Regional Geography

upmeath

I was just wondering how everyone else answers this question. In school we've been taught all year to write out ALL the boring facts of each region under the headings of physical (two subtopics: climate, relief & drainage) and economic (primary, etc...) This method got me a fair mark in my mocks, average at best.
However it wasn't until last week, 8 days before I sit my leaving cert geography, that I read in notes I got on a grinds course that you should discuss TWO DISTINCT DIFFERENCES each region has in comparison to neighbouring regions, not the WHOLE life story of a country. This style of answer narrows your options down, forcing you to expand on points, but I must say I will be doing this on Monday.
Has anyone else been misled to answer the way we were told, or can someone clear this up for me? Please? Also, Norway, Spain and Italy all hotly tipped...

MadOne!!

I don't really understand what you did in class but in regional you can be asked to divide a country into three regions: for example, if norway comes up i'll be discussing: the northern territory, the oslo lowlands and the south west coastlands under climate agriculture and industry.
The other question that could come up is the role of the sea, natural resources, tourism etc and to discuss one of them with reference to a given country.
I don't no if this is any help to you.

upmeath

I'm asking about the regional division question specifically... For instance, take Italy. Do people write about the climate, relief, drainage and economic activities of The Lombardy Plain, then Mezzogiorno, then Alps, or just take two specific differences the Lombardy Plain exhibits over other Italian regions (eg. well-developed agriculture and tertiary sectors) then two distinct characteristics of the Mezzogiorno (eg. harsh climate and topography) then the alps, etc... because thats what these grinds notes advised...

randomfella

Italy – Regional Division

Plain of Lombardy - Core

CLIMATE AND PRIMARY ACTIVITIES
Climate continental in character
Winters cold, frost snow avg. 0c
800mm – 1000mm averages
Summers hot rising to 30c

Agriculture
Rich soils, retreating glaciers and alluvium deposits from the Po
Deep fertile high yielding soils
Shelter Alps, Apennines
Fontanalli – water soaked in ground meets band of impermeable silts comes to surface in a line of springs. – Irrigation.
Transport and markets level plain easy transportation of produce, affluent markets of 460million. Passes through the Alps e.g. Brenner Pass or Mont Blanc Tunnel.
Well-established partnership between agriculture and industry
Farm products e.g. fertilizers, machinery, chemicals
Wheat maize and barley –used as fodder for cattle, grass, silage, hay, rice (Vercelli)
Dairy farming main pastoral activity
Large urban market heavy processing industry Gorgonzola and Parmesan
Fruit and vegetable
Intensive nature of farming bordering the fields with lines of fruit trees
Asti –world famous producer of wine.
Ligurian coast southern aspect and shelter - flowers fruit
One of the main food processing areas of Western Europe. Contributed significantly to economic growth.

SECONDARY ACTIVITIES
Energy
Imports most of oil from Middle East and North Africa
Genoa, Venice and Trieste important oil ports
Gas discovered Near Milan 1946.
Gas is important from Netherlands Russia and Algeria
Over 10,000km of pipeline across the country.
Gas is used for domestic purposes, industry, power production and as a raw material.
Second only to Ruhr in industrial development importance and expansion.
Turin, Genoa, and Milan form industrial triangle – 40% of industrial exports.
No worthwhile deposits of coal or iron ore, came late into industrial revolution
Boasts good communications level plain, network of pipelines, canals, roads and railways.
Textiles, Food, engineering skills developed since the Renaissance period.
Unskilled labor is provided from the immigration of the south.
High yielding crops – cheese, pasta, milling, canning industry, confectionary, wine, meats, sugar.
Industrial towns provide market.
Metallurgy and Engineering limited iron ore supplies and no coal, both imported, sites at coast to eliminate trans shipment of raw materials.
Venice has a large steel mill.
Steel industry provides raw material for engineering industry.
Shipbuilding at Genoa and Venice
Motor Vehicles – Fiat 150,000 (Turin)
One of the pillars upon which the Italian economy is built – light engineering Electrical goods, radios, televisions, (Olevetti- office equipment)
Textile industry is oldest in the Plain.
Wool and silk were the early industries.
Petro-chemical supplies synthetic trade with its
Worldwide market for clothes – quality of garments, design and workmanship
Suitable sites for import of oil and export of finished products
Cheap h.e.p
Raw materials
Natural gas
Affluent market
Technology
Investment capital.
Genoa - Oil chief import, 2nd port of the Mediterranean after Marseilles.
90% of trade imports, Terminus for CEP (Central European pipeline)

TERTIARY ACTIVITIES
60% of the working population are involved in the service sector banks finance and insurance.
Milan – Italy’s main stock market.
Large banking and financial sector in Turin.
Rome – Capital, service and administration city, primate city of the catholic church. Tourism is very important here. Large tertiary sector. Contains Vatican City.
Venice – The Queen of the Adriatic, St Mark’s Cathedral, history, uniqueness and beauty attract many tourists. Vibrant tourist industry.
More historical wealth than most other Mediterranean lands.
Rome, Florence, Venice, Turin, Milan - treasure houses of Renaissance art and scholarship.
50 million tourists per year provide $15,000 million; much needed foreign currency to help the Balance of Payments.


Mezzigiorno – ‘land of the midday sun’ - Peripheral

CLIMATE
Mediterranean climate
Summer hot and dry – northeast trades (drought)
High evaporation - 27C average
Winter mild and moist southwesterlies 17C doesn’t drop below 8C
Rainfall limited 750 west 450 east => due to Apennines’ rain shadow
Irrigation difficult due to high evaporation => huge handicap to agriculture
Rivers run dry
Under utilization of the land
Over reliance on wheat and olives
Cattle rearing difficult – lack of grass
RELIEF
40% mountain 40% hill
limestone covering thin dry soils
permeable rock
overgrazing – flash floods
Land tenure system
Latifundia – absentee landlords, tenant farmers, uneducated
Minifundia – rising population, subdivision of land => Inefficient workforce
Poor techniques in farming
Lack of infrastructure
Distance from market
Emigration - 8million since 1900
Cassa il per Mezzigiorno 1950 ‘re-organize and develop the south’
1st arm of development – agriculture and infrastructure
Latifundias acquired and redistributed
Irrigation and drainage schemes initiated
Afforestation
Agricultural schools
Co-ops
Food processing
Wheat and olives
30,000km of autostrade extended to south

INDUSTRY - problems
Poor agriculture sector
Emigration
Poor communications
No market and distance from it
Unskilled workforce
Few mineral resources
Illiteracy
SOLUTIONS - Shift to industry 1965
Encourage industrialists by : subsidized transport, generous building and training grants, tax exemptions, subsidies
40% of all state investment to be invested in south
Heavy capital investment industries => heavy engineering, iron and steel, petro-chemical, oil refining these resulted in many agglomeration industries
5growth poles selected Bari, Brindisi, and Taranto (new industrial triangle) Syracuse and Naples.
2million workers moved into the secondary sector from the agriculture sector
Stimulated growth in tertiary sector and jobs
A more balanced economy
As employed workforce increases so does their spending power.

TERTIARY SECTOR
Tourism 3rd arm development of the Cassa
Apennines provide magnificent setting
Relatively new, undiscovered and uncrowded this is a major attraction
Historical wealth from the Renaissance period
Pompeii and its’ volcano.
New autostrade reduces inaccessibility to the toe and heel
Specially constructed scenic routes
15% of Cassa money devoted to tourism
Up to 3,000 hotels and pensions have benefited
Number of tourists to the south has quadrupled in the last 20 years.
new airport built at Calabria
Italian tourist board introduced a national and international campaign to attracting tourists to the south
Naples is the administrative and commercial capital of Mezzigiorno
Tourism has contributed substantially to the socio-economic development of the region.


Alps

Primary activities and Climate
The alps run north from the gulf of Genoa before turning east in a wide arc across the north of the country
Border 4 countries – France, Slovenia, Switzerland and Austria
Alps not that formidable, breached numerous times
Breached in number of passes Brenner pass (Austria)
Winter temperatures few degrees below freezing point
Summer temperatures reaching max of 14C
Sheltered south facing villages have less severe winter
Precipitation averages 1250mm – well distributed
Prosperous agriculture sector in many Alpine valleys
Cool damp areas produce grass and fodder for dairy and beef cattle
Warm dry areas produce cereals and south facing slopes have orchards and vineyards
Steep slopes are forest covered
High mountain pastures used for sheep and transhumance of cattle

Secondary activities
Hydro electricity is important in the energy equation
Instrumental in the Plain of Lombardy’s growth
20% of energy consumption
Main source of H.E.P
Conditions more favorable than Apennines
Alps provide large catchment area for rain and snow
Supply of fuel guaranteed
Numerous rivers are fed by this
Steep slopes – high heads
Great demand in industrialized north
Glaciated highland lakes and reservoirs control flow of water
Supplied electro chemical and electro metallurgical industries
Light engineering in Brescia
Como noted for silk in textile industry

Tertiary Activities
Tourism
Scenic Lakes, Como, Garda and Maggiore
Rugged Peaks, Forested slopes, alpine plants, alpine villages combine to make it an
Attractive tourist destination
Shelter and south facing slopes
Winter sports – fastest expanding – 4months of snow provide resources
Infrastructure of small airports, ski lifts, mountain railways, hotels has been developed for the tourists
Tourism is a major contributor to the economic life of the Alps

baby*cham*bell

upmeath wrote:

I'm asking about the regional division question specifically... For instance, take Italy. Do people write about the climate, relief, drainage and economic activities of The Lombardy Plain, then Mezzogiorno, then Alps, or just take two specific differences the Lombardy Plain exhibits over other Italian regions (eg. well-developed agriculture and tertiary sectors) then two distinct characteristics of the Mezzogiorno (eg. harsh climate and topography) then the alps, etc... because thats what these grinds notes advised...

that sounds like core/perihery to me!
i do it like: physical/economic/social

randomfella

anybody doing italy different to the way i posted it?

upmeath

I'm not sure, you see these are institute notes on regional division, not core & periphery... all this confusion has only struck me 8 days before the exam and it aint good folks! thats the way im used to doing it randomfella, but according to these notes, presumably written by a man who's well-in with the chief examiners, im not sure that's the right way to do it anymore!

upmeath

Also... if you read the geography guide in the final exambrief (last wednesday's independent supplement) it says that if you're focussing on regional division to have two distinct points ready for each region, for expanded supported discussion, etc...

randomfella

well i'm fairly confident in my method, got me an A in numerous tests we did. I'm personally hoping for 2 or more regions so i can leave out the alps altogether. Trust me this is the way to do it, maybe theres other ways i don't know, but my method definetly works!

Maybe they were talking about 2 points as in 2/3 of primary,secondary,tertiary?

thegloriousend

Sorry kids, ur doin it wrong.

For regional question: 1 - divide your county into three regions. (ex. France - Paris Basin, Nord Pas De Calais, Massif Central),

2. Sub-divide ur regions into TWO characteristics (ex. Paris Basin - 1Primary activites, 2.Secondary , Nord Pas - 1Primary , 2.Seconday etc.

the smiley one

thegloriousend wrote:

Sorry kids, ur doin it wrong.

For regional question: 1 - divide your county into three regions. (ex. France - Paris Basin, Nord Pas De Calais, Massif Central),

2. Sub-divide ur regions into TWO characteristics (ex. Paris Basin - 1Primary activites, 2.Secondary , Nord Pas - 1Primary , 2.Seconday etc.

But, if you use "Climate and Agriculture" as one title and "Secondary and Tertiary Industry" as another title (approx 4 paragraphs altogether)....That works, yeah?

randomfella

i know for a fact what i'm doing is right, i'm not saying your ways are wrong either.

upmeath

yeah the way thegloriousend is suggesting is the new way i only discovered in the past week, advised by the institute, and randomfella's method is the way im used to doing it... i guess we'll see!