Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Geography

Classification of Resources

a) Natural Resources

These are resources derived from nature without human intervention. They include:

• Biotic Resources: Resources obtained from living organisms.
  • Examples: Forests, animals, fish, crops.
• Abiotic Resources: Resources derived from non-living entities.
  • Examples: Minerals, soil, water, air.

b) Human-Made Resources

These are resources created or modified by human beings using natural resources.

• Examples: Buildings, machinery, vehicles, roads.

Classification Based on Renewability

a) Renewable Resources

• Can be replenished naturally over a short period.
• Examples: Solar energy, wind energy, water, forests, and crops.
• Features:
  • Regenerate naturally.
  • Sustainable if managed properly.
  • Often environment-friendly.

b) Non-Renewable

The Rise of the Bourgeoisie and Industrial Change

What changes led to the industrial and bourgeois revolution?

The development of businesses increased the wealth of the bourgeoisie, surpassing the traditionally wealthy nobility and clergy whose wealth was based on land ownership. This shift in economic power led to increased social and political influence for the bourgeoisie, despite their unequal treatment as members of the Third Estate.

What were the two new production systems?

• Domestic System: Organized by merchants who supplied artisans with raw materials, collected finished products, and managed their sale.
• Manufacturing: Large workshops employing numerous artisans to produce weapons and luxury items like glass.

Population Growth and Agricultural

Economic Systems of the World

Subsistence System

• Based on the primary sector, families produce what they consume in small quantities. If necessary, they sell or exchange goods on the local market.
• Prevalent before the Industrial Revolution.
• Today, it is only found in less developed societies due to limited access to technology.

Communist System

• The state controls the economy, owning companies and deciding production (what and quantity), prices, distribution of profits, etc.
• Previously common, it is now used in Cuba, Laos, North Korea, Vietnam, and China.
• The Chinese system is a hybrid between communism and capitalism.

Capitalist System

• Means of production are privately owned (technology, companies, machinery, etc.). The motivation to make a profit drives

Prehistory: The Dawn of Humanity

Prehistory is a term used to refer to the first and longest phase or age into which human history has been divided by Eurocentric/Western academic tradition. It covers most of the human past, around 2.8 million years, since the appearance of the first member of the hominid family: *Homo habilis*, the first to make and devise tools made of stone. At the beginning of the 19th century, a Danish archaeologist, Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, concluded that objects and tools made of stone tended to be older than those made of metal. He divided this remote human past into two main phases: the Stone Age and the Metal Age.

Subdivisions of the Stone Age

A few decades later, another archaeologist, John Lubbock, after studying... Continue reading "Human Prehistory: From Stone Tools to the Holocene" »

Disentailment (First Half 19th Century)

Historical Context

Beginning in 1836, the disentailment was driven by Juan Álvarez Mendizábal, Minister of Finance in the liberal government. This reform aimed to modernize the Spanish economy and reduce the power of the Church.

Objectives

• Debt Reduction: Obtain revenue to reduce the massive public debt.
• Agrarian Modernization: Modernize agriculture by transferring lands from dead hands to private owners for exploitation.
• Weakening Church Power: Reduce the economic and social power of the Catholic Church, which owned vast tracts of land.

Consequences

• Economic: Public debt was reduced and state resources increased, but land distribution favored the wealthy, worsening inequalities.
• Social: Many peasants and small

Agriculture in Slovakia

Agriculture, encompassing forestry, mining, and fishing, is a primary sector of the economy. It produces:

• Food for the population
• Raw materials for industry

Historical Development

• Beginning of the 20th century: 60% of the population made a living by agricultural production.
• 1949: Collectivization of agricultural production (state property).
• 1970s: Agricultural cooperatives (poľnohospodárske družstvá) were established.
• 1989: Dissolution of agricultural cooperatives – land and property began to be returned to original owners (or descendants).
• Joining the EU: European agricultural policy – quotas.

Current State of Agriculture

• Agriculture employs less than 1.5% of the workforce.
• Contributes 0.9 – 1.5% to GDP.
• Agricultural land

Slovakia's Transport Infrastructure

Types of Transport

• Road Transport: The most common mode.
• Railway Transport: Essential for goods and raw materials.
• Water Transport: Primarily via the Danube River.
• Air Transport: Supports tourism and business.
• Pipeline Transport: Crucial for energy infrastructure.

Road Network

Major Highways (D-series)

• D1: Bratislava – Košice
• D2: Connecting Hungary and the Czech Republic
• D3
• D4

Expressways

Slovakia also features a network of expressways complementing its highway system.

Economic Importance of Road Transport

• Significantly supports the automotive industry.

Railway Transport

Role in the Economy

• Primarily used for the transport of goods and raw materials such as coal and sand.

Types of Railway Companies

• ZSSK: Public passenger transport

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Global Systems

Distinguish space from place and explain why these concepts matter to geographers
Space – The physical locations of events and phenomena. Where things can occur often represented on maps
Place – Space is organized into places often thought of as bounded settings in which social relations and identity are constituted.
- For environmental invasive projects, such as pipelines it is important to consider the place and what social relations are ongoing in that space.

Role of population, consumption (affluence) and technology as drivers of environmental change – including the consequences of prioritizing one over others

More people, more resources needed, therefore more pollutants
Consumption(Affluence) – Consumption per person