Birth of the Third World Flashcards
What differentiates a famine from a shortage?
Shortages mean people go hungry. During famine, people die. Some are so desperate for food that they eat grass.
Where have the major 19th century famines been? What term describes the similarity of economic situation in these countries?
Brazil (kinda), China (kinda), India (ABSOLUTELY). Called the BRIC countries (BRazil, India, China).
Why is it difficult to estimate the number of people who die from a famine?
Do you count only the starved. or also those who became sick from malnutrition and died of illness?
What differentiates climate from weather?
Climate: long term patterns
Weather: what’s it doing out there right now
What climate event has the greatest impact on agriculture in Asia?
The monsoon. Failure or excess are both bad news.
What does “El Nino” translate as?
“Christ child”.
When was the El Nino first discovered? By who?
Around Christmas time by South American fishermen who wondered where all the fish had gone.
What drives the world’s climate?
The redistribution of heat from tropics to poles as currents and air masses.
Describe the major climate events in the Pacific in a normal year (think: what happens in the East? What happens in the West?).
East: wind blows Westward from SA replacing warm surface water with cold-nutrient rich water from the depths.
West: warm surface waters pool, accompanying air mass creates a “cloud factory” that causes the monsoons.
Describe the major climate events in the Pacific in an abnormal year, or “ENSO” year (think: what happens in the East? What happens in the West?).
East: no winds, no up-welling of cold water, poor fishing
West: no “cloud factory”, no monsoons, drought in Asia
When were the 2 times since we discovered the ENSO event that this event has occurred in consecutive years?
1876-1878 and 1898-1900.
What are the 2 kinds of drought?
- Meteorological: not enough rain at critical moments
2. Hydrological: natural and artificial reservoirs are empty
How did global meteorology first become established? When was global circulation established?
By a network of telegraph stations with the centre in Delhi, India. Gilbert Walker figures out global circulation in 1920s.
In 1850, where was the most cotton produced? Where was it sent to be spun? Where was the most cotton produced in 1870?
Produced in the American South, sent to Manchester because it’s a little bit wet and apparently that makes cotton-spinning easier. By 1870, India was producing the vast majority of cotton.
Around 1865, how did the world’s cotton economy change?
The American civil war caused cotton shortages, so Egypt and India upped their production to compensate and at one point produced 3/4 of the world’s cotton. Then Egypt went bankrupt in 1873 and only India remained.
