Transcript Chapter 3 - North America

GEO 3116:
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT GEOGRAPHY OF
AMERICA
Lecture notes
INTRODUCTION
■ America usually refers to either
■ The Americas, a landmass comprising North and
South America
■ The United States, a country in North America
■ The terminology of the America’s is complex, but
“Anglo-America" can describe Canada and the U.S.,
while ‘Latin America" comprises Mexico and the
countries of Central America and the Caribbean, as well
as the entire continent of South America.
■ South and North America are sometimes considered a
single continent or supercontinent, while constituent
regions are infrequently considered sub continents.
 The northern half of America is sparsely populated and
covered mostly by Canada, except for the northwestern
portion which is occupied by Alaska, the largest state of
the U.S.
 The central and southern portions are represented by the
United States, Mexico, and numerous smaller states
primarily in Central America and in the Caribbean.
 North America is delimited from South America on the
southeast by most geographers at the Darien Watershed
along the Colombia-Panama border, placing all of Panama
within North America.
 Alternatively, a less common view would end North
America at the man-made Panama Canal. Islands generally
associated with North America include Greenland, the
world's largest island, and archipelagos and islands in the
Caribbean.
 South America is generally considered a continent forming
the southern portion of the American landmass, south and
east of the Panama-Colombia border, or south and east of
the Panama Canal by other scholars.
 Geopolitically and geographically, all of Panama—
including the segment east of the Panama Canal in the
isthmus—is generally considered a part of North America
alone and among the countries of Central America.
 South America became attached to North America only
recently (geologically speaking) with the formation of the
Isthmus of Panama some 3 million years ago, which
resulted in the Great American Interchange.
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America
1. List of 23 countries in North America
Regions of Middle America
Atlantic Ocean
Lesser Antilles
Greater Antilles
Mexico
Cuba
Puerto Rico
Haiti Dominican Republic
Jamaica
Belize
Pacific Ocean
Guatemala
El Salvador
Caribbean Sea
Honduras
Nicaragua
Costa Rica
Central America
Panama
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_state
s_and_dependent_territories_in_South_America
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America
 America is a very diverse region, the nations of
America are marked by similarly profound
contradictions and inequalities – in both physical
and socio-economic aspects:




With vast extremes of wealth and poverty;
Skyscrapers and sprawling shantytowns;
Magnificent rainforests and degraded pastures;
Lucrative agro-exports and toxic agro-industrial
working conditions;
 Bountiful supermarkets and widespread hunger;
 Stunning resorts and steaming sweatshops; and
 Violence and resilience over centuries of uneven
development.
■ The diversity found in the two continents together with the
manifestations of contradictions in America can be looked at in
terms of:
■ Geology and Landscape
■ Drainage, watersheds and relief
■ Vegetation patterns
■ Climate
■ Soils
■ Level of urbanization
■ Level of economic development
■ Political organization and development
■ Colonial influence and organization
■ Culture – ways of life/activities engaged in
■ Language
■ Economic systems
■ Level of resource endowment
■ Population size
■ Race
■ Natural disasters!!!
Look at the physical diversity and contradictions of
America at the following addresses:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_North
_America
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_South
_America
3. http://ss9geography.wikispaces.com/ - Look at the
diversity of the North American continent
4. http://alta_yes.tripod.com/geographytourism/id23.
html
Look at the document uploaded on the platform
Physical Geography of America
Amazonian Basin
Andes
Brazilian
Highlands
Pampas
Precipitation in North America
Cold
Precipitation
Hot & Dry
Hot & Wet
America and urbanization
 The city is the most fashionable place to live
 The Industrial Revolution of the 19th and 20th centuries
transformed urban life and gave people higher
expectations for improving their standard of living. The
increased number of jobs, along with technological
innovations in transportation and housing construction,
encouraged migration to cities.
 Development of railroads, streetcars, and trolleys in the
19th century enabled city boundaries to expand. People
no longer had to live within walking distance of their
jobs.
 Cities grew in population and expanded geographically
by absorbing nearby communities.
 Cities grew in population and expanded geographically
by absorbing nearby communities.
GEOG 3316– Regional Development Geography of America
High rise housing used to re-house shanty dwellers.
Migrants

Growing and Shrinking cities in America!! – Look at
Facts
about
Urbanization
in
America
at
http://www.wri.org/publication/content/8840

South America is characterized by widespread rural-tourban migration resulting in continued urban growth.
This is one of the measures of economic development
that ranks South America as more developed than the
other developing realms

Latin American cities differ from North American cities
in their spatial organization (lacity). A central square
usually contains governmental buildings and a cathedral
at the center of the city. It also contains commercial
activity supported by retail and other business
establishments
Explore the following addresses
 Size of the urban population in each country varies
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/theworld-factbook/fields/2212.html
 Number of people living in urban centres http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_by_cou
ntry
 Urbanization BBC at
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/world/200
6/urbanisation/default.stm
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/world/06
/urbanisation/html/urbanisation.stm
Natural Disasters
 One of the most dramatic geographical characteristics of
America is the natural disasters that periodically strike the
region.
 Although the volcanic mountains that run from
Guatemala through Panama are very scenic, they can also
be devastating when they erupt. Historically, these
volcanic eruptions have wreaked havoc on each of the
American countries.
 Hurricanes and the resulting floods affect the lowlands.
Several hurricanes such as Mitch, Katrina devastated
America, leaving thousands dead and even more
homeless.
 Earthquakes, like the one in Haiti, Managua, Nicaragua in
are just one more natural disaster that affect the region
periodically.
■ Hurricanes
• Violent tropical storms.
• Form during the summer and early fall.
• About 96 tropical cyclones are reported annually.
• Spiral shape and curved paths:
•Caused by the Coriolis effect.
•Formed 5 degrees north and south of the
equator.
•In the north, storms follow clockwise paths.
•In the south, storms follow a counterclockwise
path.
• Heat is the critical factor in the formation of tropical
storms.
World Hurricane Tracks
Languages spoken in America
Euro-African influence.
High accessibility
(trade).
Plantation economy
(Sugar and banana).
Euro-Indian
influence.
Greater isolation.
Hacienda
prevailed.
Cultural Organisation and Development
■ The Anglo-American cultural space
• Prominence of English institutions.
• Opposed to Latin America (Spanish and Portuguese
cultural origin).
• A few exceptions:
•French Canada, Hawaii, US/Mexico border
regions, southeast Florida, First Nations and the
Black population.
• Immigration is changing this space.
• English remains the language of power and business.
Colonization and Exploration
 Took 125 years after its discovery for continent to be
first settled.
 Spain and Portugal, the main colonial powers, were
more interested in Central and South America.
 Later England, France and Spain settled North
America.
 Processes of territorial development
 Annexing new territories.
 Conquering territories from other colonial empires.
 Exterminating and repelling First Nations.
 Three major phases:
 The colonial era (1492-1783).
 Independence and expansion (1783-1898).
 Imperialism (1898-).
■ Colonization of the North American Territory
• Colonized by four major colonial powers.
• Spain:
• Occupied the south of the United States, including Florida,
California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
• Part of the Spanish Empire of Mexico.
• Massive organization of the native labor.
• France:
• Controlled the St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes and the
Mississippi basin.
• More interested in fur trade than in colonization.
• England:
• Occupied the Atlantic Coast with 13 colonies (1620 and
1681).
• Strong emphasis on agriculture and economic development.
• High population densities constrained by the Appalachians.
• Holland:
• Bought Manhattan Island (New Amsterdam) for $24 (1626).
• Conquered by the British and renamed New York (1664).
North America, 1750
■ Five major core colonial regions
• New England:
•Limited agricultural potential compensated by fishing
and logging.
•Hydraulic power (grain and saw mills).
•Boston was the main commercial centre.
• The Middle Colonies:
•More liberal with Pennsylvania and Delaware as main
colonies (initial utopias).
•New York and Philadelphia were main centers.
• Southern Colonies:
•Predominantly rural.
•Plantation system with slave labor.
• Nouvelle France (New France):
•Centered along the St. Lawrence.
•Quebec and Montreal as major cities.
•Focus of fur trade.
•Limited agriculture.
• Mexico:
•Mines and plantations.
•Natives incorporated in colonial exploitation.
■ Religion and colonialism in South America
• Major concern of the Europeans, especially of the Spanish.
• Reconquista (1492):
• Driving the last of the Moors from Spain.
• Religious struggle as well as a nationalist one.
• Religious fervor carried over into colonial activity as well.
• Combination of religious activity with colonial expansion.
• Religious conversion to Catholicism:
• Occurred on a massive scale.
• Religious infrastructure was among the early priorities of the
colonial powers: churches, convents, cathedrals.
• Presence of the Church is felt virtually everywhere in Latin
America today.
• Catholicism mixed with indigenous religions:
• Unique blend that carries a very strong stamp of the local
culture.
• Catholicism's plethora of saints and myths:
• Served to make the conversion process itself go more
smoothly.
■ Iberian invasion
• Pizzarro overthrew the Inca
empire in 1533.
• Process of land alienation
and forced labor.
• Lima:
• Coastal city.
• Capital of the
Viceroyalty of Peru.
• Became one of the
richest cities in the
world.
• Viceroyalties of La Plana
and New Grenada.
• Urbanization along the
coast.
• Portugal took the eastern
part of the Tordesillas line
(Brazil).
■ Social and racial stratification
• Development of a socially stratified society along racial
lines.
• Miscegenation:
•Mixed race resulting between Caucasians and the
indigenous population.
•Miscegenation began very early on during the
colonial period.
•Early migrations from Europe were primarily male
migrations.
•Mestizos (Métis): European / Indian.
•Mulattos: European / Black.
• In most cases continued into contemporary times.
• One of the overriding realities of Latin America.
• One of the region's greatest problems.
■ Upper class
• A small group controlling Latin American society.
• Primarily comprised of people of European
extraction.
• Many of whom are directly descended from the
original settlers of the Conquista.
• Inherited the large landholdings from that era.
■ Middle class
• Historically very small in Latin America:
•Growing substantially in the post-WW II period.
• Comprised of less wealthy Europeans, mestizos and
mulattos.
■ Lower class
• Most numerous group in the region.
• Remnants of unassimilated indigenous populations:
•Particularly numerous in Guatemala, parts of Mexico
(Oaxaca and Chiapas states), Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and
parts of Brazil, Venezuela, and Paraguay
• Work in great estates:
•Often as sharecroppers.
•Giving a negotiated percentage of their produce to the
landowner, keeping the rest for family use or sale.
• Descendents of African slaves:
•Imported during the colonial period for their labor.
•Numerous in much of Brazil, the Dominican Republic,
and Cuba; and in some coastal areas of Colombia,
Panama, and Mexico.
Tropical plantation
Resembles Middle America’s Rimland.
Locations, soils, & tropical climates favor plantation
crops, especially sugar.
Initially relied on African slave labor.
European commercial
The most “Latin” part of South America.
Population of European descent.
Includes the Pampas - temperate grasslands.
Economically most advanced.
Good transportation networks and quality of life.
Amerind subsistence
Correlates with the former Inca Empire.
Feudal socioeconomic structure persists.
Includes some of South America’s poorest areas.
Subsistence agriculture must contend with difficult
environmental challenges (high altitude).
Mestizo-transitional
Surrounds the Amerindian-subsistence region.
A zone of mixture, culturally & agriculturally.
Transitional economic connotations.
Undifferentiated
Sparsely populated.
Isolation and lack of change.
Development of Amazonia may prompt significant
changes.
Political organization
■ Democratic Society in North America
■ Military dominant in Middle and South America
• Plays a vastly different role than in most democratic societies:
• Used to ensure internal control.
• Serves to support the elites and is frequently led by them.
• Serves as a social mobility vehicle.
• Military dictatorships:
• Characterized regional politics since shortly after independence.
• Authoritarian means of governance that has focused on social
control.
• Demise of military dictators in Chile (1990), Panama (1989),
and Paraguay (1989).
• The region has at least nominally democratic regimes in place
throughout, Cuba representing an exceptional case.
Level of Economic Development
Indicators
1. Use of lights at night
Poles of the Global Economy
Western Europe
North America
East Asia
Economies
Underdeveloped
Developing
Newly Industrializing
Advanced
Oil Export / Rent
As Salvatore Natoli (a leader in geography education) once
said, "In our society we unconsciously equate size with
importance and even power."
How does the diversity of the American subcontinent influence
development??
1. Difference in levels of development mean lack of a universal
opinion and ideas for development
2. Differences in races mean racial alignments in development,
social exclusion, segregation, resentment and unequal access
to resources and of course power
3. The gun culture, violence, criminal gangs and the drug trade
is a result of marginalisation and inequalities
4. This will be a constraint to cultural cohesion, regional
integration and the prospects for common markets
altogether
5. Differences in geological history means variations in
mineralization
6. Differences in soils means variations in agricultural
productivity
1. In what ways does the physical and socio-economic
diversity in America influence economic development
patterns in the region?
2. How have independent countries in America seized
opportunities arising out of its physical and socioeconomic diversity?
3. In what ways have sovereign states in America been
able to withstand the vagaries of weather and other
natural disasters in contemporary times?
4. In what ways would you consider America a landscape
of contradictions and inequality?
5. America is a regions of extreme weather events.
Describe the costs and risks of extreme weather events
in America and what strategies independent countries
have been adopted to adapt and mitigate those risks?