East Asia: Physical Geography Land and Water

East Asia’s Landforms Huge region!!!  China takes up most 3 rd largest country in the world Very mountainous, but has variety too  Mountains  Hills  Plateaus (mountains with flat top)  Plains  Deserts  Coastal Areas Shaped by forces inside Earth  50 million years ago… Part of continent collides and creates Himalaya Mts. “Ring of Fire”- volcanoes and earthquakes create Pacific Islands

China: “Land of Extremes” Home of oldest civilization in world  More than 1 billion people!!! Mountains and deserts take up 2/3’s of China  Huge mountains (Himalaya Mountains) Huge plateau surrounded by Himalayas in Tibet Rivers  Yangzi 3,915 miles long! Deep enough for ships!  Huang He 400 million live along its banks Irrigates the North China Plain  Makes super fertile, covered w/ deposits of loess, a brownish, yellow fertile soil

Japan: An Island Country Japan is an archipelago- a group of islands  4 main islands and over 3,000 smaller ones All major cities located on coasts b/c 80% of land is unlivable mts.

The Koreas Land of great beauty! Single peninsula- strip of land surrounded by water on 3 sides  occupied by 2 countries separated by the 38 th Parallel since end of WW2 Peninsula stretches into Yellow Sea and Sea of Japan Over 70% of land is steep mts.

Geography and Population Population not spread evenly across land  Few live in mts., deserts, & highlands  But… 1.5 Billion still live in region! Means… people crowd into coasts and plains (easy to live there & grow crops)  Population Density- number of people per sq. mile ½ pop. of Japan live in 3% of land China largely rural… 70% live in farms In Japan… 80% of pop. in cities South Korea pop. at 10 million

East Asia: Physical Geography Climate and Vegetation

East Asia’s Climate Regions Like the USA, East Asia has same type of climate regions.  Tropical Wet- very hot and very wet  Arid and Semiarid- dry very little moisture  Humid Subtropical- hot summers, cool winters  Continental- warm/hot summers, cold winters

What Impacts Climate? Monsoons- extreme winds that blow across a region at specific times of year  Winds bring rain west from Pacific Rain starts as drizzle in June Cause hot, humid weather and heavy rains by July By fall, winds increase and become typhoons, or hurricanes occurring in Pacific Winter… icy cold winds and blizzard snow

Climate Affects… Influences everything!!!  Natural Vegetation  Agriculture  What People Can Grow  How Often They Can Plant  How Easily and When They Can Harvest  Foods They Eat  Clothes They Wear  EVERYTHING!!!

Climate Affects… Vegetation  Plant life must be strong! Able to withstand…  seasonal changes  temperature extremes  rain extremes Bamboo  grows fast in wet season  can survive dry season Shrubs  low bushes that don’t require much water; survive in the deserts Deciduous Forests  trees that leaf and berry then drop them

Climate Affects… The Life of the People  What People Can Grow Temperature extremes and amount of precipitation limits  Certain plants need specific amounts  How Often They Can Plant  How Easily and When They Can Harvest Wet seasons irrigate soil (good thing) But can also cause floods that wipe out crops (bad thing  Foods They Eat Rice needs warmth grown in south  People in southern Asia eat more In north, its cooler grain and wheat grow better  People here eat more dishes with noodles  Clothes They Wear Temperature extremes dictate the layers  North is cooler… people wear more  South is warmer… thinner materials

East Asia: Physical Geography Natural Resources

Using East Asia’s Resources Many found in East Asia  Lands and waters filled w/ huge variety Some too hard or expensive to get  Gold, sliver, copper  Coal, iron (together they make steel)  Hydroelectricity  Oil est. 74 billion barrels below Takla Makan Desert

Minerals Koreas  Limited mineral resources Coal, iron, tungsten, graphite developing nation N. Korea- developing nation, country w/ little industry or technology developed nation S. Korea- developed nation, country w/ many industries and a well developed economy  Exports  Exports many manufactured goods, sells them to other nations Japan  Modern industrial nation  Has few mineral resources of own (must import) China  Large supply of nat’l resources  Mined copper, tin, and iron for 2,000 years  Huge oil reserves  One of world’s largest supplies of coal

Forests Parts covered w/ large forests  BUT… Like most other countries, they cut w/o care New programs to plant trees might bring them back but will take quite a while!!! import For Now… must import, or buy from other countries

Waters hydroelectricity Rugged mts. and heavy rainfall perfect for hydroelectricity- power plants that use running water to create electricity Pacific Ocean  Huge resource for food Where cold and warm water currents meet, tiny plants thrive  Attract a variety of fish  Fishing is a huge industry!!! Poles, nets, huge fishing boats Aquaculture Aquaculture (sea farming)  In shallows, people raise fish in cages  Reefs provide beds for shrimp and oysters  Lakes and Rivers provide fish too Twice as many freshwater fish caught in East Asia than the rest of world

Fertile Lands: A Valuable Resource ALL Huge pop. means must use ALL land for farming Much not farmable  10% in China  11% in Japan  14% in Korea So use the unusable  Terrace farming Notches cut into mts.  Sides of roads and railroad tracks  Double-crop  Double-crop, or grow 2 crops on same land in- between them  Livestock is rare Crops take up less room