Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
statement may cause you to ask, “Where else would a farmer live?” The answer is, in a
village or town, and therein lies a significant difference in the way people are distributed.
Rural population geography in the United States generally exhibits dispersion, which en-
tails considerable open space between individual farmsteads. In contrast, the pattern in
much of the rest of the world exhibits clustering. That is, farming families tend to live in a
compact village, from which they walk or otherwise “commute” to the land that they tend.
The two patterns are depicted graphically in the following figures, both of which contain
21 dots that represent homesteads.
Opportunity for livelihood
Trying to fully explain global population geography in a one-liner is impossible, but perhaps “oppor-
tunity for livelihood” is a good start. Human population densities tend to be high where opportunity
for livelihood is favorable and low where the opposite is true. Opportunity for livelihood takes differ-
ent forms and therefore, so does the characteristics of regions that support high densities.
Agricultural land in the Nile, Ganges, and Indus River Valleys, plus the valleys and coastal plains of
eastern China support large populations (see Figure 11-1) due to their rich alluvial soils. How rich?
Well, rich enough that since the beginning of recorded time, people who possess even the most mod-
est agricultural technology have been able to realize sizeable harvests on relatively small acreage. In
complete contrast, high densities are also found in countries where industrial and post-industrial eco-
nomies dominate. Examples include the Northeastern U.S., Western Europe, and Japan.
Urban growth
Because people round the worldview cities as centers of opportunity for livelihood, one of the most
significant population trends today is urban growth. I talk about that more fully in Chapters 12 and
17. But for now, you can clearly see its effects on the world population map in the likes of Greater
Mexico City, the Sao Paulo-Rio de Janeiro complex in Brazil, and the major cities on the East and
West Coasts of the U.S.
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