| World Regional Geography: The New Global Order Update, 2/e Michael Bradshaw,
College of St. Mark and John
Our World and Geography
Chapter OutlineUse this outline to increase your understanding of the important characteristics
of the New Global Order and Geography.
- Global, Regional, and Local Worlds -- Different levels of study increase
understanding of the world.
- Globalization -- Interdependence among the world's peoples grows as
economic, technological, and cultural connections become more important.
Collective action is needed to solve global problems. Occurs simultaneously
with localization.
- Localization -- Individual places/regions remain different and the
people who live in these places desire more local autonomy and decision-making.
- Events in Diverse World -- The world contains much diversity.
- The Country Basis of Political Activity -- Even with the many changes
associated with the end of the Cold War and the decline of Communism,
the country remains most important political unit and level of political
decision-making. Many rivalries between countries and groups of countries
continue to cause tension and conflict.
- The Global Basis of Economic Activities -- Led by the United States
and multinational corporations, capitalism now dominates throughout the
world. Richer countries are known as core countries and poorer countries
as peripheral countries. Semi-peripheral countries are in transition in
either direction. The core countries and people tend to get relatively
richer.
- Major World Regions and Cultural Activities -- Ideas, beliefs, and
practices make up culture. The One World idea of Westernization or Europeanization
is spreading , but some distinctive cultures resist sometimes leading
to conflict.
- Issues in the Natural Environment -- In spite of increased awareness
of the need to sustain the environment, human impacts on the environment
continue to increase. Population growth to about 9 billion in 2050 is
a concern.
- Geography of a Diverse World -- Geography offers useful explanations of
the diverse world.
- Geography -- Geographers examine the variety of people, their cultures,
their economic activities, and the various environmental conditions that
are found at different places around the world.
- Geography is about Places -- Absolute location and relative location
describe where a place is.
- Approaches in Geography -- Regional geography, spatial analysis, and
human-environment relationships are the three main approaches in geography.
- Regions in a New Global Order
- Regional Scales -- The three scales from large to small are major world
regions, countries, and local regions.
- Formal and Functional Regions -- Formal regions are based on similar
characteristics; functional regions are based on interaction. Regions
are influenced by five aspects: people create regions, regions shape people's
activities, people remake regions, regions interact with other regions,
and regions are used by those in power.
- Major World Regions -- Remembering that major world regions interact, change,
and are composed of countries, nine distinct world regions are to be studied.
- Geographic Development of World Regions -- History contributes to the understanding
of modern world geography. People and societies went from mini-systems to
world regional empires to the current world economic system.
- Phase I -- Local Systems: Hunting and Farming -- Small hunting and gathering
min-systems supported by what the local environment provided gradually
gave way to farming of domesticated plants and animals.
- Phase II -- First World Regional Empires: City Civilizations and the
Bronze Age, 2500 to 1000 B.C. -- Based on irrigated agriculture, Mesopotamia
becomes the most important of several core civilizations with modest amounts
of trade with nearby areas.
- Phase III -- New World Regional Empires: Classical Civilizations of
the Iron Age, 1000 B.C. to A.D. 600 -- Several major world religions and
cultural systems develop in different parts of the world during this phase.
Interactions throughout Eurasia are increased.
- Phase IV -- Feudal Empires: Medieval Times, A.D. 600 to 1450 -- Between
the classical period and the modern age, this phase contains many invasions,
migrations, advances, and declines.
- Phase V -- Capitalist World System and Modern Times, A.D. 1450 to the
Present -- Colonization and trade based on mercantile capitalism begin
this phase with the Industrial Revolutions ultimately leading to modernization
and industrial capitalism becoming dominant in the world system.
|
|