World Regional Geography

GEG 101 ONLINE!

Unit 2 Video Summaries / Review

REALMS

NORTH AFRICA AND SOUTHWEST ASIA

World Geography: The Geography of Asia and the Pacific (5:33)
This clip explores the regions of Asia and the Pacific, which comprise about a third of the world's land area. NOTE: They arrange the realms a little differently than our textbook.
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/21559-world-geography-the-geography-of-asia-and-the-pacific-video.htm
  • Plate Tectonics
  • Ural Mountains
  • Our textbook includes Southwest Asia, Central Asia, and North Africa all in the same realm: North Africa and Southwest Asia
  • East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Austral Realm

Israel and Palestine: The Land (7:27)
The early part of the conflict
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/12283-israel-and-palestine-the-land-video.htm

  • home to Palestinians and Jews for centuries with both claiming the land as their homeland
  • Middle East: birthplace of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
  • Jews were persecuted in Europe
  • Zionism: belief that the Jews need a homeland to avoid persecution
  • W.W.I: Arabs in Middle East are fighting the Ottoman Turks for independence and the British support the Arabs
  • British also back Jewish claims for a homeland
  • After W.W.I the Middle East is divided between the British and the French; Palestine is governed by Great Britain and in 1919 the British back Jewish claims for a homeland in the Middle East ignoring the demands of the Arab Palestinians living there
  • Jews begin to emigrate to Palestine and the Palestinians, fearing the loss of their land begin a series of riots 1936-39
  • End of W.W.II and the Holocaust makes the creation of a Jewish homeland a priority for for the Jewish people
  • United Nations Partition Plan 1947 (know the map) Plan rejected by the Palestinians
  • Jews declare independence and are attacked by their Arab neighbors (1948)
  • Jews win the war and gains more land (know the map); Jordan claims the West Bank and Egypt claims the Gaza Strip; Jerusalem is split between Israel and Jordan; Palestinians are stateless
  • Six Day War (1967) Israel gains the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank and Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria (know the map)
  • United Nations Resolution 242 becomes the basis for future negotiations stating that the lands occupied in the Six Day War will be exchanged for recognition of Israel's right to exist 

Afghanistan - Islam and Civilization: When the Taliban Ruled (5:41)
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/12245-islam-and-civilization-when-the-taliban-ruled-video.htm

  • Afghanistan: 12 years of violence
  • steep rugged mountains
  • arid (B climate)
  • a crossroads between India, Iran, and Central Asia resulting in many occupiers
  • Soviet Union invades in 1979; Afghan mujahadeen fights a ten year war to expel the soviets with support from the united States
  • but soviet established communist government stays in power and civil war continues
  • 1992 mujahadeen guerrillas capture the capital, Kabul, but civil war continued as rivals fought for control
  • the Taliban, a new group is formed from students in the "madras's" (Islamic religious schools) in Neighboring Pakistan
  • The Taliban declared a jihad (holy struggle) against the mujahadeen who the Taliban claimed was not enforcing Islamic law
  • goal to bring peace to Afghanistan and set up a strict Islamic state
  • The Taliban violently opposed western influences banning televisions, music, chess, soccer, movies, even kite flying
  • closed girl schools, made females wear coverings from head to foot claiming these actions are based on Islamic law (Sharia)
  • opposition arose
  • Taliban was removed from power in 2002 by a coalition led by the United States because the Taliban allowed Al-qaeda to operate from Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the world Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington
  • Taliban retreated to the mountains and the border area with Pakistan and the fighting continues

SOUTH ASIA

South Asia: Land and Resources (21:00)
This program looks in detail at the geographic regions of the Indian subcontinent, which include the countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and India. It highlights the positive and negative effects of shifting winds called monsoons.
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/20694-south-asia-land-and-resources-video.htm
  •  1/5 of world's population
  • Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal
  • plate tectonics formed the Himalayan Mountains
    • world's highest mountains
    • Mt Everest, worlds highest peak at 8,848 meters
    • Karakoram Mountains to the west
  • countries of the realm
  • Three physical regions
    • northern mountains
    • river plains
    • Deccan plateau
  • Rivers
    • Indus: through deserts of Pakistan
    • Ganges: fertile valley of alluvium in northern India
    • Brahmaputra: through the country of Bangladesh
  • Deccan Plateau: fertile soils and mineral ores
  • Western Ghats
  • Eastern Ghats
  • narrow coastal plains along the southwest coast: tropical, wet
  • Monsoons
    • definition: a seasonal change (reversal) of wind direction
    • Summer Monsoons
      • winds from the southwest
      • winds bring rain first to the tropical southwest coast
      • as moist air rises over land it cools and releases it precipitation on the western slopes of the Western Ghats
      • much drier to the east of the Western Ghats (rain shadow); the state of Tamil Nadu gets little rain during the wet summer monsoons
      • rains reach Ganges valley latter and rain moves to the northwest along the south side of the Himalayas
      • the north side of the Himalayas get little rain
    • Winter (dry) monsoons
      • winds come from the northeast over the dry north Himalayas
      • bringing little rain
  • Agriculture
    • rice; paddies
    • Southwest coastal plains
      • very wet: tropical crops, coconuts, pepper, rice, tea plantations,
    • Ganges River valley/ Southern Himalayas
      • also wet, rice,
    • Deccan Plateau
      • dry side of the Western Ghats
      • irrigation
      • sugar cane (needs a long dry season)
    • Thar Desert
      • India/Pakistan border in the northwest
      • dry
      • sorghums, millet
      • livestock grazing
      • camels used as a work animal
    • Himalayan Highlands
      • potatoes, barley
      • cattle, sheep, goats, yaks
  • Summary

EAST ASIA

China From Past To Present: Geography of China 2:50
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/18821-china-from-past-to-present-geography-of-china-video.htm

SOUTHEAST ASIA

Southeast Asia: Land and Resources (22 minutes)
Southeast Asia is a region of beautiful beaches, dense rain forests, towering mountains, mighty rivers and active volcanoes. This video examines the region's various landforms, plant and wildlife populations, climates, resources, and economic development.
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/20733-southeast-asia-land-and-resources-video.htm
  • tropical (A climates)
  • location
  • 2 peninsulas and 2 archipelagos
  • Countries of Southeast Asia
  • strait of Malacca (choke point)
  • Climate
    • tropical (A Climate) hot and wet
    • some area tropical/wet; other areas tropical wet/dry
    • monsoons
      • definition: season reversal of wind direction
      • summer monsoons come from over water bringing rain
      • winter monsoons come from over the Asian interior and are therefore dry
  • Vegetation and Wildlife
    • depends on length of dry season and elevation
    • ranges from tropical rain forest (wet all year) to "monsoon forest"
    • islands have fertile soil formed from volcanic eruptions
    • orangutans
    • no deserts, but some areas have long dry seasons (dry zones)
  • Landforms
    • few mountains over 4,000 meters (12,000 feet)
    • Pacific Ring of Fire: volcanic islands
    • karst formations made from eroded limestone especially in Vietnam
  • Rivers
    • highlands separate broad, fertile, river valleys on the mainland
    • fertile alluvial soils along the rivers
    • Irrawaddy, in Burma (Myanmar)
    • Chao Phraya in Thailand through capital Bangkok
    • Mekong: longest river in southeast Asia with its delta in Vietnam
    • Red in northern Vietnam
  • Agriculture
    • intensive agriculture (both labor and land intensive)
    • paddy rice
      • nursery paddies
      • up to three crops a year
    • vegetables and tropical fruits
    • spices, tobacco, sugar cane, pineapples, rubber,
    • areas with long dry season: sugar palm trees
    • Shifting cultivation in areas with poor soils
      • forest cut and burned adding nutrients to the soil
      • after a few years the fertility declines and the field is moved to a new forest area where the process is repeated
  • Mineral Resources
    • tin, copper, nickel, zinc, gold, precious and semi precious stones (sapphires and jade)
  • Summary

  

Mark L. Healy
Professor of Economics and Geography
William Rainey Harper College
1200 W. Algonquin Rd.
Palatine, IL 60067
Harper: 847-925-6352
Home: 815-728-1571
Cell: 815-861-7265
E-Mail: mhealy@harpercollege.edu