GEOG2400 SPRING 2002 THE GEOGRAPHY OF WORLD DEVELOPMENT

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GEOG2400 SPRING 2002 THE GEOGRAPHY OF WORLD
DEVELOPMENT

• CLASS 3
• Geography and Development

Element 3 Sophomore GE Cluster Global Wealth,
Poverty and Inequality
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Factors in Development

• Why are some nations rich and others poor?
• Why are some nations strong and others weak?
• How much of todays world reflects the influence
  of geographic phenomena - climate, location,
  spatial relationships, topography, tectonics,
  etc?
• What role has history played - political systems,
  war and conflict, social systems, technological
  sophistication, leadership?
• How do these factors affect progress of nations
  today?
• What is the relationship between natural resource
  endowments and economic development?
• Clearly this is all very complex and requires
  careful thought.

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Environmental Determinism

• Natural, environmental factors clearly play
  important roles in how a given community,
  society, nation develops - historically and
  today.
• They encourage technological development to
  overcome adversities and exploit potentials (good
  side).
• They impose costs and set back progress if
  adversities cannot easily be managed or
  controlled (bad side).
• Example Hurricanes in Central America Mitch is
  thought to have set back Honduras development by
  15 years (impacts on infrastructure, export crop
  plantations, debt recovery, etc.)

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Climate

• Geographically heterogeneous depending on
  latitude/longitude, maritime or continental
  location, elevation above sea level, etc.
• A key factor in human development - human
  responses to climate extremes, floods/droughts,
  wet seasons/dry seasons, summer/winter, etc.
  helped determine cultural traits, development of
  agriculture, settlement patterns, social
  organization, and so forth.
• Key factors include climatic controls on the
  availability of food water, productivity of
  agriculture, effects of heat/humidity, exposure
  to disease insect pests, impact of hazards, etc.

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Average temperatures vary tremendously
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Rainfall can limit agricultural potential without
storage and irrigation
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Certain areas experience extreme heat
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The tropics stay warm and sunny
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Geology

• Along with climate, determines the availability
  and character of lands (topography) and soils,
  the nature and abundance of minerals and ores,
  the nature and abundance of fossil fuels, and so
  forth.
• Geology also governs risks of natural disasters
  and sensitivity to change - earthquakes, soil
  erosion, etc. (check the seismic monitor at IRIS
  - http//www.iris.washington.edu/seismic/60_2040_1
  _8.html.)

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Topography determines whereand how you can live
(this is the San Fernando Valley as seen by NASA)
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Depending on the character of the land, its
climate and soils, we can produce dramatic
environmental effects over time see the
evidence of soil erosion on the turbidity of the
Persian Gulf (Photo from NASA)0
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Location

• Aside from the climatic implications, where
  nations are located has played a key role in
  determining how they have developed.
• Many (e.g. Diamond) believe that Western Europes
  central location with respect to the Middle
  East/North Africa and the Far East played a key
  role in why Europe came to be the dominant region
  in the second half of the last millenium.
• By virtue of its location, Europe became the
  mixing ground for all the independently developed
  ideas and technologies brought in over the land
  and then the sea routes from distant lands.
• Geography became important in the Cold War/post
  Cold War periods and frequently determined who
  got US/USSR support in the form of loans, grants,
  development assistance, etc . (http//www.cnn.com/
  SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/maps/).

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Early Explorations Predominantly came from the
Mediterranean crossroads
Source Worldbook.com
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A huge proportion of Asia and Africa was already
known to Europe by the 1300s
Source Worldbook.com
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Resources

• We can think in terms of raw material resources,
  human resources and knowledge/technology
  resources.
• Similar material resources may be found in many
  different locations/nations (http//www.geohive.co
  m/global/ec_natres.php).
• However the human potential to exploit them, and
  the knowledge and technology used in that
  exploitation can and will differ greatly.
• Resources are not static - their character and
  uses have changed through time as a result of
  human actions.
• Many resources are mobile - they can be imported
  (by force or payment) - note that this includes
  human resources.
• Many countries are dependent on one or two
  resources and are very vulnerable to competition
  and substitution.

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Many national economics rely heavily on food
production and its export
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Technology Has Been Key

• Technology/Information may have originated in one
  place but over time it has often been improved
  and perfected in another, providing great
  advantage and fueling/facilitating additional
  development for the innovator.
• Gunpowder - invented by the Chinese, it was the
  Europeans who perfected the weapons that
  harnessed its power and thus gained military
  supremacy.
• Paper and printing - again, invented by the
  Chinese, it was the Europeans who figured out how
  to build a movable-type printing press and thus
  begin the process of universal education.

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Political/social organization

• How important has social organization been?
• Difficult to draw hard and fast rules but in
  different times and places it has been critical
  at a variety of scales - local, national and
  regional.
• Different sub-cultures have chosen to value
  material wealth over spiritual wealth, or to
  adopt a sedentary lifestyle over a nomadic one.
• Different nations have chosen free markets over
  centralized/command economies.
• Different regions have developed monolithically
  (imperial empires) or in a more fragmented form
  (sovereign nation states) e.g. China and Europe.

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Key Steps to Development

• Those nations who have achieved high economic
  status today have generally successfully passed
  through
• Demographic transition
• Transitioning from high birth/high death (45/40)
  to low-birth/low death rate (11/10).
• Demographic transformation
• Transitioning from a predominantly agrarian/rural
  to an industrial/urban society.
• Economic transition
• Transitioning from a predominantly raw
  materials-based economy to a more diversified
  manufacturing and services economy.

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The Demographic Transition
(source Wright Nebel, 2002)
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Regional Demographic Progress
(source Wright Nebel, 2002)
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Taking Off Economically

• Has needed strong central government.
• Has needed capitalists/risk takers to invest in
  manufacturing and trade.
• Has needed reinvestment of a large portion of
  current income into capital development.
• Has needed raw materials (or cheap access to
  them) to exploit (and export).
• Has needed key industries to develop able to add
  value to raw materials and trigger raw material
  processing (upstream) and manufacturing and
  service industries (downstream) growth.
• Has needed application of modern technology to
  all sectors of society.

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Contemporary Obstacles

• Social systems prolonging high birth rates (30),
  low death rates (10) - prevents closing of
  demographic gap, leads to rapid population
  growth, and a relatively small of economically
  active persons.
• Structural dominance in global markets - the
  richer countries use their political and economic
  power to set the rules governing international
  trade, boosting their interests, often at the
  expense of the poorer nations.
• Heavy debt burdens - governments must direct
  capital to interest payments, not
  growth-producing investments.

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Bursting populations outstrip economic growth
(source Wright Nebel, 2002)
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Interesting Reading

• Two books touch quite well on the topic of why
  the world has developed the way it has and the
  role that geography played in establishing the
  current world order.
• Guns, Germs and Steel Jarred Diamond.
• The Wealth and Poverty of Nations David Landes.
• Please read the hand-outs from each and feel
  motivated to get the complete books for some
  reading around the subject.