Fundamentals of world regional geography / Joseph J. Hobbs, University of Missouri ; cartography by Andrew Dolan.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1.Objectives and Tools of World Regional Geography -- 1.1.What Is Where, Why There, and Why Care? -- 1.2.The Language of Maps -- Insights: Mental Maps -- Geographic Spotlight: Tobler's First Law Of Geography -- Geographic Spotlight: Core Location And Peripheral Location -- 1.3.Geographic Technologies and Careers -- Geographic Spotlight: The Mercator Projection -- Geographic Spotlight: Gis In Action -- Geographic Spotlight: Google Earth -- 2.Physical Processes and World Regions -- 2.1.Geologic Processes -- 2.2.Patterns of Climate and Vegetation -- Geographic Spotlight: Natural Hazards -- 2.3.Biodiversity -- 2.4.The World's Oceans -- 2.5.Global Climate Change -- Geography Of Energy: The Kyoto Protocol And Beyond -- 3.Human Processes and World Regions -- 3.1.Two Revolutions That Have Changed the Earth -- 3.2.The Geography of Economic Development -- Insights: Mapping World Values -- Insights: Land Grabbing -- 3.3.The Geography of Population -- Insights: Deforestation And The Fuelwood Crisis -- Geography Of Cities: The Triumph Of The City -- Insights: Population And Food Energy -- 3.4.An Action Plan for Global Problems -- 4.Europe -- 4.1.Area and Population -- Geographic Spotlight: Site And Situation -- Regional Perspective: Europe's Crisis With Islam -- 4.2.Physical Geography and Human Adaptations -- 4.3.Cultural and Historical Geographies -- Insights: Devolution -- 4.4.Economic Geography -- Insights: Genetically Modified Foods And Eu/Us "Food Fights" -- 4.5.Geopolitical Issues -- Regional Perspective: Europe's Borders: Welcome (?) To Schengenland -- 4.6.Regional Issues and Landscapes -- The European Core -- Properties of the European Core -- Great Britain: Aging Seat of World Power -- Geographic Spotlight: Environmental Perception -- Ireland: Struggles and Resilience on the Emerald Isle -- Geography Of Cities: Global Cities -- Ireland's Troubles -- Paris as a Primate City -- Divided and Reunified Germany -- East Germany, Now Eastern Germany -- Europe Lights the Way on Alternative Energy -- The European Periphery -- Properties of the European Periphery -- Northern Europe -- Southern Europe -- Eastern Europe -- Communism in Ideals and Practice -- Why They Call It "Balkanization" -- The Roma -- 5.Russia And The Near Abroad -- Insights: Regional Names Of Russia And The Near Abroad -- 5.1.Area And Population -- 5.2.Physical Geography And Human Adaptations -- Insights: Russia's Demographic Crisis -- Geography Of Natural Hazards: Near-Earth Objects -- Geography Of The World's Great Rivers: The Volga -- 5.3.Cultural And Historical Geographies -- Insights: Russia And Other Land Empires -- 5.4.Economic Geography -- Geography Of Sacred Space: Stalingrad -- Insights: Russia's Dutch Disease -- 5.5.Geopolitical Issues -- Problem Landscape: Chechnya And Dagestan: Defying Russia In The Caucasus -- Geography Of Energy: Oil In The Caspian Basin -- 5.6.Regional Issues and Landscapes -- Peoples and Resources of the Coreland 192 Notes on Ukraine -- Chernobyl, The Type-Site of Nuclear Disaster -- Farming the Fertile Triangle -- Geography Of Human Trafficking: The Natashas -- Russia's Eastern and Northern Lands -- Lake Baikal, The Pearl of Siberia -- Russia's Far East -- The Wild North -- The Caucasus -- The Armenian Genocide -- Central Asia -- The Shrinking Aral Sea -- 6.The Middle East and North Africa -- 6.1.Area and Population -- 6.2.Physical Geography and Human Adaptations -- Perspectives From The Field: Way-Finding In The Desert -- Problem Landscape: The Rise And Fall Of Dubai's Artificial Islands -- 6.3.Cultural and Historical Geographies -- Geography Of Sacred Space: Jerusalem -- Insights: Sunni and Shi'Ite Muslims -- 6.4.Economic Geography -- 6.5.Geopolitical Issues -- Geography Of Energy: Pipelines And Chokepoints In The Middle East -- Regional Perspective: The Aswan High Dam -- Geography Of Water: Virtual Water -- Geography Of Terrorism: What Do Alqa'Ida And Isis Want? -- 6.6.Regional Issues and Landscapes -- Israel and Palestine -- The Arab-Israeli Conflict -- Arabs and Jews: The Demographic Dimension -- Land for Peace -- The Arab Spring -- Stirring from Stagnation -- The Pharaoh Falls -- The Libyan Domino -- Syria's Minority Dynasty Challenged -- Bahrain: A Pearl Is Crushed -- Revolt in Yemen's Mountainous Redoubt -- Hallmarks of the Revolution -- The Arab Fall -- Syria: ISIS Emerges from the Maelstrom -- Iraq: The United States' "Pottery Barn"? -- Gulf War I: Ousting Saddam from Kuwait -- Gulf War II: Invasion and Occupation of Iraq -- The Kurds -- The Pahlavis, the Ayatollahs, and the Youngsters of Iran -- Turkey: Where East Meets West -- Is Turkey European? -- Or Is Turkey a Great Middle Eastern Power? -- The Gulf Oil Region -- GIS Helps Turn an Arabian Mirage into Reality -- 7.South and East Asia -- 7.1.Area and Population -- Geography Of Population: Changes In China's One-Child Policy -- 7.2.Physical Geography and Human Adaptations -- Perspectives From The Field: The Lost City Of Bangkok -- Insights: Shifting Cultivation -- Regional Landscape: Zomia -- Geography Of Sacred Space: The Korean Village -- Regional Perspective: Asia, Motherland Of Megacities -- 7.3.Cultural and Historical Geographies -- Insights: The Sacred Cow -- 7.4.Economic Geography -- Insights: Outsourcing -- 7.5.Geopolitical Issues -- Problem Landscape: Geopolitical Hot Zones In The Western Pacific -- 7.6.Regional Issues and Landscapes -- South Asia -- Faith, Sectarianism, and Strife -- Insights: China's String Of Pearls -- The Caste System -- Keeping Malthus at Bay -- Low-Lying Bangladesh and Maldives: Canaries in the Climate-Change Coal Mine? -- Afghanistan: Graveyard of Empires -- Southeast Asia -- Deforestation of Southeast Asia -- Geographic Spotlight: Strategic Interests In Us Education -- Geography Of The World's Great Rivers: The Mekong -- The Great Tsunami of 2004 -- Misrule in Myanmar -- The Lady of Burma and Her Country's Turnaround -- Sex, Drugs, and Health in Southeast Asia -- Vietnam Then and Now -- Indonesia: One Country, One People, One Language, 300 Ethnic Groups -- Geographic Spotlight: Visualizing Climate Change With Gis -- China -- Han Colonization of China's "Wild West" -- The Three Gorges Dam -- The South-North Water Transfer Project -- What's Next for Industrial China? -- Addressing Inequities in China: Rich v. Poor, Urban v. Rural -- Taiwan and the Two Chinas Problem -- Japan and the Koreas -- Postwar Japan -- North and South Korea: Night and Day -- 8.Oceania and Antarctica -- 8.1.Area and Population -- 8.2.Physical Geography and Human Adaptations -- 8.3.Cultural and Historical Geographies -- Insights: Deforestation And The Decline Of Easter Island: Too Simple A Parable? -- Perspectives From The Field: In Search Of John Frum -- 8.4.Economic Geography -- 8.5.Geopolitical Issues -- Regional Perspective: Foreign Militaries In The Pacific: A Mixed Blessing -- 8.6.Regional Issues and Landscapes -- Australia and New Zealand -- Becoming Less British, More Asian-Pacific -- Australia's Original Inhabitants Reclaim Rights to the Land -- Exotic Species on the Island Continent -- Geographic Spotlight: Counter-Mapping -- Antarctica: The White Continent -- 9.Sub-Saharan Africa -- 9.1.Area and Population -- 9.2.Physical Geography and Human Adaptations -- Geography Of Disease: Hiv/Aids And Ebola In Africa -- Regional Perspective: The Great Rift Valley -- Insights: Africa's Greatest Conservationist -- 9.3.Cultural and Historical Geographies -- 9.4.Economic Geography -- Problem Landscape: Cleaning Up The Dirty Diamonds -- Insights: The Resource Curse -- Insights: Africa's New Talking Drums: The Mobile Phone Revolution -- 9.5.Geopolitical Issues -- 9.6.Regional Issues and Landscapes -- Blueprints for Development in Africa: The Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals -- Urbanization in Africa's Future -- The Poor, Oil-Rich Delta of Nigeria -- East Africa: No More Divisionism? -- Africa's First World War -- The Galapagos Islands of Religion -- Ethnicity, Colonialism, Strife, and Reconciliation in South Africa -- Madagascar and the Theory of Island Biogeography -- 10.Latin America -- 10.1.Area and Population -- 10.2.Physical Geography and Human Adaptations -- Geography Of Natural Hazards: Heartbreak In Haiti -- 10.3.Cultural and Historical Geographies -- 10.4.Economic Geography -- Regional Perspective: Inequities In Latin America -- Regional Perspective: The North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) -- 10.5.Geopolitical Issues -- Geography Of Drug Trafficking: The War On Drugs -- 10.6.Regional Issues and Landscapes -- Middle America -- Mexico's Stature -- South America -- Venezuela's Petroleum Politics -- Brazil, The Stirring Giant -- The Amazon, Its Forest, and Its People -- 11.The United States and Canada -- 11.1.Area and Population -- 11.2.Physical Geography and Human Adaptations -- Geography Of Natural Hazards: Nature's Wrath in the United States -- 11.3.Cultural and Historical Geographies -- 11.4.Economic Geography -- Geography Of Energy: Energy Efficiency And Energy Alternatives In The United States -- Insights: Trade Barriers: Subsidies And Tariffs -- 11.5.Geopolitical Issues -- 11.6.Regional Issues and Landscapes -- Canada -- The Quebec Separatist Movement -- Overfished Waters -- The Race for the Arctic -- Greenland: A White Land -- The United States -- The Changing Geography of American Settlement -- The Big Apple -- San Francisco, The City by the Bay -- The Thirsty West -- The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.