Essay 3: The first wave of immigrants came to America, from Europe, over four hundred years ago. The Native Americans already occupied most of North America. Around the year 1500 A.D., an estimated 3.2 million numbered the United States, another 1.2 million Native Americans already lived in Canada. Canadian immigrants arrived around the same time. The French inhabited much of Canada, while the British staked claim to the Northeast United States and the Spanish inhabited the area to the South from Texas to Florida. The geographical landscape in North America was already starting to change.
The English settlers and African slaves were the majority of America’s migrants prior to 1820. During the eighteenth century, the slave trade brought a large number of African Americans into the United States. The Irish, Dutch, French, and Germans also migrated to the United States. The reasons for migration to the United States included poor economies, political strife, an abundance of jobs in America, and more land. Around 1900, immigration to the United States reached an all time high, with over 1 million immigrants every year. This wave of immigrants came from south and eastern Europe to include Italians, Poles, Russians, and Austro-Hungarians. The Great Depression caused immigration levels to plummet during the 1930’s. Immigration gradually increased and surged again around 1970. Today, Asian and Hispanic immigrants are the fastest growing immigrant groups in the United States.
Throughout the years, Canada has seen the same immigration flows as in the United States. The peaks in immigration seem to happen around the same time, the fastest growing immigrant group is from Asia, similar to the U.S. The Canadian’s attitudes towards immigration are much like that in America; they welcome immigrants with open arms.
Material from this essay taken from page 85, 95-98 course textbook.
Essay 2:
Solar energy, latitude, the interaction between land and water, global pressure systems, and global wind patterns are the five major climate controls that influence meteorological conditions. Every place on Earth is affected by not one of the climate controls but all five. Solar energy provides the planet with the necessary heat needed for survival. Earth absorbs incoming solar energy and reradiates it. The heat becomes trapped in our atmosphere providing enough warmth for survival. A better known term for the process is the greenhouse effect. Earth retains the appropriate amount of heat through the greenhouse effect. The second climate control is based on the amount of solar energy the Earth absorbs due to latitude. The curvature of Earth allows more radiation around the equator. The farther north or south one travels from the equator, the less radiation is being absorbed. Latitude is important, because we have diversity throughout the Earth. Without latitude the climate would be the same everywhere. The interaction between land and water is the third climate control. Climates are generally more mild around the oceans. The farther inland, the climate changes from a maritime climate, with cool cloudy summers and mild winters, to a continentality climate, with hot summers and cold, brutal winters. The cause of the third climate control is the difference in land and waters ability to absorb solar energy. Global pressure systems push the world’s wind and storm systems. The interaction between high and low pressure systems is what brings North America and Europe their weather systems. Pressure systems play a major role in the last of the five climate controls, global wind patterns. Global wind patterns flow from high pressure to low pressure, bringing storm systems to different areas of the world.
Material for essay taken from pages 53-55 in textbook.
Essay 1:
The population pyramids, in figure 1.25, represent the total population for a certain region. The graphs start with age 0-4, on the y-axis, and gradually increase in age, until the maximum age of 80+. The x-axis represents the percentage of the population. The sum of the percentages within the population total one hundred percent. There is never a negative percent, so zero serves as the dividing line between males and females. The graph for Nigeria shows a rapid growth, with a wide base and gradually tapering towards the top. The graphs of the United States and Germany have a different shape. The United States graph is fairly consistent with an average six to seven percent until the age of forty, then it gradually decreases, which represents a slow growth. Germany, on the other hand, shows no growth. The percent at the top of the graph is greater than at the bottom, which represents zero growth. Figure 1.26, plots birthrate, death rate, and total population (per thousand per year) throughout different stages of time. Stage 1: Preindustrial is the earliest and less developed period of the four. The graph of 1.26 shows throughout the later stages, as technology increased, the birthrate and death rate decreased. Figure 1.25 shows the less developed U.S. or Germany. Figure 1.26 shows the more technology and more developed the lower the birthrate and death rate which relates to 1.25
In other words, in more developed nations where medicine, better healthcare, and more contraception are available the growth rate will be slower. More developed nations have the resources to allow for longer life expectancies and a more consistent life cycle.
Essay 4:
Latin America is home to the Andes Mountains, the Amazon basin, the Plata Basin, and the Orinoco Basin. The area is best characterized as mountainous on the Pacific side and with lowlands and shields on the Atlantic side. The Andes are the highest and longest mountain range in Latin America; they extend nearly five thousand miles, with the highest peak over twenty thousand feet. The Andes begin in Venezuela and end at Tierra del Fuego. They are divided into northern, central, and southern sections. The central Andes have high-altitude plateaus and snow covered peaks. The Altiplano, located in Peru and Bolivia, is an elevated plateau that ranges from eleven thousand eight hundred feet to thirteen thousand feet. The southern Andes, located in Chile and Argentina, have the highest peaks of the Andes. Aconcagua is the highest peak in the western hemisphere at almost twenty three thousand feet. Mexico is characterized by its plateaus. The Mexican Plateau is elevated at eight thousand feet around Mexico city and its lowest is four thousand feet at Ciudad Juarez. Central America's Volcanic Axis stretches from Guatemala to Costa Rica. Over forty volcanoes are found within the Volcanic Axis. The rich volcanic soil allows the area to be used for agriculture.
The lowlands of Latin America are home to the Amazon, Plata, and Orinoco Basins. The Amazon is the largest river in the world by volume and area; it drains an area of 2.4 million square miles. The area receives an abundance of rainfall, between 60-80 inches of rain annually. The Amazon's forests regions poor soil quality has made the area sparsely populated. The Brazilian portion of the Amazon, located on a fertile flood plain, has an active colonization with nearly twelve million residents. The Plata Basin is Latin America's second largest watershed. The Parana, Paraguay, and Uruguay Rivers make this basin. The Plata Basin is economically productive with large scale agricultural production. The Itaipu, a large hydroelectric dam, generates electricity for all of Paraguay and much of southern Brazil. The Orinoco Basin is the third largest basin in Latin America. The Basin is fed by the Orinoco River which is equal in size to the Mississippi River.
Material taken from course textbook pages: 134-137
Essay 5:
Africa is a continent with diverse religious beliefs. The first African religions were based on worshiping nature and ancestral spirits. Animist religions are still practiced throughout much of Sub Sahara Africa by tens of millions of people. Christianity arrived in Northeast Africa by the year 300. By the 1600’s, European settlers and missionaries had spread Christianity to other parts of Africa Catholicism, Protestant, and Jewish faiths found their way to South Africa. Islam dominates much of Africa. The religion was introduced by Berber traders around a thousand years ago. The first Muslim state was the kingdom of Tokolor in Senegal. Throughout West Africa, Islam’s spread was slowed due to committed Animists. Today, the majority of Islam is practiced throughout most of northern and eastern Africa, with Christianity and Animists farther south. Religious conflicts in Africa take place mainly in northeastern Africa between Muslims and Christians. The coexistence of these two religions have made discrimination common. In Sudan, fighting has been intense since the 1970’s. More recently, in Darfur, conflicts among Muslims from different ethnic groups have been on the rise. Christianity and Islam continue to spread throughout Sub Sahara Africa.
Material for essay taken from pages 250-253 from textbook.
