Friday 27 March 2020

Germany and Berlin divided into four occupation zones


After the unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945, Germany was divided into four military occupation zones.

France

in the southwest

Britain

in the northwest

The United States

in the south

The Soviet Union

in the east




Berlin, which lay in the Soviet (eastern) sector, was also divided into four military occupation sectors (zones) with the Western sectors later becoming West Berlin and the Soviet sector becoming East Berlin, capital of East Germany.

France

in the northwest

Britain

in the west

The United States

in the southwest

The Soviet Union

in the east


The city of Berlin was divided by the Berlin Wall from 1961 to 1989. It separated the eastern half from the western half. People from the eastern half tried to escape even though the Berlin Wall was there. They used many methods to get around the guards and barbed wire on the Berlin Wall.




The Berlin Wall was taken down on 9 November 1989. Many people thought the Berlin Wall was a symbol of the Cold War. 

Thursday 26 March 2020

Manchester - from industrial city to high-tech

Manchester: 
Today:
British sporting and music city. 

Nineteenth century:
main activity was the textile industry.







Manchester: the first industrial city
The Industrial Revolution
The period when manual labour was replaced by steam-driven factory production, began in Manchester in the eighteenth century.
Manchester was a textile city.
All the textile factories were located close to coal mines. Transport costs and the location of coal were the main location factors.
Coal
Coal was the means of production that was needed to power the steam engines in the textile factories.
Labour
Labour was another important means of production: there was a lot of knowledge and experience in the region.
Mass production
Entrepreneurs started to use new techniques, and the steam engine was the beginning of mass production.
Cotton
Cotton was a raw material that was cheap to import via the port of Liverpool.


Crisis and renewal
The location factors have changed since the early days.
Electricity
Coal was replaced with electricity, and other countries took the lead with modern machines.
Low-wage countries
The serious crisis that industry experienced after 1970 was mainly due to cheap labour in low-wage countries.
Service sector
Manchester is a modern city again, after developing its service sector.
High-tech industry
Today, the most important fields are high-tech industry and science.
Also urban renewal.


High-tech in Manchester

Many high-tech businesses are big, knowledge-intensive multinationals. They invest a lot in research and development and need highly qualified employees.

Footloose industry
High-tech companies are footloose
They are free to choose their location, because they make products that have a high value, but not much weight or volume.

Although high-tech companies are footloose, they locate themselves close to each other.
There are a lot of partnerships between the public sector, science and businesses. This results in economies of agglomeration for businesses: they benefit from being close to each other because they can exchange ideas and information.

Accesibility
Accessibility (infrastructure) is an important location factor, because they have many international contacts.

Scenic landscape
The residential environment (culture and landscape) is also an important location factor.



QUIZLET


Footloose industry

Footloose industry is a term for an industry that can be placed and located at any location without effect from factors such as resources or transport.




Motorways
Industrial regions, where footloose industry is the most dominant, are often located along motorway corridors. 

The motorway corridors provides businesses with excellent transport links and good access to international airports. 

University
The industries are also located close to traditional university towns where the necessary skilled workers are likely to reside.

Tuesday 28 January 2020

Water management - the struggle against water

The Dutch have a saying: "God created the world, but the Dutch created the Netherlands". 




The first defenses against the sea went up some 800 years ago. Today more than 2,400 kilometers of dikes shield the low, flat land—almost half of which lies below sea level—from invasion by the North Sea.









Water management is an important issue for the Netherlands, as due to its low height, approximately two thirds of its area is vulnerable to flooding, while the country is densely populated. 




Natural dunes and man-made dikes, dams, and floodgates provide defence against storm surges from the sea. River dikes prevent flooding from water flowing into the country by the major rivers Rhine and Meuse, while a complicated system of drainage ditches, canals, and pumping stations / windmills keep the low-lying parts dry for habitation and agriculture. 

Dutch Water Authorities (water control boards) are the independent local government bodies responsible for maintaining this system.






Wednesday 10 October 2018

Human migration

Human migration is the movement by people from one place to another. The movement is often over long distances and from one country to another, but internal migration in a country is also possible.

People may migrate as individuals, in family units or in large groups.




Introduction
Below are four items about human migration:
- Human migration.
- Different types of human movements.
- Several categories of migration.
- Reasons for migrating.


1. Human migration.
Human migration is the movement of people from one place in the world to another, with the intentions of settling, permanently or temporarily in a new location.


2. Different types of human movements.
Then tell students that people move for many reasons, and that types of human migration include:

internal migration:
moving within a state, country, or continent.
external migration:
moving to a different state, country, or continent.
emigration:
leaving one country to move to another.
immigration:
moving into a new country.
return migration:
moving back to where you came from.
seasonal migration:
moving with each season or in response to labor or climate conditions.


3. Several categories of migration.
People who migrate fall into several categories:

An emigrant
is a person who is leaving one country to live in another.
An immigrant
is a person who is entering a country from another to make a new home.
A refugee
is a person who has moved to a new country because of a problem in their former home.



4. Reasons for migrating.
Why do people move? What forces drive human migration?

People move for many reasons and those reasons are called push factors and pull factors:

Push factors
Tell students that push factors include leaving a place because of a problem, such as a food shortage, war, or flood.
Pull factors
Tell students that pull factors include moving to a place because of something good, such as a nicer climate, more job opportunities, or a better food supply.






Extra questions:
What effect does a region’s economy, climate, politics, and culture have on migration to and from the area? Additional reasons for migrating, such as displacement by a natural disaster, lack of natural resources, the state of an economy and more.

Thursday 29 March 2018

Monsoon

A monsoon is a seasonal change in the wind direction, caused by the shift of the tropical minimum and the changing temperatures over the ocean and land. The monsoon usually brings with it a different kind of weather. 



Long-term mean precipitation by month
The animation below shows the long-term average precipitation by month (mm/day and in/day).



















The South-West Monsoon in the summer 
During June and July, the summer monsoon arrives with southerly wind flow driven by a warm air mass with low pressure at the surface that forms over southern Asia as it is warmed by the sun. Air from the relatively higher pressure air mass over the Indian and tropical western Pacific Ocean flows northward toward the low pressure over land, bring with it heavy rains.


The South-West Monsoon are rain-bearing on-shore winds, blowing from sea to land, and bring rains to most parts of the subcontinent. The Monsoon winds are eagerly awaited in most parts of India for their agricultural and economic importance.


The North-East Monsoon in the winter 
During the winter monsoon, a large high pressure zone over Asia drives cool, dry air southward toward the tropics. This provides the monsoon region with its dry season.


Subsequently later in the year, around October, these winds reverse direction and start blowing from north direction. The North-East Monsoon are off-shore winds. Given their land to sea flow, from subcontinent onto the Indian Ocean, they have less moisture and bring rain to only limited parts of India. This is known as the North-East Monsoon. 



Late arrival of the monsoon
A late arrival of the monsoon can be bad for agriculture, as the monsoon rains are necessary for summer crops.


In India, for example, the dry northerly wind flow over India changes direction, and warm humid air from the Indian Ocean flows from the south, gradually overspreading the Indian subcontinent. Widespread heavy rains, and even severe thunderstorms, large hail and tornadoes can accompany the onset (arrival) of the summer monsoon.


Floods
The annually monsoon rains flooding large part of Bangladesh, killing thousands of people and destroying farm animals and crops. Bangladesh is vulnerable to the natural disaster of flooding due to being situated on the Ganges Delta and the many tributaries flowing into the Bay of Bengal. 



The coastal flooding twinned with the bursting of Bangladesh's river banks is common and severely affects the landscape and Bangladeshi society. 75% of Bangladesh is less than 10m above sea level and 80% is flood plain, therefore rendering Bangladesh a nation very much at risk of further widespread damage despite its development. Whilst more permanent defences are being built, many embankments are composed purely of soil and turf and made by local farmers. Flooding normally occurs during the monsoon season from June to September during the monsoon. The convectional rainfall of the monsoon is added to by relief rainfall caused by the Himalayas. Melt-water from the Himalayas is also a significant input and flood every year.




Wednesday 28 March 2018

Earthquake-resistant buildings

Earthquake-resistant structures are structures designed to protect buildings from earthquakes.

After a massive earthquake one wonders if it’s possible to build an earthquake-proof building? The answer is yes and no. 




There are of course, engineering techniques that can be used to create a very sound structure that will endure a modest or even strong quake. However, during a very strong earthquake, even the best engineered building may suffer severe damage. 




Engineers design buildings to withstand as much sideways motion as possible in order to minimize damage to the structure and give the occupants time to get out safely.