College Board AP Human GeographyBrock Brown

Texas State University—San MarcosJuly 6, 2010

• Introduction/Review—beyond content alone• Population• Cultural Patterns and Processes• Political Organization of Space

Geography as a field of inquiry

• Interdisciplinary Perspective• Spatial Distributions (knowing)

– Who or what, when, where– Anything that can be mapped

• Spatial Processes (understanding)

– Why/how did it evolve• Spatial Prediction and Decision Making (applying)

– How can distributions be preserved or changed

Geographic perspective promotes problem solving

• Learning information/content is not enough!• If knew all, still not enough• Constantly changing• Not have a clue about future problems

– cfcs– Terrorism– Economic stability– Climate change– Others (energy, housing, food, . . . )

Human Population• Spatial Distributions

– Who/what, when, where--knowing• Spatial Processes

– Why/how--understanding• Spatial Prediction/Decision Making

– How can/what if

Human Population Density

• Arithmetic—people per unit of land• Physiologic—people per unit of farm land• Agricultural—farmers per unit of land

• What does each predict?

History of World Population• 1 A.D. 250,000,000• 1650 A.D. 500,000,000• 1830 A.D.1,000,000,000• 1930 A.D.2,000,000,000• 1974 A.D.4,000,000,000• Mid 2001 6,137,000,000• Today about 6.7 billion

Data as a table

Graphic representation of data• Really variable over time

– Lactational amenorrhea– war– Disaster– Disease/plague– Famine

Cartographic portrayal of global population growth 1 ad to 2020.

• Cartographic bias—dots for data• Data often estimated, often wrong, but

trends are pretty accurate• Philosophical bias, video produced by

Zero Population Growth—they have a resource pessimism perspective, but the data portrayal

Population Predictions

• World Population growth rate: 1.2%

• At this rate, population will double in 58 years to over 13 billion13,500,000,000 ICTP

(If current trends persist)

70 / % annual growth rate = doubling time in years

US 0.6% 116 yrsChina 0.5 140 yrsEurope -0.0 NeverAfrica 2.4 029 yrsWorld 1.2 058 yrs

This as aSTANDARD OF LIVING issue

• Standard of living vs. quality of life• SOL = availability of resources• LDC/MDC distribution issues

– Average (arithmetic mean) is less representative in LDC because . . .

The CULTURAL ECONOMY: A Generic Model

People’s Needs, wants, and demand

Environment(Neutral Stuff)

(resources)

Energy & Technology

Resources

- - - Environmental Impact + + +

Number of peopleSOL

SOL is spatially distributed along a continuum

PRB World Data SheetRegional differences in SOL

• Free download

The Great SOL Divide-very generalized20 % of people80% of wealth/resources

80% of people20% or wealth/resources

MDC

LDC

MDC vs. LDC

• More Developed Countries:– 1.227 billion people/2050 = 1.294 billion– Annual growth rate of .2%– Doubling time of 700 years

• Less Developed Countries– 5.479 billion people/2050 = 8.085 billion– Growth rate of 1.5% (1.8 excluding PRC)– Doubling time of 46 years

*Ability to generate economic demand and consume resources*Artifacts*Connection to global economy and resource base

Future Implications

LDC

MDC

LDC

MDC

MDC vs. LDC % Population

Today

MDC vs. LDC % Population in

the Future

Population and sustainability

• As population grows, need, want, and demand increase

• Resource extraction from the environmental resource base increases

• We are withdrawing resources in a deficit mode

• There is less each year• Will there be enough? Will discuss soon

People translate into increased need, want and demand for resources

• Need– Absolute needs of humans– Ex. food, clothing shelter

• Demand– Economic Term– Having the money to buy what you want and

need– Determines who gets what, LDC/MDC

Wealth 1990 Land area 1990

Population 1990 Three CARTOGRAMSWhat can you tell form them?

Natural Population Growth

P1 + (Births – Deaths) = P2

Demographic Transition Model

Time/SOL

Early Stationary Stage

Early Expanding Stage

Late Expanding Stage

Late Stationary Stage

Post-Industrial Stage

Births

Deaths

Overall Population

LDC MDC

Population pyramids—another tool to observe population

• Age/sex structure of population

OverpopulationIs there enough?

• A condition that exists when human need, wants, and economic demand exceed available resources

• Not necessarily a result of high ARITHMETIC density or large numbers of people

• Tied to standard of living

Creating enough resources to meet human need = managing CARRYING CAPACITY

• CC refers to the number of organisms that a resource base can support

• For humans, it is impacted by:– Standard of Living (SOL)—how much they consume– Current level of technology– Prices (in market economies) really level of scarcity

• Overpopulation is a result of inadequate resource availability—exceeding local CC, does not require a large population!– Crowded rich, crowded poor, un-crowded rich, un-

crowded poor

Thomas Malthus observed overpopulation in Europe

• Population (and human need, wants, and demand) were increasing faster than resource availability

• Predicted disaster• Did not occur, why

– Population side of the problem– Resource side of the problem

• Today, neo-Malthusians say . . . .• PRC today

Overpopulation, are there solutions?Is there enough?

• Technological fix, economic, resource optimism – R&D, but for whom? $

• Demographic, resource pessimism (less people, better resource utilization) (PRC) (Europe)– Reduce population growth (resource need/demand)– Substitution or abstinence from resource use-use less– Reuse (requiring less new extraction and processing– Recycle (requiring less extraction)

• Third view: the end is near and the Judaic, Islamic, Christian God of the Old Testament is in charge and no solution is needed (refer to Moyer’s essay)

• Fourth view: Evangelical response

Another solution to REGIONAL

overpopulation was migration• Migration, physically moving to another

area• Once a safety valve, but what about

today?• Where are those empty quarters when you

need them?

Total Population Change inc. migration

P1 + (Births – Deaths) +(in-migration – out-migration---------------------------------------- = P2

Forced Migration

People do not have a choice– Slave trade– Japanese Americans in

Concentration camps

Voluntary Migration

• Push Factors

perception about a place making someone want to leave

• Pull Factors

perception of a place making someone want to go there

Push/Pull Factors

• Economic• Environmental• Political-

refugees if fearing reprisal

Source regions of immigrants to US

WW IIEurope Asia

LatinAmerica

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.jaha.org/edu/discovery_center/push-pull/img/immigration_timeline_noevents_sm.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.jaha.org/edu/discovery_center/push-pull/chart_w_events.html&usg=__rzAEw2--3Qbx1Z3diwWeA2qchdw=&h=370&w=576&sz=36&hl=en&start=15&um=1&tbnid=MH38qQp-u1Z8_M:&tbnh=86&tbnw=134&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgraph%2Bof%2Bmigration%2Bto%2Bus%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

Impacts of migration on receiving society and on migrants

Back to population

• How many people?• Global problems?• Regional problems?• Local problems?

Cultural Patterns and Processes• Unique to humans (generally)• Learned (epigenome?)• Integrated whole—way of life• Cultural traits

– Artifacts, sociofacts, mentifacts– Food, language, beliefs and religion, social

customs, clothing, music, whatever is human created.

• Creates cultural landscapes• Impact due to #, time, tech

Cultural Spatial DistributionsREGIONS

Human Creations

Formal culture regions (Uniform)

spatial distribution of trait

Functional culture regions (Nodal)

space organized to accomplish something

Vernacular (perceived)

Borders or gradients

Folk culture - ethnicity

Popular cultureSame everywhereMass produced

THE CULTURAL CONTINUUM FROM FOLK TO POPULAR

• FOLK CULTURE / POPULAR CULTURE• Subsistence / commercial

• Local / global environment and resource base• Low / high technology

• Low / high environmental impact• Regional self-sufficiency / regional specialization• Geography isolation / geographic connectivity• Slow cultural change / rapid cultural change

• Low cultural diversity / high cultural diversity• Folk culture landscapes / popular culture landscapes

• Ethnicity / no ethnicity• Disappearance / expansion

FOLK CULTURE / POPULAR CULTURE

• Popular culture bleaches the ethnicity out of society• Folk cultures that are surviving are the ones that are

most isolated • Subsistence vs. commercial economies• Environment consumption/impact (SOL)• Technology/energy use• Folk in decline/popular expanding due to

accelerated diffusion of globalization• Fajitas, football, on and on!!!

Local Scale Global

Low SOL High

Hunters and Gatherers

Energy

Subsistence Agriculture

Commercially Mass Produced Agriculture/

Industry

10-13,000 years agoNeolithic era

Cultural transition over time from Hunting/gathering subsistence to mass produced popular culture

Time

Hunter/Gatherer Economies

Neolithic technology--sophisticated

Tattoos

Fur cap

Head

Bronze axeBow and arrows

Dagger

Ice Man and Artifacts -- 5000 ybp

Body

Wheat spiklets derived from Einkorn grain, stuck to the Iceman's clothing

Last meal

Neolithic resource creation

Hunters and gathers• Sustainable life style, thousands of years• Low population growth rate (DTM stage 1)• Locally self-sufficient/local economy• Close relationship between people and

environment• Egalitarian society

Early centers of agriculture-surplus

Tigris Euphrates River Valley10-13 K ybp

Early Agriculture--subsistence• Locally produced to meet local needs• Limited by environment

– Climate– Soil– Landform– Plants available for domestication

• Low technology and information– Growing plants is magic/spiritual

• Increasing technology/control– Irrigation– Storage for future use

• Cessation of Lactational Amenorrhea – Birth rates increase = increased population growth– Death rates decline due to increase in SOL = inc pop growth

Agriculturalists expanding periphery--culture

AG

AG

HGDestroyed

Absorbed

DestroyedAbsorbed

Economic Transitions

• Hunting/gathering• Agriculture• Merchant capitalism

– Replaced feudalism• Industrial capitalism• Information/Technology• Changing spatial distribution tied to

changing patterns of SOL

Regions persist or change

• Geographic inertia across space• Geographic change across space• All change is due to:

– innovation/invention– Diffusion

• Expansion– Hierarchical– Contagious– Stimulus

• Relocation (migration)

• Sex is determined by their biology; male or female

• Gender roles -- just like cultural traits -- are learned– What does it mean to be male or female?

Cultural issuesGender and Sex

Cultural IssuesPOLITICAL PROCESS

• People use the political process (government) within their society to take care of their economic and cultural needs, maintain order

• What all does government control/impact in US society?

PURPOSE OF POLITICAL PROCESS

• Decision making / resource allocation• Formalization of values and priorities• (what should be legal / illegal)• Franchise on use of force / coercion• Cultural / legal lag time

SPATIAL ASPECTS OF GOVERNMENT

• Nation (formal - ethnic)• Central state (functional-territory-

government)– physical borders– cultural borders– frontiers

MAINTAINING POLITICAL PATTERNS-BORDERS

• Military conflict– costs– conventional weapons– mass destruction weapons

• Economic sanctions

SPATIAL ASPECTS OF GOVERNMENT

• Regional self autonomy• Imperialism• Colonialism • Rise and decline

NATION, STATE, NATION-STATE

• Formal / Functional Agreement

GEOGRAPHIC REQUIREMENTS FOR A STATE

• Must have land territory• Must have permanent resident population• Must have a government (political organization)• Must have an organized economy• Must have a circulation (transportation) system

POLITICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR A STATE• Must possess sovereignty• Must be recognized by a significant portion of the

international community• - Does a state exist before it is recognized?

KURDSNATION

TurkeyIranIraqSyriaSTATES

(COUNTRIES)

THE NATION (casually called “a people”)

• DOES NOT refer to the country or THE STATE itself, but rather to a reasonably large groupof people with a common culture, a territorythey view as their homeland, and one or morecommonly held cultural traits (religion, language, political institutions, values, orhistorical experience).

• Tend to feel closer to one another than to outsiders and believe they belong together

• Clearly distinguishable from others that don’t share their culture

Probability of a state surviving

• Centripetal=– integration

• Centrifugal=– disintegration

CONTEMPORARY CASE STUDIES

• Arab Nation -- States• USSR, later Ukraine• Canada• Yugoslavia• Czech Republic / Slovakia• California / Kansas / Alaska

SO?

• Questions, comments, and insights