Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
classified as primate when it is far and away the largest city of a country. Classically, it tends to be at
least twice as large as the second largest city. More often than not, it is also the capital. Thus, it stands
as the overwhelming center of population, political power, employment, commerce and wealth.
Primate cities are powerful magnets for rural-to-urban migration, often resulting in sprawling,
disease-ridden slums inhabited by poor folk who have come to seek work. Also, the concentration of
somuchpowerandprospective opportunityinasinglesettingmayresultindomestic political tension
that pits inhabitants of a primate city against people in other parts of the country that feel deprived of
their fair share of economic opportunity. On balance, therefore, the consequences of having a primate
city are not entirely positive.
As suggested by the 1790 census data at the start of this chapter, the modern reality of so many people
worldwide living in so many cities is at odds with the way things used to be. In fact, urbanization is
at least a 5,500 year-old process whose early geography may be traced to a handful of locales.
Getting Started: Urban Hearths
Cities originated independently in five regions (shown in Figure 17-2) often called
urban
hearth areas
— places where the first cities developed. They include:
Mesopotamia: The Tigris-Euphrates River valley that mainly lies in modern-day Iraq.
Nile Valley: Especially in what is now Egypt.
Indus River Valley: In what is now Pakistan.
The Lower Huang Ho (Yellow River) Region: This is located in Northeastern China.
Mesoamerica: The region that extends northward from Nicaragua to and including Central
Mexico.
Mesopotamia probably has the honor of being the first. Its oldest urban ruins date back about 5,500
years. Ancient Egypt appears to be a close second.
