Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and exercises for Geography for Secondary education

Global Distribution of Economic Activities

Europe accounts for 8%, North America for 2%, Asia for 45%, and Africa for 58%.

Agricultural Activities

Agricultural activities occupy an important place because our food depends on this sector. These activities are developed in the agricultural landscape, characterized by:

1. Plot

• Shape, size, limit: Open field, closed field

2. Tillage Systems

• Harnessing the sun: Intensive, extensive
• Product range: Polyculture, monoculture
• Water management: Irrigated, dry

3. Settlement

• Sparse, centered

Types of Agriculture

• Subsistence: Itinerant cremation, extensive dry, irrigated rice
• Market: Opens in developed countries
• Objectives: Revenue + cost through field machining, production specialization, rapid commercialization of agricultural

Elements of a State

A State is the political and administrative unit that governs a territory and exercises authority over the people who live within its borders.

A State is composed of:

Territory

• The area over which the State exercises power.
• Includes land, coastal waters, airspace, and subsoil.
• It is limited by borders.

Population

• The people who live in the State's territory.
• Citizens and residents have rights and obligations established by law.

Power

• Represented by the laws and institutions that create and enforce them.

International Recognition

• Acceptance of a State by other countries.
• Some territories consider themselves States but are recognized by only a few countries.

Types of States

Democratic States

For a State to be democratic, it must have:

Citizen

The Structure of Feudal Society

Feudal society was divided into estates. Each estate was a closed group with little social mobility. People belonged to a group from birth for a lifetime. This was considered God's will, and people had to accept their fate. In this society, the laws did not apply equally to everyone. Society was divided into two main groups:

• Privileged classes: Nobility and clergy (had all the privileges and no duties).
• Non-privileged classes: Peasants and artisans (had all the duties and few rights).

At the top of the feudal system was the monarch, who was recognized as the primus inter pares.

The Fiefdom

A fiefdom was land given to a vassal by a king or noble, who became the feudal lord. The lord lived off rent and exercised authority...

The Secondary Sector

The secondary sector transforms raw materials and natural resources into semi-finished or processed products.

The Tertiary Sector

The tertiary sector provides services to people and other economic sectors.

Balance of Payments

The balance of payments includes all the country's monetary transactions, such as goods, services, and capital.

Balance of Trade

The balance of trade is the difference in value between the goods that the country exports and the goods it imports.

Energy Sources

Non-renewable energy sources:

• Coal: fossil rock currently used for thermal production
• Natural Gas: it is used as fuel, for electricity and thermal generation, and in the chemical industry
• Oil: fossil material with important uses, such as electricity generation
• Nuclear

Industry

Industry: The economic sector focused on large-scale production of physical goods for industrial processes or consumption.

Historical Development of Industry

Artisanal Labor (Up to the late 18th century)

Skilled craftspeople transformed raw materials into manufactured goods, limited by human capacity. Craftsmen's districts and guilds emerged in major cities.

First Industrial Revolution (Late 18th - Late 19th century)

Coal-fueled, steam-driven machines enabled large-scale manufacturing, particularly in textiles and metal goods, primarily in Great Britain.

Second Industrial Revolution (Late 19th - Late 20th century)

Mass production and assembly lines revolutionized manufacturing. New energy sources like oil and electricity boosted productivity....

Population

Population is the number of people who inhabit a particular place. Population is influenced by physical environment, settlement patterns, economic activities, and the history of an area.

Before the 19th Century

• Climate changes around 10,000 years ago led to the Neolithic Revolution. As agriculture developed and population became more sedentary, towns and cities were established. Population grew slowly because it was dependent on the resources available.
• Wars, epidemics, and large-scale migration also either limited or promoted population growth. In the first century A.D. the world population was about 256 million. It increased until the Black Death of 1342. By the mid-17th century, the world population surpassed 500 million, and in 1800

Ancient Iberia

Celts

Celtic peoples, an Indo-European group, migrated to the Iberian Peninsula between the 10th and 5th centuries BC. Organized into clans and tribes, their hierarchical society placed warriors at the top. These cattle farmers resided in fortified hilltop villages known as castros, which were largely self-sufficient due to limited trade. Their dwellings were typically rounded, and they practiced polytheism and cremation in designated necropolis.

Celtiberians

Representing a more developed Celtic group due to Iberian influence, the Celtiberians inhabited larger settlements called oppida and possessed a written language.

Iberians

Indigenous to the Iberian Peninsula, Iberians were influenced by colonizers such as the Phoenicians and...

International Diffusion of the Industrial Revolution (1815-1914)

The Dynastic Union of Castile and Aragon

At the end of the 15th century, the Catholic Monarchs, Isabel I of Castile and Fernando II of Aragon, established an authoritarian monarchy on the Iberian Peninsula.

In 1469, Isabel married Fernando, the Crown Prince of Aragon. When the King of Castile died, a civil war broke out between the followers of Juana la Beltraneja and those of Isabel. The conflict ended in 1479 with the victory of Isabel. In the same year, Fernando became the King of Aragon. This resulted in the dynastic union of Castile and Aragon. Each kingdom retained its own institutions, laws, language, currency, and internal boundaries.

Domestic Reforms: Centralizing Power

Weakening the Power of the Nobility

• A permanent army.
• Military Orders

Germanic Invasions

The Western Roman Empire followed a different evolution to the Byzantine Empire, as the lands of Western Europe were occupied by peoples of Germanic origin.

1. Germanic Tribes

The Germanic people came from Central Asia and settled for centuries near the borders of the Roman Empire. They were nomadic people who did not build cities, as they mainly lived in villages and camps. They mainly worked in farming and were organised into tribes, led by a tribal chief who was elected by an assembly of free men. The leader was the military chief and ruled with the help of warriors, with whom he established pacts of loyalty.

An increase in population and the need to seek pastures for cattle caused the Germanic people to move to western Europe....