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Chapter 6
Test Your Understanding 6A from page 240
Summary
The continental and island countries of Southeast Asia, together with Australia, New Zealand, and hundreds of
Pacific islands, comprise a varied region that had separate historic experiences but is becoming increasingly
integrated into global affairs.
Many peoples of contemporary Southeast Asia trace their regional origin to groups migrating many centuries
ago from more interior regions of the Asian continent. Traders from China and South Asia brought Hinduism and
Islam to the region. European colonists claimed much of this territory in the 1800s, but small numbers of Europeans
settled permanently, and the present countries achieved independence in the 1960s and 1970s.
Australia and New Zealand garner political and economic attention among some of the world’s poorest and
smallest Pacific island countries. Following colonization by mainly western European countries in the late 1800s,
many of the islands of the South Pacific remain poor with few products to sell in global markets. Indigenous groups
in Australia (Aborigines) and New Zealand (Maoris) fared badly under European settlement.
Questions to Think About
6A.1 Summarize the variety of external influences that contributed to the present human geography of this region.
6A.2 What have been the consequences, good and bad, for Australia and New Zealand of being at a distance from
the materially wealthier Northern Hemisphere countries?
6A.3 How did differing colonial experiences in Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand create different
contemporary human geographies?
Key Terms
domino theory
containment
Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN)
Mon
Khmer
Vietnamese
Lao
Burmese
Angkor Wat
Shan
Karen
Aborigine
animism
Maori
Melanesian people
Micronesian people
Polynesian people
Dutch East India Company
Thai
Terra Australis
From Bradshaw/White/Dymond/Chacko: Contemporary World Regional Geography, Second Edition.
Copyright 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Test Your Understanding 6B from page 248
Summary
Oceanic influences dominate the climatic environments of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. These
environments range from forested equatorial rainy areas through trade-wind climates to the stormy seas surrounding
Antarctica. Interior Australia remains a desert.
Clashing tectonic plates produce mountains, volcanic islands, and earthquakes from Southeast Asia through
Papua New Guinea to New Zealand. They are linked to productive soils and the deposition of mineral resources
such as copper, gold, and nickel. The shield areas of Australia contain mineral resources such as iron, uranium, and
gold. Environmental problems stem from attempts to establish European farming and tropical plantation crops in
these new lands. Soil degradation and mining damage are among the main problems faced.
Questions to Think About
6B.1 What impact does the convergence of plates have on the region’s relief patterns and on the regional human
geography?
6B.2 Are natural environmental conditions present in Australia a causal factor in Australia’s relatively small
population? Explain.
Key Terms
convective rain showers
sea breeze
land breeze
typhoons
orographic
coral atolls
midlatitude cyclone
monsoon climatic environments
convergent plate boundaries
subducted
transform plate margin
Gondwanaland
barrier reef
marsupial
mallee
Wallace Line
alluvial layers
artesian wells
tsunami
megathrust
From Bradshaw/White/Dymond/Chacko: Contemporary World Regional Geography, Second Edition.
Copyright 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Test Your Understanding 6C from page 271
Summary
Southeast Asia comprises countries at different levels of political and economic development. Groups of people with
different cultures mix within each country, often leading to conflicts. Singapore is a wealthy but small country.
Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines are emerging economies. Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam remain
extremely poor following years of warfare. Myanmar’s exit from military dictator–imposed isolation is slow. All
Southeast Asian countries are developing the manufacture of goods for export and are attracting foreign
investments. They mostly have governments that take an involved part in industrial and trading policy.
Questions to Think About
6C.1 Which are the ASEAN countries? Why was the organization set up, and what is its likely future?
6C.2 Assessing their locations and past and present economies, compare the future prospects of Hong Kong (see
Chapter 5) and Singapore.
6C.3 What common issues do North Korea (see Chapter 5), Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar face?
6C.4 What were some of the contributing factors in the Southeast
Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s?
Key Terms
transmigration
white Australia policy
primate city
deurbanization
Khmer Rouge
cultural fault lines
archipelago
Asia–Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC)
padi
Green Revolution
new rice technology
plantation
crony capitalism
ersatz capitalism
ecotourism
From Bradshaw/White/Dymond/Chacko: Contemporary World Regional Geography, Second Edition.
Copyright 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Test Your Understanding 6D from page 276
Summary
Although Australia has vast areas of desert and unoccupied land, the majority of its 19 million people are
concentrated in higher-density urban areas, giving Australia one of the highest urban percentages of any country in
the world. Australia’s economy ranks it with the world’s wealthier countries and is based on exports of a wide range
of minerals and farm products, together with growing manufacturing and tourism industries. Its five largest cities
hold nearly 60 percent of the total population.
New Zealand is another materially wealthy country. It consists of two main islands. Its 3.9 million people
export wool, lamb meat, timber, dairy products, and fruit. New Zealand is currently experiencing growth in its
tourism and films industries.
Questions to Think About
6D.1 Why does such a high proportion of the Australian population live in the major coastal cities of the
southeastern quadrant of the country?
6D.2 How have cultural relations changed between Aboriginal Australians and European Australians from the
colonial era to the present?
6D.3 What changes were involved in Australia’s economic migration from European to Asian markets?
6D.4 How does New Zealand use its natural environment to increase the country’s global connections?
6D.5 What are some of the environmental impacts faced in Australia and New Zealand?
Key Terms
Great Dividing Range
Gold Coast
Great Australian Desert
afforestation
South Pacific Forum
sustainable forestry
Import-substitution manufacturing
From Bradshaw/White/Dymond/Chacko: Contemporary World Regional Geography, Second Edition.
Copyright 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Test Your Understanding 6E from page 282
Summary
The South Pacific islands include large numbers of small islands grouped in mainly independent but poor countries.
Papua New Guinea is the largest, having over half the total population of all the islands. Many South Pacific islands
have no commercial products; others produce coconuts and copra; some export a particular mineral; and some have
economies maintained by French colonial support or U.S. grants. Antarctica is a continent without a permanent
population. Its resources are not exploited, and its main role is as a scientific laboratory for weather and marine
ecosystem study.
Questions to Think About
6E.1 What attractions do the countries of this subregion offer to tourists? What are the advantages and disadvantages
of the tourism industry for the inhabitants?
6E.2 Should Antarctica be included as a subregion of a world region, be a world region on its own, or be ignored by
regional geographers?
Key Terms
Copra
Antarctic Treaty
ozone hole
From Bradshaw/White/Dymond/Chacko: Contemporary World Regional Geography, Second Edition.
Copyright 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.