GEOGRAPHY

Realms, Regions, and

Concepts
Thirteenth Edition
H.J. de Blij
Peter O. Muller

Introduction
World Regional Geography: Global Perspectives

Copyright 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

 World Regional Geography
Survey Course.
Each Chapter is a brief overview of a
Region or portion of a Region.
We will summarize the physical
characteristics.
Maps will play an intricate part.
We will summarize the geographic
perspectives of cultural and economic
issues facing each Region.
 Geographic Realm
Contemporary framework.
Interconnected.
Human achievement and failure
Movement and stagnation
Revolution and stability
Interaction and isolation
Global Village.
Neighborhoods
Each with own identity and distinctiveness.
This is our playground!
And we know very little about it!

Figure 1 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller

 Americans have traditionally been isolationists
Americans rank low on knowledge of geographic literacy

U.S may be a superpower but not in geographic

literacy and understanding of international actions.

Figure 2 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller

 Geography
We are in a war in Iraq.
Why?
Tired rhetoric Bushs war.
Really why?
Explain Iraqs position?
What do the citizens
want?
What do their leaders
want?
What is the difference?

Figure 3 From http://la.indymedia.org/uploads/2007/02/iraqi-children.jpg

 At least 5,000 people
died immediately as a Kurdistan
result of the chemical
(cyanide, mustard gas)
attack and it is estimated
that up to 12,000 people
in all died during the
course of those three
days.
1988 Saddam Hussein
systematically destroyed
4,000 Kurdish villages,
killed more than 182,000
Kurds and left 1.4 million
homeless.
There were about 4
million Kurds in Iraq.
Just one of 40 Hussein
targeted at Iraq's own
people.

Figure 4 From http://www.kdp.se/old/chemical.html

 Korean War
Why isnt the Korean conflict called
Trumans war?
Tensions started in 1946 when Russia
invaded Korea.
Truman was President. (1945-53)
1949 Russia detonated a nuclear bomb.
1950 Korean War.
 Classification Systems in Geography
Linnean Classification
Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus,
species and individual.
Rock Cycle
Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic
Realms vs Regions
Geographic realms (analogous to
Kingdom to Phylum) must have 3 criteria.
Large units
Interaction
Clusters
 Politicians and Media
We are no longer given the truth in media.
It is really just about who is not in office
and who is.
It does us no good to be critical of the
candidates.
It is the people that elected them.
12 Major World Geographic Realms

Figure 5 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller

 Large Units
(Analogous of Kingdom to Phylum)
Based on both physical (natural) and
human (social).
Exist on land masses and shares
geographic realms such as forests,
deserts, mountains, or a combination.
South America is a geographic realm on a
continent (large unit) that shares cultural
norms.
 Interaction Realms
Result of human societies with the natural
environments.
Farms, mining, seaports, transportation
systems, dams, bridges, villages all in
concert.
Antarctica is a continent but not a
geographic realm.
 Clusters of mankind
Large clusters of humans.
China and India are at the heart of largest
geographic realms.
 Margins and Mergers
Where realms meet the border may be
sharp but in reality can range from sharp to
fuzzy.
With time they change.
Consider the U.S. Mexico border.
Physically vs culturally
Transition between Sub-Saharan and North
Africa.
Culturally vs physically
U.S./Mexico
Border

Figure 6, 7 From
Regions 13th, de Blij
and Muller
United States/Mexico Border

Figure 8 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller

 Sub-Saharan Africa

Figure 9 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller

 Criteria for Regions
(Analogous of Phylum to Order)

Requires more specific criteria

South, or Midwest?
How would you draw this region on a map
of the U. S.?
 MidWest?

Figure 10 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller

 What defines the Region?
States boundaries
Agriculture
Total farm production
Political concepts
Regions are scientific devices that allow
us to make spatial generalizations.
 Regions (Criteria)
Area
Intellectual constructs not abstractions.
Boundaries
Sharp, fuzzy, not constant
Location
Absolute = fixed by latitude and longitude
Relative = location with reference to other regions Equatorial
Africa
Homogeneity based on cultural or natural characteristics
Siberia, New York City, Languages,
Systems
Function Core, hinterland
Interconnections
All regions are interconnected, linked to other regions
 Humans are Territorial
3 cultural domains
Sunni Triangle
Saddam Hussein
Mountains
Deserts
Oil fields

Figure 11 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller

 Maps Scale and detail
Scale is the ration of
the distance between
two locations on a
map and the actual
distance between
those two locations
on the Earths
surface.
Detail the larger the
scale the greater the
detail.
Scale 1:1,000,000
Figure 12 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller
 Maps

Figure 13 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller Figure 14 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller
Figure 15 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller fig_intro_03
 Environmental Determinalism
Natural landscapes
influence the
development of the
human species.
Mountain Ranges
Fertile plains
Mineral wealth
Continental Drift
Pangaea
Figure 16 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller
Plate Tectonics
Figure 17 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller
Figure 18 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller
Figure 19 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller fig_intro_06
Average Annual Precipitation

Figure 20 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller, fig_intro_06.

World Climates

Figure 21 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller, fig_intro_08.

Af = Humid, no dry season, daily afternoon rains. Deep soils, volcanic
rocks.

Island of Java

Figure 22 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller, photo_intro_02left

Cfc to E = Humid Temperate climate, no dry season, short cool
summer.

Glacier Bay Alaska

Figure 23 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller, photo_intro_02right.

 Population Distribution within Regions

Figure 24 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller, fig_intro_09.

Country Area (Sq. Mi) Population Corruption Index (.01

lowest to 10 best)
China 3,696,100 1,324,500,000 3.3

India 1,269,340 1,158,000,000 3.3

Mexico 756,062 112,000,000 3.3

United States 3,717,796 302,700,000 7.3

Worlds Population

Figure 25 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller, fig_intro_10.

 Population
Is influenced by the physical landscape
and in turn reflects the cultural
landscapes.
Culture = abstractions such as learning,
knowledge and behavior.
Regional Character = Limitations of the
natural environment with respect to how
humans organize their portion of Earth, to
create a distinctive atmosphere.
Bergen, Norway.

Close packed
construction.

Large windows,
sky-lights.

Figure 26 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller, photo_intro_03left.

Borneo fishing village, on stilts, transportation via boat.
Imagine???

Figure 27 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller, photo_intro_03right.

 Language Families

Figure 28 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller, fig_intro_11.

 Language
Both a unifier and divider.
Small scale map shows 15 dominant
language families.
West Africa, Nigerias 140+ million speak
300 languages.
Most are mutually unintelligible.
Many government try to suppress minority
languages to forge national unity.
Good or bad idea???
States (Countries) and Economies
of the World

Figure 29 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller, fig_intro_12.

 State versus state
state = equal a political, social and
economic entity that has been developing
for thousands of years, ever since
agricultural surpluses made possible the
growth of large and powerful towns that
could command hinterlands and control
peoples beyond their walls.
State = the subdivisions of populous
countries. State of California.
 Reminder
Realms = are mostly assemblages of
states.
Realms may coincide with boundaries
between two countries (state).
Realm boundaries can cut across a state.
 Economies
World bank classifies countries into 4
groups.
High, upper-middle, middle and low.
Core
Peripheries

Figure 30 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller, fig_intro_12.

 Core/periphery vs
Developed/undeveloped
No longer politically correct to divide the
world between developed and
undeveloped.
Even though they still exist.
Singapore,
globalization
the symbol
of the future.
On the verge
of being a
core region.

Figure 31 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller, fig_intro_05.

Figure 29 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller, fig_intro_12.

Figure 32 From Regions 13th, de Blij and Muller, photo_intro_04.

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