The Western World Daily Readings on Geography Chapter 1 What is the Western World

WHAT IS THE WESTERN WORLD ?

CHAPTER What is the Western World ?

Created by Simon Child from Noun Project wisely started with a This course is Geography of the Western World . So , what is the Western World ?

This course is a Regional Geography course . When create regions , they strive to incorporate as many similarities as possible in order to develop a recognizable region , while keeping out differences . So , what are the similarities of the Western World ?

We could begin with the word Would this include every place that is west of the zero line longitude westward to longitude ?

This zero mark is the prime meridian that passes through Greenwich , England . Thus , we would include Great Britain , Ireland , France , Spain , Portugal , Norway Islands ) and from Europe , plus Algeria , Mali , Togo , Morocco , Western Sahara , Cote , Sierra Leone , Guinea , the Gambia , Cape Verde , and in Africa . All of the Americas are included . The 180 longitude line intersects the easternmost corner of Russia . Going westward to that line would cover much of the Pacific Ocean and a number of islands up to . Correctly used , all of this is the Western Hemisphere however , often this hemispherical reference is wrongly shortened to mean the Americas . Anyway , is that set of countries what we mean by the Western World ?

No . Sometimes one of the shared characteristics is a feature of the physical landscape . Since the Western World would seem to consist of half of the world , while the Eastern World is the other half , this is a huge array of lands that would have to share common features . Indeed , the Western World has many different landscapes , as does the Eastern World . Europe is known for islands , and mountains , but not deserts . South America has the Andes Mountains , the Amazon Rainforest , and the world driest desert ( North America has a full array of landscapes , even tundra in Canada and Alaska . Australia is famed for its dry Outback . Russia is enormous and leads the world in coniferous forest and in permafrost . is there some way to identify the typical landscape of the Western World ?

No . Nevertheless , there is one important element of countries landscapes as they relate to the understanding of regions . Are the lands contiguous ?

That is , does a country of the region share an international border with another country of the same region ?

Normally , this too is a requirement ( or being nearby for island states ) for SCOTT CAMPBELL inclusion in the region . However , the Western World is a region comprising half the world surely , contiguity can not be maintained throughout the whole western half of the world . This is correct . That means that we need to consider each of the of the Western World . Do all the countries of North America border another country in North America ?

Yes , that is easy , as the only two countries in North America are the United States and Canada . Do all the countries in Europe border another country or countries in Europe ?

Yes , with the understanding the Iceland , Ireland , the United Kingdom , and are island states within the same realm and nearby to continental states of Europe . The Pacific Realm is a host of island countries plus the continent of Australia . We count all ofthose islands as within the same realm . Russian Domain countries yes . Latin American and Caribbean countries ( yes , either continental or in the shared island realm . So , our rule of contiguity is acceptable when we assess it based on the of the Western World . That brings us to the human or cultural landscape . Are there shared features of the Western World when we consider the people of these lands ?

Economic development is a key indicator of quality of life in the human landscape . Many economies in the Western World have been very fruitful . The Human Development Index , measuring life span , education , and income as features of successful societal advances , is dominated by countries of the Western World . For 2019 , the only in the top fifty are Hong Kong , Singapore , japan 19 , Israel tied with South Korea 22 , 35 , Saudi Arabia 36 , 41 , 43 , 45 , 47 . However , it also is true that not all Western World countries are greatly developed . Haiti ranks 169 out of 189 countries , while some Pacific island states ( Solomon Islands 153 ) and other Latin American and the Caribbean ( countries ( and , tied 126 ) score poorly . Therefore , this measure also does not fully work for creating the Western World as a region . Some capitalist economies of the Western World have produced strong economies and developed societies , but other Western countries have and some Eastern countries have . Language is a core feature of culture . European languages include a number of Romance languages such as French and Italian , a set of Germanic languages including English and German , and several Slavic languages such as Russian and Czech . That list goes on , consisting of many other languages too Greek , Latvian , Romanian , Dutch , English settlement of Australia included bestowing its language on this land down under . Note that several languages in this family were brought to the Americas to become the dominant languages there English , Spanish , Portuguese , French . For instance , in over million people speak Spanish , whereas the top native language is spoken by only 154 thousand . There are some problems with this formula . In Europe , there are only a few national languages that are not Photo by Markus on

WHAT IS THE WESTERN WORLD ?

in this family , but Hungarian , Finnish , and Estonian are in the family . In Latin America , there are countries where the language is spoken by large numbers of people , but a native language is spoken by similarly large numbers . For instance , in Paraguay , Spanish and the native language Guarani each are spoken by nearly 90 of the population . In Africa , there are a few countries that feature an European language as an official language , though mixed with several to many native languages . In , English is an official language , spoken by over 80 of the population , yet there are many languages spoken , as is most common at 20 . Also , it should be noted that some national languages are in the family , yet we do not count those countries in the Western World . Hindi in India , Persian ( in Iran , in Pakistan , and Bengali in are examples . In sum , the national languages of the Western World are almost uniformly in the family , but the Western World does not have an exclusive hold on this language family . Religion is a key element of culture . It is immediately apparent that Christianity is a shared feature throughout the Western World . Not necessarily an official national religion , Christianity is the majority religion of the modern histories of the Americas , the Russian Domain , and Australia and New Zealand . Among those professing religious faith , Christians dominate nearly all European countries , except the small states of , and . Sometimes , Christianity is the majority religion in countries on other continents in Asia the Philippines , in Africa quite a few , Kenya , Ethiopia and others . In the Western World , Christianity is the predominant religion , although it can be noteworthy in some countries of the Eastern World too . Stave If a country society speaks an language , Roth on predominantly and historically professes the Christian faith , and borders another country in the Western World ( or if an island , then is nearby ) then it is in the Western World . A few countries are included in the Western World even while not meeting all three criteria , but especially due to geographic contiguity . This is where landscape , in this case the continent , makes a difference . There is no other reasonable regional fit for these countries . Admittedly , this is awkward . Yet , this is one of the challenges of Geography in constructing regions . Some countries do not meet the religion requirement , but must be counted by contiguity . and are Muslim countries , but must be counted in Europe . Other countries do not meet the language requirement , but must be counted by contiguity . As mentioned , Finland , and Hungary do not feature dominant languages , but must be counted in Europe . The same is true for Paraguay in . In a twist , there are countries that would seem to fit into the Western World by criteria , but are not accepted . In Africa , in over 80 of the population are both Christian faithful and English speakers . In , there is a similar majority . However , in Africa the only two , countries that border each other are the small lands of and Equatorial Guinea . So while some African countries have our criteria for religion and language , they fail the contiguity test of aligning next to sets of other Western World countries . That took a lot of effort . To sum up again , it is location , language , and religion that are the keys to determining which countries are in the Western World .

SCOTT CAMPBELL Did You Know ?

If Turkey ever is added to the European Union , then it will be counted in Europe , but until then , Turkey is best counted in the Middle East ( sometimes called Southwest Asia ) With Turkey in the Middle East , could or or be counted as part of the Middle East ?

Any of those choices seems jarring to the concept of Europe . Furthermore , Turkey is not contiguous to any of those three small countries . and share a border , but neither touches . Compare that to the location of . The Soviet Union included the republic of . With the breakup of the Soviet Union , became an independent country . Given its Muslim population with a moderate and economy , it seems reasonable to place it in the Middle East . Given that borders Iran , another Middle Eastern country , this is not at all jarring . In and Swedish languages , the word means language . Check Your Understanding An interactive element has been excluded from this version of the text . You can view it online here ?

CITED AND ADDITIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY Human Development Index Ranking Human Development Reports . 2019 . Geographical Distribution of French Speakers . 2020 . Wikipedia . May 25 , Sen Nag , 2019 . African Countries Where Christianity Is the Largest Religion . Wikipedia Contributors . 2019 . List of Countries by Population . Wikipedia . Foundation . March ,