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GEOGRAPHY

Maps

MAPs are two-dimensional representations of the world or portions thereof. Map-making is called CARTOGRAPHY. Maps provide information about both absolute and relative location and may also provide information about landscape features. Two-dimensional maps, by the nature of a flat representation, distort space. Three-di-mensional representations, or globes, are more accurate reflections of the earth. PHYSICAL MAPS represent features of the natural landscape. POLITICAL MAPS represent human-created places and regions, such as cities and countries. THEMATIC MAPs display data that correlates with places; for instance, a thematic map might col-or-code countries to represent their population density. Thematic maps represent information in several different ways:

  •   ISOLINE MAPS: These are topographic maps, providing information about elevation and landscape.

  •   CARTOGRAMS: Cartograms are a type of map with specific, population-related distortion.

  •   CHOROPLETH MAPS: These maps provide information about a specific variable and how that variable is measured in given areas.

  •   DOT MAPS: Dot maps use dots to provide information about density and numbers, from population to other factors.

Maps are also affected by their SCALE, RESOLUTION, and DISTORTION. A globe, for instance, has little distortion and items are portrayed to scale; however, the resolution is rather low. You cannot see smaller features on the landscape on a globe (because they usually aren't that large!). On the other hand, if you're looking at a referencemap of your own community, the resolution is typically quite high.

Distortion refers to the changes in shape that occur when a curved surface is portrayed in two-dimensions, as you would see on a paper map of the world or a specific part of the world. The type of projection used will determine the distortion in a two-dimensional map.

  •   The ROBINSON PROJECTION is the most commonly used today. This projection slightly distorts all features to avoid significantly distorting any one feature and is considered a compromise projection.

  •   The GALL-PETERS PROJECTION preserves size accurately but distorts shape significantly.

  •   The MERCATOR PROJECTION depicts the shape of land masses with a high degree of accuracy but sacrifices accurate portrayal of size and area.

  •   EQUIDISTANT PROJECTIONS distort both size and shape but accurately portray the distances between land masses.

Maps that depict larger areas, including a significant part of the world or the entire world, will experience more distortion than large-scale maps displaying a smaller area. Given this distortion, maps may be more or less accurate depending upon how the map is made, the size and scale of the map, and the projection used for the map.

You'll need to employ this understanding of mapmaking and projection to fully understand all elements of human geography, incuding studies of population, agriculture, and urban development.

 Regions of the World

The seven continents are NORTH AMERICA, SOUTH AMERICA, EUROPE, ASIA, AFRICA, OCEANIA (AUSTRALIA), and ANTARCTICA.However, shared regional landscapes and cultural and historical experiences make this regional division more accurate: NoRTH AMERICA, LATIN AMERICA, SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, NORTH AFRICA, EUROPE, SIBERIA, CENTRAL ASIA, SOUTHWEST ASIA, SOUTH ASIA (THE SUBCONTINENT), EAST ASIA, SOUTHEAST ASIA, and OCEANIA. Keep these regions in mind as you prepare for the GED. The globe is divided into four hemispheres: the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are divided by the EQuATOr, while the Eastern and Western Hemispheres are divided by the PRIMe MeRIDIAN. The Earth is mapped out by coordinate systems called LATITUDE and LONGITUDE.

 On the following page, you can see the various regions of Africa, as defined by the United Nations. While these definitions are related to relative and absolute location, in many cases, there are also aspects of shared physical traits and cultural traits creating these regions and the borders between these various regions of Africa.

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The map of Asia below includes Central, Southern, Eastern and Southeastern Asia, as well as Northern and Western Asia. In this map, "Northern Asia" represents the Russian Federation and many of the former territories of the Soviet Union, which still share many physical and cultural traits.

 

 

Latin America (shown below), including all of South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and the southernmost portion of North America, is connected by shared language, shared history, and other aspects of culture.

 

The various regions of Europe are perceptual regions and may not follow national boundaries. For example, the Baltic states are more politically aligned with Central rather than Eastern Europe.

 

North America may also be divided into a number of different regions. While North America includes only a few countries, it's still divided into a number of regions by culture and landscape.

 Landforms

An ISLAND is a body of land surrounded entirely by water; an island can be as small as the island of Manhattan in New York City or as large as the country of Australia. However, an ATOLL is a small reef that encloses a LAGOON, or isolated circular body of salt water in an ocean. An ARCHIPELAGO is a chain of islands. Examples include Japan and Indonesia. On the other hand, a PENINSULA is a body of land that is surrounded by water on three sides but remains connected to a larger landmass; examples include the Arabian Peninsula, the Balkans, the Horn of Africa, Italy, the Indian Subcontinent, and the Indochina Peninsula, composing many of the countries of Southeast Asia. An ISTHMUS is a strip of land connecting two larger bodies of land, like the Isthmus of Panama. A mountain is a landform that extends to a peak. Major mountain chains of the world include the Andes, the Rockies, the Alps, the Urals, the Caucasus, the Himalayas, and the Atlas. In contrast, a PLATEAU is an elevated mass of land that remains at the top; much of India is on the Deccan Plateau, and the highest plateau in the world is the Tibetan Plateau. MaGMA, or molten rock underneath the surface these formations are based in the LITHOSPHERE, or the Earth's crust and outer shell: PLATE TECTONICS determine the shape and nature of these formations.

  Climate and Water

METEOROLOGISTS study the CLIMATE of an area, its typical weather pattern over an extended period of time. For example, much of the United States experiences a four-season cycle, or TEMPERATE climate, while Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and parts of Central and South America (located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn) have TROPICAL climates, characterized by high HUMIDITY Climates can determine the nature of land: a DesErt is an area where there is little PRECIPITATION, or rain, resulting in limited vegetation and infertile land. In the HYDROLOGIC CYCLE, water circulates between the land, the ATMOSPHERE, and the HYDRO-SPHERE, Or bodies of water on the Earth. Storms like HURRICANES, found in the tropical west Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, TYPHOONS, in the western Pacific, and CYCLONES in the Indian Ocean are all major storms with winds that reach speeds of at least seventy-four miles per hour.

Bodies of water have been essential for human development, and settled agricultural societies leading to major civilizations developed on the ALLUVIAL PLAINS in the fertile lands of RIVER VALLEYS. Important world rivers include: the Tigris, Euphrates, Irrawaddy, Ganges, Nile, Niger, Huang He (Yellow), Chiang Jiang (Yangtze), Mississippi, Danube, and the Volga. An OCEAN is an enormous body of saltwater; world oceans include the ATLANTIC, PACIFIC, INDIAN, and ARCTIC oceans. SEAS are bodies of salt water but are smaller than oceans; examples include the CARIBBEAN SEA and the MEDITERRANEAN SEA. A GULF is a large bay or partially enclosed body of water extending from the ocean or a sea, like the Gulf of Mexico or the Persian Gulf. Weather in these areas tends to be milder than on the ocean. A STRAIT is a narrow passage between two landmasses from one body of water to another, like the Straits of Hormuz and the Straits of Malacca. DELTAS are nutrient-rich areas where rivers empty into the sea; the Mississippi and Nile Deltas are rich in plant and animal life. ESTUARIES are coastal areas where salt and fresh water mix.

Examples

1. What are the major regions of the world?

North America, Latin America, Europe, North Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa. They are divided as such because these regions share similar cultures and historical ties. They may also share regional features that affect their societies and histories (for example, the Sahara Desert in North Africa).

2. Why are rivers important? Name three important rivers and discuss their regions.

Rivers allow the development of human civilization because they create river valleys, where alluvial plains or fertile land is found. Agricultural development led to settled civilizations in river valleys around the world like the Nile Valley, the Fertile Crescent in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and the Huang He and Chiang Jiang regions.

Later important cultural centers and countries developed around rivers like the Irrawaddy, the Danube, and the Mississippi.

Modern Agriculture

Despite the industrial revolution, agriculture remains the dominant human occupation.

Developed or modern farming, sometimes called AGRIBUSINESS, is distinguished from subsistence and intermediate farming by high rates of MECHANIZATION. As a result, fewer people are involved in farming than in the past, small family farms have been replaced by large, industrial farms, food production continues to increase, and there is increased reliance on chemical fertilizers and insecticides. The transition from small-scale agriculture to commercial agriculture altered how we grow and eat our food. COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE, common in developed regions of the world, required not only new farming technology, but also transportation technology. Farming companies needed to transport goods much longer distances over time without spoilage. Technology like food processing has made a significant difference. Fresh foods can also be transported with refrig-eration. Commercial agriculture also extends beyond the developed world and into countries that are less economically developed. In these nations, commercial agriculture commonly takes the form of PLANTATION AGRICULTURE. Plantation agriculture developed during the colonial period and continues, with massive farms producing goods like sugar, coffee, and cocoa. Plantations require significant human labor, including slave labor before slavery was abolished. This is CASH-CROP PRODUCTION, designed for long-distance export; these crops are not used to feed the country's population.

However, modern farming techniques have done more than just enrich large companies. They have also alleviated hunger in the developing world. The GREEN REVOLUTION was an effort in the 1950s and 1960s to introduce new crops and farming techniques to developing nations for the purpose of increasing output and resisting crop failures. While famines still exist around the world, they are less often the result of natural issues and more often the result of political ones. The rise of crops that are genetically modified to increase yields, resist pests, or develop other favorable traits is the so-called Third Agricultural Revolution, in which a range of advanced technologies are being employed to boost production. While modern technology has made farming more efficient, reduced hunger, and improved the yield of food crops, there are a number of controversies surrounding some or many aspects of modern farming. These include the environmental effects of large-scale farming, the safety of genetic modification, and trade practices, among others.

Demography and Migration

DEMOGRAPHY is the study of population; demographers keep track of statistics like birth rates and also look at where and how people live, studying changes over time. Historically, most humans lived in rural areas.

Demographics includes a range of subjects that can influence population, including food supply, agricultural policies, life expec-tancy, and the movements of populations. The human population began on a very small scale, with a number of relatively isolated human groups. Groups remained relatively small until the end of the Ice Age and progressive developments associated with the Neolithic era. With this in mind, the study of population demographics begins in earnest with the population growth associated with increased stability, settlement, and improved food supplies.

In broad terms, populations are most dense in areas that support food production. These are typically midrange latitudes. Less fertile regions, including deserts, high altitudes, and tundra, support significantly smaller populations. These regions typically experience colder and hotter temperatures, less rainfall, and often have a shorter or nonexistent growing season for plant foods. Population density is measured in two different ways. First, population density may be measured quite directly, with the total number of people per square kilometer or square mile. This is arithmetic density. You can also consider population density in terms of farmland or arable land, counting the total number of people per square mile or kilometer of farmland. This is physiological density. Population is often portrayed in population pyramids, which show information about gender, age, and proportions of the population.

Approximately one-quarter of the world population is found in East Asia. The majority of people in these regions are farmers, working in agricultural fields; however, industry is also growing in this region of the world. While some rural areas have low-population density, the population density is quite high in this region, even outside of urban areas. South Asia is the second-most populous region of the world. In East Asia, populations are largely located in coastal region, with substantial numbers along major rivers. Similar trends are found in South Asia.

While East Asia and South Asia remain predominantly agricul-tural, Europe is the third-most populous region and is primarily urban, rather than agricultural. Urban areas in Europe are typically consolidated near coal-mining regions. North America has a number of large cities, but much of the region is relatively sparsely populated, unlike Europe. The highest population concentrations in North America are along the eastern coast of the United States and Canada.

Population growth rates have varied over time. A fertility rate of 2.1 to 2.5 children per woman is considered a replacement rate, creating a stable population without either an increase or a decrease.

In many parts of the world, birth rates have dropped in the latter part of the twentieth century through today. Improved access to family planning services, including contraception, have impacted birch rates significantly, as has a tendency to marry later and an overall increase in women's status in society. In China, a one-child policy dramatically reduced population growth but brought a number of new social concerns. In less economically developed parts of the world, including much of Africa, birth rates continue to increase.

Birth rate is not the only factor impacting population. Death rates can also have a significant impact on the population. In areas with good access to health care, life expectancies are significantly longer. Infant and child mortality also affects overall population rates in substantial ways. Average life expectancy numbers, in particular, can be altered by high infant and child mortality. Demographics is also concerned with the dependency rate. This is the total percentage of the population under fifteen years of age or over sixty-four years of age, typically relying upon others to provide their support.

Theories of population change are critical to your understanding of human populations. These include:

  •   The Demographic Transition

  •   Epidemiological Theories of World Health

  •   Malthusian Theory of Population

The Demographic Transition is based upon Western Europe's industrial revolution and the changes that went along with it. The Demographic Transition is marked by four stages, with a clear shift in the mortality rate, moving from higher to lower. A comparable shift occurs in birth rates, with birth rates moving from higher to lower. This results, in the second stage, in an overall increase in population as the death rate decreases while the birth rate remains stable. Originally developed by Warren Thompson, this theory was improved by Frank Notestein. There are a few weaknesses to this theory. Today, some European countries are experiencing a falling population, as the birth rate is less than the death rate. Additionally, the Demographic Transition assumes industrialization will occur. In some cases, particularly in less economically developed nations in Africa, there are questions as to whether these countries will ever experience this transition.

Epidemiology, or the study of patterns of disease, also has an impact on population. In less economically developed countries, infectious diseases, including those spread by contaminated water, are common. In more developed countries, illnesses associated with old age and infirmity are more common, since lite spans are longer. This analysis can also be broken into distinct stages.

1. In the transition from a hunting-gathering society to a settled society with domesticated agriculture, infectious disease appeared and became a significant factor in population demographics. Close proximity to others and animals increased the risk of disease. This stage continues until economic development allows for the control of infectious disease.

2. In the next stage, chronic, degenerative illnesses become a significant factor. Infectious diseases are less common; however, life spans are still not terribly long as medical care is not fully available or developed.

3.  Generative and human-created illnesses occur in this stage. These include cancer of various types, cardiovascular disease, and Type II diabetes. These illnesses are uncommon in the developing world.

4.   Delayed degenerative illnesses require a significant extension of life span and occur in very old age. These illnesses require access to medical care and may be the result of medical interventions extending life.

5.   In stage 5, infectious diseases reemerge even in developed nations. These may be bacterial, viral, or parasitic in nature.

Thomas Malthus is one of the best-known and earliest scholars of population. In 1798, Malthus postulated that population would always exceed food supply. He believed that population grew expo-nentially, while food supply grew arithmetically. Thus, as food supply increased, population would increase even more. Changes in agricultural production following World War II dramatically altered the ability to produce adequate amounts of food. While some scholars, called Neo-Malthusians, continue to support the Malthusian theory, evidence has shown that food supply continues to increase at a higher rate than population, reducing the risk of a Malthusian Catastrophe. Neo-Malthusians do remain concerned with overpopulation, particularly with regard to the carrying capacity of a given region. The carrying capacity may be defined as the total ability of a given area to support the population, in terms of food supply and production.

Restrictive policies discourage a high birth rate. These may include moderate measures, like financial incentives for smaller families and improved access to contraception, or may be more extreme, like China's one-child policy. In China, under a communist regime, many couples were limited to a single child. A second child was only allowed in specific situations. Families who violated the policy were punished and forced abortion and sterilization were used. Today, China is beginning to relax these policies as a result of population issues, including significantly fewer young women than men. Some countries have fluctuated between expansionist and restrictive policies, depending upon political and religious conditions within the country.

MIGRATION refers to human movement, particularly long-term or permanent movement from place to place. Other types of migration are associated with seasonal work or a nomadic lifestyle, for instance, following herds of animals from place to place. EMIGRATION is leaving a country, while IMMIGRATION is entering a country. Migration can dramatically impact population. For instance, during the nineteenth century, the population of the United States increased massively as individuals emigrated from other countries.

 

Migration is impacted by various factors, referred to as push-pull factors. Push factors encourage individuals to leave the country, while pull factors make another country more appealing. Examples of PUSH FACTORS include:

  •   Economic conditions, including recession or depression, lack of job opportunities, and low pay

  •   Environmental conditions, like drought or natural disasters

  •   Political situations, including war or the threat of war

  •   Cultural issues, like religious intolerance

These are all negative factors or qualities about a home country or country of origin. Individuals typically choose to leave their country of origin to seek out a better life, improved financial stability, and increased personal freedom. PuLL FActOrs make another country more appealing. Examples of pull factors might include:

  •   Better economic opportunities, including job opportunities, higher salaries, or more ability to get and keep work

  •   Improved political conditions, a stable, democratic government, and peaceful nation

  •   Cultural or religious factors, including tolerance, but also an established immigrant community

  •   Favorable environmental conditions, including climate and fertile land

While the push-pull factors are often key reasons for immigra-tion, immigrants often share a number of characteristics. Immigration is more likely when the distance is relatively short, and young, single individuals are more likely to immigrate than families.

Immigration is most successful when there is an established social support system, ranging from family already in the new region to a religious or cultural community. Migration is most often rural to urban and may occur in stages. Immigrants are most likely to perceive their immigration experience accurately when the move is shorter, rather than longer.

Immigration can have a substantial impact on population. For instance, the United States in the nineteenth century grew in population largely because of the immense influx of immigrants. These immigrants hoped for improved financial opportunities, religious tolerance, and to avoid oppressive governments. Prior to 1840, some 90 percent of immigrants to the United States were British; however, this changed over time.

Migration may also occur within a single nation. The westward expansion of the United States is an excellent example of this internal migration, as is the Great Migration, the movement of African-Americans north to avoid Jim Crow laws and rampant racism in the southern U.S. These migrations may be individual and spread out over time or can occur in relatively large numbers in a short time, like the wagon trains that moved families west in the nineteenth century. Individuals typically move within a single country for the same reasons as people immigrate to another nation, seeking a better life, improved job opportunities, or increased personal freedom.

Countries control immigration with laws and regulations. These typically limit the number of immigrants allowed into the country, as well as setting limits on the number of immigrants from various countries. Many countries have regulations and rules regarding the educational and income background of immigrants. For instance, it's easier for someone with a college degree to immigrate into another country than for someone without education. This has, at times, led to a "brain drain," as large numbers of educated people leave countries looking for a better life. Some countries may offer preferential treatment to individuals who have particular and appealing job skills, and most countries offer preference to family members of residents or citizens.

In times of violence or persecution, individuals may leave their homes with little and with no preparation. These individuals, called REFUGEEs, typically have no legal standing and often leave without even the most basic legal paperwork. They may leave their home country to avoid the violence of war, or because they fear persecution on the basis of race, religion, nationality, social group, or Political opinions. Many flee their homes on foot in an attempt to avoid danger, but they may also travel by bicycle, car, boat, or even public transit. During times of civil war, refuge camps are often established outside the war zone or across a national border. Refugee camps are commonly run by international organizations, other nations, or charitable groups and provide shelter, health care, and food to those fleeing a war zone. In some countries, an individual with refugee status may have preferential status with regard to immigration. In many cases, refugees are unable to return to their home or may have no home to return to, requiring assistance in eventually resettling in another country. Today, there are significant refugee crises in a number of areas, including parts of Africa and the Middle East; however, there are still ongoing refugee crises in locations around the world. People may also be displaced within their own countries due to violent conflict and face similar circum-stances, but without the legal protections granted to refugees. These are INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS, or IDPs.

As people, products, customs, and ideas that arise in one place move to other areas, CULTURAL DIFFUSION happens. RELOCATION DIFFUSION occurs when people physically move and take their belongings and cultural practices with them. The process of torti-lla-making has diffused into California with the relocation of people from Mexico. EXPANSION DIFFUSION is the diffusion of traits or practices such that new people participate in those practices and traits. When non-Mexican families adopt the culinary practices of their Mexican neighbors, the consumption of foods such as tortillas and tacos expands. There are three patterns of expansion diffusion. CONTAGIOUS DIFFUSION takes place when traits move between adjacent places; often, traits will expand in a circle, with the original location in the middle. HIERARCHICAL DIFFUSION takes place when a trait leaps over territory and expands in a pattern that follows an existing hierarchy; typically, this takes place among cities, with traits diffusing from large cities to smaller cities. Fashion typically diffuses this way, with new trends starting in places like New York and Los Angeles and eventually making their way to smaller cities. Finally, STIMULUS DIFFUSION entails the creation of a new trait that is adapted from a trait that has diffused. For instance, the creation of vegetarian burgers at McDonald's restaurants in India is a response to the initial diffusion of McDonald's, combined with Indian social norms against eating beef.

 

Figure 18.9. Contagious and hierarchical diffusion

Population is impacted by birth rates, death rates, life expectancy, and migration. The population of a country may drop due to famine, higher death rates, or mass emigration, while population may increase as infant mortality drops, life expectancies increase, and disease is better managed. Increased immigration also results in a higher population. Individuals migrate in search of improved living conditions, with the exception of forced migrations and refugees. Forced migrants move under threat of immediate violence, while refugees flee for their lives, avoiding civil war or persecution.

  Culture, Ethnicity, and Race

Culture is a term that encompasses the beliefs, manners, products, traditions, arts, and relationships-the shared experiences-that characterize a group and that distinguish groups from each other.A CULTURAL TRAIT is any example of a practice or product that is characteristic of a given culture, like a recipe, song, or ritual. When sets of traits are consistent throughout a group of people, that group may be considered a culture. Together, these elements combine to create the identities we connect to places. Often, culture which is defined by shared traits, including customs and traditions, religion, language, and sometimes race (see below). Ethnicities can encompass many of these traits, but individuals may differ racially, geographically, and culturally. Ethnicity may sometimes also be linked to political organization. Ethnicities are linked to a particular place, eicher legally or through custom and practice. Culture may be linked to ethnicity but is, like political boundaries, not always linked to it. Echnicity is a designation that relies on a complex combination of cultural traits; RACE- superficial biological differences that differentiate groups of humans may be one of those traits, but race is not synonymous with ethnicity.

Race as a concept has been thoroughly debunked from a biological standpoint, but its social implications are vast. Historically, race was defined on the basis of physical features, including skin tone, facial features, and hair type. Racial discrimination has impacted countries around the world; however, the strongest impact has arguably been on the African continent. Slavery, of course, depleted the population of Africa, causing significant human and cultural loss. White colonists from Britain and elsewhere established colonies throughout Africa, particularly in the nineteenth century, leading to a loss of traditional leadership and significant and lasting political challenges.

Colonialism also significantly impacted, depleted, or destroyed the aboriginal populations of the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as parts of Asia and Southeast Asia. Colonialism depended on racism; to colonize a nation, the colonial power had to believe in its racial "superiority." This ranged from viewing the native populations of the Americas as subhuman, to taking on an imperial status and believing that bringing European people and culture to a region would improve things, because the people needed that assistance, given their "weaknesses." Even with the abandonment of legalized policies of segregation in many countries (like the Jim Crow laws in the U.S. and South African apartheid), economic and social factors ensure that de facto segregation persists in places like the U.S. South and urban areas in many regions throughout the world.

 States, Nations, and Nation-States

STATEs are independent political entities, with territory, sovereignty, and centralized governments. State is a synonym for a country or for what is colloquially, but incorrectly, referred to as a nation. The use of state in the United States is also misleading and arguably incorrect. In the U.S., the fifty "states" each have individual state governments but are not independent political entities. From the global perspective, the United States is a single state, and the fifty states are sub-state entities, on the order of provinces. A nation, meanwhile, refers to a group of people not to a territory or abstract entity-that constitutes, or wants to create, an independent state.Many of the states of Europe reflect nations; tor example, Denmark primarily consists of the Danish people, while Hungary is the center and home of much of the Hungarian population and culture of the world. A state that roughly corresponds to a nation is known as a NATION-STATE.

Independent states have a number of rights and responsibilities. They tax citizens, but they also provide services to citizens, like maintaining roads, providing a justice system, and making laws. States raise armies and may require military service of their citizens. States can only exist if the people believe in the existence of the state and share a national identity. State governments may vary but are typically federal or unitary. In a federal system, individual territories have significant rights; the United States is a federal system (see chapter seventeen, Civics and Government, for more details). In a unitary system, those rights are only granted by the state governing body.

 Economic Development

  • ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT is a catchall term that encompasses a range of elements related to the prosperity, wealth, and quality of life in a given place. A more subtle measure than mere wealth-which is typically expressed as gross domestic product-development measures aspects of health, education, modernization and other factors that describe the way that people live. Typically, development is discussed on a country-by-country basis, though the development of cities, regions, and sub-state entities can be measured too. There is no single definition of development. It's a subjective notion, and economists have extensive debates over how to quantify it. The most widely accepted measure of development is the Human Development Index devised by the United Nations.

  • The terms MORE DEVELOPED COUNTRIES and LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES have replaced the less-used FIRST WORLD and THIRD WORLD designations that came about during the Cold War. Today, countries are considered in comparison with one another using the broader, "more or less developed" terminology. Development encompasses a continuum: there is no limit to a country's potential development, and countries are always developing further (and, in some cases, becoming less developed).

  • GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT, commonly written as GNP, is the total of all goods and services produced by corporations or citizens of a country in a given year. The GNP includes goods and services produced by a given nation outside its borders. The GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP) is similar and may also be used as a measure of economic development; it measures only those goods and services produced or generated within the country, including that which may be generated by individuals or companies from elsewhere working in the country in question.

  • The per capita GDP is divided by the total population. A smal nation with a lower overall GDP might still have a much higher per capita GDP. The following map illustrates the per capita GDP of various countries around the world.

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  • The map above illustrates the significant differences in per capita GDP around the world. You can see the countries in darker hues have the highest per capita GDP. Those colored in lighter hues have the lowest per capita GDP. Even at a glance the distribution is relatively unsurprising. Below, you can see a graphic showing the growth rate of per capita GNP over the thirty-year period between 1980 and 2010. Darker hues represent higher growth, and lighter hues represent lower growth.

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  • Here, it's clear that some regions have experienced substantial growth, like China, while others have experienced very little or no change in GDP over this period. The majority of countries, including the United States and Russian Federation, show low to moderate growth.

  • POPULATION GROWTH is another marker of economic develop-ment; however, lower population growth is correlated with higher economic development. More economically developed nations show a fertility rate of fewer than three children per woman, while less economically developed nations show a much higher fertility rate. A decrease in fertility rates is often accompanied by improved economic growth, better living conditions, and a higher quality of life for citizens of a less developed state.

  • Economic development is also reflected in the OCCUPATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE LABOR FORCE in a country. There are three main categories to consider:

  •    PRIMARY ACTIVITIES take resources from the earth.
    These include farming of all sorts, mining, and other activities. While these activities go on in all countries, in a less developed country, the majority of the population is employed in primary activities.

  •    SECONDARY ACTIVITIES are manufacturing. For instance, lumber harvested by individuals involved in a primary activity might be made into paper by people working in a paper plant. Secondary activities deal with tangible goods and processes that add value to those primary goods.

  •    TERTIARY ACTIVITIES are services, ranging from relatively low-paying jobs like food service and domestic help to high-paying jobs like banking, medicine, and law. These activities are based on the worker's knowledge—be it of the human body or of a line of clothing— and do not produce material goods.

  • The more developed a nation, the more workers are employed in tertiary activities. In a less developed country, the majority is employed in primary activities. In a developing country, secondary activities will become more important. For instance, in the United States, the vast majority of adults are, in some way, employed in tertiary fields.

  • Typically, as per capita income increases, CONSUMPTION of fuel, food, or any other good rises. For instance, a subsistence rice farmer uses little in daily life. On the other hand, an urban professional uses significantly more resources of all kinds: food, fuel, electricity, clothing, buildings, etc.

  • ONE-WAY CONSUMPTION is often measured by looking at CO emissions (also called greenhouse gas emissions). Up to the end of the twentieth century, there was typically a proportional relationship between energy consumption and development. However, recently some of the most developed countries have reduced their per capita energy consumption. These countries have pursued delib-erare policies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and they are also wealthy enough to purchase efficient technologies, such as hybrid cars. Energy consumption is therefore an example of an economic activity that seems to indicate prosperity but that, increasingly, lowers a country's quality of life.

  • INFRASTRUCTURE is a broad term for the physical, often public structures that a society needs to function. Schools, roads, railways, airports, and hospitals are all part of infrastructure. Extensive infrastructure is a sign of a more developed country. Less developed countries are less likely to have even basic infrastructure, including roads, access to utilities, and sanitation facilities. Without access to appropriate sanitation, including clean water and toilet facilities, disease runs rampant. Railways and roads allow both people and goods to move quickly and efficiently from place to place. Airports facilitate global trade, and telecommunications facilitates business at every level, from small stores to multinational corporations. In some areas, infrastructure is only established in parts of the country, leaving others lacking key services.

  • SOCIAL CONDITIONS are important indicators of economic devel-opment. These include:

  •   Less developed countries experience a higher rate of INFANT MORTALITY. Various factors contribute to this, including a lack of prenatal care, a lack of access to pediatric health care, including vaccinations, inadequate food, and a lack of clean water.

  •   LIFE EXPECTANCY is lower in less developed countries.
    High infant mortality lowers life expectancy, as does a lack of health care and a high rate of deaths in child birth.

  •   High rates of LITERACY are expected in more developed countries, where all children have access to education.
    In less developed countries, many children do not have access to schools and may not have the opportunity to learn to read. Improved education is consistently linked to economic growth and development.

  •   HEALTH CARE is key to reduced infant mortality and increased life expectancy. In many less developed countries, access to health care is highly limited, with many people having no access to medical assistance at

  •   CALORIC INTAKE directly relates to personal income and access to resources. Individuals in more developed nations are more likely to have an acceptable or high caloric intake than those in less developed countries.

  • The United Nations devised the Human Development Index to combine factors and create an easily understood rating of the development of different countries into different tiers. The Human Development Index includes the following criteria:

  •   Life expectancy

  •   Education, including adult literacy and enrollment in primary, secondary, and tertiary education

  •   Real GNP per capita

  • Each of these is a relatively measurable statistic that is meant to stand in for larger development criteria. Life expectancy is a measure of health: education is a measure of social conditions and equity: and GNP per capita is a measure of quality of life.

  • It's important to have a general sense of development in different regions and of the geographical distribution of development. Most notably, development diffuses contagiously. Adjacent countries with the notable exception of the U.S. and Mexico and some borders in Eastern Europe-tend to have similar development levels.

  •  

  • The biggest shortcoming of the UN HDI, as well as most other measures of development, is that it considers only the FORMAL ECONOMY. In many less developed countries, both money and goods frequently change hands outside the formal economy. These transactions are not recorded or taxed, but occur at small markets and elsewhere. These measures also do not consider any form of illegal economy, for instance, the drug trade, which may impact the economic development of the state.

  • GENDER INEQUALITY is an important indicator of development.While women contribute economically around the world, often their contribution goes unrecognized, and they lack control over their own economic destiny. Therefore, the extent to which women's rights are protected in a given country often correlates with development.

  • Early marriage deprives girls and young women of educational opportunities and the chance to work and support themselves; carly motherhood does the same. Furthermore, early and multiple pregnancies pose health risks to giris and young women, especially in areas with limited infrastructure and health services. Gender preferences and inequalities have led to unsustainable population growth in several countries, due to gender-selective abortion and infanticide or killing of female infants in countries like India and China. While this practice is illegal, it remains widespread in many arcas. In many countries, women still require a dowry to marry, and daughters are considered less desirable than sons. Laws prohibiting dowries and infanticide are poorly enforced. In China, the one-child policy enforced for many years has led to the widespread abortion or abandonment of females. Dowry deaths, or murders when women's dowries are not paid, still exist in India, while in many Muslim regions, "honor killings" take women's lives if they are deemed to have morally dishonored their male relatives, such as through acts like premarital sex.

 Industrialization

For much of modern history, development has been synonymous with INDUSTRIALIZATION, the process of using labor, energy, and raw materials to produce goods and services with more complexity and value than their raw materials alone. Industrialization began with the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with textile factories in Europe. Previously, most goods had been made by hand, in small workshops or cottage industries. What little machinery existed was simple and typically human- or animal-pow-ered. The Industrial Revolution was made possible by the wealth flowing into Europe, and England in particular, from its colonies; the political, geographical, and natural resources of England (the country was politically stable, somewhat isolated geographically and rich in resources, like coal and iron); and willingness to invest time, energy, and resources into new inventions and innovations.

The Industrial Revolution created the iron industry, leading to the steam engine, trains, and steam-powered ships. It moved people from the countryside to the cities and changed the way they lived their lives. Consumer goods became more accessible and affordable, and travel and movement became easier. The industrial revolution diffused throughout the world as new technology spread. Significant mining and manufacturing centers rose up in North America and Europe by the middle of the nineteenth century. Industrialization later moved into Eastern Europe and Russia.

Production methodologies have changed over time to increase efficiency and improve the quality of goods produced. In the early twentieth century, Henry Ford invented mass production with the assembly line. Modern industrial practices have shifted and moved to increased specialization. Today, new industrial centers and centers of manufacturing are growing, especially in South and Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Urbanization

URBANIZATION, or URBAN DEVELOPMENT, is the process of building up a city and of a society's evolution from rural to urban. For much of history, humans lived in small communities. With the introduction of agriculture, communities grew to form villages and eventually towns and cities. One of the factors distinguishing the village from the city is food production. In a village, nearly all residents are involved in food production. In a city, relatively few are involved in food production, and most food is brought into the city from the surrounding countryside. Cities are typically political, commercial, cultural, and religious centers. People are typically drawn to cities by the promise of better economic opportunities. AGGLOMERATION is the great asset of cities. Physical proximity allows for complex, sophisticated economic relationships whereby individuals and firms constantly interact with each other, ideally for mutual benefit and widespread prosperity.

Until the twentieth century, the world had only a handful of cities that would be considered large by today's standards. In the twentieth century, urbanization progressed rapidly as more people moved from smaller communities to larger ones. Rates of urbanization differ between countries. Today, cities dominate the cultural landscape. As of the early 2000s, fully half the world's population lived in cities, with more arriving literally every day. Many scholars view the city, rather than the nation-state, as the primary unit of economic activity. URBAN SYSTEMs describe the relationship— typically the economic relationship-among cities.

At any given scale, be it that of a state or even a sub-state region, the relative populations of cities fall into one of two patterns: URBAN HIERARCHY, in which city populations follow the rank-size rule (with the second-largest city one-half as big as the largest, the third-larg-est one-third as big, and so forth) or URBAN PRIMACY, in which the largest, or PRIMATE CITY is more than twice as large (and often many times larger than) the next largest city. Generally, urban hierarchies apply to more developed countries and urban primacy to less developed countries.

Urbanization in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has been dominated by SUBURBANIZATION. Mass migration to cities in the nineteenth century led to overcrowding and dysfunction. The availability of the automobile gave residents the opportunity

to escape the city and, in the United States, pursue the "American dream" of a single-family home. Suburbs are independent towns that are primarily residential and linked, physically and functionally, to CENTER CITIES. By the end of the twentieth century, a plurality of Americans lived in suburbs. However, suburbanization has led to URBAN SPRAWL: geographic isolation, lack of diversity, long commutes, high costs, and environmental degradation. (In many cases, it was also inspired by racism, as white residents became uncomfortable with increasing numbers of minority residents.)

Meanwhile, center cities tended to decay, partly for lack of tax revenue and the economic stimulation that would have accompanied middle class families. Many center cities wound up with large proportions of poor, minority residents who clustered in decayed neighborhoods with high crime rates, poor schools, and few job opportunities. In some cases, ETHNIC ENCLAVES of immigrants remained relatively intact and prosperous.

In the early years of the twenty-first century, the process of suburbanization has ebbed, and center cities have regained some prominence. Some Americans are preferring high-density living (as many Europeans always have), and cities have reinvested in urban amenities like public transit and, famously, stadiums and arenas. Real estate developers have rehabilitated and added to old, high-density buildings, and residents often trade personal automobiles for walking, biking, and public transit. This trend is collectively known as SMART GROWTH. City dwellers may use less gasoline and even pay less to heat and cool their homes; as a result, they often have smaller CARBON FOOTPRINTS than their suburban counterparts do. And the compact nature of cities provides easy access to services, government, cultural institutions, recreational opportunities, and abundant and diverse employment opportunities.

The process of repopulating center cities is often associated with GENTRIFICATION, which occurs when a formerly poor neighborhood becomes so prosperous that long-term, low-income residents may be no longer be able to afford it. At its most strained, urban life is still marked by segregation; residents in the poorest inner city neighborhoods struggle with poverty, violence, and lack of access to decent housing, grocery stores, medical facilities, and other necessities.

Urbanization in the developing world looks dramatically different than it does in the developed world. Typically, primate cities are the only places that offer job opportunities, so rural migrants flock to them by the thousands. Cities like Mumbai, Lagos, and Shanghai have grown into megacities of over 15 million each because of this pattern.

In the least developed countries, this influx creates significant problems. Roads, sewage, and power systems are strained. Informal economies develop, as people work illegally. Often, the sought-after jobs pay very little, as there is an oversupply of willing employees.

In the physical environment, these cities develop vast INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS, known as shantytowns, favelas, or simply slums. These are places where homes have been built without government permission and where city services, including law enforcement, are essentially absent.

The ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT of a country generally refers to the use of its resources to power industrial development. One measure of economic development is a country's GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT, or GDP, which is the value of goods and services in a given time period (usually a year) produced within that country. Today, there is increased focus on SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, in which resource exploitation does not outpace resource renewal. Development also increasingly refers to developing the quality of life of the people of a country-improving health, infrastructure, and education. Today, less developed countries (LDCs) are urbanizing at a high rate, as wealthy and middle-income countries have done in the past. LDCs are characterized by a lower GDP, low literacy rates, high birth rates, high infant mortality rates, poor water quality, poor sanitation, limited infrastructure, limited rights for women, and lower life expectancies, among others. Many of these challenges are rooted in histories of conflict, natural disaster, economic mismanagement, and loss of natural resources and land to European imperialism.

Examples

1. Define urbanization.

Urbanization is the movement of people from rural to urban areas, usually in search of industrial jobs; people settle in the cities and the cities grow as a result.

2. Why are some countries LDCs? What are the features of a typical LDC?

LDCs may regularly suffer from natural disaster, be or have recently been mired in conflict, or have a history of exploitation and colonization, having lost resources-both material and human-to imperial powers. LDCs are at a further disadvantage, suffering from long-term consequences like poor education, low literacy rates, and poor water quality and sanitation. These trigger high rates of illness and infant mortality. Despite the lower life expectancies of their inhabitants, most LDCs have a very high birth rate, a contributing factor to restrictions on the rights of women in many countries, who usually have less access to education and work as a result.

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