that successfully defeated the Italians' attempt to colonize it through a well-armed defense. Liberia, which declared independence in 1947, was a state formed by the American Colonization Society as an attempt to return enslaved Africans to Africa. South Africa was granted independence by the British in 1910, but it excluded Black South Africans (discussed in Section 3.4).
Nearly all African nations gained their independence after the United Nations had declared in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that all human beings are universally free and equal. The endorsement of the document by European nations pointed to the moral paradox of colonies. From the 1950s and onwards, the push to reclaim independence would sweep Africa with varying degrees of struggle – most colonies achieved independence peacefully while others violently. Overall, the fight for decolonization was influenced by noteworthy forces. First, the system of colonization was based on an imposed European supremacy and human and land theft. Africans simply rejected it, many times facing violent repression for their dissent. Secondly, the world changed after the devastation of two world wars in Europe. African soldiers had fought side by side with European troops in the trenches of wrecked nations, an experience that helped dispel the myth of their self-professed superiority. As those former soldiers returned home, they encountered an intellectual and political landscape of educated Africans who were empowered by Pan-Africanism, or the idea that peoples of African descent should be unified in their common interests. Having experienced European colonization and its brutalities across diverse African identities created a shared determination for independence. Julius Nyerere, a Tanzanian independence leader, promoted Africanness, an experienced difference between Africans and Europeans that bind Africans in a common ground. Patrice Lumumba, another historical figure of the African independence movement, called Africa’s self-determination a basic human right. With India’s reclaim of independence in 1945, and the rise of African nationalism, war-torn European empires could no longer contain the sweeping independence momentum in Africa.[28]
“Let [the West] today give proof of the principle of equality and friendship between races that its sons have always taught us as we sat at our desks in school, a principle written in capital letters in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” “Africans must be just as free as other citizens of the human family to enjoy the fundamental liberties set forth in this declaration and the rights proclaimed in the United Nations Charter” - Mr. Lumumba in 1959 at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.[29]
Attributions:
"African Civilizations" is remixed and adapted from The Ancient Trade of Salt in West Africa, The Mali Empire, The Songhai Empire, Timbuktu, Aksum Kingdom, and Great Zimbabwe by Mark Cartwright and Kingdom of Kush, Meroe, by Joshua Mark n World History Encyclopedia, all licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
"European Lust: Gold & Slaves" is remixed and adapted from The Gold Trade of Ancient and Medieval West Africa by Mark Cartwright, in World History Encyclopedia, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, and Pre-Colonial Sub-Saharan Africa by Caitlyn Finlayson, CC BY-BC-SA.
"The Scramble for Africa" is adapted from Finalyson, Caitlyn Pre-Colonial Sub-Saharan Africa, CC BY-BC-SA. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/03%3A_Africa_South_of_the_Sahara/3.02%3A_Indigenous_Worlds-_Pre-Colonial_Civilizations_and_Reclai.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Critique notions of the "African monolith."
2. Identify the geographies of prominent language families and most spoken languages in Africa South of the Sahara.
3. Describe the diffusion of Islam and Christianity and their geographic distributions in Africa.
4. Explain how the creation of artificial states contribute to ethnic conflict within African countries.
Africa as a Cradle of Human Diversity
Research affirms that there is no such thing as an “African race” - there is more genetic diversity among African populations than between Africans and other peoples.[1] Studies in human genetics are often accompanied by studying linguistics, as patterns of genetic diversity often match that of linguistic diversity, and both are related to human migration. Africa is the most linguistically diverse continent in the world, containing more than 2,000 distinct languages (about one third of the world’s languages). Given the importance of language in distinguishing cultures, researchers often identify cultural groups as ethnolinguistic groups, or groups characterized by shared language and ethnic identity. Other researchers gauge ethnic diversity by measuring ethnic fractionalization, or the likelihood that two individuals in the same country will report different ethnic identities. In almost every way that scholars attempt to gauge human diversity, Africa is the most diverse continent on Earth.
The Linguistic Landscape
About 85 percent of the population, over 600 million people, speak a language rooted in the Niger-Congo Family, the largest language family in Africa and the world. The Niger-Congo family is believed to have originated in the central/Sahel region of Africa. Today it contains more than 1,400 distinct languages spread through West, Central, and Southern Africa. The Bantu languages, the largest subgroup of the Niger-Congo language family, diffused from West Africa through the Bantu Migration (2,000BCE – 1,500CE) pushing and replacing other tongues over a wide geographic range in Africa South of the Sahara. There are twelve Bantu languages spoken by more than 5 million speakers, including Rundi, Rwanda, Shona, Xhosa, Zulu, and Swahili.[2]
Prominent in the East, Swahili is the African language with the largest number of speakers in Africa and is among one of the most spoken languages in the world. While it has only about 10 million native speakers, African societies and individuals are commonly multilingual, and Swahili is often adopted as a second language. Swahili is used as a lingua franca in east Africa, a common language to facilitate communication and business (it is only second to English in the function of a lingua franca in Africa). Swahili has had a significant impact on the African diaspora. The language is commonly referenced and spoken in diasporan Black thought, expression, and urban subculture. UNESCO designated July 7th as Swahili Language Day in aiding the hopes of unifying 14 countries of Swahili speakers together against conflict and being of aid in cases of needed refuge.[3]
The Khoisan Language Family is the smallest of African language families, thought to have become peripheralized by the Bantu expansion, colonization, and a rural exodus. These languages have distinguishing clicking consonants and are commonly spoken by hunter-gatherers and pastoralists in the southern region of Africa. Their oral traditions contain immense ecological knowledge accumulated over the oldest known human lineages, all at significant risk of being forever lost. Most of the speakers of these unique and endangered languages live inland in Namibia, Botswana, and southern Angola.[4]
Religions and Belief Systems
Ethnic Religions
For many Africans, the practice of spirituality is naturally plural, complex, and tied to ethnic identity, therefore referred to as ethnic religions. Spirituality informs every aspect of life in traditional African societies, like economics, marriage, diet, attire, and art. A common characteristic of these belief systems is animism, the belief that everything on Earth is animated by spirits, including non-human creatures, rivers, mountains, trees, and even human-made shrines. Some of these Indigenous belief systems have a clear sense of a supreme being, like the Yoruba who believe Olodumare is the creator god assisted by other deities, the orisas, to tend to Earth. Ethnic religions are extremely diverse and practiced all throughout the region. Examples include the southwestern southern African Zulu, southeastern Nigerian Igbo, and the Nigerian Yoruba. Due to colonization and the diffusion of Christianity and Islam, Indigenous African religions are practiced by a fraction of the population compared to a century ago. Today, less than 10 percent of Africans adhere to an ethnic religion.[5]
Dongon Spirituality and Resilience
Along the Bandiagara escarpment in the Malian Sahel lies hundreds of villages established by the Dogon communities around the 15th Century. The Dogon settled in a secluded geography along cliffs and plateaus seeking refuge and protection from slave raiders and outsiders seeking to convert them to Islam. A large share of the Dogon population practices animism, with an emphasis on the balance between the spiritual and living worlds of plants, people, and animals. The Dogon culture is shaped by oral traditions passed on through stories, songs, dance, and artwork, including their well-known and magnificent wooden carvings. One of the most popularized elements of the Dogon customs is the dama funeral ceremony, a ritual dedicated to helping the deceased transition into the spiritual world. The public aspects of Dogon celebrations enthrall tourists from all over the world looking to witness the embodiment of hand-carved masks, local costumes, and music in lively dance routines that mimic people, animals, and spirits. The dama, however, is more than performance. It is a deeply important cultural event, as the Dogon believe that wondering spirits are a danger to the living.
Outside forces threaten Dogon culture. The diffusion of Islam and Christianity has resulted in less frequent dama ceremonies. Secondly, an increase in tourism has shifted economic activities – some of which have been beneficial in supporting Dogon livelihoods, while others, such as the high demand for Dogon art, have resulted in a black market for invaluable cultural artefacts. Lastly, severe civil unrest and terrorist attacks threaten preservation of Mali’s most ancient sites. Despite these outside forces, the Dogon carry on centuries-old cultural traditions as a symbol of the cultural resilience of indigenous Africa.[6]
Islam and Christianity
Africans are among the most religiously devout people in the world, with very few reporting to be religiously unaffiliated. In the early 1900s, both Muslims and Christians were small minorities in the region and most of the population practiced indigenous African religions. Since then, the religious landscape south of the Sahara has changed dramatically, and the vast majority of Africans practice either Islam or Christianity. This change should not be interpreted as a total replacement for traditional beliefs since many Africans who practice Islam or Christianity also believe in witchcraft, evil spirits, sacrifices to ancestors, traditional religious healers, reincarnation, and other elements of traditional African religions. Many Africans practice religious syncretism,or forms of Islam and Christianity that blend, merge, or assimilate multiple faiths and traditions into a religious practice. Syncretic practices developed out of migrations away from smaller tribal communities, integration with other ethnic groups, and as a direct result of colonialism dating back to the 15th century.
Christianity in Africa arrived as early as the first century via the trading connections of the Ethiopian elite to North Africa and Jerusalem. The Aksum Empire in northern Ethiopia was one of the earliest civilizations outside of the Roman Empire to practice Coptic Orthodox, a form of Christianity connected to Egypt. Christianity has remained a strong cultural trait in Ethiopia. Aside from Ethiopia, most of Africa was introduced to Christianity through colonization and missionary work. The elites of the Kongo Kingdom, for example, were receptive to Portuguese missionaries and converted to Christianity seeing it as advantageous to their alliance and as a complementary belief system to local customs. In Kongo, Christianity was indigenized, infused with local belief and images with local characteristics such as crucifixes of Christ with African features. Christianity in Africa is diversified and with local character, often forming independent churches and practices. As of 2020, about 62 percent of the population South of the Sahara practices a form of Christianity.
Islam was introduced as early as the 7th century to the elites of Sahelian regions via the Trans-Saharan trade and contact with merchants, scholars, and missionaries. It became the adopted religion of the Mali and Songhai Empires, both of which supported the rise of Timbuktu as a vital Islamic learning center. Islam was a religion of the elites, although very often indigenous beliefs and rituals continued to be practiced or were even blended with the new religion. In the Swahili Coast, the religion spread more successfully through traders from Arabia and Egypt who permanently settled in the region. The local Bantu peoples and Arabs mixed, as did their languages, and there was a blending of cultural practices which led to the evolution of a unique Swahili culture. Today, about 29 percent of Africans south of the Sahara are Muslims. Many live in nations along the Sahel (like Mali, Niger, Chad, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal) and the horn of Africa (like Somalia, parts of Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, and Malawi).
Tension and Tolerance: Islam and Christianity South of the Sahara (Pew Research Center)
Although Africa South of the Sahara has twice as many Christians as Muslims, on the African continent the two faiths are balanced with about 500 million followers each, with Northern Africa mostly Muslim and Africa South of the Sahara mostly Christian. In between these two religious realms is a region often seen as a volatile religious fault line along the Sahel -- the site, for example, of al-Qaeda’s first major terrorist strike, the bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and more recently of ethnic and sectarian bloodshed in Nigeria, where hundreds of Muslims and Christians have been killed. To many, however, religion is not so much a source of conflict as a source of hope in Africa south of the Sahara, where religious leaders and movements are a major force in civil society and a key provider of relief for the needy. This is particularly valuable given the widespread reality of collapsing government services.
But how do Africans themselves view the role of religion in their lives and societies? To address this question, the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life conducted a major public opinion survey involving more than 25,000 face-to-face interviews in more than 60 languages in 19 countries. The survey results suggest that Africans rank unemployment, crime, and corruption as bigger problems than religious conflict (but Nigerians and Rwandans say religious conflict is a big problem in their countries). The degree of concern about religious conflict varies various from country to country, but tracks closely with concerns over ethnic conflicts, suggesting that religious and ethnic tensions are often related.
Christians and Muslims describe members of the other faith as tolerant and honest. In most countries, few see evidence of widespread anti-Muslim or anti-Christian hostility. They give their governments high marks for treating both religious groups fairly. Respondents also acknowledged that they know little about others’ faith. Muslims are significantly more positive in their assessment of Christians than Christians are in their assessment of Muslims. Regardless of their faith, most do not support religious violence, favor democracy, and think it is a good thing that people from other religions can practice their faith freely.
Extremism and Conflict
Colonization left a legacy of fragmentation in the African continent. Colonial borders grouped the African people into artificial states, or states “in which political borders do not coincide with a division of nationalities desired by the people on the ground.”[7] The partitioning of African territories into European colonies occurred without much knowledge or respect for the wants of the African people. Thus, cultural groups were severed into new countries by lines on a paper map that did not correspond to the cultural or environmental reality. While the European hold of African colonies did not last, the legacy of colonial political borders is deeply enduring. After independence, African leaders opted to keep the colonial borders to avoid conflicts over reterritorialization. Today, one third of African ethnicities have their ancestral homelands straddle an international border.[8] This forced fragmentation is a key factor in many disputes that have turned violent and even unraveled into dire humanitarian crises and civil wars.
While each episode of ethnic conflict is an expression of complex interconnected factors, religious extremism and ethnocentrism have played a role in past and present atrocities in Africa South of the Sahara. Religious extremism is a distortion of the normative practice of a religion based on extreme interpretations and ideologies used to cause harm. Ethnocentrism is the perception of superiority of one’s own ethnic group over others, an ideology that leads to discriminatory practices. Most recently, both Ethiopia and Nigeria have experienced bloodshed associated with a myriad of factors, including religious extremism and ethnocentrism.
War and Humanitarian Crisis in Tigray, Ethiopia
Ethiopia is a deeply religious nation. According to the Pew Research Center, an estimated 98 percent of Ethiopians say that religion is “very important” to them and 78 percent attend church at least weekly. About 43 percent of Ethiopians are Orthodox Christians, 35 percent are Muslim, and 19 percent are Protestant.[9] For over 1,600 years, Orthodox Christianity has been a binding factor in Ethiopian identity. Over this expansive history, empires and leaders have had varying degrees of religious tolerance/intolerance. The 1995 Ethiopian Constitution officially declared Ethiopia a secular state. While previously marginalized Muslims and Protestants celebrated secularization, many Orthodox Christians felt disowned.
Ethiopia’s current Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, is reinvigorating the role of religion in government by promoting Christian nationalism, reviving Ethiopia’s Christianity as core to its national identity while depicting all else un-Ethiopian. Abiy Ahmed seeks to “expand the kingdom of god,” despite the secular Ethiopian constitution. He has appointed to his council many Christian religious leaders including voices of Orthodox extremists who are known for their hateful speeches against the people of Tigray. Abiy’s speeches have dehumanized Tigrayans, depicting them as a “cancer,” “enemies,” and a “weed” to be exterminated. His words have empowered the destruction of mosques and the slaughtering of Muslims.[10] Since 2020, a large-scale conflict has ensued amounting to a war laced with religious extremism and ethnocentrism. The root cause of the conflict between the Ethiopian military and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, however, is not directly about religion. It is rooted in a political history marked by three decades of a brutal authoritarian regime. It is the extension of a continued struggle over power and the control of the Tigray region. Ironically, in 2019 Prime Minister Abiy had won a Nobel Peace prize for his commitment to democracy, peace, and unification in Ethiopia. Months later the Ethiopian military killed thousands of civilians.[11]
As a result of this war, more than 60,000 people have fled as refugees into Sudan. In 2021, Ethiopia had more internally displaced peoples than any country in the world. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, the two most prominent international human rights watch organizations, called the widespread violence crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, the mass expulsion or killing of an ethnic group.[12] The death toll is estimated to be about half million people, including those who died from the war or from subsequent hunger as Tigray’s supplies were destroyed and the region was cut off from humanitarian aid.[13]
Boko Haram Militancy in Nigeria
Nigeria is a country characterized by immense diversity in ethnicity, language, and culture. It has over 250 distinct ethnic groups speaking over 500 distinctive languages. While some practice ethnic religions, most are adherents of either Islam (prominent in the north) or Christianity (prominent in the south), and the number of adherents of each of the two religions are almost the same. Religious dominance is geographically discernable in a north-south division of Islam and Christianity and smaller subdivisions along ethnic lines. The largest ethnic group is the Hausa-Fulani, a predominantly Muslim group in northern Nigeria. The mostly Christian south includes the southwestern Yoruba and the southeastern Igbo. Nigerian ethnic and religious identities override national identity. Relationships between and among ethno-religious groups is fraught with tensions that escalated into a series of crises in Nigeria.
Nigeria is one of the most unequal countries in the world and socioeconomic divisions exacerbate existing ethnoreligious ones. The northern region stands out for its prevalence of poverty, lack of basic healthcare, and low female literacy in contrast to southern states.[14] The northern region also experiences most incidents of terrorism, or violence used to achieve a political/ideological goal. While there is no identifiable linear causality for terrorism, researchers associate terrorism in Africa’s multiethnic countries with structural violence, or the negative impact of deep disparities and deprivation in basic human needs. In 2019, Nigeria was only behind Afghanistan and Iraq in its death toll due to terrorism. Extreme lethal violence from terrorist groups has been prevalent in the country for over a decade. Boko Haram is one of the world’s most deadly terrorist organizations. It continues to unleash violence in northern Nigeria, including reoccurring incidents of mass rape and kidnapping of women and girls, destruction of schools, and assassinations of teachers. Boko Haram, which means “no western education,” seeks to eradicate all practices associated with the west and replace Nigeria’s new democracy with an extremist Islamic state. It sees itself as a virtuous Islamic sect fighting against immorality. Most of Boko Haram’s victims have been Muslims, and they use brutality as the expression of their arbitrations for who counts as a Muslim and who does not. Its ability to prevail as an organized Islamic terrorist organization in Nigeria is attributable to the inequalities among ethnic groups and the structural violence that North Nigerians have long suffered with growing impoverishment.[15] [16] Terrorism in Nigeria and bordering states has been a destabilizing force in the Sahel, which is considered one of the world’s most volatile regions.
Trialing Restorative Justice: Overcoming the Rwandan Genocide
Africa south of the Sahara has deep scars from a history of genocide, the most extreme form of ethnic cleansing focused on the systematic elimination of a group of people. One of the bloodiest of these events was the Rwandan genocide in 1994, which resulted from the culmination of decades of ethnic tensions rooted in colonialism.
Rwanda and Burundi were formerly joined as German colony (Ruanda-Urundi) that was conceded to Belgium after World War I. Ruanda-Urundi had two main ethnic groups: The Hutus, an agriculturalist majority who made up about 85 percent of the population, and the Tutsis, a minority of herders. The two groups are similar in culture, speak the same language, and share similar customs. The Belgians perceived the Tutsi as closer to Caucasian and established a colonial hierarchy by privileging the Tutsi minority to suppress the Hutu majority. They introduced an identity card that by law identified ethnicity and was used guarantee positions of power to the Tutsi. In the Hutu Manifesto (1957), the Hutu elite outlined their grievances with the solidified political monopoly of the Tutsi, citing injustice and dispossession of the Hutu majority.[17] After Rwanda gained its independence in 1962, the Hutu came to power and sought to gain political and economic prominence. The colonial legacy of ethnic tension culminated into episodes of violence.
By 1990s, Hutu nationalists began coordinating a genocide, channeling their grievances by declaring all Tutsis the enemy. In 1994, they unleashed a violent rampage to eradicate the Tutsi population. It is estimated that within three and a half months, between April and July 1994, more than 800,000 Tutsis were killed in Rwanda. The rampage exterminated more than half of the entire Tutsi population in Rwanda, along with thousands more from other minority groups and those, including Hutus, who stood to defend them. Millions fled to neighboring countries to escape the lethal violence. The genocide had a transboundary ripple effect causing an additional death toll of hundreds of thousands in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Coming out of the ashes of a violent becoming of an independent country, the Rwandan government, communities, and individuals have taken strides to overcome the genocide in a concerted effort to bring justice and heal wounds. One of the most remarkable aspects of this effort is the focus in delivering justice as an essential element of bringing peace. Since courts overwhelmed by endless genocide cases to be investigated, the justice system looked to employ conflict-resolution traditions as an African solution to African problems. This included the integration of local community courts and the involvement of local community in bringing justice and healing to Rwanda. Gacacas, meaning “grass” or a commonplace where communities gather to solve disputes, are community-based courts that have tried over 400,000 people between 2002 to 2012.[18] These courts provided a space for a cross-ethnic dialogue about the causes and impacts of the genocide, and trials included sentences decided by the community court. Accused perpetrators faced their neighbors, family members, community leaders, and those impacted by their actions in a deeply involved process. The approach led to the successful reintegration of perpetrators who served their sentences back into their communities. Some Rwandans welcomed the court’s swift work and the involvement of the local communities. Others thought the trials were deeply flawed and ill-conceived.[19] Despite mixed perspectives on the effectiveness of the Rwandan trials with restorative justice, the community-based trials left an enduring legacy of a deeply involved justice process that engaged nearly every adult in Rwanda in crafting a multi-ethnic future.[20]
Attributions:
“Tension and Tolerance” is excerpted from “Tension and Tolerance: Christianity and Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa Report” Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C. (April 2020), within permitted use.
The spread of Islam in Ancient Africa by Mark Carthwright (2019), CC BY NC SA 4.0.
"Overcoming the Rwandan Genocide" is modified from The Modern Sub-Saharan Africa Landscape by Caitlyn Finlayson, CC BY NC SA 4.0. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/03%3A_Africa_South_of_the_Sahara/3.03%3A_Cultural_Diversity_Resilience_Tolerance_and_Tension.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Describe African demographic patterns and identify the challenges and opportunities of a rapidly growing and young population.
2. Explain how the education of girls has changed overtime and how it relates to demographic change in Africa South of the Sahara.
3. Compare urbanization patterns in African countries to the rest of the world.
4. Explain the apartheid system and its long-standing legacy in geographies of access in South Africa.
5. Describe slum upgrading and participatory mapping.
Young and Growing Populations
Today, Africa South of the Sahara is home to over 1.1 billion people. Two countries have a population of more than 100 million: Nigeria (196 million) and Ethiopia (107.5 million). Population density varies, but high densities are found in coastal cities and surrounding fertile soils and great lakes of the Rift Valley. As a continent, Africa is the second most populous in the world (only behind Asia), and it is growing more rapidly than any other region. It is projected that the African population will grow to 2.5 billion by 2050.[1] This rapid population growth is attributable to markers of demographic transition, such as a decline in the death rate, a high natural increase, and longer life expectancies brought by greater access to more effective medical practices.
The UN estimates that the total fertility rate (TFR), the number of children born throughout a woman’s reproductive years, is about 4.7 in this region. This is more than double the fertility rate of any other region in the world. Cultural preference for larger families in rural Africa is a matter of practical decision making. Larger families can provide greater support for labor needs in and out of the household. African societies value children as an asset of social security as children will take care of their parents when they are older. Women are, however, having less children than in the past. The fertility rate is declining like it has in other world regions but at a slower pace. High fertility rates often strongly correspond to lower women empowerment, like access to education, healthcare, use of contraceptives, participation in the workforce, and strengthened rights. The increasing well-being and status of children and technological and economic changes are other key factors.
Africa South of the Sahara is home to the world’s youngest population. More than 70 percent of the African population is under 30 years of age and the median age is 18 years old (compared to 42 in Europe, 35 in North America, and 31 in Asia and Latin America).[2] African countries have the highest child dependency ratio, a large child population in relation to the working-age population. The population pyramid is a diagram that shows the demographic profile of countries and regions in terms of gender and age structure (see below). A high dependency ratio is a challenging demographic because the smaller working age population is burdened to provide the economic resources to support the needs of the youth like childcare, healthcare, and education.
Rapid population growth poses great challenges because it can outstrip resource availability and contribute to human suffering. However, in a continent with a history of depopulation due to the slave trade, colonization, and deadly pandemics, the patterns of rapid population growth and high shares of youth can be seen as an opportunity rather than a burden. This is true especially if government leaders can support the hopes of the youth. The African population of college-aged students and the working-age population is expected to double within the next decades. Young people need prospects to study and work. Yet, many African governments are struggling to provide, having high youth unemployment rates and strained universities in need for greater funding. In Nigeria, the population is growing rapidly, and the country is projected to become the third most populous in the world by 2050. Nigeria faces a tremendous challenge with a stagnated economy and a high unemployment rate. This reality will certainly impact the prospects of the Nigerian youth in attaining an education and entering the workforce and challenge political stability in the upcoming years.[3]
Expanding Girl's Education in Africa South of the Sahara
More education of African girls is one reason demographers suspect that the African population will peak sooner than expected. In the 1970s, about half of African children were enrolled in primary school. Today, that number is almost 100 percent.[4] The attendance rate is lower but also improving in most African countries. This is a remarkable achievement with potential impacts on population predictions since there are few things more influential on the fertility rate than female education. African women without a primary education have upwards of five children, those with a secondary education about four, and those who finish secondary school about two. Africa south of the Sahara still has more girls out of school than in any world region, and school enrollment leans male. But experts predict that for as long as female education continues to improve and expand, the African population growth will slow down.[5]
The empowerment of education has a ripple effect in other aspects of society. Educated youngsters are more likely to opt for democratic governance and to reject one-party rule and religious extremism. It is true that many students seeking higher education are going abroad. This means that many African countries face a brain drain, or the loss of skilled people. However, expats send money to support their families. In doing so, they increase the prospects of relatives of furthering their education and even attending college. In Ghana, children with a relative abroad were 54 percent more likely to attend secondary school.[6] The African diaspora also promotes transfer of knowledge, ideas, and technology. Many who return from college abroad become local leaders, assets known as brain gain. Lastly, demographers suggest that if African nations can better support the youth and their aspirations, they may well soon benefit from a demographic dividend. This means that youngsters will soon form a large workforce that can (if able to find work) drive economic growth and contribute to state revenues to further improve physical and social infrastructure. Considering these factors, the aspiring youth may be Africa’s demographic asset rather than its burden.
Fast Growing Cities
In contrast to other world regions, the population south of the Sahara is mostly rural. About 41 percent of Africans live in cities, most of which are small urban agglomerations. Lagos (Nigeria) has a population of 16 million (about the population of New York). It is the region’s only megacity, defined as a city with 10 million people or more. However, settlement is rapidly changing in Africa south of the Sahara. The region has the world’s fastest growing cities, and the urban population is expected to double over the next twenty-five years. This growth is a bi-product of high natural increase rates and rural-urban migration, or people moving from rural areas seeking opportunities in the city. Urbanization is a global phenomenon and a notable transition not only in where people live but also in ways of living. Urbanizing populations tend to be associated with increased access to higher wages, education, healthcare, and a subsequent decline in fertility rates. The economic prosperity of family members who move to the city tends to have a ripple effect in families. In Ghana, three quarters of the people who left villages for urban slums sent money to support their families back home and overwhelmingly perceived their city lives as better.[7]
Despite this optimistic outlook, the current growth of African cities outpaces current infrastructural and economic capacity. African countries are experiencing immense urban population growth, at a fast pace, and on a fraction of the economic means that helped the urbanization of other world regions. Much of this rapid urban growth is in the form of urban sprawl, as an uncoordinated and informal horizontal expansion of the city. Millions of Africans do not have access to affordable housing. Africa’s cities have the highest prevalence of informal settlements often characterized by lack of basic infrastructure, sufficient living space, and structural durability of homes, called slums. On average, 60 percent of Africa’s urban population is packed into slums — compared to about 30 percent in Asia and 20 percent in Latin America. Slums are grey areas of the city map: they exist in the city space and shape real lived experiences of millions of people but are not recognized in the formal functions of the city blueprint. In many African countries, most people do not have access to piped water, sanitation, and electricity, especially in rural regions but also in cities. In Nigeria, for example, only Lagos and Abuja have sewerage systems, and even in those cities most households are not connected. In Ethiopia, only Addis Ababa has a sewerage system, and the system serves only 10 percent of the population. Most countries struggle to expand sanitation and electricity infrastructure to keep pace with the rapid urbanization.
Just Transitions? Living on the Edge of the City in Post-Apartheid South Africa
When South Africa became independent from Britain in 1910, independence excluded non-white South Africans. A white minority of descendants of Dutch settlers, known as Afrikaners, came to power and legally instituted the notoriously racist policy of apartheid. The apartheid separated people into Black, white, coloured (mixed race), or Indian/Asian racial categories. It then restricted use of spaces and residence and forced the relocation of people from their homes into designated homelands based on their racial or ethnic background. In 1970s – 1980s, the apartheid regime received international condemnation. Many countries implemented economic sanctions and trade restrictions against South Africa to put pressure and bring the regime to an end. Opposition grew within the country and erupted into violence and social unrest. As a result, the white-dominated government of South Africa began to dismantle the apartheid system in the 1990s. The ban on political opposition parties, such as the African National Congress, was lifted. After twenty-seven years in prison, Nelson Mandela was released from prison, where he was held for his activism. The apartheid legislation was repealed, and Mandela was the first African to be elected president of South Africa in the new multiracial elections of 1994.
Despite the optimism that accompanied the end of apartheid regime and the subsequent approval of the 1996 Constitution, colonization and segregation systematically denied Black Africans access to high quality education and means of accruing wealth. It left an enduring legacy of inequality that is difficult to overcome in less than thirty years. Today, white South Africans have eight times the wealth of Black South Africans, and the richest 1 percent have retained steady high shares of wealth since the apartheid era.[8] Inequality also remains noticeable in the lack of sufficient water access of marginalized communities, mostly Black populations living in rural areas. In South Africa, less than 50 percent of households had access to piped water in their homes in 2019.[9] Large numbers of South African citizens, mostly Black and living in the poorest sections of townships or informal settlements, do not have continuous access to safe water.[10] International human rights emphasize the principles of equality and non- discrimination, which also form part of the constitutional and legislative framework on access to sufficient water in South Africa. Even if unintended, the inadequate access to water by rural Black communities was a core feature of the politics under the apartheid regime. It has not considerably changed in post-apartheid South Africa.[11]
Many South Africans living at the edge of cities also lack access to electricity. Enkanini – Xhosa for “take by force” – is an informal settlement in Stellenbosch, is one of the communities that struggle with access to municipal services including electricity. In order to remediate the issue, the Sustainability Institute developed the ishack, abbreviation for “improved shack.” It seeks to upgrade existing housing in Enkanini with better insulation and rooftop solar panels that are sufficient to power small appliances like lights, a TV, and cell phones. This energy leap eliminates the fire risk of using candles and paraffin lamps and provides an alternative to fossil fuels. Solar panels are produced locally and cheaply with local ingenuity and national/international funding. Enkanini’s ishacks are a co-production effort that joined knowledge from scientists, policymakers, and residents to provide solar energy as a meantime solution to Enkanini’s exclusion from the city’s grid. It is also emblematic of contradictions: while non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are preoccupied with aligning their projects with climate change concerns, the full scope of including Enkanini as a legitimate part of the city remains unfulfilled. In other words, the ishack is an intermediate effort that pioneers green energy solutions for the poor. But are Ekanini’s residents receiving solar panels as a token that accepts and even perpetuates their exclusion? Residents want more than a charged phone or a light bulb. And while ishacks alleviate immediate needs, residents worry that they do not open a window for full urban inclusion.[12][13] Full urban inclusion arguably can only come when residents of the periphery become integrated in service areas of their cities, receiving access to clean water, sanitation, and electricity.
Emancipatory Map-Making and Slums of Hope: Lessons from Kibera (Nairobi, Kenya)
In Nairobi, Kenya, most of the city population lives in slums, and the slum population is expected to double within the next decade or so. Kibera is a populous slum in Nairobi that holds over 200,000 residents, a prominent and visible place. A group of geographers traveling to Nairobi for a mapping conference could not help but notice that Kibera was not on the map. Despite it being a major part of the city, official records show that authorities labeled the area as a forest. This inspired the project Map Kibera, a community-based open-source mapping project that began in 2009. The project was designed as a grassroots mapping effort that empowered residents of Kibera to take the lead and produce digital maps as tools to increase their representation and influence. The project enlisted participants to map landmarks and features that would be helpful for day-to-day life. A map of health services or schools of Kibera, for example, can help illustrate the bigger picture of health care and education and be used to face government officials and draw resources. There is also a certain sense of security in being visible on the map, as visibility means that crackdowns on informal housing can be more easily broadcasted and known given Kibera's new cartographic connections to the digital (and international) space. In some ways, mapping Kibera became a matter of empowerment and pride.[14]
While maps alone cannot deliver urban inclusion, the community involvement exemplified in mapping Kibera is an essential component of any effort seeking to meaningfully respond to the needs of the residents of marginalized communities. Top-down governmental efforts to improve infrastructure within slums in Nairobi are often associated with negative impacts like demolition, relocation, displacement, and threats of loss of land and property. Based on these experiences, residents tend to distrust authority in truly taking interest in improving their lives. But community-based efforts require resources, so a matrix of grassroots, governmental, and international agencies is often needed to implement innovative ideas and improve the living conditions in slums. The Kenya Slum Upgrading Program (KENSUP), a collaboration between the Government of Kenya and UN-Habitat, utilized an integrative approach that combines the resources and structures of governmental institutions with community involvement in decision-making. Like Enkanini, Kibera became a site for slum upgrading and KENSUP projects focused on immediate needs like improving sanitation, drainage, waste collection, security, and transportation in slums.[15] The pilot project was completed in Soweto East, Kibera, as a "proof of concept" to demonstrate that upgrading the quality of life for slum residents is possible when resources are directed to include community members in decision-making. Recent studies reveal that the perception of Soweto East residents about the living conditions improved dramatically after the slum upgrades of KENSUP, especially in terms of water, housing, transportation, flooding risk, security, and education. This shows that integrative and community-involved approach for immediate solutions can result in effective outcomes.[16] [17]
Attributions:
Making Africa a Population Asset”, Africa Progress Group Report (2020), CC BY SA 3.0.
Empowerment of Women” by Max Roser via Our World in Data, CC BY 4.0.
Africa’s Cities: Opening Doors to the World” by The World Bank (2017), CC BY 3.0.
"Emancipatory Map Making" by Erica Hangen, Julian Stanmanns, and Till Straube in This Is Not An Atlas (2018), CC BY 4.0.
"Living in the Edge of the City in Post-Apartheid South Africa" is adapted from Water 'Apartheid' and the Significance of Principles of Affirmative Action in South Africa by Ademola Oluborode Jegede and Pumzile Shikwambane, CC BY 4.0 and Southern Africa in World Regional Geography by the University of Minnessota, CC BY NC SA 4.0. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/03%3A_Africa_South_of_the_Sahara/3.04%3A_Young_and_Rapidly_Urbanizing_Populations.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Describe how the conventional ways we describe wealth and poverty underestimate Africa.
2. Explain the resource curse thesis and why many African countries are particularly vulnerable to it.
3. Explain the African democracy gap.
4. Compare and contrast the first and second scramble for Africa and their enduring legacies.
5. Describe the characteristics of a third scramble for Africa and how it mirrors patterns of the past
6. Define carbon inequity, climate vulnerability, and climate resilience in the context of African countries.
Plundered Wealth
The image most people have of African countries is one of poverty. By the conventional ways wealth and poverty are measured, Africa south of the Sahara is the world’s poorest region. The region produces about 3 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP),[1] a measurement of the monetary worth of economic goods and services produced and traded within a country. African countries south of the Sahara have the highest extreme poverty rates, defined as the share of the population earning less than \$1.90 per day. While extreme poverty is decreasing in most countries, including many in Africa, defining poverty at such extremes should be questioned, as people earning, say, \$2.50 per day still experience acute deprivations. There is growing consensus among economists that broader thresholds are needed for best gauging the global progress in eradicating poverty.[2] Because poverty affects a person's access to health, education, risks, and opportunities, a single measure is insufficient. For this reason, the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative utilizes 10 indicators (including income, education, electricity, water, and sanitation) combined into a weighed Multidimensional Poverty Index to capture the world's poor in the context of a myriad of deprivations. In this more holistic measure, the same geographic pattern persists: deprivation impacts millions large shares of the population in Africa. Globally, this expanded multidimensional snapshot portrays a world in which deprivation is much broader and the share of the global poor is approximately 50 percent higher than what is defined by income measures alone.[3]
Conventional ways of measuring wealth and poverty can be problematic. First, the gross domestic product per person tends to mask the economic reality of most people because it produces an average figure that does not account for inequality. For example, South Africa has the highest GDP per person in the region, but it is also considered the world’s most unequal country. In 2019, the richest 10 percent of South Africans held more than half of the national income.[4] Furthermore, many African economies are growing rapidly in terms of their GDP, but rates of poverty reduction are not mirroring this growth. This suggests economic growth is not necessarily reaching the poor. The GDP is also misleading because it does not record the informal economy which consists of non-recorded everyday economic activities. It is estimated that Africa has the largest informal economy in the world, and most economic output and employment in African countries is informal.[5] Lastly, even purchase parity calculations in our conventional measures cannot fully grasp the wide differences in cost of living, standards of living, and lifestyles in the world.[6] The World Bank, for example, often gauges urban infrastructure through access to toilets. Flushing toilets are wasteful devices in countries where water is scarce. Latrines, or pits on the ground, are water efficient and effective at preventing contamination and dismissing them distorts the reality of global sanitation. Thus, in one way or another, may it be via the GDP or toilets, our conventional ways to gauge poverty and wealth tend to underestimate Africa.
Africa is rich. It has a growing workforce, booming entrepreneurship, high levels of biodiversity, and substantial petroleum reserves. The region is among the world’s richest when it comes to its natural resources, standing as a geological vault for close to one third of the world’s minerals. Africa has most of the world’s reserves of chromite, tantalite, cobalt, gold, phosphates, and platinum and produces most of the world’s diamonds, platinum, and cobalt.[7] Petroleum, too, is the backbone of many African economies, and despite the planetary havoc of burning fossil fuels, it remains the world’s primary source of energy. Why is it then that such precious natural resources make Africa rich by our conventional measures while at the same time large shares of the African people remain poor (by those same measures)? The answer is complex and beyond Africa. It is estimated that the majority of the world’s poor live in countries that are resource rich, where oil and minerals play an important role in the national economy.[8] For example, in Nigeria and Angola, the two largest oil exporting economies, large shares of the population remain poor. The Democratic Republic of Congo, containing vast mineral wealth with estimated worth in the trillions of dollars, remains entrenched in conflict and as one of the world’s poorest countries. Economists have long generalized this phenomenon as the resource curse, or the tendency of resource rich countries to reproduce poverty, conflict, and instability. It is a wealth paradox.
“The curse” is not a universal phenomenon and does not singularly explain why countries experience conflict, instability, or hunger. In Kenya, for example, resource industries are a minimal part of the economy, but poverty and conflict still occur. The resource curse is also not the product of an inexplicable spell but what tends to happen in many countries that rely on exporting oil and minerals. Something like this: First, the nation experiences a boom in exports of natural resources, which increases incomes and the prices of domestic non-natural-resource goods. This results in greater imports of cheaper goods from abroad which hurts domestic manufacturing and agriculture. This decline of other important parts of the economy can lead to an economic dependency on natural resources. Second, oil and mineral price volatility can put countries in and out of recessions, creating economic instability and hindering growth. Third, the revenue that is generated from oil and mineral exports largely comes from selling licenses to foreign companies to pump and mine by paying economic rents directly to governments controlling the resources. At its worst, this extractive and centralized scheme is accompanied by rampant corruption by government leaders, tax evasion by companies, and wealth accumulation by elites. Put together, these factors have been the focus of much scholarly work[9] looking to dispel Africa’s resource curse as a systemic looting that funnels profits from the land to both domestic and international actors.[10] [11] In this section, we will introduce some of these factors as they shape an ongoing scramble for Africa.
Legacies of Colonialism
Extractive economies
Many of the contemporary challenges in Africa today are rooted in the continent’s colonial history. As discussed in Section 3.3, colonial borders and their dynamics outlived colonization, fragmenting historic ethnic homelands and shaping devastating ethnopolitical conflicts. The economic impacts of the protocolonial and colonial period also cannot be underestimated. For example, in the North American colonies alone, Europeans profited from an exorbitant number of hours of forced free African labor estimated to be worth more than the total of today’s global economy.[12] Perhaps it is meaningless to attempt to quantify the plunder in trillions of dollars, as even the highest estimates are meager in the face of the suffering and enduring socioeconomic impacts of slavery.[13]
Even as the slave trade was abolished and begun to wane, slavery had established an economic model for the region based on extraction of Africa’s economic assets. A model that shifted from extracting bodies to extracting minerals and raw materials.[14] It was the prospecting of Africa’s natural wealth that led Europeans to rush to partition Africa into colonies in the first scramble for Africa. European colonizers were largely focused on exporting mineral and agricultural goods, with little attention to or investment in local development or connectivity. When rail lines were built in Africa, they were generally constructed to simply take resources from the interior to the coastal ports without concern for developing regional linkages. Local communities which may have previously practiced subsistence agriculture were shifted to export-oriented crops destined for European markets. This extractive relationship was based on an uneven exchange for manufactured goods from Europe. Consequentially, African markets were flooded with high value imported goods and indigenous production collapsed, resulting in a resource dependent economic model that persists in most of the region to this day.
The inheritance of authoritarianism
Nearly all African countries gained their independence during the Cold War. The struggle for control between the ideologies of the US and the Soviet Union shaped the second scramble for Africa. During the cold war, the US and allies and the Soviet Union backed many African dictators, government leaders who exercise absolute power. This foreign meddling played an important role in the chaotic beginnings of African states. For example, colonial powers like Britain helped rig elections in Kenya and Nigeria to assure that political allies would come to power, effectively corrupting attempts at political sovereignty.[15] Some of these newly “elected” leaders would rely on inherited authoritarian colonial practices upholding legal and economic systems for the benefit of the ruling few while legitimizing their authority through violence and repression. Decades after African independence were also marked by US or Soviet-backed coups, defined as the illegal overthrow of governments and their powers. It is estimated that between 1950 and 2010, the region experienced 87 coups,[16] many of which were violent and sponsored by outside interests.
Angola's post-war landscape: landmines, biodiversity, and oil
The ideological struggle of outside powers over Angola was an underlying force in Angola’s war for independence (1961-1974) and the subsequent civil war (from 1975-2002). During this civil war, the US, South Africa, and other allies supported UNITA rebels fighting against the Soviet-Cuban backed MPLA government. Each side was part of a proxy war fought under the influence of competing foreign powers. While the war has ended two decades ago, Angolans continue to live with the imminent dangers of a war landscape with thousands of planted landmines left behind from the decades of conflict. The landmines are violent remnants of outside forces, manufactured in dozens of different countries and planted in Angola by competing military powers. It is impossible to know how many of these remain, but estimates speculate that there could be hundreds of thousands of unexploded landmines in Angola. Approximately 88,000 Angolans sustain injuries from exploded mines. The efforts to clear mines are dangerous, expensive, and time consuming. Non-profit organizations and state-led initiatives have joined efforts to demine Angola, inch-by-inch. It is estimated that these efforts half removed about half of the existing landmines, and Angola’s government has set the goal to be mine-free by 2025.[27]
A National Geographic team of explorers identified the heavily mined interior Angolan highlands as of extreme value for wildlife conservation. It is part of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFC), the largest network of conservation in the world set to protect a natural region that transcends the borders of Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia. Because wildlife knows no boundaries and many species migrate seasonally, a regional approach is often necessary to protect migratory species. For example, Angola’s highlands are the primary source of the waters flowing into the Okavango Delta in Botswana, one of the largest and most biodiverse seasonal wetlands in the world at the heart of the KAZA TFC. The delta sustains large populations of cheetahs, lions, birds, wild dogs and the largest remaining population of the African elephant.[28] [29] Over forty years of conflict in Angola had severe impacts on elephant populations. Militias used poaching as a means of survival and sold elephant ivory to buy arms. With the war toll of human displacement in eastern Angola, elephant populations began to bounce back and reclaim territory and so did subsistence farmers. On one hand, the elephants threaten surrounding subsistence agricultural plots and property.[30] On the other hand, the restoration of wildlife creates attractive new economic opportunities for conservation-based local economies and wildlife tourism.[31] But eastern Angola remains one of the most heavily mined places in the world, disproportionately impacting the rural poor whose livelihoods are intertwined with mine-laced landscapes. Having such large parts of the country unsafe for people and wildlife hinders movement and economic possibilities for Angolans to derive their livelihoods from agriculture or wildlife conservation. Thus, mine removal is a first step towards expanding possibilities for sustainable livelihoods in an oil-dominated economy that employs few. Diversifying economic opportunities is an antidote to Angola’s resource curse.
Despotic leaders and coups are less common today than they were during the Cold War. The transfer of power in African countries in recent years has been largely peaceful and democratic. Yet, measuring democracy gains can be challenging because there is no universal definition of what constitutes a democracy. Most definitions would include a majority rule, free and fair elections, equality before the law, due process, political pluralism, and respect for basic human rights. Thus, reputable attempts to measure how well democracies are doing tend to look at these characteristics as a set of vital signs aggregated into an index. One of the most widely used democracy indexes comes from the Freedom House Organization. Their annual Freedom in the World Reports measure democracies by combining 10 indicators of political freedoms and 15 indicators of civil liberties[17]. From the combination of scores across these indicators, Freedom House ranks countries as either free, partially free, or not free. According to their 2022 Report, only seven percent of Africans live in free countries (South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Ghana), places where individuals enjoy political rights and civil liberties. Like global patterns, the last decade is marked by a decline of democratic governance in much of Africa, especially in Mali, the Central African Republic, and Burundi. Overall, Freedom House designates most countries south of the Sahara as not free[18] (see Figure 3.5.3).
The Democracy Index is another widely used comparative tool ranking democracies around the world. It rates democracies across sixty indicators measuring the electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties around the world.[19] Based on an aggregate measure, the 2021 Democracy Index categorized most African countries (23) as authoritarian (see Figure 3.5.3). In these countries, political pluralism is either absent or limited. In Rwanda and Eritrea, for example, the ruling party has absolute control on all aspects of political life. Eritrea has never held an election and Rwanda’s leader, Paul Kagame, has served as Rwanda’s president since 2000. Other authoritarian countries may hold unfair elections with deeply flawed and corrupted processes. Autocrats also show a disregard for civil liberties and silence the opposition through repression and censorship. Some countries (14) fare a little bit better and are categorized as hybrid regimes. In these countries, elections do take place, but they are not free and fair. Hybrid regimes are also characterized by corruption and weak rule of law. Examples include Nigeria and Benin. By contrast, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, and Ghana are categorized as flawed democracies, the same categorization for the United States and various Western European countries. These countries have free and fair elections and basic civil liberties but show weaknesses in governance and political culture and participation. The overall message from the Democracy Index is that there is a bleak democracy landscape in Africa south of the Sahara.[20]
Africans want democracy
There is a gap between the autocratic regimes of Africa and the demand for democracy in Africa. The Afrobarometer provides a pulse of African opinion in 34 countries. According to different rounds of their surveys (2011-2013 and 2019-2021), a large majority of Africans consistently oppose one-person, one-party, or military rule and show strong support for democracy as “preferrable to any form of government.”[21] Africans of all ages and levels of education reject leaders for life and support two-term presidential limits. In Gabon and Togo, two countries where a hereditary presidency has kept power within a single family for fifty years, the support for term limits is even higher. In all countries (except Lesotho) the majority prefer elections as a way of electing leaders. However, a recent decrease in support for elections shows disillusionment, especially with the malleability, irregularities, coercion, and violence that characterizes many elections.[22] Most do not believe their governments are handling corruption well and that corruption is getting worse.[23] The demand for accountability has substantially increased from the past Afrobarometer surveys, with most respondents agreeing that it is more important for the government to be accountable to the people and for presidents to “obey the laws and courts” even if the president “thinks they are wrong.”[24]
Support for democratic governance is also expressed in courageous acts of protest and resistance to authoritarianism. In Chad, protesters demonstrated against President Deby’s insistence on holding the presidency for a sixth term and continued to demand a return to civilian rule after his death in 2021. In South Africa, mounting discontent over cost of living, electricity, and corruption brought masses to protest in 2022. Both Ghana and Nigeria have had multi-sphere (digital and physical) social mobilizations in 2021. Ghana’s #fixthecountry activists mobilized against unemployment, corruption, and military brutality. Journalists, too, brave repression promoting new broadcasting channels for anticorruption investigative reporting in Ghana and Benin.[25] These pro-democracy efforts are expressions of a strong public engagement and a desire for freedoms and inclusive institutions as a way to promote more just societies and better lives.
The resource curse does not help the African desire to boot autocrats. That is because most governments in Africa receive large shares of their tax revenues from natural resources, not income or property taxes. In Africa’s biggest oil producer, Nigeria, only 4 percent of government revenue comes from taxing the people and about 85 percent comes from oil exports.[26] With petro-dollars flowing directly to government coffers, leaders feel less accountable to represent the interests of the people. Plus, an oil centered economy means that Nigeria is in and out of recession, depending on oil markets, and oil provides little economic benefits for Nigerians. For example, when Nigeria boasts high economic growth rates and increases its oil exports, unemployment in Nigeria continues to be high, especially for the youth. Autocrats also do not require popular support to fund their militaries and can leverage military muscle to remain in power. All of this results in lack of accountability and breeding grounds for corruption and reduced engagement with societal needs. But Nigerians remain committed to accountability. In 2021, the #endSARS movement sought to dismantle the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a special police unit notorious for their impunity and brutality against Nigerian citizens. While #endSARS did not produce the change that young Nigerians had hoped, it sent a clear message that Nigerians want more democracy, not less.
Scrambles 3.0?
China: Trading Partner or Neocolonial Power?
China’s economic and political influence is a key characteristic of today’s world. Nowhere else is this reality more evident than in Africa. Recently, China surpassed the United States as Africa’s largest trading partner, and China has invested more in Africa than anywhere else outside of Asia. Djibouti, a small country in the Horn of Africa, is home to the only Chinese military base outside of China. The strategic location of Djibouti near to oil shipping routes coming from the Red Sea makes it desirable for military bases. It is here that both the US and Chinese militaries exist within close quarters. The presence of the two mightiest superpowers in a tiny African country is an acute example of how resources and power converge in exact locations connecting global and local scales in intricate ways. Djibouti is only one of the many strong footholds of the globalized US military. China’s exclusive military presence in Djibouti, however, is a window to China’s leading role in broader shifts happening in the world.
The Chinese interest in resource-rich countries is not much different from the interests of western superpowers. China is an economic giant looking to secure access to oil, gas, and minerals and strategic ports to bolster its security and regional influence. China’s strategy in Africa is part of the larger Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a series of infrastructural investment projects looking to connect the economic giant to important resources and trading routes. It has been signed by 43 African countries and become a transformative force in the region. Take for example a tiny finishing village, Bagamoyo, in Tanzania. It is set to become Africa’s largest port with billions of dollars of Chinese investment. On land, the East African railroad project is being built by a Chinese company in Kenya. It meant to connect the port city of Mombasa to Nairobi and eventually the rest of East Africa. The BRI represents an expanded Chinese investment and lending with no strings attached. This means that China does not get involved in Africa’s governmental affairs and is willing to pour billions of dollars in infrastructural projects to access Africa’s natural resources without the preconditions of political stability, transparency, democracy, or human rights. Given Africa’s turbulent past with western influence and control, the “business only” approach is appealing. The African population is growing fast and urbanizing fast, more so than any region in the world. Chinese loans enable construction for much needed infrastructure to enhance extractive capabilities and boost trade and economic growth. [32]
The Sino-African relationship has been subject of much scrutiny and speculation. There is no doubt that there are mutual benefits to the relationship. Yet, it is also undeniable that there is a great power imbalance when African countries meet the world’s most populous nation and soon to be largest economy at the negotiating table. Some contend that China’s willingness to borrow with favorable terms and low interest rates is a type of debt diplomacy because African nations are owing more and more to China. Others note that China is still mostly importing oil and minerals from Africa and that the increased cash flow props up authoritarian leaders and facilitates corruption. In doing so, it offers a new world order that is friendly to dictators. Angola is a good example of such critiques. Angola has borrowed more from China than any African country, and it has also become one of China’s most important oil suppliers. Angola’s autocrat, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, has been in power since 1979. Under his rule, billions of dollars have gone missing.[33] In Ghana, China might be seeing greater benefits from their relationship with one of Africa’s few democracies paying obscurely low mining taxes in gold-rich Ghana. Chinese entrepreneurs have caught headlines for illegal mining operations, for abusive treatment of African workers, and for illegal fishing.[34]
What do Africans think? A 2019-2020 Afrobarometer survey suggests that Africans have positive views of China’s influence in their countries. But when it comes to a developmental model, the majority in most African countries surveyed prefer a US-style democracy.[35] In other words, Africans value China’s economic influence but still want democracy over authoritarian rule.
The Climate Burden
African countries carry a disproportionate burden of a global climate crisis. For decades, scientists warned that burning fossil fuels results in an accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere would disrupt global climate systems. Sea level rise, glacier melting, flooding, drought, loss of terrestrial and marine biodiversity, increased frequency and intensity of megafires and storms, heat waves, and increased uninhabitable land are all examples of the present and future impacts of climate change. Since the industrial revolution, African countries did not significantly contribute greenhouse gas emissions compared to European countries, the United States, and China. Since 1751, Africa south of the Sahara contributed a mere 2 percent of cumulative greenhouse gas emissions.[36] This is reflective of a deeply unequal world where the wealthiest 10 percent of the global population is responsible for more than half of the global greenhouse gas emissions. The global rich live everywhere in the world, but the US has the largest population of rich people.[37] Yet, it is the poorest people around the world, largely in Africa and Asia, that are disproportionately impacted by the adverse effects of climate change.
There is a myriad of ways to explore this disproportionate climate burden. Often, economic measures are used since there is no doubt that climate disasters pose economic costs. A global warming of 2°C is predicted to have a greater economic impact on poor countries with large projected GDP losses in Africa, especially those along the Sahel.[38] The World Bank estimates that business as usual means that 100 million more people will dip below the poverty line by 2030, exacerbating already acute deprivations in Africa and beyond.[39] Nigeria, the nation with the largest number of people living below the poverty line today, could see an additional 15 million people slip into extreme poverty.[40] These economic impacts are exacerbated because of the prohibitive costs of adapting to climate change. Countries unable to invest in technology and infrastructure experience greater climate vulnerability. Being vulnerable to climate change means being more likely to be adversely affected due to susceptibility to harm and lack of capacity to cope and adapt. A 2022 report from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) noted that human mortality from floods, droughts, and storms was much higher in regions identified to have high climate vulnerability. It also identified Africa south of the Sahara as a vulnerability hotspot due to intersecting factors that worsen climate risks like high instances of poverty, political instability, and conflict. Additionally, large populations of farmers, pastoralists, and fishing communities rely directly on natural resources for their livelihoods.[41] When environmental conditions cannot support livelihoods, people must flee. Climate-related migration is already happening all over the world. The World Bank projects that Africa South of the Sahara will see the largest number of displaced peoples due to climate change (see Figure 3.5.6). Considering these factors makes it clear that African countries face an environmental context that is economically burdensome.
Toward climate resilience: The Great Green Wall and Green Energy
The Sahel region faces high levels of climate vulnerability. Sahelian populations are intimately dependent on the land, as 70–92 percent depend on agriculture and/or livestock for their livelihoods. Most of the agriculture is rainfed, thus agricultural productivity is vulnerable to the low and highly variable rainfall typical of the region. Due to climate change, temperatures are expected to increase 3–6 °C up until the end of the twenty-first century, causing significant reduction in crop yields. At the same time, rainfall patterns are changing in unpredictable ways with indications of a shorter rainy season and extended droughts, making agriculture more challenging. Combined with topsoil degradation due to intensive agriculture and overgrazing, previously fertile lands are being engulfed into a desert, a process known as desertification. The environmental changes in the Sahel are of particular concern because of the other volatilities already existent in the region. Sahelian states have among the highest levels of multidimensional poverty, population growth, and ongoing political instability and conflict in the world.
The Great Green Wall (GGW) is a monumental reforestation effort to halt land degradation and restore the Sahel. It is a multibillion-dollar initiative involving a range of stakeholders including national governments, international organizations, the business sector, and civil society. Its origins can be traced back to Thomas Sankara, a pan-African theorist and Burkina Faso’s former president (1983-1987) who led efforts to combat desertification in his own country. By 2007, the idea of an African Green Wall had been resurrected and was adopted by 11 founding members at the conference of Heads of State and Government of the African Union. Since then, the project is 15 percent complete. It envisions to plant millions of trees along the Sahel with the aim to restore millions of hectares of degraded land by 2030 and improve livelihoods. This innovative solution is geared towards improving climate resilience by building the capacity of a social-ecological system to adapt and transform in the face of change to support human and environmental well-being. It reflects an ambitious long-term policy vision of a green, fertile, and prosperous Africa. The GGW could also be a potential catalyst in promoting closer collaboration between countries by strengthening solidarity among Sahelian states to combat the enormous social and ecological challenges of the region.
Attributions:
Conventional measures of poverty are informed by the World Bank. 2018. Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2018: Piecing Together the Poverty Puzzle. Washington, DC: World Bank, CC BY 3.0.
"The Great Green Wall" is adapted from Goffner, D., Sinare, H. & Gordon, L.J. (2019). The Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative as an opportunity to enhance resilience in Sahelian landscapes and livelihoods. Reg Environ Change 19, pp 1417–1428, CC BY 4.0.
This page is also adapted from World Regional Geography by Caitlin Finlayson, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/03%3A_Africa_South_of_the_Sahara/3.05%3A_The_Ongoing_Scramble_for_Africa.txt |
Re-framing Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA)
When we define a region there are physical barriers and borders like mountain ranges and oceans, cultural distinctions like shared languages and religions, as well as historical reasons at the heart of the regional definition. Like with other world regions, each one of the places within Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) has its own unique history, culture, and physical landscapes.
Although Islam, both Sunni and Shi’a, are dominant there are a multitude of other religious practices in this region. For example, Iran is a country predominantly identified with Shi’a Islam but is also home to traditions of Sufism, Judaism, Bahaism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity. Minority groups are often overshadowed by majority groups giving the appearance of wholeness when in fact the whole is made up of diverse groups. Homogenizing a region in phrases like the East, “Arab World,” or “Muslim World” is inaccurate and dangerous. The dangers of monolith logic or the homogenization of any region are that it threatens the dignity of the diverse cultures, histories, and geographies of a region. For the purposes of this textbook the world region of SWANA extends from the Atlantic to the Indian oceans. SWANA countries border the Mediterranean, Red, and Arabian seas as well as the Persian Gulf. The region includes seventeen unique countries (see Figure 4.3).
When you hear the term “Middle East” what comes to mind? For many North Americans several images might dominate your geographical imagination: large expansive deserts, a dry climate, women in black shrouds, and men in turbans might be a few ideas that spring forward. If you were to spend a bit more time thinking about it you might add Islam, fundamentalism, and oil. Let’s unpack these broad strokes, generalizations, or stereotypes. Firstly, “Middle East” in relation to where? “Middle East” is only correct in relation to Europe and suggests that Europe is where geography begins and ends. This geographical tactic concretizes Europe as the center of the world. A less Eurocentric way to name this region of the world is Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) because it uses the originating continent as its reference point.
In this chapter we acknowledge the existence, struggles, and resistances of indigenous people in SWANA. Indigenous peoples of Iran for example include Azeris, Kurds, Lurs, Baluch, and Arabs, Turkmen and other Turkic tribes, Armenians, Assyrians, and Afro-Iranians. Ethnic minorities named above are often unaccounted for in the state census. One of the most marginalized groups in Iran are the Dom who migrated from the Indian sub-continent in the 6th century. The Dom often live in quarantined areas with the majority of Dom, some 2.2 million people, living in southern Iran.
False polarization refers to the phenomenon of people perceiving a situation or issue as being more divisive than it is. This can occur when people are exposed to media that portrays two sides of an issue as being fundamentally opposed to one another, even if there is significant overlap or common ground between them. False polarization can lead to increased hostility and tension between groups and can make it more difficult to find common ground. Psychologists understand false polarization as a cognitive bias that functions to reduce cognitive dissonance (when belief and action are inconsistent) by assuming someone else’s views are more extreme than our own. In this case, the differences between SWANA and the west are often exploited for political and economic gain. The Pew Research center conducted a survey of traits associated with Muslims by westerners. They found that “fanatical, “honest”, and “violent” were the top three while Muslims associated “selfish,” “violent,” and “greedy” with westerners most often.
The concept of orientalism is critical for a discussion of SWANA. Orientalism is a way of thinking and acting that assumes that the cultures and societies of SWANA are inherently inferior to those of the West. It is a form of racism and cultural imperialism that involves stereotyping, fetishizing, and exoticizing these regions and their people. Orientalism is often evident in the way that people from these regions are portrayed in media, literature, and other forms of cultural production, and it can have real-world consequences in terms of how people from these regions are treated and perceived by others.
Edward Said, the Palestinian-American literary critic, authored a book in 1978 titled “Orientalism”. This seminal text has gone on to influence and spark complex investigations into how and why Europeans and North Americans conceptualize and represent SWANA the way they do. The first place to begin is with the term othering. Art and paintings more specifically have had a profound impact on how this region of the world was depicted from a Eurocentric perspective (see Figure above).
Centering Europe and decentering the rest of the world is a tactic that creates hierarchy and points of comparison. Processes of othering and imperialism are fundamental to structuring relations of power not only between races but between classes, genders, sexualities, and those who are labeled as different than the norm.
How then did Said define othering?
Othering refers to the process of treating someone or a group of people as fundamentally different or separatefrom oneself or one's own group. This can involve exclusion, discrimination, and even violence based on the perceived differences between the "self" and the "other." Othering is often based on factors such as race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, language, culture, and other aspects of identity. It can lead to dehumanization and marginalization of the "other" group and can have serious negative consequences for the people who are othered. It is often fueled by biases, stereotypes, and prejudices, and it can be a barrier to understanding, empathy, and social cohesion.
Orientalist paintings often depicted the East as backwards, lawless, and barbaric. In these paintings there was a preoccupation with harems and the exoticizing of eastern women who ironically were often endowed with distinctly western features, like light skin and thin eyebrows. Orientalist paintings worked to spread propaganda and the nationalist agendas of countries like France and England. Up until 1800, Europe had had little contact with this region of the world until Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt in 1801 and shortly thereafter the twenty-four-volume Description de l’Égypte (1809–22), illustrating the topography, architecture, monuments, natural life, and population of Egypt began affecting Europe’s cultural imagination around the East. People, places, and things from lands unknown fed into the imagination of armchair tourists throughout Europe to delight in, be fearful of, and be curious about the unknown. Early imperialists from Columbus to Vasco da Gama aimed to reduce differences for governance and control. In contrast, exoticism is the deliberate focus on elevating cultural difference, even exaggerating cultural difference, to project a European fantasy onto far away people, places, and things.
The World Geographies Atlas: Navigate each world region through maps
For each of the world regions, our original atlas provides detailed maps to help you navigate the places discussed in this book. These maps are meant to be explored before and during the reading of this chapter. These maps are best enjoyed enlarged. Click on each map for an enlarged view, and zoom in to see the prominent biomes, physical features, and population centers of Middle and South America. We recommend that you download these for reference as you read this chapter's content and hope that you enjoy this original compilation.
References:
Blatz, C. W., & Mercier, B. (2018). False polarization and false moderation: Political opponents overestimate the extremity of each other’s ideologies but underestimate each other’s certainty. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 9(5), 521-529.
Zagumny, L., & Richey, A. B. (2013). Orientalism (s), world geography textbooks, and temporal paradox: Questioning representations of Southwest Asia and North Africa. International journal of qualitative studies in education, 26(10), 1330-1348.
04: Southwest Asia and North Africa
Learning Objectives
1. Describe the physical geography of Southwest Asia and North Africa.
2. Identify key bodies of water, mountain ranges, and plate tectonic boundaries.
3. Evaluate the importance of water, arable land, and oil in the region.
Physical Boundaries of Southwest Asia and North Africa
Southwest Asia and North Africa are home to diverse physical landscapes and high mountain systems that feed into ancient river systems. SWANA is largely defined by vast deserts like the Sahara. The region is also bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the northwest, mountain ranges in Iran and Turkey, the Indian Ocean to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.
In response to the environmental conditions, the people of this region have developed cultural systems. SWANA is home to some of humankind's earliest agriculture, and humans continue to transform the physical landscape in profound ways. The Sinai Peninsula's sandy deserts and mountains are framed by the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba at the northern tip of the Red Sea. Gebel Katherina (Mountain of St. Catherine, 2637 meters) and Gebel Musa are the highest peaks (Mountain of Moses, also known as Mount Sinai, 2285 meters).
To the northeast, Israel and Jordan flank the Dead Sea, one of the world's saltiest inland bodies of water. Qumran is located on its northern border, with Jerusalem to the west. There are several large rivers. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow southeast through Iraq. The dark area between the two rivers, northwest of the Persian Gulf, is a very fertile region with a high concentration of fishing and farming. The Nile winds its way through eastern Egypt. Lake Nasser and the Aswan Dam are to the south, and the Nile continues north, passing the Temple of Luxor as it loops to the east. It then turns west and north, eventually passing through Cairo and spreading into a large delta before emptying into the Mediterranean Sea. The great Pyramids and Sphinx structures on the Giza Plateau are marked by a vivid dot just west of the delta's apex. The ancient city of Alexandria, Egypt's main seaport, is located on the coast west of the delta.
Arid Environments
The dominant bio-climatic feature of SWANA is aridity, or less than 10 inches (250 milliliters) of precipitation. The extensive east and west orientation of SWANA’s territory is near the Tropic of Cancer (23.N) where global air circulation patterns drive the region’s arid conditions. The low-pressure systems that arise because of the direct sun on the equator releases moisture and leads to tropical rainforests near the equator. The prevailing winds carry air masses to the subtropics, characterized by a high-pressure system of descending dry warm air which results in the world’s deserts. The Sahara desert, the world’s largest hot desert, spans much of North Africa and serves as a main geographical feature in distinguishing North Africa from Africa south of the Sahara. The Arabian Desert is dominant throughout the Arabian Peninsula, from Yemen to Iraq, as an extension of the Sahara Desert. There are also many Semi-arid environments, or environments with slightly more than 10 inches of precipitation, in much of Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Yemen.
SWANA is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of a warming planet because it already experiences annual summer temperatures of 100°F (38°C) in most places. Adding to SWANA’s vulnerability is the predominance of soils low in fertility. Because of mineral deficiencies in the soil and low precipitation, irrigation of crops is necessary. Unfortunately, this leads to salinization. Salinization is the accumulation of water-soluble salts in the soil. When the water evaporates, the salts are left behind. The main causes of salinization of soil are flooding, over-irrigation, seepage, silting, and a rising water table.
SWANA’s aridity is broken up by a variety of environments, including fertile areas and mild climates. Turkey and the Nile floodplains have fertile soils, and the Central Highlands of Yemen receive rainfall from the Indian Ocean's summer monsoon. SWANA has fertile soils, mostly along river floodplains and in Yemen's Central Highlands, which receive rainfall during the summer Indian Ocean monsoon season. Additionally, the coastal mountain areas receive more rainfall than the rest of the region. In fact, the mountain ranges of Turkey, Iran, and Lebanon receive most of the the region's rainfall. A rainshadow effect occurs on the central Anatolian Plateau in Turkey and the Syrian Plateau. The high peaks create conditions for condensation and rainfall on one side of the mountain while arid climatic conditions persist on the other. Mild Mediterranean climates follow the coasts of Morocco, Libya, Israel, and Syria along the Mediterranean Sea. Syria's biomes include desert, semiarid, Mediterranean, and steppe grasslands. Despite vast swaths of arid and semi-arid climates, the majority of human populations have settled around bodies of water and in Mediterranean climate regions.
Tectonic Activity and Mountain Ranges
The tectonic activity of SWANA is shaped by the interaction of several tectonic plates. The plate boundaries of the region include a diverging boundary that is continually splitting the Red Sea as the Arabia Plate moves northeast carrying the Arabian Peninsula away from Africa and towards Eurasia. This motion began millions of years ago, creating a rift valley that filled with water and is now the Red Sea. The Arabian Peninsula forms a tilted plateau and is the largest peninsula in the world. The peninsula is geologically significant because it stores one of the largest deposits of natural gas and coal in the world.
The northward motion of the Arabia Plate results in a convergent plate boundary along its northern edge, as the Arabia Plate continues to push towards the Eurasia Plate. The tectonic collision results in folding, faulting, and continental uplifting. The convergence zone is the geologic force pushing up the Zagros Mountains and the Iranian and Anatolian Plateau higher and higher each year in a seismically active region. In 2017, a massive 7.3 earthquake occurred along the Zagros Fold, with tremors in both Iraq and Iran killing over 600 people and leaving thousands without a home. The tectonic convergence also helps explain the differential topography of Southwest Asia, which is more mountainous compared to North Africa. In the Levant, the eastern Mediterranean region of Southwest Asia, the Lebanon Mountains rise 10,000 feet (3000 meters) in elevation. Turkey is home to several mountain ranges, notably the Pontic Mountains, which form an arch at the northern edge of the country and the Taurus Mountains along Anatolia’s southern edge. Mountains in Southwest Asia run generally parallel to the plate boundaries and are created by compression along fault lines in the region.
North Africa lies on the northern portion of the Africa Plate, along a continuation of a convergent plate boundary located in the Mediterranean Sea. The Africa Plate and the Western end of the Eurasian plate are moving towards each other. The Atlas Mountains in North Africa run parallel to the Mediterranean plate boundary.
River Systems, Hydropolitics, and Desalinization
River Systems
We have established that SWANA is predominantly arid thus water is a precious commodity. The two major freshwater river systems in the region are the Nile (the world’s longest river) and the Tigris and Euphrates. These river systems have been the source of life and livelihood for thousands of years, evidence suggests these rivers were settled by the world’s earliest civilizations. Although the Nile is the world’s longest river, it is one of the smallest major rivers in water flow. As it flows north, it serves as a major water lifeline for SWANA countries like Egypt. The Tigris and Euphrates run primarily through Iraq and extend into Turkey and Syria. The ancient civilization of Mesopotamia (from the Greek, meaning ‘between two rivers’) settled around the Tigris and Euphrates, a hearth of cultural, agricultural, urban, and technological innovations. Uganda, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt all rely on the Nile River for water consumption and irrigation. Dense population centers are often near the river systems because of natural irrigation of crops and nutrient- rich soil.
The Nile and Tigris and Euphrates river systems in SWANA are examples of exotic rivers. An exotic river begins in a more humid area and transports water to a dry region. The Nile’s source is in the humid highlands of East Africa. To form the Nile River, two tributaries of the Nile, the Blue Nile (flows northward across the Sahara) and the White Nile in Khartoum, Sudan join together and empty into the Mediterranean. Along its course, the Nile flows through vast arid, and hot landscapes and experiences high evaporation with no added moisture. Similarly, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers begin in Turkey and flow south to Iraq and Syria where they are critical freshwater sources.
The Euphrates is a major river in Western Asia that flows through Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. It is one of the longest rivers in the region, and it is an important source of water for irrigation, industry, and domestic use. The Euphrates rises in the Taurus Mountains of Turkey, and it flows southeast through Syria and into Iraq, where it eventually joins the Tigris River to form the Shatt al-Arab waterway, which flows into the Persian Gulf. The Euphrates passes through several major cities and agricultural areas, including the capital cities of Ankara and Baghdad, and it is an important transportation and trade route. The geography of the Euphrates is characterized by wide, fertile plains and rolling hills, with a hot, dry climate in much of the region. These exotic rivers are the life source for the people, animals, and vegetation of this region and tension and conflict over water access occur. Dam projects in southeastern Turkey, for example, have impacted access to Syria which is downstream of the dam.
Hydropolitics
Given the vitality of water for all civilizations, tensions and negotiations over water access are central to the political decisions of many countries in the SWANA region and everywhere in the world. The politics that impact access to water and water resources is referred to as hydropolitics. Arun P. Elhance, defines hydropolitics as “the systematic study of conflict and cooperation between states over water resources that transcend international borders". Sheik Ahmed Yamani, who was the oil minister of Saudi Arabia from 1962-1986 once commented that he wished they had discovered water and not oil. This statement makes it clear how essential water is even though oil has brought great wealth to the country. Saudi Arabia discovered oil in the 1930s and holds approximately 17.2% of the world’s oil reserves and is currently the largest exporter of petroleum in the world. Saudi Arabia, once a subsistence economy, is now the 18th largest economy in the world due in large part to its wealth in petroleum and natural gas. This wealth is mirrored by an acute scarcity for freshwater. From Sheik Yamani’s comments, we begin to understand the value of water and access to water. Water is necessary for all life on earth and there is no substance that can act as a substitute for it.
Water is a renewable resource in that it completes a cycle via evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. Water is a vital resource that is essential for all life on Earth. It makes up a substantial portion of the Earth's surface, with about 70% of the planet covered in water. However, most of this water is saltwater, which is not suitable for drinking or irrigation. Only a small fraction of the Earth's water is freshwater, and much of this is locked up in glaciers, ice caps, and underground aquifers. As a result, the availability of freshwater for human use can be a concern in some parts of the world.
Water availability can be affected by numerous factors, including population growth, climate change, and environmental degradation. In some areas, demand for water is outpacing the available supply, leading to water shortages and conflicts over access to water. Ensuring the sustainable management of water resources is critical for meeting the needs of human communities and protecting the environment.
People have done a lot to change how water is managed. We have made it harder for the Earth to store water because of the built environment (houses, roads, buildings), polluting water systems through industry, using too much water, and building dams on almost all of the world's major waterways. Former vice-president of the World Bank Ismail Serageldin said in 1995, "If the wars of this century (20th) were about oil, the wars of the next century will be about water." There are three main causes of water-related conflicts. First, people fight over water because of who owns it. Is it a public good or a private thing? Second, water privatization often leads to conflict. If water is limited, how do we decide who can use it and what it can be used for? Lastly, the diversion of water in mega-dam projects like those in Turkey, Egypt, and Lebanon, which can be seen all over SWANA, has had terrible effects on people who are already poor and live in fragile landscapes.
As water sources are used more for human needs, put under more pressure, and become less viable because of human activity, it makes sense that water is becoming more of a regional and global issue. Mismanagement of water, damage to the environment, overconsumption, population growth, and global warming are all serious problems that are linked to each other. The term, hydro-hegemony, describes gaining control of a river basin through capture, integration, and containment via coercive means that exploit uneven power dynamics. Hydro-hegemony is central to understanding hydropolitics. Central to hydro-hegemony is the consolidation of power over the river basin often in the hands of the actor(s) who exert geographical and material control over the area. In other words, hydro (which means water) and hegemony (which means dominance) has to do with who has control over a river system. An example of conflict and cooperation over water is the relationship between Turkey, Iraq, and Syria with the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The Euphrates and the Tigris both begin in eastern Turkey and flow into Syria and Iraq. The Tigris Euphrates River system discharges into the Persian Gulf. Since the 1960s, the three co-riparian states (states that are situated on the banks of the rivers), have been both conflictual and cooperative.Currently, the three countries are in conflict over access to the water because each one has engaged in extensive dam building projects.
Water Mining and Desalinization
Humans often respond to scarcity with innovative methods, techniques, and strategies. Water mining is a method that requires collecting groundwater through a system of tunnels. Gravity flow brings this water to the surface. Known as a gravity system of water mining, the foothills of a mountain or a hill where there is runoff from rain or snowmelt is the perfect site to dig holes into the ground to transport water to the surface. This relatively reliable system enables year round irrigation. In different countries and regions, this system has different names, like qanat in Iran , flaj on the Arabian Peninsula, and foggaro in North Africa.
Desalinization or desalination is also an innovative albeit more controversial water mining technique. Desalination is the process of removing salt and other minerals from seawater, making it suitable for drinking and irrigation. There are several different methods for desalinating seawater, including reverse osmosis, distillation, and electrodialysis.
Reverse osmosis (RO) and distillation are the purification systems normally used in desalination. RO removes many dissolved and suspended materials from water. Reverse osmosis is a process in which seawater is forced through a membrane, which removes the salt and other minerals. Distillation involves boiling seawater to produce steam, which is then condensed back into freshwater. Electrodialysis uses electric fields to separate salt from seawater.
Desalination is often used in coastal areas where freshwater resources are limited or where the quality of available freshwater is poor. It can also be used to supplement traditional freshwater sources during times of drought or high demand. However, desalination can be expensive and energy-intensive, and it can also have environmental impacts, such as the production of brine, a highly salty byproduct of the desalination process.
There are over 21,000 desalination plants around the world. The largest ones are in the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. The world’s largest is in Saudi Arabia, the Ras Al-Khair Power and Desalination Plant. Ras Al-power Khair's and desalination plant is on Saudi Arabia's eastern coast. The Saudi Saline Water Conversion Corporation runs it. As of January 2017, the world's largest hybrid water desalination plant began operations in April 2014. Israel currently has some of the most efficient desalination plants.
Desalination is currently expensive. The highest expense is energy. Desalination plants are also less accessible for places and people deep in the interior of a continent or at high elevations. The process is also controversial because of its potential impact on fragile ocean ecosystems.
Ecology and Land Management
Desertification is the process of transforming once arable land into a desert. The causes of desertification include deforestation, drought, and exploitative agricultural methods. Desertification, understood to be the degradation of land, is a natural process accelerated by exploitative agricultural practices by humans and global warming. Desertification impacts about ⅔ of the planet and has catalyzed the mass movement of people in search of land that will sustain them.
More than half of the ice-free terrain on planet earth has been altered by humans for a variety of purposes. On the image above, we can see that animal agriculture takes up 27% of the world's land area, or an area the size of North, Central, and South America (shown in red) (either grazing, meat and dairy production, or growing food for livestock). About 26% of the world's area is covered by forests. The largest biome on earth after the oceans is the Taiga, located in the northern latitudes. The green area in the accompanying map stands for the forested region, which is roughly the size of south of the Sahara Africa (excluding Libya), SWANA, and South Asia. The amount of land used to raise animals has had a big effect on the planet's soil fertility. Some experts say that one-third of the top soil has been lost. Industrial agricultural practices like tilling (turning the soil over, which upsets the delicate biology of the topsoil), using agrochemicals, and over-irrigating land are all major threats to the health and well-being of all life on Earth. Soil not only grows food, but it also stores carbon. This is what we call a "carbon sink." Studies have shown that soil and grasslands can store between 2.3 and 7.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide.
Like most places on our planet humans have decidedly transformed the natural environment, SWANA is no different. Biodiversity has dramatically decreased as human populations have increased. Looking at a map of SWANA’s plant and animal biodiversity is misleading. In recent history there were lush forests throughout Iran, Syria, Turkey, and Lebanon. The modification of the natural environment by human beings including overgrazing and deforestation have altered these forests to the point of extinction. There are currently only a few small areas of Turkey and Syria where forests remain. Lebanon is holding on to the last of its famous cedar trees, a national symbol, which now only grow in high altitudes. Iran has deciduous forests and there are forests in Morocco and Algeria that are mainly used as timber. Homo sapiens have occupied this region of the world for millennia and reshaped the range or the existence of the fauna that once lived there. Large mammals like leopards, cheetahs, and lions once lived in the region. Instead, now there are domesticated camels, donkeys, and buffalo as well as bears, boars, and wolves. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/04%3A_Southwest_Asia_and_North_Africa/4.01%3A_The_Natural_Environment.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Describe the significance of Mesopotamia as a cultural hearth.
• Describe the Otoman Empire and identify forces of expansion and contraction.
• Evaluate the oucomes of the mandate system.
• Indetify Indigenous populations of the region.
The Cradle of Civilization
The first humans to settle in SWANA, did so between 10-12,000 years ago. During this time, humans began to domesticate cereals like wheat and live in semi-permanent settlements. Significantly, there are an exceptional number of empires that once thrived in in this region. Innovations of writing, math, and culture emerged and spread throughout the world through global trade and exchange. The discovery of oil and European colonization has shaped SWANA’s geography as we will see throughout this chapter.
The Fertile Crescent is a region that arches in a crescent shape through the Syrian desert, the Nile Valley, and into the depression between the Tigris and Euphrates. The Fertile Crescent is a cultural hearth, an early center of agricultural innovations and subsequent population growth that led to urbanization and cultural development. Mesopotamia, the land between rivers, is named for the ancient river system. The Euphrates originates in Turkey eventually merging with the Tigris in the east and discharging into the Persian Gulf. These two rivers constitute a region of the world that was once controlled by many different empires, including Turkey, Iraq, Greece, and eventually Rome. Interactions between people and across empires led to cultural exchange and development on a global scale. Plant and animal domestication in the Fertile Crescent about 12,000 years ago allowed for these regional empires to develop. Plants such as wheat and chickpeas and animals such as sheep and camels were domesticated. With agriculture came permanent settlements and the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture and pastoralism. New agricultural technologies were invented such as the plough and metallurgy with bronze and iron. Tools of cooking and harnessing fire were invented all of which led to larger permanent villages. The region became more urban as more people lived in closer relationships to one another. As a cultural hearth, we see the development of unique architecture, early urbanization, and the birth of three major religions.
The Ottoman Empire
Who were the Ottomans? They were Turkish Muslims that came into power in 1100 CE and ruled for 700 years. From 1299 to 1923, the Ottoman Empire was a multi-ethnic and multi-religious state. It was ruled by the Ottoman dynasty, which was made up of descendants of the empire's founder, Osman I. At its peak, the empire was centered in what is now Turkey and ruled over a vast territory that included parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The empire was known for its powerful military, complex government bureaucracy, and artistic, literary, and architectural achievements. After World War I, it was dissolved and replaced by the Republic of Turkey. The Ottoman Empire stretched from southeastern Europe from the Danube River-to North Africa,-and ended in the Mediterranean. The Persians, Central Arabs, and Morocco did not fall under the control of the Ottoman Empire. By World War I, the Ottoman Empire had already been reduced to just modern-day Turkey and parts of the Arabian Peninsula. By the mid 19th century, Europe was attacking the Ottoman Empire. Britain had occupied Egypt and Tunisia was occupied by France. These colonial interventions in the region sparked nationalist movements in countries that were ruled by the Ottoman Empire.
The Mandate System and its Aftermath
By the end of World War I the Ottoman Empire came to be made up of only Turkey and several Arab provinces. The Arab provinces came under European power through the mandate system. Following the end of World War I in 1918, the newly formed League of Nations, forerunner to today's United Nations, established the Mandate System. The League of Nations was founded on the principle of collective security, or the idea that by cooperating to ensure the security of all nations, each nation would, in turn, ensure its own security. The British and French appropriated the land of the defunct Ottoman Empire and German colonies.
The Sykes-Picot Agreement, also known as the Asia Minor Agreement, was a covert 1916 agreement between the United Kingdom and France to disintegrate the Ottoman Empire. Their proposed spheres of influence and control in the Middle East were defined in the agreement. The agreement resulted in the division of the region into French and British spheres of influence, with the latter controlling modern-day Iraq and Jordan and the former controlling modern-day Lebanon and Syria. The agreement also proposed the formation of an independent Arab state or a confederation of Arab states in the Mediterranean Sea-Persian Gulf region. The Sykes-Picot Agreement is widely regarded as a major contributor to the current conflicts in the Middle East, as it resulted in the establishment of arbitrary borders that ignored the region's ethnic and religious diversity.
According to the mandate system, there were three types of territories: those that were close to independence, those that were not too far from independence, and those that likely would not reach self-determination (see below map depicting the direct control zones and “influence” zones of the British and French). The first step was for the European powers that held mandates in the region to establish constitutional governments.
A larger, established state would guide these territories. However, countries like Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Palestine deeply resented European interventions in the region and revolted. In practice, the Mandate System was a sort of state-sponsored colonialism. By the end of World War II all the states that were once European mandates had achieved independence.
The legacy of the Ottoman Empire and the European mandate system left behind many complex issues for the development of these regions. How to unite a diverse citizenry under a new national identity that is not French, British, or Spanish? How to promote fair and even development when European rule had privileged urban centers over rural areas?
These countries were entering the new global economy of the time as autonomous countries. Autonomy instantiated diverse economic strategies that often created divisions between the rich and the poor. There was an attempt by countries such as Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Tunisia, and Algeria to deprivatize or nationalize their key economic industries. In other words, to switch from private control to governmental control. Intergovernmental organizations began to pressure many of these countries to return to privatizing their economies. Institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank demanded privatization in exchange for aid money. This economic model is known as neoliberalism. The main characteristics of the neoliberal approach are the privatization of basic services and economic sectors, deregulation of markets, lowering trade barriers, and economic austerity which involves decreasing government spending amongst other cutbacks. Neoliberal policies prompted social and geographical change in these countries. The cost of living and basic necessities like food increased while important social services like health and education were divested. Rural dwellers moved into the city to find higher paying work but in those cities access to transportation, housing, clean water, and education were limited. These limitations set up the conditions for the growth of squatter settlements less formally known as slums poor sanitation, and working in informal economies, or doing work that is not regulated or taxed.
The Negev Bedouin of Israel and the Jahalin Bedouin of Palestine
The Negev Bedouin have lived for centuries as semi-nomads in the Negev (Naqab in Arabic) desert for centuries.They are herders and agriculturalists that determine land ownership through kinship systems. The Negev live in complex relation with the harsh and arid climate and landscapes of the region. 65,000-100,00 Bedouin lived in the Naqab prior to 1948 and the establishment of the state of Israel. Today, approximately 11,000 Bedouin remain in the Naqab. The state of Israel dispossessed the Bedouin of the Negev desert of their ancestral homelands. The majority of the Bedouin were forced to migrate. They had little choice and now live in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, and Egypt. The Bedouin that do remain in Israel have been forced into military administration zones called al-Siyāj. Their ancestral lands were diminished to a tenth of what they once were. Entire Bedouin villages from the Northern and western Naqab were forced into the al-Siyāj. The state of Israel strategically rendered the Bedouin as refugees by way of legal proclamations such as the Absentee Property Law (1950), the Land Acquisition Act (1953), and the Dead Negev Doctrine. Israel decided that Bedouin land was Mawat (“dead”, uncultivated agricultural lands) and reclaimed it as belonging to Israel. Scholars argue that the lack of state recognition of Bedouin land rights by Israel is illegal and that international law should protect the Bedouin. Currently, it is estimated that the Bedouin of the Negev desert numbering 200,000-300,000 people live in government planned townships, recognized villages, and unrecognized villages in Israel. Those who live in the unrecognized villages are considered to be trespassers by the state of Israel and they are about half of the Negev Bedouin population.[1]
The Amazigh of Algeria
The Amazigh also known as Berbers are an ethnic group indigenous to North African countries like Algeria, Morocco, Libya, and Tunisia. However, there are pockets of Amazigh in Mauritania, Burkina Faso, northern Mali, and northern Niger. Amazigh or plural Imazeghen means “free people.” The term Berber comes from meaning "non-Greek-speaking" or "non-Greek peoples." Amazigh is an indigenous term to refer to the ethnicity, Berber is the term given to the Amazigh by westerners and Arabs, while Kabyle is one of the many tribal confederacies of Amazigh peoples in Kabylia.
In Algeria, the government does not recognize the Amazigh and therefore does not publish statistics on the number of Amazigh people in the country. It is estimated that there are at least 12 million Amazigh in Algeria. They live in at least five territories throughout Algeria, and there are large populations living in the northeast and in urban areas like Algiers. The majority of Amazigh living in urbanized populations have assimilated into the majority Arab ethnic group. Although Amazigh can be distinguished by belief systems, culture (like clothes, food, music) and language. Tamazight, the language the Amazigh speak, was recognized as a national and official language in Algeria’s constitution very recently in 2016. While officializing their language is a form of visibility, the Amazigh in practice is marginalized by the majority Arab population and state institutions. Algeria is understood to be an Arab country and there are anti-Amazigh laws that continue to be enforced (see 1992 Law on Arabization).
Algeria in recent years has begun to actively pursue groups that the government believes to be engaged in terrorist activities, including the Amazigh. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/04%3A_Southwest_Asia_and_North_Africa/4.02%3A_Indigenous_Worlds.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Describe the cultural hearths and innovations of Southwest Asia and North Africa and provide examples.
2. Identify the languages of the region and predominant geographic distributions.
3. Compare and contrast the Abrahamic Religions and their connection to Jerusalem.
4. Describe the characteristics of Islamic practice and belief and how it shapes holy spaces.
5. Identify the geographies of Islam by religious sectors and evaluate the impact of the religion in the SWANA region.
A Center of Innovation
SWANA is the birthplace of some of the earliest forms of urbanization. As humans continued to domesticate plants and animals, they experimented with agricultural practices, invented systems to irrigate larger areas, and settled in larger numbers. Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) is home to the earliest settlements along the lower valley of the Tigris and Euphrates. By 3500 BC, cities like Eridu and Ur had reached populations as high as 35,000. As populations grew a class of artisans, priests, and administrators emerged. Because these cities were central to trade routes, new ideas were exchanged. Mesopotamia is credited with the invention of writing (innovations that also arised independently in Egypt, Indus Valley, China, and Mesoamerica). Many aspects of daily life taken for granted in the present day, such as the wheel, a code of laws, the sail, the concept of the 24-hour day, beer-brewing, civil rights, writing, and organized religion, for example, were all first developed in the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
Among these fundamental cultural contributions, the development of writing is worth noting as we celebrate it at this very moment, conveying this lesson in written form. Cuneiform, a system of writing developed by the Sumerians of Mesopotamia (c. 3500-3000 BCE), is considered the world’s oldest writing system and a cornerstone of human innovation. When the ancient cuneiform tablets of Mesopotamia were discovered and deciphered in the late 19th century CE, they shifted the epicenter of human understanding of history. Prior to this discovery, the Bible was considered the oldest book in the world, and the Song of Solomon was thought to be the oldest love poem. All of that changed with the discovery and decipherment of cuneiform, which established the oldest love poem in the world to be The Love Song of Shu-Sin dated to 2000 BCE, long before The Song of Solomon was written. The great literary works of Mesopotamia such as the famous Epic of Gilgamesh were all written in cuneiform and were completely unknown until the mid-19th century.
Cuneiform provided a foundation that other cultures would borrow and improve upon overtime. According to some scholars, the concept of writing diffused to Egypt through trade. Ancient Egyptian writing is known as hieroglyphics ('sacred carvings'), developed at some point prior to the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150 -2613 BCE). While there certainly was cross-cultural exchange between the two regions, Egyptian hieroglyphics are completely Egyptian in origin; there is no evidence of early writings which describe non-Egyptian concepts, places, or objects, and early Egyptian pictographs have no correlation to early Mesopotamian signs. Thus, SWANA is home to two likely independent innovations in writing – cuneiform and hieroglyphics.
Languages
In North Africa and much of the Arabian Peninsula, Arabic is the predominant language. The vast geographical expanse of Arabic speakers make for great variations of how the language is spoken, with many dialects and context specific ways of communicating. The issue of when a new form of speech constitutes a new dialect or a full-fledged language is often highly contentious. Many of the languages of SWANA consist of numerous sub-dialects. Some are similar enough that speakers of different dialects can understand one another while others are not. It is a spectrum, rather than a definite line.
Arabic is part of the Semitic Languages group, which includes Hebrew, Armaic/Syriac and others. Semitic languages are important due to the histories of the Ancient Semitic civilizations, such as Sumeria, the Hebrew communities, Arab communities, and Aramaic-speaking communities of today. Abraham was an Akkadian speaker, and Jesus’s native tongue was Aramaic. Hebrew is the traditional language of the Jewish people and the living language in Israel since the late 19th century. It is the language of the central Jewish scripture, the Torah.
Persian is the main language spoken in Iran (and Afghanistan and Tajikistan). Being one of the Indo-Iranian languages, and part of the Indo-European family of languages, it is much closer to English in structure than the Semitic or Turkic languages. Thus, it takes less time for a native English speaker to learn Persian than to learn Arabic, Hebrew, or Turkish. Lastly, Turkish languages are also widely spoken across political borders, predominantly Turkish in Turkey. Other Turkish languages are spoken in Northwestern and Southern parts of Iran. Together, Arabic, Persian, and Turkish are the most spoken languages in the SWANA region.
Origins of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
The Fertile Crescent is traditionally associated with the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths as the earthly location of the Garden of Eden, a divine area that features prominently in the Bible and Quran.This sacred geography is central in the story of origins of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, all Abrahamic religions, religions that trace their holy lineages and monotheistic traditions to Abraham. They all refer to the same God: Yahweh in Hebrew; Jehovah in English; Allah in Arabic; Khuda in Persian.
Judaism is recorded to be the world’s first monotheistic religion, or religion that follows the belief that there is one and only God. Jews believe that Abraham, sometime in the 2nd millennium BCE, established the first covenant with God, an agreement that God would protect the chosen people of ancient Israel and Judah in return for their fate and devotion. The central Jewish holy text, the Torah, includes a discussion of the creation of the world as well as the establishment of this covenant. About 2,000 years later, Jesus brought new teachings to the Jewish people with love as the central religious doctrine. Those who believe Jesus was the messiah, or the divine representation of God sent to Earth to save humans from their sins, are followers of Christianity. The teachings of Christ are recorded in the Bible’s New Testament and are central to Christian belief and practice. Later in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Prophet Muhammad (570-632 CE) prophesized a continuation of the teachings of Abraham, based on new revelations from God received from angel Gabriel. The teachings of Prophet Muhammad are recorded in verses in the Islamic holy book, the Quran. Muslims believe Prophet Muhammad is God’s last prophet, one who came after Christ with a new message to humankind. Islam teaches that Jesus was a prophet and much of the story of Jesus’s death and life in the Quran is similar to the story in the New Testament.
This table categorizes Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - three Abrahamic religions - in terms of similarities and differences.
Judaism Christianity Islam
Concept of God, monotheism One god, considered as creator and sustainer of the universe. Worship of any additional gods is discouraged by banning images of humans and animals which could potentially be idols. One god, considered as creator and sustainer of the universe. God as cause of Mary’s immaculate conception, and “father” of Jesus. The Holy Trinity represents one God, as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. One god, considered as creator and sustainer of the universe. God possesses no partner, no offspring. Worship of any additional gods, or idols, is strictly forbidden. Worship of any additional gods is discouraged by banning images of humans and animals which could potentially be idols.
Messengers of God/ Prophets Belief in prophets of God. Belief in prophets of God. Jesus is considered the Son of God and the messiah. Belief in prophets of God. Belief that Muhammad is the last of God’s prophets. Jesus is considered a prophet.
Scripture Torah (including the Ten Commandments). Torah (including the Ten Commandments); New Testament. Torah (including the Ten Commandments); Psalms; Gospels of the Christian Bible; Qur’an
Main subdivisions Conservative, Reform, Orthodox Catholic, Protestant, Eastern Orthodox Sunni, Shia, Sufi
Story of origins Adam and Eve as the first humans; the great flood; Adam and Eve as the first humans; the great flood; Adam and Eve as the first humans; the great flood;
Sacred places Jerusalem Jerusalem, Bethlehem Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem
Holy Jerusalem: A Complex and Contested Sacred Space
Jerusalem is holy land for Christians, Muslims, and Jewish who altogether account for half of the world’s population. It is the world’s most contested city as no other place has been more bitterly fought over for millennia. Jewish, Roman, Byzantine, early Muslim, Christian crusader, Ottoman, and recent rulers all have a hand in the two-thousand-year-old blueprint of Old Jerusalem. Some of its buildings are sacred places for innumerous followers of the world’s Abrahamic religions. The Wailing Wall, or Western Wall, is sacred to Jews. It represents the remnants of King Solomon’s (970-931 BCE) Temple of Jerusalem, a temple that has been destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again. Adjacent to the ruins of Solomon’s temple, the Dome of the Rock contains the believed site of Abraham’s demonstration of utmost fate through the near sacrifice of his son, a site sacred to all three religions. The 7th century building is one of the most ancient examples of Islamic architecture and the third most sacred site for Muslims, after Mecca (where the Kaaba is located) and Medina (where the tomb of Prophet Muhammad lies). Muslims believe it is the site where Prophet Muhammad journeyed and prayed with Angel Gabriel, ascended to heaven, and the furthest point from which he traveled from Mecca – hence the mosque’s Arabic name Al-Aqsa (or “the furthest mosque”). As a shrine, not a mosque, it is open to all visitors. While Christians continue to revere the Old Testament and associated sacred sites, holy sites connected to the stories of Jesus’s life and death are of particular importance. The most sacred is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, believed to contain Jesus’s tomb and the sites where he was crucified and resurrected. The centerpiece is the tomb itself which is housed in a cupola in the center of the church.
Diffusion
Judaism is an ethnic religion, attached to the identity of the Jewish people. The spread of Judaism is associated with the (often forced) migration of Jewish people, not active conversions. Nonetheless, not all Jews are religious, and non-religious Jews identify as Jews based on ancestry and culture. In contrast, Christianity and Islam are universal religions, or religions that aim to be open for anyone to ascribe to their belief systems. Both Islam and Christianity have adherents of diverse cultural identities all over the world, a biproduct of their paths of diffusion. Today, more than half of the world’s population follows a monotheistic religion. Christianity is the world’s largest religion (2.4 billion followers), followed by Islam (1.8 billion followers) which is also the fastest growing.
SWANA and the Muslim World
SWANA is often considered to be the land of Islam. About 93 percent of the SWANA population is Muslim and, except for Israel, every nation in SWANA is a Muslim majority nation. The prevalence of Islam and Arabic in SWANA often dub the region as the “Muslim World” or the “Arab World.” The cultural connections between Arabic and Islam make it far too easy to conflate Arabs and Muslims. Most Arabs are indeed Muslim, but the vast majority of Muslims are not Arabs. Consider that the largest Muslim-majority country in the world, Indonesia, is neither Arabic-speaking, nor located in the SWANA region. In fact, most Muslims live outside of the region - in Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and Nigeria, for example, and are non-Arabs. Many Muslims in SWANA, too, are not Arabs, like Persians (the ethnic majority in Iran), Turks (ethnic majority in Turkey), and Kurds (ethnic group distributed in Syria, Iraq, Turkey). Thus, we are cautionary of sweeping such a vast region into a monolith, noting that while language, religion, and ethnicity are interrelated factors in shaping identities, they are not always aligned. Divisions within Muslims, like Shia and Sunni, further highlight a complex identity mosaic. Further complicating is the fact that Muslim-majority nations have sizable Christian populations, like Lebanon (40% Christian). In Egypt, Coptic Christianity remains a key character of the country’s ancient history. Alexandria was home to the first school of Christian learning and Egypt has the largest Christian population in the region, despite Christians being a minority there.
With that said, there is still a great connection between an Arab identity and Islam. The Quran is in Arabic and terminology and script used in most Muslim majority countries is Arabic. Furthermore, Arabic and many aspects of Arab culture spread worldwide through Islam. Standard Islamic expressions, such as the greeting, es-Salamu ‘Alaykum (“Peace Be Upon You”) remain in Arabic, regardless of cultural context.
Practice and Belief
The Five Pillars of Faith form the foundation for Islamic belief into practice. First, the pillar of Shahadarefers to a declaration of faith. It is generally recited in Arabic but translates as “There is no god but God (and) Muhammad is the messenger of God.” Stating this phrase with conviction is all that is required to convert to Islam. Second, the pillar of Salat refers to prayer five times per day. When Muslims pray anywhere in the world, they follow a cleansing ritual and face Mecca, the holiest site of Islam. The third pillar of Islam, Zakat, refers to charity. Muslims are required to donate 2.5 percent of all assets each year. The fourth pillar, Sawm, requires Muslims to fast during the month of Ramadan. During this month, adult Muslims abstain from food, drink, and sex during daylight hours. Those who are ill, pregnant, elderly, or are otherwise unable to fast are exempt from the requirement. The month-long fast is designed to bring Muslims closer to God, but also humble them with the feeling of hunger in the hopes that they will be mindful of those who are less fortunate throughout the rest of the year. Finally, the fifth pillar of Islam is hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca that is expected for all physically and financially able Muslims to complete at least once in their lifetime. During the hajj, which lasts several days, Muslims complete a series of rituals, some dating back to the time of Abraham.
A Globalized Hajj and the Transformation of a Holy City: Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Nearly all belief systems of the world ascribe sacredness to places, often revering and transforming them in search of a greater connection with the divine. Often, sacredness is ascribed to places of significance in a messiah/prophet's life, like places of birth, enlightenment or divination, and death. In Islam, there are various sites that are significant in prophet Muhammad's life and the origins of Islam. The most sacred of these sites is in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the location of the mosque of Mashid al-Haram. This great mosque contains the Kaaba, a cube-shaped structure draped in black silk that is considered the holiest object in Islam. Muslims believe that the Kaaba was built by Abraham with the help of his son Ishmael on a site historically sacred to local peoples of various beliefs in pre-Islamic times. Within it, there is a sacred stone revered as the only vestige of Abraham’s Kaaba. Every pilgrim seeks to touch it or kiss it, as Prophet Muhammad did. It is said that the stone has concaved from the sheer number of human hands that touch it and turned black from absorbing human sins.[1]
For centuries Muslims have sought to complete their pilgrimage to Mecca, the hajj, to replicate rituals following the steps of Prophet Muhammad. Before today’s ease of air travel, getting to Mecca was often a difficult and humbling journey – a pilgrim coming from Pakistan would have to cross mountains and the Arabian sea and desert before reaching the holy city. Access is much easier today, and Mecca is among the most visited religious sites in the world. It hosts about 2 to 3 million pilgrims each year, a small number compared to the 1.8 billion Muslims in the world. Mecca remains an exclusive city. Non-Muslims are forbidden and yearly quotas for pilgrims are enforced, but the number of visitors outweigh the number of residents.
Mecca is one example of the struggle between local spaces transformed into globalized spaces. Geographers study these complex dynamics and the homogenizing and dispossessive effects of globalization. Hosting millions of pilgrims from all over the Muslim world has resulted in a transformation of Mecca. It is estimated that within the last several decades over 90 percent of its original buildings have been destroyed to expand Mecca’s hajj capacity.[2] Saudi photographer, Ahmed Mater, recorded some of this spatial transformation through a collection of photographs titled “a prayer for Mecca” that showcases the scale of ambitious construction projects.[3] The story in Mater’s photographs transmit great grief and echo pervasive criticisms of the bulldozing of historically and culturally significant sites to make way for expanded freeways and modern towers for five-star hotels and other global capitalist chains that dot many of today’s urban landscapes. Modern Mecca is filled with contradictions, striped of its antiquity for skyline buildings that tower wealth over Islam’s holiest site, a place where pilgrims come to be humbled before God. Ultimately, a globalized hajj has meant that more Muslims are able to access Mecca’s holy sites but welcoming more pilgrims has resulted in the bulldozing of the landscape and the architectural memory of holy Mecca.
Religious Divides
As with other Abrahamic religions, there are divisions within Islam that separate it into two major sects. Immediately after Muhammad’s death, disagreements arose over who should succeed Muhammad as the leader of the Muslim faith. Most Muslims believed that the leader of Islam should be the person who is most qualified. Today, this group represents the Sunni branch of Islam. Others, however, believed that the only rightful leader must be a blood relative of Muhammad. This group is known as Shia, which derives from the Arabic phrase shi’atu Ali meaning “followers of Ali,” who was Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law. The differences between Shia and Sunni Muslims are primarily rooted on this history and not as much on differences in doctrine. There are a lot of theological similarities between Shias and Sunnis: both follow the five pillars of faith, the Quran is word for word the same for both, and prayer is largely the same.
Sunni is the largest branch of Islam, with around 90 percent of Muslim adherents. Most nations in SWANA have a Sunni majority population, including all of North Africa and most nations in the Arabian Peninsula. Close to 10 percent of Muslims are Shia. In Iran, Iraq, and Bahrain, Shia Muslims makeup for the majority of the population. For centuries, sectarianism, or divisions along sectarian lines of Islam, has culminated into tension and conflicts as Sunnis and Shias compete for political power and representation. Saudi Arabia (Sunni) and Iran (Shia) are dominant geopolitical powers that take opposing sides in ongoing sectarian conflicts in the SWANA region. Their competing influence was particularly evident in Syria’s civil war (2011), which started as peaceful protests that evolved into a violent and bitter war. On one side, Iran continued provided military support to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. On the other, Saudi Arabia provided military support to rebel groups seeking to overthrow al-Assad. These outside investments (which included a network of powerful alliances within and beyond the region) exacerbated the capacity of both the rebels and the state for lethal violence and massive destruction in Syria. Over the years, the civil war became a transboundary phenomenon. It intensified sectarian instability in Iraq where the Shia and Sunni populations are evenly divided and where the US-invasion and retreat resulted in great instability. Sectarianism is manageable and does not always result in violent sectarian conflicts, but when they arise, they are not necessarily about religious difference but about which group should be in power. Often intertwined with many factors and allies, outside geopolitical interests often escalate these tensions.
Sharia and Legislation
Devotion to Islam means a commitment to the five pillars of faith and to the lessons of Prophet Muhammad as a way of living that is embodied in a set of Islamic principles and rules called sharia. In Arabic, sharia means “the way” or “the correct path”, a divine and philosophical guidance that forms the moral framework of Islam. Much of sharia is dedicated to everyday practice of Islam: like pray five times a day in prescribed manner, give to charity, and fast during Ramadan, for example. The Quran is the primary source for everyday guidance, as it details a path to a moral life, principles to live by. A part of sharia is about matters of public life.
The degree in which sharia transpired into legislation varies across SWANA and in the broader Islamic world. Countries with a declared separation of the state and church, where civil law is not informed by religious codes and where one religion is not favored by government institutions are called secular states. Countries where religious codes shape civil law and government institutions are called religious states. Religious states in the Muslim world often interpret sharia into a legal philosophy called fiqh. There is a misconception that sharia is taken directly from the Quran without any process of interpretation or application of legal precedents. In reality, religious scholars interpret the Quran and other holy documents to inform Islamic legal frameworks. The ways sharia is interpreted and implemented as the law of the land is subject of much debate, especially in areas of women’s rights and corporal punishment. According to the Pew Research Center, public support for Islamic law varies in the SWANA region: While vast majorities support sharia as the law of the land in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, and Palestinian territories, very few in Lebanon, Turkey, and Indonesia do.[4]
Rather than discrete categories, secular states and religious states are two ends of a continuum since there are various degrees in which religion percolates in governmental institutions and decisions. Even in secular states such as the United States phrases such as “in God we trust” or “one nation under God” are central to American nationalism as religion is deeply rooted in the world’s oldest democracy. In the SWANA region, Islam is a central in culture and governance and nearly all states have declared it as the official or favored state religion (exceptions include Israel, Turkey, and Lebanon).[5] About half of the world’s Muslim-majority countries have sharia-inspired laws.[6] Saudi Arabia follows an ultra-conservative and rigid Wahhabi interpretation of the Quran. Wahhabism calls for the literal interpretation of the Quran and strict enforcement of religious codes and practices. It began in Saudi Arabia in the 18th Century as a social and religious reform movement and is associated with the consolidation of the Saudi kingdom.[7] In both Saudi Arabia and Iran, religious restrictions are high and Islamic law is enforced by religious police.[8] The two countries are part of a list of countries where a lack of contempt or reverence for God, blasphemy, is criminal offense. Muslims account for the largest number of people arrested due to blasphemy laws.
Attributions:
“Cradle of ingenuity” is adapted from Cuneiform, Ancient Egyptian Writing, Fertile Crescent by Mark, J. (2018; 2016; 2018) in World History Encyclopedia, CC BY-NC-SA.
“Languages” and “Hearths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam” is adapted from Keys to Understanding the Middle East by Alam Payind & Melinda McClimans, Ohio State University, CC BY SA.
“Hearths of Judaism, Christianity, & Islam” is adapted from Fertile Crescent by Mark, J. (2018), in World History Encyclopedia, CC BY-NC-SA and The Religious Hearths of North Africa and Southwest Asia by Finlayson, C. (2020), CC BY-NC-SA.
“Holy Jerusalem” is adapted from Jerusalem by Denova, R. (2019), in World History Encyclopedia, CC BY-NC-SA.
"Pillars of Faith" and "Religious Divisions" are all adapted from the Religious Hearths of North Africa and Southwest Asia by Finlayson, C. (2020), CC BY-NC-SA.
“Islam and Legislation” is adapted from Keys to Understanding the Middle East by Alam Payind & Melinda McClimans, Ohio State University, CC BY SA. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/04%3A_Southwest_Asia_and_North_Africa/4.03%3A_Cultural_Hearths_of_Writing_and_Abrahamic_Religions.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Describe how oil impacted SWANA.
• Explain OPEC and its significance on a global scale.
SWANA Economies and Oil
For this section, the core message via geographer Neil Smith, is that there is significant global uneven development, and this uneven development expresses itself spatially. Uneven development indicates that for one place to be economically developed another one must remain stagnant. Three approaches to conceptualize unequal economic growth are colonial history and intervention in a region, corruption, transparency, and intergovernmental institutions like the United Nations in the region, and ultimately damaging postcolonial initiatives in the region. However, SWANA peoples and places existed prior to colonial interventions and continue to exist in spite of them.
The world has influenced SWANA, and SWANA has influenced the world. SWANA has substantial oil reserves. Numerous SWANA nations, particularly Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates, have significant oil reserves and are among the world's major oil producers. SWANA has dominated the global oil market for much of the 20th and 21st century, and the oil sector has had a significant impact on the region's economies and politics. In the 20th century, the discovery of oil in SWANA led to a rapid expansion in the region's wealth and influence, and the sale of oil has been a key source of revenue for several of these countries.
Despite the numerous booming economies in the region, the majority of the wealth is concentrated in the oil states; moreover, a high GNI does not necessarily correlate with a high Development Index (HDI); see figure and pay particular attention to Qatar. The oil states that are constructing specialized towns, architectural marvels, luxurious hotels, and purchasing the rarest vehicles are also infringing on the human rights of the numerous South Asian migrant workers who provide the infrastructure for such endeavors.
Nonrenewable Resources: Fossil Fuels and Oil Generated Inequalities
Fossil fuels (made from the decomposition of plants and animals under prolonged periods of heat and pressure) such as ‘natural’ gas and oil also known as petroleum are the main source of energy for our industrialized world. Petroleum has an astonishing array of uses, including fuel, pharmaceuticals, asphalt, fertilizers, and plastics. The 20th century is the era where the use of fossil fuels to drive wars, ships, tanks, and cars has made an indelible impact on our planet and continues well into the 21st century. SWANA is critically important for these economies because it is the region of the world that holds the highest reserves of crude oil and natural gas. Although SWANA holds some of the highest reserves the US, Canada, China and Russia have been able to increase production (see Table _) which has had a significant impact on global petroleum prices. Petroleum production and control have had a critical impact on SWANA’s economic geographies and national identities.
Colonial interventions in Petroleum and Natural Gas Reserves as the world’s fossil fuel reserves were identified and it became apparent that SWANA had a sizable percentage of the reserves the UK and US began drilling projects in an attempt to control global production. First in Iran in the early 1900s, Iraq in the 1920s, and later in Arabian Peninsula countries like Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in the 1930s.
OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) is an intergovernmental established in 1960 and headquartered in Vienna, Austria. Created by oil exporting nations in SWANA (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia) and Venezuela. Now there are 13 member nations and account for over 80% of the world’s oil reserves. Prior to OPEC the “Seven Sisters” or Big Oil companies like Exxon Mobil and Shell determined petroleum prices. OPEC member nations coordinate their crude oil policies and thus have control over the global production and prices of oil and natural gas. The 1970s illustrated two such global oil shortages because of OPEC cut back on production. Countries like the US and Canada have increased their oil production to decrease dependence.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a cartel of 13 member countries that produce and export a significant amount of the world's oil. As a result, OPEC wields considerable power over global oil prices. What determines the price we pay at the pump? Is it government policy, natural disasters, and other current events? Yes, it is all of those but very importantly it is the costs associated in the refinement and transportation of the oil and of course supply and demand. Most of the cost is refining the crude oil. Oils that come from OPEC countries are more challenging to refine however these oils are where most of the world’s oil supplies come from.The primary goal of OPEC is to manage the supply of oil in the market to maintain stable prices and a consistent stream of revenue for its member countries. This is typically done by adjusting the amount of oil produced and exported by OPEC to balance the market and avoid a supply glut or shortage.When OPEC increases its oil production, oil prices may fall as the market becomes flooded with more supply than demand. When OPEC reduces its oil production, it can cause an increase in oil prices because the market becomes tighter with less supply.
SWANA Economies and Oil
The history of oil in SWANA is long and complex. In the first half of the 20th century in the Arabian Peninsula the discovery of crude oil in nations like the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia has spurred rapid urbanization and migrant laborers. There are several countries in SWANA that rely heavily on oil exports. The global dependence on oil is critical to the perpetuation of this wealth. Petrodollars are the returns generated by selling oil and are also significant for the world economy especially for the economies of regions like Europe, North America, and East Asia. However, the dependence on a single resource or primary commodity puts these states and their economies at risk. The lack of a diverse economic portfolio sets up the conditions for high vulnerability if the demand for oil decreases. Several countries have responded to this over dependence on fossil fuels by seeking out ways to expand their economies. In taking steps to move away from energy economies some of the Arab states like Qatar and UAE have embarked on becoming tourist destinations, knowledge cities, and rapid urban development centers (photograph of Borj Khalifa and Jean Nouvel museum). Highly specialized planned urban projects like Masdar City in Abu Dhabi aim to be a renewable energy city that is a center for technology development and research. These unique developments are meant to encourage investment, economic growth, and to concretize the cultural significance of these countries.
Countries like Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, and Turkey have growing agricultural economies and industrial development. Israel has a strong manufacturing base and aims to increase its food security through national agricultural development. Egypt has a well-developed manufacturing industry while Lebanon has a healthy agricultural economy and was also a banking and finance center. Lebanon was in a civil war between 1975-1990 and was engaged in war with Israel in 2006 further endangering its political and economic stability. Libya, Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia sometimes referred to as the Maghreb have economies based on agriculture, tourism, and exploitation of natural resources including oil. Both Algeria and Libya are heavily dependent on oil exports while Tunisia and Morocco have phosphate reserves (most commonly used in fertilizers). Tourism is also a critical industry in this region, the region has picturesque beach resorts, mountain experiences in the Atlas mountains, and the Sahara desert.
Oil, Iran, and Contra-tactics
What is now known as the Islamic Republic of Iran has a long history of conquest and humiliation. The Greeks, Romans, Mongols, and Arabs conquered and divided Persia. In 651 CE, the Arabs conquered Persia and the Sassanid Dynasty, replacing Zoroastrianism with Islam. Persians, branched off into their own version of Islam, Shia Islam, to mourn the loss of their prophet Hussein. Throughout the twentieth century, Iran was subjected to numerous colonial interventions, primarily by England and the United States. Oil was the natural resource at stake. Iran controls roughly 10% of the world's petroleum reserves. The English conquered oil, Iran's most valuable and abundant natural resource, keeping the country under imperialist control for the majority of the twentieth century. In 1953, the United States intervened in Iran. The CIA, led by Kermit Roosevelt, orchestrated the assassination of Mohammad Mossadegh, the elected Prime Minister (see Abrahamian 1982 and Kinzer 2003). Mossadegh wanted to nationalize oil, and he was well on his way to doing so, much to the chagrin of the imperialists. Machiavellian tactics brought him to a halt. The English and Americans installed the imperialist-friendly monarch Mohammad Reza Shah in his place. Iran and Iranians have been haunted by this US and England’s intervention in Iran and many argue that the current authoritarian regime is a direct consequence of this intervention.
Progressive or Traditional Societies in SWANA?
A common misunderstanding or misrepresentation of SWANA is that it is not modern. Because human rights, women and girls rights, and freedom of the press are decidedly a problem in SWANA, assumptions are made about SWANA’s modernity. Are there toilets? Do people drive cars? Are there concrete buildings? Many countries in the Arabian Peninsula, like Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain discovered oil and natural gas in the last 60 years which transformed their economies, societies, and their role in the global economy. Qatar is the first SWANA country to host the FIFA World Cup and only the second World Cup held in Asia. SWANA taken as a whole is both traditional and progressive not one or the other.
For many who have not traveled to this region they might be surprised to find unique architectural contributions and some of the most advanced urban centers in the world. The National Museum of Qatar is a museum in Doha, Qatar that tells the story of the country's rich cultural and historical heritage. The museum is housed in a distinctive building designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel, and it features a range of exhibits and interactive displays that explore the history, culture, and traditions of Qatar and the surrounding region. The museum covers a wide range of topics, including the natural environment, the history of Qatar's ruling family, the development of the oil industry, and the cultural traditions and customs of the Qatari people. It is a popular tourist destination and a major cultural institution in Qatar, and it is considered one of the most celebrated architectural innovations in SWANA.
Like Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Doha is a “global city” with the majority of its population natives of countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India. The race to design and build large-scale architectural statement structures that will be recognized globally is a critical component of displays of wealth and progress, and of power difference and migrant labor. Qatar has faced criticism and controversy over its treatment of migrant workers, particularly in the construction industry. Many of the workers who come to Qatar to work on large-scale construction projects, such as those related to the FIFA World Cup, are from other countries in Asia and Africa, and they often face difficult working and living conditions. Some workers have reported being paid exceptionally low wages while living in unsanitary accommodations. These laborers are often subjected to abuse and exploitation by their employers. There have also been concerns about the lack of legal protections for migrant workers in Qatar, and about the country's kafala sponsorship system, which ties workers visa status to their employers and can make it difficult for them to leave the country or change jobs. The Qatari government has taken some steps to address these issues, but there is still much work to be done to ensure that all workers in Qatar are treated humanely.
Attributions:
"SWANA Economies and Oil" is adapted from "Cultural Adaptations in North Africa and Southwest Asia" by Finalyson, Caitlyn, CC BY-NC-SA. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/04%3A_Southwest_Asia_and_North_Africa/4.04%3A_Oil_and_Uneven_Development.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Provide insights into contemporary cultural innovations in SWANA.
• Consider the importance of art and film from SWANA recognized on a global scale.
Visual Arts in Iran
In February of 2012, the Oscars anointed the first Iranian winner, Asghar Farhadi for his film “A Separation” (2011). This award is especially auspicious considering Iran is the target of diplomatic and economic sanctions and under threat of military attack from Israel, the US, and the United Kingdom. The images of Iran in the mainstream media are of menacing power plants, anti-Semitic presidents, and bearded robed men. And yet, visual art and film from the region and from the diaspora has received overwhelming international recognition not only from the mainstream Oscars but also from revered film festivals.
In 1997, Abbas Kiarostami received the highest prize at Cannes, the Palme D’Or, Shirin Neshat received a Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival for best director in 2009, and again Asghar Farhadi was given a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2011. In other words, Iranians living under a repressive regime are producing some of the most highly impactful art of the 20th and 21st centuries.
The ‘watershed’ moment for Iranian visual arts came in May of 2006 at Christie’s inaugural Contemporary Middle Eastern Art sale in Dubai. The auction brought in over 2 million US dollars while the following year saw sales well over 12 million US dollars. Middle Eastern art was delivering groundbreaking numbers and Christy’s new category of Modern and Contemporary Iranian and Arab Art solidified Iranian art’s critical status with dealers, curators, and collectors on a global scale. Iranian artists have brought in landmark sales, including Charles Hossein Zenderoudi’s 1981 painting “Tchaar-Bagh” which sold for over 1.6 million US dollars in April of 2008 and Parviz Tanavoli’s 1975 bronze sculpture “The Wall (Oh, Persepolis)” sold for a world record price of over 2.8 million US dollars in April of 2010.
Beginning in 2010, civil uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Bahrain and bloody civil wars in Syria and Libya have made corruption and human rights abuses in this region of the world visible to the international community, including the US and Great Britain. In Iran the protests and civil rights movement (now known as the Green Movement) beginning after the perfidious June 2009 elections has made it clear to the world that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s government is abusive and is under serious scrutiny by Iranians in Iran and within the diaspora.
Because of Iran’s oppressive political and social agenda there is a largely young and disenfranchised Iranian population finding outlet through various visual medias which leaves no shortage of work to be sold and recognized internationally. Iran’s “golden age” of art is largely attributed to the establishment and steady growth of Christy’s auction house in Dubai. The wealthy in and outside of Iran understand art to be an intelligent financial investment, as artist Parviz Tanavoli comments, “there is a lot of wandering money in this country which in the past was only invested in housing and the stock exchange. But this has changed now.”[1] Another reason for the rise of Iranian art is that Iranian artists living, working, and consolidating the current civil rights movement of Iranians from within the diaspora, such as Shirin Neshat, are more recognized than ever. The art world began to take notice that Iran experienced profound shifts in the last century sparking artists both in and outside of the country to speak the language of those traumas. Neshat is an extraordinary example of an artist born of this trauma.
Shirin Neshat, in the circuits of contemporary art, is a household name. She arguably popularized a form of art that investigates identity, hybridity, history, and migratory processes. The relationship between ancient and modern in terms of identity, art, history and geography has been broached intensely in the photography and films of Neshat. Neshat first arrived as an artist in the mid 1990s with her photo series “Women of Allah”, in which she attempts to visualize questions related to hybridity, gender, memory, identity, and the self. Much of her work deterritorializes language and bodies, by writing Islamic women’s bodies (symbolized by the chador or full-length head/body covering) with the language of provocative and charged feminist Iranian poets such as Forough Farokhzad. The photograph “Speechless” (1996) was acquired by the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art in April 2012. The image combines four dominant symbolic elements: text, veil, gun, and gaze. “Speechless” is representative of Neshat’s concerns throughout the “Women of Allah” series. “Speechless”, claustrophobically frames a mournfully indifferent face, (not her own although she is featured in other photos), overwritten with Islamic text. The barrel of a gun peers out ominously from within her chador. The photo features the penetrating one-eyed soft gaze of the woman looking beyond the gaze of the camera. The image juxtaposes several powerful forces bearing on women’s lives in Iran, Islam, violence, and the chador/veil.
In the 1990s, her approach was fresh and confrontational and she arguably began a movement, amongst diaspora artists and others, concerned with questions of identity, gender, geographical divides, democracy, and political exile. Neshat’s presence and work has proven to be arresting. Neshat received the prestigious Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize in 2006 while in 2010 cultural critic Roger Denson of the Huffington Post named her artist of the decade. Denson commends Neshat’s work for its “chronic relevance to an increasingly global culture” and for its capacity to respond “to the ideological war being waged between Islam and the secular world over matters of gender, religion, and democracy”. For Neshat to be named artist of the decade is indicative of how much her work has resonated with collectors, critics, and spectators. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/04%3A_Southwest_Asia_and_North_Africa/4.05%3A_Contemporary_Art_and_Culture_in_SWANA.txt |
Re-framing Europe
Before we consider how Europe as a region has been traditionally formulated, it’s important to note the influence of European thought on the geography taught in the United States and more broadly “geography’s complicity in the development of imperialism and colonialism”.[1] An example for the former is how the terms “Middle East” and “Far East” stem from the ethnocentric positioning of Europe as the center of the world. Examples of the latter include how European maps of colonial territories from the 1800s cemented a seemingly accurate and authoritative worldview on what were actually disputed territories and boundaries. Cumulatively, how Europeans portrayed peoples and lands beyond Europe–and European claims of discovery of “new” lands–created geographical imaginaries that influenced the discipline of geography in the United States.[2]
In thinking about Europe as a world region, it’s important to recognize that the traditional borders of Europe that separate it from the rest of the Eurasian continent are the Ural and Caucasus mountain ranges. The Ural Mountains extend through the Russian Federation from the Arctic Circle to Kazakhstan while the Caucasus Mountains span between the Black and Caspian Seas north of Turkey and Iran. These boundaries were written as a way to separate the Christian-dominated areas of Europe from followers of Islam to the south and the people who, in the 17th century, were deemed “culturally inferior” to the east.[3]
The World Geographies Atlas: Navigate each world region through maps
For each of the world regions, our original atlas provides detailed maps to help you navigate the places discussed in this book. These maps are meant to be explored before and during the reading of this chapter. These maps are best enjoyed enlarged. Click on each map for an enlarged view, and zoom in to see the prominent biomes, physical features, and population centers of Europe. We recommend that you download these for reference as you read this chapter's content and hope that you enjoy this original compilation.
References
[1] Myers, G.A., McGreevy, P., Carney, G.O., & Kenny, J. 2003. Cultural Geography. In Geography in America at the Dawn of the 21st Century (G.L. Gaile & C.J. Willmott Eds.), p. 81-96. New York: Oxford University Press.
[2] Gregory, D., Johnston, R., Pratt, G., Watts, M., & Whatmore, S. (Eds.). 2009. Africa (idea of), America(s) (idea of), Asia (idea of), Austral(as)ia, idea of, Eurocentrism, Exploration. In The Dictionary of Human Geography, 5th edition. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
[3] Gregory, D., Johnston, R., Pratt, G., Watts, M., & Whatmore, S. (Eds.). 2009. Europe, idea of. In The Dictionary of Human Geography, 5th edition. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
05: Europe
Learning Objectives
1. Identify the climate types found in Europe.
2. Explain the maritime influence on the region's climate types.
3. Describe Europe's form main landforms.
4. Analyze the distribution of natural resources in Europe.
Defining the Region
Europe? Where’s that? It might seem like a relatively easy question to answer, but looking at the map, the boundaries of Europe are harder to define than it might seem. Traditionally, the continent of “Europe” referred to the western extremity of the landmass known as Eurasia (see Figure 5.1.1). Eurasia is a massive tectonic plate, so determining where exactly Europe ends and Asia begins is difficult. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean in the North, the Atlantic Ocean and its seas to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea to the south. Europe’s eastern boundary is typically given as the Ural Mountains, which run north to south from the Arctic Ocean down through Russia to Kazakhstan. The western portion of Russia, containing the cities of St. Petersburg and Moscow, is thus considered part of Europe while the eastern portion is considered part of Asia. Culturally and physiographically, Western Russia is strikingly similar to Eastern Europe. These two regions share a common history as well with Russian influence extending throughout this transition zone.
Europe's Climate
Most places in Europe are relatively short distances from the sea and this proximity to water affects Europe’s climate (see Figure 5.1.2). While you might imagine much of Europe to be quite cold given its high latitudinal position, the region is surprisingly temperate. The Gulf Stream brings warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean to Europe’s coastal region and warms the winds that blow across the continent. Amsterdam, for example, lies just above the 52°N line of latitude, around the same latitudinal position as Saskatoon, in Canada’s central Saskatchewan province. Yet Amsterdam’s average low in January, its coldest month, is around 0.8°C (33.4°F) while Saskatoon’s average low in January is -20.7°C (-5.3°F)!
While geographers can discuss Europe’s absolute location and the specific features of its physical environment, we can also consider Europe’s relative location. That is, its location relative to other parts of the world. Europe lies at the heart of what’s known as the land hemisphere. If you tipped a globe on its side and split it so that half of the world had most of the land and half had most of the water, Europe would be at the center of this land hemisphere (see Figure 5.1.3). This, combined with the presence of numerous navigable waterways, allowed for maximum contact between Europe and the rest of the world. Furthermore, distances between countries in Europe are relatively small. Paris, France, for example, is just over a two-hour high speed rail trip from London, England.
This relative location provided efficient travel times between Europe and the rest of the world, which contributed to Europe’s historical dominance. When we consider globalization, the scale of the world is shrinking as the world’s people are becoming more interconnected. For Europe, however, the region’s peoples have long been interconnected with overlapping histories, physical features, and resources.
Four Main European Landforms
Europe has four prominent landforms, many islands and peninsulas, and various climate types. The four prominent landforms include the Alpine region, Central Uplands, Northern Lowlands, and Western Highlands (see Figures 5.1.4 and 5.1.5). These diverse landforms provide Europe with an abundance of biodiversity. Biodiversity refers to the diversity of the number of species in an ecosystem and the number of members in each species. The physical environment also provides natural resources and raw materials for human activities. Europe’s moderate climates and favorable relative location are supported by its access to the many rivers and seas. These advantageous developmental factors supported the development of the Industrial Revolution in Europe, giving rise to highly technical and urban societies. Europe has emerged as one of the core economic centers of the global economy. With Europe’s urbanization, high human population densities have placed a strain on the natural environment. As a result, there has been significant deforestation and the loss of natural habitat, which has, in turn, has decreased the realm’s level of biodiversity.
Rivers are abundant in Europe and have provided adequate transportation for travel and trade throughout its history. Most of Europe is accessible by water transport either via the many rivers or along the peninsulas and islands’ extensive coastlines. Two main rivers divide Europe: the Danube and the Rhine. Both have their origins in the region of southern Germany on or near the border with Switzerland. The Rhine River flows north and empties into the North Sea in Rotterdam, Holland, one of the world’s busiest ports. The Danube flows east through various major European cities, such as Vienna, Budapest, and Belgrade, before emptying into the Black Sea.
Alpine Region
The High Alps, which range from eastern France to Slovenia, are central to the Alpine region. Included in the Alpine Range are the Pyrenees, located on the border between France and Spain; the Apennines, running Italy’s length; the Carpathians, looping around Romania from Slovakia; and finally, the shorter Dinaric Alps in former Yugoslavia. Mountains usually provide minerals and ores placed there when the earth’s internal processes created the mountains. Mountains also isolate people by acting as a dividing range that can separate people into cultural groups.
The Alpine region encircles the Mediterranean coastlines, which have more temperate type C climates that are unusually warm with hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. This climate type allows for the cultivation of food products such as olives, citrus fruit, figs, apricots, and grapes. Evergreen scrub oaks and other drought-resistant shrubs are common in the Mediterranean region.
The Central Uplands
The region bordering the Alps to the north, which includes a large portion of southern Germany extending eastward, is known as the Central Uplands. These foothills to the Alps are excellent sources of raw materials such as forest products and coal, which are valuable resources for industrial activities. The Central Uplands are also good locations for dairy farming and cattle raising. This middle portion of the continent has a mixed deciduous-coniferous forest, and the vegetation includes oak, elm, and maple trees intermingled with pine and fir trees. There are four distinct seasons in this region with moderate amounts of precipitation year-round.
Northern Lowlands
Similar to the breadbasket of the midwestern United States, Europe’s Northern Lowlands possess excellent farmland. Primary agricultural operations here provide for a large European population. The land is flat to rolling with relatively good soils. The Northern Lowlands is a vast plain that extends across northern Europe from southern France, north through Germany, and then to the Ural Mountains of Russia. This area is typified by prairies and areas of tall grasses and is mostly used as farmland. The lowlands area also contains bogs, heaths, and lakes. A steppe biome characterizes the eastern part of this vast plain around Ukraine. It is a flat and relatively dry region with short grasses and is generally an agricultural region. This eastern area has large swings in temperature, both from day to night and from summer to winter. Winter temperatures in the eastern steppe can drop to below −40 °F, with summer temperatures reaching as high as 105 °F. This is similar to the steppes of eastern Montana or western North Dakota in the United States.
Western Highlands
On the western edges of the European continent arise small, rugged mountains called highlands that extend throughout Norway, parts of Britain, and portions of the Iberian Peninsula of Portugal and Spain. These Western Highlands hold sparser populations and are less attractive to large farming operations. Agriculture is usually limited to grazing livestock or farming in the valleys and meadows. The Scottish Highlands are noted for their wool products and Highland cattle. In England, the central chain of highlands called the Pennines proved valuable during the Industrial Revolution because they enabled hydropower and coal mining. Coal mining was prominent in the highland regions of Wales. In the far northern regions of Scandinavia, tundra environments prevail. In this coldest and driest biome, permafrost dominates the landscape, and the land becomes soggy for brief periods during the few weeks of summer. The flora consists primarily of lichens, mosses, low shrubs, and wildflowers.
Natural Resources in Europe
Europe’s physical landforms provide a diversity of geographic opportunities that have catapulted Europe through the Industrial Revolution and into the information age. With an abundance of natural resources, European countries have gained wealth from the land and leveraged their geographic location to develop a powerhouse of economic activity for the global marketplace. Europe has placed a strong focus on manufacturing activity to take advantage of its natural resources. The highly urbanized society has struggled to find a balance between modernization and environmental concerns. Industrial activities have contributed to the degradation of the environment and the demise of many species.
Different regions of Europe have freshwater supplies, good soils, and various minerals. Chief among the mineral deposits in Europe is iron ore, which can be found in Sweden, France, and Ukraine. Other minerals exist in smaller quantities, including copper, lead, bauxite, manganese, nickel, gold, silver, potash, clay, gypsum, dolomite, and salt. Extraction activities have supported the continent’s industrialization.
The ready access to vast areas of the Atlantic Ocean and several major seas, lakes, and rivers has elevated fish to an essential natural resource in Europe. The seas around Europe provide about 10 percent of the world’s fish catches. Mirroring the situation around the world, European fishing activity increased as the population increased. Europeans are becoming increasingly aware of the effects of overfishing. Stocks of Atlantic cod and Atlantic mackerel are considered to be at risk because of the twin threats of overfishing and changes in the environment that affect natural mortality and slowing spawning. Stocks of eastern North Atlantic bluefin tuna are also attracting attention for the same reason. Other species of fish in the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea are considered overexploited. Changes to the fishery are a significant concern for strictly environmental and ecological reasons and because fish comprise such a substantial portion of the European economy.
With the EU’s formation, Europe’s countries began to work toward shared research and policies concerning the fishery. The Common Fisheries Policy was drafted and included strict and extensive rules and guidelines for fishing, particularly of cod. The rules are so strict and thus so controversial that Norway and Iceland decided to opt-out of the EU rather than agree to abide by these rules. The effect of these rules is incompletely known, but the cod stocks in the North Sea do not seem to be rebounding as quickly or substantially as expected.
Forest covers more than 40 percent of the continent’s land area, with the majority on the Russian side. Forests exist primarily in the less populated Nordic and Baltic countries and Central Europe. About half the forest land in Europe is privately owned. Interestingly, there are several different forms of private ownership, including extensive family holdings, holdings by forest industries, and small to minimal holdings by thousands of individuals. Most of the forested land is managed, and about 85 percent of the forests produce exploitable resources. The percentage of forested land in Europe is rebounding because of an extensive tree-planting initiative since 2000. Pollution has caused great harm to the forests of Poland, the Czech Republic, and eastern Germany, and acid rain and air pollution have seriously harmed forests such as the Black Forest of southern Germany, which has also experienced substantial logging activity.
Soil resources are of critical importance. Soil is necessary for growing food, supporting livestock, supporting other natural resources such as the forests, and supplying groundwater. Soil resources are only just beginning to receive attention in Europe. Problems to be addressed include loss of topsoil from development and building activities, older-style agricultural practices, mining, contamination from industries and other sources, and acidification due to acid rain.
Coal, now substantially depleted, is abundant in Great Britain, including some offshore areas and Germany and Ukraine’s industrial centers (Figure 5.1.6). Other coals deposits are found in Belgium, France, Spain, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, and Russia. The burning of coal has produced high levels of air pollution. Acid rain has been a significant concern in the northern countries, where wind currents carry pollutants north into Scandinavia from Central Europe’s industrial regions. In Scandinavia, acid rain has diminished fish populations in many of the lakes. Forest health is also being challenged, diminishing regions’ economic conditions that depend on forests for their economic survival.
Petroleum and natural gas deposits exist underneath the North Sea and were first tapped in the 1970s. Five European countries have rights to these resources, including Norway, the United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Germany, with Norway holding the bulk of the rights. The governments of these five nations agree that half the North Sea oil reserves have been consumed although tapped only decades ago.
Before the extraction of petroleum products from the North Sea, Russia and the former Soviet Union’s other republics supplied petroleum to Europe. These areas still have several active extraction operations. Hydroelectric power has been essential in Europe. With both coal and oil resources largely depleted and the desire to avoid the environmental damage caused by dams, the European Energy Commission is devoting substantial energy and resources to encouraging the use of renewable resources such as wind and solar energy. In March 2007, European leaders agreed that a binding target of 20 percent of all energy must be from alternative sources by 2020. Also, 10 percent of the transportation fuels used by EU members must be sustainable biofuels.
Attributions:
"Defining the Region" and "Europe's Climate" is adapted from World Regional Geography by Caitlin Finlayson (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
"Four Main European Landforms" and "Natural Resources in Europe" is adapted from Introduction to World Regional Geography by R. Adam Dastrup (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/05%3A_Europe/5.01%3A_Natural_Environments.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Describe European settlement patterns during different historical eras.
2. Explain how European boundaries have changed from over time.
3. Identify how European's economic regions are influenced by natural resources.
European Settlement
Europe’s physical landforms, climate, and underlying resources have shaped the distribution of people across the region. When early humans began settling this region, they likely migrated through the Caucasus Mountains of Southwest Asia and across the Bosporus Strait from what is now Turkey into Greece. The Greeks provided much of the cultural and political foundations for modern European society. Greek ideals of democracy, humanism, and rationalism reemerged in Europe during the Age of Enlightenment. The Roman Empire followed the Greek Empire, pushing further into Europe and leaving its own marks on European society (Figure 5.2.1). Modern European architecture, governance, and even language can be traced back to the Roman Empire’s influence.
The Roman’s vast European and Southwest Asian empire united the region under Christianity and created new networks of roads and trading ports. With the fall of the Roman Empire, however, tribal and ethnic allegiances reemerged and a number of invasions and migrations occurred. England, for example, was settled by the Germanic Anglo-Saxons, from which the name “England” or “Angeln” is derived, then by the Normans from present-day France.
Europe today is comprised of 40 countries, but historically, this was a region dominated by kingdoms and empires – even fairly recently. A map of Europe from just 200 years ago looks strikingly different from today’s political boundaries (Figure 5.2.2). At that time, Greece and Turkey were still controlled by the Ottoman Empire and Italy was a conglomerate of various city-states and independent kingdoms. Many of the countries and political boundaries of Europe we know today were not formed until after World War II.
Europe’s population has shifted and changed over time as well. Whereas Europe was once largely feudal and agrarian, today around 75 percent of its people live in cities. Europe’s largest city is London, with a population of around 8.5 million within its city limits. Although the United Kingdom was the dominant force in Europe during industrialization, Germany now dominates the region in terms of population, gross domestic product, and size.
The Industrial Revolution
The differences in levels of development across Europe today have largely been shaped by the Industrial Revolution. The refers to the changes in manufacturing that occurred in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. These changes had profound effects on society, economics, and agriculture, not just in Europe, but globally. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, most goods in Europe were produced in the home. These so-called “cottage” industries consisted of individual workers making unique goods in their homes, usually on a part-time basis. These products, such as clothing, candles, or small housewares, could be sold by a farming family to supplement their income.
The Industrial Revolution began in the United Kingdom, and while it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact point at which the revolution began, a key invention was James Watt’s steam engine, which entered production in 1775. This steam-driven engine was adopted by industries to allow for factory production. Machines could now be used instead of human or animal labor. Interestingly, a side effect of the steam engine was that it enabled better iron production, since iron required an even and steady stream of heat. This improved iron was then used to build more efficient steam engines, which in turn produced increasingly better iron. These improvements and new technologies gradually spread across Europe, eventually diffusing to the United States and Japan.
During this time, there were also significant changes in agricultural production. The Agrarian Revolution began in the mid-1750s and was based upon a number of agricultural innovations. This was the Age of Enlightenment, and the scientific reasoning championed during this era was applied to the growing of crops. Farmers began using mechanized equipment, rather than relying solely on human or animal labor. Fertilizers improved soil conditions, and crop rotation and complementary planting further increased crop yields. During this time period, there was a shift to commercial agriculture, where excess crops are sold for a profit, rather than subsistence agriculture, where farmers primarily grow food for their own family’s consumption.
Around the same time improvements in rail transportation changed both the way goods were distributed across Europe and the movement of people across the region. The use of steam engines and improved iron also transformed the shipping industry, with steamships beginning to set sail across the Atlantic Ocean.
The Agrarian Revolution coupled with the Industrial Revolution profoundly changed European geography. With the improvements of the Agrarian Revolution, farmers could produce more with less work. This provided an agricultural surplus, enabling a sustained population increase. Port cities and capital cities became centers of trade and expanded. Critically, the Agrarian Revolution freed workers from having to farm, since fewer farmers were needed to produce the same amount of crops, enabling people to find work in the factories. These factories were primarily located in cities, and thus it was the combination of these two revolutions that dramatically increased urbanization in Europe. At the start of the 19th century, around 17 percent of England’s population lived in cities; by the end of the 19th century, that figure had risen to 54 percent.
Overall, the Industrial Revolution considerably improved European power by boosting their economies, improving their military technology, and increasing their transportation efficiency. Even before the Industrial Revolution, Europe exerted a considerable amount of control over the rest of the world. European colonialism began in the 1400s, led by Portugal and Spain. In the 1500s, England, France, and the Dutch began their own colonial campaigns. By the start of WorldWar I, the British Empire, boosted by the improvements of the Industrial Revolution, had the largest empire in history, covering 20 percent of the world’s population at the time (Figure 5.2.3).
Coinciding with the Industrial and Agrarian Revolutions were a number of political revolutions in Europe. The most influential political change came as the result of the French Revolution, which occurred between 1789 and 1799 CE. This revolution ended France’s monarchy, establishing a republic, and provided the foundation for numerous political revolutions that followed. It also weakened the power of the Roman Catholic Church in France, inspiring the modern-day separation between church and state that is typical of many Western countries, including the United States.
Today, the map of Europe reflects the changes brought about by the Industrial and Agrarian Revolutions as well as the political changes that took place throughout the time period. Europe’s core area, where economic output is highest, is largely centered around the manufacturing areas that arose during the Industrial Revolution (Figure 5.2.4). These manufacturing areas in turn were originally located near the raw materials, such as coal, that could sustain industrial growth.
The shift in labor that occurred during the Industrial Revolution, as people left rural farms to find work in factories, led to the specialization of labor that is found in Europe today. Areas within Europe tended to specialize in the production of particular goods. Northern Italy for example, has maintained a specialty in the production of textiles. Germany continues to specialize in automotive manufacturing. The Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the world’s first gasoline powered automobile, was first built in Germany in 1886 and would later develop into the Mercedes-Benz corporation. As regions focused on the manufacture of particular goods, they benefited from, the savings in cost per unit that results from increasing production. If you wanted to build a chair, for example, you’d have to buy the wood, glue, and screws as well as the tools needed to construct it, such as a drill, sander, and saw. That single chair would be quite costly to produce. If you wanted to make ten chairs, however, those same tools could be used for every chair, driving the cost of each chair down. Many areas in Europe have shifted from more traditional to high-tech manufacturing and industrial output in the region remains high.
Modern Europe
The political map of Europe continues to change, with shifting alliances, competing goals, and new pushes for independence. In general, Western Europe has moved toward cooperation. The European Union developed out of the Benelux Economic Union signed in 1944 between Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. France, Italy, and West Germany signed an economic agreement with the Benelux states in 1957, and from there, the economic cooperation continued to expand. The European Union (EU) itself was created in 1993 and today, the organization has 27 member countries (Figure 5.2.5). Not all members of the EU use the euro, its official currency; the 19 member states who do are known as the eurozone. The United Kingdom is the only state to have left the EU. Its withdrawal is known as “Brexit” (meaning “British exit”) and was finalized in January 2020.
Today, it is relatively easy to travel across Europe, in part because of economic and monetary cooperation, but also because internal border checks have largely been abolished. The Schengen Agreement, signed in the 1990s allows member states to essentially function as a single territory in terms of entry. These states share a common visa system and residents and vehicles can travel freely throughout states participating in the agreement.
Although the European Union has provided member states with a number of advantages, the system has had some structural concerns. Greece, for example, admitted to the EU in 1981, adopted the euro in 2001. It has had continued issues with debt, however, and has required massive bailouts from other member states. The United Kingdom held a referendum in June 2016 and decided to leave the EU, the first time a country has made the decision to leave the organization. When analyzing the EU and its advantages and disadvantages, you might consider why a country would join a supranational organization. To join an organization like the EU, a country gives up some of its sovereignty, its independence in making economic, political, or legal decisions. Ideally, a country would gain more than it loses. Countries united economically can more easily facilitate trade, for example, or could share a common military rather than each supporting their own. Those who favored the United Kingdom withdrawing from the EU, however, argued that membership in the EU did not offer enough advantages and preferred the United Kingdom to control its own trade deals and immigration restrictions.
Devolution, which occurs when regions within a state seek greater autonomy, has continued in Europe, representing a tension between nationalistic ideals and ethnic ties. In the United Kingdom, a 2014 Scottish independence referendum was narrowly defeated but led to greater autonomy for Scotland. In general, policies offering increased autonomy have kept the map of Western Europe fairly intact. Ethnic groups seeking sovereignty often want political autonomy but economic integration, and thus devolution generally allows them more decision-making power.
In the Balkan region, however, strong ethnic identities has contributed to continued political instability and the formation of new states. In fact, the devolutionary forces found in this region led to the creation of the term Balkanization, referring to the tendency of territories to break up into smaller, often hostile units. The Balkans came under the control of the Ottoman Empire, and once the empire collapsed following World War I, several territories in this region were joined together as the country of Yugoslavia (Figure 5.2.6). Following World War II, Yugoslavia was led by Josip Broz Tito who attempted to unify the region by suppressing ethnic allegiances in favor of national unity. After his death, however, those ethnic tensions reemerged. In the 1990s, Yugoslavia was led by the dictator Slobodan Miloševic, a Serbian who supported a genocidal campaign against the region’s Croats, Bosnians, and Albanians. In Bosnia alone, over 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed. Most recently, Kosovo, comprised mostly of Albanian Muslims, declared independence from Serbia in 2008, though its status as a sovereign state is still contested by some, including Serbia, Bosnia, and Greece.
The map of Europe continues to evolve. In February 2019, for instance, the country formerly known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia officially changed its name to the Republic of North Macedonia, or just North Macedonia, resolving a long dispute with Greece.
While some countries in the region have decidedly benefited from globalization, others remain fairly limited in terms of global trade and global economic integration. Figure 5.2.7 is a map of gross domestic product (purchasing power parity) per capita reveals a marked difference between the states of Western Europe and the eastern region. Germany’s GDP per capita as of 2021, for example, was \$58,291 (in US dollars), according to the World Bank. In Moldova, a former Soviet republic bordering Romania, that figure was \$15,391.
Attributions:
"Connecting Europe's Past to the Present" is adapted from World Regional Geography by Caitlin Finlayson (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/05%3A_Europe/5.02%3A_Connecting_Europe%27s_Past_to_the_Present.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Describe Europe's major migration flows.
2. Distinguish between centripetal and centrifugal forces.
3. Evaluation how nationalism influences Europe's geopolitics.
European Migration
The Industrial and Agricultural Revolutions shaped both migration patterns within Europe and immigration to the region. Migration refers to a move from one place to another intended to be permanent. When considering migration, geographers look at both intraregional migration, movement within a particular region, and interregional migration, such as migration from Europe to North America. Geographers who study migration also investigate push and pull factors that influence people to move. Push factors are those that compel you to move from your current location. A lack of job opportunities, environmental dangers, or political turmoil would all be considered push factors. Pull factors, on the other hand, are those that entice you to move to a new place, and might include ample jobs, freedom from political or religious persecution, or simply the availability of desirable amenities. Historically, most intraregional migration in Europe was rural to urban, as people moved from farms to cities to find work. Cities grew rapidly in the region as centers of trade and industry.
Before the industrial revolution, migration to the region was usually in the form of invasions, such as with the Roman Empire, the Islamic Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. One notable, historical migration that did not represent an invading empire was the Jewish diaspora following the conquest of Judea, the region now known as Israel and Palestine, by a number of groups including the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Romans. A diaspora refers to a group of people living outside of their ancestral homeland and many Jewish people moved to Europe to escape violence and persecution, particularly after the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE.
Jews migrating to Europe were often met with anti-Semitism, however. During the Middle Ages, European Jews were routinely attacked and were expelled from several countries including England and France. Jewish communities were destroyed during the mid-14th century as the Black Death swept across Europe and thousands of Jews were murdered, accused of poisoning the water and orchestrating the epidemic. In actuality, the disease was likely spread by rats, and worsened by the superstitious killing of cats in the same time period.
European Jews were often forced to live in distinct neighborhoods, also known as ghettos. In fact, this requirement to live in specific areas was required in Italy under areas ruled by the Pope until 1870. These distinctive communities were often met with suspicion by European Christians, many of whom continued to foster the same anti-Semitic sentiment that had been prevalent during the Middle Ages.
This anti-Semitic fervor and persecution of Jews reached its height at the time of the Nazi Party’s rule in Germany. Prior to World War II, close to 9 million Jews lived in Europe; 6 million of them were killed in the Holocaust, the European genocide that targeted Jews, Poles, Soviets, communists, homosexuals, the disabled, and numerous other groups viewed as undesirable by the Nazi regime. Following the war, many surviving Jews emigrated back to the newly created state of Israel. Around 2.4 million Jews live in Europe today.
There was another shift in population after the signing of the Schengen Agreement in 1995, with large numbers of immigrants from Eastern Europe migrated to the western European countries in the core. Citizens of European Union countries are permitted to live and work in any country in the EU, and countries like the United Kingdom and Spain contain large numbers of Eastern European immigrants. Around half of all European migrants are from other countries within Europe.
Economic and political inequalities have driven much of the interregional migration to Europe since the 1980s. Immigrants from North Africa and Southwest Asia, for example, driven by limited employment opportunities and political conflict, have migrated to Europe in large numbers and now represent approximately 12 percent of all European migrants. In 2020, the three sending countries whose citizens received a first residence permit in the European Union and Norway were Ukraine (27% of all permits), Morocco (6%), and India (4%).
Shifting National Identities
What does it mean to be European? Perhaps simply it means someone who’s from Europe. But what does it mean to be French or German or Spanish or British? These countries have long been comprised of a number of different ethnic and linguistic groups (Figure 5.3.1). Spain, for example, not only contains groups speaking Spanish, the language of the historic Castilian people of the region, but also the Basque-speaking region in the north, the Catalan-speaking region centered around Barcelona, and numerous other distinct language groups. The United Kingdom, while comprised primarily of people who identify as “English,” also includes the areas of Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, each with a distinct linguistic and cultural identity. The Welsh are actually believed to be the oldest ethnic group within the United Kingdom, so perhaps they could argue that they represent the original national identity.
Before the creation of states as we understand them today, Europe, as with the rest of the world, was divided largely by ethnicity or tribe. Empires often took control of multiple ethnic areas. Familial allegiances were of fundamental importance. That’s not to say that geography or territory didn’t matter, but simply that who you were mattered more than where you were.
The creation of sovereign political states changed this notion. Multiple ethnicities were often lumped together under single political entities, sometimes due to peaceful alliances and sometimes due to armed conquest. In cases where a state was dominated by a single, homogeneous ethnic and linguistic cultural identity, we would refer to it as a nation-state, from the term state, meaning a sovereign political area, and nation, meaning a group with a distinct ethnic and cultural identity. Several European countries today are considered nation-states, including Poland, where 93 percent of the population is ethnically Polish, and Iceland, which is 92 percent Icelandic. Historically, countries like France and Germany were also considered nation-states, though immigration has changed their cultural landscape.
The concept of nation-state is distinct from the idea of nationalism, which refers the feeling of political unity within a territory. National flags, anthems, symbols, and pledges all inspire a sense of belonging amongst people within a geographic area that is distinct from their ethnic identity.
What happens when feelings of nationalism and national identity are linked with a particular ethnic group? In cases where a particular ethnic group represents the majority, nationalist ideals might be representative of that group’s language or religion. But what if there are other, minority ethnic groups that are excluded from what people think it means to be part of a particular state’s nationalist identity?
Migration has continually changed the cultural landscape of Europe and as immigrant groups have challenged or been challenged by ideas of nationalism. In 1290 CE, King Edward I expelled all Jews from England, essentially establishing Christianity as being at the core of English national identity. This expulsion lasted until 1657 CE. In France after the French Revolution, ideas of nationalism included “liberty, equality, and fraternity,” and extended into areas they conquered. In Germany, what it meant to be “German” under the Nazi Party excluded those who were considered to be “undesirable” and “enemies of the state,” such as Jews, Roma (sometimes referred to as Gypsies), persons labeled as “homosexuals,” communists, and others. Under Benito Mussolini, Italian nationalism excluded Slavs, Jews, and non-white groups.
Nationalism, taken to this extreme, is known as fascism. Fascists believe that national unity, to include a strong, authoritarian leader and a one-party state, provides a state with the most effective military and economy. Fascist governments might thus blame economic difficulty or military losses on groups that threaten national unity, even if those groups include their own citizens.
Within every country, ideas of nationalism grow, weaken, and change over time. Centrifugal forces are those that threaten national unity by dividing a state. These might include differing religious beliefs, linguistic differences, or even physical barriers within a state. In contrast, centripetal forces tend to unify people within a country. A charismatic leader, a common religion or language, and a strong national infrastructure can all work as centripetal forces. Governments could also promote centripetal forces by unifying citizens against a common enemy, such as during the Cold War. Although the countries of Europe always had a significant amount of ethnic and linguistic variety, they typically maintained a strong sense of national identity. Religion in particular often worked as a centripetal force, uniting varying cultural groups under a common theological banner.
Religious adherence in Europe is shifting, however. In Sweden, for example, over 80 percent of the population belonged to the Church of Sweden, a Lutheran denomination, in 2000. By 2014, only 64.6 percent claimed membership in the church and just 18 percent of the population stated that they believed in a personal God (Figure 5.3.2). This is indicative of a broad shift in Europe from traditional, organized religion toward humanism or secularism. Humanism is a philosophy emphasizing the value of human beings and the use of reason in solving problems. Modern humanism was founded during the French Revolution, though early forms of humanism were integrated with religious beliefs. Secular humanism, a form of humanism that rejects religious beliefs, developed later. Secularism refers broadly to the exclusion of religious ideologies from government or public activities.
Geographers can examine how secularization has occurred in Europe; that is, how Europe has been transformed from countries with strong religious values to a more nonreligious society. In general, areas within the core of Europe tend to be more secular and thus some researchers link secularization with rising economic prosperity. Most Western European countries have strong social welfare programs, where citizens pay a higher percentage of taxes to support universal healthcare, higher education, child care, and retirement programs. These social welfare programs often serve as centripetal forces, unifying a country by providing government support and preventing citizens from falling into extreme poverty.
Current Migration Patterns
The increasing secularization of Western Europe has magnified the conflict over immigration to the region. Whereas Western Europeans have become less religious over time, immigrants to the region are generally more religious. Increasing numbers of Muslim immigrants from North Africa and Southwest Asia have settled in Europe, lured by the hope of economic prosperity and political freedom. In 2010, around 6 percent of Europe identified as Muslim. That number is expected to grow to 10 percent by 2050. Muslims have the highest fertility rate among the major religious groups, so coupled with increasing immigration, this population is growing. In contrast, just under three-quarters of Europeans identified as Christian in 2010. This is expected to drop to 65 percent in 2050.
Europeans are divided about how open the region should be to immigrants, and how asylum seekers, refugees seeking sanctuary from oppression, should be treated. Even before the 2015 wave of Syrian migrants to Europe, a 2012-2014 survey showed that most Europeans (52 percent) wanted immigration levels to decrease. Opinions vary within the region, however. In the United Kingdom, 69 percent of people support decreased immigration. In Greece, a gateway country for migrants attempting to enter Europe, 84 percent of people desire decreased immigration. A majority of adults in Northern European countries, however, want immigration to stay the same or increase.
In 2014 and 2015, migration to Europe intensified as a result of an ongoing civil war in Syria. There were more refugees in 2014 than in any other year since World War II. 2015 shattered that record, however, as 65.3 million people were displaced. Germany has received the most applications for people seeking refugee status.
The journey for migrants is difficult and dangerous. Many attempt to cross by sea into Greece. Boats are often overcrowded and capsizing is common. Around 34 percent of refugees are children, many of them unaccompanied. Although the entire influx of refugees represents around 0.5 percent of Europe’s population, it is not necessarily the sheer number of refugees that poses a problem, but rather, the idea of how immigrant populations might change the identity of a nation-state.
Many small towns in Europe have experienced shifting demographics as people move away to work in cities and immigrants move in to work in the available jobs. As Western Europe moved through industrialization, it has increasingly shifted away from heavy manufacturing and increased employment in service and high-tech industries, a process known as deindustrialization. The higher-skilled and higher-educated workers from small towns moved to the cities to find work, while lower-skilled immigrants worked the often dangerous or labor intensive jobs that remained. In the United Kingdom in particular, many of the people who oppose immigration and supported Britain leaving the EU are located in these small towns where immigration has quite visibly changed the cultural landscape that had already shifted as a result of deindustrialization.
For some, the debate over immigration and asylum are less questions of national identity and more issues of social justice. Do countries that have political freedom and economic prosperity have a moral obligation to assist those in need? Historically, the answer has often been “no.” In 1938, on the brink of World War II, representatives from Western European countries voted not to accept Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria. Numerous countries in Europe have similarly voted not to accept Syrian migrants. Countries like Germany, which has accepted a relatively large number of asylum seekers, have been critical of other countries that have not been as welcoming. Sweden has specifically argued that if every country in Europe accepted a proportional amount of refugees, they would easily be able to accommodate the influx. Refugee populations typically have lower unemployment rates than native-born populations and though they require social services like housing and employment, can provide a long-term economic boost by increasing the labor force, especially in countries with otherwise declining populations.
Europe’s population will continue to shift in terms of demographics and cultural identity. Recent economic changes and migration patterns have highlighted deep divides about ideas of national identity and the role of the region in global affairs. Europe continues to be an influential and economically important region and will likely continue to attract migrants from surrounding areas.
Attributions
"Connecting Europe's Past to the Present" is adapted from World Regional Geography by Caitlin Finlayson (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/05%3A_Europe/5.03%3A_Identity_and_Migration_in_Europe.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Describe the key geographic features of regions within Europe.
2. Analyze how natural resources and historical processes influence today's European countries.
Introduction to Europe's Regions
Europe has been traditionally divided into regions based on location according to the compass’s four points: Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, Western Europe, and Northern Europe. The British Isles are often considered a separate region but can be included as a part of Western Europe. These regions are purely geographical regions that may share similar physical geography or cultural traits.
The traditional regions of Europe are not as relevant today as they have been historical with the creation of the European Union (EU). Economic and political relationships are more integrated than past eras when nation-states and empires were more significant. Economic conditions have often superseded cultural factors and have intensified the need for increased integration. Cultural forces have traditionally supported nationalistic movements that preserve a people’s culture, heritage, and traditions. Regional cultural differences remain the social fabric of local communities that support the retention of their identity. Modern transportation and communication technology has brought this collection of European identities into one single sphere of global recognition.
Northern Europe
Europe has many different cultural identities within its continent. Northern Europe has traditionally included Iceland, Finland, and the three Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. These countries are often referred to as the Nordic countries and were influenced by Viking heritage and expansion. Their capital cities are also major ports, and the largest cities of each country are their primate cities. The languages of the three Scandinavian countries are from the Germanic language group and are mutually intelligible. Finnish is not an Indo-European language but is instead from the Uralic language family. Most of Iceland’s inhabitants are descendants of Scandinavian Vikings. Protestant Christianity has prevailed in northern Europe since about 1000 CE. The Lutheran Church has traditionally been the state church until recent years. These countries were kingdoms, and their royal families remain highly regarded members of society. The colder northern climate has helped shape the cultural activities and the winter sports that are part of its heritage. Peripheral isolation from the rest of Europe because of their northern location and dividing water bodies has allowed the northern culture to be preserved for centuries and shape the societies in northern Europe.
Human rights, education, and social concerns are high priorities of northern Europe’s governments, and the quality of these elements rank highly based on the annual World Happiness Report. Standards of living are among the highest in Europe. Isolation in northern Europe does create an element of economic cost, and transportation technology has been leveraged to address this. A modern bridge has been constructed across the Baltic Sea (Figure 5.4.1) from Denmark to Sweden to increase the flow of people, goods, and materials between the Scandinavian Peninsula and mainland Europe. Iceland is the most remote of the Nordic countries. Its small population of less than half-million people is connected to Europe by sea and air transportation and communication technologies. Almost all elementary school children in the Nordic countries are taught English as a second language. The Nordic Diet consists of fish, meat, and potatoes are traditional dietary staples. The cuisine of the region is not noted for being spicy. Northern Europe has worked diligently to integrate itself with the global community and yet maintain its cultural identity.
As a standard practice, the northern European countries have exploited their natural resources’ opportunities and advantages to expand their economies. Sweden, northern Europe’s largest country, has used its natural iron ore supply to develop its manufacturing sector. Sweden was the production base of Saab and Volvo vehicles and other high-tech products; however, GM purchased the Saab auto division in 2000, and some of its automobiles were manufactured in Mexico. In 2010, Saab was sold back to European investors, and production resumed in Sweden. Ford Motor Corporation purchased Volvo Car Corporation in 1999 and was then acquired by a Chinese automaker in 2010. Finland has vast timber resources and is one of Europe’s significant sources of processed lumber. It was the original manufacturer of Nokia cell phones, an example of its technological advancements. Nokia is the largest manufacturer of mobile phones globally and has production facilities in eight different countries.
Norway has been benefiting from the enormous oil and natural gas reserves under the North Sea. Fishing and modest agricultural activities had been Norway’s traditional means of gaining wealth, but now it is exporting the much-in-demand energy resources. Because of its economic and energy independence, Norway has opted not to join the EU.
Vikings were masters of the seas and colonized Greenland, located next to Canada, and is considered the world’s largest island. Danish colonization included Greenland and the Faeroe Islands, located between Scotland and Iceland in the eighteenth century. Both are now under Denmark’s government but retain a high level of self-rule and autonomy, which has helped them hold on to their cultural identity. Greenland has also opted not to become a part of the EU even though Denmark is a member. Greenland only had a population of roughly 56,600 in 2019, and 80 percent of its surface is covered with ice. Fish is Greenland’s main export, but minerals, diamonds, and gold are also present in viable amounts.
Denmark has a consumer economy with a high standard of living. This Scandinavian country is often ranked as the least corrupt country globally and has the happiest people. The country has supported a positive environment and implemented strong measures to protect its natural areas. Denmark’s main exports are food products and energy. The country has sizeable oil resources in the North Sea and receives over 15 percent of its electricity from wind turbines.
The Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have often been included in the northern European designation because of their northern location. Estonia has the strongest similarities in religion, traditions, culture, and geographic literature has often included it as a part of northern Europe. The Baltic states have been associated with Eastern Europe through the Soviet era but, like their neighbors to the north, are becoming more economically integrated with Western Europe.
Northern Europe is a peripheral region. Southern Sweden has an advanced industrial base and resembles a core area. Sweden’s northern portion and the other Nordic countries’ main parts act as sources of raw materials for Europe’s urban core industrial region. In the core-peripheral spatial relationship, northern Europe resembles a semi-peripheral region with both the urban core and the rural periphery.
Norway, Sweden, and Finland are quite large in area but are not densely populated than other European nations. Sweden ranks as the fourth-largest European country in physical size. Sweden is larger than the US state of California, but in 2019, it has roughly 10.2 million people. In 2019, Finland, Norway, and Denmark all had less than six million people each.
The cultures and societies of northern Europe have progressed along similar paths; they have advanced from once Viking-dominated lands into modern democratic and socially mature nations. Northern Europe is known for its concern for the social welfare of its citizens. Their strong egalitarian ideals have contributed to significant advancements in free medical care, free education, and free social services for all, regardless of nationality or minority status. Civil rights for minorities, women, and other groups is assured and protected. Denmark does not have a legal age for alcoholic beverages consumption, though tradition sets the age at about fourteen. Culture and the arts are well developed, including giving the annual Nobel Peace Prize. Sweden has become a significant exporter of music worldwide. Rock, hip-hop, and pop music are common genres. With English as a widely spoken language in Scandinavia, music and cultural trends have a broader export market in places such as the United States and Britain.
Southern Europe
Southern Europe includes three large peninsulas that extend into the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The Iberian Peninsula consists of Spain and Portugal. The Pyrenees mountain range separates the Iberian Peninsula from France. Greece, the most southern country on the Balkan Peninsula, includes hundreds of surrounding islands and Crete’s large island. The Italian Peninsula is the shape of a boot with the Apennine Mountains running down its center. Italy also includes the islands of Sicily and Sardinia. Technically, the island country of Cyprus is also included in southern Europe. There are five ministates in this region. The small island of Malta is located to the south of Sicily and is an independent country. Monaco, San Marino, Andorra, and Vatican City are also independent states located within the region. Southern Europe’s type C climate, moderated by the water surrounding it, is often referred to as a Mediterranean climate, which has mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. The rural-to-urban shift in southern Europe has not been as strong as that of Western Europe. Only about 50 percent of the people in Portugal are urban; in Spain and Greece, about 60 percent is urban.
Italy is more representative of Europe, with about 68 percent of the population urbanized. Italy is also divided, with northern Italy being more industrialized than southern Italy. The southern regions of Italy, including the island of Sicily, are more rural with fewer industries. Northern Italy has the metropolitan city of Milan as an anchor for its global industrial and financial sector in the Lombardy region, including the city of Turin and the port of Genoa. This northern region of Italy has the economic muscle to be one of Europe’s leading manufacturing centers. The so-called Ancona Line can be drawn across Italy from Ancona on the east coast to Rome on the west coast to separate the industrial north from the more agrarian south. The north also has the noted cultural cities of Venice, Florence, and Pisa.
A similar situation exists in Spain. The urbanized Catalonia region around Barcelona in the northeast has high-tech industries and a high standard of living. Southern Spain has large rural areas with economies heavily based on agricultural production. Portugal and Greece are not as industrialized and do not have the same economic opportunities. Historically, in particular, southern Europe, Portugal, and Greece have had a much lower gross domestic product (GDP) per capita than northern or Central Europe. Their economies have been much more aligned with the economic periphery than with Europe’s industrial core region. Greece has had severe economic difficulty in the past few years.
Southern European countries have much larger populations than their northern European counterparts. Italy has about sixty million people in an area smaller than Norway, which has less than five million. Spain has about forty million; both Portugal and Greece have more than ten million. Cultural factors are also different here than in northern Europe. The culture of southern Europe has been built around agriculture. Traditional cuisine is based on locally grown fresh food and wine. Olive oil and wine have been major agricultural exports. Iberia and Italy’s primary languages are based on the Romance language group, and Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The most dominant religious affiliation in the south is Roman Catholicism, except in Greece, where the Eastern (Greek) Orthodox Church is prominent.
Spain is the most diverse nation in southern Europe with several distinct ethnic groups and languages spoken (Figure 5.4.2). The Basques in the north along the French border would like to separate and create their nation-state. The region of Galicia in northwest Spain is an autonomous region and was once a kingdom unto itself. There are many other autonomous communities in Spain, each with its distinct heritage and culture. Farther east in the Mediterranean is the island state of Cyprus, divided by Greek and Turkish ethnic groups. The southern part of the island is dominated by Greek heritage and culture, and Turkish culture and traditions dominate the northern part of the island. Islam is the main religion of the Turkish north. The people of southern Europe are diverse and hold to many different traditions but are tied together by the sea and the land, creating similar lifestyles and economic activities.
Central Europe
In the regional sense of location, when discussing the European continent’s political geography, the specific states located in the western part of the European mainland are often referred to as Central Europe. Germany and France are the two dominant states, with Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg making up the Benelux countries. Switzerland and Austria border the Alpine region. The ministate of Liechtenstein is located on the border between Switzerland and Austria. France is the only country with coastlines on both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean. These countries are located in Europe’s core economic region and have stable democratic governments and a relatively high standard of living by world comparisons.
Central Europe is a powerhouse of global economics. The Rhine River is a pathway for industrial activity from southern Germany to Europe’s busiest port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, while Western France has the EU’s political capital along the Rhine at Strasbourg. To the south is France’s second-largest city, Lyon, a major industrial center for modern technology. Germany had the historical Ruhr industrial complex along the Rhine that supported the high-tech industries in southern Germany in the cities of Stuttgart, Mannheim, and Munich. Germany is the most populous country in Europe, with over 82 million people in 2019. Germany is also Europe’s largest economy and has the largest GDP overall as a country. Belgium has important business centers in Brussels and Antwerp, whereas Switzerland is noted for its banking and financial markets. Luxembourg has one of the highest GDP per capita in all of Europe. Austria is noted for its high level of cultural activities in Vienna and Salzburg. All these countries complement each other in creating one of the dominant economic core areas in the world.
In the first half of the twentieth century, the political geography of Central Europe was not conducive to the high level of economic cooperation that now exists. In World War and World War II, Germany and France were on opposite sides, and the Benelux countries were caught in the middle. The cultural differences between the Germans and the French start with the differences in language and religious affiliation. Germany was divided after World War II into East Germany and West Germany, separated by the so-called Iron Curtain (Figure 5.4.3). East Germany was under a Communist government, and West Germany was a capitalist democracy. They were reunited in 1990 when the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall came down. The two countries merged under one government. Europe is gradually being united economically, but each country or region still retains its cultural uniqueness.
The Benelux Countries
The Benelux countries have a great deal in common historically. Before the economic union that created the term Benelux, these countries were collectively referred to as the Low Countries, so-called because of their relative position to sea level. The Benelux countries are some of the most densely populated countries. They have managed to work together toward a common economic objective despite their cultural differences.
The capital and largest city in Belgium is Brussels, with the other urban areas being Antwerp and Ghent’s ports. Belgium is split into three broad geographic areas. The dominant language in Flanders’ northern region is Dutch (Flemish), and the people are known as Flemings. In the southern region of Wallonia, most people speak French and are known as Walloons. German is the third official language and is spoken along the eastern border.
When the Industrial Revolution diffused across the English Channel and arrived in Europe, Belgium was one of the first countries to adapt to technological developments. Belgium remains heavily industrialized and is a significant exporter of products, including polished diamonds, food products, nonferrous metals, technology, petroleum products, and plastics. In general, Belgium imports the raw materials to manufacture these goods for export. Belgium also has a significant services sector. The services sector, including real estate, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment, thrives because Brussels is the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and components of the EU. Many countries and organizations maintain Brussels offices to have easy access to these headquarters; therefore, Brussels is the temporary home to many diplomats and foreign business people.
The European country of the Netherlands also includes the colonies of the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean. Sometimes called Holland, the Netherlands is two provinces (North Holland and South Holland) in the country’s northwestern part. The largest city is Amsterdam. The Hague is the seat of government and is home to the United Nations International Court of Justice. Rotterdam is located at the Rhine River’s mouth and is one of the continent’s busiest ports. The country is famous for its Zuider Zee, the sizeable inland region below sea level that has been drained of water and surrounded by an extensive dike protecting it from the North Sea. Reclaiming land from the sea in areas called polders has provided this densely populated country with more land area for its people to expand their activities.
For a small country with few natural resources, the Netherlands has an impressive GDP. The Dutch have made good use of their location on the North Sea and the location of several large navigable rivers. This has facilitated voluminous exports to the interior parts of Europe. The major industries include food processing, chemicals, petroleum refining, and electrical machinery. The Netherlands is a top exporter of agricultural products, which contribute substantially to its economy. Dutch agricultural exports consist of fresh-cut plants, flowers, bulbs, tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. The port of Rotterdam is the largest seaport in Europe, and the world's second largest seaport oustide of East Asia (Figure 5.4.4).
The main languages spoken in the small landlocked country of Luxemburg are French, German, and Luxembourgish. Luxembourg’s major city is Luxembourg City. Luxemburg has an enviable economic situation with a stable and prosperous economy, low unemployment, and low inflation. Thanks to rich iron-ore deposits, this country developed a robust steel industry, which was the cornerstone of the nation’s prosperity until the 1970s. As steel declined, Luxemburg remade itself as an important world financial center. Luxembourg leads Europe as the center for private banking and insurance industries and is second only to the United States to be an investment fund center.
France
France covers 211,209 square miles and is the second-largest European country; Ukraine is slightly larger in physical size. France’s physical landscapes vary widely from the northern low-lying coastal plains to the east’s Alpine ranges. Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alpine range at 15,782 feet, is located in France near the Italian border. In the far south, the Pyrenees run along the border with Spain. The south-central region of the country is home to the Massif Central, a plateau and highland region made up of a vast stretch of extinct volcanoes.
During the colonial era, France was a significant naval power and held colonies around the world. The French Empire was the second largest at the time. The French language is still used for diplomacy in many countries. Though the French Empire no longer exists, France has progressed into a post-industrial country with one of the world’s most developed economies. It is a significant player in European affairs, the EU, and the United Nations (UN). France is a democratic republic that boasts a high-quality public education system and long life expectancies.
In 2019, France’s population was about 67 million, with about ten million living in France’s Paris primate city. The city of Paris is on an excellent site; it is favorably situated concerning its surrounding area. It is a significant core area of France serving a large peripheral region of the country. The next largest city of Lyon, which is a major high-tech industrial center for Europe’s economy, can only boast a population of about 1.4 million. Even with a large population, the country can produce enough food for its domestic needs and export profits. France leads Europe in agricultural production.
France enjoys a robust economy and is one of the world’s leading industrial producers. Its industrial pursuits are diverse, including planes, trains, automobiles, textiles, telecommunications, food products, pharmaceuticals, construction and civil engineering, chemicals, and mechanical equipment and machine tools. Additionally, defense-related industries make up a significant sector of the economy. France’s production of military weapons is recognized worldwide. The country has been a leader in the use of nuclear energy to produce electricity. Nuclear energy supplies about 80 percent of the country’s electricity, reducing the need for imported oil and other fossil fuels.
Agriculture is an essential sector of the French economy, as it has been for centuries, and is tied to the industry through food processing. Food processing industries employ more people than any other part of the French manufacturing sector. If you think of cheese and wine when you think of France, you have identified two of its largest food processing endeavors, along with sugar beets, meats, and confectionaries. World-renowned wines are produced in abundance, sometimes in areas that bear their names, such as in Burgundy, around the city of Bordeaux, and in Champagne in the Loire Valley. French cuisine and fashion have long been held in the highest esteem worldwide and are a national pride source. Food and wine are essential elements of the French way of life, and each region of France boasts a suite of famous dishes.
Thanks to the climate and favorable soil conditions, agriculture is highly productive and lucrative for France. France is second only to the United States in terms of agricultural exports. Exports mainly go to other EU countries, to the United States, and some countries in Africa. The plains of northern France are excellent for wheat, which is grown on large agricultural operations. Dairy products are a specialty in France’s western regions, producing pork, poultry, and apples. Beef cattle are raised in the central portion, where a cooler, wetter climate provides ample tracts of grasslands for grazing. Fruit, including wine grapes, is grown in the central and southern regions, as are vegetables. The Mediterranean region has hot, dry weather ideal for growing grapes and other fruits and vegetables.
Germany
Germany’s location in Central Europe has meant that throughout history, many peoples—all with their own cultures, ideas, languages, and traditions—have traversed Germany at one time or another. Thus Germany’s culture has received many influences over the centuries.
Germany’s present geopolitical configuration is relatively young, as it reunified the eastern and western portions into a single entity in 1990. Germany was formed in 1871 during the leadership of Otto von Bismarck in an attempt to create a Germanic power base. World War I was fought during the last years of the German Empire. As part of the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria), Germany was defeated by the Allies with much loss of life. The German Republic was created in 1918 when, having been defeated in World War I, Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles.
In 1933, with an environment of poverty, disenfranchisement of the people, and significant instability in the government, Germany gave way to the appointment of Adolf Hitler as chancellor of Germany. Within a month of taking office, Hitler suspended natural rights and freedoms and assumed absolute power. A centralized totalitarian state quickly resulted. In a move to expand Germany, Hitler started to expand its borders. Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939 kicked off what would become World War II. In 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union and declared war on the United States. After Germany’s defeat, the country was divided into East Germany, controlled by the Soviet Union, and West Germany, controlled by the Allied powers. The Iron Curtain divided the two Germanys, with the Berlin Wall dividing the city of Berlin. The Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall were major symbols of the Cold War. In 1989, the Berlin Wall came down, and the two Germanys were reunited in 1990. Today, Germany is a vibrant country and an active EU member.
Germany is Europe’s largest economy, with strong exports of manufactured goods. To gain national income, Germany has promoted manufacturing as a significant component of its economy. Most exports are in automobiles, machinery, metals, and chemical goods. Germany has positioned itself strategically to take economic advantage of the growing global awareness of environmental issues and problems by focusing on improvements and manufacturing of wind turbines and solar power technology. The service sector also contributes heavily to the economy. Deutsche Bank holds the enviable position of being one of the most profitable companies on the Fortune 500 list. Germany is also an important tourist destination. The Black Forest, Bavaria, the Alpine south, various medieval castles, national parks, and a vibrant assortment of festivals such as Oktoberfest attract millions of tourists to Germany every year.
German reunification in 1990 posed some challenges for the economy. Notably, the East German infrastructure was far behind that of the West. Telecommunications, and other areas needed to support industry, commerce, transportation, and enormous amounts of money were funneled into the system. While there has been considerable success in the renewal of infrastructure, unemployment in former East Germany is still significantly higher, and the workforce’s necessary retraining is ongoing and expensive.
Language, religion, and education have been strong cultural forces in Germany. German is the official language of the country and the one spoken by most of its people. More than 60 percent of Germans self-identify as Christian, and another 30 percent self-identify as agnostic or atheistic. During the Cold War, East Germany was under a Communist government that promoted a non-religious ideology, resulting in a high percentage of people with agnostic or atheistic beliefs in that part of Germany. Historically, there has been a strong connection between religious reformation and education. The early leaders of the Christian Reformation were generally highly educated themselves and were strong advocates of education, which they viewed as a path to positive moral and social reform. The German tradition of excellence in education continues. Education is provided at no cost (other than taxation) to students at all levels, including the university level, though some universities are now starting to charge very modest amounts for tuition.
The Alpine Center
Landlocked in the center of Europe are the two states of Switzerland and Austria. Sandwiched on the border of these two states is the ministate of Lichtenstein. The Alpine ranges dominate this region. Switzerland, officially known as the Swiss Confederation, is divided into twenty-six cantons (states). Because of its location and close ties with neighboring countries, four languages are spoken in Switzerland: German, French, Italian, and Romansh. Typically, one language predominates in any given canton. Berne is the country’s capital, and Geneva, Zurich, and Basel are the other major cities. As of 2019, Switzerland’s population is roughly 8.5 million. It is a land area that is just slightly larger than the US state of Maryland.
Internationally, Switzerland is well known for its political neutrality. The UN European offices are located there. The Red Cross and the main offices of many international organizations are located in Switzerland. Switzerland joined the UN in 2002 and has applied for EU membership. Swiss culture is thought to have benefited from Switzerland’s neutrality. During times of war and political turmoil, creative people found refuge within the Swiss borders. Swiss banking practices and policies are known worldwide, and Swiss banks have significantly benefited from their politically neutral status. Banking is one of the country’s top employers and sources of income. Swiss people enjoy a high standard of living.
Sports are popular in Switzerland, and football or soccer is popular as it is in much of Europe. Switzerland has also produced excellence in hockey, skiing, and of late, tennis. There is an emphasis on science in Swiss culture with good historical reason: modern chemistry originated in Switzerland. The Bernoulli family, famed for their significant contributions to mathematics over many years, hails from Basel. The Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, one of the world’s top-ranked universities, has produced an unusually high number of Nobel Prize winners. Albert Einstein, though born in Germany, relocated to Switzerland and later became a Swiss citizen.
Austria is larger than its neighbor Switzerland and is similar in area to the US state of South Carolina. In 2019, the population was estimated at 8.7 million. Austria has various Alpine ranges, with the highest peak at 12,457 feet in elevation. Only about a fourth of the land area is considered low lying for habitation. The Danube River flows through the country, including the capital city of Vienna. Austria has a well-developed social market economy and a high standard of living.
For more than six hundred years, beginning just before the dawn of the fourteenth century, Austria was tightly associated with its ruling dynasty, the Habsburgs. The Hapsburgs came to power in a new way with the formation of the Austrian Empire in 1804. In Germany’s rise to power before World War II, Hitler annexed his native Austria to Germany. Austria regained its independence a decade after the war ended and joined the EU in 1995. Austria is a German-speaking country, and nearly the entire population self-identifies as an ethnic Austrian.
Austria is predominantly Roman Catholic and was home to many monasteries in the Middle Ages, influencing a strong Austrian literary tradition. Austria’s best-known cities are its capital of Vienna and Salzburg, and Innsbruck. Vienna was the Habsburg and Austrian Empires center and earned a place as one of the world’s great cities. It is famed for its baroque architecture; its music, particularly waltzes; and theater. The Habsburgs were great patrons of the arts, and hence music, drama, and art thrived for centuries in Austria. The country has been home to many famous composers and musicians and has a worldwide reputation in music and the arts.
The British Isles
The British Isles are an archipelago, a group of islands separated from the English Channel’s European mainland. The British Isles are often included in Western Europe when discussing political geography; however, they are separated from Europe’s mainland by water, providing them with a separate identity. The British Isles consists of two separate, independent countries: the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain. The United Kingdom (UK) of Great Britain consists of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. All four regions are now under the UK government. The Republic of Ireland is independent of the United Kingdom and does not include Northern Ireland. The primate city and UK capital is London, which is a financial center for Europe. The capital city of the Republic of Ireland in Dublin.
Influenced by the Gulf Stream, the British Isles’ climate is moderate, despite its northern latitude location. The UK and Ireland are located above the fiftieth degree of latitude, which is farther north than the US-Canadian border. The northern latitude would typically place this region into the type D climates, with harsher winters and more extreme seasonal temperatures. However, the surrounding water moderates temperature, creating a moderate type C climate covering most of the British Isles. The Gulf Stream pulls warm water from the tropics and circulates it north, off Europe’s coast, to moderate Western Europe’s temperature.
The Western Highlands and the Northern Lowlands dominate the islands. Scotland, Wales, and parts of England have highland regions with small mountains and rugged terrain, whereas the lowlands of southern England, Ireland, and central Scotland offer agricultural opportunities. The Pennines Mountains runs through northern England and was the source of the coal, ores, and waterpower that fueled the Industrial Revolution. To the east of Britain is the North Sea, which provided an abundance of petroleum resources (oil) for energy and wealth.
Though the British Isles’ heritage is unique to this region, the geographic dynamics are similar to Central Europe. They tend to have smaller families, urbanization and industrialization are robust, enjoy high incomes, and are significantly involved with economic globalization. The EU has had an enormous influence on the British Isles. Ireland has embraced EU’s economic connections, but the British people have been hesitant to relinquish full autonomy to the EU. This reluctance can be noted in the fact that the United Kingdom kept the British pound sterling as their currency standard after the euro currency was implemented. However, the Republic of Ireland converted to the euro currency.
The regions of the British Isles follow similar dynamics to those of other countries in Western Europe. Though some regions are not as wealthy as others, they all demonstrate a high industrialization, urbanization, and technology level. These urban societies have smaller families and higher incomes and are heavy consumers of energy, goods, and services. Just as the Industrial Revolution attracted cheap labor, the aging workforce has enticed people from former British colonies to migrate to the United Kingdom in search of increased employment opportunities. The mix of immigrants with local heritage creates a diverse community. London has diverse communities with many ethnic businesses and business owners.
Devolutionary forces are active in the United Kingdom. Scotland and Wales are already governing their local parliaments. Devolutionary cultural differences can be noted by studying the different heritages found in each region. Just as the Welsh language is lingering in Wales, Gaelic continues in Ireland and Scotland. Each region has made efforts to retain local heritage and rally support for its nation-state (Figure 4.5.5). However, this is all done with the overall perspective of remaining under the umbrella of the EU.
Northern England
Home to the Industrial Revolution, major industrial cities such as Manchester and Birmingham brought together the labor, raw materials, and industry connections necessary to manufacture products. The port city of Liverpool gave access to the world markets established by Britain’s extensive colonial empire, and the colonies provided raw materials, new ideas, and cheap labor for the new industrial factories. Great Britain was an avid colonizer and controlled colonies on all inhabited continents. Raw materials such as cotton, which did not grow well in Britain, became a major import fueled by the Industrial Revolution’s textile mills.
Industrialization caused a rural-to-urban shift in Britain. In 1800, only 9 percent of the population lived in urban areas, but by 1900 some 62 percent resided in cities and towns. As of 2019, over 90 percent of Britain’s population is composed of urban dwellers. The British colonial empire also caused a migration pattern whereby people moved from colonies to the home country, with the core area located in northern England’s Midlands. Cheap immigrant labor and resources from the colonies provided the manufacturing enterprises of wealthy British industrialists with good fortunes. Raw cotton was brought in from the colonies of India and Egypt. Cheap labor, brought in from the Caribbean and South Asia, resulted in a more diverse population in industrialized northern England.
As the information age developed, northern England’s industrial centers gave way to a post-industrialized southern England. The north’s heavy industries experienced a decline in demand. Factories closed, production became automated, and unemployment increased. The transition from the Industrial Revolution to a postindustrial society turned northern England into the British Isles’ Rust Belt. The port of Liverpool has been updated with modern and automated systems that do not require the high level of manual labor necessary during earlier industrial times. Rail service connects Liverpool with London, connected to Paris through a tunnel under the English Channel called the Chunnel.
The postindustrial economic activities have shifted the focus of employment away from manual labor to the service sector of information. Many places have looked to tourism to boost their economic situation. Northern England has many attractive physical environments that have been developed into major tourist attractions. The Lake District of northern England is a famous vacation destination, and small mountains and scenic landscapes attracted several of England’s writers. The city of Blackpool on the Irish Sea, just north of Liverpool, is a major vacation destination for the English. The dales and moors of northern England, complemented by the short Pennines, provide a sharp contrast to London and southern England’s urban metropolitan landscapes.
Southern England
Anchored by London’s primate city, southern England also is home to Oxford and Cambridge’s universities. This is Great Britain’s most affluent region and is a center of postindustrial activity. Located on the Thames River, London is a central player in the world’s financial markets. Southern England also houses about one-third of the UK population. With immigration from the former colonies, this region is also becoming more diverse. This is an urbanized region, where the cost of living, transportation, and housing is high. For example, gasoline in the United Kingdom might cost two or three times more than in the United States. Many urban dwellers do not own automobiles but instead use public transportation.
England is the most populous region of the United Kingdom, with about one thousand people per square mile. About half the population increase is because of immigration. The UK population is aging due to smaller family sizes and a growing number of senior citizens. This trend is common in countries in stage 5 of the index of economic development. Immigrants from many parts of the world have targeted England as their new home. Many are from former British colonies in Asia and Africa. England has a diverse population. Islam is the fastest-growing religion, even though Muslims make up less than 10 percent of the total population. London is even home to a growing Sikh community.
London is the United Kingdom’s primate city and capital; it is the largest administrative municipality in the entire EU. Only Paris has a larger overall metropolitan area. London is a global center that holds prominence in world markets and the globalization process. About one-fifth of Europe’s largest corporations have their headquarters in London. The city’s cultural influence is felt worldwide in the fashion industry, media, entertainment, and the arts. London is an international city that has a powerful draw for tourists. London’s international recognition anchors the core economic region of Europe.
Southern England is also home to Great Britain’s seat of government. The UK government is considered a constitutional monarchy with a king or queen as head of state. The parliament is the official legislative body with a prime minister as head of government. The parliament has two bodies: the House of Commons, whose members are elected, and the House of Lords, whose members are appointed for life. As head of state, the monarch is mainly a figurehead with little actual political power. Several dependencies remain under the British Crown as far as sovereignty is concerned. Small islands such as Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man, and various islands in the Caribbean and Atlantic and Pacific Oceans remain under the British government for administrative, economic, and defense purposes.
Wales
A highland region to the west of England, Wales holds a Celtic heritage in which the Welsh language and coal mining stories can still be heard. However, the English language has become more dominant, and tourism has replaced coal mining as the main economic activity. The decline in coal use depressed the economy but did not depress the Welsh people’s culture and heritage – the largest city and capital of Wales in Cardiff. In the early twentieth century, Cardiff’s port handled the largest amount of coal globally and handled more tons of cargo than Liverpool or London. The decline in coal mining has reduced the shipping activity in Cardiff’s port in the twenty-first century.
Devolution is alive and well in Wales. Welsh nationalism prompted the declaration of a separate parliament in the capital of Cardiff. London’s break provided local autonomy, but Wales is still reliant on the United Kingdom in national and foreign affairs. Many of the young people in Wales emigrate to find work because of the depressed economy. Emigration has caused a leveling off of population growth, and the number of people who speak Welsh has diminished. Wales and England share a common Protestant Christian religion. Wales is turning to tourism as a means of economic income; the scenic and picturesque landscape of the highland region, with its many castles, provides a pleasant experience for tourists.
Scotland
United with England in 1707, Scotland has been integrated into the United Kingdom while keeping its separate heritage and culture. Scotland has strong centripetal forces uniting the Scottish people, including victories over the British by Scottish clans, led by William Wallace in 1297 and Robert the Bruce in 1314; these forces within Scotland have created a devolutionary split with the UK parliament. In the quest to become a nation-state unto itself, in 1997, Scotland received permission to create its parliament to govern local affairs. Though Scotland wants to separate into an independent state, they do not wish to isolate themselves from the EU or greater Europe. This opposite trend, in which local states want autonomy and self-rule yet also want to remain within the broader regional community for economic and national security, is common. The phrase “separate within the Union” is surfacing in Europe with stronger voices. Scotland remains under the British Crown and shares a Protestant Christian heritage with its UK associates.
The Scottish Highlands provide for livestock production, and the central Scottish Lowlands are favorable for agriculture. The North Sea has extensive oil resources. With resources such as these, Scotland can gain wealth and support its small population of about five million people. As an early export product, scotch whiskey has profited many whiskey marketers and has become the most extensive Scotland export product. Scotland benefited and gained wealth during the Industrial Revolution. As a part of an island, early shipbuilding produced ships that brought about trade and development that coincided with European colonialism.
Postindustrial activities have become a focus of the current economy. High-tech computer industries have concentrated in Silicon Glen, an information-age industrial sector between Scotland’s largest city, Glasgow, and Edinburgh’s capital. With natural resources and postindustrial opportunities, Scotland is in an excellent position to compete in the global economic community. Scottish banking firms reach around the globe through their investment holdings. Scotland attracts a healthy tourism market with its Highlands and many castles. Kilts and bagpipes are a part of Scottish history and often distinguish themselves as a part of the region’s heritage. The game of golf originated in Scotland and is still popular today.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is a place in which strong cultural forces often erupt into violence. Officially part of the United Kingdom, this small region with about 1.8 million people has developed a unique set of social problems. Most people consider religious differences to be the main problem in Northern Ireland. People of Irish heritage are predominately Roman Catholic, and those of Scottish and English heritages are usually Protestant Christians. However, it is not so simple. If the troubles (as they are called in the United Kingdom) in Northern Ireland were based solely on religion, we should expect to see similar violence in other regions of the United States or Europe.
The core of the social problems in Northern Ireland is based on political affiliations. Most of the population in the region is not Irish. About 55 percent of the population is of Scottish or English descent, with only about 45 percent of Irish descent. The real problem centers on the governing of Ireland. The Irish would like to see Northern Ireland join with the Republic of Ireland, which received its independence from the British in 1921. The Irish do not want to be under the UK parliament with the Queen of England as head of state. Irish countrymen want total independence from the United Kingdom. The non-Irish population does not want to be a part of the Republic of Ireland and its Irish parliament and would instead remain under the British Crown. The people of Scottish descent would prefer total independence from all outside forces. English people want to remain with the UK parliament.
Though the real problem is political, religion has become the scapegoat. Because cultural differences can be witnessed between Catholics and Protestants, religion has become the two sides’ identifier. They are not necessarily fighting over religious beliefs but rather over political power and control.
The troubles of Northern Ireland have diminished its economic and employment opportunities. Underground paramilitary groups such as the Irish Republican Army (IRA) have heightened tensions between the two groups for decades, with car bombings and other terrorist acts. Hope might lie with a generational change in the population. As the younger generation seeks more opportunities and advantages, the issues that separate the two sides could diminish. Over the years, the hatred built up can be eased with each new generation if centripetal forces work to bridge the differences and unite the social fabric. If the killing and hatred are passed down to successive generations, it will only take longer to recover.
In 1998, after a series of terrorist acts that were condemned on all sides, a movement took place to create the Northern Ireland Assembly with both sides of the division. Obstacles continue to surface to disrupt this calming process, but there is hope that in the future, solutions such as this assembly can work toward producing a lasting peace. The devolutionary forces active in Wales and Scotland may act to create a more separate Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Assembly was only one step. Progress in Northern Ireland is an uphill battle with high unemployment, a weak resource base, and few economic opportunities. Only by working together will Northern Ireland become a stable, peaceful part of the British Isles.
The Republic of Ireland
The whole island of Ireland was under the control of the British Crown for centuries. In 1921 independence was gained from the British for all but Northern Ireland. This bitterly fought conflict has become well entrenched in Irish culture and literature. As an independent country separate from the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland has ascended the economic ladder to become a global economic community. Because the climate is type C, there is adequate rainfall for crops and vegetation, and the green landscape gives it the title, “The Emerald Isle.” The island has few other natural resources. There are trees but no vast forest reserves for commercial exploitation. Peat, an early version of coal, is cut from the bogs and burned as fuel.
Ireland is not a vast country. It is just a bit larger than the US state of West Virginia, with a population of about four million. There are no tall mountain ranges in Ireland. The soils are traditionally rocky with few nutrients. Before colonial times, the traditional food crops included such turnips and rutabagas. When the potato was imported from the Americas, it was well-received in Ireland. The potato plant grew well and replaced traditional root crops as the primary food source.
In the early 1800s, the population of the whole of Ireland (including what is now Northern Ireland) was as high as eight million. Starting in the 1840s, blight and rot destroyed much of the potato crop year after year, causing a severe famine in Ireland. More than a million people died, and another two million people left the island. The potato famine caused losses reminiscent of the Black Death, which had ravaged Europe centuries earlier. Black Death’s history may have led to the term Black Irish, which referred to people who fled Ireland during the potato famine and immigrated to the United States. They were often regarded as lower-class citizens and were discriminated against. Well-established Irish families had immigrated to the United States before the 1840s were not considered Black Irish and assimilated into mainstream American society more quickly.
The lack of natural resources and the lack of opportunities and advantages held back the Republic of Ireland from developing a strong economy. It was not until the 1990s that conditions improved. With the EU’s creation and communication advancements, Ireland became an ideal location for expanding North American corporations. The attractive elements included a mild climate, a similar English language, an educated workforce, and a low living cost. Many high-tech computer firms, communication companies, and electronic industries established their operations base in Ireland – Dublin in particular. Because Ireland was a member of the EU, it was a convenient intermediary location between the United States and the European mainland. Business boomed in the 1990s, and incomes and the cost of living rose. Tourism also has become a growing sector of the economy. The economic growth in Ireland earned it the title Celtic Tiger to indicate its growing economic power.
However, the rapidly expanding economic conditions of the 1990s have not extended into the twenty-first century. Since 2007, the global depression has taken its toll on the Irish economy. Starting in 2008, the country witnessed a sharp increase in unemployment that coincided with serious banking scandals. Various banks have been targeted for bailout funds from the government, and the economy witnessed a sharp decline. Property values have plummeted, and protesters have staged demonstrations in the streets demanding the government address the economic situation. Tourism has taken up some of the slack and has expanded by highlighting the Emerald Isle’s mild climate and green countryside. Cities such as Dublin are working with the growing pains of recovery in the economic recession.
Unemployment remains a concern, as well as declining economic opportunities. Overall, Ireland is working to reposition itself for future economic growth. The country wants to maintain itself as a vital link in the EU’s relationship with the United States. Ireland is bracing itself for a sluggish economic road ahead.
Attributions:
"Europe's Regions" is adapted from Introduction to World Regional Geography by R. Adam Dastrup (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/05%3A_Europe/5.04%3A_Europe%27s_Regions.txt |
Re-framing North and Central Asia
The region of North and Central Asia brings together the world’s largest country by area (the Russian Federation) with countries bordering the diverse regions of Southwest Asia, South Asia, and East Asia. This includes the countries in the Caucasus region (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia) and the “-stan” countries across the Caspian Sea from the Caucasus region. The “-stan” suffix comes from the Persian language roughly translated from “home to” or “place of”. These countries include Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. (The remaining “-stan” country, Pakistan, is discussed in the South Asia region). So, Afghanistan is “the home of the Afghans”.
It should be noted that Afghanistan is sometimes included in the South Asia region, which serves as a good reminder that the world regional boundaries are not fixed. Rather, countries can “fit” into different world regions based on what characteristics are used to define a world region, such as languages, histories, economics, or some other factor. Creating regions can often be a question of “lumpers and splitters;” who do you lump together and who do you split apart? Do you have fewer regions united by only a couple characteristics, or more regions that share a great deal in common?
The pairing of present-day Russia with Central Asia makes sense considering the history of the Soviets in the region. The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks, headed by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the provisional government that replaced the Tsar. The Soviet Union was a federation of Soviet Republics that were outwardly independent nations, but existed essentially as satellite states under the control of Russian power. The Soviet Union was dissolved by the end of 1991, resulting in 14 countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan) declaring their independence in the course of the years 1990–1991.
Defining the region based on Soviet conquest can be problematic, however. World regional geographers understand that when we define a location by the people who conquered it, we are doing a disservice to the rich histories and cultures of the region prior to colonization or annexation. There’s one more consideration for this world region: Russia can refer to the Russian Federation (the country), or to the idea of a united territory in the history of the region.
The World Geographies Atlas: Navigate each world region through maps
For each of the world regions, our original atlas provides detailed maps to help you navigate the places discussed in this book. These maps are meant to be explored before and during the reading of this chapter. These maps are best enjoyed enlarged. Click on each map for an enlarged view, and zoom in to see the prominent biomes, physical features, and population centers of North and Central Asia. We recommend that you download these for reference as you read this chapter's content and hope that you enjoy this original compilation.
Attributions:
"Re-framing North and Central Asia" is adapted from The Soviet Socialist Republics by Lumen Learning (CC BY-SA), Unrest in the Soviet Union by Lumen Learning (CC BY-SA), and The World's Regions by Caitlin Finlayson (CC BY-NC-SA).
06: North and Central Asia
Learning Objectives
1. Analyze how plate tectonic activity created physical features in North and Central Asia.
2. Compare the biomes located in North and Central Asia.
The Physical Setting
Central Asia and Russia compose nearly one-third of the Eurasian continent. The numerous mountain chains in the region border several cratons, which are relatively flat and stable portions of a continent with igneous rocks that are more than one billion years old. Across Russia, the Western Siberian Plain and the Central Siberian Plateau are predominantly low-lying regions atop cratons. Major mountain ranges in Central Asia include the Tien Shan, Pamir, and Hindu Kush, which border grasslands and deserts (Figure 6.1.1). Located in the region between the Black and Caspian Seas, the Caucasus Mountains have two ranges: The Greater Caucasus in the north, which forms the border between Russia to the north, Georgia to the south, and Azerbaijan to the southeast; and the Lesser Caucasus to the south, which extends southeastward from Georgia to Armenia. The Ural Mountains in Russia traditionally divided Europe to the west and Asia to the east.
The Ural Mountains extend roughly along the 60°E line of longitude (Figure 6.1.2, left). The mountain range spans 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) passing through Arctic tundra (a vast, cold and treeless biome) to the north and through forested and semi-desert landscapes to the south. Continental collisions gave rise to the Urals between 250 and 300 million years ago, making them among the oldest mountains on Earth. (For comparison, the very old Appalachians started to form about 480 million years ago, while the younger Himalayas started to form about 40 to 50 million years ago). To the east of the Ural Mountains lies the West Siberian Plain. This is a vast flatland area in central Russia that stretches almost the full latitude of the country—from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the foothills of the Altay Mountains in the south. Bound on the west by the Ural Mountains and on the east by the Yennisey River, the plain is one of the largest flatland areas in the world. The Central Siberia Plateau is marked with ridges and wide plateaus (Figure 6.1.2, right).
In southwest Eurasia, between the Black and Caspian Seas, lies the Caucasus mountain range. The Caucasus Mountains form a border between Russia to the north, Georgia to the south, and Azerbaijan to the southeast. The Caucasus Mountains are the result of a tectonic plate collision between the Arabian plate moving northward with respect to the Eurasian plate. Tectonic plates are large slabs of solid rock that form the continents and ocean basins. The Caucasus Mountains form a continuation of the Himalayas, which are being pressed upwards by a similar collision zone with the Eurasian and Indian plates. The entire region is regularly subjected to strong earthquakes from this activity, especially as the fault structure is complex with the Anatolia/Turkey and Iranian Blocks flowing sidewise, which prevents subduction of the advancing plate edge and hence the lack of volcanoes (though some minor dome structures, such as Mount Elbrus’ peaks, do exist, Figure 6.1.3). The earthquakes are the result of built-up stress being released along faults in the rock. At 18,510 feet in elevation, Mount Elbrus is the highest peak in Russia.
The Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s Far East is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. The ring is characterized by active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes associated with the many active and transform boundary zones around the Pacific tectonic plate. The Kamchatka Peninsula is home to more than 300 volcanoes, 20 of which are active, 114 of which have erupted in the Holocene Epoch (approximately 12,000 years ago to the present), making it one of the most volcanically and geothermally active regions in the world. The peninsula rides on the Okhotsk Plate, with the Pacific Plate diving under it at a rate of 8 to 10 centimeters per year. Figure 6.1.4 is a photograph by an astronaut above the International Space Station. Kronotsky and Kizimen stratovolcanoes are distinguished by their symmetrical cones. Kizimen last erupted in 1928, while Kronotsky—one of the largest on the peninsula—last erupted in 1923. Schmidt Volcano, to the north of Kronotsky, has the morphology of a shield volcano and is not known to have erupted since humans have been keeping records. Shield volcanoes are gently-sloping features formed by lava flows. To the south (left) is Krasheninnikov, comprised of overlapping stratovolcanoes (layers of ash and lava) that formed within an earlier volcanic crater, known as a caldera. Krasheninnikov may have last erupted in 1550. Two summit craters are clearly visible. Lake Kronotsky is Kamchatka’s largest lake. It formed when lava flows from Kronotsky Volcano dammed the Listvenichnaya River.
The Central Asian region is home to three major mountain ranges. The same tectonic forces that built the Himalayas also produced the Tien Shan, a similarly vast range of snow-capped peaks that extends 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles) through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and western China (Figure 6.1.5, left). Tien Shan’s glaciers play a crucial role in Central Asia’s hydrological cycle. An estimated 15 percent of freshwater runoff in Kyrgyzstan comes from glaciers, and the contribution can be much higher during the melting season. In the east of Tajikistan lies the world heritage site designated Tajik National Park in the Pamir Mountains (Figure 6.1.5, middle). The park covers more than 2.5 million hectares (9,652 square miles) in the east of the country, at the center of the so-called “Pamir Knot”, a meeting point of the highest mountain ranges on the Eurasian continent. It consists of high plateau in the east and, to the west, rugged peaks, some of them over 7,000 meters (22,900 feet) high, and features extreme seasonal variations of temperature. The longest valley glacier outside the Polar region is located among the 1,085 glaciers inventoried in the site, which also numbers 170 rivers and more than 400 lakes. Straddling the borders between Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India, the Hindu Kush is heavily populated (Figure 6.1.5, right). Though the valleys are heavily irrigated, growing crops at such high altitudes and low temperatures is difficult. The residents also have to worry about earthquakes, which are common as the Eurasian and Indo-Australian tectonic plates continue to push against one-another. This constant pressure and grinding create an average of four major (measuring at least 5 on the Richter scale) earthquakes a year.
Biomes
Although Russia’s land area is quite large, much of the region is too cold for agriculture. As shown in Figure 6.1.5, the northernmost portion of Russia is dominated by tundra, a biome characterized by very cold temperatures and limited tree growth. Here, temperatures can drop below -50°C (-58°F) and much of the soil is permafrost, soil that is consistently below the freezing point of water (0°C or 32°F). In the tundra summers, the top layer of soil thaws only a few inches down, providing a growing surface for the roots of vegetation. Precipitation in the tundra totals 150 to 250 mm a year, including melted snow. That's less than most of the world's greatest deserts. Still, the tundra is usually a wet place because the low temperatures cause evaporation of water to be slow. Much of the arctic has rain and fog in the summers, and water gathers in bogs and ponds. Vegetation in the tundra has adapted to the cold and the short growing season (Figure 6.1.6. left). Mosses, sedges, and lichens are common, while few trees grow in the tundra. The trees that do manage to grow stay close to the ground so they are insulated by snow during the cold winters.
South of the tundra is the taiga region, where coniferous (evergreen), snow-capped forests dominate (Figure 6.1.7, middle). In North America, taiga is referred to as boreal forest. This area of Russia contains the world’s largest wood resources, though logging in the region has diminished the supply. Coniferous forests consist mostly of conifers, which are trees that grow needles instead of leaves and cones instead of flowers. Conifers tend to be evergreen—they bear needles all year long. These adaptations help conifers survive in areas that are very cold or dry. Some of the more common conifers are spruces, pines, and firs.
South of the taiga region are areas of temperate broadleaf forests and steppe, an area of treeless, grassland plains (Figure 6.1.7, right). The steppe has a long history of being one of Russia’s most important breadbaskets. Intensive production and overuse during the Soviet era led to significant erosion of the soil in many places, but farmers in the area still manage to grow a range of crops, including wheat, sunflowers, buckwheat, soybeans, flax, peas, and sugar beets.
Central Asia has a variety of biomes including deciduous forest, steppe, desert, and alpine shrublands. The mountains of Central Asia are a designated biodiversity hotspot by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF). Biodiversity hotspots are regions with at least 1,500 endemic vascular plant species that have lost at least 70 percent of its native vegetation. “The hotspot contains ancestors of domestic fruit and nut varieties: apricots, plums, cherries, apples, pears, cherry plums, grapes, pistachios, almonds, walnuts, and pomegranates. In addition, the wild crop relatives of many cultural herbaceous plants – wheat, barley, oats, rhubarb, sorrel, anise, coriander, onions, garlic, tulips – are still found here, making the region an important storehouse of genetic diversity.”[1]
Attributions:
“Biomes” is adapted from World Regional Geography by Caitlin Finlayson, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
“Biomes” is adapted from Tundra, Coniferous Forest, and Shifting Seasons on the Steppe by the NASA Earth Observatory, Public Domain. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/06%3A_North_and_Central_Asia/6.01%3A_The_Natural_Environment.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Analyze how Russian nation-building influenced the Indigenous populations of the Arctic Region.
2. Describe Central Asia’s cultural diversity.
The Arctic Region
The global Arctic Region is home to numerous Indigenous groups. Figure 6.2.1 shows the Indigenous Population of the Arctic Region as a total share of the population in each location. Humans have inhabited present-day Siberia for more than 40,000 years.[1] Across the far north, numerous ethnic groups with distinct languages and cultural practices thrived. The word shaman originates in the Tungusic language of Siberia and represents a “worldview of people living in close connection to the environment with all its animate features including spirits” (p. 121).[2] As recently as 2014, shamanism was recognized as an official religion in the Sakha Republic in Russia.
The International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) reports that there are more than 160 Indigenous groups in present-day Russia yet only 40 are officially recognized. The natural world provides materially and spiritually for the peoples of the Arctic. The relationship between humans and their environment is deep and multi-faceted. In the worldviews of indigenous people, it is a two-way relationship, with obligations and expectations for all beings that are part of the system. These groups traditionally relied on fishing and hunting, and reindeer herding in the north of the territory (Figure 6.2.2). Today, Indigenous peoples compose less than 1% of Russia’s total population.[3]
Like in other parts of the world, Indigenous groups in Russia continue to endure hardships and dispossession. Many of Russia’s natural resources are found on Indigenous lands and recent laws allow local authorities to overrule Indigenous land tenure in favor of resource extraction (Figure 6.2.3). Recent crackdowns on independent media and Indigenous activists and their supporters has caused a“second wave of repression against indigenous peoples in Russia’s history”.[4] The first happened during years of industrialization in the 20th century, when the Soviets colonized the Arctic and Siberia, subordinating them to the needs of the country. With few other options available, reindeer herders were simply resettled in reservations, while those who rebelled were sent to the Levashovo Wasteland, now a memorial site. This was how it happened in Murmansk Oblast, where the map of Sámi cemeteries shows that the native people were squeezed into the center of the Kola peninsula.
At the time of the Great Terror political purges in 1936-1938, 125 of the 2,000 Kola Sámi were arrested by Soviet authorities and the majority of them shot; 55 were sent to the Gulag. Only five survived. Those arrested included almost all of the Sámi leadership and the creator of the first Sámi primer. Few in number, the Sámi submitted meekly. Meanwhile, the Nenets people of the Yamal peninsula rose up, in a movement they called the Mandalada, outright refusing to surrender their reindeer to the state. Being left in the tundra without reindeer is equivalent to death. A 10-year sentence in a prison camp was meted out on the same day as the trial, without any investigation. The first Mandalada was relatively successful, and its leaders even held direct talks with the government. They issued an ultimatum: re-establish the rights of the shamans, equality between the kulaks (wealthier peasants who owned land) and the poor, abolition of food-supply restrictions, and almost total elimination of Soviet power in the Yamal. As a result, the Mandalada itself was liquidated, without bloodshed. The second uprising, in the 1940s, was brutally repressed. The Dolgan people, living in the north of the present-day Krasnoyarsk region, also revolted against the division between the kulaks and the poor.
The act of maintaining cultural ways is also a form of resistance. The preservation of Indigenous languages is of particular importance for cultural survival. Scholars have identified Eastern Siberia as a language hotspot, meaning that it is an area with high levels of endangered languages combined with high levels of linguistic diversity, and low levels of documentation of the endangered languages. Programs to preserve and revive languages strengthen the intergenerational cultural bonds.
Linguists with the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages are working with Ös speakers to record speakers, publish books, and create a written form of the language. The Ös documentation project explains:
Middle Chulym or Ös has become endangered in part as a result of open hostility from the state during the twentieth century. Unlike most native Siberian languages, it was never committed to writing. In the 1940s, with the establishment of the ‘second mother tongue’ policy, children were rounded up into boarding schools and forbidden to speak their mother tongue. This led to rapid abandonment of the language.
In addition, Ös [Chulym Turkic] people were dropped from census statistics as a distinct ethnic group after 1959, regaining separate ethnic identity only in 1999. In the 1970’s, they were forcibly consolidated into larger, Russian-speaking settlements, thus losing their population base and traditional language milieu.[5]
Russification
Much like the expansion of European settlers throughout North America and the dispossession (depriving people of their land and property) and forced assimilation (an involuntary process where religious or ethnic groups are forced to adopt the language and culture of another group) of native peoples, contemporary North and Central Asia is shaped by the expansionist historical legacy of the Russian Federation. Its vast territory is the product of more than 700 years of conquest that has expanded Russian control southward and eastward across Eurasia.
Ethnic Russians
Ethnic Russians are a Slavic group with roots before recorded history. The term "Slavs" designates an ethnic group of people who share a long-term cultural continuity and who speak a set of related languages known as the Slavic languages (all of which belong to the Indo-European language family). Little is known about the Slavs before they are mentioned in Byzantine records of the 6th century CE, and most of what we know about them prior to this time is mainly derived from archeological and linguistic studies (Figure 6.2.4).
Linguistic evidence suggests that at some stage during their early times, the territory of the Slavs reached into the western region of Russia and the southern Russian steppes, where they came in contact with Iranian speaking groups. This is based on Slavic languages sharing a striking number of words with the Iranian languages, which can only be explained through diffusion from Iranian into Slavic. Later on, as they moved westward, they came into contact with German tribes and again borrowed several additional terms from Germanic languages. Interestingly, a Polish thinker named Józef Rostafiński had noticed that in all Slavic languages the words for beech, larch, and yew are borrowed from foreign languages, which implies that during early times these type of trees were unknown to the Slavs, a suggestion that could be used as a clue to determine where the Slavic culture originated.
Religion adds to the cultural diversity of the Slavic peoples. The Great Schism refers to formal institutional separation in 1054 CE between the Eastern Church of the Byzantine Empire (into the Orthodox Church, now called the Eastern Orthodox Church) and the Western Church of the Holy Roman Empire (into the Catholic Church, now called the Roman Catholic Church). Figure 6.2.5 shows the separation between the two main church bodies. This separation served as a basis for present-day nation state boundaries.
In the 19th century, the Pan-Slavism movement sought to unify Slavic peoples in order to strengthen cultural and political ties in part to protect against Austro-Hungarian and Turkish interference in Slavic-dominant nation states. The main idea of Pan-Slavism can be identified as an attempt to transcend a more isolated national identity and create a greater, “pan-national,” identity, including, in the spirit of the geopolitics of the time, a territory larger than the area of a nation state. However, even at the time of its greatest popularity, the concept of unity of the various Slavic nations did not come to be clearly defined and was challenged by low practical feasibility. The Pan-Slavism movement contributed to the implementation of russification in the region as the Russian Empire capitalized on these cultural connections to justify its cause.
The Russian Empire
Most of the territory that makes up today’s Russian Federation came from the conquests of the Russian Empire, which mostly took shape in the 14th and 16th Century. Under the direction of powerful czars (sometimes spelled tsars), or autocratic leaders of the Pre-1917 Russian Empire, the Russian territory expanded from a small area in the vicinities of modern-day Moscow to a vast land area. By the 19th Century, the Russian Empire had amassed many territorial conquests and reached its peak geographical extent: its borders stretched from the Northern Coast of Asia, to Eastern Europe to include the area that is now Ukraine (the north side of the Black Sea), to Central Asia (what is now Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and the other Central Asian republics), to Alaska (which Russia later sold to the United States), and from the Bering Sea to the eastern border of Germany in the west. The Russian Empire is considered the third largest in history, covering a total of 8.8 million square miles during its peak[6] (Figure 6.2.6). By 1922, the Russian Empire disintegrated and was replaced by the Soviet Union (the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of USSR) who continued to seek to expand and strengthen control over its vast territory from Eastern Europe to the Pacific Ocean.
Both the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union were imperial powers. In other words, these governments ruled a large variety of ethnic groups in distant places: people who spoke many languages, people who worshiped different gods in different ways, people who had various skin and hair colors, and people who did not consider themselves to be Russian. As an attempt to unify this diverse and immense empire under their central rule, Russian czars implemented a policy of Russification, or an attempt to diffuse and superimpose Russian culture and authority, to minimize cultural differences and turn all Russian subjects into Russians, or at least to make them as Russian as possible. The czars ruled this empire with Russification and the sword. As they were all subject to the Russian czars, people were taught the Russian language and were encouraged to convert to Russian Orthodoxy. Russification was not very successful, and the farther people were from Moscow the less likely they were to be Russified. When the Soviets took over the Russian Empire, millions of Muslims still lived in Central Asia, on the Crimean peninsula of southern Ukraine, in the Caucasus Mountains, and elsewhere.
The Soviet Era
The Soviets took a different tack when it came to taming the diversity of the empire. Instead of emphasizing unity under the Russian czar, the Russian language, and the Russian Orthodox religion, the Soviets decided to organize—and thus try to control—the diversity of ethnic groups found in the Soviet Union. They chose some of the major groups (Uzbek, Kazakh, and so forth) and established Soviet Socialist Republics that corresponded to these major groups. Thus they created the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Uzbek SSR), the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (Kazakh SSR), the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukrainian SSR), and a different republic for each of fourteen ethnic groups, plus the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Figure 6.2.7). About eighty-five other ethnic groups were not given their own republics, although some of them were allocated regions within the Russian Republic. In theory, each of the Soviet Socialist Republics was an independent state choosing to ally with the Soviet Union. In practice, of course, these republics were part of a totalitarian, centrally ruled state with far fewer autonomous rights than states in the United States.
The creation of these republics strengthened certain ethnic/national identities and weakened others. There had not been a fully developed Uzbek national identity before the formation of the Uzbek SSR. The same was true for the Kazakh SSR, the Turkmen SSR, and others. Although people in a certain area might have spoken the same language, they did not think of themselves as belonging to a nation of fellow Uzbeks, Kazakhs, or Turkmen until they were put into one by the Soviet rulers. In 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed, these Soviet Socialist Republics were able to declare their independence from Russia, and the national identities fostered during the Soviet era came to fruition.
At the same time that the Soviets were organizing minority ethnic groups into republics, they were also sending ethnic Russians to live in non-Russian parts of the Soviet Union. Some were sent by force—such as Russians who were sent to prison camps in Siberia and stayed in the area after they were eventually freed. Other Russians were sent around the empire to work in factories, power plants, and other industries, or they were sent to help administer the government. By sending Russians to the far reaches of the Soviet Union, the Russian government hoped to consolidate its control over the various republics and to dilute the strength of the minority ethnicities. This policy also had unintended consequences: when the Soviet Union collapsed after 1991 and the various republics became independent countries, they each had to deal with sizable Russian minorities. For example, at the time of its independence, nearly as many ethnic Russians lived in Kazakhstan (38 percent) as ethnic Kazakhs (40 percent). In the twenty years since then, many Russians moved to Russia from the former Soviet republics. In 2010, Kazakhstan’s population was only about 24 percent ethnic Russian.
The Russian Federation
The Russian federation was created with eighty-three federal subjects: two autonomous federal cities; forty-six provinces (oblasts) and nine territories (krais) that function in the same way and are the most common type of federal unit; twenty-one republics; four autonomous districts (okrugs); and one autonomous oblast (Figure 6.2.8). Moscow and St. Petersburg are the two federal cities that function as their own units. The oblasts and krais each have a governor appointed by the central government and a locally elected legislature. The governorship was an elected position in the 1990s, but President Vladimir Putin changed the structure to strengthen the power of the central state. The republics, designed to be home to certain ethnic minorities, are allowed to have their own constitutions and governments and to select an official language that will be used besides Russian, but they are not considered independent countries with the right to secession. The autonomous districts were also formed for ethnic minorities and are administered either by the central state or by the province or territory in which they are located. The only autonomous oblast was created in the 1930s to be a home for Jews in the Russian Far East, but only about 1 percent of the population remains Jewish today.
Central Asia at the Crossroads
Historically, the Central Asian region served as the crossroads to the Silk Road. The Silk Road was a network of ancient trade routes, formally established during the Han Dynasty of China in 130 BCE, which linked the regions of the ancient world in commerce between 130 BCE-1453 CE (Figure 6.2.9). Note that the Silk Road was not a single route from east to west, rather there were several routes spanning across southern Eurasia. While many different kinds of merchandise traveled along the network of trade of the Silk Road, the name comes from the popularity of Chinese silk with the west, especially with Rome. The Silk Road routes stretched from present-day China through India, Turkey, up throughout Southwest Asia, to Africa, and Europe. The greatest value of the Silk Road was the exchange of culture. Art, religion, philosophy, technology, language, science, architecture, and every other element of civilization was exchanged along these routes, carried with the commercial goods the merchants traded from country to country.
Many groups of Central Asia were nomadic peoples who rode horses and herded livestock on the region’s vast steppes. This way of life continued until the 1920s, when the Soviet Union forced many of the groups to abandon their lifestyle and settle on collective farms and in cities. Most of the people of Central Asia continue to identify culturally with their nomadic past. Central Asians who live in cities often demonstrate a mix of local and Russian culture in terms of dress and food because of the massive influx of Russian populations in the region. More than six million Russians and Ukrainians were resettled into Central Asia during Soviet rule. Russian is often used as a lingua franca, a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different. Despite the area being part of the Soviet Union, where religious activities were discouraged, Islam was and still is the dominant religion.
Figure 6.2.10 shows a 1993 map created by the U.S. Central Intelligence agency showing the major ethnic groups in Central Asia. This map helps to provide a cursory understanding of the spatial distribution of Slavic, Indo-European, and Turkic peoples in the region. Today the region’s overall population of about 73 million is ethnically diverse and predominantly under 30 years of age; the majority religion in Central Asia is Sunni Islam, and the region is also home to religious minority groups including Shia Muslims and various Christian denominations, primarily Russian Orthodox. In addition to the local Turkic and Persian languages, Russian remains spoken throughout the region to varying degrees.
Attributions:
“Indigenous Worlds” is adapted from Connections Between Arctic Peoples and Their Environment by Henry P. Huntington (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO).
“Indigenous Worlds” is adapted from New colonization in Russia’s Arctic threatens indigenous rights by Transitions Online (CC BY 3.0).
“Russification” is adapted from World Regional Geography by University of Minnesota (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
“Russification" is adapted from Slavs by Cristian Violatti for the World History Encyclopedia (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
“Russification" is adapted from Revisiting Pan-Slavism in the Contemporary Perspective by Vladimir Đorđević et al. in Nationalities Papers (CC BY 4.0).
"Russification" is adapted from The Great Schism of 1054 by Lumen Learning (CC BY-SA 4.0).
“Central Asia at the Crossroads” is adapted from the Silk Roads Programme by the World History Encyclopedia (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
“Central Asia at the Crossroads” is adapted from the Central Asia by Adam Dastrup (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
"Central Asia at the Crossroads" is adapted from Central Asia: Background and U.S. Relations by the Congressional Research Service (public domain). | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/06%3A_North_and_Central_Asia/6.02%3A_Indigenous_Worlds-_Diversity_Resilience_and_Russian_Nation-B.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Compare the characteristics of command and market economies.
2. Explain the importance of remittances to countries in Central Asia.
Command Economy to Market Economy Transition
The Soviet Economy
The Russian Revolution succeeded in 1917 in overthrowing the czarist regime that had ruled the Russian Empire for centuries. Leaders of the revolution created the Soviet Union in its place and sought to establish a socialist state based on the ideas of Karl Marx. The leaders of the Soviet Union faced a difficulty in using Marx’s writings as a foundation for a socialist system. Marx had sought to explain why capitalism would collapse; he had little to say about how the socialist system that would replace it would function. He did suggest the utopian notion that, over time, there would be less and less need for a government and the state would wither away. But his writings did not provide much of a blueprint for running a socialist economic system.
The two major economic systems in modern societies are capitalism and socialism. In practice, no one society is purely capitalist or socialist, so it is helpful to think of capitalism and socialism as lying on opposite ends of a continuum.
Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned. By means of production, we mean everything—land, tools, technology, and so forth—that is needed to produce goods and services. The hallmarks of capitalism are private ownership of the means of production, the pursuit of profit, competition for profit, and the lack of government intervention in this competition.
Socialism is an economic system in which the means of production are collectively owned, usually by the government. The most important goal of socialism is not the pursuit of personal profit but rather work for the collective good: the needs of society are considered more important than the needs of the individual.
Lenin’s death in 1924 precipitated a power struggle from which Joseph Stalin emerged victorious. It was under Stalin that the Soviet economic system was created. Stalin began by seizing virtually all remaining privately-owned capital and natural resources in the country. The seizure was a brutal affair; he eliminated opposition to his measures through mass executions, forced starvation of whole regions, and deportation of political opponents to prison camps. Estimates of the number of people killed during Stalin’s centralization of power range in the tens of millions. With the state in control of the means of production, Stalin established a rigid system in which a central administration in Moscow determined what would be produced.
Managers of state-owned firms were rewarded on the basis of their ability to meet the annual quotas set by the Gosplan (Figure 6.3.1). The system of quotas and rewards created inefficiency in several ways. First, no central planning agency could incorporate preferences of consumers and costs of factors of production in its decisions concerning the quantity of each good to produce. Decisions about what to produce were made by political leaders; they were not a response to market forces. Further, planners could not select prices at which quantities produced would clear their respective markets. In a market economy, prices adjust to changes in demand and supply. Given that demand and supply are always changing, it is inconceivable that central planners could ever select market-clearing prices. Soviet central planners typically selected prices for consumer goods that were below market-clearing levels, causing shortages throughout the economy. Changes in prices were rare.
Centrally controlled systems often generated impressive numbers for total output but failed in satisfying consumer demands. Gosplan officials, recognizing that Soviet capital was not very productive, ordered up a lot of it. The result was a heavy emphasis on unproductive capital goods and relatively little production of consumer goods. On the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Soviet economists estimated that per capita consumption was less than one-sixth of the U.S. level.
The Soviet system also generated severe environmental problems. In principle, a socialist system should have an advantage over a capitalist system in allocating environmental resources for which private property rights are difficult to define. Because a socialist government owns all capital and natural resources, the ownership problem is solved. The problem in the Soviet system, however, came from the labor theory of value. Since natural resources are not produced by labor, the value assigned to them was zero. Soviet plant managers thus had no incentive to limit their exploitation of environmental resources, and terrible environmental tragedies were common.
The Transition to a Market Economy
Command socialism (production and distribution of goods and services are controlled by the government and industry is publicly owned), which had reigned supreme in Russia for more than 70 years and in much of the rest of the world for more than 40 years, appeared to be a permanent institution. Indeed, many observers had expected its influence to increase by the end of the twentieth century. But in the span of five months in 1989, command socialist systems fell in six Eastern European nations. The Soviet Union, which had been the main adversary of the United States in the post-World War II period, and which possessed enough nuclear arms to destroy the world (as did the United States), broke up in 1991.
Just as leaders of the Soviet Union had to create their own command socialist systems, leaders of the economies making the transition to market capitalist economies must find their own paths to new economic systems. It is a task without historical precedent. Establishing a system of market capitalism in a command socialist economy is a daunting task. Former command socialist economies must establish systems of property rights, establish banking systems, deal with the problem of inflation, and work through a long tradition of ideological antipathy toward the basic nature of a capitalist system.
The Soviet Union, as we have already seen, had a well-established system of command socialism. Leading Soviet economists, however, began arguing as early as the 1970s that the old system could never deliver living standards comparable to those achieved in market capitalist economies. The first political leader to embrace the idea of radical reform was Mikhail Gorbachev, who became General Secretary of the Communist party—the highest leadership post in the Soviet Union—in 1985.
Mr. Gorbachev instituted political reforms that allowed Soviet citizens to speak out, and even to demonstrate, against their government. This policy was dubbed glasnost, or “openness.” Economically, he called for much greater autonomy for state enterprises and a system in which workers’ wages would be tied to productivity. The new policy, dubbed perestroika, or “restructuring,” appeared to be an effort to move the system toward a mixed economy (Figure 6.3.2).
These measures, however, accomplished little. Black market prices for basic consumer goods were typically 10 to 20 times the level of state prices. Those prices, which respond to demand and supply, may be taken as a rough gauge of equilibrium prices. People were willing to pay the higher black market prices because they simply could not find goods at the state-decreed prices. Mr. Gorbachev’s order to double and even triple some state prices narrowed the gap between official and equilibrium prices, but did not close it. Table 6-1 shows some of the price changes imposed and compares them to black market prices.
Table 6-1. Comparison of Prices from Old, New, and Black Markets. Rubles are Russia’s paper currency (printed bills) and kopeks were coins. Adapted from Chapter 34: Socialist Economies in Transition by the University of Minnesota and Komsomolskaya pavda, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Item Old Price New Price Black Market Price
Children's shoes 2-10 rubles 10-50 rubles 50-300 rubles
Toilet paper 32-40 kopeks 60-75 kopeks 200-300 kopeks
Bottle of vodka 10.5 rubles 10-11 rubles 30-35 rubles
Compact car 7,000 rubles 35,000 rubles 70,000-10,000 rubles
To privatize state firms, Russian citizens were issued vouchers that could be used to purchase state enterprises. Under this plan, state enterprises were auctioned off. Individuals, or groups of individuals, could use their vouchers to bid on them. By 1995 most state enterprises in Russia had been privatized. Most of Russia’s output of goods and services is now produced by the private sector.
While Russia has taken major steps toward transforming itself into a market economy, it has not been able to institute its reforms in a coherent manner. For example, despite privatization, restructuring of Russian firms to increase efficiency has been slow. Establishment and enforcement of rules and laws that undergird modern, market-based systems have been lacking in Russia. Corruption has become common.
While the quality of the data is suspect, there is no doubt that output and the standard of living fell through the first half of the 1990s. Despite a financial crisis in 1998, when the Russian government defaulted on its debt, output recovered through the last half of the 1990s and Russia has seen substantial growth in the early years of the twenty-first century. In addition, government finances have improved following a major tax reform and inflation has come down from near hyperinflation levels. Despite these gains, there is uneasiness about the long-term sustainability of this progress because of the over-importance of oil and high oil prices in the recovery. Mr. Putin’s fight, whether justified or not, with several of Russia’s so-called oligarchs, a small group of people who were able to amass large fortunes during the early years of privatization, creates unease for domestic and foreign investors. Many of the richest oligarchs, with fortunes of more than \$10 billion dollars, gained their wealth during the privatization of mining operations, including oil, natural gas, nickel, platinum, and iron ore.
Interdependence in North and Central Asia
Migration and Remittances
Russia’s population is declining, which has caused challenges to economic growth. Without a labor force big enough to keep the economy going, Russia has relied on immigration from Central Asia to fill jobs. Russia's government encourages this migration by offering visas and residency permits. In 2019, there were approximately 3.9 million migrants from Central Asia in Russia working in a variety of fields including trade, construction, industry, agriculture, and hospitality.[1] The international flow of migrants and remittances have been impacted by both the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. When Russia’s economy weakens, remittances to Central Asia decline causing poverty to increase. And, an increasing number of migrant workers return to their home countries, which causes an uptick in local unemployment levels.
The cash or goods that international migrants send to their families back home are known as remittances. Several countries in Central Asia are reliant on remittances to support their economies. In 2020, remittances composed 31% of Kyrgyzstan’s gross domestic product and 27% of Tajikistan’s.[2] It is estimated that remittances reduced Kyrgyzstan’s national poverty rate by 11% in 2019.[3] The majority of remittances to Central Asia come from the Russian Federation. This illustrates the interdependence of the Russian Federation's employment needs and the migrants who rely on jobs in the Russian Federation to generate income to send back to their families in Central Asia.
Attributions:
"Command Economy to Market Economy Transition" is adapted from Types of Economic Systems by the University of Minnesota, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
"Command Economy to Market Economy Transition" is adapted from Chapter 34: Socialist Economies in Transition by the University of Minnesota and Komsomolskaya pavda, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/06%3A_North_and_Central_Asia/6.03%3A_Economic_Geography-_Transitions_and_Interdependence.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Explain the impacts of climate change in the Arctic region of North Asia.
2. Analyze how energy interdependence influences contemporary geopolitics.
3. Explain the impacts of the Northeast passage on global greenhouse emissions and Indigenous territories.
Russia’s Natural Resources
Russia’s forests are a major natural resource (Figure 6.4.1). With approximately 640 billion trees, more than one-fifth of all of the world’s trees are in Russia.[1] While timber harvesting (deforestation) is one monetary benefit of forests, non-timber forests provide recreation, watershed protection, climate control, soil protection, and biodiversity protection. And, the value of carbon sequestration is a major ecosystem service provided by forests in Russia. In 2017, Russia’s forests provided an estimated carbon sequestration of 639 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, which is a major planetary carbon sink. The term “carbon sequestration” is used to describe both natural and deliberate processes by which CO2 is either removed from the atmosphere or diverted from emission sources and stored in the ocean, terrestrial environments (vegetation, soils, and sediments), and geologic formations. Carbon is sequestered in carbon reservoirs (also known as "carbon sinks") such as the deep ocean or forests. As the permafrost in the Tundra Biome warms, it releases greenhouse gases that further accelerate global climate change. (Refer to the physical map of North and Central Asia provided at the beginning of the chapter to locate the Tundra Biome and other locations mentioned in this section).
The Russian Federation is richly endowed with natural resources, which underscores its importance as a global commodity exporter. Owing to its rich resource base, Russia plays a crucial role in global energy and resource markets. Resource-rich economies like Russia face unique development challenges to transform an exhaustible resource, such as oil, into assets that can continue to generate income and employment once the oil is gone. And, volatility with oil or natural gas prices reduces the stability of Russia’s economy. Beyond fossil fuels, Russia produces a host of other metals and industrial minerals like asbestos, diamond, aluminum, potash, silicon, gold, and nickel.
In 2020, Russia was the world’s third-largest producer of crude oil (after the United States and Saudi Arabia). The Ob River runs a course through the middle of Russia’s largest and most important gas and oil region. The West Siberian Basin, a vast region of tundra and taiga in north-central Russia, contributes about two-thirds of the country’s crude oil and natural gas output. Most of the gas fields are clustered north of the Arctic Circle along the Yamal and Gydan Peninsulas. The 2016 satellite image (Figure 6.4.2) shows oil-drilling operations near the confluence of the Irtysh and Ob river. The -oil drilling operations appear as a network of scattered gray dots against the green and brown landscape. In the floodplains and stream valleys, forests (green) dominate, whereas fall weather has turned vegetation in the bogs, fens, and mires (north and south of the river) brown. Large numbers of lakes (dark blue) are scattered throughout the image. The tendrils of green running through the swampy areas are forests.
It is estimated that Russia has the world’s largest natural gas reserves, which are deposits of natural gas which are anticipated to be commercially recoverable. Russian government policies aim to incentivize the extraction of fossil fuels in the Arctic region. In 2018, Novatek announced the discovery of the North Obskoye field located in Ob Bay (between the Yamal and Gydan Peninsulas, Figure 6.4.3) and estimated that it held over 11.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves. In May 2020, Gazprom estimated that its 75 Let Pobedy field, which is located in the Yamal Peninsula, held more than 7.1 trillion cubic feet of total recoverable reserves. Both discoveries, if fully realized, would significantly increase Russia’s natural gas production. A series of infrastructure projects in Ob Bay to deepen the shipping channel and build protective walls to protect freighters from sea ice are raising environmental concerns. Marine scientists argue that these projects threaten several fish species to extinction and wide-scale ecosystem damage.[2]
Climate Justice in the Arctic
Climate justice is a concept that addresses the just division, fair sharing, and equitable distribution of the benefits and burdens of climate change and responsibilities to deal with climate change. Consider this perspective:
If you look at climate change in the context of the Arctic you are witnessing humanity’s capacity for irrationality at its zenith. Science informs us that there is an unprecedented melting of the Arctic, perhaps symbolized most acutely by the opening of the Northwest Passage and a scramble to exploit the region’s rich and abundant resources as they become increasingly accessible. Yet many of these very resources and in particular the Arctic’s hydrocarbons are the very factors fueling the melting in the first place as a result of the build-up of greenhouse gasses triggering climate change.[3]
Arctic warming is mainly driven by actions taken outside the Arctic. One prime example is the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide which is responsible for about two-thirds of the greenhouse gas effect. It is emitted primarily in mid and low latitudes but affects the globe as a whole due to the rapid mixing of the atmosphere on hemispheric (less than one year) and global scales (several years). A key challenge is the fact that the rate and magnitude of change experienced by Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic and other Arctic residents outpace changes at lower latitudes (Figure 6.4.4). Yet, policy in many Arctic nations is made in locales and by policymakers far removed from where the greatest impacts are felt. This reality, combined with a history of colonization and focus on extractive resource development, complicates the translation of lessons learned in the Arctic into national or global policy frameworks.
The current pace and impact of climate change is beyond indigenous adaptive capacity – amplifying dispossession, marginalization, acculturation, and discrimination – and threatening indigenous peoples’ general human rights. Their right to culture and traditional way of life are under immediate and direct threat. Despite some positive impacts, mitigation and adaptation projects can also have numerous adverse effects on indigenous livelihoods and rights.
International human rights law is clearly relevant to all people in the Arctic, whether as Indigenous peoples or as individuals, or both. Yet ratification of international human rights treaties is inconsistent among Arctic states. Notably, in recent years, there has been increased attention on the importance of intersectional human rights issues in the Arctic region, such as the implications of climate change for the realization of the human rights of Indigenous women as well as the importance of their contributions to climate governance.
Women generally face ongoing disadvantages in their access to economic and social resources. These resources include access to land, financing, new technologies, bargaining power, social capital, and training for climate adaptation and disaster preparedness. Such inequalities threaten women’s resilience to climate change, at times preventing their effective engagement in development processes, and further exacerbating gender inequality. Low income and a lack of resources, for instance, may affect women’s bargaining power at various levels – within households, in communities (including indigenous communities), nationally, regionally, and internationally. Women’s insufficient representation in decision-making processes on climate change mitigation and adaptation can further exacerbate such vulnerabilities. The impacts of climate change on women, in particular, can be further exacerbated at the intersection of race and gender, thus impacting the lives of indigenous women differently. This is where an intersectional lens that accounts for historical, social, and political context is particularly useful. Activist Yana Tannagasheva, in exile from Russia, tells the story of coal mining in her homeland. You may read her statement on mining and Indigenous rights.
Northeast Passage and Global Warming
While climate change will bring about numerous regional changes across Central Asia and Russia, including water insecurity, long-term droughts, and melting permafrost, the opening of the Northeast Passage, also called the Northern Sea Route, is poised to have global consequences (Figure 6.4.5).
Maritime routes transport about 80% of the world’s trade and an estimated 50% of carbon dioxide emissions from international trade comes from maritime transportation. With a Northeast Passage, there would be an estimated 37% decrease in shipping distance between Yokohama, Japan, and Rotterdam, The Netherlands (Europe’s largest seaport).[4] Sailing from Taipei to Rotterdam would decrease carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 3%. But the passage would also increase access to oil and gas fields on Indigenous territory (Figure 6.4.6).
The opening of the Northeast Passage is also increasing geopolitical tensions due to the increase in warships using this route. Although warships enjoy both the right to innocent passage in territorial waters as well as the right to transit passage through straits used for international navigation, these rights are controversial and sometimes challenged. Navigation rights for warships are especially challenged in areas where the security interests of the coastal states bordering the passages is crucial to protect. On the other hand, freedom of navigation is highly valued. Navigation rights for warships in accordance with the law of the sea is about balancing these interests, hence the debate. To secure navigation rights for warships in the Northeast and Northwest Passages is therefore challenging due to security implications for both Canada and Russia. To demonstrate its security interests, Russia has established its most valuable strategic deterrence capacities in the Arctic, especially in connection with their naval bases on the Kola and Kamchatka peninsulas. In addition to security issues, the interests of protecting the marine environment and Indigenous peoples’ rights must be taken into consideration.
Biologists studying Arctic marine mammals identified threats to numerous species that will be come in contact with ships sailing in their habitats (Figure 6.4.7). A Current Biology article quotes researcher Kristin Laidre:
Narwhals have all the traits that make them vulnerable to vessel disturbances — they have high site fidelity in summer, they rely on sound for key things like finding food and communicating, they live in only about a quarter of the Arctic, and they’re smack dab in the middle of shipping routes…They are notoriously skittish and sensitive to any kind of disturbance.[5]
“Walruses are also high on the vulnerability scale because their populations are small and close to the shipping routes. The walrus is the only surviving species of the genus Odobenus and the family Odobenidae and thus of high evolutionary uniqueness”.[5]
Shipping along the Northeast Passage threatens Indigenous communities who rely on the environment for their livelihoods. A member of the Udege people, native to the far eastern Arctic region of Russia, spoke at COP26 and emphasized the importance of linking the environment, the climate crises, and human rights. Rodion Sulyandziga stressed that the Arctic is not a “dead zone” with only polar bears and little else. He emphasized that the Arctic is home to populations living in “harmony with the environment”.[6]
Energy Interdependence
Energy commodities refer to all of the power sources traded around the world. They include fossil fuels (such as crude oil, natural gas, and coal), nuclear energy, and renewable energy sources (such as solar, geothermal, wind). Compared to all other commodities on the global market, energy commodities have the highest monetary value. Researchers explain that:
Energy resources are integral parts of numerous production chains, and hence key to a nation’s economic prosperity. Moreover, energy resources are of paramount importance for military activity, and thus, for national security. Given their strategic importance and inherent characteristic of being geographically endowed, securing reliable and affordable access to energy resources may significantly impact the destiny of a nation.[7]
Energy interdependence refers to the fact that many countries' economies rely on either the import of energy commodities or the export of energy commodities.
Several historical moments help to explain the energy interdependence between Russia and western Europe. During the Soviet era, a pipeline was constructed to distribute Russian oil to present-day Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Germany. Called Druzhba (meaning friendship) the pipeline was built in the 1960s and extends from the interior of the present-day Russian Federation 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) (Figure 6.4.8). This is the world’s longest pipeline network.
Later, disruptions to the world’s oil supply due to events such as the embargo by Western states on Arab oil due to the Yom Kippur War in the early 1970s and the Iranian revolution of 1979, combined with the easing of Cold War tensions between the USSR and the West, led to western Europe and the USSR to negotiate the building of a pipeline to supply Soviet energy resources to western Europe. Natural gas flowed through the Yamal pipeline (since 1997), the Nord Stream pipeline (since 2011), the Blue Stream pipeline (since 2003), and the TurkStream pipeline (since 2020) (Figure 6.4.9). This infrastructure led many European countries to become dependent on Russia gas (Figure 6.4.10).
Attributions:
“Russia's Natural Resources” is adapted from How Wealthy is Russia? by the World Bank, CC BY 3.0 IGO is in the public domain.
“Russia's Resources” is adapted from Russia by the U.S. Energy Information Administration is in the public domain.
“Russia's Resources” is adapted from Oil Fields Along the Ob River by the Nasa Earth Observatory is in the public domain.
“Climate Justice in the Arctic” is adapted from The Arctic Highlights Our Failure to Act in a Rapidly Changing World by Peter Schlosser et al., CC BY.
“Climate Justice in the Arctic” is adapted from Climate Change and Arctic Sustainable Development by UNEP, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.
“Climate Justice in the Arctic” is adapted from Indigenous Rights and Interests in a Changing Arctic Ocean: Canadian and Russian Experiences and Challenges by Anna Sharapova et al., CC BY 4.0.
“Climate Justice in the Arctic” is adapted from The Rights and Role of Indigenous Women in The Climate Change Regime by Tahnee Lisa Prior and Leena Heinämäki, CC BY 4.0.
“Northeast Passage and Global Warming” is adapted from Environmental and Economic Analysis on Sailing from Taiwan through Arctic Passages by P.-H. Chen and T.-K. Liu, CC-BY.
“Northeast Passage and Global Warming” is adapted from Navigational Rights for Warships in the Northwest and Northeast Passages by I. Handeland, CC-BY.
“Energy Interdependence” is adapted from "The key is in our hands”: Soviet energy strategy during Détente and the global oil crises of the 1970s by Jeronim Perović & Dunja Krempin, CC BY 4.0. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/06%3A_North_and_Central_Asia/6.04%3A_Energy_Interdependence_Conflict_and_Climate_Justice_in_the_A.txt |
Learning Objective
• Examine the conditions and consequences of armed conflict in the Caucasus region, Afghanistan, and Ukraine.
The Armenian Genocide
Ancient Armenia, located in the south Caucasus area of Eurasia, was settled in the Neolithic era but its first recorded state proper was the kingdom of Urartu from the 9th century BCE. The boundaries of the state varied considerably over the centuries but such common factors as religion and language were united by long-lasting dynastic clans, which gave Armenia its own unique identity throughout history. Armenia was the first nation to formally adopt Christianity (in the early 4th century CE). Despite periods of autonomy, over the centuries Armenia came under the sway of various empires including the Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Persian, and Ottoman. During World War I in the western portion of Armenia (beginning in 1915), the Ottoman Empire instituted a policy of forced resettlement coupled with other harsh practices that resulted in at least 1 million Armenian deaths along with tens of thousands of Christian Greeks and Assyrians in present-day Turkey. The Ottoman government’s goal was to retain and exert Muslim Turkish power.
The term genocide describes destructive actions undertaken with the purposeful intent to destroy a specific group of people based on some perceived difference – usually racial or religious. Although this definition excludes cultural and political genocide, it serves as a starting point to describe processes designed to annihilate a group of people. Employing a spatial approach, researchers identify several stages that lead to genocide (Genocide Watch):
1. Classification: People are differentiated as "us" and "them"
2. Symbolization: People are forced to identify themselves
3. Discrimination: People begin to face systematic discrimination
4. Dehumanization: People equated to animals, vermin, or disease
5. Organization: Government creates separate groups (police/military) to enforce policies
6. Polarization: Government broadcasts propaganda against the targeted group
7. Preparation: Official action to remove/relocate people begins
8. Persecution: Beginning of murders, theft of property, and trial massacres
9. Extermination: Mass extermination begins - seen as "extermination" not murder, because people have been dehumanized
10. Denial: Government denies that it has committed any crime
There are varying dates for the end of the genocide: Many of the genocidal practices ended in 1918 when World War I concluded, but deportations and discrimation continued when the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923. The University of Minnesota’s Holocaust and Genocide Studies program explains that:
As the first of the modern genocides, the Armenian Genocide holds a complicated place in world history. For decades, the Armenian community, dispersed throughout the globe, struggled with recognition. Today, more than twenty countries officially acknowledge the atrocities as genocide. Uruguay was the first to officially recognize the genocide back in 1965. Several countries, including Austria, Switzerland, Slovakia and, most recently, Cyprus in early April 2015, have gone as far to make genocide denial a crime.[1]
Landscapes of Memory and Trauma
How we memorialize the events of humanity's worst atrocities is a difficult yet necessary task. Holocaust survivor, novelist, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel stated “To forget would not only be dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time”. Statues, monuments, murals, and other built components become part of a cultural landscape that recognizes the pain and suffering, and survival, of a people. The Armenian Genocide Martyrs Monument in Los Angeles County, home to a large Armenian-American community, is dedicated to the victims of the genocide (Figure 6.5.1).
Conflict in the Caucasus
Several ethnic groups that remain in Russia desire independence, particularly in the outskirts of the country in the Caucasus region along Russia’s border with Georgia and Armenia (Figure 6.5.2). Chechnya is largely comprised of Chechens, a distinct Sunni Muslim nation. The territory opposed Russian conquest of the region in the 19th century but was forcefully incorporated into the Soviet Union in the early 20th century. 400,000 Chechens were deported by Stalin in the 1940s and more than 100,000 died. Although Chechnya sought independence from Russia, sometimes through violent opposition, it has remained under Russian control following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Dagestan has been the site of several Islamic insurgencies seeking separation from Russia. Ossetia remains divided between a northern portion controlled by Russia and a southern region controlled by Georgia.
In an area as large and as ethnically diverse as Russia, controlling the territory in a way that is acceptable to all of its residents has proven difficult. In many large countries, the farther away you get from the capital area and large cities, the more cultural differences you find. Some governments have embraced this cultural difference, creating autonomous regions that function largely independently though remain part of the larger state. Stalin and Russia’s czars before him tried to unify the country through the suppression of ethnic difference, but people have resisted the imposition of Russian and Soviet power and control.
Afghanistan
The ancient history of Afghanistan, a landlocked country in Central Asia, is full of fascinating cultures, from early nomadic tribes to the realms of Achaemenid Persia, the Seleucids, the Mauryans, the Parthians, and Sasanians, as well as steppe people like the Kushans or the Hephthalites. All these civilizations have left their mark on the region, leading to a unique blend of cultures and religions. Afghanistan shares borders with Iran to the west, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to the north, Tajikistan to the northeast, China to the east and northeast, and Pakistan to the southeast. The country is one of the main connectors between Central and South Asia. This fact has given the territory tremendous geopolitical importance. Throughout millennia, vital strategic invasion routes and trade ways crossed the areas of contemporary Afghanistan. Notable examples are the Silk Road and the Khyber Pass (Figure 6.5.3).
Still, passage through Afghanistan has challenges. Most of the country varies between mountainous terrain and deep, narrow valleys. The mighty Hindu Kush range separates the plains in the north and southwest. The southern part is comparably arid, and the Registan Desert covers large areas in the Kandahar province (Figure 6.5.4).
As in early times, many of the population today are modest farmers or herders, especially in northern parts of the country that provide fertile ground. Rivers and streams have always played a vital role in urban structures and early farming. Ancient cultures have developed close to waterways such as the Helmand, Kabul, and Oxus rivers.Afghanistan is also rich in minerals, and mining activities have played a pivotal role since ancient times. The mountainous and rough terrain, however, makes it challenging to reach these resources. Early inhabitants of Afghanistan, therefore, had to work hard to harvest precious ores.
Afghanistan from the Late 1800s through the Cold War
In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a buffer state in the “Great Game” between British India and the Russian Empire. Russia was fearful of British commercial and military inroads into Central Asia, and Britain was fearful of Russia adding “the jewel in the crown,” India, to the vast empire it was building in Asia. This resulted in an atmosphere of distrust and constant threat of war between the two empires. Afghanistan’s relations with Moscow became more cordial after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. The Soviet Union was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with Afghanistan in 1919 after the Third Anglo-Afghan war and signed an Afghan-Soviet nonaggression pact in 1921, which also provided for Afghan transit rights through the Soviet Union. Early Soviet assistance included financial aid, aircraft and attendant technical personnel, and telegraph operators. At the beginning of Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in 1953, the Soviet government had three main long-term objectives. The first was to threaten the Iranian oilfields or put themselves in a position to do so in the coming years. The second was to strengthen influence in the Indian Peninsula. The last goal was to divert western weapons to unproductive areas.
On October 31, 1979, Soviet informants to the Afghan Armed Forces, under orders from the inner circle of advisers under Soviet premier Brezhnev, relayed information for them to undergo maintenance cycles for their tanks and other crucial equipment. Meanwhile, telecommunications links to areas outside of Kabul were severed, isolating the capital. With a deteriorating security situation, large numbers of Soviet Airborne Forces joined stationed ground troops and began to land in Kabul on December 25.
Foreign ministers from 34 Islamic nations adopted a resolution that condemned the Soviet intervention and demanded “the immediate, urgent and unconditional withdrawal of Soviet troops” from the Muslim nation of Afghanistan. The UN General Assembly passed a resolution protesting the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan by a vote of 104–18. Soviet troops occupied the cities and main arteries of communication, while the mujahideen waged guerrilla war in small groups in the almost 80 percent of the country that escaped government and Soviet control. Soviets used their air power to deal harshly with both rebels and civilians, leveling villages to deny safe haven to the enemy, destroying vital irrigation ditches, and laying millions of land mines.
The Rise of the Taliban
Following the Soviet withdrawal, some of the foreign volunteers (including Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda) and young Afghan refugees, went on to continue violent jihad in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and abroad. From 1989 until 1992, the Afghan government tried to solve the ongoing civil war with economic and military aid, but without Soviet troops on the ground. The Taliban’s early victories in late 1994 were followed by a series of defeats that resulted in heavy losses. The Taliban attempted to capture Kabul in early 1995 but were repelled by Afghan forces. In 1996, the Taliban, with military support from Pakistan and financial support from Saudi Arabia, seized Kabul and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
The Taliban have been condemned internationally for the harsh enforcement of their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, which has resulted in the brutal treatment of many Afghans, especially women. During their rule from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban and their allies committed massacres against Afghan civilians, denied UN food supplies to 160,000 starving civilians, and conducted a policy of scorched earth, burning vast areas of fertile land and destroying tens of thousands of homes. In its post-9/11 insurgency, the group has been accused of using terrorism as a specific tactic to further their ideological and political goals.
In December 2001, after the Taliban government was overthrown and the new Afghan government under President Hamid Karzai was formed, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was established by the UN Security Council to assist the Karzai administration and provide basic security. Taliban forces also began regrouping inside Pakistan, while more coalition troops entered Afghanistan and began rebuilding the war-torn country.
The U.S. Withdrawal
Even by the standards of Afghanistan’s tumultuous history, 2021 marked a major watershed for the country. In 2021, U.S. and international forces departed after nearly two decades of operations in Afghanistan; the internationally backed Afghan government and its military forces collapsed; and the Taliban, a Sunni Islamist extremist group that formerly ruled the country from 1996 to 2001, retook power. The aftershocks of these events continue to reverberate within Afghanistan, throughout its region, and in the United States as Afghans and U.S. policymakers alike grapple with the reality of the Taliban’s renewed rule.
At the outset of 2021, the Afghan government was a close U.S. counterterrorism partner, the result of nearly 20 years of substantial U.S. and international support, including the deployment of hundreds of thousands of troops and the provision of tens of billions of dollars in assistance. President Donald Trump had withdrawn all but 2,500 U.S. troops, the lowest U.S. force level since 2001, in advance of the full military withdrawal to which the United States agreed in the February 2020 U.S.-Taliban agreement. U.S. officials committed to continue to provide financial support to Afghan forces and expressed confidence about their capabilities vis-a-vis the Taliban, while conceding that those forces remained reliant on U.S. support.
At the same time, the Taliban were arguably at their strongest since 2001, when they were driven from power by U.S., international, and U.S.-backed Afghan forces, having steadily gained territory and improved their tactical capabilities over the course of their resilient two-decade insurgency. The Afghan government against which the Taliban fought was weakened by deep internal divisions, factional infighting, and endemic corruption, and Taliban forces enjoyed certain advantages over their Afghan government counterparts, including greater cohesion and financial sustainability, according to one January 2021 outside assessment.
The Afghanistan in which the Taliban came to power in August 2021 was in many ways a different country than the one they last ruled in 2001. After 2001, women became active participants in many parts of Afghan society; protections for them, and ethnic and religious minorities, were enshrined in the country’s 2004 constitution. While some early Taliban actions suggested a possible measure of moderation from their highly oppressive 1996-2001 rule, UN Rapporteur Bachelet said in June 2022 that “what we are witnessing in Afghanistan today is the institutionalized, systematic oppression of women” and that “Afghan women are rapidly facing the worst-case scenario many-feared.”
The Taliban takeover appears to have reduced high levels of violence that characterized the conflict, a development particularly welcomed by those in rural areas, but it has increased fears of many Afghans about repression and women’s rights. The Taliban have closed the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, which had been a part of the former Afghan government, and have reinstated the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which enforced the Taliban’s interpretation of Islam in the 1990s. The ministry has issued guidance that seeks to impose new restrictions on Afghan women, including by directing that women should not be allowed to travel long distances without a male guardian and that male relatives of women who do not wear a hijab that fully covers their bodies should be punished. Amnesty International reported in July 2022 that increasing numbers of women and girls have been arrested for violating these policies. Those restrictions, together with the overall economic collapse, have led to a decline in women’s participation in the workforce.
Invasions of Ukraine
Although Russia today is comprised mostly of people who speak Russian and identify with the Russian ethnicity, it contains 185 different ethnic groups speaking over 100 different languages. The largest minority groups in Russia are the Tatars, representing around 4 percent of the population with over 5 million people, and Ukrainians at around 1.4 percent or almost 2 million people. Other ethnic groups, like the Votes near Saint Petersburg, have only a few dozen members remaining. Because of the Soviet resettlement policies, the former Soviet republics have sizable Russian minorities. Kazakhstan and Latvia, for example, are almost one-quarter Russian. This has often led to tension within Russia as minority groups have sought independence and outside of Russia as ethnic groups have clashed over leadership.
In Ukraine in particular, tension between the Ukrainian population and Russian minority has remained high and represents a broader tension between the Eastern European regions that are more closely aligned with Russia and those that seek greater connectivity and trade with Western Europe. Eastern Ukraine is largely comprised of Russian speakers, while Western Ukraine predominantly speaks the state language of Ukrainian (Figure 6.5.5). Overall, around three-quarters of people in Ukraine identify with the Ukrainian ethnicity.
Russia sought control of Crimea, an area that had been annexed by the Russian Empire and was an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic until the 1950s when it was transferred to Ukraine. After protests in 2014, a majority of the people of Crimea supported joining Russia and it was formally annexed by Russian forces. The region is now controlled by Russia (Figure 6.5.6). The international community, however, has largely not recognized Crimea’s sovereignty or Russia’s annexation. This conflict again escalated in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine, leading to the largest European refugee crisis since World War II. Perspectives on the actions of Putin vary but a key notion is that recent efforts want to assert a particular notion of Russian national identity which sees Russia not as a nation-state but as a ‘civilisation’, that extends beyond the boundaries of the Russian Federation and is incompatible with an independent Ukraine (Figure 6.5.7).
On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched an invasion of Ukraine from the air, land, and sea. On March 2, a rare emergency session of the United Nations General Assembly was called to discuss a measure condemning the invasion and calling for Russia’s immediate withdrawal from Ukraine. The measure passed by a vote of 141 in support, 5 against (Belarus, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Eritrea, Russian Federation, and Syria), with 35 countries, including China, abstaining. Many countries imposed sanctions on Russia and Belarus and major multinational corporations closed their operations in Russia. Meanwhile, NATO countries pledged billions of dollars in military, financial, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
Figure 6.5.8 shows where Ukrainians refugees fled to in the early months of the conflict. By August 2022, more than 6.4 million people have fled Ukraine as refugees. As of May 24, 2022, there were:
• 3,505,890 Ukrainian refugees in Poland,
• 961,270 Ukrainian refugees in Romania,
• 919,934 Ukrainian refugees in Russia,
• 644,474 Ukrainian refugees in Hungary,
• 471,223 Ukrainian refugees in Moldova,
• 442,316 Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia, and
• 27,308 Ukrainian refugees in Belarus.
An estimated 7 million people remain in Ukraine as internally displaced persons (IDPs). The United Nations World Food Programme reported that one in three Ukrainians are unable to meet their daily food requirements due to the war and that globally, millions of people are facing food insecurity because of the Russian blockades of Ukrainian grain.
Putin’s Rhetoric on the Ukraine Invasion
In July 2021, Putin wrote a 5,000 word article elaborating on his long-stated belief that Ukrainians and Russians are “one people.” The article stated that Ukrainian soldiers fought alongside Russians for “their great common Motherland” during World War II, but Putin provided no evidence the Red Army’s Ukrainian soldiers ever believed Russians and Ukrainians are the same people. His article also demeaned Ukraine’s persistent independence movements, which Soviet leaders were unable to stamp out for decades. Many notable historians and scholars denounced the article as a flawed and amateurish recounting of history, with the sole purpose of advancing Putin’s geopolitical goals. Historian Anne Applebaum called the article “essentially a call to arms,” and researcher Anders Åslund deemed it “one step short of a declaration of war [on Ukraine].” Just seven months later, Putin’s forces followed through and launched an all-out, brutal war against Ukraine. The falsehoods about Ukraine and Ukrainians that Putin trumpeted in his article played an important role in his justification for Russia’s full-scale invasion.
To rationalize his current war of choice against Ukraine, Putin invoked the language and imagery of World War II, specifically the words “Nazi,” and “genocide” (a term coined by Raphael Lemkin, a Jewish lawyer who studied in Lviv, in what is now western Ukraine) to evoke the Nazi Party’s policy of systematic murder of Jews and other groups targeted for annihilation. The Kremlin has turned the word “Nazi” into a catchall for anyone who disagrees with Putin and his regime, insulting the memory of all those who suffered and died at the hands of the Nazis and their collaborators.
In his February 24 speech declaring his war of choice against Ukraine, Putin falsely asserted, “the purpose of this operation is to protect people who, for eight years now, have been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime. To this end, we will seek to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine.” Invoking his discredited “one people” narrative, Putin directly addressed members of Ukraine’s military, stating, “your fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers did not fight the Nazi occupiers and did not defend our common Motherland to allow today’s neo-Nazis to seize power in Ukraine.”
Russia’s officials have even used the word “Nazi” against Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s Jewish president, whose family members were killed by Nazis. Experts on genocide, Nazism, and World War II voiced their strong opposition to Putin’s attempt to compare Ukraine and its democratically elected government to that of Nazi Germany. Hundreds of historians and scholars signed a letter condemning the Russian government’s “cynical abuse of the term genocide, the memory of World War II and the Holocaust, and the equation of the Ukrainian state with the Nazi regime to justify its unprovoked aggression.” The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum also released a statement saying that “Vladimir Putin has misrepresented and misappropriated Holocaust history by claiming falsely that democratic Ukraine needs to be ‘denazified.’”
Press Freedoms
In the early 2000s, Putin launched a campaign to severely restrict all independent media outlets in Russia. The campaign was undertaken in the name of ending “misinformation” spread by these news agencies. In Putin’s view, most news reports that diverged from official, state-sponsored media outlets, constituted misinformation. Media crackdowns persisted and intensified following every major crisis experienced within Russia. In some cases, Putin ordered the arrest and imprisonment of owners of media outlets, including Russian oligarch, Vladimir Gusinsky. One by one, independent news agencies were shut down or brought under the direct control of the Russian government.
“Press freedom is defined as the ability of journalists as individuals and collectives to select, produce, and disseminate news in the public interest independent of political, economic, legal, and social interference and in the absence of threats to their physical and mental safety”.[1] Each year the international non-profit organization Reporters Without Borders creates the World Press Freedom Index based on:
• Quantitative data on abuses against journalists and media outlets, and
• Qualitative surveys sent to journalists, researchers, academics, and human rights defenders.
Based on this data, Reporters Without Borders assigns countries a score where 100 is the best possible score (the most press freedom) and 0 is the worst (Figure 6.6.2). Russia ranks 155 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index. Reporters Without Borders notes that since the invasion of Ukraine almost “almost all independent media have been banned, blocked and/or declared ‘foreign agents’”.[2]
Attributions:
“The Armenian Genocide” is adapted from Ancient Armenia by Mark Cartwright (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), Armenia by CIA World Factbook (public domain), and Spatiality of the Stages of Genocide: The Armenian Case by Shelley J. Burleson and Alberto Giordano (CC BY-NC 4.0).
“Conflict in the Caucasus” is adapted from World Regional Geography by Caitlin Finlayson (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
“Afghanistan” is adapted from Ancient Afghanistan by Ralf Rotheimer (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), Afghanistan by Lumen Learning (CC BY-SA), Rise of Anti-Soviet Sentiment by Lumen Learning (CC BY-SA), The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan by Lumen Learning (CC BY-SA), The United States and the Mujahideen by Lumen Learning (CC BY-SA), Emergence of Extremism by Lumen Learning (CC BY-SA), and Afghanistan: Background and U.S. Policy: In Brief by Congressional Research Service (public domain).
“Invasions in Ukraine” is adapted from World Regional Geography by Caitlin Finlayson (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) and The Sources of Russia’s Great Power Politics: Ukraine and the Challenge of the European Order by Taras Kuzio and Paul D’Anieri (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), The Chameleon in the Kremlin: Contemporary Russia under Putin by Anna McCollum et al. (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), and Vladimir Putin’s Historical Disinformation by U.S. Department of State (public domain). | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/06%3A_North_and_Central_Asia/6.05%3A_Complex_Geographies_of_Armed_Conflict-_Armenia_the_Caucasus_.txt |
Re-framing South Asia
South Asia is a world region well recognized by its distinctive physical geography. The world’s tallest mountains physically separate its large landmass from the rest of Asia. Often called “the Indian Subcontinent,” the region is characterized by tropical monsoons, a diverse biogeography, and major river systems that have shaped human settlement and development for thousands of years. The significance of these rivers is encrypted in ancient texts that call this land Sapta Sindhava – “the land of the Seven Rivers” in Sanskrit (the language used in Hindu scriptures). Sapta Sindhava is an ancient Indigenous conceptualization of land and sense of place based on its rivers and the great civilizations that have emerged along their floodplains.
South Asia is one of the most complex regions in the world to contemplate about the geographical significance of place names, called toponyms. This is because the region has ancient cultural landscapes that are recollected and reconstructed by immensely diverse ethnic, religious, and linguistic groups. More than 1600 languages are spoken in the region, and it is considered one of the most culturally diverse on Earth. The vocabulary used to refer to place names reflects this immense cultural diversity and the transformations imposed by foreign influences. Take for example India, the name British colonists ascribed to their colonial holding in the subcontinent. The term refers to the land beyond the Indus River, a toponym that evolved from the Persian and subsequent Greek interpretations of Sindhu, the Sanskrit name for the same river.[1] Thus, India is an exonym, a place name given by foreigners based on translations of the Sindhu River in their languages. But well before India there was Hindustan, “the land of the Hindus,” a term found in many historical accounts describing a geographical entity that extended from the Himalaya Mountains in the north to the Indian Ocean in the south.[2] Older geographical conceptions of the region are also encrypted in ancient texts, in several Indigenous place names called endonyms. Bharatavarṣa or Bharat (the official Hindi endonym for India) is a Sanskrit term referring to king Bharata, a legendary figure in Hindu mythology. The roots “bhr” of the word Bharata have been associated with “to bear or carry” and “support and nourish.” Its extended expression includes “varsa,” which means a division of the earth, a land or continent. Jambudvipa, the "the land of Jambu trees," is another Sanskrit term used to describe one of the world’s seven varsas, a continent of the cosmos in ancient Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist scriptures.[3]
Thinking about toponyms helps us re-frame how we look at the contemporary map of South Asia which depicts a collection of independent states with defined political borders. Precolonial endonyms, however, all refer to a broad subcontinent as an ancient geographical entity. Including these precolonial conceptions in our geographical framing of the region helps enhance our understanding of the ways that territory has been conceived in the region for millennia. Thus, it takes many names to understand complex historical and cultural legacies – and the ongoing struggle to reclaim them.
The World Geographies Atlas: Navigate each world region through maps
For each of the world regions, our original atlas provides detailed maps to help you navigate the places discussed in this book. These maps are meant to be explored before and during the reading of this chapter. These maps are best enjoyed enlarged. Click on each map for an enlarged view, and zoom in to see the prominent biomes, physical features, and population centers of South Asia. We recommend that you download these for reference as you read this chapter's content and hope that you enjoy this original compilation.
References:
[1] Kapur, A. (2019). Chapter 2: Nation’s Names. In: Mapping place names of India. Taylor & Francis.
[2] Asif, M. A. (2020). The Loss of Hindustan: The Invention of India. Harvard University Press.
[3] Kapur, A. (2019). Chapter 2: Nation’s Names. In: Mapping place names of India. Taylor & Francis.
07: South Asia
Learning Objectives
1. Describe the dynamics of plate tectonics in South Asia and the formation of the world's tallest mountains.
2. Explain the hydrology of the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region identify the disruptions brought by climate change.
3. Define carbon inequity and climate vulnerability in the context of South Asia.
4. Describe the unique characteristics and ecosystem values of the Sundarbans.
Plate Tectonics and the World's Highest Peaks
South Asia is a region well defined by physical geography. It is often referred to as the Indian Subcontinent because its landmass was once its own continent atop the Indian Plate. Over millions of years, the Indian Plate has carried this landmass north, forming a convergent plate boundary with the Eurasian Plate that began around 40-50 million years ago (See Figure 7.1.1). The pressure from the collision between the two continental plates has forced the Earth’s crust to fold, buckle, and rise, pushing bedrock upwards. This is the geologic force responsible for the formation of the tallest mountains in the world, the Himalayas. The Himalayas are a dramatic geographic feature, a natural barrier extending some 1,500 miles (about half the width of the United States) between India and China, also containing the highland countries of Nepal and Bhutan. Mount Everest (29,029ft), the world’s highest peak, is located between Nepal and China. Between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Karakoram range extends through Kashmir and then meet up with the high ranges of the Himalayas. The Karakoram Range includes some of the world’s steepest peaks, including the world’s second tallest mountain, K2 (28,251 ft). There are only 14 mountain peaks in the world higher than 8,000 m (26, 247 ft) in elevation – all of them are in the Himalayan or Karakoram ranges (See Figure 7.1.2). Known as the “eight thousanders,” the world’s highest peaks continue to grow by as much about 5 millimeters (about 0.2 in) per year, since the Indian Plate continues to shove landmass towards the Eurasian Plate.
The tectonic collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates makes South Asia one of the most seismically active regions in the world. Some of the most devastating earthquakes in recent history happened in the region, including the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal on April 25, 2015. The earthquake caused widespread destruction in the capital city of Kathmandu as well as many other parts of the country, flattening hundreds of buildings, historic landmarks, and temples, and killing and injuring thousands and impacting millions of people. The Indian Plate is also in collision with Burma Plate in the east, causing tremendous tension in a subduction zone in the Indian Ocean. On December 26, 2004, the epicenter of a massive earthquake of 9.3 magnitude occurred at the bottom of the ocean releasing energy that triggered a tsunami that reached 30 meters in height, devastating many countries in the Indian Ocean, including Sri Lanka and the Maldives. It remains the deadliest tsunami in recorded history, with a total death toll estimated at 230,000.[1] While these catastrophic seismic events are relatively infrequent, their consequences are devastating in terms of the loss of life and infrastructure damage. South Asia is a populous low-income region, qualities that make environmental disasters particularly calamitous. When catastrophic seismic events occur, it takes many years for countries and communities to recover. Reconstruction plans include establishing early warning and evacuation plans as well as building for resilience.
Hindu Kush Himalayan Hydrology
The Himalayas are part of a larger alpine system stretching across Eurasia known as the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region (HKH). It stretches 3500 kilometers across eight countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Myanmar, and Pakistan. The Hindu Kush Himalaya are arguably the world’s most important water tower. The ranges store the largest volume of ice and snow outside of the Arctic and Antarctica and are often referred to as “the third pole.” These glaciated mountains are the source of water for ten of Asia’s largest rivers. Together, they support the drinking water, irrigation, and energy for over 240 million people in the region and another 1.9 billion people living downstream.
All major rivers in South Asia originate in the Himalayas. The Indus River, which has been a center of human civilization for thousands of years, starts in the Tibetan Plateau and flows through the center of Pakistan. The basin stretches from the Himalayan mountains to the north to the dry, alluvial plains of Sindh province in Pakistan and flows out into the Arabian Sea. Pakistan’s food security relies heavily on the Indus River as it provides irrigation water for 80 percent of the country’s crops. Similarly, the Ganges River flows through northern India, providing a water lifeline for India’s food production. As the Ganges flows out of the Himalayas, it creates a narrow, rugged canyon. It then flows through the Indo-Gangetic plain, a vast fertile area that makes up most of the northern and eastern parts of India as well as parts of Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. Today, the Ganges River basin is the most populated river basin in the world with about 400 million people. Many Hindus visit the Ganges River in Varanasi, which is considered the holiest of cities. The city’s culture is also closely tied to the river, as the Ganges is the most sacred river in Hinduism. In Bangladesh, the main branch of the Ganges is known as the Padma, then downstream as the Meghna. They represent the merging of waters with the Brahmaputra River, one of the three major rivers in South Asia. It flows through Tibet and enters India from the east where it meets up with the Ganges in Bangladesh to flow into the Bay of Bengal. The Ganges Delta is a vast and highly fertile area and the world’s largest delta. While the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra rivers trace their origins to the glaciated landscapes of the Hindu Kush Himalaya, contributions of glacial meltwater to river basin run-off tends to decrease from west to east and are most important in the Upper Indus basin. In the Ganges and Brahmaputra, the tropical monsoon rains are the main source of water replenishment and stream flow.
The tropical monsoon is the prevailing climate in South Asia. It is distinguished by a seasonal reversal of winds that drive pronounced wet and dry season. The driving mechanism behind the seasonal shifts of the tropical monsoon is largely attributable to differential heating and cooling of the continent and the surrounding water bodies. In the summer, the continent heats up quickly warming the adjacent air that eventually begins to rise. The rising hot air creates a vacuum that pulls in warm moist airmasses from the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean bringing moisture-laden clouds and abundant rain over land. The summer monsoon rains—usually falling between June and September—feed the rivers and streams of South Asia and provide the water needed for agriculture. Summer monsoons are anticipated events, and people in South Asia have tuned their agricultural cycles and celebrations in anticipation of the rains they bring. More than 70 percent of the annual precipitation of the region occurs during the summer monsoon months. By October, the rainy season is generally over. In the winter, the cold, dry air above the Asian continent blows to the south, and the winter monsoon is characterized by cool, dry winds coming from the north, a dry season.
South Asia’s mountains are rain-catchers of the moisture carrying airmasses that the summer monsoon brings, and much of the rain falls in the form of orographic precipitation. Orographic precipitation occurs when moisture carrying airmasses are pushed towards a mountain range and force to rise, cool, condense, and precipitate. The summer monsoon carries moist airmasses to the foot of the Himalayas, a formidable topographic barrier that forces the incoming air up. The resulting precipitation feeds the streams and basins that flow into the major rivers, such as the Brahmaputra, Ganges, and Indus. The topographic barrier also creates drastic landscapes in on its windward and leeward sides. On the south-facing side of the Himalayas, we find some of the wettest places on Earth. On the other side, the rain shadow from the mountains forms the arid Gobi Desert and Tibetan Plateau. A similar pattern can be noted in India’s Western Ghats, a mountain range on its western coast that causes orographic precipitation on its windward side.
Climate Vulnerability in Pakistan and Bangladesh
Glacier Retreat in the Hindu Kush Himalayas
The Hindu Kush Himalaya is on the frontline of climate change. Over the past decades, there has been a strong and clear warming trend across the region. Higher altitude areas have warmed faster than lowland areas and faster than the global average. This temperature increase has led to most glaciers to retreat and lose mass. In the future, temperatures will increase by 1–2°C on average by 2050, even reaching 4–5°C in some mountainous and high-altitude areas under a high emissions scenario. Even in the best-case scenario of a 1.5°C in global warming, the average increase in the HKH is projected to be 1.8 ± 0.4°C. Glaciers are some of the most sensitive indicators of climate change, as they respond rapidly to changes in temperature and precipitation. The retreat of glaciers has wide-reaching impacts on natural ecosystems and human settlements through risking local water supplies. In the short-term, the rapid melting will add volume to rivers. However, as glaciers continue to melt, run-off will eventually decrease, especially in river basins that receive substantial amounts of water from glaciers, such as the Indus River basin. This continued melting of glaciers is also resulting in an increase of glacial lakes, some of which may experience outburst flows that put mountain and downstream communities at great risk.
Catastrophic Floods in Pakistan and Bangladesh
The heavy rains the monsoon brings every summer already pose great risks of floods and landslides in the region, and climate change is affecting the predictability and intensity of the monsoons. In Pakistan, the combination of record-breaking summer temperatures, rapid glacial melting, and a historically intense monsoon downpours culminated into a tragic flood event in July-August 2022. Glacial lakes overflowed and rivers expanded beyond their floodplains, affecting some 33 million people, and causing more than 1,400 deaths. The worst flooding occurred along the Indus River where some provinces received five to six times more monsoon rain than the 30-year average. Across the country, about 150 bridges and 2,200 miles of roads have been destroyed, and more than 700,000 livestock and 2 million acres of crops and orchards were lost.[2] It was a devastating monsoon season for Pakistan, a place where floods are the most frequent and costly hazard, and likely to worsen due to climate change.
Coastal Bangladesh is also at the frontline of climate change related risks. Home to over 40 million people, the coastal zone of Bangladesh is located downstream of the Himalayas where over 400 rivers and tributaries flow and eventually discharge through the Ganges Delta into the Bay of Bengal. One of the great natural hazards of coastal Bangladesh is the occurrence of tropical cyclones, a tropical storm that forms over warm oceans (about 80°F) and reach wind speeds of at least 74mph. Cyclones, which are accompanied by powerful winds and heavy rainfall, are a regular phenomenon and pose a serious threat to coastal communities along the entire coastline. On average, about one cyclone makes landfall every year, striking the funnel-shaped and shallow northern portion of the Bay of Bengal—a perfect natural amplifier— at times raising waters more than 10 meters above the sea level. Tropical cyclones are extreme weather events likely to increase in frequency and intensity due to climate change. With 62 percent of the coastal land having an elevation of less than three meters above sea level, much of coastal Bangladesh is at risk of catastrophic floods from cyclones and intensified monsoons. This susceptibility is only exacerbated by sea-level rise, caused by an expanding warmer ocean and ice melt. Sea level rise will further increase coastal flooding, push salt water into tidal channels, and threaten drinking water supplies.[3]
As we explored here, a combination of factors like the thawing of glaciers, intensified monsoons and cyclones, and sea-level rise are climate regional expressions of climate change that pose high threats to large populations in Pakistan and Bangladesh. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), climate vulnerability refers to the predisposition to be adversely affected by climate impacts and lack of ability to cope and adapt. Human mortality from floods, droughts, and storms is much higher in regions identified to have high climate vulnerability. The latest IPCC Report (2022) rendered countries in South Asia as highly vulnerable countries in comparison to other countries in the world.[4] Both Pakistan and Bangladesh are populous countries with densely populated floodplains and coastal areas where tens of millions of rural and poor people face higher exposure and vulnerability to floods, and are less capable of preparing for, dealing with, and recovering from floods.
For decades, scientists warned that burning fossil fuels results in an accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that disrupts global climate systems. Reflecting on the adverse impacts of climate change in places like Pakistan and Bangladesh gives us another opportunity to examine carbon inequity, the disproportionate greenhouse gas emissions of a handful of wealthy countries that have imposed a climate burden on other countries. Since the Industrial Revolution, South Asian countries contributed a negligible share of CO2 emissions while the United States, countries of the European Union, and China account for most of the CO2 emissions to date.[5] Even though India has drastically increased its total CO2 emissions in recent years, it has a large population, and the per person figures are still small in relation to wealthy countries. The disastrous effects of the climate crisis are costly – they cost human lives, livelihoods, cultural ways, and billions of dollars worth of damage. This is a burden for countries with already struggling economies. In a worst case scenario, the World Bank projects that climate change could worsen the living conditions of as many as 800 million people in South Asia and potentially displace 36 (about 1.6% percent of its population), all by 2050.[6] [7]
Ecosystem Valuation in the Sundarbans
The Sundarbans is the world’s largest remaining mangrove forest in the Ganges Delta spanning between India and (mostly) Bangladesh along the Bay of Bengal. Mangroves are a unique biome that exist along tropical coastlines as buffer zones between land and sea. They are typically made up of trees and shrubs that have unique adaptations to cope with the harsh conditions of high salinity, warm temperatures, extreme tides, muddy waters, and oxygen-depleted soils. The Sundarbans is of global importance for its exceptional biodiversity, including numerous threatened species such as the emblematic Royal Bengal tiger, the Ganges river dolphin, the estuarine crocodile, and the Indian python. It contains 35 of the 50 known global mangrove plant species.[8] The significance of Sundarbans is acknowledged by UNESCO, which declared the Indian and Bangladeshi sections of the mangrove World Heritage Sites in 1987 and 1997, respectively.
The Sundarbans provide a range of ways for us to conceptualize ecosystem valuation, or the different ways value can be ascribed to ecosystems. Mangroves are widely recognized for their valuable services, especially amidst a global climate crisis. They are a powerful natural barrier that serves as a first line of defense against hurricanes by dissipating wave and wind energy and reducing erosion. The Sundarbans protects roughly 14 million inhabitants in India’s Kolkata Metropolitan Region’s and other areas from cyclones, rising sea tides, and other adverse natural events that have the potential to take a large toll on human life and property. In addition, mangrove forests are considered carbon sinks because they absorb and retain carbon from the atmosphere. During their growth, trees use the carbon from carbon dioxide to form their leaves, roots, and branches. When these parts eventually die, the carbon becomes buried in the mangrove waterlogged soils. Known as blue carbon, the carbon from submerged vegetation can be stored underwater for millennia, if left undisturbed. Although mangroves cover much less territory than forests, it is estimated that they can store more carbon than forests, largely because of their underground biomass.[9]
The lives of traditional communities are intertwined with the Sundarbans. The inhabited areas consist of 54 islands populated by over 4.4 million people, where poverty is prevalent and economic opportunities are limited. Thus, the Sundarbans have a local economic value, and many communities depend on the mangrove forest for wood, fish, crabs, shrimp, honey, and fruits as a source of livelihood. The hostile living conditions have also formed and shaped inhabitants’ religious beliefs and cultural values about the natural environment for hundreds of years. The Bengal tiger, for example, is a feared and revered animal with many myths and legends surrounding this native and endangered species. The worship of nature is a customary practice in the area, and hundreds of cultural legends have emanated from the mangrove forest. The local people perceive the Sundarbans as a key part of their identity and sense of place. It is an important cultural and natural heritage site that connects them to their history and ancestral roots. The interconnected human and nonhuman lives in the Sundarbans (and beyond) also have intrinsic value, the right and worth to continue to exist and manifest their biocultural legacies.
As the disruption of the global climate was initiated from the excesses and ways of life from afar peoples, the biocultural communities in the Sunderbans face an existential threat as sea levels continues to rise and inundate mangroves beyond their adaptive capabilities. Discussions about these impacts are incomplete without the moral consideration of the intrinsic worth of peoples and environments endangered by our current planetary havoc.
Attributions:
“Hindu Kush Himalaya” and “Climate Vulnerability” is adapted from Alfthan, B. et al. (2018). Outlook on climate change adaptation in the Hindu Kush Himalaya. Mountain Adaptation Outlook Series. United Nations Environment Programme, GRID-Arendal and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Vienna, Arendal and Kathmandu. CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.
“Climate Vulnerability” is adapted from Hamidi, A. R. et al. (2022). Flood Exposure and Social Vulnerability Analysis in Rural Areas of Developing Countries: An Empirical Study of Charsadda District, Pakistan. Water, 14(7), 1176. MDPI AG, CC BY 4.0; and Kazi, S. et al. 2022. Bangladesh: Enhancing Coastal Resilience in a Changing Climate. World Bank, Washington, DC. © World Bank, CC BY 3.0 IGO; and NASA (2022). Devastating Floods in Pakistan. Permitted use.
"Ecosystem Valuation in the Sundarbans" is adapted from World Bank. 2014. Building Resilience for Sustainable Development of the Sundarbans: Strategy Report. Washington, DC. © World Bank. CC BY 3.0 IGO. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/07%3A_South_Asia/7.01%3A_Natural_Environments_and_Climate_Vulnerability.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Describe the characteristics and significance of the Indus Civilization.
2. Describe motivations and impacts of European colonialism in South Asia.
Ancient Civilizations and Empires
The Indian subcontinent has a long history of human occupation, and is an area where cities independently developed and civilization emerged. The earliest civilization on the subcontinent was the Indus Valley Civilization (3300 BCE to 1500 BCE) that flourished along the floodplains of the Indus River, in Pakistan and northwest India. It is recognized one of the earliest civilizations in the world, on par with Mesopotamia in significance of its early innovations, starting with the domestication of crops around 7,000BP. It is considered one of the world’s cultural hearths, a center of innovation where ideas started and spread from. The Indus Civilization started as a series of small villages that became linked in a wider regional network. Urban centers developed into various religious and trade networks that spanned as far as Central Asia, Southwest Asia, and, perhaps, Egypt. It is known for its architectural sophistication and well-planned cities that featured grid-like street patterns, a sewage system, and multi-story brick houses. Additionally, this civilization developed one of the world’s earliest writing systems, a script that has yet to be deciphered, known as the Indus or Harappan script.
Despite these hallmarks of social complexity, the Indus civilization sparks imagination for what it did not do. Unlike other great early civilizations, there is a clear lack of evidence for elaborate tombs, individual-aggrandizing monuments, large temples, and palaces. The first excavators of the region suggested that the Indus civilization was far more egalitarian, more equal, than other early complex societies of the time. After nearly a century of investigation, there is no clear evidence of a ruling class of managerial elites.[1] This is quite significant because it has challenged the notion that all social complexity stem from stratified social relations and hierarchies of wealth. It could be that the accumulation of resources, wealth, and power in the hands of a ruling class was absent from the Indus civilization. The lack of archeological evidence of a ruling wealthy elite can perhaps be countered with the evidence of fine public structures. At Mohenjo Daro, one of the best-known excavated cities of the Indus Civilization, the finest structure resembling the glory of a temple is a large public bath built in the center of the city, known as The Great Bath. It is one of the earliest known examples of public bathing and a testament of the importance of public works and communal structures in this early civilization. It is also suggestive of bathing as a religious ritual, still practiced by both Hindus and Muslims in South Asia.
Between c. 1900 - c. 1500 BCE, the civilization began to decline for unknown reasons. Scholars believe it may have had to do with climate change, the drying up of rivers, an alteration in the path of the monsoon which watered crops, overpopulation, a decline in trade with Egypt and Mesopotamia, or a combination of any of the above. In the present day, excavations continue at many of the sites found thus far and some future find may provide more information on the history and decline of the culture.
The Mauryan and Mughal Empires
The northern plains of South Asia, which extend through the Ganges River valley over to the Indus River valley of present-day Pakistan, were fertile grounds for early civilizations and several empires that controlled the region throughout history. The Mauryan Empire existed between 322 and 185 BCE and was one of the most extensive and powerful political and military empires in ancient India. It was a prosperous empire that greatly expanded the region’s trade, agriculture, and economic activities. This empire created a single and efficient system of finance, administration, and security. One of the greatest emperors in the Mauryan dynasty was Ashoka the Great, who ruled over a long period of peace and prosperity. Ashoka embraced Buddhism and focused on peace for much of his rule. He created hospitals and schools and renovated major road systems throughout the empire. His advancement of Buddhist ideals is credited with being the reason most of the population on the island of Sri Lanka is Buddhist to this day.
Islam became a powerful force in South Asia upon its diffusion to the subcontinent. Muslim dynasties or kingdoms that ruled India between 1206 and 1526 are referred to collectively as the Delhi Sultanate. The Delhi Sultanate ended in 1526 when it was absorbed into the expanding Mughal Empire. The Islamic Mughal Empire (1526-1857) governed a vast empire encompassing territories from modern-day Iran and Afghanistan to Pakistan and Uzbekistan, and nearly the entire Indian subcontinent. It is considered the most prosperous and extensive in the world during its zenith in the late 1600s. The Mughals' reputation for their military might, financial acumen, and trading prowess, coupled with their religious tolerance for other faiths and appreciation for the arts, earned them widespread recognition. They are also recognized for their distinct architectural skills and design. They built many of the monuments we associate with India, including the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort in Lahore, and the Agra Fort.
Colonization of South Asia
Asia was at the center stage of European colonial ventures. Its riches were the motivating factors that led Europeans to sail west searching to reach the east. Of particular interest was the direct access to the highly lucrative spice trade, especially pepper, luxury goods in huge demand both for food dishes and medicine. In the 15th century, spices came to Europe via Southwest Asia, what Europeans referred to as the Middle East. In search for direct access to desired goods, Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama sailed in search of a maritime route that connected Europe directly to Asia. Columbus sailed west and stumbled upon the Americas on the way, having thought he landed in India and naming the locals “Indians.” Vasco da Gama sailed around African Cape of Good Hope, up the coast of East Africa, and across the Indian Ocean to eventually reach India (1497-9).
From 1500 onwards, European powers, attempted to control the spice trade, the ports which marketed spices, and eventually the territories which grew them. But Europeans did not possess any goods that Indian and Muslim traders desired, so they resorted to their ships and weapons to take over the spice trade by force, through colonization. The Portuguese were the first, colonizing Goa in 1510. By the mid-1800s, most of the population of the tiny area had been forcibly converted to Christianity. The cathedrals and secular architecture in many of the historic buildings of Goa are European in style, reflecting its Portuguese origins. It remained a colony of Portugal for 450 years, one of the longest held colonial possessions in the world.
Other European powers also wanted a hold of spices and the wealth they brought. The Dutch challenged the Portuguese in the spice trade and took control of the Spice Islands and other Portuguese centers. The Persians took over Hormuz with the English, the Hindu Marathas threatened Portuguese centers in southern India, and Gujarati traders dominated the Bay of Bengal trade. British influence in South Asia began around the 1600s, when the British East India Company was chartered to trade in Asia and India.
A Traumatic Independence: The British Partition
The British maintained control of large swaths of India, up until 1947. Local resistance and the devastating effects of World War II meant the British Empire was stretched thin. Great Britain pulled away from empire building to focus on its own redevelopment. Upon the British withdrawal from India, Britain sought to resolve cultural differences between the Muslims and Hindus and created political boundaries based on those differences. Since Muslims were clustered both in modern-day Pakistan and along the mouth of the Ganges on the coastal Bay of Bengal, the Muslim state of Pakistan would be divided into a Western and an Eastern territory. This prompted large-scale migrations of Hindus and Muslims who were on the “wrong” side at the time of the partition. The West Pakistan-India partition grew into a tragic civil war, as Hindus and Muslims struggled to migrate to their country of choice. More than one million people died in the civil war, a war that is still referred to in today’s political dialogue between Pakistan and India. The Sikhs, who are indigenous to the Punjab region in the middle, also suffered greatly. Some people decided not to migrate, which explains why India has the largest Muslim population of any non-Muslim state.
Another civil war would erupt in 1973 between West Pakistan and East Pakistan. When the states were first created in 1947, they operated under the same government despite having no common border and being over nine hundred miles apart and populated by people with no ethnic similarities. The civil war lasted about three months and resulted in the creation of the sovereign countries of Pakistan and Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan). The name Bangladesh is based on the Bengali ethnicity of most of the people who live there. Both Pakistan and Bangladesh are among the top ten most populous countries in the world.
Attributions:
“Indus Civilization is adapted from Green, A. S. (2021). Killing the priest-king: Addressing egalitarianism in the Indus civilization. Journal of archaeological research, 29(2), 153-202. CC BY 4.0; and Mark, J. (Oct 7, 2020). Indus Valley Civilization. World History Encyclopedia. CC BY NC SA 4.0.
“Colonization” is adapted from Cartwright, M. (June 9, 2021). The spice trade & the age of exploration. World History Encyclopedia. CC BY NC SA 4.0.
This page contains adaptations from “Patters of Human Settlement in South Asia” by Caitlin Finalyson, CC BY NC SA 4.0; and “Introducing the Realm” by the University of Minnesota, CC BY NC SA 4.0. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/07%3A_South_Asia/7.02%3A_Indigenous_Worlds-_Cultural_Hearths_Empires_and_Colonial_Legacies.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Explain the characteristics of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.
Languages
South Asia is a diverse region in terms of its ethnic landscape, culture, and religious beliefs. In the northern portion of the region, the Indo-European languages like Hindi dominate as a result of the Aryan invasion. Along the Himalayas, languages in the Sino-Tibetan family dominate. In southern India, however, most groups speak a language in the Dravidian family, comprised of the indigenous languages of South Asia that were present before the arrival of the Aryans. These language families reflect broader differences in culture and ethnicity, including particular religious practices and food customs. Thus the label “Indian cuisine” actually encompasses a diverse array of regional and traditional specialties.
Religions
South Asia is a hearth area for several of the world’s great religions. Out of the Aryan invasion of northern India came a religious belief system known as Vedism. The religious texts of Vedism, known as the Vedas, combined with local religious beliefs developed into the modern-day religion of Hinduism by around 500 BCE. Hinduism is a polytheistic religion with a wide variety of individual beliefs and practices. Hinduism is a highly regional and individual religion and its polytheistic nature reflects this open understanding of belief. Of Hinduism’s over 1 billion followers, 95 percent live in India.
At its heart, there are four key features of Hinduism: dharma, karma, reincarnation, and worship. Dharma refers to the laws and duties of being and is different for every person. You might be a student and an employee and a child and a sibling. All of those roles have prescribed responsibilities. To be a good student, for example, means to attend class, read the textbook, and study. In Hindu culture, there are also restraints and observances for how you interact with other people depending on their status.
Hindu views on the afterlife are quite different from the Judeo-Christian conception of heaven. Hindus believe in karma, which means that your deeds, good or bad, will return to you. They also believe in reincarnation, which is the idea that once you die, your spirit is reborn. Thus, you are the sum of numerous past existences. Karma, dharma, and reincarnation go hand in hand. If someone had done good deeds, had good intentions, and lived virtuously, when they die and are reincarnated, they might come back as something great – a prince, perhaps. Conversely, if someone was a terrible person, accumulating an excess of negative karma, when they are reincarnated, they might come back as someone of very low status – or maybe not even a person at all.
Hindu scripture discusses four distinct castes, or groups, of people in society, an example of social stratification. This social hierarchy is known as the caste system. The Brahmins, the highest caste, consist of priests and teachers and represent around 3 percent of India’s total population. There is a warrior caste, a merchant caste, and finally the lowest, the laborer caste of landless serfs. Excluded from this caste system, and viewed as so below it that they are not even a part of it, are the “untouchables,” also known as “Dalit” meaning “oppressed.” The untouchables are so-named because they perform work that makes them spiritually unclean, such as handling corpses, tanning hides, or cleaning bathrooms. Traditionally, higher castes would get ritually purified if they touch a Dalit. Many “untouchables” are Indigenous, non-Aryan Indians.
So how might the belief in karma and reincarnation affect social justice in South Asia? Although the caste system was outlawed by the Indian constitution, widespread discrimination and persecution persists. Many Hindus believe that those in lower castes were reborn into that social status because they had committed misdeeds in their past life. However, other Hindus fought against the caste system and have worked to more fully integrate the Dalits into Indian society.
Buddhism emerged out of Hinduism in northern India following the life and teachings of Hindu prince Siddhartha Gautama. According to Buddhist belief, Siddhartha lived a life of luxury, but became disenchanted with his life of privilege when he was faced with society’s injustices, such as illness and extreme poverty. Since Hinduism offered no clear cessation of what Siddhartha viewed as an endless cycle of suffering through samsara, the soul’s continual death and rebirth, he sought out new ways of ending suffering. For a time, Siddhartha practiced meditation and extreme asceticism, eating only dirt and bits of rice. But neither the path of luxury nor the complete absence of worldly pleasures gave him the insight he sought. Eventually, Siddhartha, in meditation under a Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India, discovered what Buddhists refer to as the Middle Way, a path of moderation. He is said to have achieved enlightenment and is known as the first Buddha, meaning “awakened one.”
Although Buddhism, like Hinduism, is a highly regional religion with many different forms of individual expression, Buddhists generally share a belief in the Four Noble Truths: 1) Suffering is universal and inevitable, 2) The immediate cause of suffering is desire and ignorance, 3) There is a way to dispel ignorance and relieve suffering, and 4) The eightfold path is the means to achieve liberation from suffering. Buddhists also share with Hindus a common belief in karma, dharma, and reincarnation.
Buddhism diffused across Asia, though never taking a strong hold in India. The Maurya Emperor Ashoka, in particular, was responsible for the widespread diffusion of Buddhism in the 3rd century BCE. The religion has three primary branches, each with a distinct regional concentration. The oldest branch, Theravada, is primarily practiced in Southeast Asia, in places like Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand and is also the majority religion on the South Asian island of Sri Lanka. Mahayana is practiced by most Buddhists worldwide, particularly in places like China and Japan. Vajrayana Buddhism, which is sometimes considered a subset of Mahayana Buddhism, is practiced in the Himalayas and Tibetan Buddhism is a notable example. Buddhism has around 500 million followers worldwide.
Although Buddhism and Hinduism are the most widely practiced, South Asia was also a hearth area for the Jain and Sikh religions. Jainism emerged in India in the first century BCE and emphasizes ahimsa, nonviolence toward all living beings. Even insects found in the home are gently ushered out rather than killed. Jains also seek to break free from attachments and inner passions, and aim to keep an open mind toward different perspectives. The teachings of Jainism were influential for Gandhi and his emphasis on nonviolent resistance.
Sikhism emerged in the Punjab region of northwestern India and northern Pakistan in the 15th century. It is a monotheistic religion founded on the teachings of Guru Nanak that combines elements of both Hinduism and Islam. Like Hindus, Sikhs believe in reincarnation and karma. But unlike Hinduism, Sikhism prohibits the worship of idols, images, or icons. Sikhs believe God has 99 names, an adaptation of Hindu polytheistic belief. Sri Harmandir Sahib, commonly called the “Golden Temple,” in Amritsar, India is the holiest Sikh temple, which are called gurdwara. However, the building is open to everyone and every visitor is offered a free meal. Over 100,000 people visit the site every day.
These religions, along with other minority religions like Christianity and indigenous belief systems, have not always coexisted peacefully in South Asia. Although India is officially secular, having no official religion, regional religious conflicts have often occurred throughout history. The difficulty is that in this region, very few people actually are secular, with no attachment to religion. Governments have thus struggled to find ways of accommodating minority religious groups while not offending the majority.
Attributions:
"Languages and Religions of South Asia" is from Cultural Groups in South Asia by Caitilin Finalyson, CC BY-NC-SA. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/07%3A_South_Asia/7.03%3A_Cultural_Diversity-_Languages_and_Religions_of_South_Asia.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Explain population distribution and demographic patterns in South Asia.
Population Distribution and Demographic Patterns
South Asia has three of the ten most populous countries in the world. India is the second largest in the world, and Pakistan and Bangladesh are numbers five and six, respectively. Large populations are a product of large family sizes and a high fertility rate. The rural population of South Asia has traditionally had large families. Religious traditions do not necessarily support anything other than a high fertility rate. On the other hand, the least densely populated country in South Asia is the Kingdom of Bhutan. Bhutan has a population density of only fifty people per square mile. Bhutan is mountainous with little arable land. More than a third of the people in Bhutan live in an urban setting. Population overgrowth for the realm is a serious concern. An increase in population requires additional natural resources, energy, and food production, all of which are in short supply in many areas.
South Asia’s growing population has placed high demands on agricultural production. The amount of area available for food production divided by the population may be a more helpful indicator of population distribution than total population density. For example, large portions of Pakistan are deserts and mountains that do not provide arable land for food production. India has the Thar Desert and the northern mountains. Nepal has the Himalayas. The small country of the Maldives, with its many islands, has almost no arable land. The number of people per square mile of arable land, which is called the physiologic density, can be an important indicator of a country’s status. Total population densities are high in South Asia, but the physiologic densities are even more astounding. In Bangladesh, for example, more than five thousand people depend on every square mile of arable land. In Sri Lanka the physiologic density reaches to more than 6,000 people per square mile, and in Pakistan it is more than 2,400. The data are averages, which indicate that the population density in the fertile river valleys and the agricultural lowlands might be even higher.
The population of South Asia is relatively young. In Pakistan about 35 percent of the population is under the age of fifteen, while about 30 percent of India’s almost 1.2 billion people are under the age of fifteen. Many of these young people live in rural areas, as most of the people of South Asia work in agriculture and live a subsistence lifestyle. As the population increases, the cities are swelling to accompany the growth in the urban population and the large influx of migrants arriving from rural areas. Rural-to-urban shift is extremely high in South Asia and will continue to fuel the expansion of the urban centers into some of the largest cities on the planet. The rural-to-urban shift that is occurring in South Asia also coincides with an increase in the region’s interaction with the global economy.
The South Asian countries are transitioning through the five stages of the demographic transition model. The more rural agricultural regions are in the lower stages of the model. The realm experienced rapid population growth during the latter half of the twentieth century. As death rates declined and family size remained high, the population swiftly increased. India, for example, grew from fewer than four hundred million in 1950 to more than one billion at the turn of the century. The more urbanized areas are transitioning into stage 3 of the index and experiencing significant rural-to-urban shift. Large cities such as Mumbai (Bombay) have sectors that are in the latter stages of the index because of their urbanized work force and higher incomes. Family size is decreasing in the more urbanized areas and in the realm as a whole, and demographers predict that eventually the population will stabilize.
At the current rates of population growth, the population of South Asia will double in about fifty years. Doubling the population of Bangladesh would be the equivalent of having the entire 2011 population of the United States (more than 313 million people) all living within the borders of the US state of Wisconsin. The general rule of calculating doubling time for a population is to take the number seventy and divide it by the population growth rate. For Bangladesh the doubling time would be 70 ÷ 1.57 = 45 years. The doubling time for a population can help determine the economic prospects of a country or region. South Asia is coming under an increased burden of population growth. If India continues at its current rate of population increase, it will double its population in fifty-two years, to approximately 2.4 billion. Because the region’s rate of growth has been gradually in decline, this doubling time is unlikely. However, without continued attention to how the societies address family planning and birth control, South Asia will likely face serious resource shortages in the future.
Attributions:
"Population in South Asia" is from Indroducing the Realm by the University of Minnesota, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/07%3A_South_Asia/7.04%3A_Population.txt |
Re-framing East and Southeast Asia
In grouping East and Southeast Asia together as a collective for this chapter, the region will illustrate similarities that connect the region historically into current times, but it is of equal importance to distinguish the many defining attributes of both that makeup a vast and complex realm. China is the glaring superpower nation within the collective realm, serving as a somewhat nucleus for geopolitical, economic, and military strategic planning of east and southeast Asia. Part of China's rise out of the Maoist era in the late 1970s was the further development of conformists' communist rule that merge with western capitalism practices. With China's current leader Xi Jianping amassing an indefinite reign, the nation is seemingly poised to continuing become a major force of global influence that is aiming to replace western society's imprint upon the global stage. Past western stereotypes of the nation being stagnate and relatively recent past history of being oppressed by Japan, is rapidly becoming a inflammable distant memory as the nation continue to expand exponentially in various modes of development. China's continued growth and influence out of the 2020 pandemic has been contested by western theorists and intelligence communities as a somewhat facade, but its interests within neighboring Asia, Europe, Africa, and Central/South America continue to deepen.
Is it fair to categorize southeast Asia as a mere subregion with no context as it relates to grander understandings of what is known as Asia? Definitely not! Many outer perceptions tend to view the region as a tourist's haven with some of the world's lowest cost of living standards for indulgence or exploitation. Tropical beaches, islands, coastlines, dense jungles, hills, seas, religious temples, street food markets, proximity to other inter-regional areas, fluid and flexible processes for visa requirements all aid the lure to the region. Although, the underbelly of southeast Asian urban lifestyle as it relates to industries, services, development, and illicit sectors are also key components of the region's identity. Despite the duality of perception versus the reality of regional livelihood that exists, the area has a rich history development that continues to strongly influence the region's stability. The people of southeast Asia continue to maintain cultural resilience as well, despite the different eras of conquests and natural occurrences that impact the area.
The collective of Asia continues to evolve, rapidly develop, and endure turmoil throughout various regions within Asia despite outer perceptions and societal assumptions. In current times, the ASEAN collective is potentially emerging as an economic force and center for natural resources refinement hyper-productivity. Migration trends throughout the region from outer-realm foreigners continues to fluctuate as interests in subregion is growing. A future of affluence sustained uneven development, environmental atrocities, catastrophic atmospheric occurrences, and modern appeal could be in the making of a distinguished complex ASEAN. Despite east Asia having a longstanding imprint of "modernity" compared to southeast Asia, high urban population density, ongoing development, modes of turmoil and prosperity may be within the grasp of East Asia's immediate future as the subregions aims to elevate regional livelihood. In this chapter, it is a primary goal for the authors to highlight and distinguish the region of Southeast Asia as its own evolving realm. Southeast Asia cannot be generalized under the "Asia" umbrella without appropriate context and comprehensive insight to the dynamics that continue to shape its landscape.
The World Geographies Atlas: Navigate each world region through maps
For each of the world regions, our original atlas provides detailed maps to help you navigate the places discussed in this book. These maps are meant to be explored before and during the reading of this chapter. These maps are best enjoyed enlarged. Click on each map for an enlarged view, and zoom in to see the prominent biomes, physical features, and population centers of East and Southeast Asia. We recommend that you download these for reference as you read this chapter's content and hope that you enjoy this original compilation.
08: East and Southeast Asia
Learning Objectives
• Describe east and southeast Asia's latitudinal situation and how it shapes its major biome regions.
• Explain the mechanisms of east Asia's vast landscape and how it varies.
• Identify the significance of the major river basins and political borders of east and southeast Asia.
• Explain the tectonic dynamics as it relates to the Ring of Fire and associated tsunamis.
East and Southeast Asia's Physical Barriers
The region of East and Southeast Asia is divided from the rest of Asia by a number of formidable physical barriers. In the north, Mongolia’s Altay Mountains, the Mongolian Plateau, and the Gobi Desert separate the region from Russia. In the south, the Himalaya Mountains divide China from South Asia and contain the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest. These mountains are so high, in fact, that they form the Gobi Desert by preventing rainfall from passing over South Asia into Central Asia. In the southeast, the Arkan Mountains and Naga Hills, which stretch across Myanmar and India, and the rolling hills of China’s Yunnan Plateau separate Southeast Asia from the rest of the continent. In general, this is a realm of relatively high relief, meaning there are significant changes in elevation on the landscape. Even the islands of this region have a rugged topography, from Japan’s Mount Fuji to Indonesia’s Mount Carstensz.
The rivers of this region have supported both ancient cultures and modern societies providing irrigation for agriculture, river transportation, and in some cases, hydropower. Asia’s longest river, the Yangtze, flows through central China; the economic activity surrounding its river valley generates around one-fifth of the entire country’s gross domestic product (GDP). In 2003, the Chinese government built the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric power station, which spans the river. China’s other major river, the Huang He River, also known as the Yellow River, flows through the highlands of Western China before discharging in Northeastern China. It was on the banks of the Huang He that Chinese civilization first began. In Southeast Asia, the region is dominated by the Mekong and Irrawaddy Rivers. The Mekong River, one of the most biodiverse rivers in the world, has been heavily dammed, impacting the area’s ecology, and plans are underway to dam the Irrawaddy in several places. In addition, both the Mekong and the Irrawaddy originate in China, presenting issues over river flow and ownership.
East Asia's Vast Landscape
East Asia is surrounded by a series of mountain ranges in the west, Mongolia, and Russia in the north, and Southeast Asia to the south. The Himalayas border Tibet and Nepal; the Karakoram Ranges, Pamirs, and the Tian Shan Mountains shadow Central Asia; and the Altay Mountains are next to Russia. The Himalayan Mountains are among the world’s highest mountain ranges, and Mt. Everest is the planet’s tallest peak. These high ranges create a rain shadow effect, generating the dry arid conditions of type B climates that dominate western China. The desert conditions of western China give rise to a sizeable uninhabitable region in its center. Melting snow from the high elevation feeds many of the streams that transition into the major rivers that flow toward the east.
Created by tectonic plate action, the many mountain ranges are also home to earthquakes and tremors that are devastating to human livelihood. The Indian tectonic plate is still pushing northward into the Eurasian plate, forcing the Himalayan ranges upward. With an average elevation of fifteen thousand feet, the Tibetan Plateau is the largest plateau region of the world. It has high elevations and type H climates. The plateau is sparsely populated, and the only places with human habitation are the river valleys. Lhasa is the largest city of the sparsely populated region. Sometimes called “the Roof of the World,” the Tibetan Plateau is a land of superlatives. The small amount of precipitation that occurs often comes in the form of hailstorms mixed with wind. Its landscape is generally rocky and barren.
Gobi Desert in the Western Periphery of China
The vast arid regions of western China extend into the Gobi Desert between Mongolia and China. Colder type D climates dominate the Mongolian steppe and northern China. The eastern coast of the Asian continent is home to islands and peninsulas, which include Taiwan and the countries of Japan and North and South Korea. North Korea’s type D climates are similar to the northern tier of the United States, comparable to North Dakota. Taiwan is farther south, producing a warmer tropical type A climate. The mountainous islands of Japan have been formed because of tectonic plates and are prone to earthquakes. Since water moderates temperature, the coastal areas of East Asia have more moderate temperatures than the interior ones. A type C climate is dominant in Japan, but the north has a colder type D climate. The densely populated fertile river valleys of central and southeastern China are matched by contrasting economic conditions. Fertile alluvial soils and moderate temperatures create excellent farmland that provides enormous food production to fuel an ever-growing population.
Biomes of East and Southeast Asia
The biome setting of the collective region is vast with great diversity, provided that east and southeast Asia's landscape extends from just south of the North Pole to the equator, and well into the Southern Hemisphere. Biodiversity, climate, and a complexity of landforms illustrate distinctive attributes that makeup the physical identity and greatly influence the habitable identity of the region. Although, there are vast river streams, plate boundaries, ocean currents, and vegetation similarities that connect the region throughout most parts.
Tropical Biomes: Rainforests, Savannas, and Monsoons of Southeast Asia
The latitude positioning lying between 20°N and 20°S of the equator is where all the countries of Southeast Asia reside. Although, nations like Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia are positioned within island zones that are closer to the equator. The positioning of the listed nations in proximity to the equatorial region of Southeast Asia is where a Wet Tropical Rainforest (Af) climate is present. The region’s climate indicates that there is very minimal seasonality, with year-round rainfall, warmth, humidity, and high constant heat insulation. Nations like Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Cambodia are located within continental zones that are closer to the periphery of the tropical climate zones north and south of the equator. The listed continental nations tend to experience a combination of climate factors that consists of tropical savannas, rainforests, and monsoons within their established border regions. The presence of a larger tropical savanna climate is most dominant across the continental region where seasonality is most commonly present between wet summer and dry winter season spell periods.
The northern continental winds and southern warmer winds interact in a manner that creates differential heating, thus inducing the development of reversal seasonal monsoonal winds. The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is a significant factor of influence upon precipitation patterns within the region as low pressure and high pressure meet in a common space of uplifting and downshifting air movement. Variations in pressure systems intensifies convection, which results in precipitation throughout as the transfer of latent heat moves from the lower to higher regional latitudes.[1] Throughout the region in entirety, temperature ranges between 77°-95°F annually between equatorial tropics and the tropical savannas periphery regions.
A perception of Southeast Asia being a tropical haven is partly supported by 15% of the world’s remaining tropical forests reside within the region. A common landscape feature of the region is the variation in jungle tree cover that often begins at the lowland coastlines and extends across the densely covered highlands of both the region’s continental and island areas. The tropical setting and dense jungle cover of the region is a distinguishable attribute of the region from nearby China that is filled with subtropical plains as a defining landscape feature. The region's lush and fertile vegetation is a primary reason for strong agrarian-based societies that have maintained a great presence in the region. High humidity, changing elevations, and rich vegetation is a defining characteristic of the region’s identity and greater landform makeup. Maritime trading in proximity to the region’s landscape between the larger nations of India and China are also components emphasize Southeast Asia’s uniqueness.[2]
Mid-Latitude and Temperate Biomes of East Asia
Most of China’s population lives in its eastern region, called China Proper, with type C climates, freshwater, and good soils. China Proper has dense population clusters that correspond to the areas of type C climate that extend south from Shanghai to Hong Kong. Around the world, most humans have gravitated toward type C climates. These climates have produced fertile agricultural lands that provide an abundance of food for the enormous Chinese population. To the south, the temperatures are warmer, with hot and humid summers and dry, warm winters. The climates of China Proper are conducive for human habitation, which has transformed the region into a highly populated human community. The North China Plain at the mouth of the Yellow River (Huang He River) has productive farmland and is the most densely populated region in China.
Northwest of Beijing is Inner Mongolia and the Gobi Desert, a desert that extends into the independent country of Mongolia. Arid type B climates dominate the region to the southern half of Mongolia. The northern half of Mongolia is colder with continental type D climates. In the higher elevations of the highlands in western Mongolia, there is a section of type H highland climates. Its climate and location identify Mongolia as a landlocked country in the northern latitudes with a low level of precipitation. The areas of type D climate that extend north from Beijing through Northeast China at times receive more precipitation than northern Mongolia. Northeast China features China’s vast forests and excellent agricultural land. Many of China’s abundant natural mineral resources are found in this area. Balancing mineral extraction with the preservation of agricultural land and timber resources is a perennial issue.
Lying north of the Great Wall and encompassing the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia is the vast Mongolian steppe, which includes broad flat grasslands that extend north into the highlands. North China includes the Yellow River basin as well as the municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin. Areas around parts of the Yellow River are superb agricultural lands, including vast areas of loess that have been terraced for cultivation. Loess is extremely fine silt or windblown soil that is yellow in this region. Deciduous forests continue to exist in this region, despite aggressive clearcutting for agricultural purposes. The Great Wall of China rests atop hills in this region.
Most of western China is arid, with a type B climate. Western China has large regions like the Takla Makan Desert that are uninhabited and inhospitable because of hot summers and long cold winters exacerbated by the cold winds sweeping down from the north. In a local Uyghur language, the name Takla Makan means, “You will go in, but you will not go out.” To the far west are the high mountains bordering Central Asia that restrict travel and trade with the rest of the continent. Northwestern China is a mountainous region featuring glaciers, deserts, and basins.
The central portion of China Proper is subtropical. This vast region includes the southern portion of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang River) and the cities of Shanghai and Chongqing. Alluvial processes give this area prime agricultural land. Its climate is warm and humid in the summers with mild winters; monsoons create distinct summer rainy seasons. Tropical China lies in the extreme south and includes Hainan Island and the small islands that neighbor it. Annual temperatures are higher here than in the subtropical region, and rainfall amounts brought by the summer monsoons are at times very substantial. Low mountains and hills characterize this area.
Southeast Asia's Rivers, Borders, and Deltas
The rivers streams, water bodies, and political borders that makeup southeast Asia have an interesting history regarding its collective importance to human settlement and developmental identity. The water bodies within southeast Asia have been and continue to be a primary factor for resource accessibility, land dispute, and historical significance for human settlement. Despite human dynamics associated with the region's waterbodies, biodiversity thrives and the natural processes that continue to shape the landscape remain highly active.
River Streams
There are three significant rivers of the region that illustrate stories for marine life, ecosystems, and human inhabitants. The Mekong, Red, and Irrawaddy, are longest river streams within the region. All three rivers are located on the mainland and have their headwaters in the high elevations of Himalayan ranges of China. The Mekong River makes its way from the high Himalayas in China and helps form the political borders of Laos and Thailand on its way through Cambodia to Vietnam where it creates a giant delta near Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). The Red River flows out of China and through Hanoi to the Red River delta on the Gulf of Tonkin. The Irrawaddy River flows through the length of Burma providing for the core area of the country. Another major river of the mainland is the Chao Phraya of Thailand. With its many tributaries, the Chao Phraya creates a favorable core area that is home to the largest population of the country. Many other rivers can be found on both the mainland and the insular region. The rivers transport water and sediments from the interior to the coasts, often creating large deltas with rich soils that are major agricultural areas. Multiple crops of rice and food products can be grown in the fertile river valleys and deltas. The agricultural abundance is needed to support the ever-increasing populations of the region.
Borders and Deltas
Various countries within the region have the appearance of complex asymmetrically shaped political borders by comparison to outer region nations. Regions like Africa, western Europe, North America, and South America have various nations with more evenly shaped square or rectangular political borders. The history of conquest and settlement have played a significant role in shaping the region for human inhabitants, but the region’s three primary river streams illustrate a unique design of national bordering. In reference to the continental area of Southeast Asia, the Mekong River partially forms and connects the borders of Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam. The Mekong River meanders in a winding course of direction from the Chinese Himalayas throughout Southeast Asia with several tributaries before letting out into the South China Sea. Regional rivers transport sediments from the continental interior to the coasts where vast deltas are formed and enrich soil fertility for agricultural purposes.
River Basins of China
Two major river systems provide fresh water to the vast agricultural regions of the central part of China Proper. The Yellow River (Huang He River) is named after the light-colored silt that washes into the river. It flows from the Tibetan highlands through the North China Plain into the Yellow Sea. Dams, canals, and irrigation projects along the river provide water for extensive agricultural operations. While wheat, sorghum, corn, and soybeans are common with vegetables, fruit, and tobacco grown in smaller plots. The North China Plain must grow enough food to feed its one thousand people per square mile average density. This plain does not usually produce a food surplus because of the high demand from the large population of the region. Beijing borders the North China Plain. Its nearest port, Tianjin, continues to expand and grow, creating an economic center of industrial activity that relies on the peripheral regions for food and raw materials. Cotton is an example of a key industrial crop grown here.
The Yangtze River (Chang Jiang River) flows out of the Tibetan Plateau through the Sichuan Province, through the Three Gorges region and its lower basin into the East China Sea. Agricultural production along the river includes extensive rice and wheat farming. Large cities are often located along this river, including Wuhan and Chongqing. Nanjing and Shanghai are situated near the delta on the coast. Shanghai is the largest city in China and is a growing metropolis. The Three Gorges Dam of the Yangtze River is the world’s largest dam. It produces a large percentage of electricity for central China. Oceangoing ships can travel up the Yangtze to Wuhan and, utilizing locks in the Three Gorges Dam, these cargo vessels can travel all the way upriver to Chongqing. The Yangtze River is a valuable and vital transportation corridor for transporting goods between periphery and core and between the different urban centers of activity. Sichuan is among the top five provinces in China in terms of population and is dependent on the Yangtze River system to provide for its needs and connect it with the rest of China.
Northeast China was formerly known as Manchuria, named after the Manchu ethnic group, which had dominated the region in Chinese history. Two river basins create a favorable industrial climate for economic activity. The lower Liao River Basin and the Songhua River Basin cut through Northeast China, along the cities of Harbin and Shenyang to be located there. This region is known as the Northeast China Plain. It has extensive farming activities located next to an industrial landscape of smokestacks, factories, and warehouses. Considerable mineral wealth and iron ore deposits in the region have augmented the industrial activities and have created severe environmental concerns because of excessive air and water pollution. In its zenith in the 1970s, this was China’s leading steel production area, but the region is being reduced to a rustbelt since many of China’s manufacturing centers are now being developed in the southern regions of China Proper.
Plate Tectonics and Natural Hazards
The vast natural distribution of regional island nations and connecting continental nations share a commonality beyond climatology and simple proximity. Majority of the region’s natural landscape is positioned within areas of high tectonic activity along the western portion of the total 24,900 miles stretching Pacific Ring of Fire. In total, the Ring of Fire is known to be responsible for approximately 90% of global earthquakes. The ongoing and frequent tectonic collision of landscapes presents a region of instability regarding natural hazards. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) earthquake database, within the last 50 years Southeast Asia has experienced over 13,426 earthquakes with an intensity between 4.1-6.0 magnitude. Another component of tectonic activity within the region is volcanic eruptions that also play a significant role in shaping the region’s landscape. In 1991, Mt. Pinatubo erupted, spewing ash and smoke into the atmosphere causing a noticeable disruption in short-term global climate. The occurrence of earthquakes along the Ring of the Fire creates the development for the not so anomaly of advancing tsunamis ocean waves that can reach 100 feet in height. The high prevalence of earthquake occurrences upon the region’s landform areas and its inhabitants, as it relates to the proximity of the Ring of Fire, continues to showcase a region of random instability.
Volcanic Eruptions
Volcanic activity is prevalent throughout the region, especially as it pertains to islandic area of southeast Asia that is positioned within the Pacific Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire is where the highest number of active volcanoes are located, which also coincides with the inhabited landmasses of islandic southeast Asia. In 1815, Indonesia’s Mount Tambora volcano erupted and caused global temperatures to cool significantly, which resulted in crop failure that extended as far as the Mediterranean. In 1883, the volcanic island of Krakatoa, located between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra, erupted violently to the point of the volcano collapsing. The devastation of this volcanic event led to the death of over tens of thousands of nearby human inhabitants. The sound of the volcano’s eruption is still considered the loudest sound in modern history that can be heard over 3,000 miles away. The intensity of volcanic occurrences in the region have historically caused mass destruction upon inhabited spaces, in addition to having an impact upon global natural processes.
Tsunamis
With a variation of natural hazards that can take place at any time from the root of tectonic activity, the subsequent occurrence of tsunamis can with little to no warning of advancing. Tsunamis tend to occur because of ocean floor earthquakes as the seafloor crust thrusts upward upon a seismic event. Thus, generating power and intensity upon ocean wave movement before eventually crashing regional shorelines causing devastation. Due to the high prevalence of seismic activity within the collective region, tsunami devastation is a highlighted attribute of Southeast Asia’s landscape. Historical occurrences of tsunamis within the region have proven to produce a somewhat usual “expected” occurrence of destruction that aids the instability of Southeast Asia’s habitable landscape. In 2004, a powerful undersea earthquake occurred off the coast of Sumatra with a magnitude of 9.1. The earthquake ruptured a 900-mile stretch fault line where the Indian and Australian plates meet as the occurrence caused the ocean floor to rise as much as 40 meters. The rise of the ocean floor suddenly triggered a massive tsunami that generated several 100-foot waves that crashed the shoreline of Banda Aceh within 20 minutes of the initial quake. The tsunami killed more than 100,000 people in the Banda Aceh area and 230,000 people in total including inhabitants of nearby Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, and reaching as far as the coast of South Africa.[3]
Natural Disaster Readiness
Since the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami occurrence, regional governments, the United Nations, and groups established the office of Disaster Risk Reduction and Preparedness (UNISDR) to mitigate future disaster occurrences. Three weeks after the 9.0 quake struck, 168 representatives of various nations agreed to cooperate in disaster readiness with the Hyogo Framework for Action. The plan laid a foundation for ocean floor earthquake sensors to be installed to trigger early warning detection so that trained local communities can evacuate upon disaster. With much attention in recent years gained from the destruction caused by tsunamis and subsequently implemented readiness investment, is volcano eruption readiness up to equal par? Attention to volcano eruption readiness has trailed behind tsunami preparedness plans noticeably in the region until 2018. The Anak Krakatau volcano eruption in the Sunda Strait caused undersea landslides that triggered a tsunami that struck the coastlines of Sumatra and Java killing over 400 people. Since the 2018 Anak Krakatau occurrence, the Indonesian government has been working on plans like the Volcanic Eruption Emergency Plan of Action (EPoA) to add adequate volcano censoring warning systems to better manage eruption occurrences.[4]
Deforestation
Due to the unfortunate ongoing occurrence of climate change in the age of Anthropocene, the region has become a major global deforestation hotspot. The region’s deforestation rate is on par and comparable to the deforestation rate of similar tropical regions like that of Latin America and Central Africa.[5] On a grander scale since 1990 until 2019, over 420 million hectares of global forest have been lost due to human activity. Between 1990 and 2010, the region has loss 1.6 million hectares of forest cover, reducing its forest size from 268 million hectares to 236 million hectares in the given timeframe.[6] At the current rate of deforestation, it is feared that Southeast Asia will lose over 40% of its biodiversity as the region’s forests dwindle by 1.2% annually.
Deforestation in the region is not a random occurrence, there are several economically influenced factors for ongoing deforestation. Palm oil production and its quadrupling land use cover since 1980 in keeping pace with global demand continues to aid the deforestation phenomena, as 72 million tons was produced in 2018. Palm oil has high utility in food ingredients, cleaning, and detergent products. Over 84% of global palm oil production occurs in Indonesia and Malaysia, accounting for 57% and 27% of both nation’s deforestation. Logging and cropping play another key role in regional ongoing deforestation as illegal logging of timber and its exportation continues to plague Indonesia’s landscape. The widespread over-practice of slash-and-burn, an ancient Indigenous Americas forest burning technique for cultivation primarily in Borneo, is degrading forests opposed to clearing with settling ash nutrients. A dependent variable in the dynamic of deforestation is the subsequent loss of biodiversity. The loss of regional species is apparent with fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers remaining in the world. Orangutans of the region have resorted to eating tree bark with fruit trees continuing to decrease. At the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), over 100 countries that include Indonesia took a pledge to stop and reverse deforestation by the year 2030. Best case scenario, by the COP26 agreement and various governmental efforts suggest that 19.6 million hectares of forests can be recovered by 2050. Worst case scenario, continued deforestation actions and especially that of illegal logging continues, 5.2 million more hectares of forests may be lost by 2050.[6]
Attributions:
“East and Southeast Asia's Physical Barriers” is adapted from East and Southeast Asia by Caitlin Finlayson, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
"East Asia's Vast Landscape" is adapted from East Asia's Physical Geography of the Region by R. Adam Dastrup, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
"Major Biomes of East Asia" is adapted from East Asia's Physical Geography of the Region by R. Adam Dastrup, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
"River Basins of China" is adapted from East Asia's Physical Geography of the Region by R. Adam Dastrup, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
“Tsunamis” is adapted from East and Southeast Asia by Caitlin Finlayson, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
“River Streams” is adapted from Southeast Asia by the University of Minnesota, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/08%3A_East_and_Southeast_Asia/8.01%3A_Natural_Environments.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Identify the earliest migration trends of regional human inhabitants and development over time
• Explain how indigenous culture created a foundation for regional identity
• Describe the rise and fall of ancient civilizations as it relates to trade, conquest, development, and migration
• Explain the impact of colonialism upon the region and its continued impact
East and Southeast Asia Uniformed or Distinguished?
Could it be that society outside of Asia tend to have a collective understanding that Asia is one large synonymous cultural and physical region? Despite the overwhelming reality of diversity and societal complexity stemming from Asia's massive landscape, feudal perceptions still remain evident in an evolving world that continues to have influences of a lazy desire for bias categorization. Meanwhile, many people within various aspects of Asian society, seemingly appears to have some understanding of how some non-Asians perceive the Asian population and landscape without factual context. One of the most differentiating components of understanding Asian roots and current society can be distinguished between east and southeast Asia. Historically and now, various connections between both regions that makeup around 50% of the world's population are apparent, but there are stark differences that make both sub-regions within the larger region, distinguished. Some examples of diversity and complexity include climate, religious practice, genetic makeup, and migration trends to name a few. A constant in understanding the realm is that despite perceptions, the region continues to move pace forward at an unmatched rate in which outer perceptions do not define the collective region.
Southeast Asian Migration and Inhabitance
Southeast Asia is a region with immense natural landform complexity. Some of the world’s most unique endemic species, and a variation of tropical climate elements was a shared home to the Hoabinhian culture of modern-day Indonesia dating back to the timeframe of 13,000-4000 BCE. Although, the earliest fossil remains of Homo sapiens carbon date back in the region to approximately 40,000 years ago. Hoabinhian culture was believed to have earliest settlements and interactions with nearby inhabitants across the Makassar Strait. Between the narrow straight body of water is where indigenous communities from the islands of Borneo and Sulawesi Indonesia is where cultural exchange and inter-regional migration would occur. Evidence of ancient stone tools that shared similarities in design and crafting, were found throughout various regions of modern day Indonesia during the Hoabinhian era. Due to the combination of climate factors and geophysical regional dynamics, Southeast Asia's cultural settlements did not develop uniformly. As the human adaptation to the environment continued throughout both the island and mainland areas in ancient times, the mastery of subsistence agrarianism stabilized the existence of numerous tribal communities with practices that currently exist in the 21st century. Labor intensive and highly skilled trades in bronze molding and rice cultivation were being practiced by the 3rd century BCE in Thailand and Vietnam. Original technology in constructing sailing vessels along with navigational skills were in widespread use amongst the indigenous people of the area during the same timeframe. Settlement, migration, development, and cultural connections through seafaring practices of the time made it possible for the widespread of the Austronesian Languages to occur within the last 5,000 years.[1] Migration from the west ensued, then inter-regional migration began to circulate more commonly as various early tribes established lasting roots within the region. As the region continues to evolve and work diligently toward economic stability, a common goal of future sovereignty, partnerships, and prosperity is on the horizon for the region. Creative efforts like the 21st century regional governmental collective (excluding Timor-Leste) known as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), have set an ambitious goal to "bring together desperate neighbors to address economic and security issues" according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
The collective of 11 southeast Asian nations is a landscape that highlights a region of remarkable and distinguishable environmental attributes within a tropical setting. The subregion and the emergence of one's own distinctive geopolitical landmass is wedged between two “Goliath” like nations with India to the west and China to the east. Peninsulas and island nations like the 17,000 collective chain archipelago of Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Malaysia, 7,100 island chains of the Philippines, Singapore, and Brunei help makeup the region. Countries like Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia are positioned on the mainland Eurasian continent. The region in its entirety shares similarities in plant and animal species, in addition to having a warmer climate with historical development connections based in its tropical setting. Regional nations have collective proximity to maritime seafaring industries, with the nearby or surrounding seas that has historically and continues to play a major role in the development of the region. The region in its entirety is surrounded by the Indian and Pacific Ocean, with an abundance of seas, bays, and straits that creates collective political borders of Southeast Asia. The Gulf of Thailand, South China Sea, Philippine Sea, and the Java Sea are a few of several water bodies that aid the natural development of the region’s landscape while also continuing to influence regional human settlement.
East Asian Migration and Inhabitance
In East Asia, evidence of modern humans can be found in the region dating back to over 80,000 years ago. Around 10,000 years ago, several cultural groups emerged in China during the Neolithic Period, also known as the New Stone Age. This was a time of key developments in early human technology, such as farming, the domestication of plants and animals, and the use of pottery. Along China’s Yangtze River, humans first domesticated rice around 6500 BCE. Villages, walled cities, and great dynasties, or families of rulers, emerged later. Chinese dynasties dominated the political landscape for much of the region’s history. They established trade routes, a strong military, and forged connections with Korea and Japan. China became a unified state under the Han dynasty, which ruled from 206 BCE to 220 CE, and this long period of stability is viewed as a golden age in Chinese history. The dominant ethnic group in China, the Han, take their name from this ruling family. It was also during this time that Confucianism became the state religion. Confucianism takes its name from the influential Chinese philosopher and teacher Kong Fuzi (551-479 BCE), often referred to by the Latinized version of his name, Confucius. One of Confucius’ key teachings was the importance of relationships, both within the family and within society as a whole and the religion emphasizes human goodness and self-reflection rather than the worship of a divine being. Confucius also emphasized education and his teachings have dominated Chinese culture for centuries. In general, the Chinese dynasties were largely isolationist. China has a number of physical barriers that separate it from the rest of Asia, such as the Himalayas, the rugged western highlands, and the Gobi Desert. The only region where it was vulnerable to invasion was its northeastern region. Here, the ruling families of China built a series of walls, known today as simply the Great Wall of China.
Mainland Southeast Asian Migration and Andamanese Negrito
It is believed that the earliest inhabitants of mainland southeast Asia arrived in the region around 60,000 years ago, originating from migration trails out of Africa moving eastward. Evidence to support the earliest migration claims for the region are based in DNA studies funded by the National 973 project of China, where DNA samples of over 5,000 males across 73 regional communities within the region indicate that the earliest human ancestry of the mainland area was an indigenous group known as the Andamanese. The highest concentration of genetic lineage for the Andamanese can be found in the Andaman Islands which is located between the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal partial wedged between India, Myanmar, and Thailand. The migration imprint of the region's "first" settlers has the oldest lineage tracing of the Andamanese in Tibet and as far away as Japan.[1] The Andamanese Negrito population currently are scattered throughout parts of southern India, the Andaman Islands, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The genetic lineage and cultural traits of the region's earliest settlers have been disappearing for centuries due to assimilation via mixing populations and due to the generational loss of land/resources.[2] Historical events related to the diminishing presence of the region's indigenous population's is an ongoing occurrences that can be observed throughout various indigenous communities globally. Although, the cultural practices and influences of the Andamanese have greatly contributed to the development of the region's collective of ethnic groups that inhabit southeast Asia currently.
Indigenous Migration in the Pacific: Taiwanese, Filipino Negrito and Polynesia
As migration continued eastward towards the periphery of the region, it was around 4,000 BCE when Taiwan began to become populated with inhabitants from the Asian mainland by crossing the Taiwan Strait by water vessels. Although, the earliest inhabitants of Taiwan may have arrived on the island more than 10,000 ago from southern China or Polynesia, based on DNA evidence and 21st century studies. Within the last 1,000 years, the Hoklo and Hakka people arrived in Taiwan from the Chinese provinces of Fujian and Guangdong. Currently, almost 2% of Taiwan's current population is considered to be indigenous and is recognized by the Taiwanese government as a part of 16 distinctive aboriginal tribes. The Ami People is the largest group of aboriginal Taiwanese, making up 40% of the remaining indigenous population. The Hoklo or commonly referred to as Fukien Taiwanese ethnic group, make up the majority of the nation's inhabitants at 65% of the population. Migration from Taiwan continued southward into the Philippines by 3,000 BCE and eastward throughout the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. Human migration throughout the Philippines has been widespread for several centuries aside from early Chinese and Taiwanese migration. The nation is an archipelago collective of over 7,000 islands with numerous ethnic groups that inhabited the region from various directions within the Asian mainland, Indian and Pacific Ocean. In present times, there are over 100 distinctive ethnic groups that are indigenous to the Philippines. The earliest inhabitants of the islands are a group of people known as the Negrito, that make up less than 1% of the current population. The term Negrito refers to a collective of ethnic groups that have dark skin and are of smaller stature as represented by the Aeta, Ita, Agta people. The term was given to the Indigenous population by 16th century colonial Spain and has remained a common term of identification for the Filipino public in reference to indigenous peoples. 10th century mixing of indigenous Negritos with Chinese migrants resulted in a group of mixed Filipino-Chinese descent people that make up a large portion of the nation's modern nation population. The Negrito population declined significantly during the 1600s upon Spanish colonialism in the area. The population continues to decline due to outsider encroachment, deforestation, loss of wildlife species, poverty, and disease as it is estimated that only 15,000 distinctively indigenous Negritos remain in the Philippines.
Considering the passing of generational settlement and development, migration onward to farther but evermore connecting regions like the Polynesian realm would become evident by 1,000 BCE. Voyages led by various ethnic groups from Taiwan and Indonesia reached as far as the Hawaiian Islands to the east and New Zealand to the south. Eventually the Malay people would reach the island of Madagascar between 500 and 700 ACE, despite pre-existing indigenous communities having already settled the island. The Malay people brought a variety of tropical fruits, languages, cultural customs, and distinctively core southeast Asian tools for development to the outer-periphery Pacific Ocean landmasses.[1] Ethnic groups like the Malay are one of many settlers that has contributed to the development of the region's cultural identity that extends beyond the periphery into the core mainland and islands southeast Asia.
Neighboring Influences: Chinese Conquest and India's Impact
With a mature settlement of various ethnic groups inhabiting the region, how did it come to past for China and India to leave its imprint on southeast Asian society that has carried on into current times? Around 2,000 years ago, present day China began to visit the region with larger groups with the intent for long-term settlement. During the early 100 BCE-200 CE brought the descendants of China's Qin Dynasty and the long reigning Han dynasty to southeast Asia. It is worth noting that descendants of the Han Dynasty make up of over 90% of China's current population as their impact upon region settlement became significant over the past two millenniums. Chinese migration extended over into northern Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia early on before moving southward and westward more fluidly throughout the region. Prior to Chinese migration, southeast Asia had already established itself as an integral center for trade and communication that extended to the Red Sea and the western shores of the Pacific Ocean. The port establishments of the region connected outer-regions to exotic items and endemic spices that we exclusive to Indonesia. In the efforts of expanding China's empire, the Qin Dynasty led conquests throughout the region with motivations to take over Vietnamese ports before conquering other regional ports.[3] After the Qin Dynasty fell in just a 15 year spanning era, the Han Dynasty rose to power out of China and continued migration into Vietnam and maintained colonial rule over the area until Vietnam gained its independence in 939 CE. The Han ethnic group would go on to rapidly migrate throughout the outer edges of the region in both the islands and mainland southeast Asia over the course of several centuries.
India's 3rd century onward trail through the region left behind a different legacy of settlement behavior than that of the mentioned ancient Chinese dynasties history in southeast Asia. There is no significant evidence available to suggest that conquests, colonization, or even any periods of extensive migration into the region had occurred from India compared to China. With India being a trade partner of the region and having some settlement roots, some customs carried over in writing systems, literature, social hierarchies, and religious customs deriving from the Indus and Ganges River valleys of India. Although, some values from India and China regarding the social views and practices of legal inferiority towards women were rejected throughout the region. A lasting India custom in the region that carried on into the 19th century was the establishment of mandalas by various groups of indigenous peoples. Mandalas in Sanskrit mean 'circle', which established territorial units of power in concentric circles organized upon the landscape. The construction of mandalas were the first form of semi-urbanized settlements within the region that allowed for a more organized state of rendering political authority and international trade. By the 6th century CE, a number of larger circular mandala states of kingdoms and empires emerged in areas like Cambodia, Myanmar, Sumatra, and Java.
Ancient Civilizations
When looking at southeast Asia's current political boundaries, the mainland region that make up Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam appear to have a clustered and asymmetrical shape. The boundary formation of the region has divisions of water bodies like the renown Mekong River that connects all four nations, but the Mekong may not be the region's only connection. Given how the region of nations are established now, is there a relationship between the nations that can be explored and provide historical insight as to how they may be connected? The ancient kingdoms of Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar of the region's mainland highlights a history of ethnic clustering in a shared space along the southeast mainland area. Historical conflict over borders, southeast shifting terrain, and a will for regional newcomers to establish lasting roots over area's like the Thailand in the later years, all continue to play a major role in shaping the region's mainland identity. First, let's observe the history of some of the mainland region's earliest civilizations with that of ancient Cambodia. Ancient Cambodia provided a blueprint of lasting settlements along the Mekong River in the tropical southernmost area of the region prior to the incoming of future regional civilizations that would eventually reign throughout.
Ancient East Asia and Confucianism
In East Asia, the Chinese dynasties dominated the political landscape for much of the region’s history. They established trade routes, a strong military, and forged connections with Korea and Japan. China became a unified state under the Han dynasty, which ruled from 206 BCE to 220 CE, and this long period of stability is viewed as a golden age in Chinese history. The dominant ethnic group in China, the Han, take their name from this ruling family. It was also during this time that Confucianism became the state religion. Confucianism takes its name from the influential Chinese philosopher and teacher Kong Fuzi (551-479 BCE), often referred to by the Latinized version of his name, Confucius. One of Confucius’ key teachings was the importance of relationships, both within the family and within society as a whole and the religion emphasizes human goodness and self-reflection rather than the worship of a divine being. Confucius also emphasized education and his teachings have dominated Chinese culture for centuries. In general, the Chinese dynasties were largely isolationist. China has a number of physical barriers that separate it from the rest of Asia, such as the Himalayas, the rugged western highlands, and the Gobi Desert. The only region where it was vulnerable to invasion was its northeastern region. Here, the ruling families of China built a series of walls, known today as simply the Great Wall of China. However, the term “the” Great Wall of China is a misnomer. In fact, there is a series of overlapping walled fortifications that began being constructed by early dynasties in the 5th century BCE and continued through to the 17th century CE. Walls are a defensive military structure and are thus an expression of a civilization that wished to be left alone. Emperors generally disregarded China’s extensive coastline, and where port cities did emerge, they were primarily used for local trade.
The Angkor Civilization (Khmer Empire) of Cambodia
During the 3rd millennium BCE, ancestors of the Angkor civilization migrated to Cambodia along the Mekong River before establishing their cultural center at Lake Tonle Sap around the timeframe of 1,000 BCE. Tonle Sap is currently located in the center of modern-day Cambodia and is the largest lake in the southeast mainland area. The significance of the lake regarding the Khmer Empire's reign and sustainability was of the utmost importance for regional transportation, agriculture, settlement, and marine life consumption. The enormous size of the lake along with local ingenuity influenced the creation of sophisticated irrigation systems that allowed the spread of civilization to reach far into the countryside away from the lake. A time span of 800-1300 ACE was the Angkor civilization's golden era before the eventual collapse of the society due to several components of internal strife, shifting governing philosophies, and external encroachment by neighboring groups. At the Khmer empire's peak, the practice of Hindu and predominantly Buddhism belief systems were prevalent throughout along with extensive trade connections to Rome, India, and China that lasted for several centuries. Cambodian society was fluid in operation as its citizens maintained the nations with various duties as religious nobles, artisans, fisherman, rice farmers, soldiers, and as elephant keepers in which elephants were used as protection by the military. Khmer cities would trade rare woods, elephant tusks, wax, gold, silver, silk, and spices with China for centuries prior to it's collapse. Numerous Buddhist temples, also known as a wat, have inscriptions that detailed a bartering system for ancient goods that date back to the earliest times of Khmer settlement in the region. The most renowned temple in the region is Angkor Wat (constructed 1110-1150), which is located in the Thai named province of Siam Reap Cambodia. The name of the Siam Reap province in Cambodia has stuck due to land disputes and Thailand's prior reign over the region within the last century. The end of the Angkor civilization came in the 14th century as a swift change in syncretic Hinduism and contemporary Buddhism practices got replaced by a more democratic and newly structured form of Buddhist practices.[4]
Angkor Wat: World's largest religious temple
The Angkor Wat (Temple City) Buddhist temple located in northern Cambodia, is the world's largest religious monument that is four times larger than the Vatican City in Europe. The monument was constructed in the 12th century originally as a Hindu temple dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. Spreading across over 400 acres of land, Khmer Emperor Suryavarman II is crediting with having the temple city built as it served as a political center for his empire. In the 1970s during the Khmer Rouge regime sparked a civil war in which the temple sustained noticeable but minimal damage. The temple is no longer active for traditional or political practices but serves as an important tourist attraction. The city of Siem Reap, where Angkor is located, has an inhabiting population of 200,000 people. In 1992, Angkor Wat was named a UNESCO World Heritage site and receives over 500,000 visitors every year. [5]
Ancient Myanmar (Burma): Pyu and Mon Kingdoms
Re-named Myanmar in 1989, is the entry point to southeast Asia from the west as the nation borders India with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in close proximity. Partly due to proximity and migration trends, for centuries Myanmar has been influenced by India culturally as it related to merchant shipping, trade, linguistics, and religious practices notably. Prior to 1989, the nation was officially known as Burma in which its name came from the predominate ethnic group of people known as the Burman.[6] The history of Burma's for first human settlers who arrived 11,000 years ago, gives insight to early developments that distinguish it from the nation's classic era that is more interconnected with South Asia. Between the 100 BCE and 800 ACE, the Pyu established kingdoms in Myanmar at Binnaka, Mongamo, Shri Kshetra, and Halingyi. During the time of the Pyu, trade routes between China and India passed through the northern areas of the country across the Chindwin River valley. The Pyu had established sovereignty over 18 kingdoms throughout Myanmar, according to ancient Chinese written records of the area. Life throughout the Pyu states was vibrant as the men wore blue with gold head pieces. The women wore jewels in their hair and criminal behavior was treated with humane practice. Chinese records indicate that prisons did not exist in the area and criminals were disregarded without brutal intent. Mon people and kingdom once occupied the area of western Thailand but now parts of the eastern delta region and south of Myanmar is their home where they have lived for over 1,200 years now. The Mon city of Thaton was conquered by the Burmans in 1057 and they were forced south. A lasting and notable attribute of the Mon that remains is that they are first the people in mainland southeast Asia to adopt Buddhism. By the 11th century, Myanmar had become the center of the Theravada Buddhist practice that adhered to the preserved teachings of Gautama.
Thai Civilization Amongst the Mon and Khmer
As development to the west in Myanmar continued, development to the east in Cambodia continued as well and wedged Thailand into a pressured state of emergence. Around the time of 1,000 CE, the Tai people moved into mainland Southeast Asia where they came in contact with Mon and Khmer groups that were already settled in the land area of modern-day Thailand. As the Tai began to settle throughout different areas within the Mon-Khmer land areas, they adopted various practices of Indian culture that were observed with royal ceremonies, dance, and literature influences. By the 13th century, the Tai began to apply pressure onto both the Mon and Khmer empires for territorial expansion as the Kingdom of Sukhothai came into power by the mid-13th century. A local Tai ruler led a revolt against a Khmer outpost and established the upper Chao Phraya basin. Ramkhamhaeng came to power for the Tai towards the end of the 13th century and expanded the Sukhothai south to the Indian coast. Several generations of war, consolidation, and retreating of land with the Khmer would ensue all the way until the 20th century as the descendants of the Tai fought to maintain its current land area. Religious temples and settlement remain of Thailand's ancient culture are well preserved throughout the nation as millions of tourists visit country annually.
Ancient Vietnam: Phung-Nguyen, Dong Son and The Kingdom of Van Lang
A coastal land front with a direct neighboring border to China is where the nation of Vietnam can be found. The development of Vietnam's society and landscape highlights an important transition area into southeast Asia from the northeast and surrounding areas where cultures have converged. It is believed that the first Vietnamese people known as the Phung-nguyen settled the area sometime between 2000-1400 BCE with rice farming being the predominately activity that created sustainability within the region. The evolution of the Phung-nguyen in the area led to the eventual rise of the Dong Son culture which brought in advance bronze work, weapons, arts, and sophisticated tools that were exclusive to the area. Commonly throughout Vietnamese culture, stories of the semi-mythical kingdom of Van Lang was the original kingdom of the area but scholars believe the Van Lang is a mixture of accounts from the Phung-nguyen and eventual Dong Son cultures. By the 3rd century BCE, the Vang Lang were overthrown by a rival kingdom called the Thuc. The name Viet was given to the region by the colonial Chinese after the fall of Qin Dynasty, as Viet meant 'south' being that the area was south of China. Over the same timeframe, the kingdom became known as Nam Viet and several centuries later became globally known as Vietnam. Vietnam has remarkable cultural makeup with a noticeable mix of ethnic Chinese and Vietnamese cultures with intertwining imprints throughout the nation. Also, the role of western appeal due to historical conflict has become a part of the nation's outer identity. Figure 8.2.7 below shows the inside of Chinese Buddhist temple in the capital city of Ho Chi Minh where westerners commonly take part in the area's religious customs.
China's Periphery and Indigenous Classification
On east Asia's mainland, the Communist Party of China reigns over vast territories within a diverse landscape that inhabits distinguished groups of people. Regions like Tibet and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regions inhabit the southwestern area of China's political border in an area that is rurally populated by comparison to China's eastern region. Eastern China is where of over 90% of its population reside and is a predominately makeup of people from the Han ethnic group. With the expansion of the country's territory within the two hundred years, China came to occupy and accumulate the southwest region by force. In modern times, referring to the southwest area of the nation by province name, with the omission of recognizing China continues to be viewed as a method of undermining the CPC's rule over by the Chinese government. The same sentiment of undermining is shared by the Chinese government regarding diplomatic affairs and media rhetoric towards Taiwan as well. China's expansion and ruling power over various groups of Indigenous people has historically disregarded inhabitants' ambition to be sovereign and independent of China's influence. It is worth noting that China did sign a UN Declaration of Rights for Indigenous People, that "clarified" China has no Indigenous people, primarily because western colonization did not breach China's interior landscape. China's declaration can be viewed as an attempt to assimilate the Indigenous people into Chinese society with unequal minority designations, despite longstanding roots within China's borders. The Chinese Communist Party does recognize that 55 different ethnic minority groups inhabit the nation’s territory, with the Han ethnic group representing over 90% of the China’s population. Interesting enough, China has voted in favor of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples but has yet to implement a plan within China to recognize its own like the Hmong and Miao that inhabit the south, central and western parts of the nation.
Mongolia and Buffer Zone Position
The semi-remote interior nation of Mongolia has a population of over three million people, that includes at least four primary ethnic groups with ancient cultural influences that stretches as far as North America. Global observations of the country insight reference to ancient expansionists rulers like Attila the Hun of the Mongol ethnic group, in which various Mongol sub-groups such as the Durvud, Buriad, and Dariganga continue to inhabit the country. Although, the collective Mongols makeup over 90% of the country's ethnic identity. After the fall of the Mongol Empire in the 1400s, cultural influences and migration activity within the country became more active with spread of Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, and traditional Lamaism remaining apart of the nation's identity according to the Minority Rights Organization. Interesting enough in modern times, almost 40% of the population claim to have no religious identity. Part of the Mongolia's modern intrigue is not only the nation's rich historical past, but its physical position wedged between powerhouse governments like China and Russia. Mongolia's position has created a relationship between both nations that has Mongolia serving as a buffer zone, that illustrates a sovereign nation being compelled to allowing more powerful neighboring countries like China and Russia to have concessions, infrastructure, and political free will within its nation. A reliance for energy and resources has been created within Mongolia based on its relationship with China, that especially impacts the nation's non-traditional population. Although, tension between China to the south of its border has not created significant hostility despite ideal ambitions of not wanting a dependence or potential intimidating force operating within their sovereign borders.
Colonialism in East and Southeast Asia
Throughout the history of human settlement and migration, the ability to maintain a defined space on Earth has always been challenged by various factors that include the natural occurrences of region, resource sustainability, climate, societal implosion, and conquest to list a few. As human existence moved forward into the 16th century onward, most of the world began to experience the ails of European colonialism across every human habitable region on Earth. Despite the complexity of a tropical climate setting, natural dangers, semi-remoteness, and a variation of "harsh" landforms did not shield Southeast Asia the experience of European colonialism by the mid-18th century. Colonialism of the southeast islands and mainland altered the future of regional borders, development, and ethnic relations of southeast Asian collective nations. Ongoing turmoil from sustained generational acts of brutality, colonial ambitions, and philosophy continue to have a lasting impact upon the region. Conquests and ethnic tensions have always been a part of regional dynamics but western colonialism brought in an age of dissolving cultural traits, intensified destruction of regional societies, and unstable sovereignty unlike any other known observed time periods in southeast Asian history. Although, an outlier of colonialism distinguished from the west, came in the form of Japanese colonialism towards the beginning of the 19th century as Japan rose into power and began to establish a lasting reign over mainland and island areas of southeast Asia.
Mainland and Islands Colonialism Impact
In 1799, the Dutch government began to rule over various parts of the Indonesian archipelago until the entirety of the archipelago that included Sumatra and Bali had completely come under Dutch control within 100 years. The colonial era of control over the region shaped Indonesia's current pollical borders. The British at the time had become well known for their efforts in seizing territories, extracting resources, and establishing ports in foreign lands. By 1824, Britain began to war with Burma over control of its land before eventually taking over the nation and incorporating it into its Indian empire by 1886. Gradually over time, the British also took over the Malaya peninsula that became modern-day Malaysia by 1874 in which more fluid trade was established in the region from Malaysia to Europe. France colonized Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia to eventually proclaim the French Indochina Union in 1887. Thailand was an outlier in which the nation remained free from colonial rule due to its stable monarchy that successfully resisted outside forces during the region's colonial era. The impact of regional colonialism caused a great deal of ethnic divide and tensions across the mainland and islands due to preferential policies implemented by western nations. For instance, the British preferred Chinese and Indian immigrants to "work" in skilled positions in Malaysia and dismissed the Malaysian population as peasantry. The French favored Vietnamese people for educational policies over the Cambodian public as Vietnamese people were brought into Cambodia. The British also encouraged widespread immigration of Indians and Chinese into Burma as its longstanding subsistence farming industry began to shift into large-scale exports that benefited Britain. Policies like the cultuurstelsel, applied in Indonesia, forced farmers to grow export crops in which poverty and famine ensued throughout the region. Despite the societal disruption that was caused by colonialism within the region, ancient text and sites were preserved, and the resilience of the region's inhabitants remained relatively immune to the westernization.
During the colonial era, majority of the island region's population was a combination of Muslim, Buddhist, or Christian, but the islands were home to numerous diverse groups of indigenous peoples who share aspects of cultural identity with nearby Polynesians and other Pacific Islander groups. Many of the indigenous groups lived in isolated enclaves often separated by thousands of miles of each other and had shared beliefs in the supernational will provide safety and prosperity to the various communities. By the mid-19th century, Christian missionaries began to convert indigenous peoples from their local religions and traditional arts, textiles, and sculptures creations began to decline. Historically, Christian missionaries converging success has been tied to force, coercion, and exploitation of impoverished people. Although, it is worth noting that various isolated communities throughout, continue to practice ancient traditions in religion, art, and village community sustainability.
Ambitions of Independence and Responses to Colonialism
Southeast Asia faced a severe crisis of disintegration and overall failure of numerous states due to the impact of western colonialism during the 18th century onward. European control over the region redirecting predating trade, caused forced migration, and the displacement of various groups of people throughout the region and beyond. Often, colonialism is portrayed as a phenomena that happens and the actions of the colonizers is highlighted in boastful manner that portrayed an image of vulnerable and defeated victims. In most cases, submission to the efforts of colonialism without resistance is false, as the accounts of rebellions will be highlighted. Despite the exertion of control that was implemented upon the region, resistance was constant by numerous groups and nations within the realm.
Due to Europe's inability to adequately be in the same place at one time to control all of its colonies and the will of regional inhabitants to be independent, rebellions like the Tay Son rebellion by the Vietnamese raged from 1771 to 1802. The rebellion was based in a struggle to sweep the region of longstanding Confucian ideals that governed the public in societal philosophies of livelihood. In the mainland, the three great ruling eras of Myanmar (1782-1819), Thailand (1782-1809), and Vietnam (1802-1820) were fully aware of the dangers internal and external dynamics posed regarding the stability of its societies. Therefore, the rulers of the region began to implement a hybrid of new age policies while carefully choosing to maintain certain traditional practices to address issues of the evolving times and to strengthen the collective realm from both internal and external forces. By 1820, mainland nations stood at the height of their powers before collective European efforts against the sustainability of the area's societies came to past towards the later of the century. On the island of Java, the Dutch ruled over the area beginning in the mid-1750s but by 1825, the Java War ensued and last for five years until the region was defeated. Difficulties in expelling European forces became increasingly difficult as the allegiance of western nations became more invasive after the year 1850. By 1886, Britain, Spain, France, Belgium, and eventually the United States would solidify control over the various nations well into the 1920s until the west began to use more "peaceful", or imperialistic approaches at encroachment against regional sovereignty that was gaining by then.[7]
Japan's Colonial Ambitions in Asia
Japan took note of these imperial pursuits. In 1868 CE, the Japanese Emperor Meiji ended the shogunate and began a series of reforms known as the Meiji Restoration. As part of the reform, the government sought to increase Japan’s modernization and industrialization and began a systematic study of the developed world. Why were some countries more powerful and more industrialized than others? Britain, for example, was an island nation like Japan and yet was considered to be the most powerful country in the world. Education was critical, as was industrial technology, but Japanese leaders believed that Britain’s colonial ambitions, its direct control over the resources of other areas, was key to its success. By the beginning of World War II, Japan had built up an impressive military and had colonized much of East and Southeast Asia including northeastern China, the Korean peninsula, Taiwan, French Indochina, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia. In 1941, Japanese military forces attacked the US base Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Following the attack, the US declared war on Japan and entered World War II. Following Japan’s loss in World War II, the countries of East and Southeast Asia were able to acquire independence. Some countries, like the Philippines and Burma, achieved independence through a peaceful turnover of control, while others such as Indonesia won independence only after a violent period of opposition. The end of World War II reshaped not only the political map of East and Southeast Asia but development in the region as well.
Attributions:
“East Asian Settlements and Confucianism” is adapted from East and Southeast Asia by Caitlin Finlayson, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
“Japan's Colonial Ambitions in Asia” is adapted from East and Southeast Asia by Caitlin Finlayson, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/08%3A_East_and_Southeast_Asia/8.02%3A_Indigenous_Worlds-_Migration_and_Ancient_Civilizations.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Explain various cultural hearths that revolutionized numerous societies within the region
• Describe the role diversity has played in developing regional language, religion, and innovative practices
• Describe the innovative resilience in spite of rapid population growth
Diversity and Distribution
East Asia has a population of around 1.7 billion and southeast Asia has a population of over 650 million people. More than half southeast Asia's population lives on the many islands of Indonesia and the Philippines.The small island of Java in Indonesia is one of the most densely populated places on Earth. More than half of the 245 million people who live in Indonesia live on the island of Java.The island of Luzon in the Philippines is also one of the more densely populated areas of the insular region. The Philippines has over one hundred million people, Vietnam has more than ninety million, and Thailand has about sixty-seven million. Local areas with high food-producing capacity are also high population centers, which would include deltas, river valleys, and fertile plains.
Cultural Hearths
Historically the collective of east and southeast Asia has a longstanding history of innovative contributions to regional and neighboring societies linked to trade, food, architecture, and numerous products geared towards human consumption. Ancient Chinese inventors were the first to create various products like silk, soap, ink, parasols, and kites for example. These various products were traded along the Chinese Silk Road established in 130 BCE, through central Asia and having a final destination of the route in Europe by the 2nd century CE. The trade route refers to an era in which new goods and products were traded from China to Europe along a network of trade routes for over 1,500 years before the Ottoman Empire closed off trade with the west. Europe is believed to have benefited the most with receiving an early fireworks and weaponry product known as Pyro (gun powder) in 850 ACE from China. European entities would eventually go on to reverse engineer early guns and Pyro into modern use to aid European dominance over various parts of the world in ancient times. In addition to various products that came from Asia, blueprints for irrigation, map-making, time, and writing systems were developed throughout an interconnecting web of Asia societies.[1]
Hearths from China
Ancient tales state that silk was discovered and developed upon around 4,000 BCE in China as legend states that Empress Lei Tsu found a silkworm in her hot tea. Instead of dismissing the silkworm, Empress Tsu noticed the worm unraveling into smooth filaments and creating fibers. Although, archeological and writing history suggests that farmers were cultivating silk from silkworms around 3,200 BCE, and using mulberry trees to feed silkworms for cultivation. By 2,500 BCE, the Chinese developed ink for writing purposes which is also around the same timeframe the Egyptians developed writing ink as well. Ink replaced the time consuming craft of stone carving that was common in both cultures at the time of invention. It is unclear as to when and who specifically created kites in China but the Chinese have been flying kites for thousands of years, being the earliest known people on Earth to do so. Some early kites likely made of silk stretched over bamboo frames, and other early kites were made of large leaves or animal skins.[2]
Southeast Asian Inventor of the Face Mask
During the coronavirus era and prior to in East Asia, face mask are of common use and have become a part of societal norms in health responsibility and infectious disease prevention. Although, how did face mask become ubiquitous in Asia society and eventually global society? Dating back to 1910 China, The Great Manchurian Plague swept through the northeastern Harbin province of China and killed 95% of people that were infected with the plague. Even though plague was believed to be of Chinese origins and mainly affecting the public of northeast China, Russia and Japan were two neighboring countries that were more proactive in preventing the spread of Manchuria as the Chinese Qing government got blamed for not doing enough to stop the spread. As result, the Qing court invited dr. Wu Lien-Teh, a Cambridge educated doctor from Penang, Malaysia to investigate the outbreak. Upon Dr. Lien-teh's time in China, he devised a mask made from two layers of gauze called "Wu's mask", which were adopted from existing surgical masks to slow down the spread of Manchuria. Afterwards, face masks were used in global prominence to slow spreading against other airborne diseases like the Spanish flu and eventually the 2020 coronavirus. Dr. Wu was nominated for a Nobel prize for medicine and his work pneumonia, to become the first person of Malaysian decent to be nominated for the award.
Ethnic Diversity
The ethnic mosaic of Southeast Asia is a result of the emergence of local differences between people that have evolved into identifiable cultural or ethnic groups. Though there are a multitude of specific ethnic groups, a number of the larger ones stand out with recognizable populations. On the mainland the Burmese, Thai, Khmer, and Vietnamese are the largest groups, coinciding with the physical countries from Burma to Vietnam. A similar situation can be found in the insular region. Many distinct groups can exist on the many islands of the region. The island of New Guinea, for example, has hundreds of local groups with their own languages and traditions. The large number of ethnic groups is dominated by Indonesians, Malays, and Filipinos, coinciding with the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Each of these main groups has many subgroups that hold to their own cultural heritage in the areas where they exist. The many islands of Indonesia and the Philippines create the opportunity for diversity to continue to thrive, in spite of the globalization process that increased the interaction and communication opportunities between groups.
Southeast Asia is also home to over thirty million overseas Chinese—ethnic Chinese who live outside of China. The Chinese exodus to the realm was the greatest during the last Chinese dynasties and during the colonial era. European colonial powers enhanced this migration pattern by leveraging the use of people with Chinese heritage in their governing over the local populations in the realm. Life has often been difficult for overseas Chinese. The Japanese occupation of the realm during World War II was a time of harsh discrimination against Chinese. Japanese occupation and colonialism diminished with the end of World War II. The overseas Chinese minority retained an economic advantage because of their former colonial status and their economic connections. Chinatowns emerged in many of the major cities of Southeast Asia. The discrimination against the Chinese, fueled by religious or socioeconomic differences, often continued after World War II by the local ethnic majorities. Nevertheless, overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia have been instrumental in promoting the global business arrangements that have established the Pacific Rim as a major player in the international economy.
Language
Language and associated writing systems of the collective region are complex, diverse, and numerous modes of both have been widespread throughout the realm for several thousands years in human history. Language families and sub-groupings of languages have direct ties to larger and remote ethnic groups from the interior parts of Mongolia, down to the island regions of the Indonesia and the Philippines where over 700 languages combined derived out of the region. Due to the age of globalization and westernization's influence, various colonial words have been adopted into Asian languages as the region continue to evolve. A few languages within the region are dominant in use based the population and inhabitance of mainly China's 90% Han ethnic group, which equal around 955 million people speaking Mandarin. Other languages spoken in China and through the collective realm are spoken by significantly lesser than that of Mandarin and collective Chinese languages that derived out of the Sino-Tibetan and Tibetan-Burmese language families. The evolution of language in the more remote northeastern area of the realm consisting of Japan and Korea, has been a topic of debate by modern researcher since the mid 20th century with both languages with categorized as isolated languages. Both countries and their languages developed intricately over several millennia due to remote regional influences that became distinguishable from its early connections to interior mainland Asia. Korean, which is also known as the Kugo language has around 62 million speakers in total throughout both the north and south of the Korea Peninsula. Kugo is believed to have origin to Altaic languages of central Asia that includes Mongolian, Siberia, and Turkish languages. The Yayoi cultured migrated from mainland Asia to Japan in 300 BCE, brought in the roots of what is now modern-day Japanese. The language is believed to have initial roots from southern Korea and began to spread eastward with small-scale migration to Japan. Despite the practice and widespread use of Sino-Tibetan languages, the early roots of languages coming from areas outside of interior Asia share deep connections and has the appearance of distinguishable attributes that details language's role in developing the greater region.
Southeast Asian Language Diversity
Language and the diversity of language is deeply tied to the history of human existence within southeast Asia for countries like Laos, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, and Indonesian for example. Thailand and the Tai people of later settlements of the area where the Pyu of Burma and the Khmer of Cambodia predating ruled over, have a distinctive language that is not directly connected to the larger language families within the region, despite being wedged between Cambodia and Burma. During the western colonization, the Thai language incorporated words from German and the Spanish language into it's language. Predominately, the Thai language was heavily influenced by ancient languages like Sanskrit and Puli. The Malay language spoken in Malaysia, has a a great influence of Arabic, Sanskrit, Portuguese, Dutch, and Chinese due to colonization. Chinese migrants into southeast Asia are historical known to speak languages like Cantonese, Hakka, Hokkien, and Teochew, which are languages that derived out of East Asia and have influence speech within the southeast Asia realm.[3]
Religion
Spirituality and the various modes of religious expression are deeply connected to collective Asian cultures, especially when it comes to the intrigue garnered from western culture. Indonesia is also home to the largest Muslim population in the world. All major religions can be found here. The Philippine population is predominantly Christian, but there is a minority Muslim community, including rebel insurgents. Most of people in Malaysia follow Islam. About 95 percent of the people in Thailand and more than 60 percent of the people in Laos are Buddhist. Hinduism is present in the Indonesian island of Bali and in various other locations in the region. Animism and local religions can be found in rural and remote areas. Clearly, Southeast Asia is a mix of many ethnic groups, each with its own history, culture, and religious preference. With the diffusion of Buddhism having a significant impact upon the spiritual development of east and southeast Asia, derivatives of Buddhism developed in Japan known as Shintoism. The word Shinto means "the way of the kami" or divine power, had been introduced into Japanese society in the 6th century ACE. Shintoism evolved out of Japanese society's desire to exclude formal Buddhism from its society by formulating a "purer" Japanese version with regional references of philosophy.
Southeast Asia and Religion
With a region of over 650 million people, the majority of the inhabitants follow the teaching of Buddhism which was hearth in Lumbini modern-day Nepal by the accounts of Siddhartha Gautama. The teaching of Buddhism began to spread well after Siddhartha's death as king Asoka the Great by 268 BCE began to influence the spread of Buddhist philosophy from India to countries eastward into the East Asia and southeast Asian realm. Buddhism derived from its parent religion of Hinduism but is considered to be more of a philosophy that does not have a focal point on deities and traditional customs associated with prior Hindu influences. Although, various forms of Buddhism like the Theravada practice along with others, developed over time with their own distinctive customs rooted with core teaching of early Buddhism. Theravada Buddhism focuses on the eighth part of the Eightfold Noble Path that leads to enlightenment of which Buddha experienced through meditation. Despite the widespread practice of Buddhism throughout the region, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Animism are of common practice throughout. Islam is the state religion for Brunei and Malaysia, as Buddhism is the official religion for Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand.[3]
Resilience
The ancient history of the collective region illustrates a timeline of rapid human migration that continues throughout the region in current times. Throughout various eras of famine, war, and conquests, the cultural identity of the region highlights areas of ancient preservation and cultural fusion that isolates east and southeast Asia. Recent history details a past consisting of western colonial disruption, the rise and fall of nations in which the region continues to evolve with a method of forwardness. Resilience of the region's inhabitants, biodiversity, and natural processes highlighting a vibrant balancing connection the distinguishes east and southeast Asia. The current complexity and history of the region is distinctive to a point where contrasts between east Asia, mainland southeast Asia, and oceanic southeast Asia can be highlighted. Cultural hearths and diffusions continue to occur from industries of technology, farming, tourism, spirituality, and more despite the influence of geopolitical matters. Consider the region as a potential model or area of focus for society moving into the future.
Innovation and Forwardness in Southeast Asia
As a precursor to the industries section of southeast Asia, it is worth noting that the region is developing rapidly and continuing to do so at an unsettling current time in human history with the not so anomaly of infectious disease and climate change dynamics. Inhabitants of the region are continuing to develop technologies that can have the power to transform future society, especially as it pertains to environmental sustainability. In the Philippines, discarded plastic bottles known as solar bottle lights are becoming an inexpensive and popular commodity. Commonly referred to as The Liter of Light, was developed by a Filipino non-profit known as MyShelter Foundation, in which daytime filled bottles of water refract light and at night, the bottles run of solar batteries. In Bali, the passive cooling architecture is of widespread use at over 80% resorts as replacements for air-conditioners. The practice is based on incorporating green walls into buildings to improve airflow and reduce exterior surface heat generated by the sun. Myanmar has the lowest electrification rate in all of Asia due to rural lifestyle and Singaporean implemented Microgrids by using decentralized power plants that run off of solar energy and backed up by diesel generators at a 4% capacity, to reduce to carbon emissions and provide energy to rural areas.[4]
Cultural Appropriation and Identity
The way culture is consumed, observed, and revered is complex in thought from western societies to Asian societies. The facts of identifying cultural appropriation and the mentality of what classifies such in a manner that aids the marginalization of a culture, vary. The term refers to the adopting cultural attributes of a people that often co-opts or diminishes a group’s customs. Furthermore, cultural appropriation often occurs against already marginalized groups of people. Cultural outsiders tend to not have any significant ties to a particular culture aside from ambitions to exploit a group for one’s own gain. Exploitation often comes in the form of non-existent cultural contribution, mimicking, and financial gain for the dominant group at the expense of an oppressed group that does not have equal access to profit from. Also, the often oppressed and appropriated group lacks the influence to prevent cultural exploitation. The fluidity of Asian travel and tourism has created numerous opportunities for non-Asian groups to globally monetize Asian culture through modes of cuisine, religion, fashion, and recreation to list a few. In many regards, some may argue that such opportunities for profit can be afforded to Asian people and cultural reverence can be respected more definitively. Although, the concept itself may be polarizing in perspective from Asian living in the West versus various groups of people living in Asia. Can cultural appropriation exist within Asia and outside of Asia? Western societies tend to broadly group Asia into a monoculture category, but that is a fallacy. Classism, colorism, racism, and other forms of intersectionality exists within Asian society to where people are placed into societal sub-groups, then endure marginalization and appropriation specific to one’s ethnic group. For example, colorism has been appropriated or adopted from the West, as various people tend to disapprove of darker skinned Asian people on television and throughout various household. Therefore, two or more modes of Asian cultural appropriation can exist within the region and from the actions of non-Asian people.[5]
Cultural Contribution or Appropriation?
In relation to Western practices of mimicking and profiting from marginalized groups cultural expressions, could it be possible in the more affluent "western friendly" regions of east Asia that cultural appropriation is thriving? Or could it be possible that cultural contribution and transcendence may be in process with consideration to nations like Japan and South Korea for example? In recent years, a trend of Chicano American cultural customs and practices has spread through urban Japanese society as media outlets like VICE News highlighted in 2019. Consider that after WWII, the West went on to aid the rebuilding of Japanese society that also helped bring in a current era of "modernity" and wealth, that may appear to exploit groups that are not as closely aligned with Western philosophy or favor as that of Japan. Many within Chicano American culture have the belief that their cultural is being mocked by many within urban Japanese society without a true understanding of Chicano roots and oppression. Furthermore, modes of homage, respect, and contribution to Chicano culture are not being demonstrated. Although, the manner in which many within Japanese society pay respect and honor to Chicano culture may be present in some form and misunderstood, or in fact, disregarded. According to various people within Japanese society and those interviewed by VICE, honor and respect for other cultures is best demonstrated by not trying to change, add, or deter away from the practiced customs of a group of people despite historical context. In most cases, the best way to show honor and acknowledge other cultures that are appreciated within Japanese society is to be identical as possible in expressing one's cultural.[6] In nearby South Korea, a history of appropriation or claims relating to such have a more complex history related to anti-blackness abuse and practices within South Korea, despite the renowned music genre of K-Pop having influence from Black American culture. In some cases, there has been a call out of hypocrisy against South Korean society for pointing out Western racism and Orientalism but choosing to disregard Black American cultural influence upon Korean music and cuisine dating back to the Korean War era.[7] Although, recently various famous entertainers within Korean society have been making more conscious efforts in acknowledging K-Pop and urban Korean cultural practices rooted from cultures outside the country. With using Japan and South Korea as an example for cultural appropriation or appropriation, it is important to understand that the concerns and observations made about east Asian cultural dynamics are not generalizing or universal truths. The context of cultural identity in the region provides important perspectives of historical and ongoing occurrences connected to the influence of the West.
Cultural focuses on the region also highlight cultural theft and monetization of practices that either originated or evolved out of the region with yoga, Tai chi, and Buddhist practices for example. Travelers from all over the world experience, consume, and spread cultural practices, in addition to migrants that bring cultural practices to areas outside of hearth spots. Therefore, there are many opportunities for cultural theft and exploitation to occur, especially as it relates to merging various cultural practices into global capitalism that does not often benefit marginalized innovators of culture the most. Perhaps considering fairness of financial gain is a moot point for various people of Asian decent that are bound by the cultivation and adherence to cultural practices independent of capitalistic philosophies.
Buddhism Exploited?
As the philosophical teachings and practices of Buddhism has spread across the world, especially to the West over the past few centuries, could there be brewing concerns of exploitation for monetary gain and cultural theft? It can be argued that teaching of Buddhism connects with the individual in ways that are unique by comparison to some of the larger practiced spiritual faiths in the world. Teaching of Buddhism tend to more on lived experiences, with minimal accounts of mysticism that is commonly associated with various spiritual practices. The individual connections provided within Buddhist practices does not also appear to have significance in attaching followers to a particular place, setting, or hierarchy like that of Christianity or Islam for example. Therefore, it is possible for some followers of Buddhism, especially many individuals conditioned by Western thought to develop and possessiveness or ownership type of perspective when it comes to Buddhist expression. The "realistic" everyday life teachings of Buddhism have inspired a lucrative industry of mindfulness to blossom in the capitalistic West and beyond. The mindfulness industry has a focus on meditation, ethics, and morality that translates into corporate workspaces as well as for the individual, while becoming an industry worth more than \$4 billion USD.[8] On the surface, mindfulness practices in corporate spaces and within the individual is a positive practice, but who is profiting from the mindfulness industry that has "borrowed" roots from Asia? Also, at the core of Buddhist thought, is it irrelevant to be concerned with potential prioritization and misleading practices that come elsewhere?
Attributions:
“Population, Diversity, and Religion” is adapted from East and Southeast Asia by Caitlin Finlayson, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/08%3A_East_and_Southeast_Asia/8.03%3A_Cultural_Hearths_Diversity_and_Resilience.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Explain how paradigm shifts in societal livelihood has transformed the region in recent times
• Describe how manufacturing and industrial efforts has primed the region for global placement
Paradigm Shifts in East and Southeast Asia
The collective of 11 southeast Asian nations is a landscape that highlights a region of remarkable and distinguishable environmental attributes within a tropical setting. The subregion and the emergence of one's own distinctive geopolitical landmass is wedged between two “Goliath” like nations with India to the west and China to the east. Peninsulas and island nations like the 17,000 collective chain archipelago of Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Malaysia, 7,100 island chains of the Philippines, Singapore, and Brunei help makeup the region. Countries like Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia are positioned on the mainland Eurasian continent. The region in its entirety shares similarities in plant and animal species, in addition to having a warmer climate with historical development connections based in its tropical setting. Regional nations have collective proximity to maritime seafaring industries, with the nearby or surrounding seas that has historically and continues to play a major role in the development of the region. The region in its entirety is surrounded by the Indian and Pacific Ocean, with an abundance of seas, bays, and straits that creates collective political borders of Southeast Asia. The Gulf of Thailand, South China Sea, Philippine Sea, and the Java Sea are a few of several water bodies that aid the natural development of the region’s landscape while also continuing to influence regional human settlement.
The political borders set for the region were influenced by historical factors including its distinguished tropical climate, territorial claims over water bodies, and fertile soils. Long lasting tribal roots, the legacy of western colonialism, and the role of regional conquests are key factors in the development of the region's current state. The Hoabinhian culture of Southeast Asia was an early human development timeframe of the region that dated back from 13,000 years ago to around 4000 BCE. During the Hoabinhian era, the construction of complex stone tools for agriculture, hunting, and settlement established the earliest known foundation of cultural inhabitants of the region. Migration from the west ensued, then inter-regional migration began to circulate more commonly as various early tribes established lasting roots within the region. As the region continues to evolve and work diligently toward economic stability, a common goal of future sovereignty, partnerships, and prosperity is on the horizon for the region. Creative efforts like the 21st century regional governmental collective (excluding Timor-Leste) known as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), have set an ambitious goal to "bring together desperate neighbors to address economic and security issues" according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
The second half of the 20th century was a time of significant political change for East and Southeast Asia. The former colonies of Japan were able to break away from their colonial past and become independent, but as in many other parts of the world, that independence often coincided with political conflict. For Japan, the end of World War II brought a period of Westernization and rapid economic growth. Westernization refers to the process of adopting Western, particularly European and American, culture and values. Japan adopted a new constitution and embraced democratic principles. It continued to industrialize and would become a global leader in electronics and automotive production. Today, Japan has the fourth largest GDP behind only the United States, the European Union, and China.
New Age East Asia
In other parts of East and Southeast Asia, the political changes to the region following World War II tended toward communism, a social, political, and economic system that seeks communal ownership of the means of production. Communism is associated with Marxism, an analysis of social class and conflict based on the work of Karl Marx (1818-1883 CE). In a typical society, factories are owned by a wealthy few who then pay workers a lower wage to ensure that they make a profit. In a communist society, however, the goal of Marxism would be a classless society where everyone shares the ownership and thus receives equal profits. Marxist ideas spread to China by the early 20th century and found particular support among Chinese intellectuals. The Communist Revolution in Russia inspired Marxists in China who founded a communist political party that would eventually be led by Mao Zedong. The communist party continued to gain traction in China and following a civil war, Mao Zedong established the communist People’s Republic of China in 1949. The previous Chinese government fled to the island of Taiwan, which is officially known as the Republic of China and claims control of the entire mainland. China, however, maintains that Taiwan is part of China. After securing political control of China, Mao Zedong sought to transform China’s culture by reorienting it around the ideology of communism. One of the first steps in this transformation was the Great Leap Forward from 1958 to 1961 which sought to reshape China’s agrarian society into an industrial power. Unfortunately, the changes led to widespread famine and the deaths of tens of millions of Chinese as a direct result. Following the failure of the Great Leap Forward, Mao aimed to eliminate any remaining traditional elements of Chinese culture or capitalist thinking through the Cultural Revolution. Millions were imprisoned, forcibly relocated, or tortured, and historical relics and cultural sites were destroyed. After Mao’s death, several leaders responsible for the abuses committed during the Cultural Revolution were arrested and China began a period of modernization and economic reform.
In the Korean peninsula, allied forces divided the former Japanese colony along the 38th parallel. Russia would control the northern portion, where it helped install a communist government and economic system. The United States occupied the southern portion, where it assisted a pro-Western government in its political and economic development. Tensions between the two territories led to the Korean War in the early 1950s. Technically, the two sides are still at war having never signed a peace agreement and simply agreeing to a cease-fire. Today, North Korea, officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), follows a Marxist model of development with state owned enterprises and agriculture. The government has been accused of numerous human rights violations and the people of North Korea are severely restricted in terms of their economic, political, and personal freedom. In South Korea, on the other hand, officially known as the Republic of Korea, a democratic government replaced a series of military dictatorships and the country is considered one of the most developed in the region according to the Human Development Index.
Communist ideals spread to Southeast Asia, as well, where Marxism influenced the governments of newly independent countries. In Vietnam, for example, a communist movement was begun by Ho Chi Minh to try to gain independence from France following the end of Japanese occupation in World War II. The communist forces were able to defeat the French in a key battle in 1954 and established a government in the northern territory. The country was then divided into a communist north and anti-communist and majority Catholic south. This was a time of high tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the US feared that the entire region would eventually come under communist control, essentially creating a Western capitalist hemisphere and an Eastern communist hemisphere. The fear that the fall of one country to communism would lead to the fall of other surrounding countries to communism was known as domino theory, and was originally meant as an anecdote but became the basis for US foreign policy in the region.
New Age Southeast Asia
The United States aimed to support South Vietnam’s resistance to the communist north’s goal of unification and began sending military advisors to the region. Military combat units followed and bombing campaigns began in 1965. The terrain of Vietnam was quite different than the geography of other areas where the US had previously fought. Much of Southeast Asia was tropical rainforest, and was ill-suited for the types of tanks and heavy artillery that had been so successful in World War II. The Viet Cong, referring to the Vietnamese communists, engaged in guerrilla warfare, using the terrain to support small, mobile military units. To try to combat these tactics, the US military sprayed chemical defoliants and herbicides, like Agent Orange, over Vietnam’s forests. In the end, waning support for the Vietnam War led the US to withdraw and in 1975, Vietnam was unified under communist rule. Over 1 million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans died in the fighting. Millions others were exposed to Agent Orange causing health problems and disabilities, and the chemical had devastating effects on Vietnam’s ecosystem where it has lingered in the soil.
During the same time period, a communist organization known as the Khmer Rouge, which is French for “Red Khmers,” came to power in Cambodia. Khmer refers to the dominant ethnic group in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge opposed Westernization and US involvement in the newly independent country and believed in a return to an agrarian society. Pol Pot (1925-1998 CE), the leader of the Khmer Rouge, led a campaign to eliminate the country’s schools, hospitals, and other institutions and make the entire society work on collective farms. Urban cities would no longer be the economic and political focus, but rather wealth would be spread out around the countryside. Most of the country’s intellectuals, including teachers and even people with glasses who were simply perceived as academic, were killed. Large prison camps were set up to house those who were believed to be a threat to communism. Cambodians of other ethnicities or who practiced religion were also executed. In total, more than one million people were killed, often buried in mass graves known as the Killing Fields. Cambodia’s attempt to transform into an agrarian society ultimately led to widespread famine and starvation. In 1978, Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia and defeated the Khmer Rouge, but human rights continue to be severely restricted in the country.
Much of East and Southeast Asia exhibits characteristics of a shatter belt, an area of political instability that is caught between the interests of competing states. Beginning in the colonial era and continuing today, Western involvement in this region has at times led to industrialization and economic growth and at other times economic depression and a drive to return to traditional values. Today, political instability continues to plague several countries in the region.
Industries and Development in East and Southeast Asia
Despite the political changes and conflicts that marked the 20th century, the 21st century has largely been marked by economic development across East and Southeast Asia. Economic geography is a branch of geography that explores the spatial aspect of economic development. Economic geographers don’t just ask “Where is economic development occurring?” but also “Why is economic development occurring in some areas and not others?” In East and Southeast Asia, economic growth has largely resulted from regional and global trade. However, development is not spread evenly across the region and economic inequalities still persist.
Collective and Distinguished Economics
Global connections have been the principle driver of economic success in East and Southeast Asia. Much of the trade connections have emerged between the countries in this region and the larger Pacific Rim, referring to the countries that border the Pacific Ocean. Many of these countries are members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) which promotes free trade across Asia and the Pacific. In Southeast Asia, the countries of the region formed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. The organization aimed to promote political security, economic growth, and social development among member countries.
In China and Japan, histories of relative isolation gave way to an embrace of globalization and global trade. Although China’s government is communist, it has allowed more free-market oriented economics in areas known as Special Economics, or SEZs. These SEZs are located in coastal China and have special incentives to attract foreign investment. Other capitalist shifts have occurred in China even allowing for US supermarkets and restaurants to open locations in the country. These SEZs, as well as other special development areas in China, have functioned as growth poles, which are areas that have attracted economic development in the region. In 2010, China displaced the United States as the global leader in manufacturing. Broadly, foreign direct investment (also called FDI), the control of a business in one country by a company based in another country, has been a key driver of China’s economic success. In 2017, China was the second most attractive company for foreign investors, behind the United States, with over \$136 billion in foreign direct investment flowing into the country according to the 2018 World Investment Report. China has done its own foreign direct investing as well, increasing outward flows of FDI from \$5.5 billion in 2004 to over \$125 billion in 2017, according to the same report. Hong Kong is the primary destination for Chinese foreign direct investment, but substantial sums also flow to countries in Africa as well as Australia, where China is the largest trading partner. Within Southeast Asia, China is now the top investor in Myanmar and has increased foreign direct investment in Singapore.
Asian Tigers
While China and Japan remain the largest economies in the region, other areas have experienced high rates of economic growth. The Four Asian Tigers, in particular, referring to Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, experienced rapid industrialization and economic development led by export-driven economies, low taxes, and free trade. Some have also theorized that the Confucian work ethic present in these countries complemented the process of industrialization. Each country also developed a distinct specialty and maintains a competitive advantage in that area. South Korea, for example, is known for its manufacturing of information technology while Hong Kong is a leading financial center. Much of the economic growth of the Asian Tigers as well as Japan has come from the export of value added goods. When countries export raw materials, their economic benefit is limited since those raw materials are often not inherently valuable. When these raw materials are made into something useful, however, value is added and the product can be sold for a higher profit. Lumber is quite cheap, for example. When the lumber is made into a dining table, it has a much higher value. Many companies located in these countries have become household names in electronics, computing, and the auto industry. China has traditionally exported relatively low value added goods, but in 2016, the Chinese government announced a shift to higher value added products like transportation technology and telecommunications.
Southeast Asia's Geographical Position Advantage
Southeast Asia has benefited from its key geographical position as the entrepôt, a French term meaning a commercial center of trade, for the rest of Asia. The Strait of Malacca in particular is the main shipping channel between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean and a key transportation gateway. Around one quarter of all the world’s exported goods travels through the strait each year. Malaysia’s economic success as an entrepôt is exemplified by its Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, which were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004. Indonesia has the largest economy of Southeast Asia, exporting primarily to Japan, Singapore, the United States, and China. Singapore has the highest GDP per capita in the region, again owing to its key geographical position.
One lingering issue in many of these countries has been crony capitalism, the notion that the success of a business depends on its relationship to other businesses and the state. A politician might have an old friend in the manufacturing industry, for example, and give the friend a government contract with beneficial terms. In 1997, a financial crisis that started in Thailand spread throughout the Southeast Asia region and to South Korea was, in part, blamed on the business dealings of corrupt politicians. Several countries in this region rank high on an index of corruption perception, as shown in, and some have expressed concern that the communist countries of this region will continue to embrace capitalism when it is politically beneficial rather than as part of a broader and more transparent economic system.
Uneven Development in Southeast Asia and Outlier North Korea
Economic development is not spread evenly throughout the region. By most estimates, North Korea remains the poorest country in the region with an estimated GDP per capita of just \$1,300 in 2016. Mainland Southeast Asia, with the exception of Thailand, remains relatively poor. Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam all have GDP per capitas of less than \$8,000 as of 2018 and remain far less well off than their more developed neighbors in the region. Where economic growth has occurred, it is often confined to an urban area which can drive up population densities as people move to the city in search of work. In Indonesia, the island of Java is very densely populated while other surrounding islands are relatively sparse. The Dutch colonizers and later the Indonesian government, in a stated effort to reduce poverty and overcrowding, created a policy of transmigration seeking to relocate people to the less densely populated islands. This program has been controversial, however, and the indigenous people who inhabit the surrounding islands see the program as a threat to their way of life.
Vietnam
The elongated state of Vietnam is slightly larger than Italy and about three times the size of the US state of Kentucky. In 2010 it was estimated to have a population of about ninety million people. Sixty percent of the population is under age twenty-one. This indicates that the population was only about half its current size at the end of the Vietnam War. Vietnam has two main urban core areas: Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in the south and the capital, Hanoi, in the north. The middle region of Vietnam is narrow, with higher elevation. Each core area is located along a major river delta. The Red River delta is located east of Hanoi in the north, and the mighty Mekong River delta is located next to Saigon in the south. These river deltas deposit silt from upstream and provide excellent farmland for growing multiple crops of rice and food grains per year. ishing provides protein to balance out nutritional needs. More than 55 percent of the population works in agriculture. Family size has dropped dramatically because of population growth and a trend toward urbanization. Rural-to-urban shift has caused the two main urban core cities to grow rapidly. Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam and has a port that can accommodate oceangoing vessels. Hanoi, the capital, is not a port city and is located inland from the nearest port of Haiphong on the coast of the Gulf of Tonkin.
An understanding of Vietnam is not complete without understanding the changes in political control the country of Vietnam has experienced. Different Chinese dynasties controlled Vietnam at different times. When France colonized Vietnam, it imposed the French language as the lingua franca and Christianity as the main religion. Both changes met resistance, but the religious persecution of Buddhism by the French colonizers created harsh adversarial conditions within the culture. The French domination started in 1858. The Japanese replaced it in 1940; this lasted until the end of World War II. With the defeat of Japan in 1945, the French desired to regain control of Vietnam. The French aggressively pushed into the country, but met serious resistance and were finally defeated in 1954 with their loss at the battle of Dien Bien Phu.
In the mid-1950s, the Vietnamese began asserting their request for an independent country. The dynamics were similar to that of Korea. After 1954, Vietnam needed to establish a government for their independent country. They were not unified. The northern section rallied around Hanoi and was aligned with a Communist ideology. The southern region organized around Saigon and aligned itself with capitalism and democratic reforms. During the Cold War, the United States opposed Communism wherever it emerged. Vietnam was one such case. Supporting South Vietnam against the Communists in the north started not long after the defeat of France. By 1960, US advisors were working to bolster South Vietnam’s military power. After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, President Lyndon Johnson had to make a choice to either pull out of Vietnam or push the US military to fully engage the Communists in North Vietnam.
Chinese Diaspora and Regional Future Outlook
In some cases, uneven distribution of economic development has led to both interregional and intraregional migration as people move in search of economic advancement. China in particular has seen a significant amount of rural to urban migration. Around 11 percent of the entire country’s population migrated from rural to urban areas in 2009 and most of them are young adults. Many of China’s migrants are part of a floating population, which refers to members of a population who reside in an area for a period of time but do not live there permanently. Around 50 million Chinese reside overseas, mostly in Southeast Asia. Thailand has the largest population of overseas Chinese, and Chinese also represent the majority ethnic group in Singapore. Long before colonization, East and Southeast Asia was a realm of global economic influence, from the Chinese empire to the trade routes of Southeast Asia. As some countries of the realm have moved toward political stability and economic growth, others have remained in a state of political and economic turmoil. Tourism could bring some of these countries an economic boost, but the prospect of tourism in countries with government instability is limited. Still, although countries like Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia currently have some of the world’s smallest economies, they are some of the fastest growing in the world and improvements in agricultural and natural resource development combined with a stable political infrastructure could expand the economic strength of the region.
Attributions:
“Paradigm Shifts & Industries” is adapted from East and Southeast Asia by Caitlin Finlayson, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/08%3A_East_and_Southeast_Asia/8.04%3A_Paradigm_Shifts_Industries_Governance_Imperialism.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Describe the various components of tourism as a migration transition into the region as a leisure, opposed to a necessity
• Explain the modes of exploitation and economic dependence that aides the underdevelopment of areas within the region
• Identify key functional components to the region's informal sector and its impact upon human livelihood
• Explain how accommodations for tourism may be aiding the decline of local populations
Tourism: Integrating East and Southeast Asian Society
In observation of components related to regional development, the impact of tourism is significant to the region as it pertains to economic dependency, stability, migration, cultural appropriation, and exploitation. This section will explore the various ways in which the economic bubble of tourism has morphed into a defining attribute of societal identity. Tourism within the realm is tightening human connections but is also bringing a plethora of economic disparity and internal/external immorality. Migration is a component of tourism as it pertains to examples like that of expat migrants. Expats tend to live outside of their home country with more affluence, accessibility, and their presence within the region has a polarizing impact upon regional cost of living. The description and presence of expats in the area may describe the actions of what is classified as an immigrant. There are differences between both as expats tend to migrate to areas based on desire of lifestyle choice with minimal obstacles, as immigrants tend to migrate based on necessity of push and pull factors collectively.[1] Although, in east Asia expat presents and tourism has ongoing deep ties to western military presence in countries like Japan and South Korea. In recent times, increasing expat migration and hyper-inflation has caused cost of living standards throughout the realm to fluctuate unevenly. Southeast Asia in particular, continues to be a migration hotspot for many foreigners of more affluent backgrounds and interregional migrants looking for higher economic opportunities. Part of the region's appeal is its landscape diversity, ancient cultural practices, and its historical low cost of living standards throughout, with the exception of Singapore.
The factors of longstanding western presence throughout various Asian countries vary based on geopolitical relations, but recent times has brought in a renewed era of sovereign ideology regarding Japanese nationalism and Korean Peninsula diplomacy that could potentially increase expat presence or threaten to expel western presence from the area. Immorality tied to the market of tourists demand is complex as accessibility to illegal drugs, trafficking, and commercialized sexploitation attracts interregional and foreign indulgence. The pandemic of 2020 and a few years after, brought in an era of extreme travel influx with short notice change in travel regulations, even as society strives onward in a semi-post coronavirus era. At the height of travel uncertainty, is being met with the impact of global inflation is continuing to raise the cost of living to record highs in some of the poorest nations within the collective region.
Other components of tourism bring up the ideology/action of cultural contribution vs. appropriation. Cultural contribution from the west has been minimal and is often masked in generational imperialism. Cultural appropriation of the region is rampant, partly due to accessible and accommodating tourism/migration. Appropriation of religious expression, martial arts, fashion, and cuisine to list a few, are all examples of foreign exploitation for profit made possible by transnational accessibility. With all being stated, is it possible that tourism is undermining the stability of the region more than it is aiding the development of the region?
Southeast Asian Tourism Influx: Cost of Living and “Dependency”
Majority of the tourists that travel to east Asia’s mainland and to southeast Asia are from Europe, North America, and Japan historically. In recent years, a higher rate of Chinese tourists has been flocking to southeast Asia with 30% of regional tourists come from China as of 2019. Visitors from India has also been traveling to the region in higher frequency for a combination of leisure and business purposes. Excluding leisure traveling will be the presence of people Russia and African south of the Sahara that are ties to pull factors, trafficking, and business relations. In 1958, an average of 200,000 tourists visited southeast Asia a year, but that number rapidly increased to 30 million annually by 1996.[2] By the end of 2022, 139 million international visitors traveled to the ASEAN region mainly for leisure.
After more than two years of pandemic lockdowns from 2019, flights to southeast Asia have returned to pre-2019 frequency with Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia being among the most popular destinations for visitors. In 2022, the tourism industry accounts for 10% of the gross GDP in Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia, and 25% of the GDP for Thailand. Due to economic distress endured by revenue loss from the industry during the pandemic, most ASEAN countries were under duress to open its borders prematurely. Re-opening borders for tourism came with various countries no longer requiring travel insurance and discontinuing Covid-19 tests before travel and arrival.[3] The “necessity” of tourism to regional economies revealed a potentially unsettling dependency that poses a threat to public health. According to the founder of Oriental Travel and Tours Stanley Foo of Singapore, tourism is surging again because of “revenge traveling”. Which is a term to indicate that travel is robust in current times due to many having the savings to travel, along with anxiousness due to the pandemic lockdowns.
Farming community networks as they relate to cuisine in southeast Asia and the modernity of societies throughout east Asia, are just two broader reasons that make the areas appealing for migrants. Factors of economic opportunity, education, cultural connection, retirement lifestyle, tourism infrastructure, and informal sector indulgence are more specific reasons for migration to the realm. Most aspects of foreign migration, especially from wealthier foreigners continues to create local job opportunities but often at the expense of increase costs for locals. The increased costs can be observed regarding healthcare services and general costs for goods in the more insulated urban sectors curated for foreign residents. Although, in 2022 the cost of living standards fell due to weakening currencies for the collective of southeast Asia, but rebounded in 2023 after the announcement of the Chinese Yuan taking over as the world’s global trading currency. The cost of living for locals and expats in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore fell for 12 straight months before rebounding in early 2023. Despite the temporary decline in costs, “unique” nations like Singapore still ranked as the number 13th most expensive place in the world, with inflation being higher than the global average by 5%. Rising petroleum costs and the cost of increasing construction projects also factored into fluctuating living costs throughout.[4]
Sex Tourism in Asia and Western Influence
The advertisement of Asia’s many red-light districts and associated eroticism is partly rooted in U.S. and western military presence with established bases throughout the region. Former American GIs after the Vietnam war would often travel back or move to regions that were once and are still “occupied” by the U.S and European nations. Military bases and expats communities can be found vastly throughout South Korea, Japan, Guam, Vietnam, the Philippines, along with port visits in Cambodia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Past foreign military roots in the region helped established and build upon the current infrastructure of the sex tourism industry in Asia. The past era of military presence birthed the concept of sexual orientalism, which refers to the hyper-sexualization and fetishism of Asian women, particularly. Post-Korean War society was plagued with poverty as a former military prostitute Yeon-ja Kim from South Korea recounts a life of abuse by American GIs. Kim and others recall having to wear “tags” indicating that they were STD-free, along with witnessing an American GI murder two of her friends. Orientalism has been and continues to be used as a marketing ploy that aids the industry of sex tourism expansion.
Orientalism created a racial power imbalance that eroticized the Asian body and race, as Asian sex workers were viewed as “experiences”, opposed to being viewed as people. Despite most Asian countries establishing prostitution as illegal, organized crime entities, multinational corporations, and various governments are either directly involved supporting the industry or are complicit in some capacity. Thailand and the Philippines are among the most popular destinations for sex tourism, but prostitution in some form, is rampant all over Asia and the world. Even in areas where prostitution is illegal, sex tourism can account for anywhere between 2%-14% of a nation’s GDP, as Asia’s international travelers is expected to reach 1.8 billion by 2030. Evidence of the industry’s growth indicates that sex tourism is not going to disappear anytime soon due to the generations of infrastructure established, and governmental complicity.[5]
Informal Sectors: Human Trafficking and Tourists Demand
In recent history, security threats to a region tended to come in the form of military conflict, poor diplomacy, and nuclear proliferation. As the world continues to “modernize” in current times, nontraditional security threats related to economics and migration are fueling the industry of human trafficking, or “modern slavery”. Human trafficking negatively impacts the lives of over 40 million men, women, and children throughout southeast Asia. Trafficking is the forceable or coerced migration for forced labor, sexual exploitation, and marriage. The trafficking industry is one of the world’s most lucrative forms of organized crime, with a revenue of over \$150 billion a year according to the Walk Free Foundation’s Global Slavery Index. China, Japan, Malaysia, and Thailand are the leading destinations for trafficking victims and many others compelled by economic pull factors. Malaysia has been a primary destination for trafficking victims coming from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Over fifty percent of trafficking victims from east Asia are women, and one third are children. Many of trafficking victims migrate for higher economic purposes but often wind up in forced labor industries such as fishing, agriculture, construction, and sex tourism to name a few.
How do trafficking victims get forced or coerced into the industry? Most commonly two occurrences are the primary reasons, natural disasters like typhoons and armed conflict aid preying traffickers. For example, in 2013 Typhoon Haiyan was one of the strongest topical storms ever recorded had struck the Philippines. The aftermath of the typhoon forced thousands of Filipino survivors into servitude, vagrancy, prostitution, and substandard laboring. Climate change was the primary cause for the historic atmosphere occurrence known as Typhoon Haiyan, but climate change is rarely discussed as a contributor of human trafficking. Refugee crisis from conflict are other influences upon trafficking as thousands of people from Myanmar were trafficked into nearby Bangladesh and Thailand in 2017 according to the US Department of State. Women from China, Thailand, and the Philippines are commonly sold into marriage at higher rates upon the occurrences of regional heightened arm conflicts, economic turmoil, and natural disasters.[6]
Corruption in Anti-trafficking
Generally, local law enforcement agencies throughout the collective region lack skillsets, knowledge, and resources in effectively halting trafficking. A more severe problem with anti-trafficking efforts is the ongoing collusion between government officials and criminal organizations, along with apathy. It is a common occurrence for mass graves of trafficking victims to be found throughout nations within southeast Asia. In the 2015, 62 Thai police officers and criminals alike were convicted for crimes related to the death of trafficking victims when a mass grave was uncovered along the border of Thailand and Myanmar.[7] Trafficking victims tend to receive insufficient protection and assistance due to a lack of resources, governmental reliability, and functionality. Various anti-human trafficking laws have been implemented throughout Cambodia, Thailand, and other regional nations but enforcement of the laws remain a ineffective.
Components Driving the Informal Sector
Even though human trafficking is a massive regional industry, its not the only illicit industry impacting the wellbeing and livelihood of the public. Illegal goods like narcotics and smuggled throughout southeast Asia annually, generating billions in revenue. The Asia-Pacific drug trade is estimated to be worth over \$60 million annually, with 90% of the region’s methamphetamines seizures coming out of Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. The drug trade and consumption thrived during the pandemic lockdown as illicit drug makers exploited Thailand’s inefficient vaccine supply chain. The inefficiency made it possible for drug makers to flood the pharmaceutical market with counterfeit Covid-19 products through social networks on Facebook, Twitter, and LINE.[8] Border patrol enforcement was weakened during the pandemic lockdown, creating more exploitation that continues regarding inefficiencies in slowing down drug trafficking and money laundering. The drug trade also finances armed conflicts in countries like Myanmar for example, as the nation continues to deal with severe human rights issues and an unstable governmental regime. Super labs drug making laboratories producing crystal meth, also known as “ice”, have thrived more since the Myanmar coup in 2021. Since 2020, a growing number of illicit goods now travel more frequently along the Mekong River, which runs through the borders of six regional nations. Wildlife animals, guns, terrorists, and human trafficking victims are also being heavily linked to the growing Mekong illicit trade route. The United Nations office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) established the Mekong Memorandum of Understanding of Drug Control, which has provided Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, and China an operational plan to address smuggling along river. Many professionals involved in combating the region’s illicit sector believe that a wider effort from the ASEAN community and partners like the United States is needed to combat the region’s illicit markets before the industry become too big to fail. Although, it can be argued if it is already too late and mitigation is a more effective approach.[9] | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/08%3A_East_and_Southeast_Asia/8.05%3A_Tourism_the_Informal_Sector_and_Dependency.txt |
Re-framing Middle and South America
The Americas are often framed within the context of “European Discovery” of a “New World”. This terminology contradicts the archeological evidence and historical records that have long depicted the region as thoroughly populated prior to European colonization. Great Indigenous civilizations serve as a testament that the Americas before Europeans was just another old world filled with stories of human ingenuity. The domestication of corn dates Mesoamerican agriculture to be among the earliest in human history. It enabled the rise of great urban centers comparable in architecture and population size as any of the greatest cities in the Pre-Columbian world. Evidence suggests that even the Amazon rainforest, a place still erroneously imagined as an empty jungle, Indigenous peoples cultivated lands and mastered a livelihood that supported populations in the millions. This is worth noting, since the European “age of exploration” was never a product of inconsequential curiosity. The colonization of the Americas caused the biggest demographic collapse in recorded history and the largest forced migration in human history. No other world region experienced such extensive depopulation and repopulation.
Middle and South America are often referred to as “Latin America and the Caribbean”. The term ‘Latin’ accentuates the Iberian colonial heritage and the Latin roots of Spanish and Portuguese. It is true that the region has more speakers of both Spanish and Portuguese than in Europe or anywhere else in the world, and that these are the predominantly spoken languages and cohesive cultural factors in the region. It is also true that the Iberian heritage made most places in the region predominantly Catholic. However, describing Middle and South America as “Latin” dismisses the ethnolinguistic diversity and the strong African and Indigenous character of many parts of Middle and South America. It can be a form of erasure of millions of Indigenous peoples and millions of Afro-descendants. In the Caribbean, English speaking peoples would further be excluded by the “Latin” generalization. Unlearning the label “Latin America” is not a mere vocabulary exercise. It is based on a reflection of the accuracy and point of view of our chosen terminology.
As a chapter written for US students, many who might have family ties to Middle or South America, it is important to point to the flawed notion of latitinidad, or the idea of a unified Latinness sweeping the Americas south of the US-Mexico border. People in Middle and South America tend to not primarily identify as Latinos, Latinas, or Latinx. Instead, they are more likely to primarily identify with their ethnoracial groups or nationalities. Often, a Latin identity develops for those who migrate to other parts of the world and find greater similarities with others from Middle and South America than the mainstream culture of their host countries. In other words, Mexicans, Brazilians, Peruvians, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans might relate with each other based on cultural similarities but still have distinctive music, foods, customs, religion, language and/or ways of speaking, etc. Despite their cultural uniqueness, all these identities are aggregated as “Latin” in the United States. Lastly, many Latin (umbrella term for people from the region) and Hispanic (Spanish-speaking) peoples in the United States have difficulty with American ethnoracial identifications, not knowing exactly how to fit in the boxes of the US Census. Most people in Middle and South America are of mixed ethnic/racial backgrounds.
In consideration of the great diversity within Middle and South America, geographers tend to regionalize it in various ways. Depending on the criteria used, Mexico could be either part of North America or Middle America. Mexico is geologically part of the North American plate and holds strong economic ties with the United States and Canada. The American Southwest also has a strong Spanish and Mexican heritage, and many counties a Hispanic-majority population. Nonetheless, Mexico’s colonial and neocolonial heritage creates greater similarities with Spanish-speaking Mesoamerican countries of the south than with the English-speaking Anglo superpower of the north. Thus, we include Mexico with all the countries south of the US-Mexico border, as most geographers do. The Caribbean is often its own region, given its unique geography and diverse history of colonization. South America, too, could be its own chapter, and even further regionalized into smaller units. In other words, while the region has strong cultural and historical ties, it is a region with many realities (and sub-regions). Putting everything south of the US-Mexico border in a region is a broad stroke, but we can make sense of it with a thematic approach. In these chapter sections, we will highlight different geographical contexts in a selection of topics that should stimulate a greater understanding of the geographies of Middle and South America.
The World Geographies Atlas: Navigate each world region through maps
For each of the world regions, our original atlas provides detailed maps to help you navigate the places discussed in this book. These maps are meant to be explored before and during the reading of this chapter. These maps are best enjoyed enlarged. Click on each map for an enlarged view, and zoom in to see the prominent biomes, physical features, and population centers of Middle and South America. We recommend that you download these for reference as you read this chapter's content and hope that you enjoy this original compilation.
09: Middle and South America
Learning Objectives
1. Explain the tectonic activity of Western Middle and South America and identify some of the resulting physical features.
2. Explain the physical processes driving the earthquake and hurricane hazards of Middle America.
3. Describe the biomes of Middle and South America and their shaping mechanisms and geographic distributions.
4. Explain the characteristics and significant of rainforests in Middle and South America.
Plate Tectonics
Seen from space, the Americas can be seen as two large landmasses stretching from the northern and southern hemisphere. They are connected by the Isthmus of Panama, a thin strip of land that bridged the Americas at around 15 million years go. The Isthmus is a biproduct of the collision of two tectonic plates. Scientists believe the formation of the Isthmus of Panama is one of the most important geologic events to happen on Earth in the last 60 million years. Even though it is only a tiny sliver of land relative to the sizes of continents, the Isthmus of Panama had an enormous impact on Earth’s climate and its environments. By shutting down the flow of water between the two oceans, the land bridge re-routed currents in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Atlantic currents were forced northward, eventually establishing an oceanic current that we call the Gulf Stream. With the warm Caribbean waters flowing toward the northeast Atlantic, the climate of northwestern Europe grew warmer. The Atlantic, no longer mingling with the Pacific, also grew saltier. Each of these changes helped establish the global ocean circulation patterns we see today.
The tectonic processes that have joined the Americas through the Isthmus of Panama shaped many of its landforms over millions of years. Middle and South America today experience the dynamics of seven interacting tectonic plates. We can synthesize this tectonic activity into two general tectonic regions: the active subduction zones of the western mountain system of Middle and South America and the transverse boundaries of North/South America and the Caribbean.
Western Mountain System
The West Coast of the Americas is part of a highly active tectonic region. In Middle and South America, most of the west coast is a long subduction zone where plates are subducting. In Middle America, this occurs with the Coco’s Plate, a fast-moving plate headed east and in direct collision with the Caribbean Plate. Having a dense oceanic crust, the Cocos plate subducts underneath the Caribbean Plate. This is the physical process beneath a strip of volcanic mountains in Central America dotting lands from Guatemala to Costa Rica, called the Central American Volcanic Axis. Guatemala is known as the country with the highest density of active volcanoes in the world, a place where one can experience naturally volatile but astonishing landscapes surrounded by volcanic mountains. For years, the towering Volcán de Fuego near Guatemala City, for example, has puffed continuously, punctuated by occasional episodes of explosive activity.
In its northern edge, the Coco’s Plate also forms a subduction zone with the North American Plate, an important geologic force in Mexico. Many active volcanoes are found along the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, also known as Eje Volcánico Transversal. The volcanic belt lines the southern part of the Mexican Plateau, a highland that sits as high as 8,000ft tucked between Mexico’s largest mountain ranges: the Sierra Madre Oriental (Eastern) and Sierra Madre Occidental (Western). Mexico’s largest city, Mexico City, lies on the southern portion of this plateau. It is regularly rattled by earthquakes, at the foot of various volcanoes like Popocatépetl (17, 802ft) and Iztaccihuatl (17,159ft). Aztec legend holds that the origins of the two volcanoes is rooted in the love between a princess (Iztaccihuatl) and a warrior (Popocatépetl), both immortalized when the Gods turned them into mountains and blanketed them in snow. Despite the proximity of the legendary lovers, their similar age, and geologic character, Iztaccihuatl has not erupted in historic times. This has encouraged the establishment of numerous agricultural fields around it. Named a “smoking mountain” the Aztec language, Nahuatl, Popocatépetl remains one of the most active volcanoes in Mexico.
In South America, the Nazca Plate functions similarly to the Cocos Plate, heading east and subducting underneath the South American Plate. This is the physical process responsible for the world’s longest mountain range, the Andes Mountains, which extend from the northernmost to the southernmost parts of the South American continent. Given its wide latitudinal range, the Andes display diverse environments, towering over tropical, sub-tropical, and temperate regions with many peaks high enough to hold glaciers. The Andes have the highest mountain peaks outside Asia, including the highest peak in the western hemisphere, Mt. Aconcagua (22,841ft), and hundreds of active volcanoes.
Together, the subductions of the Cocos and Nazca plates form the geologically active west coast of Middle and South America. It results in a western system of nearly continuous mountain ranges running through many degrees of latitude. This western spine is also part of the greater Ring of Fire, a ring of volcanic ranges that encircles the shores of the Pacific Ocean. It is here that many of the world’s volcanoes and largest earthquakes occur as a byproduct of subduction.
Sacred Towers: Las Madres and Apus
Mexico’s prominent ranges bear the name Sierra Madres – Spanish for “Mother Mountains.” This naming is rooted in how Indigenous people perceive their mountains. In many Indigenous cultures mountains are believed to be dwellings of the Gods, sacred sites of pilgrimage and ritual. Tlaloc, for example, an Aztec deity of rain, is believed to roam the mountains of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Range and reside in Mt. Tlaloc, signaled by the presence of rain clouds frequently hover over the mountain peak. The mythical connection of the mountains with Tlaloc as a deity of water, sustenance, lightning, and storms suits the capricious characteristics of highland climates where conditions can change drastically within a day. By controlling water, Tlaloc is a central deity in the Aztec pantheon, one responsible for sustenance as rains influence agricultural and natural cycles.[1]
In South America, the Andes are the center of the Inca universe, the believed realm of deities. The Inca named their tallest snow-capped mountains apus – a Quechua word meaning “God.” Innumerous pilgrims hike these mountains in religious rituals seeking a connection with the divine. The antiquity of this spiritual connection is supported by archeological findings of human offerings and sacrifice in various Andean peaks. A prominent example is the infamous Juanita, an excavated mummy of a young noble Inca girl found in Mt. Apato (Peru), believed to have been sacrificed for the Inca Gods five hundred years ago. Juanita and other recovered mummies had been frozen in the ice caps of the mountains, only made accessible by a volcanic discharge that sent ice blocks rolling down the slopes. Juanita stunned archeologists with the well-preserved features, accessories, and the fine wool that wrapped her body, signs of a prestigious offering to the Inca Gods. The location of Machu Pichu, a famous Inca sacred site, atop steep Andean cliffs is another example of the role of mountains in the Inca spiritual universe.
As geographers, we interpret this ascribed sacredness to a deep understanding of life-supporting environmental services. The mountain ranges that surround Aztec and Inca territories are central to the ecology and the hydrology that have supported civilizations for millennia. The ice caps of the Andes, for example, are water storage systems that replenish rivers during dry seasons, supporting people and ecosystems. In addition to their hydrological importance, volcanic mountains line the land with nutrient-rich volcanic soils that have enabled agriculture and sustained civilizations. Mountains also capture moisture carrying clouds and provide habitat for a wide array of species that find home in their ecological zones. Indigenous reverence for these natural towers reflects an understanding of the vital functions the Mesoamerican and Andean mountains provide.
Middle America’s Turbulent Land and Atmosphere
Middle America showcases turbulent geological processes and the friction zones in all borders of the Caribbean Plate. To the east, the tectonic collision of the Caribbean plate and the North American plate formed the Caribbean archipelago, or island chain. Many of these islands are the tops of underwater mountains. The islands of the Caribbean are divided into the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles. The Greater Antilles include the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and the Cayman Islands. The Lesser Antilles are smaller volcanic islands arching eastern edge of the Caribbean plate. On the northern edge of the Caribbean Plate, various islands are on a seismic ride as the plate heads east and slides past the North American Plate. This lateral slipping forms a transverse boundary, a friction zone that has resulted in several severely destructive earthquakes. Haiti, for example, sits on a series of faults that have been the epicenter of destructive earthquakes – the 2010 earthquake had a 7.0 magnitude and subsequent aftershocks that destroyed buildings, killed over two hundred thousand people, and left over one million people immediately homeless.[2] As the poorest country in the western hemisphere, the impacts of the earthquake have been enduring. Ten years later, Haiti still had not recovered the disaster, despite billions of dollars of international aid. It is an example of how natural hazards can be particularly destructive in poor and politically unstable countries.
Countries in Middle America are also highly susceptible to hurricanes, tropical storms with winds of 74 miles per hour or more. They tend to develop over the warm waters (about 80°F or higher) of the Atlantic Ocean and often escalate into hurricanes headed towards the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico in the fall (between August and October). Hurricane Irma, for example, hit the Caribbean in September 2017, leaving a trail of devastation. Irma’s winds approached 180 miles per hour, the most powerful Atlantic Hurricane ever recorded. Satellite images reveal green islands turned brown as winds stripped trees and damaged infrastructure. Islands like San Martin and Barbuda faced near total devastation while Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Haiti experienced extensive electricity loss and infrastructural damage. Scientists warn that as ocean waters are becoming warmer due to global warming, destructive hurricanes like Irma are more likely to occur.
Middle & South America’s Biomes
Middle and South America display immense environmental diversity. Atop the dynamics churning beneath the Earth lies a vast region with great topographical variability. Mountains, plateaus, and lowlands make for distinctive environmental conditions. Regions in higher altitude have cooler temperatures and less evaporation and display colder environments than lowlands. Furthermore, the wide latitudinal range of Middle and South America situates its vast territory within various global climate regions. In this section, we will explore how topography, latitude, and situation to airmasses shape natural environments in the region.
The ITCZ
Most of Middle and South America territories extend through a wide latitudinal range, through tropical and subtropical regions. As discussed in Chapter 1, latitude establishes a relationship between the Earth and the Sun, shaping global pressure systems and air circulation patterns to a large extent. Tropical latitudes receive the most direct solar radiation, which warms up the lands and oceans and the adjacent air. Warm air rises, as it rises it expands and cools, and as it cools the air is less able to hold moisture. Thus, the tropics are marked by the presence of an enveloping cloud belt, a rising air mass that generates abundant rainfall in tropical regions. This low-pressure system (of rising air and rain) is called the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The ITCZ is a latitudinal belt that shifts north and south of the equator with the seasons: in July (northern hemispheric summer) it shifts towards the north and in December (southern hemispheric summer) it shifts towards the south. The presence and seasonality of the ITCZ shapes the distribution of the tropical rainforests and savannas in Middle and South America and other parts of the world.
Tropical Rainforests
Middle and South America is home to vast tracts of rainforest, a lush biome with an immense biodiversity. Tropical rainforests experience warm temperatures (mean about 80°F) and abundant rains (over 80in) per year, a biproduct of the tropical latitude and the ITCZ overhead. These biomes are often viewed in simplistic terms (warm, wet, and green) when in reality they are complex ecosystems intertwined with myriad lifeforms, many of which are yet to be described by scientists. While tropical rainforests makeup for only six percent of the Earth's landmass, they are home to about half of all species on Earth. They are known for their unparalleled high levels of terrestrial biodiversity and endemic species, species that are found nowhere else on Earth. Rainforests in Middle and South America have over 30,000 species of vascular plants, more than three times as many as Africa and Asia.[3] Six of the world’s most biodiverse countries are within Middle and South America: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela.[4]
Tropical rainforests are characterized by their vertical arrangement of three canopy layers that are home to most life forms occupying different stories of the forest. The top canopy contains giant trees that act as an inverse umbrella catching rain and sunlight and reducing access for species near the ground. Given the dense foliage and fierce competition, very little sunlight reaches the forest floor and most species live in the trees. Examples include countless colorful birds, sloths, monkeys, snakes, and jaguars. By contrast, the forest floor is dark, inhabited by shade loving species and fairly sparce of vegetation and animal life compared to the densely inhabited vegetation layers above.
Tropical plants play a fundamental role in their local climates. Trees contribute to the local precipitation by releasing moisture back into the atmosphere in a process called evapotranspiration. It is estimated that as much as half of the precipitation that falls on the Amazon Basin comes from the moisture returned to the atmosphere from the trees themselves. This self-sufficiency is also evident in how tropical trees manage nutrients. It may be surprising that the soils beneath so much life are acidic and leached of nutrients from the heavy rains. These nutrient-poor reddish soils are called oxisols and utisols, and they provide a challenging foundation for canopy giants to grow from. As an adaptation to this low soil fertility, tropical trees have shallow roots which are better equipped to access nutrients from the rapidly decomposing leaves on the moist forest floor. The scent of wood and decaying vegetation typical of rainforests is a sensory indicator of the ongoing nutrient cycling of this dynamic ecosystem.
While most of the tropical rainforests in Middle and especially South America are found in lowlands, topographical differences make for unique rainforest ecosystems. The Amazon Basin is a low-lying and relatively flat area of over 2.7 million square miles of a vast drainage system of the Amazon River, the most voluminous river in the world. Along the course of over 2,000 miles, it joins the waters of over a thousand tributaries and discharges into the Atlantic Ocean. It represents about one fifth of all river flow in the world. The Amazon River expands in the wet season and submerges vast areas of rainforest along its floodplain. These floodplain rainforests, also called várzeas, are composed of vegetation adapted to remain underwater for months out of the year (December – May). Fruit trees form symbiotic relationships with fish that swim through the forest floor, eat their fruits, and disperse their seeds. Sloths and freshwater pink dolphins roam the waters of flooded forests, a symbol of a seasonal fusion of riverine and terrestrial worlds.
Tropical mountain environments are also associated with high levels of biodiversity largely due to the variations of temperature and moisture at different elevations. In a small country like Ecuador, for example, the intersection of the Andes mountains, the Equator, and ITCZ at Yasuni National Park form an ecological epicenter with a remarkable diversity of plants, mammals, birds, and amphibians. It may be the most biodiverse place on Earth.[5] Some rainforests in higher elevations of mountain slopes, in Ecuador and beyond, become consistently submerged by clouds. Known as cloud forests, these misty environments are cooler and almost always humid. Thus, they contain lifeforms specifically adapted to these conditions. In Central America, an emblematic example of a cloud forest species is the quetzal, an iridescent turquoise bird highly revered by Mesoamerican Indigenous cultures for its beauty. Guatemala is home to one of the largest unbroken extents of cloud forest in Mesoamerica containing the largest remaining habitat of the quetzal, an endemic species of the region. Other species that reside here include the endangered tapir, howler monkey, jaguar, and harpy eagle. Like the quetzal, many species face an uncertain future due to habitat loss. The causes and consequences of tropical rainforest destruction will be discussed later in this chapter (In Section 9.5).
Tepuis, the sky islands of the northern Amazon
The Guiana Highlands are known for the pronounced flat-top mountains called tepuis, sandstone and quartzite rock features that are remnants of a once-continuous plateau that eroded over millions of years. Tepuis are fascinating due to their prominence in the landscape, their antiquity, and their internal structures. Many tepuis contain extensive cave systems, rivers, and tunnels within them. There are about one hundred tepuis in South America, mostly in Venezuela but also in northern Brazil and western Guiana. One of the most well-known is the heart shaped Auyán Tepui in Venezuela. It is home to the world’s highest waterfall, Angel Falls, which drops nearly 1,000 meters (3,300 feet)—19 times farther than Niagara Falls.
Tepuis can be described as sky islands. They tower above the forest disconnected from each other and the environments beneath them. While tepuis have been minimally explored by scientists, it is estimated that many unknown endemic species inhabit their cliffs. Tepuis host many mammals on their lower slopes, including monkeys, jaguars, pumas, and sloths, and several bat species. Reptiles, such as snakes, iguanas, and lizards, are found on the summits and slopes. The Pemón, the local indigenous people of the region, have mythologies connected to nearby rivers, waterfalls, and rock formations. To the Pemón, the tepuis are sacred, the home of the Gods, and forbidden to humans.[6]
Deserts
The vast territorial expanse of Middle and South America includes not only tropical rainforests but also pronounced deserts. The Atacama Desert is well known as the world’s driest desert, receiving only a few millimeters of rain per year, sometimes only in the form of coastal fog. Framed by the Andes Mountains in the east and the Pacific Ocean in the west, it extends from the northern coast of Chile to the south coast of Peru. Not so far from vast tropical regions, the Atacama Desert is situated at the foothills of the Andes, a formidable topographic barrier that traps the incoming humid air masses coming from the Amazon Basin. Moisture-laden clouds are carried west from the Atlantic to the Amazon Basin. When they reach the Andes, the moist air forced to rise. As it rises, it cools, condenses, and precipitates in the east side of the Andes leaving the west dry. The Atacama Desert is in the rain shadow of the Andes mountains. The desert is also shaped by the Peru Current (also known as the Humboldt Current), an oceanic current along Atacama’s coast that brings cold waters from Antarctic latitudes north. Since cold water does not evaporate, the adjacent air masses are dry and bear little to no moisture for the Atacama coast. The current is also associated with abundance along the Chilean coast, as it forces up cold water nutrients that sustain rich fisheries. Together, the Andes and the Peru Current are the major factors making the Atacama the driest desert in the world.
Reiterations of the rainshadow effect are evident throughout many landscapes in Middle and South America (and the world). For example, note the distribution of rainforests in the eastern slopes of the Central American Volcanic Axis. The moisture-carrying airmasses carried by the northeast trade winds bring precipitation to the east while leaving western portions of Central America drier. Similarly, along the southeastern coast of Brazil, the Atlantic Forest is elevated by the rolling hills of Serra do Mar, a coastal mountain system that captures incoming rain clouds that provide moisture for a continuous rainforest along the coast of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Further south, the westerlies encounter the western portion of the Andes mountains, with Chile in the windward side and Argentina in the rainshadow of the mountain chain. Thus, the Argentinian Patagonia is a cold desert, not only because of the blockade of the Andes but also the presence of the cold oceanic current, the Falkland Current bringing Antarctic waters to the Argentinian coast. In short, the great mountains of Middle and South America provide for great environmental diversity based on their latitudinal and altitudinal range and interaction with circulating air masses.
Attributions:
“Isthmus of Panama” is adapted from Isthmus that Changed the World by NASA, permitted use.
Parts of “Tropical rainforests” is adapted from Hope for Guatemala's national bird by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), CC BY NC.
“Hurricane Irma” is adapted from Hurricane Irma Strengthens by NASA, permitted use.
“Tepuis” is adapted from Venezuela’s flat topped mountains by NASA, permitted use.
This page is also adapted from World Regional Geography by University of Minnesota and World Regional Geography by Caitlin Finlayson, both CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/09%3A_Middle_and_South_America/9.01%3A_Natural_Environments.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Describe the geographical distribution of Pre-Columbian Indigenous civilizations and their cultural contributions.
2. Explain the biological, demographic, and cultural impacts of colonization.
3. Identify major languages and population clusters of Indigenous peoples of Middle and South America.
Great Ancient Civilizations
The Americas have been populated for thousands of years, and great civilizations and innovations have emerged from the region. We do not know exactly how many people lived in the Pre-Columbian Americas, but archeological and historical evidence support an estimated population of 60 million.[1] Historical accounts from Columbus and Bartolomé de las Casas in the Caribbean, Magellan in Tierra del Fuego, and Gaspar de Carvajal in the Amazon all describe the region as fully settled.[2] The domestication of corn dates Mesoamerican agriculture to be among the earliest in human history. It enabled the rise of great urban centers comparable in architecture and population size as any of the greatest cities in the Pre-Columbian world. Evidence suggests that even the Amazon rainforest, a place still erroneously imagined as an empty jungle, Indigenous peoples cultivated lands and mastered a livelihood that supported populations in the millions. In other words, there was nothing “new” about the indigenous worlds of the Americas before it became the “New World” or even “America” to Europeans.
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is home to several great ancient civilizations. Each inherited and built upon innovations of their predecessors. One of the earliest cultures to develop into a civilization with large cities in central/southern Mexico was the Olmec (1200 BCE- 400BCE). They left behind a legacy of monumental sacred complexes, massive stone sculptures, ball games, and the drinking of cocoa. The Maya (classical period 250-950 CE) established a vast civilization after the Olmec that lasted for two thousand years. Centered in the Yucatán Peninsula region of Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala, the Maya built some of the most magnificent cities and stone pyramids in the Western Hemisphere. The Maya civilization is known for their advancements in astronomy, engineering, mathematics, and architecture. They developed an accurate calendar based on the seasons and the solar system. They represent one of the world’s earliest civilizations, leaving behind great monuments and achievements.
By the 9th Century, Mayans had abandoned cities and scattered to surrounding regions. Scientists have attempted to piece together the causes of this haunting story of societal collapse. Some scholars contend that the collapse of the Maya outstripped their local resources due to their large populations and lavish demands of the governing elite. Maya agriculture enabled large and dense populations that required more and more land clearing to grow corn, leading to a serious deforestation problem. The Maya also cleared vast areas of rainforest for firewood used to make plaster to line the walls of their temples and appease the Gods to bring rain. Plaster layers became thinner and thinner overtime, suggesting that resources grew scarce. As a compounding effect, climate data suggests that an extended drought, partially driven by deforestation, may have pushed the Mayans to flee famine and conflict.[3] The Spaniards never encountered the empire but burned most of the forty Mayan Codices (books) – only three survived. While millions of speakers of Mayan languages exist to this day, the complete history about the empire’s rise and fall continues to be a subject of scientific research and exploration.
The Aztec Empire (c. 1345-1521) replaced the Toltec and Maya as the dominant civilization in Mexico. The Mexica, along with other Nahuatl-speaking ethnic groups, collectively made up the peoples we know as the Aztecs. Their empire extended outward from the city capital, Tenochtitlán, to a wide expanse in Mexico’s Central Valley and most of northern Mesoamerica. Though they borrowed ideas and innovations from earlier groups such as the Maya, they made great strides in agriculture and urban planning (see “The Heart of Mexico” in Section 9.4). Their empire was forged from a Triple Alliance between Tenochtitlán, Texcoco, and Tlacopan who subjugated other groups and extracted taxes and tributes from them. Tribute could take the form of traditional precious materials such as gold and jade, exotic feathers, animals such as eagles and jaguars, or in the form of clothes, fabrics, and foodstuffs such as corn and cacao. The desire to increase the diversity and quantity of tribute paid to the governing elites motivated battles of conquest that rapidly expanded the Aztec control. It also increased tensions with neighboring tribes, which proved to be a consequential advantage for the Spaniards who leveraged local rivalry to take down the empire.
The Inca
The Inca Empire (c. 1400 and 1533 CE) at its height extended across western South America from Southern Colombia and Ecuador in the north to Chile in the south. The Inca managed to thrive in the highlands of the Andes and the diverse surrounding environments that included plains, mountains, deserts, and tropical rainforests. Cuzco was the religious and administrative center of the empire, the navel of the Inca world radiating out highways, roads, and sacred sighting lines to each quarter (north, south, east, and west) of the Empire. The Inca network of roads covered over 40,000km, and although there were no wheeled vehicles, the road system was utilized by llamas and porters. It enabled the transportation of goods, armies, and messenger runners known as chasquis. Famed for their unique art and architecture, they constructed imposing stone buildings using massive stone blocks so precisely fit together that no mortar was needed. Impressive terraces, highways, and mountain-top buildings in the world-famous Machu-Picchu continue to inspire admiration for Inca architecture and ingenuity.
Agricultural Successes of Mesoamerican and Andean Civilizations
Agricultural successes underlie all great civilizations. Settled or partially settled agriculture was common practice in pre-colonial Middle and South America. The region is home to two of the world’s ancient cultural hearths, centers of innovation of the Neolithic Revolution (10,000 BP) where agriculture began and diffused from. Unlike other cultural hearths of the world that primarily emerged along fertile river valleys, Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations harnessed diverse topographies and highlands. The two civilizations were mostly geographically disconnected by distance and the vast topographical barrier of the Andes Mountains south of the Panama Isthmus. Over millennia, Mesoamerican, Andean, and other Indigenous civilizations seized upon local innovations and mastered their environments with independent agricultural techniques that supported bountiful landscapes and rich food systems.
The Aztec inherited maize (corn) from their Mesoamerican predecessors. The domestication of maize around 6,000 years ago[4] is a feature of a breeding expertise that perplexes scientists because the crop that became a sacred foundation for great Indigenous civilizations is very different from its closest wild ancestor, a grass called teosinte. Over thousands of years, farmers in Mesoamerica bred teosinte into maize, cultivating varieties favorable to their local environments. Maize comes in blue, purple, orange, yellow, pink, black, and multicolored varieties that reflect the region’s immense ecological and cultural diversity. It is a formidable example of human mastery, one that has been highly rewarding since the crop has been a staple in Mesoamerican diet for thousands of years. The traditional way of cultivating maize, the milpa, is a form of slash and burn agriculture practiced to this day. Farmers clear plots of land and burn the vegetation. The ashes fertilize the soils that are then cultivated with a variety of crops for several seasons, then left fallow for soil nutrients to be restored. The cultivation of maize together with the cultivation of varieties of beans, peppers, tomatoes, chilis, avocados, squash, the highly prestigious cacao and chia, and the harvesting of insects and spirulina, gave Mesoamericans a diverse and nutritious diet.
Mesoamericans also developed the highly productive chinampas. These are raised agricultural fields that look like floating gardens, but they are more like artificial agricultural islands in wetlands or lake shorelines. Chinampas are built by adding layers of collected mud and vegetation atop a reed structure that is anchored by using stakes and willow trees. The plots are spaced by canals that allow access to fish and are easily accessible by canoes. This system essentially brings agriculture to water instead of the other way around. The water around each chinampa acts as a temperature moderator, a valuable feature given the drastic temperature changes of the highland environment of the Mexican plateau. Chinampa fertility has been historically managed by the harvest and application of lake sediment and organic waste, including human waste. This lakeside agricultural system greatly increased the agricultural capacity of the land to support large populations in pre-Columbian Tenochtitlán. The use of chinampas dates to centuries ago and continues to this day. Other parts of Mesoamerica and South America use similar strategies. In the Peruvian and Bolivian altiplano, the practice of waru waru agriculture along Lake Titicaca is another example of raised field agriculture with similar techniques and benefits of the chinampas.
Along the Andes mountains, Indigenous farmers carved mountains into extensive hillside agricultural plots called terraces. Terraces are pronounced features of the cultural landscape in Andean South America, with thousands of kilometers of these structures carving mountain sides. Terracing maximizes land area for agriculture, turning steep hillsides into wide stone stairways that provide a flat surface to maximize solar exposure, water absorption, and reduce erosion in agricultural plots. They often included canals, as the Incas were experts at diverting water, carrying it across great distances, channeling it underground, and creating outlets and fountains. Andean farmers managed fertility by transporting fertile river soils to terraces and using compost. They also used human and llama manure, but nothing was quite as potent of a fertilizer as guano, the bird droppings mined in the coastal islands of Peru. The Inca harvested guano as fruits of their geography. The Peru Current flowing through their coasts is a cold oceanic current that pushes nutrient-rich waters that support rich fisheries in Chile and Peru to this day. The birds eat the fish, and the nearby islands where they breed became mining places for the potent dung that became the most important fertilizers of Inca agriculture. Guano was strictly regulated by the Inca empire, and the droppings were precious trade commodities.
Terracing was also an important strategy to harness the various microclimates of the Andes. As altitude increases, temperature decreases, and thus each altitudinal zone can support different crops and animals, something known as altitudinal zonation. The hot, coastal area known as tierra caliente (from sea level to 2,500 feet) can support tropical crops like bananas, manioc, sweet potatoes, and beans. Tierra templada (2,501 – 6,000 feet) has cooler temperatures optimal for an array of crops like corn, coffee, and vegetables. Tierra fria (6,001 – 12,000 feet) is the highest altitude for most trees but various crops do well in these cooler temperatures, including wheat, barley, and quinoa. Past the tree line in the higher elevation of the tierra helada, animals like llamas can graze on cool grasses. There are few crops that grow in high elevations. Nevertheless, Andean farmers domesticated the potato, a hardy crop that can grow at altitudes well past 12,000 feet. The starchy crop is high in calories, can be stored underground, and withstands frost. They are the staple of the Andean diet. Together with the protein-rich quinoa, also domesticated in the Andes, these highland crops provide nutritious foods that are well adapted to the Andes.
Colonization
European colonization started with Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) who landed in the Caribbean in 1492, first in the Bahamas then Cuba and Hispaniola, introducing the Americas to the European map. Sailing for Spain, Columbus stumbled upon the continent seeking a new maritime route to Asia to access the riches of the East. Columbus opened the way for Spanish colonists to settle in the region, along with the English, French, Dutch, and other Europeans. The arms race to colonize the Americas led to the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), an arbitrary line demarcating the Spanish and Portuguese spheres of influence in the Americas (see maps 9.2.3). The Spanish would control territory to the west of the line while Portugal would control territory to the east.
The Columbian Exchange
The arrival of Columbus and the subsequent colonization initiated an ongoing transformation of the Americas. One of the earliest and most dramatic was the impacts of the exchanges of plants, animals, and diseases from once-separate worlds, known as the Columbian exchange. Europeans brought domesticated animals like the horse, sheep, cattle, goats, and pigs. They also brought crops like wheat, olives, rice, grapes, citrus, sugarcane, and coffee. From the Americas, maize, potatoes, tomatoes, peanuts, tobacco, and cacao were among the plants that journeyed across the Atlantic. Tobacco, traditionally smoked by Native Americans, became a valuable cash crop in Europe. Seen as a food of the gods, cacao was a crop with a long history of prestige among Mesoamerican civilizations. It was usually ground into a powder and infused into water to make a bitter ceremonious drink called xocóatl. Spaniards disliked its bitterness, and eventually added sugar, honey, and vanilla, making the luxurious chocolate most people love to this day. It is the potato, however, that had arguably the biggest impact. As a subsurface tuber, potatoes allowed the conquered to survive the various European wars, whereas in the past, the conquerors burned the crops as they left, and the people starved. Potatoes also consists of essential vitamins and nutrients and can grow in various soil types, cooler climates, and higher elevations. Its introduction ended centuries-old cycles of malnourishment and famine in Europe, increasing lifespans and fueling population growth.
The Columbian exchange is considered one of the most pivotal events in human history. It shifted diets all over the world, introducing crops that profoundly changed the agricultural landscapes and foodways of the Americas, Africa, and Europe. It also introduced alien microbes to the Americas that above all else led to the decimation of the Indigenous populations.
The Demographic Collapse & The Pristine Myth
The colonization of the Americas is sometimes attached to words like “encounter,” “discovery,” or even “the age of exploration.” These are curious terms to describe the cataclysm unleashed onto the Indigenous worlds of the Americas (and other places “explored” during the colonial era). The European invasion resulted in a collapse of Indigenous populations due to slavery, warfare, famine, and the introduction of diseases like smallpox, measles, influenza, and the bubonic plague were introduced to the Americas by European settlers and enslaved Africans. Most of these diseases originated from domesticated farm animals, something that Indigenous populations had no previous exposure to. American civilizations had low numbers of domesticated animals and therefore did not have such diseases to transmit to Europeans. Thus, European diseases ravaged the Americas, not vice versa.[5] Each of these diseases typically killed about 30 percent or more of the initial population, so a series of epidemics in rapid succession could have led to the loss of whole societies. These are called virgin soil epidemics because new pathogens were introduced to an entire population that had not been exposed to such pathogens and therefore did not yet possess the antibodies to survive them. Within 150 years of European contact, 90-95 percent of the Indigenous population in the Americas died. In the Caribbean, about 99 percent of the Indigenous inhabitants died.[6] It is the most precipitous demographic collapse in recorded history. Mexico’s Central Valley, the most populous region in the Americas before colonization, did not reach its Pre-Columbian population again until the 20th Century.[7]
The large scale of human loss in vast areas meant that previously cultivated lands were emptied. This led to the pristine myth, or the idea that a vast pristine wilderness existed in the Pre-Columbian Americas. In other words, the Americas were thought to be a land without people. In some areas, Europeans thought they had “discovered” empty wilderness, but evidence suggests that they actually encountered depopulated landscapes.[8] An army of pathogens swept through the Americas killing large shares of the Indigenous populations, many times ahead of European arrival. Vast landscapes were covered by vegetation growth that covered the evidence of human occupation that would later serve as cues to scientists piecing together the Pre-Columbian history of the Americas.
Contemporary Indigenous Populations
Indigenous peoples have undergone centuries of colonization and dispossession of their ancestral lands, and their struggle to exist carries on to this day. Miscegenation (discussed in Section 9.3) and cultural repression and change have resulted in the erosion of Indigenous languages and traditions. Increasingly, native languages are being replaced by Spanish and Portuguese, especially among younger generations. Nonetheless, there are large Indigenous populations in many parts of the Americas where Indigenous peoples maintain and increasingly reclaim their identities. The largest population clusters are found in Mesoamerica (Mexico and Guatemala) and Andean South America (Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia). The most spoken languages are Nahuatl (Mexico’s Central Valley), Quechua (Andean South America), and Tupi-Guarani (Brazil & Bolivia).
Determining the exact number and distribution of Indigenous peoples in Middle and South America is difficult for various reasons. The main challenge is related to the very politicized nature of recognizing Indigenous identities. Indigenous peoples often rely on their official recognition to be protected from or included in aspects of decision making that could affect their lives, assets, and cultures. Thus, the politics of indigeneity, the recognition of who is and who is not Indigenous, has become increasingly relevant and controversial in recent decades largely because of new legal frameworks and international agreements safeguarding Indigenous rights. For example, in Venezuela, the 1999 constitution included, for the first time, the full status of adult citizens to Indigenous peoples with added special provisions for the protection of their cultures, languages, territories, natural resources, customary forms of social order, and health. The constitutional changes overrode the 1915 Missions’ Law that delegated the responsibility to the Catholic Church to oversee the basic civil rights of Indigenous people. As a result of recognized rights, more people self-identified as Indigenous in the census. In the Caribbean, where Indigenous peoples were long thought to have been extinct, many Taíno descendants are rejecting invisibility and asserted their cultural existence and survival. In doing so, they contest erasure and provoke lively discussions about who can claim indigeneity and what it means to be Indigenous in the Caribbean today.[9] [10]
Attributions:
"Mesoamerican Civilizations" is adapted from Maya Civilization by Joshua Mark and Aztec Empire, Aztec Food and Agriculture, Tenochtitlan, and Inca Civilization by Mark Cartwright via World History Encyclopedia, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
"Colonization" is adapted from European Colonization of the Americas by Joshua J. Mark via World History Encyclopedia, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
"The Columbian Exchange" is adapted from Columbian Exchange by John Horgan, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 and Earth system impacts of the European arrival and Great Dying in the Americas after 1492 by Koch, A., Brierley, C., Maslin, M. M., & Lewis, S. L. (2019) via Quaternary Science Reviews, CC BY 4.0.
This page is also adapted from World Regional Geography by University of Minnesota and World Regional Geography by Caitlin Finlayson, both CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/09%3A_Middle_and_South_America/9.02%3A_Indigenous_Worlds-_Amerindian_Civilizations_Colonization_a.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Describe the geographies of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and its significance.
2. Identify forms of African resistance as a feature of the cultural mosaic of Middle and South America.
3. Explain the context and significance of the Haitian Revolution.
4. Identify the geographies of the East Asian, South Asian, and European Diasporas.
5. Explain blanquiamiento, mestisaje, and some of the criticisms of the racial democracy narrative.
The African Diaspora
The Transatlantic Slave Trade
The historic demographic collapse of Indigenous peoples in the Americas was followed by the largest forced migration in human history, the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Between the 15th and the 19th century, around twelve million Africans were violently uprooted and taken across the Atlantic to repopulate the Americas as forced laborers in plantations of the so called “New World.” The Transatlantic Slave Trade took enslaved peoples mostly from the west African coasts, from Senegal to Angola. As much as 95 percent of African captives were taken to Middle and South America, mostly to Caribbean and Brazil.[1]
Over four hundred years, African people were a principal form of capital in a larger economic trading system known as the triangular trade, a trans-Atlantic trading system moving people and goods from Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Europeans would exchange manufactured goods such as cloth and guns for enslaved Africans who would be forced to cultivate commodity crops like cotton, tobacco, and sugar in the Americas. At every step of this system, mechanisms of scientific thought were used to reduce captive Africans to quantifiable commodities and to extract maximum profits from African bodies and the colonized lands. Enslavers would deprive captives of food, deny them medical attention, and pack them tightly onto slave ships to maximize their profits. Slave ships were overcrowded and unsanitary, vessels of trauma, sickness, and death. Such horrendous conditions earned their name of coffin ships, tumbeiros in Portuguese. It is estimated that as much as 20 percent of African captives died in transport to the Americas. Still, slavery was an extremely profitable system that supported Empire building and accumulation of wealth in Europe.[2] In the process, Indigenous and African survivors were dispossessed of their personhood; their labor, knowledge, and skills; their land and natural resources; and their cultural heritage, family ties, and social networks.
African resistance
Colonial violence was never met with passiveness or submission. Africans and African descendants (and Indigenous peoples) in the Americas employed a myriad of tactics to fight back in waves of resistance and rebellion. Many large-scale runaway communities were formed in isolated regions, beyond the reach of colonists, like the remote interior lands of Brazil and the mountainous regions of Mexico, Jamaica, and Colombia. Some of these communities were organized like African-style kingdoms with an armed military prepared to defend against colonists. These self-liberated communities were territories of survival and emancipation, called quilombos (in Brazil), pelenques (in Spanish America), or maroon societies (in English-speaking areas). In northeast Brazil, Quilombo dos Palmares banded several settlements into a larger self-emancipated republic that reached a population of about 15,000.[3] It was the largest quilombo in the colonial Americas, and it lasted for over a hundred years. Maroon societies also existed in Africa, in regions that were overrun by the slave trade. Africans attempted to protect themselves and their communities using a range of tactics, including evading kidnappers to form maroon settlements as well as revolting on slave ships. Many young warriors who had been fighting capture in Africa became warriors of abolitionist movements in the colonies of the Americas.[4]
European enslavers generally dismissed forms of resistance by categorizing them as actions of an animal. The Spanish word ascribed to maroon societies or fugitives of enslavement, cimarrón, means “wild beast.” European colonists sought to suppress cimarrones and destroy runaway communities everywhere they existed. In Brazil, the Portuguese launched military expeditions to eliminate quilombos. For decades, most of them failed. Where they succeeded, new spurts of rebellion would establish new quilombos after old ones had been destroyed. In Colombia and Venezuela, pelenques were in constant formation as newly arrived Africans would escape to the mountains and form new communities or join existing ones. In Jamaica, maroons exhausted the British, who eventually signed a peace treaty with maroons that recognized them as free and sovereign until slavery was abolished.[5]
Even as slavery was abolished in Middle and South America, quilombos, pelenques, and maroon communities continue to be spaces of Black self-determination to this day. In Brazil, the 2022 Census estimates that approximately 1 million Afro-descendants live in quilombos.[6] Some Afro-descendants who have rooted ancestry in maroon communities recognize their African heritage as a cultural identity, not a perceived race. The Garifuna, for example, are a recognized culturally distinct group that occupy an area that spread through Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. They are descendants of shipwrecked enslaved West Africans who lived in the island of St. Vincent, where they mixed with the Kalinago Indigenous population (Caribs) and adopted Indigenous practices.[7] They speak a type of Creole, a hybrid language that combines Carib/Arawakan and several European languages. Although the Garifuna initially coexisted with French colonists, they engaged in a series of revolts in the late eighteenth century against British colonial authorities. After losing the war, they were resettled by British forces on the island of Roatán (off the coast of Honduras), from where they migrated to the Atlantic coasts of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In these countries, they are recognized as an Afro-Indigenous ethnic group.
Rebel Island: Maroonage and the Haitian Revolution
Maroon rebellions waged costly wars against colonial troops. In Hispaniola, they weakened Spanish colonial control in the 16th and 17th Century. By the time the French formally secured their claim to the western parts of the island in 1697, Hispaniola already had several loosely organized maroon communities. But under the control of the French, Saint Domingue (colonial Haiti) experienced the expansion of violent and repressive sugar plantations, prompted by the increased demands for sugar in Europe. The French Code Noir legalized the cruel treatment of enslaved persons as material property. For most of the 18th Century, Saint Domingue represented the depths of the violence underlying the slave trade and the plantation system. Nearly half of enslaved Africans brought to Saint Domingue died within three to five years from malnourishment, brutality, overwork, and various illnesses. The slave trade continued to funnel hundreds of thousands of new African captives to replenish the bonded population. These extreme conditions of dehumanization, death, and brutality inflicted upon enslaved peoples was the foundation of the profitability of the sugar plantations. Colonial Haiti was the crown of the French monarchy, the world’s largest sugar producer, and the most valuable colony in the Americas. Its wealth was funneled almost exclusively to France.
The rapidly growing population of African and African descendants in Haiti also enhanced the creation of liberated spaces and networks of solidarity around common lived experiences. In August 1791, Haitian-born and African-born rebels gathered in a sacred Vodoo ritual ceremony to conspire against the plantation system. They joined in African-based oaths of secrecy and pleas to the spirit world for protection during the impending revolt. The moment forged a spiritual connection among rebels of diverse ethnic identities, bound in struggle and vision to abolish slavery. Their will was carried out in the subsequent uprisings of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804), a successful rebellion that led to the abolition of slavery and the overthrow of French colonial rule. It was the first abolitionist rebellion to form a free republic in the Americas, then named Haiti (from the Indigenous name of the island, Ayiti in Taïno). The founding of Haiti was an astonishing shock to the prevailing system of slavery in the Atlantic world. It shut down the world’s largest slave market in the Caribbean and freed 500,000 enslaved persons in Haiti.[8] Word of the Haitian Revolution quickly spread among Black communities of the Americas, influencing unrest among enslaved people and maroons and unleashing cultures of resistance.
The Haitian Revolution represents how Africans and African descendants assumed the role of redefining and universalizing liberation, taking advantage of the American and French Revolutions to abolish slavery, colonialism, and white supremacy. It actualized the principles of freedom of the American and French Revolutions before they were enshrined in national clauses that overlooked slavery. Both France and the United States rejected Haiti’s freedom. The United States provided aid to suppress the Haitian Revolution, fearful that it would inspire emancipation movements and disrupt the profits of American slave owners. Newly independent Haiti was forced to pay France the equivalent of \$20-\$30 billion dollars, as reparations paid to enslavers.[9] It took Haiti more than a century to pay a debt that economically crippled its beginnings as a sovereign state. The United States did not recognize Haiti’s independence until 1862, nearly six decades after the Haitian revolutionaries expelled the French and slavery from their shores. Even then, interventions with Haitian sovereignty came in the form of a violent 18-year US military occupation (starting in 1929) and a continued US meddling with Haitian affairs thereafter.[10]
The absurdity of paying enslavers for freedom is not lost in contemporary politics in Haiti. Democratically elected Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide tried to hold France accountable for the plundering of Haiti. In 2003, he demanded the precise amount of \$21,685,135,571.48 as reparations for the unjust payments Haiti was forced to give France for its liberation.[11] Aristide’s multi-billion-dollar demand may seem astonishing at glance. However, a recent analysis suggests that his estimate may have been modest when accounting for direct payments and loan interests paid to France and the immense losses in economic growth that these payments imposed on Haiti.[12] Even as an underestimate, demands for restitution were perceived as political grenade thrown at France on the world stage. Aristide soon found himself removed from power, and France has yet to consider a tangible way to settle with history.
Trans-Atlantic Worlds
The African diaspora is a core element of the cultural character of many parts of Middle and South America where large populations of African descendants live today. In 2015, based on self-identification in their national census, there were about 133 million Afro-descendants in Middle and South America, close to 24 percent of the total population.[13] Over 91 percent are concentrated in Brazil (105 million) and Venezuela (17 million). Other countries like Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, and Mexico collectively make up another 7 percent. In the Caribbean, a high percentage of the population identifies to be of African ancestry, like Jamaica (92%) and St. Lucia (87%). In Brazil and Venezuela, Afro-descendants constitute the majority of the population, and most identify with mixed-race categories of the national census.
African cultural influence is easily detected in the cultural expressions found in Middle and South America. Jamaican reggae, Dominican merengue, Brazilian samba, and Cuban rumba are clear examples of how African influences became global symbols of the musicality and culture of their respective countries. African influence is also well represented in the syncretic religions, mixed belief systems, that are prominent forms of spirituality in the region. Voodoo, for example, is a form of folk Catholicism based on elements of West African spirituality, a syncretic belief system practiced mostly in Haiti. Voodoo cemented the struggle of African and African descendants from diverse ethnic identities and became a unifying force in the Haitian Revolution. Santería (Cuba) and Candomblé (Brazil) are other prominent examples of religious syncretism. In both religions, the polytheistic belief systems of the Yoruba integrate Yoruba deities, called orishas or Orixás, into the pantheon of Catholic saints. While each of these belief systems have unique characteristics in their religious and healing traditions, they share the commonalities in how participants interact with the spiritual world in transcendent drumming and dancing rituals. They also represent the ways which African belief systems have survived and adapted in the Americas.
Race & the Myth of the Racial Democracy
Racial Whitening
In colonial times, Middle and South America had predominantly nonwhite societies that were subjected to colonial laws of social stratification known as sistema de castas, a system that placed nonwhites on an inferior legal and social status. Driven by European ideas of racial purity and blood descent, whiteness was an index of honor and value, which entitled individuals to public office, recognition, and wealth. The casta system is illustrated in paintings from eighteenth-century Mexico and Peru. Afro-descendants were systematically relegated to the bottom of the social scale, experiencing little social mobility and facing extreme forms of deprivation. Ascription to a casta implied not only civil and religious rights, but also determined aspects of taxation, limits on public and religious office, travel restrictions, and property, among others. In principle, however, the blood-based ideology allowed certain mobility by means of racial mixing, known as mestizaje (miscegenation). Individuals of lower castas could “whiten” their descent through intermarriage. Wealthy mixed-race individuals could pursue upward mobility by purchasing a document from the Crown that would buy them entry into a superior casta.
By the 1830s, most countries in Middle and South America gained independence from the Spanish and Portuguese empires and progressively dismantled the colonial system of castas. But national leaders in much of the region maintained an obsession with crafting societies that resembled those of Europe. Blanqueamiento (Spanish for “whitening”) were whitening ideologies that sought to physically transform the demographics of the region. It informed policies, discourses, and practices built on the racist idea that white and European traits were superior to African or Indigenous ones. The impact of blanqueamiento ideologies on policymaking was clearly visible in the immigration policies of the time, which encouraged European migrants to settle in the continent as a means of progressively whitening the population and wipe out the perceived barbarism of nonwhite populations. As a result, from 1880 to 1930, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, and Uruguay received over 11 million European immigrants. Altogether, the European diaspora represents a mass migration that shaped the cultural characteristics of southern Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, and Argentina, where most of the population have and European ancestry and European cultural expressions are pronounced.
Browning & Mestizaje
Spearheaded by postrevolutionary Mexico, national elites began shifting from ideologies of whitening in favor of narratives that emphasized harmonious race relations, celebrating the mestizo, the mixed Spanish and Indigenous heritage of the country. The mestizo identity was adopted as a way of moving beyond race, of parting from the colonial past and the racial antagonisms of the early republican period. Mestizos combined the alleged liberal and forward-thinking traits of Europeans along with the rooted traditions embodied in the Indigenous cultures of the country. The notion of Mestizaje spread rapidly, and most countries in Middle and South America promoted a version of national mestizo identities, even removing racial categories from the national census. This was seen as a solution to the class and race tensions accumulated after the young republics failed to deliver on their promises to the majority, the mixed-race working population.
National projects of mestizaje were not the same everywhere. Brazil and Cuba incorporated African culture as a central element of their mixed-race identity. In some countries, mestizaje national discourse tended to favor the selective inclusion of Indigenous traits while downplaying African ones. In Mexico, for example, the emphasis on the historical value of European-Indigenous miscegenation ignored large populations of Afro-descendants. Still today, Mexico has a population of two million Afro-descendants who struggle for recognition in a mestizo-majority country. The 2020 Census was the first time Mexicans had the option to self-identify as Black, Afro-Mexican, or Afro-descendant.[14] In the Dominican Republic, the state celebrated European and Indigenous Taino cultures while disavowing Blackness as something foreign and associated with neighboring, poorer Haiti. This has important consequences in the identification of Afro-Dominicans today, most of whom are counted as indio in the national census.
Beyond Race? Brazil and the Myth of the Racial Democracy
Diasporas and racial mixing in Middle and South America have shaped complex racial identities. Terms like negro, moreno, pardo, mulatto, indio, caboclo, zambo, and creole, for example, are much closer to the understanding of race and identity of peoples of African ancestry in the region than the binary racial categories used in the United States. In Brazil, it is more common to refer to color than race, as the continuum of hue and shade better grasps the Brazilian conceptualization of racial difference. Racial groups have historically been classified based on extensive color identifications. For example, one survey conducted in 1976 found that Brazilians identified themselves in more than 100 categories of color.[15] In 1995, another survey found similar results, but most survey respondents used only six racial categories.[16] Still today, the everyday language that Brazilians use to identify themselves is often in a color continuum that is not entirely grasped by official figures, like the popular everyday term moreno, used to describe the continuum of skin shades of brown.
The census depicts the Brazilian notion of skin color in a more restrictive sense, in five categories. In the latest census (2008), Brazilians identified as follows: 43.1% as pardo (brown), 7.6% as preto (Black), 0.5% as indígena (indigenous), and 47.7% as branco (white) and 1.1% as amarelo (yellow, translating as Asian).[17] This census indicates that most Brazilians racially identify as nonwhite. Brazil has the largest population of peoples of African origins in the Americas and the second largest of any country in the world (only after Nigeria). Thus, Brazil is often central in discussions about Blackness and racial relations.
Brazilian author Gilberto Freyre coined the term racial democracy as a way of depicting Brazil’s racial relations. In the book The Mansions and the Shanties (1936), Freyre claimed that in Brazil slavery had been more benign, and racial mixing was publicly celebrated and made into a positive national symbol. Highlighting the absence of United-States-like segregation laws, Freyre distinguished Brazil as a society of racial harmony where societal divisions were based on socioeconomic class, not race. Since then, Brazilian state discourse has long promoted itself as a racial democracy, suggesting that Brazil had achieved a racially harmonious and racially equal society, in contrast to the United States.
In recent decades, the notion of a racial democracy in Brazil (and beyond) has been challenged by social movements of Indigenous and Afro-descendant groups who have pointed that the promotion of national mixed-race identities only serves as a form of denial of the unique lived experiences of Afro-descendants and Indigenous peoples. Rather than moving beyond race, the racial democracy narrative promotes an idealized worldview that obscures persisting racism, discrimination, and ample evidence of rampant racial inequalities. Consider the fact that Afro-descendants are disproportionately represented among the poor in Brazil and throughout the region. They have fewer chances of social mobility, are 2.5 times more likely to be chronically poor, have fewer years of education, and are more likely to be victims of crime and violence.[18] These intersecting socioeconomic inequalities culminated in the wreckage of the covid-19 pandemic that was disproportionately fatal among Afro-descendants in Brazil (like in the United States).[19] These are indicators of racial inequalities that have become grounds for policy agendas and social movements in the country.
Attributions:
"African Diaspora", including the highlight of "Rebel Island", is adapted and remixed from Eddins, C. (2022). Maroon Movements Against Empire: The Long Haitian Revolution, Sixteenth-Nineteenth Centuries. Journal of World-Systems Research, 28(2), 219-241. CC BY 4.0.
"Whitening, Browning, and the Myth of Racial Democracy" is adapted and remixed from Freire, German; Diaz-Bonilla, Carolina; Schwartz Orellana, Steven; Soler Lopez, Jorge; Carbonari, Flavia. 2018. Afro-descendants in Latin America: Toward a Framework of Inclusion. World Bank, Washington, DC. CC BY 3.0 IGO; and Mitchell, J. (2022). Back to race, not beyond race: multiraciality and racial identity in the United States and Brazil. Comparative Migration Studies, 10(1), 1-17. CC BY 4.0. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/09%3A_Middle_and_South_America/9.03%3A_The_Cultural_Mosaic-_Diasporas_Race_and_Ethnicity.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Identify the major cities of Middle and South America.
2. Describe the colonial influence in the cultural landscape of Mexico City.
3. Explain underlying factors that explain the rapid formation of slums in Middle and South American cities.
4. Evaluate the prospect of smart city design for sustainability and social justice in Medellín and Santiago.
A Highly Urbanized Region
Although only 2 percent of the Earth’s surface, cities represent the main order of settlement of humankind in the 21st century and the majority of the world’s people live in cities. This is particularly true in Middle and South America, one of the most highly urbanized regions in the world. In every country (except Guiana) most people live in cities. The region’s shares of city residents are quite variable, with smaller urban majorities found in Mesoamerican countries. In South America, the percentage of people living in cities is higher in Uruguay (95.5%), Argentina (92%), Venezuela (88%), and Chile (88%) than the United States (83%).[1] Overall, about 81 percent of people south of the US-Mexico border live in cities, the highest urban percentage outside of North America.
Middle and South America also have high population concentrations in large cities. A city with populations figures at least twice as large as the next largest city is called a primate city. Montevideo, for example, is home to about half of the population in Uruguay. Similarly, Panama City is home to about 43 percent of the population in Panama.[2] In the Caribbean, cities are relatively small in population size but represent important centers of human settlement in the region. Overall, the Americas have the highest percentage of people living in metropolitan areas of one million people or more than anywhere in the world.[3] Some of these are megacities, cities with populations of 10 million people or more. Three of them are among the largest in the world: Mexico City (Mexico) and São Paulo (Brazil) with 22 million people each, and Buenos Aires (Argentina) with 15 million.[4] Other megacities include Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Lima (Peru), Bogotá (Colombia).
Many cities continue to grow in population size and in geographical footprint. Urban sprawl, the unorderly geographical expansion of cities, sometimes transcends political boundaries and merges adjacent cities into a larger urban region known as a megalopolis. Some megalopolises are even expanding beyond national borders, like the expanded urban areas merging Buenos Aires and Rosario in Argentina with Montevideo in Uruguay. Another example is the increased interconnected transnational megalopolis of Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego, California. Megacities are often seen as global hubs of access, opportunity, innovation, culture, and influence, but they face serious challenges with being inclusive, equitable, and sustainable.
Urban Layout
Middle and South America were home to some large pre-Hispanic urban centers, like Tenochtitlán (Mexico) (See “The Heart of Mexico” below). When Spaniards colonized the Americas, they destroyed many of its urban structures and built their city to mirror those in Europe (see Figure 9.4.2). The colonial city was structured around a main square, Plaza Mayor, with connecting roads radiating out in a grid-like pattern. Around the plaza on one side was the Catholic church. On the other sides of the plaza were government offices and stores. Residential homes filled in around the plaza.
The colonial city model remains visible and has served as an underlying blueprint for many cities in Middle and South America today. Nonetheless, these cities have expanded and evolved into complex landscapes embodying forces of the past and present as well as visions for the future.[5] One way to visualize a city is through city models, or spatial diagrams that depict different land-uses in the urban landscape. Geographer Larry Ford’s model is widely recognized. It identifies the contemporary city patterns in Middle and South America through distinctive zones of land-use that surround a central business district (CBD). Many of these city centers emerged from the colonial blueprint, around a main plaza with a church and government buildings dating back to a colonial era (or even earlier, like in Cuzco or Mexico City depicted above). The CBD also features contemporary structures and modern architecture reflecting the diverse and dynamic influences that have shaped the city over time. The size and character of each CBD varies throughout the region, but one important commonality is that CBDs are hubs of access where major stores, banks, government buildings, theaters, and transportation networks coincide. From this center, other zones radiate out, often with diminished access to public services, resources, and infrastructure in the outskirts of the city.
At the heart of Mexico: the urban landscape from Tenochtitlan to Mexico City (CDMX)
The Aztec political capital, Tenochtitlán, was founded by Mexica migrants in the 14th century as an island city in Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico Basin. The center of the Aztec Empire was a feature of hydroengineering, built on a system of canals and dikes for irrigation and flood control. Large causeways linked the island and the mainland and divided the lake, helping control flooding and separating the salty waters of the lake from fresh water sources. These water works were accompanied by a sanitation system where human waste was collected and applied as fertilizers in the highly productive agricultural system of chinampas. At the center of the island of Tenochtitlán, the huge Sacred Precinct was a ceremonial square that included a ball court and various temples including Templo Mayor, the precinct’s tallest and most sacred structure.
Tenochtitlán dazzled the Spaniards. It was the most populous city they had ever seen, with an estimated population of 200,000 people by the end of the 16th century.[6] Spaniards reported Tenochtitlan’s impressive urban design, ornate architecture, artwork, and botanical gardens.[7] When the Spanish took the indigenous capital, they proclaimed it as the capital of New Spain and destroyed much of its structures to build a colonial city atop the ruins, a process that took four decades. They also prescribed a very specific set of urban planning guidelines, including building towns around a plaza (main square) and creating a road network on a grid system.
Today, the ruins of Tenochtitlán are engulfed in the larger Mexico City, the capital megacity of Mexico. It is where government buildings, churches, and the Aztec ruins are stratified at the Zócalo square, the historical city center. The Mexico City Cathedral towers over Templo Mayor where vast ruins and a museum are physical remnants of an Indigenous city. Many remarkable archeological discoveries have been made within the vicinities of Templo Mayor and grandiose Aztec sculptures and art are displayed there. The metro connects the Zócalo square along the lines of some of the historical Mexica causeways, another physical reminder of the city’s Indigenous blueprint.[8] Zócalo often beats with the drums of Aztec dancers that gather by the hundreds at the square in front of the National Palace. It is a symbol of Indigenous cultural survival and revival that continues to pulsate at the heart of the Mexico City.
But the waters of Lake Texcoco are no longer there. Lacking the Mexica know-how of living within a lake environment, Lake Texcoco became a cesspool under Spanish rule and catastrophic floods ravaged the colonial capital. The Spaniards decided to drain the lake into the Tula River in the 17th century. Independent Mexico proceeded with the draining, and by 1910 the waters of Lake Texcoco were almost entirely gone. Drying the basin was a decision that defied geography, and it was problematic in several ways. The dried lakebed sediment left behind is a source of air pollution because winds suspend the particulate matter into the air in dust storms. Mexico City is often called a “dust bowl,” sitting on a plateau at 7,000ft in elevation, surrounded by mountains that trap both the suspended lake dust and the air pollution of a megacity. Mexico City was once among the most polluted cities in the world (it has improved substantively in recent years).
Once an Indigenous city built on water, Mexico City is now parched and sinking.[9] The drying of Lake Texcoco has had a pronounced impact on the local climate. Since there is no more water being evaporated into the atmosphere from the lake, the climate became drier, especially with the compounding effect of climate change. As a result, Mexico City has been reliant on water from its natural underground water reserves, called aquifers. The immense water demand and the extensive paved surfaces of the city limit the amount of water percolating the soil and replenishing reserves. This means that more water is being pumped out than what is tricking underground, an imbalance in water flow that results in aquifer depletion. Given this reality, fresh water is transported into the city through pipelines from across the mountains. Leakage and inadequate maintenance cause a large percentage of the water to be lost before it can be used in the city. The emptying aquifers also means that the city is sinking, crumbling onto its emptying aquifer foundation. This is a visible reality around Zócalo where some buildings are tilting. Much of the historical architecture and even Mexico’s national palace are threatened by the collapsing ground underneath.
Urbanization and Slums
In 1950, the population in Middle and South America was mostly rural. Today, about 80 percent of the population lives in cities. This rapid shift is noticeable in most parts of the world, and since 2007, most of the world’s people have lived in cities. Planetary urbanization was mostly driven by the migration of people from rural areas to urban areas, known as rural-to-urban migration, the largest migratory pattern in human history. In other words, never have so many humans shifted settlement patterns so quickly, leaving a long legacy of farming behind in search of new ways of living in the city. This migration is motivated by a set of push and pull factors – factors that push people away from rural areas and those that attract them to urban areas.
In Middle and South America, the major push factor was unemployment. In the mid-20th century, the region experienced the Green Revolution, the introduction of modern farming technologies like advanced machinery, high-yield hybrid crops, and chemical pesticides and fertilizers. The implementation of technological advancements in farming dramatically improved yields, but it also reduced the need for farm labor. Unable to invest in expensive technologies, most farmers were unable to compete with larger corporate farms. This meant that farm laborers, subsistence farmers, and small farm owners were displaced from what was once their primary source of livelihood. At the same time, modern technologies were introduced in mining and logging that eliminated a lot of the remaining rural jobs. By the end of the 19th century, people had been leaving rural areas in droves, searching for new and higher paying jobs in cities with great hope to improve their lives and escape the poverty trap of rural areas. The city was (and still is) perceived as an opportunity to climb the socioeconomic ladder, as they provide better access to higher quality education, healthcare, and other public services along with economic opportunities.
The combination of agricultural transformation (push factor) and the lure of the city (pull factor) are responsible for most of the explosive urban growth of Middle and South American cities from 1950s to 1990s. But unlike Europe and the United States, where booming industrialization offered new city jobs and supported the urbanization process, the economies of Middle and South American cities were unable to catch up to urbanization rates.[10] The technological revolution in farming occurred before broader industrialization, providing limited opportunities for work. Overwhelmed cities could not provide adequate housing, utilities, schools, transportation, and economic opportunities for the masses of poor aspiring newcomers. Consequently, the rapid period of urbanization of Middle and South America was characterized by an unplanned urban expansion of informal settlements, where poor migrants established new communities with makeshift housing surrounding or within the city, without formal land ownership. These informal settlements are known as slums, barrios (in Venezuela and Colombia), favelas (in Brazil), villas miseria (in Argentina), among other local names. The living conditions vary between slum communities, but they are often characterized by overcrowding, insecure property rights, lack of urban and social services (especially access to water and sanitation), hazardous environments, poverty, and exposure to crime and violence.
While the slum population in Middle and South America has decreased in recent years, they continue to be a feature of the urban landscape. The percentage of the population living in slums is still quite high in Bolivia (48%), Venezuela (44%), and Nicaragua (42%), but highest in Haiti (66%) and Jamaica (57%). In Brazil, close to 30 million people live in slums and in Mexico about 16 million.[11] The two countries have the largest slum populations in the region, 16 percent of the urban population in both countries. Mexico City, La Paz (Bolivia), and Caracas (Venezuela) have among the most populous slums in the world.[12] In total, 160 million people (about 23 percent of the population) in Middle and South America live in slums.[13]
Cities in Middle and South America showcase visible socioeconomic inequalities, where poverty and wealth co-exist side-by-side in landscapes of contrast in the world’s most unequal region. Consider that in most countries in Middle and South America the richest 10 percent hold more than one third of the national income (this extreme accumulation of wealth is only surpassed by countries in Southern Africa).[14] Socioeconomic inequality is carved in urban spaces where luxurious residential and business compounds tower over slums, lived reminders of the persistence of poverty (see Figure 9.4.5). Despite of the important strides in regional poverty reduction in since the early 2000s, one in five people in Middle and South America have been chronically poor since 2004.[15] Overall, in 2022, 32 percent of the population lived in poverty and 13 percent in extreme poverty.[16] Unequal Scenes, an aerial photographic collection, brilliantly captures the spatial contrasts of highly unequal, fragmented, and segregated cities. It’s highly worth exploring the photos of cities in Brazil, Peru, Mexico, and Argentina.
Aspiring smart cities: harnessing technology for more sustainable and inclusive cities
In order to better support planetary urbanization, city planners and leaders have been thinking creatively to increase the efficiency of the city’s operations, grow the economy, and improve the quality of life of residents. A smart city is an innovative city that harnesses information and communication technologies to advance economic, social, and environmental goals.[17] Given that cities are centers of population, resource use, and greenhouse gas emissions, smart city design has immense potential to solve pressing urban issues. Cities could become more attractive, livable, inclusive, safe, connected, sustainable, prosperous, and innovative spaces for people to live, work, and enjoy. Ultimately, these are ambitious goals that can be best achieved with smart data-driven decisions. With a focus on technology and data, smart city planners utilize a series of indicators to promote progress in urban mobility, environment, government, economy, people, and quality of life.
Santiago, Chile, is often cited as an aspiring smart city in South America. Situated in a basin surrounded by the Andes mountains, Santiago’s physical setting is both beautiful and challenging. Like Mexico City, the surrounding mountains and an inversion layer above restrict air movement. The increased emissions of smokestacks and wood-burning heaters, especially in the winter, result in episodes of severe air pollution. Since 2014, Santiago initiated the campaign Santiago Respira, a part of Breathe Life, a global campaign to reduce emissions. To fulfill this mission, city planners are looking to replace wood burning heaters with low emission alternatives, increase the number of zero-emission vehicles on the road, and improve public transportation.[18] Sensors are used for monitoring trash bins, controlling lighting and irrigation, improving water and energy use efficiency. Like other megacities in the region (ex: Mexico City and Sao Paulo), Santiago maintains a rotational system for vehicles, establishing ‘off the road’ days based on the ending number of the license plate. This measure is meant to reduce the number of vehicles on the road, increase use of public transportation, and promote walking. There is also a renewal of city spaces with centrally located pedestrian walkways filled with art. These urban planning strategies are part of a larger plan to turn Santiago into a ‘smarter’ city.
Medellín (Colombia) is another well-known and evolving smart city. It is a particularly significant case study of urban transformation given its unique context. Known as the “murder capital of the world” in the 90s, the city was a hotspot for armed internal conflict for decades. Medellín’s geography has also shaped its growth and the segregation patterns. The city is embedded within the Andes mountains in a basin surrounded by mountains. Low-income areas are clustered on steep slopes away from the city center, spatially segregated and excluded from city services and infrastructure. This situation is compounded by a high population density, high levels of poverty and social vulnerability, and exposure to flooding and landslide hazards. It is this complex reality that became the heart of highly visible initiatives set to transform Medellín with a people-centered approach. One of the most widely recognized interventions is the implementation of the metrocable in 2004, an aerial cable cart system designed to connect residents of the periphery to the city center.[19] This improvement in public transportation reduced commute times and helped improve access to and from the outskirts of the city. New educational facilities in poor areas, new public spaces, open and free internet zones, sensors monitoring traffic also became important strategies of a larger plan to improve the city.[20] Including and directing investment to the city’s poorest communities is the underlying principle of social urbanism. Medellín is globally recognized for the positive outcomes of its initiatives, like increased access to free internet, more education and cultural facilities, and reduced poverty and violence.
The transformative potential of smart city design makes them popular concepts, but smart city approaches tend to be top-down and centered on technology (sometimes over people). This focus on digital intelligence is often removed from the daily grind and ‘street smarts’ of the city dweller. The emphasis on technology also makes initiatives expensive and corporate, driven by large global companies rather than local people. Thus, critics have highlighted that smart city interventions tend to be cosmetic, lacking the broad impact and participatory decision-making necessary for transformative change. Since 2019, Chile has experienced profound social unrest with the population calling for greater justice, equality, and dignity. Centering their demands is one way to further city planning success. In Medellín, too, improvements are short of addressing the larger issues of entrenched socio-economic inequality and spatial segregation. A renewed focus on equity, inclusion, and participation can help redefine and expand the breadth and depth of smart city initiatives in a way that better responds to the needs of the population.
Attributions:
“The Heart of Mexico” is adapted from Montero-Rosado, C., Ojeda-Trejo, E., Espinosa-Hernández, V., Fernández-Reynoso, D., Caballero Deloya, M., & Benedicto Valdés, G. S. (2022). Water Diversion in the Valley of Mexico Basin: An Environmental Transformation That Caused the Desiccation of Lake Texcoco. Land, 11(4), 542, CC BY 4.0.
“Inequality & the City” is adapted from Quam and Campbell. (2020). The Western Word: daily readings on geography, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
“Smart City” is adapted from Jirón et al. (2021). Placebo urban interventions: Observing smart city narratives in Santiago de Chile. Urban Studies, 58(3), 601-620, CC BY 4.0; and Smith et al. (2022) Exploring the relevance of ‘smart city’ approaches to low-income communities in Medellín, Colombia, GeoJournal, CC BY 4.0.
This page is also adapted from World Regional Geography by University of Minnesota and World Regional Geography by Caitlin Finlayson, both CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/09%3A_Middle_and_South_America/9.04%3A_Inequality_and_the_City.txt |
Learning Objectives
1. Identify the main causes of deforestation and explain how economic globalization is connected to the loss of rainforests in Mesoamerica and the Amazon.
2. Describe the geography of deforestation, mining, and protected areas in the Amazon region.
3. Explain the concept of biocultural systems and the intersecting struggle for life in the Amazon region.
Tropical Deforestation in Mesoamerica
Tropical rainforests in Mesoamerica stretch from southern Mexico to Panama. Much of it lies in a narrow strip of land of varied topography and enormous biodiversity. Human settlement in Mesoamerican rainforests dates back centuries, with ancient civilizations and maize agriculture shaping the landscape. The impacts of human activities have only expanded overtime, with colonization and globalization of rainforest resources. Today, Mesoamerican rainforests have lost more than 70 percent of their original extent. This dramatic reduction makes tropical Mesomaerica one of the most urgent conservation priorities in the world. They are part of the world’s biodiversity hotpots, a designation for biologically important biomes that have experienced substantial reduction of their original geographical extent.
The primary driver of deforestation in Mesoamerica today is the conversion of rainforests into pastures, a process called grassification. When large plots of rainforests are cleared, the nutrient-poor tropical soils become quickly eroded. Consequently, there is an ongoing pursuit for new lands driving an ongoing deforestation pattern responsible for extensive destruction of the rainforest. Cattle ranching in Mesoamerica was historically motivated by the international linkages of beef consumption. Historically, the rise of fast food and the increased demand for affordable beef in the United States in the 1950s-1970s escalated deforestation in Mesoamerican countries, important suppliers of American beef at that time. The connection between American hamburgers to tropical deforestation became known as the Hamburger Connection. Today, the Central American hamburger connection with the US is largely lost since American beef consumption is now reliant on domestic production and imports from Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, or Australia.[1]
Since the early 2000s, drug trafficking has emerged as a significant driver of deforestation in remote rainforests of Central America. The United States stands as the top consumer of cocaine in the world. The illicit drug is derived from coca plants grown in the Andes, then processed into a paste in Colombia, and eventually smuggled into the United States - mainly through Central America. In Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, billions of illicit dollars are accrued from cocaine trafficking. To legitimize profits, drug traffickers have used cattle ranching as a form of money laundering, a phenomenon known as narco-deforestation. This practice allows gains from the drug trade to be legitimized through agricultural operations and the destruction of rainforests. In the past decade alone, narco-deforestation accounted for about 15-30 percent of annual deforestation in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.[2] Even protected areas are facing substantial challenge in maintaining biodiversity conservation efforts due to forest losses linked to the drug trade.[3] It is important to acknowledge, however, that the negative impacts of drug trafficking in Mesoamerica are well beyond deforestation. The illicit drug trade inflicts overwhelming violence in the region and poses a direct threat to Indigenous and peasant groups who find themselves powerless facing ongoing invasions of their lands.[4] And despite extensive efforts, decades of the American war on drug supply networks have proven ineffective and narcotrafficking networks remain largely undisrupted.[5]
Deforestation in the Amazon
The soy-cattle connection
The Amazon is the largest tropical rainforest on Earth. Occupying a vast expanse larger than the contiguous United States, it extends through French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. It is a renowned as a biodiversity reservoir and home to an estimated 10 percent of all living organisms, many of which are endemic and yet to be described by science. The Amazon is also the ancestral homeland of hundreds of Indigenous and traditional communities who rely on its resources for their cultural and economic sustenance.
Discussions regarding the Amazon tend to predominantly focus on Brazil, primarily because it is home to over 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest and because the Brazilian Amazon has experienced extensive forest losses over the last several decades. Since the 1970s, the region has been a frontier of the Brazilian developmental agenda. Like the American Manifest Destiny, developmental policies in Brazil have incentivized land conversion and westward expansion from the coastal cities into the Amazon. The construction of roads, a rubber boom, mining, and an ever-growing agribusiness sector have left a fifty-year legacy of deforestation in the Amazon region. Scientists estimate that approximately 20 percent of the rainforest has been cleared.
The beef industry has had the greatest impact on rainforest loss, as extensive areas of the Amazon are cleared each year to make way for cattle ranching.[6] When these pastures become degraded, soybean agriculture often takes their place. Brazil is the top exporter of both beef and soybeans, and the two industries have the greatest deforestation footprint in the Amazon region, making Brazil a net deforestation exporter. However, it is important to acknowledge that about 80 percent of beef produced in Brazil is consumed domestically. [7] Thus, the hamburger connection in Brazil is characterized by a direct link between Brazilian meat consumption and deforestation in the Amazon.
The international demand for commodities also plays a significant role in shaping the fate of the Amazon rainforest. Due to rising incomes and changing dietary preferences, the contemporary Chinese diet includes more meat. Traditionally, pork has been the preferred meat in Chinese cuisine, and Brazil has recently become the main source of the protein-rich soybeans used to feed the Chinese pigs.[8] Beef consumption in China has increased too, and increased beef imports from Brazil is shaping an emerging connection between China and deforestation in the Amazon.[9] China’s imports of commodities associated with tropical deforestation make it a net deforestation importer.[10]
Railways and dams
China’s reach in the Amazon is further demonstrated through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a national strategy focused on expanding Beijing’s economic connections and influence worldwide through a network of ports, railways, and energy infrastructure. In the Amazon, the BRI includes investments in expanding ports and energy distribution to strategically secure access to Amazonian resources, such as soybeans.[11] One example is the recent Chinese investment interests in the proposed Ferrogrão, a railway intended to facilitate the transportation of soybeans from the interior regions of Brazil to ports along the Amazon River, thereby reducing transportation costs and improving access to international markets. At the same time, the railway is projected to cut through the Amazon and the Brazilian Cerrado, leading to increased deforestation, biodiversity loss, and additional pressures on Indigenous lands.[12]
Ferrogrão is just one of the many developmental projects taking place in the Amazon region. Hydropower, for example, is the principal source of energy in Brazil, and the country’s Energy Expansion Plans have called for expanding dams in the Amazon. While hydroelectric dams are often promoted as sustainable energy alternatives, critics often highlight that their environmental and social impacts in the Brazilian Amazon are understudied and overlooked.[13] Such large-scale infrastructural projects raise important questions about who really benefits from them. Often, much of the wealth generated ends up in the hands of investors who live in the core cities or in other countries rather than local people. The costs of biodiversity loss, lost ecosystem services, carbon emissions, and the socioeconomic and cultural impacts on local populations are seldom considered or adequately addressed.
Oil and Gas in the Western Amazon
The Western Amazon region, encompassing parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and western Brazil, faces unique challenges. It is home to diverse Indigenous communities and vast stretches of exceptionally biodiverse and relatively intact tracts of tropical rainforest. Beneath this extraordinary landscape lies rich reserves of oil and gas. Oil exploration in the western Amazon started as early as the 1920s in Peru and Ecuador, with a production boom following in the 1970s. The ongoing demand for fossil fuels continues to drive new oil and gas exploration and extraction in the region, attracting numerous multinational mining companies that operate within mining blocks, areas allocated by national governments for oil exploration and production.
The development of oil and gas operations in the western Amazon have many social and environmental effects, including the clearing of forests to build access to roads, drilling platforms, and pipelines, and contamination from wastewater discharge and oil spills.[14] In Ecuador, crude oil is the primary export, and the largest oil reserves lie underneath the Amazon. Oil operations in the Yasuní region create a complicated geography where mining fields, roads, and pipelines overlap with protected areas and Indigenous reserves.[15]
Struggle for Life: The intersecting movement for the rights of nature and Indigenous peoples
Concerns surrounding tropical deforestation tend to highlight the ecological atrocity it represents. It is crucial, however, to broaden our understanding of the Amazon to include the Indigenous peoples who have ancestral ties to the rainforest. For millennia, Indigenous communities have found a home, a pharmacy, and a sacred sanctuary in the Amazon. Indigenous cultures possess a deep understanding of their natural environment, as their identities and livelihoods are intricately intertwined with the existence of the Amazon. The Amazon rainforest is as a biocultural system where biological and cultural diversity are inseparable. This more holistic view enables us to acknowledge the centrality of Indigenous peoples in environmental protection in the Amazon.
About 50 percent of the Amazon rainforest is under some form of protected area, mostly in Indigenous Lands (ILs) which are territories demarcated to guarantee Indigenous rights to land, livelihood, and social organization. Enshrined in the Brazilian 1988 Constitution, this legal recognition is a victory that stemmed from the alliance of environmental and Indigenous resistance movements. Indigenous lands are globally recognized to play a crucial role in preserving the Amazon rainforest.[16] ILs are an obstacle to deforestation because they cover three times the land area of natural protected areas in the Amazon and are often in the immediate path of the expanding agricultural frontier.[17]
However, the expanding pressures from agribusiness, logging, mining, and developmental projects continue pose imminent threats to protected areas in the Amazon. Illegal activities like mining and logging within Indigenous lands have resulted in violent clashes and the assassination of Indigenous leaders, environmental activists, and journalists. The lack of enforcement of demarcated Indigenous territories and pervasive discrimination are primary reasons why lethal violence continues be a threat for Indigenous peoples, particularly uncontacted tribes. The Amazon is home to the largest number and territorial expanse of isolated tribes in the world with up to 100 uncontacted groups with perhaps a total of 5,000 uncontacted people in total.[18] The term “isolated” or “uncontacted” is relative, as these groups are aware of their surroundings, and some have had limited contact with the outside world. The choice to live in isolation can be interpreted as a form of sovereignty for survival when considering the perilous history of contact with prospectors, missionaries, farmers, loggers, and miners that have resulted in the spread of disease, violence, and the decimation of Indigenous peoples.
Several organizations in Brazil are currently responsible for advocating for Indigenous peoples and putting pressure on the government, including the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil (APIB) and Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB). Facing a hostile government actively dismantling environmental and Indigenous protections, APIB made a historic move by filing a statement with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in August 2021. The statement denounced the Brazilian government’ actions in the Amazon and its impact on its peoples as a form of genocide.[19] It was the first time in history that an Indigenous organization in the western hemisphere took a charge to the ICC, connecting the destruction of the rainforest to crimes against humanity. That same month, thousands of individuals from diverse Indigenous groups participated in the Luta pela Vida (Struggle for Life) protest in the Brazilian capital, Brasília.[20] The increased visibility of Indigenous peoples in Brazilian politics is also evidenced by the 2022 election that placed five Indigenous leaders in the National Congress, the highest number in the country's history.
The intersecting struggle for Indigenous rights and environmental protection has sparked a growing movement for coding the rights of nature into law. The notion of the rights of nature stems from the deep understanding within Indigenous cultures of the interconnectedness of all life forms. In 2008, the new Ecuadorian constitution became the first in the world to embrace the rights of nature, declaring that “Nature or Pachamama, where life is reproduced and exists, has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.”[21] Suspicions that the clause was merely symbolic were recently put to rest when, in December 2021, Ecuador’s Constitutional Court ruled that mining activities pursued by a state mining company and its Canadian partner threatened the Los Cedros protected area’s right to exist and flourish, legally halting the mining operation in the region. The landmark ruling provided a tangible legal enforcement foundation for safeguarding the rights of nature. Ecuador’s example has had a ripple effect, inspiring other countries to follow. Bolivia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, and India have all established legal clauses on the rights of nature after Ecuador.
“There is no other way forward but to recognize, strengthen, and promote the very important role played by us, Indigenous Peoples, within our territories. For us, talking about climate justice is precisely thinking about the fate of the present and future generations, as well as those who have chosen different forms of social structures like the Indigenous Peoples in isolation or recent contact who live in the Amazon. This is related to the need of respecting diversity. Indigenous cosmology makes us understand the signs of Mother Earth, imposing the duty to recognize ecocide. The rivers, lakes, animals, forests, and all cosmological beings that live within are subjects of rights just like us human beings, and their rights must be respected. Therefore, when talking about climate crisis, it requires recognizing the important role of Indigenous lands, and our own, who give our lives to protect the forests and its biodiversity, in balancing the climate and benefiting all Humanity. Yet, there exists a practical solution that we Indigenous Peoples have been pointing out. That is, demarcating our territories, shifting the production system, planting more trees, ending reliance on fossil fuels, and reducing the pressure on the Earth’s natural resources. This must be a commitment from everyone, including governments, the private sector, and individual people.” -- Tarumã Declaration: Statement on the climate crisis by the Indigenous Peoples of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB)[22].
Ted Talk, Nemonte Nenquimo: The forest is our teacher. It is time to respect it.
In this powerful video, Waorani leader Nemonte Nenquimo explains how for thousands of years the Amazon rainforest has been a provider of food, water, and spiritual connection for Indigenous peoples. Nonetheless, endless cycles of invasion and resource extraction by oil companies is destroying the forest and indigenous lives. She demands that outsiders respect Mother Nature and Indigenous peoples, for their sake and for the sake of the planet. The video transcript is available in 8 languages.
Attributions:
"Complex geographies and Indigenous rights" is adapted from Environmental threats over Amazonian Indigenous lands by Rorato, A. C., Picoli, M. C., Verstegen, J. A., Camara, G., Silva Bezerra, F. G., & Escada, M. I. S. (2021), CC BY 4.0; and The rights of nature movement cannot be stopped by Pamela Haines (2022), CC BY 4.0. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/09%3A_Middle_and_South_America/9.05%3A_Tropical_Deforestation_and_the_Rights_of_Nature_and_Indige.txt |
Re-Framing North America
One goal of a world regional geography course is to offer students a new perspective—to “see the world with new eyes”. A foundational understanding is that a person’s perspective is situated in a particular time and place. This is true for the authors of this textbook, who are community college geography professors in California. In this textbook, each world region is presented from a spatial perspective that highlights the interconnectedness of people and places around the world. In doing so, it’s important to uncover the biased notions that we have about faraway places developed from misleading media, Eurocentric educational practices, and other sources of information that do not take into account the diversity of experiences in places we might never have direct contact with—what Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie calls a “single story”. This chapter’s goal is to continue to dismantle preconceived ideas, challenge spatial heuristics, and provide a more inclusive spatial perspective. This effort is particularly demanding because of the pervasiveness of the ideas of American exceptionalism, the attempted erasure of Native Peoples in both the past and present, and the unresolved and contradictory histories of both Canada and the United States. This chapter on North America is an invitation to question previous narratives about the American experience, and if not to see North America with new eyes, to at least build a depth of understanding to perspectives that are often ignored.
American exceptionalism refers to the beliefs and practices that the United States is superior to other countries. One policy example was “Manifest Destiny” which was used as a rationale to expand westward in the 1800s because God ordained it to be so with a complete disregard for the original inhabitants of the continent, causing genocide and dispossession of Native Americans. “Most statements of ‘American exceptionalism’ presume that America’s values, political system, and history are unique and worthy of universal admiration. They also imply that the United States is both destined and entitled to play a distinct and positive role on the world stage”.[1]
National pride is a common feeling experienced in countries all over the world,and that alone does not have negative outcomes, but the American experience of pride can be rooted in erroneous assumptions of how the United States compares with other countries. This hampers an understanding of world affairs. Certainly, there is no single perspective that could sum up how people in other countries view the United States, it’s government, it’s people, and it’s cultural exports. But it is important to note that “nothing is more vexing to foreigners than Americans’ belief that America is a shining city on a hill — a place apart where a better way of life exists, one to which all other peoples should aspire”.[2]
Let’s consider how the United States and Canada rank in terms of key indicators provided by the CIA World Factbook, the United Nations, and other sources when compared to the more than 190 countries in the world (Table 10-1). In doing so, it is clear that while the United States might be first in the hearts of Americans, it does not rank first in some key international comparisons. By understanding these realities we can address the underlying societal issues and make a better world for the future.
Table 10-1. Rankings of the United States and Canada on Selected Economic and Demographic Indicators.
Indicator United States Ranking Canada Ranking Top Ranked Country
Gross Domestic Product (GDP per capita)[3] 17th 34th Liechtenstein
Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI)[4] 25th 14th Iceland
World Press Freedoms Index[5] 42nd 19th Norway
Maternal Mortality Ration (the number of female death per 100,000 live births)[3]
129th
(55th best)
145th
(39th best)
Belarus, Italy, Norway, Poland
Life Expectancy at Birth[3] 46th 6th Monaco
Public Expenditure on Education as a percentage of GDP[3] 66th 48th Marshall Islands
Voter Turnout[6]
31st
(among OECD countries)
43rd
(among OECD countries)
Uruguay
Democracy Index Score[7] 30th 12th Norway
Environmental Performance Index[8] 43rd 49th Denmark
World Happiness Index[9] 15th 16th Finland
As we consider these indicators and how they challenge the narrative of American exceptionalism, we invite you to reflect on a quote from the renowned writer James Baldwin: “I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually".[10] Born in Harlem in 1924, James Baldwin made important and lasting contributions to American literature and social history (Figure 10.1). As a gay Black author, civil rights activist, and social commentator, Baldwin shaped discussions about race and sexuality. He was active and influential in literary, political, and social circles. Due to racial tensions in the United States, and especially to his personal experiences, Baldwin moved to France. He described himself as a “transatlantic commuter,” traveling often between the United States and France. His work continued to focus on America’s ongoing struggles with race. He wrote and spoke extensively about the Civil Rights movement and the reality of Black lives in America.
Notes of a Native son: The World According to James Baldwin - Christina Greer
Learn more about the biography of James Baldwin, his rejection of the label “an ambassador for Black Americans”, and his impact on the national fabric of the United States in this video. To access the FBI’s file on James Baldwin, visit the webpage provided by the FBI based on Freedom of Information Act requests.
The World Geographies Atlas: Navigate each world region through maps
For each of the world regions, our original atlas provides detailed maps to help you navigate the places discussed in this book. These maps are meant to be explored before and during the reading of this chapter. These maps are best enjoyed enlarged. Click on each map for an enlarged view, and zoom in to see the prominent biomes, physical features, and population centers of Middle and South America. We recommend that you download these for reference as you read this chapter's content and hope that you enjoy this original compilation.
Attributions:
“Re-Framing North America” is adapted from James Baldwin Residence, New York City by the U.S. National Parks Service (public domain).
10: North America
Learning Objectives
• Classify North American biomes based on climate patterns and physical features.
• Analyze greenhouse gas emissions and the impacts of a warming planet.
• Explain how water resources are influenced by natural and human factors.
Biomes
North America has a vast range of biomes—from the Arctic conditions in the far north to the tropical humid forests found in southernmost Florida (Figure 10.1.1). Extending across the far north of the continent, the tundra biome experiences annual temperature ranges from -40°C (-40 °F) and 18°C (64°F) and 150 to 250 millimeters (6 to 10 inches) of rain per year. There are few trees due to the short growing season and permafrost, which is ground that has stayed frozen for at least two continuous years. In the tundra summers, the top layer of soil in permafrost thaws only a few inches down, providing a growing surface for the roots of grass and shrub vegetation. Even though there is little precipitation in the tundra biome, it is usually a wet place because the low temperatures cause evaporation of water to be slow. Much of the arctic has rain and fog in the summers, and water gathers in bogs and ponds. Lichens, mosses, grasses, sedges, and shrubs are commonly found in the tundra (Figure 10.1.2).
Two forest biomes are found south of the tundra, with the grassland biome in the central part of the continent. Coniferous forests—so-called because of the presence of evergreen trees that produce cones and needles—are mostly found between the tundra biome to the north and the deciduous forest to the south. Conifers, such as spruces, pines, and firs, are adapted to survive in areas that are very cold or dry (Figure 10.1.3, left). The temperate deciduous forests have broadleaf trees such as oaks, maples, and beeches. The deciduous forest regions are exposed to warm and cold air masses, which cause this area to have four seasons. The temperature varies widely from season to season with cold winters and hot, wet summers. During the fall, trees change color and then lose their leaves. This is in preparation for the winter season. Because it gets so cold, the trees have adapted to the winter by going into a period of dormancy (Figure 10.1.3, middle). Grasslands are generally open and continuous, fairly flat areas of grass (Figure 10.1.3, right). The height of grass correlates with the amount of rainfall it receives. Grasses vary in size from 2.1 meters (7 feet) tall with roots extending down into the soil 1.8 meters (6 feet), to the short grasses growing to a height of only 20 to 25 centimeters (8 to 10 inches) tall. These short grasses can have roots that extend 1 meter (about 3 feet) deep.
The parts of the Mojave, Sonoran, Chihuahua, and Great Basin deserts comprise the desert biome in North America. Deserts get about 250 millimeters (10 inches) of rain per year—the least amount of rain of all of the biomes. The temperature in the desert can change drastically from day to night because the air is so dry that heat escapes rapidly at night. Since desert conditions are so severe, the plants that live there need to have adaptations to compensate for the lack of water. Some plants, such as cacti, store water in their stems and use it very slowly, while others like bushes conserve water by growing few leaves or by having large root systems to gather water. Some desert plant species have a short life cycle of a few weeks that lasts only during periods of rain. The cholla plant uses CAM photosynthesis, an alternative pathway to convert energy from the sun into food. Mesophyll cells in the leaves convert carbon dioxide into organic acids. This allows the cholla to conserve water by keeping the stomata (the traditional pathway for photosynthesis) closed during the day (Figure 10.1.4).
The Mediterranean scrubland extends along the California coast from northern Baja through southern Oregon. It is characterized by a climate of dry, hot summers and wet, cool winters. This region is one of the world’s most biodiverse areas. Thirty percent of its vascular plants (plants that have conducting tissue like ferns, flowering plants, and grasses) are endemic—meaning that they are only found naturally in this region. There were more than 5,000 vascular plants in the Mediterranean shrubland compared to about 20,000 in the entire continental United States; 25 percent of the biodiversity of vascular plants are found in the Mediterranean scrubland, which represents only 5 percent of the area of the continental United States.[1] Due to habitat loss and other threats, Conservation International identified this region as a global biodiversity hotspot. Named the California Floristic Province, only about one-quarter of its habitats remain intact with less than 90 percent of its wetlands destroyed by development and water diversion for agricultural and urban uses.[2]
Extending from northeast Mexico through the Gulf and Atlantic coasts to southeastern Massachusetts, the North American Coastal Plain is another global biodiversity hotspot found in North America. Wetlands, deciduous forests, and coastal plains are commonly found in this hotspot. When European settlers colonized the Northern American Coastal Plains, they introduced non-native grasses, trees, and grazing animals, which left less than 15 percent of the native savanna and woodland habitats intact. This gave the appearance that the number of endemic species and that the overall biodiversity was lower than it really is. For example, river habitats in this hotspot have particularly high levels of endemic fish species.[3]
Physical Features
North America is divided into a number of physical regions with distinct landforms (Figure 10.1.5). The western part of the continent is marked by the Rocky Mountains. The eastern portion of North America is defined by the ancient Appalachian Mountains, a mountain range that is much less rugged than the Rockies but with no less influence on the history and development of the United States. The interior of the continent is characterized by the Great Plains. To the north is the Canadian Shield, geologically the oldest part of North America, and a sparsely populated area with poor soils. At the southern and eastern edge of the continent is the Gulf-Atlantic Coastal Plain, a relatively flat zone that extends from New York to Texas.
Most of North America, to include Mexico, Greenland, and some of the Caribbean, is situated on the North American plate and is thus relatively geologically stable (Figure 10.1.6). One notable exception, however, is the Juan de Fuca Plate, which is subducting under the North American plate near California and Vancouver Island, an area known as the Cascadia subduction zone. Severe earthquakes, generating tsunamis, have occurred here roughly every 500 years; the last major earthquake in the area was in 1700 CE. Just to the south, the San Andreas Fault running along the edge of California forms the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate. This is a transform plate boundary, with the two plates sliding past each other horizontally. San Francisco is located on this fault line and the area has experienced numerous earthquakes.
Climate Change
Earth's climate is changing. Multiple lines of evidence show changes in our weather, oceans, ecosystems, and more. Scientists have long established that natural causes alone cannot explain all of these changes. Human activities contribute to climate change, primarily by releasing billions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other heat-trapping gases, known as greenhouse gases, into the atmosphere every year. The more greenhouse gases emitted, the more intense future climate changes will be. In 2020, North America accounted for approximately 21 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions (Figure 10.1.7) while representing less than 5% of the global population. This means that on a per person basis, Americans are among the top emitters of greenhouse gases in the world.
Yet, the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change are uneven and vary by region. Climate change is already attributable to changes in precipitation patterns, ice loss, sea-level rise, ocean acidification, extreme weather, and more. In North America, these climate impacts vary geographically. Northern areas are projected to become wetter, especially in the winter and spring. Southern areas, especially the Southwest, are projected to become drier. Heavy precipitation events will likely be more frequent, even in areas where total precipitation is projected to decrease. Heavy downpours that currently occur about once every 20 years are projected to occur between twice and five times as frequently by 2100, depending on location. The proportion of precipitation falling as rain rather than snow is expected to increase, except in far northern areas. Thus, generally speaking, there are two Americas of the climate crisis: a parched west and a soaked east.[4] Figure 10.1.8 shows how annual temperature and precipitation patterns have changed from 1901 to 2020.
Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and along the east coast are likely to increase in intensity and frequency. Cold-season storm tracks are expected to continue to shift northward with the strongest cold-season storms are projected to become stronger and more frequent. There will be changes to precipitation regimes, as well. Figure 10.1.9 shows the predicted precipitation pattern changes in North America modeled with the “higher emissions” future scenario.
In the Canadian Mackenzie Valley, permafrost temperature has increased over the last four decades by at least 2°C. The Arctic is experiencing steep temperature increases, and warming temperatures over lands with permafrost are projected to continue in all emissions scenarios. This is resulting in a sustained thawing of large areas of permafrost. Canada underlain by deep permafrost is projected to decline by 16 percent to 20 percent by 2090, relative to 1990. This thawing of permafrost will affect the hydrology of the tundra region and release methane into the atmosphere, which would contribute to more warming.
Climate Justice
North America, and the United States in particular, has benefited more than others from the industries and technologies that are causing climate change. And at the same time, the countries that have benefited the least are more likely to be suffering first and worst because of climate change (See Africa South of the Sahara, Section 3.5). Wealthy, industrialized nations have released most of the greenhouse gas pollution to date — meaning they’ve played an outsized role in causing climate change. Climate justice calls for these countries, along with multinational corporations that have become wealthy through polluting industries, to pay their “climate debt” to the rest of the world. In this view, stopping their greenhouse gas emissions, while hugely important, is not enough to fully pay the debt from over a century of pollution; these actors also have a responsibility to share wealth, technology, and other benefits of industrialization with the countries least responsible for the climate crisis, to help them cope with the effects of climate change and build clean energy systems and industries.
Climate justice is the principle that the benefits reaped from activities that cause climate change and the burdens of climate change impacts should be distributed fairly. Climate justice means that countries that became wealthy through unrestricted carbon emissions have the greatest responsibility to not only stop warming the planet, but also to help other countries adapt to the adverse effects of climate change and develop economically with nonpolluting technologies.
Climate justice also calls for fairness in environmental decision-making. The principle supports centering populations that are least responsible for and most vulnerable to the climate crisis . It also means acknowledging that climate change threatens basic human rights principles, which hold that all people are born with equal dignity and rights, including to food, water, and other resources needed to support human health. Calling for climate justice, rather than climate action, has implications for policymaking, diplomacy, academic study and activism by bringing attention to how different responses to climate change distribute harms and benefits and who gets a role in forming those responses. It calls for a reflection on universal ethics and differential power.
A climate justice perspective also brings attention to inequalities within countries. Within high and low income countries, wealthier people are more likely to enjoy energy-intensive homes, private cars, leisure travel, and other comforts that both exacerbate climate change and buffer them from impacts like extreme heat. Climate change also worsens pre-existing social inequalities stemming from structural racism, socioeconomic marginalization, and other forms of social exclusion. In the U.S., for example, communities of color and immigrant communities are more likely to be located in places where climate risks are more severe, such as in flood zones or urban heat islands.
Watch the video below to learn about the connection of climate justice to Indigenous perspectives.
Water Resources
North America has a number of significant rivers, some of which are used for shipping and hydroelectric power. The longest North American river is the Missouri, which forms in Montana and flows into the Mississippi River. The Mississippi River is largely considered to be the most important waterway in terms of commercial transportation. The Port of South Louisiana, located along the Mississippi, is a commercial hub with the largest tonnage of trade goods flowing in and out of the United States. Canada’s surface water resources are considerable, an estimated 7 percent of the world’s renewable water supply. Approximately 60 percent of the country’s freshwater drains to the north, away from the 85 percent of the population living within 300 kilometers of our southern border.
A watershed is an area of land that drains all the streams and rainfall to a common outlet such as the outflow of a reservoir, mouth of a bay, or any point along a stream channel. Watersheds can be as small as a footprint or large enough to encompass all the land that drains water into rivers that drain into Chesapeake Bay, where it enters the Atlantic Ocean. Figure 10.1.10 shows one set of watershed boundaries in North America.
Dams
A dam is a constructed barrier along a river designed to hold back the flow of surface water, which creates a reservoir (Figure 10.1.11). There are more than 105,000 dams in North America but only a few percent produce hydroelectricity—most were built for flood control, the creation of reservoirs to hold water supplies, or for irrigation. Decades of human alteration through dams and other infrastructure have profoundly affected a host of hydrological and ecological processes. Because dams block the transport of sediment and nutrients downstream, there are many effects on downstream habitats.
Over the past several decades, more than 1,100 dams have been removed nationally due to increasing public concern over their safety, an unwillingness to invest scarce resources in infrastructure repair, and a growing interest in restoring degraded ecosystems.[5][6] Reasons for dam removal include improving water quality, improving native plant communities, and restoring wetlands.
The Elwha River in Washington state provides a case study of the rationale and benefits of dam removal. For millennia, the Elwha River ran wild, connecting mountains and seas in a thriving ecosystem. The river proved to be an ideal habitat for anadromous (sea-run) fish, with eleven varieties of salmon and trout spawning in its waters. These fish thrived in the cold, clear waters of the Elwha River and historically served as an important food source for the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe living along its banks. American expansion spurred a continual demand for lumber. The growth of the logging industry in the region brought rapid change to the Olympic Peninsula and specifically to the Elwha River with the construction of two dams. However, construction of the dams blocked the migration of salmon upstream, disrupted the flow of sediment downstream, and flooded the historic homelands and cultural sites of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.
For over a century, the web of ecological and cultural connections in the Elwha Valley were broken - then the river's story changed course. In 1992, Congress passed the Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act, authorizing dam removal to restore the altered ecosystem and the native anadromous fisheries therein. After two decades of planning, one of the largest dam removals in U.S. history began on September 17, 2011. Six months later the Elwha Dam was gone, followed by the Glines Canyon Dam in 2014. Today, the Elwha River once again flows freely from its headwaters in the Olympic Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca (Figure 10.1.12).
Megadams and Energy Exports from Canada to the United States
All over Europe and North America big damns are no longer being built given grave environmental and social concerns associated with mega dams. Canada appears to be the exception to that.Large dams are still being built across Canada, from Muskrat Falls in Labrador to the generically titled “Site C” in British Columbia, despite cost overruns, outcry from some First Nations and even environmental concerns from the United Nations (Figure 10.1.13).
Hydroelectric power already supplies 60 percent of the country’s energy. But the dam building isn’t just to feed Canada’s power needs. It’s also become a hot export commodity. As U.S. states look to meet new clean energy targets, imported low-carbon hydropower from across the northern border has become a larger part of the conversation — and the grid. New England already gets 17 percent of its energy from Canadian hydropower, Midwest states around 12 percent and New York 5 percent. That number is likely to increase. A new transmission project to bring 250 megawatts of Canadian hydropower to the United States just came online in Minnesota. Two more are in the works for Massachusetts and New York.
Proponents say large-scale hydropower can help speed up the transition to clean energy, energy sources that have low or zero carbon emissions. Others caution that it comes with a larger environmental cost compared to wind and solar and could open the floodgates for more dam building. All told, over the life cycle of a project, most hydropower is cleaner than fossil fuels, but not as clean as wind and solar. A study in Nature Energy on the projected life-cycle emissions of energy sources put solar at 6 grams of CO2 equivalent per kilowatt hour and wind at 4. The researchers estimated typical hydro at 97, but there’s great variation between sites.[7]
There are other environmental considerations beyond greenhouse gas emissions, including habitat fragmentation, construction on contaminated ecosystems, and threats to endangered species. Hydropower may be renewable, but it damages ecosystems and threatens biodiversity. With the aim to maintain the ecosystem integrity and the cultural heritage of the region, a group of Cree and Inuit protestors paddled the Hudson River to Manhattan to ask New Yorkers to oppose a power purchase agreement between the state and Quebec and the construction of a second dam in the James Bay hydroelectric project in northern Quebec in 1990. They were successful. Now, 30 years later, a different group of First Nations is making a similar plea.
On October 7, 2020, the First Nations of Pessamit, Wemotaci, Pikogan, Lac Simon and Kitcisakik sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Energy stating their opposition to the Massachusetts transmission line. The groups wrote that one-third of Hydro-Québec’s installed power is “produced in our respective ancestral territories from reservoirs, dams, power plants and various other installations, without prior consultation, without our consent and without compensation.”[8] Major hydroelectric projects have altered the flow of rivers and in some cases and the food and cultural resources used by Indigenous communities. Thus, they raise questions about who benefits from such megaprojects, at what cost.
Aquifers
Below the surface of North America lies a number of aquifers, or underground layers of permeable rock that hold groundwater in natural reserves. The largest of these aquifers is the Ogallala Aquifer located in the central United States stretching from South Dakota down to Texas. This aquifer supplies water to much of the Great Plains, about one-third of all groundwater used for irrigation in the United States. While aquifers are beneficial for irrigation, they replenish their water supplies relatively slowly through rainfall. The high demands for irrigation waters in the Great Plains means has accelerated the mining of groundwater from the Ogallala Aquifer at rates beyond natural replenishment, resulting in aquifer depletion (Figure 10.1.14). Once all of the water is depleted, it will take around 6,000 years to naturally replenish. This is a grave environmental problem, given the importance of groundwater this vital agricultural region of the United States.
Water is already scarce in the American Southwest, so every drop is a precious resource. People in the Southwest are particularly dependent on surface water supplies like Lake Mead, which are vulnerable to evaporation. Thus, even a small increase in temperature (which drives evaporation) or a decrease in precipitation in this already arid region can seriously threaten natural systems and society. Droughts also contribute to increased pest outbreaks and wildfires, both of which damage local economies.Droughts also reduce the amount of water available for generating electricity—for example, at the Hoover Dam, which supplies roughly 8 million people in Arizona, southern California, and southern Nevada with power. Every part of the Southwest experienced higher average temperatures between 2000 and 2020 than the long-term average (1895–2020). Some areas were more than 2°F warmer than average (Figure 10.1.15).
Large portions of the Southwest have experienced drought conditions since weekly Drought Monitor records began in 2000. For extended periods from 2002 to 2005 and from 2012 to 2020, nearly the entire region was abnormally dry or even drier (Figure 10.1.16). Extended droughts have severe impacts on water supplies of the American southwest and beyond. In California, a state with high value agricultural crops, farmers are turning to pumping more water from its underground water reserves at rates that can result in aquifer depletion. California also diverts water from the Colorado River, a lifeline of the American southwest for more than 30 million people. Increased diversion from the Colorado by American municipalities means that Mexico, a country facing severe water stress, can no longer depend on the flow on a river. Since 2008, the Colorado River Delta has dried and its waters no longer reach the Gulf of California, like it had for millions of years.
Attributions:
“Biomes and Physical Features” is adapted from World Regional Geography by Royal Berglee (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0); World Regional Geography by Caitlin Finlayson (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0); Introduction to World Regional Geography by R. Adam Dastrup (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0); and Mission: Biomes by the NASA Earth Observatory (public domain).
“Climate change” is adapted from Climate Change Science and Climate Change Indicators by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (public domain); Canada’s Changing Climate Report by E. Bush and D.S. Lemmen (editors) for the Government of Canada (public domain); and Climate Justice by Mariana Arcaya and Elizabeth Gribkoff (editors) for the Climate Portal (CC BY-NA-SA 4.0).
“Water Resources” is adapted from World Regional Geography by Caitlin Finlayson (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0); Hydrology of Canada by the government of Canada (public domain); River restoration by dam removal: Enhancing connectivity at watershed scales by F.J. Magilligan et al. (CC BY 4.0); Elwha River Restoration by the National Park Service (public domain); and Promise or Peril? Importing Hydropower to Fuel the Clean Energy Transition by Tara Lohan (CC BY-SA 2.0). | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/10%3A_North_America/10.01%3A_Natural_Environments_and_Nature-Society_Interactions.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Describe the cultural diversity among the Indigenous nations of North America.
• Examine the impacts of settler colonialism on the physical and cultural landscapes of North America.
• Analyze decolonization frameworks.
Cultural Diversity among Indigenous Peoples in North America
The Americas had long been settled before contemporary political borders were established. Various Indigenous groups lived in settled or semi-settled communities, moving as resources became limited, populations too large, or due to conflict. For example, before European contact, the people known as the Lakota lived in the prairies of what is now the state of Minnesota, part of the Northeast cultural-geographic area (Figure 10.2.1). Horses did not exist in the Americans until Europeans brought them. In 1680, many pueblos (communities) in the Southwest revolted against the Spanish who had attempted to colonize them. As a result of the revolt, many Spanish horses were freed. Eventually these horses, ancestors of the mustang, found their way to the Plains. In the meantime, European contact and forced relocation had pushed the Lakota onto the Plains. The Lakota soon came to depend on and revere the horse that helped them survive in their new environment. So should they be considered a society of the Northeast or the Plains? Ultimately, that is for the Lakota people to decide, if they want to frame their histories in this regional way at all. The story of migration and adaptation of the Lakota illustrates the complexities of regionalizing Indigenous civilizations. Thus, maps like the one below are too simplistic because they are static and do not depict the complex and mobile histories of indigenous groups. Figure 10.2.2, from Native-Land.ca, a Canadian Indigenous-led non-profit organization, provides a mapping platform for Indigenous peoples to represent themselves and their territories in their own terms.
The Politics of Indigeneity in Canada and the United States
In 2020, about 9.7 million people (2.9 percent of the population) identified as Native American and Alaska Native in the United States (alone or in a combination with another racial/ethnic group), which represents a large increase since the previous census. Canada’s 2021 census counted 1.8 million Indigenous people (5 percent of the population). Census numbers are based on self-identification, or the self-reported ethnoracial identities of individuals who responded to the survey. Indigenous identity, however, is subjected to governmental recognition in Canada and the United States (and other countries). Governments often stipulate which groups to recognize as indigenous in order to grant or recognize Indigenous land sovereigneity. In other words, governmental recognition matters because it may grant or deny rights to ancestral lands. How governments choose to recognize indigenity is what we call the politics of indigeneity.
In addition to the three office Indigenous groups recognized by the government of Canada (the Inuit, the First Nations, and the Métis), Canada defines a fourth group called “non-status Indians”. This refers to people who identify themselves as Indians but who are not entitled to registration on the Indian Register pursuant to the Indian Act. Some may, however, be members of a First Nation band. In alignment with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Canada’s Congress of Aboriginal Peoples uses the all-inclusive term “Indigenous” to refer to Indigenous peoples who are off-reserve, status and non-status Indians, Métis, and Southern Inuit. “The Congress arose as a representative for the “forgotten people” in response to the structural and systemic exclusion of Indigenous people in federal policy. The 2016 Census reported that of the 1.6 million Indigenous people in Canada, 51 percent, or 853,000, were not classified as Registered or Treaty Indians (i.e., Status Indians).[1]
The video below provides insights to the politics of indigeneity in the United States. It refers to the blood quantum, which refers to the fraction of a person’s ancestors who are documented as Native Americans. “Throughout history, blood quantum was used to define a point at which responsibilities to tribes, entitlement programs, treaty rights, and reservations would end. The government hoped that using blood quantum would eventually eliminate Native peoples—that intermarriage would “dilute” the amount of ‘Indian blood’ in the population, causing descendants of Native peoples to become indistinguishable from the rest of the population”.[2]
Because the external groupings of people with Indigenous heritage is fraught and Indigenous peoples are not a monolith, it is preferred to use the specific names of the Nations and communities when discussing history, territory, identity, or any other aspect of social life. There are many separate and unique nations.
Canada
Before there was Canada, there was Turtle Island—home to the first peoples of North America. Algonquin and Iroquoian peoples tell the story of a Sky woman falling toward the sea but finding refuge on Turtle, and of how a humble creature like Muskrat dove to the bottom of the sea to find the soil needed to build her a home on Turtle’s back. While this origin story is representative of only some of the Indigenous population of present-day Canada, there are some commonalities across most Indigenous communities. Traditionally, Indigenous cultures are inclusive. Lynda Gray, from the Tsimshian First Nation, writes: “Everyone had a place in the community despite their gender, physical or mental ability, sexual orientation, or age. Women, Elders, Two-spirit, children, and youth were an integral part of a healthy and vibrant community”.[3]
Education differed from European-style education because children engage in hands-on learning with their families and immediate community. Also, education is seen as a lifelong process as people grow into different roles from child, youth, adult, and Elder. Elders are cherished and respected. An Elder is not simply an older or elderly person, but is usually someone who is very knowledgeable about the history, values, and teachings of his or her culture. He or she lives according to these values and teachings. Each Indigenous community determines who are respected Elders. First Nations pass along values and family and community histories through oral storytelling.
Each Indigenous culture, community, and even family has its own historical and traditional stories, songs, or dances. Different cultures have different rules about ownership. Some songs, names, symbols, and dances belong only to some people or families and cannot be used, retold, danced, or sung without permission. Sometimes they are given to someone in a ceremony. Other songs and dances are openly shared.
Today, the Canadian constitution recognizes three broad groups of Indigenous peoples: the Inuit, the First Nations, and the Métis.
The Inuit are descended from people living north of the tree-line, in the Arctic areas of present-day Canada prior to European contact (Figure 10.2.3). The word Inuit means "the people" in the Inuit language of Inuktitut. Inuit have lived and thrived in the Arctic for thousands of years. A present-day map of Inuit languages shows the vast lands inhabited by Inuit peoples (Figure 10.2.3). Traditionally they lived off the resources of the land, hunting whales, seals, caribou, fish, and birds, and many Inuit continue to harvest these resources today. Cultural and oral traditions are based on sharing, co-operation, and respect for the land, the animals, fish, and peoples.
The First Nations are descendants of people living south of the tree-line. Historically, First Nations managed their lands and resources with their own governments, laws, policies, and practices. Their societies were very complex and included systems for trade and commerce, building relationships, managing resources, and spirituality.
Today, there are more than 630 First Nation communities in Canada, which represent more than 50 Nations and 50 Indigenous languages. Figure 10.2.4 provides the official Canadian government’s map of Indigenous communities codified by the Indian Act of 1876 and the First Nations Land Management Act of 1999, which provided participating First Nations with the right to manage their own lands and set up land ownership rules.
The Métis are descendants of multi-generational, intermarrying communities of mixed-race individuals, with Algonquian and French heritages the most common. In the 17th and 18th centuries, many French and Scottish men migrated to Canada to work in the fur trade with the Hudson’s Bay Company, the North West Company, or as independent traders. Some had children with First Nations women and formed new communities. The red “voyageur sash” is recognized as a part of the distinct Métis culture (Figure 10.2.5). It was part of the clothing worn by Métis people every day and had many uses such as a holder, washcloth, bridle or saddle blanket. The sash is worn by Métis people today in celebration of their culture and identity.
United States
A tremendous amount of diversity existed amongst the hundreds of Indigenous groups living in the present-day United States. The people of the West Coast had very little in common with the way that the peoples of the Southwest lived. However, groups within each region tended to have more commonalities. For instance, each region of the continent could be typified by the way in which peoples supported themselves, that is, their subsistence strategies. Other similarities might include kinship relations, political structure, and material culture, the objects and artifacts utilized by a people and having social significance to them. Language is also used as a key identifying characteristic.
The Pacific Northwest and California Peoples in the Pacific Northeast supported themselves largely through hunting, gathering, and fishing, relying most heavily on salmon fishing. Consequently, the salmon became an important figure in the cosmology of groups like the Tlingit and Haida. The Pacific Northwest region was densely populated and culturally diverse because of the rich natural resources that provided a relatively reliable and plentiful food source, which translated into a large population. Most groups lived in large, permanent towns in the winter. These towns formed the basis of the political structure for many Northwestern groups. People identified themselves by their town, and towns organized themselves into larger cultural and political groups through family and political alliances. Each town was led by a secular leader from one of the town’s important clans. Clans are groups of families that recognize a common ancestor and a greater familial relationship amongst the group. Clans were often identified by a symbolic figure or idea important to the region. In the Pacific Northwest, for instance, clans were named for important animals such as raven, salmon, eagle, and killer whale. Society in Pacific Northwest groups was generally highly stratified in a complex system of hierarchy that ranked individuals, families, clans, and towns.
Some of the earliest peoples of the Midwest/Great Plains region were agriculturalists, settling in the south and central areas. However, the reintroduction of the horse to North America at European contact transformed Plains life (the ancestor of modern horses was found throughout much of North America in the Pleistocene era, but died out and disappeared from the continent). Groups quickly adopted use of the horse in following and hunting the great bison herds, and many groups such as the Sioux, comprising the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota, were transformed from farmers to nomadic hunter/gatherers and emerged as one of the most important groups in the northern Plains region. Other important groups include the Crow in the north, the Cheyenne, Pawnee and Arapaho in the central plains area, and the Comanche in the south.
Northeastern groups were complex in many ways. Economically, they relied on both hunting/gathering and farming. Many participated in a system of exchange with shells as the medium. After the 1600s, groups began manufacturing wampum, made from white and purple shell beads, using them to record important events and to formalize agreements. Exact copies would be made for each party participating in an agreement. Politically, groups were led by men called sachems. Many towns organized themselves into tribes or nations; some tribes further allied to form political confederacies of affiliated nations. The Iroquois, or Haudenosaunee, made up of an association of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca nations, was the largest and most successful of these northeastern confederacies. Confederacies were governed by councils made up of leaders from each of the member tribes.
In the Southwest and northern Mexico, peoples combined farming with hunting and gathering. In arid regions, irrigation systems were built to water fields of corn, beans, and squash. A range of social structures were common from extended family groups to politically independent pueblos. The Pueblo, Navajo, Yuman, and Tohono O’odham peoples, among many others, all called this region home. Chaco Canyon in present-day New Mexico was a major center of ancestral Pueblo culture between 850 and 1250 (Figure 10.2.6). The highly organized large-scale structures, featuring multi-storey construction and sophisticated coursed masonry, illustrate the increasing complexity of Chaco social structure, which distinguished itself within the regional culture of the ancestral Pueblo and dominated the area for more than four centuries. The high incidence of storage areas indicate the probability that the Chacoans played a central economic role, and the great size and unusual features of the ceremonial kivas suggest that complex religious ceremony may have been significant in their lives.
Settler Colonialism
Settler colonialism is different from other forms of colonialism in that settlers come with the intention of making a new home on the land, a homemaking that insists on settler sovereignty over all things in their new domain. Settler colonialism incorporates components of external colonialism, the expropriation of fragments of Indigenous worlds, animals, plants and human beings, extracting them in order to transport them to —and build the wealth, the privilege, or feed the appetites of—the colonizers. It also incorporates internal colonialism, the biopolitical and geopolitical management of people, land, flora and fauna within the “domestic” borders of the imperial nation.
Within settler colonialism, the most important concern is land/water/air/subterranean earth. Land is what is most valuable, contested, and required. This is both because the settlers make Indigenous land their new home and source of capital, and also because the disruption of Indigenous relationships to land represents a profound violence. This violence is not temporally contained in the arrival of the settler but is reasserted each day of occupation. This is why Patrick Wolfe (1999) emphasizes that settler colonialism is a structure and not an event. In the process of settler colonialism, land is remade into property and human relationships to land are restricted to the relationship of the owner to property. The settlers sees themselves as holding dominion over the earth and its flora and fauna.
Settler colonialism has functioned, in part, by deploying institutions of western education to undermine Indigenous intellectual development through cultural assimilation and the violent separation of Indigenous peoples from our sources of knowledge and strength – the land. If settler colonialism is fundamentally premised on removing Indigenous peoples from their land, one, if not the primary, impact on Indigenous education has been to impede the transmission of knowledge about the forms of governance, ethics, and philosophies that arise from relationships on the land.
European settler colonization completely changed the cultural landscape of North America. In 1492, Columbus made contact with what are now the Bahamas, Cuba, and the island of Hispaniola, spurring Spanish and Portuguese colonization of the Americas. Early French and English settlements were not successful, but over time, they too gained control of territory and founded permanent colonies. The easternmost Indigenous groups were the first to experience the impacts of European invasion. Many were relocated, often forcibly, to the interior of North America to free up land for European settlement. Disease and war had a devastating effect on the Indigenous groups of the Americas. European settlers and explorers brought smallpox, measles, and cholera — diseases previously unknown to North America. In some areas, 90 percent of the Indigenous population died.
By the early 1700s, France, the United Kingdom, and Spain had established formal colonies in the Americas (Figure 10.2.7) and the population geography of North America today is largely rooted in the colonial developments during this time period. The British primarily set up settlements along the coast, including the thirteen colonies that would declare independence from the United Kingdom and form the basis of the United States. The French colonized much of Canada and the area surrounding the Mississippi River. Their primary objective was fur trading, and they founded a fur trading outpost at what would later become the city of Quebec. The Spanish colonized present-day Florida as well as much of Middle America, stretching into what is now the southwestern United States. They sought resources like gold, the expansion of trade, and opportunities to spread the Roman Catholic faith to Indigenous groups.
The early British colonies had highly specialized economies. The New England colonies, around the Massachusetts Bay area, were centers of commerce. The Chesapeake Bay area of Virginia and Maryland had a number of tobacco plantations. In the Middle Atlantic, around New York, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania, were a number of small, independent-farmer colonies. Further south, the Carolinas were home to large plantations cultivating crops like cotton.
These large plantations relied on slave labor, a tragic legacy that would last for 250 years in North America. Initially, colonists partnered with indentured servants. These laborers paid for their passage to North America by agreeing to work for an employer under contract for a set number of years. These indentured servants often worked on farms, and once their contract expired, they were free to work on their own. Over half of all European immigrants to the Americas before the American Revolution were indentured servants.
As indentured servants gradually earned their freedom, the system of indentured servitude was replaced with slavery. The Portuguese were the first to bring slaves from Africa to the Americas during the 1500s. England, France, Portugal, and the Netherlands would all later join in the transatlantic slave trade, with England dominating the slave trade by the late 17th century. The vast majority of slaves were destined for sugar colonies in the Caribbean and Brazil. Less than 10 percent would be brought to the North American colonies, but this number still represented hundreds of thousands of people. It is estimated that a total of 12.5 million Africans were shipped to the New World as slaves (discussed in Chapter 3 and Chapter 10).
During British colonization, slaves worked as house servants or laborers in the northern colonies and farm workers in the south. Britain formally abolished slavery in 1833, but slavery was so entrenched in the economies of the southern United States that it would take a civil war to end the practice. In their secession statement, Mississippi explained its reasoning for leaving the union: “In the momentous step which our State has taken of dissolving its connection with the government of which we so long formed a part, it is but just that we should declare the prominent reasons which have induced our course. Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery – the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth".[4]
When we think about the Civil War, it is important to understand the geographical differences between the North and South and to remember that the northern states profited from the slavery in the south. Just as geographers can divide the world into core and peripheral countries today, the early United States can similarly be analyzed in terms of its core and periphery. The southern states were indeed peripheral in terms of their economic development. Slavery, essentially forced free labor, provided the southern states with the maximum profit for their commodities. Even after slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865 with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, the legacy of slavery and racialization continued to confine African descendents. It would be another 100 years before laws were passed in the United States that would bar discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Even still, ethnoracial prejudice and discrimination continue to be a significant social issue.
Theorem \(1\) Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit in North America
In North American, there has been a crisis—and what the Canadian National Inquiry called a genocide[5]—of violence against Indigenous women and girls. In Canada, Indigenous women and girls are 12 times more likely to be murdered or missing than women and girls from different racial/ethnic backgrounds.[5] In the United States, murder is the third-leading cause of death among American Indian and Alaska Native girls and women who are 10 to 24 years old.[6] The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit (MMIWG2S) social movement is working to raise awareness about this issue, support the families and communities affected by violence, and dismantle the underlying racist and settler colonial structures that limit the safety of Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit people.
LGBTQ+ and Two-Spirited people are disproportionately impacted by violence due to colonial racism, homophobia, and transphobia.[7] The term Two-Spirit is an identity related to some Indigenous groups in North America. It refers to people (male, female, or intersex) who identify as having both a masculine and feminine existence. With more than 1,000 tribes in Canada and the United States, there is tremendous diversity in perspectives and attitudes about sex and gender. In many tribes, Two-Spirit people were considered neither men nor women; they occupied a distinct, alternative gender status. Most Indigenous communities have specific terms in their own languages for the gender-variant members of their communities and the social and spiritual roles these individuals fulfill. The disruptions caused by conquest and disease, together with the efforts of missionaries, government agents, boarding schools, and white settlers resulted in the loss of many traditions in Native communities. Two-spirit roles, in particular, were singled out for condemnation, interference, and many times violence. As a result, Two-Spirit traditions and practices went underground or disappeared in many tribes. Today, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender native people throughout North America are reviving the Two-Spirit role and its traditions.
Learn more about the situation in the video below, which includes a short interview with Abigail Echo-Hawk, a co-author on a 2018 report on MMIWG.
Decolonization
Decolonization may mean different things to different people, some legitimate and some not—especially when used too broadly. At the least, “decolonizing” begins with an acknowledgment of the systemic inequalities spread by colonialism, empire, and wealth extraction related to characteristics such as race, gender, sexuality, class, disability, and nationalism. From there, understandings or interpretations of “decolonization” can vary by discipline or cultural context.
A person’s positionality, which refers to the how differences in social position and power shape identities and access in society, plays an important role here. This requires an individual to develop an acute awareness of the social and political context that shapes their identity, values, and encounters with the world around them. But it should also extend to developing an acute awareness of any limitations to a person's “expertise,” including their understanding of how expertise develops and what forms it can take.
Decolonization brings about the repatriation of Indigenous land and life; it is not a metaphor for other things to do to improve our societies and schools. Decolonization can be seen as a way to address the destructive effects of settler colonialism. For some, the term survivance—combining survival and resistance—epitomizes decolonization efforts. But the methods of decolonization can be contradictory depending on the underlying motives of those who engage with the process. Table 10-2 provides a summary of different decolonization efforts in the context higher education.
Table 10-2. Decolonization Efforts in the Context Higher Education.
Framework Meaning of Decolonization Practices
“Everything is awesome” No recognition of decolonization as a desirable project, but increased access or conditional inclusion into mainstream None
Soft-reform
No recognition of decolonization as a desirable project, but increased access or conditional inclusion into mainstream
Providing additional resources to Indigenous, racialized, low-income, and first-generation students, so as to equip them with the knowledge, skills, and cultural capital to excel according to existing institutional standards
Radical-reform Includes recognition and authentic representation of Indigenous peoples and their rights Center and empower marginalized groups, and redistribute and reappropriate material resources
Beyond-reform Dismantling of modernity’s systematic violences (capitalism, colonialism, racism, heteropatriarchy, nation-state formation) Subversive educational use of spaces and resources
Land Back is a movement that seeks to return lands to the sovereign control of Indigenous groups, which is a goal of decolonization (Figure 10.2.9). Figure 10.2.10 highlights examples of lands returned to Indigenous care in the United States. In California, three case studies provide examples of what the return of lands to Indigenous peoples:
• In Los Angeles, a private landowner returned a parcel of land to the Tongva people.[8]
• The City of Oakland will return the rights of a portion of the Joaquin Miller Park to the Ohlone people.[9]
• In 2022, the Government of California’s Ocean Protection Council funding supported the purchase of coastal lands for the Wiyot Tribe.[10]
For many Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, the matter of land back is not merely a matter of justice, rights or “reconciliation”; it is viewed that Indigenous jurisdiction can indeed help mitigate the loss of biodiversity and climate crisis.
Attributions:
“Cultural Diversity among Indigenous Peoples in North America” is adapted from Economic Aspects of the Indigenous Experience in Canada by Anya Hageman (CC BY 4.0); First Nations by the Government of Canada (public domain); Pulling Together: Foundations Guide by Kory Wilson and Colleen Hodgson (CC BY-NC 4.0); Native Peoples of North America by Susan Stebbins (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0); United States History to 1877 by Catherine Locks et al. (CC BY-SA 4.0); and Chaco Culture by UNESCO (CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0).
“Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit in North America” is adapted from Two-Spirit by the Indian Health Service (public domain).
“Settler Colonialism” is adapted from Decolonization is not a metaphor by Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang (CC BY-NC 3.0); Learning from the land: Indigenous land based pedagogy and decolonization by Matthew Wildcat, Mandee McDonald, Stephanie Irlbacher-Fox, and Glen Coulthard (CC BY-NC 3.0); and World Regional Geography by Caitlin Finlayson (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0).
“Decolonization” is adapted from Decolonization and Indigenization by Andrea Wallace (CC BY 4.0); Mapping interpretations of decolonization in the context of higher education by Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti, Sharon Stein, Cash Ahenakew, and Dallas Hunt (CC BY-NC 3.0); and Land Back: A Yellowhead Institute Red Paper by the Yellowhead Institute (CC BY-NC 2.5 Canada). | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/10%3A_North_America/10.02%3A_Indigenous_Worlds-_Diversity_Survivance_and_Decolonization.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Analyze immigration patterns in Canada and the United States.
• Compare geographies of language and religion in Canada and the United States.
• Explain the economic and social impacts of aging populations.
The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and its Legacy
W.E.B. Du Bois, one of the preeminent black intellectuals and activists of the late 19th and 20th centuries, wrote that the African slave trade, which transported between 10 and 15 million Africans across the Atlantic to work as slaves in the Americas, was the most important “drama in the last thousand years of human history.” The trade tore Africans away from “the dark beauty of their mother continent into the new-found Eldorado of the West. They descended into Hell.” Rather than a primitive, archaic system, the transatlantic slave trade, and the labor performed by African and African-American slaves, created the modern Western world—one characterized by a global, interconnected system of capitalist expansion. The trade regarded human beings as commodities who themselves labored to produce commodities—gold, silver, sugar, tobacco, cotton – that generated profits for plantation owners, manufacturers, and merchants. African and African-American slaves resisted enslavement at every stage and found ways to create new communities, new kinship networks, and new cultures in defiance of an inherently dehumanizing system of racial slavery that survived for more than four hundred years.
Despite the exploitation and dehumanization they endured as slaves, Africans created new cultures and kinship ties that drew from their roots in Africa and their new experiences and contacts in the Americas. These African-American cultures would become the basis of Black resistance and resilience for generations of enslaved persons while, later, also becoming a fundamental part of the history and culture of the United States of America.
Immigration Patterns
Canada
When Canada became a country in 1867, the first Prime Minister was an immigrant. Sir John Alexander Macdonald, was born in Scotland on January 11, 1815, came to Upper Canada as a child. In 1937, John Buchan, the 1st Baron Tweedsmuir and Governor General of Canada (1935-40) said immigrant groups “should retain their individuality and each make its contribution to the national character,” a philosophy that is carried forward in Canada’s Multiculturalism policy.
The Dominion Lands Act was the 1872 piece of legislation that granted a quarter section of free land (160 acres or 64.7 hectares) to any settler 21 years of age or older who paid a ten–dollar registration fee, lived on his quarter section for three years, cultivated 30 acres (11.1 hectares), and built a permanent dwelling. By 1914, some 170,000 Ukrainians, 115,000 Poles, and tens of thousands from Germany, France, Norway, and Sweden settled in the West and developed a thriving agricultural sector. Additionally, between 1901 and 1914, more than 750,000 immigrants entered Canada from the United States. While many were returning Canadians, about one–third were newcomers of European extraction—Germans, Hungarians, Norwegians, Swedes, and Icelanders—who had originally settled in the American West.
By the 1960s, one-third of Canadians had origins that were neither British nor French, and took pride in preserving their distinct culture in the Canadian fabric. Today, most immigrants come from China, Philippines and India. The proportion of foreign-born Canadians was 17.6 percent in 2021 and 24 percent of Canada’s population speaks languages other than English and French. Since the fertility rate in Canada is only 1.68 children per female, the majority of Canada’s population growth is due to immigration.
United States
Immigration and Race in Early Immigration Law
The history of U.S. immigration and nationality law demonstrates how race became a factor in determining who could come to America and who could not. Studies of Chinese exclusion laws or the old immigration "quota system" trace a tradition of racist immigration policy. The Supreme Court reinforced this policy in the 1920s with a decision stating that Americans shared a "common understanding" of who was and was not "white," and by extension shared a "common understanding" of who did and did not belong in the United States.
Despite Supreme Court pronouncements, federal officials charged with administration of U.S. immigration and nationality laws were keenly aware that not all Americans shared the same understanding at any given time. More importantly, any "common understanding" of race or ethnicity shared by a majority of American society evolved over time, while the law remained locked in eighteenth century language.
After 1790, and throughout the nineteenth century, Congress legislated separately regarding immigration and nationality. With the exception of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the two bodies of immigration and nationality law were not coordinated, nor did either make any reference to the other. During the antebellum years and for a time thereafter, immigration and nationality law appeared to agree and serve national goals. The United States achieved a policy of free and open immigration largely by failing to legislate on the subject at that time. The Steerage Act of 1819 remains Congress's most aggressive action regarding immigration prior to 1875, and the 1819 law worked to encourage immigration by ensuring safe and healthy conditions aboard passenger ships. As the nation marched west and dispossessed Native Americans, a regular supply of immigrants from Europe arrived to occupy new territories and hold them for their new nation.
Immigration to the United states has typically occurred in waves—with various groups of people moving in larger numbers at different points in American history (Figure 10.3.1). The first wave was comprised of more than 4 million Irish people who immigrated in the mid-1800s due to famine. In the 1800s, more than 5 million Germans immigrated due to religious persecution, high unemployment rates, and political unrest.
When gold was discovered in California in 1848, Americans rushed west, hoping to strike it rich. At the same time, a crop failure in southern China and word of riches led approximately 300,000 Chinese to immigrate to the United States (labeled as wave 2 on the bottom charge of Figure 10.3.1). Once Chinese immigrants arrived in California, they found that gam saan or “gold mountain” was an illusion. Mining was uncertain work, and the gold fields were littered with disappointed prospectors and hostile locals. Work could be scarce, and new arrivals sometimes found it difficult to earn enough to eat, let alone to strike it rich. Even worse, they soon discovered that they were cut off from their families: With no source of money, the immigrants could not pay for their wives and children to make the long voyage from China, and could not go back home themselves. During their first few decades in the United States, they endured an epidemic of violent racist attacks. The perpetrators of these crimes, which included Americans from many segments of society, largely went unpunished. In the economic depression of the 1870s, hostile attitudes toward Chinese immigrants only became worse. The door to the Chinese American dream was slammed shut in 1882, when Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. This act was the first significant restriction on free immigration in U.S. history, and it excluded Chinese laborers from the country under penalty of imprisonment and deportation. It also made Chinese immigrants permanent aliens by excluding them from U.S. citizenship. Chinese immigrants in the U.S. now had little chance of ever reuniting with their families, or of starting families in their new home.
The early 1900s brought a third wave of immigration to the United States. Between 1900 and 1915, more than 15 million immigrants arrived in the United States. That was about equal to the number of immigrants who had arrived in the previous 40 years combined. In 1910, three-fourths of New York City's population were either immigrants or first generation Americans (i.e. the sons and daughters of immigrants). Not only were the numbers of immigrants swelling, the countries from which they came had changed dramatically as well. Unlike earlier immigrants, the majority of the newcomers after 1900 came from non-English speaking European countries. The principal source of immigrants was now southern and eastern Europe, especially Italy, Poland, and Russia, countries quite different in culture and language from the United States, and many immigrants had difficulty adjusting to life here.
A fourth wave of immigration began with an executive order, called the Mexican Farm Labor Program, that established the Bracero Program in 1942. This series of diplomatic accords between Mexico and the United States permitted millions of Mexican men to work legally in the United States on short-term labor contracts. These agreements addressed a national agricultural labor shortage during WWII and implicitly, they redressed previous depression-era deportations and repatriations that unjustly targeted Mexican Americans who were U.S. citizens. Upon its termination in 1964, the Bracero Program had brought more than four million Braceros (arms) to work in U.S. agriculture and on railroads. During World War II, the U.S. sought labor from millions of Braceros, who would return to their country of origin after their work permit expired. El Paso, Texas, the U.S. point of entry from Ciudad Juarez, served as a recruitment center for the program, which the U.S. Agricultural Department and independent farmer associations administered with the Farm Bureau managing English-language contracts. The United States and Mexico agreed on a set of protocols that would protect Braceros from discrimination and poor wages. Nonetheless, discrimination continued and Braceros experienced surcharges for room and board, deducted pay, and exposure to deadly chemicals. The Bracero Program concluded on December 31, 1964 as mechanization became more widespread. Ultimately, the program resulted in an influx of undocumented and documented laborers, 22 years of cheap labor from Mexico, and remittances to Mexico by Braceros.
In the late 20th and early 21st century, people from Mexico became the largest group of immigrants from any single country. In recent years, however, Asia and Central America have become the top source locations for immigrants. The push and pull factors are varied for immigrants coming from Mexico. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) prompted more immigrants from rural, Indigenous, and farming communities to immigrate as farms needed to compete on a global scale. Forced displacement by the lack of safety caused by Mexican drug cartels contribute to the migration flow from Mexico, as well. Some Mexican immigrants are highly-skilled, with advanced degrees, and arrive to the United States for employment in health, education, and business fields.
There are many more important moments in the immigration history of the United States—too many to delve into here. What’s most important, perhaps, is to think about how the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, U.S. immigration laws, the global economy, and political unrest around the world has shaped the unique ethnoracial composition of the U.S. population as reported in the U.S. Census (Figure 10.3.2). It is important to note that the definitions of ethnoracial categories have not been fixed or universally agreed to. For example, only in the 1930 census were Mexicans counted as a separate race. It was not until 1960 that people could choose their own race on U.S. census forms. And, it was not until 2000 when people could two or more race categories. Currently, the U.S. Census has two questions related to ethnoracial identities. The first relates to the category “Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin", which includes all individuals who identify with one or more nationalities or ethnic groups originating in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central and South America, and other Spanish cultures. The second question asks the persons race based on the Office of Management and Budget standards.
Language and Religion
An Eroding Linguistic Landscape
There are approximately 255 languages currently used in North America from dozens of language families (Figure 10.3.3). Nearly 94 percent of these languages are endangered, which means they are in danger of disappearing as its speakers shift to another language or die out. Colonization and the systemic suppression of Indigenous languages through the residential school system and other methods, has led to efforts to revitalize native languages. In 2019, Canada passed the Indigenous Languages Act and provided funding to support the teaching of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis languages. In 2022, the Canadian government released a statement with the following quotes from the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations: “Languages are more than just words; they connect people, tell stories, convey wisdom and traditions as well as define who we are. Close to 500 years of colonization has threatened the existence of Indigenous languages, which are core to their cultures. Cultural revitalization, including language promotion, is a crucial step towards dismantling this system. Through the Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program, our government continues to promote Indigenous languages alongside First Nations, Inuit and Métis partners on the path toward reconciliation”.[1]
Religion
Among high-income countries, the United States and Canada larger numbers of religious people. A 2018 report by the Pew Research Center found that 53% of or respondents from the United States and 27% of respondents in Canada said that religion is very important to them in their lives compared to 10% in the United Kingdom, 11% in France, and 22% in Spain.[2] The same report indicates that of ”102 countries, the U.S. is the only one with both above-average GDP (gross domestic product) per capita and above-average frequency of daily prayer".
Canada
About 53 percent of the Canadian population are Christian with Roman Catholicism being the largest denomination. Between 1991 and 2001, the number of Roman Catholics in Canada increased slightly, while the number adhering to Protestant denominations continued a long-term decline. The census enumerated just under 12.8 million Roman Catholics, up 4.8 percent, while the number of Protestants fell 8.2 percent to about 8.7 million. The largest gains in religious affiliations occurred among faiths consistent with changing immigration patterns toward more immigrants from regions outside of Europe, in particular South Asia and Southwest Asia. Approximately 5 percent of Canadians are Muslim, 2 percent are Hindu, 2 percent are Sikhs, 1 percent are Buddhist, and less than 1 percent are Jewish or have an Indigenous spirituality (Figure 10.3.4).
United States
At its founding, most early settlers to the United States were Protestant Christians: Puritans lived in New England and Anglicans (later called Episcopalians) lived in Virginia. Roman Catholic immigrants settled in Maryland, and members of the Society of Friends (Quakers) founded Pennsylvania. Even within that overall picture, there was a great deal of religious diversity in the United States, and that diversity increased as new arrivals came from different countries with different religious backgrounds. The current pattern of religious affiliation in the United States remains quite complex, and one can find observers of nearly every major religion, and many minor ones, in virtually every area of the country. That being said, there are clear patterns to the geography of religion in the United States that tell stories of immigration and migration history, as well as stories about other aspects of American history. The map of leading church bodies shows regions of religious observance that are worth examining (Figure 10.3.5).
Baptist churches are the leading religious body in about 45 percent of all counties in the United States and most of those counties are found in the South. This region is considered the nation’s Bible Belt, and it is a region in which churches are more likely than in other parts of the country to teach a literal interpretation of the Bible. Baptist churches grew in popularity in the South after the Civil War as more liturgical denominations such as Methodists went into decline, and Baptist churches are popular among both African American and white residents.
Another interesting Protestant region is northern Appalachia and the lower Midwest from Ohio to Iowa and Kansas. As seen on the map, some of these counties are Baptist, in some of them the strongest church presence is Methodist, and in others it is Christian churches (Disciples of Christ and historically similar denominations) that prevail. The Methodist and other Christian areas were heavily influenced by the Second Great Awakening of the early nineteenth century, which promoted the theology that every person could be saved through revivals. The movement provided for strong showings of Protestant denominations that arose during that time. The third Protestant region is the northern Midwest and Great Plains: Minnesota, the Dakotas, and surrounding areas. This was the destination of German and Scandinavian Lutheran settlers during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the leading denominations today in much of that area remain Lutheran.
The Roman Catholic Church, which is the leading religious body in 40 percent of US counties, is well represented in the Northeast, West, and Southwest. In the Northeast and Midwest, the Catholic dominance points to nineteenth- and early twentieth-century immigration from Roman Catholic countries in Europe such as Italy, Ireland, and Poland. Those earlier Catholics have been joined more recently by large numbers of Hispanic immigrants. The dominance of Roman Catholics in the western United States, the Southwest, and even Florida in the Southeast are a reflection of the strong Hispanic presence in those parts of the country.
In the western United States, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon church or LDS) dominates a region including Utah and surrounding states. Utah was the destination of Mormon members as they migrated westward during the mid-nineteenth century.
Major urban centers are home to people who follow all the major religions of the world. About 2.4 percent of the U.S. population are Jewish. The states with the largest Jewish populations are New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. Muslim populations are found in cities as a result of late twentieth century immigrants arriving from countries such as India, Pakistan, and places in the Southwest and moving to urban areas for employment. Detroit and its surrounding counties in southeastern Michigan are one part of the country with a high concentration of Muslims, which make up about 1 percent of the U.S. population. Buddhists also make up about 1 percent of the U.S. population and a large concentration of Buddhists live in California.
Aging Populations
Several countries today are facing an aging population since the median age of the population has increased and a larger portion of the population is older. Two primary reasons for this are increased life expectancy and lower birth rates. Currently, the majority of the countries facing this demographic phenomenon consists of advanced economies, including Canada and the United States. This leads to higher values for the old-age dependency ratio, which is the number of individuals aged 65 and older per 100 people of working age (defined as those ages 20 to 64). In Canada, approximately 19 percent of the population is aged 65 years or older and the old-age dependency ratio is 32%. In the United States, the proportion of people aged 65 or older increased from 4 percent in 1900 to about 17 percent in 2020. The U.S. old-age dependency ratio is 30%. The number of older Canadians and Americans has increased in recent years due to the age of baby boomers—the generation that was born in the twenty years following World War II. As soldiers returned from war, families began to grow. This generation is now beginning to enter their older years. Figure 10.3.6 shows U.S. Census data: the graphs of the left compare the number of adults aged 65 and older to children under 18 years old. The graphics on the right show the 1960 and projected 2060 population pyramids for the United States.
There may be some economic advantages to having a higher old-age dependency ratio. For example, since older people have higher accumulated savings per head than younger individuals do, an older population can result in lower interest rates as well as a lower rate of inflation. However, for the most part, an older population leads to a lot of financial pressure on both the public and private sectors. For example, it is probably going to become increasingly difficult to pay corporate, federal, and state pensions, because the number of workers relative to retirees is shrinking in the US. In order to improve the sustainability of the pension system, a few measures can be undertaken. And, the worker-retiree ratio can be rectified by increasing the retirement age or by changing employment and immigration policies. An immigration website by the government of Canada states that:
• If it weren’t for immigrants, employers would have trouble finding enough qualified workers to fill available jobs. This is because Canadians are living longer and having fewer children. More people are retiring, and there are fewer students in schools. As a result, the pool of Canadian-born existing and potential workers is limited.
• Immigrants contribute to our economy, not only by filling gaps in our labor force and paying taxes, but also by spending money on goods, housing and transportation.
• Without immigrants to help support the needs of an aging population, younger Canadians would end up paying more income tax per person to provide retired Canadians with the same benefits that are available today.[3]
It may become necessary to expand resources to fund pensions through increased contributions or higher taxes. Trying to implement any of these solutions will likely result in some level of controversy and public debate.
Another significant source of problems related to an older population resides in the healthcare sector. In 1965, Congress created Medicare under the Social Security Act in order to provide health insurance to U.S. citizens over the age of 65, regardless of their income and medical history. Aside from premiums paid by Medicare enrollees along with the fund source itself, Medicare is financed by revenue levied on employers and workers through the Federal Insurance Contributions Act and the Self-Employment Contributions Act. However, due to rising enrollment as the population ages and a decreasing ratio of workers to enrollers, Medicare is facing financial difficulties. While the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is supposed to address many issues confronting the healthcare sector today, the rising cost of healthcare remains a national problem, as patients are paying more in order to receive the same care as before.
Attributions:
“The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and its Legacy” is adapted from African American History for HIST 244 by Christopher Collins (CC BY-NC-SA).
“Immigration” is adapted from Race, nationality, and reality; INS Administration of Racial Provisions in U.S. Immigration and Nationality Law Since 1898 by Marian L. Smith for the National Archives (public domain); Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 by the Library of Congress (public domain); 1942: Bracero Program by the Library of Congress (public domain); and Backgrounder - Facts in Canada's Immigration by the Government of Canada (public domain).
“Language and Religion” is adapted from World Regional Geography by Royal Berglee (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0); World Regional Geography by Caitlin Finlayson (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0); Introduction to World Regional Geography by R. Adam Dastrup (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0); Religious Affiliation, 2001: Other Religions by Census Division by the Government of Canada (public domain); and Religion in Canada by the Government of Canada (public domain).
“Aging Populations” is adapted from SOC 002: Social Issues and Problems by Boundless (CC BY-SA 4.0). | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/10%3A_North_America/10.03%3A_Culturally_Diverse_and_Aging_Populations.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Explain present-day segregation patterns based on historic and contemporary factors.
• Differentiate between de jure and de facto segregation.
• Analyze the impacts of segregation on spatial inequalities.
Urbanization, Segregation, and Suburbanization
North America’s urban landscape has been shaped both by colonization and by industrialization. Most of the early settlements in the region were small and were located close to the eastern coast. The Appalachian Mountains provided a formidable obstacle for early settlers before 1765. As settlement and colonization expanded, people moved steadily westward, still primarily situated close to waterways. Even today, most urban centers are located close to water.
North American urbanization occurred in distinct eras from the Colonial period where Eastern cities were modeled on European cities through the industrialization era where railroads allowed both Canada and the United States to expand their control westward. “As Europe had sought economic reward through colonization of the [so-called] New World, so, in turn, did the cities of the East Coast seek to enrich themselves through expansion of trade networks with the West”.[1] Immigrants arriving to cities and rural-to-urban migration, especially that of the Great Migration where approximately six million African Americans moved from the South to cities in the north, midwestern, and western states starting in the 1910s, led the United States to have a larger population living in urban areas than in rural ones by 1913.[2] Similarly, industrialization prompted large-scale urban growth where more Canadians lived in cities a decade later. When the period of industrial growth ended after World War II, deindustrialization and the depopulation of urban areas created the suburbs and further segregated populations.
Geographical studies of inequalities are particularly focused on socioeconomic spatial patterns—that is, patterns of identity and class over space. Segregation refers to the physical separation of groups, particularly spaces of residence but also of social life and functions. Segregation is a practice rooted in discriminatory laws. The exclusion of African Americans from schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods was once a core characteristic of American life, legalized by the Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the case that upheld the "separate but equal" concept by a sanctioning Louisiana law that required African American and white passengers to ride in separate train cars. The Supreme Court reasoned that laws of racial separation were constitutional because separation did not threaten equality. The compounding effects of de jure (by law) and de facto (in practice) efforts to impose white supremacist ideologies and policies helps to explain the sociospatial segregation we see today. While the Civil Rights movement and subsequent laws addressed de jure segregation, we continue to see patterns of segregation today due to historical legacies and de facto segregation. When considering how the past helps us to understand the present, we can utilize a guiding premise that racism and prejudice are entwined with U.S. history and this painful, difficult history must be taught to counter white supremacy.
Defining White Supremacy
White supremacy is a complex concept that manifests both in overt and covert ways. It’s fundamental basis—the existence of a “white race” based in biological differences—is a social construct. Although race is a social construct, it is important to note that it has a powerful impact on people’s lived experiences and identities, and indeed, geographies.
Consider the following quotes:
• Geographers Anne Bonds and Joshua Inwood explain that: “The naturalization and invisibility of white racial identities and white skin privilege is made possible through the structures and logics of white supremacy. If privilege and racism are the symptoms, white supremacy is the disease".[3]
• The National Education Association defines white supremacy culture as “a form of racism centered upon the belief that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds and that whites should politically, economically, and socially dominate non-whites. While often associated with violence perpetrated by the KKK and other white supremacist groups, it also describes a political ideology and systemic oppression that perpetuates and maintains the social, political, historical and/or industrial white domination“.[4]
• Laura Pulido, a geography and ethnic studies scholar further elucidates that white supremacy “can be seen in fears of a nonwhite nation, whites’ sense of ownership and the right to exclude, and deeply racialized thinking that systematically undermines the well-being of people of color".[5]
Jim Crow Laws
Jim Crow laws were legislative mandates directed at separating African Americans and white Americas in residence and institutions. From the 1880s into the 1960s, a majority of American states enforced segregation through "Jim Crow" laws (so called after a black character in minstrel shows). From Delaware to California, and from North Dakota to Texas, many states (and cities, too) could impose legal punishments on people for consorting with members of another race. The most common types of laws forbade intermarriage and ordered business owners and public institutions to keep their black and white clientele separated. Below is a sampling of laws from various states.
• In Georgia: “It shall be unlawful for any amateur white baseball team to play baseball on any vacant lot or baseball diamond within two blocks of a playground devoted to the Negro race, and it shall be unlawful for any amateur colored baseball team to play baseball in any vacant lot or baseball diamond within two blocks of any playground devoted to the white race.”
• In Florida: “Any negro man and white woman, or any white man and negro woman, who are not married to each other, who shall habitually live in and occupy in the nighttime the same room shall each be punished by imprisonment not exceeding twelve (12) months, or by fine not exceeding five hundred (\$500.00) dollars.”
• In New Mexico: “Separate rooms [shall] be provided for the teaching of pupils of African descent, and [when] said rooms are so provided, such pupils may not be admitted to the school rooms occupied and used by pupils of Caucasian or other descent.”
• In Alabama: “It shall be unlawful to conduct a restaurant or other place for the serving of food in the city, at which white and colored people are served in the same room, unless such white and colored persons are effectually separated by a solid partition extending from the floor upward to a distance of seven feet or higher, and unless a separate entrance from the street is provided for each compartment.
Anti-Miscegenation Laws
Anti-miscegenation laws or miscegenation laws are laws that enforced racial segregation at the level of marriage and intimate relationships by criminalizing interracial marriage and sometimes also sex between members of different races. While there have been no nationwide anti-miscegenation laws in the United States, there were state laws in individual states, particularly in the Southern States and the Plains States, that prohibited miscegenation.
All anti-miscegenation laws banned the marriage of whites and non-white groups, primarily Black Americans, but often also Native Americans and Asian Americans. The first anti-miscegenation law that applied to both men and women was enacted in the colony of Virginia in 1691 and was punishable by exile. It prohibited “English or other white man or woman being free” to intermarry with “a negroe, mulatto, or Indian man or woman bond or free”.[6] Sometimes, the individuals attempting to marry would not be held guilty of miscegenation itself, but felony charges of adultery or fornication would be brought against them instead. In addition, the state of Oklahoma in 1908 banned marriage "between a person of African descent" and "any person not of African descent". Louisiana in 1920 banned marriage between Native Americans and African Americans (and from 1920 to 1942, concubinage as well). Maryland in 1935 banned marriages between Black and Filipino individuals. In many states, anti-miscegenation laws also criminalized cohabitation and sex between whites and non-whites.
After the Second World War, an increasing number of states repealed their anti-miscegenation laws. These laws were a part of American law since before the United States was established and remained so until ruled unconstitutional in 1967 by the U.S. Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia. Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote in the court majority opinion that: "the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual, and cannot be infringed by the State."
Racially Restrictive Covenants (Deed Covenants)
From at least in the early 1900s to until 1948, individual property owners, homeowners’ associations, and real estate developers employed racially restrictive covenants to prohibit anyone not considered to be part of the “white race” from sale or residency. The only non-white exceptions allowed by most racial covenants were for domestic servants. If a Black renter or homebuyer attempted to move into a house with a restrictive covenant, any white resident in that suburban development could sue to remove them from the neighborhood.
These deed restrictions occurred during the “Streetcar Suburbs” era of urbanization in the United States. This is when trolley lines from downtown areas provided opportunities for the middle-class to move from inner city apartment buildings to more spacious single-family homes. One such housing development occurred in the North Park neighborhood of San Diego. A 1921 advertisement from Stevens & Hartley promoted a location with access to two trolley lines that will take you to “the most up-to-date restricted residence in San Diego”. The fourteenth restriction advertised, just after the restriction on farm animals, provides an example of the language used in racially restrictive covenants:
No conveyance, transfer, or lease of said property, nor any lease of any building that may be placed thereon shall be used or occupied by any person not belonging to the Caucasian race, as owner, lessee or tenant, nor in any other capacity except as servant”.[7]
On May 3, 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision that restrictive covenants based on race or ancestry violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and were legally unenforceable.[8]
Redlining
The economic collapse of the 1930s prompted legislation that created the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC), passed in the first 100 days of the Roosevelt Administration. HOLC helped restructure the American mortgage lending market by creating and standardizing several of its elements. HOLC supported the training of home appraisers and linking a home’s appraisal to the loan that could be given became a widespread practice. HOLC’s department of Research and Statistics drew upon its network of realtors, developers, lenders, and appraisers to create a neighborhood-by-neighborhood assessment of more than 200 cities in the country. These assessments included demographic data, economic reports, and the color-coded Security Maps later deemed infamous as instruments of “redlining.” Loans were refused in areas deemed “hazardous”, often due to the existence of people of color. HOLC assumed and insisted that the residency of African Americans and immigrants, as well as working-class whites, compromised the values of homes and the security of mortgages. In this they followed the guidelines set forth by Frederick Babcock, the central figure in early twentieth-century real estate appraisal standards, in his Underwriting Manual: "The infiltration of inharmonious racial groups ... tend to lower the levels of land values and to lessen the desirability of residential areas." Here are just a few examples from California cities:
• In southeast Fresno, “this large ‘red’ area contains the most mixed population of any part of the City of Fresno. In it are found Japanese, Chinese, negroes, uneducated Italians, and a few representatives of several other races.”
• In south central Los Angeles, a redlined neighborhood was described as “This is the ‘melting pot’ area of Los Angeles, and has long been thoroughly blighted. The Negro concentration is largely in the eastern two thirds of the area.”
• In southeast San Diego, a redlined area was described as a location with “a great many Mexicans with a definite trend of infiltration of this element”.
Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America provides a GIS tool that integrates the HOLC appraisals across U.S. cities. Figure 10.4.1 shows the HOLC map for Los Angeles. At the time the map was created, 40% of the state’s total population lived in Los Angeles County.[9] Figure 10.4.2 provides 2020 census data by tract for three ethnoracial groups in Los Angeles. The demographic patterns of segregation shown on the maps can be explained, in part, by the de jure and de facto practices of the past.
Black Americans criticized HOLC staffing decisions and infrastructure that favored white homeowners and businesses at their expense. However, discussion in Black newspapers, such as the Chicago Defender, prompted only modest response by policy and media elites. The Roosevelt Administration rebuffed NAACP concerns about restrictive covenants, even when HOLC redlining was exposed in 1938. Black housing officials often worked incrementally on a host of issues, including ending white terrorism and getting new black housing built, even if that meant operating within the segregationist strictures of federal policy. Racial segregation in housing was not formally deemed illegal until the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which prohibits discrimination concerning the sale, rental and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin and sex. On October 14, 2022, the California Association of Realtors issued a formal apology for its past discriminatory policies, including the endorsement of redlining, restrictive covenants, and steering.
Blockbusting
Blockbusting is a technique for increasing real estate brokerage income by playing upon the racial fears of homeowners. The blockbusting broker bought a few properties in an adjacent minority neighborhood then sold it to minority buyers, sometimes at a loss. This was used as a scare fear tactic to solicit white owners to sell quickly to avoid devalued properties later or to have to live among (to them) unattractive neighbors. Sometimes the first minority members were fake buyers brought in to behave as offensively as possible. In effect, the blockbuster is seeking to create a bandwagon effect, a vastly increased volume of panicky home sales, for to gain solely from the increased number of sales commissions and has no regard at all for the ensuing decrease in property values (Figure 10.4.3).
Steering
Steering is another de facto process that segregated neighborhoods. Real estate agents would not show available houses in certain neighborhoods to non-white purchasers or Jewish people. One such example is the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego. If a real estate agent was showing houses to Jewish buyers, they would put a green card in the window of their car to let the homeowners know their clients were Jewish.[10]
In 1963, the state of California passed the Rumford Fair Housing Act. This law would prohibit housing discrimination against people of color. The following year, the California Association of Realtors (formerly known as the California Real Estate Association) supported a proposition to overturn the Rumford Act so that the state of California could not prevent a person from selling or renting property “to any person as he chooses”. In effect, the proposition allowed for discriminatory practices like steering to continue. The proposition passed with 65 percent of voters in support. In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the proposition was unconstitutional. And, in 1968, the U.S. passed the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which prohibits discrimination concerning the sale, rental and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin and sex. On October 14, 2022, the California Association of Realtors issued a formal apology for its past discriminatory policies, including the endorsement of redlining, restrictive covenants, and steering.
Impacts of de jure and de facto White Supremacist Policies
White Flight and Suburbanization
The term white flight was coined in the mid-twentieth century to describe suburbanization and the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban regions. Segregation policies such as blockbusting, redlining, and racially restrictive covenants prompted this migration pattern. White flight contributed to the draining of cities’ tax bases when middle-class people left. This contributed to urban decay, a process whereby a city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. Symptoms of urban decay include depopulation, abandoned buildings, high unemployment, crime, and a desolate, inhospitable landscape. Urban decay was caused in part by the loss of industrial and manufacturing jobs as they moved into rural areas or overseas, where labor was cheaper.
Suburbanization is a term used to describe the growth of areas on the fringes of major cities. Sudden and extreme relocation out of urban areas into the suburbs is one of the many causes of urban sprawl, as suburbs grow to accommodate the increasingly large population. Many residents of suburbs still work within the central urban area, choosing instead to live in the suburbs and commute to work. During World War II, the United States had suffered from a housing shortage, especially in cities with shipyards or large defense plants. Now that the war was over, real estate developers and contractors rushed to alleviate the scarcity. Unused land on the fringes of American cities provided the perfect place for new housing, which attracted not only the middle class, which had long sought homes outside the crowded cities, but also blue-collar workers who took advantage of the low-interest mortgages offered by the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, known as the G.I. Bill. The vast majority of the 1.2 million African Americans who served the United States during World War II were denied access to the benefits of the G.I. Bill.
An additional factor was the use of prefabricated construction techniques pioneered during World War II, which allowed houses complete with plumbing, electrical wiring, and appliances to be built and painted in a day. Employing these methods, developers built acres of inexpensive tract housing throughout the country. One of the first developers to take advantage of this method was William Levitt, who purchased farmland in Nassau County, Long Island, in 1947 and built thousands of prefabricated houses. The new community was named Levittown.
Levitt’s houses cost only \$8,000 and could be bought with little or no down payment. The first day they were offered for sale, more than one thousand were purchased. Levitt went on to build similar developments, also called Levittown, in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. As developers around the country rushed to emulate him, the name Levittown became synonymous with suburban tract housing, in which entire neighborhoods were built to either a single plan or a mere handful of designs. Levitt used racially restrictive deed covenants with potential homeowners to ensure that only whites would live in his communities.
In the decade between 1950 and 1960, the suburbs grew by 46 percent. The transition from urban to suburban life exerted profound effects on both the economy and society. For example, fifteen of the largest U.S. cities saw their tax bases shrink significantly in the postwar period, and the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives shifted to the suburbs and away from urban areas.
The development of the suburbs also increased reliance on the automobile for transportation. Suburban men drove to work in nearby cities or, when possible, were driven to commuter rail stations by their wives. In the early years of suburban development, before schools, parks, and supermarkets were built, access to an automobile was crucial, and the pressure on families to purchase a second one was strong. As families rushed to purchase them, the annual production of passenger cars leaped from 2.2 million to 8 million between 1946 and 1955, and by 1960, about 20 percent of suburban families owned two cars. The growing number of cars on the road changed consumption patterns, and drive-in and drive-through convenience stores, restaurants, and movie theaters began to dot the landscape. The first McDonald’s opened in San Bernardino, California, in 1954 to cater to drivers in a hurry.
As drivers jammed highways and small streets in record numbers, cities and states rushed to build additional roadways and ease congestion. To help finance these massive construction efforts, states began taxing gasoline, and the federal government provided hundreds of thousands of dollars for the construction of the interstate highway system. Increased funding for highway construction also left less money for public transportation, making it impossible for those who could not afford automobiles to live in the suburbs. The increased construction of roads and highways often fragmented working-class neighborhoods and generated in opposition.[11]
Racial Segregation and Concentrated Poverty: The History of Housing in Black America
This video discusses the de jure and de facto policies that contributed to the formation of ghettoes in the United States.
Education
Prior segregation policies created gaps in the educational system because schools are greatly funded by property taxes. In California, local funding makes up about 33 percent, on average, of educational funding. This means that the wealthier the neighborhood, the higher the taxes and the greater the funding for the school district. States often try to equalize differential funding by giving more funds to poorer districts. Nonetheless, because disadvantaged communities often require supportive services that cost more, the state allocation often does not compensate for the inequality that exists. All in all, where a child lives will determine how much a particular district will spend per student.
School district boundaries many times draw sharp lines between two separate and unequal districts—districts that are predominately white and well-funded and those predominately non-white and underfunded. In the US, there are about 1,000 district borders separating advantaged and disadvantaged school districts. One in six American children attend a disadvantaged school district.
Environmental Racism
In terms of pollution, too, disparities exist across ethnoracial lines. Access of vital resources such as water and clean air is also notably restricted across color lines. For the past several years, Americans have been following the tragic case of Flint, Michigan. Thousands of black and white residents in Flint were exposed to lead contaminated water and the response to such poisoning has been remarkably slow. Disparities in environmental pollution and hazards led to the environmental justice movement.
In 1982, the North Carolina government decided to place 6,000 truckloads of soil containing toxic chemicals in the city of Afton. Afton is a small community located in poor, rural Warren County, North Carolina, and at the time, had an 84 percent African-American population. Protesters against siting the landfill in Afton argued that the siting decision was discriminatory and was made because the community was minority and poor. According to Dr.Robert Bullard, the Afton PCB landfill site was not the most “scientifically suitable location” because of the high risk for groundwater contamination. Throughout six weeks of protest, more than 500 people were arrested. Many veterans of the civil rights movement from the 1950’s and 1960’s supported the protesters and classified the protest as a new fight in the civil rights movement—the fight against environmental racism. Environmental racism refers to “any policy, practice, or directive that differentially affects or disadvantages (whether intended or unintended) individuals, groups, or communities based on race or color.”[12]
Ethnoracial Wealth Gap
The U.S. wealth structure is extremely unequal and marked by very large racial gaps, with the average Black household holding less than one tenth the net worth—defined as the total sum of assets minus debts—of the average white household.[13] The current racial wealth gap is the consequence of many decades of racial inequality that imposed barriers to wealth accumulation either through explicit prohibition during slavery or unequal treatment after emancipation (Figure 10.4.4). Examples of postemancipation barriers include legally mandated segregation in schools and housing, discrimination in the labor market, and redlining, which reduced access to capital in Black neighborhoods.
Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter is a global social justice activism movement that began in the United States and has since spread around the globe. The movement seeks to attain racial justice for African-Americans and those who identify as Black. Activists who participate in the movement aim to bring an end to violence and systemic racism aimed against Black people. Since its inception as a hashtag, it has transformed into a full-fledged movement that manifests on and offline. It expanded from being a response to police brutality to encompassing all types of injustices faced by Black people, including in the realms of education, the criminal justice system, and class relations.
The Black Lives Matter movement was created and was solidified in history by the deaths of three African-American men. On February 26th, 2012, Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African American high school student was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a 28 year old mixed Hispanic man at Stanford, Florida. Martin was unarmed and later Zimmerman was charged with second degree murder, however, on July 13th, 2013 he was found not guilty. The shooting of Trayvon Martin and the verdict of the courts caused an outcry from the African American community for action against anti-black racism that permeates today's society. Out of a response to the acquitted Zimmerman, Patrisse Cullors created a hashtag on Facebook in response to a post by Alicia Garza about the incident called, #BlackLivesMatter. Later, Patrisse Cullors in collaboration with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi started the #BlackLivesMatter campaign. Thus the movement began, in a local grassroots community of Oakland by the work and dreams of Cullors, Garza and Tometi. Yet the movement did not gain national recognition until a year later with the deaths of both Eric Garner and Michael Brown.
On July 17th, 2014, Eric Garner, a 43-year-old African American father of six children, was suffocated to death by Daniel Pantaleo, a 29 year old white policeman at Tompkinsville, Staten Island, New York. Video of the incident was captured on a cell phone and posted on social media, in which protests broke out across the country. This was the beginning of "Black Lives Matter"; supporters began to emerge, using this slogan to protest the police brutality occurring to the Black community. On August 9, 2014, less than a month after the death of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, a unarmed 18-year-old African American teenager, was shot and killed by Darren Wilson, a 28 year old white policeman in Ferguson, Missouri. Hundreds of protests broke out across the country to fight back against police brutality on African American men. #BlackLivesMatter signs were used in all the protests and people started rallying behind this movement.
The Black Lives Matter movement was cemented, and internationally recognized on December 13th when more than 100,000 people came together for the “Justice for all” rally in Washington and “Millions March” rally in NYC to protest police brutality against black people. It was on this stage that launched the Black Lives Matter movement into history. Figure 10.4.5 depicts a mural in Brooklyn, New York, that memorializes some of the Black Americans murdered by police.
Gentrification
Gentrification has gained attention over the last 50 years, as social scientists attempt to explain the influx of middle-class people to cities and neighborhoods and the displacement of lower-class working residents. Gentrification occurs when wealthier people buy or rent property in low- income or working class neighborhoods, driving up property values and rent. While it brings money into blighted urban areas, it often comes at the expense of poorer, pre-gentrification residents who cannot afford increased rents and property taxes.
The first "urban pioneers" in a gentrifying neighborhood may have lower incomes, but possess the cultural capital (e.g., education) characteristic of suburban residents. They are often socially and professionally dominant while economically marginalized. Partially due to their age and low-incomes, these individuals frequently reside in households with roommates and are more tolerant of the perceived evils of the city, such as crime, poor schools, and insufficient public services. Thus, they are willing to move into marginal neighborhoods. When the number of urban pioneers reaches such a critical mass, it attracts business investment and new amenities such as bars, restaurants, and art galleries. Once the urban pioneers and businesses have taken the financial risk out of the community, risk-averse investors and residents may enter the newly gentrified neighborhood. Renewed business attracts more investment capital and new residents, increasing local property values. Ironically, upon full gentrification, the urban pioneers are frequently evicted as rents and taxes rise, and the young, poor professionals can no longer afford to live in the area.
Gentrification is often resisted by those displaced by rising rents (Figure 10.4.6). However, while protests have an economic dimension, claims are usually articulated as a loss of culture or dismay over the homogenization and flattening of a formerly diverse neighborhood: gentrification generally increases the proportion of young, white, middle- to upper-income residents.
Three different explanations address the root causes of gentrification. The demographic explanation emphasizes the impact of the baby boomer generation, born after World War II. In the 1970s, this led to a spike in the young adult population, increasing demand for housing. To meet the demand, urban areas had to be “recycled,” or gentrified. The new baby boomer residents departed from the suburban family idea, marrying later and having fewer children; women in the baby boomer generation were the first to enter the workforce in serious numbers. New urban residents were composed of higher, dual-income couples without children, less concerned about space for large families—one of the main draws to the suburbs for their parents. Instead, they were interested in living in cities close to their careers and enjoying the amenities their higher incomes could afford.
The sociocultural explanation is based on the assumption that values and beliefs influence behavior. It focuses on the changing lifestyles and values of the middle- and upper-classes in the 1970s. At this time, the suburban ideal was falling out of favor; fewer people were moving to suburbs and more were moving back to cities. These first few suburban transplants, or urban pioneers, demonstrated that cities were viable places to live and began developing a type of inner-city chic that was attractive to other baby boomers, which in turn brought an influx of young affluence to inner cities.
Political economic explanations argue new economic or policy incentives contribute to gentrification. In part, the changing political climate of the 1950s and 1960s produced new civil rights legislation, such as anti-discrimination laws in housing and employment and desegregation laws. These policies enabled Black families to move out of urban centers and into the suburbs, thus decreasing the availability of suburban land, while integrationist policies encouraged white movement into traditionally Black urban areas.
An alternative explanation suggests that developers and government encouraged gentrification with an eye toward profit. Gentrification may be driven by governments hoping to raise property values and increase revenue from taxes. It may be the result of fluctuating relationships between capital investments and the production of urban space. During the two decades following World War II, low rents in the city’s periphery encouraged suburban development; as capital investment moved to suburbs, inner-city property values fell. Developers were able to see that they could purchase the devalued urban land, redevelop the properties, and turn a profit.
Attributions:
“Jim Crow Laws” is adapted from Jim Crow Laws by the National Park Service (public domain).
“Anti-Miscegenation Laws” is adapted from Anti-miscegenation Laws by the Scholarly Community Encyclopedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).
“Racially Restrictive Covenants (Deed Covenants)” is adapted from Restricting with Property Covenants by Tracey Wilson, Vianna Iorio, and Jack Dougherty (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) and Restrictive Covenants by Greg Robinson for the Densho Encyclopedia (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0).
“Redlining” is adapted from Introduction and Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America by Mapping Inequality (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
“Blockbusting” is adapted from Blockbusting by the Legal Dictionaries of the Encyclopedia of Law Project (CC BY 3.0).
“Impacts of de jure and de facto White Supremacist Policies” is adapted from The American Dream by P. Scott Corbett et al. (CC BY-NC).
“White Flight and Suburbanization” is adapted from Shrinking Cities and Counter-Urbanization by LibreText (CC BY-SA 4.0).
“Environmental Racism” is adapted from Environmental Justice: Examining the Environmental Protection Agency’s Compliance and Enforcement of Title VI and Executive Order 12,898 by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (public domain).
“Ethnoracial Wealth Gap” is adapted from What Is Behind the Persistence of the Racial Wealth Gap? By Dionissi Aliprantis and Daniel R. Carroll (public domain).
“Black Lives Matter” is adapted from Black Lives Matter by The University of British Columbia (CC BY 4.0).
“Gentrification” is adapted from Urban Gentrification by LibreTexts (CC BY-SA). | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Geographies%3A_A_Critical_Introduction_(Aline_Gregorio_Nazanin_Naraghi_Jason_Scott_Waverly_Ray)/10%3A_North_America/10.04%3A_Urban_Spatial_Inequalities_in_the_United_States.txt |
Learning Objectives
• Understand the principles of geographic study
• Summarize the key physical and human features of the world
• Distinguish between different types of regions
• Understand the major subfields of geography and their key conceptual frameworks
• Describe the process of globalization and the principal measures of inequality
What is “geography”? It might seem like a simple enough term to define. In middle school or high school, your answer might have been something to do with the study of maps, of where things were located in the world. In fact, much of primary and secondary school geography is explicitly focused on the where, answering questions like where a particular country is located, what a country’s capital is, and where major landforms are located. Just as simple arithmetic operations form the backbone of mathematics as a discipline, these kinds of questions are foundational to geographic study. However, one wouldn’t likely define math as the study of calculators or of multiplication tables. Similarly, there is much more to geography and geographic inquiry than the study of maps.
Geographers seek to answer both the “where” and the “why.” Simply knowing where a country is located is certainly helpful, but geographers dig deeper: why is it located there? Why does it have a particular shape, and how does this shape affect how it interacts with its neighbors and its access to resources? Why do the people of the country have certain cultural features? Why does the country have a specific style of government? The list goes on and on, and as you might notice, incorporates a variety of historical, cultural, political, and physical features. This synthesis of the physical world and human activity is at the heart of the regional geographic approach.
The term “geography” comes from the Greek term geo meaning “the earth” and graphiameaning “to write,” and many early geographers did exactly that: they wrote about the world. Ibn Battuta, for example, was a scholar from Morocco and traveled extensively across Africa and Asia in the 14th century CE. Eratosthenes is commonly considered to be the “Father of Geography,” and in fact, he quite literally wrote the book on the subject in the third century BCE. His three-volume text, Geographica, included maps of the entire known world (Figure \(1\)), including different climate zones, the locations of hundreds of different cities, and a coordinate system. This was a revolutionary and highly regarded text, especially for the time period. Eratosthenes is also credited as the first person to calculate the circumference of the Earth. Many early geographers, like Eratosthenes, were primarily cartographers, referring to people who scientifically study and create maps, and early maps, such as those used in Babylon, Polynesia, and the Arabian Peninsula, were often used for navigation. In the Middle Ages, as academic inquiry in Europe declined with the fall of the Roman Empire, Muslim geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi created one of the most advanced maps of pre-modern times, inspiring future geographers from the region.
Geography today, though using more advanced tools and techniques, draws on the foundations laid by these predecessors. What unites all geographers, whether they are travelers writing about the world’s cultures or cartographers mapping new frontiers, is an attention to the spatial perspective. As geographer Harm deBlij once explained, there are three main ways to look at the world. One way is chronologically, as a historian might examine the sequence of world events. A second way is systematically, as a sociologist might explore the societal systems in place that help shape a given country’s structures of inequality. The third way is spatially, and this is the geographic perspective. Geographers, when confronted with a global problem, immediately ask the questions “Where?” and “Why?” Although geography is a broad discipline that includes quantitative techniques like statistics and qualitative methods like interviews, all geographers share this common way of looking at the world from a spatial perspective. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/01%3A_Introduction/1.01%3A_The_Where_and_the_Why.txt |
At the heart of the spatial perspective is the question of “where,” but there are a number of different ways to answer this question. Relative location refers to the location of a place relative to other places, and we commonly use relative location when giving directions to people. We might instruct them to turn “by the gas station on the corner,” or say that we live “in the dorm across from the fountain.” Another way to describe a place is by referring to its absolute location. Absolute location references an exact point on Earth and commonly uses specific coordinates like latitude and longitude. Lines of latitude and longitude are imaginary lines that circle the globe and form the geographic coordinate system (Figure \(1\)). Lines of latitude run laterally, parallel to the equator, and measure distances north or south of the equator. Lines of longitude, on the other hand, converge at the poles and measure distances east and west of the prime meridian.
Every place on Earth has a precise location that can be measured with latitude and longitude. The location of the White House in Washington, DC, for example, is located at latitude 38.8977 °N and longitude 77.0365°W. Absolute location might also refer to details like elevation. The Dead Sea, located on the border of Jordan and Israel, is the lowest location on land, dipping down to 1,378 feet below sea level.
Historically, most maps were hand-drawn, but with the advent of computer technology came more advanced maps created with the aid of satellite technology. Geographical Information Service (GIS), sometimes also referred to as geographic information systems,uses computers and satellite imagery to capture, store, manipulate, analyze,manage, and present spatial data. GIS essentially uses layers of information and is often used to make decisions in a wide variety of contexts. An urban planner might use GIS to determine the best location for a new fire station, while a biologist might use GIS to map the migratory paths of birds. You might use GIS to get navigation directions from one place to another, layering place names, buildings, and roads.
One difficulty with map-making, even when using advanced technology, is that the earth is roughly a sphere while maps are generally flat. When converting the spherical Earth to a flat map, some distortion always occurs. A map projection , or a representation of Earth’s surface on a flat plane, always distorts at least one of these four properties: area, shape, distance, and direction. Some maps preserve three of these properties, while significantly distorting another, while other maps seek to minimize overall distortion but distort each property somewhat. So which map projection is best? That depends on the purpose of the map. The Mercator projection, while significantly distorting the size of places near the poles, preserves angles and shapes, making it ideal for navigation (Figure \(2\)).
The Winkel tripel projection is so-named because its creator, Oswald Winkel, sought to minimize three kinds of distortion: area, direction, and distance (Figure \(3\)). It has been used by the National Geographic Society since 1998 as the standard projection of world maps.
When representing the Earth on a manageable-sized map, the actual size of location is reduced. Scale is the ratio between the distance between two locations on a map and the corresponding distance on Earth’s surface. A 1:1000 scale map, for example, would mean that 1 meters on the map equals 1000 meters, or 1 kilometer, on Earth’s surface. Scale can sometimes be a confusing concept for students, so it’s important to remember that it refers to a ratio. It doesn’t refer to the size of the map itself, but rather, how zoomed in or out the map is. A 1:1 scale map of your room would be the exact same size of your room – plenty of room for significant detail, but hard to fit into your glove compartment. As with map projections, the “best” scale for a map depends on what it’s used for. If you’re going on a walking tour of a historic town, a 1:5,000 scale map is commonly used. If you’re a geography student looking at a map of the entire world, a 1:50,000,000 scale map would be appropriate. “Large” scale and “small” scale refer to the ratio, not to the size of the landmass on the map. 1 divided by 5,000 is 0.0002, which is a larger number than 1 divided by 50,000,000 (which is 0.00000002). Thus, a 1:5,000 scale map is considered “large” scale while 1:50,000,000 is considered “small” scale.
All maps have a purpose, whether it’s to guide sailing ships, help students create a more accurate mental map of the world, or tell a story. The map projection, color scheme, scale, and labels are all decisions made by the mapmaker. Some argued that the widespread use of the Mercator projection, which made Africa look smaller relative to North America and Eurasia, led people to minimize the importance of Africa’s political and economic issues. Just as texts can be critiqued for their style, message, and purpose, so too can maps be critiqued for the information and message they present.
The spatial perspective, and answering the question of “where,” encompasses more than just static locations on a map. Often, answering the question of “where” relates to movement across space. Diffusion refers to the spreading of something from one place to another, and might relate to the physical movement of people or the spread of disease, or the diffusion of ideas, technology, or other intangible phenomena. Diffusion occurs for different reasons and at different rates. Just as static features of culture and the physical landscape can be mapped, geographers can also map the spread of various characteristics or ideas to study how they interact and change.
Relative Location:
the location of a place relative to other places
Absolute Location:
references an exact point on Earth and commonly uses specific coordinates like latitude and longitude
Latitude:
imaginary lines that run laterally, parallel to the equator, around the earth and measure distances north or south of the equator
Longitude:
imaginary lines that circle the earth and converge at the poles, measuring distances east and west of the equator
Geographical Information Science:
also referred to as geographic information systems, or GIS; a program that uses computers and satellite imagery to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present spatial data.
Distortion:
changes that occur in area, shape, distance, and/or direction when representing a spherical Earth on the flat surface of a map
Scale:
the ratio between the distance between two locations on a map and the corresponding distance on Earth’s surface
Diffusion:
refers to the spreading of an idea, object, or feature from one place to another | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/01%3A_Introduction/1.02%3A_The_Spatial_Perspective.txt |
One way of considering the location of places relative to one another is by examining their spatial interaction. In a given region, there is generally a core area, sometimes known as the central business district (CBD) and a hinterland, a German term literally meaning “the land behind” (Figure \(1\)). The hinterland is more sparsely populated than the core and is often where goods sold in the core are manufactured. It might include rural farmland, for example.
The core, on the other hand, is the commercial focus for the area where most goods and services are exchanged. The hinterland relies on the central city to sell its goods, but similarly the city relies on the hinterland to produce raw materials. Consider where the hinterland is located around your closest city; the hinterland is characteristically rural, while the core is urban. All countries contain core areas and hinterlands.
Globally, we can apply the hinterland-city model to an understanding of a global core and a global periphery (Figure \(2\)). The core areas are places of dominance, and these areas exert control over the surrounding periphery. Core areas are typically more developed and industrialized whereas the periphery is more rural and generally less developed. Unlike the interactions between the city and the hinterland, economic exchange between the core and periphery is characteristically one-sided, creating wealth for the core and patterns of uneven development. However, these interactions do contribute to economic stability in the periphery. Some argue that it benefits the core countries to keep the periphery peripheral; in other words, if the periphery can remain underdeveloped, they are more likely to sell cheap goods to the core. This generates more wealth for core areas and contributes to their continued influence and economic strength.
1.04: The Physical Setting
When we describe places, we can discuss their absolute and relative location and their relationship and interaction with other places. As regional geographers, we can dig deeper and explore both the physical and human characteristics that make a particular place unique. Geographers explore a wide variety of spatial phenomena, but the discipline can roughly be divided into two branches: physical geography and human geography. Physical geography focuses on natural features and processes, such as landforms, climate, and water features. Human geography is concerned with human activity, such as culture, language, and religion. However, these branches are not exclusive. You might be a physical geographer who studies hurricanes, but your research includes the human impact from these events. You might be a human geographer who studies food, but your investigations include the ecological impact of agricultural systems. Regional geography takes this holistic approach, exploring both the physical and human characteristics of the world’s regions.
Much of Earth’s physical landscape, from mountains to volcanoes to earthquakes to valleys, has resulted from the movement of tectonic plates. As the theory of plate tectonics describes, these rigid plates are situated on top of a bed of molten, flowing material, much like a cork floating in a pot of boiling water. There are seven major tectonic plates and numerous minor plates (Figure \(1\)).
Where two tectonic plates meet is known as a plate boundary and boundaries can interact in three different ways (Figure \(2\)). Where two plates slide past one another is called a transform boundary. The San Andreas Fault in California is an example of a transform boundary. A divergent plate boundary is where two plates slide apart from one another. Africa’s Rift Valley was formed by this type of plate movement. Convergent plate boundaries occur when two plates slide towards one another. In this case, where two plates have roughly the same density, upward movement can occur, creating mountains. The Himalaya Mountains, for example, were formed from the Indian plate converging with the Eurasian plate. In other cases, subduction occurs and one plate slides below the other. Here, deep, under-ocean trenches can form. The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami occurred because of a subducting plate boundary off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.
Interaction between tectonic plates and historical patterns of erosion and deposition have generated a variety of landforms across Earth’s surface. Each of the world’s regions has identifiable physical features, such as plains, valleys, mountains, and major water bodies. Topography refers to the study of the shape and features of the surface of the Earth. Areas of high relief have significant changes in elevation on the landscape, such as steep mountains, while areas of low relief are relatively flat.
Another key feature of Earth’s physical landscape is climate. Weather refers to the short-term state of the atmosphere. We might refer to the weather as partly sunny or stormy, for example. Climate, on the other hand, refers to long-term weather patterns and is affected by a place’s latitude, terrain, altitude, and nearby water bodies. Explained another way, “weather” is what you’re wearing today while “climate” is all the clothes in your closet. Geographers commonly use the Köppen climate classification system to refer to the major climate zones found in the world (Figure \(3\)).
Each climate zone in the Köppen climate classification system is assigned a letteredcode, referring to the temperature and precipitation patterns found in the particular region. Climate varies widely across Earth. Cherrapunji, India, located in the Cwb climate zone, receives over 11,000 mm (400 in) of rain each year. In contrast, the Atacama Desert (BWk), situated along the western coast of South America across Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina, typically receives only around 1 to 3 mm (0.04 to 0.12 in) of rain each year.
Earth’s climate has gone through significant changes historically, alternating between long periods of warming and cooling. Since the industrial revolution in the 1800s, however, global climate has experienced a warming phase. 95 percent of scientists agree that this global climate change has resulted primarily from human activities, particularly the emission of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (Figure \(4\)). 17 of the 18 warmest years ever recorded have occurred since 2000. Overall, this warming has contributed to rising sea levels as the polar ice caps melt, changing precipitation patterns, and the expansion of deserts. The responses to global climate change, and the impacts from it, vary by region.
Plate Tectonics:
a theory that describes the movement of rigid, tectonic plates above a bed of molten, flowing material
Climate Change:
global changes in temperature and the patterns of weather over an extended period of time | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/01%3A_Introduction/1.03%3A_Core_and_Periphery.txt |
The physical setting of the world’s places has undoubtedly influenced the human setting, just as human activities have shaped the physical landscape. There are currently around 7.4 billion people in the world, but these billions of people are not uniformly distributed. When we consider where people live in the world, we tend to cluster in areas that are warm and are near water and avoid places that are cold and dry. As shown in Figure \(1\), there are three major population clusters in the world: East Asia, South Asia, and Europe.
Just as geographers can discuss “where” people are located, we can explore “why” population growth is occurring in particular areas. All of the 10 most populous cities in the world are located in countries traditionally categorized as “developing.” These countries typically have high rates of population growth. A population grows, quite simply, when more people are born than die. The birth rate refers to the total number of live births per 1,000 people in a given year. In 2012, the average global birth rate was 19.15 births per 1,000 people.
Subtracting the death rate from the birth rate results in a country’s rate of national increase (RNI). For example, Madagascar has a birth rate of 32.9 per 1,000 (as of 2017) and a death rate of 6.19 per 1,000. 32.9 minus 6.19 is 26.71 per 1,000. If you divide the result by 10, you’d get 2.671 per 100, or 2.671 percent. In essence, this means that Madagascar’s population is increasing at a rate of 2.671 percent per year. The natural increase rate does not include immigration. Some countries in Europe, in fact, have a negative natural increase rate, but their population continues to increase due to immigration.
The birth rate is directly affected by the total fertility rate (TFR), which is the average number of children born to a woman during her child-bearing years (Figure 1.12). In developing countries, the total fertility rate is often 4 or more children, contributing to high population growths. In developed countries, on the other hand, the total fertility rate may be only 1 or 2 children, which can ultimately lead to population decline.
A number of factors influence the total fertility rate, but it is generally connected to a country’s overall level of development. As a country develops and industrializes, it generally becomes more urbanized. Children are no longer needed to assist with family farms, and urban areas might not have large enough homes for big families. Women increasingly enter the workforce, which can delay childbearing and further restrict the number of children a family desires. Culturally, a shift occurs as industrialized societies no longer value large family sizes. As women’s education increases, women are able to take control of their reproductive rights. Contraceptive use becomes more widespread and socially acceptable.
This shift in population characteristics as a country industrialized can be represented by the demographic transition model (DTM) (Figure \(3\)). This model demonstrates the changes in birth rates, death rates, and population growth over time as a country develops. In stage one, during feudal Europe, for example, birth rates and death rates were very high. Populations were vulnerable to drought and disease and thus population growth was minimal. No country remains in stage one today. In stage two, a decline in death rates leads to a rise in population. This decline in death rates occurred as a result of agricultural productivity and improvements in public health. Vaccines, for example, greatly reduced the mortality from childhood diseases.
Stage two countries are primarily agricultural, and thus there is a cultural and historical preference for large families, so birth rates remain high. Most of Sub-Saharan Africa is in stage two. In stage three, urbanization and increasing access to contraceptives leads to a decline in the birth rate. As country industrializes, women enter the workforce and seek higher education. The population growth begins to slow. Much of Middle and South America as well as India are in stage three.
In stage four, birth rates approach the death rates. Women have increased independence as well as educational and work opportunities, and families may choose to have a small number of children or none at all. Most of Europe as well as China are in stage four. Some have proposed a stage five of the demographic transition model. In some countries, the birth rate has fallen below the death rate as families choose to only have 1 child. In these cases, a population will decline unless there is significant immigration. Japan, for example, is in stage five and has a total fertility rate of 1.41. Although this is only a model, and each country passes through the stages of demographic transition at different rates, the generalized model of demographic transition holds true for most countries of the world.
As countries industrialize and become more developed, they shift from primarily rural settlements to urban ones. Urbanization refers to the increased proportion of people living in urban areas. As people migrate out of rural, agricultural areas, the proportion of people living in cities increases. As people living in cities have children, this further increases urbanization. For most of human history, we have been predominantly rural. By the middle of 2009, however, the number of people living in urban areas surpassed the number of people living in rural areas for the first time. In 2014, 54 percent of the world’s population lived in urban areas. This figure is expected to increase to 66 percent by 2050.
The number of megacities, cities with 10 million people or more, has also increased. In 1990, there were 10 megacities in the world. In 2014, there were 28 megacities. Tokyo-Yokohama is the largest metropolitan area in the world with over 38 million inhabitants.
Rate of Natural Increase:
the measure of a country’s population growth calculated by subtracting its death rate from its birth rate, also referred to as RNI
Total Fertility Rate:
the average number of children born to a woman during her childbearing years, also referred to as TFR
Demographic Transition Model:
a model that demonstrates the changes in birth rates, death rates, and population growth over time as a country develops, also referred to as the DTM
Urbanization:
the increased proportion of people living in urban areas | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/01%3A_Introduction/1.05%3A_The_Human_Setting.txt |
The world can be divided into regions based on human and/or physical characteristics. Regions simply refer to spatial areas that share a common feature. There are three types of regions: formal, functional, and vernacular. Formal regions, sometimes called homogeneous regions, have at least one characteristic in common. A map of plant hardiness regions, as in Figure \(1\), for example, divides the United States into regions based on average extreme temperatures, showing which areas particular plants will grow well. This isn’t to say that everywhere within a particular region will have the same temperature on a particular day, but rather that in general, a region experiences the same ranges of temperature. Other formal regions might include religious or political affiliation, agricultural crop zones, or ethnicity. Formal regions might also be established by governmental organizations, such as the case with state or provincial boundaries.
Functional Regions, unlike formal regions, are not homogenous in the sense that they do not share a single cultural or physical characteristic. Rather, functional regions are united by a particular function, often economic. Functional regions are sometimes called nodal regions and have a nodal arrangement, with a core and surrounding nodes. A metropolitan area, for example, often includes a central city and its surrounding suburbs. We tend to think of the area as a “region” not because everyone is the same religion or ethnicity, or has the same political affiliation, but because it functions as a region. Los Angeles, for example, is the second-most populous city in the United States. However, the region of Los Angeles extends far beyond its official city limits as show in Figure \(2\). In fact, over 471,000 workers commute into Los Angeles County from the surrounding region every day. Los Angeles, as with all metropolitan areas, functions economically as a single region and is thus considered a functional region. Other examples of functional regions include church parishes, radio station listening areas, and newspaper subscription areas.
Vernacular regions are not as well-defined as formal or functional regions and are based on people’s perceptions. The southeastern region of the United States is often referred to as “the South,” but where the exact boundary of this region is depends on individual perception (Figure \(3\)). Some people might include all of the states that formed the Confederacy during the Civil War. Others might exclude Missouri or Oklahoma. Vernacular regions exist at a variety of scales. In your hometown, there might be a vernacular region called “the west side.” Internationally, regions like the Midlands in Britain or the Swiss Alps are considered vernacular. Similarly “the Middle East” is a vernacular region. It is perceived to exist as a result of religious and ethnic characteristics, but people wouldn’t necessarily agree on which countries to include. Vernacular regions are real in the sense that our perceptions are real, but their boundaries are not uniformly agreed upon.
As geographers, we can divide the world into a number of different regions based upon formal criteria and functional interaction. However, there is a matter of perception, as well. We might divide the world based on landmasses, since landmasses often share physical and cultural characteristics. Sometimes water connects people more than land, though. In the case of Europe, for example, the Mediterranean Sea historically provided economic and cultural links to the surrounding countries though we consider them to be three separate continents. Creating regions can often be a question of “lumpers and splitters;” who do you lump together and who do you split apart? Do you have fewer regions united by only a couple characteristics, or more regions that share a great deal in common?
This text takes a balanced approach to “lumping and splitting,” identifying nine distinct world regions (Figure \(4\)). These regions are largely vernacular, however. Where does “Middle” America end and “South” America begin, and why is it combined into a single region? Why is Pakistan, a predominantly Muslim country, characterized as “South” Asia and not “Southwest” Asia? Why is Russia its own region? You might divide the world into entirely different regions, maybe seven based on the continents, or just two: the “core” and the “periphery.” These nine regions are not universally agreed-upon; they are simply foundations for discussing the different areas of the world.
Furthermore, while it might seem like there are clear boundaries between the world’s regions, in actuality, where two regions meet are zones of gradual transition. These transition zones are marked by gradual spatial change. Moscow, Russia, for example, is quite similar to other areas of Eastern Europe, though they are considered two different regions on the map. Were it not for the Rio Grande and a large border fence dividing the cities of El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, you might not realize that this metropolitan area stretches across two countries and world regions. Even within regions, country borders often mark spaces of gradual transition rather than a stark delineation between two completely different spaces. The border between Peru and Ecuador, for example, is quite relaxed as international borders go and residents of the countries can move freely across the boundary to the towns on either side (Figure \(5\)).
Functional Regions:
a region united by a particular function, often economic, sometimes also called nodal regions
Transition Zones:
an area between two regions that is marked by a gradual spatial change | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/01%3A_Introduction/1.06%3A_The_World%27s_Regions.txt |
Geography has two primary branches, physical and human geography, but numerous sub-disciplines, many of which include both physical and human elements. Furthermore, as with world regions, it’s often difficult to make precise boundaries between fields of study. A geographer might be a human geographer who specializes in culture who further specializes in religion. That same geographer might also conduct side research on environmental issues. And she might, in her spare time, investigate geographies of fictional landscapes. One benefit of geography is that its breadth offers a wide array of phenomena to explore. Everything happens somewhere, and thus everything is geographical.
Within physical geography, the main sub-disciplines are: biogeography (the study of the spatial distribution of plants and animals), climatology (the study of climate), hydrology (the study of water), and geomorphology (the study of Earth’s topographic features). This list is not inclusive, however. Some geographers study geodesy, the scientific measurement and representation of Earth. Others study pedology, the exploration of soils. What unites physical geographers is an emphasis on the scientific study of the physical features of Earth in all of its many forms.
Human geography, too, consists of a number of sub-disciplines that often overlap and interact. The main sub-disciplines of human geography include: cultural geography (the study of the spatial dimension of culture), economic geography (the study of the distribution and spatial organization of economic systems), medical geography (the study of the spatial distribution of health and medicine), political geography (the study of the spatial dimension of political processes), population geography (also known as demography, the study of the characteristics of human populations), and urban geography (the study of urban systems and landscapes). Human geographers essentially explore how humans interact with and affect the earth.
Political geography provides the foundation for investigating what many people understand as geography: countries and governmental structures. Political geographers ask questions like “Why does a particular state have a conflict with its neighbor?” and “How does the government of a country affect its voting patterns?” When political geographers study the world, they refer to states, which are independent, or sovereign, political entities recognized by the international community. States are commonly called “countries” in the United States; Germany, France, China, and South Africa are all “states.” So how many states are there in the world? The question is not as easy to answer as it might seem. What if a state declares itself independent, but is not recognized by the entirety of the international community? What if a state collaborates so closely with its neighbor that it gives up some of its sovereignty? What happens if a state is taken over by another state? As of 2019, there are 206 states that could be considered sovereign, though some are disputed and are only recognized by one other country. Only 193 states are members of the United Nations. Others, like Palestine, are characterized as “observer states.” The United States Department of State recognizes 195 states as independent, including the Holy See, often known as Vatican City, and Kosovo, a disputed state in Southeastern Europe.
In addition to questions of sovereignty, political geographers investigate the various forms of government found around the world (Figure \(1\)). States govern themselves in a variety of ways, but the two main types of government are unitary and federal. In a unitary state, the central government has the most power. Local or regional governments might have some decision-making power, but only at the command of the central government. Most of the states of the world have unitary systems. A federal state, on the other hand, has numerous regional governments or self-governing states in addition to a national government. Several large states like the United States, Russia, and Brazil are federations.
Economic geographers explore the spatial distribution of economic activities. Why are certain states wealthier than others? Why are there regional differences related to economic development within a country? All countries have some sort of economic system but have different resources, styles of development, and government regulations. So how can we compare countries in terms of economic development? One way is by examining a country’s gross domestic product (GDP), the value of all the goods and services produced in a country in a given year. Often, it is helpful to divide GDP by the number of people in a country; this is known as GDP per capita and it roughly equates to average income. However, goods have different costs in different countries, so GDP per capita is generally given in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), meaning that each country’s currency is adjusted so that it has roughly the same purchasing power. Thus, GDP per capita in terms of PPP simply refers to the amount of goods and services produced in a country divided by the number of people in that country and then adjusted for how much goods and services actually cost in that country.
One limitation of GDP is that it only takes into account the goods and services produced domestically. However, many businesses today have locations and production facilities in other countries. Gross National Income (GNI) is a way to measure a country’s economic activity that includes all the goods and services produced in a country (GDP) as well as income received from overseas.
States:
an independent and sovereign political entity recognized by the international community
Unitary State:
a political system characterized by a powerful central government
Federal State:
a political system characterized by regional governments or self-governing states
Gross Domestic Product:
the value of all the goods and services produced in a country in a given year
Gross National Income:
the value of all the goods and services produced in a country in a given year and the income received from overseas | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/01%3A_Introduction/1.07%3A_Sub-Disciplines_of_Geography.txt |
When we start to explore the spatial distribution of economic development, we find that there are stark differences between and within world regions. Some countries have a very high standard of living and high average incomes, while others have few resources and high levels of poverty. Politically, some countries have stable, open governments, while others have long-standing authoritarian regimes. Thus, world regional geography is, in many ways, a study of global inequality. But the geographic study of inequality is more than just asking where inequalities are present, it is also digging deeper and asking why those inequalities exist.
How can we measure inequality? Generally, inequality refers to uneven distributions of wealth, which can actually be challenging to measure. By some accounts, the wealthiest one percent of people in the world have as much wealth as the bottom 99 percent. Wealth inequality is just one facet of global studies of inequality, however. There are also differences in income: around half of the world survives on less than \$2 per day, and around one-fifth have less than \$1 per day (Figure \(1\)). There are also global differences in literacy, life expectancy, and healthcare. There are differences in the rights and economic opportunities for women compared to men. There are differences in the way resources are distributed and conserved.
Furthermore, these differences don’t exist in a bubble. The world is increasingly interconnected, a process known as globalization. This increased global integration is economic but also cultural. An economic downturn in one country can affect its trading partners half a world away. A Hollywood movie might be translated in dozens of different languages and distributed worldwide. Today, it is quite easy for a businesswoman in the United States to video chat with her factory manager in a less developed country. For many, the relative size of the world is shrinking as a result of advances in transportation and communications technology.
For others, though, particularly those in the poorest, most debt-ridden countries, the world is not flat. As global poverty rates have decreased over the past few decades, the number of people living in poverty within Sub-Saharan Africa has increased. In addition, while global economic integration has increased, most monetary transactions still occur within rather than between countries. The core countries can take advantage of globalization, choosing from a variety of trading partners and suppliers of raw materials, but the same cannot always be said of those in the periphery. Globalization has often led to cultural homogenization, as “Western” culture has increasingly become the global culture. American fast food chains can now be found in a majority of the world’s countries. British and American pop music plays on radio stations around the world. The Internet in particular has facilitated the rapid diffusion of cultural ideas and values. But how does globalization affect local cultures? Some worry that as global culture has become more homogenized, local differences are slowly erasing. Traditional music, clothing, and food preferences might be replaced by foreign cultural features, which can lead to conflict. There is thus a tension between globalization, and the benefits of global connectivity, and local culture.
It is the uniqueness of the world’s regions, the particular combination of physical landscapes and human activities, that has captivated geographers from the earliest explorers to today’s researchers. And while it might simply be interesting to read about distant cultures and appreciate their uniqueness, geographers continue to dig deeper and ask why these differences exist. Geography matters. Even as we have become more culturally homogeneous and economically interconnected, there remain global differences in the geography of countries and these differences can have profound effects. Geographic study helps us understand the relationship between the world’s communities, explain global differences and inequalities, and better address future challenges.
Globalization:
the increasing interconnectedness and integration of the countries of the world resulting from advances in communication and transportation technology | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/01%3A_Introduction/1.08%3A_Globalization_and_Inequality.txt |
• 2.1: European Physical Geography and Boundaries
Traditionally, the continent of “Europe” referred to the western extremity of the landmass known as Eurasia. Eurasia is a massive tectonic plate, so determining where exactly Europe ends and Asia begins is difficult. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean in the North, the Atlantic Ocean and its seas to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea to the south. Europe’s eastern boundary is typically given as the Ural Mountains.
• 2.2: Cooperation and Control in Europe
Europe’s physical landforms, climate, and underlying resources have shaped the distribution of people across the region.When early humans began settling this region, they likely migrated through the Caucasus Mountains of Southwest Asia and across the Bosporus Strait from what is now Turkey into Greece. The Greeks provided much of the cultural and political foundations for modern European society. Greek ideals of democracy, humanism, and rationalism reemerged in the Age of Enlightenment.
• 2.3: The Industrial Revolution
The differences in levels of development across Europe today have largely been shaped by the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution refers to the changes in manufacturing that occurred in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. These changes had profound effects on society, economics, and agriculture, not just in Europe, but globally.
• 2.4: European Migration
Geographers who study migration also investigate push and pull factors that influence people to move. Push factors are those that compel you to move from your current location. A lack of job opportunities, environmental dangers, or political turmoil would all be considered push factors. Pull factors, on the other hand, are those that entice you to move to a new place, and might include ample jobs, freedom from political or religious persecution, or simply the availability of desirable amenities.
• 2.5: Shifting National Identities
What does it mean to be European? Perhaps simply it means someone who’s from Europe. But what does it mean to be French or German or Spanish or British? These countries have long been comprised of a number of different ethnic and linguistic groups. Spain, for example, not only contains groups speaking Spanish, the language of the historic Castilian people of the region, but also the Basque-speaking region in the north and the Catalan-speaking region centered around Barcelona.
• 2.6: Current Migration Patterns and Debates
The increasing secularization of Western Europe has magnified the conflict over immigration to the region. Whereas Western Europeans have become less religious over time, immigrants to the region are generally more religious. Increasing numbers of Muslim immigrants from North Africa and Southwest Asia have settled in Europe, lured by the hope of economic prosperity and political freedom. In 2010, around 6% of Europe identified as Muslim. That number is expected to grow to 10% by 2050.
02: Europe
Learning Objectives
• Identify the key geographic features of Europe
• Explain how the industrial revolution has shaped the geographic landscape of Europe
• Summarize how migration has impacted Europe’s population
• Describe the current controversies regarding migration to Europe
Europe? Where’s that? It might seem like a relatively easy question to answer, but looking at the map, the boundaries of Europe are harder to define than it might seem. Traditionally, the continent of “Europe” referred to the western extremity of the landmass known as Eurasia (Figure \(1\)). Eurasia is a massive tectonic plate, so determining where exactly Europe ends and Asia begins is difficult. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean in the North, the Atlantic Ocean and its seas to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea to the south. Europe’s eastern boundary is typically given as the Ural Mountains, which run north to south from the Arctic Ocean down through Russia to Kazakhstan. The western portion of Russia, containing the cities of St. Petersburg and Moscow, is thus considered part of Europe while the eastern portion is considered part of Asia. Culturally and physiographically, Western Russia is strikingly similar to Eastern Europe. These two regions share a common history as well with Russian influence extending throughout this transition zone.
In addition to the Ural Mountains, Europe has several other mountain ranges, most of which are in the southern portion of the continent. The Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Carpathians divide Europe’s southern Alpine region from the hilly central uplands. Northern Europe is characterized by lowlands and is relatively flat. Europe’s western highlands include the Scandinavian Mountains of Norway and Sweden as well as the Scottish Highlands.
Europe has a large number of navigable waterways, and most places in Europe are relatively short distances from the sea. This has contributed to numerous historical trading links across the region and allowed for Europe to dominate maritime travel. The Danube, sometimes referred to as the “Blue Danube” after a famous Austrian waltz of the same name, is the European region’s largest river and winds its way along 2,860 km (1,780 mi) and 10 countries from Germany to Ukraine.
This proximity to water also affects Europe’s climate (Figure \(2\)). While you might imagine much of Europe to be quite cold given its high latitudinal position, the region is surprisingly temperate. The Gulf Stream brings warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean to Europe’s coastal region and warms the winds that blow across the continent. Amsterdam, for example, lies just above the 52°N line of latitude, around the same latitudinal position as Saskatoon, in Canada’s central Saskatchewan province. Yet Amsterdam’s average low in January, its coldest month, is around 0.8°C (33.4°F) while Saskatoon’s average low in January is -20.7°C (-5.3°F)!
While geographers can discuss Europe’s absolute location and the specific features of its physical environment, we can also consider Europe’s relative location. That is, its location relative to other parts of the world. Europe lies at the heart of what’s known as the land hemisphere. If you tipped a globe on its side and split it so that half of the world had most of the land and half had most of the water, Europe would be at the center of this land hemisphere (Figure \(3\)). This, combined with the presence of numerous navigable waterways, allowed for maximum contact between Europe and the rest of the world. Furthermore, distances between countries in Europe are relatively small. Paris, France, for example, is just over a two-hour high speed rail trip from London, England.
This relative location provided efficient travel times between Europe and the rest of the world, which contributed to Europe’s historical dominance. When we consider globalization, the scale of the world is shrinking as the world’s people are becoming more interconnected. For Europe, however, the region’s peoples have long been interconnected with overlapping histories, physical features, and resources. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/02%3A_Europe/2.01%3A_European_Physical_Geography_and_Boundaries.txt |
Europe’s physical landforms, climate, and underlying resources have shaped the distribution of people across the region.When early humans began settling this region, they likely migrated through the Caucasus Mountains of Southwest Asia and across the Bosporus Strait from what is now Turkey into Greece. The Greeks provided much of the cultural and political foundations for modern European society. Greek ideals of democracy, humanism, and rationalism reemerged in Europe during the Age of Enlightenment. The Roman Empire followed the Greek Empire, pushing further into Europe and leaving its own marks on European society (Figure \(1\)). Modern European architecture, governance, and even language can be traced back to the Roman Empire’s influence.
The Roman’s vast European and Southwest Asian empire united the region under Christianity and created new networks of roads and trading ports. With the fall of the Roman Empire, however, tribal and ethnic allegiances reemerged and a number of invasions and migrations occurred. England, for example, was settled by the Germanic Anglo-Saxons, from which the name “England” or “Angeln” is derived, then by the Normans from present-day France.
Europe today is comprised of 40 countries, but historically, this was a region dominated by kingdoms and empires – even fairly recently. A map of Europe from just 200 years ago looks strikingly different from today’s political boundaries (Figure \(2\)) . At that time, Greece and Turkey were still controlled by the Ottoman Empire and Italy was a conglomerate of various city-states and independent kingdoms. Many of the countries and political boundaries of Europe we know today were not formed until after World War II.
Europe’s population has shifted and changed over time as well. Whereas Europe was once largely feudal and agrarian, today around 75 percent of its people live in cities. Europe’s largest city is London, with a population of around 8.5 million within its city limits. Although the United Kingdom was the dominant force in Europe during industrialization, Germany now dominates the region in terms of population, gross domestic product, and size.
The political map of Europe continues to change, with shifting alliances, competing goals, and new pushes for independence. In general, Western Europe has moved toward cooperation. The European Union developed out of the Benelux Economic Union signed in 1944 between Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. France, Italy, and West Germany signed an economic agreement with the Benelux states in 1957, and from there, the economic cooperation continued to expand. The European Union (EU) itself was created in 1993 and today, the organization has 28 member countries (Figure \(3\)). Not all members of the EU use the euro, its official currency; the 19 member states who do are known as the eurozone.
Today, it is relatively easy to travel across Europe, in part because of economic and monetary cooperation, but also because internal border checks have largely been abolished. The Schengen Agreement, signed in the 1990s allows member states to essentially function as a single territory in terms of entry. These states share a common visa system and residents and vehicles can travel freely throughout states participating in the agreement.
Although the European Union has provided member states with a number of advantages, the system has had some structural concerns. Greece, for example, admitted to the EU in 1981, adopted the euro in 2001. It has had continued issues with debt, however, and has required massive bailouts from other member states. The United Kingdom held a referendum in June 2016 and decided to leave the EU, the first time a country has made the decision to leave the organization. When analyzing the EU and its advantages and disadvantages, you might consider why a country would join a supranational organization. To join an organization like the EU, a country gives up some of its sovereignty, its independence in making economic, political, or legal decisions. Ideally, a country would gain more than it loses. Countries united economically can more easily facilitate trade, for example, or could share a common military rather than each supporting their own. Those who favored the United Kingdom withdrawing from the EU, however, argued that membership in the EU did not offer enough advantages and preferred the United Kingdom to control its own trade deals and immigration restrictions.
Devolution, which occurs when regions within a state seek greater autonomy, has continued in Europe, representing a tension between nationalistic ideals and ethnic ties. In the United Kingdom, a 2014 Scottish independence referendum was narrowly defeated but led to greater autonomy for Scotland. In general, policies offering increased autonomy have kept the map of Western Europe fairly intact. Ethnic groups seeking sovereignty often want political autonomy but economic integration, and thus devolution generally allows them more decision-making power.
In the Balkan region, however, strong ethnic identities has contributed to continued political instability and the formation of new states. In fact, the devolutionary forces found in this region led to the creation of the term Balkanization, referring to the tendency of territories to break up into smaller, often hostile units. The Balkans came under the control of the Ottoman Empire, and once the empire collapsed following World War I, several territories in this region were joined together as the country of Yugoslavia (Figure \(4\)). Following World War II, Yugoslavia was led by Josip Broz Tito who attempted to unify the region by suppressing ethnic allegiances in favor of national unity. After his death, however, those ethnic tensions reemerged. In the 1990s, Yugoslavia was led by the dictator Slobodan Miloševi´c, a Serbian who supported a genocidal campaign against the region’s Croats, Bosnians, and Albanians. In Bosnia alone, over 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed. Most recently, Kosovo, comprised mostly of Albanian Muslims, declared independence from Serbia in 2008, though its status as a sovereign state is still contested by some, including Serbia, Bosnia, and Greece.
The map of Europe continues to evolve. In February 2019, for instance, the country formerly known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia officially changed its name to the Republic of North Macedonia, or just North Macedonia, resolving a long dispute with Greece.
While some countries in the region have decidedly benefitted from globalization, others remain fairly limited in terms of global trade and global economic integration. Figure \(5\), a map of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita reveals a marked difference between the states of Western Europe and the eastern region. Germany’s GDP per capita as of 2017, for example, was \$44,470 (in US dollars), according to the World Bank. In Moldova, a former Soviet republic bordering Romania, that figure was \$2,290. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/02%3A_Europe/2.02%3A_Cooperation_and_Control_in_Europe.txt |
The differences in levels of development across Europe today have largely been shaped by the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution refers to the changes in manufacturing that occurred in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. These changes had profound effects on society, economics, and agriculture, not just in Europe, but globally.
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, most goods in Europe were produced in the home. These so-called “cottage” industries consisted of individual workers making unique goods in their homes, usually on a part-time basis. These products, such as clothing, candles, or small housewares, could be sold by a farming family to supplement their income.
The Industrial Revolution began in the United Kingdom, and while it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact point at which the revolution began, a key invention was James Watt’s steam engine, which entered production in 1775. This steam-driven engine was adopted by industries to allow for factory production. Machines could now be used instead of human or animal labor. Interestingly, a side effect of the steam engine was that it enabled better iron production, since iron required an even and steady stream of heat. This improved iron was then used to build more efficient steam engines, which in turn produced increasingly better iron. These improvements and new technologies gradually spread across Europe, eventually diffusing to the United States and Japan.
During this time, there were also significant changes in agricultural production. The Agrarian Revolution began in the mid-1750s and was based upon a number of agricultural innovations. This was the Age of Enlightenment, and the scientific reasoning championed during this era was applied to the growing of crops. Farmers began using mechanized equipment, rather than relying solely on human or animal labor. Fertilizers improved soil conditions, and crop rotation and complementary planting further increased crop yields. During this time period, there was a shift to commercial agriculture, where excess crops are sold for a profit, rather than subsistence agriculture, where farmers primarily grow food for their own family’s consumption.
Around the same time improvements in rail transportation changed both the way goods were distributed across Europe and the movement of people across the region. The use of steam engines and improved iron also transformed the shipping industry, with steamships beginning to set sail across the Atlantic Ocean.
The Agrarian Revolution coupled with the Industrial Revolution profoundly changed European geography. With the improvements of the Agrarian Revolution, farmers could produce more with less work. This provided an agricultural surplus, enabling a sustained population increase. Port cities and capital cities became centers of trade and expanded. Critically, the Agrarian Revolution freed workers from having to farm, since fewer farmers were needed to produce the same amount of crops, enabling people to find work in the factories. These factories were primarily located in cities, and thus it was the combination of these two revolutions that dramatically increased urbanization in Europe. At the start of the 19th century, around 17 percent of England’s population lived in cities; by the end of the 19th century, that figure had risen to 54 percent.
Overall, the Industrial Revolution considerably improved European power by boosting their economies, improving their military technology, and increasing their transportation efficiency. Even before the Industrial Revolution, Europe exerted a considerable amount of control over the rest of the world. European colonialism began in the 1400s, led by Portugal and Spain. In the 1500s, England, France, and the Dutch began their own colonial campaigns. By the start of WorldWar I, the British Empire, boosted by the improvements of the Industrial Revolution, had the largest empire in history, covering 20 percent of the world’s population at the time (Figure \(1\)).
Coinciding with the Industrial and Agrarian Revolutions were a number of political revolutions in Europe. The most influential political change came as the result of the French Revolution, which occurred between 1789 and 1799 CE. This revolution ended France’s monarchy, establishing a republic, and provided the foundation for numerous political revolutions that followed. It also weakened the power of the Roman Catholic Church in France, inspiring the modern-day separation between church and state that is typical of many Western countries, including the United States.
Today, the map of Europe reflects the changes brought about by the Industrial and Agrarian Revolutions as well as the political changes that took place throughout the time period. Europe’s core area, where economic output is highest, is largely centered around the manufacturing areas that arose during the Industrial Revolution (Figure \(2\)). These manufacturing areas in turn were originally located near the raw materials, such as coal, that could sustain industrial growth.
The shift in labor that occurred during the Industrial Revolution, as people left rural farms to find work in factories, led to the specialization of labor that is found in Europe today. Areas within Europe tended to specialize in the production of particular goods. Northern Italy for example, has maintained a specialty in the production of textiles. Germany continues to specialize in automotive manufacturing. The Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the world’s first gasoline powered automobile, was first built in Germany in 1886 and would later develop into the Mercedes-Benz corporation. As regions focused on the manufacture of particular goods, they benefited from economies of scale, the savings in cost per unit that results from increasing production. If you wanted to build a chair, for example, you’d have to buy the wood, glue, and screws as well as the tools needed to construct it, such as a drill, sander, and saw. That single chair would be quite costly to produce. If you wanted to make ten chairs, however, those same tools could be used for every chair, driving the cost of each chair down. Many areas in Europe have shifted from more traditional to high-tech manufacturing and industrial output in the region remains high.
Industrial Revolution:
the changes in manufacturing that began in the United Kingdom in the late 18th and early 19th centuries
Economies of scale:
the savings in cost per unit that results from increasing production | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/02%3A_Europe/2.03%3A_The_Industrial_Revolution.txt |
The Industrial and Agricultural Revolutions shaped both migration patterns within Europe and immigration to the region. Migration refers to a move from one place to another intended to be permanent. When considering migration, geographers look at both intraregional migration, movement within a particular region, and interregional migration, such as migration from Europe to North America. Geographers who study migration also investigate push and pull factors that influence people to move. Push factors are those that compel you to move from your current location. A lack of job opportunities, environmental dangers, or political turmoil would all be considered push factors. Pull factors, on the other hand, are those that entice you to move to a new place, and might include ample jobs, freedom from political or religious persecution, or simply the availability of desirable amenities. Historically, most intraregional migration in Europe was rural to urban, as people moved from farms to cities to find work. Cities grew rapidly in the region as centers of trade and industry.
Before the industrial revolution, migration to the region was usually in the form of invasions, such as with the Roman Empire, the Islamic Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. One notable, historical migration that did not represent an invading empire was the Jewish diaspora following the conquest of Judea, the region now known as Israel and Palestine, by a number of groups including the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Romans. A diaspora refers to a group of people living outside of their ancestral homeland and many Jewish people moved to Europe to escape violence and persecution, particularly after the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE.
Jews migrating to Europe were often met with anti-Semitism, however. During the Middle Ages, European Jews were routinely attacked and were expelled from several countries including England and France. Jewish communities were destroyed during the mid-14th century as the Black Death swept across Europe and thousands of Jews were murdered, accused of poisoning the water and orchestrating the epidemic. In actuality, the disease was likely spread by rats, and worsened by the superstitious killing of cats in the same time period.
European Jews were often forced to live in distinct neighborhoods, also known as ghettos. In fact, this requirement to live in specific areas was required in Italy under areas ruled by the Pope until 1870. These distinctive communities were often met with suspicion by European Christians, many of whom continued to foster the same anti-Semitic sentiment that had been prevalent during the Middle Ages.
This anti-Semitic fervor and persecution of Jews reached its height at the time of the Nazi Party’s rule in Germany. Prior to World War II, close to 9 million Jews lived in Europe; 6 million of them were killed in the Holocaust, the European genocide that targeted Jews, Poles, Soviets, communists, homosexuals, the disabled, and numerous other groups viewed as undesirable by the Nazi regime. Following the war, many surviving Jews emigrated back to the newly created state of Israel. Around 2.4 million Jews live in Europe today.
There was another shift in population after the signing of the Schengen Agreement in 1995, with large numbers of immigrants from Eastern Europe migrated to the western European countries in the core. Citizens of European Union countries are permitted to live and work in any country in the EU, and countries like the United Kingdom and Spain contain large numbers of Eastern European immigrants. Around half of all European migrants are from other countries within Europe.
Economic and political inequalities have driven much of the interregional migration to Europe since the 1980s. Immigrants from North Africa and Southwest Asia, for example, driven by limited employment opportunities and political conflict, have migrated to Europe in large numbers and now represent approximately 12 percent of all European migrants.
Migration:
a move from one place to another intended to be permanent | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/02%3A_Europe/2.04%3A_European_Migration.txt |
What does it mean to be European? Perhaps simply it means someone who’s from Europe. But what does it mean to be French or German or Spanish or British? These countries have long been comprised of a number of different ethnic and linguistic groups (Figure \(1\)). Spain, for example, not only contains groups speaking Spanish, the language of the historic Castilian people of the region, but also the Basque-speaking region in the north, the Catalan-speaking region centered around Barcelona, and numerous other distinct language groups. The United Kingdom, while comprised primarily of people who identify as “English,” also includes the areas of Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, each with a distinct linguistic and cultural identity. The Welsh are actually believed to be the oldest ethnic group within the United Kingdom, so perhaps they could argue that they represent the original national identity.
Before the creation of states as we understand them today, Europe, as with the rest of the world, was divided largely by ethnicity or tribe. Empires often took control of multiple ethnic areas. Familial allegiances were of fundamental importance. That’s not to say that geography or territory didn’t matter, but simply that who you were mattered more than where you were.
The creation of sovereign political states changed this notion. Multiple ethnicities were often lumped together under single political entities, sometimes due to peaceful alliances and sometimes due to armed conquest. In cases where a state was dominated by a single, homogeneous ethnic and linguistic cultural identity, we would refer to it as a nation state, from the term state, meaning a sovereign political area, and nation, meaning a group with a distinct ethnic and cultural identity. Several European countries today are considered nation-states, including Poland, where 93 percent of the population is ethnically Polish, and Iceland, which is 92 percent Icelandic. Historically, countries like France and Germany were also considered nation-states, though immigration has changed their cultural landscape.
The concept of nation-state is distinct from the idea of nationalism, which refers the feeling of political unity within a territory. National flags, anthems, symbols, and pledges all inspire a sense of belonging amongst people within a geographic area that is distinct from their ethnic identity.
What happens when feelings of nationalism and national identity are linked with a particular ethnic group? In cases where a particular ethnic group represents the majority, nationalist ideals might be representative of that group’s language or religion. But what if there are other, minority ethnic groups that are excluded from what people think it means to be part of a particular state’s nationalist identity?
Migration has continually changed the cultural landscape of Europe and as immigrant groups have challenged or been challenged by ideas of nationalism. In 1290 CE, King Edward I expelled all Jews from England, essentially establishing Christianity as being at the core of English national identity. This expulsion lasted until 1657 CE. In France after the French Revolution, ideas of nationalism included “liberty, equality, and fraternity,” and extended into areas they conquered. In Germany, what it meant to be “German” under the Nazi Party excluded those who were considered to be “undesirable” and “enemies of the state,” such as Jews, Roma (sometimes referred to as Gypsies), persons labeled as “homosexuals,” communists, and others. Under Benito Mussolini, Italian nationalism excluded Slavs, Jews, and non-white groups.
Nationalism, taken to this extreme, is known as fascism. Fascists believe that national unity, to include a strong, authoritarian leader and a one-party state, provides a state with the most effective military and economy. Fascist governments might thus blame economic difficulty or military losses on groups that threaten national unity, even if those groups include their own citizens.
Within every country, ideas of nationalism grow, weaken, and change over time. Centrifugal forces are those that threaten national unity by dividing a state. These might include differing religious beliefs, linguistic differences, or even physical barriers within a state. Centripetal forces, on the other hand, tend to unify people within a country. A charismatic leader, a common religion or language, and a strong national infrastructure can all work as centripetal forces. Governments could also promote centripetal forces by unifying citizens against a common enemy, such as during the Cold War.
Although the countries of Europe always had a significant amount of ethnic and linguistic variety, they typically maintained a strong sense of national identity. Religion in particular often worked as a centripetal force, uniting varying cultural groups under a common theological banner (Figure \(2\)).
Religious adherence in Europe is shifting, however. In Sweden, for example, over 80 percent of the population belonged to the Church of Sweden, a Lutheran denomination, in 2000. By 2014, only 64.6 percent claimed membership in the church and just 18 percent of the population stated that they believed in a personal God (Figure \(3\)). This is indicative of a broad shift in Europe from traditional, organized religion toward humanism or secularism. Humanism is a philosophy emphasizing the value of human beings and the use of reason in solving problems. Modern humanism was founded during the French Revolution, though early forms of humanism were integrated with religious beliefs. Secular humanism, a form of humanism that rejects religious beliefs, developed later. Secularism refers broadly to the exclusion of religious ideologies from government or public activities.
Geographers can examine how secularization has occurred in Europe; that is, how Europe has been transformed from countries with strong religious values to a more nonreligious society. In general, areas within the core of Europe tend to be more secular and thus some researchers link secularization with rising economic prosperity. Most Western European countries have strong social welfare programs, where citizens pay a higher percentage of taxes to support universal healthcare, higher education, child care, and retirement programs. These social welfare programs often serve as centripetal forces, unifying a country by providing government support and preventing citizens from falling into extreme poverty.
Nation-state:
a sovereign political area that has a homogenous ethnic and cultural identity
Nationalism:
the feeling of political unity within a territory.
Centrifugal forces:
forces that threaten national unity by dividing a state
Centripetal forces:
forces that tend to unify people within a country
Humanism:
a philosophy emphasizing the value of human beings and the use of reason in solving problems
Secularism:
the exclusion of religious ideologies from government or public activities
Social Welfare:
a government policy where citizens pay a higher percentage of taxes to support universal healthcare, higher education, child care, and retirement programs | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/02%3A_Europe/2.05%3A_Shifting_National_Identities.txt |
The increasing secularization of Western Europe has magnified the conflict over immigration to the region. Whereas Western Europeans have become less religious over time, immigrants to the region are generally more religious. Increasing numbers of Muslim immigrants from North Africa and Southwest Asia have settled in Europe, lured by the hope of economic prosperity and political freedom. In 2010, around 6 percent of Europe identified as Muslim. That number is expected to grow to 10 percent by 2050. Muslims have the highest fertility rate among the major religious groups, so coupled with increasing immigration, this population is growing. In contrast, just under three-quarters of Europeans identified as Christian in 2010. This is expected to drop to 65 percent in 2050.
Europeans are divided about how open the region should be to immigrants, and how asylum seekers, refugees seeking sanctuary from oppression, should be treated. Even before the 2015 wave of Syrian migrants to Europe, a 2012-2014 survey showed that most Europeans (52 percent) wanted immigration levels to decrease. Opinions vary within the region, however. In the United Kingdom, 69 percent of people support decreased immigration. In Greece, a gateway country for migrants attempting to enter Europe, 84 percent of people desire decreased immigration. A majority of adults in Northern European countries, however, want immigration to stay the same or increase.
In 2014 and 2015, migration to Europe intensified as a result of an ongoing civil war in Syria. There were more refugees in 2014 than in any other year since World War II. 2015 shattered that record, however, as 65.3 million people were displaced. Germany has received the most applications for people seeking refugee status.
The journey for migrants is difficult and dangerous. Many attempt to cross by sea into Greece. Boats are often overcrowded and capsizing is common. Around 34 percent of refugees are children, many of them unaccompanied. Although the entire influx of refugees represents around 0.5 percent of Europe’s population, it is not necessarily the sheer number of refugees that poses a problem, but rather, the idea of how immigrant populations might change the identity of a nation-state.
Many small towns in Europe have experienced shifting demographics as people move away to work in cities and immigrants move in to work in the available jobs. As Western Europe moved through industrialization, it has increasingly shifted away from heavy manufacturing and increased employment in service and high-tech industries, a process known as deindustrialization. The higher-skilled and higher-educated workers from small towns moved to the cities to find work, while lower-skilled immigrants worked the often dangerous or labor intensive jobs that remained. In the United Kingdom in particular, many of the people who oppose immigration and supported Britain leaving the EU are located in these small towns where immigration has quite visibly changed the cultural landscape that had already shifted as a result of deindustrialization.
For some, the debate over immigration and asylum are less questions of national identity and more issues of social justice. Do countries that have political freedom and economic prosperity have a moral obligation to assist those in need? Historically, the answer has often been “no.” In 1938, on the brink of World War II, representatives from Western European countries voted not to accept Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria. Numerous countries in Europe have similarly voted not to accept Syrian migrants. Countries like Germany, which has accepted a relatively large number of asylum seekers, have been critical of other countries that have not been as welcoming. Sweden has specifically argued that if every country in Europe accepted a proportional amount of refugees, they would easily be able to accommodate the influx. Refugee populations typically have lower unemployment rates than native-born populations and though they require social services like housing and employment, can provide a long-term economic boost by increasing the labor force, especially in countries with otherwise declining populations.
Europe’s population will continue to shift in terms of demographics and cultural identity. Recent economic changes and migration patterns have highlighted deep divides about ideas of national identity and the role of the region in global affairs. Europe continues to be an influential and economically important region and will likely continue to attract migrants from surrounding areas. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/02%3A_Europe/2.06%3A_Current_Migration_Patterns_and_Debates.txt |
• 3.1: Russia's Physical Geography and Climate
Russia is the largest country in the world, containing 1/8 of the entire world’s land area. Russia is also the northernmost large and populous country in the world, with much of the country lying above the Arctic Circle. Its population, however, is comparatively small with around 143 million people, the majority of whom live south of the 60 degree latitude line and in the western portions of Russia near Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Russia stretches across eleven time zones, spanning 6,000 miles.
• 3.2: Settlement and Development Challenges
Russia’s size and varied physiographic regions have presented some challenges for its population. Much of Russia is simply too cold for widespread human settlement. Thus, even though Russia is the largest country, the area that is suitable for agriculture and intensive development is much smaller. In Russia’s northern regions, agricultural development is restricted by short growing seasons and frequent droughts. As snow melts, it takes topsoil with it, and thus erosion is a serious issue.
• 3.3: Russian History and Expansion
Russia’s current geographic landscape has been shaped by physical features, such as climate and topography, as well as historical events. In the 13th century, Moscow was actually an important principality, or city-state ruled by a monarch. The Grand Duchy of Moscow, or Muscovy as it was known in English, became a powerful state, defeating and surrounding its neighbors and claiming control over a large portion of Rus’ territory, an ancient region occupied by a number of East Slavic tribes.
• 3.4: Russian Multiculturalism and Tension
During the period of Russia’s expansion and development as an empire, and later during the time of the Soviet Union, Russia’s territory included not only ethnic Russians but other surrounding groups as well. Ethnicity is a key feature of cultural identity and refers to the identification of a group of people with a common language, ancestry, or cultural history. Many of these minority ethnic groups harbored resentment over being controlled by an imperial power.
• 3.5: Economics and Development in the Soviet Union
The Soviet Government, led by Lenin and later by Stalin, advocated a communist system. Those who control the means of production, known as the bourgeoisie in the Marxist philosophy, are much wealthier than the workers, known as the proletariat. In a communist system, however, the means of production are communally owned, and the intended result is that there are no classes of rich and poor and no groups of landowners and landless workers.
• 3.6: The Modern Russian Landscape
The collapse of the Soviet Union had far-reaching effects on the Russian landscape and even today, Russia is affected by the legacy of the Soviet Union. The remnants of Soviet bureaucracy, for example, affect everything from the cost of road building to the forms needed to get clothes dry cleaned. After the immediate collapse of the Soviet Union, the government transitioned to a market economy.
03: Russia
Learning Objectives
• Identify the key geographic features of Russia
• Analyze how the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union approached the issue of ethnic identity
• Describe the current areas of ethnic conflict within Russia
• Explain how Russian history impacted its modern-day geographic landscape
Russia is the largest country in the world, containing 1/8 of the entire world’s land area (Figure \(1\)). Russia is also the northernmost large and populous country in the world, with much of the country lying above the Arctic Circle. Its population, however, is comparatively small with around 143 million people, the majority of whom live south of the 60 degree latitude line and in the western portions of Russia near Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Russia stretches across eleven time zones, spanning 6,000 miles from Saint Petersburg on the Baltic Sea to Vladivostok on the Pacific Coast. The country also includes the exclave, or discontinuous piece of territory, of Kaliningrad situated between Poland and Lithuania.
Because of its large size, Russia has a wide variety of natural features and resources. The country is located on the northeastern portion of the Eurasian landmass. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Pacific Ocean, and to the south, by the Black and Caspian Seas. The Ural Mountains, running north to south, traditionally form the boundary between Europe and Asia and presented a formidable historical barrier to development. Culturally and physiographically, Western Russia, beyond the Ural Mountains, is quite similar to that of Eastern Europe. The region of Russia east of the Ural Mountains is known as Siberia.
In addition to the Ural Mountains, Russia contains several other areas of high relief (Figure \(2\)). Most notably, the Caucasus Mountains, forming the border between Russia and Southwest Asia, and the volcanic highlands of Russia’s far east Kamchatka Peninsula. The western half of Russia is generally more mountainous than the eastern half, which is mostly low-elevation plains.
Russia’s Volga River, running through central Russia into the Caspian Sea, is the longest river on the European continent and drains most of western Russia. The river is also an important source of irrigation and hydroelectric power. Lake Baikal, located in southern Siberia, is the world’s deepest lake and also the world’s largest freshwater lake. It contains around one-fifth of the entire world’s unfrozen surface water. Like the deep lakes of Africa’s rift valley, Lake Baikal was formed from a divergent tectonic plate boundary.
Although Russia’s land area is quite large, much of the region is too cold for agriculture. As shown in Figure \(3\), the northernmost portion of Russia is dominated by tundra, a biome characterized by very cold temperatures and limited tree growth. Here, temperatures can drop below -50°C (-58°F) and much of the soil is permafrost, soil that is consistently below the freezing point of water (0°C or 32°F). South of the tundra is the taiga region, where coniferous, snow-capped forests dominate. This area of Russia contains the world’s largest wood resources, though logging in the region has diminished the supply. South of the taiga region are areas of temperate broadleaf forests and steppe, an area of treeless, grassland plains.
Although looking at a map, you might assume that Russia has extensive port facilities owing to its vast eastern coastline, it actually has relatively few ice-free ports. Vladivostok, located in the extreme southeastern tip of Russia, is its largest port on the Pacific Ocean (Figure \(4\)). Much of the rest of Russia’s Far East region is ice-covered throughout the year, making maritime and automotive transport difficult. In fact, this region was only connected to the rest of Russia by highway for the first time in 2010.
Russia’s climate more broadly is affected by a number of key factors. In terms of its latitudinal position, meaning its position relative to the equator, Russia is located very far north. In general, as you increase in latitude away from the equator, the climate gets colder. The strong east-west alignment of Russia’s major biomes reflects this latitudinal influence. Russia’s climate is also affected by its continental position. In general, areas that exhibit a continental are located near the center of a continent away from water bodies and experience more extremes in temperature due to drier air. Water helps regulate air temperature and can absorb temperature changes better than land. In the winter, areas away from water can be very cold, while in the summer, temperatures are quite hot and there is little precipitation. The third key driver of climate in Russia is its altitudinal position. As you increase in elevation, temperatures decrease. You might have experienced this when hiking in mountains or flying on an aircraft and feeling the cold window. Russia’s Ural Mountains, for example, are clearly visible on a map of its biomes as the alpine tundra region owing to its high altitude.
tundra:
a biome characterized by very cold temperatures and limited tree growth
permafrost:
soil that is consistently below the freezing point of water (0°C or 32°F)
taiga:
a biome characterized by cold temperatures and coniferous forests
steppe:
a biome characterized by treeless, grassland plains
continental climate:
areas near the center of a continent that experience more extremes in temperature due to their location away from bodies of water | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/03%3A_Russia/3.01%3A_Russia%27s_Physical_Geography_and_Climate.txt |
Russia’s size and varied physiographic regions have presented some challenges for its population. Much of Russia is simply too cold for widespread human settlement. Thus, even though Russia is the largest country, the area that is suitable for agriculture and intensive development is much smaller. In Russia’s northern regions, agricultural development is restricted by short growing seasons and frequent droughts. As snow melts, it takes topsoil with it, and thus erosion is a serious issue in these areas as well.
Still, some have carved out settlements in this frigid environment. Oymyakon, located in northeastern Russia, is considered to be the coldest permanently inhabited places in the world (see Figure \(1\)). It has a population of around 500 and temperatures here once dropped to -71.2°C (-96°F)! It takes 20 hours to reach Oymyakon from the nearest city of Yakutsk.
Industry, too, is hampered by Russia’s cold climate in the Siberian region. Although Siberia accounts for over three-quarters of Russia’s land area, it contains only one-quarter of its population. In a region so sparsely populated, how do you build roads, factories, and large settlements? Even if there are resources present, as there are, how do you get them to nearby industrial areas? The industrial developments and human settlements that do exist in this region require high energy consumption and highly specialized facilities needed to cope with cold temperatures and permanently frozen soil.
However, global changes in climate have had some dramatic effects on Russian geography. Areas that were previously permafrost have begun to thaw, leading to erosion and mud, which both present challenges for development. In Siberia, giant holes in the ground began to appear around 2014 and initially baffled scientists. These massive holes were later found to be pockets of methane gas trapped in previously frozen soil that had thawed due to the warming climate. If global temperatures continue to climb, the area of permafrost will shrink, increasing the potential for agriculture in northern Russia. New oil and gas reserves that were previously trapped under frozen soil could likewise become available. Previous shipping routes along Russia’s eastern and northern coasts that were covered in ice could become passable.
While warming temperatures might seem beneficial for Russia’s frigid northern region, they are accompanied by more troublesome long-term concerns. It is estimated that a huge amount of carbon, around 1600 gigatons (or 1.6 trillion tons), is stored in the world’s permafrost. The methane and carbon released from these permafrost stores could exacerbate global warming. Changing temperatures have also been associated with the increased risk of wildfires. In Russia, peatlands, areas of partially decayed vegetation, are particularly at risk. There has been an increase in droughts and flooding throughout Russia and many scientists believe that Russia’s close proximity to the Arctic Circle makes it even more vulnerable to changes in temperature.
Climate factors have also shaped the distribution of Russia’s population. Most of Russia’s population lives west of the Ural Mountains where the climate is more temperate and there are more connections with Eastern Europe (Figure \(2\)). Russia is highly urbanized, with almost three-quarters of the population living in cities. Its largest city and capital, Moscow, is home to around 12 million people.
Russia’s population has experienced some interesting changes over the past few decades. Its population peaked at over 148 million in the early 1990s before experiencing a rapid decline. When geographers explore a country’s population, they don’t just ask “Where is it changing?” but also “Why is it changing?” For Russia, the economic declines coinciding with the dissolution of the Soviet Union contributed to low birth rates. Generally, when a country experiences economic decline or uncertainty, people tend to delay having children. Today, due to higher birth rates and a government push to encourage immigration, Russia’s population growth has stabilized and could grow from 143.5 million in 2013 to 146 million by 2050. Russia’s death rate remains quite high, however, at 13.1 per 1000 people compared to the European Union average of 9.7 per 1000. Alcoholism rates are high, particularly among men in Russia, and cardiovascular disease accounts for over half of all deaths. In addition, although Russia is highly urbanized, more people are now moving from Russia’s crowded cities to more sparsely populated rural areas, in contrast to the more common rural to urban migration seen elsewhere in the world. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/03%3A_Russia/3.02%3A_Settlement_and_Development_Challenges.txt |
Russia’s current geographic landscape has been shaped by physical features, such as climate and topography, as well as historical events. Why is the capital of Russia Moscow, and why is its population so clustered in the west? In the 13th century, Moscow was actually an important principality, or city-state ruled by a monarch. The Grand Duchy of Moscow, or Muscovy as it was known in English, became a powerful state, defeating and surrounding its neighbors and claiming control over a large portion of Rus’ territory, an ancient region occupied by a number of East Slavic tribes. The Slavs represent the largest Indo-European ethno-linguistic group in Europe and include Poles, Ukrainians, Serbs, as well as Russians.
From the mid-1400s onward, the Muscovite territory expanded at an impressive rate (Figure \(1\)). In 1300 CE, the territory occupied an area of around 20,000 square kilometers; by 1462 CE, that number increased to 430,000 square kilometers. By 1584 CE, the territory had swelled to 5.4 million square kilometers.
During this time, Russia’s government shifted as well. In 1547 CE, Grand Duke Ivan IV, better known as “Ivan the Terrible,” crowned himself the first Tsar. The term tsar, also spelled czar, stems from the Roman title “Caesar” and was used to designate a ruler, much like the term “king” or “emperor.” Ivan IV nearly doubled the territory of Russia during his reign, conquering numerous surrounding ethnic groups and tribes.
Russia’s status as an “empire” dates back to the 1700s under the rule of Peter the Great. Peter was able to conquer Russia’s northwestern regions, establishing eastern seaports and founding the forward capital of Saint Petersburg along the Baltic Sea. A forward capital is a capital that has been intentionally relocated, generally because of economic or strategic reasons, and is often positioned on the edge of contested territory. Overall, the reforms of Peter the Great transformed the country and made it more similar to Western Europe.
The conclusion of World War I coincided with the end of the Russian Empire. The Russian Army fared poorly in the war, with approximately 1.7 million casualties. Russia’s people felt that the ruling class had become detached from the problems of everyday people and there were widespread rumors of corruption. Russia went through a rapid period of industrialization, which left many traditional farmers out of work. As people moved to the cities, there was inadequate housing and insufficient jobs. The economic and human cost of World War I, coupled with the plight of workers who felt exploited during the Industrial Revolution, ultimately led to the overthrow of Nicholas II who, along with his family, was imprisoned and later executed.
Eventually, the Bolsheviks, a Marxist political party led by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the interim government and created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, abbreviated as the USSR and sometimes simply called the Soviet Union. The capital was also moved back to Moscow from Saint Petersburg. After Lenin’s death in 1924, Joseph Stalin took control and instituted both a socialist economy and collective agriculture. Ideally, the changes the Bolsheviks supported were intended to address the failures of Nicholas II providing more stable wages and food supplies. Rather than have individual peasant farms that had limited interconnections and poor systems of distribution, the state would collectivize farming with several farming families collectively owning the land. Under a command economy, the production, prices of goods, and wages received by workers is set by the government. In the Soviet Union, the government took control of all industries and invested heavily in the production of capital goods, those that are used to produce other goods, such as machinery and tools. Though this system was intended to address concerns and inequalities that had developed under the tsars, the Soviet government under Stalin was fraught with its own economic and social problems.
Slavs:
an ethno-linguistic group loctaed in Central and Eastern Europe that includes West Slavs (such as Poles, Czechs, and Slovaks), East Slavs (including Russians and Ukrainians), and South Slavs (namely Serbs, Croats, and others)
Forward Capital:
a capital that has been intentionally relocated, generally because of economic or strategic regions, and is often positioned on the edge of contested territory
Bolsheviks:
a Marxist political party led by Vladimir Lenin that overthrew the interim government following the Russian Revolution and created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Command Economy:
an economic system where the production, prices of goods, and wages received by workers is set by the government | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/03%3A_Russia/3.03%3A_Russian_History_and_Expansion.txt |
During the period of Russia’s expansion and development as an empire, and later during the time of the Soviet Union, Russia’s territory included not only ethnic Russians but other surrounding groups as well. Ethnicity is a key feature of cultural identity and refers to the identification of a group of people with a common language, ancestry, or cultural history. Many of these minority ethnic groups harbored resentment over being controlled by an imperial power.
Prior to the Bolshevik Revolution, the Russian Empire’s response to the non-Russian communities they controlled was known as Russification, where non-Russian groups give up their ethnic and linguistic identity and adopt the Russian culture and language. This type of policy is known as cultural assimilation, where one cultural group adopts the language and customs of another group. The Russian language was taught in schools and minority languages were banned in public places. Catholic schools were banned and instead, Russian Orthodoxy, part of the Eastern Orthodox Church, was taught at state-run schools. The Russian Empire essentially sought to make everyone in the territory Russian. This policy was only marginally successful, however, and was especially difficult to implement in the outer regions.
Under the Soviet Union, the policy of cultural assimilation had less to do with becoming Russian and more to do with being part of the Soviet Union, what could be thought of as Sovietization. The Soviet government organized the country as a federation, where territories within the country had varying degrees of autonomy (Figure \(1\)). The larger ethnic groups formed the Soviet Socialist Republics, or SSRs. The Uzbek SSR, for example, largely contained members of the Uzbek ethnic group. The Kazakh SSR similarly consisted mostly of people who were ethnically Kazakh. These SSRs did not represent all of the ethnic diversity present in Russia nor did they provide these territories with autonomy. You might recognize the names of these republics as they gradually became independent states after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Turkmen SSR became Turkmenistan, for example. Many of these areas, particularly in Central Asia, are majority Muslim and thus adopted the Persian suffix “-stan” meaning “place of” or “country” after independence.
Under Soviet Rule, some policies of Russification expanded. In Muslim areas of Central Asia and the Caucasus, the use of the Arabic alphabet, the language of the Qur’an, was abolished. The government also sent many Russians into majority non-Russian areas to further unify the country. Other ethnic groups, particularly those perceived as troublemakers by the government, were deported from their ancestral homelands and resettled elsewhere. The ethnic map of the former Soviet Union today, in part, reflects this multicultural history and the legacy of resettlement policies (Figure \(2\)). Over 3 million people were deported to Siberia between 1941 and 1949, a large portion of whom died from disease or malnutrition. Others were deported from the Baltic area or from the area near the Black Sea. Overall, around 6 million people were internally displaced as a result of the Soviet Union’s resettlement policies and between 1 and 1.5 million of them died as a result.
Although Russia today is comprised mostly of people who speak Russian and identify with the Russian ethnicity, it contains 185 different ethnic groups speaking over 100 different languages. The largest minority groups in Russia are the Tatars, representing around 4 percent of the population with over 5 million people, and Ukrainians at around 1.4 percent or almost 2 million people. Other ethnic groups, like the Votes near Saint Petersburg, have only a few dozen members remaining. Because of the Soviet resettlement policies, the former Soviet republics have sizable Russian minorities. Kazakhstan and Latvia, for example, are almost one-quarter Russian. This has often led to tension within Russia as minority groups have sought independence and outside of Russia as ethnic groups have clashed over leadership.
In Ukraine in particular, tension between the Ukrainian population and Russian minority has remained high and represents a broader tension between the Eastern European regions that are more closely aligned with Russia and those that seek greater connectivity and trade with Western Europe. Eastern Ukraine is largely comprised of Russian speakers, while Western Ukraine predominantly speaks the state language of Ukrainian (Figure \(3\)). Overall, around three-quarters of people in Ukraine identify with the Ukrainian ethnicity.
In 2014, the tension between the two groups escalated as then-president Victor Yanukovych backed away from a deal to increase connections with the European Union and instead sought closer ties with Russia. In Western Ukraine, people engaged in widespread protests prompting the government to sign a set of anti-protest laws, while in Eastern Ukraine, most supported the government. Ultimately, Yanukovych was removed from office prompting military intervention from Russia.
Specifically, Russia sought control of Crimea, an area that had been annexed by the Russian Empire and was an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic until the 1950s when it was transferred to Ukraine. After the 2014 protests, a majority of the people of Crimea supported joining Russia and it was formally annexed by Russian forces. The region is now controlled by Russia (Figure \(4\)). The international community, however, has largely not recognized Crimea’s sovereignty or Russia’s annexation.
Figure \(4\): Map of Crimea (Derivative work from original by Crosswords, Wikimedia
Commons)
Several other ethnic groups that remain in Russia desire independence, particularly in the outskirts of the country in the Caucasus region along Russia’s border with Georgia and Armenia (Figure \(5\)). Chechnya is largely comprised of Chechens, a distinct Sunni Muslim nation. The territory opposed Russian conquest of the region in the 19th century but was forcefully incorporated into the Soviet Union in the early 20th century. 400,000 Chechens were deported by Stalin in the 1940s and more than 100,000 died. Although Chechnya sought independence from Russia, sometimes through violent opposition, it has remained under Russian control following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Dagestan has been the site of several Islamic insurgencies seeking separation from Russia. Ossetia remains divided between a northern portion controlled by Russia and a southern region controlled by Georgia.
In an area as large and as ethnically diverse as Russia, controlling the territory in a way that is acceptable to all of its residents has proven difficult. In many large countries, the farther away you get from the capital area and large cities, the more cultural differences you find. Some governments have embraced this cultural difference, creating autonomous regions that function largely independently though remain part of the larger state. Stalin and Russia’s tsars before him tried to unify the country through the suppression of ethnic difference, but ethnic and linguistic identities are difficult to obliterate.
Ethnicity:
the identification of a group of people with a common language, ancestry, or cultural history
Russification:
a system of cultural assimilation in Russia where non-Russian groups give up their ethnic and linguistic identity and adopt the Russian culture and language
Assimilation:
when one cultural group adopts the language and customs of another group
Eastern Orthodox Church:
a branch of Christianity that split from Roman Catholicism in 1054 CE and includes a number of different denominations such as the Russian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox churches | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/03%3A_Russia/3.04%3A_Russian_Multiculturalism_and_Tension.txt |
The Soviet Government, led by Lenin and later by Stalin, advocated a communist system. In a capitalist system, market forces dictate prices according to supply and demand. Those who control the means of production, known as the bourgeoisie in the Marxist philosophy, are much wealthier than the workers, known as the proletariat. In a communist system, however, the means of production are communally owned, and the intended result is that there are no classes of rich and poor and no groups of landowners and landless workers.
In reality, no government practices pure capitalism or pure communism, but rather, governments are situated along a continuum (Figure \(1\)). Anarchy, the absence of government control, exists only in temporary situations, such as when a previous government is overthrown and political groups are vying for power. In most Western countries, a mix of capitalism and socialism, where economic and social systems are communally owned, is practiced to varying degrees. Denmark, for example, which has been consistently ranked as one of the happiest countries in the world, has a market economy with few business regulations but government funded universal healthcare, unemployment compensation, and maternity leave, and most higher education is free. The United States is largely capitalist, but the government provides retirement benefits through the social security system, funds the military, and supports the building and maintenance of the interstate highway system. Although China’s government is communist, it has also embraced elements of the market economy and allows some private enterprise as well as foreign trade and investment. All governments must address three basic questions of economics: what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce. The answers to these questions vary depending on the state and the situation.
In the Soviet system, the government dictated economic policy, rather than relying on free market mechanisms and the law of supply and demand. This required the government to intervene at all levels of the economy. The prices of goods needed to be set by the central government, the production levels of goods needed to be determined, the coordination of manufacturers and distributors was needed – everything that is traditionally accomplished through private individuals and companies in a capitalist model was the responsibility of the Soviet government.
To coordinate such a wide array of goods and services, long-term planning was needed. The Soviet government instituted a series of five-year plans which established long-term goals and emphasized quotas for the production of goods. This system lacked flexibility, however, and was often inefficient in its production and distribution of goods.
The Soviet government had two principle objectives: first, to accelerate industrialization, and secondly, to collectivize agriculture. The collectivization of agriculture, though intended to increase crop yields and make distribution of food more efficient, was ultimately a failure. By the early 1930s, 90 percent of agricultural land in the Soviet Union had become collectivized, meaning owned by a collection of people rather than individuals. Every element of the production of agriculture, from the tractors to the livestock, was collectivized rather than individually owned. A family could not even have its own vegetable garden. Ideally, under such a system, all farmers would work equally and would share the benefits equally.
Unfortunately, the earnings of collective farmers was typically less than private farmers. This led to a reduction in agricultural output as well as a reduction in the number of livestock. Coupled with a poor harvest in the early 1930s, the country experienced widespread famine and food insecurity. It is estimated that 12 million people died as a result of the collectivization of agriculture.
Soviet industrial development, too, was plagued with inefficiencies. In a typical market economy, particular places specialize in the production of certain goods and the system works out the most efficient method of production and distribution. A furniture maker might locate near a supply of hardwood, for example, to minimize transportation costs. A large factory might locate near a hydroelectric plant to ensure an inexpensive power source. Certain places, due to luck or physical geography, have more resources than others and this can lead to regional imbalances. The Soviet government, however, wanted everything and everyone to be equal. If one region had all of the industrial development, then the people in that region would be disproportionately wealthy and the region would be more vulnerable to attack by an outside force. The government also hoped that the dispersal of industry would force the country to be interconnected. If one area had a steel plant and another had a factory that used steel to produce machines, the two would have to rely on one another and neither would have an advantage. Thus, they aimed to disperse industrial development across the country.
If you were a geographer tasked with finding the best location for a new industry, you’d likely take into account underlying resources, such as the raw materials needed for manufacturing and the energy needed to power the factory. You might think about labor supplies and try to locate the industry near a large labor pool. You might also think about how to get the good to consumers efficiently, and locate near a shipping port or rail line. Rather than take these geographic factors into account, however, the Soviet government sought to disperse industry as much as possible. Industries were located with little regard for the location of labor or raw materials. This meant that inefficiencies were built into the system, and unnecessary transportation costs
mounted.
The substantial costs of supporting an inefficient system of industrial development were magnified by the costs needed to fund the Cold War. The Cold War occurred following World War II and was a time of political and military tension primarily between the United States and the Soviet Union. Western Europe, which was largely capitalist, was divided from the communist Soviet Union by the so-called Iron Curtain, a dividing line between the Soviet Union and its satellite states who aligned with the Warsaw Pact, a collective defense treaty, and Western European countries allied through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (Figure \(2\)). The Cold War was so named because it was different from a traditional “hot” war in that it did not involve direct military conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. It did, however, result in armed conflicts in other parts of the world as well as a massive stockpile of military weaponry.
During the 1980s, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev supported restructuring the Soviet economy with a series of some market-like reforms, known as Perestroika. He also supported glasnost, an increase in government transparency and openness. Unfortunately, these reforms could not change the system quickly enough and loosened government controls only worsened the condition and inefficiencies of the Soviet economy.
The Soviet government, already stretched thin financially from a system of development that largely ignored geography, could not support the unprofitable state-supported enterprises and mounting military expenses. Ultimately, the country went bankrupt. In a system where every aspect of the economy is linked, it only takes one link to break the chain and far-from Gorbachev’s policies strengthening the chain, Perestroika only weakened it further. The Soviet Union formally dissolved in 1991. Some have argued that the Soviet Union collapsed economically. Others maintain that it was primarily a political collapse, led by an ineffective government and increasing territorial resistance. Geography largely played a role as well, with the government ignoring fundamental principles of spatial location and interaction.
Cold War:
a time of political and military tension primarily between the United States and the Soviet Union following World War II and lasting until the early 1990s with the fall of the Soviet Union
Iron Curtain:
an imaginary dividing line between the Soviet Union and its satellite states who aligned with the Warsaw Pact, a collective defense treaty, and Western European countries allied through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
3.06: The Modern Russian Landscape
The collapse of the Soviet Union had far-reaching effects on the Russian landscape and even today, Russia is affected by the legacy of the Soviet Union. The remnants of Soviet bureaucracy, for example, affect everything from the cost of road building to the forms needed to get clothes dry cleaned. After the immediate collapse of the Soviet Union, the government transitioned to a market economy. In many cases, those who had positions of power within the Soviet government gained control over previously state-owned industries creating a wealthy class often called a Russian oligarchy. Despite some setbacks and global economic downturns, Russia’s economy has improved significantly since the end of the Soviet Union and Russia now has the sixth-largest economy in the world. Poverty and unemployment rates have also fallen sharply in recent decades. Although Russia’s population fell sharply following the Soviet Union’s collapse, it has rebounded somewhat in recent years.
Abandoned industrial towns and work settlements built by the Soviet Union dot the landscape, evidence of the Soviet government’s ill-fated attempt to decentralize its population and development (Figure \(1\)). The Trans-Siberian Railway, completed in 1916 to connect Moscow with Russia’s eastern reaches in Vladivostok, continues to be the most important transportation link in Russia, but Russia’s highway system remains largely centralized in the west. In the east, the decentralization of settlements and difficult physical conditions has made building and maintaining road networks difficult. The Lena Highway, for example, nicknamed the “Highway from Hell,” is a federal highway running 1,235 km (767 mi) north to south in eastern Siberia. It was just a dirt road until 2014, often turning into an impassible, muddy swamp in summer.
Under Vladimir Putin, Russia’s 2nd and 4th president, Russia’s economy has grown consistently, aided by high oil prices and global oil demand. Putin also instituted police and military reforms, and persecuted some of the wealthy oligarchs who had taken control of private enterprises. Critics also note that Putin has enacted a number of laws seeking to quiet political dissent and personal freedoms. There have been numerous documented cases of the torture of prisoners and members of the armed forces as well as a number of suspicious killings of journalists and lawmakers.
Although the Cold War officially ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union, tension between Russia and the West remains high. Military conflict in the former Soviet states, like Ukraine, has often reignited simmering hostilities. Still, there is some evidence of cooperation. In 2015, Putin told fellow world leaders that climate change was “one of the gravest challenges humanity is facing” and backed the United Nation’s climate change agreement. Previously, Putin had stated that for a country as cold as Russia, global warming would simply mean that Russians would have to buy fewer fur coats. The U.S. and Russian space agencies also continue to work together, announcing plans to cooperatively build a new space station.
Trans-Siberian Highway:
an east-west rail line completed in 1919 that stretches across Russia, connecting Moscow in the west with Vladivosktok in the east | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/03%3A_Russia/3.05%3A_Economics_and_Development_in_the_Soviet_Union.txt |
• 4.1: North America's Physical Setting
Traditionally, the continent of North America extends from the Canadian Arctic through the United States and Mexico to the narrow Isthmus of Panama. When considering the “region” of North America, however, that is, the area united by common physical and cultural characteristics, there are distinct similarities between Canada and the United States in terms of language and a shared history that are quite different from their Spanish-speaking neighbors to the south.
• 4.2: North American History and Settlement
Although Christopher Columbus is often credited with “discovering” America, the landmass was inhabited long before Europeans made contact. Most likely, early migrants to the Americas traveled from Asia through the Beringia land bridge that once connected Siberia and Alaska over 10,000 years ago. These indigenous peoples, known as First Nations in Canada or Native Americans in the United States, were divided into a number of different groups.
• 4.3: Industrial Development in North America
As the Industrial Revolution began in the United Kingdom in the mid-1700s and spread across Europe, the United States was still primarily based on agriculture and natural resource production. Some of the early innovations in industry were thus based on these raw resources, such as the cotton mill and textile factories. Hydropower was the key source of energy for these early manufacturing plants and thus they were located almost exclusively in the northeastern United States.
• 4.4: The North American Urban Landscape
North America’s urban landscape has been shaped both by colonization and by industrialization. Most of the early settlements in the region were small and were located close to the eastern coast. The Appalachian Mountains provided a formidable obstacle for early settlers before 1765. As settlement and colonization expanded, people moved steadily westward, still primarily situating close to waterways. Even today, most urban centers are located close to water.
• 4.5: Patterns of Inequality in North America
This income inequality is geographical, with the states in the south having significantly greater concentrations of people in poverty that the rest of the country. These regional differences are connected to historical differences in development. Just as the northern areas were the first to industrialize, they were the first areas to transition to more higher-income service industries.
• 4.6: North America's Global Connections
North America continues to have a significant role in global trade and influence. Both Canada and the United States are members of the Group of Eight (G8), a political forum of the world’s leading industrialized countries that also includes France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. Both are also members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), an intergovernmental organization that collectively regulates international trade.
04: North America
Learning Objectives
• Identify the key geographic features of North America
• Describe how the process of industrialization shaped North American geography
• Analyze how the patterns of industrialization impacted development in North America
• Describe the current patterns of inequality in the United States
The giant redwoods that stretch over California’s Redwood National Park are the tallest trees on Earth, towering to over 100 meters (328 feet). These trees are also exceptionally old. One such tree, known as “General Sherman,” is the largest tree in the world by volume and is believed to be over 2,000 years old. At the time General Sherman first emerged from the ground, North America was settled by a number of indigenous groups. It would be 1,000 more years until Europeans would make contact with the Americas. Today, though many of the redwoods still remain, both the physical and human landscape of North America have profoundly changed.
Traditionally, the continent of North America extends from the Canadian Arctic through the United States and Mexico to the narrow Isthmus of Panama (Figure \(1\)). When considering the “region” of North America, however, that is, the area united by common physical and cultural characteristics, there are distinct similarities between Canada and the United States in terms of language and a shared history that are quite different from their Spanish-speaking neighbors to the south. Although the narrow strip of land that typically divides North and South America makes for an easy way to divide these two regions, in many ways, Middle America is largely a transition zone between more powerful economies to the north and south. Mexico, for example, culturally resembles countries like Guatemala and Honduras to the south while physiographically, it resembles the southwestern United States. Thus, the United States and Canada are discussed in the North America chapter while Mexico and Central America are considered alongside the chapter on South America.
The physiographic regions of North America are well-defined and are commonly recognized by its residents (Figure \(2\)). Someone might say he is from “Appalachia,” for example, or that she grew up in the “Rocky Mountains.” In general, the physiographic regions have a strong north-south alignment. Climatically, the region is quite diverse, ranging from tundra in northern Canada and Greenland to semi-arid desert in the southwestern United States. These diverse physical conditions have enabled North America to have a wide variety of natural resources, but have also contributed to significant regional differences.
Most of Canada’s land area consists of boreal forest, known as taiga in Russia (Figure \(3\)). This boreal forest area consists of coniferous trees, such as spruce and pine, and is characterized by a cold climate. For Canada’s indigenous communities in particular, this large stretch of woodland has been an important resource. The rocky landscape of the Canadian Shield extends from the Arctic regions of Central Canada west through Quebec and is among the oldest geologic formations on Earth. It also has some of the world’s richest mineral areas.
As with the physical landscape, the climate zones of North America are diverse. In general, North America has a relatively simple weather system. As you increase in latitude north, the temperature decreases and as you travel west to east, the precipitation increases. Thus, California, on the west coast, is relatively warm and dry, while Florida on the east coast is hot and wet.
Most of North America, to include Mexico, Greenland, and some of the Caribbean, is situated on the North American plate and is thus relatively geologically stable (Figure \(4\)). One notable exception, however, is the Juan de Fuca Plate, which is subducting under the North American plate near California and Vancouver Island, an area known as the Cascadia subduction zone. Severe earthquakes, generating tsunamis, have occurred here roughly every 500 years; the last major earthquake in the area was in 1700 CE. Just to the south, the San Andreas Fault running along the edge of California forms the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate. This is a transform plate boundary, with the two plates sliding past each other horizontally. San Francisco is located on this fault line and the area has experienced numerous earthquakes.
North America has a number of significant rivers, some of which are used for shipping and others for hydroelectric power. The longest North American river is the Missouri, which forms in Montana and flows into the Mississippi River. The Mississippi River is largely considered to be the most important waterway in terms of commercial transportation. The Port of South Louisiana, located along the Mississippi, is the largest port in the United States in terms of tonnage.
Below North America lies a number of aquifers, or underground layers of permeable rock that hold groundwater. The largest of these aquifers is the Ogallala Aquifer located in the central United States stretching from South Dakota down to Texas. This aquifer supplies water to much of the Great Plains – it actually supplies about one-third of all groundwater used for irrigation in the United States. While aquifers are beneficial for irrigation, they replenish their water supplies relatively slowly through rainfall. Depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer has accelerated over the past few decades and currently water is being taken out of the aquifer at a faster rate than it can be replaced. Once all of the water is depleted, it will take around 6,000 years to naturally replenish. Groundwater conservation initiatives in the area have aimed to slow the depletion rate by encouraging farmers to practice sustainable irrigation methods.
While farmers have been encouraged to conserve water, groundwater depletion is just one of the many environmental concerns currently facing North America’s farmers. Sustainable agriculture more broadly remains an important initiative. This type of agriculture looks at farming’s effect on the larger ecosystem and seeks to produce agriculture in a way that doesn’t negatively impact the ecosystem in the long-term. It is essentially farming that can be sustained and seeks to minimize water use, soil erosion, and harmful chemicals. Globally, over one-third of all agricultural land has become degraded due to poor land and resource management. Soil is a finite resource, and topsoil can take over 500 years to form! Traditional forms of agriculture, where you might see large stretches of tilled land, can often lead to topsoil erosion. Through sustainable agricultural practices, soil erosion rates have slowed in the United States over the past several decades.
Many environmental problems like topsoil erosion and groundwater depletion affect a wide area and can have far-reaching effects beyond areas where the environment is not being sensitively managed. Acid rain, for example, formed from sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, can have damaging effects far beyond the areas that are emitting these gases (Figure \(5\)). When cars or factories burn fossil fuels, those nonrenewable sources of energy formed by the remains of decayed plants or animals, they release a number of chemicals including sulfur and nitrogen. These gases react with water in the atmosphere to form a highly acidic rain that can damage plants and animals. The lower the pH value, the more acidic a substance is; pure water has a pH of 7. Acid rain can have a pH of around 5.0, or even below 4.0 in some areas. Pickles, by comparison, have a pH of around 5.20, so you can imagine the devastating effects of this acidic precipitation on the environment. The strict regulation of fossil fuel emissions since the 1970s has dramatically reduced instances of acid rain in the United States but some argue that further regulation is needed to address changes in global climate and other pollution concerns.
Boreal forest:
a cold biome characterized by coniferous trees, also known as taiga
Aquifers:
an underground layer of permeable rock that holds groundwater
Sustainable agriculture:
a type of agriculture looks at farming’s effect on the larger ecosystem and seeks to minimize negatively impacts on the ecosystem in the long-term
Acid rain:
a form of acidic precipitation caused by the emission of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide from the burning of fossil fuels
Fossil fuels:
nonrenewable sources of energy formed by the remains of decayed plants or animals | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/04%3A_North_America/4.01%3A_North_America%27s_Physical_Setting.txt |
Although Christopher Columbus is often credited with “discovering” America, the landmass was inhabited long before Europeans made contact. Most likely, early migrants to the Americas traveled from Asia through the Beringia land bridge that once connected Siberia and Alaska over 10,000 years ago. These indigenous peoples, known as First Nations in Canada or Native Americans in the United States, were divided into a number of different groups, some consisting only of a few small families and others encompassing vast territories and empires (Figure \(1\)). Some groups practiced hunting and gathering but many practiced settled agriculture. Before European contact, there were an estimated 50 million indigenous people living in North and South America.
European colonization completely changed the cultural landscape of North America. In 1492 CE, Columbus made contact with what are now the Bahamas, Cuba, and the island of Hispaniola, spurring Spanish and Portuguese colonization of the Americas. The term “Indian” was actually originally used by Columbus who thought he had arrived in the East Indies, what we now refer to as East and Southeast Asia. Early French and English settlements were not successful, but over time, they too gained control of territory and founded permanent colonies. The easternmost indigenous groups were the first to experience the impacts of European invasion. Many were relocated, often forcibly, to the interior of North America to free up land for European settlement. Disease and war would have a devastating effect on the indigenous groups of the Americas. European settlers and explorers brought smallpox, measles, and cholera – diseases previously unknown to North America. In some areas, 90 percent of the indigenous population died.
By the early 1700s, France, the United Kingdom, and Spain had established formal colonies in the Americas (Figure \(2\)) and the population geography of North America today is largely rooted in the colonial developments during this time period. The British primarily set up settlements along the coast, including the thirteen colonies that would declare independence from the United Kingdom and form the basis of the United States. The French colonized much of Canada and the area surrounding the Mississippi River. Their primary objective was fur trading, and they founded a fur trading outpost at what would later become the city of Quebec. The Spanish colonized present-day Florida as well as much of Middle America, stretching into what is now the southwestern United States. They sought resources like gold, the expansion of trade, and opportunities to spread the Roman Catholic faith to indigenous groups.
The early British colonies had highly specialized economies, not unlike the patterns seen in present-day North America. The New England colonies, around the Massachusetts Bay area, were centers of commerce. The Chesapeake Bay area of Virginia and Maryland had a number of tobacco plantations. In the Middle Atlantic, around New York, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania, were a number of small, independent-farmer colonies. Further south, the Carolinas were home to large plantations cultivating crops like cotton.
These large plantations relied on slave labor, a dark legacy that would last for 250 years in North America. Initially, colonists partnered with indentured servants. These laborers paid to their passage to North America by agreeing to work for an employer under contract for a set number of years. These indentured servants often worked on farms, and once their contract expired, they were free to work on their own. Over half of all European immigrants to the Americas before the American Revolution were indentured servants.
As indentured servants gradually earned their freedom, the system of indentured servitude was replaced with slavery. The Portuguese were the first to bring slaves from Africa to the Americas during the 1500s. England, France, Portugal, and the Netherlands would all later join in the transatlantic slave trade, with England dominating the slave trade by the late 17th century. The vast majority of slaves were destined for sugar colonies in the Caribbean and Brazil. Less than 10 percent would be brought to the North American colonies, but this number still represented hundreds of thousands of people. It is estimated that a total of 12.5 million Africans were shipped to the New World as slaves.
During British colonization, slaves worked as house servants or laborers in the northern colonies and farm workers in the south. Britain formally abolished slavery in 1833, but slavery was so entrenched in the economies of the southern United States that it would take a civil war to end the practice. In their secession statement, Mississippi explained its reasoning for leaving the union: “In the momentous step which our State has taken of dissolving its connection with the government of which we so long formed a part, it is but just that we should declare the prominent reasons which have induced our course. Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery – the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth” (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_cent...csa_missec.asp).
When we think about the Civil War, it is important to understand the geographical differences between the north and south and to remember that the northern states profited on slavery in the south. Just as geographers can divide the world into core and peripheral countries today, the early United States can similarly be analyzed in terms of its core and periphery. The southern states were indeed peripheral in terms of their economic development. Slavery, essentially free labor, provided the southern states with the maximum profit for their commodities and the notion of “othering,” the idea that people who look different from you are definitively not you, combined to create an institution that was deeply a part of the southern culture and economy. Even after slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865 with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, the legacy of slavery and the tendency to consider African Americans as “other” remained. It would be another 100 years before laws were passed in the United States that would bar discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Even still, racial and ethnic prejudices continue to be a significant social issue.
4.03: Industrial Development in North America
As the Industrial Revolution began in the United Kingdom in the mid-1700s and spread across Europe, the United States was still primarily based on agriculture and natural resource production. Some of the early innovations in industry were thus based on these raw resources, such as the cotton mill and textile factories. Hydropower was the key source of energy for these early manufacturing plants and thus they were located almost exclusively in the northeastern United States, the only area with fast-moving rivers. After the Civil War in the 1860s, steam power manufacturing spread through the United States allowing the southern states to industrialize. The manufacturing core region in particular had high concentrations of industrial output (Figure \(1\)). Eventually, as the United States continued to industrialize, they overtook the United Kingdom by the early 20th century as the global leader in industry.
The geography of North America shaped industrial development and regional specializations. In the Pittsburgh-Lake Erie region, for example, abundant deposits of iron fueled steel manufacturing, inspiring the name of Pittsburgh’s professional football team. In the south, textile manufacturing developed and remains a regional specialty in many areas still today. Coal from Appalachia fueled industrial development in the Mid-Atlantic States. These regional specializations, and the fact that the southern states continued to rely on agricultural production for some time, further exacerbated economic differences between the north and south.
The Industrial Revolution shaped the pattern of human settlement in North America. As in Europe, industrial development occurred in urban areas spurring people to move from rural farming communities to the cities to find work. In 1790, around 5 percent of the US population lived in urban areas. At the end of the Civil War, as industrialization began to diffuse across the continent, around 20 percent lived in cities. By 1920, more people lived in cities than in rural areas. Today, over 80 percent of people in the US live in cities.
In addition, industrial development spurred large-scale migration, particularly from the peripheral regions of Eastern Europe, as people moved to the US to find work. Between 1865 and 1918, 27.5 million people migrated to the US. Conditions for many of these workers was dismal and child labor wouldn’t end until 1930. Asians primarily migrated to the western United States where they were often met with strong anti-immigrant sentiment. Legislation actually limited immigration from China and Japan at the turn of the 20th century. Improvements in rail transportation further diffused both industrial development and the population of workers.
For the past several decades, manufacturing has been declining in the United States as people have shifted to jobs in service industries, like retail and finance. Still, the US remains the world’s second largest manufacturer behind China. This process is referred to as deindustrialization and is accompanied by both social and economic changes as a country shifts from heavy industry to a more service-oriented economy.
Deindustrialization:
the process of shifting from a primarily manufacturing-based economy to service industries | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/04%3A_North_America/4.02%3A_North_American_History_and_Settlement.txt |
North America’s urban landscape has been shaped both by colonization and by industrialization. Most of the early settlements in the region were small and were located close to the eastern coast. The Appalachian Mountains provided a formidable obstacle for early settlers before 1765. As settlement and colonization expanded, people moved steadily westward, still primarily situating close to waterways. Even today, most urban centers are located close to water.
During this time, immigration and natural growth expanded North America’s population. In 1610, the population of what is now the United States, excluding indigenous groups, was a meager 350 people. In just 200 years, the population reached over 7 million. In 1620, just 60 people occupied what is now the Canadian city of Quebec. Today, the population of the United States stands at over 318 million and Canada’s population is over 35 million and both countries are highly urbanized.
North America’s cities themselves have also changed over time. The traditional North American city had a core commercial area, called the central business district (or CBD), surrounded by worker’s homes. Density was generally highest near the city center and decreased as you traveled outward away from the urban center and into the rural areas.
As deindustrialization occurred, suburbanization replaced the previous rural to urban migration. The rush to move to the city center for jobs in industry was replaced by the desire for more land and spacious, single-family homes. With the decrease in housing density and the increase in both home size and acreage, however, came sprawl. Urban sprawl refers to the expansion of human settlements away from central cities and into low-density, car-dependent communities. Sprawl is associated with urban decentralization, the spreading out of the population that resulted from suburbanization. Counterurbanization, the shift in populations from urban centers to suburban and rural settlements, has been prevalent in North America since the end of World War II. In some areas, rural populations have actually grown as a result of counterurbanization. As sprawl continued, edge cities developed. An edge city is an urban area situated outside of the traditional central business district.
In historical North American cities, the central city was home to most of the jobs and services and had relatively high density housing. Because everything was located close to the city center, people could often walk from home to work or take efficient transit systems like streetcars. Urban decentralization has not only resulted in sprawl but has also created suburbs that are entirely dependent on automobiles (Figure \(1\)).
Few suburbs have shops or restaurants, and most people living in suburbs have to commute to work. Since jobs are no longer clustered in the city center, cities have faced challenges trying to develop mass transit systems that tie together numerous disconnected suburban developments and link people with their places of work, many of which are now located in surrounding edge cities.
Toronto, for example, Canada’s largest city, has a population of 2.8 million within its city limits. Its surrounding suburbs, however, have grown considerably in recent decades. The entire metropolitan area now has a population of over 5.5 million and the average daily commute time is over 1 hour. To the south, Washington, DC’s urban decentralization has extended north into Maryland and south into Virginia. Its subway system, a technological marvel when it opened in 1976, has not kept pace with its urban growth and numerous sections of rail lines were shut down for an extended period in 2016 and again in 2019 to conduct major system and station repairs.
In some areas, the metropolitan area has grown so large that it actually overlaps with neighboring metropolitan areas. This is referred to as a megalopolis. The Northeast Megalopolis extends along the Interstate 95 corridor from the southern suburbs of Washington, DC north through Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York to Boston (Figure \(2\)). It covers about 2 percent of the land area in the United States but is home to over 50 million people, around 16 percent of the US population. It is projected to grow to 58 million people by 2025. The Northeast Megalopolis is just one of many growing urban areas in North America. The Atlanta Metropolitan area may one day extend into Charlotte, North Carolina. Toronto’s urban development may creep south, intermixing with development in Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago. Florida may one day become one megalopolis linking the cities of Tampa, Orlando, Miami, and Jacksonville. These massive urban settlements will provide new opportunities for creative housing and transportation planning.
One creative approach to the problem of urban sprawl is New Urbanism, a movement to create urban landscapes with walkable neighborhoods, accessible public spaces, and housing and shops in close proximity. In the United States alone, more than 600 towns and villages have been developed following the New Urbanist principles. Celebration, Florida, for example, near Orlando was designed and built by the Walt Disney Company and includes a variety of apartments and single-family homes in close proximity to shops, restaurants, and a movie theater – all of which are in walking distance for residents (Figure \(3\)). In other areas, New Urbanism is more broadly integrated into long-term urban plans. One criticism of New Urbanist developments is that while on the surface, they promote mixed income developments, in practice most housing in these areas are for the middle and upper classes. Housing prices in these developments are simply beyond the reach of many low income families.
As urban to suburban migration continued, some desired instead to move back from the sprawling suburbs to be closer to the amenities of the downtown area. This often led to gentrification, where increased property values displace lower-income families and small businesses. Initially, low-income, historic housing near the city center attracted middle- and upper-income families. As these families moved in and renovated the housing, other families did the same. Over time, this renovation increased property values – an advantage for city officials who saw an increase in property tax revenue. For the poorest in the communities, however, this increase in property values often meant that they could no longer afford to rent near the central city. Given the auto-dependency of the sprawling suburbs, where would someone live if they had no transportation and worked in the downtown area? The walkability of the downtown, an amenity for those relocating from the suburbs, was often a necessity for low-income workers.
Gentrification also changes the racial and ethnic makeup of neighborhoods, as most people moving into these changing urban areas are typically white. The Bedford- Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, for example, was traditionally an African American community but beginning in the 2000s, began to experience gentrification (Figure
\(4\)). The percentage of white residents increased from 2.4 percent in 2000 to 22 percent in 2013. Median home prices jumped, too, from \$400,000 in 2011 to \$765,000 in 2016. New businesses have located in the area and the gentrification has funded major infrastructure improvements. For the neighborhood’s poorest residents, however, these improvements have pushed housing and rent prices beyond what they can afford.
Figure \(5\): Gentrified Neighborhood in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York
(© Mark Hogan, Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0) | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/04%3A_North_America/4.04%3A_The_North_American_Urban_Landscape.txt |
While both Canada and the United States have relatively strong economies, income inequality persists. In the United States in particular, around 12 percent of people live below the poverty line. Some argue, however, that the traditional definition of “living below the poverty line” has not kept up with rising living costs and inflation and that the actual percentage of Americans living in or near poverty is far higher. This income inequality is geographical, with the states in the south having significantly greater concentrations of people in poverty that the rest of the country (Figure \(1\)). These regional differences are connected to historical differences in development. Just as the northern areas were the first to industrialize, they were the first areas to transition to more higher-income service industries. Although areas like Silicon Valley in California and the Austin-San Antonio region of Texas have had an influx of high-tech industries, some areas of the south have been slow to transition from primarily agricultural and natural resource based economies.
Canada’s poverty rate is lower than the United States at around 10 percent. In general, Canada has stronger social welfare programs than the US. All provinces of Canada provide universal, publicly funded healthcare, for example, and a monthly income is provided to those in extreme poverty.
However, in both the United States and Canada, income inequality is closely tied to ethnicity and race. For Canada’s First Nations, however, poverty and homelessness rates are much higher than the national average. Half of all indigenous children in Canada live in poverty. In some areas, like Manitoba and Saskatchewan, the number is over 60 percent. In the US, the poverty rate among non-Hispanic whites was just over 10 percent in 2014. For black Americans, the poverty rate was 26 percent. By some measures, the US has the highest degree of income inequality among the advanced economies of the world. In Canada, the richest 10 percent own 57.4 percent of the country’s wealth. In the United States, the richest 10 percent own over 75 percent of the wealth in the country, the highest of the twenty most developed countries in the world.
4.06: North America's Global Connections
North America continues to have a significant role in global trade and influence. Both Canada and the United States are members of the Group of Eight (G8), a political forum of the world’s leading industrialized countries that also includes France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. [Note: in 2014 Russia's membership was suspended and it permanently left in 2017] Both are also members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), an intergovernmental organization that collectively regulates international trade (Figure \(1\)).
Within North America, trade has been governed under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. This agreement was established in 1994 with the goal of increasing economic cooperation between the three countries. Prior to NAFTA, although the US and Canada engaged in free trade, goods bought and sold between Mexico and the US were subject to tariffs, or additional taxes. In 2018, NAFTA was replaced by the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) as a result of a renegotiation of NAFTA sought by US President Donald Trump.
NAFTA has had generally positive impacts on the economies of the region. Canada’s manufacturing output held steady despite global decreases in productivity. Mexico’s maquiladoras, manufacturing plants that take components of products and assemble them for export, have become a fixture of its landscape especially along the border. The United States also saw a modest economic boost from the agreement.
After the Cold War, the United States retained its position as a global superpower. It has the largest economy of any other country, including the combined output of the European Union, accounting for 25 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP). It leads the world in military expenditures, and by many measures, is the most influential country in the world. However, it also has the largest prison population and has a much higher infant mortality rate than most other industrialized countries with strong regional concentrations of high infant mortality. Some wonder if the US will retain its global dominance in the coming decades, or if it will become one country among many influential world leaders.
Both Canada and the United States continue to attract immigrants, drawn to these countries by the hope of good jobs and political freedoms. Each country has dealt with the influx of immigration in very different ways. Over 200,000 people immigrate to Canada every year and the Canadian immigration system gives preference to immigrants for skilled professions. Around 20 percent of Canada’s population is foreign born, the highest of the G8 countries. Canada’s immigrants have shaped its cultural landscape and have created a rich cultural mosaic. In contrast, immigrants to the United States have generally been expected to assimilate, creating a relatively homogeneous cultural landscape rather than retaining individual ethnic identities. This notion of mixing cultural groups to create a more homogeneous national culture is metaphorically termed a melting pot.
Canada and the United States’ reactions to refugees have also been markedly different. The United States set a goal of accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees, but immigration from Syria has been contentious politically with some fearing the potential for terrorist attacks by migrants. Several state governors outright refused to accept Syrian refugees. The Canadian government, in contrast, agreed to resettle 25,000 Syrians in 2016. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greeted the first plane of refugees, offering winter clothing and stuffed animals and saying, “Welcome home.” Throughout history, Canada has welcomed the world’s displaced peoples, accepting 1.2 million refugees since World War II.
Undocumented, or illegal, immigration to the United States continues to be another significant political issue. Around 11 million undocumented migrants currently live in the US. Just over 50 percent are from Mexico. As drug crime worsened in Central America, undocumented migration from those countries surged and many now make a long and dangerous trek from Central America through Mexico in hope of reaching US soil. Undocumented and unaccompanied child migrants in particular have increased dramatically in recent years. As countries experience economic decline, political turmoil, and often dangerous living conditions, migrants will likely continue to flock to Canada and the US in search of a better life.
Group of Seven:
a political forum of the world’s leading industrialized countries including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union, also known as the G7. Formerly the G8.
World Trade Organization:
an intergovernmental organization that collectively regulates international trade, also known as the WTO
North American Free Trade Agreement:
an agreement established in 1994 with the goal of increasing economic cooperation between Canada, Mexico, and the United States, also referred to as NAFTA
Maquiladoras:
a manufacturing plant that takes components of products and assembles them for export
Melting pot:
a metaphorical term referring to the mixing of cultural groups to create a more homogeneous national culture | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/04%3A_North_America/4.05%3A_Patterns_of_Inequality_in_North_America.txt |
• 5.1: The Geographic Features of Middle and South America
Middle and South America cover an area of the world that is fragmented both in terms of its physical connectivity and its history. Generally, the continents of North American and South America are divided at the Isthmus of Panama, the narrow strip of land that connects the two large landmasses. Culturally, though, Middle America, including the Caribbean, is quite similar to South America and this region shares a distinct pattern of colonial development.
• 5.2: Colonization and Conquest in Middle America
Middle America was settled by a number of indigenous groups who originally migrated to the region from North America. Some continued on through the Isthmus of Panama to South America. Here, they founded the Mesoamerican cultural hearth, considered one of the earliest civilizations in the world. Two groups in the region had a particularly strong impact on the cultural landscape of Middle America: the Maya and the Aztec.
• 5.3: The South American Colonial Landscape
A variety of ancient cultures were found in South America prior to colonization. These indigenous groups settled in a variety of environments, some in the coastal plains and others in the Amazon basin. One group, the Inca, primarily settled in the altiplano of Peru beginning in the 13th century. The Inca Empire was the largest of the pre-Colombian, referring to before Columbus’ arrival, civilizations.
• 5.4: Urban Development in South America
South America is a highly urbanized region, with over 80 percent of people living in cities. Central America and the Caribbean are slightly less urbanized at around 70 percent. Development and human settlement are not spread evenly across the region, however. Several countries in Middle and South America have a primate city. Primate cities are those which are the largest city in a country, are more than twice as large as the next largest city, and are representative of the national culture.
• 5.5: Income Inequality in Middle and South America
Although income inequality in Middle and South America has fallen in recent years, this region remains by some measures the most unequal region in the world. Overall, the top 10 percent of people in Latin America control around 71 percent of the region’s wealth. If current trends continue, the top 1 percent will have amassed more wealth than the bottom 99 percent.
• 5.6: Patterns of Globalization in Middle and South America
The ongoing migration from Middle and South America points to a larger issue of global economic connectivity. Many of the region’s migrants are well-educated and leave in search of better economic opportunities. This contributes to brain drain, referring to the emigration of highly skilled workers “draining” their home country of their knowledge and skills. Around 84% of Haiti’s college graduates live outside of their home country - the greatest percentage of any country in the world.
05: Middle and South America
Learning Objectives
• Identify the key geographic features of Middle and South America
• Describe the primary patterns of colonial development found in Middle America
• Analyze the patterns of urban development in South America
• Explain how globalization has shaped current issues of inequality across Middle and South America
Middle and South America (Figure \(1\)) cover an area of the world that is fragmented both in terms of its physical connectivity and its history. Generally, the continents of North American and South America are divided at the Isthmus of Panama, the narrow strip of land that connects the two large landmasses. Culturally, though, Middle America, including the Caribbean, is quite similar to South America and this region shares a distinct pattern of colonial development.
“Middle America” is typically defined as the area between North and South America, with Mexico sometimes categorized as North America and sometimes as Middle or Central America. Since Mexico shares strong cultural and historical similarities with the countries of Central America, they are grouped together in this text. This region also includes the islands of the Caribbean. South of Middle America is the continent of South America, extending from the tropical sand beaches of Colombia to the frigid islands of southern Chile and Argentina.
The region lies at the intersection of a number of tectonic plates making the region vulnerable to earthquakes and volcanoes (Figure \(2\)). Haiti, for example, located on the eastern half of the island of Hispaniola, is situated on the edge of the Caribbean plate along a transform plate boundary. A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck here in 2010 killing over 100,000 people.
These tectonic collisions have created a landscape of relatively high relief, particularly in Middle America and western South America. Mexico is home to a number of impressive mountain ranges, including the Sierra Madre Occidental in the west, Sierra Madre Oriental in the east, and Sierra Madre del Sur in the south (Figure \(3\)).
Further east, the tectonic collision of the Caribbean plate and the North American plate formed the Caribbean archipelago, or island chain. Many of these islands are the tops of underwater mountains. The islands of the Caribbean are divided into the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles (Figure \(4\)). The Greater Antilles include the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and the Cayman Islands. The Lesser Antilles are much smaller and include the Leeward and Windward Islands, the Leeward Antilles, and the Bahamas.
In addition to earthquakes and volcanoes, the region is prone to tropical cyclones, also known as hurricanes. The areas along the Gulf of Mexico, in particular, lie in the path of frequent hurricanes. El Niño, the warming phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, also contributes to severe weather in the region. In North America, El Niño results in warmer than average temperatures, but it can also increase the number of tropical cyclones in the Americas and excessive rain across South America.
The high relief of Central America has created distinct agricultural and livestock zones, known as altitudinal zonation. As altitude increases, temperature decreases, and thus each altitudinal zone can support different crops and animals (Figure \(5\)). The hot, coastal area known as the tierra caliente, for example, can support tropical crops like bananas and rice. Past the tree line in the higher elevation of the tierra helada, animals like llamas can graze on cool grasses. In this way, even countries with a relatively small land area can support a wide variety of agricultural activities.
South America’s Andes Mountains, which stretch from Venezuela down to Chile and Argentina, were formed from the subduction of the Nazca and Antarctic plates below the South American plate. They are the highest mountains outside of Asia. Situated in the Andes is the Altiplano, a series of high elevation plains. These wide basins were central to early human settlement of the continent.
The rest of South America is relatively flat. The Amazon basin is the other key geographic feature of the continent (Figure \(6\)). The Amazon River is South America’s longest river and is the largest river in the world in terms of discharge. The river discharges 209,000 cubic meters (7.4 million cubic feet) every second – more than the discharge of the next seven largest rivers combined! Its drainage basin covers an area of over 7 million square kilometers (2.7 million square miles).
Numerous rivers snake across Central America, but the most prominent water feature is Lake Nicaragua. This large, freshwater lake is home to numerous species of fish and provides both economic and recreational benefits to the people of Nicaragua. Plans were approved to build a canal through Nicaragua to connect the Caribbean Sea to Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific Ocean though many worry about the ecological impacts of such a large-scale project.
Currently, the only connection between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean is through the Panama Canal. The canal was started in 1881 by the French, in what was then territory owned by Colombia, but the project was a failure. French construction workers were unprepared for the torrential Central American rainy season, dense jungle, and difficult geology. 22,000 workers were killed due to disease and accidents.
The United States helped Panama achieve independence from Colombia and in exchange, Panama granted the US rights to build and control the canal. In 1904, the US continued where the French had left off and in just ten years, the project was completed. Over 5,600 workers died during the US construction project. Panama regained control of the canal in 1999.
When the canal was completed, it accommodated around 1,000 ships per year. Today, around 15,000 ships pass through the canal each year. One key issue is that the Panama Canal’s waterways are almost entirely man-made and pass through areas of changing elevation. A series of locks take ships from lower-elevation waterways and raise or lower them depending on the direction the ships are headed. It takes around 8 to 10 hours for a ship to pass through. These locks were not built with modern ships in mind, however, and construction was undertaken to widen the locks to accommodate today’s massive container ships. The expansion project was completed in 2016.
Isthmus:
a narrow strip of land that connects the two large landmasses
Archipelago:
a chain of islands
El Niño:
the warming phase of a climate pattern found across the tropical Pacific Ocean region
Altitudinal zonation:
distinct agricultural and livestock zones resulting from changes in elevation
Altiplano:
a series of high elevation plains found in western South America | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/05%3A_Middle_and_South_America/5.01%3A_The_Geographic_Features_of_Middle_and_South_America.txt |
Middle America was settled by a number of indigenous groups who originally migrated to the region from North America. Some continued on through the Isthmus of Panama to South America. Here, they founded the Mesoamerican cultural hearth, considered one of the earliest civilizations in the world. Two groups in the region had a particularly strong impact on the cultural landscape of Middle America: the Maya and the Aztec.
The Maya Civilization began around 2000 BCE and stretched across present-day Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and the Yucatan peninsula. The civilization had a theocratic structure, with their king viewed as a divine ruler. They developed a system of hieroglyphic script, a calendar, a system of mathematics, and astronomy. The civilization had a number of city-states linked by a complex trading system. They also had monumental architecture, and a number of their buildings, like the pyramidal Chichen Itza, are still visible on the landscape today (Figure \(1\)). At its height, the Maya Empire encompassed over one million people.
So what happened to the Maya? The short answer is: we’re not really sure. It takes a carefully managed infrastructure to care for one million people. Some researchers think the civilization simply got too big too fast and any number of calamities, perhaps ecological damage or a disease epidemic, related to this rapid population growth could have had a devastating effect. Others think that infighting broke out within the society. Still others maintain that historical climate data shows a decrease in rainfall in the region around the time of the Maya’s decline, perhaps indicating a widespread famine. In any case, in such a large society, it would only take a small problem to send the system into turmoil and by the 9th century CE, the Maya had abandoned its cities and its empire collapsed.
The Aztec Empire developed much later in history, during the 15th century CE (Figure \(2\)). This civilization was centered around Tenochtitlan which became its capital and one of the greatest cities in the Americas, with a population between 100,000 and 200,000 people. Today, the ruins of Tenochtitlan are located under present-day Mexico City. Aztec architecture, art, and trading systems were truly extraordinary for their time.
This empire was relatively short-lived, however, and the reason for its decline is much easier to pinpoint than the Maya. The Spanish, led by the conquistador Hernán Cortés, aligned themselves with a rival group and arrived in Tenochtitlan, as very unwelcome visitors, in 1520. Violence erupted and the Aztec leader Montezuma was killed, marking the beginning of the end of the civilization. By 1521, the Spanish and their allies had destroyed the city of Tenochtitlan and the Aztecs were subsequently ruled by a series of leaders who were chosen by the Spanish.
Colonization completely reshaped the Middle American landscape, from architecture to politics to land-holding patterns. Middle America can be divided into two different spheres, the mainland and the rimland, each with a distinct colonial history and experience (Figure \(3\)). The rimland, though a fragmented realm of islands, was more accessible for European colonists than the mainland and were among the first places explorers landed when they reached the Americas. Christopher Columbus first reached the rimland in 1492 CE and would reach South America on a third voyage in 1498 CE. The first Spanish cities in the Americas were established in the region during this time period. By the 1600s, England, Portugal, France, and the Netherlands were shipping Africans to the Americas to work on farms. Of the more than 11 million Africans who were sold as slaves and shipped overseas, over 90 percent were sent to the Caribbean and South America.
The rimland’s sprawling plantations where the slaves worked were focused on growing crops, most often sugar, for export. Prior to the commercial agriculture practiced on plantations, most in the region practiced subsistence farming, where farmers grow enough food to feed themselves and their families. Since subsistence farmers eat what they grow, they typically grow a variety of crops. You can only eat so much corn before you need a bit more variety. Plantation farms, however, were generally monocultures, meaning only a single crop was grown. This, combined with the free slave labor, allowed for maximum efficiency and profit. Labor was seasonal, coinciding with the seasonality of the cultivated crop. Today, the rimland is still home to a number of plantations and the blending of European and African cultures is prominent on the landscape.
In the mainland, there is a blending of both indigenous and Spanish cultures. There is an ethnic blending as well. Mestizo refers to someone of mixed European and Amerindian, or indigenous American, descent and a number of Middle and South American countries have a sizable mestizo population. The Spanish conquest of mainland Middle America not only toppled the Aztec civilization but also led to the deaths of millions of indigenous people due to war and disease.
In contrast with the plantations of the rimland, the mainland was more commonly home to haciendas, Spanish estates where a variety of crops were grown both for local and international markets. Because of this variety, workers lived on the land, unlike the seasonal laborers needed to work plantations. Furthermore, although haciendas were less efficient than plantations, they were also less vulnerable economically. If you’re only growing one crop and the price of that crop declines, you have no backup. Similarly, disease or a bad harvest could dramatically decrease profits. The increased diversity in crops grown on a hacienda decreased risk. Haciendas also had an element of social prestige. The size of the hacienda increased the social standing of the landowner, and hacienda farmers were often given their own plots of land to cultivate.
Broadly, the colonization of Middle America led to land alienation, where land is taken from one group and claimed by another. Where indigenous groups might have previously controlled their own subsistence farms, wealthy European settlers took over the land and built haciendas – often then employing those whose land they claimed. Today, poverty continues to be a significant issue among the indigenous people of Middle and South America and the current system of land ownership found in the region directly connects to European colonization.
Plantations:
an agricultural system designed to produce one or two crops primarily for export
Subsistence farming:
where farmers grows food primarily to feed themselves and their families.
Mestizo:
a term referring to someone of mixed European and Ameridian descent
Haciendas:
a Spanish estate where a variety of crops are grown both for local and international markets
Land alienation:
when land is taken from one group and claimed by another | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/05%3A_Middle_and_South_America/5.02%3A_Colonization_and_Conquest_in_Middle_America.txt |
A variety of ancient cultures were found in South America prior to colonization. These indigenous groups settled in a variety of environments, some in the coastal plains and others in the Amazon basin. One group, the Inca, primarily settled in the altiplano of Peru beginning in the 13th century. The Inca Empire was the largest of the pre-Colombian, referring to before Columbus’ arrival, civilizations. Initially, the Inca founded the city-state Kingdom of Cusco, but over time, expanded to encompass four territories stretching 2,500 miles and included over 4 million people.
In 1494 CE, Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, dividing up territory in the New World between the two colonial empires (Figure \(1\)). The Spanish would control territory to the west of the line while Portugal would control territory to the east. Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro reached the Inca by 1526 CE. The empire, already weakened by smallpox and infighting, was conquered by the Spanish soon after. Portugal meanwhile conquered much of eastern South America in present-day Brazil.
In coastal South America, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom established colonies (Figure \(2\)). These colonial possessions were largely extensions of the Central American rimland with large plantations and slave labor. Portugal, too, established plantations along coastal Brazil. As colonialism expanded, the colonial empires prospered. Lima, for example, in present-day Peru, became one of the wealthiest cities in the word due to its silver deposits.
Colonization dramatically changed the urban landscape of the Americas as well as rural development patterns. Development broadly refers to economic, social, and institutional advancements and levels of development vary widely across the region. In the rural areas of South America, land was taken from indigenous groups, as it had been in Middle America, and transformed to the benefit of colonial interests. The main interest of the conquering group was to extract riches with little thought given to fostering local development and regional connectivity. Even today, many of the rural areas of South America remain highly isolated and the indigenous descendants of conquered Amerindian groups among the poorest in the region.
In cities that were conquered, European colonizers typically razed existing structures and built new ones. In general, there was little regard for local development and cultural values. The Spanish colonies, for example, were governed according to the Laws of the Indies. These laws regulated social, economic, and political life in territories that were controlled by Spain. They also prescribed a very specific set of urban planning guidelines, including building towns around a Plaza Mayor (main square) and creating a road network on a grid system. Even today, the cities of the Americas often look quite European. In Mexico City, for example, the Spanish destroyed the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan and built the Mexico City Cathedral over the ruins of the Aztec Templo Mayor complex (Figure \(3\)).
In the early 19th century, most of the colonies of Middle and South America gained their independence, often led by the Europeans who had settled in the region. Larger colonial possessions often separated into smaller independent states. For a short time, the states of Central America formed a federal republic, but this experiment devolved into civil war. Today, most of the mainland of Middle and South America is independent, with the exception of French Guiana which is maintained as a French territory and is home to a launch site for the European Space Agency. Many of the island nations are still controlled by other countries. France, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands all still have territories in the Caribbean.
Development:
economic, social, and institutional advancements | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/05%3A_Middle_and_South_America/5.03%3A_The_South_American_Colonial_Landscape.txt |
South America is a highly urbanized region, with over 80 percent of people living in cities. Central America and the Caribbean are slightly less urbanized at around 70 percent. Development and human settlement are not spread evenly across the region, however. Several countries in Middle and South America have a primate city. Primate cities are those which are the largest city in a country, are more than twice as large as the next largest city, and are representative of the national culture. For example, of Uruguay’s 3.4 million people, over half live in its capital and primate city of Montevideo. Not all countries of the world have a primate city. Germany’s largest city is Berlin, which is roughly twice as large as Hamburg and Munich and was once the country’s primate city. In recent years, however, Munich has increasingly become Germany’s cultural center.
The region is also home to several megacities. A megacity is a metropolitan area with over 10 million people. Mexico City, the capital and primate city of Mexico, has a population of 22 million people. São Paulo, Brazil has 21.5 million. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Buenos Aires, Argentina are also megacities. Megacities often face distinct challenges. With over 10 million people comes a significant need for affordable housing and employment. Megacities often have large populations of homeless people and, particularly in Middle and South America, sprawling slums. This immense population also needs a carefully managed infrastructure, everything from sanitation to transportation, and the developing countries of this region have historically had difficulty meeting the demand.
Despite the challenges faced by large urban populations, rural to urban migration continues in the region. As in many parts of the world, poor rural farmers migrated to the cities where industrial development was clustered in search of work.
In general, the cities of Middle and South America follow a similar model of urban development (Figure \(1\)). The central business district, or CBD, is located in the center of the city often alongside a central market. While some colonial buildings were demolished following independence, cities in this region still typically have a large plaza area in the CBD. As industrialization occurred, additional industrial and commercial development extended along the spine, which might be a major boulevard. The spine is often connected to major retail area or mall.
Surrounding the commercial area of the spine is the elite residential sector consisting of housing for the wealthiest residents of the city often in high-rise condominiums. Around the CBD is the zone of maturity, an area of middle class housing. The zone of in situ accretion is a transitional area from the modest middle class housing of the zone of maturity to the slums of the city’s poorest residents.
The outermost ring in a typical Latin American city is the zone of peripheral squatter settlements. In this zone, residents do not own or pay rent and instead occupy otherwise unused land, known as “squatting.” In some cases, residents in this zone earn money by participating in the informal sector where goods and services are bought and sold without being taxed or monitored by the government. Disamenity sectors arise along highways, rail lines, or other small tracts of unoccupied land where the city’s poor often live out in the open. Residents often build housing out of whatever materials they can find such as cardboard or tin. What is perhaps most striking about the Latin American city is that in some areas, the city’s poorest residents live in an area adjacent to the wealthiest residents magnifying the income inequality that is present in the region.
Globally, around one-third of people in developing countries live in slums, characterized by locations with substandard housing and infrastructure. Estimates vary regarding the total number of people who live in slums but it is likely just below 1 billion people and continues to climb. In Brazil, these sprawling slums are known as favelas and over 11 million people in this country alone live in favelas. Rocinha, located in Rio de Janeiro, is Brazil’s largest favela and is home to almost 70,000 people (Figure \(2\)). It has transitioned from a squatter area with temporary housing to more permanent structures with basic sanitation, electricity, and plumbing.
In some cases, those who live in the slums of Middle and South America are not unemployed but simply cannot find affordable housing in the cities. Rural to urban migration here, as in other parts of the world, has outpaced housing construction. Even some lower and middle managers are unable to find housing and thus end up living in the slums.
Primate city:
a city that is the largest city in a country, is more than twice as large as the next largest city, and is representative of the national culture
Mega city:
a metropolitan area with over 10 million people
Squatter settlements:
a housing area where residents do not own or pay rent and instead occupy otherwise unused land
Informal sector:
refers to the part of the economy where goods and services are bought and sold without being taxed or monitored by the government | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/05%3A_Middle_and_South_America/5.04%3A_Urban_Development_in_South_America.txt |
Although income inequality in Middle and South America has fallen in recent years, this region remains by some measures the most unequal region in the world. Overall, the top 10 percent of people in Latin America control around 71 percent of the region’s wealth. If current trends continue, the top 1 percent will have amassed more wealth than the bottom 99 percent. In Mexico, around half of the population lives in poverty and while the rich in Mexico have seen their wealth climb dramatically in recent years, poverty rates remain relatively unchanged. In Brazil, the wealthiest 10 percent of the population own almost three-quarters of the country’s wealth, around the same as in the United States. This inequality has been a product of geography but has also impacted the landscape, as well.
Farmers in Middle and South America have struggled with land ownership after their alienation from the land during colonization. While countries like Spain and Portugal no longer control land in Middle and South America, many of these countries’ governments took over colonial landholdings during independence rather than turning it back over to private farmers. Often, small farmers in the region simply can’t compete with the large-scale agricultural producers. This either worsens rural poverty or contributes to rural to urban migration as farmers leave to find work elsewhere.
Government responses to income inequality vary. Some countries of Latin America and the Caribbean turned to socialism in the hope that government-controlled development would be able to more fairly distribute wealth. Often these socialist endeavors were financed with the exports of natural resources, such as oil or coffee, but this created a vulnerable dependency on foreign trade. In Venezuela, for example, where Hugo Chavez ushered in a socialist revolution at the turn of the 21st century, falling oil prices in 2016 threw the economy into steep decline leading to massive inflation and a shortage of domestic products (Figure \(1\)). Governments like Venezuela often relied too heavily on income from exports and invested little in developing their own infrastructure, instead simply relying on importing the goods they needed. In general, spending on social services remains relatively low across the region.
Taxation systems have had a relatively minimal effect on bettering the lives of the region’s poor or assisting the region in infrastructure development. The wealthiest people in many of these countries hold their money offshore in order to avoid taxation, but this also prevents governments from being able to use this tax revenue. Many governments have also given tax breaks to large, multinational corporations who seek to do business in the region providing a short-term economic increase at the expense of long-term development planning.
Inequality is not just an issue of poverty, however. It can also relate to unequal access to education and political power. 62 percent of the population of Bolivia is indigenous, for example, but the country did not have a president from indigenous descent until Evo Morales was elected in 1998. Among the indigenous population of Bolivia, most work in agriculture and around 42 percent of indigenous students do not finish school compared to just 17 percent of non-indigenous students. There is a distinct cycle between education and poverty with educational advancement directly linked to economic advancement. In some areas, access to adequate education, particularly among indigenous populations, remains low, limiting the opportunity to narrow the income gap.
For some, liberation theology has provided a sense of hope. Liberation theology is a form of Christianity that is blended with political activism. There is a strong emphasis on social justice, poverty, and human rights. This approach also stresses the importance of alleviating poverty through action and followers believe that, like Jesus, they should align themselves with society’s marginalized groups.
Others in the region have decided to look elsewhere for economic advancement. Most countries in Middle and South America have net out-migration, meaning more people are leaving than coming into the country. Around 15 percent of all international migrants are from Latin America and the United States continues to be top destination. Some from Central America, however, are choosing to stay in Mexico rather than continue the journey north to the United States.
Liberation Theology:
a form of Christianity that is blended with political activism and places a strong emphasis on social justice, poverty, and human rights | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/05%3A_Middle_and_South_America/5.05%3A_Income_Inequality_in_Middle_and_South_America.txt |
The ongoing migration from Middle and South America points to a larger issue of global economic connectivity. Many of the region’s migrants are well-educated and leave in search of better economic opportunities. This contributes to brain drain, referring to the emigration of highly skilled workers “draining” their home country of their knowledge and skills. Around 84 percent of Haiti’s college graduates live outside of their home country, for example, the greatest percentage of any country in the world.
When workers leave the region in search of work elsewhere, they often send home remittances, or transfers of money back to their home country. In 2014, global remittances totaled \$583 billion, and in some countries, remittances represent a significant portion of the country’s GDP, in some cases exceeding the amount the country earns from its largest export. Mexico’s remittances alone totaled over \$25 billion in 2015, or around 2 percent of its total GDP. Most remittances in Middle and South America originate in the United States.
As countries in this region have sought to increase development, they have faced several challenges. Exports continue to flow from Latin America and the Caribbean to the rest of the world, though often coming at the cost of economic diversification. The island nations of the Caribbean have had particular challenges to sustainable development due to their small size and populations and limited natural resource base. These countries are referred to as Small Island Development States, or SIDS (Figure \(1\)). These countries have struggled with high technology, communication, energy, and transportation costs and have had difficulty developing in a way that doesn’t harm their fragile ecosystems. In the Caribbean, the SIDS have formed the Caribbean Community, or CARICOM, aimed at promoting economic integration and cooperation among its member countries.
Some countries, particularly those in the Caribbean, have advanced their economies through offshore banking. Offshore banks are located outside a depositor’s country of residence and offer increased privacy and little or no taxation. When the wealthy utilize offshore banks, they can thus avoid paying taxes on income that would be otherwise taxable in their home country. Belize, Panama, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, and many other countries in the region have become popular locations for offshore banks. The Cayman Islands, though, is one of the world’s leading offshore banking locations. Around \$1.5 trillion in wealth is held in the Cayman Islands and the British territory has branches for 40 of the 50 largest banks in the world. As a result, it has a GDP per capita of over \$49,000 compared to just \$8,800 for its much larger neighbor, Jamaica. Some countries have tried to strengthen their tax laws to prevent tax evasion through offshore banking.
Others in the region have turned to the production and trade of illicit drugs as a way to generate income, particularly cocaine and marijuana. Coca, the plant used to make cocaine, is grown and harvested in the Andes Mountain region, particularly in Bolivia, Columbia, and Peru. In 2013, Peru overtook Columbia as the global leader in cocaine production. The drug trade in Middle and South America has led to the rise of cartels, criminal drug trafficking organizations, and widespread violence in the region. Cartels often fight each other for territory, with civilians in the crossfire, and in many areas, drug organizations have infiltrated police, military, and government institutions. In Mexico alone, the ongoing Mexican Drug War between the government and drug traffickers shipping cocaine from Central America to global buyers has killed more than 100,000 people. The United States continues to be the largest market for illegal drugs. Americans purchase around \$60 billion in illegal drugs annually, funding drug violence and drug trade in Middle and South America.
As countries throughout Middle and South America have increased their development, there have been some significant environmental concerns, particularly deforestation. When urban areas expand, forests are often cleared to make room for new housing and industry. Similarly, as agricultural lands expand and commercialize to feed growing populations and produce crops for export, it often leads to deforestation. Furthermore, nutrients in soil decline over time without careful land management, and thus after lands are intensively farmed for some time, soil fertility declines and new agricultural lands are cleared. Around 75 percent of Nicaragua’s forests have been cut down and converted to pasture land. The Amazon rainforest, which amazingly holds around 10 percent of the entire world’s known biodiversity, is down to around 80 percent of its size in 1970. The majority of the deforestation in the Amazon has occurred as a result of the growth of Brazil’s cattle industry and its global export of beef and leather.
Despite slowing rates of deforestation and strides to address income inequality, this region remains largely in the global periphery. Some argue that it is to the advantage of countries like the United States to keep this region in the periphery, as it allows them to import cheap products. This idea is known as dependency theory, and it essentially states that resources flow from the periphery to the core, and thus globalization and inequality are linked in the current world system. While some have critiqued the specifics of the theory, others still see it as a useful way to understand the relationship between the core and the periphery. As Middle and South America continue to develop, they will face new challenges of how to do so in a way that is both ecologically and socially sustainable.
Brain drain:
refers to the emigration of highly skilled workers “draining" their home country of their knowledge and skills
Small Island Developing States:
small, coastal states with that face challenges related to sustainable development and have limited populations and natural resource bases, also known as SIDS
Offshore banking:
financial services located outside a depositor’s country of residence and offer increased privacy and little or no taxation | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/05%3A_Middle_and_South_America/5.06%3A_Patterns_of_Globalization_in_Middle_and_South_America.txt |
• 6.1: The Physical Landscape of Sub-Saharan Africa
Africa is the cradle of human civilization. Our early ancestors, homo erectus, meaning “upright man,” first walked in East Africa between one and two million years ago. Early humans in Africa were the first to create tools, develop language, and control fire. The physical landscape of Africa and its long history of habitation have contributed to a variety of cultures and human experiences.
• 6.2: Pre-Colonial Sub-Saharan Africa
Africa has a long history of human habitation giving rise to numerous cultural and linguistic groups. Early humans were primarily gatherers, and there is evidence of people gathering nuts, grasses, and tubers around 16,000 BCE in the highlands of Northern Ethiopia. Around 10,000 years ago, the domestication of the first crops and livestock developed in Africa and the practice of settled agriculture began.
• 6.3: Sub-Saharan African Colonization
As the Industrial Revolution was spreading across Europe, colonial empires were seeking to expand their colonial holdings in order to gain mineral resources and expand agricultural production. As Europeans began exploring the interior of Africa, and recognized its resource potential, competition among European empires grew fierce. France, Italy, Britain, Portugal, and Belgium all raced through the interior of Africa trying to expand and strengthen their territories.
• 6.4: The Modern Sub-Saharan African Landscape
Today, Sub-Saharan Africa is comprised of 48 independent countries and is home to 800 million people. While colonialism transformed African politics and economics, the way of life for many Africans has changed relatively little. Only around one-third of people in Sub-Saharan Africans live in cities, and as of 2007, 72 percent of these city-dwellers lived in slums. Sub-Saharan Africa is still largely rural. Urbanization is increasing.
• 6.5: Economics and Globalization in Sub-Saharan Africa
Although formal colonization of Africa ended by 1980, in many areas, it was replaced with neocolonialism, the practice of exerting economic rather than direct political control over territory. During the colonial era, European groups formally controlled Africa’s resources and created export-oriented economies. Today, most of Sub-Saharan Africa’s exports remain raw materials. This makes the economies of countries in the region vulnerable to price fluctuations and global markets.
06: Sub-Saharan Africa
Learning Objectives
• Identify the key geographic features of Sub-Saharan Africa
• Describe the pre-colonial history of Sub-Saharan Africa
• Explain the process of colonization in Sub-Saharan Africa and its effects on the modern geographic landscape
• Analyze how colonization has impacted political stability and economic opportunity across Sub-Saharan Africa
Africa is the cradle of human civilization. Our early ancestors, homo erectus, meaning “upright man,” first walked in East Africa between one and two million years ago. Early humans in Africa were the first to create tools, develop language, and control fire. The physical landscape of Africa and its long history of habitation have contributed to a variety of cultures and human experiences.
Africa is the second-largest continent after Asia and is the only continent that is crossed by both the Tropic of Cancer, located 23 degrees north of the Equator, and the Tropic of Capricorn, located 23 degrees south of the Equator (see Figure \(1\)). These tropics are areas of high atmospheric pressure creating dry conditions. The Sahara lies along the Tropic of Cancer in the north and the Namib Desert is situated on the Tropic of Capricorn in the south. The Sahara stretches across much of northern Africa creating a formidable barrier and dividing Africa between a Muslim, Arab North and traditional African cultural groups in the south. Since North Africa is so similar to Southwest Asia in terms of culture and political history, the two are discussed together in a separate chapter.
The story of Africa’s physical geography begins 300 million years ago with the landmass known as Pangaea, the last supercontinent (Figure \(2\)). Around 175 million years ago, Pangaea began to break apart, drifting and colliding and forming the continents as we know them today. Africa was situated at the heart of this supercontinent.
Today, many of the physical landforms found in Africa were formed from this tectonic plate movement. Africa’s Great Rift Valley, for example, is slowly splitting away from the rest of the African Plate at a rate of around 6 to 7 mm (around 0.25 in) each year (Figure \(3\)). That might not sound like a lot, but after 100 years, the rift would have expanded by two feet! Some of the deepest lakes in the world are found along this rift valley, where huge cracks in the earth’s surface have filled with water over time. Lake Tanganyika, for example, is the second-largest and second-deepest freshwater lake in the world, dipping down to 1,470 m (4,820 ft). East of the rift valley is the Horn of Africa, a protruding peninsula that contains the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.
In addition to the rift valley, Sub-Saharan Africa contains a number of highland and plateau regions as well as large, tropical basins, the largest of which is the Congo Basin. This basin begins in the highlands of the rift valley and is the drainage area for the Congo River, Africa’s largest river by discharge and the deepest river in the world. This watershed is considered a biodiversity hotspot and its forests support around 40 million people. However, there is serious concern in the region regarding deforestation.
Africa’s other major river, the Nile, flows from Lake Victoria in the rift valley north through 11 different countries. It is regarded by most as the longest river in the world. The Nile has, historically and in modern times, been a key way to transport people and goods throughout the region and its floodplain enables farming in an otherwise arid environment.
Perhaps the largest ecoregion of Sub-Saharan Africa is the Sahel, located just south of the Sahara (Figure \(4\)). The Sahel is a transitional region connecting the dry Sahara to the tropical regions of the south. It is mostly grassland and has traditionally supported semi-nomadic livestock herders.
The Sahel is at the front line of one of the most pressing environmental concerns in Africa: desertification (Figure \(5\)). Desertification refers to the process of previously fertile land becoming desert and occurs for a variety of reasons including climate change and human activities. Overgrazing, for example, can rid land of vegetation causing the erosion of fertile topsoil. Warming temperatures due to global changes in climate can change precipitation patterns and increase the speed of evaporation. Desertification in the Sahel has caused the Sahara to expand and has led to conflict as northern farmers have migrated to the south in search of fertile soil.
In addition to an array of landforms from rift valleys to mountains to deserts, Sub-Saharan Africa contains a wide variety of climate zones and precipitation patterns. In general, the continent is relatively hot with temperate climates in the higher elevations. Some areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly the tropical rainforests of West Africa, receive upwards of 3,000 mm (118 inches) of rain each year, while other areas such as the Namib Desert receive less than 10 mm (0.39 inches) of rain annually.
Horn of Africa:
a protruding peninsula in East Africa that contains the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia
Sahel:
a transitional region in northern Africa connecting the dry Sahara Desert to the tropical regions of the south
Desertification:
the process of previously fertile land becoming desert | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/06%3A_Sub-Saharan_Africa/6.01%3A_The_Physical_Landscape_of_Sub-Saharan_Africa.txt |
Africa has a long history of human habitation giving rise to numerous cultural and linguistic groups. Early humans were primarily gatherers, and there is evidence of people gathering nuts, grasses, and tubers around 16,000 BCE in the highlands of Northern Ethiopia. Around 10,000 years ago, the domestication of the first crops and livestock developed in Africa and the practice of settled agriculture began.
In pre-colonial Africa, women were, and still are in many areas, the primary agriculturalists. It was the responsibility of women to understand the seasonality of crops and this, along with the role of bearing and rearing children, gave women an important role in African society. Many early religions placed a strong emphasis on female goddesses reflecting the central role of women in society. Men were primarily the hunters and gatherers.
For early Africans, the family was the basic and most important social unit. It was the family unit that owned and accessed land rather than individuals. Furthermore, land could not be bought or sold, but instead was passed down through the tradition of partible inheritance, meaning land is divided among the heirs. Elsewhere in the world, such as in the United Kingdom for much of its history, land was passed down to the firstborn male, known as primogeniture. With partible inheritance, however, no landed aristocracy developed since every male was given an equal share rather than just the firstborn.
If the family was the basic social unit in African society, it was the extended family that was the most important politically. Tribes, consisting of groups of families united by a common ancestry and language, controlled distinct tracts of territory. In pre-colonial Africa, there were over 800 distinct ethnic regions – and some of the ethnic regions identified by anthropologists actually had multiple distinct cultural groups within them (Figure \(1\)). Tribal groups sometimes coexisted peacefully, and other times, warred over territory.
Pre-colonial Africa was also the site of a number of large empires (Figure \(2\)). The Kingdom of Kush, for example, was established in 1070 BCE and located on the Nile River just south of the Egyptian Empire. The Kingdom of Aksum located in present-day Eritrea and Ethiopia existed from 100 CE to 940 CE and was one of the most powerful of the pre-colonial African empires. The rulers of the kingdom minted their own currency, built religious monuments, and established trading routes. The first state in West Africa was the Empire of Ghana, which lasted from around 350 CE until its conquest by the Mali Empire in the 1200s CE. The Empire of Ghana had a large capital city, markets, and a system of taxation.
Two historical events brought significant change to Africa’s cultural landscape and history. The first was the spread of the Islamic Empire across North Africa beginning in the 7th century CE. The second was the start of the transatlantic slave trade in the 15th century CE. Slavery was present in Africa long before European conquest, however. In some pre-colonial African societies, as in other parts of the world, slavery was a part of the local community. Slaves might be taken from conquered groups or given as gifts. In general, though, slavery represented a relatively small segment of ancient African society and economy.
European contact with Africa was initially focused on establishing a port along the West African coast, a place to resupply along the long trip to South and Southeast Asia. Beginning in the 15th century, however, this objective shifted to gaining resources. Portugal was the first of the Europeans to begin buying enslaved Africans. The Portuguese, originally interested in trading for gold and spices, set up several sugar plantations on the islands of São Tomé, off the western coast of Equatorial Africa. Portugal then brought in slaves to help cultivate the sugar. The Spanish then began buying slaves to send to the New World in the early 16th century, bringing them first to the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola. Initially, Europeans raided coastal African villages in order to secure slaves, but over time, began purchasing slaves from African rulers and traders.
Since pre-colonial Africa was divided into distinct ethnolinguistic regions, Africans generally saw themselves as part of their ethnic group or tribe rather than as united by a “black” or “African” identity. Thus, the slaves sold by Africans were seen as “other,” something different or less than themselves. Europeans developed military alliances and beneficial trading partnerships with some of these groups to ensure a steady supply of slaves. By 1700 CE, around 50,000 slaves were being shipped out of Africa each year, and though it is difficult to know the exact total number of people sold into slavery, it is estimated that around 12 million Africans were shipped to the New World.
During this time, many African groups practiced a form of agriculture known as shifting cultivation, where one area of land is farmed for a period of time and then abandoned until its fertility naturally restores. Eventually, farmers return to the abandoned plot of land after many years, which is now overgrown, and often burn the vegetation, known as slash-and-burn, in order to return the nutrients to the soil. Because of this, much of the land in Africa looked unused, but was actually part of a larger agricultural system. Colonial empires took over these fragments of unused land to set up their own agricultural systems.
For some time, European empires had this relatively piecemeal approach to Africa, taking resources, land, and slaves without directly controlling territory. Europeans had little interest in the interior of Africa and were primarily focused on the coastal areas. This would completely change beginning in the late 19th century as European powers scrambled for control of the continent.
Tribes:
a group of families united by a common ancestry and language
Shifting cultivation:
a system of agriculture where one area of land is farmed for a period of time and then abandoned until its fertility naturally restores | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/06%3A_Sub-Saharan_Africa/6.02%3A_Pre-Colonial_Sub-Saharan_Africa.txt |
As the Industrial Revolution was spreading across Europe, colonial empires were seeking to expand their colonial holdings in order to gain mineral resources and expand agricultural production. As Europeans began exploring the interior of Africa, and recognized its resource potential, competition among European empires grew fierce. France, Italy, Britain, Portugal, and Belgium all raced through the interior of Africa trying to expand and strengthen their territories. When Germany entered the race, the colonial empires decided that it was in Europe’s best interest to agree on and clearly demarcate African colonies and to agree on common policy.
In 1884, 13 European countries, as well as the United States, sent representatives to the Berlin Conference. At this conference, the colonial powers established the procedure for a Western country to formally control African territory and ultimately re-shaped the map of Africa. In a continent that had previously been divided into territories held by tribal groups and some larger kingdoms, the political boundaries were completely changed. By the early 20th century, around 90 percent of Africa was directly controlled by Europeans (Figure \(1\)).
European colonization of Africa completely reshaped the political and ethnic landscape, with lasting effects even today. Colonialism broadly refers to the control of a territory by another group and colonial policies varied across Africa. In the Belgian Congo, what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, there was a racist ideology of paternalism where Africans were essentially viewed as children needing a fatherly, or paternal, authority to educate them in the ways of the West. In the far-reaching French colonies, from present-day Madagascar to Morocco, the colonizers emphasized an assimilationist policy, spreading the French culture through language, laws, and education. In the British colonies, like present-day Uganda, Ghana, and Nigeria, settlers partnered with local rulers who were made representatives of the British crown. This was known as indirect rule. The Portuguese, however, continued to be primarily interested in resources rather than local politics or culture. Their policy of exploitation in places like Angola and Mozambique ignored local development and the empire kept rigid control over local economies.
European colonizers were generally focused on exporting goods, with little attention given to local development or connectivity. These easily sold raw materials or agricultural goods are known as commodities. Local communities which may have previously practiced subsistence agriculture were shifted to export-oriented crops destined for European markets. When rail lines were built in Africa, they were generally constructed to simply take resources from the interior to the coastal ports without concern for developing regional linkages.
Eventually, the African colonies gained their independence, though the ease with which they were granted independence and the ease of their transition varied widely. Because the British practiced indirect rule, their colonies generally had a gradual transition of power with local rulers who’d been made representatives of Britain now governing over independent territories. Belgium, however, initially opposed the independence movement in its colonies, which were ruled directly by Belgian leaders. Most African countries would gain their independence following World War II. The last European colony to be granted independence was Djibouti in 1977.
While independence movements successfully broke territories free from European control, many areas were faced with a difficult decision regarding how to politically organize as a state. The European powers had redrawn the map of Africa with no regard for underlying ethnic territories. Some ethnic groups were thus grouped together, sharing colonial territory with groups they had long-standing conflicts with. Other ethnic groups were split apart, divided between two or more colonies. As the new political map of Africa took shape, it generally followed many of the colonial boundaries that had been artificially created.
Where two or more ethnic groups shared a newly independent territory, how should they decide who should rule? Perhaps the groups could simply share power and live peacefully. But what if one group, because of imposed colonial boundaries, no longer had access to resources? What if another group wanted to have unilateral control and not share it with groups they perceived as “other”? Many of the political and economic challenges facing the countries in contemporary Africa are rooted in its colonial history.
Colonialism:
the control of a territory by another group
Commodities:
raw materials or agricultural goods that are easily bought and sold | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/06%3A_Sub-Saharan_Africa/6.03%3A_Sub-Saharan_African_Colonization.txt |
Today, Sub-Saharan Africa is comprised of 48 independent countries and is home to 800 million people. While colonialism transformed African politics and economics, the way of life for many Africans has changed relatively little. Only around one-third of people in Sub-Saharan Africans live in cities, and as of 2007, 72 percent of these city-dwellers lived in slums. Sub-Saharan Africa is still largely rural. Urbanization is increasing, however, as governments have invested in industries in an effort to strengthen economic development drawing impoverished farmers from rural communities. Relatively few Sub-Saharan Africans live in large cities; most live in urban areas with fewer than 200,000 people. A notable exception to this is Nigeria, which was 48 percent urbanized in 2015 and contains several cities with over one million residents including its former capital Lagos (Figure \(1\)). The metropolitan area of Lagos has a population estimated to be 21 million; it is the most populous city in Africa.
Sub-Saharan Africa’s population has been climbing rapidly with the highest fertility rates of any region in the world. In Angola, for example, on the southwest African coast, most women have around six children. This has created a very high dependency ratio across the region, referring to the ratio of people not in the labor force to the number of productive workers. Africa’s population is expected to double between 2010 and 2050. Nigeria, with 2017 population of over 190 million, is projected to surpass the population of the United States by 2050 to become the third-most populous country in the world.
In addition to rapid population growth, another significant challenge facing the governments of Sub-Saharan Africa is related to healthcare. Across the region, imbalances exist between the availability and quality of care. Furthermore, Sub-Saharan Africa’s tropical climate has contributed to the spread of a number of serious illnesses, and this fact, combined with often ineffective or under-funded post-colonial governments have made stopping the spread of disease difficult. In some areas, western aid workers have been viewed with suspicion by Africans fearful of western intervention given their colonial histories. In other countries, foreign aid meant to help the poorest in the region has instead financed corrupt governments and military spending.
There are a number of illnesses, like hepatitis and hookworm, that are endemic to Sub-Saharan Africa, meaning they are found within a population in relatively steady numbers. Before a vaccine was developed, chicken pox was endemic in the United States, existing in a relative state of equilibrium. When a disease outbreak occurs, it is known as an epidemic. Epidemic diseases often affect large numbers of people on a regional scale. The flu in the United States is an example of an epidemic disease, with increasing numbers of people affected during the winter months.
Malaria, a disease spread by mosquitos, is the deadliest disease in Sub-Saharan Africa and sudden epidemics can affect large populations. If left without proper treatment, the disease can also reemerge months later. 90 percent of all deaths from malaria worldwide occur in Africa and it is estimated that the disease costs \$12 billion each year due to increased healthcare cost, lost economic productivity, and a negative impact on tourism. Other insect-borne diseases that have a significant clustering in Africa include Yellow fever, which is also spread by mosquitoes, and trypanosomiasis, better known as sleeping sickness, which is transmitted by the bite of the tsetse fly.
When examining the geography of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, Sub-Saharan Africa clearly stands out (Figure \(2\)). Around 70 percent of all people living with HIV/AIDS live in Sub-Saharan Africa and while a diagnosis with the disease might be met with long-term treatments in other regions, its fatality rate in Sub-Saharan Africa is much higher. In the hardest-hit countries, like Swaziland, Botswana, and Lesotho, more than one in five adults are infected. The disease is most often spread here by unsafe sexual practices, such as having sex unprotected with multiple partners even after marriage. Older adults in Africa are also deeply affected by HIV/AIDS, as they are often left to care for grandchildren orphaned by the disease. HIV/AIDS remains the leading cause of death in Africa.
Still, there have been strides to try to slow the spread and assist those with the disease. Countries like Uganda have supported public awareness campaigns promoting monogamy in marriage and contraceptive use. They were able to slow the prevalence of HIV infections from 15 percent in the early 1990s to just 5 percent in 2001. In recent years, however, the infection rate in Uganda has once again climbed. Some say the government squandered aid money from the international community and did not keep up the public health initiative once rates decreased ultimately causing the infection rates to rise. There is also a concern that religious initiatives promoting abstinence have not had the desired effect. In a 2011 survey, around one-quarter of married men in Uganda reported having multiple sexual partners in the past year and just eight percent of them reported using a condom.
Periodically, regions in Africa, particularly West Africa, have experienced epidemics of Ebola, a viral hemorrhagic fever. Although Ebola is relatively difficult to transmit from person-to-person – it cannot be spread through the air like the flu – a combination of lack of understanding about disease transmission, inadequate infrastructure, and a distrust of Western intervention has made the region particularly vulnerable to deadly outbreaks. An outbreak beginning in 2013 in the coastal West African country of Guinea spread across the surrounding area and killed 11,000 people over the course of two years (Figure \(3\)).
The political issues and difficulties of dealing with Africa’s healthcare crises illustrate larger issues related to governance in the region. Corruption is a significant problem across Africa costing residents around \$150 billion each year. Bribery, even to access some public services, is common in many areas. Several governments deteriorated to the point where they are no longer functional, which is referred to as a failed state. In fact, of the ten states most vulnerable to failure in the world, seven are located in Africa.
In some areas, political conflict has gone hand-in-hand with ethnic conflict. Where competing ethnic groups found themselves sharing the same territory after independence, civil wars sometimes erupted as one group vied for power. Some groups turned to genocide, the systematic elimination of a group of people, in order to gain territorial and political control. In Rwanda, which had been a Belgian colony following Germany’s defeat in World War I, the Belgian colonizers had given political power to the minority Tutsi. The Belgians perceived the Tutsi as closer to Caucasian, and this policy of granting power to minorities was a global colonial strategy aimed at suppressing the majority ethnic group.
After Rwanda gained independence in 1962 CE, the Hutu, who represented around 85 percent of the population, came to power and violent conflict between the Hutu and the Tutsi began almost immediately. Hundreds of thousands of Tutsi fled, becoming refugees, people who have been forced to leave their country. By the early 1990s, the Hutu began preparing for genocide, seeking to eliminate the Tutsi minority. Over the course of 100 days between April and July 1994, 800,000 Tutsis were killed – around 50 percent of the entire Tutsi population. By the time the United Nations admitted that “acts of genocide may have been committed,” 500,000 had already been killed, most murdered with machetes. Rape was also systematically used against the Tutsi women. The Rwandan Patriotic Front, formed by exiled Tutsi refugees, defeated the government’s forces and has governed Rwanda since the end of the genocide. Conflict between Tutsi and Hutu, particularly in neighboring Burundi, has continued, however.
In South Africa, the ruling party that came to power after independence was dominated not by an indigenous African group but by the descendants of Dutch settlers, known as Afrikaners. Africans in South Africa outnumbered non-Africans by 4 to 1 and the ruling Afrikaners instituted a policy of racial separation known as apartheid, aimed at maintaining minority rule. This system of segregation led to an entirely different system of education for non-white South Africans, limited their use of public spaces, and forced the relocation of millions into separate neighborhoods. The system ended in 1994 with the country’s first democratic elections, but inequality between white and non-white Africans persists, and has actually worsened according to some measures.
Some countries have tried to overcome political instability and the lack of colonial connectivity by creating interregional organizations aimed at economic and political cooperation. The largest of these organizations is the African Union, which formed in 2001 and consists of every African state, including Morocco which recently rejoined the AU in 2017. Among other objectives, the African Union seeks unity, integration, and sustainable development. Other regional organizations exist with narrower objectives, such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), both of which aim to create free trade areas between member countries. Because of the diverse array of Africa’s cultural and linguistic groups, organizations have often found it helpful to have a lingua franca, a common language spoken between speakers of different languages. In some cases, the lingua franca is the language of a common colonizer, such as English or French. In other cases, the language is native the region, such as with Swahili, the lingua franca for much of Southeast Africa.
Endemic:
a disease found within a population in relatively steady numbers
Epidemic:
a disease outbreak
Failed state:
when a government deteriorates to the point where it is no longer functional
Genocide:
the systematic elimination of a group of people
Refugees:
people who have been forced to leave their country
Apartheid:
the ruling Dutch government’s policy of racial separation in South Africa
African Union:
an interregional organization in Africa that seeks unity, integration, and sustainable development
Lingua franca:
a common language spoken between speakers of different languages | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/06%3A_Sub-Saharan_Africa/6.04%3A_The_Modern_Sub-Saharan_African_Landscape.txt |
Although formal colonization of Africa ended by 1980, in many areas, it was replaced with neocolonialism, the practice of exerting economic rather than direct political control over territory. During the colonial era, European groups formally controlled Africa’s resources and created export-oriented economies. Today, most of Sub-Saharan Africa’s exports remain raw materials. This makes the economies of countries in the region vulnerable to price fluctuations and global markets. Furthermore, although Western countries no longer directly control African land, corporations based in these countries have either bought land directly or invested heavily in the region. Investors have also purchased the water rights to some areas.
Neocolonialism is also evidenced on a broader scale. The peripheral regions of the world generally supply goods and labor used by the core countries. Thus, the core continues to exert economic pressure on the periphery to maintain beneficial trade partnerships and cheap products, labor, and raw materials. In many countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, a dual economy exists, where plantations or commercial agriculture is practiced alongside traditional agricultural methods. South Africa’s dual economy, for example, has created dramatic differences in development within its own borders and has exacerbated income inequality in the country. Critics of neocolonial theory argue that too much blame is placed on colonialism for the modern economic problems in Sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, government corruption, inefficiency, and internal exploitation remains a significant barrier to long-term economic development.
In some cases, economic pressure has come from loans granted by the core to the periphery. Although the intention of these loans was to assist the periphery in infrastructure development, many countries have struggled under the weight of staggering debt. Two lending organizations in particular, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, have loaned over \$150 billion to countries in Africa. Loans by the IMF and World Bank to countries experiencing economic crises are accompanied by structural adjustment programs (SAPs), stipulating economic changes a country must make in order to make it better able to repay its loans. These conditions might include decreasing wages, raising food prices, or making the economy more market oriented.
In practice, though, structural adjustment programs limit the ability of states to make their own economic decisions, which some see as neocolonialism. In addition, SAPs require governments to drastically cut their spending which most often leads to cuts in social services and public health. These austerity measures can lead to economic stagnation, ultimately hampering a country’s ability to pay back its loans – the very thing the SAPs were designed to do. Furthermore, aid packages and loan programs were generally designed to reflect Western ideas of development. This could be viewed as further evidence of neocolonialism in the region.
For some countries, the interest payments alone far exceed what they are able to pay. Globally, 39 countries, 33 of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa, have been identified as heavily indebted poor countries and eligible for debt relief through a joint venture by IMF and World Bank. Changes have been made to the program to specifically address poverty in these countries and shift the loan payment amounts to funding for social and public services.
Increasingly, African countries are partnering with investment groups rather than lending organizations and private investment now exceeds development assistance. China is Africa’s largest trading partner and the country has invested billions in African infrastructure projects and direct aid. Chinese investment projects include a \$12 billion coastal railway in Nigeria and a \$7 billion “mini city” in South Africa. In Angola, Chinese investors built Kilamba New City, a town complete with 25,000 homes, schools, and commercial facilities, to be repaid by Angolan oil (Figure \(1\)).
For low-income individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa, microfinance has provided a way to access a range of financial and investment services. These services might include small loans, known as microcredit. Women in particular have benefitted from microcredit, which does not require complex paperwork, extensive employment history, or collateral as with traditional loans, but has provided a way for women to become entrepreneurs. Interest rates on these loans is generally quite small, and over 95 percent of loans are repaid. Globally, microcredit loans totaled \$38 billion in 2009. Globally, most of the 150 million microfinance clients are in Asia, but microfinance in Africa is growing.
Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the fastest developing regions in the world with a 4 percent growth rate in 2016 compared to a global average of 3.4 percent (Figure \(2\)). Much of Africa’s economic growth has resulted from trade, and the region is rich in resources and has a large labor pool. However, despite significant mineral, agricultural, and energy resources, most people in the region remain impoverished. Africa’s leading export, for example, is petroleum and petroleum products, and yet most Africans do not have access to a reliable source of electricity. Political instability, too, has limited the benefit of economic growth for many low-income Africans. Economic growth, if invested in infrastructure and public services, combined with increased educational and career training opportunities could improve incomes in the region. According to current estimates, by the end of this century, Africa’s population will quadruple. This rapid population growth coupled with continued economic development could dramatically reshape the African geographic landscape.
Neocolonialism:
the practice of exerting economic rather than direct political control over territory
Dual Economy:
when plantations or commercial agriculture is practiced alongside traditional agricultural methods
Structural Adjustment Programs:
a set of required economic changes that accompany a loan made by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to country that is experiencing an economic crisis
Microfinance:
financial and investment services for individuals and small business who otherwise do not have access to traditional banking services | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/06%3A_Sub-Saharan_Africa/6.05%3A_Economics_and_Globalization_in_Sub-Saharan_Africa.txt |
• 7.1: North Africa and Southwest Asia's Key Geographic Features
Africa is almost entirely surrounded by water except for a small land connection with Asia at Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. But Sub-Saharan Africa is physiographically, culturally, and linguistically distinct from the African countries north of the Sahara. In fact, North Africa has much more in common in terms of its physical and religious landscape with the Arabian Peninsula and Southwest Asia than some of its continental neighbors to the south.
• 7.2: Cultural Adaptations in North Africa and Southwest Asia
The climate and physical geography of North Africa and Southwest Asia have shaped population patterns and culture in the region. People in the region are generally clustered around the region’s sparse water resources reflecting ancient patterns of human settlement. Four regions in particular stand out as having high population densities: the Nile River valley, the coastal Mediterranean Sea, the Euphrates and Tigris river basins, and valleys of northwestern Iran.
• 7.3: The Religious Hearths of North Africa and Southwest Asia
North Africa and Southwest Asia is considered one of the great cradles of human civilization. It is also the hearth area for several of the world’s major religions. These religions have changed the global cultural landscape, but have also led to tension and conflict throughout the region. Three religions in particular, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, trace their ancestry through the tribal patriarch Abraham, who may have lived sometime in the 2nd millennium BCE.
• 7.4: Conquest in North Africa and Southwest Asia
After Muhammad’s death, Arab military forces carried Islam across the region. At its greatest extent, the Islamic Empire under the Umayyad Caliphate of the 7th and 8th centuries stretched across 15 million square kilometers (5.79 million square miles), from the Iberian Peninsula, the southwest corner of Europe containing Spain and Portugal, all the way across North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula and into Pakistan. No empire would be larger until the Mongols in the 13th century.
• 7.5: The Modern Political Landscape of North Africa and Southwest Asia
Today’s political map of North Africa and Southwest Asia reflects superimposed boundaries and a legacy of colonialization. The countries of this region have often been prone to political instability and conflict, and religious tension both between Muslims in this region as well as with the region’s many religious minorities has often led to violence.
• 7.6: Religious Conflict in North Africa and Southwest Asia
ISIS represents a fundamentalist view of Islam, known as Islamism. Islamism is characterized by a strict, literal interpretation of the Qur’an, conservative moral values, and the desire to establish Islamic values across the entire world. Militant Islamist movements have inspired the violent ideology of jihadism, which seeks to combat threats to the Muslim community.
07: North Africa and Southwest Asia
Learning Objectives
• Identify the key geographic features of North Africa and Southwest Asia
• Describe the geography of the major religious groups found in North Africa and Southwest Asia
• Explain how the history of North Africa and Southwest Asia impacted its cultural landscape
• Describe the current areas of religious conflict within North Africa and Southwest Asia
When geographers divide the world into regions, we often do so using landmasses. Have a big chunk of land might be mostly surrounded by water? Let’s make it a region! Sometimes, though, making these sorts of divisions is more difficult. Africa, for instance, is almost entirely surrounded by water except for a small land connection with Asia at Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. But Sub-Saharan Africa is physiographically, culturally, and linguistically distinct from the African countries north of the Sahara. In fact, North Africa has much more in common in terms of its physical and religious landscape with the Arabian Peninsula and Southwest Asia than some of its continental neighbors to the south (Figure \(1\)).
Historically, this perhaps awkwardly named region of North Africa and Southwest Asia was commonly called the “Middle East.” This begs the question, though, what is it in the middle of? What is it east of? On a globe, east and west are relative terms. California is west of Europe but east of China. Indonesia is in Southeast Asia but is northwest of Australia. The equator might objectively be in the middle of the globe, but the “Middle East” is over 1,000 miles to its north. In truth, the term “Middle East” originated in Western Europe. Eastern Europe and Turkey were commonly referred to as the “Near East,” while China was called the “Far East.” The “Middle East” was thus in between these two regions.
Referring to the region as the “Middle East” seems to privilege the European perspective, so what alternatives exist? Perhaps you could call it the Islamic World? This would exclude places like Israel and secular governments like Turkey, as well as the numerous minority religious groups found in the region. You might have heard people refer to this area as the Arab World, but this would not apply to Iran, much of Israel, or Turkey. Thus we are left with simply the descriptive geographic name: North Africa and Southwest Asia, sometimes abbreviated as NASWA.
Whatever its name, this region is the hearth area for several of the world’s great ancient civilizations and modern religions. The landscape of North Africa and Southwest Asia, as its naming difficulties imply, is marked by regional differences: in culture, in language, in religion, in resources, and in precipitation. Even within countries, regional imbalances exist both in terms of the physical landscape and the patterns of human activity.
One of the most recognizable features of North Africa and Southwest Asia are its deserts. The Sahara, from the Arabic word ṣaḥrā‘ meaning “desert,” is the largest hot desert in the world, stretching across 9.4 million square kilometers (3.6 million square miles) of the North African landscape. Although the typical image of the Sahara is its impressive sand dunes, most of the desert is actually rocky (Figure \(2\)).
To the east, the Arabian Desert dominates the landscape of the Arabian Peninsula. In the southern portion of this desert is the Rub’al-Khali, the largest contiguous sand desert in the world. It is also one of the world’s most oil-rich landscapes. There are also a number of highland areas across the region including the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia and the Zagros Mountains of Iran, Iraq, and Turkey.
The prevailing climatic feature of North Africa and Southwest Asia is a lack of precipitation. From 10°to 30°north is a particular band of dry air that forms the region’s hot desert climate zone (BWh in the Köppen climate classification system) and is clearly apparent on a map of global climate regions (Figure \(3\)). Most of the region receives less than 30 cm (12 in) of rain each year. This hot desert environment means that much of the land in the region is unsuitable for cultivation.
There are exceptions to this arid environment, however. The region has a number of fertile river valleys and oases. The Nile River, for example, creates an arable floodplain in an otherwise extremely dry area (Figure \(4\)). While part of Iran is desert, northern Iran is actually home to dense rainforests and there are a number of scenic lakes. Coastal Turkey along the Mediterranean is often called the Turquoise Coast owing to its scenic blue waters. In general, however, those areas of North Africa and Southwest Asia where there is more abundant plant life are due to the presence of rivers, lakes, and seas rather than to the presence of ample rainfall.
In a realm largely defined by its arid and hot climate, global changes in climate could have profound effects. Climate and physical geography have already significantly constrained human settlement and development patterns in North Africa and Southwest Asia. Rising temperatures could exacerbate droughts, and heat waves and dust storms will likely become more frequent. In some areas, conflicts over limited water resources have already begun. The Nile River, for example, runs through ten different states and 40 percent of the entire population of Africa lives within its floodplain. Egypt consumes 99 percent of the Nile’s water supply, though, putting pressure on other countries, like Sudan, to keep water flowing downstream. Much of Egypt’s water demand is for the irrigation of cotton, but cotton actually requires a significant amount of water and is a nontraditional crop for such an arid environment. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/07%3A_North_Africa_and_Southwest_Asia/7.01%3A_North_Africa_and_Southwest_Asia%27s_Key_Geographic_Features.txt |
The climate and physical geography of North Africa and Southwest Asia have shaped population patterns and culture in the region. People in the region are generally clustered around the region’s sparse water resources reflecting ancient patterns of human settlement (Figure \(1\)). Four regions in particular stand out as having high population densities: the Nile River valley, the coastal Mediterranean Sea, the Euphrates and Tigris river basins, and valleys of northwestern Iran.
Over 10,000 years ago, the earliest humans in North Africa and Southwest Asia settled in the Fertile Crescent, the area surrounding the Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile rivers (Figure \(2\)). Here, humans first domesticated crops and animals and created the first farming settlements. In Mesopotamia, in particular, the river valley of the Tigris and Euphrates, innovations occurred that would change the trajectory of human existence. This was where the wheel was first invented, the first system of mathematics was created, and the first cereal crops, such as barley and wheat, were planted. Mesopotamia was also the site of the first urban civilization, called Sumer. Uruk, a city of Sumer, had a population of over 50,000 people by 2500 BCE making it the most populous city in the world at the time. The ancient city of Babylon, located between the Tigris and Euphrates, was inhabited for thousands of years and was likely the first city to reach a population of 200,000.
The people of this region have developed a number of adaptations to living in such a dry climate. Buildings are commonly designed with high roofs. Since hot air rises, having a higher ceiling allows the living area to remain relatively cool. Rooms are also often arranged around a common, shaded courtyard. This allows for maximum privacy, but also provides air flow throughout the living spaces. The traditional style of dress in parts of this region is also distinctive and reflects the physical landscape. Men might wear a cotton headdress to provide protection from the sand and sun as well as a long, flowing robe. Women’s traditional clothing in the region is more reflective of religious values than environmental factors.
For some cultural groups in the region, adapting to the physical environment means migrating to cooler areas during the hottest parts of the year. The Berbers, for example, an indigenous group in North Africa, traditionally herd livestock and migrate seasonally seeking water, grazing land, and shelter. However, the way of life for many pastoral nomads in this region, like some Berbers, has changed significantly in recent years. Many governments have encouraged these groups to practice settled agriculture rather than seasonal migration, and international boundaries have often cut off traditional migratory paths.
The Persians, from modern-day Iran, devised an innovative way to transport water known as a qanat. Qanats are underground tunnels used to extract groundwater from below mountains and transport it downhill, where it is used to irrigate cropland (Figure \(3\)). They were developed over 2,500 years ago and many old qanats are still in use today in Iran as well as Afghanistan.
In such a harsh, arid environment, agricultural potential is fairly limited. River valleys and coastal areas provided small stretches of fertile land, but in the absence of widespread agricultural development, what other resources could bring this region wealth? In the early 20th century, oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia and this natural resource would prove both a blessing and a curse to the region.
Today, Saudi Arabia remains the world’s leading oil exporter, shipping over 7.3 million barrels per day as of 2015. Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates are also among the top seven global oil exporters. Oil revenues have been able to increase development in these countries, financing industrialization, infrastructure, and providing high incomes. Qatar, for example, a small, former British protectorate on the coast of the Arabian Peninsula, has the highest GDP per capita in terms of purchasing power parity of any country in the world (as of 2018, according to the International Monetary Fund), at over \$130,000 per person, largely due to its expansive oil and natural gas reserves. The tallest building in the world is now the Burj Khalifa, located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Although the United Arab Emirates, in building this 828 meter (2,717 feet) marvel, is seeking to diversify its economy and gain international recognition, its economy is still heavily dependent on oil.
Countries in the developing world with oil resources have often been prone to authoritarian rule, slow growth, corruption, and conflict. Oil wealth has been used to finance armies, and corrupt governments have pocketed oil revenue rather than reinvesting it in social programs or infrastructure. Furthermore, placing such a high emphasis on exporting one resource, like oil, has made this region vulnerable to changes in global energy demand. In 2015, countries in North Africa and Southwest Asia lost \$390 billion in revenue due to low oil prices.
In an effort to coordinate oil production and prices, five countries including Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia formed the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1960. Today, OPEC has 14 member states and covers over 40 percent of global oil exports (Figure \(4\)). OPEC cooperatively determines how much oil to produce and collectively bargains for the price of oil, rather than trying to compete to undercut one another. The United States and other countries have increased their own domestic oil production in recent years, causing OPEC’s global share of oil exports to decline.
The presence of oil has also left a colonial legacy across North Africa and Southwest Asia, and has made these countries vulnerable to foreign control and influence. In addition, the uneven distribution of oil resources and wealth has led to inequality both within and between countries. Ethnic inequalities have also emerged as groups have uneven access to oil reserves and income. Oil has also changed the pattern of human settlement in the region by bringing in migrants from outside the realm attracted by the prospect of economic opportunity.
Fertile Crescent:
an early area of human civilization in North Africa and Southwest Asia surrounding the Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile rivers
Qanat:
a system of irrigation first developed in modern-day Iran consisting of an underground tunnel used to extract groundwater from below mountains and transport it downhill | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/07%3A_North_Africa_and_Southwest_Asia/7.02%3A_Cultural_Adaptations_in_North_Africa_and_Southwest_Asia.txt |
North Africa and Southwest Asia is considered one of the great cradles of human civilization. It is also the hearth area for several of the world’s major religions. These religions have changed the global cultural landscape, but have also led to tension and conflict throughout the region. Three religions in particular, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, trace their ancestry through the tribal patriarch Abraham, who may have lived sometime in the 2nd millennium BCE.
The oldest of these Abrahamic faiths is Judaism. Judaism is a monotheistic religion, meaning that it is defined by a belief in one god. Jews believe that Abraham established the first covenant with God and the central Jewish text, the Torah, includes a discussion of the creation of the world as well as the establishment of this covenant. The first Jewish temple, built by Solomon, was constructed in modern-day Israel around 832 BCE. The Babylonians destroyed both the city of Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple in 587 BCE, and many scholars note that this event led to the creation of the written Hebrew Bible, what Christians term the Old Testament. The temple was reconstructed by Herod beginning in the 1st century BCE. However, this region has long been subject to invasion and conquest and in 70 CE, the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans. This event prompted large-scale Jewish emigration from the region.
Both temples in Jerusalem were largely places of sacrifice and God was believed to literally dwell within the space. Thus, early Judaism was a temple-centered religion. The destruction of the Second Temple marked a distinct turning point in Jewish history between the historical Temple Judaism and modern Rabbinic Judaism. If a Jewish person is no longer defined by the sacrifices they make at the Temple, then what is it that makes someone Jewish? Rabbis and the interpretation of Jewish religious texts became centrally important to creating new ideas of Jewish identity.
Today, there are around 14 million Jews worldwide; around 42 percent live in Israel, another 42 percent live in North America, and the rest live mostly in Europe. In addition, Judaism developed a number of different branches including Orthodox, which is more traditional, Reform, which is also known as Progressive Judaism, and Conservative, which is somewhere in the middle. Conservative is the largest branch of Judaism worldwide. However, millions of Jews around the world consider themselves to be unaffiliated or secular, emphasizing the ethnic and cultural values of the Jewish faith rather than the religious theology.
Christianity is another Abrahamic, monotheistic religion. It developed from the life and teachings of Jesus, a Jewish preacher who was born in 4 BCE in Judea, located in modern-day Israel. Jesus believed that the end times were near and emphasized love as the central religious doctrine. He was crucified by the Romans around 30 CE, a method of execution typically reserved for those who challenged the established social order.
Originally, Christianity was a sect of Judaism, but it eventually developed into its own, distinct religious tradition. A number of councils were held during the early years of Christianity to create an agreed upon doctrine, though some of these decisions were disputed. Over the years, Christianity developed distinct branches and denominations. The first of these divisions, known as the Great Schism, came in 1054 CE and was as much a product of geography as theology. This split divided the Eastern Orthodox from the Roman Catholic churches. In 1517 CE, the German monk Martin Luther penned The Ninety-Five Theses, which criticized Roman Catholic doctrine and began the Protestant Reformation.
Christianity is the largest religion in the world today with over 2.2 billion adherents. Although there are a wide variety of individual Christian beliefs, Christians generally view Jesus as a divine figure and believe he was resurrected following his death. Roman Catholicism remains the largest single denomination of Christianity with 1.2 billion members particularly in Brazil, North America, Western Europe, and parts of Africa and South America.
The religion that is most characteristic of North Africa and Southwest Asia today is Islam. Islam teaches in the existence of one God and emphasizes the belief in Muhammad as the last prophet. Followers of Islam are known as Muslims. Islam builds upon much of Jewish and Christian theology. Like Judaism, Islam views Abraham, Noah, Moses, and others as prophets of God. Also like Judaism, Islam has a monotheistic understanding of God; God is simply known in Islam as Allah, from the Arabic al-ilāh, meaning “the God.” Islam teaches that Jesus was a prophet, and much of the story of his death and life in the Qur’an is similar to the story in the New Testament.
Muhammad was born in Mecca, in present-day Saudi Arabia, in 570 CE. Beginning when he was 40, Muslims believe that Muhammad began receiving revelations from God and later began preaching in his community. Muslims believe that the words of the Qur'an, the holiest book in Islam, contain the words of God as revealed to the Muhammad. Qur’an literally means “the recitation” in Arabic. In 622 CE, after widespread persecution, Muhammad was forced to emigrate to Yathrib, what is now the city of Medina, Saudi Arabia. This year marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar. In Yathrib, Muhammad gained converts and political authority and eventually the Muslim forces from Yathrib conquered Mecca, where Muhammad later died in 632 CE.
Immediately after Muhammad’s death, disagreements arose over who should succeed Muhammad as the leader of the Muslim faith. Most Muslims believed that the leader of Islam should be the person who is most qualified. Today, this group represents the Sunni branch of Islam. Others, however, believed that the only rightful leader must be a blood relative of Muhammad. This group is known as Shia, which derives from the Arabic phrase shi’atu Ali meaning “followers of Ali,” who was Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law. Sunni is still the largest branch of Islam today, representing around 90 percent of adherents while Shia constitute around 10 percent of all Muslims (Figure \(1\)).
The Five Pillars of Islam form the foundation for Muslim life and practice. First, the pillar of Shahada refers to a declaration of faith. It is generally recited in Arabic but translates as ”There is no god but God (and) Muhammad is the messenger of God.” Stating this phrase with conviction is all that is required to convert to Islam. The pillar of Salat refers to prayer five times per day. When Muslims pray, they face the Kaaba in Mecca, a cubed structure that is considered to be the most sacred Muslim site in the world (Figure \(2\)). The third pillar of Islam, Zakat, refers to the giving of alms, or charity. Muslims are required to donate 2.5 percent of all assets each year.
The fourth pillar, Sawm, requires Muslims to fast during the month of Ramadan. During this month, adult Muslims abstain from food, drink, and sex during daylight hours. Those who are ill, pregnant, elderly, or are otherwise unable to fast are exempt from the requirement. The month-long fast is designed to bring Muslims closer to God, but also to remind them of the feeling of hunger in the hopes that they will be mindful of those who are less fortunate throughout the rest of the year.
Finally, the fifth pillar of Islam is hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca that is expected for all physically and financially able Muslims to complete at least once in their lifetime. During the hajj, which lasts several days, Muslims complete a series of rituals, some dating back to the time of Abraham. In 2012, a record 3.16 million pilgrims completed the hajj and crowd control has been a significant concern as the numbers of pilgrims have swelled. Since 1990, several stampedes have occurred; the deadliest was in 2015 and killed over 2,000 people.
Islam is the majority religion in every state in this realm except for Israel. Globally, Islam has around 1.8 billion followers and is the fastest-growing of the world’s religions. Although this region is largely united by a belief in Islam, the divisions within the faith, as well as the presence of numerous minority religious groups, has often led to conflict.
Judaism:
an ancient monotheistic religion founded in the Middle East that holds the Torah as its holiest religious text
Monotheistic:
the belief in one god
Christianity:
a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus
Islam:
a monotheistic religion that emphasizes the belief in Muhammad as the last prophet
Qur'an:
the holiest book of Islam believed to contain the words of God as recited by Muhammad, also spelled Quran or Koran
Hajj:
a pilgrimage to Mecca that is expected for all physically and financially able Muslims to complete at least once in their lifetime | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/07%3A_North_Africa_and_Southwest_Asia/7.03%3A_The_Religious_Hearths_of_North_Africa_and_Southwest_Asia.txt |
After Muhammad’s death, Arab military forces carried Islam across the region. At its greatest extent, the Islamic Empire under the Umayyad Caliphate of the 7th and 8th centuries stretched across 15 million square kilometers (5.79 million square miles), from the Iberian Peninsula, the southwest corner of Europe containing Spain and Portugal, all the way across North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula and into Pakistan (Figure \(1\)). No empire would be larger until the Mongols in the 13th century.
Figure \(1\): Map of the Islamic Empire under the Umayyad Caliphate Expansion, 622-
750 CE (Derivative work from original by Brian Szymanski, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)
The Islamic Empire continued for hundreds of years. Its capital moved from Medina to Damascus, the capital of modern-day Syria, and then to Baghdad, the capital of modern-day Iraq. By 1259 CE, however, much of this region, including Baghdad, was conquered by the Mongols, beginning a pattern of occupation and conquest that would continue until modern times.
The Ottoman Empire, based in modern-day Turkey, followed, taking control of much of North Africa and coastal Southwest Asia by the 15th and 16th centuries. Though it declined over time, the Ottomans maintained control of much of the region until it, along with the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria, lost World War I. Following World War I, the allied powers of Europe divided the former territory of the Ottoman Empire and carved out colonies.
The League of Nations, an intergovernmental organization which lasted from the end of World War I until the beginning of World War II, portioned the former Ottoman Empire and granted mandates for European powers to control parts of its territory. France, for example, was given a mandate for Syria. Britain was given a mandate to control Iraq as well as Palestine. The Italians, too, were able to take a piece of the Ottoman Empire, gaining control of Libya in the early 20th century.
As with many other parts of the world, the colonies of North Africa and Southwest Asia were formed with little attention to underlying ethnic tensions or resource issues. Some ethnic groups found themselves split amongst several different European colonies, while others were forced to share newly created territories with hostile groups. Even once colonies were able to get independence, these colonial-era issues would remain. Unevenly distributed oil wealth, which was not discovered in large quantities until after the withdraw of European powers, would further complicate political and economic stability in the region.
7.05: The Modern Political Landscape of North Africa and Southwest Asia
Today’s political map of North Africa and Southwest Asia reflects superimposed boundaries and a legacy of colonialization. The countries of this region have often been prone to political instability and conflict, and religious tension both between Muslims in this region as well as with the region’s many religious minorities has often led to violence.
One key issue is that the geography of this region has often restricted development and transit to fairly narrow channels. Conflict can often occur over the control of these choke points. A chokepoint is a narrow passage to another region, such as a canal, valley, or bridge. North Africa and the Middle East has several, strategically important choke points including the Hormuz Strait, which provides the only sea passage into the Persian Gulf, and the Suez Canal, which was built to connect the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. Who controls these choke points, and who they allow through, has often been a point of contention.
European colonizers were generally slow to relinquish control in the region. Local groups often reacted violently in trying to secure independence. As a result, many newly created governments in the region consisted of military groups. In other cases, monarchs found either military support or joined with local religious leaders. For many areas in this region, the discovery of oil brought about significant wealth, but also reignited Western interest and involvement. During the Cold War, for example, the United States sought to limit Soviet influence in the region and maintain its supply of oil.
Conservative religious ideology has sometimes provided a reaction against Westernization and foreign influence. In Iran, for example, the 1979 Islamic Revolution was largely a reaction against Westernization under a US-backed leader. The revolution established a theocracy in Iran, meaning a rule by religious authority, with the Grand Ayatollah, a Shia religious cleric, as the supreme leader.
After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the Saud dynasty partnered with the leader of the Wahhabi religious movement, creating the foundation of modern Saudi Arabia. Wahhabism is a strict form of Sunni Islam that promotes ultraconservative Muslim values. Women have a strict dress code emphasizing modesty and have guardians, usually a father, brother, uncle, or husband, and need their guardian’s consent to make major decisions or travel. Until 2018, women were forbidden from driving. A number of other practices are forbidden by Wahhabism, including watching nonreligious television programs, playing chess, and dancing. The penalties for breaking these prohibitions are often severe.
In Afghanistan, a group of militant Sunnis, known as al-Qaeda, fought against the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. The organization was founded by Osama bin Laden and formed an alliance with the Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist political movement also based in Afghanistan. With al-Qaeda’s military support, the Taliban were able to take control of Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001. They are known for their brutal oppression against women and acts of terrorism against civilian targets. As countries have modernized, Westernization and conservative religious values have continued to clash.
The landscape of North Africa and the Middle East remains in flux. The most widespread political change in recent years was a wave of protests and revolutions known as the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring began in Tunisia in 2010 when a fruit vendor set himself on fire after being harassed continually by police. Widespread protests in Tunisia followed his death, calling for changes to the country’s issues with corruption, high unemployment, lack of political and personal freedom, and high food prices. After just ten days of demonstrations, Tunisia’s president, Ben Ali, who had been in power for 23 years, fled in exile. From Tunisia, protests spread across the region, at times toppling governments that had been in power for decades (Figure \(1\)).
At the heart of the causes behind the Arab Spring is inequality. In much of this region of the world, wealth and power is concentrated in the hands of a select few. Young people in the region in particular had high levels of education but also high unemployment and played a central role in bringing about change. Social media was also used to organize and rally support, and diffused the revolution rapidly. Several of the countries that experienced an initial change in regime have seen several later waves of political change, as interim governments sometimes proved to be as ineffective as previous leadership.
In Syria, however, despite widespread initial protests and calls for a change in leadership, president Bashar al-Assad not only refused to step down, but violently opposed protestors. Syria has been ruled by the Ba’ath political party, a socialist and nationalist group seeking Arab unity, since the 1960s. Bashar al-Assad was elected president under a 2000 referendum and ran unopposed, giving some indicator of the lack of political freedom in the country. Soldiers were ordered to open fire on civilian protestors and many were killed or tortured. Eventually, the country declined into civil war, with the government fighting rebel groups who sought to overthrow it and civilians caught in the crossfire.
The civil war in Syria also offered an opportunity for another group in the region to gain control of territory. ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or just the Islamic State (IS), emerged in 2014 as a Sunni extremist group opposing the United States’ invasion of Iraq. Iraq had been ruled by the minority Sunni population for centuries, but with the overthrow of then-president Saddam Hussein, also a member of the Ba’ath party, the majority Shia population took control. Efforts to create a coalition government and include Sunnis, as well as the other minority groups in the country, broke down. Some of the Sunnis who had been political leaders or military personnel under Saddam Hussein formed ISIS and were eventually able to drive out Iraqi government forces in several key cities.
From there, the group gained control of parts of Syria. For some time, much of Iraq and Syria existed as an insurgent state, a territory beyond the control of government forces. ISIS is widely known for its brutal tactics, including beheadings, sexual violence, and fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. The group sought to create a worldwide Islamic State with every Muslim country under its control. The United States declared ISIS defeated in 2019, though researchers note that while the US indeed took control of the last pieces of territories held by ISIS, thousands of ISIS fighters remain dispersed across Iraq and Syria and the group has the support of other affiliate groups and fighters across the world.
Since 2011, the people of Syria have endured government assaults, violence from rebel groups, and attacks from ISIS. Over 400,000 Syrians have been killed, many of them civilians, and over 13 million have become refugees. Some refugees have remained in Syria, cut off from aid by government and insurgent groups. Around 4.8 million people have left Syria. Some have fled to Turkey and Greece by boat; many have died on the perilous journey. Europe and North America have debated whether to accept these migrants, with some countries arguing that Syrian migrants might actually be terrorists, and others acknowledging that the global community has a responsibility to help those in need. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/07%3A_North_Africa_and_Southwest_Asia/7.04%3A_Conquest_in_North_Africa_and_Southwest_Asia.txt |
The rise of ISIS is representative of many key issues of geography in this region: the intersection of religious values, political instability, and control of territory and resources. ISIS represents a fundamentalist view of Islam, known as Islamism. Islamism is characterized by a strict, literal interpretation of the Qur’an, conservative moral values, and the desire to establish Islamic values across the entire world. Militant Islamist movements have inspired the violent ideology of jihadism, which seeks to combat threats to the Muslim community.
Islamism and jihadism represent a small portion of global Muslim beliefs, however. A Pew Research Center survey found that in most countries, over three-quarters of the population of Muslims reject Islamic extremism and a majority expressed concern over religious extremism. Furthermore, even in North Africa and Southwest Asia, only one-quarter of Muslims believed that tensions within the community between more religious and less religious Muslims represented a major problem. In every religious community, there are fundamental interpretations of scripture and both conservative and liberal understandings of theology.
For traditional Muslims, religious life and personal life are intertwined, and thus political structures in this region have often reflected religious values. Several states in North Africa and Southwest Asia have declared sharia law, meaning that Islamic religious law applies in the court system (Figure \(1\)). Islamist groups in particular have often utilized a strict and harsh interpretation of sharia. In many countries, most Muslims believe that sharia should be the state law, but many believe it should only apply to the country’s Muslim population. In addition, Muslims differ in their interpretation of sharia, with some only supporting sharia for personal disputes but not accepting sharia’s harsh punishments for various offenses.
In a region where political boundaries were often contrived by outside forces, governments have struggled with their relationship to minority religious and ethnic groups. The modern state of Israel, for example, was created following World War II by a United Nations plan to partition the British-controlled Palestine into Arab and Jewish areas. A series of wars between Israel and the surrounding Arab states left Israel as an independent state in control of the territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which were originally intended to be Palestine. Jerusalem, which under the UN plan would be a neutral, international city because of its significance to several of the world’s religions, was proclaimed the capital of Israel.
Conflict continues between Palestinians living in territory controlled by Israel and Israelis who maintain sovereignty over the entire area (Figure \(2\)). Israel has built a series of walls dividing the West Bank and Gaza from the areas of Israeli control, maintaining that they are to protect Israelis from Palestinian terrorists. For Palestinians, however, these walls limit their freedom of movement and have often separated them from their livelihoods. The Gaza strip remains completely isolated, surrounded by walls on three sides and a sea controlled by Israeli ships on the other. Some have suggested a two-state solution and the creation of an independent, Palestinian state, but Israeli construction of homes in the West Bank has limited that option.
North Africa and Southwest Asia is a region of the world that is the cradle of ancient civilizations and modern religions, but where resources are limited and unevenly distributed. Religious tension and political conflict have persisted. Some groups like ISIS have taken advantage of instability and valuable resources like oil to carve out control of territory and finance armed insurgencies. As some countries have modernized and industrialized, traditional religious values have often stood in stark contrast to the practices of migrant groups and tourists.
Islamism:
a religious ideology characterized by a strict, literal interpretation of the Qur’an, conservative moral values, and the desire to establish Islamic values across the entire world.
Jihadism:
a militant form of Islam that seeks to combat threats to the Muslim community | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/07%3A_North_Africa_and_Southwest_Asia/7.06%3A_Religious_Conflict_in_North_Africa_and_Southwest_Asia.txt |
• 8.1: South Asia's Physical Landscape
South Asia’s Himalaya Mountains are the highest in the world, soaring to over 8,800 meters (29,000 feet). Yet, these are also some of the world’s youngest mountains, reflecting a region that has experienced significant physical and cultural changes throughout its history. Here, we find one of the earliest and most widespread ancient civilizations, the hearth area for several of the world’s great religions, and a region whose population will soon be the largest on Earth.
• 8.2: Patterns of Human Settlement in South Asia
South Asia’s rich cultural landscape is a product of its varied physical environment and long history of human settlement. Modern humans first settled in this area 75,000 years ago, and early human ancestors likely settled in the region hundreds of thousands of years before that. The first major civilization in South Asia was in the Indus River valley beginning around 3300 BCE. This civilization relied on the monsoon rains to provide water to the Indus River.
• 8.3: Cultural Groups in South Asia
South Asia is a diverse region in terms of its ethnic landscape, culture, and religious beliefs. In the north, the Indo-European languages like Hindi dominate as a result of the Aryan invasion. Along the Himalayas, languages in the Sino-Tibetan family dominate. In the south, most groups speak a language in the Dravidian family, comprised of the indigenous languages of South Asia that were present before the arrival of the Aryans. These reflect broader differences in culture and ethnicity.
• 8.4: South Asia's Population Dynamics
South Asia is the most populous region on Earth, but why is it the most populous, and how do geographers study population? The simplest way to measure population is to count the number of people in an area. India, for example, has a population of over 1.3 billion, making it the second-most populous country after China. But do raw numbers of people tell the whole story of the human population in an area?
• 8.5: Future Challenges and Opportunities in South Asia
India’s male-skewed population pyramid is indicative of a larger issue of gender inequality in its society. Sexual violence in particular continues to be a significant issue. Although the percentage of women who have been raped in India is lower than in other countries, a majority of rape cases are never reported and even an incidence rate of 8 or 9 percent in a population of over 1 billion people means that tens of millions of women have been victimized.
08: South Asia
Learning Objectives
• Identify the key geographic features of South Asia
• Explain the patterns of human settlement in South Asia
• Describe the cultural landscape of South Asia
• Analyze South Asia’s current population growth and future prospects
South Asia’s Himalaya Mountains are the highest in the world, soaring to over 8,800 meters (29,000 feet). Yet, these are also some of the world’s youngest mountains, reflecting a region that has experienced significant physical and cultural changes throughout its history. Here, we find one of the earliest and most widespread ancient civilizations, the hearth area for several of the world’s great religions, and a region whose population will soon be the largest on Earth.
South Asia is a well-defined region in terms of its physical landscape (Figure \(1\)). Formidable physical barriers separate the region from the rest of the Eurasian landmass. Much of the impressive physical geographic features of South Asia are the result of tectonic activity. Between 40 and 50 million years ago, the Indian Plate collided with the Eurasian plate (Figure \(2\)). Both the Indian Plate and the Eurasian plate were comprised of fairly low density material, and so when the collision occurred, the two landmasses folded like an accordion creating the mountain ranges we see today. The Indian Plate is still moving towards the Eurasian plate today and over the next 10 million years, will move an additional 1,500 km (932 mi) into Asia.
This massive tectonic collision resulted in perhaps the most well-known physical feature in South Asia: Mount Everest. Everest, located in the Himalaya Mountain range on the border of Nepal and China, is the tallest mountain in the world. Because the India Plate continues to collide with the Eurasian Plate, this mountain range is still tectonically active and is rising at a rate of 5 mm each year. Thus, if you’re planning on scaling Mount Everest in ten years, be prepared to climb an extra two inches.
Although the Himalaya Mountains are well-known for having the highest peak, the Karakoram Mountain range, passing through Pakistan, India, China, and Afghanistan, has the highest concentration of peaks above 8,000 meters (26,000 feet). Its highest peak, K2, is the second-tallest mountain in the world and far fewer people have successfully made it to the top compared to Everest. One in four people die while attempting to summit.
Another key physical feature of South Asia, the Deccan Plateau, was also formed from the region’s tectonic activity. Around 65 million years ago, there was an enormous fissure in Earth’s crust which led to a massive eruption of lava. The entire Indian peninsula was buried in several thousand feet of basalt, a type of dense, volcanic rock.
South Asia’s rivers, including the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra form a lowland region that was home to several ancient civilizations. Today, these rivers provide for the water needs of many of this region’s people, irrigation for agricultural lands, and an abundance of fish. However, these rivers have had significant environmental concerns in recent years and have supported increasing numbers of people along their banks. Most of the area along the Ganges River, for example, has been converted into urban or agricultural land and the wild species like elephants and tigers that used to be present along the river are now gone. Pollution in the Ganges River has reached unprecedented levels as industrial waste and sewage is dumped untreated into the river despite the fact that people frequently use the water for bathing, washing, and cooking. It is estimated that around 80 percent of all illnesses in India result from water-borne diseases. The World Bank has loaned India over \$1 billion to clean up the river, but experts believe that larger scale infrastructure improvements are needed to improve the region’s water quality.
The most important climatic feature of South Asia is a dramatic weather cycle known as the monsoon (Figure \(3\)). The monsoon refers to seasonal shifts in wind that result in changes in precipitation. From October to April, winds typically come from the northeast in South Asia creating dry conditions. Beginning in April, however, winds shift to the southwest, picking up moisture over the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, and Bay of Bengal.
Most of the rain during the monsoon season results from orographic precipitation, caused when physical barriers form air masses to climb where they then cool, condense, and form precipitation (Figure \(4\)). India’s Western Ghats, a mountain range on its western coast, for example, causes orographic precipitation on its windward side. The Himalaya Mountains similarly result in orographic precipitation. However, these impressive highland areas are so formidable that they cause a dry area on their leeward side, known as a rain shadow. On one side of the Himalayas are some of the wettest places on Earth with over 30 feet of rain each year. On the other side, the rain shadow from the mountains forms the arid Gobi Desert and Tibetan Plateau.
The monsoon rains, though extreme, provide significant benefits for South Asia’s agriculture and economy. India gets more than 80 percent of its yearly rainfall from the monsoon and the rains are essential for both subsistence and commercial agriculture in the region. A good monsoon year will replenish the region’s water supplies and increase crop yields, driving down food prices. Ample rainfall also contributes to the region’s hydroelectricity potential. However, the torrential rains of the monsoon can also cause widespread flooding, destroying agricultural lands and transportation infrastructure, and can contribute to water-borne and insect-borne illnesses due to the significant amounts of standing water.
The monsoon is changing, though. Global changes in climate have made the monsoon harder to predict. In addition, rising numbers of automobiles across South Asia have increased air pollution, which can interfere with the mechanics of the monsoon. In the past, once the monsoon season starts, rains continue throughout the season. Recently, though, the monsoon rains have begun to stop and start throughout the rainy season. People in this region are generally unprepared for an unpredictable or variable monsoon season and rely heavily on the rains for agriculture. Local leaders are pushing for more research to better understand the shifting monsoon rains and for increased education on water conservation and sustainable agricultural management.
Monsoon:
a seasonal shift in winds that results in changes in precipitation
Orographic precipitation:
rainfall that results from a physical barrier forcing air masses to climb where they then cool, condense, and form precipitation
Rain shadow:
a region with dry conditions on the leeward side of a highland area | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/08%3A_South_Asia/8.01%3A_South_Asia%27s_Physical_Landscape.txt |
South Asia’s rich cultural landscape is a product of its varied physical environment and long history of human settlement. Modern humans first settled in this area 75,000 years ago, and early human ancestors likely settled in the region hundreds of thousands of years before that. The first major civilization in South Asia was in the Indus River valley beginning around 3300 BCE. This civilization, located in present-day Pakistan, Afghanistan, and northwestern India, relied on the monsoon rains to provide water to the Indus River. Here, early settlers developed systems of urban planning, baked brick houses, and the civilization at its peak numbered over five million people.
By 1800 BCE, however, the Indus Valley civilization began to decline. Weakened monsoon rains likely led to drought conditions and even small changes in precipitation and climate can have a devastating effect on a population of five million. Although residents developed some systems of water supply, they largely depended on the monsoon rains for agriculture, and many began moving to other areas of the region as arid conditions increased.
Around 1500 BCE, the Aryans, an Indo-Iranian group from modern-day Iran, invaded northern India. The Aryans were speakers of Indo-Iranian languages and brought their language, known as Sanskrit, their culture, and their ideas of social order to the South Asian realm. Hinduism and the caste system would both emerge from the Aryan culture.
South Asia was conquered by a number of different empires, each leaving an impact on the cultural landscape. The Maurya Empire stretched across the Himalaya and Karakoram mountain ranges, extending into most of South Asia by 250 BCE followed by a number of different dynasties. In the middle ages, the Islamic Empire extended into Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In the 18th century, however, the ruling Islamic Mughal Empire was in decline, leaving a power vacuum that would be exploited by the British. As the Industrial Revolution swept through the United Kingdom, the British were interested in expanding their supply of natural resources. Throughout the mid-18th century and the early 19th century, the British Empire, which had established the British East India Company, took over large stretches of land in India. The British established tea and cotton plantations, and took control of South Asia’s resources. Although this region had previously established successful trading systems, the British saw local industries as competition and shifted their development to export raw materials. British rule also increased Westernization in South Asia and created an extensive rail transportation system.
As time went on, there were rising demands for independence. Mohandas K. Gandhi, known in India by the title “Mahatma,” was a London-educated lawyer and one of the leaders in India’s struggle for independence. He organized local communities to participate in nonviolent protests and his commitment to nonviolent resistance would inspire later civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr.
Throughout this time, the isolated Himalayan countries of Nepal and Bhutan largely existed as buffer states, caught between the powerful British Empire and China. Their relative isolation allowed them to develop unique cultural features with little influence from outside groups, but as with most buffer states, left them with less economic and industrial development than their more powerful neighbors.
The British eventually agreed to withdraw from India but political and religious differences resulted in a partition of the former British territory in 1947 (Figure \(1\)). Areas that were majority Hindu would become the secular state of India. Areas that were majority Muslim would become the new Islamic state of Pakistan. Since Muslims were clustered both in modern-day Pakistan and along the mouth of the Ganges on the coastal Bay of Bengal, the Muslim state of Pakistan would be divided into a Western and an Eastern territory. This prompted large-scale migrations of Hindus and Muslims who were on the “wrong” side at the time of the partition.
Not everyone in South Asia supported the partition plan. Gandhi, who had long called for religious unity in the region, was opposed to the concept. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in violent riots. In 1948, Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist who opposed the partition plan and Gandhi’s commitment to nonviolence.
Furthermore, although there were areas that were clearly majority Hindu or majority Muslim, religious minorities existed throughout India and not all regions had an easy transition. At the time of the partition, states were free to decide whether they wanted to join Hindu India or Muslim Pakistan. In the territory of Jammu and Kashmir in Northern India (Figure \(2\)), Muslims comprised around 75 percent of the population but the maharaja, the Sanskrit term for “great ruler,” was Hindu. The maharaja struggled with the decision, and in the meantime, Muslim rebels, backed by Pakistan, invaded. He then gave the territory to India in exchange for military aid.
Today, Jammu and Kashmir still remains a contentious territory and there have been violent clashes in the past few decades over political control. In the 1950s, China, without the knowledge of India, built a road through the northern portion of the state and was given territory by Pakistan. Although India claims the entire state, it controls the southern half of the state and about four-fifths of its population. Pakistan controls the territory’s northern portion and moved its capital from Karachi to Islamabad to better control its frontiers. East Pakistan, long marginalized and culturally discriminated against by West Pakistan, gained independence as the state of Bangladesh in 1971.
As a region, South Asia is now the most populous area in the world and is home to over 1.8 billion people. Some of the world’s largest megacities are located here as well, including Delhi, India (population of 26 million in the entire metropolitan area), Karachi, Pakistan (population of 14 million, with some estimating that it is much higher) and Mumbai, India (population of over 21 million). Despite the sizeable population, however, the region remains largely rural. Only around 36 percent of people in Pakistan, 31 percent of people in India, and 28 percent of people in Bangladesh live in cities. These relatively low levels of urbanization indicate that most people in the region still practice agriculture.
Urbanization is increasing, however, as industrialization and development have brought new jobs to the cities. British colonization left the region with the English language which has proven an economic asset, though it has also led to the marginalization of indigenous languages. Foreign companies have increasingly outsourced to India, taking advantage of a large, low-wage and English-speaking labor pool. Outsourcing refers to contracting out a portion of a business to another party, which might be located in a different country. Business processing in particular, such as call centers and information technology, has been outsourced and employs significant numbers of people in India. India is also one of the global leaders in fiber production, and textile production remains an important part of Pakistan’s and Bangladesh’s economies as well.
Nepal and Bhutan remain isolated both in terms of physical geography and global economic integration. Political uncertainty has generally hampered economic growth in Nepal but the country has been able to reduce its poverty rate considerably in recent decades. Tourism to Nepal has also increased, though local leaders have expressed concern over mounting issues of trash and pollution as a result of climbers flocking to Mount Everest. In the early 21st century, Bhutan transitioned from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy and held its first general election. Its government has promoted the measure of gross national happiness (GNH), as opposed to relying strictly on measures of economic or industrial development and has sought sustainable ways to develop and urbanize.
Buffer states:
a country situated between two more powerful states
Partition:
the division of a territory into smaller units, as with the former British Empire in South Asia
Outsourcing:
contracting out a portion of a business to another party, which might be located in a different country | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/08%3A_South_Asia/8.02%3A_Patterns_of_Human_Settlement_in_South_Asia.txt |
South Asia is a diverse region in terms of its ethnic landscape, culture, and religious beliefs. As shown in Figure \(1\), in the northern portion of the region, the Indo-European languages like Hindi dominate as a result of the Aryan invasion. Along the Himalayas, languages in the Sino-Tibetan family dominate. In southern India, however, most groups speak a language in the Dravidian family, comprised of the indigenous languages of South Asia that were present before the arrival of the Aryans. These language families reflect broader differences in culture and ethnicity, including particular religious practices and food customs. Thus the label “Indian cuisine” actually encompasses a diverse array of regional and traditional specialties.
South Asia is a hearth area for several of the world’s great religions. Out of the Aryan invasion of northern India came a religious belief system known as Vedism. The religious texts of Vedism, known as the Vedas, combined with local religious beliefs developed into the modern-day religion of Hinduism by around 500 BCE. Hinduism is a polytheistic religion with a wide variety of individual beliefs and practices. Hinduism is a highly regional and individual religion and its polytheistic nature reflects this open understanding of belief. Of Hinduism’s over 1 billion followers, 95 percent live in India.
At its heart, there are four key features of Hinduism: dharma, karma, reincarnation, and worship. Dharma refers to the laws and duties of being and is different for every person. You might be a student and an employee and a child and a sibling. All of those roles have prescribed responsibilities. To be a good student, for example, means to attend class, read the textbook, and study. In Hindu culture, there are also restraints and observances for how you interact with other people depending on their status.
Hindu views on the afterlife are quite different from the Judeo-Christian conception of heaven. Hindus believe in karma, which means that your deeds, good or bad, will return to you. They also believe in reincarnation, which is the idea that once you die, your spirit is reborn. Thus, you are the sum of numerous past existences. Karma, dharma, and reincarnation go hand in hand. If someone had done good deeds, had good intentions, and lived virtuously, when they die and are reincarnated, they might come back as something great – a prince, perhaps. Conversely, if someone was a terrible person, accumulating an excess of negative karma, when they are reincarnated, they might come back as someone of very low status – or maybe not even a person at all.
Hindu scripture discusses four distinct castes, or groups, of people in society, an example of social stratification. This social hierarchy is known as the caste system. The Brahmins, the highest caste, consist of priests and teachers and represent around 3 percent of India’s total population. There is a warrior caste, a merchant caste, and finally the lowest, the laborer caste of landless serfs. Excluded from this caste system, and viewed as so below it that they are not even a part of it, are the “untouchables,” also known as “Dalit” meaning “oppressed.” The untouchables are so-named because they perform work that makes them spiritually unclean, such as handling corpses, tanning hides, or cleaning bathrooms. Traditionally, higher castes would get ritually purified if they touch a Dalit. Many untouchables are indigenous, non-Aryan Indians.
So how might the belief in karma and reincarnation affect social justice in South Asia? Although the caste system was outlawed by the Indian constitution, widespread discrimination and persecution persists. Many Hindus believe that those in lower castes were reborn into that social status because they had committed misdeeds in their past life. However, other Hindus fought against the caste system and have worked to more fully integrate the Dalits into Indian society.
Buddhism emerged out of Hinduism in northern India following the life and teachings of Hindu prince Siddhartha Gautama. According to Buddhist belief, Siddhartha lived a life of luxury, but became disenchanted with his life of privilege when he was faced with society’s injustices, such as illness and extreme poverty. Since Hinduism offered no clear cessation of what Siddhartha viewed as an endless cycle of suffering through samsara, the soul’s continual death and rebirth, he sought out new ways of ending suffering. For a time, Siddhartha practiced meditation and extreme asceticism, eating only dirt and bits of rice. But neither the path of luxury nor the complete absence of worldly pleasures gave him the insight he sought. Eventually, Siddhartha, in meditation under a Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India, discovered what Buddhists refer to as the Middle Way, a path of moderation. He is said to have achieved enlightenment and is known as the first Buddha, meaning “awakened one.”
Although Buddhism, like Hinduism, is a highly regional religion with many different forms of individual expression, Buddhists generally share a belief in the Four Noble Truths: 1) Suffering is universal and inevitable, 2) The immediate cause of suffering is desire and ignorance, 3) There is a way to dispel ignorance and relieve suffering, and 4) The eightfold path is the means to achieve liberation from suffering. Buddhists also share with Hindus a common belief in karma, dharma, and reincarnation.
Buddhism diffused across Asia, though never taking a strong hold in India (Figure \(2\)). The Maurya Emperor Ashoka, in particular, was responsible for the widespread diffusion of Buddhism in the 3rd century BCE. The religion has three primary branches, each with a distinct regional concentration. The oldest branch, Theravada, is primarily practiced in Southeast Asia, in places like Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand and is also the majority religion on the South Asian island of Sri Lanka. Mahayana is practiced by most Buddhists worldwide, particularly in places like China and Japan. Vajrayana Buddhism, which is sometimes considered a subset of Mahayana Buddhism, is practiced in the Himalayas and Tibetan Buddhism is a notable example. Buddhism has around 500 million followers worldwide.
Although Buddhism and Hinduism are the most widely practiced, South Asia was also a hearth area for the Jain and Sikh religions. Jainism emerged in India in the first century BCE and emphasizes ahimsa, nonviolence toward all living beings. Even insects found in the home are gently ushered out rather than killed. Jains also seek to break free from attachments and inner passions, and aim to keep an open mind toward different perspectives. The teachings of Jainism were influential for Gandhi and his emphasis on nonviolent resistance.
Sikhism emerged in the Punjab region of northwestern India and northern Pakistan in the 15th century. It is a monotheistic religion founded on the teachings of Guru Nanak that combines elements of both Hinduism and Islam. Like Hindus, Sikhs believe in reincarnation and karma. But unlike Hinduism, Sikhism prohibits the worship of idols, images, or icons. Sikhs believe God has 99 names, an adaptation of Hindu polytheistic belief. Sri Harmandir Sahib, commonly called the “Golden Temple,” in Amritsar, India is the holiest Sikh temple, which are called gurdwara (Figure \(3\)). However, the building is open to everyone and every visitor is offered a free meal. Over 100,000 people visit the site every day.
These religions, along with other minority religions like Christianity and indigenous belief systems, have not always coexisted peacefully in South Asia. Although India is officially secular, having no official religion, regional religious conflicts have often occurred throughout history. The difficulty is that in this region, very few people actually are secular, with no attachment to religion. Governments have thus struggled to find ways of accommodating minority religious groups while not offending the majority.
Hinduism:
an ancient polytheistic religion that first developed in South Asia and is characterized by a belief in karma, dharma, and reincarnation
Social stratification:
a system of social categorization where people in a society have differing levels of social status
Caste system:
a form of hereditary social hierarchy found in Hinduism
Buddhism:
religion that emerged from Hinduism and is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama
Jainism:
a religion emerged in India in the first century BCE and emphasizes ahimsa, nonviolence toward all living beings
Sikhism:
a monotheistic religion founded on the teachings of Guru Nanak that combines elements of both Hinduism and Islam | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/08%3A_South_Asia/8.03%3A_Cultural_Groups_in_South_Asia.txt |
South Asia is the most populous region on Earth, but why is it the most populous, and how do geographers study population? The simplest way to measure population is to count the number of people in an area. India, for example, has a population of over 1.3 billion, making it the second-most populous country after China. But do raw numbers of people tell the whole story of the human population in an area? If two countries have the same population, but one is far smaller than the other, how could we examine population in a way that explores this difference?
Geographers often use the concept of density to investigate population. Arithmetic density is fairly easy to calculate. It is determined by simply taking the number of people in an area divided by the size of the area. If a territory was one kilometer square, for example, and was home to 100 people, the arithmetic density would be 100 people per square kilometer. Although arithmetic density is easy to calculate, it gives us a fairly limited view of population density. What if there are two tracts of land that are the same size and have the same number of people, but one is lush and fertile and has people spread out evenly and the other has a tiny river that everyone lives near? If you were using arithmetic density, the measurements for these two areas would be the same even though the actual settlement patterns are quite different (Figure \(1\)). Physiologic density takes into account this difference by examining the number of people per unit of arable, or farmable, land.
Arithmetic and physiologic density can give us insight into the concentration of a country’s population and allows us to make comparisons between countries. The United States, a fairly large country, for example, has an arithmetic density of 32 people per square kilometer. However, a relatively small percentage of US land is arable, so the physiologic density is 179 people per square kilometer. Bhutan, by comparison, has a low population density of only 14 people per square kilometer. However, its rugged mountain environment means that only around 2 percent of the land is farmable, so its physiologic density is 606 people per square kilometer. By most measures, the most densely populated place in the world is Singapore with an arithmetic density of 6,483 people per square kilometer and a physiologic density of 441,000 people per square kilometer.
Another way to measure population is agricultural denisty which is the ratio of the number of farmers to the area of land. In developing countries where many people work as farmers, agricultural density is very high. South Asia has a high agricultural density. In developed countries, commercial agriculture and technological innovations have allowed relatively few people to be farmers and agricultural densities are generally low.
Geographers can also examine how a population is growing and changing over time. One way to explore this is with a population pyramid, a graphical representation of a population’s age groups and composition of males and females. Ages of people are grouped in cohorts with younger people on the bottom and older on the top. Thus, a population pyramid that is very triangular has a lot of young people and is growing rapidly.
Typically, the ratio of males to females, known as the sex ratio, is 1 to 1 and population pyramids will have even sides. However, in populations where males are favored, the ratio may be skewed. Similarly, in countries where men have died in war, such as in World War II Germany, there might be more females. When geographers and population demographers refer to sex, it means something different from gender; sex is a person’s biological identity as male or female while gender refers to a person’s role as a “man” or “woman” within society.
India’s 2017 population pyramid reveals rapid population growth over the past few decades (Figure \(2\)). However, the leveling off at the base of the pyramid indicates that population growth may be slowing. In addition, India’s cultural preference for male children is clearly apparent. Among children aged zero to four, India has 62 million males and only 55 million females. Nationwide, there are over 47 million more males in India than females. Both abortion and infanticide have contributed to this imbalance.
All of the population pyramids for the countries in this region reveal preferences for male children, though none are as severe an imbalance as India. Although Pakistan’s population growth has slowed in the past decades, its fertility rate remains the highest in the region at around 3.5, meaning a woman in Pakistan, on average, will have 3.5 children.
Arithmetic density:
the number of people in an area divided by the size of the area
Physiological density:
the number of people per unit of arable land
Agricultural density:
the ratio of the number of farmers to the area of land
Population pyramid:
a graphical representation of a population’s age groups and composition of males and females
Sex ratio:
the ratio of males to females in a population | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/08%3A_South_Asia/8.04%3A_South_Asia%27s_Population_Dynamics.txt |
India’s male-skewed population pyramid is indicative of a larger issue of gender inequality in its society. Sexual violence in particular continues to be a significant issue. Although the percentage of women who have been raped in India is lower than in other countries, a majority of rape cases are never reported and even an incidence rate of 8 or 9 percent in a population of over 1 billion people means that tens of millions of women have been victimized. The government of India has taken steps to reform its criminal code so that more criminals are prosecuted but even after a 2013 reform, marital rape continues not to be a crime. In a country that has few female police officers, high rates of domestic violence, and a relatively low status of women, sexual violence will likely remain a problem until these broader, systemic issues are addressed.
Overall, South Asia’s growing population will have a significant impact on its geography. Much of the historic growth in this region was supported by the Green Revolution, which refers to changes in agricultural technology and productivity beginning in India in the 1960s. In 1961, India was at risk of widespread famine when a hybrid rice seed was developed that yielded ten times more rice than traditional seeds. It was called “Miracle Rice” and its use spread throughout Asia. Despite these agricultural advances, South Asia has the highest rates of child malnutrition of any world region. The low status of women in particular contributes to a lack of knowledge about the nutrients that are needed for children. Around one in three children in India are underweight.
Economically, South Asia has experienced rising prosperity yet systemic issues of governance and poverty remain. India in particular has one of the world’s largest economies and the fastest growing economy in the region. This economic growth has mainly been focused on urban centers, drawing large numbers of people from the rural countryside to the cities in hope of finding work. Many cities have been unable to accommodate the rapid migration, however, and the sprawling slums in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are indicative of inadequate infrastructure and economic inequality. Several factories in this region have collapsed in recent years, killing thousands of workers and highlighting the poor working condition of many South Asians.
What does the future hold for South Asia? Although economic growth has reduced poverty in India, down from 60 percent in 1981 to 25 percent in 2011, corruption has increased. Inequality between genders, religious groups, castes, and ethnic groups remains a problem in much of the region. In some cases, this has led to communal conflict, which refers to violence between members of different communities. In Sri Lanka, a majority Buddhist country, ethnicity and religion are closely linked. Buddhists here have shaken the traditional peaceful image of their religion and have engaged in violent conflict with the minority Tamils and Muslims.
Still, local government and community leaders have sought to escape the shadow of the 20th century’s turmoil by embracing new models of development and cooperation. In Bhutan, for example, the government initiative to measure gross national happiness resulted in shifting urban amenities, such as schools and healthcare clinics, to rural areas. This slowed the rural to urban migration that was rapidly occurring in other parts of the realm. Despite political and military turmoil, Pakistan has been able to substantially decrease its poverty rate. South Asia remains a complex realm at the crossroads of modernization and traditional cultural and religious values.
Green Revolution:
changes in agricultural technology and productivity beginning in India in the 1960s
Communal conflict:
violence between members of different communities | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/08%3A_South_Asia/8.05%3A_Future_Challenges_and_Opportunities_in_South_Asia.txt |
• 9.1: The Physical Landscape of East and Southeast Asia
East and Southeast Asia contains the world’s most populous country, the most populous metropolitan area, and some of the world’s oldest civilizations. It is also a region with intense internal disparities and a landscape that has been and continues to be transformed by physical, political, and economic forces. Although East and Southeast Asia are often divided into two regions, they share a common economic and political history and global geopolitical forces continue to transform this realm.
• 9.2: Natural Hazards in East and Southeast Asia
Much of what unites East and Southeast Asia is its instability, not necessarily in terms of geopolitics, but rather its physical landscape. East and Southeast Asia are located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of high tectonic activity along the Pacific Ocean basin. The vast majority of the world’s earthquakes, around 90 percent, occur along this geologically unstable area.
• 9.3: East and Southeast Asia's History and Settlement
The history of human settlement in East and Southeast Asia begins in China. Evidence of modern humans can be found in the region dating back to over 80,000 years ago. Around 10,000 years ago, several cultural groups emerged in China during the Neolithic Period, also known as the New Stone Age. This was a time of key developments in early human technology, such as farming, the domestication of plants and animals, and the use of pottery.
• 9.4: Political Conflicts and Changes in East and Southeast Asia
The second half of the 20th century was a time of significant political change for East and Southeast Asia. The former colonies of Japan were able to break away from their colonial past and become independent, but as in many other parts of the world, that independence often coincided with political conflict.
• 9.5: Patterns of Economic Development in East and Southeast Asia
Despite the political changes and conflicts that marked the 20th century, the 21st century has largely been marked by economic development across East and Southeast Asia. Economic geography is a branch of geography that explores the spatial aspect of economic development. Economic geographers don’t just ask “Where is economic development occurring?” but also “Why is economic development occurring in some areas and not others?”
09: East and Southeast Asia
Learning Objectives
• Identify the key geographic features of East and Southeast Asia
• Explain how East and Southeast Asia’s history has affected its geographic landscape
• Describe the patterns of economic development in East and Southeast Asia
• Analyze how East and Southeast Asia interacts within the global economic system
East and Southeast Asia (Figure \(1\)) contains the world’s most populous country, the most populous metropolitan area, and some of the world’s oldest civilizations. It is also a region with intense internal disparities and a landscape that has been and continues to be transformed by physical, political, and economic forces. Although East and Southeast Asia are often divided into two regions, they share a common economic and political history and global geopolitical forces continue to transform this realm.
The region of East and Southeast Asia is divided from the rest of Asia by a number of formidable physical barriers (Figure \(2\)). In the north, Mongolia’s Altay Mountains, the Mongolian Plateau, and the Gobi Desert separate the region from Russia. In the south, the Himalaya Mountains divide China from South Asia and contain the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest. These mountains are so high, in fact, that they form the Gobi Desert by preventing rainfall from passing over South Asia into Central Asia. In the southeast, the Arkan Mountains and Naga Hills, which stretch across Myanmar and India, and the rolling hills of China’s Yunnan Plateau separate Southeast Asia from the rest of the continent. In general, this is a realm of relatively high relief, meaning there are significant changes in elevation on the landscape. Even the islands of this region have a rugged topography, from Japan’s Mount Fuji to Indonesia’s Mount Carstensz.
The rivers of this region have supported both ancient cultures and modern societies providing irrigation for agriculture, river transportation, and in some cases, hydropower. Asia’s longest river, the Yangtze, flows through central China; the economic activity surrounding its river valley generates around one-fifth of the entire country’s gross domestic product (GDP). In 2003, the Chinese government built the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric power station, which spans the river. China’s other major river, the Huang He River, also known as the Yellow River, flows through the highlands of Western China before discharging in Northeastern China. It was on the banks of the Huang He that Chinese civilization first began. In Southeast Asia, the region is dominated by the Mekong and Irrawaddy Rivers. The Mekong River, one of the most biodiverse rivers in the world, has been heavily dammed, impacting the area’s ecology, and plans are underway to dam the Irrawaddy in several places. In addition, both the Mekong and the Irrawaddy originate in China, presenting issues over river flow and ownership.
Although the construction of the region’s numerous dams has provided reliable power, they’ve been met with significant social and ecological impacts. The Three Gorges Dam, for example, was an unprecedented engineering marvel and will reduce the potential for downstream flooding, but flooding from the creation of the dam displaced over one million people and significantly reduced forest area around the river.
Most of the region’s people live in the more temperate climate zones. In East Asia, for example, the coastal regions of Central and Southern China, Japan, and South Korea are primarily a humid temperate climate. Southeast Asia is largely tropical with ample rainfall throughout the year. The exception to these relatively warm areas are Western China, where the cold highland climate dominates, and Northeastern Asia is quite cold due to its high northern latitude.
The region’s physical landscape has significantly affected its agricultural practices. The banks of East and Southeast Asia’s rivers provided early settlers with fertile soil, and even today, provide agricultural irrigation. The region’s hilly terrain, though initially an obstacle to agricultural productivity, inspired innovations such as terracing, cutting a series of flat surfaces resembling steps on hillsides. China in particular continues to be a global leader in terms of agricultural production. | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/09%3A_East_and_Southeast_Asia/9.01%3A_The_Physical_Landscape_of_East_and_Southeast_Asia.txt |
Much of what unites this region is its instability, not necessarily in terms of geopolitics, but rather its physical landscape. East and Southeast Asia are located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of high tectonic activity along the Pacific Ocean basin (Figure \(1\)). The vast majority of the world’s earthquakes, around 90 percent, occur along this geologically unstable area.
In East and Southeast Asia, tectonic collisions have shaped the physical landforms present in the region and present numerous natural hazards (Figure \(2\)). Volcanoes erupt in this region frequently, and many of the islands in this region were actually formed from a variety of historic volcanic eruptions. Japan’s highest mountain peak, for example, the majestic Mount Fuji, is an active volcano that last erupted in the early 18th century. The 1815 eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Tambora, one of its dozens of active volcanoes, was so powerful, it cooled global temperatures and caused crop failures as far away as Egypt and France. In 1883, the volcanic island of Krakatoa, between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra, erupted with such a violent explosion that it actually collapsed. Tens of thousands died and it took several years for global weather patterns to return to normal. The sound of the eruption is considered the loudest sound in modern history and could be heard from over 4,800 kilometers (3,000 miles) away.
Along the islands of Indonesia, the Australian Plate is subducting, or moving below, the Eurasian Plate. This has resulted in a subduction zone west of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, an area of high seismic activity. In 2004, this subduction resulted in a massive undersea earthquake, so powerful that it actually shortened the day by a fraction of a second. The earthquake triggered a series of tsunamis, high sea waves, which devastated coastal communities in 14 different countries and killed 230,000 people. Tsunamis result from the displacement of water and can have a variety of causes, such as a landslide, meteor impact, or undersea volcanic eruption. Most commonly, though, they result from earthquakes.
In 2011, the most powerful earthquake to ever hit Japan, a magnitude 9.0, resulted in tsunami waves over 40 meters (131 feet) high in some areas. The earthquake and subsequent tsunami left over 15,000 dead and damaged hundreds of thousands of buildings. Most notably, the tsunami damaged Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant causing a series of nuclear meltdowns and the release of radioactive material.
So what can be done about the danger from earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis in this region? While nothing can stop Earth’s massive tectonic plates from moving, warning systems, land use planning, and public education could help prevent casualties. After the 2004 Indonesian earthquake and tsunami, the international community created an Indian Ocean tsunami warning system. Although some of the hardest hit areas would have had only minutes to find higher ground, the warning system could have had a significant impact in alerting areas ahead of the wave. In Japan, earthquake drills are common and strict building codes ensure that buildings can withstand most seismic activity.
In addition to these geologic hazards, typhoons are also common in this region. Typhoons, the term for tropical cyclones in the northwestern region of the Pacific Ocean, routinely make landfall in East Asia. The region actually has more tropical cyclone activity than anywhere else on Earth. Most storms form in the summer between June and November and the islands of the Philippines are generally the hardest hit. Monitoring systems have been in place in the region for several decades and have helped to minimize the impacts from these powerful storm systems.
Pacific Ring of Fire:
an area of high tectonic activity along the Pacific Ocean basin
Subduction Zone:
an area where one tectonic plate is subducting, or moving below, another plate
Tsunami:
a high sea wave resulting from the displacement of water | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/09%3A_East_and_Southeast_Asia/9.02%3A_Natural_Hazards_in_East_and_Southeast_Asia.txt |
The history of human settlement in East and Southeast Asia begins in China. Evidence of modern humans can be found in the region dating back to over 80,000 years ago. Around 10,000 years ago, several cultural groups emerged in China during the Neolithic Period, also known as the New Stone Age. This was a time of key developments in early human technology, such as farming, the domestication of plants and animals, and the use of pottery. Along China’s Yangtze River, humans first domesticated rice around 6500 BCE. Villages, walled cities, and great dynasties, or families of rulers, emerged later.
While some early humans stayed in East Asia, others followed the coastline and continued on to Southeast Asia likely over 50,000 years ago. This was during the glacial period known as the Ice Age. Global temperatures were much colder and huge sheets of ice covered North America, Europe, and Asia. Since so much water was trapped
in these huge glaciers, ocean levels were actually much lower than they are today. Indonesia, Malaysia, and the other islands of Southeast Asia were a single landmass known as Sunda (Figure \(1\)). Those cultural groups who had seafaring knowledge continued on, populating Australia and the surrounding islands. During the Ice Age, the southern islands of Japan were also connected to the rest of Eurasia, allowing the indigenous groups of Japan to migrate from what is now mainland China.
In East Asia, the Chinese dynasties dominated the political landscape for much of the region’s history. They established trade routes, a strong military, and forged connections with Korea and Japan. China became a unified state under the Han dynasty, which ruled from 206 BCE to 220 CE, and this long period of stability is viewed as
a golden age in Chinese history. The dominant ethnic group in China, the Han, take their name from this ruling family. It was also during this time that Confucianism became the state religion. Confucianism takes its name from the influential Chinese philosopher and teacher Kong Fuzi (551-479 BCE), often referred to by the Latinized version of his name, Confucius. One of Confucius’ key teachings was the importance of relationships, both within the family and within society as a whole and the religion emphasizes human goodness and self-reflection rather than the worship of a divine being. Confucius also emphasized education and his teachings have dominated Chinese culture for centuries.
In general, the Chinese dynasties were largely isolationist. China has a number of physical barriers that separate it from the rest of Asia, such as the Himalayas, the rugged western highlands, and the Gobi Desert. The only region where it was vulnerable to invasion was its northeastern region. Here, the ruling families of China built a series of walls, known today as simply the Great Wall of China (Figure \(2\)).
However, the term “the” Great Wall of China is a misnomer. In fact, there is a series of overlapping walled fortifications that began being constructed by early dynasties in the 5th century BCE and continued through to the 17th century CE. Walls are a defensive military structure and are thus an expression of a civilization that wished to be left alone. Emperors generally disregarded China’s extensive coastline, and where port cities did emerge, they were primarily used for local trade.
In Southeast Asia, however, trade links with South Asia brought Hinduism and later Buddhism to the region. Port cities emerged, as well as cities that were religious or ceremonial centers. The Hindu rulers of the region were often viewed as divine, but in order to secure the favor of the gods, and the blessings of the Hindu priests, they agreed to build temples. Angkor Wat, in Cambodia, for instance, was built in the 12th century as the king’s state temple and capital city (Figure \(3\)). It was later transformed into a Buddhist temple, which it remains today. The temple complex is the largest religious structure in the world.
Eventually, Islam spread to Southeast Asia, particularly as a result of Sufi missionaries, part of a mystical branch of Islam. In the present-day islands of Malaysia and Indonesia, in particular, local rulers and communities embraced Islamic theology. Today, more Muslims live in Indonesia than in any other country on Earth.
Buddhism continued to dominate the religious landscape of much of Southeast Asia as well as in Japan. During the Heian period, lasting from the late 8th centuries to the 12th century CE, many of the features of modern Japanese culture emerged, such as its distinctive art and poetry, as well as Buddhist-inspired architecture. A ruling class of warriors, known as a shogunate, would later take control of Japan beginning a feudal period in the country’s history.
The evolving landscape of this region would be completely transformed by colonization, with sweeping political and economic changes that continues to shape the geography of the region today. Beginning in the 16th century, European colonial empires became interested in Southeast Asia. Before long, Europeans established permanent colonies. The Spanish would settle the Philippines, the Netherlands established the Dutch East Indies in present-day Indonesia, the French created Indochina in mainland Southeast Asia, and the British would take over Burma, now known as Myanmar, and Malaysia. By the 1800s, only Thailand would remain independent and functioned largely as a buffer state separating the British and French colonial spheres.
Japan took note of these imperial pursuits. In 1868 CE, the Japanese Emperor Meiji ended the shogante and began a series of reforms known as the Meiji Restoration. As part of the reform, the government sought to increase Japan’s modernization and industrialization and began a systematic study of the developed world. Why were some countries more powerful and more industrialized than others? Britain, for example, was an island nation like Japan and yet was considered to be the most powerful country in the world. Education was critical, as was industrial technology, but Japanese leaders believed that Britain’s colonial ambitions, its direct control over the resources of other areas, was key to its success.
By the beginning of World War II, Japan had built up an impressive military and had colonized much of East and Southeast Asia including northeastern China, the Korean peninsula, Taiwan, French Indochina, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia (Figure \(4\)). In 1941, Japanese military forces attacked the US base Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Following the attack, the US declared war on Japan and entered World War II.
Following Japan’s loss in World War II, the countries of East and Southeast Asia were able to acquire independence. Some countries, like the Philippines and Burma, achieved independence through a peaceful turnover of control, while others such as Indonesia won independence only after a violent period of opposition. The end of World War II reshaped not only the political map of East and Southeast Asia but development in the region as well.
Neolithic Period:
also known as the New Stone Age, a time of key developments in early human technology, such as farming, the domestication of plants and animals, and the use of pottery | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/09%3A_East_and_Southeast_Asia/9.03%3A_East_and_Southeast_Asia%27s_History_and_Settlement.txt |
The second half of the 20th century was a time of significant political change for East and Southeast Asia. The former colonies of Japan were able to break away from their colonial past and become independent, but as in many other parts of the world, that independence often coincided with political conflict.
For Japan, the end of World War II brought a period of Westernization and rapid economic growth. Westernization refers to the process of adopting Western, particularly European and American, culture and values. Japan adopted a new constitution and embraced democratic principles. It continued to industrialize and would become a global leader in electronics and automotive production. Today, Japan has the fourth largest GDP behind only the United States, the European Union, and China.
In other parts of East and Southeast Asia, the political changes to the region following World War II tended toward communism, a social, political, and economic system that seeks communal ownership of the means of production. Communism is associated with Marxism, an analysis of social class and conflict based on the work of Karl Marx (1818-1883 CE). In a typical society, factories are owned by a wealthy few who then pay workers a lower wage to ensure that they make a profit. In a communist society, however, the goal of Marxism would be a classless society where everyone shares the ownership and thus receives equal profits.
Marxist ideas spread to China by the early 20th century and found particular support among Chinese intellectuals. The Communist Revolution in Russia inspired Marxists in China who founded a communist political party that would eventually be led by Mao Zedong. The communist party continued to gain traction in China and following a civil war, Mao Zedong established the communist People’s Republic of China in 1949. The previous Chinese government fled to the island of Taiwan, which is officially known as the Republic of China and claims control of the entire mainland. China, however, maintains that Taiwan is part of China.
After securing political control of China, Mao Zedong sought to transform China’s culture by reorienting it around the ideology of communism. One of the first steps in this transformation was the Great Leap Forward from 1958 to 1961 which sought to reshape China’s agrarian society into an industrial power. Unfortunately, the changes led to widespread famine and the deaths of tens of millions of Chinese as a direct result.
Following the failure of the Great Leap Forward, Mao aimed to eliminate any remaining traditional elements of Chinese culture or capitalist thinking through the Cultural Revolution. Millions were imprisoned, forcibly relocated, or tortured, and historical relics and cultural sites were destroyed. After Mao’s death, several leaders responsible for the abuses committed during the Cultural Revolution were arrested and China began a period of modernization and economic reform.
In the Korean peninsula, allied forces divided the former Japanese colony along the 38th parallel. Russia would control the norther portion, where it helped install a communist government and economic system. The United States occupied the southern portion, where it assisted a pro-Western government in its political and economic development. Tensions between the two territories led to the Korean War in the early 1950s. Technically, the two sides are still at war having never signed a peace agreement and simply agreeing to a cease-fire. Today, North Korea, officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), follows a Marxist model of development with state owned enterprises and agriculture. The government has been accused of numerous human rights violations and the people of North Korea are severely restricted in terms of their economic, political, and personal freedom. In South Korea, on the other hand, officially known as the Republic of Korea, a democratic government replaced a series of military dictatorships and the country is considered one of the most developed in the region according to the Human Development Index.
Communist ideals spread to Southeast Asia, as well, where Marxism influenced the governments of newly independent countries. In Vietnam, for example, a communist movement was begun by Ho Chi Minh to try to gain independence from France following the end of Japanese occupation inWorldWar II. The communist forces were able to defeat the French in a key battle in 1954 and established a government in the northern territory. The country was then divided into a communist north and anti-communist and majority Catholic south. This was a time of high tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the US feared that the entire region would eventually come under communist control, essentially creating a Western capitalist hemisphere and an Eastern communist hemisphere. The fear that the fall of one country to communism would lead to the fall of other surrounding countries to communism was known as domino theory, and was originally meant as an anecdote but became the basis for US foreign policy in the region (Figure \(1\)).
The United States aimed to support South Vietnam’s resistance to the communist north’s goal of unification and began sending military advisors to the region. Military combat units followed and bombing campaigns began in 1965. The terrain of Vietnam was quite different than the geography of other areas where the US had previously fought. Much of Southeast Asia was tropical rainforest, and was ill-suited for the types of tanks and heavy artillery that had been so successful in World War II. The Viet Cong, referring to the Vietnamese communists, engaged in guerrilla warfare, using the terrain to support small, mobile military units. To try to combat these tactics, the US military sprayed chemical defoliants and herbicides, like Agent Orange, over Vietnam’s forests. In the end, waning support for the Vietnam War led the US to withdraw and in 1975, Vietnam was unified under communist rule. Over 1 million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans died in the fighting. Millions others were exposed to Agent Orange causing health problems and disabilities, and the chemical had devastating effects on Vietnam’s ecosystem where it has lingered in the soil.
During the same time period, a communist organization known as the Khmer Rouge, which is French for “Red Khmers,” came to power in Cambodia. Khmer refers to the dominant ethnic group in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge opposed Westernization and US involvement in the newly independent country and believed in a return to an agrarian society. Pol Pot (1925-1998 CE), the leader of the Khmer Rouge, led a campaign to eliminate the country’s schools, hospitals, and other institutions and make the entire society work on collective farms. Urban cities would no longer be the economic and political focus, but rather wealth would be spread out around the countryside. Most of the country’s intellectuals, including teachers and even people with glasses who were simply perceived as academic, were killed. Large prison camps were set up to house those who were believed to be a threat to communism. Cambodians of other ethnicities or who practiced religion were also executed. In total, more than one million people were killed, often buried in mass graves known as the Killing Fields. Cambodia’s attempt to transform into an agrarian society ultimately led to widespread famine and starvation. In 1978, Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia and defeated the Khmer Rouge, but human rights continue to be severely restricted in the country.
Much of East and Southeast Asia exhibits characteristics of a shatter belt, an area of political instability that is caught between the interests of competing states. Beginning in the colonial era and continuing today, Western involvement in this region has at times led to industrialization and economic growth and at other times economic depression and a drive to return to traditional values. Today, political instability continues to plague several countries in the region.
Westernization :
the process of adopting Western, particularly European and American, culture and values
Communism :
a social, political, and economic system that seeks communal ownership of the means of production
Marxism:
an analysis of social class and conflict based on the work of Karl Marx
Great Leap Forward:
a campaign begun in 1958 by the Communist Party of China that sought to reshape China’s agrarian society into an industrial power
Domino theory:
refers to the fear that the fall of one country to communism would lead to the fall of other surrounding countries to communism
Khmer Rouge:
a communist organization in Cambodia that opposed Westernization and believed in a return to an agrarian society
Shatter belt:
an area of political instability that is caught between the interests of competing states | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/09%3A_East_and_Southeast_Asia/9.04%3A_Political_Conflicts_and_Changes_in_East_and_Southeast_Asia.txt |
Despite the political changes and conflicts that marked the 20th century, the 21st century has largely been marked by economic development across East and Southeast Asia. Economic geography is a branch of geography that explores the spatial aspect of economic development. Economic geographers don’t just ask “Where is economic development occurring?” but also “Why is economic development occurring in some areas and not others?” In East and Southeast Asia, economic growth has largely resulted from regional and global trade. However, development is not spread evenly across the region and economic inequalities still persist.
Global connections have been the principle driver of economic success in East and Southeast Asia. Much of the trade connections have emerged between the countries in this region and the larger Pacific Rim, referring to the countries that border the Pacific Ocean. Many of these countries are members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) which promotes free trade across Asia and the Pacific. In Southeast Asia, the countries of the region formed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN (Figure \(1\)). The organization aimed to promote political security, economic growth, and social development among member countries.
In China and Japan, histories of relative isolation gave way to an embrace of globalization and global trade. Although China’s government is communist, it has allowed more free-market oriented economics in areas known as Special Economic Zones, or SEZs. These SEZs are located in coastal China and have special incentives to attract foreign investment (Figure \(2\)). Other capitalist shifts have occurred in China even allowing for US supermarkets and restaurants to open locations in the country. These SEZs, as well as other special development areas in China, have functioned as growth poles, which are areas that have attracted economic development in the region. In 2010, China displaced the United States as the global leader in manufacturing.
Broadly, foreign direct investment (also called FDI), the control of a business in one country by a company based in another country, has been a key driver of China’s economic success. In 2017, China was the second most attractive company for foreign investors, behind the United States, with over \$136 billion in foreign direct investment flowing into the country according to the 2018 World Investment Report. China has done its own foreign direct investing as well, increasing outward flows of FDI from \$5.5 billion in 2004 to over \$125 billion in 2017, according to the same report. Hong Kong is the primary destination for Chinese foreign direct investment, but substantial sums also flow to countries in Africa as well as Australia, where China is the largest trading partner. Within Southeast Asia, China is now the top investor in Myanmar and has increased foreign direct investment in Singapore.
While China and Japan remain the largest economies in the region, other areas have experienced high rates of economic growth. The Four Asian Tigers, in particular, referring to Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, experienced rapid industrialization and economic development led by export-driven economies, low taxes, and free trade. Some have also theorized that the Confucian work ethic present in these countries complemented the process of industrialization. Each country also developed a distinct specialty and maintains a competitive advantage in that area. South Korea, for example, is known for its manufacturing of information technology while Hong Kong is a leading financial center.
Much of the economic growth of the Asian Tigers as well as Japan has come from the export of value added goods. When countries export raw materials, their economic benefit is limited since those raw materials are often not inherently valuable. When these raw materials are made into something useful, however, value is added and the product can be sold for a higher profit. Lumber is quite cheap, for example. When the lumber is made into a dining table, it has a much higher value. Many companies located in these countries have become household names in electronics, computing, and the auto industry. China has traditionally exported relatively low value added goods, but in 2016, the Chinese government announced a shift to higher value added products like transportation technology and telecommunications.
Southeast Asia has benefitted from its key geographical position as the entrepôt, a French term meaning a commercial center of trade, for the rest of Asia. The Strait of Malacca in particular is the main shipping channel between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean and a key transportation gateway (Figure \(3\)). Around one quarter of all the world’s exported goods travels through the strait each year. Malaysia’s economic success as an entrepôt is exemplified by its Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, which were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004. Indonesia has the largest economy of Southeast Asia, exporting primarily to Japan, Singapore, the United States, and China. Singapore has the highest GDP per capita in the region, again owing to its key geographical position.
One lingering issue in many of these countries has been crony capitalism, the notion that the success of a business depends on its relationship to other businesses and the state. A politician might have an old friend in the manufacturing industry, for example, and give the friend a government contract with beneficial terms. In 1997, a financial crisis that started in Thailand spread throughout the Southeast Asia region and to South Korea was, in part, blamed on the business dealings of corrupt politicians. Several countries in this region rank high on an index of corruption perception, as shown in Figure \(4\), and some have expressed concern that the communist countries of this region will continue to embrace capitalism when it is politically beneficial rather than as part of a broader and more transparent economic system.
Economic development is not spread evenly throughout the region. By most estimates, North Korea remains the poorest country in the region with an estimated GDP per capita of just \$1,300 in 2016. Mainland Southeast Asia, with the exception of Thailand, remains relatively poor. Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam all have GDP per capitas of less than \$8,000 as of 2018 and remain far less well off than their more developed neighbors in the region.
Where economic growth has occurred, it is often confined to an urban area which can drive up population densities as people move to the city in search of work. In Indonesia, the island of Java is very densely populated while other surrounding islands are relatively sparse. The Dutch colonizers and later the Indonesian government, in a stated effort to reduce poverty and overcrowding, created a policy of transmigration seeking to relocate people to the less densely populated islands. This program has been controversial, however, and the indigenous people who inhabit the surrounding islands see the program as a threat to their way of life.
In some cases, uneven distribution of economic development has led to both interregional and intraregional migration as people move in search of economic advancement. China in particular has seen a significant amount of rural to urban migration. Around 11 percent of the entire country’s population migrated from rural to urban areas in 2009 and most of them are young adults. Many of China’s migrants are part of a floating population, which refers to members of a population who reside in an area for a period of time but do not live there permanently. Around 50 million Chinese reside overseas, mostly in Southeast Asia. Thailand has the largest population of overseas Chinese, and Chinese also represent the majority ethnic group in Singapore. Long before colonization, East and Southeast Asia was a realm of global economic influence, from the Chinese empire to the trade routes of Southeast Asia. As some countries of the realm have moved toward political stability and economic growth, others have remained in a state of political and economic turmoil. Tourism could bring some of these countries an economic boost, but the prospect of tourism in countries with government instability is limited. Still, although countries like Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia currently have some of the world’s smallest economies, they are some of the fastest growing in the world and improvements in agricultural and natural resource development combined with a stable political infrastructure could expand the economic strength of the region.
Pacific Rim:
refers to the countries that border the Pacific Ocean
Association of Southeast Asian Nations:
an international organization that seeks to promote political security, economic growth, and social development among member countries in Southeast Asia, also known as ASEAN
Special Economic Zones:
a special region in China where more free-market oriented economics are allowed, also known as SEZ
Growth poles:
a cluster within a region that has attracted economic development
Foreign direct investment:
the control of a business in one country by a company based in another country, also known as FDI
Asian Tigers:
refers to Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan which have experienced rapid industrialization and economic development led by export-driven economies, low taxes, and free trade, sometimes also called the Four Asian Tigers
Value added goods:
a raw material that has been changed in a way that enhances its value
Entrepôt:
a French term meaning a commercial center of trade
Floating population:
members of a population who reside in an area for a period of time but do not live there permanently | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/09%3A_East_and_Southeast_Asia/9.05%3A_Patterns_of_Economic_Development_in_East_and_Southeast_Asia.txt |
• 10.1: The Physical Landscape of Oceania
Oceania is a realm like no other. Nowhere else in the world can one find some of the unique wildlife that is found in this realm, and no other region is as isolated. Oceania is the only world region not connected by land to another region. This is a region of the world at a crossroads where the effects of global changes in climate and pollution could have profound effects. The region of Oceania includes Australia, the realms of the Pacific Islands, and the polar regions of the Arctic and the Ant
• 10.2: The World's Oceans and Polar Frontiers
Over 70 percent of the entire surface of the world is covered with water, but who controls it? If the body of water is inland, ownership is quite clear. A lake in the interior of a state belongs to that state. For the 96.5 percent of the world’s water that’s held in oceans, however, ownership is much less clear. Historically, the world’s oceans were considered the “high seas” and while states had control over their immediate coastline extending out three miles, the vast stretches high seas were
• 10.3: Biogeography in Australia and the Pacific
The relative isolation of Oceania defines it as a region but has also contributed to perhaps its quirkiest characteristic: its distinctive wildlife. Biogeography is a branch of geography that explores the spatial distribution of the world’s flora (plant life) and fauna (animal life). While every world region has its own, unique plants and animals, some of the creatures found in Australia and the Pacific are found nowhere else on Earth. A number of world regions have an impressive degree of biodi
• 10.4: The Patterns of Human Settlement in Australia and the Pacific
Much of the physical landscape of Oceania has been directly shaped by human activity and settlement. Although Australia today is known for its origin as a British prison colony, the continent was inhabited long before Europeans arrived. The indigenous people of Australia are known as Aborigines and comprise a number of different ethnolinguistic and cultural groups.
• 10.5: The Changing Landscape of Oceania
The human settlement of Oceania, from the earliest migrations to European colonization, has reshaped the physical landscape of this region. Environmental degradation, disturbances to resources like air, land, and water, is a serious concern as economic growth often comes at the expense of environmental sustainability. In Australia, for example, wide stretches of previously sparsely inhabited Outback have become grazing lands.
10: Oceania
Learning Objectives
• Identify the key geographic features of Australia, the Pacific, and the polar regions
• Describe the biodiversity found in Australia and the Pacific
• Explain the patterns of human settlement in Oceania
• Analyze how climate change is impacting the geography of Oceania
Oceania is a realm like no other. Nowhere else in the world can one find some of the unique wildlife that is found in this realm, and no other region is as isolated. Oceania is the only world region not connected by land to another region. This is a region of the world at a crossroads where the effects of global changes in climate and pollution could have profound effects. The region of Oceania includes Australia, the realms of the Pacific Islands, and the polar regions of the Arctic and the Antarctic. While some regions share a distinct cultural or colonial history and others share a common physical landscape, the region of Oceania is connected more by its isolation than by a shared physiography or human experience.
Australia dominates the region in terms of size, economics, and population. The country has the unique designation of being both a sovereign state and a continent. Often, Australia and New Zealand are considered a single region (Figure \(1\)), but while the two countries share cultural and historical similarities, their physical landscapes are quite different. Australia lies in the middle of its own tectonic plate making it relatively geologically stable. Australia has no active volcanoes and has had only a small number of large earthquakes. Its tectonic position also limits its relief and much of the continent is relatively flat. An exception to this is the Great Dividing Range which runs along the coast of Eastern Australia. This series of mountain ranges affects Australia’s climate by providing orographic rainfall along the coast and divides the core population center of Australia from the rest of the continent.
The other key geographic feature of Australia is its vast interior known as the Outback (Figure \(2\)). This remote area of extensive grassland pastures supports one of the world’s largest sheep and cattle industries. However, the ecosystem of the Outback is quite fragile. With limited precipitation and vegetation, overgrazing puts the region at risk for desertification. In addition, although this region was the center of population for Australia’s indigenous groups, ranching in the Outback has created issues of land ownership.
One of the most well-known features of Australia’s geography lies just off coast: the Great Barrier Reef. This massive underwater reef is the world’s largest coral structure and stretches over 2,300 kilometers (1,400 miles). However, warming ocean temperatures and pollution have been a significant environmental threat to the Great Barrier Reef in recent years.
Unlike its geologically stable neighbor, New Zealand is situated at the intersection of the Pacific Plate and the Australian Plate (Figure \(3\)). Its two large, mountainous islands and numerous small islands are prone to both earthquakes and volcanoes. New Zealand is younger than Australia geologically and has a far more varied topography. On New Zealand’s North Island alone, you could spend the morning surfing on a sandy beach, the afternoon picnicking in the rolling green hills where the fictional city of Hobbiton was filmed, and the evening skiing on an active volcano, Mount Ruapehu. New Zealand’s South Island is home to a number of stunning fiords, more commonly found in Scandinavia where they are spelled fjord.
The islands of the Pacific to the north and east of Australia and New Zealand are divided into three regions (Figure \(4\)). New Zealand is part of the islands of Polynesia, from the prefix “poly” meaning “many.” Polynesia is a large, triangular region stretching from New Zealand to Easter Island to the Hawaiian and Midway Islands. West of Polynesia and to the northeast of Australia are the islands of Melanesia, including New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Fiji. Europeans called the region “Melanesia” from the Greek prefix melan- meaning “black,” referring to the darker skin they believed characterized the people of this realm. North of Melanesia are the tiny islands of Micronesia, from the prefix “micro” meaning “small.” There are over 2,000 islands in Micronesia.
The islands of the Pacific can be divided into two groups based on their physical characteristics. The high islands like Hawaii are volcanic, meaning they were formed from volcanoes, and thus have a relatively high relief. This high relief and volcanic soils enables the high islands to have fertile soil and ample rainfall, which in turn supports a diverse agricultural system and relatively large populations.
In contrast, the low islands of the Pacific are comprised mostly of coral and, as their name implies, are generally low in elevation. Most of the islands in the Pacific, particularly in Micronesia, are low islands. These islands may only rise a few feet above the water and their dry, sandy soil makes farming difficult. Fresh water is often in short supply in the low islands. As a result, these islands typically have much smaller populations. The relatively large coral island that comprises the country of Niue, for example, rises to a maximum 60 meters (less than 200 feet). The low elevation of these islands make them vulnerable to natural disasters, such as tropical cyclones, and to changes in sea elevation due to rising global temperatures. In the country of Tuvalu, an island chain located between Hawaii and Australia, the highest point is a mere 4.6 meters (15 feet) above sea level and the island has sustained severe damage from cyclones during its history.
A number of low islands of in the Pacific form atolls, ring-shaped chains of coral islands surrounding a central lagoon (Figure \(5\)). Typically, the lagoon is actually a volcanic crater which has eroded beneath the water. Most of the world’s atolls are found in the Pacific Ocean and their land areas are generally quite small.
In general, the islands of the Pacific have warm, tropical climates with little seasonal extremes in temperature. Some islands experience seasonal, primarily orographic rainfall. These relatively warm temperatures help support tourism throughout the region. Throughout New Zealand and the core area of Australia, east of the Great Dividing Range, is primarily a maritime climate. This climate zone features cool summers and winters with few extremes in temperature or in rainfall.
Also included in Oceania are the earth’s polar regions. In the North Pole is the Arctic Ocean, the world’s smallest and shallowest ocean. Although it may appear to look like a landmass covered in snow on many globes, there is no landmass below the North Pole. The ocean is covered by a sheet of sea ice throughout the year and the entire body of water is almost completely ice-covered in winter. In the South Pole is Earth’s southernmost continent, Antarctica. This continent is around twice the size of Australia and is almost entirely covered with ice. It is not home to a permanent human settlement.
Outback:
a remote area of extensive grassland pastures in central Australia
Great Barrier Reef:
a massive underwater coral reef off the coast of northeastern Australia
Polynesia:
a large, triangular region of Pacific islands stretching from New Zealand to Easter Island to the Hawaiian and Midway Islands
Melanesia:
a region of islands to the northeast of Australia that include Papua New Guinea and Fiji
Micronesia:
a region of very small islands north of Melanesia and east of Polynesia
High islands:
islands that were formed from volcanoes and have relatively high relief
Low islands:
islands that were formed mostly from coral and have relatively low elevations
Atolls:
a ring-shaped chain of coral islands surrounding a central lagoon
Maritime climate:
a climate zone that features cool summers and cool winters with few extremes in temperature or in rainfall | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/10%3A_Oceania/10.01%3A_The_Physical_Landscape_of_Oceania.txt |
Over 70 percent of the entire surface of the world is covered with water, but who controls it? If the body of water is inland, ownership is quite clear. A lake in the interior of a state belongs to that state. For the 96.5 percent of the world’s water that’s held in oceans, however, ownership is much less clear. Historically, the world’s oceans were considered the “high seas” and while states had control over their immediate coastline extending out three miles, the vast stretches high seas were free from ownership. As ocean resources became more important, however, countries became interested in establishing clear rights to minerals, oil, and fishing stocks offshore.
In 1945, President Harry S. Truman announced that the sovereign territory of the United States extended to the boundary of its continental shelf, which was in some places hundreds of miles offshore. Other countries, including Chile, Peru, and Ecuador, followed suit, beginning an international dash to claim offshore waters. Within two decades, countries were using a variety of systems of ownership; some claimed waters three miles offshore, others 12 miles, and still others maintained ownership over all of the waters to the continental shelf.
Eventually, the United Nations intervened, seeking a universal system of ocean ownership. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) resulted from series of international conferences and established guidelines for maritime travel and control of natural resources found in the world’s seas. As a result of the UNCLOS, there are now several categories of ownership over the world’s water depending on its distance from shore (Figure \(1\)). A state’s internal waters are considered the sovereign territory of a state. Territorial waters extended 12 miles offshore and are also considered sovereign territory of a state. However, in territorial waters, a state must grant “innocent passage” to oceangoing vessels, meaning it must allow the vessel to pass through as long as it is doing so in a speedy manner that is not threatening the security of a state. Beyond the territorial waters, a state can control certain aspects of a 12 mile contiguous zone, including taxation and pollution. Following the US claim of control over the continental shelf, the UNCLOS established that a 200 mile zone extending out from a country’s coastline was its exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, where it has exclusive control over any natural resources. Other countries can fly over or pass through the waters of the EEZ, but cannot use the resources within. However, countries are free to sell, lease, or share the rights to their EEZ. Beyond the EEZ are international waters where no state has direct control.
As a result of the UNCLOS, some tiny islands gained immense stretches of ocean territory – and the rights to the resources in and underneath those waters (Figure \(2\)). Some countries found this as an opportunity to expand their resource area. Conflicts developed over what would otherwise be tiny specks of island territory but what had become over 100,000 nautical miles of ocean resources. Particularly as the technology for offshore drilling improved, states sought to secure control of what could be huge caches of oil and minerals.
The UNCLOS also established some ownership over the Arctic Ocean. Russia, Norway, Canada, the United States, and Denmark, which controls Greenland, all have overlapping EEZs in the Arctic. Historically, this frigid, isolated region was of little interest to countries. Early attempts at exploration were largely unsuccessful and a person wouldn’t reach the North Pole until the early 20th century. However, the drive to secure fossil fuels has led to more intensive research and exploration in the region and as much as one-quarter of the entire world’s oil and natural gas reserves are believed to lie below Arctic waters. Global increases in temperature could further open up previously inaccessible areas of the Arctic to drilling operations. A 2015 declaration signed by all five states surrounding the Arctic prohibited fishing in the central Arctic Ocean in an effort to protect ocean life and resources.
In the South Pole, Antarctica remains a frontier region with no permanent human inhabitants, though the continent is home to penguins, fur seals, and other marine creatures. Antarctica does have a number of research stations as well as an Orthodox Church and a few thousand people work in and around Antarctica in various times of the year conducting scientific research. Antarctica is the coldest place in the world, once dropping down to -89.2 °C (-128.6 °F) at a Russian research station. Although Antarctica might look relatively moist and snow covered, it is actually a desert with very little precipitation.
So who controls this vast expanse of frozen desert? The answer depends on who you ask. Several different countries claim control of Antarctic territories (Figure \(3\)) but, in general, these states do not recognize each other’s claims.
In 1959, the Antarctic Treaty was signed that put a hold on new territorial claims, established Antarctica as a zone for scientific research and environmental protection, and prohibited military activity in the region. A later treaty signed in 1998 reaffirmed Antarctica as a peaceful, scientific frontier and prohibited mining on the continent.
Territorial waters:
an area extending 12 miles offshore that is considered sovereign territory of a state
Exclusive Economic Zone:
a 200 mile zone extending out from a country’s coastline where it has exclusive control over any natural resources, also known as the EEZ | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/10%3A_Oceania/10.02%3A_The_World%27s_Oceans_and_Polar_Frontiers.txt |
The relative isolation of Oceania defines it as a region but has also contributed to perhaps its quirkiest characteristic: its distinctive wildlife. Biogeography is a branch of geography that explores the spatial distribution of the world’s flora (plant life) and fauna (animal life). While every world region has its own, unique plants and animals, some of the creatures found in Australia and the Pacific are found nowhere else on Earth. A number of world regions have an impressive degree of biodiversity, meaning there are a wide variety of species present. These regions are generally located in the tropics. British biogeographer Alfred Russel Wallace was one of the first to try and determine the boundary of Australia and Southeast Asia’s unique plants and animals in the 19th century.
Geography is more than the where, however, but is also a discipline that asks “Why?” Why does Australia have such unique, and frankly a bit frightening at times, flora and fauna? Why are monotremes, mammals that lay eggs rather than give birth to live young, only found in the isolated region of Australia and New Guinea? It is the isolation of this region that’s key. 200 million years ago, Australia was situated on the far-reaches of Pangaea, the last supercontinent (Figure \(1\)). Around 175 million years ago, Pangaea began to break apart. During the same time period, the earliest mammals were evolving, diverging first from egg-laying reptiles and then continuing to adapt and change. Early egg-laying monotremes were found throughout Pangaea but eventually went extinct in the other world regions, out-competed by more evolutionarily advanced mammals. Australia and New Guinea, however, broke away before more advanced mammals arrived, and thus monotremes remained. The only modern monotremes are the platypus and the echidna.
In addition to monotremes, Australia is home to the world’s largest and most diverse array of marsupials, mammals who carry their young in a pouch. A number of marsupials are also found in Central and South America and just one species lives in North America: the Virginia opossum, more typically referred to as a “possum.” In Oceania, well-known marsupials include the kangaroo, koala, wombat, and the Tasmanian devil. The Kangaroo in particular is a widely used symbol of Australia and kangaroo meat, though controversial, can be found throughout Australia.
Australia is not just home to cuddly marsupials like koalas, wallabies, and quokkas, though. It is also home to some of the world’s deadliest creatures. There are more deadly snakes in Australia than in any other country in the world including the taipan, considered by some to be the world’s most venomous. An episode of the children’s television show “Peppa Pig” was actually banned in Australia because it featured a “friendly spider” and local officials believed it would send the wrong message to Australian children in a country where spiders can be deadly. Offshore, Australia’s box jellyfish can kill simply by the pain inflicted by its sting which can send the body into shock.
Another key area of biodiversity is New Zealand, particularly in terms of its flora. Its isolation allowed for species of trees that have remained relatively unchanged for the past 190 million years. Several species of birds in New Zealand, such as the moas, went extinct due to hunting shortly after humans first arrived in the region. Few mammals existed in New Zealand before human settlement and the arrival of the first mammals here, such as rats and weasels, led to widespread extinctions of native species that had never had to evolve to compete with these predators. Rabbits in particular proved to be a particularly troublesome invasive species, which refers to a species of plant, animal, or fungus that is not native to an area but spreads rapidly. Early settlers to New Zealand brought rabbits for fur and meat, but the high reproductive capacity of rabbits quickly proved troublesome and by the 1880s, rabbits were having a considerable negative effect on agriculture. The solution in the late 19th century was to introduce stoats, ferrets, and weasels, natural predators of rabbits. Unfortunately, these species proved devastating to local bird species and had only minimal impact on the increasing rabbit population. Cats were similarly introduced, but they too caused the extinction of several bird species and a native bat. (The children’s story about the old lady who swallowed the fly comes to mind.) These species are still seen as some of the biggest threats to New Zealand’s wildlife.
Biogeography:
a branch of geography that explores the spatial distribution of the world’s flora and fauna
Biodiversity:
having a wide variety of species present in an are
Monotremes:
an egg-laying mammal
Invasive species:
a species of plant, animal, or fungus that is not native to an area but spreads rapidly | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/10%3A_Oceania/10.03%3A_Biogeography_in_Australia_and_the_Pacific.txt |
Much of the physical landscape of Oceania has been directly shaped by human activity and settlement. Although Australia today is known for its origin as a British prison colony, the continent was inhabited long before Europeans arrived. The indigenous people of Australia are known as Aborigines and comprise a number of different ethnolinguistic and cultural groups. Most researchers believe the first aboriginal groups arrived in Australia between 40,000 and 50,000 years ago when sea levels were lower and land bridges and relatively short sea crossings separated Australia, Tasmania, and Papua New Guinea from mainland Southeast Asia.
It took thousands more years and advances in ocean transportation and navigation for the rest of the Pacific islands to be settled (Figure \(1\)). Humans gradually made their way to the islands of Melanesia, to Fiji by 900 BCE then east and north. The far-reaches of Polynesia, including Hawaii and Easter Island, were not populated until much later due to the long distances separating them from other landmasses. New Zealand, though, was one of the last to be settled, with Eastern Polynesians not arriving on the islands until around 1250 CE. These groups developed their own ethnic and cultural identity known as the Maori.
Life would change dramatically for the people of Oceania with the arrival of Europeans. The Dutch first made landfall in Australia in 1606 CE but simply explored and mapped the area and did not establish a settlement. In the late 18th century, the British established their first Australian settlement in what would later become the city of Sydney with the intention of creating an overseas penal colony. However, many of the prisoners sent to Australia were not hardened criminals who needed to be separated from the British Isles by an expansive ocean. Many were accused of petty crimes like theft and even children who had committed crimes were shipped to Australia. Today, around 20 percent of Australians are the descendants of these imprisoned settlers.
European settlement of Australia challenged aboriginal land and water resources, but it was disease that had the most devastating effect on the indigenous population. At the time of British colonization, there were likely between 315,000 and 750,000 Aborigines in Australia. By the start of World War II, diseases like smallpox and measles reduced their numbers to just 74,000.
New Zealand was originally claimed by the British as a colony of Australia, but then became its own colony in the mid-19th century. Around the same time, representatives of Britain as well as Maori leaders signed the Treaty of Waitangi. This treaty granted British colonists sovereignty over the governing of New Zealand but gave the Maori the rights to their tribal lands and resources and made them British subjects.
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, European and Japanese colonial expeditions claimed most of the Pacific islands. Some islands were seen as strategic military bases. Others, such as France’s colony of New Caledonia, were transformed into overseas prison colonies following the British model. Still others were occupied for their resources and trade opportunities. In the decades following World War II, a number of islands achieved independence. Australia slowly increased its autonomy throughout the early 20th century, officially dissolving from British control in 1942. New Zealand gained independence from Britain in 1947. In the 1970s and 1980s, another wave of independence occurred, with Fiji, Tonga, and a number of other states gaining independence.
Others were not granted independence and a number of Pacific islands remain colonies today. Hawaii was made a US state in 1959 largely against the wishes of its indigenous population. Guam became a strategic US Naval base in the Spanish-American War and later in World War II and remains a US territory today. Its residents are US citizens but cannot vote in elections. The vast majority of the world’s remaining colonies today are islands because of their strategic locations and resource potential, particularly after the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Figure \(2\)).
Although Australia and New Zealand gained independence relatively early compared to many of the other areas of Oceania, these countries have experienced lingering issues related to their indigenous populations. For Australian Aboriginals, there were two historical issues they sought to address: the government admission of mistreatment and ownership over tribal lands. Previously, the Australian government ruled that Australia prior to British arrival was considered terra nullius, or nobody’s land, and thus there was no regard for indigenous rights to land or resources. In 1992, however, Australia’s high court ruled that land policy was invalid. By this time, Australia’s Northern Territory was already considered aboriginal land, but later courts found that over three-quarters of the land in Australia could be subject to aboriginal claims, even though Aborigines comprised only 3 percent of the population of Australia. In 2008, the prime minister of Australia issued a formal apology to the Aboriginal people of Australia on behalf of the government.
One challenge to these perhaps promising legal developments, however, is that private enterprise is prohibited on aboriginal land. Even building a home is seen as a violation of the current guidelines. Thus, many Aborigines became land-rich as a result of the government’s decision, but still remained poor. Unemployment, alcohol abuse, food security, and land reform continue to be significant issues for Australian Aborigines. Today, there are over 500,000 Aboriginal Australians and almost one-third now live in Australia’s major cities.
The Maori of New Zealand make up a much larger portion of the country’s population at around 15 percent. The Maori have generally kept their traditional cultural and linguistic traditions while partially integrating into more western New Zealand society. Compared to other groups in New Zealand, the Maori have lower life expectancies and average incomes, and make up around 50 percent of New Zealand’s prison population.
Economically, Australia and the Pacific islands have struggled with what could be called the “tyranny of distance,” the fact that this region remains so far and so isolated from the other world regions. Most of the economies of these countries are based on exports, but these exports must be shipped, adding on to the cost of production. Anything that is not made locally must also be shipped in and some countries have promoted import-substitution industries, a strategy to replace foreign imports with domestic production of goods. Australia remains relatively unique among more developed countries in that its economy is based heavily on the export of commodities. Geography plays a key role in Australia’s export-oriented economy. The country is relatively large and has a significant amount of natural resources. Its domestic population compared to its size and resource base is quite small, at only 24.6 million people as of 2017, so it is able to export the resources it doesn’t need domestically. The country is the global leader in coal exports and has the second-largest diamond mine in the world.
Across the smaller islands of the Pacific, geography has also played a key role in economic development. These countries are often very small with only limited natural resources. They are also remote, only connected by long shipping routes to other world regions. Many rely on trade to Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, and the United States for both export income and imported goods. Often, residents of the Pacific islands speak Pidgin English, a simplified form of English used by speakers of different languages for trade, in addition to their native tongue. Tourism has become a significant source of income for some countries of the Pacific, especially for the islands of Fiji. Despite some economic successes, these are also some of the world’s most vulnerable countries in terms of global changes in climate and the coming decades could see significant changes in the human landscape as a result.
Aborigines:
the term for the indigenous people of Australia
Maori:
the term for the indigenous people of New Zealand
Import-substitution industries:
a strategy to replace foreign imports with domestic production of goods
Pidgin English:
a simplified form of English used by speakers of different languages for trade, in addition to their native tongue | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/10%3A_Oceania/10.04%3A_The_Patterns_of_Human_Settlement_in_Australia_and_the_Pacific.txt |
The human settlement of Oceania, from the earliest migrations to European colonization, has reshaped the physical landscape of this region. Environmental degradation, disturbances to resources like air, land, and water, is a serious concern as economic growth often comes at the expense of environmental sustainability. In Australia, for example, wide stretches of previously sparsely inhabited Outback have become grazing lands. In Papua New Guinea illegal logging has contributed to significant deforestation. Pollution from dairying in New Zealand has led to high levels of water pollution.
Invasive species have also had significant environmental impacts in a region that has been otherwise relatively isolated. Australia has strict quarantine laws in an attempt to limit damage from nonnative plants and animals. The country currently spends around \$4 billion yearly in invasive weed management alone. Cats have been banned in parts of New Zealand where they pose a threat to local bird species. Rats brought by early European ships have presented a significant problem for many islands of the Pacific where they kill other plants and animals and also spread disease. Offshore, invasive fish and algae species have damaged fragile ocean ecosystems.
In addition to local pollution concerns, human settlement of other world regions has contributed to pollution in the Pacific Ocean. Worldwide, there are five main ocean gyres, large systems of rotating ocean currents (Figure \(1\)). In the northern Pacific Ocean, one gyre has very high concentrations of trash and plastics carried to the area by ocean currents. It has been termed the Great Pacific garbage patch. When you throw something “away” improperly, these gyres are really where “away” is. A water bottle improperly disposed of on the western coast of North America will make its way to the Great Pacific garbage patch in around six years.
One issue with plastics is that they don’t biodegrade, and instead keep breaking down into smaller pieces while still remaining plastic. Fish and other marine life eat these tiny bits of plastic, which can disrupt a number of biological systems. Some of these fish species are then consumed by humans. Because the Great Pacific garbage patch contains such small pieces of plastic, and most of the plastic is below the surface of the ocean, it is not easily visible with the naked eye and it is difficult to estimate its size. Some have theorized the patch is as big as or bigger than the US state of Texas, while others note that the idea of a “patch” of garbage is really a misnomer as there are concentrations of trash throughout the world’s oceans.
Trash from other world regions also washes up along the shores of the Pacific islands. Kamilo Beach in Hawaii is the site of a significant amount of plastic that has washed ashore from the Great Pacific garbage patch, so much so that the area has been nicknamed “Plastic Beach” (Figure \(2\)). Though the shoreline looks sandy, 90 percent of it is actually bits of plastic and you would have to dig down at least one foot to reach grains of sand. Plastic trash litters many of the shorelines of the Pacific islands presenting a hazard for marine life and a management and cleanup challenge since debris often comes from thousands of miles away.
It is changes in global climate, however, that pose the most severe environmental threat to Oceania. For many of the world’s regions, changes in climate are viewed as hypothetical. Hurricanes might increase in intensity. The risk of fire might increase. Changes in bird migrations in Europe and North America to shifts in global fish stocks have already been linked to increases in global temperature but with little direct effect on the human populations of these regions. In Oceania, though, small increases in temperature and ocean levels could have disastrous effects on already fragile ecosystems and economies.
The Great Barrier Reef is currently experiencing periods of coral bleaching due to increasing ocean temperatures. When waters get too warm, coral experience “stress” and expel the colorful, algae-like organisms that live within them. Mass coral bleaching has occurred several times since the late 1990s and is expected to become a regular occurrence as ocean temperatures continue to rise. Coral bleaching has also been documented in other reefs including ones in Hawaii.
Some of the leaders of the Pacific islands have been among the most vocal champions for global climate regulations. Speaking in 2015, the prime minister of Fiji, Frank Bainimarama did not mince words: “Unless the world acts decisively in the coming weeks to begin addressing the greatest challenge of our age, then the Pacific, as we know it, is doomed.” Fiji has already experienced an increase in infectious diseases related to higher temperatures, record-breaking high tides, and has had to relocate citizens due to rising ocean levels.
Many of the effects of warming temperatures in the Pacific relate to changes that are first being documented in the Arctic. Scientists have consistently documented the melting of Arctic sea ice for the past decade (Figure \(\PageIndex{3\)). As the ice sheets melt, raising global sea levels, the surface becomes less reflective and absorbs more of the sun’s rays, further accelerating warming and beginning a cycle that could be difficult to undo. Both the North and South Poles have experienced faster warming than the rest of the world, and some areas of the Arctic have seen an increase in temperature by 3 to 4 °C (5.4 to 7.2 °F).
The rising oceans in the Pacific and the concentrations of pollution found in this region are stark reminders of our interconnected world. Fossil fuel emissions from a car in the United States affect the amount of greenhouses gases in the atmosphere which in turn can increase global temperatures and melt ice in the Arctic. A plastic shopping bag discarded improperly in Japan makes its way out to sea where it breaks down and forms a coat of plastic sand on a Pacific island. But this same interconnectedness could perhaps be used to our advantage. Small, individual changes magnified across the global system could have profoundly positive effects. In many ways, the future of Oceania will be decided by the actions of global citizens and leaders.
Environmental degradation:
the deterioration of resources like air, land, and water
Coral bleaching:
occurs when coral experience “stress" due to warm waters and expel the colorful, algae-like organisms that live within them | textbooks/socialsci/Geography_(Human)/World_Regional_Geography_(Finlayson)/10%3A_Oceania/10.05%3A_The_Changing_Landscape_of_Oceania.txt |
• 1.1: Introduction to Life Span, Growth and Development
This course is commonly referred to as the “womb to tomb” course because it is the story of our journeys from conception to death. Human development is the study of how we change over time. Although this course is often offered in psychology, this is a very interdisciplinary course. Psychologists, nutritionists, sociologists, anthropologists, educators, and health care professionals all contribute to our knowledge of the life span.
• 1.2: The Cohort Effect
One important context that is sometimes mistaken for age is the cohort effect. A cohort is a group of people who are born at roughly the same period in a particular society. Another context that influences our lives is our social standing, socioeconomic status, or social class. Socioeconomic status is a way to identify families and households based on their shared levels of education, income, and occupation.
• 1.3: Culture
Culture is often referred to as a blueprint or guideline shared by a group of people that specifies how to live. It includes ideas about what is right and wrong, what to strive for, what to eat, how to speak, what is valued, as well as what kinds of emotions are called for in certain situations. Culture teaches us how to live in a society and allows us to advance because each new generation can benefit from the solutions found and passed down from previous generations.
• 1.4: Periods of Development
Developmentalists break the life span into nine stages: prenatal development, infancy and toddlerhood, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, late adulthood, and death and dying. The stages reflects unique aspects of the various stages of childhood and adulthood that will be explored in this book. So while both an 8 month old and an 8 year old are considered children, they have very different motor abilities, social relationships, and cognitive skills.
• 1.5: Research Methods
The hallmark of scientific investigation is that of following a set of procedures designed to keep questioning or skepticism alive while describing, explaining, or testing any phenomenon. Descriptive studies focus on describing an occurrence. Explanatory studies are efforts to answer the question “why.” Evaluation research is designed to assess the effectiveness of policies or programs. Confirmation bias is the tendency to look for evidence that supports our own views.
• 1.6: Life Stages
• 1.7: Introduction to Life Span, Growth and Development
• 1.8: Introduction to Life Span Development
• 1.9: 49 Up
• 1.10: Meet Neil
01: Lifespan Psychology
Learning Objectives
• Explain the study of human development.
• Define physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development.
• Differentiate periods of human development.
• Analyze your own location in the life span.
• Judge the most and least preferable age groups with which to work.
• Contrast social classes with respect to life chances.
• Explain the meaning of social cohort.
• Critique stage theory models of human development.
• Define culture and ethnocentrism and describe ways that culture impacts development.
• Explain the reasons scientific methods are more objective than personal knowledge.
• Contrast qualitative and quantitative approaches to research.
• Compare research methods noting the advantages and disadvantages of each.
• Differentiate between independent and dependent variables.
Welcome to life span, growth and development. This is the study of how and why people change or remain the same over time.
This course is commonly referred to as the “womb to tomb” course because it is the story of our journeys from conception to death. Human development is the study of how we change over time. Although this course is often offered in psychology, this is a very interdisciplinary course. Psychologists, nutritionists, sociologists, anthropologists, educators, and health care professionals all contribute to our knowledge of the life span.
We will look at how we change physically over time from early development through aging and death. We examine cognitive change, or how our ability to think and remember changes over time. We look at how our concerns and psychological state is influenced by age and finally, how our social relationships change throughout life.
There are several goals of those involved in this discipline:
1. Describing change - many of the studies we will examine simply involve the first step in investigation, which is description. Arnold Gesell’s study on infant motor skills, for example.
2. Explaining changes is another goal. Theories provide explanations for why we change over time. For example, Erikson offers an explanation about why our two-year-old is temperamental.
Think about how you were 5, 10, or even 15 years ago. In what ways have you changed? In what ways have you remained the same? You have probably changed physically; perhaps you’ve grown taller and become heavier. But you may have also experienced changes in the way you think and solve problems. Cognitive change is noticeable when we compare how 6 year olds, 16 year olds, and 46 year olds think and reason, for example. Their thoughts about others and the world are probably quite different. Consider friendship for instance. The 6 year old may think that a friend is someone with whom you can play and have fun. A 16 year old may seek friends who can help them gain status or popularity. And the 46 year old may have acquaintances, but rely more on family members to do things with and confide in. You may have also experienced psychosocial change. This refers emotions and psychological concerns as well as social relationships. Psychologist Erik Erikson suggests that we struggle with issues of independence, trust, and intimacy at various points in our lives. (We will explore this thoroughly throughout the course.)
Our journeys through life are more than biological; they are shaped by culture, history, economic and political realities as much as they are influenced by physical change. This is a very interesting and practical course because it is about us and those with whom we live and work. One of the best ways to gain perspective on our own lives is to compare our experiences with that of others. By periodically making cross-cultural and historical comparisons and by presenting a variety of views on issues such as healthcare, aging, education, gender and family roles, I hope to give you many eyes with which to see your own development. This occurs frequently in the classroom as students from a variety of cultural backgrounds discuss their interpretations of developmental tasks and concerns. I hope to recreate this rich experience as much as possible in this text. So, for example, we will discuss current concerns about the nutrition of children in the United States (for a middle-class boy of 11 years who is 130 pounds overweight and suffering with Pediatric Type II diabetes) as well as malnutrition experienced by children in Ethiopia as a result of drought. Being self-conscious can enhance our ability to think critically about the systems we live in and open our eyes to new courses of action to benefit the quality of life. And knowing about other people and their circumstances can help us live and work with them more effectively. An appreciation of diversity enhances the social skills needed in nursing, education, or any other field.
New Assumptions and Understandings
I took my first graduate course in life span over 20 years ago. Much time was spent on the period of childhood, less on adolescence, and very little attention was given to adulthood. The message was clear: once you are 25, your development is essentially completed. Our academic knowledge of the life span has changed and although there is still less research on adulthood than on childhood, adulthood is gaining increasing attention. This is particularly true now that the large cohort known as the baby boomers are beginning to enter late adulthood. There is so much we need to find out about love, housing, health, nutrition, exercise, social, and emotional development with this large group. (Visit your local bookstore or search the internet and you will find many new titles in the self-help and psychology sections that address this population.)
I was also introduced to the theories of Freud, Erikson, and Piaget, the classic stage theorists whose models depict development as occurring in a series of predictable stages. Stage theories had a certain appeal to an American culture experiencing dramatic change in the early part of the 20th century. But that sense of security was not without its costs; those who did not develop in predictable ways were often thought of as delayed or abnormal. And Freudian interpretations of problems in childhood development, such as autism, held that such difficulties were in response to poor parenting. Imagine the despair experienced by mothers accused of causing their child’s autism by being cold and unloving. It was not until the 1960s that more medical explanations of autism began to replace Freudian assumptions.
Freud and Piaget present a series of stages that essentially end during adolescence. For Freud, we enter the genital stage in which much of our motivation is focused on sex and reproduction and this stage continues through adulthood. Piaget’s fourth stage, formal operational thought, begins in adolescence and continues through adulthood. Again, neither of these theories highlights developmental changes during adulthood. Erikson, however, presents eight developmental stages that encompass the entire lifespan. For that reason, Erikson is known as the “father” of developmental psychology and his psychosocial theory will form the foundation for much of our discussion of psychosocial development.
Today we are more aware of the variations in development and the impact that culture and the environment have on shaping our lives. We no longer assume that those who develop in predictable ways are normal and those who do not are abnormal. And the assumption that early childhood experiences dictate our future is also being called into question. Rather, we have come to appreciate that growth and change continues throughout life and experience continues to have an impact on who we are and how we relate to others. And we recognize that adulthood is a dynamic period of life marked by continued cognitive, social, and psychological development.
Who Studies Human Development?
Many academic disciplines contribute to the study of life span and this course is offered in some schools as psychology; in other schools it is taught under sociology or human development. This multidisciplinary course is made up of contributions from researchers in the areas of health care, anthropology, nutrition, child development, biology, gerontology, psychology, and sociology among others. Consequently, the stories provided are rich and well-rounded and the theories and findings can be part of a collaborative effort to understand human lives.
Many Contexts
People are best understood in context. What is meant by the word “context”? It means that we are influenced by when and where we live and our actions, beliefs, and values are a response to circumstances surrounding us. Sternberg describes a type of intelligence known as “contextual” intelligence as the ability to understand what is called for in a situation (Sternberg, 1996). The key here is to understand that behaviors, motivations, emotions, and choices are all part of a bigger picture. Our concerns are such because of who we are socially, where we live, and when we live; they are part of a social climate and set of realities that surround us. Our social locations include cohort, social class, gender, race, ethnicity, and age. Let’s explore two of these: cohort and social class.
REFERENCES
Aries, P. (1962). Centuries of childhood. A social history of family life. New York: Vintage.
Davis, N. (1999). Youth crisis: Growing up in the high risk society. Westport, CN: Praeger.
Debt juggling. The new middle class addiction. (2005, March/April). The Sunday Times Review. Retrieved from www.timesonline.co.uk/article/o..2092-1551813.00.html
DeNavas-Walt, C., & Cleveland, R. W. (2002). Money income in the United States: 2001. Current population reports. (P60-218) (United States, U. S. Census Bureau). U. S. Government Printing Office.
Gilbert, D. (2003). The American class structure in an age of growing inequality. (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Gilbert, D., & Kahl, J. A. (1998). The American class structure. (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Glazer, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. New York: Aldine.
Kohn, M. L. (1977). Class and conformity: A study in values. (2nd ed.). Homewood, IL: Dorsey.
Mawathe, A. (2006, March/April). Period misery for Kenya schoolgirls. BBC News. Retrieved August 10, 2006, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/africa/4816558.stm
Seccombe, K., & Warner, R. L. (2004). Marriages and families: Relationships in social context. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Sternberg, R. J. (1996). Sucessful intelligence. New York: Simon and Shuster.
The secret life of the credit card. (2004). PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved May 02, 2011, from http://www.pbs.org/cgi-registry/generic/trivia.cgi
Thornton, S. (2005, June/July). Karl Popper (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Summer 2005 Edition). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved May 02, 2011, from http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/s...entries/popper
United States, U. S. Census Bureau, Housing and Household Economics Statistics Division. (2005). Poverty Thresholds 2005. Retrieved August 10, 2006, from http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/pover.../thresh05.html
Weitz, R. (2007). The sociology of health, illness, and health care: A critical approach, (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson. | textbooks/socialsci/Human_Development/01%3A_Lifespan_Psychology/1.01%3A_Introduction_to_Life_Span_Growth_and_Development.txt |
One important context that is sometimes mistaken for age is the cohort effect. A cohort is a group of people who are born at roughly the same period in a particular society. Cohorts share histories and contexts for living. Members of a cohort have experienced the same historic events and cultural climates which have an impact on the values, priorities, and goals that may guide their lives.
Consider a young boy’s concerns as he grows up in the United States during World War II. What his family buys is limited by their small budget and by a governmental program set up to ration food and other materials that are in short supply because of the war. He is eager rather than resentful about being thrifty and sees his actions as meaningful contributions to the good of others. As he grows up and has a family of his own, he is motivated by images of success tied to his past experience: a successful man is one who can provide for his family financially, who has a wife who stays at home and cares for the children, and children who are respectful but enjoy the luxury of days filled with school and play without having to consider the burdens of society’s struggles. He marries soon after completing high school, has four children, works hard to support his family and is able to do so during the prosperous postwar economics of the 1950s in America. But economic conditions change in the mid-1960s and through the 1970s. His wife begins to work to help the family financially and to overcome her boredom with being a stay-at-home mother. The children are teenagers in a very different social climate: one of social unrest, liberation, and challenging the status quo. They are not sheltered from the concerns of society; they see television broadcasts in their own living room of the war in Vietnam and they fear the draft. And they are part of a middle-class youth culture that is very visible and vocal. His employment as an engineer eventually becomes difficult as a result of downsizing in the defense industry. His marriage of 25 years ends in divorce. This is not a unique personal history, rather it is a story shared by many members of his cohort. Historic contexts shape our life choices and motivations as well as our eventual assessments of success or failure during the course of our existence.
Consider your cohort. Can you identify it? Does it have a name and if so, what does the name imply? To what extent does your cohort shape your values, thoughts, and aspirations? (Some cohort labels popularized in the media for generations in the United States include Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation M.)
Socioeconomic Status
Another context that influences our lives is our social standing, socioeconomic status, or social class. Socioeconomic status is a way to identify families and households based on their shared levels of education, income, and occupation. While there is certainly individual variation, members of a social class tend to share similar lifestyles, patterns of consumption, parenting styles, stressors, religious preferences, and other aspects of daily life. (Consider, for example, some terms that have been used in marketing to refer to different consumer groups: the “truck and trailer” or the “pool and poodle” group referring to working class and upper middle-class groups.) All of us born into a class system or are socially located and may move up or down depending on a combination of both socially and individually created limits and opportunities. Below is a model of the class system identified in the United States (Gilbert 2003; Gilbert and Kahl, 1998), a description of these social classes, and a partial listing of the impact that social class can have on individual and family life (Seccombe and Warner, 2004).
Application
Click HERE to view a slide show on social class from a study by the New York Times. Then review the descriptions given below.
Model of Social Class Based on Socioeconomic Status
Upper Class: This group makes up about 1 percent of the population in the United States. They own substantial wealth and after-tax annual family income of between \$200,000 to \$750,000 (DeNavas-Walt and Cleveland, 2002). The upper class is subdivided into “upper-upper” and “lower-upper” categories based on how money and wealth was acquired. The “upper-upper class” (0.5%) has money from investments or inheritance and tend to be stewards of the family fortune. This “old money” brings a sense of polish and sophistication now shared by those with “new money”. The newly rich (0.5%) have made their fortunes as personalities in sports and media or as entrepreneurs. Members of the newly rich tend to flaunt their wealth; a practice looked upon with disdain by old money. One of my former students reported her experience as a flight attendant working first class on a trip from New York to Los Angeles. One of her passengers had a name that would be familiar to many Americans as a family with old money. Seated several rows behind him was a couple from the newly rich and she wore a long fur coat, they became drunk on champagne and were quite loud during the flights. The plane had landed, and as the flight attendant was helping her upper-upper class guest on with his coat and he looked over his shoulder at the couple and sneered, “New money.” (So consider this: if you ever win the lottery, you may risk being shunned by “old money”!)
Upper Middle Class: About 14 percent of the population in the United States is considered upper middle class. Income levels are more often between \$100,000 and \$200,000 annually and hold professional degrees that involve education beyond a four-year bachelor’s degree. One of the distinctions made between the middle class overall and members of the working class is that members of the middle class have occupations in which they are paid for their education and expertise. These white-collar workers (a term that originally referred to the distinction between what office workers wore to work as opposed to factory workers designated as “blue collar” workers) hold professional positions such as physicians or attorneys and as professionals enjoy a good deal of freedom and control over their occupations. They determine the regulations of their work through professional organizations (such as the American Medical Association). Having a sense of autonomy or control is a key factor in experiencing job satisfaction and personal happiness and ultimately health and well-being (Weitz, 2007).
Middle Class: Another 30 percent of the population is considered middle class. These individuals work in lower-paying, less autonomous white-collar jobs such as teaching and nursing or as lower-level managers. Members of the middle class may hold 2 or 4 year degrees, but often from less prestigious, state-supported schools. Their income typically ranges between \$25,000 and \$75,000 annually. They own less property and have less discretionary income than members of the upper-middle and upper class and yet they may share the values and standards held by the upper-middle class. Yet, acquiring larger homes, newer vehicles, and pursing travel, paying for health care and dental expenses often means taking on substantial debt. This problem is not unique to the United States, however. Consider this excerpt from a British newspaper describing today’s “impoverished professionals” in which a couple goes to dinner before a movie and realizes that they have no cash. So out come the 9 credit cards.
I’ve brought all the cards . . .trouble is, I can’t remember which ones are up to their limit . . .Go to a cash machine? Forget it. Both our current accounts have been frozen. Welcome to the world of middle-class debt . . . On paper, my husband and I are what is known in polite parlance as “comfortably off”. In reality, we have no money. Anything that comes in goes immediately on debt repayment . . . That and paying the nanny so we can both go out to work and earn more money for more debt repayment. An Impoverished Professional, I call myself. And there are plenty of us out there.
The average amount of credit card debt in American households is \$8,000 and out of 144 million Americans who carry an “all purpose” credit card, only 55 million pay their entire balance off each month. The industry refers to these people as “deadbeats” and prefers the almost 90 million customers who extend their payment over months. These “revolvers” create nearly \$30 billion in profits for the industry. (Frontline, 2004). Carrying debt can be extremely stressful and have a negative effect on health and social well-being. The consequences of such debt are still being explored.
The Working Class: Thirty percent of Americans are considered members of the working class. The working class is comprised of those working in occupations such as retail, clerical or factory jobs. Their jobs are typically routine and more heavily supervised than those of the middle class and require less formal education than do white-collar jobs. Members of the working class are subject to plant closings, lower pay, and more frequent lay-offs, and may rely on fewer workers contributing to the family income. Fewer earners and less job stability impacts not only family income, it also impacts the likelihood of having adequate health care. Being employed does not insure adequate healthcare; in fact, sixty-nine percent of the 45 million Americans who lack any medical insurance live in households where there is at least one full-time employee (Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, 2004). Americans who are self-employed or working in companies with fewer than 200 employees are less likely to have health insurance benefits than those who work in companies with 200 or more employees (Weitz, 2007). And the cost of obtaining even minimal health insurance as an individual is often prohibitive.
Social class differences go beyond financial concerns, however. In a classic study on parenting styles and social class, Melvin Kohn (1977) found that working class parents emphasized obedience, honesty, and conformity in their children while middle-class parents valued independence, initiative, and self-reliance. These differences are attributed to the expectations made of parents as workers; blue-collar workers are rewarded for conformity while white-collar workers are rewarded for initiative.
The Working Poor: Twenty percent of Americans are categorized as the working poor. These people live near the poverty level and hold seasonal or temporary jobs as unskilled laborers. This includes migrant farm workers, temporary employees in service industries such as restaurants or in retail typically for minimum wage. The poor and working poor experience many of the same problems that can have an impact on development. We will examine this list after describing the next social class.
The Underclass: Approximately five percent of Americans are part of the underclass described as temporary workers, part-time workers, those who are chronically unemployed or underemployed (Gilbert, 2003). They may receive some governmental assistance and tend to be looked down upon by other members of society. Since 2008, we have seen national unemployment rates in the United States hovering around 10 percent due to changes in the economy and being unemployed is less stigmatized but still very stressful. Many of the underclass are children or are disabled. It is estimated that there are about 3.5 million homeless people in the United States and 1.5 of them are children (Urban Institute, 2000).
application
Find out more about homelessness at www.nationalhomeless.org. Life on the streets can be extremely dangerous involving addiction, deceit, violence, sexual assault, and prostitution or “survival sex” which refers to exchanging food for shelter (Davis, 1999).
Other Consequences of Poverty: Poverty level is an income amount established by the Social Security Administration that is based on a formula called the “thrifty food plan” that allows one-third of income for food. Those living at or near poverty level may find it extremely difficult to sustain a household with this amount of income. Buying the least expensive, most filling foods typically means buying foods high in fat, starch and sugar. Living in poorer housing with the fear of eviction or poor plumbing and disruptive neighbors can also be stressful. Poverty is associated with poorer health and a lower life expectancy due to poorer diet, less healthcare, greater stress, working in more dangerous occupations, higher infant mortality rates, poorer prenatal care, greater iron deficiencies, greater difficulty in school, and many other problems. Members of the middle class may fear losing status, but the poor may have greater concerns over losing housing. And while those in the middle class are more likely to use shopping or travel as a way to cope with stressors, the poor are more likely to eat or smoke in response to stress (Seccombe and Warner, 2004).
Examples:
• Use THIS TOOL to calculate your social class position based on four commonly used indicators of socioeconomic status in the United States:
• Explore many other chances and choices in life that are impacted by social class by clicking HERE and reviewing the stories given on the left of the screen.
Exercise:
Think about how social class might impact the life of someone with whom you are working in a hospital, school, or other setting. What should you consider in order to be most effective in helping that person or family? | textbooks/socialsci/Human_Development/01%3A_Lifespan_Psychology/1.02%3A_The_Cohort_Effect.txt |
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