GEOG 202 World Regional Geography
This course surveys major world regions as bound together by environment, economics, culture, and politics. It Includes consideration of world resource patterns and problems.
General Education Competency
Social & Behavioral Way of Knowing
GEOG 202World Regional Geography
Please note: This is not a course syllabus. A course syllabus is unique to a particular section of a course by instructor. This curriculum guide provides general information about a course.
I. General Information
Department
Social Science Academic
II. Course Specification
Course Type
{5B2306C7-58E4-43D4-B8A5-26C59F89A734}
General Education Competency
Social & Behavioral Way of Knowing
Credit Hours Narrative
3 credits
Semester Contact Hours Lecture
45
Semester Contact Hours Lab
0
III. Catalog Course Description
This course surveys major world regions as bound together by environment, economics, culture, and politics. It Includes consideration of world resource patterns and problems.
IV. Student Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, a student will be able to:
- Describe and explain how the world can be naturally divided/studied in parts known as regions, while integrating concepts of globalization, localization, population geography, political geography, and economic geography, and evaluate the regions utilizing physical geography structures that affect them — including elevation, climate, ecosystems, human behavior, and the earth’s interior.
- Demonstrate regional geographic knowledge of Europe, including its physical geography aspects of long coast lines, rivers, fjords, the alps, temperate and subtropical winter rain climates, and the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas. Additionally, demonstrate geographic knowledge of the Industrial Revolution and its spread through Europe, various European languages, religious patterns, urban patterns, economic centers and their influence, and of energy/resources and manufacturing locations, and the formation/functioning of the European Union. Also of immigration patterns to/from Europe and refugees.
- Describe how Russia is the largest independent country of the 15 former republics of the former Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) which each broke from weakened inflexible economic/political communism system. Also describe/demonstrate physical geography knowledge of the Ural Mountains (which mark the line between Europe and Asia), the Western and Central Siberian Plains, the Ob River and other major rivers, the climate which is often described as continentality, and of the deserts in the south that give way to grasslands, forests, and tundra as one goes north. For cultural/human and political geography, students formulate knowledge of Russia’s relations with bordering countries including Ukraine and how Russia views them as it’s "Near Abroad", and of Russia’s urban patterns. Also of Russia’s petroleum rich areas and cities long distances from ocean ports.
- Demonstrate geographical knowledge of East Asia including of China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, and Mongolia and of how they emerged as economic and political forces during initial globalization. Also of the emergence of China over the last thirty years to be the world’s second largest economy after the US. Additionally, formulate physical geography insights of the Himalayan Mountains/Tibetan Plateau (which include the highest mountains on earth and occupy 1/3 of China), and of the Huang (Yellow), the Chang Jiang (Yangtze), and of the Xi Jiang (West) that are the major rivers in China. Also knowledge of the Pacific Ring of Fire as it applies to East Asia and the Western Hemisphere, and of the rich supply of raw materials of coal, oil/gas, gold, and iron that supply the region and world. For cultural geography, list the major population/urban areas including Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, and others and compare the urban areas to rural areas. Also demonstrate knowledge of China’s one child policy and its repercussions on population growth rates. And environmentally, describe how China’s contemporary air quality has become polluted as the country become the world’s largest carbon dioxide emitter.
- Describe the characteristics of the geographical region of Southeast Asia, which includes the countries of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar, and the islands of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and East Timor, and The Philippines. Also describe the braking off many of these islands (which equates to many, many) from the mainland (Gondwanaland) through plate tectonic movement. Additionally, describe how and which countries in the region experience summer rains (typhoons) and which country experiences typhoons (hurricanes), detail the causes and destruction from the Tsunami of 2004 in coastal Sumatra and other Indian Ocean places, and Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008. For agricultural geography, describe how wet rice (or padi) research (Green Revolution) lead to crop yields doubling from 1969 to 1989 in the Philippines and Indonesia. For contemporary geography issues, discuss how ASEAN lead to an economic trade agreement in 2009 between cooperating countries and how APEC lead to tariffs below 5% between cooperating countries in the early 1990s (with Clinton promoting it and prosperity through cooperation) that lead to the Ambassador of Thailand in 2006 to note the rise of China necessitated a balance between it and other countries including the US. Also discuss conflicts of the China Sea.
- Formulate geographic understanding of the South Asia region, which includes the area south of the Himalayan Mountains including India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. Describe the elevation of Mount Everest and nearly 50 other nearby peaks, and the continuing collision of continental plates which causes the peaks to rise 2.4 inches per year. Additionally, describe the three main rivers in the India region – the Indus, Brahmaputra, and the Ganges and how the last two carry their large water capacities from the Himalayas nearly 2000 miles to the Bay of Bengal after having helped create or enlarge large alluvial fans at the base of the Himalayas. Also describe how the mouth of those two rivers (at the bay) forms the largest delta in the world (near Bangladesh), and how the Hindu religion hold Ganges river as sacred. Also the Monsoon winds that bring heavy rains during the month of June, their effects on India food production but how they do not reach Pakistan or Afghanistan which lends to the Thar Desert. Finally, formulate geographic understanding that Hinduism is the religion of 80% of India’s population and Buddhism originated in the Ganges River Valley; also that Caste Order is a Hindu concept and is similar to class divisions or ethnic divisions in other places. Lastly, describe the extremes of wealth vs. poverty where laborers in India pay up to four times their annual income for their daughter’s dowry (requiring loans that are passed on); then describe the urban populations in India and the population centers of Mubai, Delhi-New Delhi, and Kolkata (3 or the world’s 10 largest cities), the output of India’s modern high tech industry that rose from $2 billion in 1995 to $50 billion in 2007 (Bangalore "Garden City" with multinational corporations 3M, AT&T, Digital, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Motorola), and then the isolated environments of Afghanistan, Nepal, and Bhutan that lead to strife and tribal rivalries.
- Describe the area called the "Middle East" and why it is called that: It is the area of Southwestern Asia and has Northern Africa lumped in with it for study purposes. Then describe early urban areas of Mesopotamia and Egypt that were prominent in this region and how Christianity, Islam, and Judaism (largest 3 monotheistic religions) originated in this region and spread worldwide. Formulate geographic knowledge of European control of the area in the 1920s which gave way to conflict and the creation of the country of Israel in 1948 as a homeland for Jews. Describe how the boundaries drawn by Europeans may have caused conflict with unequal distribution of wealth from oil/water, and led to the creation of Islamic fundamentalism. Describe the natural resources of water, particularly the Tigris-Euphrates River supplied by snowpack in high Turkey and Iran Mountains and the Nile River with branch supplied by Lake Victoria in Ethiopia and the Blue Nile from the Ethiopian Highlands. Describe how 50 percent of the people in this region speak Arabic (language of Qu’ran and Muslim prayers), although there are numerous languages spoken there, and describe the origins of the three prominent religions in the regions and the divisions of Sunni and Shia Muslims. For urban centers, describe how Saudi Arabia went from 10 percent urban to 81 percent from 1950 to 2012-- coupled with the growth of the oil industry and Kuwait and Qatar went from 50 percent to 98 percent urban during the same time; and United Arab Emirates built 74 miles of water front with 130 million cubic yards of rock in constructing Palm Island in Dubai from Oil Wealth in the 2000s. Finally, formulate geographic knowledge of the historical and contemporary issues and situation of the Israelis versus the Palestinians in Palestine and the relevant surroundings.
- Demonstrate geographic knowledge of the Sub-Sahara Africa/the region of Africa located below the Sahara Desert. Define the word desertification and how it applies to Africa’s large desert increasing in size, and list and understand the locations of the Niger, Nile and Congo River Valleys. Describe the policy of apartheid that began in 1948 and past and present ramifications.
- Describe and explain significant physical geographic features of Australia, including the Great Dividing Range as the countries one significant mountain chain and the Great Barrier Reef located off the northeast coast of Australia, and the Great Australia Desert. Additionally, describe the theory of how Australia formerly was part of the continent Gondwanaland but broke away due to plate tectonic activity. Formulate geographic knowledge of Australia’s unique marsupials, including kangaroos, koalas, wallabies, and possums which raise their young in pouches; also of the indigenous Aborigines who were present when Europeans arrived in Australia in the 1700s and still are present in a smaller location and fewer in number. Finally, describe and explain the history of and how Australia immigration policies emerged from white only to allow people of Asia and other places. Also list Australia’s most populated cities, and understand that most of the population (82%) live in these urban areas.
- Demonstrate geographical knowledge of the physical geography of Latin America, including the Andes Mountains which rise to more than 20,000 ft. in Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Chile and significantly impact climates all along them. Also of the major river basins and systems including the Orinoco, the Amazon (10 miles wide in parts and over 160 feet deep), and the Parana Paraguay. For cultural geography, formulate knowledge that almost 90 percent of Mexico citizens are Roman Catholic and for urban geography formulate knowledge pertaining to the large urban areas in Brazil (Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and others) and in other countries. For Columbia, the urban area with formal bike path is Bogota, and it’s also important formulate knowledge of the Deforestation of the tropical rain forests of the Amazon, and of the Northern Andes International Drug Trade. Finally formulate geographical knowledge of the legacy/impacts of European colonialism in Latin and Middle America.
- Demonstrate Geographical knowledge of the region known as North America which includes the countries of Canada (world’s second largest country) and the US (the world’s third largest country). Population wise, recognize that Canada is sparsely populated- with most of its people living within 100 (90% of population) miles of the US border with a total population of 34.9 million while the US population is 313.9 million. Also formulate that immigration attracts immigrants from all over the worth with the vast majority settling in US southwest and northeastern state urban areas while in Canada they most often settle in Vancouver or Toronto. Illegal immigration has significantly increased and also become a prevalent issue. Describe the physical geography of this region – including the Rocky Mountain with its highest being Mount McKinley in Alaska, the Colorado Plateau, the Columbia Plateau, the sierra Nevada Mountains of California and the Cascade Range (northern California through Washington state). Also describe the Mississippi/Missouri River watershed and rivers, the Appalachian Mountains, the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River Seaway, the Colorado River, the Columbia River in the northwest, and recall the destructive events of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Formulate that the US and Canada has various climates with one being hot summers on the central plains of the Midwest from air streams coming up from the Gulf of Mexico with the opposite occurring in the winter with cold Arctic moving south from Canada across the Midwest in winter to make conditions very cold. Also formulate that North America is effected by tornadoes, lightning, hail, earthquakes, floods, ice storms, blizzards, wildfires. For population distribution, formulate that 35 million of the total 313.5 million US population live along the eastern seaboard, and the continuous urban area from Washington DC to Boston has been labeled Bo swash or "Megalopolis." With respect to immigration patterns, British, Irish and German people immigrated to the US in the 1700s and 1800. African immigrants came in the 1700s and 1800s and as part the slave trade and also increased in population after they were in the US. Additionally, formulate that Native Americans were directed to and put on reservations which were government designated lands. Other terms that should be listed and understood are the Homestead Act of 1862, the production line, NAFTA, types of urban landscapes, edge city, gentrification, the manufacturing belt, Appalachia and the Tennessee Valley Authority, The South.
V. Topical Outline (Course Content)
VI. Delivery Methodologies
Specific Course Activity Assignment or Assessment Requirements
Regular Text Book Reading Assignments* Periodic Scholarly Article Reading Assignments* At least one (1) Semester Research Paper* At least one (1) Culmination Research Presentation project* * Specific Assignment requirements for scholarly articles, the semester paper, and culmination research project are maintained on file by the Geography Dept., under the Geog. 200 file. Regular text book assignments are noted on semester syllabi and are regularly updated in class by the instructor. At least three (3) Exams equally spaced throughout the semester, and optimally/preferably there being four (4) Exams – with the last of four being the Final Exam. At least (3) Quizzes periodically spaced throughout the semester covering text book reading assignments/ or blank maps for labeling relevant geographic features, and optimally/preferably there being four (4) Quizzes.