Geog Benua

Joy Prior
Geog 120H
Otterstrom
Geography 120 H Benua

Benua# is a hypothetical continent (assume there are no other continents or countries) with geographical characteristics similar to those found throughout this world. Your assignment is to analyze and synthesize all of the available data in order that you can then use that information in making valid geo-political analysis. You are encouraged to work together in groups to analyze the material but you must write and submit your own answers.

A. Go to http://www.geog.byu.edu/faculty/benua/
B. Analyze the various maps and tables. Try different combinations. For example: combine the resource and ethnicities map to see what minority groups might be sitting atop precious resources.
Answer the following questions. Typed responses are encouraged. Be sure to use correct geographic terminology!

1. Which country is most likely to experience balkanization? Why?
I believe that the country most likely to experience balkanization is Kome. Geographically Kome is a fragmented country. It is composed of three different islands near each other. Each island has a dominate ethnicity although on the most northern island there are a few areas were the other two minority ethnicities are present, but not dominate. The southern island has a more tropical agriculture than the rest of the country while the northern two islands share a subtropical agriculture. These islands also have large mountain ranges that make convenient trade more difficult. There are no major transportation roads or canals or rivers that cross between the three islands. The islands population is concentrated on the coastal regions. There is one major city on each island and all of the cities are facing away from each other and towards other countries.


2. Which countries are landlocked. What could these countries do to have access to the sea.
Sopka and Timah are both landlocked. To gain access to the sea Timah could travel on the exotic river that runs through Pula. Timah could also travel on the river that crosses Oro and Nagy. Both Oro and Nagy have more rivers and consequently water would not be as dramatic of a natural resource to the Nagy and Oro people as water would be a dramatic natural resource for the people in Pula, because Pula only has one river and the rest of the country is a desert. This would make is so that Timah would probably have an easier time traveling through Nagy than through Pula. After looking at the Timah cities it would also seem wise to use the river that runs through Oro and Nagy because there are multiple cities along the river route that the Timah people could trade with before reaching the sea port. The country of Sopka could also travel along rivers to reach the sea. There is a river that originates in Sopka that goes through Nagy that Sopka could travel across.

3. Assuming that the wind over Benua flows from east to west, explain why Pula is mostly desert.
Pula is mostly desert because the rain falls on the east side of the mountain range. It would then be a rain shadow desert because the mountain range in Oro and Timah create a barricade for the rain clouds. After looking at a map of the major rivers it appears that the runoff for these mountain ranges is also on the east side, because besides the one exotic river in Pula the remaining rivers from the mountain runoff are one the eastern side of the mountains in Timah and Oro.

4. Based on the transportation layer, which countries are likely to form an economic union? Why?
The three countries Zeit, Lale, and Weizen will form an economic union. Although the country Lale is an island it is just off the coast of Weizen, and Zeit. There are major roads in all three of these countries. One of the major roads travels near the boarder of Zeit and Weizen. Along this road there are several major cities. There is a concentration of people for all three of these countries at the point were all three of the countries boarders. The countries have unique natural resources that would benefit each other. Zeit has an abundance of petroleum, a little Iron, and some coal. Weizen has an abundance of coal, some tin, a little gold, iron, and also bauxite. While Lale has coal and petroleum. Each of the three countries has unique agriculture. Weizen has a prairie, and Lale has Dairy, while Zeit is mostly nomadic herding. Because Lale and Weizen have more agricultural benefits, but they are depended on the natural recourses of petroleum in Zeit the countries can trade food and livestock for petroleum between one another.

5. What country is involved for mono-crop production?
Mangkut is a island to the south. This island has only tropical agriculture, and no other agriculture. It’s boundaries do not spread far south or high north and so the longitude and latitude is relatively condensed so the island does not have that as variation. Although there are a few higher areas in Mangkut there the island is not overwhelmed by mountain ranges and attitude variation giving most of the island the same climate. According to the climate legend the climate on Mangkut is completely Tropical Rainforest, and there would be mono-crop production due to the single climate, agriculture, and relatively limited latitude and longitude variation.

6. Calculate the agricultural density of Nagy. What does this agricultural density mean for Nagy?
The agricultural density of Nagy is rather high. According to the agricultural of Benua download data is 43%. The fertilizer amount is 19,773,802 is the second highest, in the continent of Benua. It also has 45,970 of sq. miles of irrigation. The urban population in Nagy is 73% which is exceptionally high. The agricultural density is about the number of farms in a given area over the amount of agricultural land within that area. That means that just under ¾ of the population is living on just about 2/5 of the land. This high of an agricultural density could be devastation for the nation of Nagy, because most of the population lives on a limited area and they are using up the natural resources as the farm and harvest yearly. The entire population of Nagy is 226,701 and fortunately the country is rather large with 6,320,021 square km of land. The population density is 28 people per sp. Km. Compared to the other countries this population density is not drastically high, but sense most of the population lives in urban and farm land that means that a lot of land is needed to support the farmers of the country. The entire northern part is covered in mountains, and the little arable land the nation has for farming is filled with just under ¾ of the nation’s population. The country is running the risk of over expending their soil and agricultural ruin.

7. Which country most likely has swidden agriculturalists? Why?
Swidden or slash and burn is practiced mainly in tropical regions. Reen, Mangkut, Agni, and parts large parts of Oro, Carvao and Kome are tropical climate regions. According to the agricultural chart all of these countries have a few areas for tropical agriculture, but agni and mangkut are entirely depended on tropical agriculture. Mangkut has a much higher population to support than Agni. More so the agricultural download data sates that Mangkut has 207,000 sq miles of irrigation and 1,660,863 fertilizers despite the fact that only 27% of the land is arable. Roughly 33% of the population of Mangkut lives in urban. That is a lot of people trying to live in a tropical climate, and farm a small area of land. With the large amount of fertilizers and extensive sq miles of irrigation I assume that this country has no fear of imposing the influence of humans on their farms and would be the most likely country to use swidden or slash and burn.

8. What country has an exotic river running through it?
Pula has only one river running through it, and this is an exotic river that originates in the mountain ranges surrounding the country. It has head waters in North in Zeit, a head waters towards the east in Timah, and at the southern end a head water in Oro. This is an ideal example of an exotic river.

9. Which river basin would be most contentious? Why?
Something that would contribute to a contentious river basin is a valuable river. Although there are lots of rivers there are only a few that are considered Navigatable Rivers. One of these major rivers runs along the boarder of Oro and Carvao. This river runs into a direct sea port, and at the sea port there is a major network of cities and road ways for both countries. According to the politics of Benua download data the political corruption index of Carvao is 6.7 and Oro is 7.2 which puts both countries in the top five highest corrupted countries in Benua. The political stability of Carvao is -.35 and for Oro -.04 which puts both countries in the lowest 7 most stable countries in Benua. Both countries have distinct ethnicities Oro major ethnicity O and Carvao being C, but in the city 107 which is in the river basin I am describing there is a mixture of the two ethnicities. With Oro’s O population being the dominate and Carvao’s C population being the minority. Along this river there is the high population. The ethnic, political unrest, possible use of trade and transportation along the river, mixed with large amount of people living in the area makes this river basin a possible contentious river basin.

10. Weizen troops have just invaded Pula. Why is there a war between the two countries? Who else might get involved? Who will be victorious? What does Weizen hope the outcome of the war will be?
Up until this point Zeit and Weizen have been political friend in their own form of the UN. The relationship between Zeit and Weizen has been developed Weizen’s need for oil. As the country of Weizen has developed so has their need for oil. Currently though the country of Zeit has been having an increase in their political unrest and the country is on the edge of civil war. Zeit has been experiencing unrest because of the two different emerging cultures. The first being the ethnic Z which lives mostly in the densely populated coastal region and the second group the minority population in the east with the ethnicity I in that practices nomadic herding lifestyles. In short this two groups are have been causing political unrest in the country Zeit. Due to the political unrest in Zeit the amount of petroleum being shipped to the country of Weizen has dramatically decreased. Weizen still exports a large amount of its supplies to the country of Zeit and does not want to decrease economic relations with this country, but the country does need oil. Due to Weizen’s need for oil the country has decided to invade the country of Pula in an attempt to obtain more petroleum.
Lale is also a part of Weizen’s economic and political organization and because of these connections this country is sending financial support as well as technology to help Weizen with the war.
Wiezen will win the war. Weizen has a larger population than Pula by over 10,000 pc which means more troops and more people to support those troops. Weizen also has a greater economic stability over Pula’s because Weizen has %15.40 imports and %17.2 exports compared to Pula’s %1.3 imports and %1.6 exports. This not only means more economical power, but it means that there are more countries depending on Weizen’s imports and exports than Pula’s imports or exports.
The country that will be victorious will Weizen, and the country will get what they wanted, petroleum. This was the country Weizen’s intent when attaching the country. In short the country of Pula will turn over cities 78, 5, and 93 and their surrounding areas to the country of Weizen. Although Weizen want’s the petroleum they do not want to take the population of Pula on as a “burden,” because most of the country of Pula’s population is on the far eastern side of the country Weizen would like to avoid taking on as many of Pula’s citizens as possible. In short the country of Weizen will only try to obtain these cities mentioned (which are close to the petroleum) and avoid taking responsibility for the other cities.

11. Which country is a likely candidate to have been colonized? Who would have colonized it? Why?
The country of Reen colonized an area that was once apart of the country of Mangkut. The island shared between Reen and Mangkut was once owned entirely by Mangkut. The main population of Mangkut is M and the main population of Reen is R. On the island shared between these two countries both of these ethnicities are present, but the R ethnicity does not cover the majority of the population and remains a minority in the western side of the island. There is also one major city on this island which is next to a copper resource. The Reen people needed copper and so they began to colonize the island that once belonged to Mangkut in order to obtain the copper in this particular area. As the Reen people began to colonize the island for copper the R ethnicity began to move into the island and after some political disputes half of this island is now a part of the country of Reen.

12. If there were a Cold War in Benua, what two countries would be the superpowers and what countries would be on each side? Why?
The cold war would be between Nagy and Weizen. These populations have high exports and imports; which would give both countries great international and economic power. Weizen’s imports %15.4 and exports %17.2; it is also in an economical agreement with Lale with exports %15.8 and imports %15.6; and despite Zeit’s current political unrest Weizen is one of the countries economical allies. The country of Zeit imports %7.3 and exports %8. In contrast the country of Nagy imports %46.5 and exports 38.70.56 (I am not sure what typing error occurred here) The two countries of Nagy and Weizen both have substantial economic control in Benua.
The Weizen and Nagy countries both have distinctly different ethnicities, and that would contribute to cultural practice and ideal beliefs. Although there are two distinct ethnicities that run along the countries boarder there is no geographical reason. For example there is not a large mountain range that divides the two countries. Infect the countries share a boarder that is mostly flat, and has the same agricultural crops. Usually when there is not a large physical barrier between countries the two ethnicities will merge. Yet, the two ethnicities of Weizen and NAgy have not merged and remain along the political boarder indicating to me that there is a political reason or turmoil that keeps the two ethnicities from merging together.
Both countries have relatively equal natural resources. The arable land for Weizen is 48% while the arable land for Nagy is 43%. Weizen Oil 776, Nagy oil 585. Iron-ore weizen 40,579, Nagy Iron-ore 74,017; coal Weizen 431,455, coal Nagy 88,295; Bauxite Weizen 10,398, Bauxite Nagy 0. This abundance of natural resources has lead both countries to have higher populations Weizen over 180,000 and Nagy has over 226,000. Not to mention technological growth and infrastructure. Weizen is in the top ten for the trans/comm. index with 40,826 rail; 565,140 roads, 2,812 waterways, airports 85, and specifically at .30 trans/comm. index. While the country Nagy 240,000 rail, 3,732,747 roads, 41,009 waterways, 5174 airports, and the highest trans/comm. index of .48.
Both of these countries have economical power, they are distinctly different ethnicities despite their physiological similarities, and they are highly populated and developed making them the two powers in the cold war.

13. Name three countries in the early stages of demographic transition. Name three countries in the late stages of the demographic transition. Choose one of these countries and describe what their current demographics might mean during the next twenty years.
first stages of demographical change (a large young population, and each mother has many children)
Timah because of the exceptional high TFR of 6.43 and the %<15 from '75 at 50 and %< from '95 at a still very high 43
Agni because of the high TFR of 4.6 and the %<15 from '75 at 45 and %< from '95 at a still high 40
Oro because of the TFR of 3.13 and the %<15 from '75 at 41 and %< from '95 at a constantly high 36

last stages of demographical change (these three countries have the lowest %<15 for both '75 and '95, not to mention the lowest TFR as well)
Weizen low TFR 1.302 and the %<15 from '75 at 24 and %< from '95 at a still lower to 18
Valkea low TFR 1.531 and the %<15 from '75 at 22 and %< from '95 at a still lower to 19
Lale low TFR 1.72 and the %<15 from '75 at 23 and %< from '95 at a still lower to 20

In the next twenty years the country of Lale will have an even greater decrease in the percent of people under the age of 15, and there will also be a minimal decrease in the TFR. Although the death rate will probably decrease, or remain relatively the same. The economy will probably evolve into a post modern economy passed on service and technology which will decrease the amount of factories in the country resulting in a decrease in the amount of exports.

14. Give an example of each of the following types of states.
a. Fragmented: Agni
b. Elongated: Reen (although made of islands the main land mass is long and thin)
c. Prorupt: Zeit (there is a small part near Lale which is the same ethnicities as Lale, and relatively isolated from the remainder of the Zeit country)
d. Compact: Timah

15. Click the checkboxes next to cities and population density.
a. Which Country is most highly urbanized? Why?
The country of Lale is most highly urbanized because as I look at the population of Lale I can see that over half of the countries land mass is dark purple which indicates that there is 200-1500 people/sq. miles. Not only that but the remaining half of the country is rich purple which means that 50-200 people/sq. mile. There are large cities across the entire country, and there is not a single space that is light pink which would indicate a low population density. This country is the most urbanized.
b. Where is an example of a Primate City?
An example of a Primate City is city number 19 in Reen. This city is just off the coast of Carvao, and is surrounded by the dark purple color indicating that it has a densely populated area of 200-1500 people/sq. mile. Although there are other cities in Reen this city is larger then the others, and has more people living in the surrounding areas.
c. Where is an example of a Megalopolis?
There is a Megalopolis in along the boarders of Lale, Weizen, and Zeit. This area is entirely covered in dark purple. There are so many large cities in this space that the large pink dots overlap each other in some places. From the top of Weizen city number 56 to the middle of Zeit city number 18 ( I believe it is number 18 or 78) there is constant swirls of rich and dark purple to indicate that this is a densely populated area. Not only is this megalopolis highly populated, but to the surrounding areas have road ways into and out of this area. From Valkea to Pula there is a road way that stretches along the Megalopolis.