Human Geography: The Global Use Of Landmines

Globals, Locals, and Mobals: In the book “The Power of Place,” Harm de Blij introduces a new viewpoint of geography. Geography is much more than the terrain and physical makeup of the world. It is the culture, education, conditions, foods, politics, language, and opportunities. These things make people and places unique, and capture the true meaning of Human Geography.

Out of the five themes of geography, Guns, Germs and Steel shows place, movement and human/environment interaction. The theme of place in this book has to do with the physical characteristics of a place, the climate, bodies of water, vegetation, land formations, and animal life. These are some of the main focuses of my book, especially with it having a strong emphasis on “geographical luck” the different environments that the book talks about are all based around what’s inside the place of the book. Early man wouldn’t have thrived as greatly if they were in a harsh environment or place. The next theme is movement, another important theme in the book. Movement has to do with people communicating, trading, even sharing ideas. In the book, it

Closely associated with the process of globalisation is the notion of ‘World cities’. World cities are those such as London, New York and Tokyo where urban function has moved beyond the national scale to become a part of the international and global system. They are centres of culture, economics, employment, tourism, transport and communications and have been referred to as the command centres of the World’s borderless economy.

But now with the onset of globalization these geographical boundaries that were caging people at one place have faded and become history allowing people to move freely. Not just this with the discovery of phones these geographical barriers have been further brought down. It provides people who cannot opt for physical mobility an easy way to speak to people around the world breaking the physical barriers. As the technology is advancing more changes take place in the world geography, making humans capable enough that they are now constructing new islands in the sea, the best example is “The World”, “The Palm Islands” of Dubai. They have brought in changes in the world geography.

Changes are an important part of history, and a natural part of life. In the case of geography throughout history, the world has made many changes to its borders and who has grievances with one another. From the High Middle Ages of olden Europe, to the twentieth century, change has occurred. These changes have unified and broken ties between countries and regions time and time again throughout history. There are many forces that push toward and against unity throughout time. The world map became what is today because of both unity and division marking change in the past.

These tools include demographics, development, urbanization and culture. These tools must be understood by geographers in order to be used properly. They can help with this understanding through the organization and use of space. In the article Geography Strikes Back claims are made that tools such as these help geographers to understand global conflicts. For example the article poses the questions, “Why does President Vladimir Putin covet buffer zones in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus…?” and then goes on to answer saying that it is, “Because Russia still constitutes a vast, continental space that is unprotected by mountains and rivers… [Putin] expresses a deep geographical insecurity” (Kaplan 1). Geographers can organize space on maps to come to conclusions such as these. These conclusions in turn help geographers to understand development and culture in areas of impact. As the global population explodes human geography becomes increasingly important. Using statistics and data to show demographical shifts and urbanizations has led to many claims of future problems such as megacities. Megacities are cities with a population of 10 million or more. Using population growth trend lines and progressions, James Canton in his article is able to claim that, “By 2040 most of the world’s population will be living in megacities.” (Canton 1). He also

6. Which of the following examples best defines the role of the environment in culture?

interaction between people and the world; how humans depend on, adapt to, and modify the environment

As an educated citizen there are many benefits of developing spatial mentality. For one, it greatly aids in understanding what is going on in the news. For example, in order to understand “The Separation Strategy in Iraq”, it is beneficial to first know where Iraq is. Secondly, to be able to not just understand where Iraq is, but to understand the longstanding tensions between the Sunnis and the Shiites aids greatly in having a full understanding of the issue at hand. In addition, people should have an idea of where their food comes from. For example, in the article “As It Woos Syngenta, Monsanto Mounts Campaign to Combat Critics”, Monsanto attempts to raise awareness of its presence in countries like Brazil and India. To a spatially uneducated reader, that does not sound impressive; but to a reader who grasps what that means, it is a smart business move. This is because Brazil and India are major agricultural exporters so for Monsanto to get a foot in the door with those countries could make the company billions. A final reason to gain good spatial mentality is to understand the migration patterns that people unknowingly witness everyday. So often people brush migration patterns off as chance, without realizing the deep history that often is the root of the patterns. For example, the article “Blending French and African Cultures” is about how women who have migrated from Africa, especially

Geography is an important factor to consider when you look at this worlds past, present, or future. So whether it be the earths physical geographic features, the geopolitics stirring up trouble across the globe, or the economics of growing or shrinking countries; geography plays a major role. In todays society, geographic knowledge is one of the most important and valuable tools to possess. Without it, we are victims of ignorance and endanger ourselves, others, and the world. This ignorance, possessed by many, is posing a great risk of self-destruction. The author of “Why Geography Matters More Than Ever”, Harm de Blij, makes many strong points on this matter, but occasionally makes unsupported and unclear statements which tend to stray off topic.

Urban geography is a term that addresses the location of a city as well as that cities access to natural resources. Urban ecology, however, “analyzes how people spread out within an urban area” (12). According to the author the geographical location of a city is determined by geographical assets.” That is, the availability of water, ability to produce goods, and access to transportation routes (12).

Harm De Blij’s book, Why Geography Matters More Than Ever, goes into the depths on why in fact geography matters, and how it associates with precisely every aspect of our world and planet. De Blij focuses the book on an American perspective, claiming this approach with the explanation that America and the decisions made by American elected government officials affect not only the United States, but essentially the entire world. With such obligations, we Americans have to ensure complete understanding of past and current geographical measures, and the essentiality of its evolvement and patterns. In other words, Harm De Blij stresses the cruciality of the complete American understanding of both, physically and emotionally spatial geography. This

This paper will analyse Davies’ (2015) Ph.D. thesis ‘Living with landmines’. In this research, Davies attempts to answer the question: ‘What are the implications of living with landmines for the wellbeing of local people?’ (Davies, 2015:15). This essay will therefore look into the efficiency and accuracy of the methodology by which Davies ' attempts to answer this question. To do this, the methodology will be firstly put in context to have a broad understanding of the research field. This paper will then assess the study’s mains weaknesses and strengths through the RATS (Relevance, Appropriateness, Transparency, Soundness) qualitative research evaluation (Clark, 2003). Finally, a series of adjustments will be suggested to counteract the methodology’s potential flaws.

‘Places and Regions in Global Context’ by Paul L. Knox, Sallie A. Marston .My main research will come from the Geertman paper which is based on the development of Hanoi and how these factors have affected the locals and the different social groups.

As a concept that has become common since the 1990s, globalization is described as the technological, economic, cultural, ideological, and economic changes across borders. It can also be regarded as the transformation of the global economy through the anarchy of financial markets or a technological revolution with social impacts. In contrast, regionalization is the growth of societal integration within a specific area that incorporates all the undirected procedures of economic and social interactions among the units in the region. Since these concepts are different in nature, they contain various strategies that are only effective in specific situations.