This Document Contains Chapters 1 to 3 Basic Concepts 1 Learning Outcomes After reading, studying, and discussing the chapter, students should be able to: Learning Outcome 1.1.1: Summarize differences between geography and history. Learning Outcome 1.1.2: Understand how cartography developed as science. Learning Outcome 1.1.3: Identify geography’s contemporary analytic mapping tools. Learning Outcome 1.1.4: Understand the role of map scale and projection in reading maps. Learning Outcome 1.1.5: Explain how latitude and longitude are used to locate points on Earth’s surface. Learning Outcome 1.2.1: Identify the distinctive features of a place, including toponym, site, and situation. Learning Outcome 1.2.2: Identify the three types of regions. Learning Outcome 1.2.3: Describe two geographic definitions of culture. Learning Outcome 1.3.1: Understand global- and local-scale changes in economy and culture. Learning Outcome 1.3.2: Identify the three properties of distribution across space. Learning Outcome 1.3.3: Describe different ways in which geographers approach aspects of cultural identity such as gender, ethnicity, and sexuality. Learning Outcome 1.3.4: Summarize geographic thought, with application to the geography of inequality. Learning Outcome 1.3.5: Describe the various ways that features can spread through diffusion. Learning Outcome 1.3.6: Explain how places are connected through networks, though inequality can hinder connections. Learning Outcome 1.4.1: Describe the three pillars of sustainability. Learning Outcome 1.4.2: Describe Earth’s three abiotic physical systems. Learning Outcome 1.4.3: Explain how the biosphere interacts with abiotic systems. Learning Outcome 1.4.4: Compare ecosystems in the Netherlands and California. Chapter Outline Introduction Geography is more than rote memorization: Geographers ask where things are and why they are where they are. What are the defining elements of geography, and how have they developed over the course of human history? Cartography is the science of map making, and has evolved from prehistoric humans making rudimentary maps of their local environment, to today’s societies utilizing electronic devices to make high-quality, precise maps. Geographers use the concepts of space, place, and region to describe unique characteristics of locations on Earth as they happen across different scales. They study of the connections between human activities and the physical environment, the how these connections impact sustainability, are integral to the discipline of Geography. Key Issue 1: Why Is Geography a Science? Although the earliest humans were practicing Geography, it wasn’t until the ancient Greek philosopher Eratosthenes that the discipline was bestowed the name it is known by today—geo, from the Greek, meaning “Earth,” and the Greek word graphy, meaning “to write,” were combined to describe the study of where things are found on Earth’s surface and the reasons for the locations. To contrast history with geography, one could view history as posing questions of when and why, while geographers ask questions of where and why. Two features of human activity encompass the field of human geography as it is covered in this text: culture and economy. Two basic concepts are used by geographers to explain what makes a certain place unique: place and region. A place is a specific point on Earth, distinguished by a set of particular traits. Every place occupies a unique geographic location, or position, on Earth’s surface. A region is an area of Earth defined by one or more defining features. The Earth is partitioned into a number of regions by Geographers, such as the Midwest and Latin America. To explain the relationships between places, geographers employ three basic concepts: scale, space, and connection. Scale is the relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole. Geographers study a variety of scales, from local to global. Space refers to the physical gap or interval between two objects. Connection refers to relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space. A map is a two-dimensional or flat-scale model of the real world, made small enough to work with on a desk or computer. Cartography is the science of making maps. Maps are used for reference (where things are located) and for communication of the distribution of some feature or features. Geography in the Ancient World Maps have been created for thousands of years. The earliest maps were used as reference tools—simple navigation devices designed to show a traveler how to get from Point A to Point B. Following the mapmakers of the ancient eastern Mediterranean world, European mapmaking and geographic thought became less mathematical and more fanciful, displaying Earth as a flat disk surrounded by mythical figures and fierce animals. Geography’s Revival Mapmaking as a reference tool was revived during the Age of Exploration and Discovery. Explorers who sailed across the oceans in search of trade routes and resources in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries required accurate maps to reach their desired destinations without wrecking their ships. Contemporary Mapping Maps are used by geographers primarily for displaying geographic information and for offering geographic explanation. Maps are the geographer’s most essential tool. Pinpointing Location: GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS) uses satellites to reference locations on the ground. GPS is most commonly used for navigation. Pilots of aircraft and ships stay on course with GPS. On land, GPS detects a vehicle’s current position, the motorist programs the desired destination into a GPS device, and the device provides instructions on how to reach the destination. GPS can also be used to find the precise location of a vehicle or person. Geographers find GPS to be particularly useful in coding the precise location of objects collected in fieldwork. Analyzing Data: GI-Science Geographic Information Science (GIScience) is the examination of data relating to Earth acquired through satellite and other electronic information technologies. A geographic information system (GIS) is a complex computer system which stores and presents geographically referenced data. GIS is more efficient than pen and ink for making a map: Objects can be added or removed, colors brightened or toned town, and mistakes corrected without having to tear up the paper and start from scratch. Each type of information can be stored in a layer. Separate layers could be created for boundaries of countries, bodies of water, roads, and names of places. Most maps combine several layers and GIS maps permits construction of much more complex maps than can be drawn by hand. The acquisition of data about Earth’s surface from a satellite orbiting Earth or from airplanes is known as remote sensing. At any moment a satellite sensor records the image of a tiny area called a picture element, or pixel. A map created by remote sensing is essentially a grid that contains many rows of pixels. Geographers use remote sensing to map the changing distribution of a wide variety of features, such as agriculture, drought, and sprawl. Collecting and Sharing Data: VGI Electronic devices such as smart phones, tablets, and computers are ubiquitous parts of culture the world over today. These electronic devices allow individuals to produce maps and share them with others. Volunteered geographic information (VGI) is the creation and dissemination of geographic data contributed voluntarily and for free by individuals utilizing these electronic devices. VGI is part of the wider trends of citizen science, which is scientific research conducted by amateur scientists, and participatory GIS (PGIS), which is community-based mapping. The term mashup refers to the practice of overlaying data from one source on top of one of the mapping services. Computer users have the ability to do their own GIS because mapping services provide access to the application programming interface, which is the language that links a database such as an address list with software such as mapping. A mashup map can show the locations of businesses and activities within a neighborhood in a city. The requested information could be all pizza parlors within a mile of a certain address. Mapping software can also show the precise locations of gas stations with the lowest prices or current traffic tie-ups on highways. Map Scale The map’s scale is the relationship between map units and the actual distance on Earth. Ratio or fraction scale gives the relationship as a ratio, for example, 1:100,000 is that 1 unit on the map equals 100,000 units on the ground. In a written scale units are expressed in a convenient way, for example, “1 centimeter equals 1 kilometer.” A graphic scale is given by a scale bar showing the distance represented on Earth’s surface. Projection Maps are a planar (flat) representation of Earth’s curved surface. Earth is nearly a sphere and is therefore only accurately represented on a globe. Thus, some distortion must result when using maps, especially at small scales (continental or whole-Earth maps). Cartographers must choose a projection that results in some set of distortions between shape, distance, relative size, and direction. Latitude and Longitude Mathematical location describes a place’s location using a coordinate system such as latitude and longitude. Longitude is culturally defined as starting at Greenwich, England, and measures degrees of east and west of that line of longitude, or meridian. The zero degree longitude line in Greenwich, England, is known as the prime meridian. Latitude measures north and south distance with the equator (0° latitude) being the line of latitude halfway between the North Pole (90° north latitude) and the South Pole (90° south latitude). A latitude line is known as a parallel because all latitude lines are parallel to the equator. The equator is the parallel with the greatest circumference and is the baseline for measuring latitude. Telling Time Longitude plays an important role in calculating time. If we let every fifteenth degree of longitude represent one time zone, and divide 360 degrees by 15 degrees, we get 24 time zones. As the Earth rotates eastward, any place to the east of you always passes under the Sun earlier. Thus as you travel eastward from the prime meridian you are catching up with the Sun, so you must turn your clock ahead 1 hour by each 15 degrees. If you travel westward from the prime meridian, you are falling behind the Sun, so you turn your clock back by 1 hour for each 15 degrees. During the summer, many places in the world, including most of North America, move the clocks ahead 1 hour. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or Universal Time (UT), is the master reference time for all points on Earth. When you cross the International Date Line you move the clock back one entire day, if you are heading eastward, toward America. You turn the clock ahead 24 hours if you are heading westward, toward Asia. The International Date Line for the most part follows 180 degrees longitude. However, several islands in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the countries of Kiribati and Samoa, as well as to New Zealand’s Tokelau territory, moved the International Date Line several thousand kilometers to the east. Key Issue 2: Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique? Place: A Unique Location An essential aspect of geography is the process of describing the features of a place. Through these descriptions, similarities, differences, and changes across Earth may be explained by geographers. The component parts, or features, that make each place on Earth distinct may be examined to assist in these descriptions. A feature’s place on the Earth may be identified by its location, the position that something occupies on Earth’s surface. Place Names A place name, or toponym, is the most common way of describing a location. Many uninhabited places are even named. Place names sometimes reflect the cultural history of a place, and a change in place name is often culturally motivated. Examining changes in place name geography is a useful insight into the changing cultural context of a place. The Board of Geographical Names was established in the late nineteenth century to be the final arbiter of names on U.S. maps. In recent years the board has been especially concerned with removing offensive place names. Site The term site makes reference to the physical characteristics of a place. Important site characteristics include climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, and elevation. The combination of physical features gives each place a distinctive character. People disagree on the attributes of a good location for settlement. What is considered a good site depends on cultural values. Situation The term situation describes a place in terms of its location relative to other places. Understanding situation can help locate an unfamiliar place in terms of known places, or it can help explain the significance of a place. We give directions to people by referring to the situation of a place. We identify important buildings, streets, and other landmarks to direct people to the desired location. Region: A Unique Area An area of Earth defined by one or more distinctive characteristics is a region. A particular place can be included in more than one region, depending on how the region is defined. A region gains uniqueness from possessing not a single human or environmental characteristic but a combination of them. The cultural landscape is a recurrent theme throughout this text. It represents the total sum of cultural, economic, and environmental forces combining to make distinctive landscapes across Earth. Formal Region A formal region, also called a uniform region, is a region with a predominant or universal characteristic. Formal regions commonly have well-defined boundaries. The shared feature could be a cultural value such as a common language or an environmental property such as climate. In a formal region, the selected characteristic is present throughout the region. Some formal regions are easy to identify, such as countries or local government units. A characteristic may just be predominant rather than universal. For example, the North American wheat belt is a formal region in which wheat is the most commonly grown crop, but other crops are grown there as well. Functional Region A functional region, also known as a nodal region, is defined by an area of use or influence of some feature. Often used in economic geography, functional regions have “fuzzy” boundaries as the influence of the central feature decreases over distance. The functional region is organized around a focal point. A good example of a functional region is the reception area of a television station. A television station’s signal is strongest at the center of its service area and becomes weaker at the edge and eventually can no longer be distinguished. At some distance from the center, more people are watching a station originating in another city. That place is the boundary between functional regions of two TV market areas. Vernacular Region A vernacular region, or perceptual region, is the most ambiguously defined as they rely on a mental conception of a place as belonging to a common region for complex cultural reasons. Such regions emerge from people’s informal sense of place rather than scientific models developed through geographic thought. A vernacular region is an individual’s mental map, which is an internal representation of a portion of Earth’s surface. A mental map depicts what an individual knows about a place, containing personal impressions of what is in the place and where the place is located. Culture Regions One of the defining characteristics of a region that helps geographers identify regions is culture. Culture is a body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms that together constitutes the distinct tradition of a group of people. The word culture originates from the Latin cultus, meaning “to care for.” Culture is a complex concept, comprising two different meanings: to care about (to adore or worship something) and to take care of (to nurse or look after something). Region is analyzed by geographers using both of these aspects of the concept of culture. Culture: What People Care About Important cultural values derive from a group’s language, religion, and ethnicity. These three cultural traits are both an excellent way of identifying the location of a culture and the principle means by which cultural values become distributed around the world. These cultural traits are covered in detail in chapters 5, 6, and 7. Culture: What People Take Care Of Another element of culture of interest to geographers is production of material wealth—the food, clothing, and shelter that humans need to survive and thrive. All people consume food, wear clothing, and build shelter, but different cultural groups obtain their wealth in different ways. Various characteristics—such as per capita income, literacy rates, and TVs per capita— distinguish developed regions and developing ones. Most people in developing countries are engaged in agriculture, whereas most people in developed countries earn their living through performing services in exchange for wages. These concepts are discussed in chapters 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13. Spatial Association Different levels of regional analysis can demonstrate dramatically different characteristics. Geographers attempt to explain regional differences by looking for factors with similar distributions. Spatial association arises if the distribution of one feature located in a region is related to the distribution of another feature. Key Issue 3: Why Are Different Places Similar? Scale: Global and Local Scale is an integral element of geographical analysis, especially as it concerns issues of globalization. Globalization is a force or process that engages the world as a whole and results in making something worldwide in scope. Economic Globalization and Local Diversity The globalization of economic activities has come as a result of increasing connections between places and the rapid movement of goods and information around the world. Every place in the world is part of the global economy. Transnational corporations are often seen as emblematic of this globalization. Transnational corporations conduct research, operate factories, and sell products in many countries, not just where its headquarters and principle shareholders are located. Each place in the world plays a distinctive role in the global economy based on its local assets, as assessed by transnational corporations. Cultural Globalization and Local Diversity Economic globalization is matched with an increasing global influence and spread of some cultures, resulting in more uniform cultural landscapes across the world. Groups with distinctive local cultures may feel threatened by the globalization of culture, causing conflict or a sense of loss. The survival of a local culture’s distinctive beliefs, forms, and traits may be threatened by interaction with social customs as wearing jeans and Nike shoes, consuming Coca-Cola and McDonald’s hamburgers, and communicating using cell phones and computers. Yet despite globalization, cultural differences among places not only persist but actually flourish in many places. Space: Distribution of Features Geographers think about the arrangement of people and activities found in space and try to understand why those people and activities are distributed across space as they are. Geographers use the concept of distribution to describe the spatial arrangement of objects across Earth’s surface. Three aspects of spatial arrangement may be used to further describe distribution: density, concentration, and pattern. Distribution Properties: Density Density measures the number of features per area of land. Other measures, such as physiological or agricultural density, are based on a subgroup of people or a subtype of land. Distribution Properties: Concentration The extent of a feature’s spread over space is its concentration. If the objects in an area are close together, they are clustered; if they are far apart they are dispersed. Geographers use concentration to explain distribution. In a dispersed neighborhood, each house has a large private yard, whereas in a clustered neighborhood, the houses are close together and open space is shared as a community park. Distribution Properties: Pattern The term pattern describes whether features are arranged along geometric or other predictable arrangements. Geographers observe that many objects form a linear distribution, such as the arrangement of houses along a street or stations along a subway line. Many American cities contain a regular pattern of streets, known as a grid pattern, which intersect at right angles at uniform intervals to form square or rectangular blocks. Cultural Identity and Distribution across Space Humans often arrange their activities in space according to gender, ethnicity, and sexuality. Most concepts of difference among humans are culturally constructed and changes in cultural concepts of difference are sometimes reflected in changing arrangements. People sharing a common ethnic identity tend to cluster in urban areas. Openly homosexual men and lesbian women may be attracted to some locations to reinforce spatial interactions with other LGBTQQIAAP (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questions, Intersex, Asexual, Allies, and Pansexual)-identifying people. Inequality remains a focus for geographers studying distribution by gender. Space: Inequality Cultural traits, such as gender, ethnicity, and sexuality, impact the distribution and movement of people across space. Cultural Identity and Contemporary Geography Thought The experiences of women differ from those of men, blacks from whites, gays from straights, and boys from girls. Geographers employ a variety of methods to understand cultural identity and space, including those of poststructuralist, humanistic, and behavioral geography. Poststructuralist geography examines how the powerful in a society dominate, or seek to control, less powerful group, how the dominated groups occupy space, and confrontations that result from the domination. Poststructuralist geographers conceptualize space as the product of ideologies or value systems of ruling elites. Humanistic geography is a branch of human geography that emphasizes the different ways that individuals perceive their surrounding environment. Behavioral geography emphasizes the importance of understanding the psychological basis for individual human actions in space. Distinctive spatial patterns by gender, race, and sexual orientation are constructed by the attitudes and actions of others. Although it is illegal to discriminate against people of color, spatial segregation persists. In many places in the world, it is legal to discriminate against gays. For geographers, concern for cultural diversity in not merely a political expediency; it lies at the heart of geography’s spatial tradition. Unequal Access In the modern world, barriers to interaction are more likely to derive from unequal access to electronics. Internet access depends on availability of electricity to power the computer and a service provider. A person must be able to afford to pay for the communications equipment and service. Countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America find themselves on a periphery with respect to wealthier core regions of North America, Europe, and Japan. The increasing gap in economic conditions between regions in the core and periphery that results from globalization is known as uneven development. In a global culture and economy, every area of the world plays some role intertwined with the roles played by other regions. Connections: Diffusion Recalling the concept of connections from the beginning of the chapter, geographers may analyze three different outcomes of these relationships between people and objects that cross the barrier of space: assimilation, acculturation, and syncretism. Assimilation is the process by which a group’s cultural features are altered to resemble those of another group. The cultural features of one group may come to dominate the culture of the assimilated group. Acculturation is the process of changes in culture that result from the meeting of two groups. Changes may be experienced by both of the interacting cultural groups, but the two groups retain two distinct culture features. Syncretism is the combination of elements of two groups into a new cultural feature. The two cultural groups come together to form a new culture. Diffusion is the process by which a feature spreads across space from one place to another over time. A feature originates at a hearth and diffuses from there to other places. A hearth is a place from which an innovation emerges. Relocation Diffusion The term connection refers to the relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space. Diffusion refers to the spread of anything from a cultural trait, people, things, or ideas from some point of origin (a hearth). Geographers document the location of hearths and the processes by which diffusion carries things elsewhere over time. The spread of an idea through the physical movement of people from one place to another is termed relocation diffusion. When people move, they carry with them their culture, including language, religion, and ethnicity. Expansion Diffusion The spread of a feature from one place to another in an additive process is expansion diffusion. Expansion diffusion refers to the growth of an idea to new areas through a hierarchy (hierarchical diffusion), popular notions or even contact (contagious diffusion), or the spread of an underlying idea divorced from its original context (stimulus diffusion). Connections: Spatial Interaction Some places are well-connected by communications or transportation networks, other are not as much. Contact diminishes with increasing distance and eventually disappears. This trailing-off phenomenon is called distance decay. In the contemporary world, distance decay is much less severe because connection between places takes less time. Geographers apply the term spacetime compression to describe the reduction in time it takes for something to reach another place. Interaction takes place through a network, which is a chain of communication that connects places. Ideas that originate in a hearth are now able to diffuse rapidly to other areas through communication networks. Distant places seem less remote and more accessible to us. Key Issue 4: Why Are Some Actions Not Sustainable? A resource is a substance in the environment that is useful to people, economically and technologically feasible to access, and socially acceptable to use. A renewable resource is produced in nature more rapidly than it is consumed by humans. A nonrenewable resource is produced in nature more slowly than it is consumed by humans. The use of Earth’s renewable and nonrenewable natural resources in ways that ensure resource availability in the future is sustainability. Three Pillars of Sustainability According to the United Nations, sustainability rests on three pillars: environment, economy, and society. Sustainability requires curtailing the use of nonrenewable resources and limiting the use of renewable resources to the level at which the environment can continue to supply them indefinitely. The sustainable use and management of Earth’s natural resources to meet human needs such as food, medicine, and recreation is conservation. Conservation differs from preservation, which is the maintenance of resources in their present condition, with as little human impact as possible. Preservation does not regard nature as a resource for human use. Sustainability’s Critics Biologically productive land is defined as the amount of land required to produce the resources currently consumed and handle the wastes currently generated by the world’s 7 billion people at current levels of technology. The Earth has only 11.4 billion hectares of biologically productive land, so humans are already using all of the productive land and none is left for future growth. Others have said that resource availability has no maximum, and Earth’s resources have no absolute limit because the definition of resources changes drastically and unpredictably over time. Sustainability and Earth’s Physical Systems A biotic system is composed of living organisms. An abiotic system is composed of nonliving or inorganic matter. Three of Earth’s four systems are abiotic. The atmosphere is a thin layer of gases surrounding Earth. The hydrosphere is all the water on Earth or near Earth’s surface. The lithosphere is Earth’s crust and a portion of upper mantle directly above the crust. Only one of Earth’s systems is biotic. The biosphere is all living organisms on Earth, including plants and animals, as well as microorganisms. The long-term average weather condition at a particular location is climate. Climate may be classified into one of five main climate regions, devised by the German climatologist Wladimir Köppen: • A: Humid low-latitude climates. • B: Dry climates. • C: Warm mid-latitude climates. • D: Cold mid-latitude climates. • E: Polar climates. These five main climate regions may be further subdivided, based on the amount of precipitation and the season in which it falls. Ecology and the Biosphere A group of living organisms and abiotic spheres with which they interact is an ecosystem. The scientific study of ecosystems is ecology. Living organisms in the biosphere interact with each of the three abiotic systems. Human geographers are especially interested in ecosystems involving the interaction of humans with the rest of the biosphere and the three abiotic spheres. If the atmosphere contains pollutants or its oxygen level is reduced, humans have trouble breathing. Without water, humans waste away and die. A stable lithosphere provides humans with materials for buildings and fuel for energy. The rest of the biosphere provides humans with food. Cultural Ecology: Integrating Culture and Ecology Human geographers are especially interested in the fact that different cultural groups modify the natural environment in distinctive ways. The geographic study of human-environmental relationships is known as cultural ecology. Environmental determinism, largely dismissed by modern geographers, states that physical factors cause cultures to develop and behave as they do. Environmental determinists believe that human geographers should apply laws from the natural sciences to understanding relationships between the physical environment and human actions. Possibilism recognizes the constraints of the physical environment while also crediting human cultures with the ability to adapt to the environment in many ways—including by changing it. Sustainable Ecosystem: The Netherlands A polder is a piece of land that is created by draining water from an area. All together, the Netherlands has 2600 square miles of polders. The Dutch government has reserved most of the polders for agriculture to reduce the country’s dependence on imported food. The Dutch have also constructed massive dikes to prevent the North Sea from flooding much of the country. A second ambitious project in the Netherlands is the Delta Plan. The low-lying delta in the southwestern part of the country is very vulnerable to flooding. The Delta Plan called for the construction of several dams to close off most of the waterways from the North Sea. The lowlands in South Florida are environmentally sensitive areas, but have been modified less sensitively than those in the Netherlands. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a levee around Lake Okeechobee during the 1930s, drained the northern one-third of the Everglades during the 1940s, and diverted the Kissimmee River into canals during the 1950s. These modifications opened up hundreds of thousands of hectares of land for growing sugarcane and protecting farmland as well as the land occupied by the growing South Florida population from flooding. Polluted water, mainly from cattle grazing along the banks on the canals, flowed into Lake Okeechobee. The modification of barrier islands along South Florida’s coast by humans has caused a lot of damage. Icebreaker This chapter may seem superficial to many instructors, but keep in mind it is new ground for many students. For example, a 2006 National Geographic/Roper poll of Americans aged 18–24 found the following: “48% of young Americans believe the majority population in India is Muslim. . . . Half of young Americans can’t find New York on a map.” This illustrates the challenge you face as a geography educator. Instead of calling attention to these statistics to your students, consider being positive in your introduction, as introducing this chapter will set the tone for the remainder of the course. This is your chance to emphasize the importance of geographic knowledge of all of your students, regardless of their eventual fields of study. What is geography? Why is it important? A class discussion of what geography is, and why it is important, is always a useful place to start with any geography course. Reasons for the importance of geography will vary by instructor, but a useful example of inquiry is provided in this chapter’s presentation of the ways in which the Dutch have altered their environment. Here are some other events to use as examples of geographic relevance at your own discretion: • The Japanese earthquake and tsunami of 2011. This example is another great one, like the Netherlands, to show the interrelatedness of human and physical geography. • The September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center (and other targets). • Ask your students where their footwear, clothing, or cars come from. Is there anything geographic about this? What is the name of your town? Where is that? What is it like? The terminology associated with place and region may be difficult for students to grasp. Explaining how we describe places every day will help build an understanding of how geographers think about place. Try this method in class: Ask the students individually where they are from until a place name not in the immediate area is encountered. If you are not familiar with the place (or even if you are), ask, “Where is that?” Explain that the students are using place names, or toponyms, to describe where they are from, but the place name is only useful as long as everyone knows where the place name is referring to. When a place name is unfamiliar, we need to refer to situation factors (and sometimes site factors) to tell people where a place is. Mathematical location might seem quite abstract to students, but ask how many can list their addresses and zip codes. While not mathematical in the same way as latitude and longitude or UTM coordinates, the street address does represent a unique description of a discrete place. An Internet mapping program (e.g., Google Maps) can be used to demonstrate these concepts. Challenges to Comprehension Scale Many, including professional geographers, confuse large and small scales. The smaller the scale, the larger the area covered. For example a globe is a very small-scale representation of Earth. Yet many persist in referring to global issues as occurring at a “large scale.” To avoid confusion, consider referring to scales as “local”, “regional”, or “global.” This also helps emphasize the text’s themes of global vs. local contrasts. These concepts are reinforced in Chapter 1’s Key Issue 3, Why Are Different Places Similar? Understanding Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Students often confuse a geographic information system (GIS) with the Global Positioning System (GPS). Students rarely understand the importance of GIS to many processes that we take for granted in society. However, there are a variety of Internet resources which demonstrate how much a part of our everyday lives GIS are becoming. Some online examples include: • Zillow (see “Resources” section) • Real property databases managed by county or city governments (e.g., the King County parcel viewer at www.kingcounty.gov/operations/GIS/PropResearch/ParcelViewer.aspx • Numerous “mashups” available on an ever-changing basis (try googlemapsmania.blogspot.com) Vernacular Regions Some have a difficult time with the idea of a vernacular region. The example in the textbook uses a number of overlapping formal regions in an attempt to describe the vernacular region of the South. Consider using another example, especially one without a direction, as these examples can be confusing (students think that a vernacular region must contain compass direction). Cultural Landscapes The concept of a cultural landscape can be misunderstood as a principally environmental landscape. Help students learn about how pervasive cultural landscapes are by showing them some examples from around the world. Note that an Internet search for “cultural landscape” returns a number of results about extraordinary, famous, or unique landscapes; but cultural landscapes are pervasive and students will benefit from being able to interpret the cultural landscape of everyday places like their home towns. The Great Mirror: Dr. Bret Wallach of the University of Oklahoma has posted a remarkable collection of photographs for the purpose of displaying cultural landscapes at his website The Great Mirror, www.greatmirror.com. Another great option is the user-generated content featured on Panoramio (www.panoramio.com), which is also on Google Maps (maps.google.com), indexed under the “More . . . Photos” option. These photos are usually “scenic” features, but it’s possible to find more mundane cultural landscapes, too. Assignments Review/Reflection Questions These questions can be used in addition to the “thinking geographically” questions at the end of each chapter. Students can be assigned these questions as homework, they can be given as essay questions on exams, or they can serve as focus questions for in-class discussions. • Describe the site, situation, and mathematical location of our school (alternative—your hometown). • Name three formal regions that this school is located within and give a reason for each. Do the same for functional and vernacular regions. • Describe an element of your culture that appears to be environmentally determined (caused by the natural environment). Can you now provide evidence that this cultural element is only one of many possibilities in the given environment? • Give a local example of not-so-sensitive environmental modification, as demonstrated in the book’s discussion of the Everglades. Are there multiple ways to achieve the desired result of an environmental modification? Discuss. For additional review and test prep materials, have your students visit Mastering Geography™ to access a variety of resources, including interactive maps, videos, Google Earth activities, RSS feeds, flashcards, web links, and self-study quizzes. Population and Health 2 Learning Outcomes After reading, studying, and discussing the chapter, students should be able to: Learning Outcome 2.1.1: Understand the distribution of the world’s people. Learning Outcome 2.1.2: Understand why some regions have clustered populations and other regions are sparsely inhabited. Learning Outcome 2.1.3: Define three types of density used in population geography. Learning Outcome 2.2.1: Understand historical and recent rates of natural increase. Learning Outcome 2.2.2: Recognize regional variations in fertility and mortality. Learning Outcome 2.2.3: Describe the stages of the demographic transition. Learning Outcome 2.3.1: Understand reasons for varying sex ratios and for reduced birth rates. Learning Outcome 2.3.2: Understand the impact of the demographic transition on the percentages of young and old. Learning Outcome 2.3.3: Understand variations in health-care services between developed and developing nations. Learning Outcome 2.3.4: Summarize the four stages of the epidemiologic transition. Learning Outcome 2.4.1: Summarize arguments supporting and opposing Malthus’s theory of the connection between population and resources. Learning Outcome 2.4.2: Understand the future population of the world’s most populous countries and elements of a possible stage 5 of the demographic transition. Learning Outcome 2.4.3: Understand reasons for a possible stage 5 of the epidemoiologic transition. Learning Outcome 2.4.4: Understand reasons for declining birth rates. Chapter Outline Introduction More people are presently alive than at any other point in Earth’s history, with population growth mostly concentrated in developing countries. Can Earth sustain more than the 7 billion people that currently call it home, let alone the added billions in the future? Geographers have unique perspectives on the ability of people to live on Earth. Population growth in developing countries, such as Indonesia (the fourth most populous country in the world), will greatly affect the future population of the world as a whole. Key Issue 1: Where Are the World’s People Distributed? Introducing Population and Health Geographers examine population problems by first identifying where people are found across the Earth. The location of Earth’s 7 billion people forms a regular distribution. Chapter 2 explains the spatial variation in population growth rates. With the rate of world population growth slowing in the twenty-first century, geographers have turned their attention to the global differences in access to health-care. The study of population geography is especially important for three reasons: • More people are alive at this time than at any other point in Earth’s long history. • Virtually all global population growth is concentrated in developing countries. • The world’s population increased at a faster rate during the second half of the twentieth century than ever before in history; the rate has slowed in the twenty-first century but is still high by historical standards. Overpopulation occurs when the number of people in an area surpasses the ability of the environment to support life at an adequate standard of living. The capacity of the Earth to sustain appreciable population growth differs at varying scales; some regions may feature a favorable balance between people and resources, whereas others may not. The census is the data source most readily used for analysis in population geography. Despite its importance, two issues relating to the census have been identified: • Nonparticipation. Homeless (unsheltered) people, ethnic minorities, and citizens of other countries who do not possess proper immigration documentation may be less likely to participate in the census. • Sampling. Statistical sampling techniques can be used to get a more accurate count, as well as to identify detailed characteristics of people, housing, and businesses. People sympathetic to the needs of the homeless and immigrants have been in support of sampling in contrast to people from more rural areas. Distribution of the World’s People The world’s population is not distributed uniformly; two properties may be employed by Geographers to understand this distribution: concentration and density. These concepts can be displayed cartographically many ways, such as looking at concentration using a cartogram. Population Concentrations Two-thirds of the Earth’s population are clustered in four regions. These four regions are characterized by low-lying terrain, with fertile soil and temperate climate. Concentrations of people are found near oceans (or rivers with easy access to an ocean) rather than in the interior of major landmasses. Four Clusters The four aforementioned population clusters – East Asia, South Asia, Europe, and Southeast Asia, exhibit differences in the pattern of the occupancy of the land. East Asia Nearly a quarter of the Earth’s population is centered in East Asia. East Asia’s population is mostly concentrated in China, but also Japan, North and South Korea, and Taiwan. Population is clustered near fertile river valleys and the Pacific Coast. About half of China’s population reside in urban areas. South Asia Roughly a quarter of the world population lives in South Asia, comprising the countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Population is concentrated along the Indus and Ganges rivers, and also along the two coasts of India (the Arabian Sea to the west and the Bay of Bengal to the east). Europe Four dozen countries constitute Europe, ranging from Monaco (with 1 square kilometer in land area) to Russia (the world’s largest country by land area, including its Asian part). People occupy mostly cities, with three-quarters of Europe’s inhabitants living in urban areas. Southeast Asia Approximately 600 million people live in Southeast Asia, with population concentrated on a series of islands that lie between the Indian and Pacific oceans. This concentration is distinguished by a high percentage of people working as farmers in rural areas. Other Clusters Africa’s two largest population clusters amount to roughly 300 million people, are located along the west coast between Senegal and Mogeroa and along the east coast between Eritrea and South Africa. Most Africans work as farmers. In the Western Hemisphere, northeastern United States, and southeastern Canada make up the largest population cluster, with 100 million people. Sparsely Populated Regions The ecumene describes the areas of permanent human habitation. Examining the changes in ecumene reveal some areas where humans do not live in large numbers. The ecumenes that are sparsely populated are very dry areas, very wet areas, very cold areas, and mountains. There are large cities in the mountains of Mexico and along the Andes because the climate is more temperate in the mountains in Latin America than in the lowlands. Africa also has some populations living at higher altitudes. Dry Lands Twenty percent of Earth’s land surface is covered by areas too dry for farming. While deserts cannot support agricultural activity due to insufficient water supplies, some populations have adapted to these circumstances, raising animals that are tolerant to the climate. Wet Lands Poor soil conditions, caused by very high levels of precipitation and extreme heat, hinder human occupation near the equator. Cold Lands Few humans live near the North and South poles, as much of the land is permanently frozen (permafrost) and few animals capable of domestication are tolerant to the extreme cold temperatures. High Lands Many high elevation areas in the world are inhospitable to human settlement due to the mountains dominating these landscapes being steep and snow covered. Some plateau and mountain regions can support human settlement, especially those at low altitudes (near the equator) where agriculture is possible at high elevations. Population Density The number of people occupying a defined area of land, previously described in Chapter 1 as density, reveal the distribution of people compared to available resources. Three measures of density are widely used by Geographers: arithmetic density, physiological density, and agricultural density. Arithmetic Density In population geography arithmetic density refers to the total number of people divided by the total land area (usually square kilometers or square miles). Arithmetic density enables geographers to compare the number of people trying to live on a given piece of land in different regions of the world. Physiological Density Land suitable for agriculture is called arable land. In a region, the number of people supported by a unit area of arable land is called the physiological density. Physiological density can be considered a rough measure of a country’s food security. A large difference between the physiological density and arithmetic density indicates that most of a country’s land is unsuitable for intensive agriculture. Agricultural Density The number of farmers per area of arable land is the agricultural density. Agricultural density is used by geographers as a measure of development. Many more machines are used for agriculture in more developed countries. With more machines being used in agriculture, fewer farmers are needed. Also, more developed countries have the technology and capital to allow a few people to farm extensive land areas and feed many people. Physiological and agricultural densities may be used in concert to help geographers understand relationships between population and resources in a country. Key Issue 2: Why Is World Population Increasing? Natural Increase The natural increase rate (NIR) is the percentage by which a population grows in a year, excluding growth by migration. Population Growth in History For the several hundred-thousand-year occupancy of Earth, the NIR was essentially zero. While the world NIR peaked in 1963 at a rate of 2.2 percent and has been in decline since the 1990s, the NIR during the second half of the twentieth century was considerably high by historical standards. The number of people added annually has decreased from a historic peak of 88 million in 1989 to the present level of 75 million people. This drop is less acute than the drop in NIR as the world population base is larger now than in the past. World population increased from 3 to 4 billion in 14 years, from 4 to 5 billion in 13 years, from 5 to 6 billion in 12 years, and from 6 to 7 billion in 12 years. The NIR affects the doubling time, which is the number of years required to double a population, assuming a steady rate of natural increase. If the present rate of 1.2 percent per year holds, world population would double in approximately 54 years. Life expectancy is the average number of years an individual can be anticipated to live, assuming current social, economic, and medical conditions remain in place. Life expectancy in developed countries is about 80 years, while in developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa is only 57 years. Regional Variations in NIR More than 95 percent of the natural increase is concentrated in developing countries. In most countries of sub-Saharan Africa, the NIR is greater than 2.0 percent. In contrast to the relatively high NIR in developing countries, Europe’s NIR is negative, meaning that population is in decline (and has been in decline since 1980). Since 1980, 67 percent of the world’s population growth has been centered in Asia, 20 percent in Africa, and 9 percent in Latin America. Births and Deaths Population increases rapidly in locations where more people are born than die, and it decreases in locations where more people die than are born. Fertility The crude birth rate (CBR) is the total number of live births in a year for every thousand people alive in society. Mortality The crude death rate (CDR) is the total number of deaths in a year for every thousand people in society. The Demographic Transition The demographic transition is a model of population change where high birth rates and death rates transition to low birth rates and death rates. It is divided into four stages. Stage 1: Low Growth In stage 1, crude birth and death rates are both high, resulting in a low rate of natural increase. For most of this period, people depended on hunting and gathering for food. When food was easily obtained, a region’s population increased, but it declined when people were unable to locate enough animals or vegetation nearby. There are no countries presently in stage 1. Stage 2: High Growth The move to stage 2 is caused by a rapid decline in crude death rates. Crude birth rates remain high, leading to rapid population growth. Developed regions such as Europe and North America entered stage 2 as a part of the Industrial Revolution. Many less developed countries entered stage 2 much later as a result of the diffusion of medical technologies and knowledge into the less developed world (the medical revolution). Stage 3: Moderate Growth Stage 3 is marked by a drop in fertility, which brings down the crude birth rate and decreases the natural increase rate. A society enters stage 3 when people have fewer children. The decision to have fewer children is partly a reaction to a decline in mortality. The crude death rate in stage 3 societies continues to fall but not as rapidly as the crude birth rate. Stage 4: Low Growth Stage 4 is marked by a nearly equal low crude birth and death rates, and roughly zero natural increase. This condition is called zero population growth (ZPG), a term often applied to stage 4 countries. Stage 4 resembles stage 1 in terms of growth, but otherwise is very different. Total population of a country is much higher in stage 4 than in stage 1. Also, instead of high crude birth and death rates, both are low. Life expectancies are much longer in stage 4 and society is much different. Key Issue 3: Why Do Some Places Face Health Challenges? Health and Gender Females the world over are exposed to a host of challenging health risks that deeply affect the size and composition of the population of individual countries and the world as a whole. Baby Girls at Risk Every year, around 700,000 female babies are “missing” in China and India, as a result of gender-based selection. Over the past several decades, it is estimated that 117 million females have gone “missing” over the past several decades. The number of males per 100 females in the population is the sex ratio. The standard biological level for humans at birth is approximately 105 male babies for 100 female babies. Developed countries have more females than males because on average women live seven years longer than men. The large number of male babies in countries like China and India has raised the possibility that a relatively large number of female fetuses are being aborted due to cultural preferences on the part of parents to have sons rather than daughters. In order to address the imbalance of male to female births, the “root cause” of this sex selection, gender inequality (as defined by the United Nations), must be recognized. Mothers at Risk The maternal mortality rate is the annual number of female deaths per 100,000 live births from any cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy or its management (excluding accidental or incidental causes). The rate in many countries of Africa and Asia exceeds 100 deaths per 100,000 mothers, while fewer than 10 deaths per 100,000 mothers in most European countries. Health and Aging A country’s stage of the demographic transition determines the proportion of people in different age groups. The varying number of people in different age groups reveals the specific health challenges a country faces. Population Pyramids A population pyramid provides graphical insight into the age and sex composition of a locations’ population, with 5-year age cohorts and gender represented by bars. The youngest cohort is located at the base of the graph, while the oldest is at the top. We can tell by one look whether a population is growing rapidly (wide base), has a long or short life expectancy (tall or short pyramid), or is aging and stable (straight sides). Population pyramids help geographers identify which stage of the demographic transition a country occupies. Caring for Young and Old One important way to compare age structure among countries is the dependency ratio, which shows the people who are too young and too old to work, compared to the number of people in their productive years. People who are 0–14 years of age or over 64 years old are normally classified as dependents. The large number of children in a poor country strains the ability of that country to be able to provide needed services such as schools, hospitals, and day care centers. The infant mortality rate (IMR) is the annual number of deaths of infants under 1 year of age, compared with total live births, expressed as the number of deaths among infants per 1,000 births. IMR is an indicator of a country’s health-care system. Lower IMRs are found in countries with well-trained doctors and nurses, modern hospitals, and large supplies of medicine. Life expectancy is most favorable in wealthy countries in Europe and least favorable in the poor countries of sub-Saharan Africa. The “graying” of a country’s population places a burden on the working population to meet the needs of older people for income and medical care after they retire from their job. This burden can be analyzed using the elderly support ratio. The elderly support ratio is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) divided by the number of persons 65 and older. Medical Services Health conditions differ from country to country, and each country possesses different resources for people in need of health care. Health Care Developed countries devote resources to protect populations that are unable to work. Investment into health care comprise more than 15 percent of total government expenditures in Europe and North America, in contrast to the less than 5 percent invested by sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Medical Facilities The state of medical facilities in a developed country mirror the investment in health care. Most countries in Europe have more than 50 hospital beds per 10,000 people, compared to fewer than 5 in sub-Saharan Africa. Health care is available at little or no cost as a public service in most developed countries. The United States, however, is an outlier among developed countries in that private individuals are mandated to pay an average of 55 percent of health care expenses. While robust economic growth allowed for generous programs to be financed by developed countries in the past, sluggish economic growth has prevented these programs from sufficiently servicing populations in need of care. The Epidemiologic Transition Epidemiology is the branch of medical science concerned with the incidence, distribution, and control of diseases that are prevalent among a population at a specific time and are produced by some special causes not generally present in the affected place. The epidemiologic transition, conceptualized by Abdel Omran in 1971, focuses on distinctive health threats in each stage of the demographic transition. Geographic concepts such as scale and connection are utilized by epidemiologists to understand the distribution and method of diffusion of possible epidemics, and to develop control and prevention strategies. Stage 1: Pestilence and Famine In stage 1 of the epidemiologic transition, infectious and parasitic diseases were principal causes of human deaths. Accidents and attacks by animals and other humans were also prevalent causes of death at the time. History’s most violent stage 1 epidemic was the Black Plague (bubonic plague), which was probably transmitted to humans by fleas from migrating infected rats. Stage 2: Receding Pandemics A pandemic is disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects a very high proportion of the population. Improved sanitation, nutrition, and medicine during the Industrial Revolution reduced the spread of infectious diseases. Death rates did not decline immediately and universally during the early years of the Industrial Revolution. Poor people crowded into rapidly growing industrial cities had especially high death rates. An early example of geographic tools used to study epidemiology is the GIS created by Dr. John Snow to determine the source of cholera in London in 1854. Dr. Snow overlaid maps of addresses of cholera victims and the location of water pumps over a map of the Soho neighborhood, displaying a cluster of victims around a single pump on Broad Street. Stage 3: Degenerative Diseases Stage 3 of the epidemiologic transition is characterized by a decrease in deaths from infectious diseases and an increase in chronic disorders associated with aging. Chronic disorders associated with aging include heart attacks and various forms of cancer. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia have the lowest incidence of cancer, primarily because of the relatively low life expectancy in those regions. Stage 4: Delayed Degenerative Diseases The major degenerative causes of death—cardiovascular disease and cancers—linger, but the life expectancy of older people is extended through medical advances. Medical operations and healthier lifestyles increase people’s life expectancy in stage 4 of the epidemiologic transition. On the other hand, consumption of non-nutritious food and sedentary behavior have resulted in increased obesity rates in stage 4 countries. Key Issue 4: Why Might Population Increase in the Future? Population and Resources English economist Thomas Malthus was one of the first to predict that population increases would soon outpace the development of food resources, leading to a dramatic crisis as a result of the strain on resources. Malthus claimed that the populations grow geometrically, while food supply increase arithmetically. England entered stage 2 of the demographic transition several decades before Malthus stated these conclusions. Malthus posited that the only thing to prevent a “Malthusian” crisis would be a country’s population following “moral restraint,” lowering CBRs (unless disease, famine, war, or other disasters produced higher CDRs). Contemporary Neo-Malthusians and Critics Malthus’s views remain influential today. Supporters of Malthus’s model suggest that characteristics of recent population growth pose even greater risks than when Malthus developed his thesis more than 200 years ago. However, criticism has been directed at both the population and resource depletion elements of Malthus’s equation. Evidence from the past fifty years suggest both Neo-Malthusians and their critics are correct in certain aspects their analyses. Population Futures It is vital for geographers and other researchers to project the future world population to assess possible trends in epidemiology, food scarcity, and other issues. The United Nations estimates that the world population in 2100 could grow to 15.8 billion or decline to 6.2 billion, depending on the outcomes of variant projections. Demographic Transition Possible Stage 5: Decline A possible stage 5 of the demographic transition is predicted by demographers for some developed countries. Stage 5 would be characterized by very low CBR, an increasing CDR, and therefore a negative NIR. The population of a country in stage 5 of the demographic transition would be much older. China and India China and India together include more than one-third of the world’s total population. As the world’s two most populous countries, policies instituted in China and India will affect prospects for global overpopulation. China’s Population Policies The core of the Chinese government’s family-planning program has been the One Child Policy, adopted in 1980. Couples in China receive financial subsidies, a long maternity leave, better housing, and (in rural areas) more land if they agreed to have just one child. The government prohibited marriage for men until they are age 22 and women until they are age 20. Rules have changed in the twenty-first century as China has moved toward a market-based economy and families are becoming wealthier. Since 2000, China has had a lower CBR than the United States. The number of people added to China’s population each year has dropped by one-half, from 14 million to 4 million, during the past twenty-five years. Despite China abandoning the One Child Policy in 2015, China’s CBR will likely not dramatically increase due to three decades of intensive educational programs (and coercion). India’s Population Policies India became the first country to embark on a national family-planning program. The government spends several hundred million dollars annually on various family-planning programs including the distribution of birth-control devices and abortions. India’s most controversial family-planning program was the establishment of sterilization camps. A sterilized person was entitled to payment which was roughly equivalent to a person’s monthly income. People were opposed to the sterilization camps because they thought that eventually sterilization would be forced. Epidemiologic Futures While the possible stage 5 of the demographic transition is introduced by an increased elderly population, a theoretical stage 5 of the epidemiologic transition could be brought about by a reemergence of infectious and parasitic diseases. Three reasons help explain the possible emergence of a stage 5 of the epidemiologic transition: evolution, poverty, and increased connections. Possible Stage 5 Cause: Evolution In a possible stage 5, infectious diseases thought to have been eradicated or controlled return, and new ones emerge. Infectious disease microbes have continually evolved and changed in response to environmental pressures by developing resistance to drugs and insecticides. Antibiotics and genetic engineering contribute to the emergence of new strains of viruses and bacteria. Possible Stage 5 Cause: Poverty Infectious diseases are more prevalent in poor areas than other places because unsanitary conditions may persist, and most people can’t afford drugs needed for treatment. Tuberculosis is an example of an infectious disease that has largely been controlled in developed countries but remains a major cause of death in developing countries. Tuberculosis is more prevalent in poor areas because the long, expensive treatment poses a significant economic burden. Possible Stage 5 Cause: Connections As they travel, people carry diseases with them and are exposed to the diseases of others. AIDS The most lethal pandemic in recent years has been AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). 39 million people have died worldwide since the beginning of the epidemic through 2014, and 37 million people currently have HIV (human immunodeficiency virus, the cause of AIDS). 26 million of the world’s 37 million HIV sufferers live in sub-Saharan Africa. Ebola, named for the river in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is a relatively “new” pandemic. The first known victim of Ebola in West Africa was a 2-year old boy in the village of Meliandou, Guinea, who died in December 2013. The virus rapidly spread in early 2014 to isolated villages in Guinea and the neighboring countries Sierra Leone and Liberia, areas among the poorest in the world. While the disease was spread by health care workers who traveled to other places while unknowingly infected, their destinations and homes possessed health-care systems able to treat patients. Family Futures The world CBR steeply declined between 1990 and 2015, from 27 to 20. In developing countries during the same time period, CBR dropped from 31 to 22. Two strategies have been successful in lowering birth rates. Lowering CBR through Education and Health Care Improving local economic conditions is one approach to decreasing crude birth rates. A community with more economic resources can increase expenditures on education and health-care programs that promote lower birth rates. According to this approach, women’s educational opportunities are encouraged, making them more likely to gain employment skills and take economic control over their lives. Women would also have been knowledge of their reproductive rights, letting them make more informed reproductive choices, and increase awareness of available methods of contraception. Improved health-care programs, such as prenatal care, counseling about sexually transmitted diseases, and child immunization, lead IMRs to decline. With the survival of more infants ensured, women would be more likely to choose to make more effective use of contraceptives to limit the number of children. Lowering CBR through Contraception Short-term solutions included in family-planning programs, such as contraception, can reduce crude birth rates much more quickly than prolonged economic shifts. Demand outstrips supply for contraceptives where they are needed most – in developing countries. Places where people have limited access to education and modern communication are susceptible to the acceptance of family-planning concepts; for example, in Bangladesh, 6 percent of married women used contraceptives in 1980 – in 2014, the number rose to 62 percent. Similar trends have been examined in Columbia, Morocco, and Thailand. Contraceptive usage is very low in sub-Saharan Africa, with only 30 percent of married women using them. Cheap and rapid distribution of contraceptives in sub-Saharan Africa could have a relatively large impact on lowering CBR in the region. Introducing the Chapter Chapter 2 opens with a discussion of why the study of population is important. The reasons make a powerful opener to any discussion of the chapter’s contents by emphasizing the “punch” of the fourth Key Issue: Why might population increase in the future? The three reasons we should study population are given as: • More people are alive at this time—about 7 billion—than at any point in Earth’s long history. • Virtually all global population growth is concentrated in less developed countries. • The word’s population increased at a faster rate during the second half of the twentieth century than ever before in history. Icebreakers The “Village of 100” Numerous examples on the web and in the text introduce the concepts of the world’s population as a “global village.” The elementary concept of percentages is dramatized by imagining the world has a population of only 100. This concept is most frequently attributed to Donella Meadow’s “State of the Village” (1990). Beware: While there are many versions of this “village” on the Internet, not all are accurate. It is easiest to use reliably sourced data to construct your own village of 100. With a large enough class you might consider having the students play out the village on a virtual map. I have started a class by handing out 100 note cards to students in a large lecture class with different information on each card. The students then arranged themselves in an outside common area according to the categories on the cards (world regions, more developed/less developed, etc.). Family size In a small class, have students fill out the number of children in their families, including themselves. Collect the slips and organize them in ascending order. Write the distribution on the board. Then ask the following questions: • What is the average family size? Mode? Median? • Is this representative of the average family size in the community (students may need to be reminded that not every couple has children)? • When did most parents start having children? • Do most parents practice conception? • How might these numbers vary elsewhere in the world? The same exercise can be modified for a large-lecture class with a show of hands. Ask students who are only children to raise their hands, followed by those with only one brother or sister, continuing up until there are no more volunteers. It should be easy to estimate the average family size from this show of hands. Population growth model Population Connection publishes a six-minute film on DVD (www.populationconnection.org) modeling population growth from A.D. 1 to 2030, with million-person dots added to a world map as the time progresses (about 5 years/second). Students are initially very bored by the slow progress of human population from A.D. 1 to around 1800. The rapid expansion of human populations in the last 30 seconds of the film stimulates discussion. Challenges to Comprehension Imagining Billions Students can have a very difficult time understanding the scale of world population size and growth. Here is an exercise that can be performed briefly in class (ask students with calculators to help with the calculation) or assigned as independent work: Imagine the equator was entirely land; that is, 40,000 kilometers of Earth’s surface. If we gave every person on Earth one square meter of soil, how many times would the present human population (about 7 billion in 2017) circle the globe? Answer: 40,000 km X 1m/person= 40,000,000 people once around the equator. 7 billion divided by 40,000,000= 175 times Now that your students are imagining a line of people long enough to circle the globe 175 times, have them calculate the speed at which the line would grow at the current population growth rate: 7 billion X .012= 84 million new people every year 84,000,000 m/year= 84,000 km/year 84,000 km/year= 9.59km/hr (Google can do the unit conversion very quickly) 9.59km/hr= a steady jog with no breaks, just to keep up with world population growth for one year! Crude Death Rates Although it is addressed in the first paragraph after the measure is defined, students struggle with understanding how developed countries can have higher death rates than developing ones. It is helpful to take some time to discuss the age structure of a population and how older populations can have a moderately high rate even though the population is healthy. Blaming the Victims Students can be challenged to appreciate how different life in other places can be. Students frequently misapprehend: a) Women in less developed countries often do not have the same reproductive choices as in the more developed world; and b) HIV/AIDS affects many innocent people (some are unforgiving of HIV/AIDS cases over the implied immorality of transmission). To address (a), consider a discussion of what life is like in an underdeveloped country. A series of questions can help lead the discussion to a better understanding: • In a less developed country, how many years of school would a typical girl or boy experience? • Would the answer the answer be different if he or she grew up on a farm or in a city? • If a young woman didn’t want to get married and have children, what choices might she have in a rural community in a less developed country? • What pressures might there be for the same for the woman to marry and reproduce? To address (b), have the class consider whether everyone with HIV/AIDS is responsible for their illness. Students will volunteer several examples, (e.g., mother-to-child transmission). Assignments Review/Reflection Questions • Refer to Table 2-1 on page 50 of your textbook. In terms of food supply, which measure of density is most important when considering whether a country’s population is too large? Why? • Describe the change brought about by the industrial and medical revolutions in terms of population growth. What effect did both revolutions have? • List several differences between the industrial and medical revolutions. Why did both cause a move from stage 1 to stage 2? What is preventing countries now in stage 2 from moving to stage 3? • What did Thomas Malthus predict about population growth? Was he right? Give an example of a neo-Malthusian argument from your own experience (some resource you think might become rare because of population growth). • How is the epidemiologic transition like the demographic transition? How is it different? What does the epidemiologic transition mean when comparing the lives of people in the developed world with the lives of people in less developed countries? For additional review and test prep materials, have your students visit Mastering Geography™ to access a variety of resources, including interactive maps, videos, Google Earth activities, RSS feeds, flashcards, web links and self-study quizzes. Demographic Data Collection and Analysis Purpose: students will look up demographic data for a variety of countries to become more familiar with demographic measures. Choose or have the students choose 6 to 10 countries for analysis. You may wish to give students a representative sample of countries from around the world; if your teaching includes specific international examples it might be useful to include those countries. Data selection: choose widely available data for the students to look up. Have the students assemble the data in a table. Analysis: you may wish to have students perform regression analysis on two or more points of data, or simply to write a reflection on what they learned. Here is an example: Use the following countries in your analysis: Afghanistan Bolivia Cambodia China France Lithuania Tanzania Turkey United States Look up the following information for each country on www.prb.org and assemble it into a table. Your table should be easy to read and fit onto one page. If you cannot fit it onto one page, please make sure that all column and row labels are present on the second page. Crude Birth Rate (Births per 1,000 population) Crude Death Rate Rate of Natural Increase Infant Mortality Rate (Infant deaths per 1,000 live births) Life Expectancy GNI PPP per capita . . . and any other data you find personally interesting. Include a column or row in your table in which you identify which stage of the demographic transition you believe each country to be in. Once you have assembled your table, write a two- to three-page paper (500 to 750 words) on what you have learned from assembling this information: Do there appear to be any trends or relationships between the data? Are there any data that surprise you? For additional review and test prep materials, have your students visit Mastering Geography™ to access a variety of resources, including interactive maps, videos, Google Earth activities, RSS feeds, flashcards, web links and self-study quizzes. Migration 3 Learning Outcomes After reading, studying, and discussing the chapter, students should be able to: Learning Outcome 3.1.1: Understand the difference between immigration, emigration, and net migration. Learning Outcome 3.1.2: Recognize the principal streams of international migration. Learning Outcome 3.1.3: Understand the difference between internal and international migration. Learning Outcome 3.1.4: Describe the different sources of immigrants during the three main eras of U.S. immigration. Learning Outcome 3.2.1: Describe the principal patterns of interregional migration in the United States. Learning Outcome 3.2.2: Describe the principal patterns of interregional migration in several large countries. Learning Outcome 3.2.3: Describe three types of intraregional migration. Learning Outcome 3.3.1: Explain cultural and environmental reasons for migration. Learning Outcome 3.3.2: Explain environmental reasons for migration. Learning Outcome 3.3.3: Understand economic reasons for international migration. Learning Outcome 3.3.4: Describe the demographic characteristics of international migrants. Learning Outcome 3.4.1: Describe government policies that restrict immigration. Learning Outcome 3.4.2: Understand the diversity of conditions along the U.S.-Mexico border. Learning Outcome 3.4.3: Understand the diversity of conditions along the U.S.-Mexico border. Learning Outcome 3.4.4: Understand attitudes toward immigrants in Europe. Chapter Outline Introduction Migration, the permanent movement of people to a new location, is central to the interest of geographers. Geographers study migration because it helps reveal changes in population in places and regions around the world. The cultural exchange that occurs when migrants arrive at new locations also bears significance to geographers. Key Issue 1: Where Are the World’s Migrants Distributed? Migration is a permanent move to a new location, and is a specific type of relocation diffusion. Geographers examine the migration of people across Earth and the basis for the migration. Introducing Migration During the past 7,000 years, humans have diffused from a small portion of Earth’s land area to most of it by migration. Migration is a type of mobility, which is a broad term encapsulating all types of movements from one location to another. Movements that occur on a regular basis (daily, weekly, monthly, or annually), such as commuting from home to work, are called circulation. The flow of migration always involves two-way connections – emigration is migration from a location, while immigration is migration to a location. The difference between the number of immigrants and the number of emigrants is the net migration. If the number of immigrants is greater than the number of emigrants, the net migration is positive, and the region has net in-migration. If the number of emigrants is greater than the number of immigrants, the net migration is negative, and the region has net out-migration. The reasons behind migration are a key interest to geographers, as migration generates profound changes for individuals and cultures at large. Migration to a new location disrupts traditional cultural connections and economic patterns in one region. Migrants bring their language, religion, ethnicity, and other cultural characteristics, as well as methods of farming and other economic practices to their new homes. International Net Migration Nineteenth-century geographer E.G. Ravenstein’s “laws” are the foundation for contemporary geographic migration study. The “laws” are organized into three groups that help us understand where and why migration occurs: • The distance that migrants typically move (discussed in Key Issues 1 and 2). • The reasons migrants move (discussed in the first part of Key Issue 3) • The characteristics of migrants (discussed in the second part of Key Issue 3). International Migration Flows A permanent move from one country to another is international migration. According to the Pew Research Center, approximately 214 million people (3 percent of the world’s population) are international migrants. At the regional scale, the three largest flows of migrants are: • From Latin America to North America • From South Asia to Europe • From South Asia to Southwest Asia Migration from Mexico to the United States represents the largest flow of people from a single country to another single country. The significance of the movement of people from developing countries to developed countries is emblematic of regional migration patterns. North America, Europe, Southwest Asia, and the South Pacific have net in-migration. Latin America, Africa, and all regions of Asia except for Southwest Asia have net out-migration. The United States is home to more foreign-born residents than any other country – roughly 42 million as of 2015, with approximately 1 million additional people arriving annually. International and Internal Migration Geographer E.G. Ravenstein developed a set of laws that help describe human migration. According to Ravenstein: • Most migrants relocate a short distance and remain within the same country. • Long-distance migrants to other countries move to major centers of economic activity. Distance of Migration Migration can take two forms: international or internal. International Migration International migration may be voluntary or forced. Voluntary migration is migration where a person has chosen to move (for economic or environmental reasons), while forced migration means a person was compelled to move (by cultural or environmental factors). This distinction is not always easily identifiable. Internal Migration Internal migration is the permanent movement of a person or people within the same country. Internal migration can be divided into two types: interregional and intraregional. Interregional migration is the movement from one region of a country to another. The movement within the same region of a single country is called intraregional migration. Changing U.S. Immigration The United States is situated in a unique position in the study of international migration, as it is inhabited overwhelmingly by direct descendants of immigrants. About 80 million people migrated to the United States between 1820 and 2015, including 42 million currently alive in 2015. Immigration in the United States can be conceptualized into three main eras: • Colonial settlement in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. • Mass European immigration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. • Asian and Latin American immigration in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. U.S. Immigration at Independence According to the first census in 1790, the U.S. population was 3.9 million, including 950,000 who had immigrated to one of the colonies currently part of the United States. Immigration to the United States in this era primarily came from two key places: Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. Most Africans were forced to migrate to the United States as slaves, while most Europeans were voluntary migrants. All of the colonies in the United States were established on the Atlantic Coast. U.S. Immigration: Mid-Nineteenth to Early Twentieth Centuries From 1840 until the outbreak of World War I, the source regions for new migrants coincided with the Industrial Revolution diffusing from its hearth in Great Britain. The majority of the immigrants that came to the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century came from Germany, Ireland, and Scandinavia. In the early twentieth century many of the immigrants came from Eastern and Southern Europe. U.S. Immigration: Late Twentieth to Early Twenty-first Centuries After World War II most new migrants to the United States came from Asia and Latin America. Asians and Latin Americans have come to the United States in recent decades after many of their countries entered stage 2 of the demographic transition. Key Issue 2: Where Do People Migrate within a Country? Interregional Migration in the United States The expansion of the United States to the western reaches of North America allowed for large-scale internal migration. Through mass interregional migration, the interior of the continent was settled and developed. Changing Center of Population The U.S. Census Bureau computes the population center of the United States every census. The population center is the average location of everyone in the country, the “center of population gravity.” Over the past 200 years, the center has reliably shifted westward, although the rate of this shift has fluctuated over time. 1790: Hugging the Coast Settlement was concentrated along the Atlantic Coast, as colonists depended on shipping links with Europe to receive provisions and to export raw materials. The Appalachian Mountains also presented a physiographic barrier to westward movement. 1800-1840: Crossing the Appalachians Transportation improvements, notably the construction of canals (especially the Erie Canal), encouraged westward settlement. The forested river valleys between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River provided cheap land for enterprising migrants. 1850-1890: Rushing to the Gold The population center drifted further west during the mid- to late nineteenth century. The Gold Rush of the late 1840s pulled people past western frontiers that were not heavily occupied. In fact, explorers such as Zebulon Pike thought of the Great Plains as unfit for agricultural activity, leading many in the United States to conceptualize the region as the Great American Desert. 1900-1940: Filling in the Great Plains Emigration from Europe to the United States offset most of the migration from the East Coast to the U.S. West, preventing a major westward shift of the population center. The Great Plains region was also beginning to pull more migrants, as advances in agricultural technology enabled people to cultivate the landscape. 1950-2010: Moving South The population center not only resumed its westward movement, but shifted southward as well, as Americans moved to the South for job opportunities and warmer climes. Interregional migration has diminished considerably, as regional differences in employment opportunities have receded. Interregional Migration in Other Large Countries Long-distance interregional migration has played an important role in opening new regions for development in countries with large amounts of land area, such as China, Canada, and Russia. Interregional Migration in Canada Mirroring migration patterns in the United States, population expanded westward in Canada over the past 200 years. The two westernmost provinces, Alberta and British Columbia, have had the vast majority of Canada’s current net in-migration, while Ontario has had the most net out-migration. Interregional Migration in Russia The population of Russia is highly clustered in the western (European) portion of the country. In the past, eastward interregional migration was observed, as the Asian portion of Russia was sparsely populated and Communist policy dictated economic development in this region. The Soviet government sometimes forcibly moved people to these isolated areas to provide an adequate supply of labor for this industrial expansion. Interregional Migration in China The predominant flow of interregional migration is from rural to urban areas, where job prospects are higher. More than 150 million people have emigrated from rural areas in the interior of the China. While interregional migration to the east coast was restricted in years past, limitations have been eased recently. Interregional Migration in Brazil While the Brazilian east coast is more heavily populated than its densely forested interior areas, development of the interior region (along with the movement of the capital to Brasília) over the past half century has altered historic migration patterns. The coastal areas now have net out-migration, whereas the interior areas have net in-migration. Intraregional Migration Intraregional migration is a more frequently observed phenomena than interregional or international migration. Most intraregional migration occurs from rural to urban areas in developing countries, while migrants are moving from cities to suburbs in developed countries. Migration from Rural to Urban Areas Beginning with the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, migration patterns in Europe and North America saw people move from rural to urban areas. Developing countries are starting to see similar trends, with agricultural job opportunities disappearing and factory and service prospects in urban areas growing. Migration from Urban to Suburban Areas The majority of intraregional migration in developed countries is from cities to surrounding areas, or suburbs. The population of city-based urban populations in developed countries has decreased since the mid-twentieth century, while suburban areas have grown rapidly. Amenities such as private yards and garages have pulled people to the suburban lifestyle; however, this lifestyle is only possible with access to reliable transportation, such as a car or train. This transportation allows access to jobs, shopping, and recreational facilities. Migration from Urban to Rural Areas The late twentieth century saw the development of a new migration trend: counterurbanization. Counterurbanization is the net migration from urban to rural areas, a phenomena that has results in part from the rapid growth of suburbs. Rocky Mountain states such as Colorado and Utah have specifically experienced counterurbanization in the United States. The development of communication and transportation systems have economically and socially connected once isolated areas, allowing for this trend to take place. Key Issue 3: Why Do People Migrate? Ravenstein’s laws help geographers contextualize the impetus of people who migrate: • Most people migrate for economic reasons. • Cultural and environmental reasons also induce migration, although not as often as economic reasons. While one prevailing reason may be easily identifiable for migration, a mosaic of reasons generally prompts a move. People migrate due to push and pull factors. A push factor motivates people to move from their present location, while a pull factor encourages people to move to a new location. Push and pull factors typically work in tandem for people deciding (or being forced to) to migrate. Cultural Reasons for Migrating The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) recognizes three groups of people who are forced to migrate for political reasons: • A refugee has been forced to migrate to another country to avoid the impacts of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights, or other disasters and cannot return for fear of persecution because race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group, or political views. • An internally displaced person (IDP) has been compelled to move for similar political reasons as a refugee but has not migrated to a different country. • An asylum seeker is someone who has migrated to another country in the hope of being recognized as a refugee. In 2014, The UN counted 19.5 million refugees, 38.2 million IDPs, and 1.8 million asylum seekers. The largest number of refugees in 2014 were forced to migrate from Afghanistan and from Syria due to prolonged civil wars in each respective country. Countries bordering Afghanistan and Syria took in the largest share of refugees – Pakistan and Iran from Afghanistan and Lebanon and Turkey from Syria. Trail of Tears Under the Indian Removal Act of 1830, Native Americans were forced to move from the lands they had historically occupied in the southeastern United States to Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma). The Choctaw were forced to emigrate from Mississippi in 1831, the Seminole from Florida in 1832, the Creek from Alabama in 1834, the Chickasaw from Mississippi in 1837, and the Cherokee from Georgia in 1838. 25 million acres of land were opened up for white settlement by these five removals. Many of the 46,000 Native Americans forced to move died on the journey to Indian Territory, with a dry climate unsuitable for agricultural activity awaiting them in the west. The route taken by these Native Americans is now known as the Trail of Tears; parts of it are preserved as a National Historic Trail. Environmental Reasons for Migrating People will sometimes migrate for environmental reasons. They are pulled toward physically attractive regions and pushed from hazardous ones. Many people are forced to move by water-related disasters because they live in a vulnerable area like the floodplain of a river. A lack of water will often force people to migrate from an area. Deterioration of land to a desert like condition, typically due to human activity, is known as desertification (or more precisely, semiarid land degradation). For instance, the areas of Africa capable of sustaining human life has deteriorated due to population growth and persistent drought. An environmental or political feature that deters migration is an intervening obstacle. While long-distance passage over land or sea was the traditional environmental barrier to international migration, transportation improvements have diminished the prominence of environmental features as intervening obstacles. Migrating to Find Work Most people migrate for economic reasons, often due to a lack of job opportunities. Economic restructuring impacts job prospects both internationally and intraregionally. Economic Reasons for Migrating Throughout history, the United States and Canada have drawn economic migrants. While Europeans historically immigrated to the United States and Canada, today many people emigrate from Latin America and Asia, pulled by the economic prospects offered by these two North American countries. Sometimes, it is difficult to categorize migrants coming to the United States, Canada, and European countries – many move for economic reasons, while others flee government persecution. This distinction between the two is important because these destinations treat these two groups differently. Economic migrants are generally not admitted unless they possess special skills or have a close relative already in the new country, while refugees receive special priority in most cases. Asia’s Migrant Work Some countries allow people to immigrate on a temporary basis for economic reasons, most notably in Asia and Europe. South and East Asia The world’s largest sources of economic migrants emigrate from South and East Asia, with more than 2 million people emigrating from India, Bangladesh, China, and Pakistan every year. 50 million Chinese and 25 million Indians live abroad, with the United States and other Asian countries being prominent destinations. Southwest Asia Economic migrants from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, and other Southeastern Asian countries travel to the oil-rich countries of Southwest Asia for work. The United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia host these immigrants, although working conditions have been considered poor in some of these countries. Remittances The transfer of money by workers to people in the country from which they emigrated is a remittance. The total amount of remittances worldwide was $550 billion in 2013, with this figure rising by nearly 10 percent every year. In 2013, India was the biggest recipient of remittances, bringing in $71 billion, followed by China with $60 billion. Gender and Age of Migrants Ravenstein detailed distinctive gender and family-status patterns in his laws: • Most long-distance migrants were male. • Most long-distance migrants were adult individuals rather than families with children. Gender of Migrants Ravenstein theorized that males were more likely to migrate long distances to other countries than females because economic push and pull factors were the main reasons for international migration, and males were more likely than females to be employed. This theory held true for people immigrating to the United States during the nineteenth and most of the twentieth centuries, when 55 percent were male. However, since 1970, female immigrants have outnumbered their male counterparts, comprising 55 percent of the total. This trend can also be observed in other developed countries. Ravenstein theorized two reasons for this shift: • The high percentage of females in the workforce of developed countries attracts a high percentage of female immigrants. • Some developed countries have allowed wives to join husbands who have already immigrated. This pattern is not present in developing countries, where male immigrants still outnumber female ones. Age of Migrants Ravenstein theorized that most long-distance migrants were young adults seeking job opportunities rather than children or elderly people. Recent migration trends in the United States mirror this theory in some aspects, but not in others: • Most U.S. immigrants are young adults, reflecting Ravenstein’s laws. 49 percent of recent immigrants to the United States are between the ages of 20 and 39. • Only 5 percent of recent U.S. immigrants are over the age of 65. However, in developing countries, the elderly are more likely to migrate, comprising 8 percent of immigrants. • Children under the age of 20 make up 21 percent of immigrants to the United States, while in developing countries, 23 percent of the same cohort are migrants. The number of unaccompanied minors attempting to enter the United States without proper documentation has skyrocketed in recent years, due to a mix of pull and push factors. 90 percent of the children between 12 and 17 trying to immigrate to the United States have been males – these teenage boys are pushed by increasing gang violence in their home countries (such as Honduras and El Salvador), and pulled to the United States because of rumors that deportation will not happen if they are caught. Key Issue 4: Why Do Migrants Face Challenges? Government Immigration Policies Most countries, including the United States, have instituted selective immigration policies that admit some types of immigrants while barring others. Visas are typically granted for specific employment placement and family reunification. The United Nations categorizes countries according to four types of immigration policies: (1) maintain the current level of immigration, (2) increase the level, (3) reduce the level, (4) no policy. Emigration policies are identified by the same four classes. Unauthorized Immigration Migrants who enter the United States without proper documents are called unauthorized immigrants. More than half the unauthorized immigrants in the United States emigrated from Mexico. Academic observers favor the term “unauthorized immigrants” when referring to this group of immigrants, while “undocumented immigrant” is preferred by some of the groups that advocate for more rights for these individuals. An estimated 8 million unauthorized immigrants are employed in the United States, comprising 5 percent of the total U.S. civilian work force. They are most likely to be employed in construction and hospitality industries. The states with the largest number of unauthorized immigrants are California and Texas, while Nevada has the highest proportion of unauthorized immigrants. 61 percent of unauthorized adult immigrants have been in the United States for 10 years or more, 23 percent for 5 to 9 years, and 16 percent for less than 5 years. U.S. Quota Laws The United States has long used quota laws to limit the source regions and numbers of new migrants. The Quota Act and the National Origins Act, passed in 1921 and 1924, respectively, limited the number of immigrants admitted to the United States during a one-year period. Quota laws were historically preferential to Europeans. Today’s quotas give preference to talented and skilled workers in wanted professions which in the long run harms the countries these professionals are emigrating from. This situation is called brain drain. Presently, many professionals from Asian countries are immigrating to the United States, contributing to brain drain in their native countries. Family members of these professionals are also given preference in quota laws, with chain migration drawing these family members to the destinations these professionals have moved to in the United States. Chain migration is the migration of people to a specific location because relatives or members of the same nationality previously migrated there. U.S.-Mexico Border Issues The United States has constructed a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border that covers approximately one-fourth of the border’s length, but locating the border is difficult in sparsely inhabited, remote areas. Mexicans oftentimes urge understanding and sympathy for the plight of the immigrants trying to cross the border. Migration Policy Disputes American citizens are divided concerning whether unauthorized migration helps or hurt the country. This ambivalence extends to certain elements of immigration law. While many Americans would like to see more effective border patrols and physical barriers, such as fences, constructed to prevent unauthorized border crossings, they cannot agree on the funding of these expenditures. Most Americans acknowledge that unauthorized immigrants take jobs that no American citizen will reliably take, so they support some type of temporary work visa to allow them to work in the United States. Americans also favor letting law enforcement officials stop and verify the legal status of anyone they suspect of being an unauthorized immigrant; however, citizens also fear civil rights may be violated in doing so. Additionally, Americans believe that enforcement of unauthorized immigrants is a federal, and not local, government responsibility. Arizona and Alabama are examples of states that have passed restrictive laws aiming to identify unauthorized immigrants, while more than 100 localities across the country have passed resolutions supporting more rights for these same immigrants – a movement known as “Sanctuary City.” Europe’s Immigration Crisis Immigrants from the relatively poorer Southern and Eastern Europe are drawn to the economically more developed Northern and Western Europe. These immigrants are employed in industries that are typically eschewed by citizens in these Northern and Western Europeans countries. Migration Patterns in Europe European countries collectively have around 40 million immigrants. This total includes 20 million who have migrated from one European country to another and 20 million who have emigrated from outside the continent. The flow of migrants within Europe is primarily from east to west. Prior to 2014, most immigrants coming to Europe came from neighboring countries, such as Morocco and Turkey. As a result of the prolonged conflict in Syria, Afghanistan, and North Africa, the number of refugees entering Europe has grown tremendously. These refugees have confounded many governments across Europe, with many struggling to devise balanced policies that will accommodate refugees while protecting the interests of its citizens. The land and sea routes to Europe taken by these refugees are perilous, with more than 1,000 perishing by drowning in the Mediterranean or by suffocating in sealed trucks. Guest Workers Germany and other wealthy European countries instituted guest worker programs, in which immigrants from poorer countries were permitted to immigrate temporarily to obtain employment. These guest worker programs (operated primarily during the 1960s and 1970s) were anticipated to be examples of circular migration, which is the temporary movement of a migrant worker between home and host counties to seek employment. Guest workers were anticipated to return to their home countries once their work was done. Most of these migrants have remained permanently in Europe, becoming citizens of the host country. Attitudes Toward Immigrants In Europe, immigrants make up 8 percent of Europe’s population, including 4 percent who migrated from one European country to another, and 4 percent who emigrated from outside the continent. The immigrant population makes up 13 percent of the total population in the United States, and 21 percent of the total population in Canada. Many political parties in countries across Europe have adopted hostile positions toward immigrants, labeling them as the source of crime, unemployment, and high welfare costs. They also claim that these immigrants are eroding the longstanding cultural traditions of the host country. Demographic change has played a major role in the source of this hostility, with most European countries currently in the fourth stage of the demographic transition. With very low or negative NIR, immigrants are now the sole source of population growth. Icebreakers Oregon Trail Many students in American classrooms have played “Oregon Trail,” a computer simulation of some of the challenges faced by migrants to the American West. Mentioning this game is likely to generate examples of physical barriers to migration: the sheer distance, river crossings, deserts, and other challenges such as disease, exhaustion, and hunger. Class Discussion Topics In 2011, Alabama enacted a law that prohibited or restricted unauthorized immigrants from attending public schools or colleges. Do you think that the citizens of Alabama should pay more in state taxes because the federal government has not effectively controlled the border? Should the federal government have an obligation to fully or partially reimburse the taxpayers of Alabama for the education of unauthorized immigrants? Do you think that the denial of public education will possibly deter unauthorized immigration into Alabama? Americans purchase products made in foreign countries using cheap labor. Is this any different than allowing low-cost labor to immigrate to the United States? How? Why are employers who knowingly hire undocumented immigrants under less scrutiny than the immigrants themselves? Challenges to Comprehension Mobility vs. Migration Most college students have a great degree of mobility, much greater than that experienced by much of the world’s population. Therefore, students may have a difficult time imagining how little many people around the world actually move and how significant a migration decision is. Illustrating the significance can be helped with a discussion of the difficulty of obstacles, both cultural and physical, faced by migrants. An understanding of how few resources most migrants have is especially useful. This understanding also aids students in comprehending chain migration, as migrants are likely to travel where they have a connection to family or a group from their home country. Another approach is to ask students about where, provided they have the money, they would like to travel. Write a list of their favored destinations. Now ask the students whether there are any places on the list where citizens of which are not free to visit the United States. A healthy discussion should follow. Refugee/Internally Displaced Person The United Nations defines a refugee as “a person who has a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.” Most internally displaced people are essentially refugees that have not crossed an international boundary. For example, apartheid policies in South Africa forced approximately 3.6 million blacks to migrate to government-created homelands within the country. Sudan is estimated to have nearly 5 million internally displaced people due to the ongoing civil unrest. Sometimes countries will forcibly relocate people if it is deemed to be in the best interests of the country. China forcibly relocated 10 to 17 million people from urban areas to rural communities because they wanted to ease pressure arising from high urban unemployment. The Soviet government forced people to migrate to the Far North to construct and operate steel mills, hydroelectric power stations, mines, and other enterprises. Explain the concept of eminent domain to the students. Ask the students if they think eminent domain is basically a small scale version of what China and the Soviet Union did. Ask the students if they would be upset if their family had to relocate because of eminent domain. Assignments Review/Reflection Question • Name an economic, social, and environmental “push” factor (three in all) that would make you migrate, and explain each one. Do the same for three “pull” factors. Make sure you demonstrate an understanding of the difference between mobility and migration in your answer. • Why did 40 million Europeans leave for the United States to face unknown challenges in America? Answer as though you were a European in the late 1800s preparing to migrate and give your reasons for leaving Europe as well as your reasons for choosing America. • Why are new migrants to an area frequently the butt of racist or ethnic jokes? Explain in the context of the history of European emigration to the United States. Which groups were more frequently made fun of? • Describe an interregional move made by your family, some friends, or some others you know. Explain their migration decision using terminology from the book. Do the same for an intraregional move. • Based on your migration history, consider any “cultural baggage” that you have inherited. This baggage may include sports teams allegiance, food, language, dress, and behavior. For additional review and test prep materials, have your students visit Mastering Geography™ to access a variety of resources, including interactive maps, videos, Google Earth activities, RSS feeds, flashcards, web links, and self-study quizzes. Instructor Manual for The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography James M. Rubenstein 9780321831583, 9780321956712, 9780321831576, 9780132435734
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