Economic Geography www.AssignmentPoint.com

1. Geography Geo means ‘earth’ Graphos means ‘description’ Greek roots: Geo means ‘earth’ Graphos means ‘description’ However many disciplines ‘describe the earth’: geology, botany, zoology, meteorology, etc. Geographers study the earth from a spatial perspective. www.AssignmentPoint.com

2. The study of spatial variation on the earth’s surface. ‘There would be no geography if physical and human phenomena were distributed uniformly over the face of the earth’ Harthshorn, 2000:4 The geographer is concerned primarily with variations from place to place, as opposed to historians’ focus on variations from time to time. ‘Earth’s surface’ is construed rather broadly here to refer to the milieu in which human life exists – the lower portion of the atmosphere, which people breathe, the outer part of the lithosphere, upon which they walk and from which minerals are extracted, and the hydrosphere, where people fish and sail. www.AssignmentPoint.com

3. Five Unifying Themes in Geography There are five themes in geography: Location Place Region Human environment relations Movement www.AssignmentPoint.com

Location (where is it?) Absolute (or mathematical) location describes an exact position or point on the earth’s surface as defined by a set of mapped coordinates obtained from a superimposed grid or measurement system. The use of latitude and longitude, e.g.: Dhaka - latitude 23° 43' 23N , longitude 90° 24' 31E Relative location refers to the relational characteristics of a location as described in generalized terms or with respect to other areas or reference points on the earth. Measuring: N, S, E and W; km/ml; in Asia, etc www.AssignmentPoint.com

Place (What makes a place different from other places?) Differences might be defined in terms of climate, physical features, or the people who live there and their traditions. Places have both human and physical characteristics: Physical characteristics include mountains, rivers, soil, beaches, wildlife, soil.   Human characteristics are derived from the ideas and actions of people that result in changes to the environment, such as buildings, roads, clothing, food habits and above all cultural aspects. www.AssignmentPoint.com

Regions Regions is defined by a number of characteristics including area, language, political divisions, religions, and nature. There are three basic types of regions. Formal regions are those defined by governmental or administrative boundaries (i. e., United States, France, China, Brazil).  These regional boundaries are not open to dispute. Functional regions are those defined by a function (e.g. free trade zones, EPZ or a newspaper service area).  If the function ceases to exist, the region would no longer exist either. Vernacular regions are those loosely defined by people's perception (i. e., The South, The Middle East).   www.AssignmentPoint.com

Human-environment interaction What are the relationships among people and places? Humans adapt to the environment (hunting, horticulture) Humans modify the environment Humans depend on the environment (rain in deserts, sunny days in cold regions) (When humans modify their environment through economic activities, such as deforestation and expansion of irrigated areas, it can cause nature degradations such as soil erosion and floods or desertification in dry areas)  www.AssignmentPoint.com

Movement – Patterns of movement of people, products, and information A study of movement includes learning about major modes of transportation used by people, an area's major exports and imports, and ways in which people communicate (move ideas). Global village www.AssignmentPoint.com

4. Elements of Geography Any phenomenon whose distribution differs from place to place is termed a spatial variable and qualifies as an element of geography. There are many phenomena that can be a focus of geographers, e.g. natural resources, humans, political systems, economic activities, travel patterns, etc. These elements determine the type of geography in focus. Ggeography broadly is divided into physical geography and cultural geography. www.AssignmentPoint.com

Physical Geography Physical geography includes the following fields: geomorphology (through geology), climatology (including meteorology), biogeography (distribution of plants and animals, uses biology), soils geography, and oceanography, www.AssignmentPoint.com

Cultural geography Cultural geography is also called human geography, involves all phases of human social life in relation to the physical earth. It includes economic geography, political geography (application of political sciences), military geography, ethnography, historical geography, urban geography, demography, linguistic geography, travel geography, etc. www.AssignmentPoint.com

Economic geography Economic Geography refers to the field of study focused on the location of economic activity at the local, national and world scale (see Hartshorn ed. 2000:1-6) The main goal of economic geographers is whenever possible to develop generalizations and theories to account for the spatial variations on the earth’s surface. Economic geographers study countries with all types of economies and states; from both developed and developing worlds. www.AssignmentPoint.com

6. Economic activities A. Production Primary: harvesting commodities from nature (subsistence agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining) Secondary: Purposeful tending of crops and livestock (commercial agriculture) Increasing the value of commodities by changing their form (manufacturing) Tertiary: services – financial, health, entertainment, education, information, and data-processing services; middle-management administrative services; government bureaucrats Quaternary: high-level managerial and executive positions (public and private) Scientific research and development services www.AssignmentPoint.com

B. Exchange Transportation and distribution services: Increasing the value of commodities by changing their location (freight transportation) Satisfying the needs of people by changing their location (Passenger transportation) Telecommunications Exchanging services and ideas by telecommunication or face-to-face contact Trade Warehousing and distribution function Wholesale trade Retail trade www.AssignmentPoint.com

5. World divisions 1st World (Developed countries) / More developed countries (MDC) / High income countries (HIC) 2nd World (Developing countries) / Less Developed Countries (LDC)/ / Middle income countries (MIC) 3rd World (Under-developed) / Least developed countries (LLDC)/ Low income countries (LIC) Brandt map? www.AssignmentPoint.com