1. Chapter 2 Lecture
Human Geography: Places and
Regions in Global Context
Sixth Edition
The Changing Global
Context
Wendy A. Mitteager
State University of New York, Oneonta

2. Key Concepts
• Evolution of the Modern World
• World-System
• Core and Periphery Regions
• Neocolonialism
• Globalization
• Sustainability
• Cultural Imperialism
Figure: Chapter 2 Opener An Icelandic ash plume impacted flights on a global
scale in May 2010
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3. The Premodern World
• Minisystems
• Slash-and-burn
• Hearth Areas
[Insert Figure 2.3]
– Middle East
– South Asia
– China
– Americas Figure 2.3 A remnant minisystem in the Amazon
Apply your knowledge: Describe example of traditional
crafts from the agricultural hearth areas of Arizona and
New Mexico
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4. The Premodern World, (cont’d)
Figure 2.1 Old World hearth areas Figure 2.2 New World hearth areas
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5. The Premodern World, (cont’d)
• World-Empire
– Group of minisystems
– common political system
Figure 2.4a Greek colonies and the
extent of the Roman empire
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6. The Premodern World, (cont’d)
• Colonization
– Law of diminishing returns
• Urbanization
Figure 2.4b Highly developed
infrastructure of the Roman empire
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7. The Premodern World, (cont’d)
• Framework of human geographies
– Harsher environments in continental interiors
– Dry belt of steppes and desert margins
– Principal areas of sedentary agriculture
[Insert Figure 2.6]
Figure 2.6 The Silk Road
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8. The Premodern World, (cont’d)
Figure 2.5 The precapitalist Old World, circa 1400 C.E.
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9. World Systems
Figure 2.7 European Age of Discovery
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10. World Systems, (cont’d)
• External arenas
• Plantations
• Import substitution
• Technological
improvements
and limits
Figure 2.8 Cotton plantation, Mississippi River
Apply your knowledge: Compare maps of Brazil from
the internet—from the 1600s and the present day. How
has the world-system in Brazil changed over time?
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11. World Systems, (cont’d)
• Industrialization in Europe
• Diffusion
– Began in England, spread
through Europe and globally
• Three distinctive waves
– Influenced by resources
and technology
Figure 2.A European industrialization
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12. World Systems: Core & Periphery
• Structured relationship
– Core, semiperipheral, peripheral
• Imperialism & Colonialism
• Leadership cycles
• Hegemony
• Ethnocentrism
Apply your knowledge: Discuss a current international
issue involving a former colonial territory
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13. World Systems: Division of Labor
• Colonial economies • Suez and Panama
• Needs of core regions Canals
• Development of • Network of telegraph
oceangoing steamships communications
Figure 2.11 International telegraph network in 1900
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14. World Systems: British Empire
Figure 2.13 Late 1800s British empire
Apply your knowledge: Where were your clothes sewed?
Where did the materials come from? How does this relate
to division of labor and comparative advantage?
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15. World Systems, (cont’d)
• Environmental determinism
• Third World
• Neocolonialism
• Commercial imperialism
• Transnational corporations
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
Apply your knowledge: Provide an example of how
neocolonialism reinforces the power and influence of core
countries. Be specific. What is the role of transnational
corporations in neocolonialism?
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16. World Systems: Core & Periphery, (cont’d)
Figure 2.9 The world-system in 1800 Figure 2.12 The world-system in 1900
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17. World Systems: Core & Periphery, (cont’d)
Figure 2.12 The world-system in 1900 Figure 2.14 The world-system in 2010
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18. Globalization
• Increasing interconnectedness of the world
– Economic, environmental, political, cultural
– Greater speed, larger scale, broader scope, and
greater complexity than in the past
• Commodity chains
• Increase in significance of place
– Mobility of money, labor, products, and ideas
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19. Globalization, (cont’d)
Figure 2.B The commodity chain of a pair of Lee Cooper jeans
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20. Globalization: Environment
Figure 2.15 The human “footprint”
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21. Globalization: Environment, (cont’d)
Figure 2.16 Pollution continues to threaten Figure 2.17 Three key aspects to
the ecosystem of Lake Baykal sustainability
Apply your knowledge: Give an example of a local
environmental concern. How does it relate to economic
development and social equity?
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22. Globalization: Health
Figure 2.18 Diffusion of the HIV virus
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23. Globalization, (cont’d)
• Security
– Risk society
• Spatial Justice
• Cultural Imperialism
• Westernization
• “Jihad vs. McWorld”
Figure 2.19 Communication flow between
major world regions
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24. Globalization: Worlds Apart
Figure 2.C An Ethiopian family Figure 2.D A Swiss family
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25. Future Geographies
Figure 2.20 Westernization in Istanbul
Apply your knowledge: Find a story in a national
newspaper that addresses an issue associated with
contemporary globalization. How does the article illustrate
the increasing interdependence of place and region?
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26. End of Chapter 2
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