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

Flatmate: una persona que comparte un piso con otros.

Inhabitant: una persona que vive u ocupa un lugar.

Occupant: una persona que reside o está presente en una casa en un momento dado.

Landlord/Landlady: un hombre/mujer que alquila un edificio o alojamiento.

Lodger: una persona que alquila alojamiento en la casa de otra persona.

Squatter: una persona que ocupa ilegalmente una casa o edificio deshabitado.

Tenant: una persona que ocupa tierras o propiedades alquiladas a un arrendador.

Outskirts: áreas limítrofes, distritos, etc., de una ciudad.

Suburb: un distrito residencial situado en las afueras de una ciudad o pueblo.

Urban: ciudad, cívico, centro urbano, metropolitano.

Residential: diseñado para que las personas vivan en él, casas privadas.... Continue reading "Vocabulario de vivienda y urbanismo" »

Developing Countries

Southern countries. Economic poverty, low GDP per inhabitant and the low standard of living, the basic needs of the majority population are not covered. The states invent nothing, social differences are very striking. Population is growing rapidly and young, living in shantytowns. The political systems are unstable, lack a democratic tradition, and authoritarian regimes, corruption, the violation of human rights.

Emerging Countries

Economies have experienced rapid growth, GDP remains small because development is based on low labor costs and the majority of workers have low salaries, huge contrasts in the standard of living between rich and poor. Population growth rate reduced, increase remains high and population concentrated... Continue reading "Development Challenges and Aid Programs" »

Exploring Human Habitats

Rural Habitats

A significant portion of the world's population (47%, or 3.4 billion people) resides in rural areas, maintaining traditional customs and playing a crucial role in food production and environmental preservation.

Traditional Houses and Their Classification

Rural dwellings often utilize natural materials and can be categorized based on shape, material, and geographical location:

• Mud Houses (Adobe): Common in regions with irrigated agriculture and livestock, such as Valencia, Aragon, the southern Sahara, and savannahs.
• Wooden Houses: Prevalent in forest areas, taiga, and wetter swamp regions like the Amazon River basin, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, and mountainous areas of Spain.
• Houses Made of Fur and Fabric: Used

The Iberian Peninsula: Kingdoms and Conquests

The Rise of Asturias and León

1. Who moved the capital to León, and renamed Asturias as the Kingdom of León?

○ Ordoño II

2. When was Asturias renamed as León?

○ In the 10th century

3. Who made Castile an independent county and when?

○ Fernán González in the 10th century

4. Who unified Castile with León and when?

○ Ferdinand I unified them in 1038

5. From which kingdom did Aragon become independent and when?

○ From Navarre in the 11th century

6. What were the first two capitals of the Kingdom of Asturias?

○ Cangas de Onís and Oviedo

7. What was the Hispanic March?

○ A zone established by Charlemagne in 795 as a defensive barrier between the Al-Andalus and the Carolingian Empire.

8. Who conquered... Continue reading "A History of Spain: From the Crown of Aragon to the Age of Exploration" »

Key Figures of the Age of Exploration

Hernán Cortés: Spanish explorer who landed on the coast of Mexico in 1519. In 1521, he and his Indian allies captured and demolished Tenochtitlan.

Malinche: A young Indian woman who served as Cortés's translator and adviser. The Spanish called her Doña Malinche.

Moctezuma: Aztec emperor who drove the Spanish from Tenochtitlan. He was killed in the fighting.

Francisco Pizarro: Spanish explorer who captured and killed Atahualpa.

Atahualpa: Incan ruler who won the throne from his brother in a bloody civil war.

Colonial Administration and Society

Council of the Indies: Established to pass laws and maintain strict control over the colonies.

Encomienda: The right to demand labor or tribute from Native Americans in... Continue reading "Key Figures and Concepts of the Age of Exploration and Enlightenment" »

Imperialism

It is the policy of extending a country's (mother country) domination over other regions (colonies). It began to be applied on a worldwide scale in the 19th century.

Factors

• Economic and demographic factors:
  • Industrialisation: Looked for areas in which they could invest capital for a greater profit, obtain cheap raw materials, and sell their industrial products.
  • Migration: Since there weren't enough jobs for all the people, many Europeans migrated to the colonies.

The Great Powers in the Late 19th Century

Liberalism: Separation of powers, new rights, universal male suffrage, socialist parties. Authoritarian: King had absolute power, parliaments couldn't oppose the monarch's decisions, military presence, ethnic and cultural diversity, very... Continue reading "Imperialism and the Rise of Colonial Rule: Factors, Effects, and the Causes of World War I" »

The Birth of the Modern World

Tense International Relations

The late 19th and early 20th centuries were marked by tense international relations. Industrialized countries focused on large-scale production, fueled by colonization and a growing consumer society. This led to inequalities and economic crises, causing a decline in the influence of realism in international politics.

Political Tensions in Europe

While armed conflicts were avoided within Europe, there was a significant increase in the production of arms and military equipment. Germany's foreign policy under Bismarck focused on alliances with Austria, Russia, and Italy, leading to the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine. Wilhelm II's dismissal of Bismarck and subsequent expansionist policies... Continue reading "The Second Industrial Revolution and the Rise of Imperialism" »

Dividing the World

Globalization's Influence

Globalization has extended the culture and way of life of the USA and some European countries to the rest of the world.

The world today can be divided into two main parts: central areas and peripheral areas.

Global Cities

Global cities (New York, London, Tokyo, Paris, Berlin) are the main decision-making centers where multinational companies, large banks, and important international organizations are located.

Support for Globalization

Supporters of globalization include international organizations like the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the G8, and the G20. They use the following arguments:

• Globalization promotes the exchange of goods, services, capital, and people.

The Early Middle Ages: 600 A.C. Waves of invaders swept across Europe. Trade slowed to a trickle, towns emptied, and learning virtually ceased. It was relatively a backward region largely cut off from advanced civilizations in the Middle East, China, and India. Slowly, though, a new European Civilization would emerge that blended Greco-Roman, Germanic, and Christian traditions, called medieval civilization…

Geography of Western Europe

Geography of Western Europe: Rome had linked its distant European territories with miles of roads and had spread classical ideas, the Latin language, and Christianity to the tribal peoples of Western Europe, but Rome was a Mediterranean power. The Germanic peoples who ended Roman rule in the West shifted the focus... Continue reading "The Early Middle Ages: Setting the Scene" »

Rise of the Living Standards

• Assembly-line construction techniques applied to houses or “little boxes”.
• Increase in car ownership.
• The 1956 Interstate Highways Act → new roads.
• Existence of long-term low-interest mortgages (Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944).

Racial factors: The “white flight,” e.g., Levittown (racial housing discrimination, redlining, and Mortgage discrimination)

Levittown: The Imperfect Rise of the American Suburbs

By Crystal Galyean --  In 1947, entrepreneur Abraham Levitt and his two sons, William and Alfred, broke ground on a planned community located in Nassau County, Long Island. Within a few years, the Levitts had transformed the former farmland into a suburban community housing thousands of men— many of whom... Continue reading "The Rise of Suburbia in the 1950s: Levittown and the American Dream" »