Lecture 0: Introduction Flashcards
(4 cards)
HDI
= human development index
- Summary of different factors (long and healthy life, good educations, decent standard of living); the higher, the better
* Often clear Global Nord/South divide
- More vs less developed countries
* But more than just HDI
- Export per country, labor force employment, …
Possibilism
- Human behaviour, and therefore culture, is not merely determined by the environment but also by human agency
→ Start of “Regional Geography” studies - Ecological Point of view: dialogue between environment and civilization
→ Topography and Climate do not dictate people to make wine for example - Yet, remains rather descriptive
→ E.g. Kimble (1951): Regional geography is about drawing borders that don’t exist around regions that do not matter
Geographical Determinism
not without controversy since quiet an old discipline
- Topography & Climate determine human condition
→ Simplistic and Passive view: nature dictates the thoughts and activities of mankind
- Links to Social Darwinism:
→ Political doctrine of the 19th inspired by Evolution theory: the « struggle for life » is the natural condition that also controls societal dynamics
The fact some people suffer and other people “rule” the world is the natural way of life
Very much racist
→ Conflicts are also a fundamental source of progress to improve the human condition
→ Often racist implications, e.g. the Concept of « Lebensraum »
A system approach
- Modern view of geography
- Regions are not just separated entities, but interconnected in a global context
- Better consideration of dynamics (time component)
- Importance of interactions (e.g. environment influences society but also the other way around!)
→ Cultures are formed due to interaction with the environment but also due to interactions with other cultures
→ Natural, political and socio-economic factors play a role - Example: Jared Damond (1997): “guns Germs and Steel”
→ Central Questions: why did the Europeans conquered the Americas and not the other way around?
Direct reasons: horses, better ships, guns, steel weaponry, epidemics (killed ~95% of the native American population)
But what are the fundamental reasons behind these?
environmental differences at continental scale
▪ Size of the continents: strongly influences the number of plants and animal species that can potentially be domesticated
▪ This influences the locations and periods where agriculture was invented/discovered
▪ Orientation of the continents, physical barriers → controls diffusion rate of domesticated species
▪ Leads to a chain of effects:
▪ The colonization of America led to significant changes
->the globalization of the world economy: inflation of wheat prices)
->impacts on biodiversity: exchange of different kinds of crops between the continents (ex.: potato)
->climatic impacts: Little Ice Age (Orbis dip) caused by population decline due to diseases brought to the Americas by Europeans
