FUNDAMENTALS OF HUMAN GEOGRAPHY - …]_Fundamentals_Of_Human...FUNDAMENTALS OF HUMAN GEOGRAPHY...

FUNDAMENTALSOF

HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

Textbook for Class XII

AuthorsHira Lal YadavSavita Sinha

EditorR.P. Misra

CONTENTS

Unit I : Introducing Human Geography 1-81. Nature and Scope of Human Geography 3

Unit II : The People 9-322. The World Population : Trends and Patterns 113. Population Composition 25

Unit III : Human Activities 33-804. Human Activities — Primary 355. Agriculture 476. Secondary Activities — Manufacturing 657. Tertiary and Quaternary Activities 75

Unit IV : Transport, Communication and Trade 81-1048. Transport and Communication 839. International Trade 97

Unit V : Human Settlements 105-11510. Human Settlements 107

APPENDICES 116-122I. World Population : Selected Data, 2000 116II. Human Development Index, 1998 121

REFERENCES 123

Unit I

INTRODUCING HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

We learnt earlier that Geography is ‘thestudy of the earth as home ofhumans’. Its nature is inter -

disciplinary and integrative. Geography looksat the earth’s surface from two different butinterrelated perspectives, known as systematicand regional. Accordingly, it has two broadbranches: systematic geography and regionalgeography. Human geography is a branch ofsystematic geography. It studies the locationaland distributional aspects of culturalphenomena, resulting from ever changinghuman-nature interaction.

Before we know more about humangeography, it would be useful to understandits nature and scope. In the following pages,we will study its emergence as a branch ofgeography, its scope, approaches and presentstatus.

EMERGENCE OF HUMAN GEOGRAPHYAS A FIELD OF STUDY

Age of explorations from approximately thelater half of the fifteenth century to theeighteenth century led to appreciable advancesin techniques of map making andaccumulation of vast information throughexpeditions undertaken to different parts of theworld. The information on geographic factsthus collected were examined, classified andorganised by the professional geographers onscientific lines. A good example of this scientificapproach is the work of Bernhard Varenius.His Geographia Generalis divides the subjectof geography into two parts: the general andthe special. The former considers the earth asa whole and explains its properties, whereasthe latter focuses on the constitution of

individual regions. This idea of division ofgeography has been in existence since the timeof early Greeks. In his treatise on regionalgeography, Varenius outlined its contentsunder three sections: Celestial properties,Terrestrial properties and Human properties.

During the nineteenth century, with therapid development of scientific methods,attempts were made to restrict the scope ofgeography. The major emphasis was on thestudy of relief features. It was, perhaps, easierto describe the relatively stable features of theearth than the more variable cultural features.Relief features were measured and tested invarious ways, and through this activity aspecial branch of geography developed. It wasoriginally called physiography, but latermodified as geomorphology. This field ofphysiography/geomorphology was cultivatedat the cost of other sub-fields of geography.Partly as a reaction against this school ofgeography, which overemphasised physicalfeatures, scholars began to examine therelationship between humans and theirnatural environment. Thus originated theschool of human geography.

The development of human geography asa special branch of geographic study wasstimulated in the later half of the nineteenthcentury with the publication of CharlesDarwin’s Origin of Species in 1859. Buckle inHistory of Civilisation of England (1881)supported this new field by devoting aconsiderable portion of the book onthe dependence of humans upon theirenvironment. Friedrich Ratzel’s bookAnthropogeographie is considered a landmarkin history for giving human-centric orientation

1 NATURE AND SCOPE OF HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

CHAPTER

FUNDAMENTALS OF HUMAN GEOGRAPHY4

to geography. Ratzel, known as the father ofmodern human geography, defined it as thesynthetic study of relationship between humansocieties and the earth’s surface. Similarly,Ellen C. Semple, disciple of Ratzel, definedhuman geography as the study of ‘the changingrelationship between the unresting man andthe unstable earth’. French geographer Vidalde la Blache’s classic work entitled Principlesde Geographie Humaine emphasisd thathuman geography provides a newunderstanding of ‘interrelationship between theearth and the man’. It synthesises theknowledge of the physical laws governing ourearth and the relations between the livingbeings inhabiting it.

The role of humans vis-à-vis nature is bothactive and passive. Humans continue to actand react. The story of human progress bothin space and time, is a process of humans’adaptation to their geographical milieu.E. Huntington defined human geography asthe study of relation of geographic environmentto human activities and qualities. Thus,human-environment relationship is dynamicrather than static. Jean Brunhes, anotherFrench geographer, paraphrased it asretrogression and progression of humanphenomena, which like all terrestrialphenomena, never remains stationary. So, wemust study them in evolution.

Human geography has been defined bydifferent scholars at different times. The earlyscholars, such as Aristotle, Buckle, Humboldt,and Ritter focused on the influence of landupon history. Later on, in the works of Ratzeland Semple, the thrust shifted to examinationof the question how physical environmentinfluenced the human activities? Blache viewedecological and terrestrial unity as the twoprinciples of human geography. Huntingtonemphasised upon the influence of climate uponsociety, culture and history. It can be seen fromthe above discussions that in all the works themajor thrust has been on the study of humansociety in relation to its habitat/environment.

SCOPE OR SUBJECT MATTER

Human geography is a very vast subject. It hasits origin in some countries from the social

sciences, studying people in relation to spaceand place, and in others from physical sciencesand in still others from earth sciences focusingon its links with the physical environment. TheAmerican geographers, Finch and Trewartha,divided the subject matter of humangeography into two broad sections: physicalor natural environment and cultural or man-made environment.

Physical or natural environment consistsof the physical or natural features andphenomena such as surface configurationclimate, drainage and natural resources, suchas soils, minerals, water and forests. Culturalenvironment includes man-made features andphenomena on the earth such as populationand human settlements as well as featuresassociated with agriculture, manufacturingand transportation etc.

According to Ellsworth Huntington (1956),human geography is concerned with thephysical conditions and the human responsesto the physical environment (Table 1.1 ).

Vidal de la Blache’s work on humangeography deals with the world-widedistribution of population and settlements;types and distribution of elements ofcivilisation and development of various formsof transportation. All these elementsprofoundly modify the landscape. JeanBrunhes in his book divided human geographyinto a study of three groups and six typesof essential facts : those connectedwith the unproductive occupation of thesoil – (i) houses, and – (ii) highways; thoseconnected with the conquest of the plantand animal worlds – (iii) cultivated plants, and– (iv) domesticated animals; and thosepertaining to destructive occupation of the soil– (v) destruction of plants and animals, and– (vi) exploitation of minerals.

Besides, the above stated essential facts,human geography is also concerned with thestudy of the following aspects of humanenvironment.

Geography of the First Vital Necessities:Fundamental physiological needs — food,shelter and clothing.

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Geography of the Utilisation of the EarthResources : The material things which satisfythe prime needs of human life — agricultural,pastoral and industrial activities.

Economic and Social Geography :Production, transportation and exchange ofgoods and services and geography of the culture.

Political Geography and Geography ofHistory: Frontiers, territories, routes, groupsof states etc.

The subject matter of human geographycontinues to grow and has widenedconsiderably over the period. From an earlierthrust on cultural and economic aspects in theearly twentieth century, several new branchesemerged out of it to study emerging issues andproblems like political dimensions, socialrelevance, urbanisation and urban systems,health and social well-being, gender,inequality, and public policy, to name a few.

NATURE AND SCOPE OF HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

Note : The arrows and their dotted extension indicate the chief ways in which the physical conditions influence oneanother; climate, for example, is influenced by the earth’s spherical shape, by the form of the land, and by bodies ofwater such as oceans. It in turn influences the form of the earth’s surface, the quality of the soil, and the nature ofmineral deposits. It also influences bodies of water … but this relationship and certain others have been omitted to avoidcrowding.

Civ

ilis

ati

on a

nd P

rogr

ess

Loc

atio

n i

n R

espon

s to

Table 1.1 : Elements of Human Geography According to Huntington

Physical Forms Human ResponsesConditions of life

I. Earth as a Globe 1. Food and Drink

2. Clothing

a -Material 3. Shelter

Needs

4. Tools

II. Land Forms A. Plants 5. Means ofTransportation

6. Hunting

7. Fishing

8. Herding

III. Water Bodies C. Man 9. Farming

b- Fundamental 10. Lumbering

Occupations

11. Mining

12. Manufacturing

13. Commerce

IV. Soil and Minerals B. Animals 14. Health

c- Efficiency 15. Cultural Stimulus

16. Recreation

17. Government

V. Climate 18. Education

d- Higher 19. Science

Needs

20. Religion

21. Art, Literature etc.


In doing so, human geography has become notonly more integrative and inter-disciplinary innature but has also incorporated several newapproaches into its fold. It gives to other socialsciences the necessary spatial and systemsviewpoint that they otherwise lack. At the sametime, human geography draws on other socialsciences in the analysis identified with its sub-fields, such as behavioural, political, economicor social geography.

Human geography, in line with geographyas a whole, has three closely linked tasks toperform:(i) The spatial or locational analysis of man-

made phenomena on the earth’s surface.It refers to numbers, characteristics,activities and distributions. These aspectsare effectively expressed through maps.Factors that lead to particular spatialpattern are explained. Alternative spatialpatterns of greater importance and havinghigher equity or efficiency are proposed.The focus is on the spatial variationsbetween areas (horizontal bonds). Therelationship can be seen in two ways, thatis the impact of people on regional habitat(land), as well as of land on people.

(ii) Ecological analysis, where the focus is onstudying human-environment linkages(vertical bonds) within a geographicalregion.

(iii) Regional synthesis wherein the spatial andecological approaches are fused. Regionsare identified. The aim is to understandthe internal morphology, ecologicallinkages and external relations.

This relationship is explored at differentspatial scales, ranging from macro level (i.e.major world regions) through meso scale tomicro level i.e. individual or groups and theirimmediate surroundings. Its emphasis is onpeople. Where are they? Why are they there?What they are like? How they interact overspace? and What kind of cultural landscapesthey create upon the natural landscapes theyoccupy? The answers to various questions areto be derived from the fundamental approachof a geographer: Who is Where, and How andWhy did it get there? And, of course, we also

want to know what it means to us, to ourchildren and to the future generations?

APPROACHES TO STUDYHUMAN GEOGRAPHY

The human-environment relationships, themain focus of human geography, has beeninterpreted in several ways. The postDarwinian period has witnessed several newapproaches adapted to examine thisrelationship. Over time, approaches to studythe subject matter of human geography havebeen changing. These changes are notexclusive to human geography but are in tunewith the changes taking place within the overalldomain of geography. These trends arediscussed below.

Determinism refers to the point of viewsupporting environmental control on humanaction. Accordingly, history, culture, life-styleand stage of development of a social group,society or nation are exclusively or largelygoverned by the physical factors (like, terrain,climate, fauna and flora) of the environment.The determinists generally, consider humansas passive agents, influenced by theenvironmental factors, which determine theirattitude, decision making and life style. Thefirst attempts to explain the physical featuresand the traits of various ethnic groups andtheir cultures with reference to the influence ofnatural conditions were made by the Greek andthe Roman scholars including Hippocrates,Aristotle, Herodotus and Strabo.

The deterministic concept in geographicliterature on human geography continuedthrough the works of scholars, such asAl-Masudi, Al-Idrisi and Ibn-Khaldun, Kant,Humboldt, Ritter, and Ratzel well up to the earlytwentieth century. This concept grewwidespread particularly in the United Statesfrom the writings of E.C. Semple and EllsworthHuntington, who were considered its greatexponents.

The philosophy of determinism wasattacked mainly on two grounds. First, it hadbecome clear under definite conditions andcircumstances that similar physicalenvironments do not produce the same

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responses. For example, the Greek and theRoman civilisations flourished in theMediterranean climate. But similar civilisationdid not develop in similar climatic conditionsin Australia, South Africa, Chile or California.Second, although environment influenceshumans, they also influence the environment,and the cause and effect relationship ofdeterminism is too simple to explain this.

Consequently the idea that humans arecontrolled by nature was rejected and othergeographers stressed the fact that humanswere free to choose. When the emphasis isfirmly placed on humans rather than nature,and humans are seen as an active force ratherthan a passive one, the approach is that ofpossibilism. Lucian Febvre, the first to use theword possibilism, wrote that “there is nonecessities, but every where possibilities; andman as master of these possibilities is the judgeof their use”. Although the concept ofpossibilism had become quite popular after theWorld War I, it was Vidal de la Blache whoadvocated and developed systematically theschool of possibilism. He opined that the lifestyles of people were the product andreflections of a civilisation, representing theintegrated result of physical, historical andsocial influences governing human’s relationswith his habitat. He tried to explain differencesbetween groups in identical or similarenvironment and pointed out that thesedifferences were not the product of the dictatesof physical environment but the outcome ofother factors, such as variations in attitudes,values and habits. This concept became thebasic philosophy of the school of possibilism.The supporters of possibilism saw in thephysical environment a series of possibilitiesfor humans to exploit it for their benefits. Itwas realised that the cultural context andtechnological advancement of humansdetermined how they will use the environment.The regions of extreme climate and terrain wereperhaps excluded from it.

Although the nature has offered humans alot of scope for development, it has also set theultimate limits, crossing of which would meana point of no return. Hence, the possibilistic

approach invited criticism from many of thecontemporary thinkers. Griffith Taylor, whilecriticising the possibilism, put forward theconcept of neo-determinism. He stressed thata geographer’s role is essentially that of anadvisor and not to interpret the nature’s plans.

RECENT CHANGES

The post World War II period has witnessedrapid developments in all fields including theacademic world. Geography, in general, andhuman geography, in particular, hasresponded by way of addressing thecontemporary problems and issues concerningthe human society. The conventionalapproaches were found to be inadequate tocomprehend the new issues pertaining tohuman welfare, such as poverty, inequalitiesboth social and regional, social well-being, andempowerment. As a result, the new approacheswere adopted from time to time. For example,positivism appeared as a new approach in themid-fifties, which laid stress on the use ofquantitative techniques to induce greaterobjectivity in analysing the geographicalpattern of various phenomena under study.Scholars such as B.J.L. Berry, David Harveyand William Bunge are among some of theproponents of this approach. This approachwas later on criticised for laying excessiveemphasis on so called “sterile” quantitativetechniques rather than analysing such aspectsof people, such as decision-making, beliefs andfears. As a reaction of positivism emergedbehavioural approach, a concept borrowedfrom psychology. In this approach emphasiswas placed on cognitive power of humanbeings.

The growing inequalities among differentregions of the world and within countries alongwith different social groups especially underthe impact of capitalism led to the emergenceof welfare approach in human geography.Issues like poverty, regional inequalities indevelopment, urban slums, and deprivationbecame the focus of geographical studies.D. M. Smith and David Harvey are some of thewell known advocates of this approach. Thefocus of the welfare approach is on ‘‘who gets

NATURE AND SCOPE OF HUMAN GEOGRAPHY


what, where and how’’? The “who” refers tothe area under review, what refers to thevarious goods (and bads) enjoyed or enduredby the population in the form of commodity,services, environmental quality and so on. The“where” reflects the fact that living standardsdiffer according to area of residence. The“how” refers to the process whereby theobserved differences arise. The welfareapproach now has merged with other lines ofinquiry.

Humanism is yet another approach inhuman geography that lays emphasis on the

Exercises

Review Questions

1. Answer the following questions briefly:(i) Who wrote Geographia Generalis?(ii) When did human geography emerge as a special branch of geographic study?(iii) Why Friedrich Ratzel’s book Anthropgeographie is considered a landmark?(iv) Name the French geographer, who wrote Principles de Geographie Humaine.(v) Which six types of essential facts in human geography were mentioned by Jean

Brunhes?(vi) What approach was followed by Lucian Febvre and Vidal de la Blache to study

human geography?2. Distinguish between:

(i) Determinism and Possibilism;(ii) Positivism and Humanism.

3. Discuss the development of human geography ever since its appearance as a distinctfield of study.

4. Explain how human geography in the early twentieth century has become moreintegrative and interdisciplinary?

5. “Human geography in the post World War II period has responded to the contemporaryproblems and issues of the human society.” Explain.

central and active role of humans in terms ofhuman awareness, human agency, humanconsciousness and human creativity. In otherwords, this approach is on the self of an humanbeing.

The rapid emergence of new approaches inhuman geography in the last four decades ismainly due to a dramatic shift in humangeography from description of the pattern ofhuman phenomena to the understanding ofthe processes working behind these patterns.In the process human geography has becomemore humane.

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Unit II

THE PEOPLE

2 THE WORLD POPULATION : TRENDS AND PATTERNS

CHAPTER

Humans occupy the core of humangeography. Being producers, creatorsand consumers of resources, they

influence and at times alter the environment.Before we study how do they influence thephysical environment through their economicactivities, let us know about the humanpopulation itself – number, distribution,density, growth and demographic structure.Although distribution and growth of humanpopulation are influenced greatly by thephysical environment, they have a tremendouscapacity to adjust in a variety of environmentalconditions. As such, the study of numbers,densities and qualities of population help inanalysing the demographic processes and theirconsequences in an environmental context.

POPULATION DISTRIBUTION AND DENSITY

Humans have inhabited the earth for severalthousands of years, but for a long period, theirnumbers remained limited. It is only duringlast few hundred years that the humanpopulation has increased at an alarming rate(Fig. 2.1).

The world, at the beginning of twenty-firstcentury, recorded over 6 billion population.It had quadrupled from 1.6 billion just inone century. We are adding about 82 millionpeople each year. In fact, human populationincreased more than ten times during past500 years.

Human population is spread unevenlyacross the continents. Why do a few areassupport large concentration of human

Fig. 2.1 Resource, Technology and Population Growth


population while vast areas support few peopleor none at all? It is mainly due to a largenumber of factors that have influenced thedistribution and growth of population over theearth’s surface.

Factors Influencing PopulationDistribution

Physical Factors

The physical characteristics play a dominantrole in the distribution and density ofpopulation on the earth’s surface. Relief,climate, soil , natural vegetation, water, mineralresources are some of the important physicalfactors. Mountainous and rugged terrain areinhospitable to humans. Favourable physicalenvironment has always been preferred. Desertlands of West Asia and Egypt, thousands ofyears ago, had highly productive agriculturallandscapes because of the famous rivervalleys — the Tigris, the Euphrates and , theNile, which gave rise to early civilisations.

In general, plains, humid climates, fertilesoils, and long growing seasons are markedwith high density of population, while landswith harsh or difficult climates and poor soilhave low density. Human modification of thephysical environment has, however, greatlyaltered the pattern of population distribution.

Cultural Factors

The culture of people also plays an importantrole in the population distribution. Traditionsand behaviours associated with commonancestry, religion and language tend toinfluence population concentrations anddispersals. For example, the concentration ofpeople of different nationalities such as theGermans, the Spanish, the French and theChinese in different parts of the USA clearlyreflects the preferences of people because ofcultural links and associations.

Economic Factors

People may move from an area as a result ofone or more push factors, such as, difficulteconomic conditions, unemployment, religious,ethnic or political intolerance, conflicts and

wars. On the other hand, pull factors, such asimproved economic opportunities, may attractpeople to a place. A combination of such pushand pull factors is evident in the settlementpatterns that has emerged in the world today.More than one million Irish migrated to NorthAmerica after the 1846 potato famine in theirhomeland. Once immigrants obtainedinexpensive farmland or jobs in factories, newsof plentiful job opportunities travelled to Europeand Asia through friends and relatives. Thestream of immigrants, thus, started. Movementof a large number of computer professionalsfrom India to the USA and other developedcountries is also one of such examples.

Political Factors

Today, perhaps more than ever before,economic hardship, political unrest and warresult in significant population movements.Events during the past decades, for example,have created tens of millions of refugees.Among the most notable events are the PersianGulf War; Civil wars in Democratic Republic ofCongo (Zaire), Ethiopia, Sudan and Chad;ethnic reprisals and revolutions in Rwandaand Sri Lanka, Military Coups in Haiti; thedissolution of the USSR and the creation of 15independent nations, and the fragmentation ofYugoslavia and Czechoslovakia into severalrepublics based on ethnic differences; andChina’s impact on the Tibetan population, etc.Besides, Political control and policies ofNational Governments have also fosteredpopulation growth, decline or migration.

To sum up, we can say that currentpopulation patterns are dynamic and theyreflect both recent demographic trend, as wellas, those that have evolved over long period oftime. For example, agriculturally productivevalleys and deltas of the great rivers of China,India and Southeast Asia have long supportedlarge populations. The dense urban populationof Western Europe and the North easternUnited States, on the other hand, emerged asthe result of the technological revolutions,economic development and large scalemigration during the nineteenth and twentiethcenturies. Push and pull factors have been

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responsible for the migration of people fromrural to urban areas in developing countrieslike, India and China. There are now more largecities in developing countries than in developedcountries. Today, the most rapid populationgrowth is occurring in parts of Africa and LatinAmerica, where death rates have fallen sharply,while birth rates remain fairly high.

Patterns of Population Distribution

The analysis of the pattern of populationdistribution and density is fundamental to thestudy of demographic characteristics of anyarea. The term population distribution refersto the way the people are spaced over theearth’s surface. Population size of individualcountries provides a better understanding ofpopulation trends and patterns, as a countryis the political and geographical unit, in whichdecisions relating to population, environmentand resources are made. Ten most populouscountries of the world together make up nearly60 per cent of the world’s population (Fig 2.2).Six of these ten countries are in Asia and that

1 in every 5 persons in the world lives in China,and 1 in 6 in India.

Population density, another measure toanalyse population distribution refers to a ratiobetween population and land area in acountry. The arithmetic population density,the number of people divided by the total landarea, is the simplest method to understand thedegree of concentration of population.Although this method ignores differences inpopulation distribution within a country or aregion, it is still better suited to comparepopulation characteristics of differentcountries. For example, in 2000, the UnitedStates was the third most populous nation, butit also had the third largest area, so itspopulation density was relatively low, about28 persons per sq. km (Fig. 2.3). In contrast,no individual country of Europe is among the10 most populous countries of the world.Germany with about 82 million people ranks12. Yet, Europe excluding Russia, has 40independent countries with a combinedpopulation of 582 million, or more than twicethat of the USA, living in an area only half thesize of the United States. And, thus, Europe hasa population density of 104 persons per sq. km,nearly four-times that of the United States.

Compared with simple arithmetic density,physiological or nutritional density is a morerefined method of calculating man-land ratios.It is a ratio between total population and totalcultivated area or cropland. In developingcountries where subsistence agricultureremains the most important economic activity,physiological density reflects the intensity ofagriculture. In nearly all the populousdeveloping countries in Asia — including India,Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh — thereis less than one acre (0.4 hectare) of croplandper person. To be exact, in India 1 hectare ofcropland supports 5 persons, in China, eachhectare of cropland supports 12 persons, whilein the USA it is only 1.5 persons per hectare.In most of these agricultural countries,virtually all the land, suitable for crops, is beingcultivated. Thus with population growth, moreand more people need to be supported by theexisting cropland. Since agriculturalproductivity varies from place to place,Fig. 2.2 World’s Ten Most Populous Countries

THE WORLD POPULATION : TRENDS AND PATTERNS

Total of world’s ten most populous countries


In reality, nearly half of the worldpopulation is clustered over just 5 per cent ofthe land, while about 33 per cent of the totalland area is virtually uninhabited.

Concentration of population is very highin a few urban areas. Industrialisation andmodern technologies have modified settlementand density patterns over the past twocenturies. Nearly three — quarters of thepopulation, (more than 75 per cent) in thedeveloped countries now live in urbanenvironments, with many more living in andaround major metropolitan areas. Northernand western Europe are among the mosturbanised regions with more than 80 per centof their population living in urban areas. InNorth America about 75 per cent people arecity dwellers. City states such as Hong Kongand Singapore, which have virtually no ruralor agricultural hinterlands, have practically allurban population.

While industrialisation and commer-cialisation processes caused a population shift

physiological density provides only a roughmeasure of population pressure.

On the basis of the arithmatic populationdensity, two distinct areas can be noticed easilyon a world map showing population density.While there are few areas of high populationconcentration, vast areas have low populationdensity or which are mostly uninhabited.

Areas of High Density of Population

Fertile plains with favourable climate andhighly industrialised and urbanised areas aregenerally, densely populated. There are fourmajor areas of high population density withmore than 100 persons per sq. km. These areas follows:

East Asia (China, Japan, Korea andTaiwan);

South and Southeast Asia;Northwest Europe (UK, France, Germany,

Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Ireland,Denmark , Spain, Italy); and

The Eastern Coast of North America.

Fig. 2.3 Population Density

( )

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Fig. 2.4 Population Change: (a) Total numbers; (b) Annual Additions;(c) Growth Rates; and (d) World Population Growth

from rural to urban areas, technologies createdartificial environments in many modern cities.Rising from the deserts of southern Californiaand Arizona, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenixand Tucson are sprawling, rapidly growingmetropolitan areas that are sustained only byimporting water via complex systems of canalsand aquaducts.

Low Density Frontier Lands

Current population patterns in most of thecountries of the world still reflect the traditionalties to areas where food can be produced.

Hence, areas that are unsuited to agriculture,support relatively few people. These thinlypopulated or uninhabited non-arable areaswhich are identified as frontier environments,occupy more than 60 per cent of the earth’sland. These include the following:

Dry lands, where lack of precipitation isthe limiting factor and where irrigation has notbeen feasible.

Cold lands at the high latitudes where frigidtemperature precludes agriculture.

Major mountain ranges and othermountainous areas where climate is harsh andterrain is too rugged to be cultivated.


(a) (b)

(c) (d)


Wet tropics, where heavy precipitation andhigh temperature combine to producerelatively infertile soils that do not supportintensive permanent cultivation, as well as highincidence of debilitating diseases such asmalaria.

Remote areas : Over the last century or so,permanent settlements have been establishedin a few remote and difficult environments also.These were mostly uninhabited prior to thedevelopment of locally available mineral orforest resources, which now used latesttechnology.

Areas of Medium Density of PopulationIn between high density and low density areas,the population density is in the medium range.Despite unfavourable terrain, climate or soil,other economic opportunities in the form ofagricultural, mining or industrial developmentmight attract people. Besides, on the marginof high density areas, population densities aregenerally in the medium category.

POPULATION GROWTH

What do we mean by population growth? Itrefers to the change in number of inhabitantsof a territory during a specific period of time,say during last decade. This change can beexpressed either in terms of absolute numbersor in terms of percentage (Fig. 2.4).

The mechanisms responsible for temporalor spatial population changes are birth rates,death rates, and migration. The number ofbirths and deaths per thousand persons in ayear is known as Crude Birth Rate (CBR) andCrude Death Rate (CDR) respectively. Thedifference in the number of births and deathsduring a year determines the annual rate ofnatural increase or decrease. In Fig. 2.5, crudebirth and death rates as well as annual growthof popultion has been shown for the world andthe continents. Migration between countriesand continents, which played an important rolein demographic changes during the nineteenthand early twentieth centuries, is less importanttoday. Nevertheless, migration within countriescontinue to produce significant populationshifts. If the impact of migration (immigrationand emigration) is also taken into account along

with the birth rate and death rate, it is knownas actual growth rate.

If births exceed deaths, within a given year,there will be a net population increase, and ifdeaths exceed births, population will decline.If the relationship between deaths and birthschanges drastically, population can explode orcrash over relatively short periods.

Epidemics and prolonged famines mayresult in a rapid increase in death within acountry or a region. On the other hand,widespread inoculation against chronic orcommunicable diseases, safe supply ofdrinking water and improved sanitationsystems can dramatically lower death rateswithin a generation.

Migration, the third component ofpopulation change may be interpreted as aspontaneous effort to achieve a better balancebetween population and resources. It is thepermanent or semi-permanent change of aperson’s place of residence. Migration is

Fig. 2.5 Crude Birth Rate and Crude Death Rate

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probably a more important element indetermining population structure and changein an area than fertility and mortality . Patternof migration have been classified in variousways. From a geographical viewpoint, spatialscale is important and thus migration may berural to rural, rural to urban, urban to urban,urban to rural, inter-regional and international.On a time scale, migration may be temporaryor permanent. Temporary movement may takethe form of seasonal migration, usually ofagricultural workers, to meet a demand duringlabour-intensive agricultural seasons. Thistype of migration also includes periodicmigration of workers going away from theirpermanent homes for some years, during whichthey send home remittances. In moredeveloped societies, middle – run migration isimportant. It refers to a movement of peoplebetween places for a period of more than oneseason but less than a lifetime and includesthe inter-metropolitan circulation of elites.

International migration refers to movementof people between countries and continents(Fig. 2.6). It plays an important role in changingpopulation patterns over relatively shortperiods. In recent decades international

migration has again been increasing. For mostof the people, voluntary migration offersimproved economic or other opportunities. Asignificant number of people, on the other hand,have to move to other countries as refugees dueto civil war, political unrest, or environmentaldegradation, which is less common. At thebeginning of the twenty-first century, the UNestimated that about 120 million peopleworldwide, were living outside their nativecountries, including about 15 million refugees.

Internal migration is an even morewidespread demographic process. It involveshundreds of millions of people leaving thecountryside for cities, or from overcrowdedareas to other regions offering betteropportunities. The movement of ruralpopulation to the growing urban centres iscaused by push and pull factors. The adverseconditions operating in rural areas includingpoverty, unemployment, poor facilities ofeducation, health, recreation and other servicespush the population to seek a living elsewhere.Pull factors are the attractions of the city ordestination areas, which include high wages,cheap land, better living conditions andopportunities for economic advancements. As

Fig. 2.6 Human Migration in Modern Times



a result of such movement, the bulk of ruralmigrants eventually find their way to the townsand cities, which in turn, have given rise to alarge number of slums among them.

In countries where three-quarters of thetotal population is urbanised, the bulk of themigrants tend to be inter–urban migrants,frequently moving from one urban centre toanother. It has been observed that in certaininstances rural folks move into theneighbouring small towns and live there forsometime before moving into the next largetown, often termed as step-migration. The bigcities all over the world have become strongmagnets for economically induced urban tourban migration by virtue of their better anddiverse employment opportunities andnumerous facilities not available to smallerplaces. Consequently, big cities grow dispro-portionately while the small towns stagnate.

The movement of population also takesplace between one rural tract and the other,particularly in the agricultural countries of theworld. Such type of migration flow usuallyoriginates from crowded areas of low per capitaagricultural productivity and is directedtowards sparsely populated areas of newdevelopmental activities, particularly in thefield of agriculture, mining, industry, etc.Consequently, a more balanced equilibriumbetween the rural population and theagricultural resource base develops.

Trends in Population Growth

In the early stages of development, the hunters,gatherers and farmers, used only simple toolsand moved from place to place. Even after theagricultural revolution about 12,000 to 8,000years ago, the size of human population wassmall and human activities were simple innature. As such, human impact onenvironment was insignificant. The populationgrowth was slow which may be ascertainedfrom the fact that the world population in thefirst century AD was only 250 millions.

The stage for rapid population growth wasset by the expanding trade in the sixteenth andthe seventeenth centuries. The worldpopulation at the dawn of Industrial

Revolution i.e. around 1750 was about 0.5billion. It, however, exploded in the eighteenthcentury after the Industrial Revolution. A seriesof dramatic technological changes rapidlyexpanded the resource base and provided afoundation for accelerated population growth(Fig. 2.1) that continued for more than twocenturies.

The development of steam enginesupplemented and then replaced human andanimal energy. It provided the mechanisedenergy of water and wind. Mechanisationimproved agricultural and industrialproduction. Scientific and technologicaladvancements enhanced quality of life ineconomically developed countries.

Improvement in medical facilities andsanitation changed global populationdynamics quickly and dramatically. Inocul-ation against epidemics and other communi -cable diseases, suppression or elimination ofmany disease vectors and improvement insanitation contributed to the rapid decline inthe death rates, in virtually all parts of theworld. There has been no looking back sincethen.

When the Industrial Revolution began, theworld population was growing at about 0.12per cent a year, but the rate accelerateddramatically to 1.0 per cent by 1930 and to2.1 per cent by early 1960s. The fast growthrate of population was a cause of concern forthe world. Many developed countries werequick to respond. The developing countries aregradually trying to check this rapid growth.During past four decades, the growth rate hasslowly declined and the current growth rate is1.4 per cent.

The trend of declining growth rates is likelyto continue, though it varies significantlybetween developed and developing countries.In developed countries, population growth hasslowed down to 0.1 per cent a year. In manydeveloping countries also the rate of growth isdeclining but it is over 1 per cent. It is estimatedthat the world population will reach 6.8 billionby 2010 and 8 billion by 2025. It is assumedthat over 98 per cent of the total populationincrease (about 2 billion) will take place in the

19

developing countries during the next 25 years.Accordingly, the developed countries whichcurrently have 20 per cent of world population,will have only 15 per cent by 2025.

Spatial Pattern of Population Change

As discussed earlier, births, deaths andmigration are the major components ofpopulation change. Commonly, the rate ofpopulation growth in different parts of theworld is compared to get a world pattern(Appendix I).

Africa’s annual population growth (2.4 percent) is the highest among the major worldregions.In Nigeria, which is Africa’s mostpopulous country, the annual rate ofpopulation growth is 2.4 per cent. At this rate,Nigeria’s population (about 123 millions) willdouble in less than 25 years .

South America, Asia, Oceania and NorthAmerica have average annual increase of over1 per cent but less than 2 per cent. Europewith only 0.2 per cent population growth is atthe other extreme.

Although annual population change ratesseem slow, they can be deceptive for tworeasons. First, when a small annual rate isapplied to a very large population, it will yielda large absolute change. With the current worldpopulation of nearly 6.2 billion, growing at 1.4per cent, about 82 million people are added inone year, which is nearly the same size as thatof Germany. Second, the changes arecumulative for even if the growth rate continuesto decline slowly over the years, the basepopulation continues to grow each year.

Several of the largest European countries,including Germany, the most populous inEurope, have experienced small but steadypopulation declines over the last decade or so.Find out from Appendix I, the name ofcountries experiencing zero growth rate ornegative growth rate.

The deteriorating environmental and socialconditions in many Republics of the formerSoviet Union, have marked a devastatingdemographic decline. Environmentalcontamination and degradation persisting fordecades in many industrial and mining centres

of the former Soviet Union, coupled with aprolonged post Soviet period of economicinstability has resulted in a rapid rise in deathrates and a continued decline in birth rates.Life expectancy has dropped sharply. Theinfant mortality rate has increased as has thedeath rate during child birth. In the two largestrepublics, Russia and Ukraine, naturalpopulation change is currently minus 0.6 percent per year. In 2000, infant mortality ratesaveraged 16 per thousand — nearly twice ashigh as the European average.

Although these represent the extreme casesof current demographic trends, populationchange has always been taken seriously in anyorganised society. It is an important issue bothin countries where populations are growing,and where they are declining.

It is generally, agreed that a smallincrease in population is not undesirable inan expanding economy. However, populationgrowth beyond a certain level maycompound the problems in a developingeconomy. Growing populations are puttinggreater pressure on land and naturalresources. In many places freshwater isalready becoming scarce. Forests aredisappearing. Soils are being degraded andfisheries over exploited.

Population decline is also a matter ofconcern because it indicates that resourcesthat had supported a population at a givenlevel have become insufficient to maintainthat population. Unless the populationdecline could be reversed, the basicstructure of the society itself might becomeunstable. Population growth signals societalprosperity and progress as resource basegrew. It may, however, be considered adistinct problem if land and other criticalresources are scarce.

In developed countries where resourcebase is sufficient or appears underutilised,policies regarding promotion of populationgrowth such as incentives for natural increase,substantial tax exemption for large families,and accepting immigrants, are taken up. Onthe other hand, governments enact policies tocurb the population growth if it is viewed as a



problem. For example, many developingcountries, such as, China and India havesponsored birth control programmes to slowthe rate of natural population growth. In 1994,at the United Nations International Conferenceon Population and Development (ICPD), mostnations endorsed a plan to stabilise worldpopulation over the next two decades. TheWorld Programme of Action (WPOA) wouldachieve this goal by expanding the women’srole in family planning through literacy,education, and through reproductive-health

and child-healthcare programmes, that wouldbe available to all.

Doubling Time of World Population

Another way of comparing population growthrates is by calculating the time it takes for apopulation to double using the current annualgrowth rate. In Table 2.1, the time taken bythe World Population as a whole has been given.Note how fast the doubling time is reducing.There is great variation among regions indoubling its population.

Fig. 2.7 Population Doubling Time

Table 2.1: Doubling Time of World Population

Period Population Time in WhichPopulation Doubles

10,000 BC 5 million1650 AD 500 million 1500 years1850 AD 1000 million 200 years1930 AD 2000 million 80 years1975 AD 4000 million 45 years2012 AD 8000 million projected figure 37 years

21

Seventy one countries with currentgrowth rates between 2 and 2.9 per cent, willdouble their population in 24-35 years, and14 countries with growth rates between 3 to4.4 per cent will double in 16 to 23 years.About one-fourth of the world’s populationlive in 90 countries, whose population may

and some parts of CIS (Commonwealth ofIndependent States)and Asia are measurablyslowing population growth (Table 2.3).

Demographic Transition

Current demographic trends reveal that theannual average population increase among the


In Table 2.2, doubling time for selectedcountries and regions at current rate of naturalincrease has been given. It would be apparentfrom the given data that developed countriesare taking more time to double theirpopulation.

double in one or two generations. Indiaprovides a sobering example, for if its current1.9 per cent natural increase continues, itspopulation of over 1 billion would double in36 years.

The deadly HIV/AIDS epidemics in Africa

Table 2.2 : Population Doubling Time for Selected Countries and Major World Regions

Annual Population Country/Region Population DoublingGrowth (Percentage) Time (in Years)

3.3 Chad 212.8 Iraq, Pakistan 252.6 Sub-Sahara Africa 272.5 Africa 282.0 Egypt 351.9 India 361.8 Latin America, Bangladesh 381.5 Asia, Brazil 461.2 World, Sri Lanka 581.1 Oceania, Thailand 631.0 China, Singapore 700.7 Australia 1040.6 North America, USA 1160.2 Japan, UK, Finland 3180.0 Spain, Austria –-0.1 Europe, Germany –-0.5 Russia –-0.6 Ukraine –

Source : World Population Data Sheet, 1999, Population Reference Bureau

Table 2.3 : Changes in Death Rates and Life Expectancy (1990-1999) in Some AfricanCountries as a Result of HIV AIDS Epidemic

Country Percentage of adult Death Rate Per 1,000 Average LifePopulation with Population Expectancy

HIV -1999 1999 1990 1999 1990

Botswana 36 33 11 40 59

Namibia 20 36 12 42 56South Africa 20 27 8 58 63Zambia 20 23 14 37 53Zimbabwe 25 20 10 40 58


developing countries is more than 20 timesthan that in the developed world. Although theCrude Death Rates (CDRs) in both groups arelow, the average Crude Birth Rates (CBRs) indeveloping countries are nearly three timesmore than that of the developed countries. Whyis it so? Demographers (F. W. Notestein)recognise a close link between the processes ofeconomic development and those of populationgrowth.

As a rural agrarian society evolves into atechnology-based urban society, there arechanges in demographic trends. In Fig.2.8, theDemographic Transition Model correlatingchanges in population dynamics withindustrialisation, and urbanisation processesassociated with economic development hasbeen shown. It is conventionally portrayed ashaving there stages.

The first stage of the model represents thedemographic trends before the processes ofeconomic development began. It portrays thedemography of Europe prior to IndustrialRevolution, or that of Japan in the mid-nineteenth century, or perhaps a tribalcommunity living in tropical forests in isolation.The common characteristic is that thepopulation is relatively small and stable (net

growth rate of about 1 per cent) over time. Boththe birth and the death rates are very high,but the death rate declines during periods ofprosperity, and rises during times of famines,diseases or wars.

The Second stage begins with thetechnological revolutions that characterise theearly stages of economic development. In theeighteenth and the nineteenth century Europeand North America, it was the IndustrialRevolution that initiated transportation,agricultural and medical revolutions. Togetherthey gave rise to high levels of economicdevelopment. Improved diets, public healthand medical care led to a sharp decline in deathrates. Birth rates, however, remained high ininitial periods of prosperity they began todecline later but at a slow pace, as socio-cultural practices concerning family size taketime to adujst to changing circumstances. Theresult is a sharp increase in population growth.In the third stage, death rates even off at a lowlevel, while birth rates are low but fluctuatingwith net growth rates near zero. In some of thedeveloped European countries, even a fourthstage is being recognised. Low birth rates arecombined with rising death rates. Such a trendresults in declining populations.

Fig. 2.8 Demographic Transition Model

23

The second stage may further be dividedinto three categories — beginning of the criticalphase of population explosion, middle ofpopulation explosion and on the verge ofcompleting the growth stage. Thus fivecategories (types) of population growth may bevisualised in all (Fig. 2.8) All countries fit intothis classification. There are, however,significant differences in the trends ofpopulation growth between developed anddeveloping countries.

Demographic Transition

STAGE IType 1 : Primitive Demographic Regime:

High birth and death rates andslow population growth.

STAGE IIType 2 : Expanding or Youthful Demo-

graphic Regime : Sharp decline indeath rates, high brith rates, rapidpopulation growth.

Type 3 : Late Expanding DemographicRegime : Declining birth rate andlow death rates, and decline ingrowth rates of population.

Type 4 : Low Fluctuating or MatureDemographic Regime : Low birthand high death rates, decliningpopulation.

STAGE IIIType 5 : Zero Population Growth Regime:

Low birth and death rates,approximately equal, nopopulation growth.

Demographic trends in the developingworld do not reflect the same trends as seen inEurope and North America. Population hasgrown rapidly during the past several decadesdue to improved health and longevity. Butthere is a wide variation among the developingcountries in the time taken for moving fromone phase to the other. In recent years familyplanning programmes have contributed to thedecline in growth rates. The most significantreduction in population growth has occurredin those Asian and Latin American countries,where birth rates have declined in response toeconomic development, urbanisation and

socio-cultural changes as reflected through theacceptance of family planning. However, mostof Africa and some Asian and Latin Americancountries have remained in the high-growthphase of demographic transition for severaldecades because cultural tradition of largefamilies and high fertility have remainedstrong. As such there is no assurance thatthese countries will experience the economicand societal changes that led to decline in birthrates in the economically developed countries.So far, at least in a significant part of thedeveloping world, the sharp decline in birthrates, that occurred in the last part of Stage IIin the demographic transition model is stillspeculative.

Despite non-resemblance to the demo-graphic transition model, several featuresremain valid.� Virtually all nations have experienced a

decline in death rates sometimes beforebirth rates began to fall;

� Until recently, population changes indeveloping world mainly reflected changesin death rates. Now the average death ratein the developing world stands at about 9per thousand and more than 90 developingcountries with youthful population havedeath rates, that are currently below theaverage death rates experienced in themature population of the developedcountries. Birth rate trends in the developingcountries will be the main determinant ofpopulation size just as they have been fordecades in the developed world.Fertility, Age – structure and population

Momentum : Besides birth and death rates, twovariables also play an important role inpredicting demographic trends: Total FertilityRate (TFR) is the average number of childrenborn to a woman. Today, the TFR average forthe developed world is 1.5.

Another factor which directly affects birthrate is population structure, especially the agecomposition of a population. Comparison ofbirth rates and fertility rates will reveal theimportance of this factor. In 1982, for example,Singapore and Spain had similar crude birthrates (17.2 and 15.2 per thousandrespectively), but Singapore’s fertility rate was



Exercises

Review Questions

1. Answer the following questions briefly:(i) What was the world population at the dawn of twenty-first century?(ii) What factors influence population distribution?(iii) What is population density?(iv) Which are the four major areas of high population density in the world?(v) What is population growth?(vi) Name the three components of population change.(vii) What is the current growth rate of world population?

2. Distinguish between:(i) Arithmetic density and physiological density of population;(ii) Crude birth rate and crude death rate;(iii) Push and pull factors of migration.

3. Write short notes on the following:(i) Doubling time of world population;(ii) Demographic transition.

4. Discuss the factors influencing the distribution and density of population in the world.5. Discuss the consequences of population growth and decline.6. Explain why the population growth has been rapid in last few hundred years?

Geographical Skills

7. On an outline map of the world, show the following with suitable shading:Most densely and least densely populated countries, one each in Africa, Asia, Europe,Latin America and Oceania (You may refer to Appendix I).

8. Prepare a suitable diagram to show the annual growth rate of population (1995-2000)for the following countries :

Bangladesh UAE UK

India China USA

Thailand Japan Germany

Nigeria Bulgaria Italy

Rwanda Uruguay Australia

Liberia Mexico Russia

Guinea Colombia

much lower (58) than Spain’s (73.1) becauseher age composition was youthful. In otherwords, areas with a high proportion of youngadults may be expected to have high birth ratefigures. New towns, pioneer settlements and

regions with high immigration rates tend to fallin this category. We may, thus, conclude thatthe factors influencing the level of fertility inany area are largely economic, social andcultural rather than physical.

opulation composition, or thedemographic structure refers to thosecharacteristics of population which are

measurable and which help us distinguish onegroup of people from the other. Age, sex,literacy, place of residence and occupation aresome of the important components, whichreflect the composition of population. They alsohelp in setting future agenda for development.

AGE STRUCTURE

The age-structure of a population refers to thenumber of people in different age-groups. Thesize of the various age-groups does vary fromone population to the other and also over thecourse of time. If the number of children in thepopulation is high, the dependency ratio willbe high. A large size of population in the age-group of 15-59 years indicates the chances of

3 POPULATION COMPOSITION

CHAPTER

Fig. 3.1 Age-Sex Pyramid of Selected Countries

P


having a larger working population. Similarly,a growing population in the age group of 60plus indicates greater expenditure on the careof the aged. If there are large number of youngpeople, and the birth rate is high, thepopulation is youthful, as is the case in manydeveloping countries of Asia, Africa and SouthAmerica. On the other extreme, if the birth rateis low and the longevity among people is high,the population is said to be ageing (Fig 3.1).This is happening in many Europeancountries, the USA, Canada and Japan. Attimes, extreme events like wars, and naturalcalamities can distort the age-structure,because of losing population in certain age-groups.

Generally, population of a country isgrouped under three broad age-groups:Children (0-14 years); adults (15-59 years);and aged (60 years and above).

Examination of age-group statistics ofdifferent parts of the world reveals that theproportion of adult population is least variableof the three groups. The major regionaldifferences lie in the proportions of children andthe aged.

On the basis of the variations, three typesof age-structures have been identified :(i) The West European Type: Children and

the aged constitute 30 per cent and 15per cent population respectively.

(ii) The US Type : The proportion of childrenand the aged in the population are 35-45per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

(iii) Third World Type: Children constitute45-55 per cent of population whereas theaged constitute only 4-8 per centpopulation.

Age pyramids give a more detailed pictureof age structure. For this purpose, 5 or 10years of age-groups are normally used. Eachage-group of a population is represented by ahorizontal bar, the length of which isproportional to the percentage of males andfemales in that age-group. Males are arrangedto the left and females to the right of a verticalaxis, which is divided either into single ormultiple years or intervals. The shape of thepyramid can indicate the history andcharacteristics of the population portrayed.

Thus three kinds of shapes are associated withthree kinds of population situation:� A Stationary Population : A regularly

tapering pyramid shows unchanging birthand death-rates over a long period of time.

� A Progressive Population : A wide-baseand rapid tapering shows an increasingbirth rate and high death rate.

� A Regressive Population : A narrow baseand narrow top pyramid shows decliningbirth rate and low death.

The age-structure of the world populationreveals, the following characteristics:(i) World population is more youthful with

about 36 per cent population in the age-group below 15 years. There are regionalvariations though as the correspondingfigures for the more developed and thedeveloping regions are 23 per cent and40 per cent respectively. There is yet,wider variations at a lower level –continents and countries. The proportionof young population ranges from less than25 per cent in Europe to about 40 percent in Asia and Latin America and nearly50 per cent in Africa. Countries that arecharacterised with high fertility rates havelarge proportions of young populationsand the vice-versa. This age-group iseconomically unproductive and needsmore money to be spent on food, clothing,education and medical facilities.

(ii) The adult age group (15-59 years) isalways higher than others, though it isproportionately more in developingcountries. This group is biologically themost reproductive, economically the mostproductive and demographically the mostmobile.

(iii) Aged people (60 years and more) increasesas the population of a country completesits demographic evolution. In thedeveloped countries, the number offemales in this age-group is more than thatof the males. Increasing population of thisage-group has more demands on healthand social services.

SEX-COMPOSITIONSex-ratio is an index of balance between malesand females in a given population. It is

27

measured in terms of number of females per1,000 males. Sex-ratio has a profound effecton other demographic features like, growth ofpopulation, marriage rates, occupationalstructure, etc.

For reasons unknown, male births exceedfemale births in almost all the societies. But anumber of pre and post-natal conditions, attimes, alter this situation very drastically. Indeveloping countries infant mortality is higheramong males than the females so that excessof males is cancelled out within one year. Evenin developed countries, male mortality is higherthan female mortality at all stages of life. Assuch excess of males at birth is progressivelyeliminated, until from about the age of 30onwards there is an increasing dominance offemales. In many developing countries, womenbeing given a subordinate role in the society,often suffer high mortality rates in child birth.It leads to unfavourable sex-ratio. Overall sex-ratio in these countries is often unfavourableto females.

Apart from differential birth or death ratesamong the two sexes, the sex-ratio is alsoinfluenced by migration of either males orfemales, which has serious impact on sex-ratio.In earlier times international and long-distancemigration almost always showed a markedpredominance of males, thus creating a seriousimbalance in the sex–ratio of both the sendingand receiving areas. At present the malepredominant regions are only such fringe areasas Alaska and the Northern Territory ofAustralia, both of which have 1,350 men forevery 1,000 women.

The degree of sex-selectivity of internalmigration appears to be closely related to thetechnical and economic evolution of a countryconcerned. In developing countries, especiallyin Africa and Asia, there is a markedpredominance of male migration from villagesto towns. Indian towns have an unusually highproportion of males; in Kolkata, for example,there are 570 women for every 1,000 man. Ineconomically advanced nations the reverse isgenerally true. With the exception of migrationto the centres of mining and heavy industries,and military towns, females also migrate fromrural to urban areas.

An analysis of the differences in the sex-composition of rural and urban areas indifferent countries, shows that the migrationstream does not produce similar results. It isinteresting to note that rural-urbandifferentials in sex ratios in the United Statesand in Western European countries are justthe opposite of those in Asian countries likeIndia. In the western countries, the malesoutnumber the females in rural areas and thefemales outnumber the males in urban areas.In country like India reverse is the case. Theexcess of females in the urban communities ofthe USA and the Europe is primarily the resultof influx of females from their rural areas toavail of the vast employment opportunities inurban areas. Farming in rural areas remainslargely a masculine occupation. By contrast,the sex ratio in Asian cities, especially in India,remains male dominant due to predominanceof male migration. Problems of housing, highcost of living, paucity of work opportunities andlack of security in cities discourage women tomigrate from rural to urban areas.

RURAL-URBAN COMPOSITION

The division of population into rural and urbanis based on the residence and is made at adifferent size-point in most of the countries.This division is necessary because both of themdiffer from each other in terms of their livelihoodand social environment. The occupationalstructure, density of population, and level ofsocial and economic growth, vary between thetwo groups.

People living in the villages and engagedin agriculture or primary activities arecategorised as ‘rural’. The urban population,on the other hand are engaged in non-agricultural activities. People are attracted tourban areas in search of employmentopportunities, better social facilities and higherstandard of living. The urban populationincreases due to natural growth and migrationof people from rural areas.

Criteria of labelling a settlement urban varyfrom one country to another. In USA, an areawith a population of less than 2,500, isconsidered rural, while an area of more than

POPULATION COMPOSITION


Table 3.1 : Rural-Urban Population By Region-2000

Regions/Continents Total Population Urban/Rural Population(in Million) (in Million) (in %)

1. Asia 3682 Urban: 1383 38Rural: 2299 62

2. Africa 784 Urban: 295 38Rural: 489 62

3. Europe 729 Urban: 546 75Rural: 183 25

4. Latin America and 519 Urban: 391 75Caribbean Rural: 128 25

5. North America 310 Urban: 239 77Rural: 71 23

6. Oceania 30 Urban: 21 70Rural: 9 30

Fig. 3.2 World Urbanisation

2,500 inhabitants is called urban. In India, allareas which are not urban, are, by definition,rural.

Percentage of rural population is higher infarm-based agricultural countries, whileindustrially developed regions have highershare of urban population. Table 3.1 showsthe distribution of rural and urban populationof different continents in 2000. Only Asia andAfrica had more than 60 per cent ruralpopulation while 62 per cent of the world’s total

population had an urban residence. Withabout 77 per cent of its population beingurban, North America is the most urbanisedcontinent.

The world’s urban population is currentlygrowing by 60 million people a year, which isabout three times the increase in ruralpopulation. In other words, the urbanpopulation of the world has been growing morerapidly than the rural population since theemergence of first urban settlement on the.

29

world’s scene. About two centuries ago (1800),only 2.5 per cent of the world’s population wasliving in urban areas and in 1960, about one-third of the total world population lived in cities.By 1999 over 47 per cent of the world’s totalpopulation has an urban residence. Most ofthis urban growth, (about 60 per cent of 60million) reflects natural increase among currentcity dwellers, those born in the city; the rest isaccounted for by rural-urban migration (Fig. 3.2).

A prominent feature of populationredistribution, particularly in developingcountries, is the growth of major cities. Almosthalf the world’s population lives in cities.Between 1960 and 2000, the urbanpopulation increased more than three times i.e.from 800 million to 2.8 billion. During the sameperiod, the world’s total population doubledfrom 3 billion to 6 billion. It is projected thatthere will be about 8 billion city dwellers by2030, and 80 per cent of them will live indeveloping countries.

The rate of urbanisation of the world’spopulation is accelerating significantly as aresult of the global shift to technological,industrial and service-based economies. As aresult, few countries would be able to handlethe consequent urban population increasewhich is causing problems on anunprecedented scale. Ten million people dieannually in densely populated urban areasfrom conditions produced by substandardhousing and poor sanitation. About 500million people, worldwide are either homelessor living in housing that is life threatening.

LITERACY

Literacy is that qualitative attribute ofpopulation which is a fairly reliable index ofthe socio-economic development of an area. Itreflects that social aspect of population bywhich its quality can be ascertained. There isa wide variation over the world in the literacyrates which denotes the percentage of peopleage-group 15 and above who can, withunderstanding, both read and write a short,simple statement in their everyday life. Majorfactors affecting this rate are levels of economicdevelopment, urbanisation and standard of

living, social status of females, availability ofeducational facilities and the policies of thegovernment. Level of economic development isboth a cause and a consequence of literacy.Table 3.2 shows the distribution of adultliterates in different regions of the world. Thedeveloped and urban economies reflect higherliteracy rate and higher standards of education.Low levels of literacy and education indicaterural-farm economies. It is only in thedeveloping countries of the world today, thatthe literacy revolution is yet to take its shapewhere such differences occur more.

Table 3.2 : Adult Literacy Rate, 1998

(% of people in the age-group15 and above

All Developing Countries 72.3

Least Developed Countries 50.7

Arab States 59.7

East Asia 83.4

East Asia (Excluding China) 96.3

Latin America and Caribbean 87.7

South Asia 54.3

South Asia/(Excluding India) 50.5

South East Asia Pacific 88.2

Sub-Saharan Africa 58.5

Eastern Europe and the CIS 98.6

OECD 97.4

High Human Development 98.5

Medium Human Development 76.9

Low Human Development 48.9

High Income 98.6

Medium Income 87.8

Low Income 68.9

World 78.8

Human Development Report, 2000, Table 1,UNDP, Oxford University PressOECD= Organisation for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment



OCCUPATIONAL STRUCTUREThe economically active section of anypopulation is generally, defined as ‘those whoare engaged in remunerative occupation andwho seek a livelihood in such occupations’.Children below working age, old people, retiredpersons, housewives and students, who are notengaged in economic pursuits for theirlivelihood are excluded from the ‘active’population. The proportional distribution ofthis active population under specific economicactivities is known as occupational structure.The United Nations has identified the followingcategories of occupations: agriculture, forestry,hunting and fishing; mining and quarrying;manufacturing industry; construction;electricity, gas, water and health services;commerce; transport, storage andcommunication services; unclassifiedoccupations.

This classification is essential forinternational comparisons but each countryclassifies its population in differentoccupational categories according to its ownneeds.

An alternative form of classification reducesthe above categories to four major groups :primary activities, including hunting,agriculture, forestry and fishing; secondaryactivities including manufacturing, power; andtertiary activities, including transport,communication and other services; andquaternary activities including moreintellectual occupations, whose task is tothink, research and develop ideas.

The proportion of working populationengaged in these activities vary significantlyamong different countries depending upontheir levels of economic development. Theproportion of working population is very highin primary activities, if the economy is lessdeveloped. As it moves forward, the proportionin secondary and then in tertiary increasegradually. In highly industrialised countries,the proportion of people employed in tertiarysector is more than 40-45 per cent. In the USA,it is more than 70 per cent. Statistics are notavailable for quaternary sector, but it issuggested that though it employs a small

percentage at the moment, it is characterisedby the highest income and a high degree ofmobility.

POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT

People are central to the development processand an integral element in all developmentstrategies. There are many different and oftenconflicting views on the meaning ofdevelopment. The most appropriate strategiesneed to be followed at different points of timeand in space. Large size population has beenviewed by many as a negative factor in thedevelopment. However, much depends on itsquality.

Relationship between population and foodsupply has been a subject of study ever sinceMalthus projected a grim future for humanity,if population continued to rise faster than foodproduction. Given the uneven rate of populationgrowth and technological breakthroughs in foodproduction, there are difficulties in forecastingrates of increase in food supply or howconsumption will vary. The fact, however,remains that over use or misuse of the landwith a view to increase food production has itsserious implications for environment and thusindirectly for food security.

The vital questions to explore are: Are theseregional differences in the rate of populationgrowth in consonance with the regionaldisparities in the supporting capacity of theareas? If not, how far are these differences ingrowth rate responsible for creating imbalancebetween the population and the resources?Growth of population, thus becomes a vitalelement in any assessment of populationresource balance. But we can not ignore thefact that high growth of population or thedeficiency of the resources alone are notresponsible for the imbalance. The nature ofsocial structure, the stage of technologicaladvancement, the characteristics ofdistribution system and the public policies arethe elements that influence the balancebetween the people and the resources. Thus,the number that a given piece of land cansupport does not merely depend upon itsphysical resources, but also upon a set of

31

Fig. 3.3 Human Development VariationAmong Regions


social, economic, technological and politicalconditions. Therefore, in any assessment ofbalance between the population and means ofsubsistence all these constitute importantelements of the system. This complexrelationship has been presented by differentscholars/thinkers as models and theories.Presently, we will get introduced to the conceptof Human Development which provides analternative to the view of development equatedexclusively with economic development.

Human Development Index (HDI)

The Human Development Report 1990,introduced by the United NationsDevelopment Programme (UNDP), argues thatdevelopment is not merely an expansion ofincome and wealth, but a process ofenhancing human functionings andcapabilities. This perspective of developmentis termed ‘human development’. The conceptis defined as “the process of widening people’schoices and the level of well-being theyachieve”. The report states that regardless ofthe level of development, the three choices forthe people are: to lead a long and healthy life,to be knowledgeable, and to have access tothe resources needed for a decent standard ofliving. These are represented by threeindicators: longevity as measured by lifeexpectancy at birth, educational attainment,as measured by a combination of adultliteracy (two-thirds weight) and the combinedgross primary, secondary and tertiaryenrolment ratio (one-third weight); andstandard of living as measured by GDP percapita (Productivity Per Person US$).

The Human Development Index (HDI),constructed every year since 1990 by theUnited Nations, measures averageachievements in basic human development inone simple composite index and produces aranking of countries.

Computing the HDITo construct the Index, fixed minimum andmaximum values have been established foreach of the indicators:� Life expectancy at birth : 25 years and 85

years;

� General literacy rate : 0 per cent and 100per cent;

� Real GDP per capita (PPP$) : PPP$ 100and PPP$ 40,000.

Individual indices are computed first on thebasis of a given formula. HDI is a simpleaverage of these three indices and is derivedby dividing the sum of these three indicesby 3.

With normalisation of the values of thevariables that make up the HDI, its valueranges from 0 to 1. The HDI value for a countryor a region shows the distance that it has totravel to reach the maximum possible value of1 and also allows intercountry comparisons(Fig. 3.3). A challenge for every country is tofind ways to reduce its short fall.

International Comparisons

Of the 174 countries for which HDI wasconstructed in 2000 AD, 46 were in the high


human development category (with HDI indexmore than 0.8), 93 in the medium (0.5 to 0.79)and 35 in the low category (below 0.5). Twentycountries have experienced reversal of HD since1990 as a result of HIV/AIDS, particularly inSub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe and theCIS (former USSR) (Appendix II).� Canada, Norway and United States rank

at the top on the HDI, while Sierra Leone,Niger and Burkina Faso at the bottom.

� Disparities between regions aresignificant, with some having moreground to cover in making up shortfallsthan others. Sub-Saharan Africa hasmore than twice the distance to cover asLatin America and the Caribbean, SouthAsia nearly three times as much as EastAsia without China.

� Disparities within regions can also besubstantial. In SE Asia and the Pacific HDIvalues range from 0.484 in the LaoPeoples Democratic Republic to 0.881 inSingapore. Among the Arab States theyrange from 0.447 in Djibouti to 0.836 inKuwait.

� The link between economic prosperity andhuman development is neither automaticnor obvious. Of the 174 countries 97 rankhigher on the HDI than on GDP per capita,suggesting that they have convertedincome into human development veryeffectively. For 69 countries, the HDI rankis lower than the GDP per capita rank.These countries have been less successfulin translating economic prosperity intobetter lives for their people (Appendix II).

Exercises

Review Questions

1. Answer the following questions briefly:(i) What is meant by population composition?(ii) What is the significance of age-structure as a demographic determinant of a

country’s population?(iii) What population characteristics are revealed by an age-sex pyramid having a

regularly tapering pyramid?(iv) What is sex-ratio?(v) Why is the rate of urbanisation accelerating in developing countries significantly?(vi) What is meant by literacy rate? Why is there a wide variation in the literacy rates

among different countries of the world?(vii) What is Human Development Index?(viii) Which regions have experienced reversal of HD since 1990?

2. Distinguish between progressive population and regressive population.3. Describe the characteristics of world population as revealed by the age-structure.4. Discuss the factors responsible for imbalances in the sex-ratio found in different parts

of the world.5. Discuss the pattern of rural-urban population in the world.6. Explain the interrelationship between population and development.7. Discuss the concept of ‘Human Development’ as defined by the United Nations

Development Programme and the justification for developing Human Development Index.

Geographical Skills

8. Find out the following from Appendix II:(i) What ranking has been given to Canada, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Brazil, Sri

Lanka, India, Nepal, Zambia and Ethiopia?(ii) How many countries of Europe belong to each category?(iii) Which countries of Asia belong to high Human Development category?(iv) How many countries of Africa are in the category of low Human Development?(v) What pattern does emerge from the above findings?

33

Unit III

HUMAN ACTIVITIES

Human beings are engaged in variouskinds of economic activities that pertainto the production, exchange or

distribution and consumption of goods andservices. With the evolution of human society,the nature of economic activities has changedand has become more and more complex.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Humans, ever since their appearance on theearth, have depended on the physicalenvironment for their survival anddevelopment. Even today, we depend on thenature for many of our material and aestheticneeds. Without sunshine, rocks, minerals, soil,water, vegetation and animals, our veryexistence will be impossible.

The early humans led a simple, thougharduous life. Their needs were limited. Theymoved from place to place in search of foodand water. They hunted animals and gatheredfruits, nuts, roots, stems and leaves of edibleplants to satisfy their hunger. The subsistenceof people based on hunting of animals andgathering of wild plant foods and fishingwithout domestication of plants and animalsis known as foraging.

Use of fire for cooking and heating,domestication of animals, cultivation of cropsand living in the permanent villages triggeredoff agricultural revolution. All thesedevelopments did not occur simultaneously,nor did they occur in isolation. They wereinterrelated, each acting as a cause as well asthe effect of the rest.

When did the agricultural revolution takeplace? It is difficult to answer this question,

though it may be stated categorically that ittook place at different times in various regionsof the world. According to the availablearchaeological evidences, agriculturalrevolution was experienced in the river valleys,where ancient civilisations flourished.

Agricultural revolution changed the livesof people enormously as they had more timefor other functions. Artisanal activities insupport of agriculture as well as to meet otherbasic needs and aesthetic tastes grew. Tradein agricultural and artisan products led tothe opening of transport routes. Villagesincreased in size to form small and then largetowns. Some 5,000 years ago, the Nile Deltain Egypt, the river valleys of the Euphrates andthe Tigris in Mesopotamia and the Indus inIndia witnessed the blossoming of welldeveloped cities and towns. But the base of allthese cities was agriculture and relatedactivities.

After the elapse of several millennium, arevolutionary change in human civilisationtook place in Europe during the eighteenthcentury. At that time, Europe wasagriculturally less developed due tounfavourable climatic conditions. Theindustrial revolution, which started with theinvention of steam engine, however, changedthe course of development. While theagricultural revolution was triggered off by abetter and more organised way of using thebiological products of nature, the industrialrevolution relied on the use of energy stored innature in the form of coal, and later petroleum.It helped people avoid the drudgery of manuallabour and produce non-agriculturalcommodities on a mass scale. It also had its

4 HUMAN ACTIVITIES — PRIMARY

CHAPTER


impact on education, health, transport andtrade.

Industrial revolution had its adverse effectstoo. The European countries used its power toimprove the life of their people. They had limitednatural resources and hence, limited scope fordevelopment. They ventured out of their owncountries to colonise people in othercontinents. The overseas colonies not only gavethem ample natural resources but also vastmarket to sell their industrial goods. It isreflected through the transport routes thatdeveloped in these colonies during that period.Development of port cities and their linkageswith the hinterland in several colonies explainthis design. Consequently, the situationreversed. Europe which was underdevelopedbecame developed, and other continentsspecially Asia which were more developedbecame less developed.

By the middle of the twentieth century,signs of fatigue became clearly visible in theindustrial apparatus of the world. The twoworld wars and several localised conflictsaroused the human conscience againstunbridled industrialisation in producing armsand ammunitions. Environmental crises forcedthe people to think of an alternative sustainabledevelopment model. Growing poverty in thethree continents of Asia, Africa and SouthAmerica in the midst of increasing income inthe industrial world, shook the faith of peoplein industrialisation as the panacea for all ills.

Before the thinking on a human model ofdevelopment could take a concrete shape, theindustrial world faced a challenge from within.The role of information increased and by 1980s,the production and transmission of knowledgebecame a major preoccupation in the west. Athird major change in human civilisation,popularly known as information revolution,became a reality by the turn of the twentiethcentury. The Industrial Era still lingers on; butthe signs of its early demise are clear andobvious.

Information revolution has potentials ofsweeping the whole world — developed as wellas developing — for obvious reasons thathuman potentials are not as unevenly

distributed as the natural resources. Moreover,the use of information technology in varioussectors of our life and living world has openedup new and greater opportunities fordevelopment and if handled judiciously, withoutenlarging the gulf between the rich and the poor.

TYPES OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES

With this background, we may now identifydifferent kinds of economic activities suchas hunting and gathering, pastoralism,mining, fishing, agriculture, manufacturing(industries), and various types of services—trade, transport, education, health care andadministration. These are broadly grouped asprimary, secondary, tertiary and quaternaryactivities.

Primary activities pertain to extraction ofraw materials from the earth’s surface. Theseinclude hunting and gathering, pastoralism,fishing, forestry, mining and agriculture.

Secondary activities include industries thattransform raw materials into finished goodshaving higher value. For example,manufacturing cotton textiles from cotton, andiron and steel from iron ore come undersecondary activities.

Tertiary activities include all kinds ofservices provided to people such as education,health, trade and transport.

Quaternary activities represent a specialtype of service, which is related to highintellectual activities e.g. research anddevelopment, high order of professional andadministrative service, information generation,processing and transmission.

While labeling human activities as primary,secondary, tertiary, and quaternary, let us notthink that they are independent of each other.Their boundaries are often overlapping. Withadvancements in science and technology, thenature of production in all fields has changedso greatly that all these sectors have becomeinterdependent.

PRIMARY ACTIVITIES

Primary activities in economically developednations account for less than 5 per cent of

37

employment but in many developing countriesof the world, they still employ a major segmentof labour forces. In any case, primary activitiesare almost the only source of food supply andraw materials for industries. Among theseactivities are included some of the mostprimitive activities like hunting and gathering,which sustained human beings for more than95 per cent of their existence on the earth. Alsoincluded are the modern agricultural systems.In this chapter, we propose to discuss only theprimitive agricultural activities and mining.

Hunting and Gathering

Until 12,000 years ago, all humans lived ashunters and gatherers. They occupied nearlyall the liveable space on the planet. At present,not more than 1 in 100,000 persons (less than0.0001 per cent) live mainly this way; probablynone does so entirely without any contact withthe modern world.

Historically, this form of economy involvedfrequent migration in search of food. Peoplelived in small groups, having virtually noprivate property. Simple implements likespears, bows and arrows were used forhunting. Locally available materials were usedfor their clothing and shelter.

The foragers were very successful inoccupying a wide variety of habitats havingdifferent climates and biological resources.Fish and mammals from the sea providedsubsistence to the people inhabiting the harshlandscapes of the polar coast. On the otherextreme, the hunting – gathering peoplesuccessfully colonised the tropical rainforests.By and large, the foragers simply live off theland without changing the natural ecosystemin a major way.

The hunting-gathering people haveexhibited a great resistence. As recently as A.D.1500, they occupied about one-third of theglobe, including whole of Australia, most ofNorth America and large tracts of SouthAmerica, Africa and North-east Asia. Since, thentheir numbers have declined (Fig. 4.1). Thetwentieth century has witnessed profoundchanges in their ways of living. Their land andresources shrank as industrialisation and

urbanisation progressed. Present day hunters-gatherers are confined to a few pockets inAustralia, Africa, Asia, North America andSouth America. The Arctic Inuit; Pygmies andKalahari San of Africa; Aboriginal Australianssuch as Pintupi; Paliyan of South India; andSemang of Malaysia are some examples of theforagers, who represent the oldest adaptationto human environment.

Pastoralism

The domestication of animals was one of theearly steps in the development of civilisation(Fig.4.2). People living in different climaticconditions selected and domesticated animals

HUMAN ACTIVITIES — PRIMARY

Fig. 4.1 World: Distribution of Hunters andGatherers

(1) Innu; (2) Inuit; (3) Khanti; (4) Evenki; (5) Ainu; (6) Birhor;(7) Pintupi; (8) Paliyan; (9) Pygmie; (10) Toba

Source : Scarre, C.(ed.), 1988: Past Worlds: The TimesAtlas of Archaeology. London: Times Book.

12


grasslands of the world, livestock herding andrearing continues even today either astraditional nomadic herding, also known aspastoral nomadism or commercial livestockrearing (ranching).

Pastoral Nomadism : It is a subsistenceactivity depending on animals. Since thesepeople do not live a settled life, they are callednomads. Each nomadic community occupiesa well-defined territory. These people are awareof the seasonal changes in the availability ofpasture and water supply within the areaoccupied by them. The animals depend entirelyon natural vegetation.

Cattles are reared in grasslands receivingmore rain and having soft and long grasses.Sheep are reared in low rainfall areas with shortgrasses. Goats are common in the ruggedterrain with scanty grasses. There are sixwidely distributed species reared by pastoralnomads: sheep, goats, camels, cattle, horsesand donkeys.

In some parts of the world, the movementof herders follows the change in seasons. For

Fig. 4.2 The Likely Distribution of the Ancestors ofDomesticated Animals

Fig. 4.3 Areas of Nomadic Herding and Commercial Livestock Rearing

found in those regions e.g. cattle and horses inthe grasslands, sheep and reindeer in thetundra regions, camel in the tropical deserts,and llama and yak in the high altitudes of theAndes and the Himalaya respectively. Theseanimals were the chief sources of milk, meat,wool and hides. In the tropical and temperate

39

example, in the mountainous regions such asthe Himalaya, Gujjars, Bakarwals, Gaddis andBhotiyas migrate from the plains to themountains in summers and from mountainsto the plains in winters. Similarly, in the tundraregion, the nomadic herders move from southto north in summers and from north to southin winters. Such seasonal migration of peoplewith their animals is known as transhumance.

Pastoral nomadism is associated with sevendistinct areas : high latitude Sub-Arctic;Eurasian steppe; mountainous south-westAsia; Saharan and Arabian deserts; Sub-Saharan savannas; the Andes; and the Asianhigh altitude plateaus. These may broadly begrouped under three broad regions. The largestregion extends over nearly 13,000 km, fromthe Sahel and Sahara in Africa to Mongolia andCentral China. The second region includes thesouthern border of the tundra region inEurasia. The third region comprises of south-west Africa and the western part ofMadagascar. These areas have either too hotand dry or too cold climates. In these regions,the social status of a person is measured onthe basis of the number of cattle heads hepossesses. International border restrictionsand other developments are forcing nomadsto abandon traditional migration routes andgrazing lands. Today, nomadic herdingsupports only 15-20 million people in theworld.

Pastoralism is a distinctive form ofecological and cultural adaptation to certaintypes of ecosystem in which humans andanimals live in a symbiotic community typifiedby a fierce independence and self-determination.

Commercial Livestock Rearing : In moderntimes, the rearing of animals is beingundertaken scientifically. Instead of dependingupon natural grasslands, fodder crops andgrasses are cultivated over extensive areas, andspecial breeds of animals are reared to givemaximum yields of milk or meat. Emphasis islaid on genetic improvement, disease controland health care of animals. Cultivation offodder crops, processing of milk and, meat, andpackaging of animal products is carried outmechanically and on scientific lines.

The large-scale livestock rearing (ranching)on a commercial basis is typical in developedcountries.

Mining

The mining and quarrying of rocks andminerals is an age — old economic activity,though its nature and form has changed inmany ways. Use of minerals by the earlyhumans was probably restricted to pickingup a rock and using it as a tool for crushingseeds or hunting animals. Gradually, humansswitched over from tool-using to tool-making.The progressive and increasingly sophisticateduse of mineral resources is marked withdifferent stages of human civilisation. Fromflint spear head to clay pots, to copper dagger,to bronze vessels, to iron chains, and so on,humans have moved on discovering and usingnew minerals. On the basis of the mineral–use,eight ages of the human civilisation are usuallyidentified. (Table 4.1)

Table 4.1 : Minerals and Human Civilisation

Age ApproximateDate of Beginning

Paleolithic (Old Stone)* 500,000 B.C.Neolithic (New Stone) 8,000 B.C.Copper 5,000 B.C.Bronze 3,000 B.C.Iron 1400 B.C.Coal A.D. 1,600Petroleum A.D. 1,850Nuclear A.D. 1,950

* Use of Stone Tools

Mining probably began about 100,000B.C. In simple terms, it means removing therock materials from the earth’s surface forprocessing, so that they are made morebeneficial. It can be as simple as shoveling sandor as complex as drilling tunnels, blasting rockand lifting ore from thousands of metres deepbeneath the ground.

Nature of mining activity has undergonemany changes over the years. In the early daysof the feudal period, mining was a work of



prisoners and slaves. Greeks and Romans inthe ancient time operated their mines withcaptive armies or indigenous peoples undertheir control. By the Middle Ages, mining wasconsidered a noble profession. Mining guildsin England and Germany were powerfulorganisations as they controlled the productionof metals needed for arms and coinage. Inmodern times, mining is no longer a majoremployer. Mechanisation has increasedefficiency and productivity and hence only asmall percentage of work force is required inthis kind of activity now compared to earliertimes.

Globally, the mineral use has increased overtime. Since the industrial revolution, associatedtechnological developments and growingpopulation, have increased the use of mineralsat very high rates. During last century, mineraluse increased 13 times or more.

Minerals : Types and Importance

As we have read, mining refers to the extractionof minerals. What are minerals? Why are theyimportant ? Where are they found?

Minerals consist of one or more elementsand have specific chemical composition. They

Table 4.2: Minerals : World Reserves, Uses and Major Producers

Mineral Resources Uses World Reserves Major Producing Countries(Metric Tons)a

Bauxite Ore of aluminium 21,559,000 Australia, Guinea, Jamaica, Brazil

Chromium Alloys, electroplating 418,900 South Africa, CISb, India, Turkey,Zimbabwe

Copper Alloys, electric wires 3,21,000 Chile, USA, Canada, CIS

Gold Jewellery, circuitry in 42 South Africa, USA, CIS, Australia,computers, Canadacommunicationsequipment, dentistry

Iron ore Iron and steel 64,648,000 CIS, Brazil, Australia, China,Canada, Venezuela, Mauritania

Lead Storage batteries, 70,440 CIS, USA, Mexico, Canada, Perusolder, pipes

Manganese Iron and steel 812,800 CIS, South Africa, Gabon,production Australia, Brazil, France.

Nickel Stainless steel 48,660 CIS, Canada, New Caledonia,Norway, Dominican Republic

Silver Jewellery, photography, 780 Mexico, USA, Peru, CIS, Canadadentistry

Tin Coating on metal, tin 5,930 China, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysiacans, alloys, solder

Titanium Alloys; white pigment 288,600 Australia, Norway, CISin paint, paper, andplastics

Zinc Iron and steel, alloys, 143,910 Canada, Australia, CIS, China,rubber products, Peru, Mexico, Spainmedicines

(a) One metric equals approximately 1.102 British tons.(b) Commonwealth of Independent States (includes much of the former Soviet Union).

41

Fig. 4.4 World : Production of Iron Ore

are one of the most valuable resources of theearth because of their various uses. They areexhaustible or non-renewable. Besides, theyare distributed very unevenly. They aregenerally found in the form of ores, whichcontain several impurities. Minerals areseparated from the ores involving a number ofdistinct processes.

Minerals occur in different types offormations e.g. igneous intrusions,sedimentary ore deposits, alluvial deposits andoceanic deposits. Many important mineraldeposits are contained within igneousintrusions and are found at different depthsas they solidified at different temperatures. Assuch some of them are often found inassociation with the other such as silver withlead and zinc because they solidify at a similartemperature. Other minerals may be found atdifferent lavels e.g. tin is found at a greaterdepth than copper.

Minerals are broadly divided into twogroups : metallic and non-metallic. Metallicminerals are those which yield metals such asiron, copper, silver and gold. They areindispensable to the contemporary society. Allother minerals such as salts, sulphur, coal andpetroleum belong to the non-metallic group.Majority of the minerals are inorganic in nature.Coal and petroleum or mineral oil owe theirorigin to the fossils of plants and animals(buried vegetation and animals) and hence areorganic in nature. Since they are used as fuel,they are also known as fossil fuels or mineralfuels.

Minerals are distributed unevenly.Commercially viable mineral deposits arefound only in selected places. However,because of the extensive use, many of theworld’s richest mineral deposits have eitherbeen depleted or are on the verge of depletion.Minerals found in insufficient concentrationare not worth extraction because of highproduction cost. Economically importantminerals include iron, manganese, lead,aluminium (bauxite), copper, nickel, tinand zinc.

Distribution and Productionof Some Minerals

We will now discuss the distribution andproduction of a few important mineralresources (Table 4.2). While iron, copper andbauxite are metallic minerals, coal and mineraloil are fossil fuels.

Iron

Iron is one of the most important metals, whichis used most widely because of its certainqualities — hardness, strength, durability,malleability and above all the possibility of itsconversion into different forms. Iron is foundin the form of iron ores. They are of differenttypes: haematite, magnetite, limonite andsiderite. The metallic content of iron in theseores is highly variable. If the iron content of aniron ore is more than 30 per cent, only then itis worth extraction.

Like several other metals, iron ore depositsare associated mainly with the major igneousintrusions. Good quality iron ore is found inRussia, Ukraine, China, the USA, Canada,Sweden, France, Germany, Spain, the UK,Liberia, South Africa, Brazil, India andAustralia. Russia has the largest provenreserves of iron ore in the world. China emergedas the biggest producer of iron ore in the worldin 1999, followed by Brazil, Australia, Indiaand Russia. Find out the trend in theproduction of iron ore from Fig 4.4.



Fig. 4.5 World : Production of Copper

in Ghana are such examples. Large depositsof bauxite are found mainly in the tropicalregions — Australia, Surinam, Jamaica,Venezuela, Guyana, Malaysia, Indonesia andIndia. They are also found in China, Yugoslavia,the USA, Greece and Hungary.

Aluminium production is, however,concentrated mainly in the developedcountries, where electricity is cheap andabundant. Bauxite, if not available locally, isimported from outside.

Coal

It is one of the most important sources ofenergy. It formed the basis of industrialrevolution, though its importance has declinedafter the entry of mineral oil and natural gaslater on. Still, it is the world’s most abundantlyused fuel sources.

Coal is found in seams of sedimentaryrocks, mostly belonging to the carboniferousperiod. The quality of coal is judged by theamount of the carbon content. With age, thecarbon concentration in the coal seamsincreases, while the moisture contentdecreases. Newly formed coal is of the mostinferior quality for this reason.

There are three types of coal. Anthracite(more than 90 per cent carbon) is the bestquality of coal. It is very hard, shiny, free ofimpurities, and less smoky, when burnt. Itburns well and leaves little ash. This type of

Copper

Copper as a metal has been in use since ancienttime. It is malleable and corrosion resistant. Itis used mainly in the electrical industrybecause it is a good conductor. However, inrecent years, the increasing use of glass fibreshas reduced the pressure on copper.

Copper is used for making different kindsof alloys. For example, copper is mixed withtin to make bronze. Similarly, copper and zincare mixed to make brass.

Copper is found in Chile, Peru, Mexico, theUSA, Canada, Russia, Poland, CongoDemocratic Republic, Zambia, Australia,Indonesia and India. Chile is the largestproducer of copper. India’s contribution in theworld production of copper is negligible.Compare the production of copper with that ofbauxite (Fig 4.5 and 4.6).

Fig. 4.6 World : Production of Bauxite

Bauxite

Bauxite is the ore of aluminium. Like iron, it isbeing used widely in a variety of ways —machine tools, electricals, utensils, aeroplanes,packing and construction. Extraction ofaluminium from bauxite requires largeamount of electricity. It is, therefore, called anenergy intensive industry. Many major damsin the world have been constructed to supplycheap hydro-electricity for smeltingaluminium. The Hoover dam on the riverColorado in the USA and the Akosombo dam

43

coal has comparatively small reserves.Bituminous coal containing 70-90 per cent ofcarbon, is black and shiny. When it is burnt, itgives smoke and leaves much ash. It yieldsbitumen or tar and hence called bituminous.Coal reserves of this type are quite large. Ligniteor brown coal contains 45-70 per cent ofcarbon. It gives out highly smoky flames

because of the presence of more moisturecompared to bituminous and anthracite coals.It is, therefore, of the lowest grade.

Coal is found in large quantities in the UK,France, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Ukraine,Kazakhstan, Russia, China, South Africa,India, and Australia (Fig. 4.7).

China and the USA, together contributeabout 60 per cent of the total coal productionin the world. Coal production has beenfluctuating over the years (Fig. 4.8).

Mineral Oil

Mineral oil is of great economic importancebecause of its efficiency and versatility. Oneunit weight of oil gives more energy than thesame weight of coal.

Mineral oil is generally, formed in thedome-shape structures of the sedimentaryrocks. Invariably natural gas and mineral oilare found together (Fig.4.9 and 4.10). Thoughsedimentary rocks are widely distributed onthe earth, all of them do not contain mineraloil. Only a few regions in the world have veryrich mineral oil resources.

Fig. 4.7 World : Major Coal Reserves

Fig. 4.8 World : Production of Coal



Fig. 4.9 World : Major Mineral Oil Reserves

Fig. 4.10 World : Major Natural Gas Reserves

Fig.4.11 World : Production of Mineral Oil

Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, UnitedArab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain are the mostimportant oil producing regions of West Asia.The United States of America, Venezuela,Mexico, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan,the North Sea (shared by the UK, Norway,Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands),China and India have extensive oil reserves.Saudi Arabia is the largest producer of mineraloil, followed by the USA and Russia. There hasbeen a steady rise in the mineral oil productionin the world (Fig. 4.11).

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Exercises

Review Questions

1. Answer the following questions briefly:(i) What is foraging?(ii) How did agricultural revolution change the lives of people?(iii) What triggered agricultural revolution?(iv) Name the four broad categories of human activities.(v) What is mining?(vi) Why is iron used most widely?(vii) What are the uses of bauxite?(viii) Which is the largest artificial lake on the earth and why was it built?(ix) What is the basis of judging the quality of coal?

2. Distinguish between:(i) Industrial revolution and information revolution;(ii) Primary activities and secondary activities;(iii) Pastoral nomadism and commercial livestock rearing;(iv) Metallic minerals and non-metallic minerals.

Types of Mining

Depending upon the location of mineralores, mining is of two types: surface andunderground. The surface mining, which isalso known as open cast mining or quarrying,is easier. At present about 90 per cent of allmines and 99 per cent of non-metallic minesare surface mines. The mode of occurrence andthe nature of the ore determine the method ofextraction. Sedimentary or bedded ores lyingclose to the surface are called open cast mines.

Underground mining, in contrast to theopen cast mining, is inherently risky.Poisonous gases, fires, floods and cavings leadto fatal accidents. In this kind of mining,vertical or inclined shafts and horizontaltunnels are made and connected withunderground galleries. Rocks are extractedand transported to surface through thesepassages. It requires specially designed lifts,drills, haulage vehicles and ventilation systemfor safe and efficient movement of people andmaterials.

Factors Influencing Mining ActivityThe mining activity is influenced by bothphysical and economic considerations. Mereexistence of minerals in the earth is not asufficient condition for mining activity. Thephysical characteristics of ore formation — size,

depth and quality, are important factors as theydetermine the cost of working. Desirableknowledge and technology available for the useof minerals, sufficient demand for the ore,adequate supply of labour and capital todevelop the requisite infrastructure as wellas the mines are the major economicconsideration.

Mineral production is extremely importantin the economies of many developingcountries. Several countries in Africa and a fewin South America and Asia have over 50 percent of their export earnings from mineralsalone.

Mining employs millions of artisan minersacross the world. In Latin America, about1 million artisan miners are engaged in goldmining alone. Mining ‘rushes’ whetherinvolving artisan or corporations quite oftencause social conflicts. Much of the miningactivity in today’s world is dominated by theTransnational Corporations (TNCs). They servethe global markets through intense exploitationof mining areas, frequently at the cost ofenvironment and local people. The Akosombodam in Ghana, built in the 1960s to providehydropower to smelt bauxite for an UScompany, flooded more than 5 per cent of thecountry. It displaced 80,000 people to createthe largest artificial lake on the earth.



3. Write short notes on the following:(i) Hunting and Gathering;(ii) Factors influencing mining activity.

4. Discuss the positive and negative impacts of industrial revolution.5. Describe the main features of pastoral nomadism and the areas associated with it.6. Explain why mining still continues to be an important human activity and what kind

of changes it has undergone over the years.

Geographical Skills

7. On an outline map of the World, show the following:(i) area inhabited by the Arctic Inuit, Australian Pintupi, Paliyan of South India and

Pygmies of Africa;(ii) two iron ore producing areas — one each in Europe and Asia;(iii) one coal field each in China, Ukraine and the USA.

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Among all primary activities, agricultureis the most important. Nearly half of theworld population is still dependent on

it. In developing countries, the proportion ofpeople dependent on agriculture is over 65 percent.

About 12,000 years ago, the first farmersselected their crops and animals fordomestication from the existing flora andfauna, particular to the world’s biomes, andbegan the cultivation of plants. Different cropsand animals were domesticated in differentparts of the world, some in more than one placesimultaneously.

Despite all the developments since then,humans are still dependent basically on thechoices made by people in particular climaticregions thousands of years ago. Only about20 crops out of several thousands species ofwild plants are grown the world over as themajor food sources. It is clear from the briefdescription below that the initial selectionswere influenced by the climate and the naturalvegetation. The distribution of biomes reflectsthe distribution of solar radiation, temperatureand rainfall resulting in the spread ofvegetation types from equatorial forest to thetundra of the sub-Arctic and the high

mountains. This broad climatic framework isstill the main influence on the pattern ofagriculture, though the limits of growingparticular crops have now changed underhuman influence.

With the beginning of agriculture, thenomadic herding gave way to a comparativelysettled life. The most primitive form ofagriculture is known as shifting cultivation,which still persists in some parts of the world.It is mainly practiced in the tropical forests.Trees are cut and burnt to make a clearing inthe forests. Using simplest tools, fields areprepared for planting crops. After a few yearsof crop production, the soils get exhausted.These fields are then left fallow and newclearings are made in the forest. This kind ofcultivation is known by different names indifferent parts of the world e.g. as Jhuming inthe north-east India, Chengin in Philippines,Roka in Brazil and Masole in DemocraticRepublic of the Congo. Though, shiftingcultivation is also migratory in nature, itallowed people to stay in a place for a longerduration.

Subsequently, sedentary agriculturalsystems with permanent fields and villagesemerged in areas of favourable climate and

5 AGRICULTURE

CHAPTER

Although plants and animals were domesticated at a number of places on the earth’s surface,few areas are particularly important:� South-west Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Wheat, barley, lentils, peas, figs

olives, dates, garlic, almond; cattle, sheep and goats.� South-east Asia: Mango, vege-culture i.e. cutting and planting parts of the growing plant

such as yam, sago and bananas; pig, chicken and duck.� China: Rice, millet, soyabeans, tea, onion, spinach and the mulberry; pig, chicken, duck.� India: Rice, gram, brinjal, pepper, lemon, jute and indigo; cattle, buffalo, chicken.� Africa: Yam, oil palm, coffee, sorghum.� Americas: Maize, and beans in Central America, cassava and cocoa in the Amazon basin

and potatoes in the Andes; Llama .


fertile soils. Great civilisations were built on thefoundation of sedentary agriculture in the fertileriver valleys – the Euphrates, the Tigris, theNile, the Indus, the Huang He and the ChangJiang, about 6,000 years ago. Gradually, thesedentary system of agriculture spread overmost parts of the world.

The industrial revolution, which took placein the eighteenth century in Europe, influencedAsia, Africa and Latin America indirectly. Itboosted agricultural production in Europe andchanged the cropping pattern in the Asian,African and Latin American colonies. Thesecolonies specialised in the production of cropssuch as cotton, sugarcane, rice, tea, coffee andrubber, which were processed in the Europeanfactories. As demands for these crops grew inEurope, the large-scale commercial farming ofsome of these crops, commonly known asplantation agriculture, was started. Largeestates of monocrop were established. Theywere managed scientifically with the soleobjective of export or trading for earningmoney.

One of the effects of colonisation wasworldwide diffusion and exchange of severalspecies of plants and animals. For example,potatoes, a native of the Andes, flourished inthe cool damp environment of the northernEurope and soon became a world crop.Similarly, corn (maize) spread across the worldto become the third most widely grown grainafter rice and wheat.

The industrial revolution in Europeprovided more efficient and more specialisedagricultural implements such as plough,reaper, threshing machines, harvesters,tractors and milking machines. They changedthe character, scale and geography ofagricultural production. In North America,mechanisation enabled farmers to expand andspecialise in the production of commodities thatcould be sold for the maximum profit. Thusspecialised commercial agricultural systemsemerged there, which gave rise to distinct cropregions— wheat belt, cotton belt, corn belt,dairy farming and truck farming (fruits andvegetables) regions. In other parts of the worldalso, similar technological revolutions broughtpower driven machines. In addition, adoption

of hybrid seeds, chemical fertilisers andpesticides increased the yield of cropsdramatically in many areas, though at varyingrates.

Plant dispersal and industrialisation ofagriculture improved agricultural productionprofoundly. Large number of people were freedto pursue other economic activities becausehigh yields could be achieved with less numberof people and using scientific and technologicalinnovations. The industrialised countries of theworld, therefore, witnessed a perceptible shiftof population from primary activities tosecondary and tertiary activities in a sequentialmanner viewed as a sign of economicdevelopment, though in developing countriesemployment structure has moved directly fromprimary to tertiary sectors.

CROP DISTRIBUTION : A GLOBAL PATTERN

Physical environment, which includes climate,soil and relief, imposes certain broad limitswithin which particular crops may besuccessfully cultivated (Fig. 5.1) or certaintypes of livestock profitably reared. Besides,socio-economic institutions are also importantfactors in crop production.

Climate

Temperature and rainfall are the two mostimportant climatic factors in limiting the areasfor the growth of a particular crop.

Temperature

It is an important determinant of thedistribution of crops because suitabletemperature conditions are essential for thesuccessful germination of seeds and plantgrowth. On the basis of the temperaturerequirements, crops may be divided into twocategories : crops adapted to the hightemperature conditions of the tropics, andthose adapted to the lower temperatureconditions of the sub-tropical and temperateareas.

Tropical crops, adapted to hightemperature conditions ( 31oC - 37oC ) may bedamaged, if temperature falls below 0oC and

49AGRICULTURE

Fig. 5.1 Latitudinal Spread of Major Crops

Source : Lydolph, P.E., 1985, The climate of the Earth, Rowman and Littlefield.


frosts occur. A few of them are so susceptibleto cold that they will die at a temperature below10oC. However, some of the temperate cropscan be grown in the tropics at higher altitudessuch as apples, wheat and oats.

Crops grown in the sub-tropics and thetemperate regions are adapted to lowertemperature. The growing season (between thelast frost in winter and the first frost in autumn)is very crucial for the growth of plants in theseregions. As one moves towards the poles, thisperiod gets smaller. As such, the number ofcrops that can be grown polewards, alsodeclines. North of the Arctic Circle only rye andoats have some significance.

Similarly, many crops also have limitstowards the equator. Some of them need a coldperiod to trigger growth and cannot withstandhigh rainfall. They are also susceptible todiseases found in the tropics. There are a fewcrops e.g. flax and olives that are grown in avery narrow zone due to such climaticlimitations. Despite varying temperaturerequirements, most of the crops need 5°C -7°Ctemperature during seed germination.

Rainfall

It provides moisture to the soil that is essentialfor crop growth. Every plant has a root systemwith an enormous total surface area to drawwater from the soil. Water-need of plants varies.While wheat requires about 1,500 kg of waterto produce 1 kg of wheat, for the same amountof rice, 10,000 kg of water is required.

In the absence of sufficient amount of water,the plants cannot grow. It, however, does notmean that crop yields will increaseproportionally with increasing amount of watersupply. In contrast, if the supply of water ismore than the plant’s requirement, there willbe decline in the crop yield. There is anoptimum amount of water for every crop andthis requirement varies significantly from onecrop to the other. Rubber and tea, for example,need over 150 cm of annual rainfall. Wheat,on the other hand, can be grown in regionshaving the annual rainfall between 25 and 100cm. Since more than 50 per cent of the landsurface on the earth receives the annual rainfall

between 25 cm and 100 cm, wheat is the mostwidely grown crop. About 10 per cent of theland has more than 178 cm of annual rainfalland only 5 per cent of the land receives over254 cm. As such tea and rubber, have a muchmore restricted distribution.

The deficiency in the rainfall can beovercome with the help of irrigation either fromgroundwater or from rivers and tanks. Theamount of water available in the soil for thecrop also depends on the rate of evaporation,which increases with temperature. Hence,crops in the tropics need higher rainfall thanin the temperate zone.

Soil

Soil is the essential material upon which allagriculture is based. Soil characteristics arelargely the product of the climate. In additionto temperature and rainfall, plants neednutrients, which are mostly obtained from thesoil. We have already read about the soilformation process in earlier classes. As weknow, interaction and mixing of weatheredrock with organic (plant and animal) matteralong with groundwater produce the soil inwhich the plants grow. They contain minerals,which are essential for plant growth. The soilforming process makes the original elementsof the rock more mobile so that plants coulduse them as nutrients.

There are six major nutrient elements. Theyare: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium,calcium, magnesium and sulphur. Besides,iron and small quantities of trace elements suchas boron and iodine are also required by plants.The capacity to provide nutrients varies greatlyamong different soils depending on thecomposition of the original rocks and theclimatic factors — temperature and rainfall ofthe region. In tropical regions, the nutrientsare easily leached out because of high rainfall.In temperate regions, the soils have morenutrients. Desert soils have high concentrationof nutrients but the lack of water makes themimmobile and unavailable.

The nutrients are replaced in the soilnaturally through decomposition of plant and

51

animal organisms. It is a slow process. Hence,for faster nutrient replacement, chemicalfertilisers, mainly nitrogen, phosphorus, andpotassium are added to the soil.

Loamy soils are generally, considered idealfor agriculture because of their richness inplant nutrients, good drainage and ease inworking. Heavier clay soils with adequatedrainage are more suitable to certain crops.Sandy soils are usually infertile, although theymay be used for cultivation after heavyapplication of fertiliser.

Relief

Three elements of relief — altitude, orientationof slope to sunlight and gradient, influence thepattern of agricultural activities. In middlelatitudes, high altitudes restrict the numberand types of crops that may be grown. In thetropics, on the other hand, increased altitudeprovide some relief from the excessively hightemperature and humidity of the lowlandplains.

On a local scale, orientation of the slope isan important element of relief. In the northernhemisphere, south-facing slopes receive moreintensive sunshine for a longer period thantheir north-facing counterparts. The gradientof slopes affects the type of agriculture aswell as methods of cultivation. Steep gradientrestricts the use of heavy machineries. Besides,the risk of soil erosion is also greater here.

Socio-Economic Institutions

While factors of physical environment imposebasic limits upon agricultural production,

they alone will not adequately explain patternsof agricultural land use. The scale, intensityand extent of production within physical limitsis determined by social and economicconditions such as farm size, type of tenure(freehold ownership, various forms of tenancyand state ownership), consumer demand,transport and marketing facilities, theavailability of capital, and governmentsubsidies and support policies. The physicallimits of production are relatively stable andcan be extended only within narrow limits.But the economic margin of productionfluctuates according to demand. Hence, withinany particular environment many choices andoptions are normally open to the farmer. Theactual farming pattern is determined by thefarmer’s evaluation of the possibilities offeredby the physical environment as well as varioussocial and economic factors.

AGRICULTURAL LAND USE

The land under cultivation in the world is ratherlimited. Constraints of climate, slope, soil andpests continue to limit the arable land use to acomparatively small percentage of all land uses(Fig 5.2). Much larger areas are useable aspasture and forests.

If we compare the three major land uses atthe global scale during last three centuries(Table 5.1), it would be evident how humanshave increased croplands by encroaching onforests and grasslands.

Presently, 32 per cent of the total land areaof the world is under forests, 26 per cent underpasture, 1 per cent under permanent crops,

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Table 5.1 : Global Land Use Changes (Area in Million Hectares)

Broad Land Uses 1700 1850 1920 1950 1980 2000*

Forests 6214 5965 5678 5389 5053 3454

Grasslands 6860 6837 6748 6780 6788 3427

Croplands 265 537 913 1170 1501 1512

Source: Richards, J. F. 1990: Land Transformation. In Turner, B.L. et.al (eds). The Earth Transformed by HumanAction, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.*UN


10 per cent is arable and 31 per cent is underother uses.

Crops are generally, categorised on thebases of their various uses such as cereals,pulses, oilseeds, fibres and beverages. Theother way is to group them under food cropsand non-food crops. Few crops have beenselected for a detailed study keeping in viewtheir importance and area under theircultivation. In our discussion we will becovering mainly food crops – their distributionpattern, production and sustainability(Table 5.2).

FOOD CROPSFood for the world’s population is obtainedalmost entirely from plants. Of the immensevarieties of plants, only a few weredomesticated thousands of years ago and theystill continue to be the major food sources.These species have three commoncharacteristics: high production per unit ofland; high food value; and storage ability.

It is interesting to note that the world’sfood supply is dominated by five crops. Ofthese, three are cereal grains : wheat, riceand maize (corn), and the other two :potatoes and cassava, are tubers. All ofthem share the above mentioned qualities.In combination they provide the staple foodto nearly all the humans on the earth(Table 5.2).

The production characteristics of thesestaple crops as given in Table 5.2 revealsdifferences in the areas under each crop as wellas in the average yield in developed anddeveloping countries.

The difference in the area of the five majorfood crops is mainly because of the climaticrequirements of the crop, which limit theircultivation. The developing countries incomparison to the developed countries havehigher per hectare yield due to their relativeaccess to agricultural technology such as the

Fig 5.2 World : Distribution of Arable Land

Antarctic Circle

53

range of pesticides, fertilisers, hybrids andmachineries.

Rice

It is suggested that rice originated in thefoothills of the eastern Himalayas in north-eastIndia, Indo-China and south-west Chinaperhaps on the basis of the large concentrationof several perennial species. Based on thearchaeological evidences, the earliest date ofrice cultivation is supposed to be 7,000 yearsago in the Chang-Jiang delta. Its cultivationspread to the remaining southern and easternAsia over the next 6,000 years. While itscultivation was originally carried out inswamps, it spread to new areas, which meantits adaptation to a wide range of environmentalconditions — temperature, day-length, rainfalland different soil types. As a result, the rangeof rice varieties is very broad, varying from theless humid upland conditions to the varietiesof ‘floating’ rice, which can be grown in waterupto 5 metres deep. There are more than65,000 local varieties of rice grown the worldover.

Rice is mainly the crop of the monsoon Asia,having hot and humid climate (Fig 5.3).Traditionally, rice was grown in the well-watered river valleys and deltas. However, withthe help of irrigation it is now grown even on

uplands and dry areas. The rice-plant (paddy)requires high temperature (27o-30oC) and highrainfall (about 100 cm) during its growthperiod. In fact, in the initial stages, the plantneeds more of stagnant water. Hence, thepaddy fields are flooded with 10-25 cm ofwater. On hill slopes, rice is grown in terracedfields. Claye loam soil is best suited for itscultivation because it can retain water.

Rice is a labour intensive crop. Most of thefarming operations are done manually —uprooting the seedlings from nurseriestransplanting them in the flooded fields,removing weeds from time to time andharvesting.

The nutritional value of rice is goodespecially when the outer layer containingimportant vitamins is not removed in theprocessing. Ninety per cent of the worlds' ricein grown in East and South Asia. It is theprincipal food crop for half the population ofthe world.

Wheat

It is mainly a crop of the temperate region. Butit is now the most widely grown of all the cerealgrains because of its adaptability. There ishardly any country which does not grow someamount of wheat. With fair amounts of proteinas well as carbohydrates, it is one of the most

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Table 5.2 : Staple Food Crops — Production Characteristics (1999)

Crop Area Annual World Average AverageHarvested Production Average Yield in Yield(Million Ha) (Million Metric Yield Developing in Developed

Tons) (Tons /Ha) Countries Countries(Tons/ Ha) (Tons /Ha)

Wheat 215.27 583.6 2.71 2.70 2.72

Rice 155.13 596.5 3.85 3.78 6.19

Maize 139.21 600.4 4.31 2.93 7.08

Potatoes 17.99 294.3 16.36 16.09 16.57

Cassava 16.58 168.1 10.10 10.01 n.a.

All cereal grains 679.88 2064.2 3.04 2.76 3.55

Source : FAO Statistics, United Nations, Food and Agricultural Organisation, Statistics Division, 2000.


nutritious grains. It is the staple diet of peoplein a large part of the world. Although wheat ishardy, it does not grow well under conditionsof high temparature and humidity. At the timeof germination, it requires cool weather andsufficient moisture in the soil. The annualrainfall should be between 40-75 cm. Anaverage temperature of 16oC and clear sky arerequired at the time of ripening. Loam andchernozem soils are best suited for wheatcultivation.

On the basis of the climate, there are twotypes of wheat : winter wheat and spring wheat.

Regions with mild winters grow winterwheat, whereas those with severe winter growspring wheat. Wheat is also divided into twotypes on the basis of its quality i.e. soft andhard wheat. They are grown in humid and dryregions respectively.

Although yields are highest in the humidmid-latitudes, the major wheat belts are in the

drier semi-arid climates (Fig 5.4). The areas ofgreatest production are the Great Plains of theUnited States, and Canada, the Steppe regionof the Commonwealth of Independent States(CIS) and the North China Plain. Wheat iscultivated under intensive as well as extensivefarming. Large-scale commercial productionalso occurs in Australia and on the Pampasof South America. Wheat is grown in almostevery country of Europe but most of it isconsumed locally. France is the largestproducer and the only exporter of wheatamong these countries.

Maize (Corn)

It is another new world crop that has spreadover the world from its origin in Central Americato all over the world. It is a fairly high-yieldingcrop. It grows best where summers are warmand humid. Its nutritional value is less than

Fig.5.3 World : Major Rice Producing Areas

55

wheat and rice as it does not contain as muchprotein. It is an important food crop in CentralAmerica, South America, Africa and to a lesserdegree in India and China (Fig 5.5). About halfof the world’s maize is grown in the UnitedStates, but 80 per cent of it is used for animalfeed and corn oil and not for direct humanconsumption.

Potatoes

It is an important food crop that grows best ina mild and humid climate. It is now grownthroughout the humid mid-latitudes. Eastern

European countries and the CIS produce morethan 50 per cent of the world’s crop. UnitedStates, Peru , China, India and Japan are theother major producers.

Cassava

It is strictly a crop of the tropical region, whichoriginated in South America. Compared to theother four food crops, it is deficient in proteinand minerals. However, there are severalcompensating advantages. It grows under avariety of tropical conditions where other cropscannot be grown. Besides, it is relatively

Fig. 5.4 World : Major Wheat Producing Areas

Table 5.3 : Major Areas of Rice, Wheat, Maize and Potato Production

Rice Area % Wheat Area % Maize Area % Potato Area %

Asia 91 Asia 38 N. America 48 Europe 31Africa 3 Europe 24 Asia 25 Asia 26S. America 3 N. America 17 S. America 11 South America 4N. America 1.5 CIS 16 Europe 10 CIS 27Europe <1 S. America 2 Africa 5 North America 9Oceania <1 Oceania 2 CIS 1 Africa 3

Africa 1 Oceania <1

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immune to most of the pests that affect foodcrops. Ripe tubers can be left in the ground forlong periods without any deterioration. It is anextremely advantageous attribute in a tropicalregion.

Dry tubers are pounded to make flour. Forthese reasons, it is a staple crop for a largenumber of people in Southeast Asia, CentralAfrica and tropical South America.

In addition to the above mentioned fivemajor staple food crops, there are many otherfood crops such as cereals (barley, rye), pulses,oil seeds, sugarcane and sugar beet, beverages(tea and coffee), vegetables and fruits, whichcome under this category. Pulses includelentils, black gram, peas, soyabeans andseveral other kinds of beans.

Most of these crops are of local and regionalimportance only. Oil seeds refer to a widevariety of seeds, which are the sources of theedible oil e.g. seasame, mustard, rape seed,groundnut, coconut, sun-flower, olives and

maize. Like pulses, there is a great regionalvariation in oil seeds grown in different partsof the world.

Sugarcane

It is a tropical crop, which is an importantsource of sugar. In temperate countries,however, sugar beet is the main source of sugar.

Sugarcane requires hot and humid climate.Temperature ranging between 20°C and 27°Cand a rainfall between 75-120 cm are ideal. Atthe time of ripening, a low temperature, butnot falling below 20°C, and dry weatherenhance the sucrose content of the crop. Oncecultivated, crop can give yield for at least threeyears.

Deep soil with high moisture retentioncapacity is most suited. Loam, clay, alluvial andblack soils are good for sugarcane cultivation.Compost manures and chemical fertilisers arenecessary for maintaining soil fertility.

Fig. 5.5 World : Major Maize Producing Areas

57

Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, India, Pakistan,China, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia aremain producers of sugarcane (Fig 5.6).

Tea

It is a very popular beverage obtained from thetender leaves of an evergreen bush. It requireswarm and humid climate but water should notstagnate near the roots. It is, therefore, grownmainly in a region between 27° south and 43°north latitudes on hill slopes, where annualrainfall is between 125 and 750 cm. Tea plantsneed fertile soils with high humus.

Tea is a plantation crop. It is grown in largetea — estates. Tea plant is not allowed to growbeyond a height of 40-50 cm. The total life spanof a tea plant is about 40-50 years. Applicationof nitrogen fertilisers is essential to maintainsoil fertility. Tea leaves are picked up by hand.As such availability of cheap labour is anessential factor.

India, China, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh,Japan, Indonesia, Argentina and Kenya are themain tea producing countries (Fig 5.7).

Coffee

It is also a plantation crop, which grows in thetropical highlands at an altitude between 500and 1,500 metres above the sea level. Coffeeplant cannot tolerate frost. It is, therefore,grown under shady trees. It requires highhumidity and hence, grows well in the areashaving rainfall between 160 and 250 cm. It is,generally grown in deep, porous and waterretentive soil with high humus content.

Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala,Haiti, Jamaica, Ethiopia and Indonesia aremajor producers. In India, coffee is grownmainly in Karnataka (Fig 5.8).

NON-FOOD CROPS

Fibre crops such as cotton and jute, rubberand tobacco are the major non-food crops.Cotton and jute are the crops of the tropicalregion. However, the climatic conditions i.e.,temperature and rainfall, for their growth aretotally different. Rubber tree is found widelyin the Amazon and Congo basins. Its

Fig. 5.6 World : Major Sugarcane Producing Areas

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Fig. 5.7 World : Major Tea Producing Areas

Fig. 5.8 World : Major Coffee Producing Areas

59

plantations in South-east Asia, India, China,Sri Lanka and Kenya have also beensuccessful.

Cotton

It is one of the most important fibre crops. Thequality of cotton is judged on the basis of thelength of its staples. The best quality of cottonhas a long staple, more than 5 cm. This varietyof cotton is grown on the south-eastern coastof the USA and in the West Indies. The mediumvariety of cotton having a staple length between3.75 to 5 cm is produced in the Nile Basin, theUSA and Central Asian Republics of Tajikistan,Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan,and the USA. The small stapled cotton havinga length of less than 2.5 cm is grown in Indiaand Brazil.

Cotton is a tropical crop. It can tolerate hightemperature, but ideally it should be between21°C and 27°C during its growth-period. Itsplant cannot tolerate temperature below 21°Cand frost. A rainfall of 50 cm is enough, but itshould be distributed evenly during its growth

period. Cloudless sky at the time of the ripeningof the cotton balls is essential. A well-drainedsoil is suitable for its cultivation. Volcanic,black and alluvial soils are good for it.

In addition to the countries mentionedearlier, cotton is grown in China, Pakistan,Sudan and Turkey (Fig 5.9).

Agricultural Regions

One of the earliest but one of the mostsatisfactory classifications was proposed byD.Whittlesey in 1936. He employed five criteriato classify agricultural regions of the world:crop and livestock combination; intensity ofland use; processing and marketing of farmproduce; degree of mechanisation; and typesand associations of buildings and otherstructures associated with agriculture. In thisscheme, 13 main types of agricultural regionswere identified as follows:

(i) Nomadic herding;(ii) Livestock ranching;(iii) Shifting cultivation;(iv) Rudimental sedentary tillage;

Fig. 5.9 World : Major Cotton Producing Areas

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(v) Intensive subsistence, rice dominant;

(vi) Intensive subsistence, without rice;

(vii) Commercial plantation;

(viii) Mediterranean agriculture;

(ix) Commercial grain farming;

(x) Commercial livestock and crop farming;

(xi) Subsistence crop and livestock farming;

(xii) Commercial dairy farming; and

(xiii) Specialised horticulture.

The above mentioned regions have beensimplified in Fig 5.10.

Assessment of the factors selected for theabove classification seems to be subjectiverather than quantitative. In spite of this,Whittlesey’s classification provides thefoundation for latter attempts in this direction.

On the basis of the main characteristics ofthe farming practices and the productioncharacteristics, agricultural systems of theworld can be broadly grouped into subsistenceagriculture and commercial agriculture,though the distinction between the two, attimes is quite blurred.

Subsistence Agriculture

It is the most widespread form of agriculturalproduction. It is a way of life for almost half ofthe world’s population i.e. some 2.9 billionpeople. In most of the developing countries,food production is so important that a majorityof the people in the work force are subsistencefarmers. The sole objective of the farmer is tosustain her/his family. Typically, theproduction units (farms, fields or livestock

Fig. 5.10 World : Major Agricultural Regions

61

herds) are small and relatively self sufficient,so that in good years basic needs of the familyare met leaving a small surplus for storage ortrade. Three traditional subsistence systemsare : nomadic herding, shifting agriculture andintensive subsistence agriculture. We havealready discussed nomadic herding andshifting agriculture earlier. Here, we will lookat the main characteristics of the intensivesubsistence agriculture.

More than 2.4 billion people are supportedby intensive subsistence agriculture. In thedensely populated countries of Monsoon Asiasuch as India and China, it provides theeconomic base. It produces relatively highyields per unit of agricultural land as a resultof heavy input of labour. Rice is the principalcrop in areas with long, warm and rainygrowing seasons. Wheat, upland rice and othergrains are the staple crops in the regionshaving cooler and drier climates. Thespecialisation of crops is not possible becausethe farmers like to grow as many crops asrequired by the household and are possible tobe grown. Multiple cropping, which producestwo or even three crops in a year on the samefield is, therefore, common especially in areaswhere soils and climates (temperature andrainfall) are most favourable. Such intensivefood production is also illustrated by vegetablesand fruits, intercropped or grown along paddydykes and by fish raised in the flooded ricefields. Poultry, cattle and other livestocks arealso raised as they are required by thehousehold. Over the last two decades or so,the productivity has increased significantly inthose areas where hybrid varieties of rice andwheat have been adopted. In addition, with theuse of chemical fertilisers, pesticides,insecticides, and irrigation facilities, thetraditional subsistence form of agriculturein certain areas has developed somecharacteristics of commercial agriculture.

Commercial Agriculture

In contrast to the subsistence agriculturalsystem, commercial agricultural systememphasises on specialised production of cropsand livestock for sale. Most commercial farms

are relatively large. They utilise specialisedmachinery, seeds, fertilisers, and otherproducts to increase production efficiency.Through commercial farming, a single farmercan produce enough food to feed a largenumber of people. As such less than 10 percent of the population of developed countriesare directly engaged in farming. For example,each US farmer produces enough to feed morethan 60 additional people.

The production efficiency is realised in twoways. Improved inputs such as seeds, fertilisersand pesticides promote higher yield.Specialised machinery speeds up productionand reduces the human labour required forcultivation, irrigation, harvesting and otherfarming operation. In the USA, agriculturaloutput has doubled over the past half –century, while its agricultural work force hasdeclined more than three times. At the sametime the number of farmers has dropped from6.5 million to just over 2 million, with less than500,000 full time farmers today.

Reduction in the number of farms andfarmers and increase in food production reflectthe trend towards large size of farms, fields andlivestock herds. It thus creates more savingsin labour and production costs. The full timecommercial farm in the developed countries ismore like a business enterprise than atraditional way of life as in developing countries.Agricultural operations and managementstrategies must consider production costs andmarket prices that are driven by the interplayof economic, political and institutional forcesat work in the national and global economies.

World Hunger, Malnutritionand Food Security

Despite significant increase in agriculturalproduction, more than 1 billion people, aboutone out of every six persons suffer from chronichunger and nutrient deficiencies. Hungermeans that the daily diet does not provide thequantity and type of food needed to maintainhealth, normal growth and productive work.For estimating global hunger, four indicatorsare used: starvation, undernutrition;micronutrient deficiencies; and nutrient

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depleting diseases and parasites. Widespreadstarvation most often occurs as a consequenceof famines — the acute shortage or absence offood within a region due to crop failure ordestruction or by withholding or blocking foodshipments into a country or a region. Althoughfamines are associated with widespread cropfailure, most are the result of social or politicalprocesses that disrupt traditional agriculturalproduction strategies. Food security refers tothe access by all people at all times to the foodrequired for a healthy life.

In Sub-Saharan Africa in the 1970s and1980s, famines caused widespread sufferingsand deaths. These famines were associatedwith recurrent droughts and subsequentfailure of crops and lack of forage for livestock.Changes in the traditional agriculturalpractices prompted by the government policiesto increase production of non-food crops forexport, resulted in the shortfall of thesubsistence food crops for local consumptionduring the string of dry years. Besides, the

ongoing military conflicts and civil unrest insome areas aggravated the famine situationfurther. As a result, hundreds of thousandsstarved in Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Angolaand Rwanda. Today, about 15-35 millionpeople are at the risk of starvation in anygiven year.

In Fig. 5.11, areas affected by malnutritionand hunger have been shown. Why are so manymillion hungry and malnourished when thereis more than enough food produced in theworld each year, and which is adequate to feedeveryone? There are a number of social,economic, political and environmental reasons.War, the ownership of land and the structureof agriculture, commercialisation, poverty, thegeography of food production and food aid aresome of the important reasons. The hungrythroughout the world have one common traitthat they are poor. The landless andunemployed do not have means or money toacquire food. Commercialisation is aimed atexports, rather than providing subsistence food

Fig. 5.11 World : Hunger and Malnutrition

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for the local people. It also means growingnon-food crops having more market value inplace of traditional food crops. The poorobviously cannot compete for food in the globalmarket place.

The world’s food supply is unevenlydistributed. Only a few regions produce largegrain surpluses — North America, WesternEurope and Australia. These developedregions sell their grains at world market price.The poor developing countries hardly canafford to buy grains at the world market prices.Only a small fraction of the grain enteringinternational trade is given as food aid. It isoften provided to suit the foreign policy ratherthan given where and when it is needed most.For example, in 1980s when Sub-SaharanAfrica was struck by the famine, USA shippednearly four times more food to its political allies— Central American countries than the entirefamine-ravaged Africa.

Grain stockpile is often used as a measureof food security. The fast rate of growth in foodproduction started with the introduction of thehybrid varieties of rice and wheat tosubsistence agricultural economies, nearly 50years ago. It ushered an era of green revolution.It has now started slowing down. Since 1990,world grain yields have risen only about 0.5per cent annually compared to over 2 per centannually between 1950 and 1990. As a result,the stock pile of grain has declined. Newstrategies are, therefore, required to improvethe sustainability of food production and toincrease food security.

Most likely the greatest potential forexpanding food production will be in the areasthat already are the granaries andbread-baskets of the world. Plant breeders arecurrently exploiting the long over lookedgenetic resources of seed banks –repositories

that contain more than 6 million varieties ofthe seeds of some 100 crop species and theirwild ancestors. One such experiment in Chinahas produced rice varieties that may yield20-40 per cent more than current hybrids byusing genes from uncultivated rice varieties.

New strategies also focus on the mostefficient use of the limited resources coupledwith the traditional intercropping method thathave sustained land productivity for centuries.It is advantageous both environmentally andeconomically compared to monoculture i.e.single crop cultivation. Sharing of certain cropsenhance soil fertility, control soil erosion andincrease the crop yield. Besides, the risk of totalcrop failure is also reduced. In areas of shiftingagriculture, agro-forestry and nutrientrecycling increase the productivity of the soil.For example, in Sahel region of Africa, shiftingcultivation system is being modified to an agro-forestry system in which nitrogen-fixing acaciatree are intercropped with traditional millet andsorghum crops. The trees improved theproductivity of the soil in several ways.Similarly nutrient-recycling cropping systemhas been developed in the Peruvian-Amazonianregion to suit its infertile acid soils. High-yielding acid — tolerant rice and nitrogen-fixingcowpea varieties are rotated without fertilisers,lime or tillage. Crop residues are returned tofields and human labour is used to controlweed. After several satisfactory harvests, acover of tropical Kudzu (a local plant) is plantedto choke the invading weeds. After one year,this cover is buried and the nutrients of soilare restored.

In recent years, genetic engineering hassystematically altered the genetic structureof plants and animals. It is still in the earlystages of development and it is difficult toassess its impact on human society.

AGRICULTURE


EXERCISES

Review Questions

1. Answer the following questions briefly:(i) Why is agriculture the most important primary activity?(ii) Which factors impose limits on crop cultivation?(iii) Name the five staple food crops of the world?(iv) Which of the staple food crops has the highest average yield?(v) Why are tea plants grown on hill slopes?(vi) Which criteria were used by D. Whittlesey to classify agricultural regions of the

world?(vii) What is food security?

2. Distinguish between :(i) Shifting cultivation and sedentary agriculture;(ii) Subsistence and commercial agriculture;(iii) Hunger and malnutrition.

3. Give reasons:(i) Rice is a labour intensive crop.(ii) Wheat is the most widely grown cereal.(iii) Although the USA produces about half of the world's maize, 80 per cent of it is not

directly used for human cnsumption.(iv) Despite being deficient in protein and minerals, cassava is a staple food of a large

number of people in South-east Asia, Central Africa and South America.(v) Cloudless sky is essential for the cotton plants at the time of ripening.(vi) World food production is enough to feed everyone, yet there are millions of people

hungry and malnourished. 4. Discuss the major trends and shifts in agricultural development process. 5. Explain how physical environment affects the crop distribution pattern in the world. 6. Classify crops on the basis of their uses. Explain why only a few varieties of plants

domesticated several thousands years ago still continue to be the major food sources. 7. Describe the geographical conditions necessary for the cultivation of wheat and rice

in the world and their distribution pattern. 8. Discuss the geographical condition of growing tea and coffee and their distribution

pattern. 9. Describe the major agricultural regions of the world.10. Discuss the problem of hunger and malnutrition in the world and the ways of ensuring

food security.

Geographical Skills

11. Study Fig.5.1 and answer the following :(i) Which crops can be grown only in a very narrow zone and why?(ii) Which crops can be grown widely and why?(iii) Name the crops which are grown mainly in the tropical regions.(iv) Name the crops grown mainly in the temperate regions.

With industrial revolution, the use ofinanimate power by harnessing theenergy of water, coal, and petroleum

brought tremendous changes in the primarysector. It helped in the evolution of largemanufacturing system, which utilisedproducts of the primary sector and hence,called secondary. Production of raw materialsfor both domestic and industrial uses grew.As a result, the purchasing power of the peopleengaged in primary activities increased and itled to the growth in the demand formanufactured goods. It thus, promotedgrowth of the secondary activities.

At the outset, it would be useful to explainwhat do we mean by the terms ‘industry’ and‘manufacturing’ . We, very often, use terms likefilm industry, fishing industry, steel industryand tourism industry, but each of theserepresents a different kind of economic activity.However, geographers usually use the term‘industry’ to describe those activities which areconcerned with processing, fabricating andmanufacturing of primary products obtainedfrom agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining.Industry is called a secondary activity todistinguish it from primary activities.

Manufacturing literally meant ‘making byhand’, but now it also includes goods madeby machines. It is a process, which involvestransformation of raw materials into finishedgoods of higher value. For example, cotton isan agro-product. It is used as a raw materialin the manufacture of cotton textiles, which mayfurther be transformed into garment. Cottontextiles and garments are products ofmanufacturing.

The United Nations defines manufacturingas ‘the mechanical and chemical trans-formation of inorganic or organic substanceinto new products, whether the work isperformed by power-driven machinery or byhand, whether it is done in a factory or in theworker’s home, and whether the products aresold wholesale or in retail.’ This is, however, avery broad definition. Usually modernmanufacturing industry is characterised bycomplex organisation, specialised labour, useof machinery and inanimate power and massproduction.

CLASSIFICATION OF INDUSTRIES

Industries can be classified in many ways: size,nature of products and raw materials, andownership.

Classification by Size

The amount of capital invested, number ofpeople employed and the volume of productiondetermine the size of an industry. Accordingly,industries may be classified into the followinggroups: cottage or household, small scale andlarge scale industries.

Cottage or household industries are thesmallest manufacturing units. The craftsmenor the artisans with the help of their familymembers manufacture goods within theirhomes using local raw material and simpletools. The skills of production are passed onfrom one generation to the other. The scale ofoperation is small. The tools and equipmentsare ordinary. The goods produced aregenerally, sold locally. Thus potters,carpenters, weavers and blacksmiths produce

6 SECONDARY ACTIVITIES — MANUFACTURING

CHAPTER


goods in the household sector. In manycountries of Asia and Africa, this sector is quiteimportant and some of the handicraft itemsare in great demand in the developedcountries.

Small scale industries are differentiatedfrom the former by the technique of production.They use modern power driven machines andemploy labour as well. The raw materials arealso obtained from outside, if not availablelocally. These industries are larger in size thancottage industries. Their products are soldthrough traders beyond local markets. Inmany developing countries, the role of theseindustries are crucial as they provideemployment to a large number of people. Incountries like India and China, a large numberof goods such as clothes, toys, furniture, edibleoil and leather goods are produced by smallscale industries.

Large scale industries include mainlyheavy and capital intensive industries, whichuse heavy machineries, employ large numberof workers and produce goods for a biggermarket. The management is hierarchy-basedand complex. Emphasis is laid on qualitycontrol and production specialisation. Suchindustries require a very large resource baseand hence, raw materials are obtained fromvarious places. The production of goods is alsoon a large scale, which is sent to distantmarkets. These industries, therefore, requiregood infrastructure facilities such as roads,railways, and power supply. Iron and steelindustry, petro-chemicals, textiles andautomobiles fall under this category.

Some geographers prefer to dividemanufacturing industries on the basis of sizeof operation and the nature of productstogether. Accordingly, there are two classes.Heavy industries are of large-scale. They dealin bulky products and are heavily dependenton the raw materials and hence, tend to belocated near the source of raw material e.g. ironand steel industry. Light industries are usuallysmall-scale in operation. They deal in lighterand compact products. For them, accessibilityis the most important factor. The electronics isone example of this kind.

Classification by Outputs

Industries whose products are used toproduce other goods are called basicindustries. Iron and steel industry is one ofthe basic industries because steel producedby this industry is used in many otherindustries as a raw material. Some basicindustries produce machines which are usedto produce other goods.

Industries which produce goods for directconsumption such as tea, bread, soap andtelevision are known as non basic or consumergoods industries.

Classification by Inputs

Depending upon the raw materials used forthe industries, they may be classified asagro-based, forest-based, mineral-basedindustries, and chemical industries.

Agro-based industries are those whichutilise agricultural products as raw materials.Cotton Textiles, tea, sugar and vegetable oilindustres are its examples. Forest-basedindustries are those which utilise forestproducts as raw materials e.g. paper andfurniture industry. Mineral based industriesare those which use minerals as raw materials.Industries based on metals are known asmetallic industries. These are further dividedinto ferrous and non-ferrous industries.Industries based on metals having iron contentare called ferrous industries e.g. iron and steelindustry. On the other hand, industries basedon metals without iron content fall into thecategory of non-ferrous industries e.g. copperand aluminium. Industries based on chemicalsare called chemical industries e.g. petro-chemicals, plastics — synthetic fibres andpharmaceuticals. Some of these industries useraw materials found naturally e.g. mineralssuch as mineral — oil, salts, sulphur andpotash, and vegetable products. Somechemical industries use the by-products ofother industries.

Classification by Ownership

On the basis of the ownership pattern andmanagement practices, industries can beclassified into government or public, private

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and joint sectors. When the ownership andmanagement of an industry is in the hands ofthe state, it is called a public sector industry.The state establishes and runs these units.Industries owned and managed by anindividual or a corporate body belong to theprivate sector. Individuals invest their owncapital to establish these industries and theymanage them as private enterprise. Sometimesindividuals join together under partnership toestablish industries. The share of partners,both in the capital investment and profits, ispre-decided. Industries are also established bycorporations. Such a body is formed byindividuals or organisations to fulfillpre-determined objectives and goals. Capitalfor the industry is collected by selling shares.The large multinational corporations such asPepsi, Hindustan Lever and General Electrichave set up industries in several countriesacross the globe. An industry own andmanaged jointly by the state and privateinitiatives falls in the joint sector.

THE LOCATION OF INDUSTRY

The location of industry at a particular placeis governed by many factors. Traditionally,these were grouped under geographical andnon-geographical factors. While geographicalfactors included relief, climate, raw materials,energy sources, labour market and means oftransportation, non-geographical factorscomprised of governmental policies, capital,market and management.

This view is highly deterministic becauselocation cannot be explained in absolute terms.For example, the location of cotton textile inLancashire (UK) cannot be explained only interms of the presence of the humid climate, softwater, abundant coal and the position ofLiverpool in the Atlantic trade. Similarconditions were present at many other placesincluding South Wales. Lancashire, therefore,had the relative rather than the absoluteadvantage of time and space. To get over thisshortcoming, industrial location is nowexplained in terms of factors associated withassembly, processing and distribution,government policies, environment, industrialinertia and the human factor. These factors do

not operate in isolation, but in a complexsystem of interrelationships. The relativeimportance of these factors varies with time,space, type of industry and also the economy.It is important to remember that not all factorsat a particular time are favourable, and thatmost of the good locations have been thosewhere the number of favourable factors haveoutweighed the unfavourable ones. In fact, anoptimum location is a relative term.

Assembly, Processing andDistribution Factors

A number of factors associated with theassembly, processing and distribution ofmaterials and products are crucial in thelocation of an industry.

Distance

It is one of the most important factorsexplaining the location of industries. It is notsimply a question of physical distance in termsof km, although it is not unimportant. It is aquestion of cost and time involved in movinggoods. It is, therefore, appropriate to talk interms of economic distance, which isdetermined by the mode of transport, the typeof commodity and freight rates. The primeconcern of a manufacturer is to reduce theeconomic distance and hence, transport playsa crucial role in location of industries.

Raw Materials

All industries use raw materials which shouldbe available economically. In early times,location of industries was tied to the locationof raw materials. With improvements intransportation and handling facilities, themovement of raw materials has become easier.Industries are becoming more and morespecialised and complex. As a result, fewer andfewer firms are directly based on crude andbulky raw materials. In countries like USA andJapan, most of the manufacturing industriesuse semi-produced products. Technologicaladvancements have intensified the use of rawmaterials by reducing waste in manufacturingand also improving them at the source itself sothat they can be easily transported.

SECONDARY ACTIVITIES — MANUFACTURING


Nevertheless, there are certain industriesin which raw materials play an important role.For example, industries which lose either bulkor weight in the manufacturing process suchas copper smelting, or in industries wherethe raw material is perishable such as fruitcanning, the processing takes place near theraw material.

Energy Sources

Historically, energy sources have hadconsiderable effect on the location of industry.Even today there is a strong correlation betweenindustry and coalfields. Industries using largeamount of energy such as electro-chemical andelectro–metallurgical industries, are stilllocated near the sources of electricitygeneration. But it is declining in importanceas a location factor because fuel efficiency hasbeen improving considerably. While in theeighteenth century, more than 8-10 tonnes ofcoal were required for smelting 1 ton of pig iron,today less than 1 ton is needed. Besides,development of electric grids, and oil andnatural gas pipelines has made the energysource as a locational factor less important.

Water

It is used in most industrial plants forprocessing, steam raising or cooling. As such,water supplies both in terms of quantity andquality, are important in considering thelocation of industry. Water requirement ofindustries varies considerably. While someneed more such as iron and steel industry(200,000 litres to produce one ton of steel),others like electronics need less. Yet, shortageof water in an area can be a serious deterrentfor locating an industry.

Access to Labour Market

It is also an important locational factor.Differences are found not only in the quantityof labour available but also the quality oflabour as represented by the skills that an areacan offer. For example, diamond cutting andpolishing need skilled workers. It explains theconcentration of diamond cutting andpolishing in Surat (India).

Access to Good Management

It is an important factor in the choice of sites.For example, it is vital to know whether theselected site will be able to attract goodmanagers.

Capital

It is yet another important locational factorbecause it is less mobile internationally.Unstable areas with high risk and uncertainreturns are likely to be less favoured. However,with the development of banking servicesmoney capital has become much more mobilewithin a country.

Government Policies

Governments encourage or restrictdevelopments in certain areas. Economic andsocial considerations are important factorsinfluencing the government’s decision. It is theduty of a government to ensure that thecountry’s resources are used to the bestadvantage and that there are no greatinequalities in the distribution of wealth.Similarly, political and strategic considerationsalso have strong influence on industriallocation. In order to reduce regionalimbalances, many countries and regionsdemarcate certain areas for location ofindustries.

Environment

Physical attraction of an area is an importantfactor. Congenial living conditions are preferredwhile setting up industries. For example, in theUSA, the aircraft industry has moved to thesouthwestern part of the country because ofclimatic advantage. Due to warm climate,hangar heating costs are less in this region.

Industrial Inertia

Many industries remain at a particularlocation even after the disappearance of initialadvantages. Availability of infrastructurefacilities such as transport and services, andimmobile physical capital such as buildingencourage inertia and new industries areattracted. Some industries are location leaders,

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either because they provide raw materials forother industries, or because they requirespecialist firms to supply parts.

The Human Factor

Among several considerations, the ultimatedecision is taken by the humans. Theirpersonal choices thus, influence locationaldecisions.

Some Major Industries of the World

Manufacturing contributes significantly to theworld economy. More than fifty per cent of theworld’s total manufactured goods is shared bythe USA, Japan and Germany (Fig 6.1). Ironand steel, textiles, automobiles, petro-chemicals and electronics are some of theworld’s most important manufacturingindustries. We will be examining thedistribution pattern of the iron and steel andpetro-chemical industries.

Iron and Steel Industry

Iron is a relatively dense metal havingdistinctive magnetic properties. It is one of themost abundant metal on the earth, but is rarely

found as a free metal. It is extracted from theiron ore by smelting the ore with carbon (coke)and limestone in a blast furnace.

The molten iron, after being separated fromthe ore, is either cooled and moulded to formpig iron or is used for making steel. Iron, in itspure form is soft and generally not useful asan engineering material. By adding smallamount of carbon (upto 2 per cent) and otherstrengthening elements such as nickel ormanganese, it is converted into steel, which isvery strong and malleable. It enhances itsutility, making it the most widely used materialfor building the world’s infrastructure andindustries. It is used to fabricate everythingfrom sewing needles to rail sheets, tubes, wires,huge machines and tankers. Its importancecan be assessed from its production which isaround 800 million tons, while the productionof the next most important engineering metal,aluminium is about 20 million tons.

The iron and steel industry provides thebase for all other industries and, therefore, itis called a basic industry. It may also be calleda heavy industry because it uses bulky rawmaterials in large volumes and its products arealso heavy.

Fig 6.1 World : Distribution of Manufacturing



The industrial revolution led to a fastdevelopment of iron and steel industry becauseof the relative low cost of the metal and thewider utility as an engineering material. Sincethe industry was based on heavy and bulkyraw materials — coal, iron ore, manganese andlimestone, this industry developed mostly inand around the mining areas, or at a placewhere the raw materials could be easily brought.

The Great Lakes region and the Atlanticcoast in the United States; the northern,north-eastern and central parts of the UK;France — Belgium, Loraine — Luxemburg —Saar and Ruhr in Western Europe; Ukraine; theUral region of Russia, and the Chhotanagpurregion in India are some of the important ironand steel producing areas of the world. Thelocation of the industry in these areas isattributed mainly to the presence of importantmineral ores.

In advanced economies, traditionalindustries such as iron and steel are decliningvery fast. Manufacturing employment centringaround iron and steel reduced by about1,30,000 jobs during 1956-82 and coal miningby 1,20,000.

Petro-Chemicals Industries

Along with the refining of mineral oil, a largenumber of industries based on petroleum havedeveloped around these centres which utilisethe infrastructure facilities available there.Generally, such complexes are huge and theyare located near the market or the ports.Fertilisers, plastic and artificial fibres such asrayon are some of the common industrieslocated near the mineral-oil refineries.

The development of petro-chemicalindustries has taken place in North Americaand Europe after the World War II. Most of thesecomplexes in the USA are located near thecoast as oil is mostly imported from LatinAmerican countries and West Asia. Mineral oilis transported through pipelines and tankersto inside locations. Chicago, Toledo,Philadelphia, Delaware and Los Angeles havelarge petro-chemical complexes.

The European petro-chemical complexesare located mainly near the market. The major

complexes are located on the coasts of southernNorth Sea and English Channel (Antwerp,Rotterdam and Southampton), Ruhr region inGermany, and Le Havre-Roven-Marseillesregion in France. There are a number of petro-chemical complexes in the Central AsianRepublics, Russia, West Asia (Abadan in Iran,Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia and Mina-el-Ahmadi in Kuwait), and in India (Trombay,Vadodara and Bongaigaon).

Changing Trends

Locational factors, discussed earlier are notequally significant for all industries. Over theyears these factors have become less and lessimportant especially in industrialiseddeveloped world. Energy and materialsefficiency through waste avoidance, recycling,substitution and alternatives in recent yearshave contributed positively towards enhancingenvironmental sustainability in these regions.Logging, mining and heavy industries like ironand steel are already far less important todaythan they were once for economic growth.

Modern industrial activity and its spatialdistribution has changed in many ways. It canbe understood better in the context of thedevelopment process. W. Alonso (1980) talkedof ‘five bell shapes in development’. He observedthat during a period of development severalfeatures moving in the same direction rise to apeak and then subside. These features are : (a)the economic growth rate; (b) the level of socialinequality; (c) the level of regional inequality ;(d) the level of spatial or geographicalconcentration (urban-industrial growth in a fewcenters); and (e) the population growth rate indemographic transition. All these five featuresdo not rise and fall simultaneously, thoughthey are interconnected. According to himgeographical concentration was the firstprocess followed by economic growth and thenby social and regional disparities.

As such, concentration has a positive valuein the process of development. With theprogress of economy and scientific andtechnological advancements, structure andform of industries change. For example, textileindustry in Federal Republic of Germany

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witnessed constant growth since World War IItill late seventies. It declined with the shift ofwhole textile industry to less developedcountries where labour costs were low andlabour laws were less rigid.

Accordingly, industries with sophisticatedparts are kept in advanced countries and thosewith low technology, labour-intensive units areexported to poor countries. This kind of changeobserved by the early eighties was known as‘new international division of labour’. Thismeant that while there was a continuoustechnological change and new industries werein the centre, some less demanding industriescould be located in the periphery. If, in the past,Germany made steel and Brazil produced ironore for it, now Brazil might make steel andGermany would work these into engineeringproducts such as cars.

The other change is noticed in terms of largefactories giving way to smaller units dispersedover a large area. Some of the nineteenthcentury factories were spread over very largeareas and they employed several thousandspeople e.g. Douglas’s Long Beach aircraft plantemployed 100,000 and steel mill complex atTienshan, China held over 200,000 workers.

Instead, mini steel plants are in vogue today.New trends can be observed for certain

kinds of industrial production which areorganised in more flexible ways. There are twobroad types of flexiblity: flexible productionand flexible specialisation. Both of these allowsmaller volumes of production to be handledeconomically, enabling rapid changes inmatters such as design or even the processused in manufacturing. It is popularly knownas ‘post-Fordism’ in advanced countries of theworld, which is in contrast to ‘Fordism’. HenryFord endorsed the use of mass productionlines, the excessive division of labour and themanufacture of highly standardised productsin developing the North American car industry.It served as a model for many industries for along time, and was known as ‘Fordism’.

Flexible production involves the use ofautomation in order to be able to programmedesigns and rapid changes of design(computer -aided design or CAD). Themachines used in manufacturing may becomputer controlled and hence, flexible. Onewell-known form of flexible production is thesystem entitled ‘Just in time’. Components arenot stocked at the factory but brought in from

Deindustrialisation

Deindustrialisation is the term given to the decline in manufacturing industries both in term ofemployment and industrial output. Deindustrialisation in the developed countries has resulted from:� machinery replacing people in most manufacturing industries;� competition from countries abroad producing manufactured products at much cheaper prices;� prices of products being too high, due to low labour productivity (output per person) and a

lack of investment in new machinery;� highly qualified people preferring jobs in the tertiary and quaternary sectors;� high interest rates making products expensive to be bought abroad.

Reindustrialisation

Reindustrialisation refers to the growth of some sectors of new industries in places and areaswhere classical industries have declined. Reindustrialisation in highly developed countries hasthe following characteristics:� the growth of high-technology firms — these are firms that produce very advanced products

with a great deal of scientific research and development e.g. pharmaceuticals and micro-electronics;

� such new firms that set up manufacturing often having only a small, highly skilled labourforce;

� the new firms are located in the less industrialised areas or peripheries of the metropolitancities.



near by factories on demand to meet therequirements of production for the next fewhours. Toyota car manufacturing plant atToyota City is a typical example of this kind ofproduction.

The system has the advantage of little waste,since faulty products may be identifiedimmediately and their supply stopped. Qualitycontrol is, therefore, easy. Besides, flexibilityof output, in types and quantities and lowinventory cost are other advantages. Such asystem clearly depends on a closely linkednetwork of factories, with good transport andcommunication links.

Such a system has a definite spatial formwith subsidiaries and support activitiesconstituting a kind of industrial district.

In recent decades the Japanese model hasbeen transferred to other countries. In orderto establish a new work pattern and work ethic,new industrial space adjacent to old industrialbelts are preferred. In the USA, for example,industrial relocation by General Motors, Fordand Chrysler to outer Mid West has becomean important feature. However, Toyota patternis not being followed by all companies. Manycountries specialise in the production ofcomponents which could be put together in anumber of final assembly plants.

While flexible production is related to

vertical linkages i.e. first level producers ofcomponents to second — level assemblers,flexible specialisation refers to a more complex,horizontal inter firm network of linkages. Inthis system, many firms in one kind of industryare involved in the production of specialiseditems. Further flexibility in such a system isendowed by moving the work amongst thedifferent specialist firms. If a normal run ofbusiness is disrupted by a sudden demandfor a large quantity, flexibility in cooperationallowed the contracting firm to share the orderwith several firms in the same business, or tosubcontract some of the business to outsidefirms.

New Industrial Spaces

In past few decades, high-technology activitiesare expanding fast. Highly sophisticatedproducts are developed involving a great dealof scientific research and development. Theseindustries improve their products very fast tosuit the market demand and employ highlyskilled labour. Such industries are referred toas footloose industries as they have relativelyfree choice of location.

The growth of some industries has beenexplosive. Employment in computer softwarein the United States has increased about fourtimes during 1970-2000.

Footloose Industries — Factors that Favour Free Choice of Location

� light industries that often do not use raw materials but component parts;� power requirements, usually only electricity — available from the national grid;� end product is small and often cheaper and easier to move;� employs a small labour force;� non-polluting industries which can be located near residential areas;� accessibility; needs to be near a road network.

Examples of High Tech Industries

Electronic Equipment� computers;� telecommunicators;� industrials control system;� testing and measuring equipment;� office equipment;� aerospace and military equipment;� incorporation in consumer products, e.g.

automobiles, washing machines, ovens, etc.

Consumer Electronics� colour and monochrome television receivers;� radio receivers;� video cassette recorders;� audio-tape recorders;� record players;� hi-fi equipment (tuners, amplifiers);� pocket calculators;� electronic games.

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Technopoles

The locational impact of these high-techactivities is already emerging in advancedindustrialised countries. The most noticeablephenomena is the emergence of new technology— oriented complexes or technopoles. Atechnopole is a planned development within aconcentrated area, for technology innovative,industry related production. Technopolesinclude science or technology parks, sciencecities, and other high-tech industrialcomplexes.

High-tech Industrial — States andTechnology Parks : Footloose industries tendto be attracted to purpose — built industrialestates or technology parks on the edge oftowns and cities as is the case with London orTokyo. These places offer a number ofadvantages over inner city locations:

� space for single-storey factories and futureexpansion;

� cheaper land values on edge-of-city;

� accessibility to main roads andmotorways;

� pleasant environment (often located on agreenfield site);

� labour supply from nearby residentialareas and commuter village.

Silicon Valley — A Technopolis : The siliconvalley is located in the north - western part ofSanta Clara County of California. In 1930s,F. Terman, a professor and later, Vice-Presidentof Stanford University at Palo Alto encouragedhis students in electrical engineering to

establish their own companies. One of the firstcompanies was set up by William Hewlett andDavid Packard in a garage near the Universitycampus. Today, it is one of the world’s largestelectronic firm. By the end of 1950s, at thepersuasion of Terman, Stanford Universitydeveloped a special industrial park for suchnew high-tech firms. It created a hot house ofinnovation and generated a significantspecialised work force and producer services.It has sustained the continued agglomerationof high-tech electronics and has also attractedother high-tech industries. For example, nearlya third of all employment in biotechnology inthe USA is located in California. Of this, over90 per cent is located in the San Francisco Bayarea. Stanford University has been receivingincreasing amount of donations from gratefulcompanies, which runs into millions of dollarsannually.

The linkage between the research inuniversities and high-tech activity is key to thesuccess of these industries. While the newindustries thrive on a symbiotic relationshipwith one another and university researchdepartments, key workers also tend to favourtechnology complexes associated with topranking universities. It provides them a jobmarket and abundant socio-cultural activities.It soon acquires a reputation as ‘the right placeto be’.

Such techno-poles have also emerged inother countries. But except Germany, most ofthem are centred around big metropolitan citiessuch as London, Paris, Milan Tokyo, Shanghai,Taipei, Moscow, Singapore and Sao Paulo.


Exercises

Review Questions

1. Answer the following questions briefly:(i) What are secondary activities and why are they called secondary?(ii) What are manufacturing industries?(iii) What are the bases of classifying industries?(iv) Give two examples each of basic and consumer industries.(v) Why iron and steel industry is considered a basic industry?(vi) Why petro-chemcial complexes in the USA are located mostly on the coast?(vii) What is a technopole?


2. Distinguish between:(i) Cottage and large scale industries;(ii) Metallic and non-metallic industries;(iii) Deindustrialisation and reindustrialisation;(iv) Flexible production and flexible specialisation.

3. Write short notes on the following:(i) Small scale industry;(ii) Silicon Valley.

4. Discuss the major factors influencing the classical location of industries.5. Describe the distribution of iron and steel and petro-chemical industries in the world.6. Discuss the major trends of the modern industrial activities especially in advanced

industrial countries.7. Explain why high–tech industries in many countries are being attracted to the

peripheral areas of major metropolitan areas.

Geographical Skills

8. With the help of an atlas, locate the following places on an outline map of the world:(i) the iron and steel centres in the Great Lakes region,(ii) the petro-chemical complexes at Antwerp, Rotterdam and Southampton(iii) the Silicon Valley

As discussed earlier, tertiary activitiesrevolve round the intangible outputswhich encompass a diversity of services

ranging from that of a technician or a plumberto that of a restaurant chef or a lawyer, a teacheror a computer operator. Services are usuallydefined as ‘activities,’ which are relativelydetached from material production and hence,are not directly involved in the processing ofphysical materials. Thus, they stand in contrastto manufacturing, the product of which canbe seen in the form of goods. But how can wemeasure the output of a plumber or a lawyer?It is impossible to measure these outputsexcept indirectly in terms of wages and salaries.However, there are some services, which cangenerate tangible output e.g. a fast-foodfranchise. Nevertheless, measuring outputs inservices in general cannot be based on natureof output. The main difference betweenmanufacturing and service products thus,seems to be that the expertise provided byservices relies much more directly on work-force skills, experience and knowledge than onphysical techniques embodied in machinery orprocess of production.

SERVICES

Services are an important constituent of moderneconomic development, which include retailingand the sale of goods to the people, the provisionof services of all kinds — education, health andwelfare, leisure, recreation and businessservices. Business services refer to thoseservices that enhance the productivity or theefficiency of other firms' activities or that enablethem to maintain their specialised roles e.g.advertising, recruitment and personnel training.

This sector was not given as much attentionearlier as was given to the production of goods.In advanced economies, service-baseddevelopment has been very rapid. As statisticaldata show, employment shifts continuously intoservices in these countries.

In developing countries too, the servicesector is growing faster than the manufacturingsector. Its contribution to national wealth isalso increasing. But the services are still verypoorly accounted because many people areengaged in unorganised services, often referredto as informal sector. The informal sector incities offers employment to a large number ofrural migrants, who are poorly paid especiallyif they are unskilled. Then, there arehousewives and child labourers whose servicesare not accounted.

During the development process, a normalcourse of events takes place in most countriesover a period of time. There is a transition fromdominance of the primary sector, to thesecondary sector, and in the later stages, to thetertiary and quaternary sectors. In somecountries, there is a tendency to delay thedecline of their manufacturing. Japan andGermany, for example, are still able tomanufacture successfully for world marketsfrom a home base. Even in such countries, theimportance of manufacturing, in employmentand also as a proportion of GNP, declineseventually. It is balanced by concomitant riseof the service sector. This deindustrialisationshift can be seen at the regional level too. Inthe USA, this decline was first observed in NewEngland in 1950s and 1960s. Later in 1970s,the middle Atlantic States of Virginia, Marylandand Delaware were affected by this decline. The

7 TERTIARY AND QUATERNARY ACTIVITIES

CHAPTER


industrial Mid-West faced it in 1980s. It issupposed to be a predictable process, whichleaves behind a well of human skills,organisations and offices.

The growing importance of services has nowgiven it an independent status as a productivesector in the economy. Instead of being anaccessory to manufacturing or to the peopleat large, it is an exporter. The competitiveadvantage of some countries such asSwitzerland and the UK, and of some regionsor cities is in service provision.

Under the old thinking, there was a specialgeographical pattern of industrial locations,while services were distributed evenly matchingpopulation distribution. As such there was aprecise geography of iron and steel making,but banking might be found in every markettown even with a small population. Theseservices also organised in a hierarchy, placinghigher order services in the large city, and lowerorder services in small areas. There was littleneed for these services to agglomerate forinteraction among themselves. Now, however,there are major concentrations of services. Someof them are catering to new industrialstructures and needs such as advertising andmarketing. They have distinctive spatialpatterns. One of the most distinctive pattern isthat of global cities, located in relation to theinternational economy. We will learn moreabout them later in this chapter.

The major components of services maybroadly be grouped as the following:

(i) Business services include advertising,legal services, public relations, andconsulting.

(ii) Finance, insurance and real estateinclude savings and investment banking,insurance and real estate (commercial aswell as residential).

(iii) Wholesale and retail trading links theproducers with consumers. Personalservices such as maintenance services,beautician and repair work are alsoincluded in this.

(iv) Transport and communications includerailways, roadways, shipping and airlineservices and post and telegraph services.

(v) Entertainment such as television, radio,film, and literature.

(vi) Government at different levels — local,state and national includes bureau-cracies, police and army, and otherpublic services.

(vii) Non-governmental agencies includethose organisation which have been set-up by individuals or groups for charityon non-profit social activities concerningeducation, healthcare, environment,rural development etc.

Employment in the service sector hasincreased steadily in the developed countriesduring the twentieth century despite lowpopulation and significant job losses inmanufacturing (Figs 7.1 and 7.2). Comparedto manufacturing sector, it employs largenumber of women. In general, the increase inthe services employment throughout the worldis attached to various reasons.

Rising per capita income in the developedcountries has generated proportionately largerincreases in the demand for may kinds ofservices especially healthcare, entertainmentand transport. The increasing value of time hasled to more household functions beingaccomplished outside the home.

Similarly medical services as a proportionof gross national product (GNP), haveincreased steadily in Europe, North Americaand Japan. It is mainly due to the changingdemographic composition of the population in

Fig. 7.1 Employment Shares by Economic Sectorin the USA

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highly industrialised countries. The demandfor medical care is more from the elderlypopulation. There is also a rise in demand foreducational services at all levels with theincreasing demand for literacy, mathematicaland computer skills at workplaces.

The growth of services reflects theincreasing proportion of non-direct productionworkers. Most manufacturing companies alsoneed administrative set-up to collect andprocess information and make strategicdecisions. As such clerical staff, sales people,researchers, advertisers, public relationsexperts, accountants, financial experts, andlawyers provide assistance in a complicateddecision-making process.

Despite globalisation, liberalisation andprivatisation, the size and role of the publicsector has been increasing. The government isusually the largest employer because itprovides innumerable services to the peoplesuch as defence, education, health, sanitationand law and order. In developed countries,rising levels of service exports within andamong nation have also led to the growth ofservices. Many nations derive a substantialamount of their aggregate revenues from thesale of services to clients located elsewhere.Services are extensively traded on a globalbasis, contributing about 20 per cent ofinternational trade.

Advanced Services, Information Flowsand the Global City

The information based global economyespecially in highly industrialised societies, hasgiven rise to specialised activities, which arefairly advanced. They include finance,insurance, consulting, information gathering,management of information services, as wellas research and development, and scientificinnovations, which are at the core of alleconomic activities. All of them can be reducedto knowledge generation and informationflows.

Due to advanced telecommunicationsystems, it is possible for these activities tohave a scattered location around the globe. Yet,they reveal dispersal and concentrationsimultaneously. While a number of activitiesare dispersing widely, those belonging to theupper tier still reflect concentration in fewcountries. In fact, there is a hierarchy betweentiers of urban centres, with the higher level offunctions in terms of both power and skillbeing concentrated in a few major metropolitanareas. For example, New York, London andTokyo together cover the world for the purposesof financial trading and work largely as a unitin the same system of endless transactions.They jointly dominate in international finance,and in most consulting and business servicesof international scope.

Some of the services are managed fromwithin the firm. Thus, some of the legal works,advertising or accounting are conducted withinthe firm, often at the head office or officesattached to it. This is indexed by the numberof major firms that have head offices in specificcities. Among the top 500 biggest global firms,Tokyo is home to 34, New York to 59, Londonto 37, and Paris to 27. Mexico City, the world’slargest city toady, has only one such firm.Thereis no such firm in any Indian City.

As the global economy expands, new unitsjoin the system and new linkages getestablished. New regional centres of processingof service activities have emerged in the USA(e.g. Phoenix, Wichita), in Europe (Barcelona,Nice, Stuttgart), and in Asia (Mumbai,Bangkok, Shanghai). However, decentralisation

Fig. 7.2 Employment Shares by Economic Sectorin the UK

TERTIARY AND QUATERNARY ACTIVITIES


of such activities are concerned mainly with‘back offices’. It means mass processing oftransactions that only execute the strategiesdecided and designed in the corporate centresand headquarters located in a few global cities.For example, within one country, the UK, ofthe top 500 company headquarters, 198re-located within London. These activitiesemploy the bulk of semi-skilled office workers,many of them replaceable as technologyevolves. The significance of this spatial systemof advanced service activities lies in theversatility of its network based on theinformation flow. The growing megalopolis ofHongkong – Shenzhen – Guangzhou – Zhuhai– Maccau is expected to be a major financialand business hub in the early twenty-firstcentury in Asia.

QUATERNARY ACTIVITIES

In recent years, economic activities havebecome much more specialised and complex.As a result, a new category called quaternaryhas come into use now. Activities concerningknowledge such as education, information,research and development (R&D) arerecognised as a different class of services evenamong intangible outputs and hence, placedunder this category. The term quaternarybasically refers to the ‘more intellectualoccupations, whose task is to think, researchand develop ideas’. As such, this sector isespecially concerned with research anddevelopment. In the most economicallyadvanced nations, the quaternary activitiesinvolve a small but growing proportion of thepopulation, characterised by the highestincomes and a higher degree of mobility in theprocess of career advancement.

In recent years, revolution in informationtechnology has given rise to knowledge-basedindustries. There has been a remarkablegrowth in the science and technology basedindustrial complexes called Science andTechnology Parks in places such as Boston,Massachusetts, and California in the USA.Development of softwares is an example of suchactivities.

What do we mean by InformationTechnology and how has it helped in thedevelopment of quaternary activities? It refersto a converging set of technologies inmicroelectronics, computing (machines andsoftware), telecommunications, broadcastingand optoelectronics. Around the nucleus ofinformation technologies, a number of majortechnological breakthrough e.g. geneticengineering has taken place in the last twodecades of the twentieth century. These haveapplication in various fields such as energymedicine, health care, transportation andmanufacturing. In other words, the core of thetransformation refers to technologies ofinformation processing and communication i.e.they are process-oriented. An importantcharacteristic of the current technologicalrevolution is the application of knowledge andinformation to knowledge-generation andinformation-processing devices. TheInformation Age has revolutionised thetechnical elements of industrial society. As aresult, economic activities of today areoverwhelmingly dominated by the productionof such intangibles in which knowledgeinformation and communications are criticallyimportant. You have read about them in earlierpages.

The vast majority of employment inindustrialised nations of the world —particularly well — paying, white collaremployment — consists of informationcollection, processing, and transmission in oneform or another. These functions haveincreased in importance with declining cost ofcomputers and their increasing power. At thesame time, accelerated technological changes,shortened production — time, and growingcompetition and uncertainty in the investmentand job markets due to liberalisation andglobalisation, have made the productionand marketing of goods and services moreinformation-intensive. Therefore, thegeography of world economy rests heavilyupon invisible flow of data and capital, bindingplaces unevenly to the world system. Economicactivities have stretched over ever-largerdistances, at times, across different continentsand hence, closely tied to the deployment and

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use of telecommunication systems. With thedigitisation of information in the late twentiethcentury, telecommunication steadily mergedwith computers to form integrated networks,most spectacularly through the internet. It hashelped professionals to move away from thecongested city centres or offices, and work athome, where they can conduct most of theirbusiness on line without face-to-face contact.Banks, insurance companies and securitiesfirms, which are highly information-intensiveeconomic activities, have been at the forefrontof developing extensive world wide network ofleased and private communication networks.Electronic funds transfer systems form thenerve centre of the international financialeconomy, allowing banks to move capitalaround at a moment’s notice.

One of the most significant repercussionsof the internationalisation of financial marketshas been the growth of global cities, notablyLondon, New York and Tokyo. Though anumber of other cities such as Paris, Toronto,Los Angeles, Osaka, Hongkong and Singapore,are also important in a global economy, therole of the trio — New York, London and Tokyoin the production and transformation ofinternational economic relations in the latetwentieth century has been the mostsignificant. They act as the command andcontrol centres of the world system by providinghome to massive complexes of financial firms,

business services and corporate headquartersof Transnational Corporations (TNCs). Theycreate opportunities for interaction throughface-to-face contact, political connections andcultural activities.

In short, the telecommunications todaytend to reinforce the agglomeration of high-wage and high-value-added, white collarfunctions. At the same time, they promotedecentralisation of low-wage and low-value-added, blue or pink-collar jobs. They have avariety of impacts upon cities and regions, bothpositive and negative. Electronic systems areof great use in everyday life, including creditcards, visa, passports, tax records, medicalreport, telephone and crime statistics. But theyalso reinscribe the social categories of wealthand power and geographical categories of coreand periphery. For example, inequalities inaccess to internet internationally, measured interms of hosts per 100,000 people reflect thelong standing division between the developedand developing countries. The best connectednations are Scandinavia, Canada andAustralia. Countries such as the UK, Germanyand Japan are next in rank. The USA,surprisingly is ranked relatively low, reflectingits sizeable, poorly served population. Yet 90per cent of all international internet traffic iseither to or from the USA. The vast majority ofthe world’s people in Asia, Africa and SouthAmerica have little or no internet access.

Exercises

Review Questions

1. Answer the following questions briefly:(i) What are tertiary activities?(ii) Why did manufacturing decline in advanced economies?(iii) What are the major components of services?(iv) What is a global city? Name three global cities.(v) What are quaternary activities?(vi) Name the world’s three best connected nations through internet.

2. Discuss the importance and growth of service sector in the modern economicdevelopment.

TERTIARY AND QUATERNARY ACTIVITIES


3. In what ways the service sector in developing countries is different than those in theadvanced countries? Explain.

4. Why specialised activities of the advanced economy such as finance and insurancehave a scattered location around the globe? How are they managed?

5. Discuss the nature and growth of quaternary services in the world.6. ‘The global cities act as the command and control centres of the world system’. Elaborate

Geographical Skills

7. On an outline map of the world show the following:(i) One global city each form North America, Europe and Asia(ii) The growing megalopolis of Hongkong – Shenzhen – Guangzhou-Zhuhai – Maccau.

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Unit IV

TRANSPORT, COMMUNICATION AND TRADE

Natural resources, manufacturingenterprises and markets for productsare rarely located at the same place.

Transport, communication and trade linkareas of production of goods and services withareas of consumption. Distance in moderntimes is being progressively reduced with eachimprovement in transport and communicationfacilities. The world economy today will rathergrind to a halt but for an efficient transportand communication system. In earlier days,the means of transport and communicationwere the same. But with the advancement inscience and technology, both have acquiredspecialised and distinct forms.

Transport refers to the carriage of goodsand passengers from one place to anotherusing humans, animals and different kinds ofvehicles. Such movements take place throughland, water and air. Roads and railways formpart of the land transport. Waterways andairways are the other two modes. Pipelines areused to carry liquids like water and petroleum,and natural gas. Transport thus includestransport arteries, vehicles to carry people andgoods, and the organisation to maintainarteries and to handle loading, unloading andsafe delivery.

Communication means conveyance ofinformation from the place of origin to the placeof destination through a channel. Postalservices, telephone, telegraph and fax services,internet and satellites are some of the majormeans of communication.

Trade means exchange of goods andservices through market channels amongplaces in response to differences in prices ordemand and supply. It thus, refers to the flow

of goods and services being exchangedbetween places.

It is now apparent that transport,communication and trade facilitate themovement and exchange of people, goods andservices. Transport and communicationprovide the network of routes, channels andcarriers, through which trade takes place. Inthis chapter, we will discuss about transportand communication. Trade will be taken upseparately in the next chapter.

Modes of Transport

Land Water Air Pipelines

Roads Railways Ocean Inland (Canals,

River)

TRANSPORTATION

As we have read earlier, transportation ofpeople, goods and services takes place usingdifferent modes — land, water, air and pipes.Each mode of transport has its ownimportance. Which mode should be useddepends on the type of goods and services tobe transported, transportation cost and themeans of transport available. For example,it is economical to move bulk materials usingwaterways. International movement of goodsin general is handled by ocean freighters.Waterways however, restrict transshipment of

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goods from ports to inland destination andthey are slow. Road transport is cheaper forsmall distances and is faster too. It rendersdoor to door service. But if one has to movelarge volume of bulky materials over longdistances especially within a country, railwaysare most suited. Perishable light and preciousgoods, on the other hand, can be best movedby air. In a well managed transport-system,the various modes supplement andcomplement each other.

Land Transport

Most of the movement of goods and servicestakes place over land. In early days,humans themselves were carriers. In someparts of the world human portage is stillimportant, e.g. in thickly — forested regionsor rugged mountains where roads aredifficult to be constructed. Later, horses,mules and other animals were used asbeasts of burden. With the invention ofwheel, the use of animal driven carts andwagons, came into prominence. Horse hasbeen the most popularly used animal forriding, carrying load or drawing carts andcarriages. The use of animals improved thespeed and efficiency of transport, but it wasstill slow and arduous when compared withthe modern standards.

The revolution in land transport waswitnessed only after the invention of steamengines in the eighteenth century. Although,the pathways and unmetalled roads have beenused for transportation since the earliest times,development of internal combustion enginebrought significant changes in the quality ofroads and vehicles plying on them. The firstrailway line was built in 1830, whichincreased accessibility and connectivity. Itopened continental interiors for commercialmining, manufacturing and agriculture.

Among the latest developments in landtransportation are ropeways, cableways andpipelines. Ropeways and cableways havebeen developed in rough and difficult terrainespecially the mountainous regions. Liquidslike mineral oil, water, sludge and sewers aretransported through pipelines.

Roads and Highways

Roads are the most economical means forrelatively short distances. Freight transport byroad is becoming increasingly important incomparison to rail transport particularlybecause it offers door to door service. Indeveloped countries, good quality roads areuniversal and they provide long-distance linkin the form of motorways, autobahn, and interstate highways systems facilitating rapidmovement. Lorries of increasing size andpower carrying very heavy loads are verycommon now. In developing countries,despite, the lack of good quality roads, thegrowth of road transport in recent years hasbeen phenomenal.

Highways are metalled roads connectingdistant places. Such roads are constructed ina manner that vehicles could ply in anunobstructed manner. As such, these roadsare wide as much as 60 metres, smooth andoften duel-carriageways with several trafficlanes, bridges, flyovers and embankments areen route to allow uninterrupted traffic flow.

In developed countries, number of vehiclesis large and road network is dense. Every cityand port town in Europe is linked throughhighways. In Russia, Moscow is linked by roadto eastern city of Vladivostak. In North America,highways link cities located on the eastern andwestern coasts as well as towns of Canada inthe north and those of Mexico in the south.Trans-Canadian-Highway links Vancouver inBritish Columbia (west coast) and St. John cityin Newfoundland (east coast). Likewise AlaskanHighway links Edmonton in Canada andAnchorage in Alaska.

A large part of Pan-American highway hasbeen constructed, which would connect thecountries of South America, Central America,and the United States of America. Australia’sone of the major road links is Trans-ContinentalStuart Highway. It connects Darwin in theNorthern Territory and Melbourne in Victoriavia Tennant Creek and Alice Spring.

In China, cities in the north and the south,as well as those in the east and the west havebeen linked through highways. For example,

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Tsungtso city located near the Vietnameseboundary in the south is linked with Beijing.Similarly, Shanghai has been linked withGuangzhou in the south and Beijing in thenorth through highways. A highway has beenconstructed recently to join Lhasa andChengdu.

In India, there are a number of highwaysconnecting important towns and cities.National Highway No 7, linking Varanasi withKanyakumari, is the longest in the country. Agolden quadrangle is being developed toconnect our metropolitan cities of Delhi,Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

In Africa, a highway joins Algiers acrossAtlas mountains and Sahara desert, withConakry in Guinea. Similarly Cairo has alsobeen connected with Cape Town. Theconstruction of good, long distance roads hasassisted tourism in many countries. Some ofthe major roads of this kind have been built inSouth America. Attempts have also been madeto connect the ports with their hinterlands.

The quality of the roads varies greatlybetween developed and developing countriesbecause construction and maintenance of goodroads require heavy expenditure.

Railways

Railways are comparatively cheaper and moreconvenient mode of transport than roadwaysin moving goods in bulk over a long distance.

With the opening of the first public railwaybetween Stockton and Darlington in northernEngland in 1825, railways became mostpopular and fastest form of transport for bothpassengers and goods during the nineteenthcentury. The growth of the railways wasbrought about by two interrelated factors.Firstly, the steam engine was developed andapplied not only to industry but also totransport. Secondly, the rapid rise of industrymade it necessary to improve existingtransport systems. Railways were the cheapestand fastest carriers of bulky goods a largenumber of passengers, over a long distances.Commuter trains have become very popularin Britain, the USA, Japan and India. Theycarry thousands of people every day from onepart of the city to the other within no time.

World Railway Patterns : The competitive-ness of railways as a form of transport variesgreatly from one country to another, becauseof the high cost of maintenance. Usually theyare managed by the government as they comeunder essential services. Steam engines havebeen replaced by diesel and electric engines.Speed of trains has increased tremendously.Special services for passengers such asairconditioning, night births, reclining seatsand restaurant services are provided forcomfortable journey. Freight services have alsobeen improved by introducing wagons withcooling facilities for perishable goods andtankers and containers. Containers can beunloaded directly from ships on to special railwagons cutting out several loading andpacking operations. However, railways all overthe world are experiencing severe financialdifficulties.

In Asia, railway network is good in India,Japan and China. India with about 93,000km of railways cover 63,000 route km andmore than 7,000 stations. It has the densestnetwork in Asia. In Japan, the total length ofrailway is 28,000 km. China has more then35,000 km route length. Other countries ofAsia have relatively few rail routes. West Asiais least developed in rail transport becauseof vast deserts and sparsely populatedregions.

In South America, the rail network isparticularly dense in the Argentina’s Pampasand the coffee-growing region of Brazil. Nearlyforty per cent of the total route length of SouthAmerica is concentrated in this region. Thereis only one trans-continental railway in SouthAmerica linking Buenos Aires (Argentina) withValparaiso (Chile) through the Uspallata Passacross the Andes located at a height of 3,960metres above mean sea-level. Of the remainingcountries only Chile has a considerable lengthof railway lines, running from Iquique toPuerto Montt, with branch lines that linkcoastal ports with mining sites in the interior.The railway routes of the other Andean states,e.g. Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia andVenezuela, are short and consist mainly ofsingle lines from ports to the interior with nointer-connecting links.

TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION


Australia has about 40,000 km ofrailways, of which a quarter is found in NewSouth Wales. There is one trans-continental linerunning from Perth to Sydney; passingthrough such towns as Kalgoorlie, Adelaide,Canberra and Melbourne. A major North-South line links Adelaide and Alice Spring butas yet this has not been joined to the line fromDarwin to Birdum.

New Zealand’s railways are mainly in theNorth Island linking the main towns of farmingareas.

Africa, despite being the second largestcontinent, has only 40,000 km of railways.Some of the more important routes include theBenguela Railway through Angola to Katanga-Zambia copper belt; the Tanzania Railway fromthe Zambian copper belt to the sea at Dar-es-salaam, and the railway through Botswana andZimbabwe linking the landlocked centralAfrican states to the South African system.Elsewhere, as in Algeria, Senegal, Nigeria,Kenya, Ethiopia, railway lines run from coastalports to island centres but do not form a goodnetwork or link with lines in other countries.South Africa, with 18,000 km of railways has

the densest rail network because of the gold,copper and diamond mining activities.

One of the densest rail network in the worldis found in Europe. There are approximately4,40,000 km of railways, most of which aredouble or multiple tracked. Importantrailheads are : Paris, Berlin, London, Brussels,Milan, Warsaw and Moscow. Industrial regionsof Western Europe exhibit greatest railwaydensities. Belgium has the greatest density withone km of railway for every 6.5 sq. km of thecountry. Passenger transport by rail is moreimportant than freight in many Europeancountries. Underground railways areimportant in London, Paris and Moscow.

Trans-continental railway lines of Europehave now lost their importance withevergrowing quicker air transport and moreflexible roadways.

North America has at present the mostextensive network of railways making upnearly 40 per cent of the world’ total. Therailway network today is used extensively forthe transport of bulky freight like minerals,grains, timber and manufactured productover long distance. It, however plays an

Fig. 8.1 Trans-Siberian Railway

87TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION

Fig. 8.2 Canadian Pacific Railway

Fig. 8.3 Australian Trans-Continental Railway


unimportant role in passenger transportbecause more passengers prefer to travel byautomobiles or aeroplanes than by railways.

The densest railway network is found inthe east-central USA and southern Canada,south of the Great Lakes, and on the Atlanticcoast.

The high level of economic developmentcoupled with high urbanisation are the mainreasons for the concentration of rail networkin the eastern United States of America.

Trans-Continental Railways : Railwaysrunning across the continent and linking itstwo ends are called trans-continental railways.They were constructed for economic andpolitical reasons.

The most important trans-continentalrailway in Asia is the Trans-Siberian Railway(Fig. 8.1). It runs in Russia from St. Petersburgin the west to Vladivostak in the east. It is adouble-track route and runs for a distance ofabout 9,332 km. Some of the main stations enroute are Moscow, Ufa, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk,Chita and Khabarovsk. It has connecting linksto the south to Odesa in the Ukraine, Bakuthe Caspeian Sea, Tashkent in Uzbekistan,Ulan Bator in Mongolia, Shenyang (Mukden)in Manchuria and Beijing in China.

Canadian Pacific Railway connectsVancouver on the west coast and Halifax onthe east coast of North America (Fig.8.2). It wasconstructed in 1886. It’s total length is 7,050km. Initially this railway line was built as a partof an agreement to make British Columbia jointhe Federation of States. It, however, assumedeconomic importance later on because itconnected Quebec-Montreal industrial regionwith softwood forest region in the north andwheat region of the prairies. Thus, each regionbecame complementary to the other. A loop linefrom Winnipeg to Thunder Bay, located on thenorthern shores of the Lake Superior, connectsthis railway line with one of the importantwaterways of the world. Wheat from the prairiescould be brought through the waterways. Thisrailway line thus became the economic arteryof Canada.

Australian Trans-Continental Railwayconnects Sydney on the east coast with Perth

on the west coast. It runs through the southernpart of the continent. Main stations on thisroute are Broken Hill, Port Augusta, andKalgoorlie (Fig. 8.3).

There is a proposal to build a trans-Asiaticrailway linking Constantinpole in Turkey withBangkok in Thailand via Saudi Arabia, Iran,Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Water Transport

One of the great advantages of water transport-ation is that it does not require routeconstruction. The oceans are linked with eachother and they are negotiable by ships ofvarious sizes. All that needs to be done is toprovide port facilities at the two ends. It provesto be cheap because the friction of water is farless than the friction of land or air. And hence,the energy cost of transportation is lower.

The waterways are divided into two groups:inland waterways and oceanic routes.

Inland Waterways

Rivers, canals, lakes and coastal areas havebeen important inland waterways from timeimmemorial. Boats and steamers are used asmeans of transport. They carry cargo as wellas passengers. Rivers are the only means oftransport in dense forests. Very heavy cargolike coal, cement, timber, metallic ores can betransported by waterways. In India, riverwayswere the main highways of transportationin ancient times. But they lost importancebecause of several reasons such asconstruction of railways, lack of water in riversas they were diverted into canals for irrigation,making them unsuitable for navigation; andpoor maintenance of inland waterways.

The development of inland waterway isdependent on several factors such as widthand depth of the channel, continuity in the flowof water and transport technology in use.

Despite inherent limitations, inland watertransport has developed in many parts of theworld. In these regions, many rivers have beengreatly modified to enhance their navigability.Building of dams and barrages for regulatingthe flow of water and dredging i.e. removal ofsilt from channel beds for maintaining a

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constant depth of water, does help overcomemany problems mentioned earlier. The riverbanks are stabilised in areas where shifting ofchannels is a problem. Some of the majorinland waterways are discussed below:

There are two major inland waterwayssystems in North America : (i) the Great Lakes– St. Lawrence waterway, and (ii) the Mississippiwaterway.

The Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Waterway :It is an unique waterway in the northern partof North America. The ports located on thisroute have developed just like ocean ports —with all facilities. As such large ocean freightersare able to navigate deep inside the continent,upto 3,760 km, through the estuary ofSt. Lawrence below Qubec. This waterway hashelped in the industrial and economic growthof the region (Fig. 8.4).

The Mississippi Waterway: The Missis-sippi-Ohio waterway connects the interior partof the USA with the Gulf of Mexico in the south.Large steamer can go through this route uptoMinneapolis.

There are a large number of navigablerivers and canals in western and centralEurope and western Russia.

The world’s densest network of inlandwaterways is found in France and Germany.Rivers Seine, Rhine and Elb together with theirtributaries flow into the North Sea. Most of therivers are interconnected through canals. Onemay travel in this part almost through riversand canals from the Mediterranean Sea to theNorth Sea.

Fig. 8.4 Ship Movement in Great Lakes — St. Lawrence Waterway

Fig. 8.5 : Rhine Waterway


Rhine Waterway: The Rhine is the mostimportant channel of navigation in this region.It is the world’s most heavily traffickedwaterway. Rotterdam is located at its mouthin the Netherlands. Its hinterland stretches upthe Rhine and includes Belgium, France,Germany and Switzerland (Fig. 8.5).

Volga Waterway : Russia has a largenumber of developed waterways. The Volga isone of the most important waterways. TheVolga river system discharges its water in the


Caspian Sea. It provides a navigable route of11,200 km. The Volga — Moscow canalconnects it with the Moscow region. It is linkedwith the Black Sea through the Volga — DonCanal.

In many countries of southeast Asia, riversplay an important role in carrying people andgoods. But inland waterways of eastern Chinaand India are comparatively more importantin terms of volume.

China has many large rivers but some ofthem, especially in the eastern part, are moredeveloped for water transport. The Huang, theChang Jiang and the xi rivers are navigable.The densely populated Sichuan region is linkedwith the Chang Jiang delta, where a densenetwork of canals has developed. Ocean vesselscan reach upto Hankow through this route.

River Ganga in India is navigable upto Patna.There is a regular steamer service between Indiaand Bangladesh through Sundarbans. Keralais another state where inland water transportthrough the backwater is prospering. India hasa long coast line. There are coastal services tocarry passengers and goods.

Although the Amazon in South America isthe longest river in the world and is alsonavigable upto Iquitos in Peru, which is 3,680

km from the Atlantic coast in the east, it hasnot yet developed due to sparse populationand low economic development of the region.

Parana-Paraguay Waterway : It is the mostimportant riverway in South America. Thisriver system discharges its water in the AtlanticOcean through the estuary of Rio de la Plata.As such large ships can enter the waterway.Parana is navigable for ocean vessels uptoSanta Fe, located at a distance of 240 km.Paraguay provides accessibility to riversteamers upto Asuncion. This waterway has awell developed hinterland and connects theproductive interior to the Atlantic coast.

Ocean Transport

Ocean transport is the cheaper means ofhaulage (carrying of loads) than land and air.The oceans offer a free highway traversable inall directions with no maintenance cost.Ocean-going ships are capable of carrying farlarger loads than any other carrier. Theintroduction of refrigerated chambers fortransporting perishable goods such as meat,fruits, vegetables and dairy products, and thedevelopment of tankers and other specialisedships has greatly improved the efficiency of

Fig. 8.6 Major Ocean Trade Routes and Sea Ports

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ocean transport. The use of containers has notonly made cargo handling easier but has easedthe transfer of goods to land transport by railor road at the world’s major ports. Modernpassenger liners and cargo-ships are equippedwith radar, wireless and other navigation aids.As such they are little hindered by storms andbad weather and can cross the ocean atmoderate speed reaching their destinationson schedule.

The ocean trade routes are shown inFig.8.6. Some of the important ocean routeshave been discussed in the following pages.

North Atlantic Route : It connects two mostdeveloped regions of the world, eastern part ofCanada and the USA with the Western Europe.It is, therefore, the most important and busiestroute. Both the coasts have good port andharbour facilities. Rich agricultural,commercial, and industrial regions of Europeexport large quantities of manufactured items— textiles, chemicals, machinery, fertilisers,steel and wine to the United States andCanada. Bulky and large quantities of foodgrains and raw materials, like wheat,woodpulp, copper as well as iron and steel,transport equipment etc. are sent to the WesternEurope through this route. The foreigntrade of the North Atlantic Region is greaterthan that of the rest of the world combined.

The Mediterranean and the Indian OceanRoute : Industrially developed countries ofEurope are connected with East Africa, SouthAsia and Southeast Asia through theMediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and the IndianOcean route. In fact, all ocean bound trafficfrom Europe to Africa, Asia and Australiapasses through this route. The east boundcargo mainly consists of machinery andindustrial products. The west bound cargoincludes mineral oil and agricultural productssuch as cotton, rubber, tea, coffee and sugar.Port Said, Aden, Mumbai, Kochi, Colombo andSingapore are some of the important ports onthis route.

The Suez Canal : It is a man-madewaterway in Egypt which was constructed tolink the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea(Fig. 8.7). It is a sea-level canal without locks.The opening of the Suez canal in 1869 reduced

direct sea-route distances between westernEurope and South east Asian countries byabout one half. A number of ports haveemerged enroute such as Port Said andPort Faud in the north and Port Suez inthe south.

The Cape of Good Hope Route : This routewas once the subsidiary alternative to the Suez.This route is 6,400 km longer betweenLiverpool and Colombo. It provides linkbetween Western Europe and West Africancountries, South Africa, Southeast Asia,Australia and New Zealand. The ships comingfrom Europe directly head towards the Capeof Good Hope. With the increase in the tempoof economic development in the recentlyindependent African nations and theexploitation of their rich natural resourcessuch as gold, copper, diamond, tin, chromium,manganese, cotton, oil palm, groundnuts,coffee and fruits, the volume of traffic roundthe Cape of Good Hope and from ports in bothEast and West Africa is on the increase.

Fig. 8.7 Suez Canal



The South Atlantic Route : This sea routeconnects West European and West Africancountries with ports of Brazil, Argentina andUruguay in South America. The ocean trafficin the South Atlantic is far less than that in theNorth Atlantic because South America iscomparatively less densely populated and haslimited economic development. Only south-eastern Brazil, the Plata estuary and parts ofSouth Africa have large-scale industrialdevelopment. There is also very little trade onthe east-west route between Rio de Janeiro andCape Town, because both Africa and SouthAmerica have similar products and resources.Coffee and cocoa from Brazil, and wheat, meat,wool and flax from Argentina are sent to theindustrial countries of North America andWestern Europe in return for manufacturedand semi-finished commodities.

The North Pacific Route : It links the portson the western coast of North America such asVancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Franciscoand Los Angles with the ports in Asia –Yokohama, Kobe, Shanghai, Hongkong,Manila and Singapore. Trade across the vastNorth Pacific Ocean goes by several routeswhich converge at Honolulu. The direct routefarther north on the great circle linksVancouver and Yokohama, reduces thetraveling distance (about 2,480 km) by half.Wheat, timber, paper and pulp, fish, dairyproducts and manufactured goods are the

main exports from North America. The tradefrom Asia mainly consists of manufacturedgoods such as textiles, electrical equipmentfrom Japan, Hongkong, South Korea andTaiwan, and tropical raw materials fromSoutheast Asia, e.g., rubber, copra, palm oil,tea and tin.

The South Pacific Route : It connectsWestern Europe and North America withAustralia, New Zealand and the scatteredPacific islands via the Panama canal. This routeis also used for reaching Hongkong,Philippines and Indonesia . Goods transportedare mostly wheat, meat, wool, fruits, dairy-products and manufactured articles. Thedistance covered between Panama and Sydneyis about 12,000 km. Honolulu is an importantport on this route.

The Panama Canal : It connects the AtlanticOcean in the east and the Pacific Ocean in thewest. It has been constructed across thePanama isthmus, and therefore, separates thelandmass of North America from that of SouthAmerica. With the construction of Panamacanal, the distance between the eastern andwestern coasts of North and South Americashas come down substantially. It also providesa shorter route between countries of Far Eastand Southeast Asia on the one hand and thoseof the Western Europe on the other (Fig. 8.8).

Panama canal has a lock system. Shipscross different levels of the canal through threelocks before entering into the Gulf of Panama.The economic importance of Panama canal iscomparatively less than that of the Suez.

Air Transport

It is the fastest mode of transport, as well asthe costliest. The manufacturing of aircraftsand their operation require elaboratearrangements — hangar, landing, fueling andmaintaining facilities. As such air transport isused only for high value goods and passengers.Air traffic is adversely affected in bad weather.

It has certain advantages too. Valuablecargo can be moved rapidly on a worldwidescale. Being fast, it is preferred for long-distancetravel by passengers. Air transport is often theonly way to reach difficult areas.Fig. 8.8 Panama Canal

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Recent developments may change thefuture course of air transport. Supersonicaircraft such as Concorde, had been developed,which could cover the distance between NewYork and London within three and a half hours.

A very dense network of air routes exists inWestern Europe, Eastern United States ofAmerica and Southeast Asia. There are somenodal points where the air routes merge orradiate in all directions e.g. — London, Paris,Rome, Moscow, Karachi, New Delhi, Mumbai,Bangkok, Singapore, Tokyo, San Francisco, LosAngeles, Chicago, New York and Rio de Janeiroetc. Soviet Asia and Africa lack air services.There is a distinct belt of air routes from east towest in the Northern Hemisphere (Fig. 8.9).

Airports require wide ranging facilities forthe passengers, goods and the aircrafts. Theconstruction of airports is very expensive.Hence, they develop in areas where there issufficiently large volume of traffic London,Paris, Rome, New York, Chicago, Tokyo andSingapore are some of the busiest airports ofthe world.

Pipelines

Pipelines are used extensively to transportliquids and gases such as water, mineral oil

and natural gas for an uninterrupted flow. Weare familiar with the supply of water andmineral oil through pipes. Even cooking gasor LPG is supplied through pipelines in mayparts of the world. Pipelines can also be usedto transport coal mixed with water. In the USA,there is a dense network of pipelines for carryingpetroleum from the regions of production to theregions of consumption. A famous pipeline ofthe USA, known as the ‘Big Inch’ which carriesmineral oil from the wells of the Gulf of Mexicoto the north-eastern part. About 17 per cent ofall freight per tonne-kilometres is carriedthrough pipelines in the USA.

In Europe, West Asia(Fig 8.10), Russia andIndia, pipelines are being used to connect oilwells to refineries and to ports or internalmarkets. It is also popular for carrying naturalgas. One of the longest pipeline, calledCOMECON, is 4,800 km long. It connects oilwells of the Ural and the Volga regions to thecountries of East Europe.

COMMUNICATION

Humans used different means ofcommunication ever since they appeared onthe earth, but the pace of change has been rapidduring modern times. Long distance

Fig. 8.9 Major Air Routes and Airports



communication has been made far easier thanever before without physical movement of eitherthe communicator or the receiver. The firstmajor breakthrough in communication systemwas the telecommunication. Telegraph wasinstrumental in the colonisation of theAmerican West in the late nineteenth century.Telephone was a critical factor in theurbanisation of America, enabling firms to havecentralised functioning at their headquartersand locate their branches in smallertowns. Even today the telephone remainsby far the most commonly used form oftelecommunications.

Radio, television, fax and internet makecommunication more accessible to more peoplecutting across all barriers of time and space.Modern communication system more than thetransport system, has converted the world intoa global village. The contemporary social andeconomic space is closely tied to moderncommunication system.

During the early and mid twentiethcentury, the American Telegraph andTelephone Company (AT&T) enjoyed amonopoly over the US telephone industry.Faced with mounting competition, telephone

companies have steadily upgraded their coppercable systems to include fiber-optic lines, whichallow large quantities of data to be transmittedrapidly, securely, and virtually error free.

With the digitisation of information in thelate twentieth century, telecommunicationsteadily merged with computers to formintegrated networks through the internet.Today internet is the largest electronic networkon the planet, connecting an estimated 100million people in more than 100 countries.

Popular access systems of the internetallow any individual with a micro-computerand modem to plug into cyberspace, the worldof electronic computerised spacesencompassed by the internet and relatedtechnologies such as the World Wide Web(WWW). Cyberspace may exist in an office, asail-boat, or virtually anywhere.

As millions of new users log on to theinternet each year, cyberspace has expandedrapidly in size and in use and importance,including e-mail and electronic commerce.Thus, cyberspace exists ‘everywhere’. In short,telecommunication revolution has expandedthe human, social and economic spaceconsiderably.

Satellite Communication

The United States of America and former SovietUnion have been pioneers in space research.Artificial satellites, successfully placed in theearth’s orbit have brought revolutionarychanges in the areas of communication. Thesatellite communication system deployed sincethe early 1970s have rendered the unit costand time of communication invariant withrespect to distance. It costs the same tocommunicate over 500 km as it does over5,000 km via satellite. India, too, has madegreat strides in space research. Aryabhatt waslaunched on 19 April, 1975 from the SovietUnion with the help of its Intercosmos rocket.Bhaskar-1 was sent into the space on 7 June,1979 and on 18 July, 1980, Rohini waslaunched from the Indian Cosmodrome at ShriHarikota.

On 19 June, 1981, APPLE (Arian PassengerPayload Experiment) satellite was launched

Fig. 8.10 West Asia : Pipelines

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through Arian rocket. Bhaskar-2 was sent intothe space on 20 November, 1981, which wasalso a remote sensing satellite. INSAT 1-A waslaunched on 10 April, 1982 but in Septemberthe same year it stopped working. On 30August, 1983 INSAT 1-B was sent to spacethrough space shuttle, Challenger. INSAT 1-Bhas made radio, television, and long distancecommunication very efficient and effective. Nowwe receive information about the weather ontelevision and forecasting about storm etc., isdone effectively.

Remote sensing is the gathering, storingand extracting of geographic information fromgreat distances when the gatherer makes nophysical contact with the target. The processusually covers the large areas.

The best known satellite images have comefrom NASA series of Landsat satellites. The first,originally called the Earth Resources

Technology Satellite (ERTS) was launched in1972. The launch of Landsat, which will beoperated jointly by NASA and the US GeologicalSurvey, took place in April 1999. Thesatellites have provided a wealth of informationabout the earth to scientists as well as to mapmakers.

As the US and Russian Governments dropsecurity restrictions on data gathered fromreconnaissance satellites, private companiesare increasingly using this information for non-military applications such as seeking potentialenergy sources, monitoring pollution, andanalysing building sites, besides predictingweather, locating areas of deforestation andmineral deposits, identifying hundreds of otherphysical patterns and processes. As thetechnology develops, government, academiaand business are continuing to find newapplications for these images.

Exercises

Review Questions

1. Answer the following questions briefly:(i) Name the three important modes of transport.(ii) Differentiate between transport and communication.(iii) Why pipelines are used extensively to transport commodities such as mineral oil

and natural gas?(iv) What are highways?(v) What factors contributed to the growth of railways?(vi) What is a trans-continental railway?(vii) What are the advantages of water transport?(viii) Name the two major inland waterways of North America.(ix) Which major ports are linked by the North Pacific Ocean route?(x) Which are the three major regions of the world having a very dense network of

airways?(xi) What is an internet?

2. Write short notes on:(i) Trans-Siberian Railway;(ii) Inland Waterways of Europe;(iii) Suez Canal;(iv) Satellite Communication.

3. Describe the distribution of roads and highways in the world.4. Discuss the importance of railways as a means of transport and its distribution pattern.5. Describe the Atlantic Ocean routes.



Geographical Skills

6. On an outline map of the world show the following:(i) The Suez Canal;(ii) The Panama Canal;(iii) Trans Australian Railway;(iv) The North Pacific route between Vancouver and Hongkong;(v) New York, London and Singapore.

Trade refers to the movement of goods andservices from areas of surplus to areasof deficit. When exchange of goods and

services takes place between two countries, itis called international trade. Throughouthistory, trade routes have played significantroles in cultural diffusion. You must haveheard or read about the old ‘silk route’ betweenChina and Southwest Asia. The caravanstravelling on this south-land route used to tradein silk, iron wares, and condiments. Tradingbetween different parts of the world, especiallybetween Asia and Europe has a very longhistory. The chance discovery of America byColumbus was prompted by trade. TheIndians, the Chinese, the Arabs, the Romans,the Dutch and the British — all havecontributed in promoting trade relations.

Trade in modern time is no less important.In fact it is now the base of all world economies.Why do we trade and how does it contribute tothe national economy? You will get answers tothese questions in the following pages.

BASE OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE

The need for trade arises mainly from regionaldifference in production and productivity.There are great variations in the location anddistribution of different kinds of naturalresources on the earth’s surface. All countriesdo not possess all resources in the sameamount. Besides, the degree of utilisation ofthese resources also varies from country tocountry. A number of factors such asavailability of resources, required capital,technology and skills, domestic andinternational demand and government policiesinfluence and determine the production of

various commodities and services. As a result,there are regions which have surplus in certaincommodities while deficit in others. Hence,countries export goods and services that arein surplus and import those that are in deficit.

Specialisation in the production of certaingoods and services, by some countries isanother factor that gives rise to internationaltrade. Some countries are known forspecialised skills in the production of certaingoods in great demand globally. For example,Chinese silk, Iranian carpets and Indian spiceshave formed part of international trade sinceancient times. Today, Swiss watchesand chocolates, Japanese camera andelectronic goods, American Boeing aircrafts andWest Asian petroleum are in demandinternationally.

Production of any commodity in largevolumes does not ensure that it will be a part ofinternational trade. If the production exceedslocal consumption level and is in short supplyelsewhere, then alone it enters internationaltrade channels. Certain food crops do not enterthe world trade even if they are surplus, in orderto regulate prices internally. For example,trading in rice is limited as most of its productionis needed within the region, where it is grown ata price within the reach of the people.

There are cases where surplus productionis destroyed or thrown in the ocean, to keepprices high enough to maintain productionlevel. For example, maize production is quitehigh in the USA, so is the coffee production inColumbia and Brazil in South America. Inorder, to maintain world prices, the surplusproduction of these crops in certain years isthrown away instead of selling it at a lower

9 INTERNATIONAL TRADE

CHAPTER


price. Among the food crops wheat is the mostimportant trading item.

Several countries in Africa are heavilydependent on a limited range of primaryproducts — agricultural and mineralcommodities, such as coffee, cocoa, cotton andcopper for foreign exchange to buy other goods.For example Mauritania, Zambia and Rwandaearn more than 95 per cent of their foreignexchange from a few primary products. In afew countries, a single product dominatesexport earnings e.g. copper in Zambia andcoffee in Uganda provide more than 90 per centof their foreign exchange.

The smooth flow of goods and servicesbetween different parts of the world isdependent on a number of factors. Peace andpolitical stability in the producing region is aprimary condition for it. One of the reasons forfluctuating petroleum prices is periodicdisturbance in West Asia — Iranian Revolution,Palestinian-Israeli conflict and Iraq-Kuwaitwar. Conflicts and wars disrupt production andtransportation of goods and services.

COMPONENTS OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE

There are three important components ofinternational trade, that set the world pattern.They are : volume of trade; composition oftrade; and direction of trade.

Volume of Trade

The volume of trade may be measured in termsof the actual tonnage of goods traded, buttonnage is rarely an indicator of value andhence, the trade of a country is usuallymeasured by the total volume and the valueof goods exchanged. Sometimes, however, itis measured on a per capita basis, that is howmuch trade (by value) is carried on per head ofthe population.

World trade has been changing constantly.Except for a few sudden dips during economicrecession, the growth rate has been acceleratingduring the post World War II period. Thevolume of trade between countries differsmarkedly depending upon the nature of goodsand services produced, bilateral agreementsand trade restrictions.

Composition of Trade

The types of goods and services entering theworld trade are also changing. The importanceof manufactured goods has increased over theyears. It is the largest and fastest growingcomponent of trade. It has been possible dueto fast growth of manufacturing industry inthe later half of the twentieth century andreduction in tariff barriers especially underGeneral Agreement on Trade and Tariffs(GATT) and now under the World TradeOrganisation (WTO). A number of primaryproducts such as coal, cotton, rubber and woolhave lost importance in recent years. Petroleumoccupies one of the most important places inthe world trade now.

Direction of Trade

Until the eighteenth century, manufacturedand high value sophisticated goods wereexported from present day developing countriesto Europe. The direction of trade changed inthe nineteenth century. Manufactured goodsfrom Europe were exchanged for the food stuffsand raw materials from three southerncontinents. In the first half of the twentiethcentury, much of the trade in manufacturedgoods was mainly between the USA and WesternEurope. Japan, in that period, became anotherimportant trading country. In the second halfof the twentieth century, the old pattern hasstarted changing. The developing countries arenow able to compete with developed countriesin manufactured goods too. Emphasis is nowlaid on trade in technology.

TYPES OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE

International trade may be of two types.Bilateral trade is the exchange of commoditiesbetween two countries. It happens if theeconomies of the two countries arecomplementary. One country provides rawmaterials or energy in exchange formanufactured goods. This is possible only toa limited extent for certain commodities.Multilateral trade, on the other hand, is theexchange of goods and services among anumber of countries.

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BALANCE OF TRADE

The difference in value between imports andexports is referred to as the balance of trade.If exports exceed imports, a country is said tohave a favourable balance of trade, while ifimports exceed exports it has an unfavourableor adverse or negative balance of trade(Fig. 9.1).

INTERNATIONAL TRADE —THE CHANGINGSCENARIO

Trade has undergone fundamental changes overtime, both in quality and quantity. Economicvalue and the major types of commoditiesaccounting for most of the value-added ininternational trade have proceeded throughdistinctive eras over time, with technology as aconstant driving force.

In the first phase, primary commodities i.e.raw materials, minerals and food productsdominated. In the second phase, beginningwith the Industrial Revolution, manufacturinggoods accounted for the largest share ofinternational trade, and was the most lucrativesector. Trade in primary commodities duringthis phase still took place, but the technologicalupgrading of products made manufacturingtrade of standardised products more attractive.In the third phase, services became global

commodities, accounting for a growing shareof international trade.

Twin technological revolutions ininformation and transportation have fueled thegrowth and upgrading of commodities in trade.Transport costs have continued to fallthroughout the twentieth century. Advancesin communications technology — telephone,fax, electronic mail, and video conferencinghave facilitated the coordination andmonitoring of production in diverse locations.Improvement in trans-Atlantic cable capacityand the corresponding increasing capabilitiesof global communication have also facilitatedmore interactions among firms in differentcountries.

Emerging Sectoral Composition of Trade

It has changed significantly in recent yearsshowing high growth in capital goods,especially machinery and transportation andcommercial services (Table 9.1). By contrasttrade in primary commodities continue to fall,and its relative share of trade has beendeclining, especially over the last 30 years. Itis mainly because of the cyclic decline ofcommodities price relative to manufacture andservices trade. Manufacturing trade stillpredominated, but this market is becoming

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Fig. 9.1 World : Balance of Trade


more differentiated due to the customiseddelivery of products to seek new competitiveadvantages. Until 1960, most TNCs were eitherof from the USA or the UK. In recent years,Japanese, German and other companies havebecome important on global scene. The powerand influence of TNCs continue to grow withliberalisation.

Changing Sectoral Components

The strong growth registered for services is arecent phenomena. Services account for 25 percent of global export by 1996. Service trade isqualitatively different from manufacturing tradein that services are infinitely expansible andpotentially weightless, many people can usethem at the same time, and once the goods areproduced, they can be replicated at a low cost.For some companies, such as IBM, more profitsare generated from providing services than fromproducing goods in the traditional sense.

In twenty-first century, it is predicted thatcommodity trade will be further upgraded andthat the highest rewards from trade will involvethe selling of lifelike interactive or virtual realityexperiences globally. The recent globalisationof production also has altered the type ofcommodities that are traded. For instance, asignificant proportion of trade is nowconstituted as component parts rather than

finished goods. Vertical specialisation takesplace where countries acquire expertise inparticular stages of the production process. Acountry may import certain goods fromanother country to use them for the productionof its own goods and then export that to someother country. The sequence only ends whenthe final goods reach their destination. Verticaltrade involves, for example, the skill intensivedesign and manufacturing of a microchip inone country and its labour-intensive assemblyonto a mother board in another, whereashorizontal trade entails completing all stagesof computer manufacturing in a single country(Table 9.2).

Table 9.2 : Trade Specialisation inSelected Countries

Country Vertical HorizontalTrade (%) Trade (%)

Australia 13 87

Canada 44 56

Denmark 27 73

France 28 72

Germany 19 81

Japan 3 97

The Netherlands 47 53

UK 30 70USA 12 88

Table 9.1 : Composition of World Trade 1965-96

GATT/WTO Breakdown*Shares of Total World Trade 1970 1980 1990 1996MerchandiseAgriculture 16.5 12.5 10.0 11.4Mining 12.0 22.0 11.5 11.2Manufacturing 50.0 45.5 57.0 73.2(Not Specified) 2.5 3.0 2.5 3.0Capital Goods 29.5 26.5 37.0 39.0Services** 19.0 17.0 19.0 24.6World Bank BreakdownShares of Total World Merchandise Imports 1965 1979 1990 1995Food 18.0 12.0 9.0 12.2Fuels 10.0 20.0 11.0 9.0Other Primary Commodities 17.0 9.0 8.0 7.7Manufacturing 55.0 58.0 73.0 72.0Machinery Transports 23.0 25.0 34.0 30.9

* GATT 1992: Table 2; 1990: Table 8; 1989: Table 9; WTO; 1997: Table 11.2** Services include shipping, transport, travel and private services

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Global Pattern of Trade

International trade has become very complexwith a high degree of specialisation inagricultural and industrial production. It hasbecome an important component of the worldeconomy. Global trade has grown much morerapidly over the past 25 years. Between 1985and 1995, the average annual growth rate ofthe value of world exports was twice that ofproduction. It was several times greater thanthat of world population growth. Today,roughly 25 per cent of the world’s total outputis traded among nation-states.

The fundamental structure of internationaltrade has been based on a few trading blocsi.e. groups of countries with formalised systemsof trading agreements. Most of the world’strade has been taking place within these blocs.Membership of these trading blocs is the resultof the effects of (i) distance; (ii) the legacy ofcolonial relationship; and (iii) geopoliticalalliances.

For most of the period during 1950-2000,international trade was dominated by :� Western Europe, together with some

former European colonies in Africa, SouthAmerica, Asia, the Caribbean, andAustralia;

� North America together with some LatinAmerican countries;

� The countries of the former Soviet Union;� Japan together with other East Asian

Countries and the oil-exporting Countriesof Saudi Arabia and Bahrain

Regional Trading BlocsIt is being recognised by most countries thatprotectionist barriers to trade are detrimentalto national economies. Therefore, mostgovernments, have reduced tariffs and quotason import. Many countries have simplebilateral agreements with trading partnersminimising or eradicating trade barriers on aproduct-by-product basis.

Since World War II, the primary vehicle forserving this purpose on the global level hasbeen the General Agreement on Tariffs andTrade (GATT). Through series of negotiations,it has systematically lowered tariff ratesworldwide. This has contributed to global

economic boom in the post World War IIperiod . Originally GATT membership wasalmost exclusive to developed nations. It soonexpanded to include the developing world.Most countries of the world are now itsmembers.

In 1995 the GATT metamorphosed intoWorld Trade Organisation (WTO), a permanentrather than ad hoc organisation in Genevathat also settles trade disputes. The WTOregulates trade in services too, but has yet toinclude important non-tariff barriers, such asexport restraints, inspection requirements,health and safety standards, and importlicensing which inhibit imports.

In addition to these broad globalagreements many nations have joined regionaltrading blocs, which were designed to reduceprotectionism and enhance economic relationsamong member states.

European Union (EU)

Originally it was founded in 1957 by sixmembers — Italy, France, Federal Republic ofGermany, Belgium, the Netherlands, andLuxemburg. It was called the EuropeanEconomic Community (EEC). Later itexpanded to include most of the westernEurope.

The EEC contributed significantly to helpEurope recover from the 1970s petro-shocksand slow economic growth. In 1992 the EEClaunched an ambitious plan to eliminateseveral trade barriers among its members.

The EEC changed into the European Union(EU) in 1995. It has harmonised severalproduction and trade regulations. A commoncurrency, the euro, was launched in early 1999for effectively binding diverse countries into asingle economy. With 400 million people, theEU is the largest single market in the world.

European Free Trade Association (EFTA)

In 1960 seven countries i.e. United Kingdom,Austria, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Portugaland Switzerland joined together to form EFTAwith the objective of bringing cooperation inthe field of trade. They abolished the tariff

INTERNATIONAL TRADE


between different member countries. InDecember 1972 United Kingdom and Denmarkabandoned their membership and joined EECwhile Iceland joined this association andFinland accepted its co-membership. Nowagain there are seven members.

North American Free TradeAgreement (NAFTA)

Compared to the EU, NAFTA is considerablymore modest. NAFTA’s origins lay in the 1988US — Canada Free Trade Agreement, whichgradually, eliminated trade restrictionsbetween the world’s two largest tradingpartners. In 1994 NAFTA was expanded toinclude Mexico. For the first time a developingnation was included in the trade bloc havingdeveloped nations as members. NAFTAhas now been extended to included LatinAmerican countries too. It has thus created afree trade zone extending from Alaska toTierra del Fuego.

Organisation of PetroleumExporting Countries (OPEC)

The 13 member countries of OPEC are —Algeria, Ecuador, Gabon, Indonesia, Iran,Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. Thisorganisation was formed by the petroleumproducing countries in 1960 to decide policiesregarding crude oil prices.

Association of South East AsianNations (ASEAN)

It was formed in 1967. Indonesia, Malaysia,Thailand, Philippines and Singapore are itsmembers. Tariffs between ASEAN and the restof the world is growing faster than within theregion. ASEAN also helps its members bypresenting a joint negotiating stance whendealing with Japan, EU and Australia andNew Zealand. India has now become anassociate member.

South Asian Association forRegional Cooperation (SAARC)

The South Asian countries, (India, Pakistan,Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka,

Maldives, have formed SAARC. One of itsobjectives is to trade among the membernations. The progress on the trade front hasbeen marred due to Indo-Pak relations.

SEA PORTS

Sea ports play an important role ininternational trade and hence, known as‘Gateways of International Trade’. Oceanroutes are most economical for carrying bulkand heavy commodities in large quantity. Portis that place on the coast where cargo isreceived from other countries as import andsent out to other countries as export. It thus,acts as a point of entry and exit.

The quantity of cargo handled by a port isan indicator of the level of development of itshinterland. The importance of a port is judgedby the size of cargo and the number of shipshandled. The ports have arrangements forloading and unloading of cargo. Thus, the portsprovide facilities of docking, loading, unloadingand the storage facilities for cargo. In order toprovide these facilities, the port authoritiesmake arrangements for maintaining thenavigable channel, arranging tugs and barges,and providing labour and managerial services.

Types of ports

Ports are classified in two ways: on the basis oftheir location such as inland ports andoutports; and on the basis of the specialisedtasks performed such as passenger ports andcommercial ports. Most ports are, however,multipurpose.

Passenger Ports

These are the ports of passenger liners. Theyare concerned with passenger traffic. Mumbai,London and New York are the examples of suchports.

Commercial Ports

These are the ports which basically handle thegoods for imports and exports.

Oil Ports

These ports deal in the processing and shippingof oil. Some of these are tanker ports and some

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are refinery ports. Maracaibo in Venezuela,Esskhira in Tunisia, Tripoli in Libya aretanker ports. Abadan on the Gulf of Persia is arefinery port.

Ports of Call

These are the ports which originally developedas calling points on main sea routes whereships used to anchor for refuelling, wateringand taking food items. Later on they developedinto commercial ports. Aden, Honolulu andSingapore are its good examples.

Packet Stations

These are also known as ferry ports. Thesepacket stations are exclusively concerned withthe transportation of passengers and mailacross water bodies covering short distances.These stations occur in pairs located in such away that they face each other across the waterbody e.g. Dover in England and Calais inFrance across English Channel.

Out Ports

These are deep water ports built away fromthe actual ports. These serve the parent ports

by receiving those ships which are unable toapproach them due to their large size. Classiccombination, for example, is Athens and itsoutport Piraeus in Greece.

Entrepot Ports

These are collection centres where the goodsare brought from different countries for export.Singapore is an entrepot for Asia, Rotterdamfor Europe, and Copenhagen for the Balticregion.

Naval Ports

These are the ports which have only strategicimportance. These ports serve the warshipsand have repair workshops for them. Kochi andKarwar are the examples of such ports in India.

Inland Ports

These ports are located away from the sea coast.They are linked with the sea through a river ora canal. Such ports are accessible to flat bottomships or barges. For example, Manchester islinked with a canal; Memphis is located on riverMississippi; Rhine has several ports likeMannheim and Duisbvrg; and Kolkata islocated on River Hoogly, a branch of river Ganga.

Exercises

Review Questions

1. Answer the following questions briefly:(i) What is international trade?(ii) What is the need for trading?(iii) Name the world’s five greatest trading nations.(iv) What are the three important components of international trade?(v) What is balance of trade?(vi) What are trade blocs?(vii) Name the countries constituting OPEC.(viii) Why are seaports called ‘gateways of international trade’?

2. Distinguish between:(i) Bilateral trade and multilateral trade;(ii) Imports and exports;(iii) Vertical trade and horizontal trade;(iv) Out ports and inland ports.

INTERNATIONAL TRADE


3. Discuss the main bases of international trade.4. Describe the changing pattern of international trade and growing importance of

TNCs.5. Discuss the major changes in the sectoral composition of trade in the present day

world.6. Explain the growing importance of regional trade blocs in international trade with

special reference to EU, OPEC and ASEAN.

Geographical Skills

7. On an outline map of the world label and shade the following:(i) The world’s five greatest trading nations;(ii) Member countries of the EFTA;(iii) Member countries of OPEC;(iv) Member countries of ASEAN.

Unit V

HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

One of the basic human needs is shelter.It may be in the form of a hut, a house,an apartment or a big mansion.

Settlement refers to an organised colony ofhuman beings together with the buildings inwhich they live or use and the paths andstreets over which they travel. It includes thetemporary camp of the hunters and herders;the permanent settlements called villages; andlarge urban agglomerations. Humansettlements may consist of only a few dwellingunits (hamlets), or they may be as large asmegalopolis with a big cluster of buildingsaccommodating millions of people.

Settlements can be studied in terms oftheir site, situation, size buildings, form,function, internal structure, external linkage,and roles in the national and global economy.Site refers to the actual piece of ground onwhich the settlement is built. Situation orPosition refers to the location of the village ortown in relation to surrounding areas. The siteand situation of the settlements and the typeof building may be studied in relation to thephysical environment and cultural heritage.For example, a village may be sited on a hill ora river bank. Such a site will determine itsaccess to water and the likely inundation inrainy season. The form of settlement in anyparticular region also reflects humanperception of the natural environment.

The functions, linkages and roles reveal thenature of hinterland from which the settlementgets sustenance and the level of overalldevelopment. Settlements have evolved to thepresent form over a long period of time.Throughout history, each new innovation inagricultural and industrial techniques has had

its effect on settlement structure and patternsin all parts of the world: developed ordeveloping. In the agricultural era, ruralsettlements predominated. The IndustrialRevolution gave rise to urban settlements bothsmall and big. Changing cultural and socialnodes are clearly reflected in the structure andfunctions of settlements.

SETTLEMENT TYPES: RURAL AND URBAN

Settlements are most commonly classified onthe basis of size and functions. Accordingly,settlements are divided into rural and urbanor villages and towns. The terms rural andurban are relative. There is no universallyacceptable criteria to distinguish rural fromurban. Different countries have evolved theirown criteria to suit their own requirements.In fact, one finds a continuum of settlementranging from hamlets to megalopolises. Ruralsettlements, are chiefly concerned with primaryactivities, be they agriculture, fishing, mining,forestry etc. On the other hand urbansettlements are nodal in character havingsecondary and tertiary activities.

In Canada, settlements less than 1,000persons are classified as rural, while in theUnited States, the upper limit is 2,500 persons.In India, a settlement with a population upto5,000 persons is rural, while in Japan,settlement having a population upto 30,000is rural. In some countries, size is not the basisfor differentiating rural from urban rather itis the economic status or function. The basicdifference is that while in villages most of thepeople are engaged in agricultural work, intowns the chief occupation of the people is non-agricultural i.e. industry, trade and services.

10 HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

CHAPTER


Some occupations are found in bothvillages and towns such as fishing, lumberingor mining. Such villages can, however, bedistinguished from towns by the smaller scaleof their activities.

The size and functions of settlements areoften related to their sites and situations, whichthemselves are also determined by theirfunctions. Villages dominated by agriculturalor farm workers will grow in fertile agriculturalareas. Towns may grow for several reasonsoften closely related to factors of site andsituation, e.g. mining towns are sited nearmineral resources and fishing ports are sitedby sheltered anchorages. Industrial town, onthe other hand, may be situated at nodal pointswhere all the raw materials for manufacturinggoods can be obtained.

The major functions of towns are trades andcommerce, transport and communication,mining, manufacturing, defence, adminis-tration, cultural and recreation activities. Inmany cases a town may have more than onemajor function and it is then said to be adiversified town.

Rural Settlements

Rural settlements are most closely and directlyrelated to land. They are dominated byprimary activities such as agriculture, animalhusbandry, fishing etc. Settlements size isrelatively small. As discussed earlier, thesesettlements may be studied in terms of form,internal structure and functions.

Form

Distribution of rural settlements on a worldmap reveals two distinct patterns: clustered orcompact and dispersed or scattered.

Compact Settlements : In these settlements,houses are built in close vicinity to each other.Initially it may begin as a small hamlet at theintersection of two footpaths or near a waterbody. As new households are added, thehamlet expands in size. Such settlements arecommonly seen in river valleys and fertileplains. The houses are closely spaced andstreets are narrow. Socially, the people areclosely knit.

Most of the river plains of monsoon Asiapresent compact settlements. In the plains ofIndia, China and Thailand, large nucleatedvillage is the prevailing type. In the Irrawaddydelta, one can see the linear settlements alongwith nucleated small villages. The Kwanto plainof Japan has the largest concentration ofcompact settlements. In southern Arabia,human settlements are concentrated close tothe coast, where water and good soil areavailable.

In Europe, compact settlements are typicalin the river valley plains of Volga and Danube.The Rhine hilltops are also dotted with compactsettlements, leaving plain areas for farming.

Scattered Settlements : These aregenerally, found over hills, plateaus andhighlands. They consist of one or two dwellingunits knitted together in a common bond by acultural feature such as a church, a mosqueor a temple. In Africa, scattered settlements ofthis kind are common. In India suchsettlements are found in hilly terrain such asnorthern Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh,Sikkim and northern West Bengal. Isolatedhamlets are found in mountainous regionsof China.

Structure

The arrangement of the streets, houses andother functions in rural settlements is relatedto its form, environment and culture.Generally, three patterns are most common.They are: linear, circular and square, and crossshaped. Many other variations may be seen(Fig. 10.1) .

Linear : These settlements are verycommon and are found along either side ofroads, rivers or canals. The flood plains of riversin the hilly terrains are also occupied by linearsettlements. In the low-lying areas of westernEurope, villages are often positioned on dykesand levees forming linear patterns. In India,such patterns are found all along the majorroads and rivers.

Circular or Square : These types ofsettlements develop in flat level lands, arounda pond, tank, crater, hill top or a cattle corral.

109HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

Fig. 10.1 Rural Settlement Types

For example, in West Bengal, settlementaround a village tank is a common feature. InAfrica and Europe, circular villages may beseen. At times because of physical barriers orother obstructions on one or two sides,settlements take a square form.

Cross Shaped : This type of settlementbegins as a small hamlet at the intersection ofroads. Gradually, it grows along the roads onall sides and appears as a cross or a stardepending upon the number of roads joiningat a junction.

Functions

Practically, all rural settlements are relatedto agriculture but within agriculture thereis a specialisation. Some settlements

specialise in dairying, some in fishing, somein farming and some in agro-processing.Besides, some rural settlements are primarilyengaged in production, but a few maydevelop specialised services in repairingagricultural implements and machineries,credit facilities, selling of fertilisers andhandloom clothes. Some large villages havea few small shops which sell the goodsagainst the payment of money as well asgrains. All the villages in India havepanchayats which perform administrativefunctions.

Urban Settlements

As discussed earlier, there are different basesof classifying settlements among rural


and urban. Some of the common basesof classification are size of the population,occupational structure, and administration.

Population Size

It is the most important criteria used by almostall countries of the world to designate asettlement as urban. There are, however, widedifferences in the exact number thatdifferentiates urban from rural. Countries withlow density of population may chose a lowernumber as the cut off figure compared to adensely populated country. For example, inDenmark, Sweden and Finland, all placeshaving more than 250 persons are called urban.In Iceland, the minimum size of population fora city is 300, whereas in Canada and Venezuela,it is 1,000. In Colombia the lower limit is 1,500,in Argentina and Portugal 2,000 persons, inUSA and Thailand 2,500 persons, in India5,000 persons and in Japan 30,000 persons.In India, besides the size of population, itsdensity is also an additional condition, which isabout 400 persons per sq. km.

Occupational Structure

In addition to the size of population, somecountries such as India take into account themajor economic activities as a criterion fordesignating a settlement as urban. In Italy, asettlement is called an urban, if more than 50per cent of the economically productivepopulation are engaged in non-agriculturalpursuits. In India, more than 75 per cent ofthe work force of the settlement should beengaged in non-agricultural activities, to becalled urban.

Administrative Decision

In some countries, the administrative set-upis a criterion for classifying a settlement asurban. For example, in India even a settlementwith less than 5,000 population can becomeurban if it has a municipality, cantonmentboard or a notified area. In many LatinAmerican countries, such as Brazil and Bolivia,any administrative centre is called an urbanirrespective of its size.

Location and Form Criteria

Depending upon its location, an urbansettlement may be linear, square, star orcrescent shaped. The architecture and style ofbuildings depict historical and culturalinfluences. By and large, the shape of a townis dependent on the site and situation.

The towns and cities of developed anddeveloping countries reflect marked differencein planning and development. While most ofthe towns and cities in developed countries arewell-planned and have regular shapes, theurban settlements of developing countries,except for a few, have grown haphazardlygiving them irregular shapes. For example,Chandigarh is a well–planned city, while Patnahas grown haphazardly.

Function

Towns perform a number of functions. In sometowns, one particular activity is predominantand the town is known for that function. Forexample, Oxford is known as an educationaltown, Varanasi as a religious centre, andWashington D.C. as an administrative town.Thus on the basis of functions, towns and citiesare classified into the following groups:

Administrative Towns : Headquarters ofthe administrative departments of CentralGovernments, such as New Delhi, Canberra,Moscow, Beijing; Addis Ababa, Washington,D.C., Paris and London are National Capitals.Jaipur, Bhopal, Patna and Bangalore in Indiaare examples of administrative headquartersof states.

Defence Towns : Centres of militaryactivities are known as defence towns. They areof three types: Fort towns, Garrison towns(bases of army contingents) and Naval bases.Jodhpur is a fort town; Mhow is a garrisontown; and Kochi is a naval base.

Cultural Towns : Cultural towns are eitherreligious, educational or recreational towns.Jerusalem, Mecca, Ayodhya, Hardwar,Madurai and Varanasi have religiousimportance, hence, they are called religioustowns. Some places are known for educationalinstitutions e.g. Varanasi, besides being

111

religious centre, has also been an importantseat of learning. Cambridge and Allahabad arefamous for their educational institutions. Thereare also recreational towns such as Las Vegasin the USA, Pattaya in Thailand and Darjeelingin India.

Industrial Towns : Mining and manu-facturing towns have developed in mining andmanufacturing regions. Kalgoorlie, Coolgardie,Dhanbad and Khetri are examples of miningtowns. Towns which have developed due tosetting up of industries such as Jamshedpur,Kanpur, Durgapur, Birmingham, Pittsburghand Youngstown etc. are called industrialtowns.

Trade and Transport Towns : Many oldtowns were famous as trade centres.Dusseldorf in Germany, Winnipeg in Canada,Lahore in Pakistan, Baghdad in Iraq and Agrain India have been important trade centres.Some towns have developed as transporttowns. Two modes of transport have beenresponsible for the development of suchtowns. Port Towns are the centres of importsand exports and are located on the sea coastse.g. Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Aden inYemen and Mumbai in India.

The junctions of rail routes often developinto urban centres. Mughalsarai and Itarsi areexamples of such towns in India.

Problems of Urban Settlementsin Developing Countries

Cities are viewed as engines of economicgrowth. But rapid growth of urban population

also brings problems along with opportunities.The process of urbanisation has far reachingconsequences on both the rural and the urbansettlements. Urbanisation is often defined asthe process of change from rural to urbanpopulation. But it is not only a process ofdemographic growth of villages leading toformation of towns and cities, it involves manyother social and economic changes, bothquantitative and qualitative.

The new millennium is primarily urban.While in 1950, only 16 per cent of the worldpopulation was urban, today almost half of theworld’s people (47 per cent) live in cities. Therate of urbanisation is much more higher indeveloping countries than developed countries.It is expected to continue as shown in Fig 10.2.

The temporal and spatial distribution oflarge cities of the world has also changedrapidly. While in 1920s, there were only 24million plus cities in the world, the numberrose to 198 in 1980s (Table 10.1). Today thereare 350 cities with more than one millionpopulation.

While industrialised countries are alreadymostly urban, developing countries are rapidlybecoming urban with 40 per cent urbanpopulation. By 2020, 52 per cent of people inthese areas will be living in cities. The growthof urban population in developing countrieshas been rapid since 1945. Besides, there hasalso been a rapid increase in the number ofvery large cities or mega-cities in thesecountries since 1975. Following the UnitedNations definition, cities with more than 8

HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

Table 10.1 : The World Distribution of Million Cities (>1,000,000 Inhabitants)

Year No. of Mean Latitude Mean PercentageMillion N or S of Population of WorldCities Equator Population

Living inMillion Cities

Early 1920s 24 44°30' 2.14 2.06

Early 1940s 41 39°20' 2.25 4.00

Early 1960s 113 35°44' 2.39 8.71

Early 1980s 198 34°07' 2.58 11.36

Source : Potter, R.B. and Unwin, T. (eds) (1992) Teaching the Geography of Developing Areas, Monograph 7,Developing Areas Research Group of the Institute of British Geographers


10.3 World's Fastest Growing Cities

Fig. 10.2 Urban Population in Developed and Developing Countries

million population are known as mega-cities.In 1990, 6 mega-cities were in developedcountries and 14 in developing countries.There are wide variations in the size of urbanpopulation, rate of urbanisation and growthof mega-cities, even among the developingcountries.

The most important aspect of worldurbanisation is the striking difference in theemerging trends between the world’s developedand developing regions (Fig. 10.3).

Asia provides some of the most dramaticexamples of this trend. From a region of villages,Asia is fast becoming a region of cities andtowns. Its urban population in 2000 was1.3 billion. It was nearly a fivefold increaseduring last five decades. Already, Asia has morethan 36 per cent of the world’s urbanpopulation and 16 of the 30 largest cities inthe world . By 2030 half of Asia’s 4.9 billionprojected population (53.4 per cent) will beliving in urban areas. Almost all developing

113

countries, are experiencing high rates ofurbanisation at an unprecedented rate.Karachi in Pakistan, with 1.1 millionpopulation in1950 is estimated to have 20.6million in 2015. Likewise, Cairo, Mumbai, SaoPaulo, Lagos, etc. are projected to havepopulations in excess of 20 million by 2015.It is estimated that by 2015, 153 of the world’s358 cities with more than one millionpopulation will be in Asia. It is expected thatof the 27 mega-cities (with more than 10million population) of the world in 2015, 15will be located in Asia.

Urban growth processes in the world’sdeveloping regions have been different fromthose in developed regions. In the developedcountries urban growth was accompanied byindustrialisation. In developing countriesdemographic growth has preceded economicdevelopment. The unprecedented urbangrowth in these regions has been driven by lackof employment opportunities in rural areasrather than the pull of prospective jobs in townsand cities. London took 190 years to grow froma city of half a million population to 10 millionand New York took 140 years; by contrast,Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Kolkata, Seoul and

Mumbai all took less than 75 years to growfrom half a million to 10 million. Overurbanisation or uncontrolled urbanisation hasgiven rise to slums and squatter settlementsmaking urban life miserable world over. Over600 million people live under life threateningsituations in cities and 300 million live inextreme poverty.

The emerging urban scenario in developingcountries has robbed the rural areas of its ablelabour force. Ecological degradation and socialpollution has sapped their energy. At the sametime, the urban settlements too have sufferedfrom shortage of housing, transport, health andother civic amenities. Both these places aredevoid of quality-life. In Africa, only one-thirdof all households are connected to potablewater. In Asia Pacific, only 38 per cent of urbanhouseholds are connected to sewerage system.In many cities in the developing countries, anincreasing proportion of the population lives insubstandard housing or on the streets. In mostof the million plus cities in India, one in fourinhabitants live in illegal settlements, which isgrowing twice as fast as the rest of the cities.

Even in the Pacific Asia, which is markedwith economic successes, it was estimated that

HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

Table 10.2 : Largest Cities in the World : 1950, 2000

Rank City Population Rank City Population(1950) (Million) (2000) (Million)

1 New York 12.3 1 Mexico City 31.0

2 London 10.4 2 Sao Paulo 25.8

3 Rhine -Ruhr 6.9 3 Shanghai 23.7

4 Tokyo 6.7 4 Tokyo 23.7

5 Shanghai 5.8 5 New York 22.4

6 Paris 5.5 6 Beijing 20.9

7 Buenos Aires 5.3 7 Rio de Janeiro 19.0

8 Chicago 4.9 8 Mumbai 16.8

9 Moscow 4.8 9 Kolkata 16.4

10 Calcutta (Kolkata) 4.6 10 Jakarta 15.7

11 Los Angeles 4.0 11 Los Angeles 13.9

12 Osaka 3.8 12 Seoul 13.7

13 Milan 3.6 13 Cairo 12.9

14 Bombay (Mumbai) 3.0 14 New Delhi 12.7

15 Mexico City 3.0 15 Buenos Aires 12.7


by turn of the twentieth century some 60 percent of the region’s urban population lived insquatter settlements or slums.

Squatter settlement in general, is aresidential area in an urban locality inhabitedby the very poor who have no access to tenuredland of their own, and hence ‘squat’ on vacantland, either private or public. Nature of suchsettlements and their names vary from onecountry to the other. Commonly they are alsoreferred to as shanty towns or informalsettlements. In many countries, they areknown by different local names such as :Ranchos in Venezuela ; Favelas in Brazil ;Kevettits in Myanmar and Bustee or Jhuggi -Jhopri in India. They comprise of communitieshoused in self-constructed shelters underconditions of informal or traditional landtenure. They are common features ofdeveloping countries and are typically theproduct of an urgent need for shelter by thepoor. They are characterised by a denseproliferation of small, make shift shelter builtfrom diverse materials, degradation of the localecosystem and by severe social problems. Theyoccur when the current land administrationand planning fail to address needs of the wholecommunity. These areas are characterised by

rapid, unstructured and unplanned develop-ment. On a global scale, they are a significantproblem.

A squatter settlement has three definingcharacteristics : physical; social; and legal.

Physical Characteristics: Due to inherent‘non-legal’ status, a squatter settlement hasservices and infrastructure below the adequateminimum levels. As such water supply,sanitation, electricity, roads, drainage, schools,health centres, and market places are eitherabsent or arranged informally.

Social Characteristics : Most of thesquatter households belong to lower incomegroup. They are predominantly migrants, butmany are also second or third generationsquatters.

Legal Characteristics : Such settlementslack land ownership.

Quite often squatter settlements and slumsare used as synonyms, while they are differentterms. Slums are defined as residential areasthat are physically and socially deterioratedand in which satisfactory family life isimpossible. A major index of slum condition isbad housing, which means such dwellings thathave inadequate light, air, toilet and bathingfacilities; that are damp and in bad repair; thatdo not afford opportunity for family privacy;

Box 10.1: Dharavi-Asia’s Largest Slum

“...Buses merely skirt the periphery. Autorickshaws cannot go there, anomalously, Dharavi ispart of central Bombay, where threewheelers are banned.

Only one main road traverses the slum, the miscalled ’90-foot road’, which has been reducedto less than half that for most of its length. Some of the side alleys and lanes are so narrow thatnot even a bicycle can pass. Whole neighbourhood consist of tenement buildings, two or threestoreys high with rusty iron stairways to the upper part, where a single room is rented by awhole family, sometimes twelve or more people; it is a kind of tropical version of the industrialdwelling of Victorian London’s East End.

But Dharavi is a keeper of more sombre secrets than the revulsion it inspires in the rich, arevulsion, moreover, that is in direct proportion to the role it serves in the creation of the wealthof Bombay. In this place of shadowless, treeless sunlight, uncollected garbage, stagnant poolsof foul water, where the only non-human creatures are the shining black crows and long greyrats, some of the most beautiful, valuable and useful articles in India are made. From Dharavicome delicate ceramics and pottery, exquisite embroidery and zari work, sophisticated leathergoods, high-fashion garments, finely wrought metalwork, delicate jewellery settings, wood carvingsand furniture that will find its way into the richest houses, both in India and abroad…

Dharavi was an arm of the sea, that was filled by waste, largely-produced by the people whohave come to live there: Untouchables, or Scheduled Castes as they are now known, and poorMuslims. It comprises rambling buildings of corrugated metal, 20 metres high in places, usedfor the treatment of hides and tanning. There are pleasant parts, but rotting garbage iseverywhere..."(Seabrook, 1996, pp. 50, 51-52)

115HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

Exercises

Review Questions

1. Answer the following questions briefly:(i) What is a settlement?(ii) What are the bases of classifying settlements?(iii) What are rural settlements?(iv) What is urbanisation?(v) What is the number of million plus cities in the world today?

2. Distinguish between:(i) Site and situation of settlements;(ii) Compact and scattered settlements;(iii) Administrative and cultural settlements;(iv) Squatter settlements and slums.

3. Describe the distribution pattern of rural settlements in the world.4. How does a rural settlement pattern reflect the influence of environmental conditions:

physical and cultural? Explain.5. Discuss the criteria used by different countries for designating settlements as urban.6. Discuss the functional classification of towns giving suitable examples from each type.7. ‘Distribution of urban population and its growth rate is very uneven in the world.’

Explain8. Discuss the problem associated with the urban settlements in developing countries.

Geographical Skills

9. On an outline map of the world show the locations of all the 15 cities of 1950 and 2000as listed in Table 10.2 and label them.

10. Study Table 10.2 and answer the following question:(i) How many cities are common in both years i.e. 1950 and 2000?(ii) Which cities of 1950 do not find place in the list for 2000?(iii) Which are the new entrants in 2000?(iv) Classify cities according to continents for 1950 and 2000.(v) What are your findings on the basis of the answers given above and how would

you explain them?

that are subject to fire hazard and thatovercrowd the land leaving no space forrecreational use. Dharavi (Mumbai) in India isAsia’s largest slum.

Thus squatter refers to legal position of thesettlement and slum refers to the condition ofa settlement .

An UNCHS report points out that about30 to 60 per cent of residents of most largecities in developing countries live in informalsettlements. South Africa has a high rate ofpopulation growth that is impacting city inthe form of squatter settlements. One suchsettlement is Imizamo Yethu in the Hout Bay

area of Cape Town. The improvement of livingcondition in such settlements is one of themost complex and pressing challenges beforedeveloping countries. In view of the changingneeds, contemporary governance involvemultiple stakeholders, interdependentresources and actions and shared purposesbetween the public and private, formal andinformal sectors. For example, changes inhousing finance policy is required indeveloping countries so that small financeschemes are made available to localcommunities and they are supported inconstructing houses and other facilities.

Region/Country Surface Area Population Density of Growth Rate(Thousand 2000 Population 1990-95 1995-

Sq. Km) (Million) (Per Sq. Km) 2000

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

World _ 6,055 _ 1.7 1.3

Africa _ 784.4 _ 2.9 2.4

Algeria 2,382 31.5 13 2.7 2.3

Angola 1,247 12.9 11 3.7 3.2

Benin 113 6.1 57 3.1 2.7

Botswana 582 1.6 3 2.9 1.9

Burkina Faso 274 11.9 41 2.8 2.7

Burundi 28 6.7 265 2.9 1.7

Cameroon 475 15.1 32 2.8 2.7

Central African Republic 623 3.6 6 2.6 1.9

Chad 1,284 7.7 6 2.7 2.6

Congo, Democratic

Republic of 2,345 51.7 22 3 2.6

Congo, Republic of 342 2.9 9 _ 2.8

Cote d’Ivoire 322 14.8 50 3.7 1.8

Egypt 1,001 68.5 64 2.2 1.9

Eritrea 118 3.9 41 _ 3.8

Ethiopia 1,104 62.6 64 3.1 2.5

Gabon 268 1.2 5 3.3 2.6

Ghana 239 20.2 85 3 2.7

Guinea 246 7.4 30 3 0.8

I WORLD POPULATION : SELECTED DATA, 2000APPENDIX

APPENDICES

117

Guinea-Bissau 36 1.2 43 2.1 2.2

Kenya 580 30.1 53 3.4 2

Lesotho 30 2.2 67 2.5 2.2

Liberia 111 3.2 32 3.3 8.2

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya _ 5.6 _ 3.5 2.4

Madagascar 587 15.9 27 3.3 3

Malawi 118 10.9 110 3.3 2.4

Mali 1,240 11.2 9 3.2 2.4

Mauritania 1,026 2.7 3 2.9 2.7

Mauritius 2 1.2 584 1 0.8

Morocco 447 28.4 64 2.4 1.8

Mozambique 802 19.7 23 2.8 2.5

Namibia 824 1.7 2 3.2 2.2

Niger 1,267 10.7 9 3.3 3.2

Nigeria 924 111.5 32.7 3.1 2.4

Rwanda 26 7.7 345 3.4 7.7

Senegal 197 9.5 49 2.7 2.6

Sierra Leone 72 4.9 70 2.7 3

Somalia 638 10.1 14 3.2 4.2

South Africa 1,221 40.4 35 2.4 1.5

Sudan 2,506 29.5 13 2.8 2.1

Togo 57 4.6 83 3.2 2.6

Tunisia 164 9.6 62 2.1 1.4

Uganda 241 21.8 113 3 2.8

United Republic of

Tanzania _ 33.5 _ 3.4 2.3

Zambia 753 9.2 14 2.8 2.3

Zimbabwe 391 11.7 33 3 1.4

Asia _ 3,682.60 _ 1.8 1.4

Afghanistan 652 22.7 41 6.7 2.9

Bangladesh 144 129.2 1,007 2.4 1.7

Bhutan _ 2.1 _ 2.3 2.8

Cambodia 181 11.2 68 2.5 2.3

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

APPENDIX I


China 9,598 1,277.60 135 1.4 0.9

Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea _ 24 _ 1.9 1.6

Hongkong, China _ 6.9 _ 0.8 2.1

India 3,287 1,013.70 342 1.9 1.6

Indonesia 1,905 212.1 116 1.8 1.4

Iran (Islamic Republic of) 1,633 67.7 39 2.7 1.7

Iraq 438 23.1 53 3.2 2.8

Israel 21 6.2 302 4.7 2.2

Japan 378 126.7 348 0.4 0.2

Jordan 89 6.7 55 3.4 3

Kuwait 18 2 111 -5.8 3.1

Lao People’s

Democratic Republic _ 5.4 _ 3 2.6

Lebanon 10 3.3 423 2 1.7

Malaysia 330 22.2 71 2.4 2

Mongolia 1,567 2.7 2 2.6 1.7

Myanmar 802 45.6 23 2.1 1.2

Nepal 147 23.9 161 2.5 2.4

Oman 212 2.5 11 3.6 3.3

Pakistan 796 156.5 179 2.7 2.8

Philippins 300 76 253 2.1 2.1

Republic of Korea _ 46.8 _ 0.8 0.8

Saudi Arabia 2,150 21.6 10 3.4 3.4

Singapore 1 3.6 6,587 1 1.4

Sri Lanka 66 18.8 300 1.3 1

Syrian Arab Republic 185 16.1 88 3.6 2.5

Thailand 513 61.4 119 1.3 0.9

Turkey 775 66.6 85 2 1.7

United Arab Emirates 84 2.4 35 2.3 2

Vietnam 332 79.8 241 2 1.6

Yemen 528 18.1 33 3.5 3.7

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

119

Europe _ 728.9 _ 0.3 0

Albania 29 3.1 124 0.8 -0.4

Austria 84 8.2 98 0.4 0.5

Belgium 30 10.2 331 0.1 0.1

Bosnia & Herzegovina 51 4 78 _ 3

Bulgaria 111 8.2 74 -0.2 -0.7

Croatia _ 4.5 _ _ -0.1

Czech Republic 79 10.2 133 _ -0.2

Denmark 43 5.3 126 0.2 0.3

Estonia 45 1.4 32 -0.2 -1.2

Finland 338 5.2 17 0.3 0.3

France 552 59.1 107 0.4 0.4

Germany 357 82.2 230 0.4 0.1

Greece 132 10.6 82 0.3 0.3

Hungary 93 10 109 -0.2 -0.4

Ireland 70 3.7 55 -0.2 0.7

Italy 301 57.3 196 0.1 0

Latvia 65 2.4 38 -0.3 -1.5

Lithuania 65 3.7 57 0.2 -0.3

Macedonia (Former

Yugoslav Republic of) 26 2 80 _ 0.6

Netherlands 42 15.8 470 0.7 0.4

Norway 324 4.5 15 0.5 0.5

Poland 323 38.8 127 0.3 0.1

Portugal 92 9.9 109 0 0

Romania 238 22.3 97 0.3 -0.4

Slovakia _ 5.4 _ _ 0.1

Slovenia 20 2 99 _ -0.1

Spain 506 39.6 79 0.2 0

Sweden 450 8.9 22 0.5 0.3

Switzerland 41 7.4 182 0.7 0.7

United Kingdom 243 58.8 248 0.2 0.2

Yugoslavia 102 10.6 108 0.3 0.1

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

APPENDIX I


North America _ 309.6 _ 1.1 0.9

Canada 9,971 31.1 3 1.4 1

United States of

America 9,629 278.4 31 1 0.8

Oceania _ 30.4 _ 1.5 1.3

Australia 7,741 18.9 2 1.4 1

New Caledonia _ 0.2 _ _ 2.1

New Zealand 271 3.9 14 0.9 1

Papua New Guinea 463 4.8 11 2.3 2.2

Vanuatu _ 0.2 _ _ 2.4

Latin America

and Caribbean _ 519.1 _ 1.8 1.6

Argentina 2,780 37 14 1.2 1.3

Belize _ 0.2 _ _ 2.4

Bolivia 1,099 8.3 8 2.4 2.3

Brazil 8,547 170.1 20 1.6 1.3

Chile 757 15.2 20 1.6 1.4

Colombia 1,139 42.3 41 1.7 1.9

Costa Rica 51 4 75 2.4 2.5

Cuba 111 11.2 102 0.9 0.4

Dominican Republic 49 8.5 173 2 1.7

Ecuador 284 12.6 46 2.3 2

EI Salvador 21 6.3 303 2.2 2

Guatemala 109 11.4 105 2.9 2.6

Haiti 28 8.2 289 2 1.7

Honduras 112 6.5 57 3 2.8

Jamaica 11 2.6 243 1 0.9

Mexico 1,958 98.9 51 2.1 1.6

Nicaragua 130 5.1 42 3.7 2.7

Panama 76 2.1 38 1.9 1.6

Paraguay 407 5.5 14 2.7 2.6

Peru 1,285 25.7 20 2 1.7

Puerto Rica 9 3.9 442 0.9 0.8

Trinidad and Tobago 5 1.3 254 1.1 0.5

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

121

Uruguay 176 3.3 19 0.6 0.7

Venezuela 912 24.2 27 2.1 2

USSR (former)

Armenia 30.0 3.5 104 2.3 – 0.3

Azerbaijan 87.0 7.7 94 0.8 0.5

Belarus 207.6 10.2 48 0.1 – 0.3

Georgia 70.0 5.0 75 0.1 – 1.1

Kazakhstan 2717.0 16.2 6 0.8 – 0.4

Kyrgyzstan 199.0 4.7 25 1.3 0.6

Rep. of Moldova 34.0 4.4 127 0.0 0.0

Russian Federation 17,075.0 146.9 9 0.2 – 0.2

Tajikistan 143.0 6.2 43 2.5 1.5

Turkmenistan 488.0 4.5 10 2.5 1.8

Ukraine 604.0 50.5 82 0.2 – 0.4

Uzbekistan 447.0 24.3 56 _ 1.6

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)


HDI RanksHigh Human Development

1. Canada2. Norway3. United States4. Australia5. Iceland6. Sweden7. Belgium8. Netherlands9. Japan

10. United Kingdom11. Finland12. France13. Switzerland14. Germany15. Denmark16. Austria17. Luxembourg18. Ireland19. Italy20. New Zealand21. Spain22. Cyprus23. Israel24. Singapore25. Greece26. Hong kong, China (SAR)27. Malta28. Portugal29. Slovenia30. Barbados31. Korea, Rep. of32. Brunei Darussalam33. Bahamas34. Czech Republic35. Argentina36. Kuwait37. Antigua and Barbuda38. Chile39. Uruguay40. Slovakia

41. Bahrain42. Qatar43. Hungary44. Poland45. United Arab Emirates46. EstoniaMedium Human Development47. Saint Kitts and Nevis48. Costa Rica49. Croatia50. Trinidad and Tobago51. Dominica52. Lithuania53. Seychelles54. Grenada55. Mexico56. Cuba57. Belarus58. Belize59. Panama60. Bulgaria61. Malaysia62. Russian Federation63. Latvia64. Romania65. Venezuela66. Fiji67. Suriname68. Colombia69. Macedonia, TFYR70. Georgia71. Mauritius72. Libyan Arab Jamahiriya73. Kazakhstan74. Brazil75. Saudi Arabia76. Thailand77. Philippines78. Ukraine79. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines80. Peru81. Paraguay

II HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX, 1998APPENDIX

123

82. Lebanon83. Jamaica84. Sri Lanka85. Turkey86. Oman87. Dominican Republic88. Saint Lucia89. Maldives90. Azerbaijan91. Ecuador92. Jordan93. Armenia94. Albania95. Samoa (Western)96. Guyana97. Iran, Islamic Rep. of98. Kyrgyzstan99. China100. Turkmenistan101. Tunisia102. Moldova, Rep. of103. South Africa104. El Salvador105. Cape Verde106. Uzbekistan107. Algeria108. Vietnam109. Indonesia110. Tajikistan111. Syrian Arab Republic112. Swaziland113. Honduras114. Bolivia115. Namibia116. Nicaragua117. Mongolia118. Vanuatu119. Egypt120. Guatemala121. Solomon Islands122. Botswana123. Gabon124. Morocco125. Myanmar126. Iraq127. Lesotho128. India

129. Ghana130. Zimbabwe131. Equatorial Guinea132. Sao Tome and Principe133. Papua New Guinea134. Cameroon135. Pakistan136. Cambodia137. Comoros138. Kenya139. Congo, The Republic of theLow Human Development140. Lao People’s Dem. Rep.141. Madagascar142. Bhutan143. Sudan144. Nepal145. Togo146. Bangladesh147. Mauritania148. Yemen149. Djibouti150. Haiti151. Nigeria152. Congo, Dem Rep. of the153. Zambia154. Cote d’lvoire155. Senegal156. Tanzania, U. Rep. of157. Benin158. Uganda159. Eritrea160. Angola161. Gambia162. Guinea163. Malawi164. Rwanda165. Mali166. Central African Republic167. Chad168. Mozambique169. Guinea –Bissau170. Burundi171. Ethiopia172. Burkina Faso173. Niger174. Sierra Leone

Source : Human Development Report, 2000, UNDP, Oxford University Press, Delhi

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