Sallie A. Marston. Sallie Marston received her Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She
has been a faculty member at the University of Arizona since 1986. Her teaching focuses on the historical, social,
and cultural aspects of American urbanization, with particular emphasis on race, class, gender, and ethnicity issues.
She received the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award in 1989. She is the author
of numerous journal articles and book chapters and serves on the editorial board of several scientific journals.
In 1994/1995 she served as interim director of Women's Studies and the Southwest Institute for Research on Women.
She is currently a professor in, and serves as head of, the Department of Geography and Regional Development at
the University of Arizona.
Knox, Paul L. :
Paul L. Knox. Paul Knox received his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Sheffield, England. After teaching
in the United Kingdom for several years, he moved to the United States in 1985 to take a position as professor
of urban affairs and planning at Virginia Tech. His teaching centers on urban and regional development, with an
emphasis on comparative study. In 1989 he received a university award for teaching excellence. He has written several
books on aspects of economic geography, social geography, and urbanization. He serves on the editorial board of
several scientific journals and is co-editor on a series of books on world cities. In 1996 he was appointed to
the position of University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech, where he currently serves as dean of the College
of Architecture and Urban Studies.
Liverman, Diana M. :
Diana M. Liverman. Diana Liverman received her Ph.D. in Geography from the University of California at Los Angeles
and also studied at the University of Toronto, Canada, and University College London, England. Born in Accra, Ghana,
she is currently a professor of geography and regional development and the director of the Center for Latin American
Studies at the University of Arizona. Her teaching focuses on global environmental issues and on Latin America;
in 1993, she received a teaching award from Pennsylvania State University. Diana has served on several national
and international advisory committees dealing with environmental issues, and has written recent journal articles
and book chapters on topics such as natural disasters, climate change, and environmental policy in Mexico. She
is an editor of the Journal of Latin American Geography.
Preface
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first rime.
Excerpt from "Little Gidding"
in Four Quartets.
Copyright 1942 by T.S. Eliot
and renewed 1970 by Esme Valerie Eliot,
reprinted by permission of Harcourt, Inc.
Most people have an understanding of what their own lives are like and some knowledge of their own areas--their
neighborhood, their city, their country. Yet, even as the countries .and regions of the world become interconnected,
most of us still know very little about the lives of people in other societies or about the ways in which the lives
of those people connect to our own.
The lines from T.S. Eliot's poem remind us that learning about new places helps us to see familiar places in
fresh and unexpected ways. This book provides an introduction to world regional geography that will make exotic
places, landscapes, g and environments accessible and will reveal the familiar in new ways. To study world regional
geography, to put it simply, is to study the dynamic and complex relationships between people and the worlds they
inhabit. Our book gives students the basic geographical tools and concepts needed to understand the complexity
of regions and to appreciate the interconnections between their own lives and those of people in different parts
of the world.
Objective and Approach
This book has two primary objectives. The first is to provide a body of knowledge about how natural, social,
economic, political, and cultural phenomena come together to produce distinctive territories with distinctive landscapes
and cultural attributes: that is, world regions. The second is to emphasize that although there is diversity among
world regions, it is important for us to understand the increasing interdependencies that exist among and between
regions in order to build any real understanding of the modern world.
In an attempt to achieve these objectives, we have taken a fresh approach to world geography, reflecting the
major changes that have recently been impressed on the global, regional, and local landscapes. These changes include
the global spread of new technologies, especially information technologies like the Internet, biotechnology such
as genetically engineered seeds, and transportation technologies such as high-speed rail systems. They also include
geopolitical shifts such as the formation of the European Union and the Free Trade Area of the Americas; economic
trends, such as the growth of transnational corporations and the globalization of consumer culture; and environmental
changes associated with, increasing industrialization and global warming. The approach used in World Regions in
Global Context provides access not only to the new ideas, concepts, and theories that address these changes but
also to the fundamentals of geography: the principles, concepts, theoretical frameworks, and basic knowledge that
are necessary to build a geographic understanding of today's world.
A distinctive feature of this approach is that it employs the concept of geographic scale and emphasizes the
interdependence of places and processes at different scales. In overall terms, this approach is designed to provide
an understanding of relationships between the global and the local and the outcomes of these relationships. It
follows that one of the chief organizing principles is how globalization frames the social and cultural construction
of particular places and regions at various scales.
This approach allows us to emphasize a number of important concepts.
Globalization and the links between global and local--Throughout the book, we stress the increasing interconnectedness
of different parts of the world through common processes of economic, environmental, political, and cultural change.
We approach the processes of globalization through a world-systems framework based on ideas about geographic cores,
peripheries, and semiperipheries. A world economy has in fact been in existence for several centuries, and it has
been reorganized several times. Each time it has been reorganized, there have been major changes not only in world
geography but also in the character and fortunes of individual regions. In this book, we look not only at world
regions as they exist in modern times, but also at how each region has contributed to world history and has been
affected by the role that it has played. This approach also helps us to point to the links between ` the global
and the local. Recently there has been a pronounced change in both the pace and the nature of globalization. There
has been an intensification of global connectedness, a major reorganization of the world economy, and a radical
change in our relationships to other people and other places.
The unevenness of political and economic development--We also explicitly recognize the underlying diversity
of the world. While there are a range of processes that are likely to be common to most regions--urbanization,
industrialization, and population distribution--the way these processes are manifested will vary from region to
region and even within regions. In short, there are important variations within places and regions at every scale:
for example, social well-being varies and there can be affluent enclaves in poor regions and pockets of poverty
in rich regions.
Linking society and nature--Inherent to the basic geographic concepts of landscape, place, and region are the
interactions between people and the natural environment that shape landscapes and give places and regions their
distinctive characteristics. In this book, we explore the nature-society and human-environment relationships that
assist in our understanding of regional geography. We emphasize that human adaptation to Earth's physical environments
has gone far beyond responses to natural constraints to produce significant modifications of environments and landscapes
and widespread environmental degradation and pollution.
The Geography of World Regions
In this text we have divided the world into ten major regions--Europe; The Russian Federation, Central Asia,
and the Transcaucasus; North America; Sub-Saharan Africa; the Middle East and North Africa; Latin America and the
Caribbean; East Asia; Southeast Asia; South Asia; and Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific. There is no
standard way of dividing the world into regions. Textbooks, international organizations, and regional studies groups
within universities have chosen a variety of ways to divide up and make sense of the world. Although we review
the distinctive characteristics of every region at the beginning of each chapter, the changing and sometimes controversial
process of defining world regions merits some discussion here.
Early Greek geographers divided their known world into Europe, Africa, and Asia, with the boundaries defined
by the Straits of Gibraltar (dividing Africa and Europe), the Red Sea (dividing Africa and Asia), and the Bosporus
Strait (dividing Europe and Asia). As Europeans began to explore the world, new regions were associated with major
landmasses or continents, with the Americas usually split into North and South America, and Australia and Antarctica
added as the sixth and seventh continents. These divisions lumped together many different landscapes and cultures
(especially in Asia) but served, in the minds of Europeans, to differentiate "us" from "them,"
and to provide a framework for organizing colonial exploration and administration. The colonial period produced
many new nations and boundaries, and transformed cultures and landscapes in ways that produced more homogeneous
regions. For example, 400 years of Spanish and Portuguese colonization of the region that stretches from Mexico
to Argentina created a region of shared languages, religion, and political institutions that became known as Latin
America. British colonization of what now comprises Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal interacted
with local culture to produce a region frequently known as South Asia. In the Middle East and North Africa, the
persistence of Muslim religion and tradition gave these regions an identity that separated them from Asia and from
Africa south of the Sahara.
In the twentieth century, new configurations of political power and economic alliances produced some reconfigurations
of world regions. The most notable was the large block of Asia and eastern Europe associated with the socialist
politics of the former Soviet Union centered on Russia, together with eastern European countries ranging from East
Germany to Bulgaria.
In response to global conflicts and economic opportunities in the second half of the twentieth century, governments
and universities established programs and centers that focused on specific world areas and their languages. For
example, in the United States, the Department of Education established university centers that focused on apparently
coherent regions such as Latin America, the Caribbean, the Pacific, Europe, Africa, the Soviet Union and Eastern
Europe, the Middle East, and East, South, and Southeast Asia.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century these traditional divisions of the world into regions have been
challenged by events, critics, and the latest phases of globalization. When the Soviet bloc disintegrated in 1989,
some states reoriented toward western Europe and to the economic alliance of the European Community, whereas others
remained closer to Russia or looked eastward to an identity with countries such as Afghanistan as part of central
Asia. As we note in the relevant chapters, regionalizations have been criticized for being based on race or religion
(for example, the Middle East and SubSaharan Africa), for being remnants of colonial thinking (for example, Latin
America or Southeast Asia), or for being grounded only in physical proximity or environmental characteristics rather
than on cultural or other human commonalities (for example, Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific islands clustered
in Oceania). We will also discuss a number of countries, such as Sudan, Cyprus, or Antarctica that do not fit easily
into the traditional regions or that fit into more than one region. Some scholars and institutions have proposed
a dramatic rethinking of world regions. They suggest, for example, that all Islamic or oil-producing countries
be treated together, or that countries be grouped according to their level of economic development or integration
into the global economy. For example, the World Bank commonly classifies nations into high-, middle-, and low-income
countries, arid this book identifies many regions and countries according to their relation to the core or periphery
of the world system.
Our own division of the world tries to take into account some of these changing ideas about world regions without
deviating too radically from other texts or course outlines, and by trying to create a manageable number and coherent
set of chapters. Each chapter includes our rationale for treating the places in the chapter as a distinct region
and a review of the limitations and debates about defining each region. In addition, each chapter emphasizes the
links of the region under discussion to other regions and to processes of globalization that might be changing
the nature and coherence of world regions.
Chapter Organization
Two of the central challenges to writing a world regional geography text appropriate for the modern world involve
balancing an emphasis on globalization and global processes with the traditional and important emphasis on individual
places, and in striking a balance between broad regional generalizations and overly divisive country-by-country
regional descriptions. The internal structure of each of the regional chapters is critically important to achieving
this balance. In order to strike such a balance, we divide each regional chapter into six standard categories.
Physical and Environmental Context: We begin each of the chapters with a concise discussion of the physical
and environmental context of the region, ending this section with an explanation of the region's environmental
history. Our aim here is to demonstrate the links between people and nature . and how the environment is shaped
by and shapes the region's inhabitants over time.
Region in the World: Consistent with our aim to highlight the enduring interdependence of the world's regions,
we then provide a section that places each of the regions within the larger context of global history and geography.
Peoples of the Region: In this section we discuss, at various different scales, the people who live in the region.
Regional Change and Interdependence: This section outlines the contemporary role of the region in the global
context. This material contrasts to the more historical material emphasized in the Region in the World section.
Core Regions and Key Cities: One of our approaches in the text is to demonstrate the ways in which core, periphery,
and semiperiphery are unevenly distributed across geographical scales, in that a specific city or subregion in
a peripheral region may share the characteristics of a core region. To illustrate this point we include a section
on core regions and key cities that describes the politically and economically central subregions within each of
the world regions we discuss.
Distinctive Regions and Landscapes: Our final section of each chapter, which is followed by the summary and
conclusions, is devoted to exploring and understanding some of the distinctive regions and landscapes of each of
the world's regions.
The organization of the book is pedagogically useful in several ways. First, the conceptual framework of the
book is built on two opening chapters: Chapter I describes the basics of a regional perspective; Chapter 2 introduces
the key concepts that are deployed throughout the remaining regional chapters, highlighting the importance of the
globalization approach. Second, the concepts and conceptual framework that are laid out in Chapters 1 and 2 are
explored and elaborated upon in the ten regional chapters that follow.
A third important aspect of the book is the distinctive ordering of the chapters. The sequencing of the chapters
is a deliberate move to avoid privileging any one region over any other or to cluster the regions according to
any economic or political categorization. Rather, because the key conceptual framework of the book is the globalization
of the capitalist world-system, we begin with the European region (Chapter 3) because that is where contemporary
capitalism and many of the impulses for the contemporary world map have their source. Following the initial appearance
of this historically critical core region, however, we deliberately intersperse core, semiperipheral, and peripheral
regions in order to signal the, interdependence of each.
The final chapter provides a coherent summary of the main points discussed and illustrated in the preceding
chapters through an elaboration of the possible futures of the world's regions. This chapter returns students to
the conceptual foundations of the book and provides them with a sense of what the future of the globe--and the
places and regions within it--might be like.
Features
This book takes a decidedly different approach to understanding world regions, and the features we use help
to underscore that difference. The book employs an innovative cartography program, four different boxed features
(Geography Matters, Sense of Place, A Day in the Life, and Geographies of Indulgence, Desire, and Addiction), as
well as more familiar pedagogical devices such as end-of-chapter review questions and exercises and a listing of
important films, music, and popular literature of each region.
Geography Matters: This feature examines one of the key concepts of the chapter by providing an extended example
of its meaning and implications through both visual illustration and text. The Geography Matters feature demonstrates
to students that the focus of world regional geography is on real-world problems.
Sense of Place: This feature highlights specific places within the region with the intention of providing students
with a more nuanced sense of what it is like to live in such a place. The Sense of Place feature draws students
closer to the textures of a specific regional geography.
A Day in the Life: This feature brings the region into a more personal focus for students by introducing them
to real individuals who live their daily lives within the region. The Day in the Life feature makes the abstract
discussion of regions more concrete by exposing students to the people who inhabit and shape it, emphasizing the
challenges and opportunities these people encounter in their daily lives.
Geographies of Indulgence, Desire, and Addiction: This feature links people in one world region to people throughout
the world through a discussion of the local production and global consumption of one of the region's primary commodities.
The Geographies of Indulgence, Desire, and Addiction feature helps students to appreciate the links between producers
and consumers around the world, as well as between people and the natural world.
Instructional Package
In addition to the text itself, the authors and publisher have been pleased to work with a number of talented
people to produce do excellent instructional package. This package includes the traditional supplements that students
and professors have come to expect from authors and publishers, as well as new kinds of components that utilize
electronic media.
For the Student
A Companion Web site gives students the opportunity to use the Internet to explore topics presented in the
book. The site contains numerous review exercises (from which students get immediate feedback), exercises to expand
students' understanding of world geography, and resources for further exploration. This Web site provides an excellent
platform from which to start using the Internet for the study of geography.
Summary
This book employs an explicitly global approach to world regional geography that examines the interconnections
between people and places at different scales, and that brings to the introductory learner the most current and
powerful ideas in geography. It features an emphasis on core regions, key cities, and distinctive landscapes that
allows the authors to stress global connections while still maintaining a traditional focus on places at the local
scale. Chapter topics cover a world of regions; the foundations of world regions; Europe; The Russian Federation,
Central Asia, and the Transcaucasus; The Middle East and North Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; North America; Latin
America and the Caribbean; East Asia; Southeast Asia; South Asia; Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific;
and future regional geography. For individuals interested in world regional geography.
Table of Contents
1. A World of Regions.
The Power of Geography. Some Fundamental Concepts.
Location. Understanding Maps. Interdependence
A World of Regions.
The Regional Approach. Scale. Boundaries and Frontiers. Regionalism and Sectionalism.
Places and Regions in a Changing World.
The Interdependence of Regions. Globalization. Nature-Society Interactions. The Fast World and the Slow World.
The Global Context: Some Important Patterns.
Religion. Language. Population. Urbanization. Economic Development and Social Well-Being.
Summary and Conclusions. Key Terms. Review Questions. Further Reading. Geography Matters: Globalization and Interdependence.
Geography Matters: The Digital Divide. Geography Matters: Mobilization Against Globalization.
2. The Foundations of World Regions.
The Changing World.
The Earth System. The World-System.
Geographic Expansion, Integration, and Change.
The Growth of Early Empires. The Geographic Foundations of the Modern World.
Organizing the Core.
The Division of Labor. Standardization of Time, Space, Measure, Value, and Money. Forging of National Identities
and Construction of States. Controlling and Commodifying Nature. Development of Internal Infrastructures.
Organizing the Periphery.
Imperialism and Colonialism: Imposing New Geographies on the World. An International Division of Labor. Political
and Cultural Geographies. Exploration and Exploitation. Development of Internal Infrastructures.
Globalization and Economic Development.
Deploying and Encountering Development. Five Key Factors of Globalization. Transnational Economic Integration.
Summary and Conclusions. Key Terms. Review Questions. Further Reading. Geography Matters: Globalization and the
Standardization of Space. Geography Matters: Railroads and Geographic Change. Geography Matters: How Politics and
Culture Modify the Economics of Development.
3. Europe.
Environment and Society in Europe.
Landforms and Landscapes. Climate. Environmental History.
Europe in the World.
Trade and the Age of Discovery. Industrialization and Imperialism. Eastern Europe's Interlude of State Socialism.
The Peoples of Europe.
The European Diaspora. Migration Within Europe. European Cultural Traditions. Culture and Ethnicity, Nations
and States.
Regional Change and Interdependence.
Growth, Deindustrialization, and Reinvestment. The European Union. The Reintegration of Eastern Europe. Reinventing
Europe: Place Marketing.
Core Regions and Key Cities of Europe.
Europe's Golden Triangle. The Southern Crescent.
Distinctive Regions and Landscapes of Europe.
Alpine Europe. Nordic Europe. The Danubian Plains. Mediterranean Europe.
Summary and Conclusions. Key Terms. Review Questions. Further Reading. Film, Music, and Popular Literature. Geography
Matters: European Exploration and the Age of Discovery. Geographies of Indulgence, Desire, and Addiction: Wine.
Geography Matters: Kosovo. Geography Matters: New Infrastructure for an Integrated Europe. Sense of Place: Randstad
Holland. Sense of Place: London's Docklands. A Day in the Life: Anne-Lise Bamberg. Sense of Place: Szeged. A Day
in the Life: Daniela Stefani.
4. The Russian Federation, Central Asia, and the Transcaucasus.
Environment and Society in the Russian Federation, Central Asia, and the Transcaucasus.
Landforms and Landscapes. Climate. Environmental History.
The Russian Federation, Central Asia, and the Transcaucasus in the World.
Muscovy and the Russian Empire. The Soviet Empire. New Realities.
The Peoples of the Russian Federation, Central Asia, and the Transcaucasus.
Languages and Ethnic Groups. The Russian Diaspora and Migration Streams. Nationalisms.
Regional Change and Interdependence.
Problems of Economic and Social Transformation.
Core Regions and Key Cities of the Russian Federation, Central Asia, and the Transcaucasus.
The Central Region. The Volga Region. The Urals.
Distinctive Regions and Landscapes of the Russian Federation, Central Asia, and the Transcaucasus.
The Tundra. The Central Siberian Taiga. The Steppes. The Central Asian Deserts.
Summary and Conclusions. Key Terms. Review Questions. Further Reading. Film, Music, and Popular Literature. Geographies
of Indulgence, Desire, and Addiction: Furs. A Day in the Life: Valeri Novikov. Geography Matters: Chechnya. Geography
Matters: Moscow's Taxis. Geography Matters: Crime and Corruption. Geography Matters: Lake Baykal. Sense of Place:
Imperial St. Petersburg. Sense of Place: Krasnoyarsk. Sense of Place: Khiva.
5. The Middle East and North Africa.
Environment and Society in the Middle East and North Africa.
Landforms and Landscapes. Climate. Environmental History.
The Middle East and North Africa in the World.
Early Empires and Innovation. The Ottoman Empire, European Colonialism, and the Emergence of Modern States.
Peoples of the Middle East and North Africa.
Religion. Culture and Society. Migration and the Middle Eastern and North African Diaspora. Cities and Human
Settlement.
Regional Change and Interdependence.
New Political Geographies and Regional Conflicts. Regional Alliances. Economic Development and Social Inequality.
Core Regions and Key Cities of the Middle East and North Africa.
The Oil States. The Eastern Mediterranean Crescent.
Distinctive Regions and Landscapes of the Middle East and North Africa.
The Maghreb. The Western Sahara.
Summary and Conclusions. Key Terms. Review Questions. Further Reading. Film, Music, and Popular Literature. Sense
of Place: The Environment and Tourism Promotion in Jordan. Geography Matters: Labeling the Middle East and North
Africa. Sense of Place: Jerusalem. Geography Matters: Maghreb Workers in France. Geography Matters: The Islamic
City. Sense of Place: United Arab Emirates. Geographies of Indulgence, Desire, and Addiction: Petroleum. A Day
in the Life: Gharchak.
6. Sub-Saharan Africa.
Environment and Society in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Landforms and Landscapes. Climate. Environmental History.
Sub-Saharan Africa in the World.
Human Origins and Early African History. The Colonial Period in Africa. Independence. South African History
and Apartheid. The Cold War and Africa. Development, Debt, and Foreign Aid.
Peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Urbanization. Sub-Saharan African Diaspora. Religion. Language and Ethnicity. Culture.
Regional Change and Interdependence.
Politics and Peace. Social and Economic Inequality. Gender Differences. Land Tenure. Development Debates. Agriculture
and Development. Environment and Conservation.
Core Regions and Key Cities of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Southern Africa and Johannesburg. The West African Coast and the City of Lagos. The East African Highlands and
Nairobi.
Distinctive Regions and Landscapes of Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Sahel. The Horn of Africa. Madagascar.
Summary and Conclusions. Key Terms. Review Questions. Further Reading. Film, Music, and Popular Literature. Geographies
of Indulgence, Desire, and Addiction: Diamonds. Geography Matters: Dams in Africa. Sense of Place: Zanzibar. Geography
Matters: The Royal Geographical Society and Exploration. A Day in the Life: Balkissa Oumarou, Niger. Geography
Matters: More People, Less Erosion, in Machakos, Kenya.
7. North America.
Environment and Society in North America.
Landforms and Landscapes. Climate. Environmental History.
North America in the World.
North America Before the Europeans. Colonization and Independence. The Legacy of Slavery in the United States.
European Settlement of the Continent. Urbanization, Industrialization, and Conflict. The Emergence of Consolidation
of North American Hegemony.
Peoples of North America.
Immigration. Internal Migration in the United States and Canada. North American Cultural Contributions.
Regional Change and Interdependence.
The New Regional Economies. Restructuring the State. Wealth and Inequality. Environmental Challenges.
Core Regions and Key Cities of North America.
Pacific Rim and the New Economy. Cascadia and Internationalism. The North American Core.
Distinctive Regions and Landscapes of North America.
Northern Frontier. The Plains and Prairies. New West.
Summary and Conclusions. Key Terms. Review Questions. Further Reading. Film, Music, and Popular Literature. Geographies
of Indulgence, Desire, and Addiction: Tobacco. Geography Matters: Separatism in Québec. Geography Matters:
The New Economy. A Day in the Life: LaVerne Neal. Sense of Place: Yellowknife Sense of Place: Las Vegas.
8. Latin America and the Caribbean.
Environment and Society in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Landforms and Landscapes. Climate. Environmental History.
Latin America and the Caribbean in the World.
The Colonial Experience in Latin America and the Caribbean. Independence Movements and the Export Boom. U.S.
Dominance, Latin American Revolutions, and the Cold War. Import Substitution, the Debt Crisis, Neoliberalism, and
NAFTA.
The Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean.
History and Composition of the People of Latin America and the Caribbean. Population Growth and Urbanization.
Migration. The Latin American and Caribbean Diaspora. Language and Cultural Traditions. Religion.
Regional Change and Interdependence.
Green Revolution and Land Reform. Continuing Inequality Between Social Classes. Drugs in Latin America.
Core Regions and Key Cities of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Central Mexico. Southeastern Brazil. U.S.-Mexico Border Region. Central Chile.
Distinctive Regions and Landscapes of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Amazon Basin. The Andes. Caribbean Islands. Central America.
Summary and Conclusions. Key Terms. Review Questions. Further Reading. Film, Music, and Popular Literature. Geography
Matters: Hurricane Mitch in Honduras. Sense of Place: Lake Titicaca. Geographies of Indulgence, Desire, and Addiction:
Sugar. Sense of Place: Havana. Geography Matters: The Economic and Environmental Effects of the North American
Free Trade Agreement. A Day in the Life: Yesenia. Geography Matters: The Panama Canal.
9. East Asia.
Environment and Society in East Asia.
Landforms and Landscapes. Climate. Environmental History.
East Asia in the World.
Ancient Empires. Revolutionary China. Japan's Revolutions. East Asia in Today's World.
Peoples of East Asia.
Crowding and Population Policy. Migrations and Diasporas. Ethnicity. Cultural Traditions.
Regional Change and Interdependence.
Japan: Government, Industry, and Regional Development. China: Reform and Regional Inequality.
Core Regions and Key Cities of East Asia.
North China Plain. Central China. South China. Japan's Pacific Corridor. Taiwan. South Korea.
Distinctive Regions and Landscapes of East Asia.
Mongolia. China's Desert Northwest. The Tibetan Plateau.
Summary and Conclusions. Key Terms. Review Questions. Further Reading. Films, Music, and Popular Literature. Geography
Matters: Living with the Threat of an Earthquake. Sense of Place: Imperial Kyoto. Geographies of Indulgence, Desire,
and Addiction: Silk. Sense of Place: North Korea. Geography Matters: Star TV in Asia. A Day in the Life: Miki Takasu.
Geography Matters: Made in China. Geography Matters: The Three Gorges Dam. Sense of Place: The Guangxi Basin. Sense
of Place: Taipei.
10. Southeast Asia.
Environment and Society in Southeast Asia.
Landscapes and Landforms. Climate. Environmental History.
Southeast Asia in the World.
European Colonialism. The Second World War in Southeast Asia. Independence, the Cold War, and Vietnam. Economic
Development and New Export Economies. The Crisis.
Peoples of Southeast Asia.
Migration and the Southeast Asian Diaspora. Urbanization. Ethnicity, Language, and Cultural Traditions.
Regional Change and Interdependence.
Inequality. Political Instability and Cooperation. Agricultural Development. Environment.
Core Regions and Key Cities of Southeast Asia.
Singapore and the Strait of Malacca. Bangkok and Central Thailand. Java and Jabotabek.
Distinctive Regions and Landscapes of Southeast Asia.
Mekong Basin. Borneo, Sulawesi, and Irian Jaya. The Philippines.
Summary and Conclusions. Key Terms. Review Questions. Further Reading. Film Music, and Popular Literature. Geography
Matters: The Spratly Islands. A Day in the Life: Chains of Love. Sense of Place: Bali. Sense of Place: Brunei.
A Day in the Life: Cambodia and Deth Chrib. Geographies of Indulgence, Desire, and Addiction: Opium.
11. South Asia.
Environment and Society in South Asia.
Landforms and Landscapes. Climate. Environmental History.
South Asia in the World.
Mughal India. The Raj. South Asia in Today's World.
Peoples of South Asia.
Urbanization. Population Policies. The South Asian Diaspora. Cultural Traditions. Ethnicity and Nationalism.
Regional Change and Interdependence.
Democracy and Political Freedom. India's Economic Transition. Poverty and Inequality. Environmental Issues.
Core Regions and Key Cities of South Asia.
The Upper Ganga Plains. The Indus Plains. The Damodar Valley and Hooghlyside. Eastern Gujarat. Mumbai-Pune.
South India.
Distinctive Regions and Landscapes of South Asia.
The Mountain Rim. The Bengal Delta. The Decca Lava Plateau.
Summary and Conclusions. Key Terms. Review Questions. Further Reading. Film, Music, and Popular Literature. Geography
Matters: South Asia's Disappearing Megafauna. Geographies of Indulgence, Desire, and Addiction: Tea. Geography
Matters: Afghanistan and Geopolitics. Geography Matters: Hinduism's Sacred Places. Sense of Place: Bollywood. Sense
of Place: Bangalore's High-Tech Fast World. A Day in the Life: Bibi Gul. Geography Matters: Grameen Bank. A Day
in the Life: Meenakshi Nagarajan.
12. Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific.
Environment and Society in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific.
Landforms and Landscapes. Climate. Environmental History.
Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific in the World.
Early Exploration and Early Settlement. Merinos and Mines in Australia. New Zealand. Independence, Involvement
in War, and Import Substitution. Reorientation to Asia and the Impacts of Global Economic Restructuring. Colonization
of the Pacific Islands. The Second World War and Independence in the Pacific. The Pacific Islands in the Contemporary
World System.
Peoples of Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific.
Migration and Ethnic Composition. Oceanic Diasporas. Language and Religion. Culture and Society.
Regional Change and Interdependence.
Political Stability. Poverty and Inequality. Indigenous Issues and Multiculturalism. Climate Change and Ozone
Depletion. Marine Disputes and Fisheries.
Core Regions and Key Cities of Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific.
Southeastern Australia.
Distinctive Regions and Landscapes of Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific.
The Outback. The Islands of the Pacific. Antarctica.
Summary and Conclusions. Key Terms. Review Questions. Further Reading. Films, Music, and Popular Literature. Sense
of Place: Great Barrier Reef. Geography Matters: The New Geography of Food and Agriculture. Geography Matters:
Tuvalu and the New Geography of Communications. Geographies of Indulgence, Desire, and Addiction: Uranium in Oceania.
A Day in the Life: The McSporran Family and Anna Creek Station.
13. Future Regional Geography.
Globalization and the Future of Regions.
Predicting the Future. The Globalization Debates.
Global Stratification, Regional Change.
The Marginalized. The Elite. The Embattled.
Sustainability and Regional Change.
Resources and Development. Sustainability.
Adjusting to the Future.
Globalizing Culture and Cultural Dissonance. Globalization, Transnational Governance, and the State. Regional
Integration and Fragmentation.
Summary and Conclusions. Key Terms. Review Questions. Further Reading.
