World Regional GeographyChapter 7: A Geographic Profile of Monsoon Asia

• Regional Profile– One-quarter of the earth’s landmass– Half the world’s population

• 3.6 billion people

• Subregions– East Asia– South Asia– Southeast Asia

7 Monsoon Asia at a Glance

Monsoon Asia

Monsoon Asia vs. Conterminous U.S.

• Region is home to 54% of world’s population– China and India together have 2.4 billion people,

or 37% of the world’s total

• Places with high urban densities– Hong Kong– Macao– Singapore

7.1.1 Demographic Heavyweights

Population Distribution of Monsoon Asia

Population Cartogram of Monsoon Asia

• Not possible to generalize about population growth in Monsoon Asia– Wide Range from 0% (Japan) to 3.3% (Timor-Leste)

– Primarily LDCs in the region

– Postindustrial Japan worries about its declining population

– China’s “one-child policy”

– India should overtake China as world’s most populous country in 2040

• Wildcard is HIV/AIDS

7.1.2 Population Growth Patterns

• Inner Arc– World’s highest mountain ranges, plateaus, and basins

• Middle Arc– Lower mountains, hill lands, river plains, and basins

• Outer Eastern Arc– Islands and seas

– Archipelagoes (clusters of islands)

• East Indies

• Philippines

• Japan

7.2 Physical Geography & Human Adaptations

Physical Geography of Monsoon Asia

• Monsoon Asia is characterized generally by a warm, well-watered climate

• Climate Types in Region– Tropical Rain Forest

– Tropical Savanna

– Humid Subtropical

– Warm Humid Continental

– Cold Humid Continental

– Desert

– Steppe

– Subarctic

– Undifferentiated Highland

7.2.1 Climate and Vegetation

Climate Types of Monsoon Asia

Biome Types of Monsoon Asia

• Monsoons are the prevailing sea-to-land and land-to-sea winds– Wet Summer Monsoon

• High humidity, moist air, predictable rains• Even more precipitation where there is elevation

– Dry Winter Monsoon• Land loses relative warmth while the sea and coastal

waters stay warm longer• Wind shifts and air masses flow from inland areas to sea• Long dry season, except for Japan

7.2.2 The Monsoons

South Asia Monsoons

Torrential Monsoon Rains in Sri Lanka

Land Use in Monsoon Asia

• Many soils are infertile– High temperatures and heavy rains

• Rapid leaching of mineral nutrients

• Decomposition of organic matter

– Many soils will not support more than one or twopoor harvests

7.2.3 Agricultural Adaptations

• Intensive Subsistence Agriculture– Built around growing of cereals, especially rice

• Shifting Cultivation– Capable of sustaining only small populations for brief

periods of time

• Wet Rice Cultivation– Capable of producing 2-3 crops per year– Can sustain large populations over long periods of time– Lowland Floodplains and Upland Terraces

7.2.4 The Importance of Rice

Terraced Rice Fields in Vietnam

• Theory of Himalayan Environmental Degradation– People overpopulation in Nepal

– No room left in the Terai, so people clear and cultivate steep lands on which it is impossible to build terraces

– Heavy monsoon rains cause relentless erosion

– Eroded plots cannot be cultivated again

– Landslides occur downslope, causing loss of life

– Increased sediment load causes rivers to swell out of banks

– Flooding downstream in Bangladesh

7.2.5 Agriculture and Culture

• 38% of region’s population is urban– Tokyo is the world’s largest city (37 million)

• 62% of region’s population is rural– Main unit of Asian settlement is the village– Lowland villages tend to be situated on natural levees,

dikes, or raised mounds

• Pronounced Rural-to-Urban Migration

7.2.6 Where Asians Live

Satellite Dish on Traditional Dwelling

• Cultural Developments from Monsoon Asia– First movable printing type (Korea)– Gunpowder, paper, silk, and porcelain (China)– Faiths of Hinduism and Buddhism (India)– Domesticated plants and animals

• Rice• Cabbage• Chickens• Water Buffalo• Zebu Cattle• Pigs

7.3 Cultural & Historical Geographies

• Ethnic and linguistic composition is rich and complex

• Language Families– Indo-European– Sino-Tibetan– Altaic– Austric– Dravidian– Papuan

7.3.1 Ethnic and Linguistic Patterns

Languages of Monsoon Asia

• Two Great Hearths of Religion– Middle East

– Monsoon Asia

• Belief systems practiced by 25 percent of the world’s population originated in this region– Hinduism– Buddhism– Confucianism– Daoism

• Other Practices– Shintoism– Ancestor Veneration– Animism

7.3.2 Religions & Philosophical Movements

Religions of Monsoon Asia

Ancestor Veneration

• Hinduism– Lacks a definite creed or theology– Social hierarchy of the caste system– Practice rituals to honor deities

• Brahman the Creator• Vishnu the Preserver• Shiva the Destroyer

– Believe in reincarnation and transmigration of souls– Ganges is a sacred river

• Belief that it springs from the matted hair of the god Shiva• Many elderly go to die in this city and be cremated where

ashes can be strewn in holy waters

7.3.2 Religions & Philosophical Movements

Hinduism: Vishnu and Lakshmi

• Buddhism– Based on life and teachings of Siddhartha Gautama– Buddha was born a prince in 563 B.C.E. in northern India– Rejected precepts of Hinduism, including caste system– Four Noble Truths

• Life is suffering• All suffering is caused by ignorance of the nature of reality• End suffering by overcoming ignorance and attachment• Suppression of suffering through the Noble Eightfold Path

– Karma (person’s acts and consequences)– Goal is to attain nirvana

• Transcendent state in which one is able to escape thecycle of birth and rebirth and all the suffering it brings

– Theravada and Mahayana Branches

7.3.2 Religions & Philosophical Movements

Buddhist Temple in Thailand

Daoist Temple in Shanghai, China

• Portugal and Spain were first to extend economic and political control over South and Southeast Asia

• Colonies– British India, Burma, Ceylon, Malaya, Borneo– Dutch East Indies– French Indochina– Portuguese Goa and Diu in India, Macau & Timor

• Western domination of Asia ended in 20th Century– After WWII, colonial possessions gained independence

– Hong Kong returned by Britain to China in 1997

– Macau returned by Portugal to China in 1999

7.3.3 Effects of European Colonization

Colonial Monsoon Asia - Early 20th Century

• World’s Fastest-Growing Economies– China is ranked #2– Japan is ranked #4

• Many hundreds of millions of people remain poor• Growing gap between rich and poor• Asian Tigers

– Strong, industrialized export-oriented economies– South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore– New Asian Tigers in Southeast Asia

• Japan leads Asia in value-added manufacturing

7.4 Economic Geography

• 4th-largest economy in terms of GDP• 2nd-largest economy in terms of GDP PPP• Average annual growth rate of 10% since 1990• China is making a little bit of everything

– Three-quarters of all toys sold in U.S.– 3rd largest manufacturer of personal computers

• Joined the World Trade Organization in 2001

7.4.1 China’s Surging Economy

Silk Production in China

• Surging investment in China is linked to disinvestment elsewhere, especially in SE Asia

• China has eclipsed the United States as Asia’s most essential trading partner

• China is the epicenter of prolific Asian trade in pirated products

7.4.2 China’s Economic Impact

Counterfeit CD / DVD Vendor in Laos

• Use science to increase food yields– Stave off hunger– Generate export income

• Biotechnology– Malaysia’s Biovalley– Indonesia’s Bioisland

• Problems– Financial obstacles– Economic dislocations– Large infusions of agricultural chemicals– Reduction of genetic variability of crops

7.4.3 The Green Revolution

Palm Oil Tree in Malaysia

• Principal Geopolitical Concerns– Nuclear Weapons– Islamist Terrorism– Security of Shipping Lanes– Asia is emerging as center of gravity

• Challenge century-long primacy of the U.S. in world affairs

7.5 Geopolitical Issues

• Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty– Prohibition of all nuclear testing– Signed by 149 nations and went into effect in 1996

• India and Pakistan did not sign the treaty

• India and Pakistan– In 1998, India conducted 3 underground nuclear tests

in the Thar Desert– Pakistan followed with six nuclear tests– Fear of Mutually Assured Destruction– Pivotal Countries

• Collapse would cause international migration, war, pollution, disease epidemics, or other problems

7.5.1 Nationalism & Nuclear Weapons

• Pakistani president dropped support for Taliban and allowed the U.S. to use the country to prepare for the assault on the Taliban and al-Qa’ida in Afghanistan

• The United States forgave much of Pakistan’s debt and lifted its sanctions against Pakistan– U.S. also lifted its post-nuclear test sanctions against India

• Semiautonomous federally administered tribal areas– Pashtun are sympathetic to the causes of their Taliban

ethnic kin and their al-Qa’ida spiritual kin

– Opposition to American interests

7.5.2 U.S.-Pakistan Relations Since 9/11

Pashtun Man of Western Pakistan

• A Reunited Korea?– Would remove other countries’ justifications for building up

their defenses

– Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)• Antimissile defensive shield over the United States

• North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Program– North Korea included in George W. Bush’s “Axis of Evil”

– The only leverage North Korea has had to coaxdesperately needed supplies from abroad

7.5.3 What Does North Korea Want?

No-Man’s-Land Separating North & South Korea

• Indonesia as potential new hearth for al-Qa’ida– Predominantly Muslim population, including extremists

• Islamist organizations like Laskar Jihad and Jemaah Islamiah

– Largely poor

– Remote locales suitable for making weapons

– Regions the government is unwilling or unable to control

• American interests in Indonesia– Oil and Natural Gas

– Copper Resources

– International Shipping Lanes

7.5.4 Islands, Sea Lanes, and Islamists