WORLD REGIONAL

GEOGRAPHY

By Brett Lucas

Defining the Realm & Regions

PACIFIC REALM AND POLAR

Defining the Realm

Sea Hemisphere: seas cover nearly an entire hemisphere:

Fragmented, culturally complex realm

Total land area:

Roughly equal to Texas and New Mexico

But 90% of land is Island of New Guinea

Outside the realm:

Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand © H.J. de Blij, P.O. Muller, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Colonization and Independence

Most have been colonized or

annexed.

Changing politics:

Some have stayed colonies.

Some have become

independent.

Some are somewhere in

between.

Island nations are rather

disadvantaged in a world of

large area states. © H.J. de Blij, P.O. Muller, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The Pacific Realm and Its Marine Geography

Marine geography is a field encompassing a variety of

approaches to studying the oceans and seas.

Vast Pacific Ocean:

Where Pacific waters meet surrounding shores

Incorporates several seas:

Sea of Japan

East China

South China Seas

Pacific coastal countries compete for jurisdiction over the

waters that bound them.

The Pacific Realm and Its Marine

Geography: The State at Sea

Territorial sea: the ocean area where all the rights of a coastal state

would prevail:

Beyond that lay the high seas as the free and open seas

unfettered by national interests.

Continental shelves, as the offshore continuation of coastal plains,

became a new littoral frontier to establish boundaries.

Scramble for the Oceans

Precipitated by the claims of jurisdiction over the continental shelf.

Political claims were then issued for territorial seas without a

significant continental shelf to base them.

The Pacific Realm and Its Marine

Geography: UNCLOS Intervention

United Nations Conference on the Law of the Seas

Established a 12-mile territorial sea for all countries and a 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) where coastal states had total economic rights

Far-reaching impact on various-sized islands of the Pacific

© H.J. de Blij, P.O. Muller, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Concept Caching: Fishing Industry on Pago Pago, American Samoa

© Harm de Blij

The Pacific Realm and Its Marine

Geography: UNCLOS Intervention

Maritime Boundaries

Maritime boundary problems:

Where territorial waters or EEZs overlapped, median lines were drawn equidistant from opposite shores.

Still subject to dispute in fragmented maritime regions.

EEZ Implications

Expanding sphere of influence and violation of EEZ rights.

Scramble for ownership resulted in disputes for specks of island territories.

Process of boundary delimitation continues.

Regional Issue:

Who Should Own the Oceans?

WE WHO LIVE HERE SHOULD OWN THE WATERS

Economies of small islands need exclusive rights over their seas.

Vast oceans available to all, but island nations are often disadvantaged in comparison.

Entire Pacific should be divided among the island nations.

Non-Pacific nations overuse resources of the high seas.

THE OCEAN SHOULD BE OPEN AND RESTRICTED

Territorial seas and other jurisdictions cause more problems than they solve.

Overlapping EEZs may lead to the charging of vessels for passage through.

No more extensions of jurisdictions over the ocean should be made.

Maritime world is complicated enough already.

Melanesia

Complex ethnic and human mosaic

Dominated by New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Development limited to the coasts and largely subsistence economy

Numerous nation-building obstacles

Discovery of oil and other minerals

© H.J. de Blij, P.O. Muller, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Papua New Guinea

Melanesia

Solomon Islands

Cultural fragmentation and inter-island historic animosities worsened by WWII events

New Caledonia

Under French rule and with a significant European population

Violence between French and Melanesian groups

© H.J. de Blij, P.O. Muller, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Melanesia

Fiji

South Asians brought by the

British to work on sugar

plantations

Tensions between South

Asians and Melanesians in

Fijian politics

Suspended from the British

Commonwealth for refusal to

call democratic elections

© H.J. de Blij, P.O. Muller, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Micronesia

Region of micro islands

Some high islands are volcanic

Tend to be well-watered with good volcanic soils

Larger populations supported by diverse crops

More low islands barely reaching above sea level

Smaller populations supported by fishing and coconuts

© H.J. de Blij, P.O. Muller, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Micronesia

Kiribati

Three main island groups of

an average of 2 m (6.5 ft) in

elevation

Vulnerable to rising seas

Marshall Islands

Republic in “free association”

with the United States

Bikini Atoll: a nuclear testing

site for United States

© H.J. de Blij, P.O. Muller, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Micronesia

Northern Mariana Islands

Commonwealth in “political union” with the United States

Billions in aid for foreign policy favorable to United States

Palau

Dependent on U.S. aid and military agreement

Also, rewards for recognition of Taiwan’s sovereign status

© H.J. de Blij, P.O. Muller, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Micronesia

Guam

U.S. territory

Military installations and

tourism provides most of its

income.

Nauru

Wealth is from phosphate

exports to Austral realm,

but crisis looms as main

deposits have run out.

© H.J. de Blij, P.O. Muller, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Polynesia

A vast region of diverse poly, or many, islands

Polynesian realm:

Consistency and uniformity of Polynesian culture

Adaptation to maritime environment

Forced to accept the harsh realities of sea-dominated island life

© H.J. de Blij, P.O. Muller, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Polynesia

Hawaiian Islands

Fiftieth U.S. state

Superimposed cultural

landscape

Tonga and Tuvalu

Formerly under British

colonial rule

Both now independent

© H.J. de Blij, P.O. Muller, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Polynesia

Politico-geographical

fragmentation of Polynesian

culture:

Tourism and

development overtakes

some islands like Tahiti.

Americanization of

societies like in Samoa

has created new society.

Polynesia has lost much of its

ancient cultural consistency.

© H.J. de Blij, P.O. Muller, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Partitioning the Antarctic

A physiographic realm and

frontier

Attraction of pioneers and

explorers:

Partitioned into pie-

shaped sectors

Attractive future resources © H.J. de Blij, P.O. Muller, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Concept Caching: The Antarctic Peninsula

© Harm de Blij

Partitioning the Antarctic

Antarctic Treaty

Ensures continued scientific collaboration, prohibits military activities, protects the environment, and holds national claims in abeyance

No maritime claims for now:

Complicated by the ice shelves attached to the coast

© H.J. de Blij, P.O. Muller, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Concept Caching: Mount Erebus, Ross Island Antarctica

© Loren Babcock

Geopolitics in the Arctic Basin

Arctic Ocean is ringed by

overlapping EEZs:

Proof of continental shelves can

extend rights further.

Pie-shaped partition not

appropriate, yet stakes for claims

are high:

Estimates of Arctic oil and gas

reserves as high as 25% of

remaining world total. © H.J. de Blij, P.O. Muller, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Geopolitics in the Arctic Basin

Disputation and Navigation

Global warming: Greenland

Ice Sheet is experiencing

significant losses.

Consequences:

Ecological habitats

Northern waterways open

Competition for claims and

ownership of waterways

vacated by ice © H.J. de Blij, P.O. Muller, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.