Professor - Department of Geography€¦ · Course Objectives By utilizing data bases, maps, and...

GEOGRAPHY 101 Policy Statement-Course Outline

World Cultural Geography

Dr. BE Self Spring 2014 of 17

Burl Self, EdD, MAPA, MGeo, AICP Spring 2014

Professor - Department of Geography Office: Exploratory 2218

MWF 230-330 Innovation Room 132

Course Description

This course is a study of the culture, economy, demographics, political and physical geography of the world’s major regions. Before you began this course, you may have associated geography with basic questions, such as “what is the capital of Mexico or Japan?” As you will learn, geography combines the academic disciplines of culture, ethnicity,archaeology, history, military science, anthropology, political science, economics, meteorology.

Course Objectives

By utilizing data bases, maps, and wide range of other information sources:

Understand the global significance and public interest in the world’s major cultural regions of Europe, North America, Central and South America, Asia and Middle East including supranational organizations,insurgencies and

National movements.

Understand the importance of each major world region relative to:people and the land,cultural impacts on political geography,urbanization,conflict and foreign policy.

Understand and use both library and on-line data sources.

Course Textbook: None required

Examinations, Attendance and Grading Scale

Weekly examinations will be given. These take-home exams are based on major points identified in course lectures. The questions will be announced on Thursday of each week, and a print-copy of examination’s answers is due no later than 230 p.m. the following Friday. Only print (no handwritten) copies will be accepted. No late work will be accepted. In the interest of classroom empowerment, these exams may on occasion be graded in class. Attendance or lack there of will significantly affect your grade.No late work accepted.

Grading Scale A= 90-100% B= 80-89% C= 70-79% D= 60-69% F= <59%

Affirmative Action/Non Discrimination Policy

GMU is an Equal Opportunity institution, and maintains a grievance procedure incorporating due process available to any person who believes he or she has been discriminated against. At all times, it is your right to address inquiries or concerns. Refer to the current GMU catalog and/or Student Handbook for specific directions. I strongly support the University’s nondiscrimination policy.

Students with Disabilities:

All reasonable accommodations will be made. Let me know how I can help you.

Academic Integrity

GMU’s Honor Code and policies will be strictly enforced. All members of the GMU community share the responsibility and authority to challenge and make known acts of apparent academic dishonesty. Any person detected participating in




any form of academic dishonesty in this course will be subject to actions as described in our Honor Code. Plagiarism is using someone else’s words, ideas, or data as your own without giving the owner credit. For example, when writing a paper, the verbatim copying of even a sentence from a book or journal article without acknowledging the source of the information is an act of plagiarism. We are expected to assimilate information and derive our own ideas and words. Because plagiarizing words, data, and ideas is unethical, it will not be tolerated in this class. Anyone caught cheating will be assigned an “F” for the course. Cheating and Plagiarism are defined in other university publications.




Europe

A. Western Europe, UK, and Ireland

1. EU and Trade (European Integration)

2. The last legacy of Colonization

3. Physical geography-Rhine

4. German Ruhr, Weberian Triangle

5. NATO and Supra nationalism

B. Eastern Europe

1. Balkanization (old Yugoslavia)

2. Irredentism (Serbs, Croats, Macedonia, Czechs).

3. Geostrategic value of the European Plain; WWII.

4. Eurasian Transportation corridors and the New Silk Road

C. Northern Europe

1. Denmark-Trade Center Geostrategic location (Denmark Straits and St. Petersburg.

2. Norway-Oil and Fish

3. Sweden-Most economically diversified (Kirura iron ore deposits, WWII, Nazi Germany and the Norwegian port of Narvik)

4. Finland-natural resources; geopolitical relationships with Germany and Russia

D. Mediterranean Europe

1. Rome, Greece, Macedonian Empires

2. Connecting tissue with Africa and SW Asia.

3. Italy-G8

4. Iberia: Columbian contact

5. Greece, Turkey, and the Cyprus question




Russia

A. Climate

1. Permafrost

2. Winters

3. Rain and snowfall patterns

B. Physical regions

1. Tundra (Artic) Siberia

2. Taiga (Great Northern Forest) Siberia

3. Steppe (Grassland)

4. Desert (Central Asia)

C. Isolation (longest and most useless coastline in the world)

1. St. Petersburg and the Baltic (least important)

2. Moscow and the Black Sea (most important)

3. Turkish Straits (Bosporus, Dardanelles)

4. Vladivostok (Sea of Japan)

D. Wealth of Natural Resources (world’s most comprehensive)

1. Oil (Caspian Sea north to Siberian Lowland)

2. Gas (huge Siberian fields)

3. Coal (one of world’s largest resources)

4. Iron Ore (Kursk Magnetic Anomaly-KMA)

E. Great Patriotic War (WWII) Russian Culture and German Equipment Failures

1. Operation Barbarossa

2. The role of Geography in the defeat of Nazi Germany

3. The Russian Steppe and Superiority of Russian equipment

4. The Russian weapons of distance and space

F. Sino- Russian Geopolitical Relationships-Clash of Cultures and Land Focused Imperatives

G. Summary of old USSR political geography as it relates to modern nation-states of region.

H. The Caucasus: Soft Under Belly of Russia,Ethnicity and Insurgent Movements




North America

A. Cultural Geography

1. First Americans

a. Black Water Draw, NM (Paleo) b. Alibates Quarry, TX c. Spiro Mound d. Cahokia e. Meadowcroft, PA f. First European contacts?

2. Native America

a. Tribal geography (Historical Period) b. War and Conflict: Treaties and Agreements c. Modern period geography of Trust Land: Navajo, Crow, Osage d. Famous leaders: Crazy Horse, Night-Horse Campbell, Jim Thorpe

3. Latin America

a. Mexican War 1847 and the SW b. Latino communities and immigration impacts c. Geography of the North American Latino population

4. African-Americans

a. Central Cities, Inner-Cities b. African-American leaders c. the issue of reparations

B. Urban Geography

1. Super Cities (Atlantic Seaboard, Piedmont, Lower Great Lakes, Main Street, Florida, Texas, California, and NW)

2. Forces which affect the urban geography of the North American City

a. Economic forces (Capitalization) b. Public Interest forces (Planning and Zoning) c. Physical forces (flood plains, seismic forces) d. Social forces (ethnicity, socioeconomic stratification e. Transportation geography: the core of land value is accessibility

C. Demography

1. Mobility

2. Immigration

3. Population counts and projected increases; urban versus rural

4. Electoral College

5. Geo-demographics and economic power




D. Canada

1. BNA 1867

2. Natural resource based economy

3. Trade relations with U.S. NAFTA

4. Geography of population

5. Supernatural environment and ecotourism.

Middle America

A. Mexico(Indios and Mestizos People) Major US Trade Partner.

1. Economy and Border Industry Program (Cirdod Juarez, Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo, Tijuana)

2. Impact of NAFTA

3. War with U.S.

a. 1847 b. 1916 4. The Gadsen Purchase

5. 1910 Revolution (the 1st

big revolution of the 20th

Century).

a. Villa (North)

b. Zapata (South); Zapatistas of Chiapias

6. Benito Juarez-Letters to my children

B. Mainland Central America

1. Civil War and U.S. involvement: Soccar War, Blanket Security Agreement and the fall of Nicaragua (El Salvador, Honduras, and Miskito Indios-CONTRAS)

2. Panama-Geopolitical history from Gold Rush to Canal completion 1914. Invasion 1989; Chinese management; a global choke point. U.S. Purchase of Danish Virgin Islands in 1917 to protect Canal

3. CAFTA

C. Caribbean (Sea of the Carib Indians)

1. Bahamas- 1st

land fall of Columbus October, 1492.

2. Cuba and Puerto Rico: The Spanish American War

3. Cuba: Castro and the U.S.

a. Bay of Pigs b. Cuban Missile Crisis c. Why not trade?

4. Europe in the Caribbean a. Early history: the Spanish Convoy system b. Martinique, Guadeloupe (France) c. Netherlands Antilles d. British Virgin Islands




D. Cultural and Ecotourism of Middle America

1. Aztec, Olmec, Toltec

2. Maya

3. Leeward Islands: low rainfall, white sand beaches (limestone geology)

4. Windward Islands: high rainfall, brown sand beaches (Volcanism)

South America

A. Physical and Cultural Geography and Ecology of South America

1. Andes-most geological unstable in the world; longest.

2. Amazon River Basin: at a minimum generates over half of the world’s oxygen and water. World’s largest river draining over 14 billion gallons of water per second during rainy season. Basin two-thirds the size of 48 United States.

3. Peru Current: In shore and off shore world class fishery.

4. 600 mile E.E.Z. of Ecuador to protect one of the world’s largest tuna fisheries.

B. A Geopolitically Active Region

1. Essiquebo River Issue: Venezuela versus Guyana

2. War of the Pacific: Chile versus Bolivia

3. Gran Chaco Wars

4. Argentina versus Malvinas or Falklands and UK (Falklands War)

C. Choke Points: Tierra Del Fuego (Cape Horn, Drake Passage, Magallanes Straits)

D. Economic Integration

1. U.S. interest: Big Emerging Markets of Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina

2. Mercosur

3. Andean Community

4. Group of three

5. NAFTA and Free Trade Area of the Americans

6. Importance of South American and Middle American natural resources to U.S. economy: Venezuelan, Columbian, Ecuadorian, and Mexican oil; Surinamese and Jamaican bauxite; coffee, bananas, and tropical hardwoods. “Economic prosperity is not possible without access to natural resources.”

E. An urban region with a larger population than that of the U.S.

F. Drug War

1. Columbia-Cocaine (Civil War)

2. Bolivia- Cocaine (Indians economy)

3. Mexico- Transshipment point

4. Middle America-staging area for drug smuggling into the U.S.




North Africa and Southwest Asia (the Arab world, the Islamic world, etc.)

A. A great desert region extending from South Asia west to the Atlantic Ocean.

1. Sahara and Sahel

2. Dasht Kavir (Dead Heart of Iran)

3. Water and land define the distribution of people and cities:

a. White and Blue Nile b. Jordan c. Tigris and Euphrates

4. Water is the resource of conflict in the future of the Middle East.

B. Geopolitically the connecting tissue of three continents: Europe, Africa, and Asia. Major globally strategic Choke Points include:

1. Suez

2. Gibraltar

3. Hormuz

4. Bal al Mendeb

5. Dardanelles

6. Bosporus

7. Khyber Pass

8. Bolens Pass

C. Islam, Oil and Aridity predominating characteristics

1. 93% Muslim, 3% Christina, 2% Jewish, 2% other; Arabic spoken by 57% of population.

2. The Arabian Gulf and Caspian Basin may hold over 80% of world’s proved oil reserves (Ghawar and Burgan fields).

3. The Sahara Desert (Arabic for “hot desert”) is the world’s largest.

D. Example Cultural Civilizations and Empires include:

1. Hittite-Asia Minor

2. Assyrian-Mesopotamia

3. Egyptian-Nile Basin

4. Persian-Iran

5. Mongol- Central Asian

6. Almothod-Berber (Morocco, Spain)

7. Alvolhod- Berber (Morocco, Spain)

8. Byzantine-Asia Minor

9. Islamic Empire

10. Turkish Empire

11. Various European Colonies (British, French, Italian, Spanish, and in Central Asia, Russian, and Chinese).




E. Islam (93% of total population)

1. Sunni (85%)

2. Shi’a (15%)- 90% of Shi’a are in Iran.

3. Sufi (undetermined)

4. Important locations

a. Makkah (Saudi Arabia) b. Medinah (Saudi Arabia) c. Al-Quds (Jerusalem) d. Kaireouan (Tunisia)

5. the pillars of Islam: prayer, alms giving, fasting, and pilgrimage.

6. Issues:

a. Islamic Revivalists (HAMAS, Hizboullah, Al Qaeda), the Islamic Right

b. the political left: PDFLP, PFLP, PLO (secular)

c. the increasingly globalization of Islam (religion is becoming more personal and private).

d. Secular versus religious states of the Middle East (Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, Turkey versus Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Sudan).

F. Impacts of Culture/Religion on Political Geography 1. Balfour Declaration

2. King-Crane Commission

3. Sykes-Picot

a. Palestine (British) b. Syria (French) c. Lebanon (French) d. Jordan (British)

4. Somalia (British, French, and Italian)

5. Kuwait and Iraq (British)

6. Trucial Oman and Truce States (Sultanate of Oman and United Arab Emirates).

7. Russian conquest of Turkistan

G.Islamic World Pipeline Geography and Geostrategic value of region:

1. Ceyan (Turkey-Black Sea) U.S. influence project

2. Caspian Basin-Iranian interests

3. Caspian Basin- Russian interests

4. New Silk Road (natural gas and Central Asian pipeline)

5. E.U. transportation corridors from Central Asia to Eastern Europe




H. Force and State Craft in the Caucasus: Interdicting Jihadist Access to WMD and IED Resources

1. Aral Sea weapons dumps

2. Stolen nuclear materials

3. IED: IMX and HMX explosive materials

4. Security Belts; the Caucasus and Central Asia.

5. Insurgencies and drugs

I. Arab-Israeli Conflict

a. Wars and current political geography

1. 1948 war (Independence)

2. 1956 war (Suez)

3. 1967 war (6 Day)

4. 1973 war (Yom Kipper)

5. Intafahda (Rising)

b. Gaza and West Bank: the issue of water and settlement

c. Jordan Aquifer

e. Economic integration

f. One person one vote a possible key to the political enfranchisement of the Palestinian in Israel

J. Afghanistan:Geopolitical Key to Central asia

1. Geostrategic value

2. Anglo-Afghan wars; war with Russia

3. the Pathan Tribes, Hazara, Tajiks

4. Physical geography and land based choke points




Southern Africa or Sub-Saharan Africa

A. Physical geography and ethnicity

1. Moslem Arab North and Black African South: the Sahel transition zone.

2. Precipitation and Africa’s ecosystem

3. River Basins: a. Congo b. Niger c. Orange d. Vaal e. Limpopo f. Zambesi

4. Mts. Of the Moon and Fountains of the White Nile

5. East African Grassland or Savanna (world’s most productive large mammal ecosystem)

6. Great Rift Valley

B. Colonial Period:Western Culture’s Impact on Modern Political Geography

1. Exploration a. Portuguese-slaving b. Arab-slaving c. Mongo Park d. H.M. Stanley e. Richard Burton f. Count Brazza g. David Livingston

2. Berlin Conference-1887 and Conquest of Africa

3. By 1904 all African territory part of European Colonial Empire

4. Wars-Zulu, Hereo and others, Africans fought back; Rhodesia 1966

5. Portuguese defeat and retreat from Angola and Mozambique 1974-75

C. Wealth of Africa: Natural Resources.World Class Reserves Include:

1. Oil-Guinea Coast (Nigeria and Angola) Cambria Enclave

2. Gabon Iron Ore, oil and timber

3. Gold, platinum-RSA

4. Bauxite, Guinea

5. Cobalt-Congo

6. Copper-Zambia




D.Culture/ Ethnicity

1. over 1,000 languages and dialects spoken in Africa

2. Bantu one of the largest and most widespread of languages spoken in Africa

3. Bantu-Arabic combined over time to form a trade language that today is referred to as Swahili (the official language of Kenya and Tanzania).

4. Hutu versus Tutsi (Rwanda and Gurundi)

E. RSA (Republic of South Africa)

1. Over half of Africa South’s GNP is generated by this one economy

2. Most industrialized

3. During colonial period the southern Africa rail and road network focused on South Africa; it continues to do so to this day.

4. Zulu- Inkatha (Freedom Party)

5. Pan Tribal-ANC

6. Afrikaans - National Party

7. Zulu War and Boer War

F. Aids and the future of Africa

G. China and Africa’s mineral wealth: A geopolitical and foreign policy priority.




South Asia

A. Physical Geography

1. Great Northern Wall

a. Suleiman Range b. Hindu Krish c. Karakoram d. the Roof of the World-Pamics

2. Choke Points-Khyber, Bolens and Chumbi Passes

3. The Himalayans: Mother of the Great Rivers of Asia (Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Bengal)

4. The South Asian Wet Monsoon (Giver of Life to over one billion people)

5. East West Ghats; Malabar and Coromandel Coasts or India

B.Culture, Demography, Religion and Political Geography of South Asia

1. The early civilizations: Aryan, Mongol, Hindu

2. The British Raj

a. Occupation and aggression, East India Co. b. Anglo- Afghan Wars, the Great Fame in Central Asia c. Sepoy Uprising d. Direct Rule e. Partition into Moslem and Hindu South Asia and continuing conflict.

f. Kashmir Issue: India, Pakistan and China, Russia

3. Force allocation: A Military draw-no winner possible (attacker defender ratios)

4. The Sino-Indian War; current Chinese economic and political interests in the Himalaya.

5. Socio-economic and demographic comparisons of South Asia nation-states.

6. India as a Big Emerging Market and foreign policy priority of the U.S.

7. India is the world’s second largest (after China) unfulfilled energy market.




East Asia

A. The Chinese(Han) Economic Area

1. Economic Power

a. PRC- Fastest economic growth in the world (1992 at 13%) continues at a rapid pace. b. South Korea-rapid urbanization, exports rising; must import almost all natural resources; one of

world’s leading fishing countries. Food imports at top. c. North Korea-state law-all adults must work. Economic growth less than 1%. Hostilities with South

Korea since 1945. Korean War impacts are still felt in both countries. d. Taiwan-strong economic growth; major trade partner with U.S. no longer recognized as a nation-

state. Strong trade and other economic relationship with China continue.

2. Geopolitics (PRC dominant political power of East Asia)

a. Rise of the Dragon-the PRC seeks military parity with the U.S. and India. Largest naval and airforce expansion and re-building in PRC history. China entering into relationships (military economic and political) with Russia and India. U.S. responding with huge build up in Pacific with Taiwan and Japan.

b. PRC foreign policy shaped by hot conflict: Tibet 1950, Korea 1950-53, Sino-Indian War 1962, USSR (Amru-Ussari riverline) 1969; historically by western aggression against China: Opium Wars 1840’s, 60’s and Boxer War 1899. Sun Tzu; China as long term threat to U.S.

3. Population and agriculture

a. PRC 80% rural with strong rural to urban shift in population b. 100 million Chinese live over 100 miles from nearest R.R. c. 95% Chinese live east of a line drawn from Manchuria (NE) to China’s border with Vietnam (SW). d. Most of China is mountainous, desert or semi-arid; only 10% of China is arable. Xinkiang (NW)

contains some of the most remote and least populated areas in the world (Tarim Basin, Taklamakan Desert, and Dzungarian Basins). Shanghai on the Yangtze River is the 4

th largest city in

the world and China’s economic center. China remains the largest unfulfilled energy market in the world.

B. Japan

1. An island nation whose rapid economic and geopolitical growth has been stalled in recent years; continues as Asia’s wealthiest nation. U.S. remains as Japan’s most important trade partner

2. The expansion of the Japanese Self-Defense Force (one of the world’s best) figures as a high priority of the U.S. in the face of China’s continued interest in military parity in the Pacific Basin

3. Japan’s culture is western like not westernized

4. Japan operates the world’s largest fishing industry; limited since 1970’s by EEZ’s (Exclusive Economic Zones) and Law of the Sea




Culturally and Ethnically Balkanized Southeast Asia

A. World’s major source of rubber and tin.

B. Association of SE Asian Nations- one of the world’s great economic centers

C. Thailand- world’s biggest exporter of rice

D. Indonesia- world’s largest Moslem country and largest country in Asia after China and India.

E. The Spratley Islands in the South China Sea-one of the world’s great military flashpoints; area of interest due to possibly huge oil fields in region.

F. SE Asia is heavily Balkanized or politically fragmented.

G. Mainland SE Asia has a low physiological population density.

H. Geopolitical Turmoil

1. First Indochina War 1947-1953

2. Second Indochina War 1957-1975

3. Military geography a. Dien Bien Phu b. Ho Chi Minh Trail

4. Who won and why

5. Ethnic national movements a. Malaya-UK b. Burma- Shan, Karen, Kachin, Chin

c. Philippines-Moslem revolt

6. Golden Triangle- Narcotics

7. Ansar al-Islam –War on Terror




Australia and Pacific Regions

A. Australia

1. One of the world’s most urbanized countries (80%). Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, Darwin, Brisbane.

2. Economic growth closely tied to mining: coal, alumina, iron ore, uranium.

3. 6th

largest in geography and the only country that is also a continent.

4. Marsupials commonly observed wildlife (kangaroos, koalas, wallabies, wombats). About 150 species of marsupials in Australia. Platypus and Echidna found only in Australia are the only mammals in the world to hatch their young from eggs. 700 species of birds in Australia.

5. Aborigines- 1st

Australians (means “from the beginning”). Arrived 40,000 years ago, 500 tribes each with their own language; 206,000 population (1% of total population). Allowed to vote since 1967.

6. 65% of country dry grazing land and farmland. World’s 5th

largest exporter of wheat. Produces 95% of world’s opals.

7. Great Barrier Reef–world’s largest

B. The Pacific:US Check Mate to Chinese Expansion

A significantly enhanced geopolitical and foreign policy priority of the U.S. and China.

The U.S. military build-up of Guam was one of the most rapid and comprehensive (land, air, and sea) in the world.

Reason: to meet any potential future threat emanating from China towards U.S. allies and strategic interests in Asia.

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