World Regional Geography GEG 101 ONLINE! Paper 1 - Defining Realms

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Paper 1 has two parts

PART 1

Background Information

Geography not only studies WHERE things are, but more importantly, WHY they are THERE. In this exercise you will explain WHY the authors of our textbook drew the boundaries of the world realms where they did. In this assignment you will select a REALM as delineated in the textbook. That means you will SELECT ONE of the regions (realms) of the world discussed in each of the 12 chapters of the textbook (see: Figure G-3, page 5) of the textbook or World Geographic Realms). Then you will EXPLAIN WHY the authors selected that area as a separate world realm. Why did they draw the boundaries where they did? What are the common characteristics of the realm and how do they differ from the neighboring realms? To do this we will use our four class "themes" :

1. physical geography
2. economic geography
3. cultural geography, and
4. historical geography

READ and STUDY:

Realms and Regions

• Textbook GEOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVES, GEOGRAPHIC REALMS, REALM, REALMS AND REGIONS pp. 3-8
• Textbook: REGIONAL FRAMEWORK AND GEOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVE pp. 24-25
• The online lecture: Introduction to Geography
• The online lecture: Regional Geography.

Physical Geography

• Textbook: THE PHYSICAL SETTING pp. 8-15
  • Learn the "A", "B", "C", "D", and "H" climatic types
• The online lecture: Climatic Regions

Economic Geography

• Textbook: PATTERNS OF DEVELOPMENT pp. 18- 24
• Appendix B
• The online lecture: Measures of Economic Development

Cultural Geography

• Textbook: REALMS OF CULTURE pp. 16-17
• The online lecture What is Culture?

Historical Geography

• The online lecture Historical Geography

ALSO REFER TO THE CHAPTER IN THE TEXTBOOK OF THE REALM THAT YOU SELECTED and THE CHAPTERS FOR THE NEIGHBORING REALMS.

Instructions

1. Select a REALM as delineated in the textbook. (See figure G-3 of the textbook or World Geographic Realms). NOTE: YOU CANNOT SELECT SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA (chapter 6).

2. See the table in appendix B of your textbook

3. Study the maps found at: http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/geg101i/worldmaps.htm

4. Look carefully at the boundaries of the realm that you selected.

5. Write a short paper (about 2 pages, double spaced, no cover page, your name on the paper) applying the "regional criteria" (physical, cultural, economic, and historical geography) to explain WHY the boundaries are drawn where they are. Be sure to do the following:

• Discuss the maps that you have studied. Look at the boundaries of your realm and describe what is different on each side of the boundaries.
• Read the textbook chapter of your realm AND of the neighboring realms (usually the first few pages of each chapter discusses realm boundaries)
• You may want to also use other maps from the textbook, or the online lectures on the Blackboard "CHAPTER/REALM" link to explain why the realm boundaries were drawn where they were.
• Do NOT just describe the realm. Unless you use each of the maps that you studied to EXPLAIN what is UNIQUE about your realm and how it DIFFERS from its neighbors, you will get very few points. POINTS ARE ASSIGNED FOR EACH COMPARISON THAT YOU MAKE WITH NEIGHBORING REALMS. You will receive no points for just describing the realm.
• Be sure to use data from appendix B
• YOU WILL NEED AT LEAST 13 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN YOUR REALM AND A NEIGHBORING REALM.

How do the physical, cultural, economic, and historical characteristics of the realm differ from the characteristics of neighboring realms? Use maps to support your arguments.

The following physical, cultural, economic, and/or historical criteria (characteristics) are used to define the realms,. Discuss how these characteristics make your realm different from its neighbors. Use maps to support your arguments. This means that you MUST discuss the maps in your paper. When discussing a map ask your reader to refer to the map name and page number. Contrast these characteristics with those of the neighboring realms. (i.e. why are the realm's boundaries drawn where they are?) This is done in our introductory lecture on Regional Geography, see http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/g101ilec/intro/reg/applic.htm. Do not just list the characteristics or simply describe your realm, but COMPARE and CONTRAST. Do not just repeat what is in the textbook. I want you to explain why your realm is a unique region, significantly different from its neighbors so that it can be called its own realm, OR Why are the realm boundaries drawn where they are?

You SHOULD consider the following:

• physical geography - Compare with neighboring realm AND look for physical barriers like deserts, mountains, and oceans at the boundaries.
  • climate
  • precipitation
  • major features
  • are there any physical barriers (like deserts, mountains, seas/oceans, etc.) at the realm boundaries
  • other?
• cultural geography - THIS THEME IS VERY IMPORTANT. Be sure to compare with neighboring realms.
  • religion
  • language
  • politics
  • other?
• economic geography - Again, don't dust describe your realm but explain how it differs from its neighbors.
  • appendix B
  • level of development (per capita GNI)
  • % urbanization
  • population growth rate (natural increase)
  • birth rates, death rates
  • infant mortality rate
  • child mortality rate
  • life expectancy
  • literacy
  • other measures of development
• historical Geography - Do I need to say "compare" again?
  • culture hearths
  • colonized by whom?
  • other?

Be sure to discuss why the border was drawn where it was. What is different on each side of the boundary?

Do the realm's boundaries pass through areas of sparse population and/or are there physical barriers along the realm's boundaries? Discuss.

Discuss any significant transition zones that exist. (Remember: ALL realm and region boundaries are transition zones, but the boundary between North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa is especially large for several reasons.)

PART 2

In this activity you use the four class themes to define/create regions for the hypothetical continent of Harperland.

Background

HARPERLAND The hypothetical continent of Harperland is made up of five countries (see map at right). Use the following maps and data to logically divide the continent into different regions. (It is easiest to print the five maps and the data page so that you can look at them all at once.)

Many students get confused with this part of the assignment. In the Introduction of our textbook and in the Introduction Online Lectures we looked at a four of criteria that we may use to define the regions. We called these the four class THEMES. For each realm we will discuss these four class themes. This assignment will give you practice doing this using the hypothetical continent of Harperland.

Often geographers use regions to simplify the world by uniting areas with similar characteristics. They use our four themes: (1) cultural geography, (2) economic geography, (3) historical geography, and (4) physical geography as the criteria when creating regions. You will have to do that for Harperland.

Look at the maps and data provided and see if you can simplify the hypothetical continent of Harperland by dividing it into regions. Which areas of Harperland have similar cultural, economic, and physical characteristics? Put them into one region. Maybe one area has the same religion, a related language, is economically poor compared to neighboring areas, and has a dry climate. This may be one region. Locate and color it on your map. You must name your regions. Don't forget the economic data. It is important. Remember that regions are often separated by physical barriers like mountains and deserts. Also, being a citizen of a country is a strong unifying force. If you look at the map of world realms, Figure G-3, p. 5, you will notice how the authors very seldom divide a country into two different realms. When they do they must have very good reasons.

You may want to review:

• The online lecture: Introduction to Geography
• The online lecture: Regional Geography.

 

Since there are five countries on the continent of Harperland, a SIMPLIFIED regionalization scheme should probably have fewer than five regions.

Instructions

1. Study the thematic maps and the economic data linked below. NOTE: the economic data is important.

Physical Geography harphys2 harclim

Cultural Geography harlang harrelig

Economic Geography harmins measures IMPORTANT

2. Use the information provided to create your own regions which simplify the continent of Harperland. Do this by uniting countries with similar characteristics into a region.

4. Select one of the options below that best matches your regional scheme

5. Write a short explanation of the rationale you used in creating the regions in the option that you chose. When doing this think about our four class themes. For more information on the class themes see: Intro. to Geog Online Lecture.

 The five countries of the continent of Harperland:

SELECT ONE OF THESE OPTIONS AS YOUR REGIONAL SCHEME FOR THE CONTINENT OF HARPERLAND:

OPTION 1		OPTION 2
OPTION 3		OPTION 4
OPTION 5		OPTION 6
OPTION 7		OPTION 8

Submit your answers via Blackboard by clicking on the ASSIGNMENTS link.