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Bailey Quinn
Ms. Bennett
British Literature
7 October 2011
Geographies of the World
The habitable lands of Earth have never supported the equal distribution of the human
population. In 1850, the earth had only one billion people, but less than one hundred years later
Earth’s population had doubled to two billion people (Arreola). This figure alone creates new
problems within the habitable areas of Earth, and the spread of wealth, resources and countries in
these regions have changed over time. The world today only has about six billion people on its
surface (Arreola). From 1930 to 2011 this jump is one of huge proportions. This rapid expansion
of human population also opens up different areas for people to study movement, distribution of
different cultures, regions, resources, wealth, countries, and how people interact with each other.
All of these categories fall under one specific area of study, Geography. Population Geography
(also known as Social Geography) studies the distribution of people and their movement within
the world, the habitable areas that are on Earth, the ability of Earth to support people, and how
people can improve this ability to support people. Political Geography studies different nations
throughout the world, the different levels of government, different governmental units, the
different governments, national boundaries, and how shape, size, and location affect that nation.
Economic Geography studies the movement of wealth, the development of countries, the
different economies found throughout the world, the activity of the economies and different
levels assigned to each level of activity, resources, and the infrastructure of each nation and the
world as a whole. Although these geographies study different things, they are all connected.
Population affects the wealth of a nation, while the location and size of a nation affects both the

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population size and the wealth that economy can produce. The 196 countries of the world are
all different in size, wealth, and population count. All three of these factors contribute to the
eventual success or failure of a country and group of people. Worldwide growth, country growth,
regional growth, and the distribution of people throughout the world have become important
studies of geography.
Population Geography covers all growth and distribution of humans. It allows for
the movement and growth of people to be tracked and the population of the world to be
accounted for. It also helps to project the population and create ways to support the new amount
of people. This movement, called migration, is recorded for nations and rulers to know how the
wealth of their country and the wealth of the population in that country is affected by the
movement of its citizens or a business’s employees. With this said a country or area can only
hold as much as the amount of food and living space available. Carrying capacity is a big factor
that can very well determine the amount of population an area can hold, or the amount of people
per square mile an area is able to withstand in an urban environment. This also can account for
the fertility and mortality (death rate) of a nation, group of people, or a whole area of the world
(“Geography”). Humans do have the ability to affect the carrying capacity of a certain region of
the world (Arreola). Humans have the ability to develop new technology and farming techniques
that allow for the increased output of food, which in turn allows for more people to live in one
area.
Political Geography deals with all levels of governments and the nations that
harbor those governments. These governments can be broken up into units called governmental
units. These units can then be broken up into smaller units, the first of these being a nation. A
nation is a region with people, who share the same beliefs, culture, and the sense of a belonging.

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(Arreola) This belonging and shared beliefs and culture allow for these people to develop into a
nation. A state (or country) is a unit that can control a specific territory and also control all
internal and external affairs. A nation-state is one that can control all external and internal
affairs, control a specific region, and contain the people who have the same culture and belief
systems. Most of the countries of the world are actually nation-states (Arreola). Some peoples
have become stateless nations. These people many live in a state but do not agree or associate
with the governing group. The political aspect of with turmoil could lead to the development of t
state (or nation) and circumstances that the borders are drawn, or maybe the relationship between
the government and its citizens (“Geography”). The way citizens are governed shows how
people in that region think of their government and the withstanding relationship that develops
with the different levels of government.
Within a country there are many different ways for governments to begin to govern the
people who agree to live and commit themselves to the government or ruling party. The first of
the few types of government found throughout the world could be considered the most
acceptable with the citizens of that country. A democracy is one in which the people, not just the
rulers, have a say in what goes on and how they should be governed. The idea of a total and
complete democracy does create a problem, within an uneducated mass, which has the ability to
bring a country to its knees. To even begin to discover why the type of government even exists,
an even older government has to become known, so why people began to favor a democracy
becomes apparent. An older form of government, which is still in a limited use (McBain), is the
Monarchy. A Monarchy is a country with a king or queen (or both) that shares (or does not) its
power with the citizen body (Arreola). The modern concept of a monarchy is a little different
now than it was prior the 1600s. Prior to this time kings could “try subjects and execute them

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without the proper judicial trial” (McBain) and have no consequence for the act. Also in Great
Britain in the 1600s, kings were misusing their powers and declaring martial law (or military
rule) so as to conscript troops into the navy or army (McBain). The examples here closely
resemble the power which a dictator would have over a country. Sometimes a government that
has a group of people, not one person, is still considered a dictatorship if that group “represses
civil society and save the most intensive attacks for the workers” (Kim). The type of society that
is spawned from this is like a flock of sheep following blindly into an unknown, where they as
the majority have no say. Although this type of a government is not particularly appealing,
communism is a hot topic even today. The idea that the “government controls nearly all political
power, any means of manufacturing, and all economic activity” (Arreola) is mind boggling to
any citizen of a country that provides its citizens with the ability to own whatever property they
chose and hold whichever job they might desire to hold. It shows the different levels of thought
that can pass through the minds of people who have always been raised to see the owning of
property as the governments and never their own. Of course this is only governments on one
level. The national level of government is the ruling group at the top of a pyramid of
government. The smallest unit is the local government. The second level is the state or regional
government. The last and largest, also in control of the other two, is the national government of a
nation. The local government is like a school district or a small town. The state or regional
government has some contact but not as much as the local. The state or regional government
does deal with larger issues such as rules of diver licenses. The last unit of government is the
national level of government. This level is in charge of the whole nation as well as the other two
levels (Arreola). The national level has the least contact with the citizens it governs, but it

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derives the power from the people and the local, state/regional level of government. All of the
governments explained here can only control a certain space of a certain country.
Territory has always been known to cause disputes and disagreements between states and
nations. The size, shape, and location determine the course of a nation as a whole. If a nation is
landlocked (no areas touch water) then that nation has to develop a friendly relationship with the
countries around it for excess to the ports. The size of a nation is important as well. The size is
can dictate how many people can live in that country, how a nation needs to manage its imports
and exports, and how its population needs to be given the basic needs. The shape of a country
can show how easily, or complex, a country is to govern or how fast goods can be moved
(Arreola). Groups of people that were originally from a certain region may be uprooted and
boundaries redrawn so traditional enemies now have to fight for power and control of a country.
This is the case in Africa. At the Berlin Conference (1884-1885) 14 European nations drew
boundaries and decided which part of Africa they wanted to own. Each decided that a territory
could be that countries if the country could control that region. This has been debated as the root
of problems that now plague Africa with civil war and violence (Arreola). Although the
Europeans drew boundaries, these boundaries only existed on a map. A boundary that can only
be found on a map is known as an artificial boundary, while a river or a mountain range that is
considered a bounder is called a natural boundary. Many of the worlds’ nations have artificial
boundaries, but older European nations (France, Spain, ect.) have borders that end and begin on
mountain ranges or rivers. These boundaries were thought to always stay the same, but rivers
have never stayed on the same course. Most problems with natural borders are with rivers that
have shifted and one nation has gained land while the other has lost land. The problem does

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create disputes over land, and how the boundary should be set. Within the territory, the country
does need to have the ability to make money.
Money is what makes the world run. It allows nations to function daily, and for people to
buy the things they need to live day to day. Money makes sure businesses can provide for the
general public or the military, or even the nations across the world. The world does not have one
unified economic system though. There are many systems across the globe. The first of these is a
traditional economy. A traditional economy (or barter economy) is one where the exchange of
money is absent. Goods are traded for services or other goods (Arreola). The second system is a
command economy. A command economy, or a planned economy, is one that is used more with
a communism than another form of government. This plan of system is one in which the central
government owns all the means of production, so the consumer demand is not very important.
Unlike a command economy, a market economy (also known as capitalism or a demand
economy) depends entirely on consumer demand, without any government interference. The last
economy is a mixed economy. A mixed economy is one that combines both the market and
command economy. This type of economy is of one that all people will benefit from the system
(Arreola). Within these economies there are always many different levels of activity. Primary
activity is the “gathering of raw materials for immediate use or in the making of a final product”
(Arreola). Secondary activity is the process of creating products and adding value to the
materials. Tertiary activity is the sale from the business or other professional services (Arreola).
Quaternary activity is the process of “providing information, management, and research services
by highly-trained professional” (Arreola). Each of these levels cause the economy to become
more developed over time, but all of these activities need a natural resource to begin the
economic activity. There are many resources on Earth, but all of them fall into one of three

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categories. Renewable, or ones that can be replaced, non-renewable, resources that once used
cannot be replaced, or inexhaustible energy, which is the wind or the sun. One of the renewable
resources is biomass. Biomass is, “traditionally conceived, is plant matter, typically from
agricultural waste or timber waste” (Outka). This type of process is one that is recently become big in the
world. A non-renewable would be metal or fossil fuels (Arreola). Two of the biggest inexhaustible
sources would be the wind or the sun. Both can provide electric power to cities and towns, and is one
source that can never dry up or go away (Outka).
All the geographies many seem to be unconnected, but every one of them depends on at least one
of the other. The population of the world can be seen in the development of borders and how that nation
identifies itself within its own region. Nations develop because of the group of people that has lived in
that area for many years. The economic situation of a country stems from the ability of the country to
move and produce goods, as well as provide goods and services for the population. The population then in
turn provides the country with a supply of workers who produce goods. The condition of the country’s
economy and the goods available to the workers depends on the amount of work that could be available.
The idea of being able to work and not be threatened by a hostile force all while given the ability to
purchase goods and services provided by others in the population. The world’s population needs work.
The people who can provide that work though, want to live in a safe place, with a developed economy,
and a government that hears their opinions.