Cultural Geography

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY IS a subdiscipline of HUMAN GEOGRAPHY. The founding father of cultural geography in North America is Carl Ortwin SAUER, and most of the research in cultural geography from the 1920s to the beginning of the 1980s was carried out by cultural geographers walking in the footsteps of Sauer and the so-called Berkeley School. In this tradition, cultural geography is concerned with material facets of culture. On the agenda of the Berkeley School were cultural influences on, and shaping forces of, the transformation of landscape and the natural environment. In short, the role that culture plays as an agent of these changes.

In this respect, the American tradition of cultural geography of the 20th century was a dominating and highly influential one. Since the end of the 1970s, however, cultural geography in the anglophone scientific community took on a different face. Drawing heavily on British cultural studies, focusing on interpretative and empirical methods, and refurbishing social theory, cultural geographers of that time developed the socalled new cultural geography. The mere amount of studies and research that has been carried out until today under the banner of this new cultural geography, and also the colorful, true-to-life, and rich array of topics hosted by the discipline, made new cultural geography probably the most successful subdiscipline of geography throughout the last 30 years. This boom, the beginnings of which are often referred to as the cultural turn in geography, has changed the discipline fundamentally. 

Nevertheless, recently there has been a vivid, critical discussion about the shortcomings of these new cultural geographies, which is revolving around the topics of the dangers of a holistic culturalist approach and the dematerialization and the (missing) political potential of the new cultural geography.

Cuba

CUBA, THE 15th largest island in world, is part of the West Indies in the CARIBBEAN SEA. This island, which experiences a subtropical climate and a wet summer season between May and October, is composed of fertile ground where tobacco, sugarcane, and coffee are grown and where cattle graze. Twenty-five percent of the island is covered by the Oriental, Central, and Occidental mountain ranges.

More than 6,000 plant species are spread across Cuba. The royal palm is the most noticeable, and supposedly 20 million palms exist across the island. Cork palm can also be found on the island, as well as the palma barrigona, the ceiba, and the mariposa. The southern coast supports swamps with fish and birds. Reptiles are the most abundant fauna. Crocodiles, iguanas, salamanders, lizards, and turtles, as well as a mixture of nonpoisonous snakes, are present throughout the country. The jutia (a tree rat) is the largest land mammal on the island. And the world’s smallest bird, the bee hummingbird, originates from Cuba.

Modern-day history of Cuba can be traced back to November 27, 1492, when Christopher Columbus landed on the island. For the next 300 years, Spain had control over the small island. During the 16th century, the indigenous Tainos were virtually obliterated from the island. Subjected to a life of labor under the Spanish encomienda system, these indigenous people were forced to mine for silver and gold and to work the many plantations spread across the island.

Overall, the Spanish found a limited amount of silver and gold on the island. As the years passed, it was obvious that Cuba would have to serve other purposes for the Spanish administration. The island became a stopover for ships carrying goods from the Americas to Europe. In 1607, Havana was created as the Cuban capital. The forests across the island were cut down to make room for livestock, tobacco, and sugar for European sale. However, after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1587, Spain’s New World colonies, such as Cuba, suffered from a lack of central control. The unregulated West African slave trade flourished and pirates appeared in Cuban ports.

In 1762, 200 English warships with 20,000 troops appeared outside of Havana. After 44 days, Havana fell to the English, but within a year, the British traded their new possession back to SPAIN for the land of FLORIDA. The new king of Spain, Charles III, began to actively encourage free trade, and the Cuban economy prospered. By 1820, Cuba held the distinction of being the world’s largest sugar producer. By 1835, all the New World colonies of Spain had received independence, except for PUERTO RICO and Cuba. Cuban revolutionaries began to form protests. In 1868, slavery was finally abolished and an overall rebellion for independence rose throughout the land. Ten years of war lasted and around 200,000 people perished in the fighting; some 100,000 fled the island. The Pact of Zanjon was signed in 1878, which ultimately granted all the rebels amnesty. However, independence was still not granted. 

Cuban exiles in the UNITED STATES, including the poet José Martí, began plans for the next wave of rebellion. In 1895, they landed on eastern Cuba, and Marti was fatally shot. The rebels continued to fight, and in return, the Spanish government executed public figures and threatened civilians. Cuba eventually agreed to a home rule government for the Cubans, but the Cuban citizens wanted full independence. In 1898, the U.S. warship Maine, anchored in the harbor in Havana, exploded. Although the reason for the explosion was unknown, American newspaper reports blamed the Spanish. American troops were dispatched to the island and the Spanish-American War began.

After various victorious American battles, including the Battle of San Juan Hill, a peace treaty was signed in December 1898. Although the Cubans were now independent of Spain, the U.S. influence on Cuba began. In 1902, the United States granted Cuba full independence but, under the Platt Amendment, reserved the legal right to intervene militarily if Cuba’s independence was threatened. The Guantánamo Bay naval base was also leased by the United States, and is still currently occupied by the U.S. military.

By the 1920s, over two-thirds of Cuba’s farmland was owned by American companies. Into the 1950s, Cuba was ruled by a number of military and political figures. During the early years of the Great Depression, President Gerardo Machado y Morales violently ended civil unrest throughout the country. He was overthrown in a coup, and Fulgencio Batista gained power, which would last for more than 20 years. Throughout this period, Cuba suffered economically, and active resistance groups were formed.

Fidel Castro emerged as a very influential rebel leader. In 1953, he led an attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago. More than 100 died, and Castro faced a public trial. He was jailed but given an early release. He was exiled to Mexico, and from there organized the 26th of July Movement. In December 1956, Castro and his group landed on the eastern part of the island. For three years, guerrilla warfare spread throughout the island. On January 1, 1959, Batista was overthrown and fled to the DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 

Castro became the prime minister of the country, and overhauled the economy. He nationalized much of the land and American-owned petroleum facilities. The United States in return cut sugar imports, which debilitated the economy. With a deteriorating economic situation, Castro turned to the Soviet Union for aid. Sugar trade thus developed between Cuba and the Soviets.

BAY OF PIGS

In 1961, the U.S. CIA organized an invasion in the Bay of Pigs. Fourteen hundred CIA-trained Cuban exiles attacked Castro forces but were quickly captured. Castro declared that Cuba was to be a socialist state. The Soviet Union sent food, supplies, and nuclear missiles to the island that was only 90 miles off the coast of superpower rival, the United States. After an extremely tense nuclear standoff in 1962 between Cuba, the United States, and the Soviet Union, the missiles were returned to the Soviets.

For the next three decades, Cuba became a leading military and political force in the Third World, but its economy fell into major disrepair. In 1989, after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the decline of the Soviet Union, RUSSIA withdrew its aid. In 1991, economic reforms began in the country. Cuban citizens were allowed to be self-employed and farmers’ markets were opened. Slowly, the Cuban economy grew. Sensing that Castro’s power base was declining, the United States passed the Helms-Burton Act, which imposed harsher embargo conditions on Cuba. In 2004, Castro’s hold on Cuba was still strong and the country remained one of the last socialist states in the world.

Croatia

CROATIA IS AT once one of the oldest and newest states in Europe. There has been a Croatian state of some kind, with varying degrees of independence, since the 9th century. Croatia was one of the first to break away from the disintegrating Yugoslav Federation in 1990 and is today one of the more successful economies in the Balkans. Unlike Serbia and many of its other neighbors, Croatia has had closer ties to the West for centuries, as Catholics rather than Orthodox, and as subjects of Western rulers rather than Turkish sultans like their neighbors to the south and east. Today, Catholicism is regaining importance in Croatian national identity.

The physical shape of Croatia is reminiscent of a croissant, the symbol of defiance to Turkish invaders in the 17th century: The inland (or Pannonian) region consists of Croatia proper (with the capital, Zagreb) and Slavonia to the east. The coastal region consists of Istria and Dalmatia, extending along the ADRIATIC SEA coast for nearly 1,200 mi (2,000 km). The coast is dominated by inlets and over a thousand islands, creating a coastline of 3,618 mi (5,835 km). Only 69 of the islands are inhabited, the largest being Krk, Brac, and Cres. The interior consists of flat plains along the Hungarian border and the river valleys of the Drava and Sava (tributaries of the DANUBE to the east), and low mountains. The climate here is continental, differing sharply from the Mediterranean climate along the Adriatic. High mountains divide these two regions, extensions of the Julian and Dinaric Alps that run north to south from Istria to Montenegro. Croatia borders a number of countries, mostly former members of Yugoslavia: SLOVENIA to the northwest, SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO to the east and south, and BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA to the east. HUNGARY lies across the Drava to the north.

Much of Croatia’s history is dominated by Hungary, first in a personal union between the Croatian and Hungarian royal families dating from 1102, followed by outright incorporation within the Hungarian kingdom from the 18th century. Croatia formed the highly militarized frontier between the Hapsburg and Ottoman dominions for several centuries. The coastal provinces of Dalmatia and Istria had a different history, however, falling under the administration of the Venetian Republic from the early 15th century. The famous maritime republics of Ragusa and Spalato were founded by Venetians and today (as Dubrovnik and Split) remain two of the most famous tourist destinations in the Mediterranean. At the end of World War I, Croatia and Dalmatia joined together as a component state within the new kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later renamed Yugoslavia.

Today’s Croatian economy is split evenly between agriculture and industry. The best farmland is in the far northeast, where corn, wheat, and fruits are grown. Timber is also a significant resource in this area. Industry is mostly light, concentrating on chemicals and plastics, plus some extractive products such as coal, petroleum, and bauxite. Privatization delays and unemployment are Croatia’s biggest issues today, as it works toward full membership in the EUROPEAN UNION.

Tourism is on the rise as the region becomes more secure and is currently Croatia’s biggest source of revenue. The Dalmatian coast is sunny and warm year-round, and is called the Riviera of the Adriatic. Dubrovnik was heavily damaged during warfare in the early 1990s but has been rebuilt under its status as a United Nations World Cultural Heritage Site.

Côte d’Ivoire

CÔTE D’IVOIRE (Ivory Coast) is bordered by MALI and BURKINA FASO on the north, by LIBERIA and GUINEA on the west, and by GHANA on the east. The official capital is Yamoussoukro, while the largest city and commercial center of the country is the former capital, Abidjan.

The south consists of a coastal lowland with heavy rainfall, the interior of a densely forested plateau, and the north of upland savannas. There are over 60 ethnic groups in Côte d’Ivoire, the major groups being the Baoule, Beti, Malinke, Senufo, Anyi, and Dan. Of the more than 5 million non-Ivoirian Africans living in Côte d’Ivoire, one-third to one-half are from Burkina Faso, and the rest are from Ghana, Guinea, Mali, NIGERIA, BENIN, SENEGAL, Liberia, and MAURITANIA. The non-African expatriate community includes roughly 130,000 Lebanese and 20,000 French. About 60 percent of the population is Muslim (who live predominately in the north), 25 percent follow traditional religious beliefs, and 15 percent are Christian (who are mostly concentrated in the south). French is the official language.

Côte d’Ivoire showed remarkable political stability from its independence from France on August 7, 1960, until late 1999. The first president was Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who remained in that position until his death in December 1993. He was succeeded by President Henri Konan Bédié, who was toppled by a bloodless coup by General Robert Guei on December 24, 1999, as falling world market prices for Côte d’Ivoire’s primary export crops of cocoa and coffee put pressure on the economy. Elections were scheduled for fall 2000 but were later cancelled by Guei, and this started a period of coups, attempted coups, and civil wars, which ended only in January 2003, when French troops intervened to broker a power-sharing national reconciliation government.

Despite steady industrialization since the 1960s and a high economic growth rate from its independence through the 1970s, the country is still predominantly agricultural, which contributes 29 percent to the gross domestic product and employs approximately 68 percent of the population. Côte d’Ivoire is among the world’s largest producers and exporters of coffee, cocoa beans, and palm-kernel oil. Other exports include cotton, bananas, pineapples, rubber, and mahogany and other hardwood timbers. Among the country’s industries are the production of foodstuffs, palm oil, petroleum and natural gas (offshore production began in the early 1980s), textiles, construction materials, and fertilizer, and the assembly of motor vehicles and bicycles. Côte d’Ivoire, or Ivory Coast, was named for the supplies of ivory brought to the coast for trade in colonial times.

Costa Rica

THE REPUBLIC OF Costa Rica, home to almost 3.9 million people, is located in Central America between NICARAGUa and PANAMA with CARIBBEAN SEA and PACIFIC OCEAN coastlines. With a narrow Pacific coastal region, Costa Rica is covered by rugged mountains with peaks over 12,000 ft (3,657 m) high, cutting the country from northwest to southeast. The chain contains several major volcanoes, one of which, Irazu, erupted destructively in the mid-1960s. Costa Rica suffers from occasional hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods in addition to volcanoes.

The coastal plains are low and subject to flooding, as well as being quite hot, humid, and heavily forested. The traditional Costa Rican economy was based upon the agricultural production of these coastal plains, where it is possible to cultivate an abundance of bananas, cocoa, and sugarcane. In contrast to the wet coastal plains, the Nicoya peninsula located in the northwest region of the country is made up of more arid plains. There, extensive cultivation of cash crops like sugarcane is not possible. Instead, these plains have been used by ranchers to raise large herds of cattle and by some farmers who grow grains.

The Central Valley lies between the mountain ranges and volcanoes, where the most productive land is found and coffee is cultivated extensively. Also, under the threat of an eruption, the majority of population lives in the Central Valley, which is the heart of the country and is renowned for its almost constant springlike climate. In addition, Costa Rica has sovereignty over a small island about 300 mi (482 km) off its Pacific Coast, known as Cocos Island, which is celebrated for its natural beauty.

The climate of Costa Rica is tropical and subtropical. The dry season lasts from December to April, while the rainy season lasts from May to November. While it is quite hot and humid along the coastal plains, the Central Valley and the highlands are much more agreeable. In some areas of the highlands, the temperature varies greatly from that of the coastal areas.

Costa Rica is a democratic republic separated and administered in the form of seven provinces. The executive branch is made up of a president and two vice presidents, a unicameral legislature, and a Supreme Court.

Costa Rica is one of the most stable countries in the Americas; only two very brief periods of instability have taken place since the late 19th century. As a result of the stability, the government has been able disband the military and to concentrate on economic development.

Even though Costa Rica is still mostly dependent upon its agricultural exports, diversification of the economy has succeeded in moving the country away from monocultures. After the success of government initiatives, Costa Rica is now home to expanding ecotourism and technology sectors. Consequently, the standard of living is high, especially relative to neighboring countries, and land ownership in the country is widespread.

Core and Periphery

CORE AND PERIPHERY are terms used in geographic models to describe areas of differing economic production and political power and can be applied to both intra- and interstate variations. Core areas are described as the engines of economic growth and are characterized by modern, technologically advanced production methods as well as highly skilled and highwage labor. Places using low-technology production methods accompanied by low skill and low-wage labor, on the other hand, are labeled the periphery.

Within the discipline of geography, the terms core and periphery are more common in the subdiscipline of political geography as compared to economic geography, where they have been deemphasized in favor of more complex notions of flows and processes. The concepts of core and periphery can be applied to various scales. At the interstate scale, examples of core areas are the UNITED STATES, the countries of Western Europe, and JAPAN. In these countries goods are produced using technologically complex methods, wages are high, and the labor force is relatively educated and skilled.

Countries like CAMBODIA, BANGLADESH, and most of Sub-Saharan Africa are examples of the periphery, where technologically simple, labor-intensive, lowskill, and low-wage occupations predominate. These are broad generalizations and within a country there can be areas of core processes and areas of peripheral processes. In the United States, for example, Silicon Valley in CALIFORNIA is a core area where high-technology businesses are clustered. Appalachia, on the other hand, is a peripheral area where technology is less complex and wages are low. Going down to even smaller scales, within a city core and peripheral areas can be spatially designated. In NEW YORK CITY, Wall Street and the financial district would represent a core area and some of the underdeveloped neighborhoods in the outer boroughs would be considered peripheral.

Although core and peripheral areas are often mapped, they are not place-based phenomena, but rather are characterized by the production processes present. Therefore, where core and peripheral processes are located, as well as what constitutes core and peripheral processes, can change over time. In each particular historical era core processes are the most technologically advanced production methods present. In the 19th century, core processes were characterized by the industrialized mass production of goods, such as textiles, in places like Manchester, England. In the present day, however, textile production is a peripheral production process common in countries of the global south. More technologically advanced computer and financial businesses predominate in core areas.

THEORIES OF CORE AND PERIPHERY

The terms core and periphery are used in many contexts, but surprisingly the two main theories of core and periphery disagree on what the outcome of this economic differentiation will be. On the one hand, exchange-based theories of core and periphery predict long-term lessening of economic inequalities as core areas develop the periphery and bring it up to an equal economic level. On the other hand, world systems theory predicts that the uneven development will be maintained as core areas exploit the natural resources, both commodities like timber and coal as well as cheap labor, in peripheral areas, which will further economic disparities.

WORLD ECONOMY

The exchange-based model of core-periphery relations is often associated with the writings of John Friedmann (1966), who first noted these economic differences in VENEZUELA. Exchange-based models rely on the notion that market forces, if undisturbed by state regulation, will eventually result in spatial economic equality. These theories suggest that the cheaper costs of labor and raw materials in peripheral areas will encourage businesses to invest there, which will bring development.

This idea, often known as developmentalism, is the underlying theory used by most governments in the world and by international organizations like the World Bank (WB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Trade Organization (WTO) to promote free trade and economic reforms involving the deregulation of markets.

Critics of developmentalism have pointed out that over time economic disparities have widened rather than converging as the exchange-based models predicted. As an alternative, these scholars suggest world systems theory, also known as the world economy model, to explain core-periphery economic development. World systems theory was first proposed by Immanuel Wallerstein (1974) as a model to explain the persistence of worldwide economic disparities historically.

The world economy model focuses on the role countries play at the global scale and argues that there is one world economy driven by capital accumulation that has been in place for approximately the last 500 years.

A unique aspect of the world economy model is the way power is understood. The model suggests power is derived from a country’s ability to control situations through active force (waging war), latent force (threatening action), non-decision making (avoiding issues by never discussing them), and structural position. Core countries utilize their structural position by setting market prices and wages, controlling the economic agenda through international organizations (WB, IMF, WTO), and promoting free trade and open borders. 

Technological advances are likely to occur only in the core because of the superior infrastructure present, which maintains the core countries’ structural advantage. Consequently, in the world economy model, the core is often described as the exploiter and the periphery as exploited.

World systems theory also adds a third category, the semi-periphery, which mediates between core and peripheral areas, stabilizing the system. The semi-periphery, rather simply, is characterized by both core and peripheral processes. At the interstate scale, countries like SOUTH AFRICA or INDIA are currently examples of this intermediate level. In India, core processes are present in cities like Bangalore and Mumbai where high technology businesses are clustered. However, in other parts of India there are millions of people who work in subsistence agriculture and earn less than one dollar a day.

Critics of the world economy model point out that although the model suggests that the core has a structural advantage that allows it to maintain, and even strengthen, its position through unequal exchange of capital, several countries have been able to escape the periphery. Recent examples are countries like SINGAPORE and South KOREA, which have increased their gross domestic product rapidly in the past 50 years. Additionally, the United States, which is the strongest state in the core today, was a peripheral country 300 years ago.

Finally, both world systems and exchange-based models of core and periphery are criticized for their use of static categories that do not adequately reflect complexities and variations on the ground. Although the terms core and periphery imply that discrete categories exist that are homogeneous within them and heterogeneous between them, in reality it is better to think of a continuum that flows between each level in these geographic models.

Cook Islands

PART OF NEW ZEALAND, the Cook Islands consist of 15 islands in the south PACIFIC OCEAN, about halfway between HAWAII and NEW ZEALAND. They are about the same size as RHODE ISLAND. The islands are scattered over an area of more than 706,566 square mi (1.83 million square km). The nine islands in the southern group were formed by volcanic material escaping from a fracture in the Earth’s crust. Most of the population lives on these fertile islands. The northern islands are low coral atolls. The mountainous Rarotonga in the southern group is the largest island.

The Cook Islands have a tropical climate, moderated by trade winds, similar to Hawaii’s climate. It is often sunny, and the rains, although sometimes heavy, don’t last long. Hurricanes can occur during their summer, from December to March. The interior of Rarotonga is the wettest place in the islands. The highest temperatures, averaging 84 degrees F (29 degrees C), occur during the wet season. In the coolest months, the average daily high temperature is 77 degrees F (25 degrees C). Lush vegetation grows on the Cook Islands. Tall trees, creepers, and ferns grow in the interior. Food plants, such as coconuts, bananas, and grapefruit are found on the coast. Yams and taro are important food crops.

Most Cook Islanders are of Polynesian background, although a few people are a mix of Polynesian and other cultures. The Polynesians belong to the Maori branch of the Polynesian race and are related to the Maoris of New Zealand. The official languages are English and Maori, and most people speak both. The overwhelming majority of the people are Christian. Most belong to the Cook Islands Christian Church, founded in the 1820s by missionaries. Cook Islanders are excellent dancers. Traditional music is also popular. 

Islanders compete in dance and singing competitions. String bands use a combination of electronics and traditional instruments fashioned from coconut shells. Visitors can choose from a large selection of arts and crafts made by the Islanders. Popular items include coconut- fiber hats, brightly-colored wraparound clothing, wood carvings, and pottery. Woven mats and blankets are also in demand, as are carved bowls.

Avarua, located on Rarotonga, is the nation’s capital and largest town. Although it is a typical small tropical town, it boasts a gallery, the National Cultural Centre, and a branch of the University of the South Pacific. A number of small villages are scattered around the islands. The Cook Islands have been occupied by the Polynesians for 1,500 years. Captain James Cook discovered some of the islands in 1773. Missionaries from London, converted most of the islanders to Christianity. The islands were a British protectorate from 1888 until 1901, when they were annexed by New Zealand. Although still officially a part of New Zealand, the islands are self-governing.