Chapter 5Human Geography

Population & Culture

I. The Study of HumanGeography

A. Demography – statistical study of human

populations

• Population Density• Population Distribution• Natural Increase• World Population

Trends

1. Population Density

• Avg # of people in an area, expressed as persons per sq. mi. or km.

• Population Density varies worldwide* Canada = 8/mi* Bangladesh = 2,349/mi

• Depends on size of country, size of population & environmental conditions

Population Density

2. Population Distribution• People are spread out UNEVENLY over earth.

Why? To live in areas favorable for settlement. * fertile soil* access to fresh water* mild climates

• 90% live in northern hemisphere• 2/3 of those live in mid-latitudes (20 - 60N)• Many in fertile river valleys near edges of

continents• Few people in polar climates, deserts, rugged

mts.

3. Population Change• # of people depends on 3 major factors

a. birthrate: # of births/yr for every 1000 living in

a placeb. deathrate: # of deaths /yr for every 1000

living in a placec. Migration: process of moving from one

place to another- emigrants: people who leave (exit) a

country to live in another- immigrants: people who come into a

new country to live• Zero Population Growth: birthrate + I = Deathrate +E

4. Rate of Natural Increase• Birthrate – deathrate, implying the annual rate of

population growth or decline w/o regard for migration (expressed as %)

• Varies worldwideworld: 1.2%US: 0.6%Russia: -0.6%Uganda: 3.1%

• If country grows at 3%, it will double in 23 yrs!! (doubling time)

Rates of birth, death, and natural increase per 1,000 population

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

1950-1955

1955-1960

1960-1965

1965-1970

1970-1975

1975-1980

1980-1985

1985-1990

1990-1995

1995-2000

2000-2005

Birth rate Death rate

Natural Increase

Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision, 2005.

Birth and Death Rates, Worldwide

5. Population Growth• Population has grown rapidly in last 200 years.

Why?a. improved farm technologyb. improved public sanitationc. improved medical technology

• Explosive growth in developing countries• Near zero population growth in many developed

countries• Concern of overpopulation – when # of people

too large to be supported by available resources

A.D.2000

A.D.1000

A.D.1

1000B.C.

2000B.C.

3000B.C.

4000B.C.

5000B.C.

6000B.C.

7000B.C.

1+ million years

8

7

6

5

2

1

4

3

OldStoneAge New Stone Age

BronzeAge

IronAge

MiddleAges

ModernAge

Black Death —The Plague

9

10

11

12

A.D.3000

A.D.4000

A.D.5000

18001900

1950

1975

2000

2100

Future

Billions

Source: Population Reference Bureau; and United Nations, World Population Projections to 2100 (1998).

World Population Growth Through History

Ninth

Eighth

Seventh

Sixth

Fifth

Fourth

Third

Second

First Billion

Number of years to add each billion (year)

All of Human History (1800)

130 (1930)

30 (1960)

15 (1975)

12 (1987)

12 (1999)

14 (2013)

14 (2027)

21 (2048)

Sources: First and second billion: Population Reference Bureau. Third through ninth billion: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision (medium scenario), 2005.

World Population Growth, in Billions

Billions

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1950 1970 1990 2010 2030 2050

Less Developed Regions

More Developed Regions

Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision (medium scenario), 2005.

Growth in More, Less Developed Countries

B. Population Pyramids

1. A PP is a model that shows population distribution by age and gender for a given period of time for a given country

2. What are the stages of PPM- each stage exhibits specific characteristics -

interpreted through shape

Why use Population pyramids?

a. graphically display a population's age and gender compositionb. are bar graphsc. show numbers or proportions of males and females in each age groupd. show gains of cohort members due to immigration and birth, and loss of cohort members due to emigration and death and e. reflect population growth or decline. Dynamic Population Pyramid for United States

3. Analysis of StagesA. Stage 1

Both high birth rates and death rates fluctuate in the first stage of the population model giving a small population growth (shown by the small total population graph). There are many reasons for this:

• little access to birth control • many children die in infancy (high infant mortality) so parents tend to

have more children to compensate in the hopes that more will live • children are needed to work on the land to grow food for the family • children are regarded as a sign of virility in some cultures • religious beliefs (e.g. Roman Catholics and Hindus) encourage large

families • high death rates, especially among children because of disease,

famine, poor diet, poor hygiene, little medical science.

B. Stage 2 Birth rates remain high, but death rates fall rapidly causing a high

population growth (as shown by the total population graph). The reasons for this could be:

• improvements in medical care - hospitals, medicines, etc. • improvements in sanitation and water supply • quality and quantity of food produced rises • transport and communications improve the movements of food and

medical supplies • decrease in infant mortality.

C. Stage 3

Birth rates now fall rapidly while death rates continue to fall. The total population begins to peak and the population increase slows to a constant. The reasons for this could be:

• increased access to contraception • lower infant mortality rate means there is less need to have a bigger

family • industrialization and mechanization means fewer laborers are required • the desire for material possessions takes over the desire for large

families as wealth increases • equality for women means that they are able to follow a career path

rather than feeling obligated to have a family.

D. Stage 4

Both birth rates and death rates remain low, fluctuating with 'baby booms' and epidemics of illnesses and disease. This results in a steady population.

3. Developing vs Developeda. The developing countries have a population

structure that resembles a pyramid with a broad base of young and a small apex of old.

b. The developed countries are beginning to lose their "pyramidal" shape as they become more straight up and down with almost equal numbers of people in adjacent age groups until the ages of high death rates begin after age 65.

c. Very Developed Nation: a population pyramid for an even older and less pyramidal developed country.

d. The United StatesView the United States population pyramids for 1900, 1960,

1980, 2000, 2010, and 2030. Over time, the pyramid changes from a "pyramid" to a sky scraper or an "empire state building" shape . This is the kind of change that all societies like the U.S. have experienced. Notice how the bulge of the baby boomers impacts successive U.S. pyramids. Imagine the problems connected with providing schools for this group of people in 1960, jobs in 1980, and houses in 1990. These are the people who will be eligible for Social Security between 2010 and 2030. By 2030, many of them will have died out as the earlier baby boomers will be over 85 than, and the population--barring any unexpected changes--will have age groups of roughly similar size up to older ages. At the older ages, the pyramids indicate not only the decreasing numbers of people but also the preponderance of females that occurs at the oldest ages. This "feminizing" of the population as it gets older is due to sex differences in mortality.

dynamic population change - USA

4. Why does it matter?

a. people of different ages have different needs, abilities, responsibilities, and entitlements

b. the importance of age differences arise because of the societal expectations and societal circumstances that determine what one does at a given age and what one is entitled to at a given age.

– Dependency ages (under 18 – over 65?)

Period Effects

Special Case

C. Demographic Transition Model1. A DTM is a model that explains the population

history of a country or region – shows how population changes as a country develops

2. What are the stages of DTM- each stage exhibits specific characteristics -

Stages A- E show what characteristics you can expect for each stage and possible reasons for changes btwn stagesPopulation change is shown in two ways here1. change over SPACE: a number of countries at the

same time can exhibit the population characteristics of different stages.

2. Second is change over TIME: a country will theoretically progress through the stages. It has been a long time since this model was developed, and some countries have begun to exhibit characteristics beyond stage 4.

3. Analysis of StagesA. Stage 1

Both high birth rates and death rates fluctuate in the first stage of the population model giving a small population growth (shown by the small total population graph). There are many reasons for this:

• little access to birth control • many children die in infancy (high infant mortality) so parents tend to

have more children to compensate in the hopes that more will live • children are needed to work on the land to grow food for the family • children are regarded as a sign of virility in some cultures • religious beliefs (e.g. Roman Catholics and Hindus) encourage large

families • high death rates, especially among children because of disease, famine,

poor diet, poor hygiene, little medical science.

Characteristics: High birthrates & high death rates

Effect of population growth: Little change in population

B. Stage 2 Birth rates remain high, but death rates fall rapidly causing a high

population growth (as shown by the total population graph). The reasons for this could be:

• improvements in medical care - hospitals, medicines, etc. • improvements in sanitation and water supply • quality and quantity of food produced rises • transport and communications improve

the movements of food and medical supplies

• decrease in infant mortality.

Characteristics: High birthrates & declining death rates

Effect of population growth: Life expectancy increases significantly and population grows explosively

C. Stage 3

Birth rates now fall rapidly while death rates continue to fall. The total population begins to peak and the population increase slows to a constant. The reasons for this could be:

• increased access to contraception • lower infant mortality rate means there is less need to have a bigger

family • industrialization and mechanization means fewer laborers are required • the desire for material possessions takes over the desire for large

families as wealth increases • equality for women means that they are able to follow a career path

rather than feeling obligated to have a family.

Characteristics: Birthrates decline and low death rates

Effect of population growth: Population growth slows

D. Stage 4

Both birth rates and death rates remain low, fluctuating with 'baby booms' and epidemics of illnesses and disease. This results in a steady population.

Characteristics: Very low birth and death rates

Effect of population growth: Little population growth

E. Stage 5??

A stage 5 was not originally thought of as part of the DTM, but some northern countries are now reaching the stage where total population is declining where birth rates have dropped below death rates. One such country is Germany which has taken in foreign workers to fill jobs. Other countries with declining populations include: Japan, Russia, and much of Eastern Europe

Characteristics: deathrate higher than birthrate

Effect of population growth: population decline

Case Study of Population Change Over Time - DTM and Pyramids for UK (1780

- present)

C. Push/Pull Migration Factors

Push Factors: What factors cause a person/s to leave the country they’re in

Pull Factors: What factors attract a person/s to go into another country

II. Cultural GeographyA. Culture is

1. all features of a people’s way of life2. learned and passed down from parents to

children through teaching, example & imitation

3. includes language, religion, architecture, clothing, economics, family life, food,

gov’t, roles of women/men etc.

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/index.html

B. Cultural Hearth

1. A place where important ideas begin and from which they spread to surrounding cultures

2. SW Asia: domestication of animals, crops, writing & math

3. China: language, arts, technology

C. Cultural traits

1. Some the same around the world: reading, math, alphabets,

2. Some different: knife & fork vs chopsticks3. Some traits linked, such as religion, farming, use of technology

- example: The Amish in America

Cultural Geography

religion

education

governmentExample: democratic

system, elected officials at local, state,

and national levels

economy

housing clothing

language

food

Culture Traits

Cultural Traits

D. Cultural Regions

1. An area in which people have many shared culture traits2. Some countries have one dominant culture (Japan), others may have many (Kenya, South Africa)3. Country borders sometimes divide culture regions and separate one ethnic group (Kurds)4. Can be made up of several countries with same language, traditions, systems of gov’t (Australia & New Zealand)

“Kurdistan”

E. Cultural Landscapes

1. Humans alter landscape in their use of natural resources

2. Ag. landscape in US very diff. than China3. Many urban landscapes worldwide are

similar

F. Social Organization1. Every culture organized into smaller units

a. Family most important in all culturesb. Family structure diff. in diff. cultures

2. Social Ranking – ranked in order of statusa. $b. occupationc. educationd. ancestry

3. In most countries, some degree of social mobility – have opportunity to rise in society

thru education, economic achievement, political action

a. Women & Minorities• Social mobility

restricted in some cultures

• History of discrimination, violence against ethnic & religious minorities

• Majority groups have used economic measures to discriminate

G. Cultural Change1. Cultural Convergence

a. skills, art, ideas, habits, institutions of one culture come in contact with those of another.

b. Globalization- The process in which connections around the world increase and cultures become more

alike- Occurs b/c of communications networks such

as internet and satellite TV etc. - Cultural traits are spreading quickly – a global

set of cultural traits is taking hold

* migration

2. Diffusion – process by which a cultural element is transmitted across some distance from one grp or individual to another

The Columbian Exchange – just a reminder from 8th grade history. More than just

cultural traits can be exchanged!• Contact between any two peoples

geographically separated from oneanother results in an ‘exchange’ ofphysical elements

• The three main elements are: Plants, animals microbes

3. Acculturation: a. adopting some traits from another cultureb. cultural modifications resulting from intercultural borrowing c. usually this implies changes in an indigenous culture

caused by the imposition of a technologically more advanced culture (e.g. colonists) d. a one-way transfer of cultural traits

EXAMPLES• The Amerindians of North America (US and

Canada) were acculturated into western, European, society. The culture of the colonists replaced that of the Native Americans.

4. Cultural Divergence – restriction of a culture from outside cultural influencesa. Traditionalism

- following longtime practices and opposing many modern technologies & ideas- sometimes leads to increase of fundamentalism : a set of religious beliefs based on strict interpretation of a sacred text

Saudi Arabia: Road to Mecca – for Muslims onlyNon-Muslims have to head for Jeddah

b. Sometimes practice by repressive gov’ts- restrict free mvmt in/out - seek to control transp./commun.

The Berlin Wall: 1961-1989

The governments of Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia block the access to the Internet websites that are focused on social, political and free speech issues. In less than a week, the Egyptian Internet website www.masreyat.org was blocked by the Egyptian government and the Saudi website www.rezgar.com was threatened to be sued. A Saudi businessman accused them of uploading contents that are unacceptable for Muslims.

Saudi Arabia is an Islamic monarchy without legal protection for freedom of religion, and such protection does not exist in practice. Islam is the official religion, and the law requires that all citizens be Muslims. The Government prohibits the public practice of non-Muslim religions. The Government recognizes the right of non-Muslims to worship in private; however, it does not always respect this right in practice.

Free Speech?

Just some current examples of how gov’ts can restrict cultural contact

III. World Languages & Religions A. Geography of Languages – why is this

important?

1. main means of communication2. learned customs & skills passed

from one generation to next3. influences routes & patterns of

diffusion & migration - info spreads easily to areas of same

lang. - lang. diffs can be barrier to diffusion

4. Make world regions distinctive- ex. Spanish = most of S. America

5. Facts about languagea. About 3000-6500 languagesb. Mandarin most widely spoken lang.c. Languages ÷ into families d. Families ÷ into branchese. Languages may have various dialects

- a REGIONAL VARIETY OF LANGUAGEex. American: Keep your chin up! British: Keep your pecker up! American: Do you have a cigarette? British: Do you have a fag?

World Languages

Language Tree

f. English is most widespread language –

- thanks to colonization- language of globalization & internet- a lingua franca: language of trade & communication to the world

1.Pink: colonies held by 1945 2.Orange:Dominions 3.Pink in Orange:colonies of Dominions 4.Dark Red-Brown:areas lost by 1920 5.Purple:Protectorates and Princely States (in India) 6.Lavender:areas lost by 1705 (England only) 7.Hachured: sphere of influence

A. Geography of Religion – why is this important?

1. key culture trait2. binds societies together3. gives meaning to people’s lives4. religious conflict can be a

component of conflict -Palestinian/Israeli ConflictNorthern Ireland ConflictSectarian violence in IraqTamil Separatist mvmt in Sri Lanka

5. 3 main types of religionsa. Ethnic: focus on one ethnic group – little spread to other cultures –

Confucianism – ChinaHinduism – IndiaJudaism – Israel +Shintoism – JapanTaoism - China

b. Animist: believe in presence of spirits and forces of nature –

- often polytheistic- found mostly in traditional societies

c. Universalizing Religions: seek followers worldwide – (Christianity, Islam)

= ½ + of world’s population- monotheistic- use missionaries to spread religion

6. Current trends in religiona. Decline in active participation.

- modern tech. and science have led some to question beliefs of traditional religion

- too busy?b. Universalizing religions are fasted growing

Islam = fastest growth

Dominant Religious Traditions