Lesson 1: Introduction to Geography of World Economy
August 22, 2022
Presentation:
- Course Overview
- Syllabus
- Blackboard: announcements, grades & not much else
- Bookmark this course page
- Political discourse
- World Regions and Partitions
- Global Sales Territory Partition (typical) in Business
- Americas – North and South America
- EMEA – Europe, Middle East and Africa
- Asia Pacific – South, East and Southeast Asia + Australia/Oceania
- Global Sales Territory Partition (typical) in Business
- Theories of Uneven Development
- Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel – Episode 1
- Summary of Diamond’s arguments
- Agricultural Revolution in the Fertile Crescent
- Domestication of animals
- Sources of meat, milk, leather, wool, etc
- Source of muscle power for plowing, transportation
- Only cows, horses, pigs, goats, sheep are readily domesticated
- all these animals were available in Eurasia, not so elsewhere
- Zebras, llama, buffalo, elephant, etc
- from other continents
- not too easy to domesticate
- Spread of agriculture and animal domestication practices, geographically
- Easy in Eurasia due to latitudinal (east-west) orientation where climate is relatively consistent.
- Difficult in South America, Africa
- Technology:
- advances in tool-making, steel, military weapons, etc
- enabled by agriculture and animal domestication food surplus
- Germs
- Native people in the Americas were susceptible to small pox and other diseases
- Eurasian people developed immunity to disease due to animal domestication
- Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel – Episode 1
Assignment:
- Complete World Regions Quiz
- Complete G20 Countries Quiz
- Watch Guns, Germs and Steel – Episode 1 (6 videos, 55 min combined)
- Watch Summary of Diamond’s arguments (18 min)
