movement - nelson · population density the population density of a place tells us how many people...

L E A R N I N G O U T C O M E S

• identify factors that influence the movement of people aroundthe world

• locate on a world map the major population clusters, and explainthe relationship between population distribution and the naturalenvironment

Movement22 Movement

barrierscensus clusterdemographydense populationdoubling timeeconomically developingHuman Development Index

(HDI)Industrial Revolutionlinearmigrationmoderate population densitypopulation densitypopulation distributionpull factorspush factorsscatteredsparse population

KEY VOCABULARYKEY VOCABULARY

Figure 2.1

As volcanoes erupt, earth materials move.What do you think happens to all the dustand smoke that flies into the air during avolcanic eruption?

Everything Is in Motion

O ur world is full of movement. The Earth spins aroundon its axis once every 24 hours. The Earth’s crust isconstantly shifting. The wind blows the leaves on thetrees. Different forms of transportation move things

from one location to another. Motion is all around us. Themovement of people, animals, or things to a new area is calledmigration.

The history of a region influences thenumber of people who live there. Areas thatwere first settled because the natural envi-ronment was favourable or there was accessto water transportation may have larger pop-ulations. This is because these settlementsites have existed for longer periods of time.Only in the past 300 years or so have largenumbers of people from other continentsmoved to North and South America. This is ashort time compared with how long peoplehave been living in Europe, Africa, and Asia.These continents have higher populationdensities than North and South America.

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United States244 690

Central andSouth America and Caribbean andBermuda553 220

SouthernEurope 714 380

Africa229 300

West CentralAsia and theMiddle East210 850

Eastern Europe447 830

Oceania 49 020

Southern Asia353 515

Eastern andSoutheast Asia998 405

Britain,Britain,Northern andNorthern andWesternWesternEuropeEurope1 169 8451 169 845

Britain,Northern andWesternEurope1 169 845

People Come to Canada

Figure 2.3

Many world regionshave experienced lossesof population due tomigration over theyears. On the otherhand, countries likeCanada have beengaining populationsteadily, also frommigration.

C H A P T E R 2 : Movement

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Figure 2.2

Which do you think isgenerally stronger — push or pull?

Factors Involved in a Decision to Move

Reasons forwanting to leave

Physical, financial,legal, andemotional barriers

Attractive featuresof another place

Push factors Barriers Pull factors

People on the MoveThere are many different reasons for people to move. Forces thatencourage you to leave a place are called push factors. Thesecould be poor living conditions, economic and/or political diffi-culties, or war. Forces that draw you to another place are calledpull factors. Good jobs or better living conditions can pull you toa different place. Barriers are the things that make it difficult tomove, such as family ties or travel costs. Usually, more than onefactor influences people’s decision to move.

U N I T 1 : Investigating Geography26

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Why Migrate?People migrate for a new start in life, better economicopportunities, to escape persecution, and to find freedom.But moving has its price. Migration means dislocation. Itmeans leaving somewhere familiar for a new and strangeplace. It means loss and gain, leaving and arriving, endingand beginning. As you learn about migration, it is impor-tant to remember the challenges that migrants face.

In more recent times, nations have created migrationsto satisfy different national needs. Some countries wantedto reduce their populations at home. Some wanted toextend their power or create new directions for their coun-tries. By the start of the 1900s, there were few places leftuntouched by immigration.

In some countries, governments have forced people toleave their homeland against their will. One of the mostbrutal examples of forced migration in history involvedmillions of black Africans. They were captured, stripped ofall human rights, herded onto ships, and transported to theAmericas to endure years of slavery.

Slaves from Africa taken to the Americas 1500–18501

Russian settlement of Siberia 1850–19502

European settlement of North America 1820–19203

Settlement of southern Africa and Australasia by Europeans 1840–19604

Chinese migration to Indo–China 1880–19105

Migration of Chinese to the Americas 1860–19506

Movement of Indians to Africa 1860–19107

Japanese migration to North America 1870–19108

Jewish movement to Israel 1949– 9

Migration of Asians to Europe 1950–197010

Movement of Palestinian refugees out of Israel 1950–197011

Indo–Chinese refugees flee to southeast Asia and China 1970–198012

Afghans flee to Pakistan and Iran 1970–198013

Figure 2.4

World migrations since AD1500

One of the largest single migrations of people in the 1900s involved the move of 8 million Muslims into East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and West Pakistan (now Pakistan) in 1948 from India. Over 3 million Hindus moved from East and West Pakistan into India.

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C H A P T E R 2 : Movement 27

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1. List five push factors and five pull factors.2. What would it take (pull factor) to make you want to leave your home, family,

and country to start fresh somewhere else? Explain your choice. What barriersmight get in the way?

3. There have been many news stories about boatloads of people who have enduredterrible travelling conditions in order to arrive on the shores of Canada or someother country. Why do people take such risks? Why are they so desperate to riskeverything to find a new start?

Figure 2.5

The artist and explorer Paul Kane (1810–1871) painted this encampment on Lake Huron. Do First Nations peopleslive in such dwellings now?

In North America, many groups of FirstNations peoples were forced by European

settlers to move from their lands toreserves. This type of forced migra-

tion has created many issues forsocieties today. These issues are

often reported in the news.Can you identify some of thechallenges that the FirstNations people face todaybecause of these forcedmigrations?

KANE, Paul: Indian Encampment on Lake Huron, 1845

Population Distribution and DensityDemography is the study of human population. Demographers arescientists who study data on population. They also study issuesrelated to where, and how well, people live. Geographers anddemographers try to help us understand why people live wherethey do. They also study why some countries have populationproblems. As part of their work, demographers help countries,regions, and cities predict what the population will be in thefuture. Governments and businesses hire them to make recom-mendations about how to provide services and goods to people.


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Eighty percent of the world's people live in countries that are economically developing, and 97 percent of all population growth occurs in these countries. The United Nations uses the term economically developing to refer to countries that are not as industrialized as Canada or the United States — mainly Africa, Asia (except Japan), and Latin America.

Birth rates, death rates, and immigration can cause changes in a country's population.

QPopulation growth is the primary source

of environmental damage.Jacques Cousteau,

oceanographer and environmentalist

“”


The CensusHow are all the people in a country counted? Every five years, gov-ernments collect information about the number of people livingin their region. Every 10 years, a more detailed census is carriedout. People are hired to conduct door-to-door surveys in theirneighbourhoods. They collect informa-tion about age, ethnic background, lan-guage, family size, and other facts.Statistics Canada is the branch of gov-ernment responsible for the Canadiancensus.

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The first national census was taken in 1871. This was the first census taken after Confederation in 1867. It counted the population of the four original provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec. The population was3 689 000. In the national census taken in 2001, the population of Canada was 31 021 000.

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DemographicsDemographicsDemographics

If we could shrink the Earth’s populationto a village of 100 people, with all the existinghuman ratios remaining the same, it would looklike this:

There would be

61 Asians11 Europeans13 from the Western hemisphere (5 from NorthAmerica)14 Africans1 Oceanian

52 would be female48 would be male

6 people would possess 59 percent of the entireworld’s wealth80 would live in substandard housing70 would be unable to read50 would suffer from malnutrition

1 would be near death2 would be near birth

1 would have a college education

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Economicallydeveloping countries

Industrialized countries

1850 1900

Popu

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1950 2000 2050 2100 2150

Figure 2.6

World population growth, 1800 to 2150 (estimated).What do demographers mean when they say therehas been a population “explosion”?

Population DistributionLook at the map of world population density in the map appendix. People are not evenly distributed on Earth’s surface.Settlement does not occur everywhere, but very few places are completely free of the impact of human activities. There are even permanent, year-roundresearch bases in Antarctica.

Where people live is calledpopulation distribution. Howmany people live within a givenarea is called population density.While these terms may seem verysimilar, Figure 2.7 shows the dif-ference: both regions A and Bhave the same population densi-ty, but the population distribu-tion is different for each.


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It’s Your WorldIt’s Your WorldWorld Population Milestones

World population reached: World population may reach:1 billion in 1804 7 billion in 2013 (14 years later)2 billion in 1927 (123 years later) 8 billion in 2028 (15 years later)3 billion in 1960 (33 years later) 9 billion in 2050 (22 years later)4 billion in 1974 (14 years later) 244 billion in 2150 (100 years later)5 billion in 1987 (13 years later) 134 trillion in 2300 (150 years later)6 billion in 1999 (12 years later) ?

W hen did the number of people living on “Spaceship Earth” first reach one billion people? From 1974 to 1999, what happened to the number

of years it took for the world population to increase by another billion people?The world population is growing by 3000 every 20 minutes.

A(1 km2)

B(1 km2)

Figure 2.7

Regions A and B both have the same populationdensity — 12 people per square kilometre — butdifferent patterns of population distribution.Region A shows an unequal distribution, orcluster, of people. In region B, the population ismore evenly distributed, or scattered,throughout the area.

Population DensityThe population density of a place tells us how many people live inan area. It is usually measured by the average number of people foreach square kilometre (km2). You can calculate this by dividing thenumber of people living in a country or region by the land area inwhich they live.

For example, Australia has a population of 19 million and anarea of 7 682 000 square kilometres (km2):

19 000 000_____________ = 2.47 people per km2.7 682 000

Bangladesh has a population of 120 million and an area of 144 000 square kilometres (km2):

120 000 000_______________ = 833.3 people per km2.144 000

As these two examples show, population density varies greatlyfrom place to place. In fact, population densities around theworld range from less than one person per square kilometre tothousands of people per square kilometre.


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In 2005, the world's total population was6 451 058 790. By 2050, people predict that the population will grow to9 224 375 956.

Australia has over50 times more land area than Bangladesh but only the population.1

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Country/ PopulationTerritory (people/km2)

Australia 2.5Bangladesh 833.3Belgium 336.6Bermuda 1260.0Brazil 20.1Canada 3.3China 122.0Hong Kong 6 435.7Egypt 66.4France 107.8Greenland < 0.1Iceland 2.7Israel 277.6Japan 331.0Macau 20 338.0Mongolia 1.6New Zealand 13.5Nigeria 121.4Russia 8.6Saudi Arabia 10.6Singapore 5 474.5Sudan 12.0United Kingdom 238.9United States 29.5

Figure 2.8

Population density of 24 countries. Figure 2.9

Population density in Osaka, Japan contrastssharply with the density of the rural areashown in Figure 2.10.


Figure 2.10

What kinds of economic activity do youthink the people who live in thiscommunity would be engaged in?

Canada and Australia are large in area but have small popu-lations. These countries have a low or sparse population density.Some countries have large populations living in a small area. InBangladesh, people are packed more closely together. Countrieslike this have a high population density or a dense population. A moderate population density is somewhere in the middle.These countries average 15 to 150 people per square kilometre.France has 107.8 people per square kilometre, so it has a mod-erate population density.

Population density really means how close or how far apartpeople live from one another. Understanding this can help com-munities plan what services are needed and where to build newschools, houses, businesses, and transportation routes. Know-ing population density also helps us make comparisonsamong different regions of the world.

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Cities are places with the highest population densities in the world. Around 75 percent of people in developed countries live in cities.

1. Predict the number of people who may live on Earth in 100 years.2. How old will you be when the Earth is expected to have nine billion people?3. Using Figure 2.6, estimate the ratio of people who live in economically developing

countries to those who live in developed, industrialized countries?4. Calculate the population density of your classroom by finding the number of

people per square metre.


Human PatternsThere are patterns to where people live in the world. The nat-ural environment affects where people live. The population pat-tern of a region is also affected by its history.

A region’s level of economic development has a large impacton its population patterns. Many people in less industrializedcountries tend to have larger families. Therefore, populations inthese countries grow more rapidly. Compare this to people inindustrialized nations. They tend to have higher levels of tech-nological development. They have better access to education,health care, and more job opportunities. Because of these con-ditions, people in economically developed countries tend tohave smaller families. They live in regions with sparse or moder-ate population density. (Japan and the Netherlands are excep-tions to this general rule. They are economically developedcountries, but they have high population densities.)

Before 1800, most people lived in rural areas. With theIndustrial Revolution, many people began moving to cities towork in factories. In recent years, the growth of cities in eco-nomically developing countries has been very rapid. Today, fewerthan 50 percent of people in these countries live in rural areas.

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AntarcticaOceaniaSouthAmerica

NorthAmerica

AfricaEuropeAsia

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Percentage of world’s land area

Percentage of total population

Figure 2.11

This graph compares the area ofcontinents to their populations.Which continents have thelargest share of people?

Although Asia is home to the largest total number of people, Africa is the continent whose population is growing the fastest. Meanwhile, populations in some countries in eastern Europe — such as Hungary — are shrinking.


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1. Give two reasons why it is useful to understand population distribution anddensity patterns.

2. Which continent has the highest population growth? Which has the largest totalpopulation? Why might this information be important to the people living onthese continents? Why might this information be important to people living onthe other continents?

It’s Your WorldIt’s Your World

F actors affecting population patterns work together.Farming in North Africa began thousands of years ago

close to the Nile River in Egypt. There was plenty of waterand fertile soil to grow enough food to support many peo-ple. Overall, Egypt's population density is 56 people/km2,which is moderate. Look at a map of world population den-sity (see the map appendix, page 302), and you will see asurprising pattern. There is a narrow finger of land aroundthe Nile, which has a very dense population. This popula-tion pattern can be described as linear.

For centuries, many people drowned when the Nileflooded its banks each year. The Aswan High Dam wasbuilt in the 1960s and 1970s. The dam reduced the risk offlooding by creating a “controlled flood” — Lake Nasser, anartificial lake nearly 500 km long. It helped irrigate over400 000 ha of farmland. It also established one of theworld's largest hydroelectric generation stations. Thisallowed for an even denser population in the region.

Figure 2.12

These ancient Egyptian statues weremoved from Aswan to nearby AbuSimbel by the United NationsEducational, Scientific, and CulturalOrganization (UNESCO) when theywere threatened by floods from thebuilding of the Aswan High Dam.Many people also were relocatedwhen the dam was built. What effectsdo you think this forced migrationhad on them? Can you think of asituation in Canada in which peoplewere forced to relocate because ofhuman development?

Population CharacteristicsMany population characteristics can tell us how a population ischanging, or how well people live in the world’s countries. TheUnited Nations selects a number of factors to gather informa-tion and statistics on 175 countries throughout the world. Thesefactors include such things as how long people can expect tolive, how many people can read and write, and how much moneypeople earn. The United Nations combines these statistics intoits Human Development Index (HDI). This index gives a gener-al picture of living conditions in each country.


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Figure 2.13

Canada is a huge and diverse country.Do you think everyone in all parts ofCanada feels fortunate to live here?Why or why not?

Doubling TimeImagine the changes in your living conditions if the number ofpeople in your family doubled over the next few years. Wouldthere be enough room? Would there be enough money? If yourfamily grew that quickly, you would have to make many adjust-ments in your life. When a country’s population is growing quick-ly, people have to adjust how they live. The government couldhave problems in providing basic needs such as food, housing,education, health care, and a healthy natural environment.Governments must know how fast a population is growing so theycan plan for the future.


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Figure 2.14

These countries rate the highest and the lowestscores on the 2005 United Nations HumanDevelopment Index.


C anada may rate fifth in the world for the qual-ity of life, but there are some concerns about

Canada’s poor record on child poverty and its treat-ment of First Nations peoples.

Figure 2.15

More than 15 percent of Canadian children live inpoverty, such as these First Nations children living ona reserve. Why do you think that, in such a richcountry like Canada, some people are so poor?

From 1994 to 1999, the United Nations rated Canada as the best place to live.

10 Highest Scores 10 Lowest ScoresNorway

Iceland

Australia

Luxembourg

Canada

Sweden

Switzerland

Ireland

Belgium

United States

Niger

Sierra Leone

Burkina Faso

Mali

Chad

Guinea-Bissau

Central African Republic

Ethiopia

Burundi

Mozambique


P aul Ehrlich is a Stanford University professor whohas written books on population issues. He trav-

elled to New Delhi, India. This is a description from hisbook, The Population Bomb. It provides a vivid pictureof life in some parts of developing countries: “My wifeand daughter and I were returning to our hotel in anancient taxi…. As we crawled through the city, weentered a crowded slum. The temperature was wellover 37 °C, and the air was a haze of dust and smoke.The streets seemed alive with people. People eating,people washing, people sleeping. People visiting, argu-ing, and screaming. People thrusting their handsthrough the taxi window, begging.… People clinging tobuses. People herding animals. People, people, people,people.”


The faster the population is growing, the shorter the amountof time it will take for the country’s population to double. Theaverage doubling time for industrialized, more developed coun-tries is 500 years. The average for less industrialized, less devel-oped countries is only 37 years. The population of many Africancountries will double in less than 25 years. Notice the big gap innumbers from 500 years to 37 years. This gap clearly shows thedifference in population growth between developed and devel-oping countries.

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1. Name three population characteristics that tell us whether a country’s populationis changing (growing, stable, or shrinking).

2. Should governments take responsibility for population growth in their countries?Support your answer with reasons.

Figure 2.16

Rush hour in New Delhi, India.

If Canada�s population continues to grow at the current rate, it will take 116 years for the population to double.

Skills for Active DemocraticCitizenship

Contact your local federal immigration office toinvite a representative to speak to your class.Work together to develop questions to askabout immigrants who come to Manitoba. Youmay wish to ask about the classes of immi-grants who come to Manitoba, where they havemigrated from, their reasons for coming toCanada and then to Manitoba, the procedurethey must follow to enter Canada, what theyexperience as newcomers to the province, andchallenges they face. Decide who will contactthe immigration office. Decide who will askeach of your group's questions.

Imagine that you are a demographer. Write areport that describes the population character-istics of the community in which you live. Makeone recommendation to the local governmenton how to provide better services to the agegroup of your choice. You could choose childrenunder age 12, teenagers, people with youngfamilies, young adults, or senior citizens.

Skills for Managing Ideas andInformation

The patterns of world population distributionshow some amazing similarities to patternsfound on maps of the natural environment.Compare the map of world population distribu-tion with other world thematic maps that showlandforms, climates, soils, and vegetation.Where do you find regions of dense, moderate,and sparse population distribution?

There are several key pressures on people tomigrate: drought/starvation, political conflict,resource/environmental loss, and social/economic conditions. Copy the organizer inyour notebook to help understand these factors.For each factor, identify an event of that typeand where it happened.

Pressure Event Location

Drought/starvation

Political conflict

Resource/environmental loss

Social/economic conditions

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Figure 2.17

Montreal’s harbourfront

Critical and Creative ThinkingSkills

“The natural environment is the most importantfactor that influences where people live.” Doyou agree or disagree with this statement? Givesupporting reasons for your point of view.

Consider the location of your community as aplace to live. What makes it a good location for a community? Are there any problems withits location as a place to live? What are theproblems?

Imagine that you are a member of a familycoming to Canada from a war zone in anothercountry. Write diary entries for one week inyour life as the family member you have cho-sen. Tell about the family. Describe the condi-tions of “your” country and why “you” left,“your” feelings about leaving, and “your” emo-tions about coming to Canada.

Communication Skills How would you explain to a friend the ways inwhich population density varies around theworld?

a) Survey your class to find out about yourclassmates’ origins. Ask each student in yourclass where her or his family came from andwhen they came to Canada. The families ofsome students may have arrived in Canada fair-ly recently. Others may have been here for sev-eral generations. The ancestors of the FirstNations students lived here for thousands ofyears before Europeans arrived. As you surveyeach student, create a list of the countries andyears they immigrated to Canada. The countryof origin for First Nations students will beCanada.b) Plot the countries on a world outline map.Calculate the percentage of arrivals from eachcontinent.c) Draw arrows from the continents to showthe flows of migration.

Make a mural, collage, poster, or hangingmobile to show characteristics of Canadian lifeand life in a developing country. Work with apartner to decide on a format. Work togetherto plan how you will show the two ways of life.Add labels and a title to your work.

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Figure 2.18

This group of immigrants arebecoming new Canadian citizens.They are participating in aswearing–in ceremony.

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