GGC.1D-Human Geography Study Guide

1. GGC.1D-Human Geography Study Guide

2. Did you know? Sociologists think race is best considered a social construction rather than a biological category. Race...Ethnicity...Nationality... • Race is a term that refers to a category of people who share certain inherited physical characteristics, such as skin color, facial features, and stature. • Ethnicity refers to the shared social, cultural, and historical experiences that make subgroups of a population different from one another. • An ethnic group is a subgroup of a population with a set of shared experiences, distinct beliefs, and sense of identity of belonging to the subgroup. • Nationalism is loyalty and devotion to a particular nationality. Nationality is identity with a group of people who share legal attachment to a particular country. Did you notice? “Ethnicity” and “ethnic” avoid the biological connotations of “race” and “racial.”

3. How would you describe your culture? World Cultures • Culture is how people in a region live, behave, and think • Expressions of culture include language, religion, beliefs, customs, music, dance, literature, theater, film, etc. • Culture is often reflected in symbols that people recognize and respect • Symbol: an object that stands for something else • Example: stars on the American flag • What do the stars on the American flag represent?

4. World Cultures • Culture is a main trait of civilizations • Civilization: a society that has a highly developed culture & technology • People in a civilization are not born knowing their culture • How do people “learn” their culture? • By watching and imitating others • By being taught values, beliefs, traditions, etc.

5. World Cultures • Geographers study culture regions • A culture region is an area that is unified by common cultural traits, or characteristics • Examples: Mexico, Central America, the islands of the Caribbean, and South America are grouped in a culture region called Latin America WHY? Many people in this region speak Spanish or Portuguese, they practice the Roman Catholic religion, and they share a history of Spanish colonization.

6. Language • Language is a system of signs, sounds, gestures, and marks that have meanings understood within a cultural group. • People communicate their cultural values through language, and the words themselves tell something about where different cultural groups are located.

7. Religions & Belief Systems • Religions and belief systems are important parts of cultures around the world • A religion is an organized system of beliefs and practices • Most religions teach a set of beliefs and a moral or ethical code (i.e. Ten Commandments for Judaism and Christianity; the Four Noble Truths for Buddhism) • Religion helps people answer questions such as, “What is the purpose of life?” • Some religions are monotheistic, or believe in one major deity, while others are polytheistic, or believe in many deities. • Most religions have sacred texts or scriptures that communicate their beliefs • People often celebrate holidays or observe special days as a way of practicing and honoring their beliefs

8. Major World Religions

9. Major World Religions

11. Religion can be a unifying force or a divisive force • Conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland

12. Religion can be a unifying force or a divisive force • Jews, Christians, and Muslims all claiming Jerusalem as their religious heritage site • Conflicts between Sunni and Shi’a

13. Economic Geography • The production of goods and services is known as economic activity. • Geographers divide this activity into different sectors: • Primary sector: involves taking raw materials from the soil or water (deals directly with resources) • Secondary sector: involves using raw materials to manufacture products (making something) • Tertiary sector:includes services such as banking and health care • Quaternary sector: involves intellectual activities such as government, libraries, scientific research, and education

14. Bottled Water Production

15. Factors of Production • Geographers study where economic activity occurs and how this activity is connected around the world. • A country is more likely to have a strong economy if it has all 4 factors of productions: • Land - the natural resources used to produce goods & services • Labor - involves the size and education level of the workforce • Capital - a country’s wealth and infrastructure • Entrepreneurship - involves the creativity and risk needed to develop new goods and services

16. What can you recall from Civics & Economics? Economic Systems Economic systems are ways in which countries organize the production of goods and services. There are 4 main systems found around the world: • Traditional economy: people trade goods and services without money • Free enterprise economy (market economy/capitalism): privately owned businesses create goods that people buy in markets • Command economy: the government owns most part of the economy and decides what will be produced and sold • Mixed economy: has elements of a free enterprise and command economy

17. Economic Indicators The strength of a country’s economy can be measured by several indicators (signs). • Gross domestic product (GDP). GDP is the total value of the goods and services that a country produces. • Other indicators include income, literacy rate, and life expectancy. Economies fall in one of 2 categories • Countries with high GDPs are more developed countries; most of their economic activity is in the tertiary sector • Countries with low GDPs are less developed countries; most of their economic activity is in the primary or secondary sector

19. Political Geography What is “government”? • A government is an organization that keeps order, sets rules, and provides services for society. • Government governs citizens. A citizen is a person who lives within a territory of a government and is granted certain rights and responsibilities by that government.

20. Political Geography Governments are either limited or unlimited • A limited government does not have complete control over its citizens; citizens have some individual rights and responsibilities. • An unlimited government has complete control over every aspect of its citizens’ lives.

21. Freedom Around the World (Based on Extent of Political Rights and Civil Liberties) Source: Adapted from Freedom House. (2010). Map of freedom in the world. Retrieved from http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=363&year=2010.

22. Types of Government In the modern world, five types of government are common. • Democracy: citizens elect representatives to govern them; legislatures create laws; an executive branch carries out laws; a judicial branch interprets laws; citizens have many rights (i.e. The United States) • Monarchy: a king, queen, or emperor rules society; the ruler usually inherits the office • citizens in an absolute monarchy often have few or no rights (i.e. Saudi Arabia) • in a constitutional monarchy the king or queen shares power with a government organized by a constitution (i.e. United Kingdom)

23. Types of Government • Dictatorship: one person rises to power and rules all aspects of life; citizens have few or no rights (i.e. North Korea) • Oligarchy: a group of a few people rules a society; ruling groups usually is wealthy or has military power; citizens have few or no rights (i.e. Myanmar) • Communism: a type of command economy in which the government, controlled by the Communist Party, owns all the property; citizens have few or no rights (i.e. Cuba)

24. Protecting Human Rights Nesse Godin was 13 years old during World War II when the Nazis occupied her town in Lithuania. Because she and her family were Jewish, they were transferred to a concentration camp. Then Nesse was sent to different labor camps, where she worked digging ditches. In January 1945, she and other prisoners were forced to march in the cold weather with little food. Many prisoners died. Nesse (middle) and her brothers. Nesse survived the events of the Holocaust but 6 million other people did not. At the end of WWII 51 countries came together to form the United Nations (UN). The main goals of this organization were to: • Keep the peace • Develop friendly relationships among countries • Protect people’s human rights Human rights: political, economic, and cultural rights that all people should have

25. Protecting Human Rights • The UN established the Commission on Human Rights to create a “common standard of achievement for all people and all nations.” • On December 10, 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was approved • The declaration states that all people should be treated with respect and explains the basic political, economic, and cultural rights people should be guaranteed. • The declaration has had an impact on people and governments (i.e. the end of apartheid in South Africa)