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SHORT STUDIES IN

ECONOMIC & COMMERCIAL

GEOGRAPHY

\Vith a fotfifinril hy

ANATH NATH BASU, M.A. (Loml.), T.»:(Lond.),

I. ft lincr-iu-t limgf, Tca< iicrt,' Training Department,
Cnt< itttn Ihtivciiiity.

nv
MANINDRA NATH BASU, M.A.. B.C.OM.

BOOK LAND

1, SHANKAR GHOSE LANE,
CALCUTTA.

Published by
Ganesh Chandra Basu,
1, Shankar Ghose Lane,
Calcutta.

Printed by
B. K. Sen,

MODERN INDIA PRESS,
7, Wellington Sq., Calcutta.

FOREWORD

The study of Economic and Commercial Geography, and
for that matter, General Geography, lias long been neglected in
this country and yet the importance of such a study can hardly
be over-emphasised. Signs are however not wanting to show that
our universities have, at last, come to realise the importance of
geography in all its branches: and to-day it is gratifying that the
subject is being given its proj>er place and recognition in the
different university courses. It is indeed a happy a<p&ury of the
times, that the University of Calcutta has recently Jhcluded this
subject for a post-graduate course. -„*

In the commercial and industrial world, ^ knowledge of

Economic and Commercial Geography is daily -assuming increas-
ing importance arid it is in tjhe fitness of things, that it has been
recognised as an important subject for study, specially for
students who are preparing themselves tor a commercial career.

The present work has been written specially for such
students. I am sure it will serve its object and be of use to
those for whom it is specially intended. The general public
will also find in it things which will deserve attention.

1 recommend the book to all who are interested in the
subject.

Teachers' Training Department, \

UNIVERSITY. V A. N. BASU.

PREFACE

This little book does not pretend to have covered entirely
that vast mass of facts and statistics, necessary and unnecessary,
which sometimes forms the material of the books on Economic
Geography, at present available to the Indian students. Although
elementary, it is hoped that the book will be of much assistance
to the Commerce sludents of the Universities of India, and open
the way for them to the study of more comprehensive works on
the subject. This treatise divides itself into two parts. In the first
part, an attempt has been made to present the principles of Eco-
nomic Geography on a world basis. The second part is concerned
with the geographical description of the important countries of
the world and explanation of the local differences upon which
depends the existence of international trade and commerce. No
pains have been spared to make the book up-to-date, but there
are obvious limits to my task, in a world where events are moving
fast— perhaps too fast for many of us. The present World War
brings us the prospect of a radical change in the social and
politico-economic condition of the world.

A book of this type can scarcely lay any claim to originality
and wherever possible my debt to various eminent authors has
been acknowledged in the foot-notes.

Lastly, I would be failing in my duty, if I do not express my
gratitude to Prof. Anath Nath Rose, of the Calcutta University,
for his having kindly written the foreword inspite of his
numerous preoccupations.

All suggestions, from teachers and students alike, will be
thankfully received.

CONTENTS

PART I

CHAPTER T

INTRODUCTION PAGE

Nature, Scope, and Method of Geography . . . . 1

CFF AFTER II
The Environmental Factors . . . . . . 6

CHAPTER II J
The Major Climatic Regions of the World . . . . 17

CHAPTER IV
The Soil and the Major Soil Groups of the World . . 83

CHAPTER V
Commodities of Vegetable and Animal Origin . . 95

CHAPTER VI
Mineral Products . . . . . . . . 176

CHAPTER VII
"Fuel and Power . . . . . . 197

CHAPTER VIII
Labour and Production * . . . . . . 228

CHAPTER IX
The Exchange of Commodities . . . . . . 253

PART II

CHAPTER I

Australia and Polynesia . . . . 321 — 350

Australia — New Zealand — Pacific Islands.

Vlll

CHAPTER II

Eurasia and Africa . . . . . . 350 — 485

Asia — Turkey — Arab Asia — Iran and Afghanistan — Jndo-
China — The East Imties or the Malay Archipelago —
The Far East — China — The Japanese Empire — Europe —
North-western Europe — The Great European Plain —
The Baltic States — Mediterranean Europe — Central
Europe and Danube Basin — Eastern Europe and Siberia
— Africa.

CHAPTER III

America, the New World . . . . 486—509

North America — South America.

CHAPTER IV
India .. .. .. .. 510—531

SHORT STUDIES IN
ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Nature, Scope, and Method of Geography

Definition. — Geography etymologically means a
writing about the earth. And indeed it originated from an Etymology
attempt at systematizing the facts brought to light by early
explorers and travellers. Hence the old text-book definition
of the subject as "a description of the world and its inhabi-
tants." But this definition is no longer entertained by Old View,
modern writers, because it seems to relegate Geography to
the status of a purely descriptive art. It is now-a-days con-
tended that Geography is a science; it seeks to understand
and interpret the causal relation obtaining between man and
the world, or, as it is commonly put, between man and his
physical environment. Hence the modern definition of the
subject as (fthe study of the world as the home of man — of
the physical environment of the human species."1 The old ....
definition, it may be noted, was not substantially incorrect ; view.
for Geography is still a study of the world and its inhabitants ;
but — and that is the all important point — man and the world
are no longer to be treated separately, but only in their
mutual relation.

1 Stamp, Modern Geographical Ideas, p. 3.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Causal
Geography*.

Old

method of
working
from effect
to cause.

New

method of
working
from cause
to effect.

Environment
and Man.

Geography
and other
sciences.

Distinctive
scope and
function of
Geography.

Method. — As has just been indicated, modern
geography, in effect, is 'causal ge&graphy' ; it looks for causes
and tries to trace their influence 'in the world of to-day.'
Thus it works, in common with all other sciences, from cause
to effect.1 The facts unearthed by early explorers and syste-
matized by geographers of their day were, no doubt, capable
of study with a view to determine their underlying causes;
and those who actually did study them that way took the
reverse order of working from the effect to the cause. With
the dawn of modern geography, however, it came to be
realized that a handful of cause are at the root of a
multitude of otherwise unrelated facts. So the modern
geographer has taken to the course of working from cause to
effect. Thus there has come about a complete reversal of
method in the study of Geography.

Scope. — Geography then is concerned with two
fields of inquiry — environment and man. Jt must, therefore,
deal with the origin and evolution of this environment as
well as with human life and activity. Hence the geographer
is led into the fields of various other sciences — Astronomy,
Meteorology, Geology, Physiography, Botany, Ecology,
Sociology, Economics etc. But the results culled from these
and similar other sources do not constitute Geography;
neither does the study of man as he is or of his social, political
and economic institutions comprise Geography. Its chief
interest lies in tracing the mutual relationship of man and
his physical environment. That is its distinctive field, and a
study of it is its special function. The geographer draws
upon the results furnished by others, but he takes just so
much as is required for his special purpose, vis., to study the
'human environment' as such. No other science is concerned

i Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 1. See also Case and
Bergsmark, College Geography, p. VII.

NATURE, SCOPE, AND METHOD OF GEOGRAPHY 3

with that environment as it is. 'To geography belongs the
task of making clear the relationship existing between en-
vironments and the distribution and activities of man."1

Classification. — Closely allied with the problem of
scope is that of classification. Geography is commonly classi-
fied as follows : —

(1) Mathematical Geography, which is a study of the
earth as a planet, i.e., of its position in space, its shape and
size, its rotation and revolution and the effects thereof, its
division by the lines of latitude and longitude and various
questions connected therewith.

(2) Physical Geography, a study of the earth's surface,
such as the distribution of land and water ; of atmosphere and
its movements ; of climate and weather and their effects ; of
the distribution of minerals, plants and animals.

(3) Political Geography, a study of the countries and
states into which the land surface of the earth happens to be
divided from time to time ; of the inhabitants of these units ;
of their occupation, manners, customs, law and government.

(4) Commercial Geography, a study of the exchange of
productions ; of the places where these are produced ; of the
methods of their production and the means of their
transportation.

It must, however, be noted here that the scheme of classi-
fication outlined here is neither complete nor quite flawless.
There is every doubt, for example, about the logical validity
of classifying Geography as mathematical, physical etc.,
simply in accordance with the subject-matter of each. It

1 Case & Bergsmark, College Geography, p. IX. See also Stamp,
Modern Geographical Ideas, p. 3, and J. F. Chamberlain, Geography,
p. 17.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Is this
a valid
classifica-
tion?

Geography
as essen-
tially a
point of
view.

Meaning of
Commercial
Geography.

obviously smacks of old discarded ideas; what precisely is
'mathematical geography', it may be asked, if not a part — and
a very insignificant part for the matter of that — of Astro-
nomy? What, again, is 'physical geography* but a rather in-
coherent summary of certain results culled from Physio-
graphy, Meteorology, Geology, Botany, History, Politics,
Anthropology etc.? And 'commercial geography* in the
scheme outlined above is scarcely anything more than a
puerile description of certain economic facts. Indeed such a
classification clearly proves that "the old geography is not,
unfortunately, dead yet.1 It hardly makes any reference to
the principle of human adjustment, which, it must always
be borne in mind, is the cardinal principle of modern
geography.2

The fact is that Geography is not so much a science as a
scientific point of view3 just as history, in effect, is. And as
such it has no definite subject-matter at all. In order 10
acquire a content, it has to associate itself with some adjective
or other; for only in that way can there be any meaning in
the terms 'political geography', 'commercial geography* etc.
In other words, the sphere of Geography is as wide as the
sphere of human activity itself. This is one of the reasons
indeed why "the claim has frequently been made that geogra-

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 1, Modern Geographical
Ideas, p. 2.

a"The three great factors topography, structure and

climate, may be regarded as of equal importance. Consideration of
the first two, and sometimes a part of the third, formed what was
formerly the domain of the subject of "physical geography". We
no longer consider it desirable to keep these watertight compartments
in geography, and we recognise that the study of the old physical
geography is an integral part of all geography." — Stamp, Modern
Geographical Ideas, p. 9.

8 Stamp, Modern Geographical Ideas, p. 44.

NATURE, SCOPE, AND METHOD OF GEOGRAPHY 5

phy is the mother of sciences/*1 Commercial Geography
can, thus, he defined as a study of the world in relation to
man's economic and allied activities.

Summary

Geography is a study of the world as the home of man. Its
method consists in working from cause to effect. Its scope includes
(1) the physical environment and (2) man; but its function is to study
the mutual relationship of the two. It takes into account the results
of various other sciences, but only with a view to explain the mutual
relationship of man and his environment. It is commonly classified
as ( 1 ) mathematical, (2) physical, (3) political and (4) commercial;
hut this is a doubtful classification, because it does not give adequate
consideration to the mutual relationship of man and his environment.
The problems treated in the so-called branches of Geography should
be regarded as constituting the integral parts of all Geography. Geo-
graphy in effect is a point of view and its sphere is as wide as that of
human activity itself. Commercial Geography would then mean a study
of the world from the viewpoint of man's economic and allied activities.

STUDIES AND QUESTIONS

1. "Geography is the study of the world as the home of man."
— Explain.

2. The claim has often been made that Geography is a science,
neither more nor less. Is it a valid claim? Give reasons for your
answer.

3. „ Discuss the scope and function of Geography as a science.
4-j|^Thc claim has frequently been made that Geography is the

mother of sciences." What do you think of this claim and why?
Explain in this connexion as clearly as you can the relation of
Geography to Astronomy, Meteorology, Geology and Economics.

5. Define Commercial Geography. Do you think that a classi-
fication of Geography as mathematical, physical political and
commercial is quite logical? Give reasons for your answer.

l Case & Bergsmark, College Geography, p. VIL

CHAPTER II
The Environmental Factors

Man & Environment. — The earth is the great
reservoir whence man derives the raw materials with which
he builds his own world. While, therefore. Mother Earth
supplies him with raw materials, he furnishes the design,
and thus is reared up every cultural fabric on the face of the
earth. The relationship is as close as it can be wished to be.
The force which the geographical factors exert on man
Geographi- has, however, been often referred to as 'Geographical Con-
°a vs"1™ tr°l'- Ift a sense this is not a wrong conception ; for certainly
Geographi- the world or the physical environment sets broad limits to
ca n uence. jlunian activity and enterprise, and often does it drive him to
specified lines of action. Yet, as it has been pointed out
by others, man is, to all intents and purposes, a free agent
so far as the design is concerned, and, what is more, he is
rightly credited with some amount of creative genius.
Hence many prefer to call it 'Geographical Influence' : we are,
doubtless, greatly influenced by environmental factors, but
not really controlled by them. Human life is not wholly
determined by geographical forces ; rather man always tries
to mitigate the disadvantages imposed by them and often
proves quite successful in the attempt.

Environment ^ ^en Geography is to be a study of the world as the
acts as home of man, our first task here would be to analyse the

a w ° e* environment which constitutes the world. It must also be
noted before we proceed with the analysis that environment,
Gcogra- though capable of analysis, really affects us as a whole. The
pher's task of the geographer is, therefore, twofold : he must analyse

task.° tne different factors of the environment so as to trace the in-

THE ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS 7

fluence exerted by each severally, and then take into account
the influence exercised by the whole collectively. What then
are the factors constituting the' physical environment ?

1. Location or Position. — Of these location or Location as
position is one, and by many is it regarded as the prime absolute
factor-1 What exactly is meant by location? A country or
a town or even a home is situated in a particular spot which
is unalterable ; that is its exact position or location. In that
sense location is an absolute fact, — it is fixed. But it also
stands in a certain relationship to its neighbourhood ; it may
be so many yards north of a certain hillock, so many cubits
south of a certain tank, and so on. Our daily life is greatly in- Location
fluenced by these facts. If the distance of the main road from ^L tlve
our home be considerable, we prepare for going to school or
college rather early ; if our home be near about the main road
we are not in such a hurry ; a man who is obliged to catch a
local train for attending office, does not habitually return
home for tiffin. Widen your outlook, and note the relative Influence of
position of your town or village on the map of your district, ^^o^i011
It is possible likewise to ascertain the position of a country economy,
or a state. Thus India holds a central position in the East,
the British Isles are centrally situated in the Land Hemisphere
of the globe, New Zealand is on the margin of the habitable
world, and so on. These situations have profound influence
on the national economy of all these countries. Great Britain's Britain,
pre-eminence is largely traced to the ideal position she holds ;
she can easily exercise control over oceanic commerce passing
through the Atlantic and the North Sea ; hence her plantations
in America thrived quite well, whereas those of France and
Spain steadily declined: it was British sea-power that made
possible the United States of America. In the past India India.

1 See, for example, E. C. Semplc, Geographical Location as a
Factor in History, p. 65.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

New
Zealand.

Influence
of location

climate,
flora and
fauna.

Influence of
location on
trade and
commerce.

Man's
influence
on location.

similarly was in more or less effective control of trade and
commerce passing through the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea
and the Bay of Bengal. The fabulous wealth of Ind was
not a little due to that factor. On the other hand, New
Zealand is distinctly handicapped in her national economy
owing largely to her peripheral situation. Much of her trade
is with Great Britain, but since she is far off from the Mother
Country she must specialize in commodities that can stand
the long voyage and yet pay the enormous cost of transport.1

Location also determines the climatic condition of a
country. A country may be situated near the equator or any
of the poles, and its climatic conditions will vary accordingly.
And with this will there be seen a corresponding variation in
the flora and fauna of the country. This in turn cannot but
have profound effect on the agriculture and industry of the
region. Thus location has an indirect and yet unmistakable
effect on the trade and commerce of a place. The United
States of America, despite her enormous territory, must al-
ways be dependent on foreign supplies for the equatorial and
tropical products like rubber, cane-sugar, cocoa, tea and the
like ; Canada must maintain the closest possible trade relations
with the British West Indies for a similar consideration;
Russia cannot let her hold on Turkestan go without serious
consequences to her own cotton industry.2

Now-a-days, however, the ill effects of a marginal posi-
tion can be largely mitigated by means of railways, auto
tracks, steam ships, aeroplanes, the telephone, the radio etc.8
But they cannot be totally obliterated. Position or location
is an environmental factor, which can be modified but

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 5.
'Stamp, Modern Geographical Ideas, pp. 33—34.
"Case & Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 45.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS 9

not altered materially.1 In the past it took about six
months to come to India from Great Britain, and nearly a
year to reach Australia from the British Isles ; to-day barely
a week is required for a flight to India from England, but it
takes no less than two weeks to reach Australia^ Although
distance has greatly been minimized to-day by the develop-
ment of modern means of travel, its relativity still remains.
India will always be nearer to England than Australia.

2. Physical Features. — The second of these factors,
according to Stamp2, is the surface relief or physical
features of a country. The influence of this factor both onieatures

^ft^£MT «

the life of the individual and that of a country is quite obvious. Distribution
Perhaps no other factor, except climate, has played so large of people,
a part in the distribution of population all the world over.
Even in the most densely populated country — China — the
mountainous regions are so thinly peopled as to appear
desolate and forlorn, while the flat plains below teem with
people. Many families there prefer to live in boats rather ina*
than find out a home on the hare and rugged mountains. The
plains occupy less than two-fifths of the earth's surface, but
they are the home of more than four-fifths of the world's
population.3 Topography or the physical features of a
country thus play a permanent and leading part in human life Nepal,
and activity. It is difficult to build towns and villages
on the mountains; so in a mountainous country like
Nepal, for example, these are restricted to the valleys
affording comparatively flat land. Nepal is a fairly large
country with a total area of about 55,000 square miles,

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 6.

" See, for example, A Commercial Geography. It is, however,
doubtful whether a gradation as suggested by Stamp of the environ-
mental factors is possible.

8 Case & Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 101-2. Plains here
mean lands below the 1,500-foot contour.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

India
and other
countries.

Man's
influence on
topography.

Geological

structure

and

mineral

wealth and

agricultural

possibilities.

and yet her life centres round the celebrated valley of
Nepal, which is only about 15 miles long and 7 miles
wide.1 As mountains generally repel settlement, so on
the other hand plains invite occupancy, and unless the
latter are thickly forested or deficient in rainfall, they become
densely populated.2 Of the enormous population of India
nearly one-third are found in the deltas of the Ganges and
the Indus. Holland, Belgium, the plains of France, Germany
and the British Isles, the Nile Valley etc., are the great centres
of population in the world, because of the levelness of the
land and the greater facilities for carrying on agricultural
*aftd industrial work.

Man's influence on the topography or physical features
of the earth's surface is, however, comparatively small. It is
true that he can mitigate the ill effects, for example, of a
mountain barrier by cutting a tunnel across it, or reclaim sub-
merged lands from shallow seas or establish contact between
oceans separated by narrow isthmuses, yet he can by no
means materially alter the topography of a country by blowing
up mountains so as to reduce it to a level plain, or erecting
a mountain barrier where there is none. Switzerland will
always be a mountainous country and Holland a level plain,
and man must always modify his life according to the topo-
graphy of the place he lives in.

3. Geological Structure. — The surface features of a
country are really the reflection of its underlying geological
structure, — its outward and visible result.3 The geological
structure of a country has great bearing on its trade and
commerce. The areas of old hard rocks are comparatively

3 Stamp, Asia, pp. 354-5.

2J. F. Chamberlain, Geography, p. 117.

3 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, pp. 6-7.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS 11

barren from the point of view of agriculture, but are generally Ancient
associated with metalliferous minerals. The areas of young !^tss Of
soft rocks, on the other hand, are commonly suitable for agri- metallic
culture, and are generally associated with non-metallic ^iera S'
minerals like coal and oil , To the former class belong the barrenness.
major plateau regions of the world — the Brazilian plateau, young
the Guiana Highlands, the greater part of Africa, Arabia, rocks seats
Peninsular India, Indo-China, the great plateau of Australia,

Central Siberia, Scandinavia, the Highlands of Scotland and minerals
North-Western Ireland. The great Laurentian Shield of futility
Canada and the vast Russian platform belong to another
subdivision of this group of ancient rocks. To the
second group belong the Central Plains of North America, Areas of
the plains of the Orinoco, Amazon and Paraguay in South rocks^
America, the North European Plain, the lowlands of Western
Siberia, the valleys of the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Indus,
the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Hwang Ho, the Yangtze Areas of
Kiang, the Si Kiang, and the central plains of Australia, rock?
The great fold mountains — the Alps, the Himalayas, the
Rockies and the Andes — belong to this second group.

The influence of man on his geological environment is
even smaller than that on the surface features. He can, of influence on
course, modify the natural barrenness of the soil by the use geology.
of suitable manure, plant stout trees for the prevention of soil
erosion and do other things of a like nature ; but even in these
things he can at best be only partially successful. But can
he ever put a gold field where there is none?

4. Climate and Weather. — Climate is the great un-
certain factor of our physical environment,1 and its influence Climate
is manifest everywhere and patent to everybody. Almost at and
every step our activity is governed by the weather of the distin-
nioment. Climate and weather are basicallv the same, the Ruished.

1 Case & Bergsmark, College Geography, pp. 4 — 7.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Instances

climatic

influence

on man's

every-day

life.

Climate

and

Vegetation.

Climate
and Soil.

one being the average state of the atmospheric conditions,
the, other a fluctuation from that average state for a short
period of time. It is needless to dwell on the influence
of climate and weather on our everyday life, on our
dress, games, holidays and the like. But perhaps we
are a stay-at-home people and do not know how
climatic conditions determine the very form of man's dwell-
ing-places in different lands. In the northern latitudes they
build steep-roofed houses so that the snow may easily slide
away; in arid lands, again, people erect flat-roofed houses,
and sometimes these roofs are seen to have a slope to-
wards the centre and a tank below for the collection of rain-
water as in the Punjab and the adjacent areas. In Bengal
and Assam where there is abundant precipitation during the
rains and no scarcity of river water throughout the year
generally, we do not collect rain-water except for sport;
our houses are so contrived as to shoot it off our roofs to
the vicinity of our neighbours' homes.

But the effect of climate is even more marked on the
natural vegetation of different lands. Even in a single
country like India or in a single province like Bengal it is
well illustrated. No passerby can ever ignore the light
green of a paddy field in the rural areas of Bengal ; but how
often does one come across fields of wheat here ? The moist
climate of the province is not at all suitable for the latter
crop. Again, a tea garden is quite conspicuous by its absence
throughout the greater part of Bengal to a visitor from the
distant Nilgiris or even to one from the neighbouring pro-
vince of Assam, and a man from the Duars may well doubt
whether it is his own province Bengal.

Climate also has profound influence on the soil; in fact
it is much more important for the formation of soil than
even the underlying geological structure. Thus in the Tropics,

THE ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS 13

for example, a cellular-shaped red-brown type of soil is
produced owing to the alternation of dry and wet seasons, in-
dependently of the character of the underlying rocks. And
it -has also been discovered that in regions where precipitation
takes place in the hot season soil formation is rapid, but
where the rains coincide with the cold season, as in the
Mediterranean regions, the formation of soil goes on very
slowly.1

The reciprocal influence of man on his climatic environ-
ment may superficially appear to be more marked than his M*n's
influence on either topography or geology. Our clothes and climate,
garments, our houses, our summer holidays, all are but
different adaptations to our climatic environment. Not
only that : man has also invented * sun-trap' houses, air-
cooled houses, refrigerators, glass-houses for flowers and
vegetables; he has elaborated the system of drainage to
combat too much moisture in the soil, and that of irrigation
to overcome the deficiencies of moisture. But we do
not know yet how to prevent rain when necessary or
how to force rain out of the sailing cloudlets to drench the
perched lips of cracked agricultural lands. In fact, man has
as yet no control over climate and weather.

5. - Vegetation and Soil. — Of the factors hitherto ^

,,..!.. ., 1 f j Dependence

enumerated location, m fact, is an independent factor, and Of

physical features are the products largely of the underlying ^^l?*10"
geological structure- Climate and weather, though dependent factors,
on location and physical features, are essentially extra-terres-
trial in origin. But vegetation is "an index of the interac-
tion of the foregoing factors/'2 It reflects the particular
location of the area in which it grows, the physical conditions on other
of that area, as well as the climate of the place. Of course factors-

* Stamp, Modern Geographical Ideas, p. 9.
8 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 8.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Natural

vegetation

belts.

Introduction
of crops
does not
interfere
much with
the natural
vegetation
belts of
the earth.

Man's
influence on
vegetation
and soil.

vegetation springs directly from the soil and thus must reflect
the character of the soil. But soil itself is a product of tke
following three factors — (1) the geological structure of the
underlying rocks, (2) the climatic conditions of the place,
and (3) the type of vegetation which has been growing there.
It has been found that each of the major climatic regions of
the world has its own characteristic type of natural vegetation.
But it is also a fact that man has largely rooted out the
natural vegetation of several regions. Yet it is possible to
divide the surface of the earth into at least twelve belts of
natural vegetation, because the character of the artificial
vegetation which man has substituted in these areas is also
largely governed by the factors of soil and climate. Thus
where natural vegetation has been rooted out, we come across
a characteristic crop suited to that region. It is possible, no
doubt, to extend the range of crops ; but this obviously has its
limits, — we cannot yet grow rubber, cocoa, banana in
the temperate or polar regions ; nor is it yet possible to grow
grapes and apples in the Tropical Rain Forests.

It must not, therefore, be supposed that vegetation no
longer plays a part in influencing man's activities. The
reverse is rather the case ; for despite all the efforts of science
man has still not been able to emerge from the thraldom of
Nature. Not only that much of the natural vegetation still
covers the surface of the earth, but also because of the limits
imposed on him in the raising of crops that he is a slave of
Nature. Moreover, the 'artificial' vegetation he has intro-
duced in various countries governs to a large extent his eco-
nomic and commercial activities. Often, again, he directly
invites on his head the curse of Nature by thoroughly up-
setting the balance of the plant world, and this imposes
fresh fetters on him. This is very well exemplified by the
disastrous results brought about by the notorious water-
hyacinth in Bengal which was introduced first by some un-

THE ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS 15

known European for adding grace to the artificial lake
attached to his stately mansion.

6. Animal Life. — And just as the combined influ- Tr

r i « • t r • , .< Vegetation

ence of location, physical features, geological structure, soil and

and climate is reflected in the natural vegetation of a country, Animal life,
so is animal life largely governed by the vegetation of the
place- The monkey, for instance, is an arboreal creature
living for the most part in the Tropical Rain Forests ; the
antelope is chiefly associated with the wide and open grassy
plains, the white bear is adapted to a life in the Arctic wastes,
and so on. But this is true not only of wild animals, but of
those domesticated by man as well. Since the wide grassy
plains are especially capable of supporting wild grass-eating
animals, man is also able in those regions to raise and tend
great herds of cattle: it also explains the enormous concen-
tration of sheep in the Temperate Grasslands of Australia and
New Zealand. And if vegetation plays so large a part in the
life of animals, does it not affect human life in much the
same way since man himself is also an animal like the rest?
Surely it does. But man is the only animal capable of
thought and foresight, and that is why he can modify his
environment in a way totally different from what even the
cleverest chimpanzee is ever capable of doing. Yet he cannot
ignore the characteristics of the animal life of his region ; he
cannot rear up cattle in the desert or the polar regions ; the
cattle farmer must find out suitable pasture; the apiarist (one
who keeps bees) would do well to have buckwheat and white
clover for his bees if he is to get an abundant supply of honey influence on
and wax ; the oyster farmer must cover his fishing grounds animal
well for the protection of his oysters from starfish, black l e>
drum, stingray etc. And though man is far from conquering
the animal world yet, his influence on animal life appears to
be much greater than on any other factor of the physical
environment.

16 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Summary

The influence exerted on man by his physical environment is
sometimes called 'Geographical Control'. But it ought to be substi-
tuted by the conception of 'Geographical Influence', because man's life
and activities are only influenced by his environment, not thoroughly
determined or controlled by it.

The main factors of the environment are (1) Location or Posi-
tion, (2) Physical Features, (3) Geological Structure, (4) Climate
and Weather, (5) Vegetation and Soil, and (6) Animal Life. Loca-
tion is both absolute and relative; it is comparatively an independent
factor of the environment; its influence on national economy is pro-
found; it also influences climate directly, and the flora and fauna
indirectly, and thus exercises a great influence on trade and commerce.
Man can greatly modify the influence of location by means of rapid
transport, but cannot wholly counteract it. Physical features are
greatly responsible for the distribution of population and many other
things; man can modify their influence only to a limited extent.
Geological structure is mainly responsible for the character of the
soil and the distribution of minerals ; man's influence on it is quite
insignificant. Climate and weather has the most marked influence
on human activity, soil and vegetation; man's influence on this is not
very great. Vegetation and Soil are greatly dependent on the other
factors; the earth may be divided into natural vegetation belts ..despite
human activity; man is still a slave to these factors. Animal life is
closely dependent on vegetation, and man's influence on this factor is
the most marked.

STUDIES AND QUESTIONS

1. Give a brief description of the chief factors of the physical
environment, and indicate the influence of each on man and of man
on each of these factors.

2. What do you mean by 'Geographical Control' and 'Geogra-
phical Influence' respectively? Which appears to you to be the more
appropriate conception, and why?

3. What may be the general commercial value of the areas of
ancient rocks and those of young rocks respectively?

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 19

in a particular category means that they have more resem-
blances than differences in common. In naming these regions
geographers, however, try generally to keep close to the
dominant character of the climate in each. But since the Perplexities
influence of climate on vegetation is most intimate, a speci- "a"^™"^
fied region is sometimes named after its prevailing vegeta- regions,
lion. Thus, for instance, we have such names as Temperate
Grassland or Prairie and Coniferous Forest Belt for regions
1 laving a Temperate Continental Climate and a Cold Tem-
perate Climate respectively. Sometimes, again, natural regions
arc named after a place held to have quite typical climatic
conditions. Thus there are regions with a China type of
Climate or the Sudan type. But we must always rememher
that the climate — not place — is the chief factor here; vege-
tation though important is largely dependent on it. So it is
desirable to use climatic names. And if still natural regions
must have 'regional' names, it is better to christen them after
the climatic zones of the earth than after place-names having
little, if any, real geographical value.

1. REGIONS OF LOW LATITUDES

1. The Equatorial Regions. — The Equatorial Re- „

. . . Kxtent

gions, as the name implies, stretch almost as a continuous

belt on both sides of the Equator between 5° N. and 5° S.,
and occupy an area of about 600 miles in width encircling
nearly the entire land surface of the earth.1 The range, how-

J To be logically consistent one ought to say perhaps that, the
equatorial regions also cover the intervening waters, and in a sense
Moreover, it must also be borne in mind that climatic conditions on
on equatorial lands and waters are much the same. But we are
here concerned not so much with oceans and seas as with lands.
Moreover, it must also be borne in mind that climatic conditions on
oceans and seas differ considerably in point of detail from those
prevailing even in adjacent lands. To include the intervening marine
areas is to give rise to unnecessary complications here.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Divisions.

Basis of
classification
— climate
and vegeta-
tion.

ever, is often wider; but the extreme limits rarely exceed
10° N. and io°S. We can easily distinguish three main
regions within this belt :

(1) The Amazon Basin of South America;

(2) The Congo Basin of Central Africa; and

(3) The islands of South-Eastern Asia together with

the adjacent areas of the mainland.

Parts of Ecuador to the west of the Amazon Basin and
the narrow coastal plain adjacent to Mombasa, Zanzibar and
Dar-es- Salaam in East Africa also belong to this group.

But what is the basis of this classification? That, of,
course, is climate — and natural vegetation. The climate

THE EQUATORIAL REGIONS.

Often also called Tropical Rain Forest Regions. The transi-
tional nature of some of the adjacent areas should be borne in
mind. Some writers would include the Guniea Coast of West
Africa as well as the West Coast of India in the Equatorial
Regions because the forests are much similar.

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 21

prevailing throughout this wide area is characteristically Equatorial
known as the Equatorial Climate. It is' typical, however, in C
the basin of the Amazon; hence the name 'Amazon type of type.
Climate'. Tt is also described as the climate of the hot wet
selvas, because the Amazon forests are locally known as the
selvas, a name given to it by the early Spanish settlers in
South America. The temperature of this region is high all
through the year ; the average range, especially in the typical jst^ga
areas, is extremely constant, fluctuating only between 78°F.
and 80°F. ; and the seasonal range is usually only 5°F., and
often less. The coldest month can, thus, scarcely be dis-
tinguished from the hottest. The diurnal range is also small,
—usually less than 20° F., often even less than 10° F. But we
should not suppose that these are really the hottest parts
of the world; for although the temperature is uniformly high
all the year, it seldom rises above 100°F., and mostly does
not rise above 90° F. ; and on the other hand it does not, as
a rule, fall below 700F.T These are the regions of 'rain-at-all- (M Rainfall
seasons' ; hence there is no typically 'dry season' except in a
relative sense. Since the Equatorial lands lie, in the main,
in the Belt of Calms or Doldrums, the rains are mostly
convectional. As the sun shines almost vertically overhead

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 13. "The Equatorial
regions arc popularly, but erroneously, regarded as the hottest in
the world. The average temperature, it is true, is uniformly high,
and the constantly damp, steamy atmosphere may be enervating, but
the Equatorial climate is far from being the most trying in the world.
The absence of really high temperatures — the therometer rarely rises
above 100° F. — and the pleasantly cool rains which accompany the
sea breezes impart a welcome movement to the air. The climate is
particularly the case in maritime situations .... where the land and
breezes import a welcome movement to the air. The climate is
found at its worst in the interior of the great Equatorial forests where
the air is absolutely still. The effect of elevation is to lower the
average temperature and, sometimes, to result in a slightly greater
range." — Stamp, Asia, p. 25.

22 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

it brings about, in the early part of the day, rapid evaporation
and an upward current of air; thus clouds form easily, and
frequently there is a heavy downpour in the evening, accom-
panied by thunder ; by the late evening the sky is clear again.

there are periods of maximum precipitation : areas bordering
on the Equator usually have two seasons wetter than the rest ;
those lying on the fringes of the Equatorial Belt usually have
one such period. This is mainly due to the annual shift of
the earth's thermal equator ; the wettest season or seasons
occur, as a rule, shortly after the sun crosses the Equator.
The average rainfall for the year ranges from 70 to 80 inches

(d) Winds °^en ** *s Wgher- But regions cut off from maritime

influences usually have less rain. Although the Trade Winds
and the Monsoon originate in areas north and south of the
Equator, the whole of the Equatorial Belt is not cut off from
their influence. The fringes of the Belt as well as maritime
stations within it enjoy cool breezes, but the interior forest
areas are deprived of their beneficial effects. "Typical of
the equatorial lands is the Belt of Calms or Doldrums where
there is no marked wind or wind direction."1

(<?) Vegeta- Vegetation is typical. Uniform heat and abundant

tion. moisture induce a luxuriant growth of plants ; vegetation is

much more profuse in the Equatorial Regions than in any
other part of the world. "All lowland regions, watered by
daily showers during most of the year, are covered with a
dense, broadleaf, evergreen forest which becomes an impene-
trable forest jungle along the streams. Crowded in among
the trees and sometimes almost concealing them in a riotous
profusion of smaller vegetation, including shrubs, flowers,
vines and creepers. Parasitical growth .... is especially
common, and ferns hang like feathered ribbons from many

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 13.

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 23

of the branches. Lianas creep along the ground or climb
to the tops of the highest trees, passing from one to another
and forming an interlacing network. So intricate is the web
of growth that the explorer has difficulty in distinguishing
the various parts of a plant, often confusing leaves, flowers,
and fruits of different species. Where the lowlands are rain-
soaked throughout the year, the earth is often so smothered
by growing vegetation that the sunlight scarcely reaches the
forest floor."1 There is, thus, a 'fierce competition* for light
and air, resulting in the growth of giant trees, with tall
un branched boles and, enormous crowns of leaves at the
tops. This is particularly well marked in the Equatorial Forest
regions of South America — the celebrated Amazon Basin;
those of Asia and Africa are comparatively open. Most of
these trees, no doubt, have periods for shedding their leaves ;
but these are of short duration, and the shedding periods of
different species come at different seasons of the year; so
no forest is ever appreciably bare of leaves, and hence the
name 'Hot Wet Evergreen Forests.' The trees are — nearly
all of them — of the hard-wooded species. And two major
difficulties prevent their thorough exploitation, — (a) the
great variety of the trees, and (b) the character of the timber.
A casual reconnaissance undertaken by a forest service of
the U. S. A. some years back in the more accessive forest
zones of South America and the Philippines revealed the
existence of "some 2,500 to 3,000 tree species, and as many
as 900 species on one tract of 18 square miles/'2 And so Difficulties
hard is the timber of these forests that Manaos, in the heart |"g f^est"
of South America where the greatest existing forest of the products,
world stands, is obliged to import its building timber from
New England in the temperate regions of North America.

1 Case and Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 146.

2 G. P. Ahern, Tropical Hardwoods, Bulletin of the Pan American
Union, March 1927, pp. 223 ff.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Animal
life.

Tt is extremely difficult and expensive to extract a particular
type of wood from these forests owing to the great variety
of tree species, and it is almost equally costly to work them
because of their hardness. Yet when worked they furnish
magnificent 'cabinet' wood. These forests are also difficult to
penetrate and the climate is extremely debilitating, especially
in the interior of the denser forests. Animal life, particularly
in the denser parts, is almost wholly restricted to the tree-
tops ; monkeys are typical ; tree-frogs and tree-lizards as
well as birds are numerous, and, of course, a wealth of
insect-life characterizes these regions./ Since not a blade of
grass is to be seen in the denser parts of the Rain Forests,
the ground being thoroughly covered with a mass of decay-
ing vegetation, grazing animals are rare./ The wild hog and
the tapir, who can easily subsist on nuts and fruits, are some-
times seen ; and the carnivorous group is represented mainly
by the jaguar and the puma who prey upon the wild hog and
the monkey. Birds are generally abundant and they vary
from almost the tiniest to the largest sizes, often with
gorgeous plumage.

Considerable difference of opinion is found among

Man. geographers and the students of Sociology as to the degree

of civilization evolved by the races living in the Equatorial

Regions. The popular idea is that the natives of these

Indians and 'regions of debilitation' are very backward and stunted both

Pigmies. physically and mentally. Thus according to Stamp, the

American-Indian tribes of the Amazon and the pigmies of

the Congo Basin are typical of these areas, especially of the

1 Stamp, The World, p. 124. But many travellers speak of the
desolateness and the oppressive silence of the denser equatorial forests
— "a silence unbroken for long periods except for an occasional splash
in the streams or the humming of insects." It seems probable, there-
fore, that in parts of these regions at least neither animal nor bird
life is abundant.

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 25

denser equatorial forests which, be it noted, are very sparsely
inhabited. They are said to be hunters, living on the fruits,
nuts and game of the forest. The pigmies, it is also interest-
ing to learn, "emulate the other denizens of the forest by
building their primitive homes high up in the trees, away
from the damp and unhealthly ground." This uncandid view Bunting,
is only partially true./ Although there are still found races *fj cu\^
in these regions who subsist on fruits and nuts and games, the vation.
majority of the peoples living even in the Amazon and the
Congo Basins are primarily farmers ; — "they may fish at
times, and gather fruit and nuts, primarily to supplement the
agricultural products."2 Even Stamp himself admits that, "the Javanese
more open Equatorial forests, where clearing is easier and andDyaks.
Nature is bountiful in gifts, are the home of many sturdy if ;
somewhat lazy races. Of these the Malays, the Javanese, and ;
the Dyaks of Borneo are good instances."

Despite all their luxuriant vegetation there are formid- nitfcculties
able difficulties in exploiting the Equatorial Regions. Refer- of exploi-
ence has already been made to the extreme hardness of the
forest timber.3 Tf, however, these forests are once cleared
the trees do not easily recover, and the ground rapidly be-
comes covered with thorny growths and rank vegetation.
Thus, as pointed out by Stamp, thousands of square miles of

1 See Stamp, Modern Geographical Ideas and A Commercial
Geography.

2 See Case and Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 153-156. The
remark of \V. Vandercook that "the African jungle dweller of 1926
is the result of just as many eons of steady change and development
as the contemporary citizens of Manhattan" is well worth quoting
here. We should never forget that "to-day in the West African
interior one finds a society almost as complicated, in its elusive way,
as ours."

8 But we should not suppose, however, that soft wood is entirely
absent in these regions. Balsa, the lightest wood yet known to man,
is found in these areas.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Typical
Products.

Rubber.

Cocoa.

valuable forest were set alight for clearing by the natives of
Africa and Asia, and they are now full of bamboo and thorny
thickets that are a serious menace to crops. Another handi-
cap lies in the fact that if once these forests are cleared,
especially on hillsides, the heavy showers almost completely
wash away the soil, leaving the bare unfertile rock : indeed
soil erosion is a serious danger in the Equatorial Regions
generally. It has often been said that 'the equatorial climate
is a good servant but a bad master.' Those who depend on
it for livelihood, as do some of the races in the Amazon and
the Congo, cannot but be backward ; but those who, like the
European and American planters, try to obtain mastery over
Nature there are frequently rewarded with valuable returns.
There being no definite seasons, seed-time depends upon the
will and convenience of the cultivator himself. Thus one
may, for instance, reap several harvests of rice in one year.
The chief products of these regions are rubber, palm oil,
cocoa and sugar. Plantations of rubber are entirely
confined to countries enjoying an equatorial type of climate,
and indeed the belt along which rubber cultivation can be
profitably carried on is, with good reasons, said to be the
limit of the Equatorial Belt as well. Rubber was originally a
native of the Amazon, whence it was introduced into India
and Malaya in the latter part of the last century (about
1876). The bulk of the world's supply of this commodity
now comes from the plantations of Southern India, Ceylon,
Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. The crude rubber of
Brazil and the Belgian Congo is not as important as it
formerly used to be. Rubber is now chiefly obtained from
the Para rubber tree. Cocoa is another, rjj^a little less
typical, product of the Equatorial Regions. The bulk of the
world's supply of this commodity used to come formerly from
Central and South America ; now about half the world's pro-
duction is obtained from the Gold Coast region of Africa.

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD

2. The Tropical Regions. — The Tropical Regions, Kxtcnt.
as the name implies, lie within the Tropics of Cancer ami

Capricorn on both sides of the Equatorial Belt. The Sudan ,

Sudan
of Africa is commonly said to be typical of them ; hence the type.

name 'Sudan type of Climate'. And since the typical vege-
tation is grass interpersed with* scattered trees, it is often
called 'Tropical Grassland Climate*. It is very interesting
to note that the vast stretches of tropical grassland lie between
the Equatorial Forests on the one hand and the Hot Deserts ^ empera-
on the other. The word 'tropical' usually conveys the idea
of almost unbearable heat, and in fact it is not a much
mistaken idea. The temperature of these regions during

The Tropical and Tropical Monsoon Regions. Compare the map

with that of p. 20, and note the 'transitional' areas. The

areas like the Guinea Coast and the West Coast of India

\\ith their 'equatorial rain forests' belong to

sub-division (a) of p. 2.

the summer months often even exceed that of the regions
lying within the Equatorial Belt. But the chief point
of contrast lies in the great seasonal range of tempera-

28 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

ture. Areas lying close to the Equatorial Belt as well as
maritime stations, where precipitation is naturally heavy,
experience small variation of temperature between the
hottest and the coldest months ; but in the drier parts of the
Tropical Belt there is frequently a seasonal variation of
30° F. or even 40° F. Correspondingly the diurnal range of
temperature in these drier regions is also appreciably lai'ge.
But these variations admit of several gradations because of
differences in local conditions ; hence any attempt at giving
an average figure for the whole area would be misleading.1
Rainfall also shows a corresponding variation. In some of
the wettest parts it may be as much as 200 inches a year,
sometimes even considerably more; others have an average
of 70 to 80 inches; whereas on desert borders it may be 15
inches or less. \Yhat especially distinguishes the Tropical Belt
from the Equatorial Belt in respect of rainfall is the presence
in the former of a distinctly dry and a distinctly wet
season. Geographers and climatologists generally distin-
guish three seasons — (a) a cool dry season, (/>) a hot dry
Seasons. season, and (r) a rainy season. The cool dry season is
followed invariably by the hot dry season, when generally
unbearable heat reigns supreme and some of the highest
temperatures of the world are recorded ; then set in the rains,
which result in considerable cooling of the atmosphere ; as
soon as the rains are about to be over it becomes a trifle
hot again, but the heat never reaches its maximum
owing to the advent of the cool season. The spring and the
summer are the seasons of precipitation, and the winter is
almost wholly rainless. The hot season in the Northern
Hemisphere terminates about April or May to be followed

*In the Indo-Gangetic plains an average of 85°F. to 95°F. is
frequently recorded in the summer months, and along the, margins
of the Steppe even 115°F has been recorded as an avef^&e. See
G. W. Kendrew, The Climates of the Continents, p. 103 & 127.

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 29

by the wet season. Rains begin to be scarce by the end of
August, sometimes even earlier, and about the middle of the
following month they have generally ceased altogether.
Winter then follows close upon the heels of the rainy season.
The typical vegetation, as already mentioned, is grass inter- Vegetation,
spersed with scattered trees. This is because grass springs
up easily where there is a fairly good supply of rain-
water, and it has a resting period during the dry seasons
(winter and summer). But trees generally require a
fairly constant supply of water all the year, and very many
species cannot flourish during the dry seasons. Several
types of vegetation can, however, be distinguished in the
Tropical Regions :

(a) In areas close to the Equatorial Belt and having Tropical
abundant supply of moisture during the greater part of the Sai "
year, dense forests closely similar to those of the neighbour-
ing Equatorial Regions are always found.

(/;) But regions where the normal precipitation Js Deciduous
below 80 inches Deciduous Forests naturally spring up; these ^orests-
trees shed their leaves in the dry hot season. The forests of
Burma and parts of India as well as those of many parts of
Western Africa belong to this type. Teak, Sal and allied
timbers are the characteristic products of these forests.

Tall evergreen Deciduous Savana and Scrub

Forest Foresb Grass land

Rain 8O", 6O". 4O" 2.O"

TROPICAL AND TROPICAL MONSOON REGIONS.
GRADATION OF RAINFALL AND VEGETATION IN TROPICAL LANDS.

(r) Where, again, the rainfall is considerably below
60 inches, we find extensive grasslands with occasional

30 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

trees at long intervals. This is said to be typical of the
Savana. Tropical Regions, and often called the savana or parkland.

(rf) Where the rainfall drops below 15 inches as in

Semi-desert areas cjose to the desert borders, vegetation is considerably
regions. . .

sparse, grass is coarse and stunted, trees merely spring

bushes, and farther up the entire landscape fades into the
uncharitable barrenness of a great hot desert.

Precipitation in the drier parts is extremely unreliable,
Famine . - . , . , .

Belts. sometimes causing fairly rich harvests, sometimes giving

rise to famines. Some of the great Famine Belts are, thus,
to l>e found in the drier parts of the Tropical Grasslands.1

The animal life of the Tropical Regions may be divided
Animal {n^o two main groups: (a) the swift-footed harbivorous

animals represented typically by the giraffe and the antelope,
and (&) the carnivores, great members of the cat family,
like the lion and the tiger, who prey upon the vegetable--
eating animals. Monkeys are also found in considerable
numbers in certain areas, especially in regions where tall trees
abound. Bird life is also fairly abundant, and locusts are a
serious menace to crops.

Corresponding to the variety of natural vegetation human
responses also are various. Hunting and cattle farming are
said to be the dominant occupations <rf the savana people.
But agriculture is by no means of lesser importance, since
"the natural grass which flourishes in the savana may be
replaced by the cereal grasses . . . . "2 Maize and millets
amongst the cereals as well as cotton, sugar, groundnuts and
various oilseeds may be widely cultivated in these regions
generally. But at present there are formidable difficulties
in the way of the development of many of those regions.

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 18.
*op. cit., p. 19.

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 31

Of these the shortage of labour probably comes to the fore-
front ; the grasslands are mostly very thinly populated ; those
of Australia are practically uninhabited, and in many parts
of the African savanas the population is scarcely 20 to the
square mile; in the South American grasslands, again, the
density is only four persons per square mile. Other
difficulties generally are the poor transportation facilities,
distance from the markets, and, especially in South America,
frequent political unrest and the consequent revolutions.1
These are detrimental not only to agriculture, but also to
pastoral activities.

3. Tropical Monsoon Regions. — There is more simi- Character -
larity than difference between a Tropical Climate and a
Tropical Monsoon Climate, except in respect of precipita-
tion. Both the types are restricted, in the main, to the
Tropics, and both are characterized by wet summers and
dry winters. But rainfall in the Tropical Regions as such
is caused by the Trade Winds blowing in a more or less
uniform way; whereas that in the Tropical Monsoon lands
is brought about by 'a complete reversal of the normal wind
during the rainy season.' Just as the Sudan is the typical
Tropical land, so the typical Monsoon lands are India,
Indo-thina and Southern China. Central and Northern
China as well as Japan may be grouped with them, as the
rainfall of those countries too is caused primarily by the
Monsoon Winds ; but in another respect these countries form
an exception, — they lie beyond the Tropics. Moreover,
winter in the Tropical Monsoon lands is, on the whole,
warm ; whereas Central and Northern China and Japan have
distinctly cold winters; so it is more logical to treat them
separately. India, however, is the most typical of the
Tropical Monsoon lands; even the areas falling strictly

1 H. J. Mozans, Up the Orinoco and Down the Magdelena, p. 128.

32 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

outside the Tropic of Cancer are governed almost wholly
by the Tropical Monsoon Climate.1 Besides India, Indo-
China and South China, the Monsoon Climate is found
in a part of the East African coast just south of
the Equatorial Region there, in Madagascar and in the
north-west coast of Australia. In a lesser degree it
is found also in the coastal regions of the north-west of
South America and Central America. The Monsoon lands
may he divided, after Stamp, in the following four groups : —

(a) Regions with more than 80 inches of rain annually.

r™ , • r 1 r t

— Ihese are the regions of the evergreen forests closely
similar to those of the Equatorial Rain Forests. Rice is
the chief food crop of these areas.

(b) Regions with an annual rainfall of anything
between 40 and 80 inches. — These are notably the areas of
the Deciduous Monsoon Forests. Here also rice is the main
food crop ; but maize, sugar and oilseeds are important.

(r) Regions with an annual rainfall varying between
20 and 40 inches. — These are usually the areas where
thorny thickets and scrub flourish. Millet is the chief food
crop in these regions; but where conditions are favourable
wheat and barley are cultivated as winter crops. Sesamum
and oilseeds are important, and cotton is another characteristic
agricultural product.

1 It is not that India does not at all experience winter rain brought
by factors other than the Monsoon Winds. Th\is during the
period between December and March cyclones, originating in the
Mediterranean region, travel eastward across Persia, Beluchistan and
Afghanistan, and subsequently reach the plains of the Punjab and
Sind, bringing in an appreciable rainfall. Usually they die out before
reaching the lower valley of the Ganges. The bulk of snowfall in
the north-west and in Kashmir may also be traced to these cyclonic
disturbances. But the rainfall compared with that caused by the
Monsoon is quite small. In certain areas of the Madras Presidency
as well as in Ceylon winter rain is caused by the North-East Monsoon.
See Stamp, Asia, pp. 183—193.

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 33

(d) Areas with less than 20 inches of rain. — These are
the desert and semi-desert regions. In the semi-desert areas
succulent plants are sometimes seen.

The Monsoon lands are amongst the most densely *,
peopled in the world. This is due to a variety of causes,
the chief among which are the ease with which jungles can
he cleared, the greater facilities for cultivation and the easier
and richer conditions of living. Where the soil is the richest
the land may be said to he 'saturated' with people as it is in
the Gaiigctic plains of India. Agriculture forms the major
occupation of the people.

4. Hot Desert Regions. — A moment's glance at a Extent,
map of the world would at once reveal that "more than
one-half of all the land lying between the parallels of 15
and 30° latitudes is classified as desert, and much of the
remainder receives light or unreliable rainfall."1 The Hot
Deserts are situated on the poleward margin of Tropical
lands. The location is extremely significant. They lie
within the high pressure belts and on the western side of
the continental land masses — the region of 'Dry Trade
Winds'. Hence rain-bearing winds generally fail to
reach them ; on the contrary, currents of air descend
on them so as to cause the wind to blow outwards. The
eastern side of the land masses in the same latitudes
are not, however, deprived of some rain brought by the
'moist' Trade Winds. The deserts of Mexico and Northern
Chile in America, the great Sahara, the Kalahari and the
desert of Somalilaiid in Africa, the plateaus of Arabia, Iran
(Persia), Afganistan, Baluchistan, the north-western parts
of India including Sind, the Thar and Rajputana, and the
great desert of Western Australia fall within this group.

1 Case jjjind Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 232.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

It is interesting to note — and the fact is highly significant
too — that almost a continuous stretch of desert extends

"Sahara
type".

Tempera-
ture.

THE HOT DKSERTS OK THE WORLD.
Note the poleward and equatorward margins.

from north-western India to the west coast of Africa, — an
area considerably larger than the U. S. A. : it is broken only
by the intervening narrow waters, the total extent of which
is quite insignificant in comparison with the vastness of the
desert land. The great Sahara has induced many to
denominate the climate as of the 'Sahara type'. The
Australian desert covers nearly two-fifths of the continent.
These are naturally the regions of maximum heat and
aridity. But the most characteristic thing about the climate
of these deserts is perhaps the extreme ranges of tempera-
ture— both diurnal and seasonal : the diurnal range at times
exceeds even 60° F. — a phenomenon to be experienced no-
where else. This is so because the dry air as well as the
sparseness of vegetation favours rapid heating by day and

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 35

almost an equally rapid radiation by night. The seasonal
range is also characteristically well marked : El Golea in the
Sahara has an average temperature of 93° F. in the hottest
month (July), but only of 39°F. in the coldest (January)1 —
nearly the same as that of London in January. Jacobabad in
north-western India likewise has an average of 98°F. in
June, but of 57° F. in January. The annual maximum range is
frequently over 100°F., and temperatures of 115°F., are
not uncommon. In Bagdad a maximum of 123°F., was
once recorded, and in the Death Valley, California, the
maximum shade temperature of even 134°F., has been
recorded. Yet that is not the whole story. Coastal areas,
bathed by air currents, are much cooler : Callao on the west
coast of Peru has a mean annual range of merely 8-5 °F.,
and Swakopmund on the west coast of the Kalahari has
8-4°F. Like cool air currents from the sea the cold currents
of the ocean has marked influence in minimising temperature.
Another thing to be noted about the Hot Deserts is that
many of them are low-lying, and consequently the temper-
ing effects of altitude on temperature are conspicuously

J It must be borne in mind that although the sun is nearest the
zenith in June throughout the Northern Hemisphere, the highest
temperatures there are commonly recorded not in June, but in the
following month, because despite the sun's comparatively slanting
position in July the temperature of the atmosphere soars higher up
than in June owing to continuous absorption of a greater amount of
solar energy since the Vernal Equinox. This is partly due to the
sun's increasing altitude and partly to the increasing length of the
day throughout the summer months. The slightly slanting position
of the sun in July with the consequent fall in the amount of absorp-
tion of solar energy and the slight fall in the duration of the day
have little effect by way of decreasing the temperature, whereas the
total amount of energy hitherto absorbed still remains considerable.
The reverse is the case in January when the lowest temperatures
are recorded throughout the Northern Hemisphere; for although the
sun is lowest in December and slightly higher in January, the
continuous radiation of heat throughout the winter months reaches
its maximum just after December, the slightly higher position of the
sun having no appreciable effect.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Rainfall.

Vegetation.

absent. The continental land masses are broader in
the Northern Hemisphere ; hence the deserts here are larger
than in the Southern Hemisphere. The desert gradually
fades into semi-desert towards the Equator where the
annual precipitation is 9 or 10 inches ; such a region is
really transitional, and may as well be classed with the dry
areas of Tropical Grassland. A gradual transition is
generally very well marked. Where, however, the average
rainfall is 20 inches a year, definitely Tropical savana is
found. On the poleward margin, on the other hand, a
desert gradually loses itself into a Mediterranean scrubland.
In the transitional regions between a desert and the Equator
rainfall is governed by tiojpical conditions, and hence there is
in the ummer months. Similar areas lying between

a desert and a Mediterranean region receive their scanty
• share of moisture during the winter. Cairo with an average
rainfall of 1-3 inches a year is typical of the transitional areas
between a desert and a Mediterranean land.

It is a popular fallacy to associate deserts with com-
plete absence of vegetation. Actually they are not, as a rule,
as completely barren as we habitually think them to be; on
the contrary, many a desert is potentially very fertile, and
desert plants have solved the problem of storing up water
by special means. Some species have extremely long roots
which penetrate to quite abnormal depths in order to reach
water; others store up water in special .gtems and leaves.
Another point of interest about these pla#& is that nearly
all of them are well protected by means of sharp pines and
thorns, — a feature which is supposed ta, fyave evolved for
j^ftventing the animals from eating thqHkjp. These Hot
Deserts are generally divided into twP^roups according
to the characteristic vegetation of ea<g£j:

(a) Dry Grasslands, — which intervene between the
desert proper and tropical grasslands;

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 37

(b) Scrublands, — intervening likewise between the
desert proper and the Mediterranean regions.

The Oases may loosely be earmarked as another class.
These are fertile areas scattered here and there throughout
desert regions, and are usually situated in hollows where
the underground supply of water reaches the levels imme-
diately below the surface and is, therefore easily accessible
to vegetation. The date palm is typical of these regions.
But from the point of view of natural yegetation proper,
the oases are not a class apart. An oasis may be a small
patch of land with a pool or well, or may be a fairly exten-
sive area.

The deserts, as can easily be imagined, are very
sparsely populated ; but an oasis often contains a large
population because, no doubt, of its fertility. The desert
people are commonly divided into three groups according to
their occupations and habits:

(a) The Nomads, who are almost perpetually on the
move with their camels and scanty belongings. They are
— most of them — robbers, hunters and tenders of flocks and
herds, all in one. But they are traders too ; they often act as
carriers of goods from one desert region to another, and thus
work as middlemen between peoples living in different oases,
or as it is put by some, these nomads have much the same
relation to the oases as the country folk have to the cities.
The nomad is primarily a hunter in Australia and a tender
of flocks and herds in the Sahara and the neighbouring areas.
The animals generally tended — sheep, goats, mules, camels,
llamas — can live on the scanty vegetation of the desert areas,
but they must be perpetually kept moving from one pasture
to another. But Australia and North America did not, as
a rule, supply the conditions necessary for this type of human
response: shem*. goats and camels were not found in those
places. Hence trie tending of flocks and herds was developed

38 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

only where animals suitable for domestication and adapted
to the grasslands were found. And consequently these
'pastoral nomads' have reached a higher state of economic
and commercial development as well as of culture.1 The
nomads who possess no cattle are very backward. Formerly
they used to range widely over the Mexican and the Atacama
deserts ; they are still found in the Australian and the Kalahari
deserts. They subsist on seeds, roots, locusts, rats, lizards,
snakes, etc., wear little clothing and live in crude primitive
houses better described as shelters than houses. Untanned
skins are widely used as garments. Although cooking is not
unknown "everything is eaten in the half-cooked state. The
process of preparing a meal is simple in the extreme ; the rats
are plucked and thrown on the hot ashes with no further pre-
paration, and are greedily devoured red and bloody, and
barely warm."2

(b) The Settled Peoples, — who arc restricted to the
oases, which are of various kinds. They are mainly
agriculturists. But an oasis may he an area surrounding
deep wells, or a moist depression of sand dunes or a land
watered from perennial streams. The celebrated Nile Valley
is, in fact, an oasis of the last type, and so are the valleys
of the Tigris and the Euphrates. Many of the large oases
receive their water supply from highlands adjacent or remote.
Numerous streams are, thus, found in the desert of Peru
and Chile, and their sources have been traced to the Andes.
Even the annual rise of the Nile is due, in the main, to the
heavy rains in the highlands of Central Africa. The lower

1 Many of these 'pastoral nomads' possess large numbers of sheep,
camels and goats. A particular group of only 273 men and women
in the northern parts of the Sahara was found to have, some years
back, 868 camels, 1,083 goats and 1,265 sheep. See Jean Brunhes,
Human Geography, p. 429.

2 D. W. Carneigie, "Explorations in the Interior of Western
Australia," Geographical Journal, Vol. II, p. 263.

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 39

Indus valley, also a desert area, derives its moisture similarly
from the streams flowing from the mighty Himalayas.
Hence the oases peoples are often obliged to introduce
elaborate systems of irrigation, — systems which markedly
differ from one region to another. In the Mzab, situated on the
northern fringe of the Sahara, where the underground supply
of water does not come quite sufficiently near the surface,
they dig deep wells, and draw the water either by manpower
or by the use of camels and donkeys for the purpose of irriga-
tion. In Sind, in the Nile Valley and in the valleys of the
Tigris and the Euphrates more scientific methods are in use.
(c) The Miners, who are another set of the settled
population of certain desert regions, — men attracted solely by
the prospects of mining. The nitrate fields of jCliile, the
copper mines and the diamond mines at Kimberley in
South Africa, and the gold fields of Western Australia have,
thus, experienced great mining rushes ; these 'rushes'
are almost entirely independent of climatic conditions.
Mining in the tropical deserts is, however, fraught with
various difficulties like scarcity of water, lack of timber, short-
age of herbage for animals used as beasts of burden, want of
transportation facilities, etc. And yet man loves to brave
these dangers, and has actually done his utmost to
overcome them. Thus "at Centel^JLagunas (N. Chile)
water is brought in pipe lines from Pigue, 18 miles
north-eastward; fruit from Pica and Matille, 55 miles in
the same direction, and fish from the sea at Iquique,
90 miles by rail. Except for these slender resources locally
supplied, all the food and clothing, the building material,
machinery, work animals, labourers, everything must be
drawn from more favored lands."1 And many such mines
are being exploited with incalculable profit.

1 Bowman, "Regional Population Groups of the Atacama,"
Geographical Society Bulletin, 41, p. 153.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Character
and outlook
of Desert
peoples.

Something must be said here about the general character
and outlook of the desert peoples. The Beduin, as every-
body knows, is a most elusive character; to many he is
a romatic figure par excellence; to others a very unpleasant
fellow, dirty in his habits, far from chivalrous in his treat-
ment of enemies, and despicably cruel to his horses and
camels. But 'the man of the desert/ as his name implies,
is neither of these any more than what the grim necessities
of life would compel any one to be. But why are we con-
cerned here only with the Beduin to the exclusion of other
peoples of the desert? This is because he represents them
all better than any other : the desert peoples are all
compelled to take to a nomadic life and even to resort
to robbery, pillage and conquest in order to survive,
because circumstances even under normal conditions change
more rapidly in desert regions than in any other place.
Springs and streams from which the oases peoples derive
their water supply often fail, and they are faced with the
gloomy prospect of starvation. Then they are compelled to
leave the land, never to return again, but to force their way
into hospitable territories teeming with unsympathetic
people. Thus "the arrival of the Shepherd Kings in Egypt,
the wanderings of Abraham which led him to the Promised
Land", the migrations of the Arabs in the Middle Ages,
the present day troubled politics of their country, have all
been traced to these conditions.1 It has also been pointed
out that the desert peoples generajjy have a tendency to
increase more rapidly than the food supply. This is due to
various causes, of which only a few can be enumerated here
for reasons of space: the climate of desert regions is often
quite wholesome, because disease germs cannot breed freely
in the exceptionally dry atmosphere, and get easily destroyed

1Chisholm's Handbook of Commercial Geography, p. 38.

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 41

by the scorching sunlight. Hence despite the unhygienic
habits prevalent among them, infant mortality is rare. The
scanty food obtained in desert areas is very wholesome.
The extremes of temperature as well as the rigors of obtain-
ing a livelihood mould the physique, within certain limits,
for enduring all sorts of hardship. Since, therefore, popula-
tion increases by leaps and bounds, resulting in a shortage
of the food supply, the desert peoples are obliged at intervals
to migrate to other places. From time immemorial, there-
fore, the deserts as well as the steppes have given birth to
tribes of wandering herdsmen, and sent out invading hordes
in successive waves of conquest, — men who have easily
overwhelmed the neighbouring river valleys of Eurasia and
Africa. Indo-Aryans, Scythians, Avars, Huns, Saracens
and Turks, as well as the Tuareg tribes of the Sahara, the
Sudanese, and the Bantu folk of the African grasslands
were originally conquering nomadic hordes from the
desert and the steppe.1 But conquest is not the sole
thing to their credit. The deserts have made notable
contribution to human culture as well. They have
"often produced people with a philosophical outlook,
such as the ancient Egyptians and the Arabs, learned
in Mathematics and Astronomy/'2 This has been traced to
the "monotony of the scenery, the clearness of the sky, and
the need for guidance when travelling by night" with the
consequent necessity for concentrating attention on the
heavens rather than the earth. But perhaps this is going
much farther than the facts at our disposal at present permit.

XE. C. Semple, Influence of Geographical Ewironment, p. 7.

aChtsholm's Handbook of Commercial Geography, p. 38. Some
writers have even gone so far as to attribute the growth of mono-
theistic doctrines as well as that of society on the military and eccle-
siastic lines to the sameness of natural scenery, the phenomenon of
ithe mirage, etc. See G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of the
Holy Land.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Desert as
barrier.

Notwithstanding the inveterate tendency of the desert
peoples to migrate and conquer, the desert as such acts as a
formidable harrier to human intercourse. But this is not
really so surprising as it seems at first sight ; for, as Haddon
has so aptly put it, "movements of men, like those of fluids,
take the line of least resistance, flowing, as it were, in-
channels or open areas bounded by barriers," and "a migra-
tion induced by an attraction is rare as compared with that
produced by expulsion/'1 The Sahara, for example, still
separates 'the white and coloured races of mankind.'

Extent and
character-
istics.

I. THE REGIONS OF MIDDLE LATITUDES

Regions of Low and Middle Latitudes. — The regions
of Low Latitudes, as we have seen, include a number of
natural and climatic areas, of which the Equatorial and the
Tropical lands extend almost right round the globe. But as
soon as we emerge otit of the Tropics we find that the case
is no longer so simple ; for a considerable difference between
the eastern and the western margins of the continental land
masses at once engages our attention. Thus we are led to
abandon the method of surveying the world as a whole.

5. The Mediterranean Regions. — The Mediter-
ranean Regions are not restricted to the lands surrounding
the Mediterranean Sea alone. The name is a literary accident
as so many names are, and should no longer be used in an
adjectival sense, but rather as a substantive. The lands
surrounding the Mediterranean Sea is the largest and most
typical of the regions where the characteristic climate and
vegetation occur. The Mediterranean regions lie outside the
Tropics of course, and are situated on the western

1 A. C. Haddon, The Wanderings of Peoples, pp. 2 — 5,

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 43

margins of the continental land masses roughly between the
latitudes of 30° and 45° both north and south. They are

THK MEDITERRANEAN REGIONS.

Note that these regions are situated on the Western margins of
the continental land masses. Compare them with the regions
lying on the eastern side of the continents in the same latitudes,
(p. 57).

fringed on the side of the Equator by the Hot Deserts, and
like the latter are hot and dry in the summer months, because
the Trade Winds throughout that season blow off-shore. In
winter, however, the scale is turned, and these regions come
under the influence of the Westerlies, because of the shift in
the earth's thermal equator, and thus receive moisture. The
Mediterranean lands are, therefore, known as the 'winter rain'
regions.1 Dry summer and wet winter are the chief charac-

1 It needs hardly to be pointed out that since the Mediterranean
Regions lie in both hemispheres, when it is dry in the Northern Hemi-
sphere it is just the reverse in the Southern Hemisphere, and vice
versa. That explains why we can have typical Mediterranean
products throughout the year.

ECONOMIC ANP COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

teristics of these regions. Besides the lands surrounding the
Mediterranean Sea, California in North America, Central
Chile in South America, the south-western parts of the Cape
Province in South Africa, and the south-west of Western
Australia, South Australia and a part of Victoria (Australia)
belong to this group. The position of these regions is also
significant : the Mediterranean Climate cannot prevail but on
the western margins of the continents, because the eastern
margins receive their rain mainly in summer from the
Trade Winds blowing from the oceans; but the Westerlies

Temperature kiowjng f ronl tjie jancj are moistureless. Although the Medi-
terranean Regions are fringed by Hot Deserts on the side of
the Equator, and agree in being dry throughout the summer,
they lie within the Temperate Zones; hence despite their
bright sunshine they are considerably cooler. But they
exhibit also great local diversities. Even within the
region around the Mediterranean Sea the winter is
generally progressively severe in the east, the average tem-
perature being over 40° F. in some areas and over 50°. F in

Rainfall. others. The mean temperature in July is over 70° F. in
certain areas and over 80° F. in others. Precipitation also
shows a corresponding variation, the typical average being
between 10 and 40 inches annually; on exposed uplands the

Vegetation, rainfall is often heavier than 40". The vegetation is also
characteristic. Since the plants must protect themselves
from lack of moisture during the summer months by utilizing
the water which accumulates underground after the winter
showers, shallow rooted species, requiring light 1i|$£-s *n the
spring and early summer, do not, as a rule, flourish. Trees and
shrubs capable of retaining moisture for utilization in the dry
season do, therefore, prevail, and the Mediterranean Regions
are, thus, clothed naturally by evergreen trees and
Most of these have developed ingenious devices for In
moisture. The olive has leaves provided with fine silky hairs

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 45

to prevent excessive evaporation ; the vine has developed
enormously long roots ; a few other species of trees
have leaves with a coating of wax to prevent rapid transpira-
tion. Typical ground vegetation of the Mediterranean lands
are the various species of flowering shrubs and herbs which
generally take the place of grasses. Where the supply of
moisture is sufficiently abundant, fine forests grow, and the
chestnut and the cork oak trees occur in large numbers. The
fairly long dry summer with bright sunshine for the greater
part of each period of twenty-four hours is said to be ideal for
the ripening of fruits, and the Mediterranean Regions are
commonly very suitable for the production of a variety of
them: thus oranges, lemons and the grape-fruit among the
citrous variety are abundant ; peach, pear, apple, apricot and
nectarine belonging to the deciduous type are also equally
plentiful ; the olive, almond, fig, mulberry and vine are by no
means less important. Of grains certain types of wheat and
barley are important ; but these are not indigenous, and do by
no means challenge any comparison with those of regions more
suitable for their production. Irrigation has played a large
part in the commercial history of these regions, because pre-
cipitation is not generally sufficient for the raising of as much
crop and fruit as is deemed essential by the modern man for
economic and commercial purposes, though the bright sun-
shine chiefly of the summer months is considered ideal
for their ripening. The Mediterranean lands of Europe were
the cradles of the civilisations of Greece, Rome, Crete and
Carthage.

6. The Temperate Desert Regions. — These occupy £xtei
enormous tracts of land in the interior of Asia, Europe, and
North America, as well as in the Patagonian Desert region of
South America, and are situated, generally speaking, within
the belts where high atmospheric pressure is formed in winter

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Tempera-
ture and
Rainfall.

and low pressure is generated in summer. These regions
are flanked, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, by lofty
mountain barriers which cut them off from oceanic influences,
and their distance from the great oceans of the world is, as a
rule, sufficiently vast to prevent any such influence from enter-
ing them. High ranges of temperature and low rainfall
generally characterize these desert regions. Rainfall occurs
commonly in the summer, except in regions bordering on the
Mediterranean lands which, of course, receive winter rain.
The enormous stretch of land falling within this division
naturally presents a marked variety of topographical
features ; and since topography has profound influence on
climate, these regions may be easily subdivided into
various types, of which the chief ones have thus been
enumerated :

(a] The Iran Type, — which really forms a transition
between regions enjoying a Mediterranean Climate on the
one hand and the Hot Desert Climate on the other. In winter
it is intensely cold ; the mean January temperature is only
slightly above the freezing-point ; at night sharp frosts occur,
and the temperature often sinks below the freezing-point.
In summer the sky is generally brightly clear, the atmosphere
dry, and sunshine almost unbearable. The average July
temperature in Tehran is 85°F., sometimes even 110°F.
Precipitation is almost wholly restricted to the winter months ;
the annual average rarely exceeds 13 or 14 inches, especially
on the plateau region. Often there is a snowfall

rain. This type of climate occurs in a few other

as well, notably in the Salt Lake areas of North America.

(b) The Tibet Type, — found on the highest plateaus.
The climate is terribly severe ; violent winds blow during the
greater part of the year. But what probably is the most
characteristic feature of the climate is the enormous difference

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 47

between the sun and shade temperatures : rocks in the sun are
often hot to the touch, while in the shade it may be quite
freezing. This has been attributed mainly to the exceptional
rarity of the atmosphere. Precipitation is extremely small,
and keen frosts are common in autumn and winter. Gyangtse
which is not very far from Sikkim and Darjeeling has an
annual rainfall of only about 8 inches ; Lhasa farther north
has something like 18 or 20 inches. The precisely Tibetan
type of Climate, it should be noted, does not prevail all over
Tibet, it being restricted, in the main, to the highest plateaus
— regions of 11,000 feet above sea-level. Besides the high
plateaus of Central Asia, this type occurs in the Bolivian
plateaus of South America at and over similar heights.

f r ) The Gobi or Mongolian Type, — which, as the name
suggests, is the characteristic climate of the Gobi or Shamo
desert occupying roughly the central parts of Mongolia. It
is the climate pre-eminently of "lower elevations farther away
from the equator," — a climate characterized by very short
summers and^ong^chijjy^winters. The average winter tem-
perature sinks often to 40° F. below the freezing-point and
sometimes even to 50° F. below zero. The higher peaks of
mountains, such as the Altai, remain covered up by a blanket
of snow, except for a few weeks in summer which starts very
late and passes away almost as soon as it starts. Precipita-
tion is practically nil, and even in the immediate vicinities
"it is frequently concentrated in six weeks of the summer half
year. Sometimes there is absolute dryness until the end of
June" in the more fortunate regions around.1 Besides the
Gobi region, the basins of Northern Tibet also fall under this
group.

(d) The Turkestan Type, — occurring mainly on the low-
lands of South-West Siberia. The summers are very hot,

1 Case & Bergsmark, College Geography, pp. 459-60.

48 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

the usual July temperature being over 80° F. ; but the winters
are cold for the latitude, the mean temperature in January
usually dropping below zero. Precipitation ranges from
about 3 or 4 inches to about 6, and a progressive variation is
marked towards the east till in the hills it comes up to about
14 inches or more as the figures obtained at Samarqand and
Tashkent show.1 The maximum rainfall is commonly wit-
nessed in the spring. The predominance of winds is a note-
worthy feature of the climate ; except in the mountain valleys
where strong local winds prevail, the whole area is almost
swept over by northerly, north-easterly, and north-westerly
winds. It is not exactly a desert type of climate, but one of
a very dry steppeland. The typical instance is said to be
furnished by the climatological figures obtained at Petro-
Alexandrovsk, which records an annual range of 60*5 for
temperature and 2-1 inches of average yearly rainfall at an
• altitude of 295 feet in the latitude of 41°20/ N.

These Temperate Desert Regions, like the Hot Deserts,
Man in have been aptly described as 'regions of lasting difficulty'.
Temperate Not that the soil, as a rule, is barren ; it is rather often poten-
tially quite fertile. But the climatic conditions are unfavour-
able for crop production and similar pursuits ; in many parts
even grazing is a difficult proposition. Extreme temperature
fluctuations, dessicating winds, destructive hail-storms, and
scant and uncertain rainfall, all combine to frustrate human
efforts even in the adjoining areas, where conditions are said
to be comparatively favourable. These regions, therefore,
remain sparsely populated. The greater part of them is used

*It must be noted that in determining aridity or humidity,
evaporation is also to be taken into account. Climatologically the same
amount of rainfall in areas widely separated from one another doesjj
not bring about identical or similar conditions, since where the
temperature is high and evaporation rapid there will prevail a rela-
tively dry atmosphere than that of a place with the same amount of
rainfall if the temperature and the rate of evaporation differ.

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 49

for grazing, and men and animals are continually on the
move from one pasturage to another. This is especially the
case in the vast tracts of arid land in Inner Asia. The thin
straggling herhage of summer is all that can support the flocks
and herds of the nomadic peoples. Where conditions are
suitable or have been made to suit the requirements of man,
as in the arid regions of North America, animal husbandry
has been started. As in certain parts of the Hot Deserts, so
in these Temperate Deserts irrigation sometimes makes the
raising of crops possible. Thus a fairly good record of yields
per acre of potatoes, sugar beets and alfalfa in the western
parts of the U. S. A. has been established. Oases, again, are
not restricted to the Hot Deserts alone; the Temperate
'Deserts, especially in Asia, are dotted about with a
large number of oases ; Kashgar and Yarkand are really two
age-old oasis towns that have been functioning all these
centuries as important centres of trade in the 'dead heart of
Asia'. And, as in Hot Deserts, so even in these regions
people have performed wonders by irrigating the. soil in
various ways ; the water supply is derived from the adjacent
highlands. Wheat, maize, melons and fodder for sheep and
cattle are fairly largely grown in the irrigated areas.1 In
the irrigated parts of arid South America both the vine and
the sugar-cane are important.2 In more favoured lands like
Iran (Persia) wheat, barley and millets are grown through-
out the country; rice is also cultivated in areas suitable for
tropical products ; and since the country's climate has resem-
blances to both the Mediterranean and the Tropical types, it
is suitable for various fruits of both regions.3 But the desert
areas proper have large tracts of land either too rugged or
too high in salt content to make agriculture by means of

1 E. H. Carrier, The Thirsty Earth, p. 108.
»0p. cit., p. 175.
8 Stamp, Asia, pp. 150-51.
4

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Extent.

irrigation quite profitable an enterprise. Thus the compli-
cated topography of Inner Asia, where valleys, basins and
highlands interlock to form an infinitely tangled mass of
•enormous territory, is a formidable handicap to irrigation,
and the salinity of the streams from which the oasis people
of the Tarim Basin in the interior of Asia derive their water
.supply, often seriously interfere with the production of crops.
Temperate Deserts sometimes contain various minerals ; and
where these occur man has responded in his characteristic
way.

7. Mid-latitude Grassland Regions. — Theoretically
these would occur in the heart of the continents where a
Temperate Continental type of Climate prevails; and the
more extensive Temperate Grasslands of the world actually do
occur in the mid-latitude interior of North America and Eura-

MlD-LATITUDE GRASSLANDS.

Note their position in relation to that of the Temperate Deserts.

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 51

sia. The Prairies of North Ameria and the Steppes of southern
Europe and southern Siberia are the outstanding examples.
In the Southern Hemisphere we would not normally expect
to find similar grasslands, because the land masses are so
much narrower as to permit oceanic influences to enter them.
Yet this is far from being the case: the Pampas of South
America, the Veld of South Africa, and the Downs of the
Murray-Darling basin of Australia also belong to this group.
What may the explanation be? In South America the
Pampas, though not far removed from the seas, are effectively
cut off by the High Andes from the Westerly Winds of the
South Pacific. The South African Veld owes its origin
largely to the high elevation of the plateau — a factor that
greatly modifies the oceanic influences brought about by the
South-East Trade Winds. The Great Dividing Range of
Australia, again, interferes with the oceanic influences pene-
trating into the Downs. But these Temperate Grasslands of
the Southern Hemisphere exhibit certain well marked
differences from those of the Northern Hemisphere, owing
chiefly to their proximity to the seas. The name 'Temperate
Grasslands' should not, however, lead us to think that the
climate prevailing in these regions is pleasant and mild.
These are temperate lands not so much for the general
mildness of the temperature as for being situated in the
Temperate Zones of the earth — in the Middle Latitudes. A
Continental type of Climate, we should never forget, is
characterized by sharp contrasts, especially between the
summer and winter temperatures. Enormous^ tracts in the
heart of North America and Eurasia are deprived of the
moderating influence of the sea owing to distance. Summers
are, therefore, exceedingly hot; no cooling breezes from the
sea penetrate them. Consequently the average summer
temperature rises over 60°F., often it is above 70° F, and
sometimes even higher. But the summer is usually short.

52 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

rarely exceeding three months in the year. Winters are
long and tortuous ; neither warm Westerly Winds not warm
ocean currents are there to counteract thejr severity. The
average winter temperature falls below zero. This extreme
continental type of climate does not, however, occur in the
Southern Hemisphere because of the narrower land masses.
Thus the South American Pampas enjoy a moderate type
of the Continental Climate. So it is in the African Veld,
where the average temperature is appreciably higher, and
snow is a rarity even in winter. The Australian Downs
are also warmer in winter and cooler in summer. Rainfall
comes mainly in the spring and summer, because as the land

Rainfall. gradually begins to be heated in spring, low-pressure centres
are formed, and winds begin to rush in from the ocean,
laden with moisture, causing a moderate rainfall. Since
various local factors govern the actual amount of rainfall in
each region, it is difficult to give exact figures that would
hold good for all the regions ; nor will such figures be
profitable, since these regions stand widely apart from one
another. The North American Prairies have an average
precipitation ranging from below 20" to even 40", and where
they touch the fringe of Warm Temperate Forests it
may be considerably above 40". The Pampas similarly
have an annual precipitation ranging from 20" to 40".
The Eurasian Steppes may be said to have an average
of 10". The African Veld has an annual average of
less than 10", while in the Downs it varies from 20" to
40". These figures, however, speak little by themselves. In
North America the Prairies gradually fade into Coniferous
Forests in the north and west, into Deserts and semi-deserts
in the south and south-west, and into Cool and Warm Tetn-

Vegetation. perate Forests on the east and south-east, thus roughly
forming a triangle with its apex touching the Gulf of Mexico.
The Pampas of South America are flanked on the north

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 53

by Warm Temperate Forests and on the south and west
by the Temperate Desert of Patagonia, while the
Atlantic washes the entire eastern flank. The Steppes
of Southern Europe are bordered on the north and
west by Deciduous Forests, and stretcli from the northern
boundaries of the Black Sea in a general north-easterly
direction in between the vast Coniferous Forests on the
north and the Hot and the Temperate Deserts on the
south till the northern Conifers drive an wedge between them
about the 90th east longitude so as to separate them from
the Steppes farther east; these latter Steppes, covering the
eastern parts of Southern Siberia, run in a general south-
westerly direction along the Mongolian Plateau, flanked on
the west by the Gobi Desert and on the east by the mixed
forests of Manchuria and China. The African Veld occurs
in Natal in the south-east, and is closely bordered on the
west, north and east by the extensive Savana ; but on its
south-east occur Warm Temperate Forests, and the narrow
coastal desert of the south-west comes right up to its south-
western, flanks. The Australian Downs are bordered on
the west by the great Hot Desert, on the south-west by
the Mediterranean regions, on the south-east and east by
the eucalypt forests, on the north and north-east by tropical
forests and tropical grasslands. These Temperate Grass-
lands, are, as a rule, treeless, because the characteristic light
rain is not suitable to trees; and the grass is usually softer
and less coarse than that of the Tropical Grasslands.

The animals, as in the latter, are of two kinds — swift- * . .
footed grass-eating animals, represented by the antelope, the life,
horse, the bactrian (two-humped) camel, the bison, the
kangaroo etc., and the carnivores such as the wolf, the
coyote, wild dogs, etc., "amongst which man must really be
classed/'1 '

1 Chisholm's Handbook of Cawmerdal Geography, p. 41.

54 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Man. And this inclusion of man in the list of the carnivores

is not really a whimsical statement; "primitive man, as a
native of the grasslands," we arc told, "is primarily a hunter,
as were the Red Indians of the Prairies."1 The next stage,
we are further assured, is characterized by the domestication
of the sheep and the goat, the ox and the horse. This is shortly
followed by the development of the pastoral industry, and
man takes to nomandism and moves from one pasturage to
another. And what perhaps is meant to complete the picture
is the information that, droughts and a consequent shortage
of pasture have often led the grassland folk to force their
way into more favoured lands.2 But whether this is a true
picture we cannot say; all that can be said of it is that it
seems plausible enough at first sight. But it is also quite
significant that Anthropologists are yet far from being in
complete agreement as to the relative priority of the different
stages commonly attributed to human progress from bar-
barism to civilisation, and be it also noted that some of the
most acute thinkers have really called in question the absolute
validity of the hypothesis that barbarism is an essential pre-
condition of civilisation. We are not concerned in Geography
with tracing the course of man's progress from a
socalled barbaric state to that of civilisation ; we shall do
well to confine our remarks to the facts available, and
to note how man has responded to^5|is physical environ-
ment. Thus turning to the facts from the geogra-
pher's point of view we find that the mid-latitude grasslands
have been chiefly devoted to grazing, and in most parts of

reading. these regions live-stock and their by-products constitute the
main source of wealth. Of all domesticated animals the
sheep is the most important, because having been provided

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 55

with cleft lips and covered by bushy fleeces they can live on
short grasses so as to survive periods of drought and with-
stand the long and tortuous winters better than cattle. Thus
the Pampas, the Veld, the Downs, the European Steppes (as
well as some other places not falling within this group of
regions ) contain large numbers of sheep. The Canadian and
Russian Prairies are not, however, suitable for quite success-
ful sheep rearing, though in and about the Prairie region of
the U.S.A. a good number of sheep are well tended. The
Steppes of Asia as well as of some adjacent areas contain large
number of sheep, but the figures are relatively small per
square mile. The sheep, however, is said to have been a
native originally of the dry plateaus of Eurasia. Cattle are
also important, particularly in the Argentine and Uruguay,
though far less distributed than sheep. Their number" is
also smaller than in the humid parts of the Middle Latitudes,
and even in the grasslands they are distributed mainly in the
wetter regions, because it is difficult for them to subsist on
short and hard-fibred grasses. The cattle are said to have been
the natives originally of the warm humid regions to the south
of the Himalayas. Although the Temperate Grasslands,
particularly of the Southern Hemisphere, are still primarily
sheep-rearing areas, agriculture is fast increasing in impor- Agriculture,
tance. Many of these regions are well irrigated, and are
under crops ; excepting the dry grasslands of Mongolia and
Manchuria all these regions — the Prairies, the Pampas, the
Veld, the Downs — are now fairly well developed ; the chief
crop is wheat, except in South Africa where maize is of
prime importance; barely, oats and rye are also important.
Thus "the Temperate Grasslands have become the world's
granaries, from which the deficiencies of the industrial
countries are made up."1 With this development of crop

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Human
settlement.

Extent.

production has also come a revolution in the meat industry
of these regions, because the huge ranches are steadily being
broken up in order to make room for wheat farming.1 A
distinctive feature of these semi-arid regions of the Middle
Latitudes is their frontier character ; human settlements thus
penetrate gradually along the fringes. Thus in all these
regions settlement is still in progress. Along the margins
of the dry grassland regions of Mongolia and Manchuria
Chinese farmers are steadily pushing inland ; special coloniz-
ing offices have been set up by the Chinese Government in the
cities of Kalgan and Suiyan for fecilitating the process.2

8. Mid-latitude East Coast Margins. — The lands
of the Mid-latitude East Coast Margins lie in the same
latitudes generally as the regions having a Mediterranean
type of Climate, but on the eastern side of the continents.
These bear certain resemblances in temperature to the
Mediterranean regions, but an important point of difference
is that the rainfall in these eastern lands comes mainly in
summer. The climate is often called Warm Temperate and
the lands Warm Temperate Regions. But as in the
socalled Temperate Grasslands so even in these regions the
climate is often characterized by sharp seasonal contrasts.
Moreover, these regions do not possess a single type of
climate in the sense in which the Mediterranean regions
have a single type.3 But of course these different
types agree in the fundamentals as do the various types
prevailing in the Temperate Desert Regions. That is
why they are generally grouped together under a
common name. The Gulf States of the U. S. A., South-
eastern Brazil, Natal in Africa, the eastern half of China,

1 1bid.

8 Case & Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 436.

8 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 29.

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD

and the southern parts of the East-Australian coasts are
typical of these regions ; whereas the north-eastern parts of

LANDS OF THE MID-LATITUDE EAST COAST MARGINS.
Compare with the map on p. 43.

the U. S. A., parts of the eastern coastlands of Canada,
Manchuria and Japan belong to different sub-types of the
main group. And yet there are considerable regional
variation even in the typical lands. These Mid-latitude
East Coast Margins have been thus divided by Stamp1 :

(a) The South-Eastern States of the U. S. A. — These
are the celebrated cotton-lands of the States, and have a
moderate rainfall all the year, though the summer months
experience a maximum because of the low-pressure centres
formed by the heat in the heart of the continent.

(b) Northern and Central China,— Vhich really fall
within the great Monsoon region of Asia as does India.

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, pp. 29 — 32.

58 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

But there is so marked a difference in climate as to merit
a separate name — the China type of Climate.1 The rainfall
of course is due to the formation of low-pressure centres
which -attract moisture laden winds froni the ocean as it is
the case in India and other Monsoon lands. And it is
summer rain, too. But the winter is terribly severe in
Northern and Central China, because of the dessicating winds
issuing from the heart of Asia. Snow is quite common in
winter even on the plains. In Northern China even the
greatest rivers often become frozen in winter. Some amount
of winter rain also occurs, particularly in the coastal areas.
This China type of Climate may, again, be divided into
three sub-types : —

(/) Northern China type, represented by the climatic

conditions of Peking;
(«) Central China type, represented by the conditions

prevailing in Shanghai and Hankow;
(Hi) Japan type, which is mainly due to the insular
position of Japan, typified by the climatological
figures obtained at Tokyo.

The principal grains of Northern and Central China are
wheat and millet, while rice is the all important food crop
of the south. Cotton is a leading crop in Central China.

(c) The South-eastern Coastlands of Australia, — the
climate of which has received a new name — the Eastralian
type of Climate. The rainfall occurs all the year with, of
course, a summer maximum, which is due chiefly to the Trade
Winds. In winter some influence of the Westerlies is also
felt. It differs from the China type of Climate chiefly in
two particulars, — the winter is much milder, and the rainfall

1 Southern China comes under the Tropical Monsoon Climate like
India and Indo-China. See Stamp, Asia, p. 27.

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 59

is not monsoonal. The normal vegetation is the eucalypt
forest.

(d) The Natal region of South Africa, — where the
climatic conditions are somewhat similar to those of the
seaboard of New South Wales in Australia (south-eastern
coastlands). Rainfall is light, but occurs intermittently at
all seasons, with a maximum in summer. It is caused by the
Trade Winds. The coast is kept warm in winter by warm
currents. Warm Temperate Forests > occur.

(c) The region of Uruguay and South-Eastern
Brazil, — where, again, the climatic conditions are somewhat
similar to those of the south-eastern coastlands of Australia,
but more particularly perhaps to those of the Natal region of
South Africa. Rainfall is fairly good, and occurs mainly in
summer, due to the Trade Winds. There is an warm ocean
current along the east coast, keeping it warmer than the west
coast. Warm Temperate Forests occur here also. Thus
the climatic conditions of the Mid-latitude East Coast
Margins in the Southern Hemisphere are, on the whole,
similar.

It will be clear from a general survey of these regions General
that the natural vegetation, despite all local variations, is ™aracter
everywhere characterized by the presence of tall trees ; and Vegetation,
where rainfall is well distributed evergreen forests also occur.
These evergreen forests has well been described as 'Warm
Temperate Rain Forests/ and are said to rival the Equatorial
Forests, though naturally these are much less dense.1 Palms
and tree ferns are characteristic of many of these forests.
The outstanding feature in the Gulf States of North America
is the presence of both broad-leaved and coniferous forests,
and pitch pine is obtained from the latter. The Chinese

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 31.

•60 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

have thoroughly wiped out the natural vegetation of their
country with the result that it is difficult to ascertain what
type or types of forests originally thrived in China. Japan,
as we have already noted, also has this type of climate ; but
there is some deviation too, because of her insular position.
The Japanese archipelago is warmer in winter than the
continental land masses within the same latitudes, despite the
dessicating winds blowing over her in full force from the
interior of Asia, because her west coasts, which experience
the full fury of the cold winds, are bathed by the warm Kuro
Siwo. Along the east coast, however, the cold Okhotsk
Current passes. Thus in winter the western parts of Japan
are warmer than the eastern parts. The west coast also
receives considerable amount of rain in winter as the north-
west winds, in crossing the Japanese Sea, pick up some
moisture. The east coast is comparatively rainless in winter.
In summer the South-East Monsoon brings rain all over
Japan. But the rainfall, curiously enough, does not corres-
pond with the height of the Monsoon, — a feature not fully ex-
plained yet. There are, instead, two rainfall maxima, one in
June and the other in September. The rain is, on the whole,
•continuous, and the weather during the season definitely
damp.1 The natural vegetation of Japan is forest; the
camphor tree, pines, evergreen oaks, deciduous oaks, chest-
nuts, maples and coniferous forests occur in different climatic
areas. The Mid-latitude East Coast Margins are said to be
eminently suited to human occupation and development.2
Thus Central China is almost saturated with people, and is
one of the most densely inhabited agricultural lands of the
world with a density of 3,000 or more per square mile.
Hice, cotton, tea and silk are the principal products. The
Gulf States of the U. S. A. have been aptly described as 'the

1 Stamp, Asia, pp. 545 — 547.

* Chisholm's Handbook of Commercial Geography, p. 43.

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD

world's storehouse of cotton* ; and the famous Maize Belt
of North America lies immediately to the north. The sea-
board of Eastern Australia as well as the coastal region of
Natal, in Africa has witnessed the migration of large numbers
of people in recent years. In the heart of South America,
however, large tracts of these forest lands yet remain to be
penetrated because mainly of their swampy and unhealthy
character.1

III. THE REGIONS OF HIGH LATITUDES

9. The Deciduous Forest Regions. — These occur Extent,
mainly on the western margins of the continental land masses
like the Mediterranean lands, but on the poleward side of
the latter. Another significant fact about the location of these

Tasmant

New Zealand

DECIDUOUS FOREST REGIONS.

1 Ibid.

62 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

regions is their situation within the Westerly Wind Belt.
As the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea constitute
the largest and most typical of the Mediterranean regions
of the world, so the largest area belonging to the Deciduous
Forest group is North- Western Europe. The north-western
coastlands including British Columbia form such a region
in North America. In the Southern Hemisphere a small
tract in southern Chile, and the islands of Tasmania and
New Zealand in Australasia belong to this group. Since
Tempera- the regjons ije jn tjie poleward sections of the Temperate
Rainfall. Zones, and are in the closest possible proximity to the oceans,
the climate prevailing in them is often called 'The Cool
Temperate Oceanic Climate.' Since these regions lie in the
belt of the Westerlies, rainfall throughout the year and small
seasonal range of temperature are the chief characteristics of
the climate. But rain throughout the year does not mean
that these Deciduous Forest Regions are comparable with the
Equatorial Regions. The Westerlies are extremely variable
and capricious — by no means as steady as the Trade Winds.
Hence Cyclones and anti-cyclones are a distinguishing feature
of the weather. These are par excellence the oceanic or
marine lands of the world. In Europe this marine type of
climate reaches far to the north, mainly because of the
drift of warm waters — a continuation of the famous Gulf
Stream-— which is not retarded by land barriers. Thus the
shores of the British Isles and North-Western Europe are
kept warm and free from ice even in winter. Eastwards,
however, the winters are, in the main, progressively colder
and summers correspondingly warmer, because of the relative
distance of the regions from the sea. That is why geographers
frequently distinguish two sub-types of the climate in Europe :
(a) The North-West European Type, — characterized
by conditions almost typical of the Cool Temperate Oceanic
Climate. Summers are cool, winters mild, and rainfall fairly

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 63

abundant all the year. The average temperature of January
is above the freezing-point, making an average of about 40° F.
for the whole year. The whole of the British Isles, Northern
Spain, roughly the Western half of France, Belgium, Holland,
most of Denmark, and the narrow western fringe of Norway
come under this sub-division. But conditions in Denmark
and the Norwegian fringe referred to are slightly different
because of their more northerly location. Denmark, though
not farther north actually than the British Isles, is farther
east, and less fortunate, therefore, to benefit from the warm
Nbrth Atlantic Drift which flows along the west coasts of the
British Isles towards the North Pole.

(b) The Central European Type, — with a January
temperature about or below the freezing point. Winters are
colder, summers warmer, and rainfall, generally speaking,
comparatively light. Thus while some parts of the British
Isles, particularly on the west, have a rainfall of over 80",
it is as low as 18" in Eastern Germany. Roughly the eastern
half of France, Switzerland, Germany, some parts of
Northern Italy, practically the whole of the Balkans, the
southern parts of Norway and Sweden, etc., fall within this
sub-group.

The northern parts of the North American west coast
get a good rainfall all the year round from the South- West
Anti-Trades (South- Westerlies). It is 80" in the wetter
parts, but progressively less eastwards. The warm North
Pacific Drift keeps the west coast warm in winter, and
when in summer New York on the east is nearly as hot as
Bombay, the west coast is kept cool by the influence of the
sea. Southern Chile similarly receives its moisture from the
N. W. Anti-Trades (North- Westerly) all the year round,
and is kept cool by the cold Peruvian and the Antarctic
Currents. Tasmania and New Zealand also fall within the

64 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Westerly Wind Belt ; only the extreme northern end of New
Zealand, lying in the same latitude as Spain, has a climate
somewhat comparable with that of the Mediterranean lands.
Rainfall, of course, varies from a maximum of well over 40"
in the western parts to about 20" in the east. The maximum
in Tasmania is usually over 40", while that of New Zealand
is over 70". The climate is oceanic and hence equable.

The natural vegetation of these Cool Temperate Regions,
like that of the Monsoon lands, is said to be the Deciduous
egetation. porest g^t t^e Deciduous Forests of the two climatic
regions differ ; in the Monsoon lands trees shed their leaves
in the hot season as a means of protection against the drought ;
in the Cool Temperate Regions this resting period comes in
the cold season for protection against the oncoming frosts.
These Temperate Deciduous Forests generally provide good
timbers of the hardwood variety; the timber is of course
softer and. much more easily worked than that of the Equa-
torial forests. The oak, elm, maple, beech and birch are
the typical varieties. But this picture is truer of Europe than
of other places : most of North-Western and Central Europe
was formerly covered by Temperate Deciduous Forests ; but
in North America they are a rarity; several types of ever-
green conifers reign supreme even in the Cool Temperate
Oceanic areas. In Southern Chile, again, Cool Temperate
Deciduous Forests occur; but conditions are somewhat
different in Tasmania and New Zealand, of which little is
definitely known yet.

The Cool Temperate Climate is said to be the most
conducive to human progress, because it is cold enough to
induce man to take to manual work for maintaining bodily
Man. warmth in winter, nor are the summers so hot as to render

outdoor work unpleasant and irksome. Both individuals and
races appear to mature slowly but surely, and once maturity
is attained it proves to be more permanent. Most of the great

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 65

industrial countries of the world — Britain, France, Germany,
Belgium and Czechoslovakia — are located in this region.1 We
are also told that the marine regions have the most invigorat-
ing type of climate ; and so far as human energy is concerned,
North-West Europe, Western U. S. A., and Canada rank
the highest. Man is said to be most active when the
atmosphere is moist, the weather variable, and temperatures
range from 40° F. to 70° F. These conditions are all found
in the marine regions lying within the Westerly Wind Belts ;
there the atmosphere is moist all the year round, weather
varies frequently but moderately, and temperature generally
ranges from 40°F. to 70°F. Man is said to be most active
physically under temperature conditions ranging from 55°
to 70° F, — conditions obtaining in summer in the marine
regions we are considering here ; and he is mentally most
alert when it is about 40° F. out-of-doors, — a condition often
found to exist in marine regions, especially in the equator-
ward half of them, as the average winter temperature.2 Rut
to theorize thus is perhaps going too far on dubious grounds.
The enormous industrial development of Western Europe
and the U. S. A., no doubt, give plausibility to such theories ;
but what about the growth and development of civilisation
in countries which do not furnish these physical conditions?
To turn, however, to facts, the Temperate Forests — both Cool
Temperate and Warm Temperate — have been rapidly
depleted to make room for agricultural, pastoral and
industrial development. This depletion of the Temperate
Zone Forests has given rise to serious problems : already there
is a shortage of softwood in many countries, especially in
the U. S. A., and many experts are of opinion that there
will be a similar shortage of hardwood within a generation.

1Chisholm's Handbook of Commercial Geography, p. 45.
* See E. Huntington, Civilization and Climate, pp. S2 — 147.

66 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Ways and means are, therefore, being devised now for the
development of tropical forestry.1 Most of the areas former-
ly covered by Cool Temperate Forests, particularly in
Europe, are now under temperate cereals like wheat, barley,
oats and rye ; in the warmer parts we find maize. Fruits are
also abundant, and include apples and pears. The Cool
Temperate Regions of North America are also said to be
equally suited for similar development; but considerable
areas of British Columbia are too mountainous for settle-
ment, and the deep valleys separating the mountain ranges
are often very thirsty, precipitation in certain areas mounting
no higher than 5" a year. New Zealand is also being rapidly
developed. Southern Chile, however, still remains quite
undeveloped, because rainfall is too much and the region is
too mountainous to be developed with profit and ease.2

Location. 10. High Latitude East Coast Margins. — These

regions are confined to the Northern Hemisphere, because
the land masses of the Southern Hemisphere are too narrow
for the development of the climatic conditions peculiar to
the East Coast Margins of the High Latitudes. These regions
are located generally in the same latitudes as the Deciduous
Forest Regions, but are on the eastern side of the continental
land masses. The north-eastern parts of the U. S. A., the
Maritime Provinces and the St. Lawrence Valley of Canada
comprise this group in North America. In Asia the group
is comprised by Manchuria, Amuria, — and probably by those
parts of North China which border on them. Though these
regions occur in the same latitudes as the Deciduous Forest
Regions, these east coasts are not located in the Westerly
Wind Belt ; so despite the moderating influence of the ocean,

1 Case & Bergsmark, College Geography , pp. 147—151.
* Chisholm's Handbook of Commerical Geography, p. 45.

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 67

which, no doubt, greatly modifies the extremes of heat and General
cold, these are regions of far lower temperature in winter ciaracter-
than are the corresponding areas on the western margins
of the northern continents — the Deciduous Forest Regions.
Summers are, again, hotter. The two regions may best be
considered separately :

(a) The Laurentian Type of Climate, — is found around
the mouth of the St. Lawrence in North America, but may
be held to extend farther so as to include north-eastern
U. S. A., the Maritime Provinces and the St. Lawrence
Valley of Canada. Rainfall occurs all the year round because
mainly of the N. E. Trades, and is well distributed. The
natural vegetation is woodland or forest consisting of a mix-
ture of deciduous and coniferous trees. Oats, wheat, barley
and rye, as well as much potato, are grown, and the people
practise mixed farming as in England. But dairy farming
is the most important industry; more than half the cows
of Canada, as well as two-thirds of the sheep, pigs
and poultry, are found in the St. Lawrence basin and the
Martime Provinces. Nearly three-fourths of the people of
Canada also live there. The New England States occupying
the extreme north-east of the U. S. A., still comprise a
similar region of mixed farming. But the moist climate
being suitable for cotton manufacture, nearly two-thirds of
the cotton goods of the U. S. A. are made in this region.
Woollen manufactures are also important. Various other
industries are also carried on. The climate, though less
severe than that of the Prairies owing to the proximity of the
sea, is extremely cold in winter because of the cold Labrador
Current. The St. Lawrence becomes ice-bound for three or
four months of the year, and the ports of Montreal and
Quebec cannot be used in winter. The ports of St. John
and Halifax, on the Atlantic seaboard, however, remain open
all the year.

68 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

(b) The Mayydiurian Type of Climate, — is often
regarded as a sub-type of the China Type. It exhibits close
resemblances to the Laurentian Type, but differs from the
latter in respect of rainfall, which is essentially nionsoonal.
It is, moreover, characterized by sharper contrasts because
of the greater size of the land mass of Asia. Dairen on
the shores of the Yellow Sea has an average January
temperature of 24°F., while the temperature rises up to an
average of 76°F. in July or August. Harbin farther north
has a January average of about zero and a July average of
about 72°F. Rainfall, being nionsoonal t is restricted to
the summer; but the total rainfall is much less than it is in
Japan : Moukden has an annual average of 26-1" and Harbin
of 18-7". Like Montreal and Quebec of Canada the port of
Vladivostok remains ice-bound in winter. The climate,
though severe, is healthy, and suited particularly to cereal
farming. Valuable forests grow ; the most important of the
timbers is the Manchurian pine; spruce, silver fir, rod pine,
larch and oak are also obtained in large numbers. As
yet forestry has not advanced up to normal expectations.
Manchuria is said to be one of the most favoured agricultural
spots in the Far East. The chief crops are soya beans,
kaoliang, millet, maize, wheat and rice ; of these the soya
bean is the typical crop, occupying, as it does, nearly a
quarter of the total area under cultivation. Manchuria has
been witnessing a steady immigration of peoples from the
neighbouring lands, particularly from China and Japan, for
some time; of the immigrants the Chinese, however, form
the majority. It has well been described as a "Land of
Opportunities/'1

1 See Manchuria, Land of Opportunities, published by the South
Manchuria Railway Co. (New York, 1922), and the Report on Pro-
gress in Manchuria, 1907-28, published by the same company at
Dairen, 1929,

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 69

A comparison of the two regions — the Laurentian tracts A Compa-
of America and the Manchurian tracts of Asia — would at t/^wo*
once reveal that the latter still remain to he developed — both tracts,
agriculturally and industrially, and Manchuria, in fact, has
great possibilities in the future. But the enormous industrial
development of those parts of the U. S. A. which fall
in this tract and of the corresponding parts of Canada has
given rise to a new economic problem as they are "no longer
self-supporting in the matter of food-stuffs/*1 In the
American tract, however, no national rivalry is seen; but
Manchuria has become a cockpit of the Far East, because
of the rivalry of the Chinese, the Japanese and the Russians.
Both China and Japan are over-populated, and are bent on
migration into Manchuria. Japan, moreover, is an indust-
rialised country, depending on foreign supplies for raw
materials and foodstuffs. The interest of the Chinese farmer
is much the same though ; for he is equally in need of
obtaining foodstuffs from Manchuria ; but his outlook is
different ; he is scarcely interested as yet in obtaining raw
materials for large-scale industries. The outlook of Russia,
again, is different ; she is not interested in immigration at
all ; but Manchuria is practically the only outlet for her vast
territories on the Pacific. Thus, although all these three
nations have deep interest in the development of Manchuria,
their ideas and modes of activity are often at variance, and
hence the conflict. The development of Manchuria at
present is, however, being carried on chiefly by these Chinese
settlers, but it is made possible mainly because of Japanese
capital. Russia, on her part, has practically nothing to do
by way of helping this process of economic development as
her attention is engrossed with the development of the vast
Siberian territories; her outlook, so far as Manchuria is

LChisholm's Handbook of Commercial Geography, pp. 45-46.

•70

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Location

and

Extent.

concerned, is more political than economic. It still remains
to be seen, owing to this conflict of interests, whether or
not Manchuria is developed in the future after the American
model.

11. The Coniferous Forest Regions. — Located north-
ward beyond the Deciduous Forests and the High Latitude
East Coast Margins are the vast Coniferous Forest Regions
of the world, forming almost a continuous sub-Arctic belt
from the north-western confines of Europe to the north-
eastern shores of America, broken only in the midway by
the narrow Behring Strait. In America this belt includes
the forested interiors of Alaska and Canada nearly as far
south as the St. Lawrence river, and, though farther off

THE CONIFEROUS FOREST REGIONS.

from the Arctic Circle towards the east, it touches the
southern limits of the Frigid Zone westwards. In Eurasia

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 71

this belt of conifers embraces the forested areas of Norway,
Sweden, Finland, North and Central Russia, and Siberia.
In various places it penetrates beyond the Arctic Circle. But
the Coniferous Forest Regions are not wholly confined to
the Northern Hemisphere alone, although the extent of
similar forest regions in the Southern Hemisphere is
unimportant and negligible. Only the extreme south of
South America and the mountains of New Zealand have a
climate comparable with that of the coniferous forests of the
north. It is well to admit here, however, that thousands
upon thousands of square miles of these forest regions remain
as yet practically unexplored and unmapped. The average Tempera-
temperature in most places is low, with an annual average of
less than 4Q®F. The seasonal range in places near the ocean
is comparatively small ; but in the heart of the forest region
the climate is of the Continental sub-Arctic type — often called
the Cold Temperate Climate, which, like all other types of the
Continental Climate, is characterized by an extreme seasonal
range. Midsummer temperatures of 80° F. are common,
and in many places reading of 90° F. or over have
been obtained. In some places a seasonal range of over
100°F. has actually been recorded, — the greatest range in
the world. Thus in the town of Dawson on the Yukon
temperatures of 95°F. and -—68° F. have been registered. A
drop of 40° within 24 hours is not also uncommon. The
Cold Pole of the earth, as far as our present knowledge goes,
really belongs to this region; at Verkhoyansk in Siberia a
temperature of — 93'6°F. has been registered; this is said
to be 20° or 30° lower than. the estimated minimum at the
North Pole.1 Winters are very long, — nowhere less than of

1 But probably the continent of Antarctica has the lowest tempera-
tures; there temperatures as low as — 24° F. in midsummer and
— 75 °F. in late spring have been recorded. See Roald Amundsen,
The South Pole (1929).

72 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

seven months' duration; and summers correspondingly
short, being confined to a period of three months where they
are the longest, and connected by a month of spring and
another of autumn. Winter generally commences in
September, — on the poleward margins even earlier, — accom-
panied by severe frosts and a rapid fall of temperature.
Along the Yukon in Canada and Alaska/ as well as along
the Amur in Siberia, sharp frosts occur before the third week
of August has elapsed. Snow-storms are common. Thus
before the month of November slips away, the forests are
covered with the first layer of snow. The advent of spring
is heralded by the break-up of the ice on the northern rivers.
It is in April that the snow generally begins to disappear;
but the growth of vegetation does not commence till May;
yet as late as June snow is frequently seen on the wooded
northern slopes in North Russia. With the extreme range
of temperature there is a corresponding seasonal range in
the length of day and night. During the winter nights are
long and days correspondingly short. The brief summer
again, is characterized by days as long as eighteen or twenty
. . hours or more, with the result that the land warms up to
tion. P a remarkable degree. Precipitation is small, varying

generally from 7 to 15 inches annually, and but for the low
rate of evaporation most of these forest regions would be
semi-desert. A little less than half the total annual precipita-
tion comes as rain during the three summer months of June,
July and August ; the greater part of the precipitation comes
in the form of snow; this snowfall, though by no means
wholly restricted to winter, occurs mainly in the cold season.
There is a progressive decrease of both summer rainfall and
winter snow from south to north. The rivers of these
regions in the Northern Hemisphere flow in a general
northerly direction towards the Arctic Ocean because of the
general slope of the land in that direction, and remain ice-

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 73

bound throughout the winter. In the spring the upper
•courses- in the warm south melt, while towards the Arctic
Ocean it is still winter, with the result that flood waters
spread far and wide so as to turn the coniferous forests into
a vast forested morass. This is particularly true of Siberia.
The land surface of these regions reflect the effects of
glaciation ; continental glaciers moving southwards have
scraped off the soil and carved out many a glacial lake basin.
Thousands of lakes, as well as swampy lands, are seen in
Northern Canada, Sweden, Finland and Siberia. Finland,
it is interesting to know, is said to have more than 50,000
lakes of various size, and 12 per cent of her total area is
said to be covered by inland waters.1 The natural vegetation Vegetation,
everywhere is the evergreen Coniferous Forest or Taiga —
"'the world's great storehouse of soft-wood timber, such as
pine, fir, and deal."- The thick-skinned resinous leaves of
these trees are said to be a protection against both cold and
unusual loss of moisture. The finest trees are found in the
warmer southern parts ; farther south the forests pass into
mixed hardwood and softwood forests — deciduous and coni-
ferous trees ; polewards they pass into the stunted trees
peculiar to the Tundra region. In the southern margins
it takes fifty or sixty years for a timber forest to re-
generate, while in the northern tracts this would normally
require a period of two hundred years.8 In the Tundra
margin trees as old as fifty years may be only a few inches
in diameter and less than ten feet high.4 The great
Coniferous Forest Belt of North America is the most
important in the world; the Scandinavian and Russian
forests of Europe are less extensive ; the timber of the vast

1 Case & Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 474.
2Chisholm's Handbook of Continental Geography, p. 46.
3 Ibid.
* Case & Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 475.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Animal.

Man.

Fur trade.

Soft wood
industry.

Siberian forests is often of a poor quality because of their
swampy conditions.

The animals of these regions are protected from
the cold by thick and multi-coloured fur; the silver
fox, the patch fox, the Chinchilla rabbit, the mink, and
a host of other furred animals were abundant in the
past. The primitive man, who knew little of fibre-textiles,
was primarily a hunter and trapper ; when he slew an animal
he obtained at one stroke both food and clothing. And even
in the modern world furs are highly prized, especially by
women, because of their beauty, style, costliness and warmth.
The main fur-producing regions are round the Hudson Bay
in Canada and the forest regions of Siberia.1 But as pointed
out by H. F. Osborn of the American Museum of Natural
History, the pace with which man is sweeping away the
mammals of the earth would result in almost total extinc-
tion of most of the species by the middle of the present
century. In Canada and Alaska a number of regulatory
measures have been adopted for the preservation of the fur-
bearing animals. A pair of high-grade silver foxes in
Canada, we are told, is now worth several thousand dollars.2
Another important industry in these regions is, of course,
the soft-wood industry. The timber is required for a variety
of uses like building, fuel, mine props, etc., but the produc-

1 Fur is not wholly a product of the Coniferous Forest Regions ;
it is found in the Tropics as well. The port of Bombay, for instance,
exports large shipments of fur every year; these are obtained mainly
from the mountainous tracts of Asia. Many of the best tropical pelts
are, however, collected in high altitudes where the atmosphere is
much similar to that of the cold north. Argentina, Paraguay and
Uruguay also export furs through Buenos Aires. Best furs are,
however, obtained from the colder latitudes.

2 Case & Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 479.

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 75

tion of wood-pulp for paper is rapidly outweighing all. The
trees are felled in the winter, and are dragged over the snow
to the rivers, whence they are carried to the saw-mills when
the snow melts. Many of the soft-wood forests of the world
have been depleted ; large reserves now exist only in Canada Power and
and Russia. These forest regions are generally good sources f
of water power. The land surface, being dotted about with
innumerable glacial lakes, provides natural catchments and
storage basins for the rivers, most of which run along the
slopes in a series of rapids and falls. These conditions
make possible the construction of hydro-electric plants, and Minerals,
with them the growth of manufacture. Another factor con-
tributing to the growth of industries is the abundance of raw
materials — especially wood and minerals. Northern Canada
has valuable deposits of gold, silver, copper, nickel, zinc,
cobalt and asbestos. Northern Scandinavia is celebrated

for high-grade iron ore, some of which contain as much as . t

sf\ ™i i r Agriculture..

60 per cent pure iron. The extreme shortness of summer

conditions in these regions is insufficient for the ripening
of cereals; nor is the glaciated soil fertile enough for crop
production. But since the loss of moisture is small the
production of some of the hardier crops is possible in certain
areas. Thus some oats and barley are grown in specially
favoured spots; but agriculture in these regions will always
remain a minor industry.

12. The Tundra or Cold Desert Regions. — These Location
are located roughly within the Arctic and the Antarctic and Extent~
Circles. The curvature of the earth in the two polar regions
is, however, not similar. The North Pole is pretty closely
surrounded by land, while the South Pole is located within
a small continental landmass thickly covered with ice.
Within the Arctic Circle is located the cold Arctic Ocean,
within the Antarctic Circle the ice-covered continent of

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

•2/O^

(y
N

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 77

Antarctica surrounded on all sides by vast stretches of water
and ice. Nearly the whole of Greenland and the adjacent
islands, as well as the northern fringes of Canada, Alaska,
Scandinavia and Siberia enter into the Arctic Circle, and
thus constitute the Tundra or Cold Desert Regions of the
Northern Hemisphere. The continent of Antarctica falls
almost entirely within the Antarctic Circle. In these high
latitudes the winters are naturally very long and summers
correspondingly short. The sun never sets for some
months during the summer and never rises in winter. But
even in midsummer the sun never rises far above the horizon, Tempera-
although the effects of its low altitude are somewhat balanced tlue*
by its continuous presence for months on end. Such
pronounced seasonal conditions naturally result in a
corresponding range of temperature. The summers are
warm for the latitude except on snow fields and high
lands ; winters are cold everywhere. And although the
records obtained as yet show that the 'cold pole' of the earth
(Verkhoyansk) does not fall within the Arctic region, there
is good reason to believe that the winter temperatures of
Antarctica are lower still. There is, however, considerable
variation of temperature in these regions. Thus in the
Arctic areas of North America the lowest temperature yet
recorded is — 68° F. ; in regions near the sea it is not so
cold, the lowest figure obtained in the northern coast of
Canada and Alaska is — 54°F. in mid-winter. The Arctic
regions of east central Siberia are, however, colder ; but the
coastal regions of Norway in the same latitude are 40° to
60° warmer than the east central regions of Siberia, owing,
no doubt, to the warm winds and ocean currents from the
Atlantic. Though the sun is never very high above the
horizon in summer, it shines for many days together, with
the result that the land has scarcely any time to radiate the
accumulating heat in course of the exceedingly short nights.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Precipita-
tion.

The atmosphere consequently is extremely hot for the
latitude: a temperature of 90° F. is not uncommon in the
lower Tundra, and in some places a shade temperature of
even 100°F. has been recorded. Not much is known yet
about the temperature conditions of Antarctica, although it
is quite probable that the lowest temperatures prevail there
in winter. Naturally we might think of a greater seasonal
range obtaining there as the continent is a fairly big land
mass. But it is a fairly high plateau, too, where it may be
considerably above 100° F. in the sun but quite or even below
freezing in the shade, if actually shade there be, — a
characteristic similar in this respect to that of Tibet.
Amundsen, writing of this region, speaks bitterly of the
"terrific intensity of the gales which blow almost incessantly"
over Antarctica.1 Precipitation, as in the Hot and
Temperate Deserts, is almost non-existent except for occa-
sional snowfalls which at times assume the proportion of
snow storms. The Westerlies (Anti-Trade Winds), it is
interesting to note, acquire a spiral movement as they sweep
poleward ; this movement about either pole is known as the
'circumpolar whirl;' and since the whirling wind has an
inevitable tendency to rise the polar regions are, contrary to
our expectation, area of low barometric pressure although
the temperature is very low. The air, thus rising above the
poles, moves equatorward, and settles to the surface in the
Horse Latitude Belts. From the Horse Latitudes it moves to
the Equator so as to merge into the regular Trade Winds,
Vegetation, thus establishing a perfect circulation.2 The Polar Regions
are too cold for forests. The natural vegetation in the
Arctic Tundras is moss and lichen, with small bushes and
stunted trees near about the Coniferous Forest Belts. Grass

1 Roald Amundsen, My Life as an Explorer, p. 67.
*J. F. Chamberlain, Geography, p. 56.

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 79

and herbs are also not rare ; in fact, these have earned for
certain regions the descriptive name of 'Arctic Prairies/
The remarkable growth of vegetation during the brief
summer is actually quite amazing; indeed the Arctic plants
and flowers leap through the different stages of growth to
maturity in no time, as it were. Orchids, violets, lilies,
poppies, buttercups and many other species are found in
abundance ; for every ton of mosses and lichens, we are told,
there are at least ten tons of flowering plants.1 But the
soil, as well as the climate, is almost totally unfit for the
raising of crops. The richness of summer vegetation, too,
has little economic value. The most notable animals of this

7'undra Region are the musk ox and the caribou or rein- Animal

, r , , * A , l-ife.

cleer. Hares and lemings are also important. Among the

carnivores the celebrated polar bear reigns supreme despite
his numerical weakness ; wolves and foxes are found in
larger numbers. During the brief summer swarms of
mosquitoes, flies, gnats and other insects make life pretty
nearly impossible for man and beast alike. The seal, the
walrus, the whale, as well as several kinds of fish and birds,
are found in the adjoining seas and the coastal lands of both
the polar regions. Life in the polar regions, it needs no
mention, is as hard as it can be. And yet man has braved ^
the hardships as well as the dangers. The Eskimos, the
Lapps, the Samoyedes, the Yakuts, are the actual inhabitants
of the Arctic regibns.But the population is naturally very
small. Thus Etf has been estimated that the Canadian
Tundras, which cover roughly a million square miles, has
much less than 5,000 permanent inhabitants; Greenlaad
probably has 14,500 ; and Alaska with all its mining, fishing,
and pastoral fecilities has about 10,000 people. The chief
occupations of the people are hunting, fishing, and tending

1 V. Stefansson, The Northward Course of Empire, p. 52.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Various
Climatic
Zones on
highlands.

the reindeer. The white man has introduced mining and
reindeer farming in some places, especially in Alaska. Most
of the Eskimos are a coastal people, living on the sea sides
of Canada, Labrador and Greenland. Their food is
obtained by hunting the polar bear, the seal, the duck,
goose, gull etc., and by fishing. Eskimos living in the
interior tend the reindeer. Some trade is also carried on
with the white men. The Lapps are a semi-nomadic people
depending mainly on the reindeer as do the nomadic hordes
of the Hot Deserts on the camel. They also hunt and
fish, and carry on a kind of primitive trade with the white
men in the neighbouring areas of Norway and Sweden. The
Yakuts and Samoyedes live in the Arctic regions of Siberia,
and are mainly pastoral peoples. The Government of the
U.S.A., have done much for the development of the Arctic
region of Alaska, and the Second Five Year Plan (1933-37)
of the U. S. S. R. has also done much to develop the possi-
bilities of the Siberian Tundras. It seems not unlikely,
therefore, that these regions have fairly good possibilities in
the future. Yet they must remain relatively undeveloped for
an indefinite period hence, if not for all time to come.

IV. HIGHLAND REGIONS

Regions of Diversity. — A poleward inarch from the
Equator may be likened to a slow but steady ascent along
the precipice of a plateau or a mountain. As in the former
we pass through a variety of climatic or natural regions, so in
the latter we cannot fail to behold a somewhat similar change
of climatic conditions with a corresponding variation of
flora and fauna. Thus at the foot of the mighty Himalayas
we come across vegetation belts broadly comparable with the
Equatorial or Tropical Forests. As we ascend higher
tropical shrubs and 'Alpine pastures' unfold themselves before

THE MAJOR CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD 81

our gaze. Farther up come into our view Coniferous Forests
which gradually fade into Arctic conditions near about the
snowline, beyond which is eternal snow rivalling and even
surpassing the thick blanket of snow over the plateau of
Antarctica. Yet the conditions are nowhere exactly the
same on the mountains as they are on the plain surface of
the earth ; for the elevation and the consequent rarefaction
of the atmosphere cannot fail to make much difference.
What is, however, most important for commerce is the fact
that, highlands afford conditions for the growth and produc-
tion of a wider variety of products than would otherwise be
possible : the limitations imposed by the latitude are matched
to a great extent by the altitude. Thus crops specially suited
to a temperate climate can be grown with sufficient care on a
tropical plateau or mountain, other things being favourable.
Sheep and cattle may well be tended, as in Switzerland, on
the 'Alpine pastures' of the great Himalayas. Wood-pulp
even for newsprint, which was so long supplied from
Scandinavia, Finland and Canada, and is now practically
cut ofT owing to the War, may be obtained from the
Himalayas, particularly in Kashmir, and India may reason-
ably hope to be self-sufficient as regards this important
commodity.

STUDIES AND QUESTIONS

1. Define a natural region and give an illustration with a des-
cription of an area that may be so described (C. U. Inter., '23).

2. What do you mean by a 'natural region'? Into how many
natural regions can the world be divided? Name them and indicate
their position in a map. (I. P. S., '31, '32).

3. Describe the climatic regions with special reference to the
animal and plant life to be found in each of them. (C. U. Inter., '24 ).

82 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

4. What do you mean by a Mediterranean type of Climate, and
in what parts of the world other than the Mediterranean region this
climate is found? (C. U. Inter., '27, B. Com., '25).

5. Account for the Mediterranean type of Climate, and compare
it with the monsoonal type. Also give the chief products in each of
them. (C. U. Inter., '25, '30, '33, '35, '40; B. Com., '29, '33.)

6. What are the chief conditions which determine the position
of deserts both cold and hot? Do you know any desert of commercial
value? (C. U. Inter., '27).

7. Explain the following phenomena :

(0 In the Mediterranean region most of the rain falls in winter
months.

(») Civilised man is found mostly in the lowland regions of
the Temperate Zone. (I. P. S., '32).

CHAPTER IV

THE SOIL AND THE MAJOR SOIL GROUPS
OF THE WORLD

The Soil. — The importance of soil cannot be over-
stated ; on it we depend, directly or indirectly, for our food, Its imP°rt'
dothing, and shelter. It is, in fact, an essential condition a"Ce'
for the existence of all forms of life.

Soil is chiefly ground-up rock, containing sometimes as
much as 95 per cent mineral besides some organic matter Nature of
derived from the decay of plant and animal life. The virgin soil
soil is a product of a variety of factors, of which the follow-
ing are more important than others, — (a) the type of the
parent rock material, (/;) drainage, (r) climate, and
(rf) natural vegetation. We are, as it were, instinctively
prone to suppose that the nature of the soil of any place is
determined chiefly by that of the parent material, and actually
the belief was current till lately among the students of
pedology. But there is overwhelming evidence to show-
that this is not the case; climate has a more important
effect on the formation of soil than the influence of the
parent rock material.1 Thus a lateritic soil is formed in the
Tropics, where the dry and wet seasons alternate, almost
independently of the underlying rocks. The celebrated
'black earth* of the North American plains is a type to be
found almost solely in the semi-arid grasslands of the
Temperate Zones. The typical Russian 'black earth' or
chernozem is derived from various materials, from volcanic

1 Shantz £ Marbut, The Vegetation and Soils of Africa, p. 120.
See also Stamp, Modem Geographical Ideas, p. 9., and Glinka, The
Creat Soil Groups of the World and their Development, p. 19.

84 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

lava, loess, granite, and boulder clay; throughout the whole
region the climate and vegetation are very nearly the same.
Where the rainy season coincides with the hot season soil
formation goes on rapidly ; but in the Mediterranean regions,
where the wet season coincides with winter conditions, the
process is very much slower.

Like climate soil may also be classified into a number of
Types of types, and indeed there are, we are told, nearly fifteen
SQJ s. hundred kinds of soil, — an astounding number which, we are

further informed, is ever on the increase with each advance
in the field of soil investigation.1 Soils differ from one
another in two particulars, — mechanical or physical properties
and chemical constituents. Physically they differ in texture
or the condition of their particles. Thus soils may be coarse
or fine, porous or compact and tenacious. On the basis of
texture they may be classified as sands, silts, and clay. A
sandy soil is light, a clayey soil is heavy, and when a soil
contains a relative abundance of vegetable matter in its
mould it is called loamy (silts). Actually these charac-
teristics are more or less indeterminate. A sandy soil
is not all sand, but contains a proportionately large amount
of sand and small quantities of silt and clay. Silt loam soils
contain much clay, less silt and yet lesser sand. Again a
soil may be termed a residual soil, thus emphasizing not its
texture or chemical constituents, but merely stressing the
fact that the soil is that part of the weathered rock which has
not been transported elsewhere. And contrarily a soil found
in a place far from its origin is called transported soil.
Winds, rivers, glaciers, etc., are the agents of such transporta-
tion. When a soil is transported by a glacier it is called a
'drift soil/ and the terms 'alluvial' and 'eolian* are applied to

1 C. F. Shaw, The Soil Series Names, pp. 85-101.

THE SOIL AND THE MAJOR SOIL GROUPS OF WORLD 85

soils transported or deposited by running water and wind
respectively.

The texture of soil is scarcely less important than its
other properties for crop production. Certain crops thrive
well on sandy coarse-textured soils, others on silt loams, and
still others on a clayey soil. Potato, for example, does not
grow as well on a heavy clayey soil as on porous sand and
sand-loams. A sandy soil is relatively easily worked and
easily permeated by water when there is rain or when water is Soil texture
supplied by means of irrigation; it also allows moisture to
rise from great depths by the action of capillarity.1 This
is an advantage to plants which do not require the retention
of much moisture about the roots, and in regions having
frequent and abundant rainfall during the growing season.
Plants with contrary requirements and cultivated in regions
of relative dry ness cannot thrive on a sandy soil. Another
interesting thing about porous soils is that, in moist climates
they are warmer than heavy and compact soils because of
the superior dryness of their outer layers. So light porous
soils are commonly described as dry and warm in contrast
to clays, etc., which are called wet and cold. Sometimes
a soil is too compact to allow the access of air to the roots,
and so is infertile.2 Fine-textured soils are, however,
generally more fertile than coarse-textured soils, because
other things being equal the former provide more food to the
plants than the latter as finer particles are more readily

^hisholm's Handbook of Commercial Geography, p. 52.
Capillarity is the power of exerting capillary attraction or repulsion.
A capillary is a minute hair-like hollow tube, as one of the ramified
blood-vessels intervening in the human body between arteries and
veins, exerting the forces of attraction and repulsion on the blood
coursing through the intricate network of veins and arteries. The
action by which liquid diffuses itself through a lump of sugar is also
due to capillarity.

*Ibid.

86 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

dissolved in moisture and enter the small rootlets more easily.
This is one of the chief reasons why alluvial soils are almost
invariably the most fertile.

But it is inadequate to classify soils only on the basis of
Soil struc- texture, which is purely a mechanical or physical property.
ure* Soils differ from one another as much in structure as in

texture, and what is perhaps more important, structure is
essentially due to the presence of certain chemical substances
like calcium, magnesium, potassium etc., as well as of organic
matter, or, as it is often called, humus, which is the product
of vegetable and animal decay. Soils closely similar in
texture are often found scattered over regions widely different
in general climatic conditions; but this is scarcely the case
so far as structure is concerned, because structure, being a
reflection mainly of the chemical and organic constituents of
the soil, must differ from one climatic region to another.
Alluvial lands, especially large deltas, are commonly
remarkable for their fertility because, in addition to
the fine texture of the soil, they contain chemical substances,
as well as organic matter, derived from the whole basin of
the rivers forming them. The almost inexhaustible fertility
of the Ganges delta is an outstanding example. So also are
the beds of dried up lakes. The areas of heavy rainfall all
the year round are generally much less fertile than we would
normally expect them to be, because the rains carry away
either into the subsoil or away in the drainage waters huge
quantities of mineral plant foods from the soil, and combined
with uniformly high temperature the abundant precipitation
results in a most rapid chemical weathering of the rocks.
The comparative infertility of the Equatorial Regions is a case
in point.

Soils also differ in colour, and colour as a fairly faithful
reflection of the inner chemical and organic composition of

THE SOIL AND THE MAJOR SOIL GROUPS OF WORLD 87

the soil is an important characteristic and index. A red

colour ordinarily indicates the presence of iron oxide, a Colour of

reddish-brown colour that of iron oxide and organic matter,

a light colour is an index of a lack of important ingredients,

whereas a black soil is almost always found to be extremely

rich in plant foods and humus.

Soils may also be very broadly classified as (a) lime- umc-accu-
accumulating and (b) non-lime-accumulating soils. The mutating
lime-accumulating soils are, on the whole, alkaline, and jime-accu-
suitable to crops. It is said that the presence of lime usually mulating
"indicates an abundance of some or all of the essential mineral s()1 s*
fertilizers."1 Non-lime-accumulating soils cause the forma-
tion of acid humus which are generally destructive to crops.
There are acid tolerant plants, however ; but they are mostly
useless for man and his domestic animals, and the weeds
that thrive under acid conditions are often a serious menace
to agriculture and transport.

I. NON-LIME-ACCUMULATING SOILS

The Laterite of the Tropical Rain Forest.— The
laterite is a type of soil, commonly red in colour and with an
open honeycombed structure. It is characteristic of the
tropical and the sub-tropical climates, being clue to rapid
decomposition of the rock because of " rapid changes in tem-
perature, and the alteration of wet and dry seasons." The
red colour is due to the presence of iron, which rusts as it
comes in contact with air and water; and iron and alumina
form its chief constituents.2 It is poor in humus and A poor soil,
mineral plant food, because the lime, potash and mag-
nesia are all dissolved by the high humidity and temperatures,

1Case and Bergsmark, College Geography, pp. 76-77.
*Chisholm's Handbook of Commercial Geography, p. 55.

88 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

and washed away by the abundant rainfall. Even the silica
gets dissolved in the high temperature of the Tropics, and
is thus washed away by rain-water, and deposited as a
cementing substance in underlying sands. In addition, exces-
sive leaching, which is a direct result of the heavy showers,
also make the soil poor. But this general infertility of the
soil is partly offset by the action of such creatures as the
earthworm and the termite, aiding in a marked degree the
decomposition and disintegration of organic matter.1 The
climatic conditions are also a balancing factor. Thus these
soils, when cleared of the forests, are suitable for plantation
crops like bananas, oil palms, spices, rubber etc. But since
the characteristic heavy showers interfere again with the
fertility of the soil, the inhabitants are obliged to move from
one place to another from time to time in pursuit of fresh
lands to be cleared for crop production. This is especially
the case in the Equatorial Regions or the Tropical Rain
Forests.2

Red and Yellow Soils of Tropical and Subtropical
Regions. — On the poleward side of the laterites are
found the red and yellow soils. In these regions rainfall
is less uniform, and temperatures lower than in the Equato-
rial Rain Forests. The climate usually has long dry
spells, and the winter temperature is low. These red and
yellow soils are, like laterites, poor in humus, phosphates,
tivefy^ertile n^rates and potash. But the process of leaching is definitely
low. So these soils are generally of a more compact struc-
ture, and consequently more fertile. But they require a

Glinka, The Great Soil Groups of the World and Their Deve-
lopment, p. 50.

2 As pointed out by Stamp, "the term 'laterite* is freely applied
to many red earths in which the solvent action has not gone so far."
These may, therefore, be fairly fertile. See Chisholm's Handbook.

THE SOIL AND THE MAJOR SOIL GROUPS OF WORLD 89

good deal of fertilizing ingredients from time to time for
crop production. Where fertilizers are not in use cultivated
areas are abandoned for a period and new areas are cleared
for agriculture.

Grey Soils of the Coniferous Forests. — Podsol is Infertile,
typical of these soils. It is extremely low in black humus
and soluble mineral salts. The ash colour is due mainly
to the bleaching of the surface soil. Under the ash-coloured
surface there is found a horizon of coffee-brown, an indi-
cation of some decomposed organic matter. Materials like
iron, alumina etc., are sometimes found in this horizon.1
Since these soils are located in the regions of low tempera-
ture, where, unlike in the tropical areas, evaporation is low,
ground water easily accumulates in large quantities, and the
land is subjected to abundant percolation of water, with the
result that the surface horizon is rapidly leached of iron and
alumina and other minerals. The soil seems to contain much
acid, and is generally unfit for crops unless an abundance
of lime be applied.

Grey-Brown Soils. — These are generally found Of medium
between the red and yellow soils of sub-tropical regions and *ertlllty-
the grey soils of the conifers, and cover considerable areas
of mixed Coniferous and Deciduous Forests. These are gene-
rally less leached than are laterites, red soils and podsols, and
are of greater fertility.

The Black and Dark-Brown Soils of the Prairies. — Fertiie.
These are generally of a well-knit granular structure, and,
though non-lime-accumulating because of moderately abun-
dant rainfall, are deep and rich in humus owing to their

1Shantz & Marbut, Vegetation and Soils of Africa, p. 121.

90 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

thick grass cover. Rainfall, however, is not as heavy as.
to wash away plant food, and temperatures are not generally
high enough to cause excessive decomposition of rocks. These
soils constitute, therefore, excellent areas of crop production.

LIME-ACCUMULATING SOILS

Very fertile. Black Soils of the Grassy Plains.— These are,
generally speaking, the most fertile soils on earth, with an
excellent structure, an abundance of humus, and a large
storage of mineral plant food and lime. These are found
in the extensive plains of the Middle Latitudes, and are
covered with grass. In North America the 'Black Earth
Region' lies west of the Prairies which also contain black
and dark-brown soils. Russia also has a vast tract of 'Black
Earth' or Chernozem, lying in a general east-to-west trend
across a considerable portion of the territory. The lime-
accumulating black soils have developed in regions where
rainfall is moderate — approximately 15 to 20 inches an-
nually ; it is sufficient for a rapid decomposition of organic
matter, but insufficient for washing it away. Since the soil
is deep and rich it is excellent for a variety of crops. But
rainfall being strictly limited, only those crops that thrive
well in a relatively dry atmosphere can actually be culti-
vated. Of these wheat, of course, is the chief crop.

Fertile. Chestnut-Brown and Brown Soils. — These are found

generally between 'Black Earths' and brown soils in areas
where precipitation is comparatively low, and grass cover
less luxuriant. The structure is good, lime and the essential
mineral foods are fairly abundant, and, though comparatively
poor in humus content, these soils by no means lack organic
matter. Hence they are well suited for crops. As yet,
however, these regions are mainly used for grazing, agri-

THE SOIL AND THE MAJOR SOIL GROUPS OF WORLD 91

culture being of secondary importance. Wheat, again, is
the chief crop; but failures often result mainly because of
drought.

Grey Soils of the Desert. — The soil of arid regions, Potentially
we are told, are in many cases chemically very rich.1 But
chemical weathering is at a minimum because of the meagre
rainfall and sparse vegetation. But mechanical disintegration
is high owing to extremes of temperature and frost. Hence
the soil at the top horizon at any rate shows fine grains.
The humus content cannot but be low owing to a lack of
vegetation, and soil is easily blown about by strong desert
winds. But it is not enough to note this blowing about of
soil ; for desert regions are also supplied with fine soils borne
aloft by winds from neighbouring regions. These wind-
borne soils collected from wide areas frequently add to the
potential fertility of the desert soil because of a great variety
of ingredients. Desert plants, though generally stunted,
almost invariably possess enormously long roots, and these
parts of vegetation being rich in nitrogen tend to add to
the potential fertility of the soil. These are the reasons why,
when water is available, rich harvests are reaped in desert
regions.

Soil Conservation and Soil Treatment. — Soil erosion Soil erosion
is caused by various factors, the most important of which iazard-
is running water. No sooner rocks decompose rain water
begins to wash away the particles along the slopes towards
the oceans. Soil erosion, we are told, has assumed alarm-
ing proportions in the U.S.A., whence nearly 513 million
tons of silt and 270 million tons of dissolved matter are
annually carried to the sea by the rivers of that country. It

1 Chisholm's Handbook of Commercial Geography, p. 55.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Prevention
of erosion.

Waning of
fertility.

has been estimated that this is a loss of mineral plant food
approximately twenty-one times as great as that caused by
plants by way of the absorption of food. Soil thus removed
is said to have totalled that of an area of 13 million acres,
nearly double the area of Belgium.1 Such may well be the
history of soil erosion in all lands. But the rate of erosion
is by no means even approximately the same everywhere.
Even in North America it is widely different. Thus it WHS
once shown by actual measurement that 7 inches of the
surface soil was removed from a Missouri farm land in
24 hours, whereas in bluegrass sod the same type of soil is
carried away at the rate of only 7 inches in 3,547 years.2
Methods of preventing soil erosion must be based on the prin-
ciple that if all the rain water be completely soaked into the
ground where it falls, soil erosion would be reduced to a
minimum. Hence methods are to be devised for the storage
of as much "rain water as possible, as well as to reduce its
velocity in order to reduce its power of transportation. But
soil cannot be made to store up water indefinitely, because
that capacity depends upon its porosity. Hence methods
are to be employed for increasing the porosity of the soil.
How can this be done? It can be achieved by deep plowing,
thorough incorporation of organic substances in the soil,
seeding land to pasture, growing timber, planting cover crops,
contour plowing, hillside ditching, and terracing.3

It has been aptly said that, though the soil may be
made to yield indefinitely, it is by no means indestructible.
In China thousands upon thousands of acres of land have
been cultivated for more than forty centuries, and yet the
soil remains fertile. In the Nile Valley they have been

1 Case & Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 85.

9 Ibid.

9 Op. dt., p. 86.

THE SOIL AND THE MAJOR SOIL GROUPS OF WORLD 93

raising crops for fifty centuries, and the soil does not yet
show any sign of exhaustion because of its yearly rejuvena-
tion by the sediments borne thither by flood waters. On
the contrary, the valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates,
once the granaries of the Middle East, are now barren land.
Enormous tracts in India, southern Europe, southern U.S.A.,
are now lying waste, thoroughly depleted.1 The fact is
that however rich a particular type of soil may be, its

fertility will be on the wane, sooner or later, as a result of Rejuvena-
. tionofsoil.

cultivation, unless, of course, adequate steps are taken for

its rejuvenation, because plants by subsisting on the soil
take away its food materials. To offset this two methods
are generally employed. One is to vary the crops on the
same plot of land. Since different plants live on different
food materials or at any rate on the same materials in different
proportions, this varying of crops prolongs the youth of
the soil by drawing out its substances slowly one by one,
and yet the cultivator is not obliged to sit idle all the while.
Moreover, when a particular type of crop is drawing away
a particular type of substance the soil finds some time to
replenish other types of materials by the natural processes of
soil formation. Further, it is not necessary always to root
out a plant entirely from the land, aud so the residual parts
of the plants help to restore to the soil much plant food.
But this method of varying the crops does not always give
the expected results as it is, in essence, a method only of
prolonging the youth of the soil by drawing away from it
as little material as possible; it acts, on the whole, in a
negative way. Hence the necessity for adopting a positive
method which would replenish the lost materials. This can
only be done by fertilizers. And what might seem rather
strange is the fact that the quantity of materials restored to

2 Op. Cit., pp. 68-69.

94 ECONOMIC COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

the soil by fertilizers need not be equal to that withdrawn
by the plants ; it may be considerably less, and yet the best
results are obtained. Strange as it may seem, this is due
to the fact that the food absorbed ancf hence taken away by
the plant does not come entirely from the soil, but much of
it is derived from air and water as well. A plant containing,
say, one ounce of nitrogen might have derived only a frac-
tion of it from the soil, and when fertilizing we are to reple-
nish the soil with only that part of the material which the
plant has taken away from it, or even a lesser quantity may
be replenished, because the soil also is perpetually replenish-
ing its lost properties by natural means. And just as by
the use of manure we replenish the deficiencies of the soil,
so by means of irrigation we can remedy the deficiencies of
rainfall. But, again, irrigation has its limits, too; and in
many arid or semi-arid lands 'dry farming' is practised. This
consists in various ingenious means devised for conserving
the moisture contained in the soil. Often stones are spread
thickly over the surface in order to prevent evaporation from
the soil by the direct rays of the sun. This is a characteristic
practice in many of the drier parts of the Mediterranean
region. Such an arrangement of stones, straw, leaves,
manure etc., is called a mulch.

STUDIES AND QUESTIONS

1. What is the nature of the soil in your locality?

2. Give a short description of the major soil groups of the
world.

3. Enumerate briefly the steps that may be taken to prevent
soil erosion and to restore its fertility.

4. Compare sandstone and limestone soils as to fertility.

5. Was there a time when there was no soil upon the earth?

CHAPTER V.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND
ANIMAL ORIGIN

I. Cereals

\r~
Wheat. — Wheat like barley, oat, and rye is believed

to be essentially a crop of the Cool Temperate lands.1 Some Varieties,
two decades ago there was discovered in Palestine a wild
wheat which, according "to the botanists, is the ancestor of

WHEATLANDS OF THE WORLD.

the present-day cultivated varieties. This wild wheat has been
found to be resistant to both drought and smut, and it is,
therefore, thought possible to derive from it varieties which

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 43.

96 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

will stand semi-arid conditions as well as moisture. In
fact it does. The range of wheat is great; it is cultivated
from Alaska and Siberia to the Argentine Republic, and
from sea level to altitudes of several thousand feet in the
tropical areas.1 Consequently it has developed such a large
number of varieties as are very nearly countless, and
most of these varieties are so well acclimatized to local condi-
tions that they would not flourish except in particular regions.
Indian wheat does not thrive on English soil, nor English
wheat in an Indian habitat. There has of late been developed
a few varieties of wheat which ripen in the short summer
of Alaska, north-west Canada and Siberia. And all these
varieties differ in the composition of the grain as well, having
been developed under different climatic conditions.

Conditions fte climate for the production of wheat must, of course,

be temperate, and the weather, during the seeding and ger-
minating periods as well as during the early growth, must
be moist and cool ; but warm bright weather is essential when
the heads of the stalks are being formed, and a little sprinkl-
ing rain immediately before the grain begins to ripen ; for the
ripening, however, a warm dry weather is absolutely essential.
Of all the important cereals of the Temperate Zone, except
maize, wheat requires a higher temperature, and that is why
its northern limits lie south of the belts of oats, rye and
barely.2 Most of the great wheat lands have three months
with an average temperature of 60° F, and a rainfall varying
from IS to 35 inches a year; but in Australia the rainfall is
only 8 inches and dry farming is the rule. The best soils
for wheat are light clays or heavy loams. But very heavy
clays have also been known to produce large yields of the
very best quality of wheat. On lighter soils also the quality

*J. F. Chamberlain, Geography, p. 190.

"Chisholm's Handbook of Commercial Geography, p, 120.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 97

may be as good, but the quantity is smaller. The
best crops are derived from moderately stiff soils ; but it has
been observed that other conditions being favourable any
type of fertile soil is quite suitable for wheat. The best wheat
lands are to be gently undulating for the use of field machi-
nery, as well as for ensuring good drainage.1 The chernozems
or black earths of Russia and the American prairies are the
two most outstanding examples of the best wheat lands of
the world.

Wheat has been classified into two main groups : Groups of

wheat

(a) Winter Wheat, which is sown in the autumn or
'fall', and hence the name 'Fall Wheat'. Throughout the
winter the seeds lie covered in the ground by a layer of
snow, and then begin to grow in the spring. In countries
where the ground is frozen hard owing to intense cold in the
winter, as in the Canadian prairies, winter wheat is a failure.
In tropical lands like India wheat is sown in autumn as a
winter crop when the rains have ceased, and the crop grows
during the winter so as to be ready for harvest before the
summer, still rather dry, appears with its scorching rays.

(b) Spring Wheat, sown in the spring, do, however,
ripen at the same time as winter wheat. Countries like
Siberia or the Canadian prairies where winters are intensely
cold produce this type of wheat. In Canada and Russia
they have developed a few varieties which ripen during a
growing period of 90 days between the last frost of spring
and the first frost of autumn.

Since the different varieties of wheat are highly acclima- Character
tized, it is only natural that they should differ from one an-

1 "Tenth Census of the U.S.A.", quoted in Chisholm's Handbook.

98 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

other in both character and quality. Thus Australian wheats
are of a white colour, the American varieties bright red,
those of the Mediterranean and Monsoon lands hard, and
so on. In order to obtain the best flour different varieties of
wheat are blended in varying proportions.1

A moment's glance at the map will at once reveal the
location of the great wheat belts of the world ; nearly all the
important areas, it will be seen, are located outside the
Wheat pro- Tropics, and even in India most of the wheatlands lie actually
countries. beyond the Tropic of Cancer; another fact to be noted is
that none of the important wheat belts reach the 60th paral-
lels. From the point of view of production Europe, even ex-
cluding Russia, heads the list with a little more than a third
of the total production of the world ; North America comes
next with a little less than one-third; about a quarter is
grown in Asia including Russia ; Australia, Africa and South
America produce comparatively small quantities of wheat.
The position of the different countries in respect of wheat
production may be better understood from the table on
page 99.

The most noteworthy feature there is perhaps the pheno-
menal decline in Russia's large output in the years imme-
diately following the Bolshevik Revolution. Under the
Soviet Government, however, she has again been restored to
her former level; this is due to her planned economy. A
similar decline was also visible in post-war Germany ; under
the present Nazi regime she has increased her output much
above the pre-war level. A word or two may, however, be
added here: the figures for 1935 definitely show the U.S.S.R.
to top the list, if the production of a single year be deemed

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 45.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 99

enough for such a comparison. The total annual output
of the world at present has been estimated at 120 million
tons or 4,450,000,000 bushes of 60 Ibs. each,1 and the total
acreage has been estimated at 330 millions of acre.2

The World's Wheat Production3

1909-13

1921-25

1931-34

Countries Percentage

& States

U. S. A.

Russia

Canada

U. S. S. R.

India

Canada

France

Canada

U. S. S. R.

India

Argentine

Italy

Germany

Italy

Argentine

Italy

Germany

Australia

Spain

Australia

Germany

. 2

Argentine

. 4

Others

Australia

Others

Total .. 100

Total

100

Wheat-growing countries of the world may be roughly
classified into two groups, — those cultivating the crop mainly
for home consumption, and those from which large quantities
are annually exported. Although Europe, even when Russia Two groups
is excluded, is still the greatest wheat-producing continent, of wheat-
most of her countries belong to the first group; n'ot to
speak of export, these countries are to make up the deficiency
by imports. Of these only Russia is a notable exception.

1Chisholm>s Handbook of Commercial Geography, p. 127.
•Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 43.
•This table has been adapted from Stamp's A Commercial
Geography , p. 46, where he makes use of diagrams instead of a table.

100

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Why
Europe
imports
wheat ?

Countries and states like the U.S.A., Canada, Argentina,
Australia etc., export large quantities of wheat every year,
and hence belong to the second group. But there are coun-
tries, again, which formerly used to export wheat, but now
require most of their produce for home consumption. India
is the outstanding example among such countries ; Russia is
another example, and the U.S.A. of late has been coming into
the line. But why does Europe, albeit her large production,
import wheat ? This is simply because her entire production,
more than a third of the world's total, is not sufficient to
meet her needs; Europe consumes over half the world's
total.1

A com-
parison of
yields of
different
countries

Europe

Of all the European countries, excluding Russia, France
is the largest, and correspondingly has a larger acreage under
wheat than any other of these countries or states. But
the yield per acre2 is only moderate, being only 24 bushels
an acre. The Mediterranean lands have a still lower yield;
the average in Italy is 21 bushels per acre, in Spain it is
as low as about 13 bushels. The countries of North-Western
Europe, however, rank very high in this respect ; the average
for the United Kingdom has been estimated at 33 '5 bushels,
for Belgium 40, for Denmark 43, and it is as much as 45
bushels per acre in Holland. Germany gets a return of
32 bushels for every acre of land. It is, again, 21 in Hungary,
17 in Bulgaria, 13 in Rumania; and although Russia is one
of the largest producers of this cereal, if not actually the
largest, her out-turn per acre comes as low as 11 bushels
on the average. The wheat belt of Russia almost completely

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 47.

* Figures relating to the yield per acre of different countries have
been obtained from The International Year Book of Agricultural
Statistics quoted in Chisholm's Handbook , p. 121.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 101

overlaps with the famous chernozem or black earth which
runs right across the south from the borders of Rumania
into southern Siberia so as to touch the Chinese borders on
the east. The severity of winter obliges the Russian peasant
to cultivate spring wheat over most of the region ; all through
the rest of Europe the cultivation of winter wheat is the
general rule. North America is another important continent
for the production of wheat, and the Canadian prairies to- North
gethcr with the adjacent areas of the United States form
an enormous wheat belt. But the cereal is also cultivated
in the comparatively fertile areas of the plateaus within the
Rocky Mountain folds. There are thus quite extensive wheat
lands in the north-western states. And as in the Mediterra-
nean lands of Europe so also in the Mediterranean land of
California this cereal is grown. And yet the average yield per
acre in North America is not impressive, being 19 bushels in
Canada and only 15 in the United States. The last Great
War (1914-18) acted as a fillip to Canada's output; Canada
nearly doubled her out-turn within the rather brief span of
four years, and she has been maintaining that standard all
these years, if not actually increasing her output steadily
since the standard was reached. The present Great War
is quite likely to accelerate her pace. Canada is now the
world's largest exporter of wheat. As in Siberia so in
Canada most of it is spring wheat. In South America South
the wheat-growing centres are the^ Argentine, Uruguay and merica
Central Chile. Of these the Argentine now occupies the
second place among the wheat exporters of the world. In
Asia the important wheat-growing countries are India, China, As-a
Japan and Manchuria. In China very little wheat is grown in
the south, but in the central and northern parts of that great
sub-continent, and particularly in the latter, it is the dominant
crop. It has been rather vaguely estimated that a total of
about 37 million acres in China is under wheat, and the

102 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY*

annual production may be something like IS million tons.1
The yield per acre is, therefore, not impressive, although
the quantity is quite large. So far as the amount of absolute
output is concerned, China ranks second in the world, as
the figures for 1935 show, the first place, according to the
same figures, is occupied by the U.S.S.R. China does not
export wheat. Japan also grows a fairly large amount of
wheat, over one million acres being under it; but it is there
only a secondary crop used entirely for home consumption.
The average yield per acre is fairly good — 28 bushels. Man-
churia, especially the northern part of it, is said to be
an ideal wheat country; but at present about 7*4 million
acres, or a little more, are under this cereal, and it is still
of lesser importance, although some amount of it is annually
exported. The most important wheat fields of India lie
in the United Provinces, the Punjab and the North- Western
Frontier Province; but there are wheat fields of some im-
portance on the plateau of Peninsular India as far south as
the Dharwar district of the Bombay Presidency. Some
amount of wheat is also grown in northern Bihar, parti-
cularly in the north-western tracts of the province; but it
disappears gradually down the Ganges Valley with increasing
heat, moisture and rainfall, although not entirely before
entering the middle- west parts of Bengal. The Punjab,
however, is the chief wheat-producing region of India. Nearly
30 million acres in India are under this crop ; but the average
yield per acre is very low — only 10 bushels an acre annually.
Figures for 1935, however, show that from the point of view
of absolute production India ranks fourth in the world, the
third place being occupied by the U.S.A. India used to
export wheat formerly, but now the surplus is too small
to be exported, and in some years she even imports some

1 Stamp, Asia, p. 464-465.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 103

Australia

wheat. The wheat fields of Africa are small, and confined Africa
almost entirely to the Mediterranean regions like Morocco,
Algeria, Tunis, and above all Egypt. The Cape Town region
on the south-western coastal fringe of Africa has also a
Mediterranean type of climate, and produces small quantities
of wheat. There are two wheat belts in Australia, — the one
in the south-east where there is rainfall all the year round, '
the other in the south-west where a Mediterranean type of
climate prevails. Of these the former is by far the more
important belt, and though there is rain at all seasons the
amount of precipitation is not heavy, varying as it does from
10" to 40" annually, and the production of wheat is concen-
trated more especially in the areas where rainfall ranges from
20" to 30". The Mediterranean region which receives its
heavenly moisture during the winter has an average rainfall
of 20" to 40".

Wheat is of course a natural food crop, and ranks the
highest amongst the food grains in respect of the total acreage
under it. From the point of view of world production, how- position 0£
ever, it can be bracketted with maize and rice. But it is by wheat as
far the most important of the food grains from the point of ^Suction
view of international trade.1 and trade

lThe Relative Importance of Chief Food Grains

Crop

Acreage in millions
of acres

Annual production
in millions of
metric tons

Percentage of
total export

Wheat
Maize
Rice
Oats
Rye
Barley

330
200
200
150
120
100

125
125
125
75
35
40

20
6
4
2
3
7

This table has been taken from Stamp, A Commercial Geography.
It may be noted here that the figures are only approximate, and that
"grains form an important part of the diet of over 99 per cent, of
mankind."

104

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Prepara- The chief use of wheat is of course for food; by far

tvheat°f *e £reatest portion of the world's total output is milled into
flour, and, as already mentioned, different varieties are often
blended for obtaining the best flour. Of the various sorts
of food prepared from wheat may be named, besides loaves
and bread, the Italian delicacies called macaroni and vermi-
celli. Large quantities of starch are also obtained from
wheat, while the straw is extensively used for fodder, for
stable mattresses, straw boards and the cheaper grades of
wrapping paper.

The quantity of wheat entering into the world trade
World trade was, it has been estimated, something like 17-4 millions of
tons on the average annually during 1909-13; during 1921-25
it was about 17 millions, and in 1931-33 something like 17 '7
million tons. Since the trade is on the increase the total at
present is about 20 million tons a year, and with this we
are to add another 4 million tons of flour. The chief ex-
porters, as it can be seen, are Canada, Argentina, the U.S.A.,
and Australia. The chief importers are the United Kingdom,
Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland and Switzerland,
— and also both Japan and Brazil.

The Export of Wheat1

in wheat

1909-13

1921-25

1931-33

Countries Percentage

& States

Russia

24-5

Canada

Argentine
Canada

14
11-5

U. S. A.
Argentine

25
20

Argentine
Australia

20
19

Netherlands

8-5

Australia

U. S. A.

8-25

India

U. S. S. R.

Rumania

7-5

Others

Rumania

India

7-25

Hungary

Australia

6-75

Germany

Others

11-75

Others

Total .. 100

'The table which has been adapted from Stamp, who uses
diagrams instead of a table, is only approximate.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 105

The Import of Wheat1

1909-13

1921-25

1931-33

Countries Percentage

Gr. Britain

Germany

Belgium

Netherlands

Italy

France

Switzerland

Brazil

Others

32
14
12
11
9
6
3
2
11

Countries Percentage Countries Percentage

Total . . 100 I

G. Britain

Italy

France

Germany

Belgium

U. S. A.

Netherlands

Switzerland

Japan

Brazil

Others

Total

31
16

3-75i

2-5
2-75
15

"100

Gr. Britain

France

Belgium

Italy

China

Germany

Brazil

Netherlands

Japan

Greece

Switzerland

Others

Total

32
10

4-5

3-5

15_
1 00

Europe, though still the greatest producer of wheat, has
been steadily growing more and more dependent on foreign
supplies of this commodity ; this is mainly due to her indus-
trialization. The chief wheat-importing countries are those
of the west of Europe, where manufacturing industries have
largely supplanted agriculture. There are only six countries
in Europe, showing an excess of exports over imports,
and they are Russia, Rumania, Hungary, Yugoslavia,
Bulgaria and Poland. Formerly France and Spain also
exported some amount of wheat, especially in the years of
plenty; now both of these are wheat-importing countries.
England in the eighteenth century was not only self-support-
ing in respect of this commodity, but could even sometimes
afford to export more than a quarter of a million bushels of
wheat. But with the development of her cotton manufacture
the scale began to be turned till at last she came to be wholly

Industria-
lization of
W. Europe
and wheat
import.

Self-sup-
porting
countries of
Europe

Present posi-
tion of
France,
Spain, and
B. Isles.

1 Adapted from Stamp's A Commercial Geography.

106 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

dependent on foreign supplies. She is now the largest im-
porter of wheat in the world. It has been estimated that
even shortly after the middle of the last century the United
Kingdom could grow on an average between 70 and 80 per
cent of all the wheat required for home consumption ; whereas
the average of recent years has sunk down to less than IS
per cent. The institution of a wheat quota and the removal
of the free-trade policy by the National Government in 1932
has, it is said, stimulated home production to some extent.1
The present European War is quite likely to act as a fillip to
her production.

Barley. — Barley is now the most widely distributed
cereal, and many writers are of opinion that it is the oldest
of the cultivated grains.2 It matures in Norway as far north
of the Arctic Circle as 70° N., and in Liberia within 10° of
the Equator.3 Any soil or any climate that is good enough
for wheat is also good for barley, and it is in such climate
and soil that the best barley is grown. But its range
is wider than that of any other cereal. It can also
mature very quickly, and thus flourish in the short northern
summers or in "the brief warm spells of high moun-
oi0nCrowth ta*n vaNevs-" I* a^so flourishes in most of the Mediterranean
lands. But it is decidedly less tolerant of moisture than
wheat, and does not, therefore, grow in the moist parts of
cool temperate lands like Britain. On the whole the wheat-
growing regions and the barley-growing regions coalesce
rather intimately, especially in the southern countries of
Europe as well as in lands surrounding the Mediterranean,
which are too dry in summer for maize; but barley is com-
monly restricted to the drier and colder and hotter parts,

1 Chisholm's Handbook of Commercial Geography, pp. 123-127.

2 Op. Cit.f p. 130.

8J. F. Chamberlain, Geography, p. 199.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 107

as well as to a poorer soil. In the northern countries of

Europe the barley-growing regions coalesce with those of

oats, because these lands are generally too cold for wheat.

Europe is the largest producer of barley, growing about half

the world's total,1 and Russia is by far the most important prociuction

barley-producing country in the world, with nearly one-third

of the world's total produce.2 The whole of the Southern

Hemisphere produces only about 2 per cent of the world's

total. Generally speaking, the yield per acre of barley is

larger than that of wheat.

The chief use of barley, like that of wheat, is for food, p
Barley-bread is an important article of food in Japan, Scan- tions of
dinavia, India and North Africa. But the bread is rather Barley
heavy, and with the rapid extension of commerce barley has
come largely to be replaced by wheat. It now forms part
of the ration for horses, cattle and pigs in many countries.
One of its chief uses for man now is in the form of drink,
not food, since it is extensively used in the preparation of
alcoholic drinks like beer and whisky. Large quantities of
starch and malt are obtained from the grain.

Russia was by far the biggest exporter of barley
before the World War of 1914-18, and Germany the biggest World
importer. Since the War Canada and the United States Trade in
usurped Russia's place as exporter, but the chief importers
remained the same. The importers, it is interesting to learn,
are the big beer-drinking countries of Europe. Recently,
again, Canada and the U.S.A. are falling into relative un-
importance.

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 51.
*J. F. Chamberlain, Geography, p. 199.

108 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Export of Barley

1909-13

1921-25

1931-33

Countries Percentage

Russia

65-5

U. S. A.

Rumania

Netherlands

Rumania

U. S. S. R.

Rumania

Canada

Argentine

Hungary

4-5

U. S. S. R.

Canada

India

3-5

India

U. S. A.

N. Africa

3-5

N. Africa

Poland

. 4

Austria

Others

. 14

Others

U. S. A.

Others

Total . . 100

The total annual export during 1909-23 was 5*7 million
tons, during 1921-25 it sank down to only 2 million tons,
rising subsequently in 1931-33 to 3'1 million.

Import of Barley

1909-13

1921-25

1931-33

Countries Percentage

Germany . . 53

Gr. Britain &

Ireland

Germany

Netherlands

Belgium

Netherlands

Belgium

Netherlands

Belgium

France

Others

France

Norway

Others '

Others

Total .. 100

Total . .

100

Total .. 100

The average annual production of barley is said to be
40 millions of metric tons, of which only 7 per cent enters
into world trade.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 109

Oats. — The conditions best suited for the production of Conditions
this crop are basically the same as those for the ° grow
cultivation of wheat and barley; but oats require, on
the whole, a more moist and cool climate. It has
a wider latitudinal range than wheat, and thrives
well on a greater variety of soils.1 But it is equally
right to say that it has, from another viewpoint, a more
limited range than both wheat and barley. Indeed it would

THE OATLANDS OF THE WORLD

be quite a fascinating study to compare the relative distri-
bution of these three cereals, all of which are pre-eminently
Temperate Region crops. Oats have a wider range than
both wheat and barley, because they grow in regions which
may be a trifle too dry for wheat, but not at all so for barley,
as well as in regions which are too wet for both. Moreover,

^hisholm's Handbook, p. 129.

110 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

oats thrive well in areas too cool for wheat, but not at all
too cool for barley. But wheat and barley easily flourish
in climes too hot for oats. Thus it happens that in the
northern countries of Europe oats are the associates of barley,
not of wheat; but in the southern countries of Europe, which
are too hot for oats, barley and wheat go together, the former
generally penetrating farther south just as it pushes beyond
the oat belts in the cold north ; whereas in the wetter parts
of the Temperate Zone oats only predominate. Thus in
the western parts of the British Isles, which are damper,
oats grow in abundance, but not a stalk of barley is to be
seen. So it is in Newfoundland with a cool moist climate.
The hotter parts of the Mediterranean lands, Where wheat
and barley are grown, are also devoid of this crop, and as
for the tropical and semi-tropical countries like India and
China, oats never grow at all.

The great oat-producing countries of the world are:
Production the U.S.A., Russia, Germany, Canada, France, Austria,
Hungary and the United Kingdom. Whether it is Russia
or the United States of America that heads the list as the
greatest oat-producing country in the world we cannot defi-
nitely say, because different writers, relying on different
figures, are at variance with one another on this point.1
Europe, excluding Russia, produces about 40 per cent of
the world's total production. It is a very important crop in

1Thus Stamp writes: "Russia is the largest producer and the
largest exporter . . . . " Chamberlain writes: "As a producer of
oats, the United States holds first place, our yield being about one-
third of the world's crop." Figures for 1913-17 show that the U.S.A.
produced 30-18 per cent, of the world's total, while Russia came up
with only 18-84 p.c. In 1925-30 the U.S.A. produced 1300 millions
of bushels of oats, while the U.S.S.R. (Russia) produced a little more
than 1000 millions of bushels.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 111

Ireland and Scotland, and if we take the British Isles as a
whole we find that it is the leading cereal there. Large
quantities of it are also grown in Denmark, Holland, Bel-
gium and the lands surrounding the Baltic Sea. Besides the
United States, Canada is an important producer of oats.
The Argentine and Chile, however, are practically the only
oat-producing countries south of the Equator.

Oats usually are used as food for horses and cattle, arid
that is one of the reasons why it is imported in large quanti-
ties into countries engaged in the dairying industry. But
it is also — though rarely — used for human consumption. J-|ses °*
Oatcakes, Oatmeal porridge and some other like delicacies
are well appreciated in Scotland and some of the Scandi-
navian countries. In the former place these delicacies formed
the staple food of the people as late as the end of the
eighteenth century.

The quantity of oats entering into world trade is, World
however, meagre ; only about 4 per cent of the total produc- trade in oats
tion comes to the international market. This is because, with
the exception of one or two countries like the Argentine and
Chile, for example, most of the countries produce it for home
consumption. Before the European War of 1914-18 nearly
half the quantity entering into world trade used to come
from Russia, and the remainder used to be supplied by
Canada, the U.S.A., and the Argentine. The chief importer
still is Great Britain; of the other countries importing oats
Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Austria and Denmark are
important, — countries engaged extensively in dairy farming.

Rye. — Rye has been well described as a "poor relation" m

of wheat ;l it grows, therefore, under conditions similar to Of growth

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 54.

112 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

the growth of the latter crop. But it is a hardier plant thaA
its 'aristocratic relation', and has no such exclusive choicx
of soil ; it will flourish at a lower temperature and in much
poorer soils, and is, therefore, cultivated in both high lati-
tudes and high altitudes. In Russia a large quantity of rye
is grown far to the north of the celebrated 'Black Earth'
Zone, and in Norway, because of the moderating influence
of the warm ocean current, it is cultivated as far north as
the Arctic Circle.1 It is grown extensively on the marshy
and sandy tracts of the Great European Plain, as well as on
the Central Plateau of France and the North-Wcstern high-
lands of Spain.

Europe is the leading producer of rye, and of all coun-
Production trjes Russia ranks the highest in this respect. The bulk of
the world's rye — nearly 95 per cent — is grown on the main-
land of Europe and Asiatic Russia. The highest concentra-
tions are found in the areas lying east of the Rhine and
north of the Alpine ranges; almost a continuous stretch of
rye fields extends from Northern Belgium across Germany
into Poland, flanked on the north by the lesser fields of
Holland, Denmark, Southern Sweden, East Prussia, Lithua-
nia, Latvia, Esthonia and Southern Finland, and on the
south by those of South Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia,
Hungary and Southern Poland. Towards Eastern Poland
the fields grow somewhat less concentrated till they reach
the western borders of the U.S.S.R. ; here again we notice
another enormous belt of rye, far surpassing the other, lying
in a general north-easterly direction, flanked on all sides by
innumerable fields of lesser concentration. Russia produces
more than 50 per cent of the world's total ; Germany ranks
second among the rye-producing countries, and Poland pro-

1 J. F. Chamberlain, Geography, p. 197.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 115

fields are first roughly ploughed under water, which is
prevented from draining away by means of carefully raised
embankments on all sides of the field, and the seeds are
sown as in nurseries. Then the tiny plants begin to grow
under the water till they shoot out their fine stalks about
six inches above the water level, when the cultivator trans-
plants them by hand in several rows in the flooded fields.
As the plants begin to grow the water is allowed to drain
away gradually, and by the time the paddy ripens the fields Cultivation.
are dry. For the ripening of paddy a temperature between
75 °F. and 80° F. is needed. Rainfall must be abundant
during, the sowing season as well as in the earier part of
the growing period. But excessive showers during the
ripening season is extremely injurious, sometimes even caus-
ing a total failure of the crop. That is why rice is best
grown in the Tropical Monsoon lands. Where the annual
rainfall is below 45" it is seldom raised. If the temperature
be uniformly 80° F. or a little higher during the ripening
period, the grain matures with almost incredible rapidity and
under like conditions as many as five crops a year have
actually been harvested.1 Usually, however, two crops are
obtained annually. In more temperate regions rice is a
summer crop, wheat or another temperate cereal being the
winter crop. It has an average growing period of 135 days.

It is, again, difficult to say definitely whether India or production.
China is the largest producer of rice in the world.
Even the leading geographers are not quite definite on the
question. Thus we are told in one place that the total rice
production of China is something like 40 million tons a year2 ;
and in another place precisely the same quantity has been
credited to India, obviously excluding Burma, and yet China

1 Stamp, A Conuncrical Geography, p. 56.
a Stamp, Asia, p. 464.

116 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 117

is said to produce a larger quantity.1 Still again we ^re
told that India is the largest producer of rice.2 The anomaly
is not wholly explained by saying that the figures for India
have so long been mixed up with those for Burma. China
proper exclusive of Manchuria is of the same size as, if not
actually a little less than, India exclusive of Burma (India
1,575,187 sq. miles, China 1,532,800 sq. miles). A third
of the total area devoted to food-grains in India is said to
be under rice ; whereas the corresponding figure for China
has been estimated at 'rather more than a quarter* of the
total area under food-grains. In both the countries rice,
though most important, is not the sole staple food. But,
again, three rice crops a year are said to be China's average ;
whereas the corresponding average for India is said to be
only one crop a year. The actual fact is that no definitely
reliable figures are available. But it is absolutely certain
that India and China are the two leading rice-growing
countries of the world, and may well be bracketted together,
without even a close second. The next largest producer is
Japan with less than a fifth of the production of either China
or India. The other important rice-growing countries of Asia
are Indo-China (both British Indo-China which is Burma
and French Indo-China) and Siam (Thailand) ; Ceylon,
Malaya, and the East Indies do not grow as much rice as
is needed for home consumption. In Europe rice is some-
what important only in Italy and Spain. In Africa Egypt is
an important producer, with Sierra Leon a close second. In
North America fairly large quantities of rice are grown on the Other
coastal region of the Gulf States near the Mississippi delta coun nes"
and in the Sacramento valley of California. It has also been
introduced in British Guiana. The coastal regions of Brazil

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, pp. 56-57.
•Case & Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 214; J. F. Chamber-
lain, Geography, p. 202.

118 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Guiana in South America are fairly important in this
respect.

As is quite well-known, the first operation after harvest-
Preparation ing is the threshing of the paddy, which is then put through
of rice. tne hulling machine. The grain is next screened and the

kernels polished. Rice is thus given a white look and rice
flour is obtained through this operation of polishing. The
straw is used in making mats, ropes, hags, hats, raincoats,
sandals, and even houses are sometimes thatched with it,
The husk is used for filling mattresses and in packing goods.
A number of distilled liqueur and other intoxicating drinks
are made from the germinated grain. Rice being richer in
carbo-hydrates than wheat, considerable amount of starch is
also made from it. Rice is the staple food of nearly one-
third of the world's population. The whole of the enormous
quantities grown in India and China is consumed at home.
So it is in Japan, which, in addition, imports large quantities
from other places in order to meet her internal needs. Rice
is also the staple food in Burma, Siam and French Indo-
China; but these countries, thinly peopled that they are,
produce a larger quantity than is needed for home consump-
tion, and can, therefore, spare a good deal to carry on^an
export trade. Ceylon, Malaya and the East Indies, on the
other hand, cannot produce enough to meet the internal
demand, and are, therefore, obliged, like Japan, to import
some amount of rice. In Europe and America highly
polished rice and rice milk-puddings occasionally enter into
the menu of the well-to-do people more as delicacies than as
food.

World Since most of this crop is produced for home consump-

Tradein tion, the amount entering into world trade is but small, —

* only just over 6 million tons a year. The principal part of

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 119

the trade — from about a half to two-thirds — is between the
Asiatic countries, and the remainder between the rice-ex-
porting countries of Asia and rice-importing countries of
Europe. Indeed as pointed out by Stamp, the world trade in
rice is of two types. The first type consists in exporting the
surplus rice from one rice-eating country of the Orient to
another for the purpose of making up the deficiencies of the
latter. This trade, as is quite inevitable, varies from year to
year as the harvests in these countries fluctuate. If there is a

marked scarcity in China in any year the bulk of the surplus Two types

« ,* < -r *. • of trade,

will go to that country ; next year Ceylon or India may import

a greater amount than previously, and so on. The second
type consists in exporting rice from the Orient to Europe
and other countries. This aspect of the trade remains fairly
constant, although it too fluctuates markedly if there is a
famine in any of the larger rice-eating countries. The
U.S.A. grows about half the quantity required for home use,
and imports the remainder from the Far East. Yet it is
said that "there is no satisfactory reason why the United
States should not grow and mill all of its own rice and
become an exporter/'1

^ Maize or Corn. — Another name of this crop is Indian
Corn, and it is said to be the only cereal brought from the
New World to the Old. Columbus was the first to bring it
to Europe.2 It was probably a native of Mexico or Central Conditions
America. But in America it is now concentrated in the of growth.
U. S. A. It is essentially a sub-tropical grain, but may
easily be grown in the warmer areas of the Temperate Zone,
as well as in the Tropics, but not generally in the Monsoon

1 Farmers' Bulletin, No. no, U. S. Department of Agriculture,
quoted by J. F. Chamberlain.

2 Chamberlain, Geography, p. 187. See also Chisholm's p. 127.

120

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

lands. A fertile, well-watered, loamy soil is essential for
its production ; during the early part of the growing period
it must have frequent and fairly heavy showers, and where
rainfall is not abundant water must be supplied by irriga-
tion; but on no account should the ground be drenched

THE MAIZE-PRODUCING COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD. f

through and through. Thus it agrees with rice in some
respects, and also differs from the latter in others. The
average life of the plant is from 135 days to 210 days; and
all through this long period there must be plenty of sunshine
and an uniformly high temperature with as little variation
as possible. In the middle period of its growth even a
moderately marked variation in the diurnal range of tempera-
ture causes almost a total failure. Hence it is very nearly
impossible to grow maize in such a fickle-weathered country
as England.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 121

The bulk of the world's maize — about two-thirds — is Production,
•grown in the U. S. A., where the crop is almost wholly con-
centrated in the south and east and the famous Corn Belt,
an area twice as large as that under wheat in that country.
It is also grown in Mexico in fairly large quantities. But
Canada, though she produces a little, is too far north for
the Indian corn. In South America, Brazil and the
Argentine grow much corn. In Europe it is grown in the
warmer and wetter regions like Rumania, Yugoslavia,
Hungary and Italy, as well as in the U. S. S. R. south of
the great Wheat Belt. Small quantities are grown also in
the sunnier and moister parts of France and Spain. In
Africa, the Union and Rhodesia are impotrant maize-pro-
ducing countries. It is said to be the most important of the
cereals in that continent, though the total yield is not quite
appreciably high. In Asia it is a subsidiary, though not
quite an unimportant, crop, particularly in India and China.
Australia also produces a small quantity.

Production of Maize

1909-13

1921-25 : 1931-33

Country Percentage

U. S. A.

U. S. A. 68 U. S. A.

Brazil

Argentine 5 Argentine

Argentine

Brazil . . 4 Brazil

Mexico . .

Rumania 3 j Rumania

Italy

Italy . . 3 i Jugoslavia

Rumania

Mexico . . 2

Hungary

India

Others . . 15

Italy

Others . .

Mexico . .

India

Others . .

TOTAL 100

122

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Maize is a productive crop like rice. The total acreage
under it all over the world has been estimated at 200 million
acres with a total yield of 125 million metric tons ; both
figures agree completely with the corresponding figures for
rice. Compare the acreage and yield of wheat. In 1909-13
the world's total annual yield of maize was 104 million tons, in
1921-25 it was 106 million tons, and in 1931-33 the figure
rose to be 113 million.

Maize has various uses. It is used chiefly as food for
Preparation anjmais> particularly for hogs and pigs, and that is the reason

of Maize.

World
Trade.

why great numbers of hogs are kept in the famous Corn Belt
of the U. S. A., and its absence in the British Isles is one
reason why so few hogs are raised there, and most of the
pork consumed by the Britishers are imported from else-
where. But maize forms an important article of human food
as well. Though it does not make good bread, the well-
known 'mealie pap* or maize gruel is extensively used in
South Africa. In England cornflour, which is made by
grinding the grains of maize or corn, is fairly extensively
used. Corn bread and corn cakes are extensively consumed
in America and Southern Europe. The unripe corn is a
favourite vegetable in America. Starch, beer, alcohol, and
glucose are other important products of maize. Some kinds
of cheap paper are manufactured from its leaves; the cobs
are made into pipes and the husks are used into mattresses.
Another use of the cobs is in the form of fuel. The young
juicy stalks as well as the ripened grains are used as food for
cattle and stock.

Though the production is quite large, only a small percent-
age of the total produce enters into world trade ; yet the amount
is greater than that of rice coming into the international
market ; for while only 4 per cent of rice enters into world

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 123

trade, the corresponding percentage of maize is 6. The
United States albeit its enormous production exports a very
limited quantity ; more than half of the commodity exported
comes from the Argentine. Other exporters, besides these
two, are South Africa and the countries of South-eastern
Europe like Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, and the U.S.S.R.
The chief importers are the countries of north-western
Europe, because the cool climate of these regions does not
allow the cultivation of this crop.

t. — Millet is one of the most important of the Conditions
small grains used as human food. It is characteristic of the Growth,
drier parts of the Tropics, and has many varieties, some of
which flourish in the drier and warmer parts of sub-tropical
lands. It grows well in regions having less than 40 inches
of rainfall, and even where precipitation is as low as 20 inches
it can be grown without irrigation.

Both in India and China it is an important food crop. Production
In India it occupies a fifth of the total cultivated area and
more than a quarter of the area under food-grains. It is the
staple food of the people in nearly all the drier regions of
this country, and ranks an easy second to rice among Indian
crops. There are three main varieties of this crop in India —
(a) cholum or jowar, which in English parlance is called
'Great Millet', (fc) cumbu or bajra, called in English 'Spiked
Millet', and (c) ragi or marua. In China millet is concern-
trated in the north-east, where the rainfall is usually below
40" a year. Throughout North China it is a close second to
wheat. Sorghum and kaoliang are the two chief varieties.
Millet is also extensively grown in Manchuria and Japan, and
the varieties raised are similar to those of China. In the
Uganda region of Africa millet is the most widely cultivated
crop, and throughout the continent becomes an easy rival of

124

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Trade.

maize, if it does not actually outweigh the latter in importance
as a food grain. The chief variety is the 'Great Millet' known
there by the name of durrah; often it is also called 'Guinea
Corn'. Besides being raised for food, millet is grown also
for forage and fuel. A particular type of sorghum is culti-
vated in the U. S. A. for green fodder. Fairly large acreages
in the poorer lands of Europe are also devoted to this crop.
Its importance from the point of view of world trade is next
to nothing, since almost the entire yield is raised for domestic
use.

Three

main

varieties.

Production
of Cane
Sugar.

India,

€uba&

Java.

II. OTHER VEGETABLE FOOD-STUFFS

^f Sugar. — Sugar is of three main varieties, — (a) Cane
Sugar, (b) Beet Sugar, and (c) Maple Sugar. Cane sugar
is the product of the juice of the sugar-cane; beet sugar is
obtained from the 'roots' of the sugar-beet; and maple sugar
is maufactured from the sap of the maple tree.

The sugar-cane, originally a native of Eastern Asia,—
perhaps of the Ganges Valley and Indo-China — is essen-
tially a tropical or sub-tropical plant. It flourishes in a
warm moist climate, and requires a soil rich in phosphates;
wholesome sea-breezes are also essential, and that is why
all the great cane-growing regions are located near about
the sea. But the moisture has its limits, too; an annual
rainfall of 40 inches or a little more is ideal for the plant;
too much moisture reduces the sugar content in the juice.
The leading countries from the point of view of production
are India, Cuba and Java ; of these India is now the largest
producer so far as absolute production is concerned ; but she
is far behind in relative production, i.e., in regard to the
yield per acre or per ton of cane. In this Java easily leads,

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 125

and Cuba comes second, while India still remains far behind.1 America.
In America the important producers are Louisiana in the
U. S. A., and the Brazilian and the Peruvian coastal tracts ;
in the latter area cane-culture is carried on by means of
irrigation. There are plantations also in Central America,
Argentina, and British Guiana. The smaller islands of the
British West Indies are largely dependent on this industry
alone. The U. S. A. obtains large supplies from the
Hawaiian Islands. In Africa by far the most important Africa,
cane-growing region is on the east coast of Natal ; small
plantations are found elsewhere, chiefly in the narrow coastal
region of Portugese East Africa, Egypt, and the island of
Mauritius. In Australia sugar-cane is grown in Queensland Australia,
on the north-east coast. The Philippine Islands, China and
Formosa are also important producers in Asia. In Europe Asia,
there are small plantations only in the southern parts of
Spain as far north as 37°. In the Southern Hemisphere its Europe,
farthest poleward extent is said to be marked roughly by
the 30th parallel.

The sugar-cane, like the cereals, is botanically a member Preparation
of the grass family ; but it is a giant member of that genus, its
stalks sometimes attaining a height of twenty feet. Amongst
the better known cereals it resembles the 'Indian Corn1
(maize), having joints with a spongy substance between, in
which juice is held. But its seed or grain is of little or no
value. The stalks of the cane are cut every year on the eve
of flowering, but the roots are allowed to remain, and from
these new shoots grow each year for a period of about thirty
years or more, although for commercial purposes the plants
are usually completely rooted out at the fifth year, and new

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 62. But see Chisholm's
Handbook of Commercial Geography, p. 196, where it is definitely
stated that "the largest producer is now Cuba . . , ."

126

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

plants raised. The stalks mature in about ten months,
when they are cut by hand and hauled to the mill for squeez-
ing out the juice. The juice is then clarified and sterilized
by boiling at a temperature of 130°F, and by mixing some

SUGAR-PRODUCING COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD.

lime with it. This sterilizing prevents fermentation. Again
it is boiled until it reaches the point of crystallizing. Crys-
talline raw sugar is then made to separate out by being placed
in centrifugal separators. Thus is obtained brown sugar
which is of a lusty golden hue, and the residual thick syrup
goes to form molasses. The crude brown sugar then is
transported to the refineries, where it is dissolved in hot
water and filtered, and the liquid then evaporated in vacuum
pans, and the sugar naturally crystallizes. Molasses are
consumed by men as well as cattle, and used in preparing
certain alcoholic drinks like rum. After the extraction of the
juice the canes are used as fuel for the mills. Various types
of cardboard are also made of sugar-canes.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 127

Although India is now the largest producer l of cane World
sugar she does not export any, but consumes her entire pro- CaneC '

Sugar.

Export of Cane Sugar

1909-13

1921-25

1931-35

Countries Percentage

Cuba . . . . 33

Cuba .. .. 34

Cuba .. ..26

Dutch East Indies

Dutch Kast Indies

Dutch East Indies

(including Java) 24

(with Java)

Hawaii

5j Hawaii

Porto Rico

Philippines

Mauritius

Peru

Formosa

Philippines

Porto Rico

Formosa . .

Formosa

Sto. Dominigo

Peru

Mauritius

Peru

British Guiana

Others . .

Mauritius

Others . .

Australia

Others . .

TOTAL 100

duction. She used to import large quantities of sugar from
Java till very recently, and ranked third in the world as an
importer ; now her imports have very nearly ceased.

The chief importers are the United States and the
United Kingdom. The U. S. A., besides having a large
proportion of home production, obtains her considerable
quantities from Cuba, Dominica, Porto Rico and Hawaii.
Great Britain imports her sugar mainly from the Empire
countries like British Guiana, Mauritius and the British
West Indies, as well as from Cuba and Java.

xThe fact seems to be that till lately— as late as 1936-37— Cuba
was the largest producer. The production in India has increased only
recently. This is shown by the steady decrease of her imports from
Java.

128 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Production The sugar beet is said to have found its way into Europe

*roni Southern Asia. It is an annual plant belonging to the
beet species. The seed is sown in the spring, and the roots
of the plant are dug out in the autumn. It requires a lower
temperature and less water than does the sugar-cane; but
the soil must be well-drained, and a fairly good supply of
moisture is essential during the growing period, although
too much moisture gives a juice poor in sugar content. A
fertile, loamy, lime-accumulating soil is ideal for the cultiva-
tion of this plant ; it does not thrive on non-lime-accumulating
soils. The important sugarbeet-producing countries are
Germany, Russia, France, Czechoslovakia and Poland in
Europe, and the United States of America. There is,
broadly speaking, a continuous sugar beet belt in Central
Europe, stretching from France across Belgium, Holland,
Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland to Rumania and the
Ukraine in South-Western Russia. The sugar beet area
of *Spain is also considerable. In the U. S. A., many states,
especially those in the north and west, cultivate this plant
in large numbers. Fairly large quantities are now being
produced in England also.

The 'roots' of the sugar beet mature much earlier — in

_ . from four to six months — than the stalks of the sugar-cane.

Preparation _f . .. .

of Beet I he beets are dug by machinery, and after cutting the

Sugar. leaves in order to leave aside the superfluous mineral matter,

they are carried to the factory, where these 'roots' are sliced
and soaked in warm water for extracting the juice. The
preparation of sugar from the beets then is much the same
as that of sugar from the sugar-cane. The pulp is used as
a food for stock.

Before the Great War of 1914-18 Germany was the
largest producer with about a third of the world's supply..

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 129

Now the U. S. S. R. is the leading producer of beet sugar World
with a little less than one-fourth of the world's total. But e m

the trade suffered a setback owing to the War, and has not Sugar.
yet recovered completely. Most of the countries now grow
sugar beet mainly for home consumption ; world trade in this
commodity is, therefore, comparatively much small.

The maple tree is of many varieties, many of which
yield a juice from which sugar is manufactured. Of these Of Maple
the sugar maple is the most important. In the eastern parts Sugar.
of Canada, the U. S. A., and the north-eastern states of the
Union of South Africa sugar is obtained from these trees.
The process is rather simple: the trees are tapped and the
juice collected, which then goes through the processes of
evaporation and crystallization for the extraction of sugar.
But the production of maple sugar has steadily decreased
owing to various causes ; it does not pay enough for encourag-
ing the producer to undertake vast scale production, because
of the cheaper price and far greater output of the other two Present
varieties of sugar, and maple sugar is extensively adulterated, position of
Moreover, the number of maple trees both in Canada and the maP'e
U. S. A. has also steadily decreased owing to extensive
cutting for lumber. It is now used almost exclusively as a
luxury rather than as food ; for its present-clay demand is
entirely due to its peculiar flavour.1 It has ceased to have
any commercial importance in the international market.

Other sources of sugar are the various species of the Other
palm tree, particularly in the tropical countries. The Indian
date palm, the Palmyra palm, the cocoanut palm, the toddy
palm, and the sago palm are exploited for sugar in India.2

1 Chamberlain, Geography, pp. 24&— 251.
* Chisholm/s Handbook, p. 201.

130

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

The

Sugar

Industry.

Brief
History.

Nevertheless the sugar-cane and the sugar beet are now the
two most important sources of sugar all over the world.

It would be both interesting and instructive to study the
viccissitudes through which the sugar industry has been
passing for a long time. Sugar, as we now know it, is said
to have been unknown in antiquity, and it was only about
the end of the fifteenth or beginning of the sixteenth century
that the process of refining sugar came to be invented in
Europe. And yet as late as the earlier part of the eighteenth
century it was a rarity there. With the rapid growth of
commercialism since the Industrial Revolution it began to
come more and more into prominence as an article of food,
and is now an indispensable necessary of life even to the
very poorest. Down to the last century sugar-cane was
practically the only source of sugar consumed in Europe. But
by the end of the eighteenth century a method of extracting
sugar from the beet was invented in Germany. Napoleon,
it is said, later began to encourage the production of beet
sugar with a view to break the British monopoly in cane
sugar from the British Dominions overseas. Thus the new
industry began to develop, and shortly after his downfall it
extended to various countries in Europe. Every year it
became a more powerful rival of cane sugar, and in 1913 the
world's total supply of sugar was obtained almost equally
from both the sources. Then came the World War of
1914-18, with the result that the production of beet sugar
in the belligerant countries as well as in the neighbourhood
dropped phenomenally, and cane sugar again came into promi-
nence. Even now cane sugar supplies about two-thirds of the
world's total requirement of sugar. After the War was over
beet sugar also began to recover, and at present a little more
than a third of the world's supply of sugar comes from beet.1

^hisholm's Handbook, pp. 197— 200.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 131

Both sugar-cane and sugar-beet have certain character- Cane Sugar
istic advantages each over the other. Sugar-cane is easy to £eet Sugar,
cultivate ; it is grown mainly in the tropical and sub-tropical
countries, where labour is very cheap; sugar-cane also is
naturally richer in sugar content. Beet, on the other
hand, is an exhausting crop, requiring a richer soil and a
plentiful supply of potash manures; it must be sown every
year and is restricted to regions where labour is by no

means so cheap as in the Tropics or thereabouts. But beet Advantages

... r 1 of Cane

has its advantages too : it is grown m areas of dense popula- Sugar.

tion, and hence, near local markets, whence the raw mate-
rials used in the refineries are easily and relatively cheaply
obtained, and where at the same time the finished product
can be readily sold without entailing enormous freight
charges for transportation. This density of population has
other advantages also ; a regular and abundant supply of
manures can be readily obtained ; capital can easily be raised Sugar,
and on a lower rate of interest ; machinery can be more
cheaply installed and readily repaired or replaced. The
methods of selection as employed now-a-days has also
successfully combated the natural disadvantage of less sugar
content in the beet ; under the scientific technique of selec-
tion, a given weight of sugar-beet has a greater amount of
sugar than the same weight of the sugar-cane. Further-
more, the refuse material and by-products of beet are of a
much higher value than those of the cane. The beet-pulp
is good fodder for animals as well as a useful manure for the
soil ; whereas the residual matter of the sugar-cane is used
mainly for fuel. Yet all these advantages are scarcely Government
enough for successful competition of beet with sugar-cane, production
and in the opinion of many experts there would hardly be "f Beet
any beet sugar production if it were not for an artificial
stimulus in the shape of bounties, protective tariffs and the

132 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

like.1 Many countries like France and Germany have
grown wiser after the last war, and feel that it is dangerous
to depend on foreign supply of this indispensable commo-
dity; moreover, the development of the beet sugar industry
at home would provide employment for many. So they
have taken to the way of encouraging and protecting their
beet sugar industries — to the detriment, of course, of the
virtual British monopoly of trade in cane sugar. The
present war is likely to act as a fillip to the beet sugar
industry of Europe.

Cocoa. — Cocoa is a product of the cacao tree, which is
of°Growth essentially an equatorial plant of the pod-bearing genus. It
is rather a small evergreen tree. The pods vary from six
inches to a foot in length, and instead of being attached to
the ends of twigs they grow directly from the stem or
larger branches. These pods vary in colour from green to
a dark purple. The seeds or beans lie embedded in a soft
white pulp within the pods in regular rows of often as many
as fifty, and are about the size of almonds. Cocoa is obtained
from these seeds or beans. The cacao tree is said to be a
native of South America, whence it has been transplanted to
other parts of the Equatorial Regions. It requires uniformly
high temperatures and an abundance of moisture; but, curi-
ously enough, exposure to the direct rays of the sun is
harmful to it, especially in the growing period, and hence
it is grown in the shade of taller trees. Like direct sunshine,
strong winds are also injurious, especially to the pods;
hence the Belt of Calms or Doldrums is the ideal situation.
Valleys well protected from dessicating winds, and clearings
in the dense Equatorial Rain Forests are good situations,
since in the latter case the surrounding forest acts as a
check to the inblowing winds. The tree develops a long

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 133

root, and hence requires a deep moist well-drained soil.
The cacao tree can stand no frost.

The pods are cut from the trees at harvest time, split
open on the ground, and the pulp is allowed to ferment and Preparation
ooze out ; the seeds are then dried in the sun, roasted, and °f Cocoa*
the husk removed ; then comes in the operation of removing
the fat or 'cocoa butter' from the seeds by applying pressure^.;
when as much fat has been pressed away as is deemed
essential, the seeds go through the process of grinding. Thus
at last we have the cocoa with which we are familiar. Another
well-known product is chocolate, which is made by retaining
some of the fat and adding sugar. The name chocolate, it
is quite interesting to learn, is a variation of 'Chocoltitl',
which was the name of a drink popular among the natives
of Mexico and South America. Before the War of 1914-18
the bulk of the world's supply of cocoa — about two-thirds of World
the total — used to come from Central and South America. Trade *n
Now the coveted position has shifted to the British West
African possessions, and the plantations in the Gold Coast
and Nigeria supply more than a half of the world's total.
In recent years the output has increased, and it may be
very near to two-thirds of the total.

Production of Cocoa1

1909-13

1921-25

1931-34

Countries Percentage

Ecuador . .

Gold Coast

43 Gold Coast

Brazil

Brazil . .

Gold Coast

Ecuador . .

Nigeria . .

St. Thome

Nigeria . .

Ivory Coast

Trinidad

Venezuela

Dominica

Trinidad

Venezuela

Dominica

Trinidad

Others . .

St. Thome

Ecuador . .

Others . .

TOTAL 100

1 Adapted from Stamp.

134

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Exporters

and

Importers.

Conditions
of Growth.

Preparation
of- Coffee.

The leading exporters now are the Gold Coast, Brazil,
Nigeria and the Ivory Coast, Dominica, Trinidad and the
West Indies and Central American states. The leading
importers are the U. S. A., Germany, the United Kingdom,
Holland, France, and other European countries.

^^Cofiee. — Coffee is a product essentially of the tropical
or sub-tropical lands. The coffee tree, said to be a native
of the Far East, is also an evergreen plant with shiny leaves.
Left to itself the tree will grow to be twenty-five or thirty
feet in height, but on the plantations they are usually kept
pruned down to a height of three to eight feet. It requires
a moderately high temperature and an abundant rainfall ;
but more important still is perhaps an equability of tempera-
ture, and protection from the direct rays of the sun. But
unlike the cacao tree it can stand mild frost. A fertile, well-
drained soil is also highly important, and clearings in forest
lands are said to be ideal because of their richness of vege-
table remains. The tree comes into full bearing in six years,
and continues to flower and bear fruit with almost undimi-
nished vigour till the thirty-fifth or forty-fifth year, after
which the soil becomes thoroughly exhausted and must be
abandoned. Many of the coffee plantations of forty or even
thirty years ago, having thus been abandoned, are now
practically indistinguishable from the rest of the forest.1
It is a peculiarity of the coffee tree to flower for several
months so that fruits and flowers are found on it at the
same time, and hence two or three gatherings a year are
needed. Coffee is obtained from the seeds or beans of the
tree. Commonly two beans, with their flat sides together,
are enclosed by the pulp, which, after the picking is over,

1 James Bryce, South America, p.
p. 180.

390. See also Chisholm's,

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 135

is removed by soaking the berries in water or by hulling.
The beans are then dried in the open air on floors of brick
or tile.

The bulk of the world's coffee comes from Central and
South America. In Brazil it is the leading crop ; in fact, the
only developed part of that enormous republic is the strip World
along the Atlantic coast from the mouth of the Amazon to Coffee
the region of Sao Paulo, which alone produces half the
world's total of coffee ; "this city, being its heart and centre,
has risen in sixty years from a small country town to be a
place of four hundred thousand inhabitants."1 Santos, which
is the natural outlet for the coffee of Sao Paulo has thus
been described: "In Santos coffee absolutely dominates the
lives of the people. Coffee is everywhere — on the streets,
in the warehouses, on the trains. Every one is busy with
coffee . . . "2 This enormous development of the coffee
industry has been put down, among other factors, to the
richness of the volcanic soils around Sao Paulo. Other
important coffee-producing states of South America are
Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and the Guianas. More than
three-fourths of the world's coffee comes from South
America. Costa Rica in Central America and the islands
of Jamaica produce high grade coffee. In Africa coffee has
not yet made much headway, though Kenya has made a
name for her excellent coffee. In Asia there were large
plantations in Ceylon and Southern India ; but most of these
have long been destroyed because of a virulent disease
attacking the coffee plants; at present there are small
plantations in those regions, and of these the plantations in

1Op. cit., p. 375.

2R. De, C. Ward, "Brazilian Country", National Geogra-
phic Magazine (of America), Vol. xxii, p. 9*31.

136

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Mysore are the most important. Java still has a fairly large
production to her credit — about 1/32 of the world's total.
On the seaward slopes of Southern Arabia the famous Mocha
Coffee is grown in small quantities.

Production of Coffee1

1909-13

1921-25

1931-34

Countries

Percentage

Countries

Percentage

Countries Percentage

Brazil

.. 66

Brazil

.. 69

Brazil

Colombia

.. 6

Colombia

.. 4

Colombia

Venezuela

.. 2

Venezuela

.. 2

Dutch East

Others .

.. 26

Dutch East

Indies . .

.. 2

Venezuela

Others . .

.. 23

Salvador

Guatemala

Others

Total 100

Total 100J

Total 100

Importers. The chief importers are the U. S. A., and the European

countries, the former easily leading the rest in its consump-
tion. Most of her supply is derived from the South American
states, particularly Brazil. France, Holland, Sweden and
Belgium are also great coffee-drinking countries, as the
annual consumption per head in these countries show.2 In
the United Kingdom tea is more popular than coffee.
Countries having colonies elsewhere generally import their
coffee from their dependencies; thus there is considerable

1 Adapted from Stamp.

* Consumption per head in Holland is 19 Ibs. annually, in Belgium
it is 13 Ibs., in Sweden 13, in the U. S. A., 12, in France 10, and in
the United Kingdom only 2l/2 Ibs. (See Chisholm's).

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 137

trade in this commodity between the Netherlands and the
Dutch East Indies. This also is another reason why tea
is a greater favourite in the U. K. than coffee.

.. — There is an interesting" progressive specializa- _

........ ,,r t , Conditions

lion in respect of the localization of cocoa, coffee and lea — the Of growth.

three chief beverages of the world. Cocoa, as we have al-
ready seen, is essentially an equatorial product, coffee a
tropical or sub-tropical plant, while tea can be grown both
in the Tropics and in Warm Temperate Regions. The
tea plant is said to be a native of south-east Asia,
having originated somewhere in the uplands of South
China, Indo-China, or India.1 It is sometimes classed
definitely with the sub-tropical plants.2 But climatically it
is said to belong "to low latitude areas where high tempera-
tures, long growing season, and heavy, well-distributed rain-
fall favour a rich, continuous, and rapid growth of new
tender shoots. Such conditions are found in southern India,
Ceylon, and the Dutch East Indies where there is no dormant
season for the tea bush and picking continues throughout
the entire year."a The fact seems to be that it is essentially
a sub-tropical plant, requiring abundant seasonal moisture
and an uniformity of relatively high temperature. These
conditions are found in areas just outside the Tropics and
governed by the Monsoon, i.e., in Assam, Indo-China and
South China. Moreover, it is one of the hardiest of the sub-
tropical plants, and can, therefore, be acclimatized in rela-
tively unfavourable climes. It has a far greater capacity to
stand frost than has the coffee plant ; even the severe frosts of

1 Case and Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 225.
'Chisholm's Handbok, p. 183.

8T. T. Glenn, "The Tea Crop", Journal of Geography
(American), vol. XXVIII, 1929, p. 1.

138 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

North China cannot kill it, though its yield is greatly
diminished thereby. The plant has, therefore, easily spread
out of its original home. But it would not grow in countries
where the summer is short and cool. The tea plant requires
a deep, fertile, well-drained soil, rich in humus. Virgin
forest soil with light, friable loam containing a good supply of
organic matter is ideal for it. The presence of iron in the
soil is believed to be beneficial, and curiously enough most
of the tea plantations are on soils remarkably poor in
lime content.1 Good drainage is essential, as stagnant water
spoils the roots and yet there must be abundant rainfall.
That is why hill slopes are always preferred for the cultiva-
tion of the tea plant. Left to itself the plant would some-
times attain a height of twenty-five feet, but in plantations
they are kept down to a height varying from three to six
feet by frequent pruning. It comes into full bearing in
about 25 years. It is, like the cacao and the coffee trees,
an evergreen.

Tea, the finished product we call by that name, is

not a seed or fruit' but is the clried leaf of the trec- The
trees are pruned in the spring, and shortly after that

operation young shoots appear; when these attain a certain
size they arc picked by hand. When the gathering is over,
the leaves are spread over mats or trays and turned at
short intervals so that they wither. The next operation is
to roast them, or, as the say in the garderns, to 'fire' them
in pans or 'kettles over charcoal fires. This causes the
leaves to soften, and then they are rolled on tables by
hand. Then they are given a second or even a third roast-
ing. But the Japanese and the Yankees consume much
green tea, which is merely dried over charcoal fires.

1 Chisholm's Handbook,, p. 184.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 139

The leading producers are China, Assam, Ceylon, World
Southern India, Java and Japan. Natal, Jamaica, Brazil ^de m
and California also grow some tea, but the output is quite

Q*o

^....Ce±".^

TK A -GROW ING COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD.

small. The huge production of the East is clue largely to
the cheapness as well as regular supplies of labour, and the
meagre output of the latter countries has been put down to
the shortage and consequent clearness of labour. China is
the biggest producer of tea, but the largest exporter is India;
Ceylon and the Dutch East Indies rank respectively second
and third in export. Japanese tea is mainly green tea, and is
grown chiefly for home consumption, although some of it
is exported to the U.S.A. There are several varieties of tea;
those grown in China are generally of rich flavour, but rather
weak ; many of these varieties now actually come from India.
About four-fifths of India's output is grown in north-eastern

140

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Export.

India — the Brahmaputra Valley in Assam and the Duars
region of Bengal ; the remainder is grown in the Nilgiris in
the southern part of Peninsular India. The development of
the tea industry in Ceylon is partly due to the destruction of
her once important coffee plantations. In recent years the
Dutch East Indies have become a serious rival of Ceylon both
in production and export.

Great Britain is the principal importer of tea, taking
nearly half the amount brought into the international market ;

Export of Tea1

1909-13

1921-25

1931-33

Countries Percentage

India

. 32

India . . .45

India

China

. 23

Ceylon .. .21

Ceylon

. 22

Dutch East

Indies .. .12

Indies

Indies . .

. 7 China .. .11

China

Others . .

. 16

Others .. .11

Others

Total 100

she also re-exports some to other countries. The chief
customer of India and Ceylon is, of course, Great Britain;
ether consumers are Russia, France, the U.S.A., Canada and
Australia. Russia takes nearly one-quarter of the tea ex-
ported from Asia. She is seriously endeavouring to find
out a variety that can be grown in her territories, and if the
attempt comes out successful Asia's export trade will receive
a great setback.

1 Adapted from Stamp.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 141

In South America is grown the mate tea, also known Mate Tea.
oS yerba or Paraguay tea. It grows wild in the forests of
Paraguay, and is now being cultivated in the plantations of
Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina. Actually it is
a species of the holly plant, and contains caffeine which is also
the stimulating agent found in tea and coffee. But it has not
yet entered into the international market; the trade is res-
tricted to the South American states.

Fruits and Wine. — Fruits which now have entered Classificatior
into the international market may be roughly classified into
the following four types:1

(a) Tropical and Sub-tropical fruits, represented by
bananas, pine-apples and dates ;

(b) Citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, grapefruits and
lime ;

(d) Deciduous fruits, such as apples, pears, almonds,
peaches, apricots, nectarines, figs, plums and cherries.

(a) Tropical and Sub-Tropical Fruits. — The banana Banana,
tree is a soft-stemmed plant with characteristically large
leaves, and attain a height of eight to twelve feet. It is a
tropical plant par excellence, and grows in humid climates.
It has several varieties, most of which are rather large plants,
though there is a dwarf variety which it is possible to cultivate
in the Temperate Zone.2 This dwarf variety is now largely
grown in the Canary Islands. Other varieties are grown in
the Tropics. High temperature, an abundant supply of
moisture, and a deep soil are essential for all the varieties.

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, pp. 70-75.
'Chisholm's Handbook, pp. 204-205.

142 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Where rainfall is not sufficient water must be supplied by
means of irrigation. The plant is annual, but the root per-
rennial. Bananas are grown almost everywhere in the
Tropics. But the chief centres of commercial production are
Central America (particularly, Costa Rica), Colombia, the
Canaries, the West Indies and the Hawaiian Islands. The
chief importers are the United States, the United Kingdom,
and some of the European countries. Great care is needed
to export the commodity overseas. The bunches are cut
when the fruits are about three-quarters ripe, and are stored
without delay in the specially constructed chambers of the
fruit vessel ; throughout the voyage they are kept at a constant
temperature of 52° F. ; even a slight rise or fall of the tempera-
ture by 2° is liable to render them wholly useless. Even
after reaching the port of destination they are readily de-
posited in specially prepared vehicles if the commodity is to
be sent any distance inland, and finally they are kept in
artificial ripening chambers after reaching the centres of
consumption.

Pineapple. The pineapple plant is said to be a native of America.

A moist, fertile, but light soil is essential for it ; it thrives
quite well on sanely soils as well on or near about seaboards.
A warm tropical or sub-tropical climate is, of course, needed.
It is a low-lying plant, very nearly stemless, and has long,
stiff, sharp-pointed, fleshy leaves with the pine in the middle.
From the point of view of international commerce it is far
less important than banana. Fresh friuts arc rare in the
overseas trade. California, Hawaii and Singapore are the
principal centres of export, and Europe is the principal
customer mainly of canned pineapple.

Dates. Dates, as is well-known, are the characteristic product

of the Hot Deserts. The date-palm has, however, been

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 143

introduced into California and the drier regions of Spain.
Iraq is the chief exporter, and Europe as always is the chief
importer. Some dates are exported from Tunis in North
Africa as well.

(b) Citrus Fruits — As has already been said, the

citrus fruits arc essentially a product of the Mediterranean
Regions ; but some of. these thrive well in Warm Temperate
and Tropical Regions also.

The orange is perhaps the typical of these fruits, Q
or, at any rate, the best known of them. The orange tree is
an evergreen with beautiful shiny leaves. Originally a
native of China it has spread out in the Mediterranean lands,
as well as in many of the Tropical and sub-tropical regions.
It was introduced in Europe by the Portuguese about the
middle of the sixteenth century. The bulk of North
America's production comes from California and Florida.
In South America the chief producers are Brazil and Tucu-
man (Argentina). The West Indies also have a fairly large
output to their credit. Mexico in Central America may also
be mentioned. In Europe the leading producers are Spain
and Italy, with which Malta, Sicily and Portugal may also
be mentioned. South Africa and Australia have also recently
come into the line. In Asia, Iran, Palestine, India — and, of
course, China are the leading producers. The oranges of
Nagpur and the Khasi Hills have great reputation abroad.
Those of Malta and the West Indies as well as of Tucuman
are also well-known for their quality. Until recently Spain
and Italy together with Palestine held a sort of monopoly
in the orange trade. Now the United States leads the over-
seas trade with Brazil as the second largest exporter. But
oranges can now be had at all seasons, mainly because of the
production in the Southern Hemisphere.

144

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Lemons.

Grape-
fruit.

Lime.

JJrape.

Raisins

and

Muscatels.

Lemons are grown in all the continents, but the
production is largest naturally in the Mediterranean Regions.
Europe derives her supply mainly from Sicily. Grapefruit,
hitherto restricted to the Mediterranean lands of Europe,
is now cultivated in Florida, California, South Africa and
Palestine. Limes require a slightly warmer climate, and are
now largely grown in the West Indies.

(c) Grapes and Wine. — The grape vine is said to be
a native of the region to the south of the Caspian Sea where
"in the woods the vine, thick as a man's arm, still climbs
into the loftiest trees, hanging in wreaths from summit to
summit."1 From this area, once luxuriant in plants and
creepers, it seems to have spread naturally as far west as
the Carpathians on the one hand and as far east as Afghanis-
tan on the other. But though the European settlers intro-
duced the European species into America, the vine was no
novelty there; for certain species of the vine plant are said
to be indigenous in the New World. It requires a good
supply of rain but no excess of moisture, a well-drained or
dry land, and a warm spell of dry summer for the ripening
of the fruit. But though eminently suited to the Mediterra-
nean type of Climate, its cultivation has spread to regions
having warm dry summers but not exactly a Mediterranean
Climate. Thus the vine is extensively cultivated in France
far to the north of the Mediterranean lands of Europe, in
the Rhine Valley in Germany and as far as the Carpathians
in Central Europe. This has been possible mainly because
the grape has developed, or, has been made to develop,
several varieties. Raisins are a variety of partially dried
grapes ; so are also muscatels. These commodities are very
important articles of international trade, and the chief produ-

1 Hehn, Wanderings of Plants and Animals, p. 73.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 145

cers are Spain, California and Asia Minor; the Mediterra-
nean regions of South Africa and Australia have also entered
the market recently. Sultanas are also a kind of seedless Sultanas,
dried grape, produced in large quantities in Turkey and the
^Egean Islands ; these form one of the chief exports of the
port of Smyrna or Ismir. Currants are another variety of Currants,
seedless dried grape produced mainly in the Levant ; formerly
the export of this commodity was practically a Greek
monopoly.

Wine is actually fermented grape juice. It, too, has Wine,
many varieties. For the preparation of the so-called 'sweet
wines' the grapes are collected when about three-quarters
ripe, and the sugar is allowed to ferment only partially. For
the preparation of the 'dry wines' the whole of the sugar
content is made to ferment. There are various processes of
wine manufacture, — each more or less a commercial secret ;
moreover, the character of wine is said to differ markedly
owing even to slight differences of soil and climate. That is
why the various types of wine show unmistakable local prc- P°rt»
ferences. Thus the manufacture of Port is localised in the Champag ' '

upper Douro Valley in Portugal ; Sherry in the Jarez region Burgundy,
of Spain ; Champagne in the dry chalk hills of the Champagne Moselles,
'district in France; Burgundy comes from the slopes of the
Cote d'Or, France; Claret from the Bordeaux region in
France ; the Moselles are localised in the Moselle Valley ; the White
White Hocks in the Rhine Valley ; Chianti is an Italian wine ; Chianti.
and so on. France is the largest producer of wine in the
world, and yet she has to import large quantities from abroad,
particularly from North Africa. This is mainly due to the
great demand of French wines in other countries. Italy is
the second largest producer, but Italian wines are said to be Consumers,
'sharp*. Spain and Portugal rank third and fourth respec-
tively in production, and the Spanish Sherry and the Portu-

146 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

gese Port are said to be of the very best quality. Wine has
aptly been called 'the national drink' of France, Spain,
Portugal, Switzerland and Italy, as well as of Latin
America.1

(d) Deciduous Fruits. — These are the fruits of the
Olive. deciduous trees, and include figs, apricots, peaches, necta-

rines, almonds, olives, etc. Of these olive is an evergreen.
It is said to be a native of Asia Minor, and is 'practically res-
tricted to the Mediterranean lands. It is valued both as a
fruit and for obtaining olive oil. The chief olive-producing
countries are Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Tunis. Olive-
oil, besides being used in cooking, lighting and medicine, is
used in the manufacture of soaps. Italy, Greece, Tunis and
Nut Algeria are the chief exporters. Nuts are exported from

the wetter parts of Mediterranean lands as well as from
Brazil. Fruits of all sorts are coming more and more into
the international market.

Oil-seeds and Vegetable Oils. — Vegetable oils have
s' many uses; for human consumption margarine or artificial

butter is made from them; they are required in the manu-
facture of soaps, candles and various other toilet prepara-
tions. Of these olive oil is perhaps the most important. In
Olive oil *^e countries °f Southern Europe it is extensively used as a
substitute for butter and animal fat. Where, again, olive oil
is difficult or more expensive to obtain ground-nut oil is used

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 74. It may be interesting
to compare the wine-drinking countries with the beer-drinking
countries. To the latter group belong Germany, United Kingdom with
Ireland, Netherlands and Belgium. Roughly speaking, wine is popular
among the Latin races, and beer among the Teutonic races. Brandy
and whisky are also popular in Great Britain.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 147

as a substitute of that substitute. This is especially the case

in the drier regions of China, India and West Africa, where

various grouncl-mits are largely grown. These nuts thrive

well on sandy soils with scanty rainfall, unsuitable for any Ground-nut

other crop of commercial value. The oil-palm, which grows

in the Equatorial Regions and their neighbourhood, yield

an abundant supply of palm oil. It is extensively used in the paim Oil.

VEGETABLE OILS.

manufacture of soap and candle, as well as of artificial
butter. It is cultivated in Malaya, Sumatra, and Equatorial
Africa. Nigeria is the leading exporter. The coconut
palm is a tropical plant, thriving well on a sandy soil, parti- Coconut
cularly in maritime regions. From it is obtained coconut
oil and copra. Both the products are commercially very
important. Besides, the fibre is used in making mattresses.
The principal exporters are the Dutch East Indies, Malaya,

148

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Soya bean
oil.

Other oil
and seeds.

Pepper,
Ginger,
Cinnamon,
Cloves,
Chewing-
gum.

Conditions
of growth.

Philippines, Pacific Islands, Ceylon and India. The chief
importers are the U. S. A., the U. K., the U, S. S. R.,
Germany and France. The soya bean, which is almost a
Manchurian novelty, is also an important source of vege-
table oil. Manchuria is practically the sole exporter, and
the U. S. A., and Japan are the chief importers. It is widely
believed now that Germany has recently obtained large
supplies of soya bean through the U. S. S. R. both for food
and for extracting its valuable oil. The U. S. A., has also
been trying to produce it at home for some time. Of vari-
ous other vegetable oils those obtained from rape-seed, sesa-
mum, linseed and cotton-seed may be mentioned here.
India at present holds a sort of monopoly in rape-seed oil;
sesamum oil is exported chiefly from India and China. Lin-
seed comes from Argentina and India; it is obtained from
the flax plant, but in Northern Europe the plant is grown
mainly for the fibre, not so much for the seed or oil. Cotton
seed and its oil is obtained from the great cotton-growing
countries like the U. S. A., Egypt, India, China and the
U. S. S. R.

Spices. — Most of the spices are equatorial and tropical
products. Pepper is shipped to Europe mainly from Malaya
and the East Indies ; ginger from south-eastern Asia includ-
ing China, as well as from Jamaica ; cinnamon from Ceylon ;
cloves from Zanzibar; vanilla from Java, Madagascar and
Reunion; chewing-gum from Mexico.

** Tobacco. — The tobacco plant is a native of tropical
America; but it has a very wide range; it flourishes at the
Equator, within the Tropics and even at the fringes of the
Temperate Zones. And yet the plant is very sensitive to
frost. It requires a light soil rich in humus, lime and
potash, and is an extremely exhausting plant. It exhausts

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 149

the fertility of the soil in three or four years, and formerly
plantations had to be abandoned frequently for new areas;
now-a-days the use of fertilizers has appreciably minimized
this drawback. Tobacco is prepared from the leaves of the
plant. The leading producers are the U. S. A., India, Production.
China, the U. S. S. R., and Japan ; while Philippines, Dutch
East Indies, Brazil and most of the European countries
as well as certain African states produce quite large quan-
tities ; it is grown also in Canada, Scotland, and the Baltic
states. Majority of the countries grow it mainly for home Trade,
consumption, and yet large quantities come into the inter-
national market. The chief exporters are the U. S. A.,
Cuba, the Dutch East Indies, Brazil, Greece, Bulgaria and
Turkey. The chief importers are the United Kingdom,
France and Germany.

III. Foodstuffs of Animal Origin

Meat. — We Indians do not quite realize the import-
ance of meat as a food, and yet in most parts of the world
it is actually an important — and often an indispensable — pork,
article for human consumption. Of the meats thus used beef,
mutton and pork are of chief importance, although the flesh
of many other animals is also utilized in greater or lesser
extent. It is, however, of little use here to take into account
the number and distribution of cattle, sheep and pigs as that
is no sure indication of meat production. In India, \for
instance, cattle are kept in large numbers, not for meat, but
mainly for ploughing, dairing and draught purposes. In
many other countries they are kept not at all for draught Beef,
purposes, but for meat and the dairy products- 'Beef
cattle', requiring much less attention and care than their
more aristocratic and lucky brethren, the 'dairy cattle', are

150

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

concentrated in the great Mid-latitude Grasslands of the
world. In the drier western parts of Central Plain of North
America, too dry for crops, there are enormous cattle

N. America.

S. America.

THE MEAT-PRODUCING COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD

ranches; thence the cattle are sent tojthe Corn Belt where
they are fattened on maize before being sent to the slaughter-
ing houses of Chicago. Here the meat is packed for the
market. Though one of the biggest of the meat producers,
the U. S. A. does not export much beef or any other meat.
Another big beef -producing area is in South America; it is
the River Plate region comprising much of Argentina,
Uruguay, Paraguay and a small area of Brazil. Cattle is
also reared in Chile. But the Plate region, particularly
Argentina, is the largest beef-exporting area in the world.
But in both the Americas the steady extension of agriculture,
mainly of wheat, has been restricting the cattle ranches. The

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 151

chief importers are the countries of north-western Europe, N w
particularly the United Kingdom, because local supplies Europe,
there are not sufficient.

As there are 'beef-cattle' and 'dairy cattle' so also sheep
are either 'mutton sheep', or 'wool sheep' or even 'milk sheep*. Mutton.
Sheep can subsist on pasturage too small for cattle ; hence they
are the most widespread of all the animals raised in the
semi -arid regions of the world. The greatest concen-
trations of sheep are in New Zealand, South-eastern Australia Of sheep.
including Tasmania, South Africa, South-eastern Europe and
Italy, Great Britain, and Argentina. The United States
and Russia, as well as Spain, France, Central Europe,
Northern Africa, East Africa, India, Central Asia, though
they contain large numbers of sheep, are relatively un-
important in number per square mile. In the international
market New Zealand easily ranks as the chief exporter ; the Trade.
South American states like Argentina, Uruguay and Chile
together rank second, and Australia comes third. By far the
greatest importer is Great Britain, although mutton sheep
are said to be best raised there.

Swine do not require the range that is essential for p ^ ,
cattle and sheep, and are, therefore, easily raised in large
numbers in densely populated areas. In Europe they are
often fed on nuts, acorns, sugar-beet residue, etc. ; in America
corn or maize and alfalfa are their chief food. Swine are
omnivorous. The chief hog-raising countries are China, the
U. S. A., North-Western and Central Europe, Brazil and
Argentina. The meat is exported in various forms, parti-
cularly as bacon and ham. The largest exporters of bacon "V
are Denmark, Canada, Poland and Ireland. As usual Great Trade.
Britain is the principal importer. The U. S. A. exports a
large amount of lard (melted pig-fat) to Britain.

152

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Milk.

Buttfcr.

Cheese.

Poultry.
Eggs.

Sources.

Dairy Produce. — Milk, butter and cheese are the
three principal dairy products. Milk is obtained from vari-
ous animals like goats, sheep, buffaloes, camels, reindeer and
asses, besides the cow; but that of the cow is by far the
most important. There is no international trade in fresh
milk, and even in inland trade the centres of supply are
in close proximity to the areas of consumption. The possi-
bilities of cold storage have, however, recently made it
possible to carry on international trade in fresh milk within
limited areas, and some quantities are now coming to Britain*
from the European continent. Another method is to trade
in spray-dried milk, which is said to be exactly like fresh
milk when prepared at home for consumption. The best
known method is, however, to export condensed milk.

Butter is kept fresh much more easily, and the inter-
national trade in it is consequently much more extensive.
The chief exporters of butter are Denmark, New Zealand
and Australia. The principal importer is Britain.

Cheese, which has many varieties, is also easy of export.
The leading exporters are New Zealand, Holland, Canada
and Italy; the principal importers are the British Isles and
the states of north-eastern Europe.

Poultry. — The poultry trade is not of much inter-
national importance yet; but the trade in eggs has a larger
field. China is the largest exporter. Denmark and Ireland
also export large numbers of fresh eggs. Over long dis-
tances eggs are sometimes sent in an extracted condition.

* Fish. — The two sources of fish are (a) fresh water,
and (b) the sea. Fresh-water fish is found in rivers,
lakes and artificial water like ponds. They are important
only for local consumption and inland trade over compara-
tively small distances. Sea-fish only are important in inter-

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 153

national commerce. It is very interesting to note that all
the major fishing grounds are located in the Temperate Location.
Zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Why is this so?
The tropical waters are by no means devoid of fish; on the
contrary the tropical fish are noted for their variety and
beauty. But they are mostly unpalatable and softer, and
they are said to spoil much more easily than do those found
in middle and higher latitudes. Moreover, there are
varieties of tropical fish that are said to be more or less
poisonous. In the temperate waters there are fewer
varieties, but most of them are said to be edible and Temperate
wholesome. That the major fishing grounds are in the *
Northern Hemisphere is explained by the fact that the land
masses here are far greater than those of the Southern
Hemisphere. It is important to note that the fishing shallow
grounds are within a few hundred miles from the coasts, waters are
They lie partly on the shore-belt of shallow waters covering fishjng.
the continental shelf or submerged continental platforms; grounds,
others are located in the elevated parts of the sea floor some
distance from the shore, as the famous Dogger Bank in the
North Sea. Fish live upon the plant life and tiny insects of
the sea. The plant life of the sea is distributed mainly in
(a) shallow coastal waters, and (6) the surface waters.
Rooted plants are almost entirely restricted to the shallow
coastal waters, as sunlight does not penetrate to great

depths in the sea. The plants which float on surface waters ^

- . ,,i r Reasons

are of microscopic types ; these have the power to transform therefor.

the salt of the sea and the air into organic substances by the
help of sunlight. Upon these live myriads of minute sea
animals and fish spawn, and the whole forms a sort of
reservoir of fish food.'1 Moreover, in the shallow waters are

1Rodwell Jones, "Tlhie British Fisheries", Economic Geography,
Vol. II, p. 71.

154

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Reasons
for loca-
tion in
N. Tempe-
rate Zone.

Major

Fishing

grounds.

deposited the waste of the land by the rivers, and these also
supply abundant fish food. Again, the shallow waters are
excellent spawning grounds for fish. No plant life has yet
been found in the abyssal deeps ; yet they are by no means
devoid of animal life, and certain creatures caught in the net
from those great depths are certainly fish. But they are by
no means edible. Used to the enormous pressure of the
ocean waters many of them explode as soon as brought to
surface waters or the land. The location of the major
fisheries in the North Temperate Zone has also been ascribed
to economic and commercial factors ; they are found along
the coasts of densely populated regions where there is great
demand for the commodity and hence ready markets are
available. Moreover, it is less difficult to preserve fish in
the temperate lands than in warmer countries. The major
fishing grounds of the world are :J

(1) The* North Pacific Coast of Canada and the
U. S. A. The principal catch are salmon, cod, halibut and
herring. The salmon comes up the river mouths and creeks
during the spawning season, and large numbers are then
easily caught in Alaska, British Columbia and the adjacent
areas of the United States. Despite the enormous number
of fish in the sea, long-continued and destructive methods of
fishing have considerably reduced the numbers, especially
of those that come up the rivers to spawn. The U. S. A.
government has, therefore, established departments for the
scientific study of the fishing industry and to encourage
breeding.

(2) The North Atlantic Coast of Labrador and New-
foundland, including the Great Banks, Canada and the New

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, pp. 81-83.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIM.

England states of the U. S. A. The principal catch .
haddock and herring; there are also large fisheries along
coast (in-shore) for lobsters and shell-fish. This is topo-

THE MAJOR FISHING GROUNDS OF THE WORLD.

graphically an ideal fishing ground, based, as it is, on a
splendid combination of rivers, bays and shallow off-shore
banks.

(3) The Coasts of North- Western Europe, which ex-
tend from the North Cape along the North Sea and round
the British Isles to the northern parts of Africa. The
fisheries round Iceland may also be included into this area.
It is in all probability the largest fishing ground in the world.

(4) The Coasts of Japan, where the principal catch are
herring, haddock and sardine, as well as several other species
of fish not to be found elsewhere.

.<IIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

U. K.

Norway.

U. S. A.

•Canada.

Export and

import

between

N. W.

Europe

and South

Europe.

ciiese the fisheries of Japan easily rank first in the
.oer and value of catch per year ; this industry in Japan
employment to nearly 1% million people. But the
Japanese fishing products are mainly for home consumption ;
export trade is, therefore, small and relatively unimportant.
The United Kingdom is sometimes given the second place as
regards her annual catch, though the place is contested for
by the United States with Alaska. The fisheries of the
United Kingdom are said to employ above eighty thousand
men, and it has been estimated that the whole fishing industry
gives actual employment to about double the number all
told.1 She is one of the biggest exporters of fish, especially
of herring. Norway is another great fishing country,
employing about a hundred thousand men for at least a part
of each year.2 She is a great exporter, too. The importance
of the fishing industry to the U. S. A. may easily be
appreciated from the following quotation : "So thoroughly
did the colonists recognize the importance of the fishing
industry that the legislature of Massachusetts hung in the
hall of representatives of their state capital a wooden
representation of a codfish; moreover, they hung it where
the eyes of the Speaker could always see it, so that he might
keep in mind the most important interest of the people of
the community/'3 The U. S. A. with Alaska and Canada
with Newfoundland are also great exporters of canned fish.
Canned salmon is said to represent more than half the value
of the total output of canned fish. By far the greatest fish-
exporting region in the world is, however, North- Western
Europe, and the greatest importer is Southern Europe,
especially of dried fish. In exchange for the fish from

1Chisholm's Handbook, p. 235.

2 Case and Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 533.

8 Moore, Industrial History of the American People, p, 33.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 157

N. W. Europe wines, citrus fruits, olive oil and other
Mediterranean products are supplied by Southern Europe.
Spain, France, Germany, Russia, East Indies, Australia and Other
other places are also fishing countries ; but in these countries °un nes*
the industry is of much less importance. In the export trade
dried and cured cod and herrings are of foremost importance.

Apart from fish the fishing of oysters is a very important
industry. In this North America leads, with France follow- Oysters,
ing immediately behind. They are obtained from both
natural and cultivated beds. But China has been cultivating
oysters for thousands of years.

IV. THE RAW MATERIALS OF THE
TEXTILE INDUSTRIES

Cotton. — Logically speaking, the clothing of man comes
immediately after food, although in actuality both are Origin,
co-eval. Of the various raw materials used in clothing
man cotton is by far the most important.1 It is a
fibre obtained from the seed of a plant of the pod-bearing
genus or order. When the pod or boll ripens it bursts open,
revealing the fibres or hairs which encompass the seeds

1 The relative importance of each of the clothing materials
(excepting skins etc.) may be realized from the following table which
shows the production in thousands of metric tons for the year 1937-38 :

Cotton

8,800

Wool

1,670

Jute

1,575

Flax

770

Artificial

Silk

510

Hemp

410

Silk

200

From Stamp's A Commercial Geography, p. 83.

158

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Conditions
of Growth.

therein. Raw cotton is obtained by 'ginning' i.e., by separat-
ing the hairs from the seeds. How early man discovered the
use of cotton it is difficult to say; it was mentioned by
Herodotus as early as the fifth century before Christ, and
there are unmistakable references to its use in India at least
as early as 800 B.C. It might have been a native of India.
The cotton plant has a remarkable climatic range. A rich,
light, well-drained salty soil capable of retaining moisture is
ideal for it ; but it thrives surprisingly well on moderately
poor soil also. Plenty of moisture is essential during the
growing season, and a hot, moist, but not saturated atmos-
phere until the buds appear ; this must be followed by a dry
sunny season till the pods are fully ripe. When the pods
burst open rain is harmful to the seed fibres. Sea breezes
are extremely wholesome to the cotton plant. It is basically
a dry-zone plant that tolerates moisture in the soil but not
in the atmosphere. It does not flourish in areas having a
rainfall of over 40 inches a year. But in many places water is
to be supplied to its soil by irrigation as in Egypt, Peru, the
U. S. A., and parts of India. Most of the Indian cotton is,
however, grown in areas having a rainfall between 20" and
40". It can never grow in Equatorial Regions. Stamp
locates the potential cotton lands of the world between 43 °N
and 30° S. It is grown as an annual in most places.

Raw cotton has several varieties; fibres vary from
Varieties y2 inch to 2j4 inches. It is, however, difficult to differentiate
these as short-stapled and long-stapled, because there is no
uniformity of measurement; in India and America any
variety that is % inch in length or more is called 'long-
stapled' ; whereas in Egypt all are short-stapled that are not
above 1% inches.

Production. The important cotton-producing countries are the

U. S. A., India, China, the U. S. S. R. and Egypt;

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 159

lesser producers are many — Mexico, Colombia, Brazil,
Peru, Argentina, Sudan, Nigeria, Uganda, Congo, Rhodesia,
Union of S. Africa, Tanganyika, Queensland (Australia)
<tc. This is not at all surprising because it is so im-

TT s

THE COTTON LANDS OF THE WORLD.

portant a necessary of mankind. The United States is,
however, by far the greatest producer of cotton, with about
half the world's toal output. Nearly all its cotton is grown
in the great and famous Cotton Belt of the south-east.
India ranks second in order of production; the bulk of her
output is from the Deccan lavas region, that fertile tract of India.
volcanic black earths, and the adjoining territories; another
'cotton belt' of India extends roughly from the western half
of the so-called U. P. to the Punjab; this is seen on the
map to touch the cotton fields of Central India on the left
flank, and may be regarded as continuous with the great
fields of the Deccan lavas region. The cotton fields of the

160

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Egypt

and

Sudan.

Grades
of cotton.

Deccan stretch right up to the southernmost seaboard in al-
most a continuous line through the heart of Peninsular India.
There are lesser fields in various other places like Cutch,
Sindh, Rajputana and the so-called Northern Circars region
of the Madras Presidency, and still lesser fields in Bihar and
the south-eastern borders of Bengal adjoining the Lushai hills
region of Assam. But Indian cotton is of poor quality —
coarse and short-stapled. Egyptian and Sudanese cotton is
the best, but the output in the narrow Nile Valley and the
relatively undeveloped Sudan is small.

Raw cotton is usually classified into the following four
grades1 :

Grade If distinguished by staples above 1^ inches long"
and a very fine silky texture. This is the famous 'Sea Island
Cotton' grown in the West Indies. It is pre-eminently a
long-stapled cotton. Attempts are now being made to intro-
duce this variety in the mainland of North America, parti-
cularly in Georgia and Florida. This variety is grown on
lowlands. The seeds of this cotton were originally brought
from Egypt, and the best varieties of Egyptian cotton as well
as those of the Sudan and Arizona belong to this group.

Grade II, with staples above \Y% inches. This is some-
times (as in the U. S. A.) styled long-stapled, but should
better be described as medium-stapled, The bulk of the
Egyptian, Peruvian, North Brazilian and East African
(Uganda and Tanganyika) cotton belong to this group. It
is wrong to style it precisely as 'Upland cotton/ as some
writers are inclined to do. If, however, such an indefinite
name is at all to be used in this connection, one must look

lFrom Stamp,

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 161

upon this type as well as that belonging to grade III as a
variety of the 'Upland Cotton'.

Grade III, with staples varying from % inch to 1>£
inches. To this group belong the bulk of the world's total
output of cotton, including most of the cotton grown in the
U. S. A., Brazil (especially in the Sao Paulo region),
Argentina, the U. S. S. R., and part of the Chinese and
African crops as well as a third of India's output. These are
decidedly short-stapled, but there are varieties even shorter
than these. In the U. S. A. these varieties are also known
as 'Upland Cotton'.

Grade IV, below % inch, to which belong the bulk of
the Chinese and other Eastern and Near Eastern crops, as
well as the remainder of American and Indian cotton. These
are certainly short-stapled, and commonly of poor quality.

Export of Cotton1

1909-13

1921-25

1931-33

Countries Percentage
U. S. A. . . 52

Countries Percentage
U. S. A. .. 55

Countries Percentage ___ « «
U. S. A. 61 World

India

. 11

India

.. 20

India

IS Trade

Egypt
Others

. 8
. 29

Egypt
Others

.. 10
.. 15

Egypt
Peru

9
2

China

Others

Total

100

Total 100

Total

100

More than half the world's total output of raw cotton
enters into the international market. The. trade is mainly

1 Adapted from Stamp.
11

162 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

between the tropical and warm temperate countries which
grow it and the manufacturing countries of Europe, America
(U.S.A.) and Japan. The U. S. A. grows much more
cotton than is required for its own manufacture, and the
principal part of the export of raw cotton goes to Britain.
But there has been an increasing tendency for some decades
in the U. S. A. to use its own cotton for expanding its own
manufacturing business. This augurs ill for the British
manufacturing industry, and steps are being taken to ensure
a far larger output within the Empire. This is the root
cause of the extension of cotton-growing in the Sudan,
Uganda, Tanganyika, Nigeria, Rhodesia and Australia. Still
the British Empire is far from being self-supporting in the
production of raw cotton. India has an output far larger
than she can at present manufacture, although it is far from
being true that her output is greater than she would need
if her manufacturing capacity were equal to her actual
requirements. Moreover, as pointed out by Mahatma
Gandhi, cotton growing in India has hitherto been dictated
entirely by capitalistic interests. Since we are yet a long way
of! from establishing manufacturing centres sufficient for our
actual requirements of piece goods, cotton growing should
be de-centralized i.e., should be spread all over the country
instead of concentrating it in a few specified areas. This is
especially a condition precedent to the revival of the dying
and dead home industries in cotton piece goods. Russia
has been fast expanding her cotton-growing industry so as
to become throughly self-sufficient in the matter. China does
not export her raw cotton.

Wool. — Wool is of animal origin, obtained mainly from

Production, sheep. The animals reared in a cool dry climate give the

best wool ; but the climate must not be too severe in winter.

That is why the largest wool-producing regions are in the

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 163

Temperate Grasslands of the Southern Hemisphere; for the
Temperate Zone Grasslands of the Northern Hemisphere
suffer from too severe a cold in the winter because of the
greater extent of the land masses there. Sheep kept in moist
regions are very liable to suffer from certain diseases. This
can, however, be prevented by providing suitable drainage
conditions. The yield, as is only natural, varies from one
type of sheep to another. There are also several grades of
wool, varying chiefly according to the age of the animals.
Thus the wool obtained from lambs seven months old are the

The leading wool producers are New Zealand, Australia, Output
South Africa, the Black Sea region of Europe, United King-
dom and Argentina, Uruguay and Chile ; the U. S. A. , Spain,

The Wool-producing countries.

France, Northern Africa/ Asia Minor, Russia, India and
China are lesser producers of various grades. The grasslands

164 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

of the Southern Hemisphere together contribute nearly two-
thirds of the world's output; in this Australia ranks first,
with New Zealand and Argentina closely following as second
and third respectively; South Africa comes to occupy the
fourth place, and the contribution of Uruguay is by no
means quite small. There are large numbers of sheep in
the United Kingdom and Ireland, and the production of wool
is not inconsiderable, although the British Isles are rather
damp and the production of mutton is nearly as important
there as that of wool. This is due to two reasons : many of
the wool sheep are reared there in areas of comparative
aridity, and where rainfall is abundant good drainage is not
rare. Russia's output of wool is quite large, but it is used
almost entirely for home consumption. The U. .S. A.,
though possessing a large number of sheep, is behind Russia
both in the number of sheep and in wool production. India
and China possess numerous sheep, but the wools are poorer
in quality and are used mainly for the manufacture of
carpets.

Other Other animals providing man with wool are goats,

camels, the alpaca, the llama and the vicuna. Mohair is
goat's hair, supplied largely from South Africa and Turkey.
Another species of goats, ranging over the mountainous
regions of the Himalayas, Tibet and Southern China, pro-
vide a fleece known as the Cashmere wool ; it is of very fine
quality. Alpaca, a type of wool obtained from the animal
of that name, is a nice shiny type of wool, supplied from the
Andes region of S. America. So are also the wools gathered
from the llama and the vicuna. The vicuna wool is said
to be the finest of all textile materials.

Silk. — The silkworm is not really a full-grown worm,
but the caterpillar stage of several types of moths. It feeds

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 165

upon the leaves of the mulberry tree, though sometimes other Conditions oil
i i ^u r *i i 1 Production,

leaves, such as those of the oak and osage-orange, are spar-
ingly used. When nearing the chrysalis stage the caterpillar
sends out some soft material from the two minute apertures
in its head, and this material hardens after coming in contact
with air. The caterpillar then lies in a torpid state com-
pletely enveloped in the cocoon thus made. It is then that the
cocoon is to be picked up and the poor worm destroyed by
being dipped into warm water, and the silk obtained from
the cocoon ; otherwise it would on waking up cut through the
cocoon as the imago or butterfly. The silk moth seems to be
a tropical or sub-tropical insect. The average cocoon is
about an inch long and contains from 300 to 500 yards of
silk thread.

Sericulture was first practised in China probably four Production
thousand years ago, and as a producer of silk that country *?d
still ranks highest with nearly 2y2 times as much silk as the
rest of the world put together. But as an exporter her
share is relatively small. Japan is the leading exporter ; silk
is her most valuable export, and sericulture is second only to
rice culture among her industries ; of all the silk of commerce
Japan alone contributes four-fifths or a little more. Other
important silk-producing countries are India, French Indo-
China, Korea, Syria, Turkey, Italy and France. Much
smaller quantities are produced in Turkistan, Spain, South-
Central Europe and the U. S. A. Italy also has a fair share
in the export trade. The principal importers are the U.S.A.,
France, Italy and Switzerland. The U. S. A. now manu-
factures more silk than does any other country, but also
imports large numbers of silk goods from the important
manufacturing countries, particularly from France.

Artificial Silk. — In recent years rayon or artificial silk Source,
has become much more important than raw silk. It is pro-

166

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Production, duced from cellulos — wood pulp, sawdust, cotton waste etc.
Even in this Japan leads with the U. S. A. as a close second,
while England, Germany and Italy contest for the third
place.

Production of Artificial Silk1

1924-25

1934-35

Countries Percentage

Countries

U. S. A.

Gr. Britain

Italy

Germany

Gr. Britain

Italy

Germany

France

Japan

Belgium

France

Others

Netherlands

Belgium

Others

Percentage
29
13
12
11
10-75

1-25
12

Total 100

Artificial silk was virtually unknown before the World War of
1914-18. In 1924-25 the total production was 150 million Ibs only,
whereas in 1934-35 it rose to be 1,000 million Ibs. In 1937 Japan
surpassed even the U. S. A. in the production of artificial silk.

Flax. — The flax plant seems to have originated in the
region lying between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf,
and its importance as a source of clothing material was
known to the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Chaldeans and
Phoenicians. The plant has now been made to spread out
to other regions because of its importance, and has, there-
fore, a wide range. It is a simple little plant attaining a

1 Adapted from Stamp.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 167

height of about 2 feet only. But it is a very exhausting plant Conditions
for all that, requiring a clean, well-drained heavy soil and of Growth,
successive crops of flax cannot profitably be grown on the
same field. The plant is an annual, and in many places the
same fields are planted only once in eight or ten years.
Though the plant is grown in the Tropics, it is best cultivated
in the cooler parts of the Temperate Zone. In the Tropics
it is grown mainly for seed, in the cool Temperate Lands
almost exclusively for its fibres. When the seed is in the
dough and the leaves are just beginning to turn yellow, the
plants are pulled up by the roots. The fibres are found in
bundles around a central, woody core, and the outside of the
plant has a soft cellular sheath.

By far the greatest flax-growing region of the world is Production,
in the plains of Northern Europe, forming almost a continu-
ous 'belt' from Northern France through Belgium, Germany
and the Baltic Slates to Russia. Russia, with the Baltic
States, produces about four-fifths of the world's total flax.
But Belgium grows the best fibre. Lesser producers are
Northern Ireland, Northern Italy, Japan and Canada.

Jute. — Jute is the cheapest of all fibres, and ranks third Use.
so far as fibre production of all sorts is concerned ; it is a
close competitor of wool, but both wool and jute fall far
behind cotton is this respect. Jute is used not so much for
clothing as for the manufacture of cord, twine, canvas and
wrappings. The jute plant is essentially a tropical fibre
crop ; but it is restricted almost entirely to the Lower
Gangetic plain of India. It requires a rich alluvial soil,
high temperature and heavy rainfall. The plant, like flax,
is an annual. An well-drained soil is ideal for its cultivation,
but the plant thrives well in muddy swamps, too. The
quality of the fibre and the yield per acre depend in large

168

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

measure upon the preparation of the soil ; the ground should
be ploughed about four times and all weeds removed before
the seeds are sown.

Besides the Gangetic delta which is the jute land of the
Production. woriri par excellence, it is grown to some extent in Ceylon,
Southern China, Formosa and Malaya. But the output of
all these countries put together is only one-tenth of the total
jute of the world, and the huge remainder is the contribu-
tion almost entirely of the Gangetic delta. Small quantities
Trade. are Srown *n tne adjoining areas of Assam and Behar.

Indian jute is exported mainly to the United Kingdom,,
Germany, U. S. A. and France. Lesser importers are
Canada, Japan, Italy and Argentina. In Bengal the jute
manufacturing industry is localized on the banks of the
Hooghly, although the bulk of the commodity comes from
Manufacture Eastern and Northern Bengal. This centralization is
mainly due to the nearness to the port of Calcutta and the
navigability of the rivers. The principal jute manufactures
are (a) gunny bags for the packing of rice, wheat, oil-seeds
etc., (&) gunny cloths or hessians, (c) coarse carpets and
rugs, and (d) cordage. Outside India the most important
jute manufacturing centre is Dundee in Scotland. Calcutta
and Dundee supply the bulk of the world's manufactured
jute, and there is keen competition between the two centres.
At present Calcutta leads. But unfortunately most of the jute
concerns in India are British-owned.

Other Fibres. — Jute has several rivals, the chief of
Hemp, which are the different varieties of hemp. Of these Russian

hemp is perhaps the best, though nothing like jute has yet
been discovered or invented. Russian hemp is, however, not
wholly Russian, but is grown in other parts of Europe as
well. It is largely used in the manufacture of cord

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 169

Manila hemp, exported mainly from the Philippines, is also
extensively used in rope making. Its fibres are, however,
harder than those of Russian hemp. Sisal hemp, another
hard fibre, is grown in Kenya, Tanganyika and Mexico. New
Zealand hemp, which, in fact, is a kind of flax, can be used
for textiles. 'China Grass' is another type of fibre, grown
extensively in China, and can be woven into the socalled
'grass linen* fabrics. Kapok is a light and waterproof fibre ; Kapok.
though difficult to weave, it seems to have a fairly prosperous
future.

V. OTHER VEGETABLE MATERIALS

Timber. — After food and clothing the universal need
of man is for shelter. And as soon as these needs are met
— actually earlier — he plunges headlong into all sorts of
activity — fair, foul and indifferent. But he cannot work in
the vacuum; so raw materials again are essential. Moreover,
most of his activities are guided by these three primary needs,
and though one of these may be assigned a logical priority
over another, actually all of these needs run parallel courses.

Timber may conveniently (though not scientifically) be
classified into three groups: (i) Coniferous Softwoods,
(i) Temperate or Deciduous Hardwoods, and (iii) Tropical
or Evergreen Hardwoods. The principal varieties or species
of coniferous softwoods are pine, firs, spruces, larches,
cypresses and junipers. Temperate Hardwoods are repre-
sented by oak, birch, beech, maple, ash, walnut and elm.
Tropical Hardwoods are teak, mahogany, ebony, rose
wood, dye wood etc. The sources of these woods have
already been indicated in a previous chapter.

Of the total timber used by man nearly 80 per cent is
softwood from the great Coniferous Forests, while of the

170

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Output
and use.

Result.

Soft-
woods.

Canada.

U. S. A.

Europe.

remaining 20 per cent of hardwood about 18 per cent is
obtained from the Temperate Forests and only 2 per cent
from the Tropics including the enormous Equatorial Rain
Forests. This disproportionate use, dictated, no doubt, by
the primary needs and conveniences of mankind, has, how-
ever, led to serious complications ; it has resulted in a rapid
depletion of the Coniferous Forests of several regions, and
an attendant shortage of softwoods in many countries.
Canada and the United States once had vast stretches of
Coniferous Forests, especially the former which was noted as
'the Empire's storehouse of softwood supplies/ Consequently
lumber industry was enormously developed in the regions
.of British Columbia, Ontario, Qubec, Northern Prairie pro-
vinces and New Brunswick. The U. S. A. has two
important softwood belts, — one in the east including New
England, the Appalachian Highlands and the Atlantic coastal
plain ; the other in the west located in the Rocky mountains
and the Pacific slopes. The lumbering industry in eastern
Canada centres round Ottawa, but there the rapid depletion
of the giant trees has necessitated a change of forestry in
the shape of the exploitation of the smaller trees for the
wood-pulp industry, and hence the logging industry has
naturally shifted to the west, particularly to British Columbia.
The same story has also been repeated in the United States.
The larger trees and forests in the Lake States, New England
and the Gulf States have very nearly been wiped out, and
the logging industry has gone over to the north-western
Pacific States. Already there exists a shortage of soft-woods
in Canada and the U.S.A., and steps are now being taken to
study the possibilities of tropical forestry and the conserva-
tion of forests. The story is much the same in Europe as
well, where the larger trees from most of the forests have
disappeared. The existing forests of Norway are now a
poor apology for what they were in the past. These alarming

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 171

prospects have led the Scandinavian countries to guard this
important source of national wealth quite zealously. The
supplies of softwoods from Sweden and the Baltic States are,
therefore, regulated by law and are consequently strictly
limited. It has now been recognized that forests are not to
be used as mines but rather as natural crops. France,
Germany and other countries of Central Europe are now
carrying on scientific forestry in order to ensure a steady
supply, and recently Great Britain has also come into the
line. The largest reserves of softwood conifers now are those
of Northern Russia in Europe and Siberia in Asia. Russia-
As already explained in a previous chapter, the countries New
of the Southern Hemisphere are very poor in softwoods Zealand,
of the coniferous type ; only New Zealand has a limited Brazil
supply of Kauri and Rimu pines, while Southern Brazil and ^nd Chile.
Southern Chile have a still lesser supply of indigenous soft-
woods. Recently, however, pines have been introduced in Temperate
South Africa and Australia. woods.

The important centres of temperate hardwoods are in Tropical
the Appalachian region of the U. S. A., Patagonia, Chile, the VVOO(js.
Alps, the Pyrenees, Central Russia, the Middle region of
Siberia, Japan and Australia. The oak is the most important
of these woods; but several of the eucalyptus trees of
Australia yield excellent timber. These latter have been
introduced in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
China certainly was an important centre of temperate hard-
woods ; but the Chinese have completely wiped out the forests
from the plains.

The Tropical Forests here include those found within
the entire Torrid Zone, and can, therefore, be grouped as Hardfwoods.
(a) Equatorial Forests and (&) Tropical Forests proper.
The extent and other peculiarities of both the regions have

172 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

been described in a " previous chapter. Of the principal
forest products teak comes almost entirely from Burma
and Siam, and mahogony from Central America and
West Africa.

Wood Wood Pulp. — The timber industry goes almost hand to

pulpand hand, in the Coniferous Forests especially, with the wood
pulp industry. Of the total output of paper about nine-tenths
is made from wood pulp, and the rest from a variety of
vegetable products already mentioned in appropriate pages of
the book. All these products are reduced to pulp and then
bleached white by chloride of lime. Paper can, however, be
made from the pulp of various types of wood ; but softwood
or conifers are essential for the best grades of paper. Of
these softwoods spruce, fir and pine are of principal import-
ance. Another essential requisite for the paper industry
is a large supply of cheap power. This is easily available
in Eastern Canada where there is a large supply of cheap
hydro-electric power; so the pulp industry has flourished
there. A third essential requisite is cheap and efficient trans-
port. This too is easily available in Eastern Canada ; where
the pulp mills are mostly located near tidal waters. About
24 per cent of Canada's total export is in paper, pulp and
wood. Other great exporters of these things are Norway,
Sweden, Finland and also Russia. About 34 per cent of
Norway's export is in timber and paper, While paper and
pulp form 32 per cent and timber 15 per cent of Swedish
export. Russia supplies little of pulp or paper, but timber
forms 22 per cent of her total export. Finland also supplies
large quantities of softwood and paper, — nearly 80 per cent
of her total export. The U.S.A. is by far the largest
market for Canadian wood pulp. There is already a short-
age of this commodity in Europe, and various substitutes
like rags and linens and esparto grass are now being tried
and used.

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 173

Rubber. — Rubber is a typical equatorial product, and Conditions
the tree is said to be a native of the Amazon Forests. The Growth-
product is obtained from the juice of the tree. Although

THE RUBBER-PRODUCING COUNTRIES or THE WORLD.

there are indigenous species of the rubber tree in India, the Trade,
4Para Rubber Tree* has been introduced in India, Ceylon and
Malaya. It requires a rich, well drained soil, a heavy rainfall
(between 50 to 200 inches) and a moist humid climate
throughout. Plantations are mostly on hill slopes because
of good drainage, but special care must be taken to prevent
rapid soil erosion due to excessive rain. Bulk of the product
is now obtained from Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, Ceylon
and Southern India; but Brazil also continues to supply
some. The chief importers are the United States, the United
Kingdom, other European countries, Japan and Russia.
The demand, as well as the consequent production, for rubber
has been growing by leaps and bounds; the average annual

174 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

production during 1909-13 was 90,000 tons, in 1925 it rose to
be 525,000 tons, and subsequently to 1,160,000 tons in
1934-35. This phenomenal growth has been attributed
mainly to the development and extension of the manufacture
of cycles, motor cars, etc.

Other Raw Materials. — Of the various other raw
Gums. materials of vegetable and animal origin gums, lac, leather

and ivory may be mentioned here. Gum is obtained from
the juice of certain trees, found particularly in the African
savanas. Lac is obtained almost exclusively from the forests
of North Eastern India (Bengal & Assam). It is not exactly
a vegetable product, but a sticky exudation of certain insects
that feed upon the branches of some particular type of trees.
Leather. The sources of leather are the hides of animals, particularly
cattle, sheep and goats. Ivory comes mainly from Central
Africa.

STUDIES AND QUESTIONS

1. Discuss the conditions favouring the growth of (a) rice,
(fr) wheat, (c) tea, and (d) cotton. Name the places where they are
grcwn in India. (C. U. B. Com., '26, '27).

2. What climatic and physical conditions are necessary for the
production of the following, (a) wheat, (b) maize, (c) cotton,
(rf) tea and (*) jute? (C U. Inter. '24).

3. What are the natural conditions required for the cultivation
of cotton? What countries export cotton and to what destination?
(C. U. Inter. '25).

4. Name the places where the following are grown:
(a) sugar, (b) coffee, (c) flax, (d) India rubber and (e) tobacco.
(C. U. Inter., '24).

COMMODITIES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL ORIGIN 175

5. Compare and contrast the physical and economic factors asso-
ciated with the production of rice and wheat. Mention the chief
countries and ports engaged in the foreign trade in these commodities.
(T. P. S., '34).

6. Name the most important rice-importing countries of the
world. From what sources is rice imported into Great Britain and
to countries of Northern Europe? What is the present position of
India including Burma in this export trade? (C. U. B. Com., '30).

7. Into how many classes is cotton divided? Give a short
account of the chief sources of supply of the principal varieties of
cotton. (C. U. Inter., '36).

8. What are the climatic conditions favouring the growth of
coffee and tea? What are the principal countries of production and
export? (C. U. Inter., '34).

9. Discuss the conditions favouring the growth of (a) jute,
(b) oil seeds, (r) coffee and (d) sugar-cane. (C. U. Inter., '35).

10. What climatic conditions are favourable or unfavourable to
the cultivation of rice, cotton and sugar-cane? Explain die reasons.
(C. U. Inter., '40).

11. What conditions are necessary for the successful cultivation
of beet and sugar-cane? State accurately the areas in which sugar
is manufactured. India produces large quantities of sugar-cane, but
still imports sugar from other countries. Why? (I. P. S., '30).

12. What are the necessary conditions for the production of the
following: (a) rubber and (b) beet? Name the principal countries
in which these are produced. (C. U. Inter., 77).

13. Describe the geographical circumstances favouring the growth
and the world distribution of sugar beet and sugar-cane. (C. U.
Inter., '31, '33).

14. What are the most important countries of the world ex-
porting cotton in considerable quantities? Describe fully the condi-
tions of production and quality of cotton produced in each. (C. U.
Inter., '32).

Rocks and
Minerals.

Mineral
defined.

Sources of
minerals.

Metallic and
Non-
metallic
minerals.

Metallic
ores.

CHAPTER VI
MINERAL PRODUCTS

Minerals. — The lithosphere or the crust of the earth
consists of a variety of rocks, and a rock itself is a mineral,
igneous or stratified, constituting the solid crust of the earth.
This rather circular description is not of much avail except
for calling attention to the fact that minerals are not only
hidden from our view deep down into the bowels of the earth,
but also lie scattered all about us. A mineral may briefly
be defined as a "naturally occurring chemical compound
either constant in its composition or varying within narrow
limits/*1 But all this should not lead us to suppose that the
lithosphere is the only storehouse of minerals ; the central
necleus of the earth or the barysphere is probably made up
almost entirely of pure iron with a certain admixture of
nickel and other metals. But it is far too deep for us to
penetrate, and, besides, hot beyond comprehension. Our
entire mineral resources are derived from the lithosphere
alone. Rocks mostly are mixtures of various minerals,
though sometimes they may represent only one or two of
them. Minerals may be broadly divided into two categories
— (a) metallic and (b) non-metallic. Among the metallic
minerals are iron, copper, lead, tin, mercury, gold and silver.
These are not, however, found in a pure state, but are usually
mixed up with other elements or substances ; that is what is
meant by saying that the metals occur in 'ores'. In order to
obtain a pure metal, it has to be separated from its ore.
Sometimes the important metallic minerals are found in

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 104-5.

MINERAL PRODUCTS 177

'veins', which, in reality, are the faults or cracks in the
earth's crust along which molten rock, vapours etc., once
made their way from the interior strata of the earth's crust Metallic
towards the surface, but became solidified in the cracks on
the. way. Non-metallic minerals are represented by coal,
petroleum, salt, sulphur, clay, building stones etc. They are
more numerous than are the metals.

I. THE METALLIC MINERALS

Iron. — Iron, though not a 'precious metal', is the
most valuable and useful of all the metallic minerals, and
has perhaps the widest distribution. The place it holds in
the life of modern man needs no elucidation, and it has
been said that there are few rocks which do not contain a
certain percentage of iron. The familiar red hue of many
of the rocks is most often due to the presence of iron oxide,
which is a compound of oxygen with iron. But such a
metallic content in the rocks is not, or, has not yet been
made, economically useful. Iron ores obtained from mines
are the only useful source. But ores differ considerably in
their iron content, as well as. in other materials. Four
chemical groups have thus been -distinguished:

(a) The Iron Oxides, which may be of several varieties ; Qhemical
but hcematite (Fe2Oa) or red ore and magnetite (FeaC^) are

the chief variations of this group. Haematite is usually red — iron
'blood-like', and hence the name ; but it may also be a brown
or blackish iron ore. Magnetite is magnetic iron oxide, and
of a decidedly black hue ; it, too, has certain variations. These
.are said to be the purest form of iron. The ores of Sweden
are of this type.

178

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Preparation
of Iron
and Steel.

and Steel.

(&) The Hydrated Oxides, of which limonitc
(2FeO33HaO) is the chief sul)-type. It is a brown ore;
but the whole group is distinguished by the hydrate content,
which is a compound of water with the radical.

(r) The Sulphide Ores, including iron pyrites and
copper pyrites. Pyrides are sulphides, i.e., compounds of
sulphur with some radical — here iron or copper.

(d) Iron Carbonates, which are compounds of iron and
some carbonaceous matter.

Ores containing much impurities are first heated in a

furnace for evaporating the unwanted elements: then
, 1,11%. . ,. ,- 1

having added a definite proportion of limestone or some other

flux in order to promote fusion, they are smelted in a blast
furnace. Coal or coke is used in smelting iron. Thus is
obtained what is commonly called 'pig iron'. This may
again be smelted and we get 'cast iron'. But pig iron — and,
of course, cast iron — may be given a thorough smelting so
as to burn out the carbon, and then we have what is called
"wrought iron', from which steel may be made. But steel is
generally made from pig iron direct by removing all carbon,
sulphur and phosphorus, and adding ferro-manganese.
.Special types of steel are produced by adding various other
metals in different proportions such as manganese, nickel,
'Chromium, tungsten etc. Haematite, which contains least of
harmful elements like phosphorus, carbon etc., is regarded as
the most valuable of all iron ores for the production of steel.

The leading iron-producing countries of the world are
the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France,
Russia and Belgium. More than three-quarters of all the
pig iron of the world are produced in these six countries,
and among them the U.S.A. easily ranks first with, till very
recently, more than half the world's total to her credit.
Japan has steadily been producing more and more pig iron,

MINERAL PRODUCTS

Iron Production

179

1913

1925

1933

Countries Percentage Countries Percentage Countries Percentage
U. S. A. 40 U. S. A. 52 U. S. A. 27

\.j . o. .rv.

Germany

22 Germany

*)£* VJ '. O. .TV.

14 Russia

U. K.

13 France

10 France

France

6, U. K.

8j Germany

Russia

S Belgium

3 U. K.

Belgium

4 Russia

Belgium

Others

10 Others

Luxemburg

Saar

Others

TOTAL 100

although her reserves are riot quite imposing. India is also
another fairly important producer and so is also Australia.
There are vast undeveloped stores of iron in the Amazon
Valley in South America and in China. The Amazon
reserves are said to comprise the largest iron field yet dis-
covered. The total production in 1913 was 78 million tons;
in 1925 it came down to 72 million tons, and in 1933 sank
as low as 49 million tons ; but again in 1937 it rose to be
104,000,000 tons. Among the principal producers of pig Tra(je
iron all the countries except Russia (i.e., U.S.A., ( /r. Britain,
Germany, Belgium and France) Ir.ive a surplus for export,
and even in the export of steel these countries rank high.
The chief importers of both pig iron and steel are India,
China, Japan, South America and Canada. India imports
iron and steel from the U.K., the U.S.A., Germany, France,
Belgium and Japan. The United Kingdom is the biggest
exporter, supplying nearly half the total requirement; next
in order conies Belgium.

Copper. — Copper, unlike iron, is often found native in Source,
nature, but the bulk of the world's production is mined from

180

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Use.

Output.

Source
and Uses.

ores. It has a very wide distribution, and it entered into
human civilization long before iron. Although it has long
been replaced by various other metals for many of its former
uses, its demand, far from being on the wane, is increasing.
This is mainly due to the rapid increase in the use of
electricity and the development of the automobile industry.
It is the best known conductor of electricity except silver,
and has thus become a 'key metal' once again.

Till very recently the United States was by far the
biggest producer of copper, with nearly 70 per cent of the
world's production to its credit. Next comes Chile
with MI annual output of a little above 200 thousand
tons, about one-third of what the U. S. A. producd in
1930. A dose third is Central Africa with an annual
output in the same year of about 170 thousand tons,
followed by Canada with a total production of nearly
ISO thousand tons. Japan, which is usually rather poor in
mineral reserves, is an important producer of this 'red metal'
(about 80 thousand tons in 1930). Mexico is hardly inferior
to Japan. Other important producers are Russia, Peru, and
the Iberian Peninsula (Spain-Portugal). Many are of
opinion that, the richest reserves of copper, however, lie in
Central Africa, partly in the territory of Rhodesia and partly
in the neighbouring parts of the Belgian Congo. The U.S.A.,
although still ranking highest in the scale of production, has,
however, got to import large quantities of copper from other
countries for its electrical and automobile industries.

Lead. — Lead ranks third among metals in the scale of
production and second in the diversity of usefulness.1 It

1Iron comes first both in production and usefulness; the
figures for 1929 show that it comprised about 95 per cent of all
the metals used. Copper is second in output, but preceded by lelad
in point of usefulness. See Case & Bergsmark, College Geography,
pp. 541— '63 & pp. 610--'23.

MINERAL PRODUCTS 181

is used in the manufacture of automobiles, airplanes, loco-
motives, typewriters, calculating machines, printing materials,
musical instruments, rifles, shots, bullets, electrical equipment
like batteries and cable covering, paints and a host of other
things. Like copper it is obtained chiefly from ores, and is
commonly found associated with igneous and metamorphic
rocks. It is often found along with a small percentage of
silver and zinc, and that is why sometimes these three metals
— lead, silver and zinc — are mined from the same source.

North America is the world's greatest storehouse of lead Production
as of many other metals. The U.S.A. is the largest pro-
ducer, and along with Canada and Mexico supplies half the
world's total. Individually Mexico is the second largest
producer of lead, with about 250 thousand metric tons to
her credit; this is a little less than half of what the U.S.A.
produced in 1930. Australia and Canada are the closest
rivals for the third place, each with an annual output
of more than 150 thousand metric tons. Other im-
portant producers are Spain and Germany, both close
rivals for the fourth place with more than 100 thousand
metric tons each, and Burma with about 80 thousands and
Belgium with about 60 thousands of metric tons respectively.
Italy and France are of comparatively lesser importance.
The U.S.A., although the largest producer, has again to
import large quantities of lead from Mexico, Canada, Spain
and Australia for domestic consumption.

Zinc. — Zinc ores are often found in countries where production
lead is abundant. The leading producers are the U.S.A.,
Belgium, Poland, Canada, Germany, and France, and with
them may also be named Australia and Great Britain.
Norway, Holland and Italy are lesser producers. The U.S.A.
is easily the biggest producer; it total production in 1930

182 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

was about 450 thousands of metric tons. Belgium and Poland
may be bracketted together as second ; each produced about
180 thousand metric tons. Canada and Germany, again,
are close rivals for the third place, with an output of a little
more and a little less respectively than 100 thousand metric
tons. The output of France also is not much less than that
of Germany. The contributions of Australia and Great
Britain are much lower, about SO thousand metric tons each.

Zinc is used chiefly for the galvanizing of iron and steel,
Lses. — an inclustry that consumes between 40 and SO per cent of

the total zinc output of the world. Galvanized iron is nothing
but iron coated with zinc to prevent rusting. The second
great industry consuming about 30 per cent of the total is
that of brass-making. Brass is produced by a combination
of zinc with copper, and is used for gears, propellers, steam
fittings, worm wheels, bearings, tubing, valves, automobile
parts and various other things. Zinc is also used in the
manufacture of paints.

UseSt Tin. — Tin is also one of the indispensable base metals

or a 'key metal' like iron, copper etc. It has a variety of
uses like applying it as a coating for other metals, manu-
facturing tin containers, making alloys like solder, brass and
bronze and a score of other products.

The largest deposits of tin are found in South-Eastern
Production. Asia; the Malaya States, Netherlands East Indies and the
neighbouring areas of Burma, Siam and China together
produce nearly two-thrids of the world's tin. Outside this
area the next biggest producer is Bolivia, contributing a
quarter of the world's total production of this metal. The
next great producer is Nigeria. Among the lesser producers
the name of Australia may be mentioned, but her output is

MINERAL PRODUCTS 187

22 '5 fine oz. In 1937 it shot up to as much as 35*5 million
fine oz.1

The uses of gold for coins and jewellery are well-known. Uses of
Its rarity, its beauty and durability together with the fact golclp
that it is easily worked have caused it to be not only highly
prized, but also to serve as a standard of evaluation in our
economic and commercial transactions. But gold has many
essential industrial and medicinal uses as well. And yet the
combined value of all the gold the world produces annually
together with that of the world's annual production of silver
is not enough, in any normal year, to purchase the agricul-
tural products of any of the major provinces of India. The
average yearly output of the world's gold may be roughly
valued at Rs. 150 crores at the present rate of exchange.

Silver. — The bulk of the world's silver, unlike that of Sources,
gold, is not found 'native' in nature. Native silver is rare;
most of it — no less than two-thirds — is found associated with
lead, and that is why, generally speaking, the important lead-
producing countries are also important silver-producing
regions. Besides, much silver is obtained from gold and
copper ores. Silver rarely, if at all, occurs as alluvial
deposits.

Mexico is the largest producer of silver in the world, locuctlon-
her contribution being a little above a third of the world's

1 It would be interesting to study the world production of gold,
the most prized of the metals, as well as that of silver and to specu-
late why gold has remained so fairly constant. H. B. Killough and
L. W. Killough give the figures for a considerable period from 1493
to 1930. Obviously, however, the estimates relating to recent years
seem to be much more accurate than those which deal with the past
centuries. See Razv Materials of Industrialism and Mineral Industry*

188

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

total. The U. S. A. conies second and Canada holds the
third place. Thus the North American Continent as a
whole is by far the largest producer of this metal with about
two-thirds of the world's total silver output. Peru and
Bolivia in South America are also important producers. In
Europe, Germany and Spain arc important, and in Asia the
two most noteworthy producers are Burma and Japan.
Australia is also not an insignificant producer.

World Production of Silver1

1909-13

1921-25

1931-35

Countries Percentage
N. America —

Mexico

32 Mexico

36 Mexico

U. S. A. ..

24i U. S. A. ..

27, U. S. A.

Canada

8 Canada

Central America

1 C. America

S. America —

Peru

6 Peru

Others

Bolivia

2 Bolivia

^ Isia

Others

2 Others

Europe —

Asia

Asia —

Germany

6 Europe

Japan

Others

S.Australia

Burma

Australia

6l Others

Others

Africa

Europe —

Germany

Spain

Others

Australia

TOTAL

100

_
TOTAL

100

TOTAL

100

1 Adapted from Stamp.

MINERAL PRODUCTS 189

During 1909-13 the world's annual output was 230
million ounces, during 1921-25 it rose to be 240 and in 1931-
35 to 180 million oz. Mexico has been the leading silver-
producer since the days of Spanish conquest and yet shows
little sign of exhaustion.

Silver is harder and less beautiful than gold ; moreover
it. unlike gold, turns into sulphide though slowly, and this is
what is generally known as the tarnishing of silver. It is
also much more widely distributed than is gold, and, of
course, much cheaper. Besides being used in coinage and
jewellery of lesser value, it is largely and more generally
used in industry : tableware and plate of various kinds are
made of it.

Platinum. — Platinum, like gold and silver, is a 'preci-
ous metal'. Tt is even much rarer than is gold, and conse-
quently more precious, though not so highly prized by all
and sundry. The biggest producer is Russia, particularly
the Urals. Rhodesia probably comes next. The U. S. A.
is also another important producer. Some amount of the
metal is obtained from Colombia as well. It is one of the
essential minerals for the manufacture of laboratory utensils,
because it is highly resistant to acids and temperature. It is
extensively used in photography and electrical business. Like
gold and silver it has a demand in dentistry and jewellery
business.

Quicksilver. — Quicksilver commonly occurs in the form
of sulphide of mercury or cinnabar. In order to procure it Nature,
the ore is heated or 'roasted' and the vapour collected and
liquified. Its density is very high — 13-6, and it readily
changes in volume with the fluctuations of temperature. So
mercury is used in thermometers, barometers and hygro- Uses*

190 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

meters. It is also used in separating gold from impurities
as it easily forms an amalgam with gold when mixed
with the latter. It has many other uses — industrial as well
Production, as medicinal. It is combined with tin to coat the backs of
mirrors, is used extensively in the manufacture of explosive
caps, and so on. The chief producers of mercury or quick-
silver are Spain, the United States, Austria, Italy and
Russia.

Minor Metals. — It is not possible here for reasons of
ungs n. Spacc t() give an exhaustive list of all the metals; but the
more important of the minor metals may be mentioned.
Tungsten, for example, is; such a one. It is used in the
manufacture of steel — for the production of different kinds
of steel. The quantity required is, however, small, but none-
theless essential. China is perhaps the leading producer of
tungsten, and Burma probably comes next. Other im-
portant producers are U. S. A., Malaya and Bolivia.

Chromium. Another important ingredient of steel is Chromium. It

is specially noted for rendering steels stainless. Moreover,
chromium is extensively used in the manufacture of certain
paints. Rhodesia is the leading producer and Yugoslavia
comes next. Other important producers arc South Africa
and India.

Manganese is also important in the steel industry, and
Manganese. ;ts c[1jcf producers in order of merit are India, Brazil and
Georgia in Russia.

II. NON-METALLIC MINERALS

Non-Metallic Minerals. — Non-metallic minerals are
very numerous, — in fact, more numerous than are the metals.

MINERAL PRODUCTS 191

They are generally more abundant and widely distributed in
nature, and are consequently cheaper, but not necessarily less
important. These non-metallic minerals are represented by
coal and petroleum, salt and sulphur, building stones and
days. Of these coal and petroleum are of primary im-
portance ; they are the chief sources of industrial power, and
on that account merit a more detailed treatment in a sepa-
rate chapter.

Salt. — Common salt is often chemically known as halite. Nature.
It is one of the indispensable necessaries of life, and contains
60 '6 per cent of sodium and 39-4 per cent of chlorine. It
occurs extensively in the crust of the earth in a solid form.
This is called rock salt, and is often found in the form of
brine. Salt is also obtained from sea water, as well as from
the inland waters such as the Dead Sea, the Great Salt Lake,
etc. Salt is very widely distributed. It has been estimated
lhat from each 100 pounds of sea-water about three and a Distribution,
half pounds of minerals may be obtained by evaporating the
water, and the bulk of this mineral matter is common salt.
There are rich deposits of rock salt in various countries. And
in many places the salt industry is a government monopoly.
Besides being used in food, salt is essential in packing and
preserving fish, meat, hides, butter, pickles and hay. It is
used also in the manufacture of soda, glass, bleaching powder,
pottery and the refining of silver.

Sulphur. — Sulphur, unlike salt, is not widely distribu-
ted, being found generally in the volcanic regions. It is Distribution
used in medicine, in vulcanizing rubber, manufacturing gun- an
powder and in drying peaches, apricots and other deciduous
fruits. Sulphuric acid is required for the manufacture of
.glass, matches, alum, kerosene, aniline colours, blue vitriol,
.green vitrol, etc. Sulphurous acid is used in the production

192

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

of paper pulp, in bleaching and in various disinfectants.
Production. The leading producer of -sulphur is the island of Sicily ; next
in order comes Japan, and the third place is occupied by the
U. S. A. There are about one thousand sulphur mines in
Sicily and Italy put together, yielding more than half a
million tons a year.

Mineral Waters. — The waters of certain springs and
pools are famed for their medicinal value — real or supposed.
Anyway, the reputation of such waters has led to the growth
of towns and cities in their neighbourhood. Such are the
towns of Bath in England, Vichy in France, Baden in
Germany, Carlsbad in Austria, Saratoga in New York. We
in India, too, have no dearth of such mineral springs and
towns associated with them ; moreover, most of these in our
country are looked upon as sacred places and thousands visit
them yearly on pilgrimage. Now-a-days great quantities
of mineral waters are bottled and shipped for distant places
so that it has grown into an industry of considerable im-
portance. It has been estimated that the average annual
value of the mineral water sold in the U. S. A. from the
springs and pools of that country alone comes up to about
S million dollars.1

Some

notable

centres.

Industry.

Character. Diamonds. — Diamonds are the most important of the

various precious stones. It is said to be the hardest sub-
stance yet known. In composition, however, nothing can be

1 The term ''mineral water' is to some extent, misleading, because
all ground water contains minerals. The amount of mineral matter
is determined by the length of time water has remained underground,
the temperature of the water and the constituents and character of
the rock with which it has come into contact. We speak of 'mineral
water' w*hen the mineral content is high and appreciable because of
taste, odour or colour.

MINERAL PRODUCTS 193

more vsiinple than this coveted jewel ; for it is pure carbon.
But not all diamonds are valuable ; for there arc black
diamonds which are useless as gems ; they are used as tips
for rock drills.

The leading producer of diamond is South Africa ; the
diamond mine's 'near Kimberley are world-famous. Other Producers
important producers are Brazil and India. The chief centres Markets,
for the cutting and polishing of this precious stone were
Amsterdam in Holland and Antwerp in Belgium, and the
chief market is the U. S. A. The present European Wai-
has completely upset the diamond business of Amsterdam and
Antwerp ; many of the diamond merchants have now migrated
to London.

Mineral Fertilizers. — Of the various mineral fertilizers
found in nature the best known is perhaps Sodium Nitrate. Sodium
It is really a very soluble salt, and is found in large quantities Nitrate,
in the temperate desert regions. Northern Chile is the lead-
ing producer of this mineral, and formerly it was the main
export of that country. The countries practising intensive
agriculture like the U. S. A., the countries of Northern
Europe and Egypt were her chief customers. But the

invention of artificial mineral fertilizers has adversely inter- T,, , .

.11- 1 * , i - .,. Phosphates,

fered with this trade. Another natural mineral tertihzer is

Phosphates, found native in huge deposits in Algeria, Tunis,
Florida, the Pacific Islands of Nauru and Ocean Island.
But the trade in phosphates has also been affected by a slump
owing to the advent in the field of artificial phosphates. Of
the various artificial fertilizers may be named calcium nitrate,
produced in large quantities in Norway, sulphate of
ammonia, and the various polash salts.

194 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

III. BUILDING STONES AND CLAY PRODUCTS

Granite. — Granite is an igneous rock containing, as it
Nature. does, feldspar, quartz and mica. Its hardness is proverbial,
and because of its highly compact structure it is singularly
resistant to weathering. It takes a high polish. Thus it is
one of the most useful of the building stones. But it is very
expensive to quarry and extremely difficult to shape. It is,
ses* therefore, used in constructing large and massive edifices, in

erecting monuments, curbs and paving blocks. It is also
used as a ballast on streets and railroads. Although granite
is fairly well distributed throughout the world, its occurrence
is less common than that of sandstone and limestone. The
transportation of granite, as well as of other kinds of stone,
is difficult and expensive. Quarries are, therefore, rarely
worked far from the markets.

Nature. Basalt. — Basalt is also another class of igneous rock,

but comparatively less compact. Of all the basaltic rocks
trap rock is probably most widely used. Its chief uses are in

Uses. (he construction of roads and concrete. It is also used,

though somewhat sparingly, for building purposes. It is
rather widely distributed, especially in volcanic regions.

Sandstone. — Sandstone is a sedimentary or stratified
rock. It is much more widely distributed than either granite
or basalt. Though a sedimentary rock, it is of inorganic
origin, being formed from sand grains deposited in the water.
Uses. The sand grains adhere together because of the presence of

a cementing substance naturally formed. This cementing
material may be of various kinds, some of which give the
sand grains much more coherence than do others. Thus
\\hen the grains are bound together by silica, the sandstone
becomes highly durable. The occurrence of sandstone being

MINERAL PRODUCTS 195

common in almost every land, it is very widely used for build-
ing purposes. Whetstones and grindstones are almost ex-
clusively manufactured from it.

Limestone. — Like sandstone, limestone is also a sedi- Nature,
mentary rock, hut unlike the former it is of organic origin.
When the marine animals die the lime of their skeletons is
converted into limestone rock. It is interesting to note that
these animals derive their lime from the ocean waters. That
is why limestones frequently contain fossils of animals long
extinct. Limestone probably has a wider range of use than
sandstone. It is extensively used in the construction of build-
ings, in paving streets, in the manufacture of lime and as a
furnace flux.

Marble. — Marble is, in fact, metamorphosed limestone. Nature.
It is formed by the action chiefly of heat and pressure. Like
granite.it takes a high polish, and is, therefore, highly prized
by sculptors. Its occurrence is, however, less common than
that of limestone and sandstone. Like granite, again,
marble is difficult and expensive to quarry and put into shape. ses*
Yet it is extensively used in the making of pillars and other
ornamental structures, and that is because of its varied colours
and excellent finish. Marble is, however, much more easily
damaged in quarrying than granite or limestone.

Slate. — Slate is metamorphosed mtidstone or shale. jsjature>
Shale, again, is another sedimentary rock containing, as it
does, particles of mud hardened and cemented. It is used as
a roofing material, in the making of blackboards, school- Uses,
slates, flooring, table-tops, mantels, vats, wainscotting,
laundry-tubs and refrigerator shelves.

Clay Products. — It is common knowledge that clay can
be moulded when wet and it hardens when dried. This is

KCONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Uses of
bricks.

Kaolin and
Pottery.

Nature.

the principle of fashioning bricks, and it was discovered
thousands of years ago. In places where building timber was
a rarity bricks came to be of primary use in the construction
of houses and dwelling places. Thus the great Chaldean and
Assyrian palaces were built almost exclusively of sun-dried
bricks. So it was in Egypt and in Mohenjodaro and
Harappa in our country. Clay is formed as a result of the
decomposition of various minerals, particularly feldspar. It
has the capacity to absorb various substances and these sub-
tances easily solidify and harden the clay when dried in the
sun or baked in the fire. The commonest form of clay used in
building purposes is, of course, brick. When clay is com-
bined with brick and dried or baked, the resulting brick takes
on great strength and furnishes an excellent building material.
From clay we have quite a number of such materials — build-
ing brick, fire-brick, paving-brick, as well as pottery, drain-
tiles, roofing-tiles, sewer-pipe, and to a small extent it is used
in the manufacture of paper.

In the manufacture of pottery, however, the purest form
of clay is now more extensively used : this substance is known
as Kaolin.

Cement. — Cement is manufactured primarily from lime-
stone and clay. It, too, is no new novelty ; for it has been
known in Europe since Roman times. Now-a-days it is re-
inforced by steel and makes quite a durable structure. The
uses of cement are obvious. It is used in the building of
bridges, brick edifices and other structures meant to stand
high strain or great weight.

CHAPTER VII

FUEL AND POWER

Sources. --Fuel and power are inseparable as the one
supplies the other. And yet the former is not the only source
of power; for wind and moving water, amongst others, are
albo good sources of power. In the past wood and its deriva-
tive, charcoal, were the two great sources of fuel, and hence
of power as well. Now-a-days the force of the wind is far
less employed than formerly, though that of running water is
still harnessed. Industrial alcohol is widely used as fuel in
many countries ; the Germans particularly have made al-
most a speciality of it; it is derived from potatoes. In South
Africa, again, they obtain motor spirits from sugar. But the
present-day sources of power pre-eminently are coal and oil.

Coal. — As has already been noted in the last chapter,
both coal and oil (petroleum) are minerals. They are of
organic origin and occur in sedimentary rocks. Coal is
actually an organic sedimentary rock. It represents the
remains of almost primordial vegetation, now fossilized. "We
can picture the forest from which the coal has been formed as
a huge level swamp with a muddy floor covered perhaps with
water. Successive generations of plants, very different from
those growing at the present day, but including many that
resembled tree ferns, grew, thrived and decayed, and gave
rise to a mass of decaying vegetation in the stagnant water.
This process of accumulation was terminated by a series of
earth movements or earthquakes, and the whole area was
overwhelmed by masses of sand or other sediment and so

198 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

buried."1 This, in short, is the age-long history of coal forma-
tion. That it is of vegetable origin is amply borne out by
several facts: the woody tissue may easily be traced in the
coal, sometimes by the naked eye but often by means of the
microscope; stumps of trees, now converted into coal, have
sometimes been found in the coal measures with roots in the
underlying foundation ; analysis of coal reveals its vegetable
origin ; coal in the first stages of formation has actually been
seen in the peat hogs of to-day. A coal seam originating from
forests of long duration is naturally thick ; where, on the con-
trary, forests were of shorter duration the resulting coal
seams are thin. It is interesting to note that the
swamp forests which have been changed into coal were
very widely spread in a certain period of the earth's history,
and consequently the bulk of the world's coal measures was
ferous"1" formed at a certain geological age : this period has accordingly
Age. been called the 'Carboniferous Age*. But though the

Carboniferous was the great coal-forming period in the earth's
history as the Tertiary was the great mountain-building age,
coa^ seams of lesser extent generally are found in the rocks of
nearly all the geological ages. Coal occurs in layers called
seams. Some of the coal seams have as yet been little dis-
turbed by great earth-building movements, while others have
been bent and broken to a remarkable degree. The great
coalfield of Pennsylvania, tJ. S. A., is an instance of the
former kind ; the seams, having been little disturbed, can be
followed over an extensive stretch of land and are very nearly
horizontal in position. Most of the coalfields of Britain and
the European continent are much folded and broken by great
faults and can, therefore, be followed for short distances.
Many of the Belgian coal seams have beeir largely crushed by
earth movements of unimaginable intensity. Coal is

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 117.

FUEL AND POWER 199

singularly devoid of potash and consequently its ashes are of
no value as a fertilizer. This peculiar feature of coal has
been ascribed to the fact that during the submergence of the
vegetation the salts such as potash were thoroughly dissolved.
The seams or layers of coal vary in thickness from a few
inches to several feet. They are separated from one another
by the intervening layers of sedimentary rock, generally of
shale or sandstone and occasionally of limestone.

Coal, however, is of many types:1

( 1 ) Brown Coal or lignite : most of the younger coals
belong to this type ; for in it we find that the vegetation has es
not been completely changed into coal, and so it contains a
proportion of the original fragments of wood or leaves which
constituted the parent material. Moreover lignites very often
contain a relatively large proportion of moisture, and so these
may break up into small fragments after mining. Many
countries possess extensive fields of this type of coal.
Germany and Australia have such coal measures. In
Germany 9 tons of lignite are generally found to be equivalent

to 2 tons of good coal.

(2) Canncl Coals, said to be a curious type of coal
which give a long smoky flame. It is neither important nor
abundant.

(3) Humic or Bituminous Coals, which include many
of coals of commoner use. Those which readily form coke
are called 'coking coals', those most suitable for raising steam
are known as 'steam coals'. There is a soft variety which gives
out a brilliant flame and since this is most suitable for house-

1 Stamp, A Commercial Geography, pp. 118-119.

200

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

hold purposes, it is called 'household coal'. There is another
variety which is hard and is extensively used in steamers and
for export.

(4) Anthracite, probably the best type of coal when all
things are considered. It is very hard and bright, and does
not readily ignite ; but since it contains the lowest percentage
of volatile matter, it, if once alight, gives out a very intense
heat.

This differentiation of the coals probably requires a little
more elucidation. Let us recall the process of coal formation.
When sediments accumulate in huge quantities, the accu-
mulated mass of material naturally exert great pressure and
generate heat ; the vegetable matter thus gets greatly com-
pressed and otherwise changed — almost metamorphosed. A
given thickness of coal, it has been estimated, represents
nearly 7 per cent of the original thickness of the layer of
vegetation entering into the formation. Thus about 14 feet
of vegetable matter is represented by only one foot of coal.
While coal is being formed — obviously a very slow and
durable process — hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen are given
off ; this results in a relative increase of carbon at each succes-
sive stage, and that relative amount of carbon determines the
character of the coal. This may be summarized by the
folowing table:1

Composition
of different

8S of

Carbon Hydrogen Oxygen Nitrogen

Wood

Peat

Lignite

Bituminous

Anthracite

1 Chamberlain, Geography, p. 315.
conditions only.

per cent.

5-5

0-8

5-0

1-3

0-8

2-5

Trace

The figures represent average

FUEL AND POWER 201

The coal resources of the world have been measured by
•experts. It has been estimated that within 6,000 feet of the Coal
•earth's surface there lie hidden approximately 8,000 billion
tons of coal, — an amount said to be large enough to last the
world roughly 4,000 years if the present rate of con-
sumption remains constant till the advent of that remote age.1
And this estimate has been conducted on the assumption that
one-fourth of the coat will be lost because of defective methods
of mining. The distribution of coal measures has thus been
estimated :

The Coal reserves of the World.-

N or th * Imerica- -

U.S.A. .. ..43-5 p.c.

Canada . . . . 5-5

-Isia (excluding Russia)- -

China . . . . 5-75 ,,

Others .. .. 2-25 ,

T. .V. S. R. . . 22

Distribution
liurope ( excluding Russia )- — of Coal.

Germany . . . . 7-75

II. K. ' .. ..4

Others .. .. 3-25 „

Australia . . . . 3

Africa . . .. 2-25 „

South America .. .. -75 ,,

Total . . 100 p.c.

1 Case & Brgsmark, College Geography f p. 571.
•'Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 119.

202 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Thus North America has nearly half the world's coal
known to exist.1 Asia with the bulk of her deposits in
Siberia and China shares about a quarter of the world's total
yet known, and Europe, the cradle of modern industrialism,
contains much less than does Asia. Australia, Africa and
South America have fared worst in this respect. But again,
there is only a limited reserve of high-grade anthracite coal
in the world. JThe great bulk of coal, especially in the
JLJ. .5. A., is s_aidjo be low-rank bituminous^ sub-bituminous,
lignite.

About 1,500 million tons of coal on the average are
f~* \
Production raise(l annually in all parts of the world. The great bulk

of this huge quantity is bituminous, and only a little more
than 60 million tons are of the best-grade anthracite, and
about 190 million tons are lignite. One-third of the total
coal raised is mined in the U. S. A., one-sixth in the U. K.,
and a little more than one-sixth in Germany. Thus these
three countries together produce about two-thirds of the
world's total. But although Germany exceeds the United
Kingdom by 45 million tons or so annually, more than one-
half of her total output of coal is lignite or brown coal. The
entire output of the U. K., on the other hand, is bituminous;
but neither the one nor the other seems to have reserves of
high-grade anthracite. Of the huge production of the
U. S. A. — a trifle over 480 million tons a year — only one-
eighth is anthracite, the rest bituminous.

1 But see Case & Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 573 where
it lias been definitely stated that /North America contains about
67 per cent, of the world's total coal resources, and the United States
contains more than half of the total known reserve."

FUEL AND POWER 203

Coal Production of the World.1
1930

Country Type of Coal Million tons Total in

million tons

U-S-A- UBSST 1 18 } 480

Germany } ££~ } 140 J ^

U. K. Bituminous 245 245

France „ 55 55

Poland „ 40 40

Russia „ 38 38

Japan „ 35 35

CZechos.ovakia j ^« j « 35

Belgium Bituminous 30 30

China „ 25 25

India „ 20 20

Netherlands ^ Bituminous ] 6 18

JNetherlancIs 3 Lignite 3 12

Africa Bituminous 15 15

Australia „ 6 6

Others „ 78 78

Total 1,410

The average production of coal may, however, be studied
best in a comparative way as follows :

The total annual output during 1909-13 was 1,215 million
tons, in 1921-25 it came down to 1,178 and subsequently in
1931-35 to 1,035 million tons. This steady decline has been
ascribed to the great commercial depression through which
the civilized world has been passing since 1929 or earlier ; for
though the depression (slump) first became visible that year,
it had set in, according to experts, years before as a natural
consequence mainly of the War of 1914-18.

It would be well here to review briefly in the passing Of
some of the world's important coal fields. World.

1 Adapted from Case & Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 573.
The figures are only approximate as they have heen compiled from a
diagram.

U. S. A.

204 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

The World Production of Coal1

1909-13

1921-25

1931-35

—

Country p.c.

Country

p.c. Country

l>.c.

U. S. A. .. 41

U. S. A.

47 U. S. A.

Gr. Britain 24

Gr. Britain

21 Gr. Britain

Germany . . 12

Germany

10 Germany

France . . 4

France

4 Russia

Poland . . 4

Belgium

2 France

Belgium . . 2

Poland

2 Poland

Russia . . 2

Russia

2 Belgium

Rest of Europe 4

Rest of Europe

1 Rest of Europe . .

Japan .. 1-75

Canada

2 1 Japan

Canada . . 1-25

Japan

2 India

India . . 1

India

2 Rest of . hia . .

Africa . . 1

Rest of Asia

. ! Canada

Rest of World 2

Africa

1 Africa

Australia

1 Australia

Total 100 Total

100 Total

ion

I. The Appalachian or Pennsylvanian coalfield,

which lies in the eastern part of the United States. It is the
largest coalfield of the world yet discovered. Although in
reality one continuous field, it is worked in different parts,
and hence is commonly referred to in the plural. Taking
all these parts together we find that this one field produces
nearly three-fourths of the coal output of the U. S. A. The
eastern half of the U. S. A. is really the great coal region
of that vast territory, being dotted about by various other
fields of lesser importance.

1 Adapted from Stamp. The student will notice the divergences
in the accounts put forward by different authorities. What position,
it may be asked, are we to assign to Germany regarding her annual
output of coal? Even Stamp seems to contradict himself whert he
says that one-sixth of the world's coal output is raised by Germany.
See A Commercial Geography, pp. 119 and 122. Compare his state-
ments with those of Case & Bergsmark.

FUEL AND POWER 205

II. The Coalfields of Northern France and Belgium Europe,
lie generally in a belt which extends from Great Britain
through Northern France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and
Poland and penetrate right into Russia. This affords a rather
sharp contrast to the situation in Southern Europe which has
few or no coalfields. But although these fields lie in a belt,
they do not constitute one continuous stretch like the vast
coal measures of the Appalachian field of the U. S. A. As has
already been mentioned in a previous section, the coal seams
of Britain and of much of the European continent are highly
folded and broken and hence discontinuous. The coalfield of
Northern France and Melgium is only a member of the
northern group. It is the most important field of France and
Belgium, and both these countries owe much of their indus-
trial development to it. But the coal obtained from this field
is quite low-grade.

III. The Campine Coalfield of Northern Belgium i<:uropc
and Holland lies, like that of Northern France and
Belgium, within two territories. It affords a second source
t >f coal to Belgium ; but it is the only resource of that essential
commodity to Holland.

IV. The Ruhr Coalfield which lies in the valley of Europe,
the Ruhr, a tributary to the Rhine, is the leading coalfield of
Germany.

V. The Saar Coalfield lies on the borders of France
and Germany. France under the mandate of the League of
Nations held sway over the whole area and worked the mine
after the War of 1914-18. This lasted till 1935 when as a
result of the plebiscite it was restored to Germany.

VI. The Upper Silesian Coalfield is peculiarly Europe,
situated ; one part of it falls into Germany, another into

206

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

.European
Russia.

European
Russia.

Other
coal-fields
of Europe.

Canada.

Asia.

Poland, and a third into what was Czechoslovakia. When in
1938 a partition of Czechoslovakia was effected as a result
of the infamous Munich Agreement, Poland, taking advantage
of the unenviable position of her neighbour, grabbed a consi-
derable portion of the upper Silesian field which belonged to
Czechoslovakia. One might almost be tempted to think it
to be a just retribution since as a result of the conquest of
P'oland by Germany in September 1939 not only the Silesian
field but also a considerable portion of Poland itself has —
let us hope, temporarily — passed into German hands.

VII. The Donetz Field lies north-east of the Black
Sea. It is one of the two leading coalfields of European
Russia.

VIII. The Moscow Field is the other leading coal-
field of European Russia. But the coal is lignite.

Besides these there are many smaller fields in Europe;
of these the bituminous fields of Northern Spain and the
Central Plateau of France are of first importance. There
are important deposits of lignite as well as of bituminous coal
here and there throughout Central Europe, especially in
Germany (Koln, Saxony), Austria, Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, Rumania and even in Italy, Yugoslavia and
Bulgaria.

There are vast stores of semi-bituminous coal in Canada
towards the prairies of that country, besides some scattered
Scotia measures of high-grade coal in the region of British Columbia.
In Nova Scotia also fairly large deposits of good coal have
been discovered.

In Asia, Japan is an important coal-mining country, and
has small but fairly important fields, particularly in both the

FUEL AND POWER 207

•northern and southern fringes. And yet they are inadequate Japan.,
for her internal needs ; for Japan is an industrial country
rivalling Great Britain or Germany. Manchuria also
possesses fairly good reserves of coal, and that is one reason * ancluna-
why Japan evinces so much interest for her. The coalfields
of China contain huge reserves, and some of her fields, im-
worked yet, may he as large as the Appalachian coalfield oi*
the U. S. A., particularly the one of Shansi and Shensi in
the north, situated near the celebrated Great Wall of China.
India is said to occupy the sixth place among the great coal-
raising countries of the world. About 90 per cent of her India,
total output comes from the three provinces of Bengal, Bihar
and Orissa. The most important of her coalfields is the one
at Raniganj (Bengal) in the valley of the river Damodar
about 120 miles from Calcutta. Other important centres are
Jherria, Giridih, Rajmahal, Daltonganj and Talcher. The
coal of Karanpura, Bokaro, Barakar, etc., are of low-grade,
There are coal deposits of lesser importance in Makoom
(Assam), Darjeeling (Bengal), Wardha (C.P.), Singareni
(Hydrabad), Bikaner (Rajputana) and in the state of Revva
in Central India. Very small coal measures have also been
discovered in Baluchistan and the Punjab. India does not
export coal, except a small amount occasionally to Ceylon,
Sumatra, Hong Kong etc. Siberia contains important coal
resources. The great Trans-Siberian Railway, which con-
nects the coal measures of Vladivostok with those of the
Moscow basin, actually passes through a number of important
coalfields on the way; of these intermediate fields those of
the Kuznetzk, Kansk, Irkutsk and Minusinsk basins
are actually very important. Besides, there are extensive
fields, only partly explored yet, farther north; of these the
coalfields of the Tungusk and Yakutia basins are perhaps the
most important. There are various other fields of varying
importance ; but the one in the Pechora basin in the north and

208

THE ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Africa.

-Australia
and
New
Zealand.

the other in the Ferghana basin in the south are well-worked
and important. Other fields of Asia are usually small and
the coals frquently of poor quality.

There is surprising divergence of opinion regarding
Africa's share of coal resources. At one time it was supposed
that the vast continent was very poor in this respect, and this
belief persists even to this day with quite well-informed men.
The Union of South Africa, however, has quite large deposits
of coal. Rhodesia also has fairly important deposits. Quite
recently, however, it has been discovered that Nigeria in
West Africa possesses considerable resources of coal.

The most important coalfield of Australia is in Sydney.
Another deposit of lignite is in Victoria. There is no coal-
field in the North Island of New Zealand ; but two small fields
have been discovered on the western side of the South Island.

S. America. Throughout the entire continent of South America only

one coalfield of small dimensions has yet been discovered in
the south of Chile.

Per Capital Production & Consumption of Coal1

(Figures are only approximate]

Country &c.

Germany
United Kingdom
United States
Belgium

Production
in tons

. 6-8

. 5-5

. 4-6

. 3-6

Consumption
in tons

5-9
4-7
4-4
3-7

1 From Case & Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 574.

FUEL AND POWER 209

Czechoslovakia ..2-6 2*6

Australia . . 2-3

Poland .. ..1-5 1

Canada .. ..1-5 3-3

France . . 1*4 1-8

Japan . . . . -6 1

Africa .. . . -2 -2

India .. -1 -1

China . . . . • 1 • 1

South America • 1 • 1

Coal is one of the most valuable factors in modern civi- Uses of
lized life. In countless ways is it related to our daily lives.
Its first and foremost use is as a fuel, and hence as a source
of power. Railway trains for the most part are drawn by
coal-burning engines; it is extensively used in steamships;
many of the mills and plants are driven by the power
generated by it. In fact, the leading producers of coal
are also the leading industrial countries of the present-day
world. Coke is produced by partially burning coal, and
being harder than the latter it makes a hotter fire. That is
why coke is largely used in the smelting of iron. The gases
given off at the time of the production of coke are collected
and used in the manufacture of coal-tar, dyes and various
chemicals and drugs.

Although the United States is by far the biggest coal- World
producing country in the world, she does not generally ex- e m
port it ; for she has had to consume nearly all of her produc-
tion; and even if she at times exports a comparatively small
amount, at others she also imports a small quantity. Speak-
ing in general terms it would be truer of her to say that she
habitually imports a small amount of coal than to say that
she exports it. Her average annual export of coal during U. S. A.
1923-28 was considerably less than 10 million tons. New
York, Philadelphia, and Mobile are the chief coal exporting
14

210

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

U. K.

Germany.

Position

^
Trade after

War,
1914-18,

centres of the U. S. A. Europe, considered as a whole, pro-
duces as much coal, if not more actually, as North America.
She is also the principal exporter of this commodity. In the
export trade the United Kingdom easily leads; her average
annual export of coal during 1923-28 was a little above 50
million tons. Germany comes next with an annual average
^or t'ie same period of just short of 30 million tons.

Coal Exports from the United Kingdom1

1929

(Approximate Figures)
Country Amount in

millions of tons
France . . . . 13

Italy .. .. ..7-2

Germany . . . . 5

South America . . 4

Belgium . . . . . . 3-5

Netherlands .. .. ... 2-8

Denmark .. .. ..1-9

Sweden . . . . . . 1 • 7

Spain . . . . . . 1-6

Portugal .. .. .. 1-3

Norway . . . . . . 1*2

Others .. .. ..11-7

But the World War of 1914-18 did much to dislocate the
world's coal trade. Many of the customers were unable to
get their usual supplies, and what they actually got was
purchased at very high prices. Hence in order to secure

themselves against similar future difficulties they sought to

. ^ « « «• • ,;

develop their own resources of coal and lignite, as well as to

protect their infant industries by high tariff walls. More-
1 Adapted from Case & Bergsmark.

FUEL AND POWER 211

over, a search for substitutes was undertaken by many
countries. Thus throughout Europe at least the capacity to
produce coal and at the same time the use of substitutes were
increased. This relative self-sufficiency of many of the
European countries has, in its turn, given rise to important
changes, — there have been (a) "an actual decrease in the
amount of coal produced and consumed in 1929 as compared
with 1913, (b) an increase in the production and use of
lignite, (c) a decrease in coal production in the leading pro-
ducing nation and (d) an increase in production in many
other nations, most of which formerly imported the greater
part of the coal used, a change in international markets and
consequently a change in the international movement of coal,
and a decline in the exports of the leading exporting
nations/'1 Stamp, who with all his vast erudition is an
imperialist as his writings so often betray, is of opinion, how-
ever, that this is due to "the growth of nationalism and the
development of small home fields, and an increasing use of
hydro-electric power," and these, according to him, are the
reasons why "Britain's customers for coal have all been buy-
ing less."- There has thus set in a depression in the coal
industry of Britain. As pointed out by Bogardus again,
Britain alone has not been to suffer for the depression of her
coal industry, but "this surplus capacity (of the other
nations) in turn has resulted in unemployment and much idle
•equipment — difficulties that have been increased by improve-
ments in mining methods, which have considerably increased
the production per man. Thus in the Ruhr district of
Germany the proportion of coal cut by the aid of mechanical
power increased from 2 per cent in 1913 to 83 per cent in
1927. Similar improvements have been made in other areas

1J. F. Bogardus, "Notes on Recent Production & Movement 6T
Coal in Europe," Geographical Review, Oct., 1930, p. 642.
* Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 123.

212 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

until today 55 per cent of the coal produced in Scotland, 18
per cent of the coal produced in England, 73 per cent of the
coal produced in Belgium, and 60 per cent of the coal pro-
duced in France is mechanically mined. Again, surplus
capacity has led to a struggle among exporting countries to
secure new markets or to maintain old ones in the face of
increased competition." 1

Petroleum. — As has been mentioned in a previous
chapter, petroleum or mineral oil occurs in the younger
sedimentary rocks. Sometimes, however, it is found in com-
paratively old rocks which are not quite 'ancient' and are, of
course, sedimentary or stratified. It is often called rock-oil,
and in fact, that precisely is the meaning of the word petro-
leum (Latin petrci—rock, oleum=^oil). As the bodies of.
plants and animals begin to decay, hydrogen and carbon are
Origin. given off. When these decay on the land surface, the gases
mix up with the atmosphere. But in case this process of
decay takes place under mud or sand beds, the released
hydrocarbons, being unable to pass into the atmosphere in
the gaseous state, are stored up. This decay, as well as the
conversion of the organic matter into oil, takes place as the
result of bacterial action. And as a rule, it is where the
organic substances were deposited in brackish water i.e.,
between fresh and salt waters, that the conversion of them
into oil seems to have been possible. That is why mineral
oil is largely found in old delta deposits. Gas, oil and salt
are often found in association. As might be expected, the

Geological £as *s a* ^e toP anc^ sa^ at ^e k°ttom wfth ^e °^ *n
condition for between them. The necessary geological conditions for the
storage. storage of oil in nature are (a) a porous stratum of sand-
stone or shale to hold the oil, and (&) impervious layers both

1 J. F. Bogardus, - "Notes on Recent Production and Movement
of Coal in Europe," Geographical Review, October 1930, p. 642.

FUEL AND POWER 213

above and below to prevent the escape of oil. Like coalfields,
these 'oil pools', or more precisely the beds of sand and clay,
are folded by earthquakes, and although such movements are
generally unfortunate for coalfields, they have ordinarily just
the reverse effect on oil pools; for the beds which
contain oil also contain water, and oil being lighter than water
floats on the latter, and where, as a result of earthquakes, the
beds are steeply inclined, the oil naturally rises to the crests
of the arches.

Crude petroleum is a complex chemical substance, and
varies greatly from one region to another in composition.
These may, however, be roughly divided into two types : (1)
the oils with a paraffin base and (2) those with a base of Uses,
petrol. Thus these two products are obtained from the crude
oil by distillation. But petrol and paraffin do not exhaust the
list of products obtained from the crude oil. Kerosene^,
gasoline, vaseline, benzine, asphaltum and other things are
produced from crude petroleum. The use of kerosene as an
illuminaiit is well-known. As late as the middle of the last
century the chief source of illuminants was animal fat;
despite the apparent preponderance of electric light kerosene
still holds the first place as an illuminant even in America and
Western Europe. Railway locomotives in some parts of the
\vorld, particularly in the U. S. A., are driven by the power
generated by the burning of kerosene. Some of the ships also
use it instead of coal. It also provides the source of heat for
millions of dwellings in Europe and America. The fact is that
petroleum can be readily broken down into a number of fuels
easily adaptable to the light combustion engine of motor cars,
aeroplanes, and tractors, to the heavier Diesel engine of
merchant ships, naval vessels and stationary engines, and the
ordinary hot-water or hot-air furnances used in heating build-
ings. And in most cases petroleum serves as a substitute
for coal ; it is cleaner and sometimes, though not in all cases,

214 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

less expensive than coal. And although more petroleum is
now burned for fuel than is used for any other purpose, it
has been well said that "the whole development of our
machine civilization has been made possible only by the use
of petroleum lubricants." The lubricants manufactured from
vegetable oils and animal fats could meet the needs of the
slow-moving machinery of the pre-industrial age ; but the
high-speed and high-temperature machines of to-day quickly
decompose these vegetable and animal oils, and only the
lubricants of mineral oils are suited to them.

The production of petroleum, it has been aptly observed,
has recently been increasing at an 'alarming rate'. But
although more than twenty countries are at present actively
engaged in the development of their respective petroleum
resources, only seven of them produce more than 90 per cent
of the world's total output. This can be seen from the
following table :

World Production of Petroleum1
1930

Country. Production

in millions of barrels of
42 gallons each.

U. S. A. . . . . . . 890

Venezuela . . 135

Russia . . . . . . 135

Persia . . . . 40

Roumania . . 40

Netherlands East Indies . . 40

Mexico . . . . 40

Others . . . . 80

Total ~"

1 Adapted from Case & Bergsmark.

FUEL AND POWER

215

The relative importance of the principal producers may Production,
be studied from the following table:

The Leading Producers of Petroleum1

1921-25

1931-35

Country p.c.

U. S. A.

Mexico

U. S. S. R.

Venezuela

Persia

Rumania

2-5

Iran

Dutch East Indies

2-5

Dutch E. Indies

Others

Mexico

Others . .

Total 100

U. S. A.

Mexico.

From all these figures we find that the U. S. A. is by
far the most important producer of petroleum with a steady
output of nearly two-thirds of the world's total. Of the huge
output of the U. S. A. about 70 p.c. comes from the three
states of Oklahoma (25%), California (24%) and Texas
(21%) ; other important centres of production in the republic
are, in order, Kansas, Louisiana, Wyoming, Illinois and
Kentuchy. At one time Mexico was one of the first-rank
producers; in 1923 she held the second place in respect of
petroleum production with 29 per cent of the world's total.
But she has fallen far behind now. South America, so very
deficient in coal resources, holds an important place in respect
of oil production. Especially important is the output of
Venezuela, which has her chief oil centre near about the Gulf Venezuela
of Maracaibo. Other important oilfields of South America S. American
are in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Trinidad (Br.), and the States-

1 Adapted from Stamp.

216

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Canada.

Europe.

Rumania

and

Poland.

Germany

and

France.

Russia.

Asia.

Persia and
Iraq.

India.

Punjab and
Assam.

Burma.

Argentine. Canada in North America is not yet known to
have any very important oilfield, although she is by no means
devoid of small oil pools, and in recent years she has been
steadily increasing her output.

Europe as a whole is rather deficient in mineral oil re-
sources. Her only important oil centres are in Rumania
and Poland, and although the total output of Rumania is
nothing like that of Mexico or of Venezuela in their heyday,
she certainly has a place among the leading oil producers of
the world. Poland, however, is not so fortunate despite her
fairly abundant resources. There are, however, lesser oil
pools in Germany in Hanover, and France produces a little
oil from her oil pools at Pechelbronn. Of all the European
countries Russia is by far the richest in oil resources. There
are big oilfields on both sides of the Caucasus chain, especially
in Grozny and Baku. Recently, again, another chain of new
oilfields, running parallel to the Ural Mountains, has been
discovered. These newly discovered fields do not, strictly
technically, belong to Asia, because they occur, at least for
the most part, on the European ('Western) side of the Urals.

In Asia the oilfields of Iran (Persia) are thought to
be 'enormously important*. Quite near these there are the
newly developed fields of Iraq, and still more recently there
has been discovered an oilfield on the southern shores of the
Persian Gulf; this was discovered only in 1935. From these
oilfields of what the westerners call the Near East we are
to proceed eastward till we reach the small oil pools of the
Punjab ; again travelling farther east we come to the oilfields
of Assam. Proceeding still farther we reach the important
fields of Burma. We have been travelling from Iran in a
general south-easterly direction; from Digboi, Assam, we
take a more decidedly southerly turn onward while keeping
all the time towards the east, and thus we reach the oilfields
of Java, Sumatra and Borneo in the Dutch East Indies

FUEL AND POWER

217

Borneo is, however, partly Dutch and partly British. By the Dutch
time we reach Borneo our direction has changed northwards, ij^jfes>
and proceeding along that direction we come to the oilfields
of Japan. These are not so big as those of Burma or the japatL
Dutch East Indies, and the small output of Japan is quite
insufficient for her home requirements .

WORLD PRODUCTION OF PETROLEUM.

As the map of petroleum production shows, Africa's
•share of oil is quite insufficient. That huge continent has Africa.
•only a few small fields on the shores of the Red Sea in Egypt.
Egypt. But the continent of Australia is even more un-
iortunate; no oilfield has yet been discovered there.

Australia.

It would be interesting as well as instructive to study the Comparison
relative output of coal and petroleum. A comparison of the oir^^on
'following two tables will show that while the production of and oi!4
coal has remained relatively steady for a considerable period, Pr<x*uctton*

218

ECONOMIC AN0 COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY"

that of petroleum has been increasing by leaps and bounds-
This by itself is not, however, of much significance; but the'
basic causes are quite significant, and naturally they call for
much hard thinking on the pai't of experts.

World Production of Coal and Petroleum1

YEAR.

1909-13

1914-17

1918

1919

1920

1921

1922

1923

1924

1925

1926

1927

1928

1929

1930

1931

1932

1933

1934

1935

'Adapted from Stamp.

COAL.

Millions of
Metric tons.

12-3

12-6

13-6

11-2

13-

11-

12-

13-

•4
•7
•5
•7

13-6

13-7

13-6

14-8

14-7

15-6

14-2

12-5

11-6

12-5

PETROLEUM.

100 millions
of barrels.

3-3'

4-5
5

5-5
7

7-7
8-6
•3

10-6

12-6

14-6

13-6

12-8

U-7

15-6

FUEL AND POWER 219

In 1936 the total reached 1730 million barrels (7 barrels Problem,
—one ton), and in 1937 it rose to be 1960 million.
This is what is meant by an 'alarming rate' of increase. It
is not possible to calculate the world's oil reserves although
those of coal can fairly well be judged. Many of the great
oilfields have been remarkably short-lived, particularly in
America, having reached their maximum output in two or
three years of their discovery and then declining quickly.
Thus the world depends largely upon the continued discovery
of new fields for its huge requirements of petroleum. And
although the exhaustion of the world's oil reserves is by no
means inminent, geologists are fairly well agreed that the
exhaustion will come long before any shortage of coal occurs,
— indeed it would be no surprise if the production of oil
shows a marked decline within a few decades. Actually there
was at one time an awful apprehension of a decline. But the
fear subsequently proved to have been false, and actually it
was followed by an enormous increase. Yet all countries are
at present practising a restriction on their output, and many
of the countries are trying to produce oil on the present scale
by the hydrogenation of coal i.e., by producing oil from coal.
The process in theory is simple ; it consists in forcing Attempts
hydrogen gas at high pressure to mix up with one of the at
constituents of coal and thereby effecting a change in the so
solid coal by way of its liquefaction into oil. Another way
known as low-pressure carbonisation is to convert coal partly
into coalite, a kind of smokeless fuel, and partly into oil.
Still there are other methods of producing petroleum. One
of these is to extract oil from oil shale. This is possible be-
cause oil shale contains some amount of oil in the form of
minute globules. The shale is heated in a closed vessel
usually of glass with long downward-bent neck called a retort,
and the oil globules are converted into gas which, when
collected an.cl cooled, condenses to be reconverted into oil.

220

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Position of

British

Empire

Petroleum

Industry.

Trade in
Petroleum.

But all these processes are as yet more or less expensive, and
do not generally pay; the oil obtained from wells is much
cheaper. Moreover, it has been calculated by experts that
"to produce oil on the present scale by the hydrogenation of
coal would mean increasing coal production by about 50 per

cent and would involve immense capital investment

Therefore, oil will be produced mainly from wells until scar-
city forces reliance on higher cost alternatives."1

The irregular distribution of the world's oil cannot but
have its effects on world politics and on the national economy
of individual nations. The British Empire, a cursory
glance at the map will reveal, is as a whole deficient in oil
resources when judged by modern standards of oil consump-
tion. The whole Empire produces only about 3 per cent of
the world's total supply, and the bulk of this small output
comes from the three leading oil centres of the Empire —
Trinidad, Burma and the British occupied parts of Borneo.
But this gloomy prospect is balanced to some extent by the
fact that a great proportion of the world's oil is now con-
trolled either by American or by British companies.

It is also significant that the U. S. A., despite her
enormous output, can spare but little for export. Her pro-
duction and consumption of oil are very nearly on a par, and
actually she does import a considerable amount of crude oil.
But this is not so much for home consumption as for the
purpose of exporting the oil to other countries after refine-
ment. The general custom hitherto was to export oil from
the producing countries to the consuming countries, and the
latter used to refine the crude oil before re-exporting a part
of it to different places including the country of origin. At

aC. K. Leith, World Minerals and World Politic^ p. 33.

FUEL AND POWER 221

present, however, there is keen rivalry between the producing
and the consuming countries as to which shall do the refining,
and so in some countries they have set up refineries at the
exporting ports and in others at the importing ports.

Natural Gas. — Natural gas, like petroleum, is of
organic origin, and is, therefore, found associated with the Origin,
latter. In the early days of the oil industry little heed was
paid to this valuable product of nature, and enormous quanti-
ties have thus been allowed to waste. The gas underground
is often under great pressure, and any faulty method of drill-
ing is liable to release the gas which then gushes forth with
mad violence. Even in the exploitation of an oil well it is
essential to keep the gas underground ; for it exerts pressure
and forces the oil up the well. The gas is generally collected
by means of pipelines, and because of the natural pressure it
can be easily forced to distant markets. A presure of any-
thing between 450 pounds to 2,000 pounds is not uncommon.

Natural gas is a perfect fuel, and can, therefore, be
harnessed in the service of the various manufacturing indus-
tries. At present it is largely used in the glass and
the iron and steel industries, besides being used exten-
sively as an illuminant. It seems to be a formidable rival
of coal, and may, in near future, set up a great revolution
in the coal trade. But again, a steady supply of natural
gas on a large scale, like that of petroleum, seems to be only
temporary, and certainly the length of life of any given gas
field is problematical. At present, however, much more of
natural gas is converted into gasoline than is used in the
natural form.

The U. S. A. is naturally the leading producer of
natural gas. She is also the chief consumer. In that coun-
try there are more than 55,000 gas wells and above 165,000

222

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Water-
power vs.
Wind-
power,
coal and
oil.

Productioa miles of pipelines for its distribution. The exploitation of
natural gas on an extensive scale is, however, a very recent
affair; but the industry has been expanding by leaps and
bounds since 1921. Other important producers are Russia,
Italy, Canada, the United Kingdom and Hungary.

Water-power. — The conversion of falling water into
mechanical energy is one of the earliest achievements of man.
It might not have been older than the utilisation of the force
of the wind for mechanical purposes ; but curiously enough
wind-mills are a rarity to-day, whereas the force of the
falling water is still being employed fairly extensively in spite
of the growing competition of coal and petroleum. When
the steam engine had not yet been invented, water-power
very nearly pervaded the entire field of the manufacturing
industries.

In the early days, however, the utilisation of water-
power was absolutely circumscribed by the geographical
location of the site of power. Thus there grew up scores
of busy industrial cities around or near about falls and
rapids. The early Tall line' towns of the U. S. A. have
actually been traced out by geographers to-day. So it was
in Western Europe as well. The location of the early iron
furnaces, for example, in the neighbourhood of Sheffield,
Great Britain, was determined by the rapids and falls of the
Pennine streams. This, however, led to what is frequently
called 'the localisation of industries.' The early water
Localisation wheel, owing to its almost 'primitive' simplicity of
of industries, structure, could be installed and worked as efficiently in
small streams, where the water flowed over ledges only a
few feet high, as in large rivers with gigantic falls and rapids.
That was the reason why, because of certain other contribu-
tory factors, regions like New England and the Mohawk
Valley in the United States, with their numerous small falls,

Limitations.

FUEL AND POWER 223

•could be very rapidly industrialised, while the almost in-
exhaustible power resources of the Niagara and the St.
Lawrence rivers failed to be exploited at all.

With the application of steam power there, however, industrial
came about an enormous change in the sphere of industries, Revolution
— a change that was nothing short of an Industrial Revolu- power.
tion.' Industry was freed from its restricted geographical
location, and could naturally spread to the centres of popu-
lation, to the regions whence the bulk of raw materials had
previously had to be obtained, and to areas where other Steam
'environmental conditions were suited to industrial develop- w^ter
ment. Thus steam power has the advantage of freeing in- power.
«dustry from the natural limitations imposed upon it by the
geographical location of rapids and falls. Again, more elec-
tric energy can be derived from steam than from flowing
water. But on the other hand, various ingenious devices
have been invented for long-distance transmission of
electricity, and this has reinstated water-power as a major
source of mechanical energy. Water-power is now utilized
more in the form of electrical energy than as a mechanical
agency pure and simple, and this energy can now be trans-
mitted easily to a distance of 300 miles from is base. The
extreme limits to which it can be transported have, however,
been calculated at 400 to 600 miles overland. Thus it is an
actuality to-day to export water-power like any other commo-
dity, although we cannot yet export it over vast stretches of
water. New Zealand, for example, cannot at present export
her surplus water-power over the sea to Australia, while
water-power is now frequently transmitted overland from
its source in the U. S. A. The electric turbine, again, ren-
ders it possible to utilise the entire energy derived from even
the mightiest falls. Moreover, water-power is capable of
being much more widely distributed than either coal or oil.

224 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Flowing water is very nearly an inexhaustible source -of
power, whereas coal and oil, though abundant, are strictly
limited. The relative importance of steam-electric and
hydro-electric energy varies in different regions; countries
with abundant fuel resources find it easier to make use of
the former, while in regions rich in rapids and falls but poor
in fuel it is easier to make use of the latter. Thus in
Northern Germany, where coal is fairly abundant, steam is
the major source of electric energy; but in Norway, where
there is a scarcity of fuel, falling water is practically the only
source of electric energy. In the U. S. A. about one-third
of the total electric energy is derived from falling water.

Of all the continents Africa ranks first so far as her
Distribution potential water-power resources are concerned; it has been
power*617" estimated that she possesses about 190 millions of horse-
(1) Africa, power, approximating 40 p.c. of the world's total. To employ
this huge power is to derive a benefit from the employment
of about 1,330 million men, since the power of an ordinary
man is supposed to be one-seventh horse-power. But Africa
is the most backward of all the continents so far as the
exploitation of her potential power resources is concerned.
The total actually employed falls far short of even two million
horse-power. No device has yet been invented for the cart-
ing off of this tremendous power to other continents in
order to add to the wealth of the great industrial nations of
the earth. The development of these vast water-power
reserves of Africa even for the promotion of home industries
will, in all probability, take generations. In some not very
remote age, however, part of this energy will perhaps be
utilized for cooling the homes within the humid lands of
Equatorial Africa, just as fuel has been used for centuries on
end to heat the homes in the middle and higher latitudes. It
will also be used on a large scale for mining and agricultural

FUEL AND POWER 225

purposes. Thus Africa seems to have very great possibili-
ties in the future, and this enables us to understand, to some
extent at least, the rivalry of the Western nations for the pos-
session of this 'Dark Continent*. Asia comes next to Africa
in her potential water-power resources, with a total of about (2) Asla-
75 millions of horse-power. But her developed power
scarcely exceeds 5 millions of horse-power, although she
contains nearly a third of the land area of the earth and
supports more than half the total population of the world-
The total turbine installation of Asia is less than that of
Norway or Italy. North America is a close rival of Asia ,^ North
so far as potential power reserves of the two continents America,
are concerned; but she ranks first in point of actual deve-
lopment of these resources, with a total well exceeding 20
millions of horse- power. Yet it cannot be said that the
turbine installations in North America are uniformly distri-
buted all over the continent. The fourth place in potential
power reserves is occupied by Europe, with a total just short
of 60 million horse-power. In point of actual development
her figure is just short of 20 millions of horse-power. Thus
North America and Europe together share more than 95
per cent of the world's total output of hydro-electric power>
of which the U. S. A. and Canada account for nearly half.
Next comes South America with a total reserve consider-
ably above 40' millions of horse-power ; but her actual (5) South
output is between 2 and 3 millions of horse-power, — a figure Amenca-
that gives her the fourth place in this respect. Last of all comes
Oceania with a total reserve of about 18 million horse-power,
and, though her actual output of energy does not exceed
2 millions of horse-power, she may be given the fifth place
(the sixth place being occupied by Africa) in this respect.
To sum up, the countries which have developed their water- ,^ Oceania
power resources are the U. S. A., Canada, Italy, Japan,
France, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Spain,
15

226 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Australia (particularly Tasmania), and New Zealand. It is
fairly accurate a generalisation to say that, hilly and moun-
tainous regions, especially those where rainfall is constant
or abundant, possess large amount of potential water-power
resources, and that since coal and oil are not found in very
mountainous tracts, such countries have generally been
obliged to develop their water-power resources for industrial
purposes. The British Isles as a whole is rather poor in
water-power reserves and most of her electricity is derived
from the use. of coal, although water-power is utilized in the
Highlands, the southern uplands of Scotland and Wales; the
Irish Free State, where there is a great scarcity of coal, has,
however, the largest hydro-electric installations in the British
Isles near Limerick on the River Shannon. Tasmania and
New Zealand arc making use of their water-power reserves
at a very high pace, and as late as in 1935 a start was made
to utilize the famous Victoria Falls of Africa.

STUDIES AND QUESTIONS

1. Make a list of the principal materials used as fuel. What
is the chief fuel in your locality and why? Where does coal and
petroleum used in your locality or your vicinity come from?

2. What are the leading countries in (a) coal reserves, (b) coal
production, and (c) coal export? Account for your answers.

3. Briefly describe the world distribution of coal with special
reference to its economic importance. (I. P. S. '32).

4. In what conditions may a coal mine be of greater value than
a gold mine? Illustrate your answer by reference to the coal mines
of Great Britain and Germany. (C. U. Inter. '27) t

5. Name the countries from which coal and petroleum are
exported. (B. Com. '24).

6. Give an account of the world distribution and present produc-
tion of mineral oil. (Inter. '40).

FUEL AND POWER 227

7f What are the leading countries in (a) petroleum reserves,
(b) petroleum production, and (c) petroleum export? Account for
your statements.

8. What are the liquid fuel producing countries? (B. Com.
40). ,

9. Examine and estimate the coal and petroleum resources of
the U. S. A. (Inter. '32).

10. What are the essential geographical factors for the develop-
ment of water-power? Give suitable examples from particular coun-
tries.

11. Name any four countries where water-power is principally
used. Explain the special circumstances in each country favouring
its use in preference to other forms of power. (Inter. '33).

12. Examine and estimate the water-power resources of Africa.

CHAPTER VIII

Measure-
ment of
labour in
'mathemati-
cal terms.

.Measure-
ment of
the influence
of labour
on produc-
tion.

Quantity.
Quality.

LABOUR AND PRODUCTION

The Problem of Measurement. — The influence of
labour on production, like that of soil and climate, can
scarcely be exaggerated. Economists have, therefore, sought
to devise elaborate technicalities for the measurement of
labour in terms of production, its quality and quantity, its
value, and the time occupied in the furnishing of a given
amount of product. But although it is possible to calculate
each of these factors separately and some of them conjointly,
it is not always possible to determine in precise mathematical
terms the relation in which all of them are bound together
with the labour factor, because labour is admittedly an elusive
object defying a mathematical treatment. Yet certain broad
lines for estimating the influence of labour on production can
be indicated. Thus, for eample, it has been found that the
influence spoken of above varies ''with the quantity required
and the quality available to furnish a given amount of
product." l In some of the industries the quantity required
to produce a certain value is relatively high, in others low.
Thus in the coal-mining industry it may be as high as 64 or
even 80 per cent of the total cost, while in the textile indus-
tries it may be as low as only IS per cent. Although it is,
thus, possible to measure the quantity of human labour in
terms of actual output of any product and its price, it is not
always possible to measure its quality. This, where possible,
is to be measured 'by the amount of product per head turned

'Chisholm's Handbook of Commercial Geography, p. 63. The
figures relate to British industries prior to the Four Years' War of
1914-18..

LABOUR AND PRODUCTION 229

out in a given time' with or without the help of machinery :l
where, however, the aid of machinery is indispensable, care
ought to he taken to note the fact whether the same type of
tools or different types are used for the production of that
particular amount of commodity in a given time ; in the
former case the price of the machinery and the cost of instal-
lation are to be taken as relatively constant, subject, of course,
to the usual depreciation proviso ; in the latter case the price
and cost of installation of the new types of machines employed
for the purpose are regarded as additional sums to be
reckoned with the total cost of production.

Human Labour. — Human labour may be divided Human

into two broad categories : *?^S> : „

8 (a) Forced

and

(a) Forced Labour; (&) Free.

(b) Free Labour.

Forced Labour may, again, be subdivided into
(i) Serfage and (ii) Slave Labour. Serfage is a peculiar Forced
social status under which individuals enjoy what little benefits (aa)° serfage
may accrue from separate property and separate rights, and and
are, at the same time, attached to particular estates, for the * ' labour,
owners of which they are to work, generally for a specified
number of days every week, without any remuneration save
that which they can get by labouring on their own little Serfage,
farms. The principle is feudal; they are to work for the
overlord as an inalienable obligation for enjoying the small
gifts of land made to them by the overlord, and are usually
sold with his estate. This, in effect, is a step away from
actual slavery under which the labourer is regarded as a
chattel of the owner without even the most elementary rights
of a human being. Serfage is quite commonly, but rather erro-

1 Op. cit.. p. 64.

230 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

neously, thought to be a mediaeval system. It was, no doubt,
a heritage of the Middle Ages, but it persisted in Europe in
some form or other down to the latter half of the last century.
The abolition of serfage from the civilised world is a story
not even full three-quarters of a century old. It subsisted
as a full-fledged system in Russia till 1861 ; the government
of the Dutch East Indies are said to have exacted this
type of labour from the natives till much later; in Egypt,
too, serfage existed until the closing decades of the last
century. And though the labour exacted on the indigo and
the tea plantations of India by the early Britishers cannot
technically be described as such, the labourers were certainly
kept in a state of virtual slavery till very recently.
Serfage is still being practised by the European settlers in
Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Latin America. In

the last named place another and a more subtle form of
Peonage. . , , , , . , - 11.

forced labour, known as peonage, is employed: under this

system the natives are encouraged to contract debts to the
employers, and care is taken to prevent them from getting
free from these debts so that they may be forced to work all
their lives — sometimes for generations — for their money-
lending masters.

^ Slavery in its technical sense is now a thing of the past.

abour. Abyssinia fs said to have been its last refuge until the Italian

conquest of that country in 1 935-36. * Slavery, like serfage,

1 Chisholm's Handbook, p. 68. But doubts may reasonably be
entertained regarding the truth of this assertion. It is difficult to see
how Italy could effectively abolish an age-old system in course
of these few years, and that in spite of insurrections every now
and then. Moreover, the constant bragging about Italy's 'civilising
mission* in Abyssinia is too vivacious to be taken seriously. It
is much more reasonable to suppose that Italy, even in spite of her
best intentions, is still being forced to work the system already in
vogue in the conquered territories.

LABOUR AND PRODUCTION 231

flourished in Europe and elsewhere down to the nineteenth
century ; it was abolished in the British Empire by an act of
1833, and its abolition from the New World was staked on
the issue of a violent civil war between the two Americas.
But it not only persisted but flourished in the tropical colonies
of the European settlers till much later. The emancipation
of slaves throughout the greater part of the world is, much
like the abolition of serfage, a story scarcely fifty or sixty
years old. Slave labour was, however, of prime importance
in the development of not only the Americas, but of most
of the European colonies throughout the world. The imme- th
diate effects of the emancipation of slaves are a chapter in tton of
the history of European colonisation too recent to be for- s avery*
gotten. In many places the effects are said to have been
disastrous : in Jamaica, for example, the exports declined
from an average annual value of about three million sterling
to less than two million. This was because the liberated
slaves in the first flush of emancipation left the plantations
almost in a body to live the life of the peasant subsistence
farmer. Where, however, free labour was still available or
white men came forward to work on plantations, this sort
of eventuality did not occur. This was particularly the case
in such places as Barbados and Brazil. And thus viewing A dis-

the scene as a whole instead of directing attention to isolated torted

* * , « . picture,

cases, one gets the impression that much of the lamentations

over the immediate effects of the emancipation of slaves, still
voiced forth in various history books as well as in treatises
on commerce, are much exaggerated: it is sheer distortion
of facts to say that the immediate effects of the liberation of
slaves were disastrous on the whole. The fact is just the
reverse : on the whole it was attended with good results, not
only for the emancipated slaves, but for the plantations as
well: it left the slaves to exercise their own initiative either
as free labourers or as subsistence farmers, and thus opened

232

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Emancipa-
tion of
slaves and
Industrial
Revolution.

History of
free labour.

How to
account
for its
diversity.

up new avenues of economic and commercial development
in the countries of their adoption; it also extended a new
scope of activity to the free labourers of the 'white stock* of
mankind. The fact is that the forces generated by the Indus-
trial Revolution had, for a long time, been paving the way
for this supposed 'reform', for which various governments,
especially those of Great Britain and the U. S. A., have long
been endeavouring to take credit. What these authoritative
bodies did, in effect, was but to bow down to the inevitable,
and that not quite willingly but after a good deal of usual
hesitancy and criminal procrastination.

Free Labour is said to be a peculiarity of the 'modern
age'. Its history can be traced from the downfall of feudal-
ism in Europe; academically speaking, its emergence can be
attributed to the decay of serfdom as a result of the Crusades
and the subsequent Black Death. Yet 'free labour* as we
know it to-day is a very recent development, — particularly
free industrial labour, which may be said to have begun with
the industrial Revolution. But it would be quite inadequate
to account for its growth merely by reference to the Indus-
trial Revolution, which although far-reaching in its conse-
quences, is a matter of European — and therefore of American
— history rather than of the general history of the world.
And that is one of the reasons why there are great diver-
sities in the condition of free labourers in different parts of
the world. These diversities may be partly accounted for
by the fact that the consequences of the Industrial Revolu-
tion have not been everywhere the same, nor can they ever
be, because even in Europe — not to speak of any other conti-
nent— the social and political conditions of the various peoples
have always been widely divergent. But it is also a folly of
the first magnitude, though precisely this very thing has
been being perpetrated by many a writer long since, to apply

LABOUR AND PRODUCTION 233

the lessons learnt in the study of Europe to the interpretation
of world affairs at large. The diversities referred to above
are to be explained by reference also to local conditions,
subsisting in an atmosphere different in many respects from
that of Europe or America. Thus, for example, the condi-
tions under which free labour flourishes in caste-ridden
India are quite different from those obtaining in the West.
Free labour in the West may be a product of the Industrial
Revolution or even a remote effect of the breakdown
of the feudal system; but it may be none of these in
India or in China ; in the East it may as well be the product
of other factors.

Now to the general diversities in the condition of free
labourers in different parts of the world. One of these is the
-diversity of money wages. Wages have no uniform standard of free
throughout the world even when the labour and the output
per head of a commodity be the same. This is accounted for
in various ways. Wages as a rule are intimately connected with Wages,
what may be called the cost of living. A labourer in a favoured
region can do away with many of the things that are regarded
as indispensable necessaries in regions where the climate is
severe. In wintry regions, for example, he is to spend much
more for protection against the weather by means of adequate

clothing, housing and fuel than in warmer countries. The 1(r°.st °*

^ " living.

food required in cold countries is also generally more expen-
sive than that needed in the tropics or in warm temperate
latitudes. But to account for the diversity of wages by varia-
tions in the cost of living is not always right or just; for it
has been found that those countries in which the highest wages
are generally paid are also those in which a large number of
the most important necessaries of life are comparatively cheap.
The highest wages are paid in those countries which, like
Canada, the ILS.A., Uruguay, the Argentine Republic and

234 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Australia, are of much recent development. The lowest
wages are paid in tropical countries, particularly in those
places where population is exceedingly dense and dependent
primarily on agriculture. But density of population and com-
parative freedom from want on the part of the bulk
of population do not necessarily ensure a cheapening of
the most important articles of consumption. Money
wages do not, therefore, depend on the cost of living
alone; they are as intimately related to what may be
called the standard of liviny. This standard varies in
different parts of the world, and care is generally taken
by capitalists not to interfere with it in such a way as to
help in raising the standard of living of the labour class, often,
of course, with dubious success. In Japan, for example,
where the climate is much severer than in the east of the
Mediterranean region (the two places lie in the same
latitude), the labourers' standard of living is much lower;
they live almost entirely on rice, barley, wheat, beans, peas
and other vegetable food; in summer they wear scant cloth-
ing ; straw sandals and wooden clogs are all that they can
have for foot wear.

As for efficiency, it has been said that the highest-paid

Efficiency labour is almost invariably the most efficient, where by
of labour. _ . t . .,. , , ,

efficiency is meant the ability to produce more than the aver-
age result within a given time. As Stamp puts it, where a
Lancashire weaver usually minds four looms by himself,
fifty per cent of the Indian weavers only mind one loom, and
the statement is made on the authority of an official report
published in 1919 that the ratio of efficiency between
Lancashire and Indian operatives in the cotton industry is as
2l/2 to 1. These differences may be attributed to various
causes, — to differences of race and climate, food and dwellings,
and also to difference in intelligence. The last of these

LABOUR AND PRODUCTION 235

differences — that in intelligence — is, however, a dubious

factor, and one over which science has not yet achieved any Factors

i T-» i i i i • • 1 11 responsible

control. But much may be done by raising the standard for cliff er-

of living to combat the evils resulting from dwelling en5e. *n
in unhygienic houses or surroundings and eating unwhole-
some food. It has been found that the highest paid
labourers can afford to live in good houses and eat the
most wholesome and nourishing food. This, in its
turn, increases their efficiency. And increased efficiency, Kftidency
again, means a high production per head in a given time, — and pro-
a factor that renders possible a large surplus of time and
labour, which may be employed in other industries in order
to earn a larger income or spent in wholesome recreation and
leisure, and this, again, may ensure a higher rate of produc-
tion in working hours. These considerations have led to
various sound social legislation, and this is gradually lead-
ing to a lessening of the diversities in the condition of free Legislation
labour all the world over. And since international commerce *™ increas"
is based on the fact of national interdependence, the people of labourers'
the world would, on the whole, derive great benefits from the
world-wide spread of such legislation. This would not only
equalise, within certain limits, the general condition of the
labour factor throughout the world, but would also act as a
fillip to the inherent equalising tendency of commerce, — a
tendency that is ever seeking to manifest itself in such pheno-
mena as the stability of prices (i.e., equality of prices from
year to year), their equality in different regions of production,
and the development of the resources of different regions to
the utmost extent possible. The unequal advantages derived
by some countries from low labour costs would, thus, dis-
appear with the raising of the labourers' standard of living;
and given proper scope for the operation of natural laws or
tendencies, the elimination of such unequal advantages would
lead to more efficient international co-operation in the world

236

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

of commerce, if nowhere else. But this must not foster the
false hope that, a mere raising of the labourers' standard of
living would act as the panacea for all the evils inevitably
resulting from a system of competitive commerce. Tht.
entire commercial system of the present-day world needs re-
organising on a co-operative basis.

Free
labour,
— what
it means.

Restrictions
imposed by
religion,
custom,
govern-
ment,
labour
union and
economic
system.

Relative
economic
freedom.

Free labour
and present
economic
system.

Is it
virtual
slavery
tinder capi-
talism ?

Free labour is not, however, absolutely free in the sense
that it is not subject to any but the restrictions imposed on it
by the labourers* own free will. Apart from the more obvious
restraints exercised on it by religion and custom, by state
interference and the labour unions themselves, its free play
has always been curbed more or less effectively by tht
economic system under which it works. We call it 'free
labour' only in a relative sense, — it is freer than slavery or
serfage : it is no longer subject to feudal restrictions, and
does, therefore, enjoy a relative economic freedom. A
labourer now is free to choose his vocation ; no one, at least in
theory, is going to force him about that. But even from the
economic point of view he is not absolutely free ; he is, as it
were, a wage-slave, working, in return for a guaranteed wage,
at the bidding of his employer, and having, as such, no part
in the ownership of either the instruments of production or
the goods he helps to produce. This divorce between work
and ownership is said to be the most characteristic feature of
modern capitalist organisation, and many a socialist writer
has gone so far as to suggest that under the present capitalistic
system the labourer lives and works as a virtual slave of his
employer. But even granting much of the force of the argu-
ment advanced by the socialist, it seems to be carrying a
doctrinaire thesis beyond its logical limits, because slavery or
serfage is essentially a different matter. A slave, in theory,
has no personal rights ; and whatever separate rights to person
and property a serf may have are admittedly bound up with

LABOUR AND PRODUCTION 237

the superior rights of his overlord. But a labourer has no bar
to own invested property, and certainly he has all the rights

to his own person that the employer has over his own. And in Many

. ^ £ £ ± 11 i i , labourers

point of fact many a labourer now does possess such property petty

on a small scale and has thus, become a small capitalist in his capitalists.
own way. And if it is possible under the existing system to
terrorise the labourer by the threat of dismissal, he, in his own „
turn, can force the hands of his employer by holding up the Union and

threat of strike : with the legalising of Trade Unions the right "£]£ to
to strike has grown to be the counterpart to the right to "
discharge. But even so, the labourer as labourer has no voice
in the administration of business : owners and labourers may Divorce of

even come to be the same people, and yet ownership and ownership

r r ' J fr and labour

labour would, under the present system, continue to be two under

quite distinct and separate functions. Free labour as we capitalism.
know it to-day functions under this grave disability.

What, then, are the results of labour under these condi- j abour»s
tions from the point of view of production ? The modern influence on
workman lives by selling his labour ; he cannot sell his pro- Production
duct ; for as workman he does not own it. Nor can it be modern
said that he has any product at all, because as a producer condltlons-
under modern conditions of industrial organisation he pro-
duces nothing, but merely collaborates with a multitude of T ajjOUrer
other workers in creating a product and that primarily for not respon-
earning a meagre livelihood and secondarily at the bidding ^orein°er.
of his master. Having no recognised powers or rights in the ested in
conduct of business he is not interested in its development, pro uctlon
but only in getting as much as he can out of it without often
any sense of responsibility for doing his best to increase its
ability to pay. Yet the modern workman wields tremendous
powers through his Trade Union, and can do incalculable
harm to production. Although devoid of any positive autho-
rity in the matter of enhancing production, much less in the

238

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Labourer's
negative
authority
over pro-
duction,etc.

The
problem.

Attempts at
solution :

(1) Profit
sharing.

actual conduct of business as a whole, he has in fact consider-
able negative authority, by the exercise of which he can, and
frequently does, interfere with all the branches of trade and
commerce. But again, if the modern workman has no autho-
rity with regard to increasing production or carrying on
business, he certainly has the potentiality to produce and even
to accelerate commercial activities. The question, therefore,
is : How to enlist the tremendous power lying in the
workers' hands on the side of productive efficiency ? This
can admittedly be done by recognizing the workman's claim
to a voice in the administration of business. Various
schemes, such as the introduction of a system of profit-sharing
or co-partnership, adoption of some sort of sliding scales for
balancing the rate of wages with fluctuations in price of com-
modities, establishment of works councils as consultative
machinery for ascertaining the views of workmen as regards
the actual conduct of business, have been suggested by way
of solution of this knotty problem. But while these schemes
have, when put into operation, led to occasional clearing of
misunderstanding between employers and the employed, all
of them have signally failed to bring about any kind of lasting
peace, because of the fatal defect, inherent in them all, that
none of these 'agencies for industrial peace* really concede to
the workman any power at all. Prospects of profit-sharing
always work under the grave disability that there is no
necessary relation between the amount of profit made by a
business from year to year and the amount, as well as the
quality, of the work done by its employees. All the best
efforts of the workers may be effectively counteracted by an
inefficient sales department or by faulty management ; on the
other hand, good management may yield profits out of all
proportion to the workers' efforts. Profit-sharing thus
entails 'highly unequal rewards for equal efforts'. Moreover,
it naturally involves the gloomy prospect of sharing in the

LABOUR AND PRODUCTION 239

loss as well, and under this system the workman does not
necessarily have any say in the management of the business.
Co-partnership seeks to remedy this last defect by conceding (2) Co-
to the worker not only a share in the profits, but also in the par ners llp*
management. But the shares issued to workers have seldom,
if ever, been enough to confer any real control ; and even if
they ever come to be an appreciable part of the total capital in
the business, the wise workman might legitimately seek to
invest them elsewhere with a view to spreading his risks
rather than in the business from which he draws his wages.
The essence of sliding scales is that "the rate of wages should
vary with the changes in the price of the product in accord-
ance with a previously stipulated ratio."1 But it has been
criticised on the ground that "there seems no valid reason (3) Sliding
why the wage-earner should voluntarily put himself in a scak's-
position in which any improvement of productive methods,
any cheapening of cost of carriage, any advance in commercial
organisation, any lessening of the risks of business, any
lightening of the taxes or other burdens upon industry, and
any fall in the rate of interest — all of which are calculated to
lower price — should automatically cause a shrinking of his
wage."- Works Councils are, however, merely consultative
bodies : they can work by mutual consent ; as organized in (4) Works
Great Britain after the scheme outlined by the famous Councils.
Whitley Committee, such a council could carry no proposal
against opposition from either side. And so long as industry
is conducted on capitalist lines, the employer or his agent, the j . ^ .
manager, must have the final say on what should be done, of capi-
not the worker. No 'joint control' is really workable under talltstm
this system, because, as matters stand under capitalism, some
one must have the final word as regards the conduct of busi-

1 Sen & Das, An Introduction to Economic Theory, p. 552.
8 Op. dt.t p. 553.

240

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Whether
capitalism
is to
survive
or not.

The

Socialist

alternative.

Direction
and control
of indus-
trial
policy
by the
community.

ness, and many people regard this as inevitable, if not quite
essential, a limitation for the success of the capitalist system.

But even if this divorce between ownership and work,,
this exclusion of workers from a share in the business policy,
be an inevitable limitation of the capitalist system, one cannot
grant that it is exactly essential for the success of capitalism,
because obviously it engenders a constant friction that can
by no means be conducive to efficient production. And the
question has seriously been raised by many whether under
modern forms of industrial organisation the capitalist system
of production — in fact, the entire body of capitalist economic
organisation — is to survive or not. Although we are here
not directly concerned with the more technical side of the
question, it is, however, important to note that socialists
of all schools of thought are ranged decidedly against the con-
tinuance of the present system of production. Most of these
schools are, however, evolutionary in their ideas, and if the
majority of the socialists believe themselves to be working
for a reasonably rapid transformation of the economic system,
they , do not, like the communists, envisage a sudden or
immediate overthrow of the capitalist organisation by in-
voking the forces of revolution. It is, of course, difficult to-
put forward a definition of socialism to which all socialists,
would agree; for socialism, like most of our fundamental
notions, is more a tendency than 'a clear-cut concept. l The
greatest common measure of agreement among the socialists
may perhaps be found in the doctrine that the direction and
control of industrial policy — whether for production or for
profit and exchange — should be in the hands, not of private
individuals (owners of capital or their agents), but of the
community itself. One of the chief points of socialist attack

aBertrand Russell, Roads to Freedom, pp. 1 sq.

LABOUR AND PRODUCTION 241

against capitalism is concerned with what is supposed to be
the economic waste and inefficiency inherent in capitalism.
Socialism seeks to remedy this defect by organising industry
as a whole in accordance with an ordered plan, so that the Co-ordinat-
supply may be forthcoming in the right relation to demand. Of industry
This co-ordinated control over different industries or under- and pro-
takings must naturally exercise a profound influence on the according
actual production of commodities. But where does the work- to demand,
man stand in this imagined structure of socialism? We have

already seen that what is commonly called 'joint control* is T t

„ 111-1 • i. p • Labour

really unworkable in the capitalist system of organisation. under

But is it workable in a socialist system ? So long as manage- socialism,
ment and production remain two separate functions — and
under modern conditions of large-scale business they are
bound to remain separate — * joint control' is impossible ; some p
one must be the final authority as regards the actual conduct tation of

of business, and that some one has the real control, which can labourers
1 i i- • i i i ™ -r i ln particular

by no means be divided between two groups. But if, there- industries

fore, socialism cannot liberate the worker from the obvious anc* tne .

community
necessity of obeying orders, it can make these orders emanate in industry

from the representatives of the workers themselves, and thus af. a
bring about a complete reversal of the workers' status. The
management to-day is the representative of the share-holders,
it shall be, under socialism, the representative of the workers,
"under the authority of a higher direction of industry repre-
senting the community as a whole."

Cooiie Labour. — It is said to be a peculiar form of Indentured
free labour, largely employed on plantations in European contract**1
tropical and subtropical colonies.1 The labourers are mostly system,
emigrants from India and China, working on the contract
system on these plantations for a specified number of years.

A Chisholm's Handbook, p. 67.
16

242

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

The system
on the
wane with
gradual
development
of colonies
and intro-
duction of
legislation.

Enlistment
of 'white*
labour on
contract
basis.

Tendency
to welcome
immigrants
In early
stages of
colonisation
and prohi-
bit immi-
gration
in later
stages.

It is in fact indentured labour. The system is now on the
wane because of a variety of factors : owing to the generally
inhuman treatment meted out to the coolies on plantations,
such contracts are now allowed under stricter regula-
tions than formerly ; and the colonists are now depend-
ing more and more on native labour. Moreover, with the
steady development of plantations and the consequent sub-
stitution of routine work in place of the severe strain of
initial activities, the necessity of enlisting the services of more
efficient workers has gradually been ceasing to be quite im-
perative ; the natives, on the other hand, are slowly learning
to work on plantations ; finally, with the passing away of the
pioneering stage of colonisation and the more or less success-
ful development of a great number of colonies, the stage of
settlement has arrived, and a consequent supply of 'white'
labour on these plantations, though small, cannot be lost
sight of.

The labour of white men is also sometimes enlisted in
such colonies on a contract basis, particularly for the execu-
tion of some technical piece of engineering like the construc-
tion of roads, railways, bridges etc. The United States, for
example, owe much to such indentured labour ; but this system
of importation and migration of aliens under contract was
prohibited by an Act of Congress in 1885. The system was
in vogue in Australia also, and even there it has now been
made illegal except in some special circumstances. The fact
is that, in the early stages of colonisation immigrants are
generally welcomed, because -the need of enlisting labour is
acutely felt ; but with the gradual development of the colonies
and the enlistment of labour the urgency wears out, and a
tendency to restrict immigration begins to take the field.
Another and a more elaborate system of enlisting labour on
big plantations and colonies is to effect contracts between

LABOUR AND PRODUCTION 243

various countries for land settlement by families: the coun-

tries which are over-populated and consequently suffer from

the acute malady of unemployment readily agree to send Arrange-

immigrants to those countries where there is an acute shortage j^ settie-

of labour and thus get relieved of the surplus population, ment by
Many Italian and German families have thus settled in recent between
years in different states of South America ; Canada has different
similarly been peopled with British families.

Factors affecting Labour Supply. — The factors affec- physical and
tine the supply of labour in particular and the trend of com- non-physical

• 1 i i n i •* i • * * * factors.

merce in general may be broadly classified into two cate-

gories: physical (geographical) and non-physical. The
physical factors include the whole assemblage of geographical
conditions influencing human life and activity ; these, as enu-
merated and discussed in earlier chapters, are location, size,
topography etc. of different regions. Non-physical factors
include such things as religion and custom, race and civiliza-
tion, economic system and government, and the like. We
have already discussed in some detail the organisation, signi-
ficance and influence of the present capitalist system, and
have also broadly hinted at the socialist alternative. Other
factors like religion and custom, however, require a little more
•elucidation.

Religion and custom, by prohibiting certain activities and influence of
restricting others, affect labour and commerce to a great relig*°n and
extent. In all Christian countries the Sunday is a day of rest
and thus it interrupts the even flow of labour in these coun-
tries every week. Friday is likewise a day of meditation and
prayer in all Muhammadan countries. Numerous religious
festivals are observed on various specified days a year not
only by the Hindus but more or less by all peoples. Again,
Buddhism, by placing an almost uncompromising emphasis

244*

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Races of
mankind
and their
distribution.

Nordic.

Alpine.

Mediterra-
nean.

on the protection of animals, have made the Chinese and also
the Japanese averse to stock raising for the purposes of meat
industry. The acceptance of interest being forbidden in
Islam, banking institutions have not developed to any appre-
ciable degree among the Muhammadans, and to this may
perhaps be attributed much of the bad blood that now exists
between the Hindu money-lenders of Bengal and the predo-
minantly Muhammadan peasantry of the province. The
Eastern Mediterranean regions are well suited to the vine,,
but have not developed the wine industry because wine is.
forbidden in Islam, and consequently there is, in these pro-
vinces, a great demand for coffee instead of any kind of
alcoholic drink.

Race is also said to have profound economic importance
Mankind has been classified into six primary races: the
Nordic, the Alpine and the Mediterranean, all of whom are
said to belong to the race of the so-called Caucasian Man,
and the Mongol, the Negro and the Australian races. The
Nordic race includes the North Europeans generally such as
the Scandinavians, Dutch, Flemings, North Germans and
some Russians; most of the aristocratic type of Englishman
and Scotch are also said to belong to this type. The Alpine
race includes the Swiss, South Germans, Slavs, French and
North Italians of Europe as well as the Turks, Persian
Tajiks, the mountain peoples of the Pamirs, and the various
Armenoids like the Armenians, Mesopotamians, Southern
Arabians etc. The Mediterranean race is said to constitute
the basic population of the Mediterranean peninsulas and
islands, the Semites of Arabia, the Berbers (Northern
Hamites) of Libya in Africa, the Egyptians, Abyssinians,
Somali, Galla, Beja, Berberines and probably the Tamils of
India. These Caucasians are said to constitute the so-called
White race' of mankind though their colour be anything*

LABOUR AND PRODUCTION 245

between pink white and dark brown. The Mongol or Mongol.
Yellow race live in Eastern Asia, particularly in China and
adjacent territories; the ruling races of Japan are certainly
Mongolians, but the primitive Ainu folk there belong to the
Alpine race. The Negro race has branched out in two great
divisions — -the African or Negro proper and the Oceanic or
Melanesia!!. The true Negro is an inhabitant of West
Africa, being confined to the neighbourhood of the Guinea
coast. But several half-breeds, born of various sorts of inter-
mingling of races, such as the Bantu, Nilotes and half-
Hamitcs, live in Africa south of the Sahara. The Oceanic
Negroes are represented by the Papuans of New Guinea, and
by the other primitive races of Melanesia. The Negrito
people are the Pygmies of Africa, and with certain variations
include the Andamanese, the Semang of the Malay Peninsula,
the Aeta of the Philippines and several other less known
peoples. The Bushmen and the Hottentot are supposed to
be related to the Pygmies. The Australian race includes the Australian,
primitive Australians generally and the pre-Dravidian tribes
of Southern India and Ceylon. These races are said to differ
markedly in intelligence and vigour ; the world's commerce Of race.
is shared very unequally by these peoples, not only because
of the different surroundings they live in, but also because of
their inherent characteristics. The commercial and political
supremacy of the world at present is owned by the Caucasian,
and to a lesser degree by the Mongol, races, particularly by
the Europeans, Americans and Japanese. We shall have
occasion to discuss in detail the influence of racial charac-
teristics on labour supply and commerce in subsequent
chapters.

As for government, it may be said in general that bad
government is always a handicap on the supply of labour and, wvemment
therefore, on the development of trade and commerce. Mexico,

246

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

o
population,

Trade
Unions.

for example, is fairly rich in natural resources, and so are
also many of the South American States. But the absence
of any stable form of government in these countries and the
frequent revolutions to which they are subjected, interfere
with the even flow of commerce. China despite her vast
natural resources has not yet made much headway in com-
merce primarily because she lacks a strong central govern-
ment, capable of organising her vast population as a single
unit and controlling foreigners from exploiting her own
resources at their will. The case of India is not much un-
like ; she too is being exploited by a foreign government and
is finding it hard to concentrate upon constructive work*
In all free countries government help people organise for
various pursuits and often take a direct hand in the matter.
Sometimes they enact laws for the regulation of labour and
trade. We shall have occasion to note governmental inter-
ference and governmental help with regard to these things as
we proceed.

The extent and density of population is another such
^actor- Sparsely populated regions are not, as a rule, marked
for intense commercial activity; the supply of labour is
meagre; people have very few wants, and need very little
to buy and have very little to sell. The largest volume of
commerce generally flourish in densely peopled areas, and
labour is easily recruited in and from such places.

Trade Union and like labour organisations naturally have
profound influence on labour supply and, therefore, on trade
and commerce. Their main efforts are directed to the secur-
ing of high wages and short working hours for the workmen.
This they seek to obtain through the organising of strikes and
meditation. Trade Unions are most highly developed in the
West — in those countries where manufacturing industries are

LABOUR AND PRODUCTION 247

highly advanced. But labour unions and trade guilds have
never been unknown in the East. Trade guilds in China,
organised by the labourers, have been wielding appreciable
power since very long times. In India the caste system acts
to some extent as a trade union, each caste insisting "on the
proper training of the youth of its craft, regulates the wages
of its members, deals with trade delinquents, and promotes
good fellowship by social gathering." *

Machinery and Labour. — Although the use of tools is
as old as the existence of man, the introduction of machinery
for large-scale manufacturing industry is an event a little
more than a hundred and fifty years old ; it was the precursor Use Of
of the famous Industrial Revolution (1760—1820). The machinery
utilisation of machinery for production depends on two things Onpephysica
in the main, — physical conditions and the supply and attitude conditions
of labour. Agricultural machinery, for example, cannot pro- g"pply ^n
pcrly be employed on rugged surfaces ; great level plains are attitude of
best suited to its use, although, if the climate be highly moist a our*
and the soil consequently soft and wet, they prove to be very
ereat hindrances to the working of the machines. The coal-
cutting machinery, again, is useless where the seams are thin
and discontinuous. That is a reason why the use of coal-
cutting machinery has spread much more rapidly in the
U. S. A. than in Great Britain. Moreover, where labour is
cheap and abundant, as in the Far East, it is more economical
to employ men equipped with low-priced hand implements
than to introduce costly high-grade machinery. Labourers,
again, not infrequently oppose the introduction of new machi-
nery for fear of unemployment, and it should be conceded
that often their fears prove to be justified. The advantages
of the use of machinery may be roughly set forth as follows : 2

1 Hunter's 'Gazetteer', vi-197, quoted in Chisholm's.

8 Sen & Das, An Introduction to Economic Theory, pp. 101 ff.

248 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Advantages (a) It is absolutely beyond human strength to perform

machinery. a number of things without the help of machi-

nery. Man cannot move loads that require a
crane to move.

(b) In many cases machinery work faster and are

much more productive than human beings.

(r) In some cases machines work much more accu-
rately and uniformly.

(d) The component parts of machines are generally
standardised, and it is possible, therefore, to
replace a wrong part and get on to work a
machine.

(r) Machinery in most cases reduce cost of produc-
tion, and hence machine-made articles are gene-
rally cheaper than hand-made ones.

Disadvan- ^llt t^iere are certain grave disadvantages of the utilisa-

ttages of tion of machinery :
machinery*

(a) Machinery, being labour-saving devices, are apt
to throw men out of employment. This was
nowhere more evident than in Great Britain
in the days of the Industrial Revolution.

(&) They tend to embitter the relations between the
employers and the employed by creating an
unfathomable gulf between their opposed
interests.

prevailing under the domestic system of pro-
duction, and thus sow the seeds of class-war.

(d) Machinery have extremely injurious effects on

the health and morals of the workers.

But it may be said in reply to these charges that all the
evils enumerated above are not necessarily the result of the

-LABOUR AND PRODUCTION

utilisation of machinery, but of their maladjustment at the
initial stages of industrialisation. Probing deeper it may
perhaps be said that, the commerce and industry of the world,
viewed broadly, have for more than a century been passing
through a transion stage 'the like of which has never been
known before'.1 Maladjustment is but natural in such a
state.

As for the effects of machinery on labour, it may be said Effects of

J machinery

that — on labour.

(a) They relieve strain on human beings, and per-
haps save them the drudgery and monotony
of strenuous work to some extent.

((b) The handling of modern complicated machinery
requires understanding, intelligence and
patience, and this engenders some sense of
responsibility among workers. Machinery
thus is said to improve the quality of labour.

'(r) Machinery tends to break down the barriers
between trades and thus make labour more
mobile.

•(rf) Machinery is often supposed to increase the effi-
ciency of labour and thus to raise its wages.
44 The more capitalistic the system of produc-
tion, the greater the use of machinery, the
lower will be the cost of production, profits
will be higher and with them the wages."

But it would be wrong to suppose that machines are Machinery
•always labour-saving devices, for that is true only at the and
•earliest stages of the introduction of machinery. As soon as
some new type of machinery is installed there comes about

1 Chisholm's Handbook, p. 7.

250 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Unemploy- a general displacement of labour leading to unemployment

short run. & f°r a certain percentage of the workmen formerly employed"

in the same trade. Labour and capital thus appear to be

mutually competitive. But in the long run the problem will'

automatically tend to solution in different ways: (a) with

Re-employ- tjle introduction of machinery and the consequent low cost of"

ment in the . •;. ,

long run. production a certain commodity will tend to be cheaper, and'

consumers will then naturally buy more of such articles^
Increased consumption will, in its turn, lead to the expan-
sion of the industry, and some of the workers will naturally
be re-employed in the expanded industry. Of course, this-
process cannot go on indefinitely ; nevertheless it will, within-
certain limits, solve the problem of unemployment, (fe) If,.
however, the consumers do not buy more of the article in
question, they will save some money, because of the compa-
rative cheapness of it as a result of machine production, and
with the money thus saved they are likely to purchase other
articles. Owing then to the increased demand for other
articles there will arise the need of supplying them in larger-
quantities than formerly, and more men will be needed to*
produce them, (c) Some of the unemployed workers will
he absorbed in the machine-making industries, (d) Since
machine-production generally ensures expansion of business
and tends to bring about an increase in the wages of the
workmen, they are likely to spend more in buying various
products, and this, in the long run, is likely to give rise to*
the necessity of employing an additional number of workers
for the production of these articles. Thus in the long
run labour and capital do not act as mutually competi-
Capital and ^ve factors, but as complementary to one another : "Capital
labour com- without labour is dead, and labour without capital is ineffi-
p erne . cjent j£ j^^ co_Operate, the income of each mounts up." *

1 Sen & Das, Economic Theory, p. 104.

LABOUR AND PRODUCTION 251

But is this true under the present capitalist system of But is it so*
organisation ? The typical form of modern capitalist busi- under ™vl~
ness organisation is admittedly the joint-stock company or
corporation. Such a company is composed of three dis-
tinctly separate bodies — (1) the stock- or shareholdf >/• "\-ranisa-
(2) the managers and (3) the workers. The stock-or s , ^odern
holder is the person to own the business and shares a limited capitalist
liability for its debts. But his active function ends with industry;
equipping the business, or a part of it, with capital. For the shareholder.,
rest he is a passive recipient of profits. This decline of the
shareholder's active partnership in the business has automati-
cally raised the status of the manager. Although, in theory,
he is a servant of the shareholder, in actual practice the Manager,
manager of a modern joint-stock company is less purely an
agent of the shareholder or the latter's servant and more
properly the servant of the business itself. But what is the
workman's status in this scheme? He has no recognized
powers or rights in the conduct of the business. He has
perforce been led to organise Trade Unions in order to put
pressure upon the management when the latter seem to run
contrary to his interests. But though the power he wields
through his Trade Union be tremendous, he, in organizing Labourer
strikes, actually works as an external agency and conse- ^ency^^
quently hampers the policy of the management, which, in under
theory as well as in practice, is the policy of the business itself. ca^ltallsm-
The workman under modern capitalist system is not, there-
fore, regarded as a complementary agency to the capitalist, but
as a competitive force. There is no willing co-operation here
between capital and labour ; in fact the present-day develop-
ment of capitalism has made such co-operation impossible.
Socialism seeks to remedy this defect by recognising the Socialist
status of the labourer in the business he may be engaged in, way of
and thus to make capital and labour complementary to one ap
another both in theory and practice.

252 KCONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

STUDIES AND QUESTIONS

1. Into how many broad types would your divide human labour?

2. What are the general characteristics of modern 'free labour'?
Is it economically free under capitalism?

j. What are the general factors affecting labour supply in the
modern world? What is 'coolie labour'?

4. "The race, government and religion influence the commerce
of a country to a certain degree." Support this statement by illustra-
tions. (C. U., B. Com., '23).

5. "The employment of machinery .... is frequently retarded
by the opposition of the workers to its introduction." What may the
reasons ordinarily be?

6. Is machinery a device for the displacement of labour? Dis-
cuss in this connection the broad features of the problem of machi-
nery and unemployment.

7. Analyse briefly the organisation of modern joint-stock
companies.

8. "The tendency of modern industry is to sacrifice the producer
to product. "—Discuss. (C. U., B. Com., '27).

9. Point out the limitation of the joint-stock type of business
organisation. (C. U., B. Com.. '27).

10. What are the various factors determining the rate of wages?
What influence does the standard of living exercise in the determina-
tion of such a rate? Describe the relation between wages and
efficiency of labour. Account for the differences of wages. (C. U.,
B. Com., '23, '28, '31, '35, '39).

CHAPTER TX

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES

Transport. — The basic geographical fact underlying Transport
the entire commercial superstructure of the world is that ^fckground
different climatic or natural regions yield different kinds of of commerce,
product, or provide the same products 'under unequally
favourable conditions'. This, we have seen, results in two
more or less opposed tendencies of commerce : the first,
which relates primarily to production, is to increase the
variety as well as the quantity of products in a particular
region; the second, relating likewise to the exchange of
commodities, seeks to equalise, as far as practicable, the
advantages for obtaining a particular commodity in different
regions. This latter tendency is naturally bound up with
transport facilities for its proper development.1 Transport
of commodities may, therefore, be regarded as a fundamental
feature of commerce, and with it may also be considered the
transport of human beings, which is not only an indispensable
factor of commercial development, but also a fundamental
feature of life itself.2

The influence of transportation on the expansion of the its influence
commercial world can hardly be overstated. It has acted as °n c°m-
a fillip to production. Several commodities formerly consi-
dered luxuries are now regarded as necessaries in the daily (i) £n.
lives of men and women all over the civilized world. In the hancement
past people lived mainly unto themselves ; they produced their duction.

1 Chisholm's Handbook, p. 1.
a Op. cit.f p. 77.

254

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

(2) Geogra
phical
division
of labour.

(3) Com-
mercial co-
operation
and co-
ordination.

own food and clothing and manufactured their own im-
plements, and thus strove, as far as was practicable, to be
self-sufficient within their respective communities. In many
cases, however, such articles could be made more economically
elsewhere ; but there scarcely existed any efficient and cheap
system of transportation to facilitate economical production
and distribution. Consequently nothing like the geographical
division of labour we see to-day was then in evidence. With
the development of modern forms of transportation it has
now been possible to deliver the necessary raw materials
cheaply and easily at the plants for production, and the
• finished products can also be as easily and cheaply distributed
to the consumers abroad. Transportation has thus favoured
the geographical division of labour. Thus in our own
country, which is by no means commercially much
advanced, cotton growing has developed mostly in
the south-central regions, jute growing in Bengal and
the neighbouring parts of Bihar, Assam, and Orissa,
tea production in Assam, Northern Bengal and the Nilgiris.
In the U.S.A., admittedly a most progressive commercial
country in the world, cotton growing developed in the south,
the citrus fruit industry in the Mediterranean regions of
California and Florida, wheat production in the Great Plains
and the Spring Wheat Belt. This geographical division of
labour, given proper scope, naturally leads to commercial
co-operation and co-ordination among different peoples. This
is particularly the case in countries following some sort of
planned economy under state direction as in the U.S.S.R.
But even in capitalist countries large-scale trade and com-
merce cannot proceed without a measure of willing co-
operation among the traders or without some sort of co-*
ordination of the various industries. In Great Britain, for
example, there has been of late years a rapid development of
the system of linking up several big businesses into a single

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 255

group following a common policy. The interstate trade of
the U.S.A. flows freely from state to state without being
hampered in its operations by high tariff walls like the inter-
national trade of Europe. And whatever be the ultimate
•drawbacks of the method of 'rationalisation' of industries, or
of the consumers' co-operative movement, these are aimed,
among other things, at commercial co-operation and co-
ordination in one way or another.1

Judged from the economic viewpoint, transportation is
a part of production. For the latter consists in producting or
creating, not material things, but utilities ; that is to say, pro- j^ans-
duction consists in making matter useful for consumption, in portation.
imparting to it the ability to satisfy wants. To do this two
things are essential: matter must be given form or qualities
suitable to satisfy some want, and the article or commodity
thus produced must be taken to the user. Agriculture,
manufacture and the various industries by which things are
grown and shaped impart to matter the form and intrinsic portation as
qualities which make it useful. Methods of transportation Part
bring the commodity to the place where it can be used. The ^
usefulness of a thing depends not only on the intrinsic utilities

of form or quality, but also on its location — its 'plae c utilities '.
These 'place utilities' are created by the transportation
services. Transportation is thus a part of the general process
of production.2

1 But it must not be forgotten that the co-operation and co-ordi-
nation spoken of above are not accomplished facts, but merely general
tendencies. They cannot function but as mere tendencies in an
•essentially competitive system of commerce, if they function at all.
Geographical division of labour, again, may, and often actually does,
lead to the exploitation of one country by another.

*E. R. Johnson & T. W. Van Metre, Principles of Railway
Transportation, p. 3.

256 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Transportation also helps increase the rent or income
derived from the land or other natural resources. Such
rent or income depends upon two primary factors — the pro-
ductivity or intrinsic characteristic of the land or resources of
nature, and their location. It is with respect to location that
transportation is of such importance.1

A study of the important cities of the world will clearly
tion and reveal the importance of transport facilities to urban develop-

urban devc- ment. Most of these cities are located on marginal positions

lopment. , . , . , < , -

between land and sea or inland waterways or land routes, and

are. therefore, easily accessible from various parts of the
country. Delhi, for example, is situated in the heart of the
great I ndo-Gangetic plain; from it radiate vast routes to-
different parts of the Indian subcontinent, and its occupation
means easy access to various parts of the country. Calcutta,
located on the Uooghly (Ganges), not far from the sea, and
connected by railways with all parts of India, has become one
of the largest ports of the world. London, New York, Paris,
Tokyo, Berlin, Chicago, Shanghai, Buenos Aires, Moscow,
Philadelphia, Osaka, Vienna and most of the other leading
urban centres of the world hold similar stratagic positions
and owe much of their development to transport facilities.

Modes of Transportation. — The modes of trans-
portation are not the same throughout the world. These have
been classified by Stamp into seven categories2 : —

1. Human porterage, including the wheel-barrow and
like devices.

2. Animals, used (a) as beasts of burden and (&) for
draught purposes.

1 Op. cit., p. 5.

s Chisholm's Handbook t pp. 77 sq.

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 257

3. Roads, and motor cars, lorries &c.

4. Railways, including (a) railways proper and (b)
i ram ways &c.

5. Inland waterways — rivers and canals.

6. Ocean transport.

7. Air transport.

1. Human porterage.— More than half of the world's Its imP°,r
^ & . ance and

population still depend upon human energy as the major causes
motive power in the local transportation of goods. This has thereof-
been attributed to various causes — political, social and indus-
trial backwardness, economic disabilities, density of popula-
tion, relief and climate and so on. It is, for example, exceed-
ingly difficult to build and maintain modern roads within the
vast tropical forests ; in some parts of south-eastern Asia and
particularly in China, human labour is cheaper than animal
labour, because there is not only a scarcity of beasts of burden
in these regions, but "every inch of the land (in Northern Case of

China) is so precious that the narrowest possible roads are ^' p"
used, such as will accommodate a wheel-barrow but not a E. Africa.
two-or four-wheeled cart." In parts of the East African
uplands the tsetse fly makes animal transportation impossible,
and so man is there the chief carrier. An idea of the pro-
digious labour expended by the 'coolies' in China may be
obtained from the fact that "in the tea traffic between south-
west China and Tibet. . . .the normal load per man is 200 Ibs.,
and two mountain passes more than 7,000 feet above the
level of the starting-place have to be scaled, with about 120
miles to be covered in some twenty days/'1 The average Man's
carrying capacity of an Asiatic or African porter is, however, capacity.
said to range between 55 and 66 Ibs. ; when handling a
wheel-barrow it ordinarily mounts up to 250 Ibs.2

1 Chisholm's Handbook, p. 77.

2 Case & Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 646.

258

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Their
relative

Their use. 2. Animals. — Where beasts of burden are abundant

and the environmental conditions are unfavourable for the
mechanisation of overland transport, animals have largely
replaced man as carriers. Even so, animal transport is still
of great importance in the most mechanized countries of the
West, especially in the rural districts, although mechanisa-
tion of transport is tending more and more to displace it.
In most of the European countries the horse is the most
useful animal for draught purposes ; but the ox is said to be
more important in central and eastern Europe. In southern
Europe, particularly in the Mediterranean regions, the ass is
the most useful of all animals ; he can live better on scanty
herbage than the horse. In the mountainous parts of

Importance southern Europe, however, the mule is the best animal
in different * ' .

countries. because of its surc-footedness and endurance. In Asia and

central Africa the ox is preferred to all other draught animals
and beasts of burden ; in Asia the buffalo comes next. Neither
in Asia nor in Africa the horse is a first-rate domestic animal.
Reindeer are practically the only draught animals in northern
Asia, Europe and North America; they are celebrated for
drawing sledges over the snow-covered ground. The
Esquimaux use the dog for the same purpose. The cele-
brated yak, a unique species of ox, characterized by long
silky hair, takes the place of the mule in the mountainous
parts of Central Asia; goats and sheep are also sometimes
used in these regions, and goat-carts are not unknown in
the Alpine region of Europe. The llama is the most im-
portant beast of burden in the Andes of South America.
The elephant is largely employed in South-eastern Asia —
in India, Burma, Siam, Ceylon, Sumatra, Borneo etc. In
Africa they have ceased to train up elephants for labour.
In India the government supervise over the catching of
elephants for training. Amidst forest and marsh which
cannot be traversed by any other domesticated animal, the

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 259

lordly elephant is quite indispensable to man. In desert and
semi-desert regions, again, the camel is even more indispens-
able than the elephant in the forest and marsh. No other
animal carries so much merchandise than does the camel.
The early colonists introduced this useful animal into
Australia ; but since motor-cars have been replacing him even
from his old home, he has now been completely ousted from
his adopted country. Animals are used both for carrying Carrying
loads and drawing carts. Broadly speaking, one animal can of animals,
pull at least four times the load it can carry. As for the
horse it has been estimated that one capable of carrying
30 Ibs., can draw a wagon load above 1 ton over a hard-
surface road and the drawing capacity of a team of horses
over a compacted, snow-covered surface is from 8 to 10 tons.1
The use of wheeled vehicles, however, involves generally the
making of suitable roads.

3. Roads. — Road construction nicely illustrates the & question

correlation between and interdependence of the arts of road- °* inter-

dependence.

making and transportation. Road-making was, until com-
paratively recent times, dependent upon the local supply of
raw materials for construction. With the development of
transportation this state of affairs has ceased ; road materials
are now brought from distant sources. On the other hand,
transportation has always been dependent on good roads.
Until comparatively recent times most of the roads in clay
areas were difficult for dust in the dry season and for mud
when rains would set in. This is still the case in many parts
of the world such as western Siberia, the plains of Hungary, Roads in
Australia and the Argentine. Almost simultaneously with y areas'
the overwhelming transformation of the system of transporta-

LCase & Bergsmark, College Geography, pp. 645-46.

260

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Modern
roads of
Telford and
Macadam.

Modern

automobile

roads.

Major road
materials.

Modern

roads

essentially

automobile

roads.

Future of
horse traffic
in cities.
Desert
transport
revolu-
tionized

tion within the last 150 years, the art of road-making has also
been revolutionized. Two Scotsmen, Telford and Macadam,
were particularly responsible for this amazing change. Telford
first conceived the idea of laying a solid stone foundation for
roads and covering it with a layer of small broken stones;
this upper layer was made thicker in the middle so as to
impart a slightly arched form to the road like the camber of
a beam ; on each side of the road were provided adequate
ditches for drainage. Macadam simplified the method by
ignoring the costly stone foundation altogether. He began
constructing roads by means of broken stones of uniform size,
each piece an inch or two in diameter, and cambering the
roads better for drainage. But with the advent of the
automobile even this proved inadequate ; for the rapidly
moving wheels provided with rubber tyres began to dis-
integrate the road materials by uplifting stones and scatter-
ing away the finer particles of dust which formed a natural
cement. Then was invented the use of concrete and
'tarmacadam' (broken stones coated with tar). Of the
several varieties of stone used in road-making limestones and
close-grained igneous rocks like basalt are said to be the most
suitable. Granite being coarse-grained, its large crystals
tend to crack under heavy pressure ; but roads made of such
stones are more suitable for horse traffic than for automobiles.
Gravel is often used, particularly on the surface. Another
common road material is blast-furnace slag. Most up-to-
date roads are admittedly unsuitable for horse traffic because
of their smoothness : they are essentially motor roads. It is,
therefore, quite probable, as Stamp suggests, that in cities
horse traffic will, in near future, be greatly restricted, if not
prohibited altogether. Motor cars, motor lorries etc., are
now being used in the deserts of Sahara, Arabia, Australia
and other regions instead of camels. This has revolution-
alized desert transport, to a large extent.

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 261

Road mileage of different countries may be studied from
the following table:

Road Mileage in 19301

U. S. A. . . . . 3,016,000 miles

Russia .. .. .. 776,700 „

Japan .. .. .. 575,300 „

France .. .. .. 390,400 „

Canada .. . . . . 388,350 „

Australia .. .. .. 350,000 „

India .. . . . . 300,000 „

Germany . . . . . . 200,000 „

U. K. .. .. .. 175,000 „

Poland .. . . .. 150,000 „

The total mileage of the world's highways, as computed
in 1930, is said to be some 7,800,000 miles, or about ten times aspects of
that of double-track railways. Of this total the United States road mileage
alone (excluding Alaska and other territories) possesses 38-7
per cent, and Russia which ranks second has only 10 per cent.
But it is only fair to compare road mileage of a country in
proportion to its area and population; the quality of the
roads is also to be taken into account in such comparisons.
Thus comparing, we find that Japan leads the world with 3
miles of road to the square mile. The U. S. A. occupies
the twelfth place in this respect with 1 mile of road per square
mile. Other countries having a claim to such distinc-
tion are Luxemburg, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom,
Denmark. France, the Irish Free State and Belgium.
The U. S. A., however, ranks first as the country posses-

1 Compiled from Case & Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 664.

262

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Motor
traffic and
road deve-
lopment.

Motor
traffic and
urban-rural
intercourse.

Motor traffic

vs.

Railway
traffic.

sing the greatest mileage of unimproved roads ; in this
Japan comes next. But the U. S. A. leads" also in possessing
the greatest mileage of improved roads without even a close
second ; for Italy, which ranks second in this respect with
her 3,700 miles of bituminous macadam (penetration maca-
dam ) roads, challenges no comparison with the 30,000 miles
of such roads possessed by the U. S. A. The United States
leads also in asphaltic or bituminous concrete roads with a
total mileage of 9,000, while Canada comes next in this
respect with a total mileage of only 900. Of a total mileage
of 300,000 or a little more shared by India, only 75,000 miles
are motorable.

The development of modern roads has been greatly
stimulated by the growth of motor traffic. In 1934 there
were in the U. S. A. more than 25,000,000 motor vehicles
i.e., roughly one for every 4-5 persons. In Great Britain in
the same year there were some 2,500,000, i.e., one for every
20 persons. The U. S. A. alone possesses half the world's
total number of motor vehicles ; she has not only the largest
number of cars and trucks, but also the largest number of
cars in proportion to population. It is significant that in
some of the sparsely populated countries like Canada,
Australia and the Argentine the automobile plays a much
more important part than in many of the European countries.
The motor-omnibus has played an important part in the
spreading of intercourse between urban and rural areas, and
motor vehicles are now competing more and more with
trams and railway trains. It has been predicted by many that
in future motor vehicles will oust railway locomotives and
trains altogether. But modern roads are still supplementary to
the railways, acting primarily as feeders to the latter ; even in
spite of the existence of trans-continental highways in the
U. S. A., roads still act in that way. The fact is that motor

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 263

traffic is cheaper and more mobile than railway traffic, and
is much better for short distance transportation.

4. Railways. — The influence of topography on the Topography
construction of railway routes is much more obvious than an" ra"way-
on that of motor roads. The railway-builder's problem is
said to lie 4midway between those of the road engineer and
the canal builder*. Railway locomotives are incapable of
ascending steep slopes ; an ordinary locomotive hauling more
than its own weight on a gradient of 1 : 20 fails to work at
all, and working becomes difficult if gradients of about 1 : 100
are frequently encountered. It has been found that the cost
of running a given train-load over a mile of track on a
gradient of 1 : 50 is double that of running it over a mile
on the level. But trains can somehow be worked on gradients
of 1 : 22. These are the reasons why railways do not
generally run parallel to roads already constructed for the
same destination. The railroad from Siliguri (Bengal) to
Darjeeling has been constructed as a spiral line in order to
lessen the gradient of the roadbed ; that from Bombay to the
Deccan plateau follows a course of a series of zigzags for the
same reason. In the hill section of the Assam Bengal Rail- Railways in
way the lines have been pierced through the mountains in a
number of tunnels. Various novel types of railways have
also been invented for running in mountainous regions. Wide
stretches of water also often interfere with the construction of
railways. These are mostly bridged over; in some cases,
again, train-ferries are used for the transfer of whole trains Train-ferry
across the intervening water. The train-ferry system has ys e
long been in existence over the channel lying between
Denmark and Sweden; such communication has also been
established between England and the continent via Harwich
for ferrying goods trains across, and in 1936 the first
passenger train from London was thus transferred to Paris
via Dover-Dunkerque.

264 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Some Important Trans-Continental Railways

1. The Trans-Siberian Railway, connecting Russia
with the Far East. The original line runs from Vladivostok
on the Pacific coast to Chelyabinsk in the west. It now
connects Moscow and Leningrad with Vladivostok, Dairen,
Peiping and Tientsin. The whole line is now a double
track system. With the completion of the Hankow-
Canton Railway in 1936 it has now been possible (?) to
travel from Calais to Canton by railway.

2. The Trans-Caspian Railway, connecting Central1
Asia with European Russia. It runs from Krasnovodsk on
the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea to the heart of
Turkestan, so important for cotton-growing, and thence to
Moscow via Tashkent. It also throws off a branch towards-
the Afghan frontier from Merv to Kushk.

3. The Orient Express Route runs from Paris to
Istanbul (Constantinople), connecting Munich, Linz,
Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Belgrade, etc. The 'Baghdad
Railway' was destined to connect Baghdad by Mosul with
Berlin : at present it runs from Konya on the west to Nisibin
on the east, throwing off a branch to Alexandretta and
another to Damascus, whence one line runs to Mecca, and
a second, crossing the Suez Canal at El Kantara, proceeds to
the Nile valley.

4. The Cape-to-Cairo Route was destined to connect
South Africa with Egypt ; the scheme was outlined by Cecil
Rhodes; but it could not be worked out. At present one
may go to Khartum from the Cape by railways and roads.
Khartum is connected by rail with Wadi Haifa, whence one
is to reach Shellal by river. From Shellal a train runs to
Cairo.

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 265

5. The Canadian Pacific Railway connects the Pacific
sea-board of Canada with the Atlantic sea-board. It runs from
Halifax and St. John on the east to Vancouver on the west,
connectng Quebec, Ottawa, Montreal, Winnipeg, Regina,
etc., on the way. It is the shortest of the trans-continental
lines of North America.

6. The Canadian National Railways, formed by the
amalgamation of the Canadian Northern, Grand Trunk, and
Grand Trunk Pacific Railways, run across the North
American continent partly through Canada and partly
through the United States, connecting various important
centres like Prince Rupert. Portland, Moncton, Winnipeg,
Quebec, Chicago, Buffalo, etc.

7. The Union and Central Pacific Railroad, the first
trans-continental system north of the Isthmus of Panama,
connects Chicago (and, of course, New York) with San
Francisco. It lies entirely within the U. S. A.

8. Western Pacific Railroad, also in the U. S. A., is
another trans-continental system opened for freight traffic
only. It is much longer than the Union and Central Pacific.

9. The Northern Pacific Railway runs from St. Paul,
some 400 miles north-west of Chicago, to Tacoma on
Puget Sound and Portland ; it has connections with New
York and Philadelphia as well.

10. The Great Northern Railway also has St. Paul
for its eastern terminus and runs to Seattle on Puget
Sound ; it, too, has connections with New York and other
important centres.

11. The Southern Pacific Railway, runs from San
Francisco to Washington and New York through the
southern states of the U. S. A., throwing off branches
towards Mexico.

266

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Revolution
in water
transport.

Water
carriage vs.
Land
carriage.

12. Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe' Railway has

established connections between New York and San
Francisco by way of St. Louis. Like the Southern
Pacific it also passes through the southern half of the
Valley of California.

13. The Chile- Argentine Railway connects Buenos-
Aires with Valparaiso. It is the most important of the four
trans-continental railways of South America.

The development of Tramways began in the last quarter
of the nineteenth century. The early tram-cars were
mostly horse-drawn vehicles ; the use of electric power came
later on. At present tramway companies are finding it hard
to compete with 'the more flexible motor-omnibuses*. In
some countries 'trolley buses' are being used instead of tram-
cars; these are driven by electricity, but require no rails.
The large number of privately owned motor-cars have
rendered the street-car system very nearly useless in
America.

5. Inland Water Transport. — The use of inland
waterways given by nature has been known to man since
the dawn of history. Even the construction of artificial
waterways was not unknown in pre-Christian times. Yet
water carriage has been revolutionized only within the last
hundred years or so; it began with the introduction of the
steamboat in the early years of the last century.

In some countries water carriage is much more im-
portant than land carriage. The large navigable rivers of
the East have always provided splendid means of access to
inland regions, and many canals have been cut from them both
for irrigation and transport. The intricate network of canals
in China would, if spread along in a continuous line, coil
round the entire globe seven or eight times. This, coupled
with the fact that the earliest civilisations almost invariably

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 267

flourished in one or other of the large river valleys of the East,
has led many to suppose that water carriage is more advan-
tageous than land carriage. It is certainly cheaper, because
large navigable rivers and lakes provide ready-made high-
ways that cost little to maintain. But this is not true even
of all kinds of waterways provided by nature ; not only canals
but canalized rivers also cost a good deal.1 Water carriage
is, moreover, slow and uncertain. Many of the rivers are,
again, useless for navigation, and even good navigable
rivers mostly flow for long stretches through marshy
regions devoid of landing places. Rapids and falls are
almost insurmountable barriers to navigation; rivers
which are subject to great variations in level, as most
of them actually are, do not offer good transport faci-
lities all the year round. In wintry regions, again, the
stoppage of river traffic through ice in winter is the rule
rather than the exception. Thus nearly all the rivers of
Peninsular India become unnavigable in the dry season
on account of low water and inadequate draft. Of the three
great rivers of China only the Yangtze Kiang is ideal for
navigation ; the Hwang-ho is too rapid, too shifting and too
much obstructed by shallows, and the Si Kiang, though navi-
gable for a long distance from its mouth, has several rapids
to impede navigation. The great Mississipi of North
America flow's for miles at long stretches without landing
places. The mouths of the rivers of Siberia, flowing towards

1 It is often rather erroneously assumed by many that inland
water transportation costs less than railway transportation. But
when cost of construction and maintenance of canals and canalized
rivers are taken into account, the reverse appears to be correct. In
the U.S.A. inland water transportation has been found to cost 40 p.c.
more on the average than railway transportation. The story is
much the same about inland transportation in Europe as well. See
H. G. Moulton, "Economic Aspects of Inland Water Transportation,"
American Jownal of Geography, Vol. XV, pp. 78 and 112.

268 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

the arctic seas, remain icebound in winter. All these consi-
derations inevitably suggest the superiority of railways to

inland waterways, especially to rivers. " It should

now be recognised/' writes Stamp, "that nature has generally
done more for a country in providing it with facilities for
railway construction than with navigable rivers, in so far

Rivers and as these are merely inland waterways "* The most

railways. important thing about a river is its accessibility to sea-going
vessels ; a river that is not directly accessible to these vessels
i.e., one that cannot be used as a natural extension of the
seaboard is not of any great value for transportation ; inland
communication can be better served by railways. The only
disadvantage about railways is that of costlier haulage ; but
this is more than well balanced by speed and ease of inter-
communication with different parts of a country. A railway
is said to have a great advantage over a river even on a
parallel course, as the lines running through the Inclo-
Gangetic Plain well demonstrate. Yet rivers are very
useful — indeed almost indispensable — for the transportation
of bulk freight at low cost. A train load of 7,000 tons, for
example, is generally considered unusual, but barge-trains
frequently carry much more without any fuss. This carry-
ing of bulk freight (great quantities at one time) at low cost2
has been described as the special 'economic mission' of inland
waterways. And it is of prime importance in densely
populated regions with a super-abundance of raw materials,
and "in countries not yet fully opened to modern commerce."1
Inland waterways often act as feeders to railways as well.

1 Chisholm's Handbook, p. 87.

2 This may be perplexing. But while the railway meets all its
own costs by charging high, part of the costs in the case of water
transport — such as the cost of construction and maintenance of canals
etc. — are met by the government. Its freight charges are, therefore,
comparatively low. The balance is paid by taxpayers.

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 269

Another use of rivers in to feed navigable canals. With Canals and
the introduction of railways, however, the importance of a es'
canals for navigation has greatly diminished. But the 'ship-
canals' have, on the contrary, assumed enormous importance
with the expansion of marine navigation. Lakes are, how-
ever, very important for inland water transport. Lake water-
ways are beyond comparison cheaper than cither navigable
canals or railways. Tt has been estimated that on the Great
Lakes of North America, for instance, a ton of traffic may
be transported to a distance of 1,250 miles for a dollar as
against only 127 miles on the railway for the same sum.1
This is not surprising at all, since lakes are ready-made high-
ways costing next to nothing for upkeep. Such is also the
case with other great lakes like the Caspian Sea, Lake Geneva,
Lake Constance, Lake Titicaca, all of which arc more or less
important commercial routes.

6. Ocean Transport. — The bulk of modern inter- Ocean

... f xr , . transport

national trade is sea-borne. Yet ocean transportation is no & mariner's

novelty of the present age ; it was well developed by Indians, compass no
Chinese, Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians and Genoese
long before the beginning of the Christian era. Even the
mariner's compass, which among other things, has so re-
peatedly been made responsible for the inauguration of the
.socalled 'Modern Age' in European history, was known to
the Chinese long before Christ was born. What, however,
is particularly new is the introduction of the coal-and oil-
consuming giant steamers for ocean transportation in place
of the old sailing-vessels.

Nevertheless sailing-vessels and small crafts for the navi-
gation of the sea have not totally died out yet ; the islanders
of the Pacific Ocean still undertake pretty long voyages in

1 H. G. Moulton, "Economic Aspects of Inland Water Trans-
portation," Journal' of Geography, Vol. XV, p. 77.

270 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 271

small boats, and larger sailing vessels owned by Europeans
sometimes ply the 'seven seas' even today. But for all that
these must now be regarded as exceptional. Modern sea-
going vessels are classified as liners and tramps (unless, of
course, they belong to the military marine) : a liner is a
ship that plies regularly between foreign ports and usually
carries certain specified types of products only ; a tramp is
a drab general cargo ship, lacking in fixed routes and re-
gular sailing schedules, and goes from port to port in
response to offers of cargo at what it considers to be suffi-
ciently attractive rates. The liners are adapted to the nature
of the trade and make for specialization. Because of their
speed and regularity liners now carry 80 per cent of the
total ocean traffic, while tramps specialize in the transport
of bulk cargoes like grain, coal, fibre, timber etc. Sailing-
ships are also used in carrying bulk cargoes, but they are
rapidly declining in number.

Ocean transportation is said to possess the greatest com- . ,
... r , . t , , ,.1 , Advantages

bination of advantages : it shares the advantage of cheap hau- Of ocean

lage for low speeds with water carriage of all kinds ; sea tfansporta-
routes, unlike roads, railways and canals, cost nothing to
maintain ; the ocean is free to navigation (except, of course,
the socalled 'territorial waters') and can be traversed in all
directions ; it imposes no limit to the increase of the size of
vessels (although, apart from cost of construction and repair,
the size of vessels is limited by accommodation available at
ports and the dimension of ship-canals). All these advant-
ages are said to outweigh the great risk of loss at sea than
oti land from storms and the like.

But though the oceans are traversable in all directions Ocean
and they cover nearly three-fourths of the earth's surface, Trade
definite routes of travel have been established across them ; ou es'

272

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

beyond these 'sea lanes1 and 'trade routes', as they are called,
the vast expanses are completely deserted. Several factors
have naturally played their respective part in determining
these lanes and routes. The first principle of ocean naviga-
tion is to take the shortest cut between two places as far as
practicable. Owing to the .sphericity of the earth such a
route is always the arc of a great circle, of which the centre
of the earth is the inevitable centre. This sounds simple
enough, but it is not so simple as it appears at first sight.
The earth, we know, is not a sphere, but a spheroid. So,
Factors in where it is a north-and-south route, the shortest cut lies
ocean trade along a meridian ; but where the route is from east to west
routes. or the reverse, the shortest cut deviates from the parallels of

latitude in proportion to its distance from the equator; it is
only on the equator that it lies along a parallel of latitude i.e.,
along the equator itself. Since these parallels are shorter
and shorter towards the poles, the shortest of the east-and-
west routes in the Northern Hemisphere deviates most in a
curve towards the north from the parallel connecting places
at the ends of the route ; in the Southern Hemisphere it de-
viates farthest towards the south. But this principle has to
be modified by certain other considerations. There may be
land in the way on a great circle route (shortest cut), and
this may cause considerable deviation. So also does the
climate of a region cause deviation from a great circle course.
The circle route from Cape Town to Wellington (New
Zealand) lies to the south of the Antarctic Circle, but the
actual passage of ships takes a more northerly route. Coaling
stations and oiling-bases, again, oblige ocean-going vessels
to modify their routes sometimes, but these are situated along
the great curve routes as far as practicable. Ocean currents
and winds are also important factors in determining sea lanes
and trade routes, but these concern the sailing-vessels, modern
steamers being practically independent of them.

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 273

The Principal Ocean Routes of the World

1. The North Atlantic Route.— Of all the ocean
routes this is the busiest, connecting, as it does, the two lead-
ing commercial regions of the world — Western Europe and
Eastern United States.1 Various other ocean lines issuing
from the numerous ports on the Atlantic coasts of Canada, Connecting
the U.S.A., Mexico and the islands of the West Indies con- Western
verge into the North Atlantic Route, and on reaching the
European side of the Atlantic Ocean it splits into separate U.S.A.,
lines to reach the different ports of Western Europe. For
European vessels the principal ports of departure are London,
Liverpool, Southampton, Glasgow, and Bristol in Great
Britain ; Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Limerick in
Ireland; Marseilles, Le Havre, Rouen, Dunkerque,
Bordeaux, La Rochelle, Nantes and Cherbourg in Chief ports.
France; Antwerp, Ghent, Ostend and Bruges in
Belgium ; Amsterdam and Rotterdam in Holland ; and
Hamburg, Bremen and Emden in Germany. Ports of call
are New York, New Orleans, Galveston, Philadelphia, Boston
and Baltimore in the U.S.A., and Halifax, St. John, Montreal
and Quebec in Canada. Eastbound traffic over this route
still consists mainly of raw materials like wheat, paper and N ture of
pulpwood from Canada and cotton from the U.S.A., whereas commerce,
westbound traffic consists mainly of manufactures ; but this
4 unbalanced traffic* is gradually disappearing as more manu-
factured articles are now being exported to Europe from the
U.S.A. instead of an overwhelming proportion of raw
materials, especially cotton. In the foreign trade between
the U.S.A. and the U.K. on the eve of the present War, the

export of the U.S.A. exceeded more than twice as many tons Present

ft « • . - « -TTTJ- , • ' revolution,

of goods as she used to import from the U.K., and her ex-

1 Half the world's shipping (approximately) is Engaged.' ;ih • the
North Atlantic.

274

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Suez, tk
meeting-
place of
East and
West, of
North and
South.

Nature of
trade.

Chief ports.

ports to continental Europe exceeded her imports there-
from by more than a million tons annually. The War has
completely turned the balance of this unbalanced trade the
other way about.

2. The Mediterranean Trade Route.— Next to the

North Atlantic Route, this is the most important ocean route
in value and volume of traffic. It extends through the
Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. The
Suez Canal may well be described as the meeting-place of
the East and the West as well of the North and the
South : it is where all the European and North Atlantic lines
converge with those from East Africa and the Far East and
also with most of the lines from Australia and New Zealand.
The Mediterranean route, therefore, interconnects such
regions as differ markedly from one another in commercial
products and economic activities. Westbound traffic over it
consist of a rich variety of raw materials and foodstuffs like
jute, silk, rubber, skins, leather, tea, coffee, rice, wheat, sugar,
meat, spices, indigo, tin, timber etc ; eastbound traffic consist
almost solely of a great variety of manufactured articles,
especially cotton piece-goods and machinery. This is per-
haps the most glaring instance of unbalanced international
trade. Principal ports to the west of the Suez are London,
Liverpool, Southampton, Manchester, Glasgow, Bristol,
Rotterdam, Hamburg, Marseilles, Lisbon, Genoa, Naples etc. ;
to the east the chief ports are Bombay, Calcutta, Rangoon,
Singapore, Colombo, Aden, Hongkong, Shanghai, Nagasaki,
Yokohama, Manila, Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne,
Durban, Zanzibar, Mombasa, Mozambique, etc. The chief
coaling-stations on the route are Gibraltar, Marseilles,
Algiers, Port Said, Colombo, Singapore, Batavia, Hongkong,
Shanghai, Nagasaki and Yokohama. Many of the coaling-
stations are also important entrepots. Eastbound vessels

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 275

land many goods at Gibraltar for ports on the Mediterranean
at which they do not call or for ports on the Black Sea;
westbound vessels likewise land several goods at Port Said
for the same purpose. Aden is another such entrepot for
goods destined to reach East Africa. At Colombo, another
coaling-station and entrepot, the route branches out in two
directions, one of the lines going round the south of Australia,
the other to Singapore, where it again branches out into two,
one for passing round the north of Australia, the other to
China and Japan. Several important branch lines proceed
from Singapore to Indo-China, North Borneo and the
Philippines.

Before the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, trans-
oceanic commerce between North Atlantic countries and the Of Suez
East had to pass around the Cape of Good Hope, or goods Canal,
had to be transported by land across South-Western Asia or
North-eastern Africa (trans-continental trade). With the
opening of the Suez Canal and the development of modern
coal-and oil-consuming vessels trade has flourished, the time
required for the voyage has been greatly minimized. The
Canal has, for instance, reduced the distance between New
York and Calcutta by 2,500 miles.1

1 The construction of the Suez Canal was undertaken by Ferdinand
de Lesseps, a Frenchman, in 1859 and was completed by him in 1869.
The Canal was declared open in November of that year. Its length
(from Port Said to Suez) is 100 miles, breadth between banks now
varies from 400 feet to 460 feet and its depth now is between 36 and
39 feet ; the present bottom width is between 148 and 195 feet. Average
duration of transit through it is some .16. hours. It is at sea level
throughout. In 1929 the canal was used by no less than 6,274 vessels
totalling 33,466,0,00 tons. But the {raffia has been on the wane since.
In 1935 th-» total number of vessels passing through the Suez Canal
was 5,992 vith a' total capacity of 32,811,000 tons. The management
'of-the-'eana is tn-the hitnds of -a company in which the British Govern -
went has.a, considerable number of shares.

276

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Old route
between
East and
West.

Connecting
W. Europe
with Africa,
Australia
and New
Zealand.

Chief ports.

Nature of
trade.

Why Cape
Route still
used.

3. The South African or Cape Route. — Until the
opening of the Suez Canal this was the only trans-oceanic
route between the North Atlantic countries and the East.
It was opened by Vasco da Gama in 1498 when he reached
India by way of the Cape of Good Hope. It connects
Western Europe not only with the western and southern
parts of Africa, but also with Australia and New Zealand.
Nearly half the total export of Australia to Britain is trans^
ported by way of the Cape. The principal ports in South
Africa on this route are Capetown, Port Elizabeth, East
London and Durban; those of Australia are Sydney, Mel-
bourne, Adelaide and Fremantle. Durban is the most im-
portant coaling-station, and Capetown the chief centre of
South African trade. General exports of S. Africa are food-
stuffs like maize, fruits and sugar, raw materials like wool
and diamonds, and manufactures like gold bullion; general
imports, foodstuffs like wheat, raw materials like wood,
mineral oils, chemicals and drugs, and manufactures like
piece-goods of silk, wool and cotton, jute and cotton bags
and machinery. General exports of Australia are raw
materials like wool, hides and skins, and lead, foods like
wheat, butter, meat, sugar and fruits; general imports, raw
materials like silk and cotton goods, yarn and cordage, bags
and sacks, chemicals and machinery. The bulk of the trade
over this route is carried by freight steamers and sailing-
vessels. Mail and passenger steamers betwen N. W. Europe
and Australia, however, take the Suez Canal route.. But
since the distance saved by the Suez Canal is not much
— only 1,000 miles on the average — and in order to avoid the
high canal tolls, freight Steamers generally take the Cape
Route. Sailing-vessels also avoid the Suez Canal oh account

" ' '•»«,'/' • . f • , . » l"l ' «4 • . ' f

of the adverse winds over the Red Sea. ,-... . v ... ,.., ,, ..,., .

4. The Panama Canal Route.— The Panama ;Ganal
was opened in August 1914: It -connects* the Pacific-Ocean

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 277

with the Atlantic, and has naturally brought about many Importance
r 1-1 • ^ ^i i- A. ^ of Panama

far-reaching changes in ocean routes : the distance by sea Canal.

between the eastern (Atlantic) and western (Pacific) coasts
of North America has now been reduced by about 7,000
miles, — New York on the Atlantic seaboard is, for instance,
7,873 miles nearer by sea to San Francisco on the Pacific
coast than formerly. Prior to the opening of the Panama
Canal there was no sea-borne trade between these two coasts
of N. America. It has also reduced the distance between
the Atlantic coast of N. America and the Pacific coast of
S. America by nearly 4,000 miles ; thus Valparaiso in Chile
(S. America) is roughly 8,500 miles from New York by the
Strait of Magellan or Cape Horn, whereas by the Panama
Route it is only about 4,600 miles. The Panama
Canal has brought Australia and New Zealand closer
to the United States; Sydney in Australia is nearly
13,500 miles from New York by the Suez Route, but by the
Panama Route it is about 9,700 miles; the distance
between New York and Wellington (New Zealand)
by the Strait of Magellan is considerably over 11,000 miles,
whereas by the Panama Route the distance does not exceed
8,500 miles. Japan has also been brought closer to the
U. S. A. by the Panama Canal ; the port of Yokohama
(Japan) is above 13,000 miles from New York by the Suez
Canal, whereas it is considerably less than 10,000 miles from
New York by the Panama Canal. The western sea-board
of both the Americas has also been brought nearer to
Europe by more than 5,000 miles on the average. Yet the panama
Panama Canal is essentially an American highway. It has, essentially
doubtless, opened up a new route to Australia and New
Zealand from Europe, but this new route has effected practi-
cally no reduction of distance ; the distance between Sydney
(Australia) and Liverpool (Gr. Britain) is some 12,400
miles by the Panama Route and about 12,200 miles by the

278

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Nature
of trade.

Panama

vs.
Suez.

Important
ports.

Suez Route; that between Liverpool and Wellington (New
Zealand) is over 11,000 miles by the Panama Canal and
about 12,500 via Suez. Europe has not, therefore, been able
to derive much advantage from the Panama Canal ; most of
her shipping take the Suez Canal Route for trade witli Asia,
Africa and Australia. Until 1923-24 the traffic through the
Panama Canal remained much smaller than that through the
Suez Canal ; but the scale has now apparently turned in favour
of the former. This lias, however, been attributed mainly to
the growth of the carriage of oil from California to the
eastern (Atlantic) side of America. Of the commodities
passing through the Panama Canal, lumber from Puget
Sound is said to occupy the next place; other important
commodities are wheat, China tea, Chilean nitrate and Austra-
lian meat.1 It is extremely significant that the total tonnage
of cargo carried from the Pacific to the Atlantic exceeds that
moving in the reverse direction by more than 10 million tons.
Although the traffic through the Panama Canal now exceeds
that through the Suez Canal, the former does not yet seem to
have such basic advantages as the latter. The regions along
the Panama Canal Route are, unlike those along the Suez
Canal Route, neither densely populated nor noted for produc-
tivity; the Pacific Ocean, moreover, may well be described
as a vast water-desert. Important ports of call along the
route are Colon, San Diego, Vancouver, Prince Rupert,
Callao and Valparaiso in the Americas, and Nelson, Christ-
church, Auckland and Dunedin in New Zealand. Newport
News, Bilbao and Honolulu are important coaling-stations on
the line. The Panama Route has gradually joined the
various Atlantic Routes on the one hand and Pacific Routes
on the other.2

J Chisholm's 'Handbook,'"?. &T. ~

2 The length of the Panama Canal is 50 miles; the minimum
depth of canal, 41 feet; minimum bottom width of channel, 300 feet.
The average duration of transit through it is between 7 and 8 hours.

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES

279

280

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

pevelop-
ment of
Pacific
routes.

Pacific
Trunk
Lines.

Chief
Ports.

Pevelop-
tnent of
trade
between
0. S. A. &
Japan

5. The Pacific Routes.— The Pacific Ocean is
steadily becoming more and more important as a com-
mercial highway. This development is due mainly to
American endeavour : the opening of the Japanese ports to
foreign trade, the gold rush to California in the middle of the
last century, the possession by the United States of Alaska,
the Hawaiian Islands and the Philippines and the construc-
tion of the Panama Canal are said to be the chief factors
responsible for the development of the Pacific trade routes.
The main line connects the western seaboard of the United
States with Eastern Asia, particularly with Japan and China.
Another important line has established communication
between the Philippines and the U. S. A. The trunk line
that goes to Japan starts from the Puget Sound region and
California and swerving northward reaches Yokohama by
way of the Aleutian Islands ; the other trunk line swerves
southward to the Hawaiian Islands and then proceeds west-
ward to Eastern Asia. There are direct routes to the
Philippines as well. Important ports along these routes are
Seattle, San Francisco. Los Angeles, Vancouver, Manila,
Yokohama and Shanghai ; Honolulu is a very important
coaling-station for vessels plying along the Hawaiian
Islands. There are a number of ocean lanes connecting
Australia and New Zealand with the various American states.
The opening of the grand trunk line to Japan has been
followed by the remarkable development of trade between
that country and the U. S. A. The United States
is now Japan's chief customer as well as her chief
supplier: the United States supplied 27 -4 per cent of all the
imports into Japan in 1 924, 1 29 -2 per cent in 1926-30 and
32-4 per cent in 1931-35, and purchased 41-2 per cent of
Japan's exports in 1924, 40-4 per cent in 1926-30 and 27-0
in 1931-35.1 Equally remarkable has been the development

Handbook, pp. 640-41.

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 281

of trade between the U. S. A. and the Philippines; since the between
latter was taken possession of by the U. S. A. (1898), the j^A &
overseas trade has multiplied thirty-five times.1 But the pines.
nature of the trade passing along the Pacific Routes is, on
the whole, extremely unbalanced : the total tonnage of goods
bound for the Far East (westbound) is nearly four times
as large as that bound for the Far West (eastbound to
America). This has been attributed to the fact that the Trade.
U. S. A. generally exports bulky commodities and imports
goods of lesser bulk but of high value. Thus in 1929, for
example, the U. S. A. exported more than 593 million pounds
of raw cotton to Japan, but imported only 74 million pounds
of silk ; and while the silk was valued at 348 million dollars,
the cotton was worth only 127 million dollars. The trade
between the U. S. A. and China also presents the same
spectacle : the principal exports to China from the U. S. A.
are kerosene, tobacco leaf and raw cotton, while the chief
imports of the U. S. A, from that country is silk.2 Other
important exports from the Far East are tea, rice, hemp
etc., and those from the Far West are wool, metal goods and
machinery. This 'unbalanced trade' of the United States has
its parallel in her trade with Western Europe in normal times.

6. South American Routes. — These routes have
some similarity with the South African or Cape Route. Prior An old
to the opening of the Panama Canal, oceanic commerce bet- rou e'
ween the eastern and western seaboards of America had to
pass around Cape Horn or the Strait of Magellan. This traffic
has now dwindled in importance. Yet sailing-vessels still
continue to ply around the Horn between the Atlantic and
Pacific ports of America, because it is difficult for them to
use the Panama Canal owing to the calms of the Panama

1 Case & Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 652.
- Op. cit., pp. 652-53.

282

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Chief
Ports.

Nature of
Trade.

Origin.

Different
types of
aerial
machines.

Bay.1 These South American routes connect West Indies,
Brazil and the Argentine Republic. Chief ports along these
lines are Kingston, Havana, Vera Cruz, Tampico, La Guaira,
Georgetown, New Amsterdam, Paramaribo, Pernambuco,
Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Montevideo, Buenos Aires,
Bahia Blanca and Rosario. Of all the- South American routes
that of the east coast is most important for commerce; for
along that line lie the coffee-exporting ports of south-eastern
Brazil and the equally important ports of the River Plate
region whence grain, sugar, meat, wool, hide and rubber are
exported to the U. S. A. and Europe.

7. Aerial Transport. — Aerial transport is a twentieth
century development, although experiments with balloons go
at least as far back as 1782 when Stephen and Joseph Mont-
golfier, two French brothers, conceived the idea of employing
'heated air' to lift bodies. Subsequently hydrogen and other
gases were used. With the invention of the internal-com-
bustion engine came the first aeroplane — a machine heavier
than air. This petrol engine is now used on airships or
dirigibles which are made lighter than air by the use of hydro-
gen or other gas. Seaplanes, hydroplanes and flying boats
are specially designed for landing on water; they, too, are,
like the aeroplane, heavier-than-air machines/ It was only
in 1910 that the first aeroplane crossed the English Channel.
The Four Years' War of 1914-18 was responsible, more than
any other event, for the rapid development of aerial naviga-
tion. The Zeppelin is also a lighter-than-air machine, chris-
tened after its designer Count Zeppelin of Germany. British
and American experiments after the War with new types of
airships and flying boats having proved disastrous, these were

1 The Strait of Magellan is extremely difficult to navigate ; sailors
therefore prefer to take even the more stormy passage round Cape
Horn.

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 283

abandoned. But Germany succeeded in establishing a mail
and passenger service to South America with the now famous
Graf Zeppelin. The use of aeroplanes, however, has deve-
loped in all civilized countries.

Aerial transportation is now employed chiefly for the Aerial
rapid transfer of mails, passengers and precious articles. It
is advantageous in long journeys only, particularly in trans-
continental flights. In short journeys railways are still
supreme. At present regular air services have linked up most tion.
of the important cities of the world. The British airways o^f
between Europe on the one hand and Asia and Australia on airways :
the other generally start from Croydon (London ) , and passing
through Marseilles, Athens, Alexandria, Cairo, Gaza, Bagh- Between
dad, Bahrein, Sharjah, Karachi, Jodhpur, Delhi, Allahabad,
Calcutta, Rangoon, Bangkok, Penang, Singapore, Batavia, and
Darwin, Brisbane, Sydney etc., reach Melbourne in Australia. Australia.
The French and the Dutch also maintain air services along
this route as they, too, have vested interests in the Far East
and the South. There are air services between England and Europe-
Africa as well ; the British airway starts from Southampton
and goes to Khartoom via Alexandria after crossing the Medi-
terranean Sea; at Khartoom the line branches out in two
directions — one terminating at Capetown in the south and
the other at Lagos in the west. The French and the Italians
also have regular airways from Europe to Africa — to their Europe_
respective possessions of French Equatorial Africa via America.
Bathurst and of Madagascar across the Sahara and the Congo,
and to Addis Ababa via Tripoli and Cairo. Airways between
Europe and America have been developed by the French and
the Germans. The African airport of Bathurst usually forms
the point of departure and the Brazilian port of Pernambuco
the terminus ; thence a line radiates to Santiago in Chile and
another to the various airports of the U. S. A. This is a

284

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

America-
Asia.

Position of
different
countries
in air
transport.

Importance
of relief.

Towns as
centres of
exchange.

trans-Atlantic air route. Airways across the Pacific Ocean
connecting America and Asia are maintained by the U.S.A.
The point of departure usually is San Francisco whence the
trunk line goes to Canton via Honolulu and Manila. The
continents of Europe and America (particularly the U. S. A.)
arc well served by air services: prior to the disorganisation
of commerce brought about by the present European conflict,
regular commercial air services were established all over
Europe. Germany was till lately the leading air-transport
power in the world, and she still ranks first in Europe in this
respect. Tn 1928, however, the U. S. A. first surpassed
Germany in the development of airways. The total freight
and mail carried by aeroplanes and airships in the U. S. A.
that year was well over 2500 tons, in Germany just 2500 tons,
in France a little above 1250 tons, in Holland about 750 tons,
in Great Britain 600 tons, in Colombia just short of 500 tons,
in Poland nearly 275 tons, and in Italy 250 tons.1 Important
airports of the U. S. A. are New York, Washington and
Boston on the east and San Francisco, Los Angeles and
Seattle on the west.

Commercial and Industrial Towns. — A moment's
glance at the topographical map of any country or region will
at once reveal to the thoughtful student that any random
spot is not convenient for the exchange of commodities on a
commercial scale, while certain other places are eminently
suitable for such transaction. A study of the various towns,
big and small, within a given region will, on the other hand,
show that these are all, more or less, centres of exchange for
the districts around. The inevitable conclusion from these
data is that a town is always a centre of exchange, even if all
the spots favoured by topography for commercial and indus-
trial development are not towns. It is necessary, therefore, to

1 Compiled from Case & Bergsmark, College Geography, p. 666.

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES

285

S
H

286 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

femditions study the factors that help to the growth of towns and cities
Irowth'of as we^ as °^ commercial and industrial areas. These are,
towns. however, of various kinds, and it is customary to enumerate

them in some such way as follows : —

(a) Many of the world's most famous cities owe their
origin and development mainly to religion. Familiar instances
are Mecca, Jerusalem, Benares, Lhasa etc.

(b) Several other towns have grown up to be what they
are chiefly as educational centres. Obvious instances are
Oxford and Cambridge.

(c) Health and pleasure resorts also sometimes grow up
to be more or less important towns. Vichy, Bath, Saratoga,
Darjeeling etc. are some of the instances.

(d) Natural wealth, especially minerals, are responsible
for the growth of many important towns. Scores of ins-
tances may be cited at will. Unfavourable climate is no
hindrance to the growth of towns located in the vicinity of
mineral deposits as the towns of Northern Chile and Western
Australia show.

(e) Nearness to the site of water-power is another factor
helping the growth of towns. The 'fall-line towns' of the
U. S. A. like Buffalo, Holyoke, Minneapolis, St. Paul etc.
are well-known instances.

(/) Towns often grow up at the meeting of hill and
plain, at the confluence of navigable rivers, at the highest point
to which a river can be navigated,, at points where a rivef
suddenly changes its course, and at $pots where surface relief
lead to the convergence of various' railways or roads. Milan
at the foot of the Alps is a place where commodities from the
nlountains can be exchanged for those of the plains. Allaha-

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 287

bad, Lyons, Manaos, St. Louis, Frankfort-on-Main, Pittsburg
etc. have grown up at the junction of rivers. Chicago,
Toronto, Winnipeg etc. are important railway junctions.

(g) Towns often spring up where physical and other
conditions necessitate a change in the mode of transport or
where it is most convenient to deposit bulk goods for their
eventual distribution. Sea-ports are the most outstanding
examples of this class of towns.

(h) Many towns owe their origin and growth to stra-
tegic advantages of location. Copenhagen, Istanbul,
Gibraltar etc. are notable examples.

(i) Historical and political movements are also respon-
sible for the growth of many towns. Paris, Washington,
Berlin etc. may be cited as familiar instances.

It is clear from the foregoing analysis that of all the Importance
factors responsible for the growth and development of towns, ?* location
location is by far the most important ; indeed it very nearly mining
subsumes under it all the other factors, topography included. ^ ori£in
According to Semple it is the supreme geographical fact in develop-
history ; "area itself, important as it is. must yield to
location/'1 A place of pilgrimage will not develop into a
large town or centre of business if located unfavourably
for the exchange of commodities. Badrinath in the
mountain fastnesses of the Himalayas has not developed into
a town at all. The importance of Benares, on the contrary,
lies in its favourable position on the Gangetic Valley. Mecca
was an important city even in pre- Muslim days, and so was
Jerusalem in pre-Christian times ; both the cities are remark-
ably situated. As for educational centres the truth is that

1E. C. Semple, "Geographical Location as a Factor in History,/
Geographical Society Bulletin, Vol. 40, pp. 65-66.

288 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

towns rarely grow up because of universities, but universities
are established where towns have already sprung up. The
situation of the two most famous universities of England —
that of Oxford and Cambridge — in the east midlands is
important; Oxford, moreover, is now a centre of England's
motor industry. Other university towns of England —
London, Liverpool, Leeds, Durham, Sheffield, Manchester
and Birmingham — are important business centres as well.

ports Another thing to be noted in this connection is the fact

that most of the great cities of the world are sea-ports i.e.,
situated on or near the margin of the sea. A port is a gate-
way between the land and the sea, and thus performs the
dual function of loading and unloading cargo.

Harbours. The importance of a port depends primarily on two

factors — (1) the facilities it can afford to shipping, and (2)
the productiveness and accessibility of the region it serves.
The, entire region served by a port is called its hinterland,
and where ships can have a place of shelter is known as a
harbour. A port must, therefore, have a harbour in front
and a hinterland behind. Harbours may be either natural or
artificial: a natural harbour is essentially an indention in the
coastline spacious and deep enough to admit ocean-going
vessels and * sufficiently protected by topographical features
from destructive winds and waves so as to provide a tranquil
anchorage for shipping. Liverpool and Cork in Britain and
San Francisco in the U. S. A. are said to possess excellent
natural harbours. Where, however, topographical features
are unfavourable artificial harbours are constructed for pro-
viding safe accommodation to shipping. In order to combat
the recurring shallowness caused by the deposit of materials
due to streams, waves, current -and tides, the work of dredg-
ing is repeated at frequent intervals. Large sums of money

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 289

are thus regularly spent for deepening many such harbours.
Breakwaters are also used for combating the destructive work
of waves within the harbour area so that shipping may lie in
safe anchorage ; this is especially important where the harbour
space is limited. Hut it must also be borne in mind that iii
these days of giant ocean liners the distinction between natural
and artificial harbours has come to be one of degree only ;
for all the great harbours are now regularly dredged for the
passage of ocean-going vessels. The essentials of a good
harbour arc (a) an approach channel of ample dimensions,
(b) adequate protection against storms, (c) sufficient space
for docks and wharves, (d) ample area, and (r) ample depth.
For the accommodation of the largest vessels a harbour must
have more than 40 feet of water. London, Liverpool, South-
ampton, Le Havre, Hamburg, Antwerp, New York, Boston,
San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro and Sydney are the outstand-
ing examples of deep water harbours of the world. Another
factor determining the value of harbours is the tidal range:
the depth of water at high tide enables many ships to enter and
clear a port at that time ; where the water level does not permit
this type of activity lighters are used for loading and unload-
ing cargo. Another point of importance is the area of a har-
bour. New York, San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro and Sydney
are among the extensive harbours of the world. Climate is
another factor determining the value of not only ports and
harbours but also of entire coastlines. Not a single harbour
along the entire northern coast of Russia remains ice-free for
the whole of winter. Even Vladivostok situated on the
south-eastern coast of Siberia does not remain free from ice
all the year round. At present, however, it is kept open by
the use of ice-breakers. The Baltic ports also suffer from
the same fate during winter. Many of the northern ports of
Germany would be closed for a part of winter were it not
for ice-breakers. Canada carries on her commercial activity

290 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

during winter through Halifax and Portland, because the

St. Lawrence remains ice-bound for several months in winter.
Hinter-
lands. But of more fundamental importance to a port is its

hinterland. A hinterland may be defined as "the land which
lies behind a seaport or a seaboard, and supplies the bulk of
the exports, and in which are distributed the bulk of the
imports of that seaport or seaboard, either generally or in
relation to certain uses."1 Hinterlands are sometimes classi-
fied as distributory and contributory : a distributory hinter-
Distributory *anc' *s concerned mainly with the importation of goods and
& contri- raw materials in order to supply its inhabitants with the
ffinterlands. Accessaries and luxuries of life and to keep its manufactur-
ing industries supplied with the necessary raw materials. A
contributory hinterland is concerned chiefly with the exporta-
tion of commodities — food, raw materials and manufactured
articles as the case may be. But this is more in the nature
of an academical than a real distinction; actually all hiter-
lands serve both purposes — in varying degrees. The hinter-
lands of different ports often overlap as much in relation to
different seas as to the same seas. There may also be several
ports serving the same hinterland. Thus the Punjab is includ-
Overlapping e(j ;n the hinterland of Karachi for Arabian Sea trade, but for
lands. Bay of Bengal trade it belongs to the hinterland of Calcutta.

Considerable portions of Central India likewise may be includ-
ed in the hinterlands of both Bombay and Calcutta. An
enormous portion of Yorkshire belongs to the hinterland of
Liverpool for Irish Sea and trans- Atlantic trade, but to that of
Hull, Goole and Grimsby for North Sea traffic. Again, as the
last illustration shows, the same hinterland is often served
by different ports, or, to put it in another way, the hinterlands
of different ports overlap in relation to the same sea. The
ports of Bombay, Okha, Porbandar, Navalakhi etc. may be

1 Chisholm's Handbook, p. 104.

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 291

said to serve the same hinterland, or their respective hinter-
lands may be said to overlap. The smaller ports of Kathia-
war are now steadily rising in importance because of increas-
ing, traffic due to lower port charges. The value of a hinter-
land is increased by improvements in the means of internal
communication, by adjustment of inland freight rates, and
by improving the port itself.

Sea-ports are sometimes divided into various types accord- Various
ing to the nature of the harbours and the means of internal Sea-ports
communication. These may be enumerated as follows : —

(a) Open Roadsteads'. These are small areas of water
near the shores where ships can ride at anchor. Naturally,
therefore, these are extremely deficient in good harbours, and
ships in such places are usually obliged to load and unload
their cargoes by means of lighters. Often the roadsteads are
deficient in the means of internal communication also as
they are rarely situated at the end of large valleys. Boulogne,
Mollendo and Antofagasta are among the noted illustrations.

(b) Bay Ports: These are usually situated on bays
that penetrate the land deeply or on projections extending far
into the sea. Naturally, therefore, these ports often afford
safe, commodious and deep harbours. Boston is a good
illustration.

(c) Estuarine Ports (often miscalled 'river ports') :
These are situated at the head of estuaries or tidal mouths of
large rivers. Obviously such ports have the advantage of
easy inland communication, but they often suffer from the
silting up of river beds and the want of space for anchorage,
docks and wharves. Regular dredging is required to keep
the ports open. Familiar instances are Calcutta and
Chittagong; London, situated at the head of the Thames
estuary 55 miles from the sea, is another example.

292

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

|River
'Ports.

Entrepots.

(d) Bay Ports at river mouths, however, are ideal for
commerce. They combine all the advantages of ordinary
Bay Ports with those of the Estuarine Ports. New York
at the mouth of the Hudson may be cited as a good
illustration.

Many important commercial towns, we have already
noted, grow up on river banks. These are river ports pro-
perly so called. Some of these are located at the highest
point to which rivers can be navigated, some others where
further navigation is difficult owing to the existence of a
rapid or a fall, still others at the turning points of rivers.
The value as well as the importance of these ports depends
on two primary factors — (a) the productivity of the region
served by them and (b) the navigability of the rivers.
Narayanganj, Goalundo, Chandpur and Jhalakati are some
of the important river ports of Bengal. Narayanganj is a
collecting and distributing centre which act as a clearing-
house for the jute and rice of Eastern Bengal ; Goalundo is
noted for its fish trade ; Chandpur acts as a clearing-house
for the products of the fertile Surma Valley of Assam;
Jhalakati, with the adjoining port of Nalchiti, is a centre of
the betel-nut trade of Eastern Bengal. Gauhati, Dibrugarh
and Sylhet are all important river ports of Assam. All
these ports are situated on rivers navigable by steamers.
Much of the jute and paddy brought to the mill towns on
the Hooghly such as Naihati, Bhatpara, Titagarh and
Serampore are transported by the waterways of the Delta.

Another word frequently met with in books on com-
merce is 'entrepot'. An entrepot is a port where commo-
dities are imported for the purpose of re-exporting them to
regions which cannot import them direct from their sources.
Gibraltar, Marseilles, Algiers, Port Said, Aden, Colombo,
Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai are among the great
entrepots of the world.

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES

Important Urban Centres of the World

293

Town

Population accord-
ing to last census

Chief Manufacturing Industry.

New York

6,930,000

Clothing.

Tokyo

5,875,000

Miscellaneous industries.

London

4,397,000

»» *»

Berlin

4,243,000

Chemical and electrical

industries.

Moscow

3,666,000

Cotton and textiles ; metal

workings and machinery.

Chicago

3,376,000

Meat packing.

Shanghai

3,259,000

Cotton spinning ; ship building.

Osaka

2,990,000

Cotton spinning.

Paris

2,891,000

Articles of luxury.

Leningrad

2,780,000

Miscellaneous machinery; ship-

building.

Buenos Aires

2,247,000

Philadelphia

1,951,000

Sugar ; leather.

Vienna

1,874,000

Clothing.

Rio cle Janeiro

1,701,000

Sugar : textiles.

Detroit

1,569,000

Motor Cars.

Calcutta

1,486,000

Jute manufactures.

*TSf»rifr«in

1,387000

J. ICIlLolU

Peiping

l',298',000

Sydney

1,249.000

Sugar ; dairy farming.

Los Angeles

1,238,000

Fruit packing ; motion pictures.

Bombay

1,161,000

Cotton spinning & weaving.

Rome

1,156,000

Miscellaneous industries.

Sao Paulo

1,151,000

Textiles.

Hamburg

1,129,000

Ship-building.

Milan

1,116,000

Silk weaving; steel industry;

cutlery.

Glasgow

1,088,000

Cotton spinning and weaving.

Nagoya

1,083,000

Porcelain & other artistic

products.

Kyoto

1,081,000

Budapest

1,061,000

Electrical machinery.

Nanking

1,013,000

Birminaiam

1,003,000

Metal workings, machinery,

1 motors &c.

Melbourne

1,000.000

Naples

866,000

Liverpool

856,000

Cotton spinning & weaving;

shipbuilding & repairing.

St. Louis

822,000

Tobacco; malt liquors.

Baltimore

805,000

Canning ; clothing.

Boston

781,000

Clothing ; sugar.

Manchester

766,000

Cotton spinning and weaving;

steam engines, railway

carriage, etc.

294

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

ndia.

Hiaracter-
stics of
ort of
iralcutta.

inland

fonmiuni-

Cation.

Important Ports of the World

Asia. — There are only four major sea-ports in India
— Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and Karachi. Calcutta stands
on the Hooghly, some 72 miles from the sea. The passage
of the river is dangerous, especially to small crafts, owing to
sand-banks and changes in the river bed. During the period
of early influx of Europeans into India the river was navi-
gable by ocean-going vessels for a considerable distance up
stream, and many ports then flourished farther inland.
These have now declined because of silting, which is a
standing menace to Calcutta as well. The passage of the
river upto Calcutta is only kept navigable at considerable
cost. Moreover, the tidal wave which rushes up the river at
high tide also helps to keep the waterway clear. Its wharves
are, therefore, accessible to all but the largest ocean liners
of today.1 For facilities of inland communication, how-
ever, Calcutta is admirably situated: inland waterways
connect her direct with the east and north of the Delta. The
Calcutta and Eastern Canal is one of the arterial channels of
such communication. It enables the raw jute of Eastern
Bengal to reach the mills of Calcutta and the adjoining parts
at a very cheap rate. The city's proximity to the Raniganj
coal-fields has also contributed much to the development of
her manufactures. Of the important delta channels the
Hooghly is the westernmost, and so railways from the west
are not required to cross any large body of water; this has
made Howrah on the opposite (west) bank of the Hooghly
the terminus of railways from Delhi, Bombay and Madras
to the great advantage of Calcutta, which is connected with

1 Possibly Calcutta is accessible to the largest ocean liners as
well. But these do not ply in Indian waters, because the Suez Canal
cannot accommodate them. At the time the Canal was constructed
the liners were smaller than they are now.

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 295

Howrah by a bridge of boats. Railways connecting Calcutta
with North and Eastern Bengal and Assam radiate from
Sealdah on the eastern boundary of the city. The hinterland
of Calcutta is the largest in India ; it includes Bengal, Bihar, Hinterland
the U. P., Orissa and Assam, and also extends to the Punjab
beyond Delhi and to Central India in the neighbourhood of
Nagpur. The bulk of Calcutta's exports — about 58 per Exports &
cent — consists of jute, both raw and manufactured; other ImPorts-
important exports in the order of importance are tea, lac,
oilseeds and cotton goods. The principal items of import
are cotton goods, metals, machinery, government stores, rail-
way stock, hardware, and oil. Calcutta is often described
as the 'Commercial Capital' of India. It is a fine estuarine
port.

Bombay is the second city of India, and, according Character-
to many, the first 'if Howrah be excluded from the Calcutta ls^ ^
agglomeration/ It owes its importance to several geographi- Bombay,
cal factors: it has, first, a magniricient natural harbour;
second, it is in command of two gateways through the Western
Ghats ; third, its location makes it the natural gateway to
India from Europe; fourth, its hinterland includes the rich
cotton lands of the Bombay Deccan ; fifth, its climate, like that
of the west side of the Pennine Upland of England being
highly suitable for cotton manufactures, has made it a great
centre of cotton spinning and weaving; sixth, the water-
power resources in the Western Ghats near by have added
impetus to its cotton industry. But like New York, again,
Bombay is now experiencing difficulty of expansion on its
island site ; the bay on the west of the city and north of the
lighthouse known as the 'Back Bay' is now being partially
reclaimed for more land. The city is now connected by rail- Inland
ways with the larger island of Salsette behind it and also
with the mainland. Thus inland communication has been
established with the north, east and south so as to connect the

296

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

'interland
Bombay.

Exports &
Imports.

city witli Delhi, Calcutta and Madras. The hinterland of
Bombay extends upto Delhi on the north, Jubbulporc and
Nagpur on the east and almost reaches the city of Hydera-
bad on the south-east. The principal items of export are
raw cotton (about 48 per cent), cotton goods (about 20 per
cent), cotton seed, Unseed, groundnuts and scsanium, wool,
and hides, skin and leather. The principal items of import
show a surprising sameness with those of Calcutta, except
for the treasure import (gold and silver) which is virtually
restricted to Bombay. Bombay is the great rival of Calcutta.
Tt is a fine bay port.

Character-
istics of
Madras
port.

Communi-
cation.

Hinterland.

Export &
Import.

Madras is the third largest city in India, but the last
of the four great ports. It was one of the many open road-
steads on the south-east coast of India. At present it is
provided with a modern artificial harbour ; constant dredging
operations are required to keep it navigable. The city is
well served by railways, and the Buckingham Navigation
Canal provides a passage for small craft along the coast. The
hinterland of Madras is neither so rich not so extensive as any
of the hinterlands served by Calcutta, Bombay and Karachi.
The bulk of export — about 45 per cent of the total — consists
of leather; other items are skins, ra^v cotton, cotton goods
and groundnuts. Imports are virtually the same as in the
case of Calcutta.

Character-
istics of
Karachi
port.

Communica-
tion.

Karachi is the third largest port of India, although
it is not an industrial centre as Calcutta, Bombay and
Madras are. It is situated on a small bay to the west of the
mouths of the Indus. It has a natural rock-girt harbour,
which has been much improved by modern engineering. The
harbour is now protected by a breakwater. In some respects
it is admirably situated, being readily accessible from the
Makran Coast, from Basra and the Persian Gulf, from Aden

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 297

.and the Red Sea and from Bombay. Karachi is connected by
railways with the Punjab and the N. W. F. P. via Multan,
Lahore and Peshawar, witli Baluchistan via Quetta and the
Bolan Pass and with Delhi and Agra via Hyderabad and the Hinterland.
Thar Desert. Its hinterland extends to Quetta and beyond
as well as to Peshawar in the north and to Delhi in the north-
east, while including the whole of Sind and the Makran
Coast. The Makran Coast serves as a land-caravan route
as well. The principal items of exports are raw cotton (more
than 33 per cent) and wheat (about 25 per cent) ; other
important items are barley, oilseeds (rape), ivool, gram and
leather. Imports are much the same as in Calcutta. Karachi
may be described as a bay port at the mouth of a river ; but
the Sind Delta does not offer facilities for water carriage.
With the introduction of air-mail services between India and
foreign countries Karachi has become the leading airport of
India.

Colombo is the chief seaport of Ceylon on the west
•coast of the island, and enjoys a virtual monopoly of the Ceylon.
foreign trade. It is a great entrepot as well. Its importance
is due to the splendid geographical position it holds on Character-

. 1 • 1 r T? A r A .1 lstlCS °f

the ocean highway from burope to Australia and the Colombo

Far East. It has a magnificent artificial harbour, and P°rt-

- t1 T , , Cornmuni-

is a most important port of call. It is connected by cati0n.

railways with all the important towns of Ceylon. Principal
items of export are tea (50 per cent), rubber (25 per cent)
^nd cocoanut products (18 per cent). Leading imports are
'foodstuffs like rice (29 per cent), sugar, fish, grain and
curry (together 11 per cent), raw materials like mineral
<oil, coal, fertilisers and rubber (together 20 per cent),
and manufactures like cotton goods (8 per cent),
Iron and steel, machinery and motor cars (together
6 per cent,)-

298

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Indo-
Chma.
Malaya,
East
Indies, etc.

Character-
istics,
communi-
cation
and export
& import
of Rangoon
port.

Character-
istics,
communi-
cation,
export &
import of
Bangkok
port.

Character-
istics,
communi-
cation,
export &
import of
Saigon
port.

Rangoon is by far the most important port of British-
Indo-China (Burma), handling, as it does about 86 per cent
of the foreign trade of that country. It is situated some 20'
miles from the sea on the Rangoon river to the east of the
Irrawacldy Delta, and is connected by railways with Prome
and Mandalay. It commands the land and water highways-
of both the Irrawaddy and Sittang Valleys. It is
accessible to the largest ocean-going vessels plying in Indo-
Chinese waters. By far the most important item of export
is rice (62 per cent) ; next come petroleum and wax (toge-
ther 14 per cent) ; other important exports are teak and
cotton (together 8 per cent). Principal imports are cotton
goods, machinery and hardware, coal, silk and sugar.

Bangkok is the great port of Siam or Thailand. It
is situated on the river Menam, and is said to be visited'
annually by nearly 1,000 vessels with an aggregate tonnage
of over 1,000,000 tons. But there is a bar at the mouth of
the Menam, which does not permit large vessels to enter the
port. Bangkok is connected by railways with Penang and
Singapore. By far the most important item of export is
rice — about 87 per cent of the total ; next comes teak — only
4 per cent ; another notable item of export is tin. Leading
imports are cotton manufactures (17 per cent), cigarettes
(5 per cent), iron and steel (5 per cent), gunny bags (5 per
cent), yarns (4 per cent), silk (3 per cent), machinery (2
per cent), sugar (4 per cent), wine (2 per cent), gold leaf
(6 per cent), mineral oil (4 per cent), precious stones (3 per
cent), and opium (3 per cent).

Saigon, the chief port of Cochin-China (French Indo-
China), stands on an outlet of the Mekong 34 miles from the-
sea. It is said to be annually visited by about 900 ships with an
aggregate of nearly 2,000,000 tons. It has important channels
of inland communication by railways and waterways. The-
chief exports are rice, fish, fish-oil, pepper, cotton, copra*

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 299

rubber and spices. Chief imports are as usual cotton goods,
metal goods, silk goods, machinery, iron and steel, cotton
yarn, motor cars, munitions, petroleum and sugar. Rice
export covers more than 60 per cent of the total export
business.

Singapore is situated on an island of that name at ~,
the southern end of the Malay peninsula. It owes its im- istics, and
portance mainly to its splendid geographical position at the

junction of the world's great trade routes between the east the port
and the west ; it is the gateway of commerce between the g.n ore
Indian and Pacific Oceans. It has a magnificent harbour, and
large ship-building and ship-repairing yards have also been
established here. It is the great entrepot and coaling-station
of the Far East. It is connected by railways with Bangkok
and Penang. Singapore is also a naval base for the British
Admiralty. Large tin-smelting works have been established
here. The trade of Singapore being that of an entrepot, it
imports and exports a large number of products, which,
however, are not shown in official returns separately for
Singapore but for the whole of British Malaya.

Manila, the chief port of the Philippines, is on character-
the Pacific trunk line between America and the Far istics,
East. It has an excellent artificial harbour, and is cation!"11"
connected by railways with San Fernando on the north and export &
Batangas on the south. Leading exports are sugar, Manila MjmHa °
hemp, cocoanut oil, copra and tobacco; leading imports, port.
cotton goods, silk goods, iron and steel, paper, vehicles,
chemicals, electrical machinery, rice, wheat, dairy and meat
products, fish, vegetables, oil, coal and tobacco.

Hong Kong is situated near the mouth of the Canton china.
river. It is an island, and is under British occupation. It is
separated from the mainland by a strait only about a mile

300

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Character-
istics,
communi-
cation,
export &
import of
port of
Hong
Kong.

Character-
istics of
port of
Shanghai.

wide. It has a deep and commodious anchorage at Victoria
Bay on the northern side of the island ; moreover, the strait
between the mainland and the island is an excellent harbour.
It has also some of the largest ship-building and ship-
repairing yards in the British Empire outside Great Britain.
The Canton river is navigable for more than 600 miles from
its mouth, and the great city of Canton, which resembles
Calcutta in many respects, only about 90 miles north of
I long Kong, is very advantageously situated for the sea-
borne trade of this island port. Hong Kong is said to be
visited annually by 30,000 vessels. It is the great entrepot
for Southern China. The principal items of export from
Hong Kong arc foodstuffs (23 per cent), treasure (9 per
cent), piece goods (9 per cent), oils and fats (7 per cent),
metals (5 per cent), and tobacco (3 per cent). Chief imports
are foodstuffs (41 per cent), piece (joods (12 per cent), oils
and fats (6 per cent), metals (1 per cent), treasure (.5 per
cent), Chinese medicines (4 per cent). Hong Kong is a
free port.

Shanghai is the largest of the many 'treaty ports' of
China. It is the great port of the Yangtze Kiang and the
gateway of the most extensive and productive natural region
of China. It is, however, not situated on the Yangtze
Kiang, but on a tidal creek 54 miles from the sea ; it is on the
Wusung or Hwangpu river, 14 miles from the confluence of
the Yangtze Kiang and the Wusung. But a bar at the
mouth of the Wusung long prevented the entrance of the
largest vessels; the river has now been canalized and the
largest vessels plying, in Chinese waters are now admitted.
Excellent shipbuilding yards have now been established at the
port by Europeans. The Yangtze Kiang itself is an admir-
able waterway for more than 1,000 miles from its mouth,
and several of its tributaries are also good inland waterways.

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 301

Shanghai is also connected by railways with Tientsin and
Peiping on the north and with Hangchow immediately south.
Owing to the richness of its hinterland and also because of Conununi-
the dearth of good seaports in the region lying north of the ^tion &
Yangtze Kiang, Shanghai has grown into one of the great
entrepots of the world : it serves all the other Yangtze ports
such as Nanking, Hankow, Chinkiang, Ichang, Kiukiang,
Chungking, etc., as well as the whole of Northern China.
Leading exports are raw silk, beans, bean cake, vegetable
oils, razv cotton, tea, coal, silk goods, metals and ores, eggs,
groundnuts, etc. ; leading imports, cotton goods, machinery,
iron and steel, cigars, woollens, kerosene, raw cotton, tobacco,
coal, indigo, rice, sugar, flour and fish.

Canton, situated on the west bank of the Canton
river, is the leading port of Southern China. Its situation in Character-
the Si Kiang delta region is analogous to that of Calcutta ; eo^uni_
but as to facilities for inland water carriage it is said to cation,

resemble Venice. Like Calcutta, however, Canton is situ-

ated 'on one of the most productive of tropical deltas', of Canton
Besides natural waterways and canals to link it up with por '
various towns, Canton is connected by rail with Tientsin and
Peiping on the north; another railway line has established
connection between Hong Kong and Canton, but the running
of trains has been abandoned for some years. Regular steamer
services between Hong Kong and Canton are, however,
being maintained, and Canton is visited regularly by ships
from foreign countries as well. The exports and imports
are, on the whole, similar to those of Shanghai.

Most of the Japanese towns are seaports. But the most japan
important seaport of Japan is Yokohama, the outport of
Tokyo which is. not accessible to large vessels. Yoko- Yokohama
hama has a safe and commodious harbour accessible to
the largest liners plying the Pacific. It deals with mis-
cellaneous articles of trade. Kobe, provided with an

302

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

SPort of
Kobe,

Port of
Nagasaki.

Manchu-
ria and
Asiatic
Ritssia.

Ports of
Dairen,
Port

Arthur &
Vladi-
vostok.

Harbin

and

Moukden.

excellent harbour, serves mainly as the outport of Osaka,
the leading centre of Japan's cotton-spinning industry.
Osaka itself is accessible, like Tokyo, for small vessels.
Nagasaki has an excellent harbour and a great ship-
building yard. The leading exports of Japan are raw silk
(38 per cent), cotton goods (23 per cent), silk goods (7 per
cent), coal (2 per cent), and pottery (2 per cent) ; leading
imports, raw cotton (27 per cent), iron (7 per cent), machi-
nery (5 per cent), chemicals (5 per cent), oil-cake (5 per
cent), wood (4 per cent), wool (4 per cent), woollen goods
(4 per cent), sugar (3 per cent), paper (2 per cent), rice
(2 per cent), wheat (2 per cent), miscellaneous metals (2 per
cent), and beans and other foodstuffs (6 per cent).

Port Arthur and Dairen on the Liau-tung peninsula
in Manchuria and Vladivostok on the east coast of
Asiatic Russia are notable ports for their respective locations.
All of them are well served by railways for inland communi-
cation. Of these Dairen is probably the busiest port, acting,
as it does, the part of the great outlet for Manchurian pro-
ducts. The leading exports of Manchuria are bean cakes,
beans, bean oil (together 50 per cent), wheat (12 per cent)
and other cereals (8 per cent), coal (4 per cent), silk yarn,
Kaoliang and lumber. Vladivostok on the Sea of Japan is
Russia's most important harbour and naval station in the Far
East. It is connected by rail with Moscow and Leningrad.
The trade, however, is small, and the port would remain ice-
bound for several months of the year were it not for the use
of ice-breakers. Harbin is an important inland town of
Manchuria, situated at the spot where the railways
diverge for Vladivostok, Port Arthur and Dairen. Its
neighbourhoods are rich in coal measures and forests.
Moukden is the great inland trade centre of Manchuria;
there is a large production of coal from its neighbour-
hood.

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 303

Izmir, formerly Smyrna, — apart from Istanbul Turkey.
•(Constantinople) — is the leading port of Turkey. It is
.•situated on the Gulf of Smyrna, Aegean Sea, and serves as
the chief outlet of the west coast. It possesses an excellent kfo
natural harbour commodious enough for the largest ships, communi-
The hinterland comprises the valleys of the Caicus, Hermus, hfnteS'ind
Cayster, Meander and Indos, which together form the etc. of
richest and most important region of Turkey. The Izmir
region is rich also in mineral deposits, some of which are now
•being worked. Though not very well served by railways, it
has railway connection with many important places such as
Ankara in the interior and Adana and Alexandretta on the
Mediterranean coast. The principal items of export are
raisins, valonia, cotton, opium, figs, barley, liquorice, carpets,
-wool and sponges. Chief imports are cotton goods, woollens,
-metals and cereals. Trabzon, formerly Trebizond, is the
chief port on the Black Sea, serving the north-eastern region $ea Port,
of Mediterranean agriculture. Istanbul, formerly Constan-
tinople, belongs to European Turkey. Situated between the Istanbul
straits of Bosporus and Dardanelles it holds a most Way to
strategic position. Much of the trade between Western West.
Europe and Turkey is carried on by way of this im-
portant city.

Beirut is the chief port of Syria. It is connected by Arab Asia
.a roacl and a railway with Damascus. Alexandretta, the port <j*d Near
of Aleppo, lies farther north. Haifa in Palestine is a
notable port south of Beirut; a railway connects it with
Cairo across the isthmus of Suez. But Jaffa is at present
the leading port of Palestine. Syria's chief exports are
-cotton and cotton thread, raw ivool, animals, raw silk and
cocoons, fruits and nuts; chief imports are textiles (cotton,
wool and silk) and cereals. Palestine's exports are oranges,
soap, water melons, wine, almonds and skins; her imports

304

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Ports of

Beirut,

Aleppo,

Haifa,

Jaffa and

Aden

United
Kingdom.

Port of
London.

are foodstuffs (rice, flour, sugar, etc.), manufactured goods-
(cotton fabrics, motors, etc.), and raw materials (kerosene,,
benzine, wool, etc.). The foreign trade of the whole region
is extremely unbalanced; Syria's imports are more than
double the exports in value, while Palestine's imports exceed
her exports nearly five times in value. Aden, on the
south coast of Arabia, possesses an admirable natural harbour
and serves as a great entrepot in the trade between Asia,
Africa and Europe. It is a fortified coaling station as
well. The opening of the Suez Canal lias increased its
strategic value to a great extent.

Europe. — The first nine seaports of the United King-
dom, according to Stamp, are London, Liverpool, Hull,
Southampton, Manchester, Glasgow, Harwich, Bristol, and'
Grimsby. Of these London and Liverpool are by far the
most important, handling, as they do, 60 per cent of the total
trade of the United Kingdom between them; London leads
in exports, Liverpool in imports. London's pre-eminence is
due, among other things, to its excellent situation at the head
of the Thames estuary, about 55 miles from the sea. It is
accessible to the largest ocean-going vessels. The mouth of
the Thames is directly opposite another important estuary
— that of the Scheldt, and nearly opposite the mouth of the
Rhine. This has given London a commanding position in
its trade with continental Europe. It is now one of the
biggest cntiipots of the world — in fact, the greatest import
market the world has yet seen. London handles more than
50 per cent of the trade of the United Kingdom. But
curiously enough it is situated in the heart of the agricul-
tural region of England and has no coal, no iron, no water-
power ; nor has it any outstanding manufacture. It is now
the chief railway centre for the British Isles, and its docks
have been built at great expense. The exports and imports-

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 305

of London are of a miscellaneous kind. Liverpool is situated

at the mouth of the Mersey ; the harbour is said to be commo-

dious enough for 'all the fleets of the world* ; the hinterland port ^

comprises Preston, Accrington, Burnley, Bradford, Leeds, Liverpool.

Bolton, Blackburn, Oldham, Manchester, Sheffield, North-

wich, Nottingham, Leicester, Birmingham, etc. ; the chief

articles of commerce are cotton goods, woollens, cutlery,

leather, hardware, potteries, and glass and chemicals. Of

these cotton goods are by far the most important. The damp

climate and the abundance of soft water from the Pennines

are said to be ideal for cotton manufacture. The

principal item of import is, of course, raw cotton. Liverpool

is now connected with the port of Manchester by means port Q£

of the famous Liverpool-Manchester Ship Canal, which has Manchester.

enabled shipments of cotton to reach Manchester direct.

Manchester is the town most closely associated with the

cotton industry of Great Britain. Hull, at the confluence of

the rivers Hull and Humber, serves the northern mid-

lands, and to a lesser degree the southern midlands and

London as well. Like London it also handles miscellaneous

goods. The hinterland of Hull, as also that of Goole

and Grimsby, overlaps with that of Liverpool. Southampton

is the chief commercial port on the south coast of Britain.

The harbour is commodious, and it is an important Southamp-

port of call for trans-Atlantic vessels. Its export trade ton.

is of a miscellaneous nature and its import trade, though

on the whole of the same nature, is characterized by the

importation of large quantities of fresh and refrigerated meat

and fruit. Glasgow, on the Clyde, first rose to importance,

like Liverpool, with the growth of American trade. Glasgdyir.

It has an excellent natural harbour, improved con-

siderably for the accommodation of modern giant liners.

There are abundant coal and iron deposits in the imme-

diate neighbourhood of Glasgow, and this has led to

306

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Ports of
Harwich,
Bristol &
Crrimsby.

France :

Port of
Marseilles.

Port tit Le
Havre'/

the growth of various industries there. Owing to the varied
nature of these industries it is difficult to single out a single
industry as characteristic of Glasgow, except, of course,
ship-building and marine engineering. The export trade of
Glasgow, it is interesting to note, is SO per cent, more in
value than its import trade. Harwich, to the north-east of
London, is engaged mostly in continental trade, and has a
relatively small export business. Bristol, on the west, com-
mands the Severn Valley and the thickly peopled region
immediately east of it. Its export trade has, however,
dwindled considerably in importance, but the import trade
still continues to be large. Grimsby, on the eastern sea-
board, is a minor port specializing in the export of coal and
large iron and steel castings.

The principal seaports of France in the order of their
importance are Marseilles Le Havre, Rouen, Dunkerque,
Bordeaux, I^a Rochelle, Nantes and Cherbourg. Marseilles,
to the east of the Rhone delta, is said to be the only first-class
port on the Mediterranean Sea. It commands the rich and
productive Rhone Valley which enjoys the Mediterranean
type of climate, and affords direct access by means of water-
ways to the plains of northern France and Belgium. It is also
well served by railways. Although it shares in the trans-
Atlantic trade, its main business is with the Mediterranean
region and the East. It is one of the principal entrepots of
the world, importing, among other things, large quantities of
wine, wheat, oil-seeds, sugar, coffee, hides, silk and pepper.
Le Havre, at the mouth of the Seine, is the principal centre
of trade with America, and affords direct access to the Paris
Basin by means of waterways. The Seine estuary, however,
is dangerous to small craft, and constant dredging opera-
tions are necessary to keep the port open. It also serves
more or less as an entrepot, and imports cotton, tobacco,

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 307

wheat, animal products and coffee. Rouen, on the Seine Port of
farther inland, stands in much the same relation to Le Havre oucn'
as Manchester to Liverpool. The Seine has been well
canalized for enabling large vessels to approach the port of
Rouen direct, and this has resulted in the diversion of much
of the trade of Le Havre to that port. .Besides, Rouen at
times imports large amounts of coal, and thus sometimes
exceeds even Marseilles in the total tonnage of commodities
handled. Dunkerque, the only North Sea port of France, port Of
was rising with surprising rapidity until its occupation by the Dunkerque.
Germans in 1940. Its hinterland comprises the coalfield region
of Northern France — a continuation of the Great Belgian
Coalfields — and the port serves the northern manufacturing
towns like Lille, Roubaix and Valenciennes. The principal
import is wool from South America and the chief items of
export are textiles, iron, beet sugar and oils. The harbour
has been deepend for the accommodation of large vessels,
and the port is well served by a splendid network of first-class
waterways. Bordeaux, on the Garonne, is the principal Ports of
centre for the export of French wines. Its outport, Pauillac, Bordeaux,
is accessible to the largest vessels, and the river has been Nantes&
deepened for miles inland. La Rochelle, with its outport Cherbourg,
of La Pallice which is accessible to large vessels, serves the
middle regions of Western France. Nantes, on the Loire,
became thoroughly useless as a seaport owing to the silting
up of the Loire below it. Its outport, St. Nazaire, at the
river-mouth, however, is accessible to large vessels, and the
river has now been thoroughly dredged so as to enable mode-
rately big vessels to reach Nantes. A ship canal also
connects Nantes with Brest. St. Nazaire is well known for
its ship-building yards. Cherbourg, on the English Channel,
is well situated for trans-Atlantic trade.

Antwerp, on the Scheldt estuary, is the largest port of .
Belgium. It lies directly opposite the Thames estuary, and

308

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Port of
Antwerp

Ports of
Ghent,
Ostend, &
Bruges.

is much more advantageously situated than London for inland
trade. It is connected by first-class waterways with the
Meiise, Seine and Rhine. It serves not only as an outlet for
Belgium, hut also as the chief outlet for the principal manu-
facturing region of Germany. The quayside is said to be
28 miles long and the dock water area 1,334 acres. Ghent,
at the confluence of the Scheldt and Lys, has been made
accessible to vessels of moderate size by the construction of a
ship canal. Ostend, on the west coast, and Bruges with
its outport, Zeebrugge. are of much less importance. There
is a large artificial harbour at Zeebrugge, and Bruges is
connected with the sea by a ship canal.

Holland:

Ports of
Amsterdam
and
Rotterdam.

Germany :

North Sea
ports.

Amsterdam and Rotterdam are the two chief ports of
Holland. Amsterdam, on the Ij, near the shallow Zuicler
Zee, has been made accessible to the large modern vessels by
means of the North Sea Canal. The port is well served by
inland waterways, especially by the Merwede Canal.
Amsterdam was the world's centre of diamond trade until
its occupation by Germany in 1940. Rotterdam, on the
Nieuwe Maas, is the largest port of Holland. But the river
is too shallow even at the mouth for large ocean steamers,
and a ship canal — the 'New Waterway' — now acts as the
commercial highway for the port. Constant dredging opera-
tions are required for keeping the whole network of canals
open to traffic. Much of the trade coming down the Rhine
Valley passes through Holland, especially Rotterdam.

The largest and and most important seaport of Germany
is Hamburg with its outport, Cuxhaven. It is a North Sea
port, and has risen to importance with the development of
American trade. But in normal times it trades with the
East as well, and buys much jute from India for its own
jute mills. Bremen, with its outport of Bremerhaven,

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 309

another important North Sea port, also trades with America
and the East in normal times. Emden, another North Sea
port, has risen to importance in recent times. Important
Baltic ports of Germany are Lubeck, Travenunde, Baltic
Stralsund, Stettin, etc. Most of the German ports, parti- ports-
cularly those on the Baltic Sea, would be useless in winter
were it not otherwise for the use of ice-breakers. And
although Germany under the Nazi regime has been trying
hard to develop her own ports, much of her foreign trade
still passes through the ports of Belgium, Holland, France, Disad
Italy and Yugoslavia. The trade of the mining and manu- German
facturing regions of western Germany passes, in normal J>orts-
times, mainly through Antwerp and Rotterdam.

Danzig, the apple of discord, was a German port before Port of
the foolish Treaty of Versailles had been signed. It is a an^"f
Baltic port and the main outlet and inlet for the Vistula Basin, rival
The port and its neighbourhood together constituted, under * yma'
the terms of the Versailles Treaty, a 'free city' — whatever
that might mean — under the supervision of the so-called
League of Nations ; but the Republic of Poland was entitled
to certain special rights within it. The principal exports of
Poland through this port were coal, timber, wood-pulp,
paper, sugar and mineral oil. But the Poles had, for some
time past, been developing a port of their own called
Gdynia outside the 'free city* of Danzig. Both are now in
German hands.

Most of the important Norwegian towns are seaports. Nonwy.
Oslo, at the head of the Glommen Valley, is the chief port
and capital. It has a dock that can accommodate vessels of
medium tonnage only. Principal exports are timber and
wood-pulp. Next comes Bergen on the southern part of
the west coast. It is a centre of fishing industries, and its
principal export is timber. Farther south lies the fishing

310

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

port of Stavenger, and farther north is Trondheim, the
third port of Norway, and in the far north stands Hammer-

Swcden. fest. The principal seajx)rt of Sweden is Goteborg (or
Gothenburg) on the south-west coast. The harbour is fairly
deep, but not commodious. The situation of the port, how-
ever, is excellent ; it is easily accessible from Great Britain.
France and Germany. Malmo, at the southern end, may be
said to stand face to face with Copenhagen, and is nearest to
Germany ; the bulk of the trade is naturally with Denmark and
Germany. Stockholm, the capital, is the principal Baltic
Sea port. The chief items of Sweden's export are wood-
pulp and paper and timber (together about 50 per cent), and
metals (about 30 per cent). The principal town of Denmark

Denmark. is Copenhagen, a free port now ; it has a good natural
harbour, and is connected with the Swedish port of Malnio
by an excellent system of train-ferry vessels. Copenhagen
holds a most strategic position, controlling, as it does, the
narrow entrances to the Baltic Sea. With the opening of
the Kiel Canal (Germany), however, its strategic advantage
has been greatly minimised. Aarhus and Aalborg are the
chief ports on the east of Jutland. Odense is the chief port
of Fyen. The principal exports of Denmark are butter,
cheese, bacon and eggs.

$pain The chief ports on the mountainous north coast of Spain

are Bilbao and Santandar, noted for the export of good
quality iron ore. These and other northern ports, however,
are always under the possibility of being obstructed by
bars, and constant engineering care is neeeded to keep them
open. Cadiz and Huelva in southern Spain have the com-
mand of the Guadalquivir Valley, although Seville on the
Guadalquivir about 70 miles from the sea is the principal
port of the region. The harbour of Cadiz, though accessible
to the largest vessels, is not spacious enough for a large

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 311

number of ships. The harbour of Huelva, on the other
hand, is deep and spacious enough for 'a large fleet of the
largest vessels', but obstructed by a shifting sand-bar at the
mouth of the Rio Tinto. Constant dredging is required to
keep Seville open to large vessels. Wine and dried grapes
are the chief exports of this region. Malaga, Cartagena,
Valencia and Barcelona are the principal port<* of the
Mediterranean coastlands of Spain. All these ports possess
good natural harbours, rendered more suitable for modern
vessels by engineering. The principal seaports of Portugal
are Oporto and Lisbon on the west coast. Oporto, at the Portugal.
mouth of the Douro, is famous as 'the port-wine port*. A
new harbour has now been constructed a few miles north of
the river mouth for large vessels. Lisbon, the capital, is at
the estuary of the Tagus and its admirable natural harbour
is directly accessible for the largest ocean liners of to-day.
It is the largest port of Portugal, exporting cork, wine, fish,
oranges, lemons, etc., and importing coal and manufactured .
goods generally. Gibraltar, belonging geographically to
Spain, is in British hands. It is a rock fortress commanding
the gateway to the Mediterranean. Commercially it is
important as an entrepot and coaling station, and its docks
have accommodation for the largest men-of-war in the
British Navy.

The principal ports of Italy are Venice and Genoa. Italy:
Venice, built upon a number of islets on the shore of the
Adriatic Sea, is a natural port. Its entrance is guarded by
a line of low sand islands. Two channels, one in the north
and the other in the south, now made deep enough for the P°rt. °*
largest vessels, allow easy access to the port. The hinter-
land of Venice comprises not only the eastern part of the
northern plain, but also extends to the whole of the Po
Valley, and Venice, which is connected by railways with

312

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Port of
Genoa.

Ports of

Naples,

Brindisi,

Trieste,

and

Fiume.

Malta.

Greece.

Milan and Turin, handles much of the traffic of the Brenner
railway. Venice has large ship-building yards as well. The
position of Genoa on the gulf of that name is very interesting.
It is flanked on the north, cast and west by the Alps ; a gap
through the northern highlands, however, connects it by rail
with Milan in the heart of the Po Valley. Railways along
the coasts connect it with Pisa, Leghorn, Rome, Capua and
Naples on the south-east, and with Savona and the Riviera
on the south-west. From Savona a railway line runs direct
to Turin in the Po Valley. Genoa has shipbuilding, iron,
and cotton works. It has a fine natural harbour, which has
been much improved and enlarged. The hinterland of
Genoa includes, in addition to a large part of the Po Valley,
southern Switzerland as well. Naples, in the middle of the
southern half of the west coast, itself an important centre of
various manufacturing industries, has a deep and spacious
harbour. Brindisi, on the iouth-east coast, was till lately
a port of .call for mail steamers from the East ; but the service
has been discontinued.1 Trieste, at the head of the Adriatic
Sea, belonged to the empire of Austria-Hungary, but was
annexed to Italy at the close of the Four Years' War
(1914-18). It still serves as an outlet for Austria, Hungary
and Yugoslavia* Fiume, on the Adriatic, also annexed to
Italy, serves mainly as a Yugoslav port.

Valetta, on the British island of Malta, is an important
fortress and coaling-station and considerable entrepot.

Piraeus, the port of Athens, is said to be the fourth port
in the Mediterranean and the principal port of Greece. It
has a fine natural harbour. Salonika, another Greek port,
serves also as an outlet and inlet for the trade of Yugoslavia.

1 Mails were being landed at Marseilles until the French collapse
in 1940.

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 313

Patras, on the Gulf of Corinth, is famous for the export of
currants ; it is also a Greek port.

Leningrad, with its port, Kronstadt, is the chief port Kussia.
of the U. S. S. R. on the Baltic Sea. The harbour accom-
modation of Leningrad is not what it should be, and it is at
Kronstadt that all large ships ride at anchor. A ship canal
now gives direct access to Leningrad where all but the very
largest vessels find a spacious anchorage. Riga, till lately
the capital of Latvia and now in Russian hands, is also
another important outlet for the U. S. S. R. Its harbour has
been much improved, although its port for large vessels is
List Dvinsk. Reval, the capital of Estonia until that state's
recent incorporation into the Soviet Union, is another im-
portant outlet for Russia ; the harbour has been deepened and
extended. Russia's chief port on the Black Sea is Odessa.
The chief Caspian port is Astrakhan. Another Caspian
port is Baku, whence oil is sent by pipe-line to Batum on
the Black Sea.

Africa. — The principal port of Egypt is Alexandria Egypt.
on the north-west fringe of the Nile Delta, [t handles about
•80 per cent of the import trade and 90 per cent of the export
trade of Egypt. Port Said, at the entrance to the Suez
Canal, is a considerable entrepot and important coaling-
station. Bulak is the port of Cairo. Port Sudan, on the
Red Sea coast, handles about 80 per cent of the foreign trade Sudan.
»of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Nearly two-thirds of its total

^export consists of cotton and cotton seeds; other exports are „ f.t ,
f • i i i j * ** Sotnaltfand,

gum, sesamum, skins, gold, and ground-nuts. Massawa,

•on the Red Sea, is the port of the Italian colony of Eritrea ;
its chief exports are hides and skins, and pearls. Mogadiscio Abyssinia,
is the chief port of Italian Somaliland, whence gums and ond Libya,
hides are exported. Berbera is the chief port of British

314

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Tunis

and

Algeria

Morocco.

South
Africa.

West
Africa.

Somaliland. Djibouti is the chief port of French Somali-
land; it is the terminus of the railway from Addis Ababa,
Abyssinia's capital. Tripoli and Benghazi are the two*
ports of some importance in Libya, now under Italian domi-
nation. Oran, Tenes, Algiers, Bougie, Bona, and Tunis
are the ports of Algeria and Tunisia, which are under French
domination. Chief exports from these ports are iron, sine,
phosphates and cereals like wheat and barley. Most of these
ports are open roadsteads, although some of them have now
been provided with artificial harbours. Tangier, on the
Strait of Gibraltar, and Mogador in the south, the port of
Morocco, Casablanca, and Rabat are the well known ports
of Morocco. Durban is the principal .port of Natal, S.
Africa. It is in the south-east coast region of Africa, which
receives its rain from the Trade Winds mainly in summer
(Nov. -Feb. ). The chief products of the region are sugar-
cane, cotton, tea, arrowroot and black wattle. Coal is mined
in the extreme north of the province, and Durban has become
an important coal-exporting port and coaling-station on the
Cape Route. Large numbers of Indians have settled here,
and large quantities of coal from Durban are exported to
Bombay. Other important ports of South Africa are Cape
Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, and the Portuguese
port of Lourenco Marques. Cape Town has a fine natural
harbour, which has now been much improved by the cons-
truction of an artificial one. It, too, is naturally a port of
call on the Cape Route. Lourenco Marques also exports
some coal to India. Dakkar, in French West Africa, is a
port of some importance, now grown famous after the
French collapse in 1940. Freetown, in Sierra Leone, is at
the estuary of the Rokelle river and has a fine natural
harbour. It is in British hands. Other West African
ports that can only be mentioned here are Accra, Porto
Novo, Lagos, Port Noire, Boma, Loanda, Benguela and

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 315

Swakopmund, all of which are under one or other of the
European powers.

N. America. — Halifax, on the east coast of Nova
Scotia, has an excellent natural harbour and is the prin-
cipal naval station of Canada. It remains ice-free all
the winter through in most years. Charlottetown, in
Prince Edward Island, is another Canadian port with a
good harbour. St. John, in New Brunswick, is on the
Bay of Fundy and possesses a fine harbour, which
remains open all the year round; it is now connected by
rail with Montreal, the principal centre of commerce in
Canada. Montreal is on an island in the St. Lawrence
some 180 miles above Quebec.. This has contributed to its
rapid rise and the consequent decline of the latter city. St.
Lawrence has been well dredged for the passage of large
ocean-going vessels to Montreal. It is now the largest grain
port of Canada after Vancouver. Quebec, at the confluence
of the Charles river with the St. Lawrence, is, like its rival,
Montreal, in command of the second manufacturing region
of Canada. Toronto, on Lake Ontario, has a fine har-
bour, and is the capital of the first manufacturing province of
Canada. Victoria at the south-east end of Vancouver Island
has an excellent harbour, and serves as a considerable
entrepot on the west of the Dominion. Vancouver, at the
mouth of Burrard Inlet, has a deep, commodious harbour,
from which mail steamers run regularly to Alaska, Seattle,
San Francisco, Hawaii, China, Japan, Australia and New
Zealand. Prince Rupert, on Kai-En Island, is a terminus
of the Canadian National Railways. The leading seaports of
the U. S. A. in the order of importance are New York, New
Orleans, Galveston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston,
Seattle, and Los Angeles.1 New York is an admirable port. f • ^-

1 Chisholm's Handbook, p. 748.

316

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Port of
New York.

Port of

"New

•Orleans.

Port of
•Galveston.

Ports of
San

Francisco,
Seattle,
and Los
Angeles.

Like Kombay it is built upon an island, and has a splendid
natural harbour, which has been turned into an ideal shelter
for the largest ocean-going vessels. The Hudson river flows
by it, and the gap thus caused to the north connects New
York with Montreal in Canada. At right angles to this gap
is another, the Mohawk Gap, which terminates at the con-
fluence of Lakes Erie and Ontario. New York is, thus,
directly connected by a splendid series of waterways with
all the townsi on the Great Lake System of N. America —
with Duluth, Port Arthur (Canada), Chicago, Milwaukee,
Detriot, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Toronto (Canada). The
Delaware Gap, again, connects it with Philadelphia, the Sus-
quehanna Gap with Baltimore, and the Potomac Gap with
Washington. Down the narrow Hudson Valley alone run
two canals and four main railways to New York. Of the
total foreign trde of the U. S. A. New York alone handles
more than 40 per cent. New Orleans, on the Gulf of
Mexico, though not provided with a good harbour by nature,
has been made accessible for large ships by means of a net-
work of canals. It has direct railway connection with new
York and Chicago. It has one of the largest hinterlands
in the whole of the U. S. A., and trades in gunny cloth, rice,
bananas, cotton, molasses and sugar. Galveston, also on
the Gulf of Mexico, has grown in importance only recently,
after the construction of a navigable channel across the bar
at its entrance. It, too, has railway connection with all
important centres. Large quantities of cotton are exported
from this port to Britain. San Francisco, Seattle, and
Los Angeles are on the Pacific coast. San Francisco, in
California, is at the head of a fine natural bay, which serves
as an excellent harbour, and has a Mediterranean climate.
Seattle, farther north, is in the region of the timber trade,
and has a good natural harbour. Los Angeles, in California,
lacks a good harbour and may be described as an open road-

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 317

stead ; but an artificial harbour has now been constructed. It
is a centre of American oil trade. Boston and Philadelphia Ports of
are on the east coast. Boston, in the New England region, at^ on
is a fine bay port, and is the great wool market of America. Philadelphia.
But the railway routes across the Alleghany Mountains being
difficult Boston cannot compete with New York in handling
the products of the hinterland around Chicago. Philadel-
phia, provided with a good harbour, is another centre of the
wool trade.

S. America. — Buenos Aires, the largest city in South ^///j
America, is the chief port of the Argentine Republic. But America:
the harbour is not good and has to be kept open at great
expense. Its principal exports are meat, wheat, and dairy

products ; principal imports, coal, oil and manufactured (/oods. .

L ^. ' , . ^, , _ . • . Argentina-

La Plata, Bahia Blanca and Rosano are other important
ports of the Republic. All of them are well served by rail-
ways, but none possess a good natural harbour. Rio de Brazil
Janeiro, the chief port and capital of Brazil, has a safe and
commodious natural harbour. Santos, farther south, is also
a Brazilian port of growing importance. Sao Paulo, lying
immediately behind Santos, is not actually a seaport, but an
important centre of textile industries. All these towns are
well served by railways. The chief exports of Brazil are
coffee, mate, meat and rubber; chief imports, oil, coal, wheat,
machinery, etc. Valparaiso, the port of Santiago, the Chile.
capital of Chile, is situated on a beautiful bay ; chief imports
are foodstuffs and manufactures; chief exports, nitrate of
soda, copper and f/uano. The ports of Antofagasta and
Iquique, however, handle the greater part of the exports.

Australia. — Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, Australia.
is the largest town and seaport of Australia. Its harbour. Port
Jackson, is one of the finest natural harbours in the world.
Brisbane, at the head of the estuary of the river of that name,

318 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

is the capital and chief port of Queensland, Australia. It is
accessible to large vessels. Fremantle, on the west coast, is
the port of call for mail steamers ; mails are landed here and
sent by train or aeroplane all over the continent except North
Australia. Hobart, on the south of Tasmania, upon the
Tasmania. river Derwent, is the capital of that island and a port of some
importance. The Derwent is navigable by the largest vessels.
But the chief port of Tasmania is Launceston on the north
at the head of the Tamar estuary.

STUDIES AND QUESTIONS

1. Describe the Suez Route with the object of showing its com-
mercial value. (C. U., B. Com., '24).

2. Discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of the Suez
and Panama Routes from Western Europe to Eastern Asia. Large
quantities of jute goods are exported from Calcutta to the Pacific
ports of South America. What route do the ships follow for this
trade, and why? (C U., B. Com., '34).

3. "The opening of the Panama Canal has brought about many
changes in the ocean routes, but by no possibility can it have such an
important effect on the commerce of the world and lead to such rapid
expansion of trade and traffic as was brought about by the opening
of the Suez Canal."— Discuss. (C. U., B. Com., '26).

4.. "The traffic through the Panama Canal has increased with
surprising rapidity in recent years." State briefly the factors that
have led to the improvement. What are the principal commodities
that pass through this canal? What are the main defects of this
route to the East and how are these going to be remedied?
(C. U., B. Com., '27).

5. Discuss the importance of the Suez Route to India's external
trade. How will this trade be affected if the route be temporarily
closed? (C. U., B. Com., '36),

THE EXCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 319

6. How does the Cape Route compare with the Mediterranean
from India to Europe. In what way will India's trade with Western
Europe be affected if the latter route is blockaded during a war?
(C U., B. Com., '39).

7. State the necessary conditions for the development of good
•seaports. Apply these considerations to any of the following: (a)
Montreal, (ft) Fremantle, (c) Shanghai, (d) Ruenos Aires, (?)
Trieste. (C. U., Inter., 75-6).

8. Describe the position of any four of the following ports and
discuss the parts they play in the commerce and industry of the
country they serve: (a) Rotterdam, (6) Yokohama, (c) Genoa, (d)
Galveston, (c) Buenos Aires. (C. U., Inter., '28).

9. What do you understand by the hinterland of a port?
Illustrate your answer by reference to a few ports in the different
parts of the world. (C. U., Inter.' '34).

10. State the situation and describe the reasons for the import-
ance of any five of the following: (a) Buenos Aires, (b) Danzig,
(c) Durham, (d) Chicago, (r) Hobart. (/) Sydney, (</) San
Francisco, (7i) Vancouver, (i) Yokohama. (C. U., Inter., '31 ).

11. State the situation and mention the geographical circumstances
giving importance to any five of the following: (a) Glasgow, (b)
Danzig, (r) Mosul, (d) Singapore, (c) Hong Kong, (/) Durban,
(</) Los Angeles, (/i) Buenos Aires, (t) Brisbane. (C. U.,
Inter., '26).

12. "The importance of a port depends upon the extent and the
productiveness of its hinterland." — Discuss. (C. U., Inter. '40).

13. Account for the importance of any four of the following:
(a) Harbin, (b) Colombo, (c) Manchester, (d) Chicago, (c)
Warsaw, (/) Minneapolis. (C. U., Inter. '33).

14. What factors make for the successful development of a river
port? Give a few conspicuous examples. (C. U., Inter. '34).

CHAPTER I

AUSTRALIA AND POLYNESIA

AUSTRALIA

Position and Size. — Australia is the largest island in
the world and smallest of the continents except, of course, Australia
the barren snow-covered territory of Antarctica. Even Q1^ .
including the islands of Tasmania, New Guinea and New
Zealand and the numerous islands that lie scattered over the
vast open expanses of the Pacific Ocean, — a group often
described collectively as the continent of Oceania — it is per-
haps the smallest continent. The area of Australia proper,
including Tasmania, is 3 million square miles, i.e., four- Area,
fifths that of Europe. The coast-line is remarkable for its
general compactness ; good harbours are, therefore, lacking,
and to this has partly been attributed the delay in
opening up the interior. Certain outstanding features
relating to its position must be noted : the continent lies
entirely in the Southern Hemisphere far away from all other
continents; the Tropic of Capricorn passes through the
northern third of the continent, so that while one-third
of the territory lies in the Tropics, the southern
two-thirds is in temperate latitudes. And here we
must guard against a possible misconception : although Tropical
in the Southern Hemisphere, Australia does not lie j^m rate
at the fringe of the Antarctic Circle ; in a topsy-turvy parts,
world it would occupy the position of the • Sahara Desert,
and the island of Tasmania would very nearly touch
the rprthern fringe of Spain, because the positions occu- " ntlp es*
pied by them in the Southern Hemisphere correspond to
those of the Sahara and northern Spain in the other. The Central
longitude of 135°E. is the central meridian of this island Meridian,
continent. The Commonwealth of Australia is almost

322

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Common- coincident with the Continent of Australia. The Common-
wealth and ,,, . T> • • i T^
Continent. wealth is a British Dominion.

Physical Features. — Topographically considered,
Australia can be divided into three natural regions :

(a) The Western Plateau Region, consisting of a
vast mass of ancient metamorphic rocks. The average eleva-
tion of the plateau, however, is variously stated to be between
600 and 1,500 feet, or between 1,000 and 2,000 feet above
sea-level. This huge block covers mere than half the total
area of the continent, sometimes descending direct into the
sea, and at other times leaving marginal spaces for narrow
coastal plains.

THE PHYSICAL REGIONS OF AUSTRALIA.

(b) The Central Lowlands, formed by the Carpen-
taria Lowlands in the north, Lake Eyre Basin in the middle,
and Murray-Darling Basin in the south. The South

AUSTRALIA 323

Australian Highlands, consisting of a series of hills run-
ing in a general north-south line, form an interruption in
the south-central plains of the Murray and Darling. To the
west of the Highlands is the Rift Valley of Australia.

(c) The Eastern Highlands, formed by a series of
block mountains and possibly by some pre-Tertiary fold
mountain ridges as well. The slope of these mountains
is from east to west. The western slopes form the great
grassland region of Australia, and the famous Darling
Downs of Queensland are only a part of this important
region. The whole range is known as the *Great Dividing
Range', although the different parts have different
names such as Australian Alps, Blue Mountains etc.
Towards the south these ranges curve in a westerly
direction, throwing out parallel ranges to the south. In the
northern part the ranges directly reach to the sea, while
in the southern part they leave space for an extremely narrow
but very important coastal plain. Since the continental shelf
upon which the mainland of Australia stands is also the
platform, geologically, of the mountainous island of Tasmania,
it may be regarded as a detached mass of the Eastern
Highland?.1

Australia is singularly deficient in large rivers. Those
of the north coast like the Fitsroy, Roper, Mitchell, Rjvers an(£
Flinders and Victoria are all tropical rivers fed by Lakes,
the periodical (monsoon) rains and all of them lack a steady
supply of water. The principal river of the west coast is
the Swan, 200 miles long, at the mouth of which stands the
city of Perth. Most of the permanent rivers, however, are
in the east and south-east, the Trade Wind region of
Australia, where the rainfall is heaviest and where the rivers

1 The island of New Guinea to the north of the mainland also
stands on the same continental shelf, which is separated by a deep
sea line from the Asiatic shelf on the one hand and that of New
Zealand on the other. Most of the East Indian islands belong to the
Asiatic shelf.

324 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

are fed by the melting snow of the Eastern High-
lands. The Fitzroy,1 Brisbane, Hawkesbury, Hunter,
Clarence and, above all, Murray and Darling are
the principal rivers of this region. The main stream of
the Murray is 1,300 miles in length; rising in the south
of the Eastern Highlands, it flows in a west and
north-west direction until deflected to the south by the
Flinders Mountains lying ahead ; after turning to the south
it drains into the sea through Lake Alexandrina. The source
of the Darling is more than 2,300 miles from the sea ; it drains
into the Murray with its many affluents from a north-easterly
direction. Other important tributaries of the Murray are the
Murruinbidgee and the Lachlan. Several streams of Australia
like the Dianwntina, the Cooper's Creek and the Eyre's
Creek drain into Lake Eyre, in the heart of the Central
Lowlands; but in the dry season these generally dry up,
leaving the lake basin an unhealthy swamp. The surface of
the Lake Eyre Basin is below sea-level.

Geology and Minerals. — The underlying geological
structure of Australia is, comparatively speaking, very simple,
and the close correlation between its surface topography and
geological structure is obvious. The Western Plateau region
is composed of ancient metamorphic (crystalline or old,
Metallic hardened sedimentary) rocks, resistant to denudation. As
Mnerals : we have noted in an earlier chapter (p. 11), the metallifer-
?ad 'sine' ous minera^s ten(l to t>e associated with these rocks. The
\n, silver, widespread occurrence of gold in the Western Plateau
region is, therefore, not at all surprising; the three
important goldfields of this region are those at Kal-
goorlic, Coolgardie and Cue (Murchison goldfield). Gold is
plentiful in the eastern parts as well, since the Eastern
Uplands, though perhaps of more recent origin (probably
Palaeozoic or Cambrian &/or Mesozic or pre- Tertiary ),
are also formed by crystalline or metamorphic and other

1 There are two rivers of that name (Fitzroy) in Australia.

AUSTRALIA 325

hard rocks. The famous goldfields of Ballarat and Bendigo
are in this region. Other important metallic minerals are
copper (Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia and
New South Wales), tin (Tasmania and the eastern
states), silver (Queensland, New South Wales, Tasma-
nia), lead (Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania),
zinc (New South Wales), wolfram (Queensland), and
iron (generally distributed). Of all the iron deposits
those of the famous Iron Knob, a hill of iron ore in South
Australia, is the most important. The Central Lowlands
of the continent are formed by young, soft, sedimentary
rocks (p. 11) of the post-Tertiary or later Cainzoic age Npn-metalli
(probably Miocene &/or Pliocene). Non-metallic minerals ™^era
like coal and oil usually tend to be associated with young,
sedimentary rocks,1 and thus on the flanks of the Eastern
Highlands in the region of Queensland and New South Wales
occur large deposits of coal. The most important coal basin
is near Newcastle, New South Wales. But no oil has as
yet been discovered in Australia, and considering the age A'<? oil in
of the rocks it seems highly improbable that oil will ever be Australia.
found there. The young, soft rocks, however, usually furnish
a soil and a topography suitable for agriculture; but un-
fortunately the Australian lowlands are climatically very dry Q. .
as the Great Dividing Range effectively cuts off the rain- great
bearing Trade Winds from the east. Yet this unfortunate
state of things has been compensated for to some extent by the
folds in the underground rocks, enabling them to form basins
containing water. Artesian wells can, therefore, be bored
for providing water for sheep and cattle, though not for Artesian
cultivation as the water is generally too saline for plants. Wells-
Thus considerable parts of the dry region of Australia have
been transformed into large cattle-and sheep-rearing areas.
There is, however, one great geological puzzle in Australia
as to the future supply of underground water: some are

1 Mineral oil occurs mostly in the margin of Alpine fold mountains.

326

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

uture of apprehensive of its exhaustion in no very remote future, while
jnderground others believe in the constant renewal of the supply by the
*ater rain that sinks into the ground every year in other parts

apply.

Conditions
i Hot
ieason.

of the continent.

Climate. — Australia is a topsy-turvy world, lying south
of the Equator, where it is mid-winter in July and blazing
hot in January. The Tropic of Capricorn, we have seen,
passes through the heart of the continent. So during the
summer months (Nov.-April) the sun shines vertically
almost over the centre of the mainland, where the average
shade temperature soars as high as 80° F., and in some
parts well over 90° F. All over the enormous central terri-
tory, and particularly in the north-west coast, low pressure

RAIN V^ALL YEAR

RAINFALL IN AUSTRALIA.

centres of varying barometrical gradient are formed accord-
ingly, to which the cool, rain-bearing winds flow from the

AUSTRALIA 327

Indian Ocean to the north and west. This is the North-west
Monsoon of Australia. The northern fringes of the north-
western coastlands receive a good rainfall — sometimes as
much as 40" annually ; but it is progressively light towards
the interior, the greater part of which lies beyond the
monsconal range. Nearly the whole of the east coast lies in
the belt of the South-east Trade Winds; but the Great
Dividing Range cuts off these winds, so that only the narrow
coastal areas receive a good rainfall (40") all the year
round. The vast interior of the continent is thus exceedingly
dry at all seasons. The east coast, especially the southern
half of it, has a marine climate. The southern coast also
remains dry during the hot season, because the passage of
the westerlies (N. W. Anti-Trade Winds) shifts too far to
the south to blow over the mainland, although they bring
rain to Tasmania. The southern fourth of Australia is, how-
ever, not so hot during the summer months as the northern
three-fourths, partly because of their relative distance from
the Tropic of Capricorn and partly because of occasional
cool winds from the Antarctic. As the sun moves farther
and farther towards the Tropic of Cancer during the
Australian winter (May-Oct.), the earth's thermal equator Conditions
begins to shift to the north, and because of the resulting fall Season,
in temperature over the greater part of the continent, high
pressure centres are formed in the interior, particularly in the
south-east. But the northern fourth of the continent keeps
relatively hot with an average temperature of 80° F. Obvi-
ously the heavy air over the heart of Australia will flow
towards the hotter north, and owing to the general northerly
swing of the world's wind systems during this season, the
entire north actually comes under the influence of the S. E.
Trade Winds which blow, except in Queensland, from the
dry interior. These dessicating winds bring no rain to the
north. The southern part at this season comes in the
belt of the N. W. Anti-Trades, which thus bring winter

fain +r\ ttiie fAAM/Mt Tl-iic no

328

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

region of Australia. The rainfall is fairly good, varying, as
it does, normally between 40" and 20" annually. Tasmania,
always in the westerly wind belt (Anti-Trade belt), has rain
all the year as do the east coast of the mainland owing to
the Trade Winds from the Pacific.

Natural Vegetation. — Combining all these data we find
that Australia can be divided into at least six climatic regions :
(a) there is. first the Tropical Climatic Region in the north
and north-east with a climate of the Sudan type. The coastal
areas are generally fringed with mangrove swamps ; farther
inland there are Monsoon forests (evergreen), which even-
tually pass into rich glasslands or savanas. (b) In the heart
of the continent prevails the Hot Desert Climate with its

COOL'

IPERATE

THE CLIMATIC REGIONS OF AUSTRALIA.

characteristic spiny grass and scrub, (c) The Mediterranean
Climate prevails in the. south, especially along the south-

AUSTRALIA 329

eastern and south-western coasts, where fine forests are
sometimes seen, (d) South of the tropical grasslands and
covering the greater part of the Murray-Darling Basin
occurs the Temperate Grassland Climate; in the wetter parts
of this region tall trees are found, (e) Along the southern
half of the eastern seaboard lies the region of the Eastralian
Climate, where the natural vegetation is cucalypt forest. The
Eastralian type of climate is closely similar to the China type,
but characterized by milder winter and rainfall at all seasons.
(/) The island of Tasmania has a Cool Temperate Oceanic
Climate like that of the British Isles.

The continent of Australia is believed to have been
isolated from the rest of the world long before any other
land had thus been separated, and so has a characteristic flora ~ . .
and fauna of its own. Amongst the plants particularly Vegetation,
characteristic are the several varieties of the eucalyptus tree ;
the 'malice scrub' covering vast areas of the Desert Region
is a stunted eucalyptus tree with small leaves that are
arranged vertically ; in the wetter parts — especially of tropical
Australia — on the contrary, exceedingly tall varieties of the
eucalyptus plant, yielding very hard wood, not eatable by
white ants, grow luxuriantly. In the Mediterranean regions
the karri and jarrah forests are very important, and on
the hill slopes generally there are the fine blue gum
forests. The 'witlga' is a stunted acacia plant, occurring
extensively like the 'mallee' in the dry interior. The tall
Kangaroo grass and various other herbs like the salt bush,
notable for their capacity to stand long drought, are nutri-
tious food for sheep. But the Australians have upset
the balance of the plant world by the introduction of
the succulent prickly pear to provide fodder for sheep
and cattle in the drier parts ; this has now resulted in the p . j,
invasion of wetter regions by this wild plant. menace.

Animal Life.—- But even still more characteristic are
the animals of Australia. The several varieties of the

330

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Tropical
animals.

Rabbit
nuisance.

Wheat
Belts.

Fruit
Regions.

Kangaroo, the platypus, the emu, the dingo and other
animals and birds are unknown in any other continent.
Some of these animals, particularly the kangaroo, yield furs
of some value, but the value is not sufficient — at least so
we are told — to cover the loss they inflict by destroying
grasslands and orchards. The fact is that the barbarous
colonists have almost wiped out the land mammals of
Australia for obtaining the fur. Animals from Europe have
now been introduced, especially the sheep and the
rabbit. There being no wild animals except the dingo to
prey upon them, they have multiplied at an enormous rate.
And although the increase in number of the sheep has been
salutary to Australia's wool industry, the rabbits have grown
to be a serious menace to pastures and orchards, and in
Western Australia an enormous wire fence, 2,000 miles long,
has been put up to keep them out. This rabbit nuisance is
an example of how the balance of the native animal life of
a country is sometimes upset by the introduction of foreign
animals.

Primary Production. — Although Australia as a
whole is rich in minerals, primary production is a factor of
major importance in the national economy of the Dominion.
The leading agricultural products are wheat and fruits.
There are two major wheat belts — one occupying the south-
western Mediterranean region and the other extending from
the south-eastern Mediterranean region through the
temperate glasslands (Murray-Darling Basin) to the eastern
fringes of the wetter tropical lands. The highest concentra-
tion of wheat is, however, to be found in this second belt.
Various tropical fruits, including banana and pineapple, as
well as the tropical sugar-cane, are largely grown in
Queensland in the north-east, especially along the east coast
of that state. But more important from the point of view
of national economy are the Mediterranean fruit-growing
regions of Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.
Deciduous fruits like peaches, apricots and apples are grown

AUSTRALIA

331

chiefly in the northern parts of the temperate grasslands,
while farther south are found citrus fruits and plants like
oranges, lemons and the vine. Wine is produced from the
vine, but does not form an important item of export ; but pea-
ches and apricots are exported, after drying and tinning ; ap-

SHEEP

WHEAT

DIARY CATTLE \

FRUIT

rearing.

pies are also exported, chiefly from Victoria and Tasmania.
Besides agriculture, cattle farming and sheep rearing are very c ttl
important. On the tropical glasslands of the north are kept farming
a limited number of beef cattle ; but of much more importance
are the cattle lands of the south ; dairy-farming is most ex-
tensively carried on in Victoria and the well-watered south-
east coastlands. Australia's leading export is wool; there
are, we are told, no less than a hundred million sheep in the
continent, and most of these are confined to the two great
sheep-rearing belts of western and eastern Australia; the
largest concentrations of sheep are in the temperate part of
the continent and the south-eastern Mediterranean region;

332

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Natives of
Australia.

British
Settlement.

Labour
question &
White
Australia
Policy/

in the west the sheep-rearing belt almost coincides with the
south-western Mediterranean land, although lesser concentra-
tions are to be found along the whole of the west coast.

Population. — The aboriginal Australians are allied
to the pre-Dravidian races of Southern India, the
Vedda of Ceylon, the Sakai of the Malay Peninsula
and a few other races of Oceania. Whether they were
ever very numerous we cannot positively say; but it is
now definitely known that they came very near total extinction
in the hands of the first white settlers from Europe. Their
total number is now estimated at 60,000. Driven out of
the more fertile and well-watered regions, most of them now
live in the north and west 'as do also the 20,000 half-castes'.
The earliest British settlers were convicts sentenced to penal
servitude for life ; the first batch consisting of 850 men and
women, mostly hardened criminals, arrived at Botany Bay,
New South Wales, in 1788, and to them fell the task of
developing the resources of the continent. No wonder that
the aborigines should be cruelly hunted down like game
animals. Came the Napoleonic Wars and the Industrial
Revolution with the consequent maladies of unemployment,
food shortage, riot and what not, and the Government of
Great Britain, eager to be relieved of the hungry millions,
persuaded them to emigrate to Australia and other parts of
the Empire. The discovery of gold in the eighties of the
last century subsequently led to a gold rush which eventually
culminated in extensive settlement. With the growth of
settlement began to be felt an acute need for labour, and thus
Chinese and Polynesian labourers were recruited. But since
1904 the Commonwealth of Australia have been following the
socalled 'White Australia Policy', as a result of which the
introduction of all 'coloured' labour has been prohibited, and
all coloured peoples already settled have been legally dis-
possessed of their settlements (Pacific Island Labourers' Act,
1904). The entry of white labourers under contract how-
ever, is permitted only in exceptional cases. But it is

AUSTRALIA 333

extremely doubtful if tropical Australia can ever be developed Total
without 'coloured' labour. The present population is a
little over 6 million with an average density, in an area of 3
million square miles, of only 2 to the square mile. Nearly
all the settlers are from the British Isles. Turning to the Distribution
distribution of population we find that, more than half the population,
total population is concentrated in the capital cities such
as Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane.

This may appear rather strange in a continent which Concentra-
, , f -11 - j tion in

depends for its prosperity largely on its primary production. cities and

But it may be attributed to the growing tendency of the causes
people to develop manufactures in the cities for local con-
sumption at least, if not for export.

Communications. — The surface of Australia is, on
the whole, fairly level, consisting, as it does, of vast plateaus Railways,
and extensive plains. Railway communication would, there-
fore, be easy were it not for the Great Dividing Range which
acts as the chief obstacle to communication with the interior.
Another difficulty standing in the way of establishing through
communications is that different railway systems already exist-
ing are on different gauges. These systems have been joined
up actually, but through communication has not yet been
established. Since the continent offers suitable conditions for
road -making, extensive highways and motor tracks are now
being built all over the territory. Trans-continental airways
have also been developed, and the continent is now connected
with the vast outer world by means 'of trans-oceanic airways.
The principal air services of Australia are the (a) Melbourne Airways.
— Hobart Service, (b) Cootamundra — Charleville Service,
(c) Perth — Daly Waters Service via the towns on the north-
west coast, (d) Perth — Adelaide Service, (e) Cloncurry —
Normanton Service, and (/) Brisbane — Darwin — Singapore
Service which is connected with Imperial Airways to London.

Foreign Trade. — Australia is a vast territory that is General
Tery thinly populated. Naturally, therefore, enormous areas character
lie undeveloped. It is still essentially a pastoral arid jian "

334

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

agricultural country, and the industries it has developed are
mainly occupied with the exploitation and utilisation of
pastoral and agricultural produce. Consequently, the export of
Australia consists chiefly of its natural products and the bulk
of the imports consists of manufactured articles. The foreign
trade of Australia may be studied from the following tables :

The Exports of Australia1

Commodities

_ Percentage of Total _Y"alue

1909—13 1921—25 i 1931—35

Wool .. 43

! " 39-"

Wheat & Flour

Meat

Butter

Hides $ Sk

Tallow

; —

Lead

—

Spelter

—

Fruit

—

Sugar

—

Others

_ 19 _

! 13_

Total

100

! 100

The Imports of Australia1

Commodities

1909—13

Percentage of_ Total JValue
1921—25 1931-

-35

Textiles

22 20

Machinery

5 0

Iron & Steel

5 4

Other metals

3 —

Paper

4 4

Chemicals

3 , 5

Sacks

3 3

Oils

— —

Timber

2 2

Tea

2 3

Spirits

—

Cars

—

Rubber

—

Petrol

—

Tobacco

—

Other oils

; —

—

Other food

—

Others

Total ..1 100

100

1 Compiled from Stamp, A Commercial Geography.

AUSTRALIA

335

The gradual decline in Australia's export of bullion
and specie is noteworthy: in 1904-5 the percentage was
27*6 of the total value of exports, during 1906-10 it came
down to 17*4, and subsequently during the period 1911-13
to only 12-8; in 1924, however, there was a phenomenal
rise to 53*0, but again in 1926-30 the percentage fell down
to 7-7; there was no export of bullion and specie from
Australia during the quinquennium of 1931-35. 1

The foreign trade of Australia was long confined to the
United Kingdom alone. Only in 1879 direct trade was
opened up with Germany, and this was followed by the
establishment of similar trade relations with Belgium in 1881
and with France in 1883. There has, however, been a marked
advance in Australia's trade with other countries since 1885,
although the major portion of the trade is still with the United
Kingdom. The development of Australia's trade relations
with foreign countries may be studied from the following
table :

Export of
Bullion &
Specie

Expansion
of Foreign
Trade.

Direction of Australia's Foreign Trade1

Exports.

Countries

1904-5

1906-10

1911-131 1924

1926-30

1931-35

1 i

United Kingdom

47-5 i 47-6 42-8

38-1

41-1

48-9

United States

2-9 ' 3-8 I 2-6

6-0 5-8

2-3

India

5-5 |

3-3 3-2

— • —

—

Japan

1-0

1-7

1-4 9-7

7-5

9-7

Germany

6-6

9-2

8-8 3-7

6-4

5-0

France

8-4

9-8

10-9 12-5

10-8

5-7

New Zealand

2-7

3-4

3-1 i 4-2

2-9

Belgium

4-8

7-2

8-5 5-5

5-4

4.9

Italy

—

3-9

3-2

Ceylon

9-6

3-2

6-0

1 Compiled from Chisholm's Handbook.

336

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Imports.

Countries

•

1904-5

1906-10)

1911-13

1924

1926-30

1931-35

; i

United Kingdom

53-0

51-0

50-3

45-2

41-7 i 41-1

United States

13-1

12-6

13-7

24-6 24-2

13-5

Duch East Indies

0-8

1-0

1-2

3-3 4-3

6-2

India

3-7

4-0

3-4

3-4 4-1

5-7

Japan

1-0

1-2

1*2

2-5 3-1 j 5-6

Germany

7-9

8-8

9-1

1-0

2-8

3-2

Canada

1-0

1-1

1-2

3-6

2-7

4-1

France

3-5

3-4

3-0

2-9

2-5

2-0

New Zealand

5-9

4-6

3-6

1-7

—

Trade

The interstate trade is free ; and since the Commonwealth
Agreements Government is in control of foreign trade as well, customs
duties are uniform throughout the continent. Steps have
specially been taken to encourage inter-Imperial trade, and
various trade agreements with the different parts of the
British Empire such as South Africa, New Zealand, Canada
etc. are in operation. Moreover, a preferential tariff in
favour of the United Kingdom has been in force since 1907,
and the Customs Tariff Act of 1933 nas given effect to the
famous 'Ottawa Agreement' by increasing the preference.
Thus commodities imported into Australia from 'Empire
countries ' are now taxed less than those coming from other
sources, and in return the 'Empire countries' give preference
to Australia's exports.

Australia is now in regular trans-oceanic communication
with Asia, Europe, Africa and America. Steamers from
Asia, Europe and Africa call first at Fremantle, Western
Australia, for unloading the mails, which are then sent by
train to all parts of the continent except North Australia.
From Fremantle the steamers proceed along the south to the
east, calling at Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane.

Trade
Routes.

1 Compiled from Chisholm's Handbook.

AUSTRALIA

337

Towns of Australia

(With population, 1934)

Federal Capital Territory
Canberra

Western Australia
Perth
Freniantlc
Albany

Northern Territory

Port Darwin
Pahnerston

South Australia

Adelaide
Port Augusta
Port Pirie
Port Lincoln

Victoria

Melbourne

Ballarat

Bendigo (Sandhurst)

New South Wales

Sydney
Parramatta
New Castle
Bathurst
Broken Hill
Silvcrton

Queensland

Brisbane

Rockhampton

Townsville

Tasmania

Hobart
Launceston

9,000 (?)

208,000
25,000

1,200 (?)
315,000

1,000,000
48,000 (?)

1,249,000
106,000

305,000
30,000

62.000
33,000

Steamers taking the north-eastern route call at Brisbane first.
This is the less important route, and is followed mainly by
22

338 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

tramps. Although different routes are used for trade pur-
poses, most of the ships to and from Australia now pass
through the Suez Canal and along the south coast of Australia
(contrast New Zealand). The most convenient port of de-
parture for the Panama Canal route from Australia is
Sydney.

TASMANIA, now a state of the Australian Common-
wealth, is a small island 120 miles from the extreme
south of the mainland. It is about the size of Ceylon
or Ireland. Being a continuation of the Eastern
Highlands of Australia, it is a mass of mountains inter-
spersed with small fertile valleys here and there. The
island is rich in important minerals like copper, silver, lead,
gold and tin. The climate is much like that of the British
Isles. The principal agricultural products are wheat,
barley and fruits. The highlands are covered with fine
forests. The capital and chief port is Hobart, which has
an excellent natural harbour at the estuary of the Derwent.
Launceston, at the head of navigation on the Tamar, is
another important port.

NEW ZEALAND
The Brighter Britain of the South

NEW ZEALAND is a British Dominion, consisting of
Position & two large islands, called the North and the South Islands,
and a much smaller one to the south known as Stewart
Island, together with several groups of still smaller islands
in the South Pacific Ocean. The total area of the Dominion
is 105,000 sq. miles, and it lies almost at the centre of the
Water Hemisphere of the globe as the British Isles are at
the centre of the Land Hemisphere. The extreme northern
end of the Dominion, however, lies in the same latitude as
Spain. The most characteristic feature of New Zealand's sur-

NEW ZEALAND

339

face relief is a mountain backbone running right through Surface
the two main islands ; in the North Island this backbone,

AUCKLAND
ENINSULA

Ihristchurch V Lyttelton
^BANKS PENINSULA
PLAINS Gr»

DOWNLAND

)unedin

THE NATURAL REGIONS OF NEW ZEALAND.

knowa as the Eastern Mountains, runs by the east coast,
and in the South Island, where it has been given the name of

340

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Climate.

Natural
Regions.

Southern Alps, it is near the west coast. Bordering the
Eastern Mountains on the west and covering a large
part of the central region of the North Island is
an extensive area of volcanic rocks. In the south-
east of the South Island lies the Otago Plateau.
Many of the peaks of the Southern Alps are over 10,000 feet
ahpve sea-level and are always covered with snow. The
two major plains of New Zealand are the Canterbury Plains
of the South Island and the Wellington Plains of the North
Island ; to these may also be added the well- watered rolling
country of the Auckland Peninsula. There are numerous
rivers in New Zealand, but most of them are too
rapid for navigation. The Molyncux or Clutha is the
largest river of the South Island; but the chief navigable
river, the Waikato, is in the North Island. The whole of
the Dominion, except perhaps the extreme northern end, lies,
like the British Isles, in the Westerly Wind Belt.
But New Zealand is nearer the Equator than the British
Isles, and therefore, enjoys a warmer and sunnier
climate. Unlike Australia, New Zealand never experiences
drought. We can distinguish six natural regions in
New Zealand :

(a) The Southern Alps Region, occupying the
western parts of the South Island. Owing to abundant pre-
cipitation (over 70") the mountains are — unless, of course,
too high — covered with thick forests, little exploited as yet.
Rainfall, however, is progressively less towards the east.
Mountain pastures lie scattered over the whole region,
especially in the drier parts to the north-east. Valuable
minerals such as gold, copper, coal and greenstone are
also found in this region; but mining industries are still in
the infant stage.

(b) The South Island Grassland Region, covering
not only the Otago Plateau and the Canterbury Plains, but
also the Banks Peninsula in the east, and Downland in the
north of the Plains ; the two small strips of coastal land at

NEW ZEALAND 341

the northern end of the South Island may also be included
in this region. It is the chief seat of New Zealand's pastoral
and agricultural industries ; — even on the comparatively poor
Otago Plateau sheep-rearing and agriculture are of prime
importance. The climate being, on the whole, similar to
that of the British Isles, various English grasses have been
introduced in this region and elsewhere for feeding the
sheep. Sheep are kept for both wool and mutton. The
chief agricultural products of this region are oats and wheat,
the former associated naturally with the colder, poorer lands
mainly of the Otago Plateau and the latter with the warmer,
richer lands of the Canterbury Plains and the small coastal
strips.

(c) The Eastern Mountains Region of the North
Island. Although the mountains here are lower, the whole
region is topographically more varied. The Eastern Moun-
tains, in contrast to the Southern Alps, lie in the drier side
of the North Island. Unlike the latter, again, this region
abounds in pastures suitable for sheep, and is another im-
portant wool-and mutton-producing region of New
Zealand.

(d) The Wellington Plains, to the south of the
volcanic region, have a large concentration of sheep and
a fairly large number of cattle, and are among the chief
dairying regions of the Dominion.

(e) The Volcanic Region, to the north of the
Wellington Plain and east of the Eastern Mountains, occupies
the heart of the North Island. Hot springs and geysers
abound and there are many volcanoes, some still active but
most of them now extinct. The soil is poor and dry ex-
cept in the south where small concentrations of sheep are seen.

(f) The Auckland Peninsula, to the north of the
Volcanic Region, occupies the northern parts, af -the North
Island. This is the only region of New Zealand, except a
few of the smaller Pacific islands, which has a warm climate
akin to the Mediterranean type. The forested parts of the

342

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

People.

Towns of

New
Zealand.

Peninsula formerly yielded much Kauri-gum, prepared from
the resin of the Kauri trees. These are the only forests of New
Zealand that have been thoroughly exploited. Grass suitable
for cattle naturally grows here, and it is, therefore, one of
the principal dairy-farming regions of the Dominion.
Mediterranean fruits and plants like the vine, orange, and
lemon are also cultivated here; but wine is rarely distilled.
Some minerals are found, chiefly gold.

The total population of the Dominion is about a million
and a half, the bulk of the population is of British1 descent,
the aborigines, called the Maori, numbering some 70,000.
These latter are a tall, slenderly built, intelligent stock of the
Polynesian races, and are characterized by mesaticephalic
features generally.

The capital of the Dominion is Wellington at the
southern end of the North Island on the Cook Strait which

reaches the city in the
form of an inlet form-
ing an excellent com-
modious harbour ; its
port is Port Nicholson.
The total population of
the city and its port,
according to the census
of 1935, is 148,000.
Westport and - Grey-
mouth, on the north-
western coast of the
South Island, serve
the coal areas of the
Southern Alps Region.
Dunedin, on the east
coast of the South
Island, with a popula-
tion of 89,000, is the
port of the Otago Plateau. Christchurch, with its port of

THE CONCENTRATION OF SHEEP
IN NEW ZEALAND.

NEW ZEALAND

343

Lyttelton, is the chief city of the Canterbury Plains ; it has
a population of 132,000. Nelson, at the head of the
Tasman Bay, serves the small sheltered valley on the west
of the main mountain chain of the Southern Alps. Blenheim
similarly serves the valley on the east of that chain. Both
the towns — Nelson and Blenheim — lie at the northern end
of the South Island. Auckland, on a narrow isthmus of the
peninsula of that name, is, with a population of 223,000, the
largest town of New Zealand; it is a coaling-station for
steamers between Australia and America.

New Zealand is essentially a pastoral and agricultural Tra(je &
country, and its prospects of industrial development are still Industry,
very remote. But it has, for its size, large potential water-
power resources, which,
if and when fully deve-
loped, would supply
4,750,000 horse-power ;
at present, however,
something like 950,000
h.p. is being utilised.
The principal installa-
tions are the Lake Cole-
ridge station in the
neighbourhood of Christ-
church, the Waikato
River Works near
Hamilton and the
Mangahoe installation
near Wellington. More
than 80 p.c. of the ex-
ports of the country con-
sists of the four principal DAIRY-FARMING REGIONS.
items — wool, mutton, butter and cheese. About three-
quarters of the total export trade is with Great
Britain, which, in its turn, supplies nearly half the total Preference;

344

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Bullion &
Specie.

imports of New Zealand. A preferential tariff in favour of
the United Kingdom has been in force since 1903. The
nature of the trade is unbalanced, the exports being usually
in excess of imports. This is explained by the fact that
while the exports consist almost solely of raw materials of
lesser value, the bulk of the imports consists of manufactured
goods of high value.

Exports of New Zealand1

Percentage of Total

Value

1909-13

1921-25 !

1931-35

Wool ~

~ 26 ~~

Frozen Meat

Butter & Cheese

Sheepskins

-2

Tallow . . . . 4

—

Agricultural produce

—

Others

Total . . | 100

100

Tn contrast to Australia, New Zealand is exporting more
and more bullion and specie of late years ; in 1924 the value
of gold bullion exported was 1 • 1 of the total value of exports,
and although the quinquennium of 1926-30 did not show any
rise, it rose to be 2-8 during 1931-35.

Imports of New Zealand2

Percenl

tage of Tot.

tl Value

1924

1926-3C

1931-35

Foodstuffs
Raw Materials
Manufactures

12-2
14-3
73-5

14-6
15-4
69-1

1 Compiled from Stamp, A Commercial Geography, p. 287.
* Compiled from Chisholm's Handbook, p. 824.

PACIFIC ISLANDS

345

The principal foodstuffs are sugar, tea and fruits;
principal raw materials, tobacco and cigars, petroleum and
oils and fertilisers; chief manufactures are textiles (cotton,
wool and silk goods), apparel, cars, machinery, paper and
books, iron and steel, rubber tyres and tubes, and chemicals
and drugs.

Direction of New Zealand's Foreign Trade1
Exports

Countries

Percentage

of Total Value

1924 j 1926-30 j 1931-35

United Kingdom
United States

79"-9~~f
6-2 !

76-7 85-8
6-5 3-0

Australia

4.8 -

4-9 3-4

Canada

1-4 |

4-4 1-1

Imports

Countries

Percentage of Total Value

United Kingdom

1VZ4

51 -1

iy.io-.5u
'46 -9~

iyji-js
"50:7"

United States

15-6

18-5

13-4

Australia

13-0

8-0

9-8

Canada

8-2

7-8

6-6

Dutch East Indies

—

2-0

3-8

Japan

0-6

1-3

2-2

THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC

NEW GUINEA, with an area of nearly 300,000 sq.
miles, is the second largest island in the world after p0jitical
Australia. Its western portion, comprising about one- Divisions,
half of the total area, is in Dutch hands. The southern
1 Chisholm.

346

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Physical
Features.

Production
& Trade.

Question of
development,

portion of the eastern half, together with the Louisiade
Archipelago, is a British Crown Colony now officially
known as the 'Territory of Papua' and administered by the
Commonwealth of Australia. The north-eastern portion,
known officially as New Guinea, was formerly in German
hands, but has been placed under the control of Australia by
a mandate of the League of Nations. The whole island
lies in the Equatorial region and receives abundant
rainfall, with the result that the lowlands are covered with hot
wet evergreen forests. The interior is a tableland and the
narrow south-eastern extremities are traversed by mountain
chains — the Owen Stanley Range — rising to altitudes of
13,000 feet and more in some places. The tableland of the
interior, much of which still remains unexplored, is said to
be covered with dense tropical grasslands. The Fly and the
Sepik are the two great navigable rivers, serving as natural
highways to the interior. The chief agricultural products of
the island are bananas, yams, sugar-cane, cocoanuts, taro
and some tobacco. Some minerals are found, not-
ably gold. The trade is small ; the chief exports are
copra, gold, rubber, trepang and pearl-shell. The gold
is alluvial and worked by Europeans, mainly in the
Louisiade Archipelago. Port Moresby, the capital and
port of Papua, has regular ocean communication with
Australia. The natives belong to what for want of a better
and more precise term is called the Melanesian race. They
are, despite racial intermixture, basically of Negrito descent,
usually short, dark, and long-headed, and perhaps of an
indolent disposition. The great obstacles to the deve-
lopment of the island are its climate and the scarcity of
labourers, to which we must add the not always harmonious
interests of the Dutch, German and British planters. Other-
wise the island offers opportunities for development as much
as Ceylon and Jamaica.1

1 Chisholm.

PACIFIC ISLANDS 347

MELANESIA, meaning 'Islands of the Blacks', is a Chief
name given to several groups of small islands lying to sroups-
the east and south-east of New Guinea. These are
grouped under the names of Bismarck Archipelago,
New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, New Hebrides &c.
Most of these islands are of volcanic origin and bordered by Relief,
coral reefs ; the general nature of the surface relief is charac- Climate, &
terized by the presence of mountains. The climate is of the
Equatorial type, but much tempered by oceanic influences.
The natural products, however, are more of a tropical nature
than equatorial, represented in the main by bananas, yams,
cocoanuts, sugar and cotton. Some minerals are found,
notably nickel in New Caledonia.1 The natives belong to
the Papuan stock and are said to practise cannibalism and People,
head-hunting; but the fact seems to be that they are pri-
marily an agricultural folk who occasionally resort to food-
gathering and hunting in order to supplement their meagre
rations. Even these remote islands, on the other hand, now
bear ample witness to the greater 'cannibalism' of Europe,
The Bismarck Archipelago was formerly in German hands ;
now it is under British 'protection'. New Caledonia is
French. Solomon Islands were, before the last War, partly
German and partly British ; now thy are wholly in British
hands. The New Hebrides are under the * joint protection* of
France and Britain. Melanesia comprises various other
groups of islands, too numerous to mention; of these the
Loyalty Islands belong to France; the Admiralty Islands,
together with the islands of New Britain and New Ireland,
actually form parts of what was formerly known as the
Bismarck Archipelago; the islands of the Soloman group,
which were formerly under Germany, are now administered
by the Australian Commonwealth, while the original British

1The two chief sources of the world's nickel are Ontario in
Canada, supplying about 24 of the total, and New Caledonia which
supplies the bulk of the remainder.

348 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

possessions in that group are administered by Great Britain.
Noumea, in New Caledonia, is a port of call on the route to
Australia.

POLYNESIA, meaning 'many islands', is the general
name given to the innumerable islands of the Pacific not
grouped under the term, Melanesia. These are either of
volcanic origin or of coral formation. Nearly all of them
are located within the tropics and have abundant rainfall.
They are — most of them — covered with dense tropical
vegetation, and their chief agricultural products are yams,
cocoanuts and breadfruit. The principal export is copra.
Some minerals are found, notably phosphates. Hie natives
belong to the socallecl Polynesian race (or races?), of which
there are two main stocks ; the one stock, akin to 'the more
European-looking Maori', is tall and slender and charac-
terized by long head, open eyes, light skin, thin lips and
narrow but high nose ; the other stock is shorter, darker,
relatively course-featured and slightly brachycephalic or
mesaticephalic. Most of these islands, especially the larger
ones, have felt the greed of the western nations. The Fiji
Islands, situated to the north of New Zealand, now form a
Crown Colony of Great Britain. The total area of the group
is over 7,000 sq. miles, and the total population of nearly
200,000 consists, besides the natives, of a few thousand
Europeans, Indians and, of course, half-breeds. The chief
products are cocoanuts, sugar, bananas, rice, pineapple
and cotton. A brisk trade has grown up. Suva, in the
island of Viti Levu, is the capital and chief port with a fine
harbour protected by coral reefs. Levuka, in another
island, is also a considerable port with a fine natural harbour.
The island of Nauru was formerly German ; it is now ad-
ministered jointly by Great Britain, Australia and New
Zealand according to the League mandate. The Tonga or
Friendly Islands are a British protectorate. The Society
Islands, of which the island of Tahiti is the most important,
the Low Islands and the Marquesas group are under

PACIFIC ISLANDS 349

French protection. The Marshall, Caroline, Pelew,
Marianne or La drone Islands formerly belonged to
Germany; these are now ruled by Japan according to
the League mandate.1 The Ocean island and the
Gilbert and the Ellice groups are ruled by Great Britain
as protectorates. The Cook or Hervey Islands now
form a part of the Dominion of New Zealand. The
Fanning and Christmas Islands as well as the Penrhyn
Island (formerly German) are also British. The
Sarnoan or Navigator Islands and the Hawaiian or
Sandwich Islands are owned by the U. S. A. The total
area of the Hawaiian Islands is 6,500 sq. miles ; the popula-
tion of nearly 385,000 consists of various peoples — Japanese,
Chinese, Portuguese, Filipinos, Americans and the natives.
Of these various peoples the Japanese alone constitute nearly
40 per cent, while the natives and half-breeds constitute only
6 and 9 per cent respectively.2 The whole group is very
mountainous ; but the climate is pleasant. The principal
agricultural products are similar to those of the Fiji Islands.
Sugar and pineapples are the chief items of export. The
bulk of the trade is naturally with the U. S. A., of which the
Hawaiian Islands are now regarded as a territory, and thus
share the former's customs tariff. The chief imports,
almost wholly from the U. S. A., are wheat, flour and
pork. The imports are free of duty.

STUDIES AND QUESTIONS

1. Describe carefully, with the aid of sketch maps, the distribution
•of sheep in (North America), Australia, and New Zealand. Under
what conditions does this animal thrive best? (C. U., B. Com. 79).

2. Describe the principal industries of Australia, including
agriculture. (C. U., Inter. '40).

island of Guam belonging to the Mariane group, however,
belongs to the U. S. A.

2 Chisholm's Handbook, p. 830.

350

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

3. Give an explanatory account of the distribution of population
in Australia. (C. U., Inter. '29).

4. Why does not Australia, which is a large producer of wool,
develop extensive woollen manufactures? (C. U. '34).

5. Discuss the development of east and west coasts of Australia
and show how far the influence of climate is responsible for such
development. (C. U., Inter. '28).

6. What are the principal exports from Australia and New
Zealand? Discuss the possibilities of increased exchange between
these countries and India. (C. U., B. Com. '36).

Area.

jAsia and

ather

{continents.

^oast-line.

«,ocation.

CHAPTER II

EURASIA AND AFRICA

ASIA
The Continent of Extremes and Contrasts

Position and Size. — Asia, with a total area of more
than 17 million sq. miles, is the largest of all the conti-
nents, and occupies nearly one-third of the land surface
of the globe. It is continuous with Europe, with which
it constitutes the great land-mass of Eurasia, covering
an area of about 21 million sq. miles. The narrow isthmus
of Suez connects it with the continent of Africa, and a
festoon of islands link it up with Australia and the land-masses
of the Southern Hemisphere generally. The continent itself,
however, is situated entirely in the Northern Hemisphere.
For its size, however, Asia has a rather short coast-line —
only 34,000 miles, i.e., one mile of coast to every 500 sq. miles
of surface. From north to south the mainland stretches
between 78J^°N. within the Arctic Circle and the
Equator (0°) ; no town of any importance exists at the
northern limits, and the only town of importance near
the Equator is Singapore (1°1'N.) Although the continent

ASIA 351

includes 155° or more of longitude between its extreme eastern
and extreme western points and thus covers nearly one-half of
the earth's circumference, the mainland extends from 25°E.
on the west to 170°E. on the east, covering well over a third
of the circumference of the globe. Yet the main territory
does not, for the grater part, conform to the land-mass lying
within these lines, and so the position of Asia may better
be determined by reference to the longitudes of 45 °E., which
runs by Baghdad and Aden, and 135°E., by Kobe,
Japan. The longitude of 90°E., running by Barisal,
Da\xa, Dhubri, Lhassa, Krasnoyarsk, etc., may, there-
fore, be regarded as the central meridian of the
mainland. The latitude of 40°N., passing by Peiping,
Kashgar, Bokhara, Samarkand, Baku, Ankara, etc., cuts
the mainland into two equal halves — northern and
southern. The position of the Tropic of Cancer (23^°N)
is also important; this line, which passes by Maskat,
Ahmedabad, Jabbalpur, Calcutta and Canton, penetrates
through the heart of India from east to west.

Physical Features. — Topographically Asia consists
of a number of broad physical units, which may be enu-
merated and described as follows :

1. The Plateaus of Central Asia, forming a huge A complex
triangular territory flanked by a succession of Alpine °ndP Alpine
mountain chains. From the Pamir Knot, which is itself fold
a plateau, known as 'the roof of the world', issue huge mou«tams.
mountain chains.. To the south-east is the lofty
Himalayan Chain, reinforced on the north by the focus of
Karakoram stretching eastward ; farther north is the ^-JJ**111
Kunlun which ultimately branches out in two Alpine
directions — the main line proceeding directly to the range and
east, while the other branch known as the Altyn Tagh ni^trion°ntl"
proceeds eastward by a more northerly route; to the
north-east of the Pamir Knot is the Tien Shan. The
Himalayan Chain penetrates along the north of India into

352

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

China, and probably proceeds across the Western plateau of
China on the one hand and continues, on the other, along

THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF ASIA.

the border of India and Burma through the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands as well as through Sumatra and Java to
form the mountain festoons of the East Indies. The main
chain of the Kunlun ultimately passes into the Tsingling
Mountains of China, and the Altyn Tagh passes into
the Nanshan or Southern Mountains of China. The
Khingan Mountains, forming the natural eastern boundary
of Mongolia, may also be a further continuation of the Altyn
Tagh. The Tien Shan proceeds into the Pei Shan or
Northern Mountains of China towards the east and extends

ASIA 353

-westward into Russian Turkestan as well. The plateau of
'Tibet lies between the Himalayas-Karakoram and the
Kunlun. Between the Kunlun and the Altyn Tagh
lies the Tsaidam Basin. Farther north is the Tarim
Basin between the Kunlun-Altyn Tagh and the Tien plateaus.
Shan. The Dzungarian Basin is located between the Tien
Shan and the Altai. The Gobi Plateaus and the Ordos
Basin, bordered by the Khingan and the Sayan Moun-
tains, are to the north-east of the Tsaidam, Tarim and
Dzungarian Basins. The Khingan passes into the
Stanovoi Mountains farther north. Along the north-west
border are also the Barguizin, North Muya and the Konam
Mountains. The Vitim and Aldan Plateaus lie farther
north-east. These high plateaus of Central Asia cover
well over a fifth of the entire continent.

2. The Plateaus of Western Asia. From the Pamir
Knot, again, are given off another series of mountain
chains bordering a second series of plateaus. To the Pamir Knot
north-west of the Knot are the Trans-Alai, Alai and Hissar the focVs of
Mountains ; to the south-west lies the Hindukush, and chains,
to the south-south-west are the Gilgit and Sulaiman Moun-
tains. The Trans-Alai, Alai and Hissar Mountains even-
tually fade into the plains of Russian Turkestan. The

Hindukush proceeds along the north of Iran (Persia) for Alpine

^ " ' ranges and

some distance and then branches out in two directions, — the their con-
northerly branch, after passing through the Caspian Sea, tinuation.
becomes the Caucasus, and the southerly branch, which
sweeps along the southern shores of the Caspian Sea,
passes into the Elburz Mountains. The Elburz conti-
nues along the Armenian Knot, farther west, to become

the Pontic Ranges along the southern shores of the A

toe> . . Armenian

Black Sea. The Sulaiman Mountains continue as the Knot.

Kirthar Hills and the ranges which define the southern
boundary of the Seistan-Iran plateaus ; then sweeping in
a curve they proceed to the Armenian Knot as the Zagros
23

354

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Plateaus.

A complex
of plains,
depressions,
low plateaus
and Alpine
ridges.

A complex
of river
plains and
Alpine
festoons.

System ; from the Armenian Knot they continue farther
west as the Taurus chain along the south of Asia Minor.
Between the Pamir Knot on the east and the Armenian
Knot on the west, and bounded by the Hindukush
and the Sulaiman lies the great Iranian Plateau;
an eastern fragment of this large territory, covering
portions of Afghanistan and Baluchistan, is known
as the plateau of Seistan. To the north-west of
the Iranian Plateau and beyond the Armenian Knot
lies the plateau of Anatolia bounded by the Pontic and
Taurus Chains.

3. The North- Western Lowlands, forming another
triangular territory to the north of the central mountainous
triangle. The whole of this area, however, is not a true plain ;
it is bordered along the central plateaus by 'high plains'
buttressed by fold mountain ridges ; the basins bordering the
Aralo-Caspian depression on the south-west of this lowland
triangle, in Russian Turkestan, arc separated by a number of
hill ridges ; Central Siberia, again, is a low dissected plateau,
and Eastern Siberia, a complex of hills and plains not yet
well explored. Western Siberia alone is a true lowland,
bordered by the low ranges of the Urals on the west. The
principal rivers of this region are the Ob, Yenisei, and
Lena.

4. The Eastern Complex of Lowlands and Moun-
tain Festoons. The great lowlands falling within this
territory are the river plains of the Amur in Central
Manchuria, plains of the Hwang Ho and Pei Ho in
North China, of the Yangtze Kiang in Central China,
of the Si Kiang in South China, of the Mekong in Indo-
China, and of the Menam in Siam. These basins are
separated by innumerable spurs of ancient mountains
such as the mountains of Eastern Mongolia in
Manchuria; the Mongolian Plateau, the Tsinling
Mountains and the Southern Mountains in China; the
plateau of Yunan and Indo-China as well as the Great

ASIA 355

Indo-Malayan Mountains Block in Judo-China, Thailand
and the south generally. A number of fold mountain
curves guard these basins on the east.

5. The Southern Complex of Plateaus and River
Basins, comprising the ancient tablelands of Arabia,
Peninsular India, and Indo-China, and the river plains
of the Tigris-Euphrates, of the Indus-Ganges-Brahma- A complex
putra, and of the Irrawaddy. These river plains separate £asis and
the southern plateaus from the central mountain complex. plateaus.

Geology and Minerals. — The geology of Asia is even
more complicated, and authorities naturally are more at
variance with regard to its basal structure than to its
orography. Here it is possible only to set forth the points
upon which there seems to be some measure of general
agreement.

The Anatolian Plateau, we have seen, lies between the
Alpine chains of the Pontic and Taurus Mountains ; much of
the interior of the plateau is also covered with rocks of the late
Tertiary period; but the hills which penetrate this Alpine
cover are of folded Palaeozoic and Mesozoic rocks.
Such a region, we may easily anticipate, will be fairly rich in
mineral resources — both metallic and non-metallic ; and
Turkey, which is coincident for the greater part with the Turkey,
plateau of Anatolia, is known to be richly endowed with
mineral wealth: thus there are important coal measures
especially along the Pontic Mountains ; lignite occurs in
several other areas. Some of the largest copper-mines
in the world are said to occur to the south-east of the plateau
as well as in the south by the Taurus Mountains and also in
the neighbourhood of the port of Trebizond on the Black
Sea. Other important minerals of Turkey are gold,
silver, lead, zinc, chrome, manganese, antimony, iron,
mercury, borax, emery, arsenic, meerschaum, and Fait. Arab-Asia.
The old massif of Arabia, which lies in the anticlinal area
of Alpine folding, is not known to have important mineral
deposits, and so is also Palestine, except for .its vast stores

356 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

of salts (bromide, common salt, etc.). Iraq and Meso-
potamia, however, have a covering of later rocks, and the
whole of the Iranian Plateau lies in the main geosynclinal
area of Alpine folding. We may, therefore, look for non-
metallic minerals in these regions. Iraq has large deposits of
salt and also some pool coal, and an abundance of oil.
Iran is known to have fairly large deposits of coal and
iron in the north-west, but the most developed of her
mineral resources is oil along the south-western belt,
which, however, is linked with the eastern oil belt of
Iraq. The Caucasian geosyncline, penetrating the
Caspian Sea, continues as the Oxus Oil Belt to the north-
east of Iran. Of the mineral resources of Afghanistan
we know very little except that there are iron ores in
Afghanistan. Kaffiristan> copper in the Hindukush, lead in Hazara,

rubies in Badakhshan, and salt deposits of the Tertiary age
in Badakhshan, Bactria (Afghan Turkestan) and Herat.
India as a whole is not rich in minerals ; her chief mine-
India. ra^s are coal> manganese, and gold.1 The Himalayan
geosyncline may be rich in non-metallic minerals as the coal
and oil-fields of the Punjab show, but this huge and difficult
area requires to be more thoroughly explored. The Assam Oil
Belt geologically belongs to the great Burman geosyncline,
although Assam coal-fields belong — at least for the greater
Burma. parf. — to fae Himalayan geosyncline. The whole territory of
Burma can be analysed into three major geomorphological
units, — (a) the Arakan Yoma, (b) the Shan Plateau, and
(c) the Central Basin. The Arakan Yoma consists of a
series of Alpine fold ranges, but has a core of ancient crystal-
line rocks. In this region occur chromite and some other
useful metals. The Shan Plateau is formed of granite
or gneissose rocks, abounding in rubies and other gem-
stones, and limestone rocks of a very ancient age. Large
silver-lead ores, tin and tungsten are also found in
this region. The Central Basin of the Irrawaddy consists
^or details see the Chapter on India.

ASIA 357

almost entirely of Tertiary rocks; here, between the
Arakan Yomas and the Shan Plateau lie the famous
oilfields of Burma. Considerable deposits of brown
coal also occur in this region. The island of
Ceylon has a central mass of mountains formed by
crystalline rocks of the pre-Cambrian period. These rocks Ceylon,
constitute a great store-house of valuable gemstones, such as
sapphires, rubies, moonstones, catseyes, etc. The basal South-
structure of Indo-China has already been referred to ; the same Asia ancj
general structure seems to be continued through the whole ^ast Indies,
of South-Eastern Asia to the East Indies generally. The
Burman geosyncline, too, appears to be continued through the
whole region. The oilfields of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo
are, thus, located in the belt of Tertiary sediments, which
flank the central core of older rocks as Alpine fold chains.
The mountainous tracts of Siam are geologically of the same
character as those of Eastern Burma — varying, as they do,
from pre-Cambrian to early Mesozoic periods in age, and
having occasional lake-basins of younger rocks, and the
country is rather rich in minerals — alluvial gold, iron,
coal, tin, zinc, manganese, antimony, etc. French
Indo-China has fairly large deposits of various minerals
such as coal, zinc, phosphates, tin, and graphite in
the Tonking region; and gold, lead, tin, and precious
stones in Cambodia. The principal minerals of Malaya
are tin, coal, gold, phosphate, and China-clay. Besides
oil, the minerals of the East Indies chiefly are tin, coal,
gold, silver, iodine and diamonds; diamonds are obtained
from Borneo. The vast sub-continent of China may be
divided into four main geological units: (a) The north-
eastern massif (Archean massif), formed mainly of pre-
Cambrian crystalline rocks, and flanked on the west by
Palaeozoic fold sediments, and interspersed here and there by
Carboniferous coal-measures. Included in this area are
Korea, Liaotung, and East Shantung. Underlying the
alluvial plain of North China is a down-faulted block of this

358 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

massif, (b) The North-western Basins, bordering the
northern parts of the Great Plain (plain of N. China) on
the west, are composed of a series of synclinal and anti-
clinal ridges ; the synclinal basins have enormous deposits
of Paheozic and Mesozoic sediments, folded long before the
Tertiary age, the anticlinical basins are formed of pre-
Cambrian rocks. Coal-measures of various ages are
believed to underlie these basins, (c) The South China
Block, covering an enormous territory south of the Great
Plain, seems to be of the same age, on the whole, as the Indo-
Malayan Mountains Block, and in general of the same
composition. Huge coal-measures occur here, and
also red sandstones whidi have given the famous
Red Basin its beautiful naifie. (cl) The Mountains of the
Far West, bordering the Red Basin and the South China
Block, are believed by many to be of Alpine or Tertiary age ;
but there is no consensus of opinion on this question. As it
appears from this brief analysis, coal is China's foremost
mineral ; estimates vary, but a conservative estimate places
the total coal resources of China at about 100,000,000,000
tons.1 The coalfields of Shansi and Shcnsi, we are told, are
comparable with the great Pennsylavian coalfields of the
U. S. A. But the annual output is some 16,000,000
tons. Iron is also abundant in China, though much
less than coal. The principal deposits are in Shansi,
Chihli, Shantung, and Manchuria. The annual output
of iron ores is about 1,500,000 tons. Copper and tin are
plantiful, especially in Yunnan. China produces over
60 per cent of the world's antimony, most of which comes
from Hunan. Some gold, silver, lead, wolfram, molyb-
denum and bismuth are also found. There is oil in
Shansi, but China is not known to have large resources of oil.

1 Stamp, Asia. p. 455. These figures as also much of the general
material have been taken from that book. One estimate places China's
coal resources at 994,987,000,000 tons against 747,508,000,000 tons for
the whole of Europe.

ASIA 359

Eastern Tibet is known to have considerable mineral wealth ; Tibet-
but our knowledge of that country as well as of its associated A ongo"a-
basins is most rudimentary. For its size the geology of
Japan is very complicated owing chiefly to the intensity of Japan.
Alpine folding and its extraordinary volcanicity, and the
country is not, on the whole, rich in mineral wealth. There
are small coal-fields and oil pools in the sedimentary
rocks of the Tertiary age, and anthracite is also found
in the Mesozoic rocks. Associated with Archean and
Palaeozic rocks and Tertiary volcanics are found copper,
gold, silver, and iron. Copper is the most important
metallic mineral, and Japan ranks fifth among the largest
producers of copper. The general facts relating to the
basal structure of Siberia have already been noted. The * 1 ena*
country is rich in minerals. Its coal resources are said
to be a quarter of the total coal resources of Asia or a
half of those of Europe. Oil, however, is far less plenti-
ful, although there are abundant resources in Sakhalin
and Kamschatka. Gold is very widely distributed along
the principal river basins, and so is also iron. Other
minerals such as copper, zinc, lead, and silver are
especially important in the Altai region, Yenisei province,
Transbaikalia, and the Maritime Territory. Tin,
manganese, platinum, iridium, and osmium are also
fairly plentiful, and there are also numerous non-metallic
minerals all over the country.

Climate. — The general nature of the climate of Asia Basic

is determined by two of its basic features ; the one is its factors

. f determining

size; the other, its central complex of lofty plateaus and Asia's

mountain chains. The interior of the continent is more than
1,500 miles from the sea, — a feature sufficient by itself to
ensure extreme contincntality of the climate.1 This, how-
ever, is accentuated by the fact that the central tangle of

1 Meteorologically the whole of Eurasia together with the northern
parts of Africa — a territory of about 25 million sq. miles — is considered
as a single land mass.

360 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

plateaus and Alpine chains effectively cuts the interior off
from all oceanic influences. The climates of Asia are, thus,,
characterized by extremes and contrasts to be found now-
here else on the earth in the same degree of completeness.

Conditions With the advent of the summer months, accompanied

in Summer. ^ ^ gradual shifting of the earth's thermal equator to the
north of the Equator, the south and the centre of the conti-
nent become extremely hot, and a number of low-pressure
centres are formed. Inflowing winds from the ocean then
rush to these low-pressure centres, causing rainfall over the
whole of Asia except the south-west (N. Arabia, Persia,
Afghanistan and Baluchistan), which forms a continuation-
of the Mediterranean region of Europe and Africa. The
amount of rainfall, however, is determined by topography :
thus the great mountain barriers of the central plateaus
prevent heavy showers all over the vast interior.

Conditions

in Winter. In the winter months, when the earth's thermal equator

shifts to the south of the Equator, the centre and north of
the continent become very cold, and a number of high-
pressure centres are formed over the whole of the interior.
Dry, cold winds then begin to blow out in all directions from
the heart of Asia, but they are cut off in their progress
towards India by the lofty Himalayas. Since these are dry
winds blowing from a vast land surface, they do not bring
in rain until they have crossed the seas. Thus the whole of
Asia, excepting Japan, Central and South China, the coasts
of Indo-China, the Philippines and Ceylon and a few other
places, is practically rainless in winter. The East Indies,
however, have rainfall all the year round, owing to their
situation in the Equatorial Belt. The Mediterranean conti-
nuations of Asia also receive some rain in the winter months.

Different Owing to the vast extent of the continent and the diver-

climatic sity of its orographical features, a number of climatic zones
f can be distinguished:

ASIA

361

1. The Equatorial Climate prevails in Malaya, Malaya,
nearly the whole of the East Indies, and, in a modified degree, a,fj Cey/oiL
in Ceylon.

2. The Tropical Monsoon Climate occurs in India, India, Indo-
Indo-China, and Southern China. The rainfall in Central

and Northern China and Japan is, no doubt, monsoonal, but

THE NATURAL REGIONS OF ASIA.

the climate of these places is characterized by much colder
winters ; moreover, these regions lie outside the Tropics.

3. The Warm Temperate East Coast Climate Northern
(China Type) is found in Central and Northern China and and Centra!
Japan. Unlike India, China is not protected by any moun- jap£n. *"

362 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

tain barrier like the Himalayas from the dessicating winter
winds from the heart of Asia. Three sub-types are often
distinguished :

(a) Central China sub-type, represented by the

climatic conditions of Shanghai and Hankow.

(b) Northern China sub-type, represented by those

of Peiping.

insular position of that country.

4. The Cold Temperate East Coast Climate
(Manchurian Type) prevails in Manchuria and Amuria.
This is akin to the Laurentian type ; but the rainfall is basi-
cally monsoonal.

5. The Hot Desert Climate (Sahara Type) prevails
in Arabia and the desert regions of India. But the climate

Arabia and js not everywhere strictly of the Sahara type. At least two
Thar Desert. - J . ,. . . . - Jl

sub-types can be distinguished :

(a) The Thar sub-type, which occurs in the Thar
Desert of India and the Lower Indus Valley,
is a very dry type of monsoon climate.

Syria, (b) The Mesopotamian sub-type, occuring in Syria,

Mesopota- Mesopotamia, and Persia, is, likewise, a very

Persia. dry type of Mediterranean climate.

6. The Temperate Desert Climate prevails in the
Tibet, Iran, high plateaus of Central and South-eastern Asia. It is parti-
Turkestan cularly in these regions that we find evidences of extreme

continentality. The rainfall, which is invariably very low,
is peculiar in that the eastern parts receive their scanty share
of moisture mainly in summer and the western parts mainly
in winter. This apparent anomaly is easily explained by
the fact that these temperate deserts of Asia are bordered on
the south-east by monsoon lands and by Mediterranean lands
on the south-west. Four sub-types have been distinguished:
(a) The Tibet sub-type, prevailing over most of

Tibet and reaching as far to the south-west as

Leh in Kashmir..

ASIA 363

(b) The Iran sub-type, prevailing in Persia and

Afghanistan and characterized by rain in winter.

Gobi Desert and the Tarim Basin.

(d) The Turkestan sub-type, occurring in the low-

lands of south-western Siberia.

7. The Mediterranean Climate, found in the coasts
of Asia Minor and Syria, and, in a modified degree, along
the Kurdistan Mountains. The Asiatic Mediterranean
lands, however, belong to the climatic zone known as that of
the 'Eastern Mediterranean sub-type', and have, therefore,
colder winters than the Mediterranean lands farther west.

8. The Temperate Continental Climate (Temperate Siberia" and
Grassland Climate) is found in the stcppelands of Western Mongolia.
Siberia, and, in a modified degree, in the grasslands' of
Mongolia. It is characterized by long and severe winters,

short and warm summers, and light spring and summer rains.

9. The Cold Temperate Climate, is found in the
northern coniferous forest region of Asia. It is character-
ized by low average temperature and scanty precipitation
mainly in the form of snow.

10. The Arctic Desert Climate (Tundra Climate)

is found along the northern shores of Russia. It is charac- Northern
terized by very long and very cold winters, but very short "
and hot summers.

Natural Vegetation. — The natural vegetation of the (i) Equa-
Equatorial Regions of Asia is lofty, evergreen forest. The torial
forests are not so dense as in the Amazon or Con^o Basin.
The trees, especially the larger ones, are almost invariably
of the hardwood species, and frequently rise to heights
of 200 and 250 feet or more. Owing to the comparative
openness of these forests smaller trees and ground vege-
tation are not wanting: bamboos, canes, grasses and other
herbaceous vegetation are often found. But it is difficult
to exploit these forests on a commercial scale, mainly because
the taller trees commonly stand widely apart from one

364

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

(2) Mon-
soon
Regions.

(3) Tem-
perate
Monsoon
Regions of
China and
Japan.

(4) Man-

churian

Region.

(5) Medi-
terranean
Regions.

another. A fall in temperature due to elevation does
not ordinarily affect equatorial vegetation below 5,000
feet. The natural vegetation of the monsoon regions
is also forest; but the forests differ according to rain-
fall: where there is more than 80" of rain annually, ever-
green forests of the equatorial type occur ; the typical 'mon-
soon forests', however, are found in regions having an
annual precipitation between 40" and 80"; these 'monsoon
forests' are the home of the famous sal and teak woods,
which, though of the hardwood species, are much more
tractable than equatorial hardwoods. Since the Mon-
soon forests are more open than equatorial forests,
bamboos and drier types of grass are more numerous.
Where the precipitation is below 40" occur thorny trees
like acacia. These woodlands gradually yield place to scrub-
land and thorny bushes as the rainfall decreases, and these
latter to succulent plants of semi-desert regions. The frost-
line in the Monsoon regions is generally on a level of 3.000
feet, and hill forests of these regions fall into two broad
classes — the evergreen forests represented by the various
species of oak, and coniferous forests. The natural
vegetation of East Asia seems to be of a mixed character
— broad-leaved evergreen trees and conifers interspersed
with bamboo, the wood-oil and the varnish trees. The
Chinese, it is interesting to learn, have almost wiped
out the natural vegetation from their country. In
Japan there are ever-green and deciduous broad-leaved
trees of the hardwood species and conifers. In Man-
churia and the adjoining tracts mixed forests of conifers
and hardwoods predominate. The conifers include
spruce, silver fir, red pine and larch, and the hardwoods
are represented by oaks, alder, ash, and beech. In the
Mediterranean regions of South-Western Asia flourish
evergreen woodland of small trees represented by the
olive, myrtle, orange, vine, and some conifers of smaller
species. The glassland regions of Asia comprise those

ASIA 365

of south-west Siberia, the Mongolian plateau, and the (6) Grass-
low lands of Central Manchuria. Coniferous forests
predominate in the cold temperate regions of Sibera and
reach as far south as the mountains of Central Asia. The
typical vegetation of the Arctic Regions consists of Regions! *
mosses and lichens. In the more favoured areas dwarf
•shrubs and willows exist. This Tundra vegetation W . Arctic
is not only confined to the Arctic wastes, but are CRlonb'
found in the Tibetan uplands as well. The natural
vegetation of the Desert Regions is an impoverished proto- (9) Desert
type of the more fortunate adjoining tracts. Regions.

Population. — Asia is easily the most populous of the
continents, but the population, besides being very irregularly ^ . .
•distributed, is much smaller relatively to its area than that of anomalies
Europe ; for it has a density of about 46 to the square mile as
against 90 in Europe. Yet, again, the combined population of
the four Asiatic countries, viz., India, Java, China and Japan,
which together constitute an area equal to about five-sixth
of the total area of Europe, is nearly double the population J
of the latter continent. The rest of Asia is extremely thinly
peopled. The total population of India (excluding Burma),
according to the census of 1931, is about 338,300,000 with a
density of about 220 to the square mile1 ; that of China some
400,000,000 with a density of 260; that of the Japanese
Empire is expected to be nearly 100,000,000 with a density
of 380, and Java with a population of 41,720,000 (1930) Under-
has a density of over 817. On the other hand, the
vast tract of Arabia is believed to have a population density
•of 7 ; the enormous territories of Siberia, below 5 ; and much
•of Central Asia, under 1. The explanation of the anomaly
is to be found mainly in differences of climate, and these
differences are, in their turn, due to location and
topography.

1The population of India in the census of 1941 is expected to
exceed 380,000,000.

THE COUNTRIES OF ASIA

Position
Extent.

Relief.

Climate &

Natural

Regions.

Chief
products.

Production
& Industry.

TURKEY
The Exit from Asia

The Republic of Turkey comprises an area of about a
third of a million square miles, and a population of some
15 millions. It includes a small European territory around
Istanbul and Edirne ( Adrianople) as far west as the Maritsa
River. Turkey is practically coincident with that indefinite
territory called Asia Minor. She, however, holds a key posi-
tion at the entrance to the Black Sea.

The whole territory can be divided into two broad
regions, — (a) The Plateau, and (b) The Coastlands.
Two broad climatic belts may easily be recognized ; the coastal
tracts have an essentially Mediterranean climate, but that of
the plateau region is more akin to the climate of the steppelands
of Russia — dry and severe. The people of the plateau region
are nomads, and their principal occupation is stock-raising.
Wool and mohair constitute the chief products of this dreary
region, and Turkey held a virtual monopoly of fine silky
mohair until surpassed by South Africa. In the heart of the
plateau region lies Ankara, now the capital of the Republic.
The principal products of the coastlands are the typical Medi-
terranean fruits such as the grape, olive, and fig; wheat,
barley, tobacco and some cotton are also grown ; sponge
fishing is important amongst the Aegean Islands; another
important product is opium, especially in the west coast.
There are enormous forest tracts, yielding valuable timber
and other forest products such as oak, pine, beech, fir, elm,
lime, walnut, chestnut, etc. Izmir (Smyrna) is the most
important port and town on the west coast.

Although richly endowed with mineral wealth,
these for the most part lie unexploited yet, the
working of metals being- largely confined to the pro-

TURKEY 367

duction of household utensils of brass and copper. Carpet
weaving, however, is amongst the chief manufacturing
industries and modern cotton-ginning and cotton-oilcake
factories as well as salt and sugar works are steadily being
established. Silk production and the manufacture of silk-
fabrics are old industries. Some mining is also done, but
the production is small at present, although future prospects
are bright. The difficulty in exploiting the mineral
resources of the country has been attributed mainly to
the lack of communications. The total road mileage
of Turkey is some 30,000, but the road system shows
a curious absence of main trunk lines, which has resulted
in the isolation from the rest of the country of even
such important centres as Izmir and Bursa. And the rail-
ways constitute a total mileage of some 3,000 miles only.
But railway connections have now been established between
Ankara and Paris via Istanbul on the one hand ( Simplon-
Orient Express — Paris to Istanbul), and between Paris and
Tripoli (Syria) via Istanbul and Aleppo. There are two
railway systems in Turkey : — the one, covenicntly grouped
as the Anatolian-Baghdad system, runs, with all its adjuncts
considered together, across the whole country from Haidar
Pasa, opposite Istanbul, to Nisibiii on the Syrian border,
connecting Ekichehr, Konia, Adana and Aleppo (Syria),
and throwing out lines to Ankara and Kaisarie; the other,
grouped as the West Coast system, establishes communica-
tions amongst Panderma, Izmir, Aidin etc. Various projects
are now under operation : thus there are projects of estab-
lishing communications between Adalia and Konia, Sivas
and Kaisarie, Erzerum and Trebizoncl and so on.

It is, however, difficult to obtain accurate figures relating
to the foreign trade of the Republic, owing mainly to govern-
mental reticence on the subject. The general trend of the
trade, however, may be indicated by the following tables
compiled from the incomplete statistics available:

368

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

The Exports of Turkey

Tobacco . . . . 28 per cent

Fruits & Vegetables .. 17 „ „

Cotton & Cotton manufactures 12 „ „

Wool & Wool manufactures 9 „ „

Various . . . . 34 ....

Manufactures

Cotton goods

Woollens

Metals

Cereals

Colonial goods
Various

The Imports of Turkey

31 per cent

The Direction of the Foreign Trade of Turkey

Exports
{Percentage of Total value)

Countries

Imports
(Percentage of Total value)

Italy

Germany

France

U. S. A.

U. K.

Others

The foreign trade of Turkey has been showing a general
upward trend since the turmoils of the Revolution of
1922 were over. But there is still an adverse balance;
the total value of imports exceeds that of the exports
by about 20 per cent. Recently, however, the Republic
has entered into a trade pact with Great Britain (after the
declaration of War between Britain and Germany), and
negotiations are afoot for a similar pact with Germany.1

*If the Mediterranean Sea be blockaded, and with a hostile
Germany to cut off land routes, Turkey will find it almost impossible
to maintain trade relations with Great Britain and America, and it
will mean a 24 p.c. loss of her total export and import business. This
she will have to. compensate for by increased trade with Germany
.and German occupied Europe.

ARAB ASIA 369

Cyprus, an island to the south of Turkey, is a British Agriculture.
Crown Colony. Its chief products are beans, wheat,
sesame and grapes. The small amount of export consists 'xpo
mainly of wine and agricultural products. The capital is Towns.
Nicosia, and the chief port is Larnaka.

ARAB ASIA

' Introductory. — Arab Asia is both a geographical Geographi-
and cultural unit. It comprises roughly the whole ca| & .
of south-western Asia 'lying, south of the main homogene-
mountain belt of Armenia and west of the Zagros*. ity-
The predominant language over this vast territory
is Arabic, and the culture essentially Semitic and more
pronouncedly Islamic. Prior to the Four Years' War
(1914-18) nearly the whole of it was a part of the Ottoman Poljtical
Empire. As a result of the post-war settlements it is now units,
divided into the French mandated territory of Syria, the
British mandated territories of Palestine and Transjordania,
the kingdoms of Iraq and Arabia, and the British sphere of
influence extending from Aden. . Natura? &

SYRIA lies south-west of Asia Minor, and readily msl
falls into four natural divisions: (a) The Western
Coastal Plains, formed by a succession of extremely
narrow strips of land. The climate is, of course,
Mediterranean, the rainfall fairly abundant, and the
soil fertile. The chief products are oranges, especially
in the Plains of Tripoli and Sidon (Saida), olives Centres,
particularly in the Plain of Beirut, and tobacco,
mainly in the Plain of Latakia. The principal
towns of this region are the ports of Alexandretta, Latakia,
Tripoli, Beirut, and Sidon (Saida), all actually open road-
steacjs except Beirut jvhich has a good semi-natural harbour.
(b) The Western Mountain Ranges, formed by the
three principal blocks of the Amanus Range (Giaour

370

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Products

Trade

Centres.

Dagh), Jebel en Nuseiriye, and Lebanon. There are occa-
sional forests, from which the famous 'Cedars of Lebanon*
are obtained. North Lebanon also yields good quality iron-
ore, and there is lignite in South Lebanon. Syria, however,
is poor in mineral resources. To the east of Lebanon is
the Anti-Lebanon, and in between the two is the valley of
the Litam river, (c) The Great Central Depression, actually
an agglomeration of unhealthy marshes and fertile tracts of
land, formed by the fertile plain of Antakia (Antioch),
and the Basin of the Orontes river. The principal pro-
ducts are temperate cereals (wheat, barley, durrah, etc.),
and temperate fruits. On the banks of rivers and near
& the marshes liquorice root grows wild. Another important
thing extensively cultivated is the mulberry tree for the
silk worms; silk production is an important industry,
especially in Antakia. The principal towns of the region are
Antakia, Hama, and Horns, (d) The Eastern Mountain
Ranges, which gradually fade into the Syrian Desert. The
whole of this region, except a few places such as the lands
around Aleppo and Damascus, is climatically very dry,
and subject to dessicating cold winds in winter and
severe heat in summer. Large numbers of sheep and
goats are kept in Syria, especially in the Aleppo district,
and wool forms an important item of export. Syria
is rather well served by roads and railways. There
is direct railway communication between Aleppo and
Tripoli via Hama and Horns. The Simplon-Orient
Express which runs from Paris to Istanbul is now
continued, by means of connections, to Egypt through
Syria and Palestine. There is broad-gauge connection
between Aleppo and Tripoli, and narrow-gauge (metre
gauge?) trains run between Damascus and Beirut, as well
as between Damascus and Haifa ; the latter line runs to
Trade. Egypt from Haifa (Palestine). Motor cars run from

Tripoli to Acre (Palestine), via Beirut, Sidon, and Tyre, as
between Damascus and Beirut, and between Aleppo and

Products

Trade

Centres.

Communi-
cations.

ARAB ASIA 371

Acre via Hama, Horns, and Damascus. The general nature
of Syria's foreign trade has already been indicated
(pp. 303-4) . Most of the sea-borne trade is with France,
Britain, and Italy.

PALESTINE is geographically as well as histori-
cally a part of Syria, and like the latter it falls intcTp
a number of natural regions running more or less
parallel to the Mediterranean: (a) The Coastlands on
the west are very much alike in climate, fertility and products
to those of Syria. This is the region of the famous
Jaffa oranges. The principal towns of this region are
Acre, an ancient town and port, Haifa, the chief port of
Palestine, Jaffa, an open roadstead but owing to its posi-
tion the central outlet of the country, the newly built
Jewish town of Tel Aviv adjoining Jaffa, and Gaza, a
minor port, (b) The Hill Country lying in the middle
serves mainly as an extensive pasturage for sheep and
goats. Some olive is grown in the comparatively fertile
tracts. This is the region where lies Nazareth, the
famous old village of Biblical antiquity, and the town
of Jerusalem, the Mecca of the Christians, (c) The
Jordan Rift Valley (El Ghor), consisting of the
river Jordan, the Ganges of the Christians, the Sea of
Galilee, and the Dead Sea. Naturally the region is
cut off from the rain-bearing westerly winds and
is therefore climatically as dry as a desert except
for the waters of the Jordan. Salt is obtained from
the Dead Sea, and electricity is generated from the flowing
waters of the Jordan for illuminating the holy city.
Roughly two-thirds of the people of Palestine are
Syrians or Northern Arabs, a quarter Jews, and the remain-
der Christians. The British Government has been openly People,
endeavouring since the famous Balfour Declaration of
1917 to establish a national home in Palestine for the
Jewish people. But this has engendered much friction

372

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Immigra-
tion & Emi-
gration of
Jews.

Communi-
cations.

Foreign
Trade.

Position,

Relief &

Natural

Regions.

between the Muhammedan and Jewish communities,
and although the first decade since the declaration wit-
nessed an overwhelming influx of Jews in Palestine, there has
been an excess of Jewish emigrants over immigrants in subse-
quent years. Palestine is well served by roads and railways.
There is road communication between Nazareth in the north
and Jerusalem (and beyond) in the south; from Nazareth
one road goes as far as Tripoli (Syria) along the coast, and
another to Aleppo via Damascus, Horns and Hama. There
are road communications between Haifa and Nazareth (and
beyond), and between Jaffa and Jericho in the Jordan Valley
(and beyond) via Jerusalem. Various projects for a new
system of trunk roads (as between Haifa and Gaza along the
coast and between Haifa and Jericho over the interior) are
being considered. The railway lines along the coast con-
nect all the ports, while throwing out branch lines to
all the important inland towns. The general nature of the
foreign trade of Palestine has been described else-
where (pp. 303-4).

TRANSJORDANIA, east of Palestine, actually
constitutes the margin of the great Desert of Arabia.
Its chief town, Amman, has motor communication
with Jerusalem and Jaffa. The unfinished Hejaz Railway des-
tined to Mecca also proceeds through this town. Agriculture
and pastoral pursuits form the chief occupations of the
people.

IRAQ, bordered on the west by Syria and Arabia and
on the east by Persia, falls into four natural divi-
sions: (a) Kurdistan, a mountainous tract on the
north-east; (b) Upper Iraq, corresponding roughly
with Assyria of old and embracing a considerable
portion of Mesopotamia; (c) Lower Iraq, extending
roughly from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf, and thus
embracing the greater part of Mesopotamia; and

ARAB ASIA 373

(d) The Desert Fringe on the west. Mesopotamia,
literally meaning the land between the rivers, in Production,
the country drained by the Tigris and Euphrates. The
general barrenness of Kurdistan is only occasionally relieved
by good pastures and cultivable lands on the lower slopes
and in the valleys. That portion of Upper Iraq which lies
between the Tigris and the foothills of Kurdistan is also not
fertile except for the deep broad valleys of the Tigris and its
tributaries, the Great Zab and Little Zab. Upper Meso-
potamia, which is included in this division, is an open,
undulating plain with a few ranges of low hills ; it, too, is
not a fertile tract of land. Lower Iraq, however, is a fine
fertile alluvium. The date crop is the most important
agricultural product of Iraq; for 80 per cent of the world's
dates are produced here. It is the staple food of the
Arabs. Rice, though of poor quality, ranks second
amongst the agricultural products. The largest con-
centrations of dates and rice as well as of maize,
millets, and sesame are in Lower Iraq. Iraq specializes
in the cultivation of ^jheat and barley, where 'dry-
farming* is the general rule. Another important crop is
tobacco, especially in the north. Iraq also produces
opium, hemp, lentils and liquorice root, particularly in
the famous Shatt el-'Arab region in the extreme south.
The production of cotton, however, is meagre, but there
are great possibilities for the finest types of Egyptian
cotton. Large numbers of camels, horses, donkeys,
sheep and goats are reared by the nomadic and semi-nomadic
tribes on the desert fringes and the upland plains of Upper
Iraq. Fine wool and mohair are obtained from the sheep
and the Angora goats of Kurdistan. The mineral Minerals,
wealth of Iraq consists of salt and some poor quality
coal, but above all of oil. There are three oil-belts
— the western belt runs along the Euphrates Basin,
the middle belt along the Tigris Basin, and the eastern belt
along the border of Iran. The eastern belt was discovered

374

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Communi-
cations.

only in 1927, and since the construction of a twin pipe-line
to Tripoli and Haifa in 1935 production of oil has greatly
increased. Iraq is, on the whole, well served by rivers, roads,
and railways. The Tigris is navigable by steam craft for
more than 450 miles from above Baghdad to where it unites
with the Euphrates to from the Shatt el-' Arab. Below this
point, however, navigation is impossible except for very
small crafts because of the loss of water in a number
of distributories. The Euphrates is too much obstructed by
shallows. Though there are good motor roads in Iraq, the
absence of trunk lines is obvious. There is railway com-
munication between Basra in the south with Kirkuk in the
north via Nasiriya, Hilla and Baghdad. Another railway
line starts from Baghdad to Mosul through Samarra, but
there is a project to discontinue this line and link Baghdad
and Mosul by a new route starting from Kirkuk.
The principal town of Iraq is Baghdad situated in
the heart of the country. It has been a meeting-
place of caravan routes from Arabia, Syria and
Persia for centuries on end, and is now a centre of
various manufactures — silk, woollen, cotton, rug, pottery,
etc. Basra, on the Shatt el-' Arab some 60 miles from
the sea (Persian Gulf), is the chief port — indeed the only
port accessible by ocean-going vessels. Mosul, the third
city of Iraq, is the principal town of the north. Nineveh,
the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Assyria, was situated
near the modern town of Mosul. Near the ruins of Babylon
is another town, Hilla, situated on the river Shatt el-'Hilla.
To the north-west of Hilla is the holy city of Karbala,
and to the south-west of Hilla is Najaf, another holy
city. Kut-al-Imara and Kurnah 'Amara are important
wheat centres on the Tigris.

N . The foreign trade, as is quite usual, shows an unfavour-

Foreign able balance; for of the total value of this trade nearly 50
Trade. per cent -ls covered by imports, less than 25 per cent by

Towns &
Industrial
Centres.

ARAB ASIA 375

exports, while transit trade accounts for the remaining 25
•or 30 per cent. This transit trade is actually entrepot trade,
carried on mainly with Persia, and in this Iraq is in keen
•competition with Russia.

ARABIA is a desert tableland, climatically very
dry ; only the mountainous tracts of Yemen in the Climate &
south-west and Oman in the south-east have a rainfall
sufficient for the cultivation of the coffee plant. But the pro-
longed washing away of the soil has rendered coffee-
culture difficult. The isolated oases in the interior,
however, are suitable for the date-palm. Arabia is _ ... f

1' • f *• • • 1 JrOlltlcal

now divided into a number of political units such Divisions,
as the kingdoms of the Hejaz, Oman, Nejd, the Imamate
of Yemen, the Egyptian dependency of Sinai, the
British protectorate of Koweit, the British possession of
Aden, etc. The Sultanate of Oman is bound by a
treaty with the British Government, and the task
of guarding the Persian Gulf has now devolved upon
the British Admiralty. The Bahrein Islands are also
under British protection. Riyadh, in the heart of the oases
region, is the capital of Nejd. Sana, an upland town in the
interior, is the chief centre of Yemen; its port is Hodeida.
But the port of Mocha, famous for the 'Mocha coffee', is
the principal outlet for Yemen. The holy cities of ^>^s &
Mecca and Medina are in the Hejaz. Maskat
{Muscat) is the capital and port of Oman. Korein
(Grane) is an excellent natural harbour round the
inlet of Koweit (Koait). Manama is the capital and
•commercial centre of the Bahrein Islands. Aden, on the
south coast, a fortified coaling station and entrepot, has an
admirable natural harbour. Its area is 75 sq. miles, but
the settlement includes the island of Perim in the Straits of
Bab-el-Mandeb with a further area of 5 sq. miles, and a
hinterland, forming a British Protectorate, comprising an
area of 9,000 sq. miles. The trade of Arabia is

376

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Htnall. The most important item of export is
Trade. perhaps the fine Mocha coffee, but the quantity

raised and exported is not much. But the quality
and price of the indigenous coffee enable the Arabs to
import the cheaper Brazilian or Javanese coffee
for home consumption. Other items of export are gums,
hides, and wool. The Bedouins carry on the breeding*
of camels, and sell them to the settled peoples of Arabia,
Syria, Palestine and other places. Asses are also bred
in large numbers, in Hejaz, Nejd, and Yemen, and are sold ;
for in Arabia they are scarcely less important than camels
as means of transport. The famous Arab horses are
also bred, especially in Nejd, but they are of much less
importance than either camels or asses. Bahrein is the
centre of the pearl fisheries of the Persian Gulf.

Position.

Relief,

Climate

Rainfall.

Production
& Industry.

IRAN AND AFGHANISTAN

PERSIA, now officially known as IRAN, lies east of
Asia Minor. It is largely made up of tablelands encircled by
Alpine fold ridges. The elevation is greater in the east.
Precipitation is rather heavy in the mountainous
north and west ; but since it occurs mainly in winter, most of
it is in the form of snow. This, however, has a salutary
effect on the productivity of the land as the melting snow in
spring feeds a large number of streams that can be used for
irrigation. Otherwise nearly the whole of Iran would be a
desert like Arabia. At present roughly the eastern half of
the country may be classed as desert or semi-desert. The
climate of Iran, especially of the interior, is sufficiently dis-
tinctive to be described as of the Iran type ; it is there blazing
hot and dry in summer and moist and intensely cold in winter.
The high summer temperature enables the cultivation of the
date-palm at an altitude of 3,500 feet, of rice at 4,000 feet,
of cotton at 5,000, of the grape-vine at 7,500, and of wheat
at 9,000. Rice, however, is grown mostly in the swampy

IRAN AND AFGHANISTAN 377

plains bordering the Caspian Sea, and although the bulk of
it is consumed at home, a small quantity is exported, mainly
to Russia. Wheatlands are much more uniformly distri-
buted all over the country, and a large surplus is available
for export. Another crop deserving special mention is
opium, cultivated largely for export— mainly to China
and Great Britain. Persian tobacco is of excellent
quality, but home consumption being high, only a small
surplus is exported. Persia's cotton is coarse and short-
stapled ; before the Four Years' War, however, Russia was
the leading customer of this commodity ; now cotton produc-
tion has declined, and Persia imports large quantities of
cotton goods and yarn — the latter largely from India — for her
own carpet industry. But the country is said to have a
soil in Khuzistan, a portion of the Tigris lowland, suitable
for American and even for Egyptian cotton. Some
barley, millets, and maize are also grown throughout the
land, but no surplus is available for export. Sugar-cane
can be cultivated in the region of rice, and the soil and climate
of Persia are fairly suitable for beet as well ; but the bulk of
her sugar requirements has to be imported at present. The
climate of Persia is suitable for a variety of fruits — both
Mediterranean and tropical. The manufacture of wines from
the vine is of some importance. Sericulture, for which
Persia has always been famous, came to the verge of
ruin owing to a disease in the latter part of the last century ;
yet it is still important in the region bordering the Caspian.
The bulk of the raw silk now produced goes to France,
Italy, Russia and Turkey. There are large numbers of
transport animals in Persia — horses, mules, donkeys and
camels, as well as sheep and goats. Much wool is produced
both for export and the local manufacture of carpets and
shawls. Persia is believed to be fairly rich in various mine-
rals ; but their existence is as yet mostly problematical, and Minerals,
even those that are positively known to exist have not been,
with the only exception of oil, thoroughly exploited owing

378

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Exploits of
Anglo-
Iranian
Oil Co.

Interest of

British

Govt.

Persia's
problems.

Communica-
tions.

mainly to transport difficulties. The oil industry has been
in the hands of the Anglo-Iranian (formerly Anglo- Persian)
Oil Co. Ltd., since 1909. The British Government owns a
disproportionately large number of shares in this Company —
to the extent of £2,000,000. And the purchase of shares
was prompted by the necessity of getting oil mainly for the
British Navy. A pipe-line, 145 miles, long, connects the
source of the oil at Maidan-i-Sulaiman with the refinery on
the island of Abadan in the Persian Gulf. More than 15
per cent of the total revenue of the Government of Iran is
derived from the royalties from the Company. Ever since
the formation of the Company the business has been expand-
ing by leaps and bounds, as it were, and it is now definitely
known that at any time the total output of oil can be trebled.
This oil-belt, we have seen, lies along the south-western
border of Persia, and is linked with the eastern oil-belt of
Iraq. The Caucasian geosyncline, we have noted further,
spreads along the north of Persia, culminating in the Oxus
Oil Belt farther east; it is, therefore widely believed that
there are abundant oil resources in Northern Persia as well.
In the north-west there are coal and iron, and it was pro-
posed sometime ago to manufacture steel rails in that country.
Persia is handicapped in her national economy by two
major drawbacks : the country lacks man-power and modern
means of communication. The whole territory is larger than
the British Isles, France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and
Germany combined, and yet the population is about 10
millions, of which some 3 millions are nomads. There
are only about 230 miles of railways, some 600 miles
of motor roads, 1,500 miles of gravel-surfaced roads, and
3,000 miles of unmetalled roads. Three railway systems,
however, enter Persia from foreign lands : one line terminat-
ing at Duzdap in the south-eastern frontier connects
it with India via Quetta ; another line terminating at Tabriz
in the north-west establishes communication with Russia
via Julfa on the Russian frontier; another line from

IRAN AND AFGHANISTAN

379

Basra and Damascus terminates at Khanigin on the Iranian
frontier. From Tabriz and Khanigin to Tehran, the capital,
there are motorable roads ; but Duzdap to Tehran is an ardu-
ous journey of hundreds of miles by motor roads and caravan
routes. A north-south railway, destined to connect Bandar
Gaz on the Caspian Sea, Tehran, Hamadan and Mohammera
near the Persian Gulf, has been under construction for some
years.

Chief Towns of Iran

Tehran
Tabriz
Meshed
Siraz
Isfahan
Hamadan

360,000
219,000
139,000
119,000
100,000

Climate.

Bandar Gaz . . Caspian Port.
Astara . . „ „

Bandar Shapur Persian Gulf Port.
Bushire . . „ „ „

Bandar Abbas „ „ ..

AFGHANISTAN may be said to occupy the eastern
third of the great Iranian Plateau. Except for a Positlon>
small strip on the north (Plain of Turkestan),
the country is an agglomeration of lofty mountains and Relief,
elevated plateaus. The climate is much like that of Iran —
dry and sunny and subject to extremes of temperature. Much
of the insufficient precipitation is in the form of snow, and
this gives rise to a large number of short-lived streams in
spring. Cultivation is confined to oases and the large river
valleys of the Kabul and the Heri Rud. The leading crops
are dates, pomegranates, and sugar-cane; some wheat,
barley, millet, maize, rice and a number of fruits (oranges, Products,
figs, grenadines) are also grown. There are large
numbers of sheep, especially the fat-tailed sheep, said to
be a native of Afghanistan. Meat, grease, wool and
skins are obtained from them. Kabul, the capital,
stands on the Kabul river. It is connected with Chief towns
Peshawar by a motor road through the famous Khyber Pass. cations.
Another motor road connects it with Bamian. Kandahar,
another important city, has motor communication with

380

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Foreign
trade.

the capital. Ghazni, once the centre of a large empire,
lies on the motor road between Kabul and Kandahar.
Herat, on the Heri Rud, is connected by a circuitous
motor road with Kandahar. A railway from Merv, Russian
Turkestan, terminates at the Afghan frontier north of Herat.
Another line from Quetta proceeds to Chaman on the British
side of the Afghan frontier some miles south-east of
Kandahar. There are motor roads from Herat to the
frontier between Afghanistan and Russian Turkestan, from
Kandahar to Chaman, and from Kabul to Lundikhana where
the railway from Peshawar terminates. Except the motor
roads mentioned above goods are carried by beasts of burden
like camels, asses, pack-horses and oxen. Afghanistan was
once the great gateway of trade between India and Central
Asia ; a large part of the merchandise then passed through the
Bamian Pass between the Hindukush and the Koh-i-baba west
of Kabul. At present the small foreign trade of Afghanistan
is mainly with India via Peshawar and with Russian Turkes-
tan via Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghan Turkestan. Statistics are
not available for the total trade; but the principal exports
from India consist of cotton goods, tea, sugar, dyes,
hardware and various small manufactures; exports to
India consist mainly of wool, sheep-skins, wood and
fruits. Imports from India alone are usually in excess
of exports in value.

Geographi-
cal units.

INDO-CHINA

Introductory. — The peninsula of Indo-China, lying
as it does between India and China, is a separate geographical
unit by itself. To its south, however, is the long narrow
subsidiary peninsula of Malaya. But despite this geographi-
cal unity, both are now divided into a number of states
between Great Britain, Thailand (Siam) and France.
Under Great Britain are Burma, the Straits Settlements and
the so-called protectorates of the Federated and Unfederated

INDO-CHINA

381

Malay States ; Siam or Thailand is an independent kingdom ; Political
and under France are the Lower Cochin-China, Cambodia, Dmslons

CHINA

Annam, and Tong-king. The mountainous Shan States
are shared amongst themselves by the British, Siamese and
French.

382

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Relief.

Climate &
Rainfall

Vegetation.

BURMA, till lately a province of India, has been
Position. constituted as a separate unit of the British Empire.
Geographically a part of Indo-China, Burma is cut off from
India by the lofty chains of the Arakan Yoma on the west.
The most characteristic feature of its surface relief is the
north-south alignment of its mountain chains and major river
basins. Covering the whole of the east is the great massif
of the Shan Plateau. In between the two is the great
Central Basin drained by the Irrawaddy and Chindwin.
The climate is monsoonal. The rainfall is governed by topo-
graphy: it is heaviest in the mountainous west and the
Irrawaddy Delta — as high sometimes as 200" annually ; but
the interior, sheltered by the surrounding mountains, is a
dry country suffering from semi-desert conditions. There
are dense equatorial or semi-equatorial forests in the
hottest and wettest regions ; then there are monsoon forests,
yielding valuable teak wood, where rainfall is between
40 and 80 inches a year; the drier parts are covered by
scrub. Besides these, there are extensive tidal forests in the
Irrawaddy Delta, where tall trees of considerable value
abound. Burma is, of course, essentially an agricultural
country ; but at present only about 20 per cent of the land is
under cultivation. Rice is by far the most important agri-
cultural product, covering, as it does, no less than 66 per
cent of the land under tillage. Its cultivation is confined
mainly to the Irrawaddy Delta, the valley and delta of the
Sittang and the coastal strips of Arakan and Tenasserim.
Other important agricultural products are sesamum
(covering 6 per cent of the land under tillage), beans
(6 per cent), millet (6 per cent), groundnuts (2 per cent),
and cotton (2 per cent). Fruits and vegetables, tobacco
and rubber — the last especially in Mergui and Tavoy —
are also grown. Irrigation is essential in the dry inte-
Irrigation. rior; the principal channels of irrigation at present are
the Mandalay Canal (40 miles), with fourteen distribu-
tories, the Shwebo Canal (27 miles) with its two

Products.

INDOCHINA 383

branches (20 and 29 miles), and the Mon Canal (53
miles). Burma, we have seen, is rich in minerals. There are
extensive fields of lignite, little exploited as yet, in the Minerals.
Chindwin Valley and the old lake basins of the Shan Plateau.
Iron is said to have been fairly well distributed over the hill
tracts; but the production has considerably diminished
now owing chiefly to its extensive exploitation in the past by
local inhabitants. Gold is found in nearly all the rivers in
Upper Burma; but the output is small. There are
important silver-lead deposits at Bawdwin and other
parts of the Shan Plateau. The mine at Bawdwin, said to be
one of the largest silver-lead mines in the world, is worked
by the Burma Corporation, Ltd., mainly a British concern.
From their smelting works at Namtu the refined minerals
are sent by rail to Rangoon for export. The Corporation
also works some zinc and copper. Some of the other silver-
lead mines of the Shan Plateau were formerly worked by
Chinese miners. The Shan Plateau is famous also for its
ruby mines ; but the manufacture of artificial rubies has dealt
a death blow to the mining of gem stones. The extraction
of amber and the manufacture of salt, both confined in Upper
Burma and the Shan States, may also be mentioned here. In
the south, however, particularly in Tenasserim, there are large
deposits of tin and tungsten, some of which are worked by
Europeans. But the most important mining industry in
Burma at present is that of oil. The oilfields of the country
— almost all of them — lie in the old gulf between the Arakan
Yomas and the Shan Plateau; only the Arakan oil-
field lies west of the Arakan Yomas. The two leading
oilfields, both situated near the Irrawady, are those
of Singu and Yenangyaung.1 There are refineries near
Rangoon, to which oil is sent by pipe-lines from these fields —

1 There are eight oilfields in Burma, arranged from north to
south as follows: Indaw, Nhalaingdwin, Yenangyat, Singu, Yenan-
gyaung, Minbu, Yenanma, Padaukbin, and one, that of Arakan, in the
west.

384 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

at a distance of 300 miles. Burmese oil is said to be of the
very best quality, and is used largely for petrol rather than
for crude oil. Burma holds the second place in the British
Empire as a producer of oil (after Trinidad) ; but its total
production is said to be only about 0-6 or 0-7 per cent of the
world's total.1 Further discovery of oil in Burma, however,
is dismissed as highly improbable. Besides minerals,
there are some pearl fisheries in the Mergui Archipelago ;
but the work is done spasmodically as in the case of gold.

•Communica- The Irrawaddy, which is navigable for a thousand miles

tions. from its mouth, is, with its tributaries, particularly the Chin-

dwin, the principal highway of Burma. The Irrawaddy
Flotilla Company maintains regular services up and down the
river ; and besides other forms of river traffic, rafts are also in
use for carrying timber and other bulk commodities. The rail-
ways (1,930 miles in 1930-31) constitute a supplementary
system only. The main line runs from Rangoon to Mandalay
along the Sittang Valley and thence to Myitkyina in the
northern frontier; the line was till lately interrupted by the
Irrawaddy at Mandalay; now a new rail and road bridge
across the river has established through communication.
Another line connects Rangoon and Prome along the Irra-
waddy, and a.third line connects Rangoon with Bassein across
the Irrawaddy Delta. There is railway connection between
Rangoon and Moulmein via Pegu across the east of the Delta
as well. Burma has no railway communication with any of
its neighbouring countries. Roads are conspicuously non-
existent over the greater part of the country : even Rangoon
and Mandalay are not connected by any motor road.

i^ </™ Of tne total foreign trade of Burma about 96-5 per cent

foreign . , _,, . . •*•

trade. 1S seaborne. The principal items of export are rice,

petroleum and petroleum products, timber, cotton, hides
and skins, metals and ores, beans, rubber, and lac. Rice

1 Chisholm.

JNDO-CHINA 385

alone constitutes about 44 per cent of the total exports.
The principal items of import are cotton goods, machi-
nery hardware, coal, silk, and sugar. The port of
Rangoon alone handles about 86 per cent of the total foreign
trade. A study of Burma's foreign trade since the opening
year of the present century shows a steady increase every
year with the result that the total value of the foreign trade
at present is more than five times that of the foreign trade of
1901-02. The exports are more than Ij/z the imports in
value. Of the total export trade more than one-third is with
India, over one-third with the rest of the British Empire,
and only one-quarter with other countries. Of the import
trade nearly one-half is with India, about 3/10 with the rest
of the British Empire, and only one-fifth with other countries.

Burma is still largely an undeveloped monsoon country Burma's.

. new posi-

with great possibilities for economic development. Only 20 tion and

per cent of the land is now under cultivation, while 18 per JV^f6 P°SSJ-

• t i e , * < «» ; bihties.

cent is covered by forests (mostly reserved by the govern-
ment) and 22 per cent classed as waste.1 Much of the
remaining 40 per cent may be suitable for cultivation. The
country, moreover, is underpopulated, although quite capable
of supporting a large population if fully developed. One of
its many problems, therefore, relates to immigration
from the neighbouring countries of India and China,
both of which are overpopulated. About a million of the entire
population now consists of immigrants, mainly Chinese and
Indians. The Chinese have largely succeeded in establishing
themselves in the country by intermarrying with the Burmans.
The bulk of the coolie labour is supplied by the Indians, who,
it is alleged, are 'undercutting* native labour by their wonted
lower standard of living. This 'undercutting* of the natives
has engendered much bad blood between the two communities,
and the recent Burmese riots have largely been traced to that
factor. The separation of Burma, effected in the face of

1 Stamp, Asia, p. 342.
25

386

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Position.

Relief &
Natural
Regions.

Climate &
Products.

vehement opposition from both the countries, was inspired,
among other things, by the desire to exploit its resources to
the advantage of the Empire.

Towns of Burma

Rangoon . .

Mandalay . .

Bassein

Akyab

Moulmein

Tavoy and Mergui

Capital and Chief Port.
Irravvaddy Port.
West Delta Port.
Arakan Outlet.
Tenasserim Outlet.
Tenasserim Outlets.

The population of Rangoon is 400,000; of Mandalay 148,000.

Many of the important towns of Burma are river ports as, for

instance, are Bhamo, Mandalay, Yenangyaung, Minbu, Prome,
Henzada, etc.

THAILAND, known for centuries as SIAM, is the

only independent kingdom in Indo-ChinaL It lies between
Burma and French Indo-China. The country falls
into four broad topographical regions: (a) Northern
Siam, consisting of forested hill ranges and inter-
mediate valleys arranged in a general north and
south trend; (b) Central Siam, practically a vast
single plain, bordered on the north by the hills and
valleys of Northern Siam, on the east by the hill ridge of
Eastern Siam, on the south by the Gulf of Siam, and on the
west by the eastern mountains of Burma; (c) Eastern Siam>
a large shallow basin encircled by hills; and (d) Southern
Siam, occupying a rather long narrow part of the Malay
Peninsula and a small strip of land between Lower Burma
and the Gulf of Siam. The country is drained by
numerous streams, but there is only one large river
— the Menam — which flows through the heart of Siam.
For considerable distances, however, the Salween and
Mekong form its natural as well as political boundary.
Like the rest of Indo-China, Siam is also under the
influence of the monsoon climate, and its natural vegeta-
tion is of the same type as that of Burma. Teak and

INDO-CHINA 387

sappan woods are the chief products of the forests; the
exploitation of timber is mainly in British hands. Rice
is the principal agricultural produce, and forms about 87
per cent of the total export. Other agricultural products
are pepper, tobacco, and betelnuts; some rubber and
cotton are also grown, but not in large quantities,
although the production of both can easily be increased.
Like Burma, Siam is also rich in minerals ; there are im-
portant tin deposits in Siamese Malaya and the island of
Puket ; wolfram is also found in Siamese Malaya.
Alluvial gold is of wide distribution, but as in Burma it
is worked in, the intervals of agriculture. Other minerals
of importance are coal, iron, zinc, manganese, and Mlnerals-
antimony. Bangkok, on the Menam, is the capital and chief Towns &
port, handling, as it does, about 85 per cent of the total communica-
foreign trade. Its population is 600,000. It is connected
by rail with Khorat and Buriram in Eastern Siam, and with
Chieng-mai or Kiang-mai in the north. The eastern line has
now been extended to the French border, and there is a
scheme to extend the northern line beyond Chieng-mai to
Kiang-sen on the Thai frontier. Another line running south-
west from Bangkok proceeds to the Malayan border, where
it is joined with the Malayan railways so as to enable through
trains to run between Bangkok and Singapore. Like the
Irrawaddy of Burma, the Menam is navigable for a consider-
able distance up-stream (for about 300 miles from its mouth),
and logs from the forests are often floated down the river
to Bangkok for export.1 Something has already been said Foreign
about the foreign trade of Siam (p. 298). A noteworthy
feature of Thai national economy is the rapid increase in the
output of rubber from the extreme south of the country
(Siamese Malaya) ; but it is too early to predict its pro-
bable consequences.

1 Sometimes these are floated down the Salween to Moulmein in
Burma.

388

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Extent,

' &

Extent &
population.

Products.

Towns.

Extent &
population.

Products.
Towns.

Extent &
population.

Resources.

Capital.

Extent &
population.

Products.

FRENCH INDO-CHINA is now divided into five
Colony of Lower Cochin-China and the Protec-
torates of Cambodia, Annam, Laos, and Tonking.

Cochin-China is roughly coincident with the large
delta of Mekong. The land is very fertile ; but only
41 per cent is classed as cultivated, a large part of
the delta being unreclaimed marsh. Of the area
cultivated more than 97 per cent is under rice, and the terri-
tory is said to supply 35 per cent of the total rice crop of the
whole of Indo-China. Other agricultural products comprise
maize, sweet potatoes, beans, sugar-cane, tobacco, cocoanuts,
betelnuts, bananas, etc. ; small quantities of rubber and cotton
are also grown. As in Siam, the production of rubber is
increasing. Saigon (150,000) is the chief port; its hinter-
land is said to comprise all the great rice-growing countries
of Cochin-China, Cambodia, Southern Laos and a large part
of Annam. Cholon (200,000) is the chief industrial centre.

Cambodia is largely covered with valuable forests,
little exploited yet. The soil is very fertile, but the bulk of
the land lies uncultivated owing to shortage of labour. Rice,
however, is the chief product. Other crops that may be men-
tioned here are pepper, tobacco, kapok, coffee, indigo, rubber
and cotton. Attempts are being made to increase the output
of cotton. Pnom-Penh (82,000), on the Mekong, is the
capital ; it is accessible by ocean-going vessels. But the bulk
of the foreign trade passes through Saigon.

The Laos is mountainous and believed to be rich in
minerals such as gold, lead, tin, and gemstones. The moun-
tains are covered with valuable teak forests, and logs are
floated down the Mekong to Saigon for export. Vientiane,
on the Mekong, is the capital.

Annam is a native kingdom under French protec-
tion. Rice is naturally the chief product; other
products include pepper, tobacco, sugarcane, etc. But

INDO-CHINA 389

•a special feature of interest is the production of silk
and tea. The capital is Hue (60,600), and its port
is Tourane. But the largest town of Annam is Towns.
Binh-Dinh (147,000). Since the narrow coastal strip
is divided by mountain spurs into a number of separate
basins, Northern Annam is served by the port of Haiphong,
Southern Annam by Saigon, and only Central Annam
by its own port of Tourane.

Tongking is roughly coincident with the valleys Extent &
and delta of the Red River and its tributaries. The Population,
country is mountainous. There are abundant mineral
deposits, and mining is important. Rice is naturally
the chief crop, grown mainly in the Delta region. Other products.
agricultural products are maize, sugar-cane, arroitroot, tea,
coffee and tobacco. Silk is also produced in large quantities.
Hanoi (100,000) is the chief town of Tongking and capital Towns,
of Indo-China. Haiphong is the chief port; its hinterland
comprises Tongking, Northern Annam and Northern Laos.

MALAYA is a peninsula forming the south-eastern Position &
extremity of the Asiatic mainland. Geographically it may extent-
be said to cover considerable tracts of Siamese and Burmese
territories. The peninsula is highly mountainous, but at the
Isthmus of Kra there is a gap. The climate is Equatorial,
but marked by transitional phases. The mountains are
naturally clothed with dense lofty evergreen forests. The Climate,
principal agricultural products are rubber, cocoanuts, and Products.
rice ; pepper, pineapples and palm oil may also be mentioned.
Malaya is famous for tin, but there are other minerals,
too. The peninsula is divided into a number of political Political
units : (a) The Straits Settlements, enjoying the status Divisions,
of a British Crown Colony, comprise Province Wellesley,
the island of Penang, the territory of Malacca, and the island
of Singapore, together with the Cocos or Keeling Islands,
the Christmas Island and the island of Labuan. (b) The
Federated Malay States, consisting of the native

390

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Population.

Communi-
cations.

Towns.

Sultanates of Perak, Pahang, Selangor, and Negri
Sembilan. (c) The Unfederated Malay States of Perils,
Kedah, Kelantan, Trengganu, and Johore. The native
Malayas belong to the Oceanic Mongol race (or
races?). But the population consists of large numbers
of Chinese and Indians, besides, of course, a much smaller
proportion of Europeans. The Chinese are largely perma-
nent settlers ; the Indians, mostly from the Deccan, are
mainly temporary immigrants, working on the rubber planta-
tions. There is thorough railway communication between
Singapore and Bangkok across the Johore Strait and along
the more fertile western section of the peninsula; numerous
branch lines cover this part of Malaya like a complicated
network; another trunk line, separating out at Gemas from
the Singapore-Bangkok line, proceeds through the eastern
section of the peninsula to Siam (since 1932) ; this line
touches the port of Khota Bharu on the east coast. A new
system of metalled roads, with a total mileage of 1,000, has
also been constructed. There is a project for the construc-
tion of a ship canal at the Isthmus of Kra. Singapore
(300,000?), is not only the headquarters of the Governor
of the Straits Settlements, but the leading port of Malaya;
about 75 per cent of the foreign trade passes through it.
Kuala Lumpur (80,000?), the capital of the Federated
Malay States, is a large commercial centre; its port
is Port Swettenham, formerly called Kuala Klang.
Penang, officially called Georgetown, is the chief
port for the export of tin from Perak ; it has an excellent
natural harbour. Malacca was once the greatest port of
Malaya; but its importance has declined now, owing to
the silting-up of its harbour and the rivalry of Singapore.

THE EAST INDIES OR THE MALAY
ARCHIPELAGO

Introductory. — To the south-east of the Asiatic main- Foreign
land there is a deep channel between the islands of Bali and ifne'tf
Lombok, which, according to the great naturalist Wallace, separation
separates the Asiatic and Australian flora and fauna. ^isTlfr1
This is the famous 'Wallace's Line*. But while Australia.
Wallace's line passes through the Strait of Macassar, the
channel separating the two continents diverges eastward
through the Molucca Passage. It is said that if the sea
bed were elevated some 100 fathoms, the islands west of
this Channel would be continuous with Asia and those
east of it with Australia. The curious term. East Indies,
is rather vaguely applied to the former group with the & Malay
exception of those islands which belong to China and Archipelago.
Japan. More indefinitely still. East Indies are often
regarded as synonymous with the Malay Archipelago.
The geological structure of these islands is very compli-
cated, and authorities are much at variance with regard
to it. Brouwer and many others believe that the main

tertiary folds running1 down Burma, Sumatra and Java _ ,

*• A • 1 * i A XT /- • Geology,

are continued in such a way as to exclude New Guinea,

which, on the contrary, stands on the edge of the hypothe-
tical Australian massif. Gregory, on the other hand, thinks
that the principal tertiary folds are continued through New
Guinea, which, therefore, cannot be regarded as part of the
Australian massif. Brouwer's is, more or less, the orthodox
view; but while he would not go beyond the Sunda Islands
as marking the eastern limit, on land, of these folds, many
others would place that limit farther east on the Tanimbar
and Kei Islands. The folds are then said to swing west in
a great curve through the Buru and Ceram Islands. The Topography
whole area however naturally falls into two distinct climatic c ima e<
zones: (Malaya) Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes,
Moluccas, Timor and even New Guinea lie in the region of

392

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Political
Divisions.

Extent,
Popula-
tion, &
Division.

Java &
Madura.

Equatorial Climate; and the term, Malay Archipelago, may
be applied to this group only. (Indo-China) and the Philip-
pine Islands, on the other hand, lie north of this group and
have certain features in common. The term. East Indies,
may be used in a wider sense to denote both the groups.

The islands are almost entirely in the hands of Euro-
pean and American Powers. The largest slice has been
carved out by the Dutch, to whom belong the greater part
of Borneo; the Great Sunda Islands of Sumatra, Java and
Celebes; the whole of the Lesser Sunda Islands except only
the north-east of Timor; the Molucca Islands; and the
western half of New Guinea. To the Portuguese belong the
north-east of Timor. The northern and north-western parts
of Borneo are in British hands. And the Philippines are
under the U. S. A.

Netherlands East Indies. — This economic and poli-
tical unit is usually divided into two parts: (a) Java
and Madura, and (b) The 'Outer Territories'. From
the commercial point of view Java, with its satellite
island Madura, is the most important island in the
whole group. The soil is very fertile and there are
abundant facilities for irrigation. The principal pro-
ducts are sugar, rubber, tobacco, coffee, tea, oil-
palms, cinchona, kapok, and pepper. But the culti-
vation of sugar-cane has recently shown a 14 per
cent decline owing to over-production in other countries
and the drop in the demand from India. There is a fair
output of petroleum from Java; and the Netherlands East
Indies, we are told, enjoy a virtual world monopoly in
cinchona, kapok, and pepper. Batavia, on the north-west
of Java, is the capital of the whole of the Netherlands East

1 On this fascinating subject the ambitious student may be referred
to H. A. Brouwer, The Geology of the Netherlands East Indies, and
J. W. Gregory, 'The Banda Arc', Geographical Journal, Vol. LXII,
1923, pp. 30-32.

THE EAST INDIES OR THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 393

Indies (inclusive of New Guinea) ; owing to the silting up
of its old harbour, a new one, called Tandjony Priok, has
been built six miles away ; it has a considerable entrepot
trade. Samarang and Sourabaya are important road-
steads enriched by artificial harbours. Chilachap or
Tjilatjap, in the middle of the south coast, is the only
natural harbour in Java.

The 'Outer Territories', comprising- the rest of the gumatra
Netherlands East Indies, tog-ether have a population
density of only 30 to the sq. mile. Sumatra is a large
island, offering abundant facilities for development.
It has a mountain backbone in the west and a progressively
widening plain in the east. Large areas of the plain are,
however, covered by marsh. Its chief products are coffee,
tobacco, tea, palm-oil and rubber. But Sumatra is richer
than Java in minerals, especially in coal and petroleum. Tin
is obtained in large quantities from the islands of Banka and
Billiton or Belitong, off the east coast. The island is being
rapidly developed ; for the population of Java seems to have
reached the saturation-point (page 365). Belawan
Deli, Palembang and Padang, are the principal ports
of Sumatra. A new harbour called Emmahaven has
been constructed five miles away from Padang for the
export of coal from the Ombilin coal-field ; the harbour and
the coal-field are connected by rail.

Bali, adjoining the eastern extremity of Java, and re- other
sembliiig that island in physical features, climate and vegeta- islands,
tion as well as in economic development is called ^Little
Java' and 'the jewel of the East/ Lombok, separated by
.a deep channel from Bali, has a different flora and fauna.
Celebes, separated from Borneo by the Strait of Macassar,
is exceptionally fertile, and has a large produce of copra,
spices, and Macassar oil (used in cosmetics) ; and it is also
Icnown to have very large deposits of iron ore. Macassar,
in the south, is the chief port of Celebes. Dutch Borneo,

394

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Extent &
Divisions.

Products.

still very little developed, is sure to make much headway in
near future as coal and oil in considerable quantities have
been discovered there. The Moluccas or Spice Islands,
separated from Celebes by the sea of Celebes and linked with
New Guinea by a feston of islands, are still famous for
spices, especially cloves and nutmegs. All these islands
still bear ample testimony to the inhuman treatment the
natives received in the hands of the early European adven-
tures, and many of the smaller islands now lie absolutely
uninhabited.

British Borneo comprises three political units :

(a) British North Borneo, governed by Governor under
the authority of the British North Borneo Chrtered
Company directed by a Court of Directors in London;

(b) Brueni, a little British Protectorate administered
by a native Sultan at the advice of a British Resident;
and (c) Sarawak, ruled by an English Rajah since 1842.
The chief commercial products are rice, gums, sago, coffee,
cocoanuts, pepper, spices, jelutong, timber, rubber, gutta-
percha, rattans, camphor, and a tanning extract called cutch.
Some coal, oil, iron and gold are also exported. The capital
of British North Borneo is Sandakan on the north-east
coast; it has a fine natural harbour. There is another
fine harbour at Kudat Bay on the north. Kuching, on
the Sarawak River about 23 miles from the sea, is the
capital and chief port of Sarawak. Miri is the head-
quarters of the Sarawak Oilfields, Ltd.

The Commonwealth of the Philippines, together
with the Sulu Archipelago and the island of Palawan, were
purchased by the U. S. A. from Spain in 1898. In 1935
they were constituted as a Commonwealth, with a promise-
of full independence to follow in ten years. The chief
commercial products are sugar, copra, tobacco, cigars,,
cbcoanut oil, and Manila hemp. Some minerals are found,,
notably gold. Manila is the capital and chief port. The

THE FAR EAST

395

bulk of the trade — roughly 70 per cent — is naturally with
the U. S. A.

THE FAR EAST

CHINA proper, excluding Manchuria and the Outer jrxtent
Territories, has a total area of 1,532,800 sq. miles, i.e., Position,
almost the same as that of India exclusive of Burma

A GENERAL MAP or CHINA

(1,542,600 sq. miles). But 'Greater China', which com-
prises Manchuria, Mongolia, Sinkiang or Chinese Turkestan,
and Tibet, has the enormous extent of 4,278,352 sq. miles.
Viewed broadly, China proper lies to the east of the central Relief,
mountainous triangle of Asia. Part of the Mongolian Plateau

396

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Climate.

Natural
vegetation.

penetrates the Chinese country in the north-west, and in the
south-east lies the Plateau of Yunnan. The remainder of
China proper consists almost entirely of the three great river
basins — those of the Hwang-ho, the Yangtze-Kiang, and the
Si-Kiang, corresponding in order roughly with North China,
Central China, and South China. The basins of the Hwang-
ho and the Yangtze-Kiang are separated by the Tsinling
Shan, and between the basins of the Yangtze-Kiang and the
Si-Kiang lie the South China plateaus. This tripartite divi-
sion of the country, we have seen, corresponds to its principal
climatic zones as well (pp. 361-62). For its latitude China
becomes intensely cold in winter, and suffers from strong
dessicatiiig dry winds rushing towards the sea from the icy
heart of Asia. In North China the rivers usually become
frozen, and in Central China large areas are not infrequently
under snow ; but in South China snow and frost are rare.
These out-blowing winds, being dry, give rise to violent dust
storms, especially in the north ; but after picking up some
moisture from the sea they bring in a little winter rain in
the Yangtze Delta. In summer, temperatures are, on the
whole, fairly high and uniform all over the country, and rain-
bearing monsoon winds distribute moisture throughout the
land ; but rainfall in North China is comparatively low —
rarely rising above 40" annually. Owing to the great pres-
sure of population the natural vegetation of China has been
almost completely wiped out, the only remaining forests —
for forests seem to be its natural vegetation — being those
of the Tsinling and. Central Mountains, the Nan Shan
or Nanling Mountains, and the plateau of Szechwan and
Yunnan. In the south the typical vegetation is tropical
monsoon forest of hardwoods ; elsewhere it is of mixed coni-
fers and deciduous and evergreen hardwoods ; towards the
plateau of Mongolia the natural vegetation is grassland.
The Chinese are now 'cultivating* forests in a few places,
especially in Fukien and Chekiang; but forestry is there
naturally in its earliest infancy now. The enormous popula-

THE FAR EAST 397

tion of the country has many a time been referred to ; and
China being far more mountainous than India, the pressure
of population in several areas is said to be as great as 3,000 Pressure on
to the square mile, to say nothing of as many as 1,000 Agriculture,
domestic animals that often depend on the same area for
sustenance as an additional burden. The seriousness of the
situation is better apprehended when we remember that,
unlike the industrial population of Europe that of China
cannot look to imported foodstuffs. Yet that is not the
end of the tale ; for, even taking the entire Chinese terri-
tory, with the exception of Tibet, into consideration we find
that half of it is too arid or too cold for cultivation, one-fifth
too mountainous, and more than 1 /67th part completely
barren. Thus only about 29 per cent of the whole is suit-
able for crops, and yet of this remainder only about a quarter
is actually under tillage.1 Knowing, as everybody does, that
the mute millions of China are regularly half-starved, no one
can pass these facts by without asking the question why
should China leave three-quarters of her arable land lying
waste. The common answer is: China lacks the essential
instruments of production — machinery and tools as well as
power. But this is only the reverse of the coin. Why does
she lack machinery and tools and all the parapharnalia of
modern agriculture? The answer is to be sought for in her
'treaty ports' — in the fact of her being bled white by the
exploiting foreign Powers. About 95 per cent of the people
in China to-day are engaged in agriculture in some way or
other. The influence of climate on agriculture is obvious.

Areas under Principal Crops in China2

(Percentage of total cultivated land)

Millets & Sorghums . . 20 Rice . . . . . .28

Cotton .. ..2 Wheat .. ..21

Others crops . . . . 29

1 La Fleur & Foscue, Economic Geography, Vol. III., p. 297 et

2 Stamp.

398 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

In Southern China rice is the principal food crop ; in Central
China both rice and wheat share the leading position, and in
North China wheat is dominant. Millets are grown in the
drier regions, especially in the north-east; but soya-beans
are steadily invading the areas under millets. The bulk of
the cotton is grown in the central and northern parts; but
Chinese cotton is of poor quality. Sugar is grown in the
south, and maize, peas and beans in the north. Tea is grown
on the southern and western hills. Besides a large variety
of vegetables, another important plant largely cultivated is
the mulberry tree for feeding the silk worms. Stock-raising
is also widely practised. There are numerous pigs in
China, and fat pork is said to constitute a favourite food-
stuff. Sheep are also reared, primarily for wool ; but Chinese
aiS~ W00^ *s sa^ to ^e °f inferior quality. Cattle are used in
ploughing as in India and also as draught animals, besides
horses and mules. Poultry are important ; for eggs form one
of the chief items of export (p. 152). China is the largest
producer of silk, but in the export business her share is
relatively very small (p. 165). The country is distinctly
backward, much like India, in manufacture, and that may

Manufacture be a reason for the overwhelming pressure of population on
land. The dying and dead village industries of both China
and India are a strong evidence of the exploitation of these
countries by the great industrial nations of the West. As
in India, hand looms are still to be found in most of the rural
areas of China. In some of the cities such as Canton and
Shanghai, cotton, wool and silk mills have been established.
A large number of the Shanghai mills are owned by the
Japanese. Flour mills are also increasing. And there are
the large ironworks at Han-yang, near Hankow. China, we

M. . have already noted, is rich in various minerals (pp. 357-58),
especially in coal, much of which is of excellent quality.
In North China there are a number of small coalfields in the
neighbourhood of Peiping, and a fairly big one to the north-
east of Tientsin. In the west of the mountains of Shantung

THE FAR EAST 399

are large deposits of both bituminous and anthracite coal;
but these have now passed into Japanese hands. Towards
the interior of the country there are enormous coal measures
— both anthracite and bituminous — in the southern portions
of the province of Shansi, the anthracite alone covering an
area of some 13,500 sq. miles, and it is believed that this
field alone contains 80 per cent of the total coal reserves
of China. There are smaller fields in south-eastern Hunan,
eastern Szechwan and northern Yunnan. Iron is found
in several places, particularly in Hupeh, Shansi, and
Szechwan. The ores of Shansi are said to be of very
good quality. But the largest deposits of iron are in
Manchuria, which is now in Japanese hands. There are
large deposits of copper in Yunnan. Silver and tin are
also found in Yunnan. Hunan is noted for antimony,
of which China was for some time the leading producer.
Large quantities of wolfram are also obtained from
China. Much of China's mineral resources still lie
untouched or little exploited, and the reason ordinarily
adduced for it is the want of adequate means of communica-
tion, on which subject much has already been said (pp. 257,
264, 266-67, 299—301, etc.). The Great Plain of China,
which has much in common with the Great Plain of Hindoo-
stan, affords, however, excellent facilities for communication.
An admirable canal, 700 miles long, constructed in the
seventh century A.D., starts from Hangchow, and, after
crossing both the Yangtze-Kiang and the Hwang-ho, termi-
nates at Tientsin, thus establishing communication nearly
throughout the whole of the Plain. The numerous rivers,
large and small, such as the Yangtze-Kiang, even the
Hwang-ho, the Pei-ho, the Meiling Pass and their number-
less feeders, serve, more or less, as supplementary water-
ways over the Great Plain. But communication is difficult
between the east and the west of China. Of the three great
rivers — the Hwang-ho, Yangtze-Kiang and Si-Kiang — only
the Yangtze-Kiang may be described as an admirable water-

400 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

course, being navigable for more than 1,000 miles from its
mouth by ordinary steamers and for 680 miles up, i.e., as
far inland as Hankow, by ocean-going vessels. Between
Ichang and Chungking commodities are exchanged by means
of small craft. Railway lines now link Hangchow and
Shanghai with Tientsin and Peiping, Hankow with Tientsin
and Peiping, and Peiping with Moukden, Vladivostok and
Harbin. Another line starts from Peiping and terminates at
Paotao in Inner Mongolia via Kalgan. Hongkong is now
connected by rail with Hankow via Canton, and this, as
noted elsewhere, has now made it possible to travel by rail
from 'Calais to Canton' as the phrase is commonly vised.
Kegular air services now link up several cities of China. The
foreign trade of China, like that of India, is nearly all sea-
borne, and it passes through the so-called 'treaty-ports'*
Foreign ^ * treaty-port' is a place where foreign merchants have
trade & acquired land and property (mostly by force), and the
Treaty Government of China have been compelled to surrender their

own rights, and agree (by means of highly unequal treaties)
to respect the rights thus acquired by the foreigners and allow
them to transact business as they choose. At the present
time more than forty ports are thus open to foreign vessels.
Not all of them are seaports ; for most of the important river
ports are also at the disposal of foreigners now. The most ,
important of these seaports are Shanghai, Hangchow,
Ningpo, Wenchow, Foochow, Amoy, Swatow, and
Canton; these are all located on the east coast between
the Yangtze-Kiang and the Si-Kiang. Shanghai is by
far the most important seaport of China. The chief
Yangtze ports are Chinkiang, Nanking, Kiukiang, Han-
kow, Ichang, and Chungking; Nanking was the capital
of the Chinese Republic (since 1928) till its fall in the
present Sino-Jap War; Chungking has been serving as
the capital since. Peiping was the old capital of the
Chinese Empire; its port is Taku, a treaty-port.
Tientsin, on the Pei-ho, is the inland port of Peiping;

THE FAR EAST 401

it, too, is a treaty-port. The bulk of the foreign trade,
however, passes through the three ports — Shanghai,
Canton, and Tientsin. It is an open secret now that
China, with her vast potential resources and 400 million
people, offers immeasur cable possibilities as a market for
the capitalist industrial countries such as Japan, Great
Britain, the United States, etc. And to this may largely be
attributed the present political unrest in China. " It was to
the advantage of the nations of Western Europe and of
North America to realise/5 writes Stamp, "that China must
be encouraged to standardise her own affairs and to appre-
ciate the higher standard of living which will encourage her
demands. But Japan saw this first and her military dictators
took matters in their own hands." To the fundamentally
harmonious, but in parctice, mutually exclusive policies of the
great capitalist powers playing their game in China we must
add the rival policy of the socialist U. S. S. R., which is now
helping nationalist China in her life-and-death struggle with
Japan. But one thing is obvious : unless the unequal treaties
forced upon China be liquidated and her home affairs satis-
factorily settled, there is no prospect of her figuring promi-
nently in world trade.

HONG KONG (pp. 299-300) has been in British hands
since 1841, and is in control of a large part of the trade
passing through the south of China. With the improve-
ment of conditions in China its importance is likely to
wane. Victoria is the chief town.

Macao, at the mouth of the Canton River, is a
-decaying town under Portugal.

MANCHURIA is now informally included in the
Japanese Empire under the title of Manchukuo.

MONGOLIA is a plateau, west of Manchuria, com-
prising- a total area of 1,367,953 sq. miles, and surrounds
the deserts of Gobi. It is inhabited by nomadic Mongols.

402 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

A considerable part of it, called 'Outer Mongolia* has
been under the suzerainty of Russia since 1924, and a
part of 'Inner Mongolia* has passed under Japan and
now forms part of the state of Manchukuo. Maima-
chin, on the Russian frontier, is the chief town.

SIN-KIANG, known also as Chinese or Eastern
Turkestan, has an area of 550,579 sq. miles, and occupies
the Tarim Basin. It is also a plateau with a desert in
the interior ; but intensive cultivation is practised in the
oases. Kashgar and Yarkand are the leading towns;
caravan trade across the Pamirs as well as with China
is carried on.

TIBET, an agglomeration of lofty tablelands, has a
total area of 463,320 sq. miles. Lhassa is the capital,,
and Shigatse and Gyangtse are the outposts for trade
with India.

THE JAPANESE EMPIRE

JAPAN proper, or NIPPON as it is called, consists
Population, niainly of the four islands — Honshu (or Mainland), Kyushu,
Shikoku, and Hokkaido, with a total area of 149,000 sq.
miles and a population (in 1930) of 64,500,000. By the
term, Old Japan, is however meant the first three islands
'mentioned above. The total extent of her overseas posses-
sions is only 112,000 sq. miles, and they consist of the
southern half of the Sakhalin Island, called Karafuto, the
Peninsula of Korea or Chosen, the island of Formosa or
Taiwan, besides the leased territory around the port of
Dairen and a large number of mandated islands in the
Pacific. The State of Manchuko is, however, not formally
incorporated in the Japanese Empire. The total population

THE JAPANESE EMPIRE

403

of the Empire was 90,400,000 in 1930, and it is now expected
to be well over 100 millions. The position of Japan is, in many
respects, analogous to that of Great Britain ; for while Britain
lies to the west of Europe (or Eurasia) and thus commands

, A GENERAL MAP OF JAPAN

the entrance to the Atlantic Ocean, Japan— often called the
'Britain of the East' — lies to the east of Asia (or Eurasia)
and guards the entrance to the Pacific. But she is nearer
the Equator than the British Isles. The surface of Japan Relief,
is extremely. mountainous, and the arrangement of the nioun-

404 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

tains seems to be very irregular; but the main mountain-
chains, forming two parallel arcs, run along the entire length
of the country — the one along the east coast, the other along
the west coast. The mountains are, no doubt, interspersed
with lowlands and valleys, none of any considerable extent,
and even these lowlands are often traversed by mountains
of volcanic origin. Only 20 per cent of the entire area is
n. available for cultivation and settlement. In climate, too,

there is at least a superficial analogy between Japan and the
British Isles; for while the British Isles have a 'west-coast'
climate and enjoy the warming influence of the North
Atlantic Drift, Japan has an 'east-coast* climate, and is
under the warming influence of the Kuru Si wo. But while
rainfall in the British Isles is determined by the pleasant
westerly winds, that of Japan is mainly determined by the
summer monsoon, and in winter she is at the tender mercies
of the cold dessicating winds from the heart of Asia.
These winter winds, after crossing the sea, bring heavy
precipitation in the form of snow to the western
coasts and mountains of Japan. The eastern parts
are usually dry in the cold season. Rainfall in summer
is rather heavy in the south and east, but light in the
west. Summer temperatures are rather high through-
out the country, and more so in the south ; but in winter it
is often bitterly cold. Just as the warm Kuru Siwo on
reaching Japan from the south divides into two currents,
so also a cold current coming from the opposite direction
divides into two on reaching the northern shores. The
western branch of the Kuru Siwo flows close to the shore
and thus mitigates the severity of the winter winds, but the
eastern branch flows at a distance from the shore. The
eastern branch of the cold current, however, flows between
the shore and the eastern branch of the Kuru Siwo and thus
keeps that shore relatively cold. The natural vegetation of
Japan is forest; conifers and cold temperate forests predo-
minate in the north, temperate forests in central Japan, and

THE JAPANESE EMPIRE 405

sub-tropical forests in the south. Rice is by far the most Natural
important food crop, and occupies even more than half (or, ve^etatlon-
actually 40 per cent?) the total area under tillage. Other Agriculture,
important grains are rye, wheat, and barley. The soya-
bean has also been introduced in recent years. Tea is
certainly important, but nearly all of it is green tea (p. 139),
and there has been for the last few years a steady decrease in
acreage under it. The production of silk is very important
(p. 165). Japan, owing chiefly to her lack of pasturage, is
not an important stock-raising country; but her fisheries are
extremely important (p. 156). Japan is rather poor in mine- Minerals,
rals. Unlike those of Britain, her resources in coal and iron
are small, and hence she lacks the essential basis of modern
industry. Her present average output of coal is about 30
million tons a year. But the coal-seams are often highly
disturbed, owing, no doubt, to frequent seismic disturbances.1
The principal coalfields are in Kyushu and Hokkaido,
containing, as they are believed to do, about 66 and 17 per
cent respectively of the total coal reserves of the country.
There is a small coalfield in Honshu. But despite a small
and decreasing export mainly of bunker coal, she lias got to
inlport a considerable amount every year. The mountainous
nature of the country has encouraged the Japanese to make
use of hydro-electric power largely as a substitute for coal.
The principal oilfields are on the north-west coast ; but the
total output is only about 30 per cent of her actual require-
ments, and large quantities of oil are, therefore, imported —
chiefly from California, the Netherlands East Indies and
Mexico. The only iron mine of any importance is Kamaishi,
and Japan depends mainly upon China for the raw materials
of her steel industry. Some gold and silver are also found,
but the output of both is insufficient for her own require-
ments. Gold and silver mostly occur together, and Sagano-
seki is the chief centre. It is only in copper that she holds

1 Japan, we are told, experiences no less than 1,500 shocks a year
on the average.

406 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

an important — actually the fifth — place (p. 180). The ores
are widely distributed, and the principal mines are Ashio,
Besshi, Kosaki, Hitachi, and Saganoseki. Other important
minerals include lead, tin, sulphur, etc., and there are large
Manufacture deposits of kaolin. The industrial revolution in Japan
had begun in 1868 or thereabouts, but it was not till the
Sino-Jap War of 1894-95 was over that Japan began to take
rapid strides in modern manufacture. In the meantime the
old feudal system of government had given place to a con-
stitutional limited monarchy (1889), and in 1899 the whole
country was thrown open to foreign merchants. Subse-
quently, however, the special privileges enjoyed by the
foreigners were withdrawn, and all resident foreigners made
subject to Japanese law-courts.1 Modern Japan may thus
be said to be a creation of the last six decades or so. The
most amazing developments have been made in the cotton-
spinning industry: the number of cotton-spindles increased
from 325,000 in 1892 to nearly 1,000,000 in 1897, and from
2-4 millions in 1914 to 7-0 millions in 1930; and although
during the trade depression there was a marked decline in
nearly all countries, the number of spindles in Japan swelled
to over 9-0 millions in 1933.2 Besides, there are abouf a
million spindles owned by the Japanese in Shanghai, a
quarter of a million in Tsingtao, and over 50,000 in Man-
churia. Silk-spinning and silk-weaving, as well as the pro-
duction of rayon or artificial silk is also very important.
Paper-mills and match factories are also nearly as important.
In chemical industries, too, Japan is making rapid headway ;
there are large manufacturing concerns for the production

1lt was in 1858 that a number of ports ('treaty ports') were
first thrown open to foreigners.

2 Chisholm. In the year ending January 1931 Japan consumed
2,694,000 bales of cotton as against 5,225,000 bales consumed by the
U.S.A.; 2,495,000 by India; 2,384,000 by China; 2,109,000 by the
U.S.S.R. ; 2,026,000 by Great Britain; 1,203,000 by Germany; 1,177,000
by France ; 861,000 by Italy ; 356,000 by Brazil ; 196,000 by Canada ;
and 163,000 by Mexico.

THE JAPANESE EMPIRE 407

of soda-ash and caustic soda; and the manufacture of
pottery, porcelain and glassware are also important. And
<even in large scale manufacture of toys Japan has made much
headway. It was in 1874 that the first native steamship
company in Japan came into existence, and ship-building,
ship-repairing and allied industries have made enormous
progress since. At the present time Japan owns over
5,000,000 tons of merchant navy. In 1893 the first loco-
motive was built in Japan; and Japan is now self-sufficient
in the manufacture of dynamos and other electrical machi-
nery. The development of water-power is also notable: in
1905 it was 12,215 horse-power; in 1911 it rose to be equi-
valent to 103,532 h.p., and in 1924 to 1,750,000 h.p.; this
has greatly been increased since; and at the present time
Japan probably ranks fourth in this respect (p. 225). The
extra-ordinary success of the Japanese in trade and industry
has been largely attributed to cheap labour; other factors
favouring this state of affairs include the proximity of coal
(in a modified degree, no doubt), the comparative ease with
which raw materials can be obtained from China, India
and even the U. S. A., and the vast markets of these
three countries. The last Great War enabled Japan to
capture many of the markets in the East, including that of
India ; and although she was ousted subsequently from some
of these, she was virtually the only country with an expand-
ing foreign trade even during the depression of 1931-34.
At the present time the great problem of Japan is that arising
out of the pressure of population. The population seems to Pressure Q<
have reached the saturation-point ;* and this, coupled with population,
the extra-ordinary industrial development of the country,
is making Japan more and more dependent on foreign
supplies of foodstuffs and raw material. One of the possible
solutions is the securing of the economic control of neigh-
bouring areas, and Japan has long been trying to achieve
*It has been reported in the papers (June 1941) that the Govt
of Japan is encouraging a further increase of population.

408

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Towns.

that objective. The bulk of the foreign trade of Japan passes
through the three leading ports, Yokohama, Kobe, and
Osaka.

Tokyo is the capital of Japan ; its chief port is Yoko-
hama, and Yokosuka, twelve miles south of Yokohama, is
the government dockyard. Osaka is the 'Manchester of
Japan' — its chief seat of the cotton-spinning industry;
Kobe, the great silk centre of Japan, may be regarded
as the chief port of Osaka as well. Nagoya is the chief
centre of porcelain and allied industries. Kyoto is the
old capital. Nagasaki, on the south-east coast of
Kyushu, is the bunkering port. Hakodate is the port of
shipment for coal from Hokkaido. Otaru is the chief
port of Hokkaido. Kushiro is the lumber of port of
Hokkaido. Hiroshima Moji, and Shimonoseki are also
notable ports.1

The Exports of Japan1

Percentage of Total Value

Commodities.

1909-13

1921-25

1931-35

Raw materials &c

Silk

Coal . .

Rayon

—

Canned goods

—

Manufactures

Cotton goods

Silk goods

Copper

—

Pottery

—

Machinery

— .

—

Various

1 After having made her position quite secure in Manchuria,
Japan invaded China in 1937, and has so far succeeded — may
be temporarily — in establishing herself over the greater part of
that sub-continent.

1 Stamp.

THE JAPANESE EMPIRE

The Imports of Japan1

409

Percentage of Total Value

Commodities.

1909-13

1921-25

1931-35

Foodstuffs

Rice

Sugar

Wheat & flour

Beans . .

Other foods

Raw materials

5.?

Cotton

Oil cake

Wool . .

Wood ..

Coal . .

Pulp . .

Manufactures

i%?

Cotton goods

Iron goods
Machinery

3
4

6
6

Wollens

Oil & Petrol

Paper . .

Chemicals

5 ' -

Various

^ j ^9

The Direction of the Foreign Trade of Japan

Exports

Countries.

Imports.

(per cent)

U. S. A.

China

India

Dutch E. Indies

Gr. Britain

Egypt

Australia

—

Germany

—

Br. Isles

— ,

Canada

Others

1 Stamp.

410

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Climate &
Products.

Ports.

Foreign
Trade.

HOKKAIDO lies north of 'Old Japan', and is in-
habited mainly by the aboriginal Ainu. The climate is severe
in winter, the island being more exposed to the bitter winds
from the heart of Asia. In summer, however, it is warm
enough for rice; but peas and beans are the principal crops;
some oats, barley, maize, buckwheat, millet, and potatoes are
grown. About 25 per cent of the land is said to be suitable
for cultivation. Mining and fishing are important; the
mining is done mainly by the Japanese. The island, how-
ever, does not offer suitable facilities for Japanese emigra-
tion. Forests are also important, and stock-raising is, rela-
tively speaking, more extensive than in old Japan.

KARAFUTO, farther north, is the southern half of
the island of Sakhalin. The northern half is under Russia.
The climate is even worse than that of Hokkaido, and there
can be no question of Japanese emigration there. Only about
0-7 p.c. of the land is suitable for cultivation. Fishing and
forestry are important; and there is some coal; but the oil-
resources of the island are within the Russian boundary.

KOREA, or Chosen, as the Japanese call it, is a
mountainous peninsula to the west of Old Japan. It was
formerly a dependency of China. The climate is, broadly
speaking, like that of North China, and there are wide
stretches of arable land. The principal products are rice,
beans, wheat, barley and oats. The production of cotton has
also increased, and flax has also been introduced. Gold and
coal are also mined. Seoul is the capital, and Fusan the
principal port. Other ports are Wiju, Chemulpho, Ping-yaiig,
and Wousan. Korea is very important to Japan as it supplies
her with a considerable amount of foodstuffs. The principal
exports are rice (47 p.c.), beans (9 p.c.), fish (5 p.c.), raw
cotton (3 p.c.), vion (2-5 p.c.), and timber (2 '5 p.c.) ; about
92 per cent of the total export trade is with Japan, 7 p.c.
with China, and only 1 p.c. with other countries. The prin-
cipal imports are cotton manufactures (13 p.c.), machinery

THE JAPANESE EMPIRE 411

(2 p.c.), grass cloth (2 p.c.), paper (2 p.c.), timber (4 p.c.),
coal (3 p.c.), kerosene oil (2 p.c.), and sugar (1-5 p.c.);
about 66 per cent of the total imports come from Japan,
25 p.c. from China, 4 p.c. from the U.S.A., 2-5 p.c. from
Great Britain, and the rest from other countries. Korea
does not, however, offer good prospects for Japanese settle-
ment, because her own population at present is over 21
missions.

FORMOSA, or Taiwan, lies to the south-west of
Japan. The Tropic of Cancer cuts the island into two halves,
and the climate, in some respects, resembles that of Central
China, and in other respects that of South China. It, too,
was formerly a Chinese province, and the inhabitants are
still mainly Chinese. But ttyere are a number of primitive
races in the east, which is a mountainous tract of land. Some
Japanese have, however, settled in the island. It, too, is"
very important to Japan: the island is rich in minerals such
as coal, gold, copper, petroleum, sulphur, phosphorus etc.,
and the mining is naturally in Japanese hands ; there is also
a large surplus of rice for export to Japan; camphor trees
abound, and it is from here that Japan obtains the bulk of
her output of camphor and camphor oil; such tropical
crops as the sugar-cane, which it is nearly impossible
to grow in Japan, can be grown here; jute and China
grass have also been introduced ; and Formosa tea is famous
for its delicate flavour. Keelung and Takao are the chief
ports, now provided with good artificial harbours. The
chief exports are cereals (20 p.c.) and other foodstuffs (43
p.c.), chemicals and drugs (6 p.c.), minerals (5 p.c.), and
yarn (2 p.c.) ; about 83 per cent of the export business is
with Japan, 8 p.c. with China, 3 p.c. with the U. S. A., 2 p.c.
with Hong Kong, and 1-5 p.c. with the Netherlands East
Indies. The chief imports are oil-cake, wood, petroleum,
opium, and manufactured goods; nearly 68 p.c. of the total
imports are from Japan, 16 p.c. from China, 3 p.c. from the

412

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Extent.

Relief.

Climate.

Products
& Re-
sources.

Foreign
Trade.

Immigra-
tion.

Towns.

Netherlands East Indies, and about 2-5 p.c. from Great
Britain.

The South Sea Islands of Japan. — Japan, we have
seen, governs a large number of islands in the Pacific,
which were formerly under Germany, in exercise of her
mandatory powers. The chief products obtained from these
islands are copra and sugar-cane, and some phosphate.

MANCHUKUO, ordinarily regarded as coincident
with Manchuria, now includes a part of Inner Mongolia, and
is governed by an Emperor nominated by the Government
of Japan. It is formally independent, but actually a vassal
state. Manchuria proper has an area of 363,700 sq. miles,
and consists of a large central plain bordered by mountains
on the east and west. The climate is akin to the Lauren-
tion type (pp. 67-68), and the country's chief resources are
timber, coal and iron. The principal agricultural products
are soya beans, Kaoliang (sorghum), millet, maize, wheat,
and rice. The chief items of export are bean cakes (25 p.c.),
beans (16 p.c.), bean oil (11 p.c.), wheat (13 p.c.), other
cereals (9 p.c.), coal (4 p.c.), silk yarn (3-5 p.c.), Kao-
liang (3-5 p.c.), and lumber (2-5 p.c.). About 41 p.c,
of the export trade is with Japan, 6 p.c. with the British
Empire, 4 p.c. with Holland, and 3 p.c. with the U. S. A.
Even long before Japan turned her hungry eyes towards
Manchuria, Chinese emigrants had begun to settle there,
with the result that the bulk of the 30 million inhabitants
of the country now are Chinese. The Japanese do not take
kindly to the winter severity of the climate, nor have they
migrated to Manchuria in very large numbers. At the
present time the Chinese are the hewers of wood and drawers
of water, and the Japanese are the masters; for while the
former cultivate the land, the latter run the commerce of the
country. Moukden is the chief inland .trade centre.
Fushun, near Moukden, is a colliery town. Harbin is
another inland trade centre. Dairen is the chief port,
and Hsinking the capital.

THE JAPANESE EMPIRE 413

ASIATIC RUSSIA, extending, as it does, from the
Arctic Ocean to the borders of China, Afghanistan, Iran,
and Turkey, is only a part of the still larger economic
and political unit known as the Union of the Socialist
Soviet Republics.

STUDIES AND QUESTIONS

1. Describe briefly the development in the transport system of
the Middle East (C. U., B. Com. '34).

2. It is said that export markets for India's manufactures can be
developed in Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan. Discuss the
possibilities of such development (C.U., B. Com. '37, '39).

3. Estimate and locate the mineral wealth of China (C.U.,
B. Com. '33).

4. Estimate and locate the mineral wealth of Japan (C.U.,
B. Com. '32).

5. Give an account of the output of cotton and the cotton
manufacturing industry of China and Japan.

6. Give an account of (a) the natural resources and (b) the
climatic conditions of Japan, and show how they have affected their
development. (C.U., Inter. '33).

7. What are the principal industries of Japan? Where are they
situated? State the sources of supply of the raw materials of those
industries (C.U., Inter. '36).

8. Show by reference to climate, natural vegetation, and mineral
resources, why Manchuria has such important economic possibilities
for countries like Russia, Japan and China (C.U., Int. '34).

9. Write an essay on the geographical factors affecting the
relationships of China, Japan, and Manchukuo. How far do they
explain the relative strength of China and Japan?

10. What are the main economic resources of China? Why are
the U.S.A. and Japan interested in their development?

EUROPE

Area.

Location.

Coastline.

Scandi-
navian.
Highlands,
Iceland,
N. Ireland.

Sweden to
Black Sea,
France to
Urals.

Fold

Mountain

chains.

The Cradle of Western Civilization

Position and Size. — The continent of Europe is
actually a peninsula of the greater land mass of Asia — a
mere appendage. With the exception of Australia, it is the
smallest of the continents, the area being 3,760,000 sq. miles.
It has a westerly situation, and nearly the whole of it
(except a small fragment in the north) lies within the Tem-
perate Zone. The coast-line is relatively the longest —
nearly 20,000 miles, i.e., there is one mile of coast to every
190 miles of surface. No part of Europe is thus even 1,000
miles from the sea.

Physical Features. — Although quite small in area
for a continent, Europe has a fairly varied topography. At
least three broad divisions may be distinguished:

1. The Mountain Regions of the North, compris-
ing the Scandinavian Mountains, the island of Iceland, the
Highlands of Scotland, and the mountains of Northern
Ireland.

2. The Great European Plain, stretching from the
lowlands of Sweden to the borders of the Black Sea, and
from Western France to the Urals. Besides the Great
European Plain, two of the most important plains are the
Plain of Hungary and the Valley of the Po.

3. The Alpine Region of Southern Europe, actually
a complex of plateaus and enclosing fold mountain chains.
The central mountain knot here is formed by the Alps,
from which a number of chains are given off in all direc-
tions to form the Apennines of Italy ; the Sierra Nevada,
the Pyrenees, and the Cantabrian Mountains of Spain;
the Dinaric Mountains, the Carpathains, the Transyl-

EUROPE

415

vanian Alps and the Balkan Mountains of the Balkan
Peninsula; and the Jura Mountains on the north-west
of the main mountain knot of the Alps. The Apennines
after entering the island of Sicily are continued as the
Atlas chains of North Africa. Between the Cantabrian
and Pyrenees on the north and the Sierra Nevada 011 the
south lies the plateau of Spain and Portugal, called the Plateaus.
Meseta. North of the Pyrenees lies the Central Plateau
of France. The Bohemian Plateau lies enclosed by a
mountain chain north of the Alps-Carpathian chain.
And then there are the small plateaus of the islands of
Corsica and Sardinia.

Geology and Minerals. — The geology of Europe is
not so complicated as that of Asia, and what is more ini- eo Offy*
portant still is the fact that it has been studied much

Donetz

THE COALFIELDS OF EUROPE

more thoroughly than that of any other continent as many
of the geological terms — Caledonian, Cambrian and Alpine
earth movements, for example, — clearly indicate. Broadly
speaking, the mountain masses of Northern Europe consist

416

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Mineral
Resources.

'General
facts.

Conditions
in winter.

Conditions
in summer.

Rainfall.

of ancient crystalline rocks resistant to later Alpine folding.
And some of the southern plateaus are aso of the same com-
position. The Alpine chains are, of course, of tertiary fold
sediments. The mineral resources of Europe have already
been described incidentally in previous chapters (Ch. VI —
VII), and they will be more systematically dealt with under
different countries.

Climate. — Climatically Europe is exceptionally for-
tunate in her westerly situation ; for the entire continent
lies in the Westerly Wind Belt in winter, and even in
summer a compartively large portion of it is under the
influence of the Westerlies. Moreover, the warm North
Atlantic Drift flows along the western coasts of the
continent, keeping the whole seaboard warm and free
from ice in winter. But, of course, it is then colder and
colder on the mainland, though in a modified degree in
comparison with the conditions prevailing in Central Asia.
With the advent of summer, however, this state of affairs
is modified: with the gradual swing of the wind systems
towards the north as the sun progresses towards the Tropic
of Cancer, Southern Europe falls outside the Westerly Wind
Belt, and forms part of the high-pressure belt from which
the North-East Trade Winds begin to blow westward.
Thus the Mediterranean Region of Europe is dry in summer.
But the whole of the continent being under the influence of
the Westerlies, the Mediterranean Region receives its share
of rainfall in winter ; and the rest of the continent have rain-
fall all the year round, although each place has its own
seasonal maximum. The broad climatic zones into which
Europe can be divided as well as its natural vegetation have
been indicated elsewhere (p. 61 ff.).

NORTH-WESTERN EUROPE.

THE BRITISH ISLES consist of two large islands,
Great Britain and Ireland, together with innumerable

NORTH-WESTERN EUROPE 417

smaller islands of varying1 size off the north-west coast Political
of Europe. Great Britain comprises England, Wales, Dlvlslons-
and Scotland which together form a single kingdom, while
Ireland is divided into the two political units of Northern
Ireland and the Irish Free State or Eire. The term,
United Kingdom, now means the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The total area of the
British Isles is about 121,000 sq. miles — roughly the same size
as that of the Bombay Presidency. But England, the largest
country in the British Isles, is smaller than Assam. The
most noteworthy feature about the geographical location of Position,
the British Isles is perhaps their central position in the Land
Hemisphere of the globe. Moreover, there is an extensive
continental shelf around, and the coast-line is long and
deeply indented so that even the remotest corner in the $}ieif &
British Isles is not even 100 miles from the sea. We can coastline,
divide the different political units into a number of well-
defined physico-structural units. Scotland is divisible into
three parts : (a) The Highlands, covering roughly the structure,
northern half of that country; (b) The Midland Valley,
bordering the Highlands on the south ; and (b) The Southern
Uplands, west of the Midland Valley. The Highlands are
mainly of old crystalline rocks, and in some places of inter-
penetrating granite formation, yielding building stone. There
are stone quarries at Peterhead and Aberdeen. The soil is
poor and the region covered with moorland, except for the
small eastern valleys and coastal areas. The Southern Up-
lands, on the contrary, consist of a broad but low fold range,
furnishing a poor soil, but is suitable for sheep. The Midland
Valley is actually a rift valley formed by a sedimentary block,
bordered on both sides by rocks of ancient sandstone, and
containing three extensive coal basins — the Ayrshire Basin
in the west, the Midlothian and Fifeshire Basin in the east,
and the Lanarkshire or Clyde Basin in the middle. Run-
ning down the middle of north England is (a) a mountain
backbone called the Pennines, north-west of which is

418

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Climate.

Rainfall.

(b) Cumbria or The Lake District, formed by ancient rocks
in the centre and overlaid on all sides by younger rocks.
Then there is the great (c) Midland Plain covering the
greater part of the country, and (d) The South-Western
Peninsula of Devon and Cornwall, consisting of masses of
granite intruded into ancient rocks, a region fairly rich in
various metalliferous minerals. The whole of Wales is
mountainous ; in the north are the (a) Cambrian Mountains,
formed by ancient crystalline rocks. But (b) South Wales
consists largely of younger folded rocks, with the South
Wales Coal-field. The greater central part of Ireland is a
hollow plain, nearly encircled by mountains. For its lati-
tude the British Isles have pleasant and equable climate. This
is attributed to the warm and moist Westerlies (S. W. Anti-
Trades ) and the warm North Atlantic Drift. But the
weather is capricious, because the Westerlies are not steady
like the Trade Winds or Monsoons. Rainfall is fairly dis-
tributed all over the country, but owing to the mountainous
nature of the west it is heaviest in that section ; and although
there is rain all the year round, the maximum precipitation
occurs in autumn. The natural vegetation of the British
Vegetation. Isles is deciduous forest, and the shedding period of the
broad-leaved trees is in winter. Some conifers are found
in the north and on the hills. But as in China, although
largely for a different reason (for Britain is essentially an
industrial country), the natural vegetation of the country has
been nearly wiped out. The relative importance of agricul-
ture in Great Britain is best understood by comparing the
total value of agricultural produce with that of other items
of primary production as well as of manufactures. As the
statistics for 1935-37 (post-Depression years) show, the
total value of agricultural produce sold (exclusive of con-
sumption in farmers* households) was a little less than
1/1 5th that of manufactures; while the total value of the
mineral output was nearly l/19th, and that accruing from
the fisheries was less than l/216th that of manufactures.

Agriculture.

NORTH-WESTERN EUROPE

419

The distribution of the two principal food crops in the
British Isles may be noted in the accompanying diagrams.
To understand this distribution thoroughly we must remem-
ber that moorland occupies large tracts of Great Britain
in the mountainous north and west, and even in the Mid-
lands more than half the total area is under permanent grass

THE WHEAT-LANDS OF
BRITISH ISLES.

THE OAT-LANDS OF
BRITISH ISLES.

Tor the sheep. Moreover, Scotland is too cold and Ireland
too damp for wheat, which is the chief food crop. The
largest concentration of wheat is, therefore, in the drier
•south-east. Oats are also grown mainly in the drier east,
but their range is greater as they can ripen in a colder
•climate. Intensive agriculture is practised, and mixed
farming and crop rotation are the general rule. Other im-
portant crops are barley, various root crops, sugar beet, peas,
beans, fodder crops, hay and fruits. The distribution of
barley is similar to that of wheat ; sugar beet is distributed
mainly in the east of England, and some flax is also grown
in Ireland. Only 8 per cent of the population in Great
Britain are farmers. Britain is one of the leading wool-
producing countries (p. 163), and her wool has always been
noted for its quality. There are over 20 million sheep of

Animals.

420

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Minerals.

various breeds in the country. The number of cattle is half
that of sheep, but they are more important than the latter
in Ireland because of the clamper climate there. The number
of pigs in Britain is above 3l/2 million, and about 1J^ million
in Ireland. Owing to transport facilities draught animals
are, however, becoming rare ; the number of horses on the
farms, for example, is now about a 1 million only. The
fisheries, however, are very important (pp. 155-56). The
mineral position of Great Britain is peculiar : about 90 per
cent of the total output of minerals consists of coal only.

FiPeshirejf

, ^*Ed&u,,

/,0^[ LanarksHi, ^
/V^r^ /Ayrshire iNorthumberl
\ WT^S* <£ J^Durham

. , A w v,-=e

Lancashire^ jz^Yorksh

_ X ^^H -w^^^A *.

•^Leicestershire
Warwickshire

Forest of D<

/Bristol

THE COALFIELDS OF GREAT BRITAIN

NORTH-WESTERN EUROPE 421

The coal basins are quite characteristically situated on either
side of the Pennines in the following way1 :

Cumberland w Northumberland and Durham

Lancashire 5 5 Yorkshire

North Staffs. 53 E Nottinghamshire

South Staffs. PL, Leicestershire

There is another important coalfield in South Wales.
But Ireland is extremely poor in her coal resources. Since
the last Great War, however, there has set in a slump in the
British coal trade (pp. 210-12). But this is not due to any
exhaustion of her coal reserves, for her reserves are still
very large. Perhaps iron is Britain's most important mine-
ral commodity after coal ; much of her industrial prosperity
has been traced to the association of iron ores and coal
seams. But of the total mineral output of Britain at the
present time iron ores constitute only about 1 • 5 per cent,
and iron ores are no longer — or very little, if at all — worked
in the coalfield region; the bulk of it is obtained from the
Cleveland field in Yorkshire and from the Midlands —
Lincoln, Rutland and Northampton. These ores are of poor
quality, and the total output is not sufficient for her own
requirements. So, large quantities of good quality ore have
to be imported from Spain and Sweden. Owing to the
War, however, trade relations with Sweden have been cut
off through enemy action. Other metals include tin and
copper in Cornwall and lead in Wales and Derbyshire,
besides building stones, road materials and China clay. But
the production of metals has diminished considerably, and
Britain is now dependent on foreign supply. The distribu-
tion of Britain's manufacturing industries has naturally been
governed by a desire for location in the coalfield regions for
obvious reasons. But a special feature of British manufac-
turing industries is localisation and specialisation. The most
important of these is the cotton industry, which is located

* Stamp.

422

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

in — or almost restricted to — the Lancashire coalfield region
in England and Glasgow region in Scotland. This localisa-
tion, especially in Lancashire, has been attributed to two
causes, — (a) the manufacture of woollens from the wool of
the Pennine sheep was an early industry in England, and
thus here have been born generations of spinners and

MACHINERY

i RON. STEEL

SHIPS. COTTONS

MANUFACTURES

WOOLLEN
GOODS

COTTON
GOODS

HARDWARE

CUTLER*

ETC

POTTER

HARDWARE

CHEMICALS*? 'LEATHER
IRON. STEEL € OTHEHMETAl
KS

VARIOUS
MANUFACTURE,

THE INDUSTRIAL REGIONS OF GREAT BRITAIN

weavers; (b) secondly the damp climate and the soft water
from the Pennine streams are eminently suited to cotton
manufacturing. Even spinning and weaving are largely
localised; for the chief spinning towns in the Lancashire

NORTH-WESTERN EUROPE 423

zone are Bolton and Oldham, while the weaving towns
are Preston, Blackburn, Burnley, Bury and Rochdale.
The principal business centre is Manchester, together
with Salford. Liverpool is the great port of this region,
but supplies of raw cotton are now directly available
in Manchester (p. 305). Though cotton-spinning in
Scotland is centred in Glasgow and Paisley, it is scarcely
possible to single out an industry as quite character-
istic of this region (p. 305-6). The principal centre of
the woollen industry is Leeds, around which a number of
other towns such as Bradford, Halifax, Wakefield,
Dewsbury, Barnsely, Huddersfield, Nottingham and
Leicester are engaged in different branches of the
industry. Woollen industry in Scotland is carried on
in such towns as Selkirk, Hawick and Galashiels. In
irelaiid the chief centre of the woollen industry is
Belfast. The silk industry is centred at Derby, Chester-
field, Leek, Ilkeston, Congleton, Macclesfield, etc.
Dundee is the principal centre of the jute industry. The
different branches of the iron and steel industry are thus
distributed: iron-smelting in Northern Yorkshire, South
Durham, Cumberland, North Lancashire, South Wales and
Midlands, particularly at Middlesborough, Barrow, Port
Talbot aiicl Cardiff; the manufacture of iron wares
chiefly at Birmingham and Sheffield; .the manufacture
of motor cars is centred at Birmingham, Coventry and
Oxford. Raihvay stock is manufactured chiefly at Crewe
and Swindon. There are ship -build ing concerns in the
Clyde region and other places and at Belfast. Swansea
is virtually the only centre of the tin plate industry. Communi-

It is perhaps needless to say that Great Britain is cations,
very well served by railways; the total mileage is 20,400,
and the railways are grouped into four systems: (a) The
London-Midland-Scottish System, (b) London and North
North Eastern System, (c) Great Western and (d) Southern.
The Manchester Ship Canal is the principal inland water- Ports-

424

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

way. The principal ports of the British Isles have been
dealt with in some length elsewhere (Pp. 304-6).

BRITISH PORTS AND TRADE ROUTES
The Exports of the United Kingdom1

Commodities.

Percentages of Total Value.

1924

1926-30

1931-35

Raw materials
Coke & coal

Foodstuffs
Fish . .
Spirits

2-8

1-1
1-5

1 3- 6
6-4

5-9
1-1
1-3

T.I

S'4
1-1
1-6

1 Chisholm.

NORTH-WESTERN EUROPE

Exports of U. K. — Con.

425

„ ,. . Percentage of Total Value
Commodities ._.. _

1924

1926-36

1931-35

Manufactures . . . . —

7'-3

57'-*

Cotton goods . . . . 24-9

19-2

15-3

Yarn .. .. .. 3-5

3*0

2-7

Thread

0-9

1-1

Iron & Steel

9-?

8-3

6-9

Machinery . . . . 5-6

7-4

8-9

Automobiles . . . . ' —

2-4

3-3

Ships .. .. .. 0-7

1-8

1-1

Electricals . . . . 1-3

1-8

1-9

Railway vehicles

1-4

0-6

Woollens

8-5

7-2

6-9

Tissues . . . . 5-2

4-6

3-8

Yarn ..

2-0

1-5

1-6

Tops ..

0-8

0-7

0-8

Silk (& artificial)

0-3

1-4

1-3

Linen Yarn & mf.

1-7

1-4

1-5

Apparel

3-8

3-7

3-0

Paper &c.

—

1-4

1-6

Rubber goods

—

1-3

1-4

Glass & earthern ware . .

1-6

1-9

2-0

Leather goods

1-5

1-1

0-9

Chemicals

3-2

3-5

4-7

The Imports of the United Kingdom1

'Commodities.

Percentages of Total Value.

7924

1926-30

1931-35

Raw materials

*3'3

25'4

24-6

Cotton

9-5

6-0

4-6

Wool

5-5

4-7

4-9

Wood & wood pulp

4-0

4-8

5-5

Petroleum

—

3-6

4-2

Rubber

0-8

1-7

0-9

Hides, skins & furs

1-7

2-2

2-1

Tine, lead, tin, copper, iron

oras

1-8

2-4

1-8

Oil -seeds & nuts

4-1

1-4

1-5

Foodstuffs

37'9

3i'7

37'0

Meat (lor dried)

15-8

17-9

22-2

Animals

1-7

1-1

1-2

Grain & flour

9-5

8-3

8-7

Wheat

5-4

5-0

4-1

1 Chisholm.

426

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Imports of U. K. — Con.

Percentage of Total Value-

1924

1926-30

193L-35

Maize

1-3

1-1

1-5

Wheat meal & flour

0-7

0-6

0*5

Butter

4-3

4-2

5-2

Tea

3-2

3-1

3-6

Sugar

3-5

4-0

2-0

Fresh Fruit

2-5

2-9

4-0

Eggs

1-5

1-4

1-2

Cheese

1-1

1-2

1-1

Tobacco

1-2

1-4

1-7

Manufactures

8-7

w "6

i4'4

Silk yarns & mf.

2-0

1-2

0-6

Wool yarns & mf.

(with apparel)

1-2

2-5

1-9

Cotton yarns & mf.

0-7

0-8

0-5

Iron & steel mf.

1-7

2-3

1-5

Machinery

0-8

1-4

1-6

Leather mf.

1-1

1-2

1-1

Chemicals

1-2

1-3

1-0

Paper &c.

1-5

1-8'

Direction of Foreign Trade of U. K.1

EXPORTS

Countries.

Percentages of Total Value.

1924

1 1926-30^

__ 1931 -35"

Br. India

11-3

1 11-2

8-8

Australia

7-8

! 7-2

5-6

U. S. A.

6-6

i 6-3

5-0

Eire

5-3

5-5

6-2

Germany

5-4

! 5-1

4-3'

Canada

3-5

4-6

4-8

South Africa

3-8

4-2

6-2^

Argentina

3-4

1 4-0

3-4

France

5-2

3-9

5-0

Netherlands

3-1

3-2

Belgium

2-8

! 2-9

2-5

New Zealand

2-6

! 2-7

2-8

Italy

2-2

2-0

2-3

Empire

4i'7

45'6

45'7

F.orcign countries

$-3 ,

54'4

54'3

1 Chisholm.

NORTH-WESTERN EUROPE

427

Direction of Foreign Trade of U. K.

IMPORTS

" " " ~

Percentages

of Total

Value.

Countries.

._ .

._ -_

—

1924. _ '_ 1^926-30 '

_J9_31-35

U. S. A.

18-5

16-3

11-6

Argentina

6-2

6-1 I

6-4

Germany

2-9

5-6

4.9

India

6-2

5-1

5-0

France

5-3

4-9 i

3-3

Denmark

3-8

4-6

5-2

Australia

4-6

4-4

6-6

Canada

5-2

4-4 i

6-2

Eire

4-0

3-8

3-2

Netherlands

3-3

3-8

3-3

New^ Zealand

3-8 i

3-9

5-1

Belgium

2-8 :

3-0

2-5

U. S. S. R.

1-5

2-2

2-8

Sweden

1-6

2-0

2-3

Egypt
Empire

3-0

1-9 !

1-6
33 '5

Foreign countries

69-8

72-9

66- 5

Superficially viewed, the foreign trade of the United
Kingdom shows an adverse balance; for there is a large
excess in the total value of imports over that of exports.1
But the United Kingdom derives great benefits from invest-
ments elsewhere, and the value derived from this source is
about one-half of the total obtained from the exports. More-
over, receipts from shipping constitute about one-third of
the total value of the export trade. And last but not least,
the United Kingdom carries on considerable entrepot trade,
and the receipts accruing therefrom are also quite
considerable.

*The total value of imports in 1924 was £1279-8 million, in
1926-30 £1184-5 million, and in 1931-35 £745-5 million. Correspond-
ing figures for the export trade were £795-4 million, £338-6 million
and £389-5 million. But corresponding figures for the re-export
trade of imported commodities were £140, £113, and £54 millions.

•428

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Exports of Imported Commodities from U. K.

Commodities.

Percentages of Total Value
1924 . 1926-30 ! 1931-35

Raw materials

Wool . .

22-4

22-3

Rubber

7-2

] 13-2

3-7

Hides ..

•

1-4

1-2

0-7

Skins & furs

8-0

! 8-6

12-4

Cotton

8-3

4.9

3-3

Jute

0-3

1 0-3

0-4

Petroleum

! 1-3

1-9

Tin

1-8

: 1-7

1-2

Foodstuff

Tea

5-0

1 6-8

8-7

Meat . .

: i-e

2-3

Fish

1-4

1-2

Spices

0-9

0-4

Tobacco

i 0-7

1-3

Coffee

1-2

1-8

2-7

Butter

1-2

1-9

Fruits

1-2

2-1

Marize

0-7

0-6

0-9

Wine

0-5

0-7

Manufactures

Leather

1-3

'- 1-7

2-0

Silk

2-5

i 1-4

0-8

Carpets & rugs

1-3

1-0

Cotton

! 0-7

0-3

Machinery

; 1-4

1-2

Artificial silk

i —

1 0-6

0-9

Drugs

I 1-4

1-7

NORTHERN IRELAND has an area of only
5,237 sq. miles, and a population of about 1-28 million.
The inhabitants are mainly of English and Scotch
descent. The chief agricultural products are oats and
flax. The capital is Belfast, where there are textile mills
(for spinning flax and weaving linen and cotton), dis-
tilleries, and ship-building yards. Another seat of tex-
tile industries is Londonderry.

THE CHANNEL ISLANDS together comprise a
total area of 75 sq. miles only. The principal products
are potatoes, tomatoes, and grapes.

NORTH-WESTERN EUROPE 429

EIRE or the Irish Free State is a self-governing
democracy enjoying the official status of a British Dominion.
The total area is 26,592 miles, and the population 2*97
million. The principal crops in the order of their importance
are oats, potatoes, and various other root crops, as well as
some barley and wheat. Large numbers of domestic animals
are kept ; and the country, with its hurried weather condi-
tions and extensive ill-drained areas, is said to be more
suitable for stock-raising than agriculture. The principal
manufacturing industry is concerned with the preparation
of liquors. There is a large water-power station at Lime-
rick for harnessing the flowing waters of the Shannon, the
largest in the British Isles, which provides electricity for the
entire country, and to a large extent compensates for the
want of coal. LInder the present regime the country is
endeavouring hard for economic self-sufficiency. About 90
per cent of the total trade was with the United Kingdom;
but a drop has been in evidence for some years.

SCANDINAVIA

Scandinavia is a mountainous peninsula on the
north-west of Europe, and resembles the island of Great
Britain in topographical as well as structural features. The
coast-line is long and deeply indented, especially on the
west, and the inlets, often quite considerably long, are called
'fjords'. Often again these long narrow fjords are bordered
by vertical cliffs rising directly out of the water. Near the
west coast is a long ridge of mountains, consisting of very
ancient hard rocks similar to those of the Scottish High-
lands. The slope of the land is naturally to the south-east.
The warm North Atlantic Drift flows close to the western
shores, and the peninsula lies in the path of the Westerlies.
Thus the western shores as far even as the North Cape
within the Arctic Circle remain ice-free all the year round;

430

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

and there is a fairly heavy rainfall throughout the year
especially in the mountainous west. The larger rivers flow
south-east because of the general slope of the peninsula ; and
the mountains of Scandinavia being much loftier than those

A GENERAL MAP OF SCANDINAVIA

of Scotland, run swiftly down great heights, enabling them
to be harnessed for electricity (p. 225ff). The peninsula is
divided between the two countries of Norway and Sweden.

NORTH-WESTERN EUROPE 431

NORWAY lies west of the mountain divide, and is
much more fiorded and mountainous than Sweden. It has
.an area of about 125,000 sq. miles, and a population of
2,800,0000. Owing to heavy precipitation the mountains are
often covered with forests, which, together with the fisheries,
constitute the principal source of the national wealth
(pp. 155 ff.). More than 50 per cent of the total area is
waste land covered by mountains, 25 per cent by forests, and
less than 10 per cent classed as arable, and only 4 per cent
of the total area is actually under crops. The leading crops
are oats and barley, and in general, other crops are much the
same as in Great Britain. About \2l/2 per cent of the forests
are reserved by the Government. Norway is poor in mineral
resources. There is no coal. But she has fairly large
reserves of low-grade iron and a limited supply of high-
grade iron ores. Perhaps the most valuable sources of her
mineral wealth are the copper mines at Roros in the Glommen
River Valley and at Sulitjelma and other places. There are
silver deposits at Konigsberg near Oslo. Silica and apatite
are abundant near Stavanger. There is a refinery for nickel
ores at Kristiansand. Some sulphur is also exported, and
there is a fairly large exoprt of granite and other stones.
But poor as she is in mineral resources, Norway has almost
unlimited water-power (p. 225). Of the available total
estimated at 9-5 millions of horse-power, only 2-2 millions
have been developed. These have been largely developed
by foreign capital, and many of the manufacturing industries
of Norway are in the hands of foreigners.

The towns of Norway have already been dealt with
(pp. 309-10). The country lacks extensive railways, because
of the mountainous nature of the surface. With the exception
of the railway to Narvik, all the lines are in the south, con-
necting Oslo with Bergen and Trondheim.

Spitsbergen and Bear Island in the Arctic circle are
the only foreign possessions of Norway. Recently, however,
coal has been discovered there.

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

SWEDEN, with a total area of 173,000 sq. miles, is
larger than Norway, and supports more than double
(6,200,000) the population of the latter. It is on the broader
slope of the Scandinavian Peninsula, and comprises a con-
siderable portion of the Great European Plain in the south.
The northern half or two-thirds of the country is covered
with forests, where lumbering is the dominant occupation of
the people ; but Southern Sweden is essentially an agricul-
tural country. More than 12 per cent of the total area of
Sweden is actually under crops. But the climate of the
south is of the continental type, too cold for wheat, and so
the leading crops are oats and rye. Much hay and fodder
for the cattle are also grown in this region. On the shores
of the Baltic there are many saw-mill towns, to which timber
from the northern forests are floated down the numerous
mountain streams. Sweden is fairly rich in mineral
resources: there are deposits of very highgrade iron ore in
the north, whence large quantities are exported to Germany,
Britain, Belgium and other countries. Dairy farming is
important in the south ; and so are the manufactures of
electrical machinery and matches. The capital, Stockholm,
has iron works. There are textile mills at Norrkoping.

THE GREAT EUROPEAN PLAIN

Position & FRANCE comprises an area of 213,000 sq. miles,

Size- with a population (in 1931) of 41,800,000. Her geographi-

cal position is, in many respects, unique in Europe: she
has a long coast-line along the English Channel facing
Great Britain; another long coast-line along the Bay of
Biscay faces the New World across the Atlantic; and she
Advantages shares a considerable portion of the coast-line along the
advanta es Mediterranean Sea. France thus possesses certain unique
thereof. advantages for maritime development; and she, too, is, like
Great Britain, the mistress of a fairly vast overseas dominion,
which — and that is the most characteristic point about it —

THE GREAT EUROPEAN PLAIN

433

is comparable in variety and extent with the still vaster
empire created by Great Britain. In some respects, how-
ever, France enjoys far greater advantages of situation than
does Great Britain: she is continuous with the rest of
Europe, and has benefited (and also been handicapped)
more by the heritage of ancient Roman civilisation. Space
does not permit any analysis of such facts here.
But it is obvious that these have never proved to be
•quite unmixed blessings; for her contiguity with all the

THE PHYSICAL REGIONS OF FRANCE

strong and warring nations of Europe has always involved
her in the whirlwind of European politics, while Britain's
•comparative isolation has left her hands free for overseas
texpansion. From a strictly geographical point of view,

434

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Physical
Features.

Climate.

however, the disadvantages of her land frontier far out-
weigh its advantages : the lofty and difficult Pyrenees
stand in the way of communication between France and
Spain; the great Alps form the boundary between France
and Italy, rendering communication between the two coun-
tries difficult; so it is between France and Switzerland; and
even between France and Germany on the one hand, and
between France and Belgium on the other, the frontiers are
ill-defined, and have been the occasion of many a bitter
struggle. The physical regions of France are shown in the
accompanying map. The region of Brittany is mountain-
ous. The Paris Basin, together with the S. W. and N. E.
Regions, actually form part of the Great Plain of Northern
Europe; and this is the great agricultural region of France.
The Rhone Valley, as may be readily seen, eventually passes
into the arable land along the Mediterranean coast. The
climatic regions of France, as indicated in the accompanying
diagram, make it quite clear that the country has a fairly
great range of agricultural produce.

"S.

THE CLIMATIC REGIONS OF FRANCE THE VINEYARDS OF FRANCE

Vegetation ^e natural vegetation of France is forest, which covers

about 20 per cent of the total area ; and forestry is quite im-
f>ortant in the country. Moorland covers some 10 per cent of

THE GREAT EUROPEAN PLAIN

435

the surface. And as much as two-thirds of the whole area Agriculture,
is under tillage. The principal crops are wheat, oats, maize,
and a great variety of fruits. Wheat is naturally concen-
trated in the Paris Basin, where the climate is 'dry, cool and
sunny'; and if Russia is excluded, France alone produces a
quarter of the wheat of Europe, although she has got to
import a small amount of wheat now (p. 99ff). Oats are
grown chiefly in the 'warm moist' south-west. The diver-
sity of France's climate is easily reflected in the great
variety of the fruits grown: apples and cherries flourish
in the Paris Basin; the olive in the Mediterranean region;
and grapes — most important of all — in the south. France
is the largest producer of wine in the world (p. 144ff). . . ,
Though not noted for animal products like Argentina,
Uruguay, etc. the climate and soil of France are suitable
for dairy cattle rather than for sheep. The number of
cattle, horses, and pigs is said to be double that of Britain,

THE COALFIELDS OF FRANCE

but that of sheep is half. French fisheries in both the Mineral3-
Atlantic and the Mediterranean are also of some importance.
France is, however, not rich in minerals — generally speak-

436

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

ing. But the coalfield of Northern France is very important,
and geologists are of opinion that this field is connected
under the Straits of Dover with the coalfield of East Kent
in England on the one hand, and with the coalfield of
Belgium on the other (p. 205). There are very small coal-
fields in the Central Plateau Region. The loss of the Saar
coalfield in 1935 has deprived France of an average output
of 10 million tons a year; the present output is in the

THE INDUSTRIAL REGIONS OF FRANCE

neighbourhood of 50 million tons annually, which being
insufficient for her requirements, large quantities have to be
imported from abroad, particularly from Britain and
America. Bfut France is rich in iron ore, -though the bulk
of the local supply is of poor quality, and France buys coke

THE GREAT EUROPEAN PLAIN 437

from Germany or Belgium chiefly for the smelting of her
iron ores. The largest iron-field is in Lorraine. There are
other deposits near Le Creusot and in Normandy, near Caen,
as well as in various other places such as the eastern
Pyrenees and Canigou. Other minerals include a small
amount of petroleum and large quantities of potash salts,
both obtained mainly from the Alsace region. France's
poverty in coal but her wealth of potential water-power have
impelled her to develop hydro-electricity, called playfully Water-
' white coal/ She has abundant reserves of water-power in
several areas, particularly in the regions of the Alps, the
Pyrenees and the Cevennes (p. 225). Even main-line rail-
way trains are now being driven by electricity in many places,
particularly in the south ; and there is a plan to use electricity
throughout the French railway systems. The localisation
of French manufacturing industries has been governed more
by the facilities for obtaining raw materials, both from local
and foreign sources, and the conveniences for marketing the
products than by the supply of fuel.

The principal industrial region of the country; however, Manu-
is in the coalfield region of Northern France; and the facture.
southern coalfields also have given rise to a few industrial
towns there. The industries of Paris, the capital of the
country, are, however, of a miscellaneous nature; but in
general it may be said that the production of articles of
luxury is its distinctive feature. The principal region
of various textile manufactures is in the north; Lille is
the largest manufacturing town of this region; other
manufacturing towns are Roubaix and Tourcoing, all
carrying- on cotton, linen and woollen industries.
Cambrai, to the south-east of Lille, is famous for fine
linens. Besides these towns, woollen industry is centred
at Rheims, Amiens, Fourmies, Sedan, Louviers, Elbeuf,
Troyes, etc. The supply of wool is obtained from native
pastures lying around as well as from abroad, the latter

438

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Communi-
cations.

particularly from Australia "and the River Plate region of
South America. Roubaix, Croix, and Tourcoing are noted
for carpets as well,, and Troyes is the chief seat of hosiery.
Silk industry is centred in the Rhone Valley. Lyons is
the main centre ; other centres are St. Etienne, Avignon
and Nimes. Mulhouse, St. Die, Epinal, Senones,
Guebviller, Rouen, Roanne, St. Quentin, Colmar are,

more or less, important
centres for the cotton
industry, besides those
spoken of above. Other
industrial towns are
Angouleme and An-
nonay noted for the
manufacture of paper,
Limoges for porcelain
and earthenware, Bes-
ancon for watches,
Grenoble for kid gloves,
and Strasbourg for

THE MAJOR RAILWAYS OF FRANCE

various manufactures.

The manufacture of
glass is centred in the coalfields of the north and the centre.
The chief seats of the iron and steel industry are Lille, St.
Etienne, Paris, Le Creusot and Caen. The seaports of
France have already been described (pp. 306-7). France is
very well served by roads and railways. Her road and
railway systems centre on Paris. But perhaps the most
characteristic feature of the inland communication of France
is furnished by the splendid network of waterways. We
have already seen that all the larger rivers of France — the
Seine, Loire, Rhone — as well as their chief tributaries are
generally navigable for long distances; these are now con-
nected by a most complicated system of canals, and it is
now possible to! travel from the Mediterranean Sea to the
•English Channel entifely by water. The principal canals

THE GREAT EUROPEAN PLAIN

439

are : (a) The Mar'ne and Rhine Canal, which connects the
navigation of the Rhine with that of the Seine, and both
of these with the Saar navigation by means of a northerly
branch; (b) The Burgundy Canal, connecting the naviga-
tion of the Seine and Rhone through the Yonne and Saone;
(c) The Canal du Centre, connecting the Saone with the

THE INLAND WATERWAYS OF FRANCE

Loire; (d) The Rhone and Rhine Canal, connecting those
two rivers through the Saone; (e) The Canal du Midi,
connecting the Garonne with the Mediterranean Sea and
thus establishing direct communication between the
Mediterranean and the Bay of Biscay; and (f) The
Marseilles-Rhone Canal, which passes through a tunnel

440

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Natural
Regions
and
Resources.

nearly 5 miles long. In 1924 the balance sheet of the foreign
trade was favourable, but in subsequent years the value of
imports has mounted about 14 per cent higher than that of
exports. (For Trade-tables, see Appendix.)

BELGIUM is quite a small country, less than
12,000 sq. miles in area; but it supports a population of
nearly 8 millions. Though so small, it is easily divisible
into three distinct parts : (a) The Ardennes Region in the
south is formed by a plateau, covered partly with sheep
pastures and partly with forests yielding valuable pine. Ah
extension of the Luxemburg ironfields penetrates into this
region from the south ; and Belgium's output of iron is nearly
a quarter of that of the United Kingdom, (b) The coal-
field Region, bordering the Ardennes on the north, runs
right across the country from west to east. It is a continuation
of the great coalfield that stretches from East Kent through
Northern France to the eastern borders of Belgium.
Naturally, therefore, it is the great manufacturing region
of Belgium, supporting, as it does, the bulk of the popula-
tion. Belgium's output of coal is about J^th of that of the
British Isles. Here are situated her chief industrial towns
Mons, Charleroi, Namur, and Liege. These are all coal
towns; but Charleroi is concerned with glass and chemical
industries as well, and there are railway works at Liege.
Much of the iron required for her industries is brought
from Luxemburg, and zinc ores are found in the east,
(c) Northern Belgium, however, is, in the main, an
agricultural country, and belongs more particularly to the
Great European Plain. The chief crops, more or less in
the order of their importance, are rye, oats, wheat, potatoes,
sugar-beet, and flax. The land is not very fertile, and in
the east especially it is of little use. A fairly large number
of cattle are also kept in this region. Belgium has a second
source of coal in the Campine Coal- field, lying in this region
(p. 205). Brussels, the capital and largest city, lies in the
heart of this agricultural country; it is well served by rail-

THE GREAT EUROPEAN PLAIN 441

ways, and has too many industries to be particularly
associated with any, except perhaps the manufacture of lace.
And here in this region lies the chief spinning and weaving
towns of Belgium such as Ghent, Tournai, and Courtrai,
all situated in or near the flax-growing region. Ghent is
the principal seat of Belgium's cotton manufactures as well.
The principal seat of her woollen industry, Verviers, how-
ever, is near the Ardennes. The ports of Belgium have
already been dealt with (pp. 307-8). An industrial country
like Belgium must naturally be well served by railways. Communi-
The principal inland waterway is the River Meuse. The
foreign trade of Belgium, however, shows an adverse
balance ; the total value of her imports is in excess of that Foreign
of the exports by about 30 per cent.1 Belgium has trade-
considerable transit trade (p. 308).

HOLLAND is a little larger than Belgium, and Natural
has about the same number of people. The country ^flons
is a flat level plain, and indeed a considerable portion Resources,
of it lies below sea-level ; hence the characteristic
name of the Netherlands. The coasts are not fiorded,
but the country has a long and varied coastline.
Although a level plain, it falls into two divisions : (a) The
Eastern Region is contiguous with the plain of Northern
Germany; the soil is poor and largely covered with forests,
(b) The Western Region is largely formed by the Delta of
the Rhine and the Meuse (Maas). This is the more charac-
teristic region of Holland; for a large part of it is below
sea-level and consists of reclaimed submerged land. Great
dykes have been constructed to keep out the sea. There
has been a big project in hand to reclaim the shallow Zuider
Zee. Although a neighbour of Belgium, Holland is
essentially an agricultural and pastoral country. There are
large fertile alluviums here and there. The chief agricultural

1 After the conclusion of the last Great War it rose to be even
as high as 128 per cent (in 1919).

442

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Towns.

Communi-
cations.

Character-
istics.

products are oats> rye, wheat, barley, potatoes, and sugar-
beet. Large areas are under grass, and cattle farming is
important. Large quantities of butter and cheese are
exported and there is also a considerable export of beet-
sugar. Fishing is also important, especially in the islands
of the north. An extension of the Campine Coalfield
lies in the south-east of Holland (p. 205), and the present
output of coal is said to be nearly half that of Belgium.
Holland has always been famous for her wind mills; for
the country lies in the path of Westerlies. And despite the
introduction of electric power, many of her factories and
flour mills are worked by wind-power. The Hague is the
capital of the country .as well as the seat of the International
Court. But Amsterdam. tl)e centre of the diamond trade
of the world, and Rotterdam, the largest port of Holland,
are larger towns. Rotterdam has distilling factories.
Utrecht is the chief seat of the cotton industry; Arnhem
the chief seat of inland trade. Haarlem has flax manu-
factures and is also noted for trade in flowers. Groningen
is a centre of the butter trade. Flushing and the Hook
of Holland are minor ports. (For other ports see p. 308),
Holland has through railway communication with Germany,
and the country is well served by rivers and canals (p. 308).
DENMARK* though outside the Scandinavian
Peninsula, is often classed as a Scandinavian country.
Actually it consists of the peninsula of Jutland and a
number of islands lying between the two peninsulas of
Jutland and Scandinavia. Geographically the whole of
Denmark is only an offshoot of the Great Plain of Europe,
and has no similarity either in surface relief or in geological
structure with the mountainous Scandinavian Peninsula.
The surface of the country is gently undulating rather than
flat, although the land everywhere is only a few hundred feet
above sea-level. Considerable tracts in the west coast are
waste land, covered by sand dunes deposited by the sea;
and it has been necessary to plant stout trees in order to

THE GREAT. EUROPEAN PLAIN 443

prevent the sand from blowing inland, especially because the
country lies in the Westerly Wind Belt. The greater part
of the land is under crops, and owing to the smallness of the
country intensive agriculture is practised. The soil, how-
ever, is much similar in general character to the North
German Plain — poor and of glacial origin. But the highly
industrious Danes have very nearly transformed the land,
and the crops produced are of very good quality. The
principal agricultural products are wheat, oats, sugar-beet, Products
barley, and margarine. Cattle-farming and pig-rearing are industries,
scarcely less important than agriculture, and indeed from
the point of view of foreign trade its importance is of the
very first magnitude. With the exception of certain clays
and lime-chalk, Denmark has no minerals. But there are
many factories for making butter and cheese from milk,
sugar from sugar-beet, beer from barley and oats and a
few other products of a like nature. And what is more
interesting still is the 'import' of electric power from Sweden
for industrial purposes. The fisheries on the shallow west
coast are important, and there are 'nurseries' for fish
especially in the Lim Fjord. The capital and chief port is
Copenhagen or Kjobenhavn (p. 310). Esbjerg is the Towns,
chief west coast port and fishing centre. Aarhus and
Aalborg are the chief ports on the east of Jutland, and
Odense is the chief port of Fyen. There are railways c
connecting all the important centres ; but the most cations,
interesting system of communication is that of train
ferries (p. 310), and it is now possible to travel from
Copenhagen to Berlin by these. Denmark has been
linking up her railways by enormous bridges across the
narrow fjords and straits.

GERMANY is nearly double the size of the British
Isles, with a population nearly 1J4 times that of the latter,
North Germany is a part of the Great European Plain, Extent,
while in the south it covers a considerable tract of the
.mountainous region of Central Europe. On the east and

444

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Natural
Regions.

west, however, her boundaries are scarcely defined by
geographical limits, except for the river Rhine which roughly
defines the borders between Germany and France*
Germany thus falls into two broad physical divisions:
(a) The North German Plain and (b) The Southern High-
lands. In contrast to France and the British Isles, Germany
has a very short coastline, only along the Baltic and the
North Sea. The climatic conditions of Germany are marked
by some degree of continentality as is only natural owing

THE PHYSICAL DIVISIONS AND COALFIELDS OF GERMANY

to her more or less central position on the mainland of
Europe. Nearly 33 per cent, of the total area is covered
by forests, yielding a considerable output of softwoods ; about
17 per cent, classed as pastures; and roughly 45 per cent,
as arable land; thus leaving only about 5 per cent, of the
land as waste. This. agreeable state of affairs speaks well
of the industrious nature of the German people; for the
soil is not naturally so fertile as it might appear from this
account. The Northern Plain has, on the whole, an

THE GREAT EUROPEAN PLAIN 445

indifferent soil, which the Germans have made good use of
by planting potatoes, one of the chief sources of industrial
alcohol (p. 197). The leading cereal in Northern Germany, Products,
however, is rye, which furnishes another point of evidence
as to the poor quality of the soil. Next to rye oats occupy
largest acreage in northern Germany. But wheat and
barley are cultivated principally in the mountainous south,
where the soil is generally better and the climatic conditions
much more varied because of variations in the aspect of
individual mountain slopes and valleys. .And one of the
most important crops of Germany is the sugar-beet (p. 128).
But strange as it may seem, hay occupies the largest acreage
in Germany with about 33 per cent, of the total arable land
tinder it ; and this may be attributed to the large number of
cattle reared in the country. But the number of sheep is
small, comparatively speaking. Germany has big interests
in the North Sea fisheries. The mineral output of
Germany is quite considerable, and in all probability she
is second only to Great Britain in the total value of her
mineral output. Her coal reserves are large, and the
annual production of coal, including also brown coal,
is normally about two-thirds of that of Britain. The
largest coalfield is in the Ruhr district (p. 205-6).
The Upper Silesian coalfield also belongs wholly to
Germany now. There are smaller coalfields in Saxony.
The next most important mineral is iron, obtained mainly
from the mines of Lorraine until the conclusion of the Four
Years' War. As a result of the present War these have
again fallen into German hands. There are smaller iron-
fields in the valley of the Sieg, a tributary of the Rhine.
But the output is not sufficient for her own requirements,
and Germany has to import large quantities of iron ore
from Spain and Sweden. From Southern Germany —
especially from Silesia — are obtained lead, zinc, and copper,
which are often found in association. Huge quantities of
potash salts are obtained from Saxony. Germany has a

446

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Industries.

Population, population of over 75 millions, which, with the incorporation
of Austria, actually a German-speaking country, and of
Czecho-Slovakia, not to speak, of course, -of the countries
now unfortunately under German domination, has increased
enormously. Roughly 32 per cent, of the population
may be classed as urban; the total number of men engaged
in the various manufacturing industries is considerably above
12 million. The textile industries of Germany are centred
mainly in the Saxony region, particularly at Chemnitz,
Zwickau and Leipzig. Dresden, lying in this region, is,
however, famous for articles of porcelain and China clay.
The heavy industries are located in two regions — Westphalia
and Silesia. In the Westphalian region are the great
industrial towns of Essen, Dusseldorf and Duisburg,
noted for the basic industries of iron and steel manufacture;
the town of Solingen, specialising in cutlery ; and the lesser
industrial towns of Crefeld, Munchen-Gladbach, and Aachen.
The town of Cologne, however, carries on various industries.
The other region of heavy industries is in Silesia. The
ports of Germany have already been dealt with (pp. 308-9).
The raiways of Germany naturally centre on Berlin, the
capital. And like France, Germany has made extensive
use of inland waterways. All the great rivers — the Rhine,
the Elbe, the Oder — are now navigable up to the German
frontiers and often beyond them. These rivers have all
been canalized and interlinked by means of excellent canals,
and the inland waterways system of Germany now centres on
Berlin. The Dortmund-Ems Canal links Emden with
Dortmund, and unites with the Rhine navigation, linking up'
Strasbourg, Frankfurt, and Cologne with Rotterdam. An
easterly branch from the Dortmund-Ems Canal crosses River
Weser and unites with the Elbe, linking Minden, Linden,
Hanover, and Magdeburg. The Elbe links Cuxhaven,
Hamburg, Dresden, and Prague, and the whole line is linked
in the north with Kiel through the famous Kiel Canal (a shipr^
canal), and with Berlin in the centre by means of various'

Communi-
cations.

THE GREAT EUROPEAN PLAIN 447

branches. The Oder links up Stettin, Bresiau, and Kosel,
and of course Berlin. The Oder-Vistula Canal links up
Berlin with Danzig. The total length of inland waterways
is upwards of 7,500 miles. The nature of the foreign
trade of Germany, with 80 per cent, of her exports
consisting of manufactures and a large import of raw
materials and foodstuffs, bears close resemblance to that Foreign
of the United Kingdom : in fact, she has been a great rival
of Britain for more than half a century (since the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71) ; and it was mainly to
oust her from the world market that her colonies were
wrested from her in the Treaty of Versailles (1918). With
the loss of the colonies Germany lost her assured markets
overseas, but still she has been able, to the marvel of the
Great Powers, to maintain trade relations with the outer
world at large. The balance sheet of the foreign trade was
unfavourable upto 1930; but the quinquennium of 1931-35
showed an excess in the value of exports over that of imports.
(For Trade tables, see Appendix.')

POLAND for the most part lies in the Great . .
European Plain, but stretches from the Baltic Sea to
the Carpathian Mountains. Her only natural frontiers,
if she has any, are, therefore, in the south; on all other
sides she marches with neighbouring Powers, parti-
cularly with Germany on the one hand and with Russia
on the other. Extensive marshes alone intervene between
the main territory of Poland and Germany on the west,
and between Poland and Russia on the east. Much of
Poland's long array of difficulties have originated from her Population
lack of natural frontiers : she had long been a prey to the ProWem-
aggressive designs of Prussia and Austria on the one hand
and of Russia on the other, and indeed she had not only
groaned under the yoke of foreign rule, but had actually
been partitioned between Austria, Prussia, and Russia until
at the conclusion of the last Great War hef independence

448

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

was restored by the victorious allies. Modern Poland,
although much smaller than the ancient kingdom of the Poles,
is, however, larger than the British Isles. But her present

A GENERAL MAP OF POLAND.

difficulties can largely be traced to past factors. Only about
half the population of the Polish Republic are Poles, while
the other half consists of Germans, Russians, and Jews whose
forefathers had readily settled in Polish territory owing
largely to the comparative ease of settlement there. In the
Silesian coalfield region, for example, the bulk of the urban
population is of Germanic origin, while the rural areas are
mainly or solely Polish. On the eastern borders, again,

THE BALTIC STATES 451

some importance. The principal means of inland com-
munication are the lakes, many of which are linked by canals.
Lrapland is in the north of Finland. The Lapps are a
nomadic people, depending as they do mainly on their herds
of reindeer (p. 80).

ESTONIA lies south of the Gulf of Finland.
Geographically it is a part of the great Russian Plain.
Nearly 75 per cent, of the total area is forested, and the
remainder is devoted partly to crops and partly to paturage.
Agriculture and dairy farming are the chief occupations of
the people. The climate is too cold for wheat, and the
principal food crops are rye, oats, barley, and potatoes; some
jlax is grown and exported, but the main items of export
are timber and paper. The capital and chief port is posjtjon
Tallin or Reval (p. 313). Estonia and Finland hold, and
between them, the key to the entrance to Leningrad and ^aracte

J , IStlCS.

the adjoining tracts of Russia, and that country's sudden
intrusion into them at the outbreak of the present
hostilities in Europe was prompted by a desire to secure
her western frontiers. The whole of Estonia and a
considerable portion of southern Finland have now been
incorporated into U. S. S. R.

LATVIA, lying south of Estonia, is also a part of
the Russian Plain. In climate, products, and occupa- p . .
tions of the people it closely resembles Estonia ; but and
the export of flax is perhaps more important than that
of timber. The capital and chief port is Riga, and it
is actually the frontier town between Western Europe
and the U. S. S. R., and it is here that the railways from
Western Europe and the U. S. S. R. — both the systems
being on different gauges — terminate. But the Gulf of
Riga is blocked by ice in winter, rendering the capital
useless as a port for several months of the year. The
ports of Libau and Ventspils (Windau), however,
remain open nearly all the year. The republic of

452

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Position
and

Character-
istics.

Latvia has also been incorporated into the U. S. S. R.
at the outbreak of European hostilities.

LITHUANIA lies south of Latvia, and agrees with
it in general characteristics. Besides timber and flax, dairy
produce forms an important item of export. The republic
is distinctly handicapped by the shortness of its coast-line.
The capital is Kaunas or Kovno, and Memel the only
port. The Lithuanians, however, had not given up the
claim upon Vilna, which is in Poland, as their capital
till the Soviet grabbed the whole country.

Physical
features.

Climate.

Vegetation.

MEDITERRANEAN EUROPE

The Peninsula of Iberia is the westernmost of the
three large pensinsulas of Southern Europe. It comprises
the two republics of Portugal and Spain. The whole
peninsula is cut off from France and the rest of Europe by
the lofty Pyrenees and consists of a high plateau,
called the Meseta. The plateau is bounded by the Pyrenees
and the Cantabrian Mountains on the north and by the Sierra
Nevada on the south. On the south the narrow Straits of
Gibraltar separate it from the continent of Africa. A number
of rivers such as the Guadalquivir, Guadiana, Duro, Tagus,
and Ebro cut deeply through the plateau. The northern and
north-western parts of the peninsula, however, form a part of
the climatic zone of North- Western Europe, and hence have
rainfall all the year. The remainder of the peninsula has a
Mediterranean climate. The typical vegetation of the
northern and north-western parts is, therefore, deciduous
forests; in the river valleys of these regions there are rich
grasslands, similar in general characters to those of Devon
and Cornwall, Great Britain, or of Normandy and Brittany
in France ; these grasslands are eminently suitable for cattle

MEDITERRANEAN EUROPE 453

farming. The remainder of the peninsula offers varied
characteristics : the Mcseta has a modified Mediterranean
climate ; the climatic conditions of northern Meseta are quite
typically transitional, — in some respects they agree with those
of North-Western Europe, in others with those of the Medi-
terranean Lands. In winter this region is generally too cold
for Mediterranean products, except a few stretches of fertile
land where wheat can be cultivated. Southern Meseta has
a more typical Mediterranean climate; hut the region is
generally deficient in rainfall and so too arid commonly for
agriculture. It is therefore largely covered by poor grass-
land furnishing indifferent pastures. But in the more fortu-
nate tracts it is possible to grow various Mediterranean
products. The Mediterranean coastlands naturally have a
typical Mediterranean climate, and it is here that the typical
Mediterranean crops are grown. There are small strips in
this region where the climate is hot enough for rice and
even for the date-palm. In the whole of Europe rice is
cultivated only in Italy and Spain, and the date-palm only
in the latter.

The plateau is built up principally of ancient metamor- Geology
phic rocks, usually associated with minerals, or are actually and
mineralised to a great extent, and that is why Spain has been
famous for ages for her mineral wealth. Along the northern
rim of the plateau formed by the Cantabrians are large
deposits of coal and iron, especially round Ovieds. Iron
and other metallic minerals are found in the south also. The
chief iron producing areas of Spain in the order of import-
ance are the province of Vizcaya (Biscay), the Basque pro-
vinces, Santandar, Murcia, Almeria, Malaga, and Lugo.
Lead is obtained in the region of the Sierra Morena,
especially at Linares, in the mountainous tracts near the
port of Almeria, and in the region of the Puerto de
Despenaperros. The' principal copper mines are in the region
of Rio Tinto. Silver is found in association with lead at

454

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Products

and

Industries.

Towns.

Trade.

Natural
Regions
and
Products.

Linares and various other places. Some of the largest
quicksilver mines exist in the region of Almaden. Zinc,
and various salts are also abundant in Spain. Portugal,
however, is much less fortunate than Spain in minerals,
especially in coal.

PORTUGAL occupies the greater part of the West
Coast of the peninsula. About 50 per cent of the entire
territory is waste land, and a considerable part of the
remainder covered by oak forests. Rainfall is heaviest in
the north, where the chief crop is maize. This is also the
richest cattle farming region of the republic. The chief
agricultural products of the comparatively arid south are
wheat and waise ; and large numbers of pigs are also reared
in this region. On the mountains the only notable crop is
rye. and large numbers of sheep and goats are kept there.
But the most important of the commercial products is wine,
which alone accounts for more than a quarter of the total
value of exports. Next comes fish, followed by cork, coal,
jntits, and olive oil. Portugal alone supplies half the
world's requirements of cork. Lisbon is the capital and chief
port. Oporto is famous as the 'port-wine' port. Setubal is the
chief seat of fishing industry. The foreign trade of Portugal,
however, shows an adverse balance ; in 1924 the total value
of her imports was more than double that of her exports,
during 1926-30 it was considerably above \l/2 the total
value of exports, and during 1931-35 the total value of
imports exceeded that of exports by more than 80 per cent.
The position, though bad, shows a steady improvement.

SPAIN occupies the greater part of the Iberian
Peninsula. The country falls into several natural regions:
(a) The Northern Coastlands are a mountainous region
formed by the Cantabrian Mountains and extremely narrow
and intercepted coastal areas. The climate is akin to that
of North-Western Europe, and so the region has precipita-
tion all the year round. This is the richest and most thickly

MEDITERRANEAN EUROPE 455

peopled part of the country. The mountains are clothed by
beautiful pine jorests, and the region is rich in minerals,
especially coal and iron. The principal food crop is maize,
and the rich grasslands are well suited for cattle farming.
(b) The Central Plateau (Mcseta) occupies the greater part
of the country. The climate is arid and cold, and the soil
largely unsuitable for cultivation. Wheat, however, is the
principal crop on more fertile areas. On the pastures sheep
are kept and fine wool is obtained from them, (c) Southern
Spain, corresponding roughly with the valley of the
Guadalquivir, is a sheltered and warm area. The principal
products are oranges, lemons, the vine, sugar-cane, and
sugar-beet; the last two flourish on irrigated areas. The
region is rich also in minerals, especially copper and iron;
copper is obtained near Huelva, and iron from the Sierra
Nevada, (d) The Mediterranean Coastlands, however, are
in the rain-shadow of the high Meseta ; but the land is
irrigated from the mountain streams. The principal products
are the various Mediterranean fruits such as olives, grapes,
oranges, lemons etc. The capital is Madrid in the heart of
the Central Plateau. Valladolid in the Plateau region is T°wns.
the milling centre of the wheat of this region. Oviedo
is the centre of the coal-mining1 district of the Northern
Coastlands. Bilbao and Santander are the chief ports of
the Northern Coastlands, famous for the export of iron
ore. Seville is the larg-est town and port of Southern
Spain. Other ports of this region are Malaga and Cadiz,
and the rock fortress of Gibraltar (British) is also in this
region. Valencia and Catagena, on the Mediterranean
coastlands are famous as fruit ports. Murcia is an inland
centre of this region. Saragossa is the chief centre of
Ebro Basin which constitutes the north-western part of
the Mediterranean coastland Region. Barcelona is the
largest port and principal manufacturing town of Spain.
The total value of the imports of Spain in 1923 was roughly Trade,
times that of the exports ; in the quinquennium of 1926-30

456

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Natural
Regions.

Products.

Animals.

the imports exceeded the exports by 58 per cent ; but the
next quinquennium witnessed an excess in the value of
imports over that of exports in the ratio of 95:71. This
is a tale of welcome improvement in the sphere of national
economy.

ITALY is essentially a Mediterranean country. It
is roughly of the same size as the British Isles, and has
about the same number of people. Physically the country
falls into three broad divisions: (a) The Alpine Region
in the north, formed by the southern slopes of the Alps
and associated valleys; (b) The Plain of Lombardy, also in
the north, formed mainly by the great Basin of the Po ; and
(c) Peninsular Italy, down which runs the mountain back-
bone of the Apennines. These divisions correspond with
the principal climatic zones. The Alpine Region is not
totally cut off from Mediterranean influences because of the
general west-to-east alignment of the valleys. But the Plain
of Lombardy is cut off from them by the mountain spurs of
the Apennines, with the result that in the cold season it is
often below freezing there, but very hot in summer. The
climate of Peninsular Italy is, of course, typically Mediter-
ranean, and warmer and damper than that of the rest of
the country. Nearly 20 per cent, of the total area of Italy
is classed as woodland and forest, another 20 per cent,
covered by rough pastures, and the bulk of the remainder
cultivable. The chief crop is wheat; but Italian wheat is
generally hard (p. 98). Other agricultural products in-
clude oats, maize, rice, olives, vines, and lemons — the last
especially in the island of Sicily. Asses and mules perhaps
outnumber other domestic animals in Italy ; they are more
important as transport animals than horses in Southern
Europe (p. 258). Goats, again, far outnumber the sheep.
Italy is poor in minerals ; having no coal and oil she naturally
lacks the essential basis of modern industry. The bulk of
her coal requirements is purchased from Britain in times of

MEDITERRANEAN EUROPE 457

peace; in fact, she was for many years Britain's largest Water-
customer of coal. But she has large water-power resources, pcmer*
much of which has already been harnessed in the service of
her manufacturing industries (pp. 225 ff.). And this has
naturally determined the situation of her great industrial
towns such as Milan and Turin in the northern plain where
water-power is easily obtained from the Alpine region. But Minerals.
Italy has good quality iron ore, though the reserves are
small, in the islands of Sicily and Elba. Sicily has large
'deposits of sulphur as well ; and the island of Sardinia is
believed to be fairly rich in various minerals. The present
population of Italy is over 42,500,000 — a figure that is
increasing by leaps and bounds. The pressure on the land
is, therefore, quite considerable ; and although Italy is the
mistress of a vast overseas empire she is in great difficulties
.as regards getting relieved of the pressure of population,
because the greater part of her overseas dominions, except
only the newly acquired territory of Abyssinia, which, by
the way, has again changed hands, is desert land. Italy is
still more an agricultural country than an industrial one;
but she is fast becoming an industrial country. Prior to
her entry into the present European War manufactures gave
employment to more than four million people. The largest
industrial town of Italy is perhaps Milan, where there are
cotton and silk mills as well as machinery and railway work-
shops. Turin has also developed railway and machinery
workshops. There are cotton mills in Naples, where sugar-
refining and engineering are also rapidly becoming important.
O>mo and Bergamo are also important silk-spinning towns.
Woollen manufacture is also graining in importance. The
ports of Italy have already been dealt with (pp. 311-12). Trade.
Italy is distinctly handicapped by the scarcity of raw mate-
rials and foodstuffs, especially because her overseas empire is
largely useless. The bulk of her cotton requirements is
.imported .from -the U. S. A. and India. ( For Trade tables
.see Appendix*}

458

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Position
and

Character-
istics.

Products.

Minerals.

Towns,

MALTA and GOZO are two islands holding the key
to the route between the eastern and western regions of the
Mediterranean Sea. They are in British hands, and serve
as naval bases.

ALBANIA is an undeveloped mountainous country
between Greece and Yugoslavia ; it is inhabited by hill tribes-
men. The capital is Tirana; and there are good natural
harbours at Durazzo (Durres) and Valona (Avlona), It
is now an Italian principality.

GREECE, the forerunner of European civilisation,
occupies the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula, and1
includes an archipelago and the large island of Crete. The
country is very rugged and mountainous, and the climate
typically Eastern Mediterranean, and rainfall low. The
mountains are mostly bare or covered with sparse vegetation;
forests occur only in specially favoured mountain tracts.
Owing to the extreme scarcity of rains it is difficult even to*
find sufficient water for irrigation. The settlements are
therefore concentrated in the coastal tracts, where the soil'
is generally of rich alluvium. The principal food grains are
wheat, barley, and maize; no surplus is available for export.
But Greece is noted for fruits such as olives, oranges, figs,
lemons and grapes; and currants, together with tobacco, are
the staple export of the country (p. 145). Sheep are reared
especially in Northern Greece, and wool is obtained, but it
does not enter into the export trade. Honev is obtained from
Hymethus near Athens, and it often enters into foreign trade.
Some minerals are available in small quantities such as iron
ore near Laurion in Attica and in the island of Seriphos,
chrome in Thessaly, and silver-lead near Laurion. Greece
is essentially an agricultural country, and her main industries
are connected with the production of olive oil, wine; cheese,
leather, and soap. The capital is Athens, and its port is
Piraeus. The port of Salonica serves mainly as the
outlet for Yugo-Slavia, and is the chief seat of the carpet

MEDITERRANEAN EUROPE 459

industry. Patras is the principal currant port. Volos is
the main outlet and inlet of Thessaly, and has been pro-
vided with a break-water. Candia is the principal town
of Crete. The foreign trade shows an unfavourable
balance ; the imports since 1924 show an excess in value
over exports by about SO per cent.

TURKEY now occupies a small territory in Europe
around Istanbul (p. 366).

CENTRAL EUROPE AND DANUBE BASIN

SWITZERLAND is a small republic in the heart Position,
of the mountains of Europe, with frontiers against France,

Germany, Austria, and Italy. In its physical features the

Natural
country is divisible into three broad units : in the north lies regions.

a part of the Jura Mountains; the southern half is formed by
the principal chain of the Alps; and between the two lies the
Swiss Plateau. The country is not very fertile, but the
people have made the best possible use of a bad situation.
The plateau region is the most developed agriculturally, and
contains the bulk of the population. The crops arc, on the
whole, similar to those of the adjacent parts of France and
Germany. But dairy farming is even more important than
agriculture, and cheese and condensed milk form important
items of export. The general moistness of the climate on the
exposed mountainous tracts and the windward slopes
encourages a luxuriant growth of pasture-grasses, and about
70 per cent of the useable land is devoted to cattle-rearing.
The cattle graze on the mountain pastures in summer, and
are brought down to the valleys in winter as they become
snow-covered in the cold season. About 30 per cent of the
total area, exclusive of forests and waste land, is devoted

460

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Minerals.

Water-
ipcnver.

Industrial
.centres.

Communi-
cations.

to crops. Switzerland is poor in minerals: there is little or
no coal ; the output of iron, chiefly from the Gonzen mine,
is quite small ; so is also the case with manganese, which is
also worked in the Gonzen mine. Salt is worked at Bex
and elsewhere, and among other mineral products can be
mentioned asphalt and cement. But Switzerland possesses
large reserves of water-power, estimated at 4 million horse-
power; of this total reserve about 20 per cent has actually
been developed. The development of water-power has
actually transformed Switzerland into a manufacturing
country, and the hulk of the country's exports now consist
of manufactured articles. Nearly the entire railway system
of the country has now been electrified, and so have also been
all the factories. But transport is expensive, and so it has
been necessary for Switzerland to specialise in the manu-
facture of small objects — watches and clocks, scientific instru-
ments and apparatus, jewellery, fine silk materials, fine
cotton goods etc. The capital is Berne on the river Aar;
it is one of the important seats of silk manufacture.
Other seats of silk manufacture are Zurich and Basle.
The famous city of Geneva, the headquarters of the
League of Nations, specialises in the manufacture of
watches and clocks. Neuchatel is also noted for watches
and clocks. Vevey is a centre of the milk-tinning
industry. The manufacture of textile and electrical
machinery is done especially at Oerlikon and Baden.
Switzerland's central position has made it the meeting place
of various important routes. Bern and Vevey are connected
with Milan, Venice and Trieste through the Simplon Tunnel
which lies in Switzerland; another important railway tunnel
is the St. Gothard. The Mont Cenis Tunnel through which
runs the railway between Italy and France, and, the
Brenner Tunnel which connects Italy and Austria by fail
are, however, outside Switzerland. Switzerland has no port
and no coast-line; Antwerp therefore serves as tfie principal
port for export, and Rotterdam as the principal port for

CENTRAL EUROPE AND THE DANUBE BASIN 461

imported commodities. The main items of export are
manufactures — watches and clocks, machinery, fine cotton
and silk goods, and cheese and tinned milk. The principal Trade!
items of import are raw materials, and foodstuffs — cotton,
silk, wool, metals, wheat, sugar etc. Hut the foreign trade
is unbalanced ; the total value of the imports since 1924
exceeds that of exports by about 33 per cent.

AUSTRIA has experienced many a vicissitude during History
the last quarter of a century or so. Once the centre of a vast
empire in Europe, it was reduced to a small fraction of its
former size at the end of the pan- European hostilities of
1914-18. It was a republic from 1918 to 1938 when sud-
denly it passed into German hands. In many respects it is
like Switzerland, and like the latter it, too, readily falls into
three broad physical units : the eastern end of the Alps, Character-
known as the Tyrol, covers nearly three-quarters of the
total area ; then there is the valley of the Danube, which
cuts through the east of the country; lastly there are the
hills to the north of the Danube, resembling the Jura
Mountains of Switzerland. The most populous and
important part of the country naturally is the Danube
Valley, where the chief crops are wheat and maise ; those Products,
of the Alpine region are rye and oats, but forestry is more
important here than agriculture, and large tracts are devoted
to cattle farming. Austria is rather rich in minerals ; there
are fairly large deposits of iron ore, lignite, lead, zinc, copper,
and salt. The principal seats of iron and steel industry are Industries,
at Steyr and Donawitz, The capital is Vienna, the only
large town in present-day Austria, situated just where the
Danube leaves the Alps and enters the Hungarian Plain ;
all traffic between Southern Germany and the Hungarian
Plain converge on it. The city was once the seat of several
important industries; at present its only industry of note is
that of cloth-making.

HUNGARY was a part of the former empire of
Austria and Hungary; after the last Great War it become

462

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Character-
istics.

Products.

Towns.

Trade.

History.

Bohemia.

an independent republic. Nearly in all respects it is a direct
antithesis to Austria ; in contrast to mountainous Austria
it is almost entirely a plain ; whereas Austria is fairly rich
in various minerals, Hungary is very poor in mineral
resources except for a little coal and some lignite ; the people
of Hungary are quite distinct from the Austrians, who are
essentially a Germanic race; the Hungarians are Magyars
and said to be racially allied to such Asiatic races as the
Turks. The fertile plains of Hungary were covered by
beautiful glasslands ; these have now yielded place to various
crops — wheat and niaizc principally in the richer south, and
rye, oats, and barley in the comparatively poor (though not
actually quite poor) north. Other important crops are
sugar-beet, hemp, and flax. The country is suitable for
cattle, sheep and pigs. The capital is Buda-Pest, a twin
city on the Danube. Szeged is the chief town in the south,
but it is more like an agglomeration of villages than like a
town, and so are also the so-called towns of Dcbreczen,
JCecskemet, and Szabadka, Hungary is an agricultural
country, supplying the neighbouring regions with its own
produce, and receiving in return such manufactured goods
as clothing and textiles. Her largest customer still is
Austria, where goes nearly a third of all the exports. Next
comes Czechoslovakia for about a fifth of the exports.
Germany probably stands third among her customers. And
these three states between them supply about 55 per cent of
the imports of Hungary.

CZECHO-SLOVAKIA is also another 'succession
state' which arose after the last Great War largely out of
the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was carved out
as a union of the Northern Slavs. A large part of it was
absorbed in the German Reich in 1938 as a result of the
notorious Munich Agreement. The whole of it is now
under German vassalage. The territory includes the plateau
of Bohemia known also as the Czech Plateau, where there

CENTRAL EUROPE AND THE DANUBE BASIN 463

are large deposits of good coal and lignite as well as
some iron ores. The region is drained by the Elbe
Kiver and its tributary, the Moldan. The rich alluvium of
the river valleys yields a varied harvest of potatoes, rye,
wheat, sugar-beet and* hops. And here also have sprung
up various manufacturing industries, and the region is dotted
about by cotton mills, paper mills, saw mills, glass and
chemical factories, iron and steel works etc. The capital,
Prague (Praha), and the other important industrial town
of Pilsen lie in this region. The Moravian lowlands, in
the centre of the country, arc similar in general character Moravia,
to the neighbouring Hungarian Plain, and the principal
products of this region are barley, maize, sugar-beet, and
fruits. There are rich coalfields here also : besides in the
south of the region, a part of the great Silesian Coalfield
lies in the north. And naturally therefore various manu-
facturing industries have sprung up in this region also.
The chief centre of the region for woollen goods and
machinery is Brno. East of the Moravian Lowlands lie the
Carpathian Mountains and associated valleys — a region
often called simply Slovakia. Large areas of this region
are forested, and many places are rich in minerals, but it
is the least developed part of Czecho-Slovakia.

YUGOSLAVIA is another 'succession state' that
arose after the last Great War. It is the union of the Hlstor>r-
Southern Slavs. The Alpine region of the country, formed
by a few small spurs of the Alps, is roughly coincident Alpine
with the province of Slovenia, and resembles the neighbour- region,
ing state of Austria in general characters. The Adriatic
Coast, known also as Dalmatia or the Dinaric region, is also
mountainous, being formed largely by the Dinaric Alps. *c
The region is generally very dry and full of limestone
mountains. The principal products of the more fertile tracts
of the region are Mediterranean fruits. At the junction
of the Alpine region and the Dinaric region some minerals

464

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Northern
Plain.

Southern
region.

Towns.

Trade.

are found. The Northern Plain of the country is actually a.
part of the great Hungarian Plain; it is, however, entirely
cut off from Mediterranean influences, and has a continental
type of climate. But the products of the naturally rich soil
agree with those of Hungary, and are represented mainly
by wheat, maize, tobacco, and sugar-beet. The Southern
Region of the country is the largest natural unit, and has
varied characteristics. The hills are partly forested and
partly covered hy pastures suitable for sheep and cattle.
The sheltered valleys yield wheat, maisc, and jruits,
especially plums which forms an important item of export
in the dried state. The vine, sugar-beet, hemp, and tobacco
are also grown in suitable areas. And there are, in this
region, deposits of various minerals, especially of iron and
lead. The capital is Belgrade, on the Danube ; it lies at the
northern end of the Southern Region. Nish is on the route
to the Greek port of Salonika. On the Adriatic Coast and
near the Italian port of Fiume has been built the new
Jugoslav port of Susak. Farther down are the ports of
Split, Dubrovnik (Ragusa), and Kotor (Cattaro),
Sarajevo is an important inland town ; Zagreb is the
principal town of the Northern Plain. The Jugoslav ports
are difficult of access, and the country's main outlets are
the Greek port of Salonika on the Aegean Sea, and the
Italian ports of Trieste and Fiume. The Danube, on the
other hand, serves as the highway into the northern
countries. The principal exports are timber, fruits, animals,,
wheat, and maize; the principal imports manufactured gooS~
generally. The balance of foreign trade is, on the whole,
favourable.

Natural
regions
and
Resources.

RUMANIA is divided into two parts by the
Carpathian Mountains and the Transylvanian Alps. The
mountains are covered by forests, yielding valuable forest
products; and along the southern foothills lie a number of
rich oilfields, which constitute the principal source of

CENTRAL EUROPE AND THE DANUBE BASIN 465

national wealth. The country is, moreover, rich in other
minerals ; for among the difficult hill region in the west
are important deposits of gold, copper, silver, lead, iron,
and coal; hut the output of minerals is small. To the south-
east of the mountains lie the Wallachian Plain, formed
mainly by the valley of the lower Danube. Geographically
it may be regarded as a part of the steppeiands of Russia.
The climate is continental and the rainfall low. It has now
1>een transformed into one of the major wheat-lands of the
world. Besides wheat, the other crops grown are barley,
mahe and oats, and it is from here that the bulk of the
surplus of agricultural produce is obtained for export. The
capital, Bucharest, lies in this region. Other important Towns,
towns of this region arc Galatz and Braila, both river
ports on the Danube. Constantza, on the Black Sea, is
the most important port of Rumania; it remains ice-free
all the year round, and oil from the refineries at Ploesti
is sent by pipe line to Constantza for export. The principal
items of export are wheat, maize t timber, oil, and livestock;
the principal items of import are cotton and woollen goods
and machinery. The foreign trade has long been maintining
a favourable balance.

BULGARIA is a small mountainous country, and falls
into three natural regions: (a) The Lower Danube Valley
in the north, (b) The Balkan Mountains and the Rhodope
Mountains in the centre, and (c) The Valley of the Maritza
River in the south. It is essentially an agricultural country ;
the principal crops are wheat, maize, tobacco, sugar-beet,
and fruits. There are valuable forests of oak and beech on
the mountains; and the country owns large numbers of Products,
sheep, goats, and pigs. The capital is Sofia. The centre
of the Maritza Valley is Philippopolis. Ruschuk is a
Danube port, and Varna the Black Sea port. The lowns'
principal exports are eggs, wheat, maisc, tobacco; the
principal imports, cotton and woollen goods. The imports
are generally slightly higher in value than the exports.

Area arid
Population.

Position.

European
Russia.

EASTERN EUROPE AND SIBERIA

RUSSIA
The Union of Socialist Soviet Republics

Position and Size. — The Union of Socialist Soviet
Republics — an enormous territory covering an area of over
8>4 million square miles, with a population (in 1932) of
163,200,000 — is, however, not exactly coincident with the
old Czarist Russia ; in the political settlements which
followed the Bolshevist Revolution of 1917,. Finland wrested
her own independence, a fragment on the western margin
of the old empire was added to the new Republic of Poland,
and the three small Baltic states — Estonia. Latvia, and
Lithuania — were constituted as independent Republics.
With the opening of the present European conflict, how-
ever, has been witnessed the swallowing up by the
U. S. S. R. of part of Poland,, all the three Baltic states and
a small fragment of southern Finland. The whole of the
Soviet territory lies far beyond the tropics — in the
Temperate and the Frigid Zones ; and, although bordered
on nearly all sides by oceans and seas, Russia has few out-
lets to the open ocean : the Arctic Ocean on the north allows
passage only for two or three weeks in mid-summer; the
Pacific coast on the east remains ice-bound in winter; the
passage through the Black Sea, open all the year, is, how-
ever, under the control of Turkey at the Bosporus and the
Dardanelles; on the west, Russia is guarded by Rumania,
Poland, and the three small Baltic states recently absorbed
in the U. S. S. R ; and Finland and Estonia, between them,
have complete control over the entrance to and exit from
the region of Leningrad.

Physical Features. — The enormous territory of the
U. S. S. R. may be divided into the following broad

EASTERN EUROPE AND SIBERIA

467

physical units: (a) The Plain of European Russia; this is
actually the famous Russian Platform, and it occupies nearly
the whole of European Russia from the Arctic Ocean to
the Black Sea on the one hand, and to the Caucasus

THE NATURAL REGIONS OF RUSSIA

Mountains and the Caspian Sea on the other, (b) The
Caucasus and Trans-Caucasia form a comparatively tiny
area in the southern part of European Russia (c) The
West Siberian Lowlands lie east of the Ural Mountains. Asiatic
(d) Eastern Siberia, bordering the West Siberian Lowlands Russia,
on the east, is a low dissected plateau, (e) The Far East
consists of a succession of mountain chains, (f) Russian
Central Asia lies east of the Caspian Sea and south of the
West Siberian Lowlands; it is bordered on the south and
east by the mountains of Central Asia, and consists of
steppelands.

Geology and Minerals. — Russia is enormously rich Russian
in mineral resources. The Russian Platform consists of Plat*orm-
pre-Cambrian rocks resistant to later Alpine folding, and
is covered by huge deposits of later sediments. These
later sediments contain large coal measures and deposits of
lignite. One of the coal basins lies in the Arctic region of

468

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Caucasus
and
Trans-
Caucasia.

Urals.

European Russia ; another field yielding lignite occurs south
of Moscow ; but the most important coalfield of European
Russia is in the Don or Donetz basin south of Moscow.
Other minerals include large deposits of iron ore near

THE COAL AND OIL FJELDS OF RUSSIA

the Black Sea, and nickel and apatite elsewhere. Russia
is now the second greatest producer of iron and steel in the
world (after the U. S. A.). There are huge deposits of
wind-borne loess over central and southern Russia, and this
has transformed a vast tract of the country into a rich
agricultural land. The region of the Caucasus and Trans-
Caucasia is formed by folded mountain chains and exposed
rocks of a very remote geological age. These ancient rocks
are often highly mineralised ; there are large deposits of
lead and zinc in the north, and vast stores of iron,
manganese, copper, and aluminium in the north of this
region. But more important than any of the metallic
minerals is oil, which occurs along the flanks of the
Caucasus. The important oilfields of the region are those
of Grozny, Maikop, Baku, and Tiflis. Russia is now second
only to the United States as a producer of oil. The Ural
region is also largely composed of ancient mineralised rocks,
yielding large quantities of iron, copper, manganese.

EASTERN EUROPE AND SIBERIA

469

nickel, gold, aluminium, coal, and oil. Of the various
iron-fields the most important is the Magnet Mountain near
the town of Magnetogorsk, an important centre of iron and
steel industries. The oilfields occur along the flanks of
the Urals from the Arctic Ocean to the Caspian Sea. There
is an important coalfield on the flank of Siheria, and in the West
north occur huge deposits of potash salts. Along the south-
eastern margin of the West Siberian Lowlands is the great Central
coalfield of the Kuznetzk basin. The low dissected plateau
of Ontrat Siberia is also a great mass of ancient rocks.

THE MINERALS OF RUSSIA OTHER THAN COAL AND OIL

which are mineralised in places ; and here we find the
goldfields of the Lena basin, and various other minerals
including coal in the Tungusk basin, Yakutia basin, Minu-
sinsk basin, Irkutsk basin, and Kansk basin (p. 359).
There are two coal basins in the Far East, and oilfields
in Kamchatka and the island of Sakhalin, while gold is of
wide distribution in this region. The region, however, lies
largely unexplored yet. Russian Central Asia has deposits
of gold, copper, lead, tin, zinc, and coal, and the region Russian
is believed to have oil as well. Russia is now believed to Asia,
rival South Africa in the production of gold. The country

Far

470

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Basic
facts.

Climatic
Zones.

Vegetation
Belts.

also possesses huge reserves of water-power, sometimes
estimated at 33 p.c. of the world's total.

Climate and Vegetation. — Russia is an enormous
land mass, and the climate must necessarily be of the conti-
nental type; and indeed it is so, for the world's coldest spot
lies in the heart of Siberia (p. 71). But in summer
temperatures of over 90° F. are sometimes recorded even
within the Arctic Circle. The whole country can be
divided into at least six major climatic belts: there is first
the region of Arctic Climate along the northern rim of
Russia ; south of this lies the belt of Cold Temperate Climate,
covering by far the largest part of the country; the south-
eastern margins have the Manchurian Climate, and to the
south-west of the Manchurian belt is a small area of Steppe-
land Climate ; the Steppeland Climate occurs also along the
borders of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, and south
of this is found Desert Climate ; and lastly the East European
type of climate occurs in the region nearest to the Baltic
Sea. Corresponding to these climatic divisions are the
major vegetation belts : along the Arctic seaboard lies the
Tundra region, with its characteristic swampy soils and
mosses and lichens. South of it lies the great belt of
Coniferous Forests which yield valuable soft-woods ; the soil
of the Coniferous Forest region is known as podsol, — it is
ash-coloured and poor in plant food. Then there are
Deciduous Forests in the region of East European Climate;
the soil is better. South of the Deciduous Forest region
lies an enormous area of rich glassland with scattered trees ;
this is the region of the famous chernozems or black earths
of rich loess formation, and the region is naturally the great
granary, of Russia (p. 90). South of the Black Earth
region lie the Steppelands with characteristic chestnut-brown
soil, which is fairly rich in plant food. Last of all there lies
the Desert belt around the Caspian Sea, with its red and
yellow soils ; but the region, though infertile, is very
important to Russia as it is the only area where tropical

AFRICA

475

northward, and the south-west extremity of the continent, Wind
where it is then winter, receives its share of moisture from ^Jtems
the N. W. Anti-Trades. And owing to the severe heat over Rainfall,
the Sahara region the hot air rises and draws in a deflected
branch of the S. E. Trades across the sea so as to cause
heavy showers all over Central Africa. This deflected
branch of the S. E. Trade Winds may as well be described

THE NATURAL VEGETATION OF AFRICA

jis monsoon winds. During the southern summer (Nov.-
April) the wind systems swing southward, so that the S.
E. Trades cover the whole of South Africa and bring in

476 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

heavy showers ; but the south-west extremity falls in the
rain-shadow of the eastern mountains. At this season the
N. E. Trades shift farther south in North Africa, where
it is still very dry ; hut the north-west extremity comes under
the influence of the rain-hearing S. W. Anti-Trades.
Central Africa, however, is a region of rainfall all the year
round, and as is only natural for all Equatorial regions it,
too, is a land mass of convectional rains.

Natural Vegetation. — These climatic conditions are
beautifully reflected in the natural vegetation of the con-
tinent : (a) Equatorial Forests occupy the Congo Basin and
the Guinea Coast where it is always 'hot and wet/
(b) Tropical Grasslands or Savanas, with rain in summer
and drouth in winter, cover both sides of the Equator as far
north as the Kalahari Desert, (c) Deserts cover enormous
tracts in Africa and occur on the borders of the
Savanas. (d) Mediterranean Vegetation likewise occurs on
the borders of the deserts in the north as well as in the
south, (e) Warm Temperate Forests are found only in
the south-east, (f) Temperate Grassland, known as the
veld, covers the south-eastern part of the high Plateau of
South Africa, (g) Mountain Vegetation occurs in the
Abyssinian Mountains.

THE ATLAS REGION

The Barbary States occupy the north-west of Africa.

General Along this region run the mountain chains of the Atlas ; and

considera- each of the three states is divisible into three parts —

(a) The Coastal Plains; (b) The plateau bounded by the

principal chains of the Atlas; and (c) The Plateau of the*

Sahara. The climate is Mediterranean throughout.

THE ATLAS REGION 477

MOROCCO is the westernmost state of -the three.
Tt is a Sultanate under French protection. The chief
agricultural products of the fertile coastal plains are barley, Products,
wheat, maize, and various fruits such as olives, organes,
vines, figs, etc. Date-palms are grown in the oases of the
Sahara region ; and the chief forest products ohtained from
the plateau enclosed by the Atlas chains are cork and cedar
In this plateau region sheep are reared, and there are
numerous cattle in the plains. The capital is Marrakesh
or Morocco; but the chief town and port is Casablanca,
Fez is an important inland trade centre. The exports
consist chiefly of eggs, wheat, barley, almonds, wool. Trade.
linseed, and fez cap and leather. The trade is chiefly with
France and Britain, but fez caps and leather go mainly to
other parts of Africa. The imports, however, exceed the
exports by more than double the value.

A small area of Morocco, including the port of Ceuta,
however, belongs to Spain.

ALGERIA is a French Colony. Its products are
similar to those of Morocco, and it has important fisheries
along the coast. Mining is important, especially of iron ore
and phosphate. The principal towns are Algiers, the
capital and Oran — both ports. The chief items of export
are wine, sheep, wheat, tobacco, and minerals. The trade jra(jc
is mainly with France.

TUNIS is also a French Protectorate. Its capital
is Tunis.

For the development of this region the French have
built a number of railways, which connect nearly all the Communi-
important towns such as Casablanca, Fez, Oran, Algiers, ca
and Tunis, and at the same time penetrate into some of the
oases of the Sahara.

THE NILE BASIN

Character-
istics.

Trade.

Natural
Regions.

Trade.

THE SUDAN lies between Egypt and Uganda, and
is under the joint control of Egypt and Great Britain ; hence
the. name, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. It, too, is a 'gift of
the Nile,' though in a somewhat modified sense; the
rainfall is low, and but for the waters of the Nile the whole
tract, covering as it does an area of more than
1,000,000 sq. miles, would be a desert. Large stretches of
land have been irrigated, especially since the construction
of the Sennar Dam in 1925. The climate is suitable for a
great variety of crops, especially cotton, and the soil has
also been made suitable for them. Large tracts are now
actually under cotton ; for the British Empire is now trying
hard to be self-sufficient in respect of this valuable commo-
dity (pp. 158-60, 162). The principal town is Khartoum,
and the chief port is Port Sudan. There is railway con-
nection between the two. The principal exports are cotton,
gum and millet.

EGYPT is theoretically independent, but actually under

British protection. It, too, is a vast country with a total

area of 383,000 sq. miles; but the habitable territory of the

country is no more than only 12,000 sq. miles in area. The

population is 14,200,000. Long, long ago Herodotus

called it 'the Gift of the Nile/ Leaving the great desert

waste, we may divide Egypt into two natural divisions:

(a) Upper Egypt and (b) Lower Egypt. Upper Egypt is

actually coincident with the Nile Valley, and Lower Egypt

with the Nile Delta. The principal commercial crop of

Egypt is cotton, and Egyptian cotton is noted for its quality

(pp. 160-61). Other crops of importance are maize, wheat,

barley, beans, sugar-cane, and rice. The capital is Cairo

at the head of the Nile Delta, and the principal port is

EAST AFRICA 479

Alexandria. Cairo has railway communication with
Palestine. The total value of Egypt's export trade for a
long period has been roughly 7 p.c. higher than that of her
import trade. (For Trade tables, see Appendix.)

ABYSSINIA is an undeveloped mountainous
country believed to have great economic possibilities.
The capital is Addis Ababa, which has direct railway
communication with the French port of Jibuti.

THE EASTERN HORN

ERITREA, to the north-east of Abyssinia, is an
arid country little developed as yet. The capital is
Asmara, and the chief port is Massawa. There are
pearl fisheries along the coast, and the export trade con-
sists of some hides and skins.

SOMALILAND, divided into French, British and
Italian Somalilands, is also arid and undeveloped. Divisions.
Jibuti is the chief port of French Somaliland. Berbera
is the principal port of British Somaliland. And
Mogadiscio is the chief port of Italian Somaliland.

EAST AFRICA

East Africa is divided between Britain and Portugal.
The whole region consists of two broad physical units:
(a) The Plateau (which is actually a. part of the high
plateau of Africa) and (b) The Coastal Plain. The whole
region lies in the tropics, and has abundant rainfall. But
the Plateau Region, usually quite high, has a pleasant
climate, and a moderate rainfall. Moreover, the soil is often
rich. And the region is suitable for maise and cotton as Products,
well as for coffee and sisal hemp. It is also suitable for

480 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

cattle. The Coastal Region, on the cntrary, is hot and
humid and often covered with mangrove swamps. It is
suitable for rice, cocoanuts, rubber, sityar, and spices.

UGANDA is a British Colony, south of the Sudan.
It lies wholly within the plateau region. The principal
commercial product is cotton.

KENYA lies east of Uganda. It is also a British
Colony. It is divisible into two parts — plateau and
coastal plain. Hie chief products are cotton and coffee,
besides ma fee and millet. Mombasa is the chief port of
Kenya, and Nairobi an important inland town.

TANGANYIKA lies south of Kenya. It is a
British Protectorate, wrest from the Germans. Dar-es-
Salaam is the chief port.

NYASALAND, farther south and inland, is also a
British Protectorate. Zomba is the capital.

PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA is formed entirely
by coastal lowlands, and its southern end lies outside
the tropics. Beira and Lourenco Marques are its ports ;
the latter serves as the main outlet for Transvaal, South
Africa.

ZANZIBAR and PEMBA are two islands under
British protection. The chief town, Zanzibar, is a busy
trading* centre and port, noted for spices.

SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa consists of the Union of South

Divisions. Africa, a British Dominion, and a number of native states

under British protection such as Basutoland, Swaziland, and

Bechuanaland. The British colonies of Northern and

Southern Rhodesia may also be included in this division.

SOUTH AFRICA 481

THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA occupies the Units,
greater part of South Africa, and consists of the four
provinces of the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, the Orange
Free State, and the Transvaal. The whole area
naturally falls into two broad divisions : (a) The Plateau,
containing the Stormberg and Drakesberg Mountains (these
are really the highest edges of the plateau), and (b) The
Coastal Lands. Since the plateau descends to the coastal
lands by a series of steps, the latter again fall into two sub- e ie *
divisions: (i) The Karoo, i.e., the series of steps, and
(ii) The Coastal Plain. With the exception of the south-
western part where the climate is Mediterranean, the whole
of this territory has rainfall in summer. But the lower climate,
surface of the plateau is in the rain-shadow of the Stormberg
and Drakesberg Mountains. The slope is from east to
west. The whole territory of the Union can thus be
divided into a number of natural regions: (a) The
Mediterranean Region of the south-west coastlands around Natural
the port of Cape Town. The principal products of the ^f ons
region are wheat, barley and a variety of fruits such as Products,
oranges, grapes and peaches. Naturally therefore fruit-
tinning, wine-distilling, and the preparation of jam are the
important industries of this region, (b) The Karoo, sub-
divided into the Little Karoo and the Great Karoo, occupies
the area lying between the Mediterranean coastal tracts and
the High Plateau of South Africa. Owing to low and
uncertain rainfall and the consequent poverty of vegetation
this is a region of sheep farming, (c) The Warm Tem-
perate Forest Region of the south-east coastlands is a
region of summer rain. The principal crops are maize and
corn, sugar-cane, and tobacco, (d) The Veld or Tem-
perate Grassland of the south-east highlands lie between the
south-eastern coastlands and the edge of the high plateau,
covering the greater part of Natal, and the Transvaal, the
whole of the Orange Free State, and the eastern part of
Cape Colony. I^rge tracts are, however, - covered by

482

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Minerals.

Towns.

Divisions.

Resources.

forests, yielding timber of some value. In the grasslands
sheep farming and cattle farming are important. Much
wool from this region is exported to England every year.
But the region is very rich in mineral wealth:
Coal is mined near New Castle and Johannesburg, and
exported through the ports of Durban and Lourenco
Marques. Half the world's total annual output of gold is
mined at the Witwatersrand, near Johannesburg. And
there are the large diamond mines of Kimberley and
Pretoria. (e) The Desert Region occupies the western
half of the plateau and extends as far west as the coast-
lands. Cape Town is the capital and chief port of the
Cape of Good Hope. Port Elizabeth, on Algpa Bay,
is another important port of the province. Blast London,
on the Buffalo River, is a rising port. Simon's Towns
is the naval station of the Union. Pietermaritzburg is
the capital of Natal, and Durban its chief port.
Bloemfontein is the capital of the Orange Free State.
Pretoria is the capital of the Transvaal; but Johannes-
burg is the largest town.

RHODESIA, now divided into the two British
colonies of Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia,
lies in the plateau region. But the land is said to be
arable, especially in the valleys of the rivers Limpopo
and Zambesi *, and it is suitable for sheep and cattle also.
The territories are not yet developed in any sense, although
agriculture and mining are practised there. The population
is exceedingly small. The whole territory is said to be rich
in minerals: there are valuable copper mines and coal
deposits in Northern Rhodesia; and in Southern
Rhodesia there are gold mines. The natural outlet of
Rhodesia is the Portuguese port of Beira.

ANGOLA is a Portuguese possession. The terri-
tory is said to be suitable for cattle farming. Lobits is
the port, and Loanda the capital.

THE GUINEA COAST 483

THE BELGIAN CONGO occupies the greater Extent,
part of the Congo Basin, which is the most notable
Equatorial region in the world after the great Amazon
Basin of S. America. It is a hollow-shaped plateau
drained by the Congo and its tributaries, which have
their sources generally in the mountain fastnesses of the Character-
high plateau of South Africa. Owing to the unbearable
humidity of the atmosphere the lowlands are covered
with dense equatorial forests and the uplands with
savana or grassland. The typical products of the forests
are rubber, oil palm, palm kernels, and copal. The Congo Products,
forests are the homelands of numerous herds of elephants,
and one of the most important product of the region is,
therefore, ivory. In the interior is the Katanga region,
a southern appendage of the Belgian Congo, believed
to be rich in mineral reserves, especially in copper.
Elisabeteville, the metropolis of Katanga, is the chief
centre for the mining of copper. There are iron and
lime also in close proximity to the copper-fields. Other _
minerals worked are gold, tin, and diamonds. Katanga
lies close to Rhodesia, and indeed from the geogrphical
point of view it is more a part of the latter than of the
Belgian Congo. Coal and foodstuffs for the miners are,
therefore, obtained from Rhodesia, The capital of the
Belgian Congo is Boma; it is also a port of importance. Towns.
Matadi, about 100 miles from the sea, is another important
port accessible by ocean-going vessels. Leopoldville
and New Antwerp (formerly Bangala) are important
towns. There are railway communication between
Matadi and Leopoldville.

THE GUINEA COAST

The Guinea Coast is divided amongst Britain,
France, Portugal, and Spain ; but there is a small Negro Units.

484 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

republic also. The whole of this region may be divided
into two physical units : (a) The Plateau Regions, and (b)
The Coastal Plain. The Plateau Regions have a comparatively
light rainfall and a poorer soil covered by savana or grass-
Products jan(i. The principal food crops of -this region are millet,
Resources, maize, rice, and ground-nuts, Cotton is also important.
Minerals sometimes occur as, for example, gold and
manganese in the Gold Coast ; and tin and coal in Nigeria.
The coasted plain has a heavy rainfall and a hot damp
climate. In the damper parts the typical vegetation is ever-
green equatorial forest, in the drier parts occur deciduous
forests. The principal forest products are mahongany,
ebony and other hard timbers, wild rubber, oil palm, etc.
There are rubber plantations as well, and large quantities
of cocoa are also produced. Rice, manioc* maize, and
cocoanuts we also cultivated.

LIBERIA is a Negro republic founded in 1820 for
the liberated slaves. The territory is undeveloped.
Monrovia is the capital.

GAMBIA is a small British Colony of only 4 sq.
miles ; but the Protectorate has an area of about 4,000 sq.
miles. The capital is Bathurst. The exports consist of
rubber, cotton, hides and ground-nuts.

SIERRA LEONE consists of another British Colony
and Protectorate. Its exports are rubber, palm oil and allied
products, Freetown is the capital and chief port; it is a
coaling station, and has a good harbour.

NIGERIA also consists of a British colony and a
Protectorate. Its chief products are rubber, palm oil, cocoa>
cotton, coffee, gum etc. The capital and chief port is Lagos.

GOLD COAST also consists of a British Colony
and a Protectorate. The chief exports are palm oil, rubber
and cocoa. The principal port is Accra.

ISLANDS OF AFRICA 485

French West Africa include all the territories from
Cape Blanco to the Congo, with the exception of those
under other European Powers. The principal units are
SENEGAL, with its capital of Fort Louis; Dahomex
with its capital of Porto Novo; and that indefinite terri-
tory known as FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA extending
upto the Nile Basin.

SAHARA is nominally a French possession. The
typical product of the oases is the date-palm.

LIBYA is the north-eastern part of the desert held
by Italy.

ISLANDS OF AFRICA

Madagascar is one of the largest islands in the world.
It is a French colony. The island consists of a plateau
in the centre, surrounded by coastal plains: It is
covered with dense forests, from which rubber is
obtained. Hides are exported. The capital is Antana
in the centre, surrounded by coasted plains. It is covered
with dense forests, from which rubber is obtained.
Hides are exported. The capital is Antananarivo.

Mauritius, St. Helena, and Ascension belong to
Britain. The French island of Reunion lies near
Mauritius.

CHAPTER III

Area.

Position.

Rocky

Mountain

System.

Central
Plains.

AMERICA

THE NEW WORLD

North America

Position and Size. — North America with Greenland
has an area of about 9% million sq. miles — rather more
than half -the size of Asia. Its position is best defined
by three lines of latitude and longitude: the Arctic
Circle runs through the north of the continent across
Alaska and Greenland; the Tropic of Cancer cuts
through the southern tip of California and the middle
of Mexico; and the longitude of 100 -W. passes through
the heart of the continent from north to south. The
coastline is longer relatively to area than that of either
Africa or Asia.

Physical Features. — North America falls into three
broad physical divisions : (a) The Rocky Mountain System
of the west is constituted by a series of Alpine fold moun-
tains and intervening plateaus. In the north there is the
Coast Range bordering the narrow and broken coastal
plains; then there is the Selkirk Range, and in between
the two are a number of small plateaus. Further east
is the Rocky Mountains. Between the Coast Range and
the Rocky is the Plateau of Yukon. In the middle
region of the System is the Coast Range bordering the
Pacific Ocean; then there is the Cascade Range and
the Sierra Nevada ; and farther east is the main mountain
chain of the Rocky. The Plateau of Columbia and the
Colorado Plateau lie in the intervening space. Farther
south lies the Plateau of Mexico, (b) The Central Plains

AMERICA

487

of North America are constituted by the lowlands round
the Hudson Bay in the north, the lowlands round the Gulf Eastern
of Mexico in the south, and in the west by the gradually Highlands*
rising plains adjoining the Rockies, (c) The Eastern

THE COALFIELDS OF NORTH AMERICA.

Highland are constituted by the Appalachian System of
Mountains and the Plateau of Greenland and the
Laurentian Plateau (or Plateau of Labrador).

Geology and Minerals.— The Rocky Mountain
System is formed by Alpine fold ranges and plateaus of
ancient rock formation. Naturally therefore it is associated
in places with various minerals such as gold in the Yukon,
silver in Mexico, and a variety of minerals in the United
States. Oilfields also occur on the flanks of the mountain
chains. The great 'Canadian Shield* is a mass of ancient
crystalline rocks, in many places highly mineralised; and
so a large number of minerals such as iron, copper, silver,
gold, cobalt, and nickel are found in that region also.

488

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Tempera-
ture
and
Winds.

Rainfall.

The Appalachian Mountains are also formed of ancient
rocks, and on the western side of them He the richest known
coalfields in the world. Important oilfields also occur on
the flanks of the Appalachians.

Climate. — The warm North Pacific Drift flows along
the west coast of North America, keeping it warm. The
west coast is also under the influence of the warm, moist
Westerly Winds (S. W. Anti-Trades) ; but the Rockies
act as an effective barrier and prevent them blowing inland.
The heart of the continent is, however, open to Arctic
influences in winter. The climate of the interior is con-
tinental. The south-eastern parts of the continent are
under the influence of the N. E. Trade Winds. Rainfall is
rather heavy on the northern part of the west coast and
the Pacific slopes of the Rockies, since the region lies in
the Westerly Wind Belt, and therefore has rain all the
year round. So also does the eastern sea-board, which is
under the influence of the N. E. Trades. But in the
interior precipitation occurs mainly in summer; while the
eastern half of this region has a fair share of rain, the
western half is exceedingly arid. A small part of the west
coast, however, has winter rain.

Area and
Population.

Position.

THE STATES OF N. AMERICA

CANADA is a British Dominion. It is over
3^£ million sq. miles in area and has a population of
about 10,400,000. It stretches from the Arctic Ocean on
the north to the boundary of the U. S. A. on the
south, and from the Pacific shores on the west to the
Atlantic shores on the east. Thus the whole territory is
entirely outside the tropics, and in this Canada offers a
sharp contrast to Australia, another British Dominion.. It
readily falls into the three broad physical divisions
enumerated above: there is the Rocky Mountain System

THE STATES OF N. AMERICA 489

in the west; farther inland is the great Central Plains; and
in the east are the Eastern Highlands, (a) The Rocky
.Mountain System roughly coincides with the province Western
of British Columbia. The whole region is mountainous; egwn'
the coastal areas are often deeply fiorded and separated by
narrow straits. Of the numerous islands that He in 'this
region Vancouver is the largest. It is a region of the S.
W. Anti-Trades, and thus receives abundant rainfall ; but
the distribution of rainfall is governed by topography with
the result that while the exposed mountains receive an
abundant supply of moisture, the sheltered plateaus and
valleys lie in their rain-shadow. The warm North Pacific
drift flows by the coast keeping it warm. The mountains
are often .covered with coniferous forests yielding good
quality 'pine, fir and cedar. Lumbering is, therefore, an Resources,
important industry in this region. But owing to the
mountainous nature of the country, the amount of land
available for settlement and cultivation is strictly limited.
But there are fine orchards, especially in the southern part
of British Columbia where the climate is comparatively
warm-; the chief fruits grown are apples, plums, peaches,
pears, cherries, and grapes. The older rocks of the plateaus
are often rich in minerals : copper is fairly abundant in the
cdastlands ; zinc and lead in the interior ; gold is also found :
there -were the famous Klondike Goldfields in Yukon in
the north,. The fisheries of the Pacific Coast are very
important (p. 154), and the tining of fish, especially of
.'sahnon, is an important industry, (b) The Central Plains
roughly coincide with the three 'Prairie Provinces' of
Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. But in the north
large tracts of land are covered by tundra, bordered on the
south by the great coniferous Forest Belt, Lumbering and
the gathering of pulpwood are naturally important in the
Forest Bert. Another industry particularly associated with
these forests is that of gathering furs from the animals of
the forests:; Imt these are now getting scarce, and animals

490 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

are now being largely reared for obtaining furs. The actual!
prairies lie south of the coniferous Forest Belt, and form
part of the enormous grassland of North America. The
soil is generally fertile, but the rainfall not sufficient every-
where. The eastern parts have a moderate rainfall, and!
constitute one of the best wheatlands in the world. The-
middle regions are drier, but still suitable for wheat. But
in the extreme west it is so dry 'that irrigation from the
streams of the Rockies has to be carried out even for raising
fodder crops; at present this is the principal cattle-ranching
area of Canada. Other crops of the prairie region are oats,
barley, and flax. Cattle-farming, poultry farming and allied'
industries are extensively practised, and the products ob-
tained from such industries are eggs, butter, ham etc. Canada
has often been described as 'the making of railways', and con-
sidering the rapid development of the prairies the description
seems quite justified.

(c) The Eastern Highlands include the Laurentian
Shield as well as the Maritime Provinces. The climate and
other notable features of the region covered by the basin of
the St. Lawrence River has already been noted (p. 67). The
prairies constitute the principal agricultural region of Canada,
while this is the main manufacturing region. The paper and',
pulp industry as well as the timber industry of the Dominion
is centred in Ottawa, the capital. Quebec is the chief seat
of the leather and cotton industries. Iron and steel indus-
tries are centred at Toronto, and there are some weaving;
mills here, too. Montreal has miscellaneous industires.
The ports of Canada have already been dealt with (p. 315).

Pdsition THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA extends

and from the Canadian borders on the north to the Mexican-

Extent. borders on the south, and from the Pacific coast on the-

west to the Atlantic coast on the east. It includes 48 states,.

and holds sway over Alaska, the Philippine' Islands and:

the -Hawaiian Islands. The whole territory of the* union*

THE STATES OF N. AMERICA

491

falls into three broad physical divisions: (a) The Rocky
Mountain System in the west, (b) The Central Plains, and

THE PHYSICAL REGIONS OF THE UNITED STATES.

THE OILFIELDS OF THE UNITED STATES.

492

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Relief,
Geology
and
Minerals.

Climate.

Columbia and Colorado ; in many places these ancient rocks
are naturally highly mineralised, and yield vast quantities
of copper, gold, silver, lead, sine, and aluminium; and along
the Alpine slopes, notably in California, lie a number of rich
oilfields. The Central Plains are largely composed of
sedimentary rocks, often associated with coal and oil.
The Appalachian Mountains in the east are also asso-
ciated in many places with various metalliferous minerals
and coal (for details Ch. VI-VIL). The United States
is the richest mineral producer in the world, and in this has
no rival except only the U. S. S. R. It is deficient only
in less valuable minerals such as tin, nickel, chromium, and

3F ..........

, O / """^-r /"YOMINcf

I ?• iHEV*<>AJ oofe 1..,

\\W^5BT
•^ >«4s f"'1'

THE METALLIFEROUS MINERALS OF THE UNITED STATES.

manganese. Some of these minerals are required for the
production of steel, and thus despite its large mineral
resources the U. S. A. is not wholly independent of foreign
supplies. The climate is, on the whole, continental: the
Rocky Mountain System almost completely cuts off the
westerly winds, and so also does the Appalachian System
with regard to the easterly winds. But on the north the
Central Plains are open in winter to Arctic influences.

THE STATES OF N. AMERICA 493

Nearly 43 per cent of the total area of the Union is under
forests, and both softwoods and hardwoods are fairly evenly
distributed over the forest regions. About 38 per cent of Vegetation,
the surface is classed as grassland, of which the Prairies
alone account for nearly five-sixth. Desert and semi-desert
lands cover about 14 per cent of the entire land surface,
and a little over 5 per cent is classed as scrubland. But
strangely enough the United States is now largely
dependent on foreign supplies of wood-pulp and paper.
These are obtained mainly from Canada. The vast Prairies
of the U. S. A. (and of Canada) were once the great haunt .
of bison and buffalo; but these have been nearly totally iife>
exterminated long since. The fisheries of the U. S. A. are,
however, of very great importance (p. 154). United
States is rather erroneously believed to be pre-eminently an
industrial country ; but the truth is that despite the Agriculture,
importance of its manufactures agriculture is still very
important, and it would be more accurate to describe it as
half agricultural and half industrial. The main agricultural
regions lie in the eastern half of the Union, where preci-
pitation is fairly abundant. The western half is too arid
for crops, are devoted to sheep-rearing and stock farming.
There are five main agricultural belts: (a) The Spring
Wheat Belt occupies the north-west of the agricultural
region; it is continuous with the Spring Wheat Belt of
Canada, (b) The Corn Belt lies south-east of the Spring
Wheat Belt, (c) The Corn and Winter Wheat Belt lies
south of the Corn Belt, (d) The Cotton Belt lies south
of the Corn and Winter Wheat Belt, (e) The Sub-Tropical
Coast Belt of sugar and rice lies along the Gulf of Mexico.
East of the Spring Wheat Belt lies the principal region of
mixed farming and dairying, and beyond the sheep-farming
lands of the west lies a small wheat belt and an area of
mixed farming in the north, and the grain and fruit belt industries,
in the south. (For production of crops see pp. 95, 149). The
leading industries of the U. S. A. are (a) food industries

494 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

such as meat-packing, fruit-canning etc., (b) textile
.industries, (c) 'metal industries including those connected
with ship-building, and (d) miscellaneous industries in-
cluding the motion-picture industry. The chief industrial
centres and ports have already been delt with (p. 293).
The United States now possesses more than a quarter of a
million miles of railway (p. 265), a million miles of metalled
roads (p. 261), and the largest airways (p.283).

MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA

MEXICO is quite a large country, but very much
trqubled by internal dissentions. The country is rich in
minerals, and more than 66 per cent of all the exports are
Jminerajja — mineral oil, silver* lead, zinc, and copper, to;
name only the principal ones. Other items of export consist
chiefly of agricultural products such as cotton and coffee
and some bananas. In return the country imports manu-
factured goods. About 90 p.c. of the export trade is with
the U. S. A. Mexico is the capital and principal city of
the republic.

The Central American Republics include Guatemala,
Hondurus, San Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and
Panama. These are small states, economically of little
importance, and largely undeveloped owing to frequent
revolutions..

Of the numerous islands of the WEST INDIES only
three are important — Cuba, Porto Rico, and Haiti. Cuba
has a large output of sugar and tobacco, and being in alliance
with the U. S. A. exports most of its products to that
country.

SOUTH AMERICA

Position and Size. — The continent of South America
Area* has an area ot some 7 million sq. miles. Its position is best

SOUTH AMERICA

495

Defined by three lines of latitude and one line of longitude:
the Equator passes through the mouth of the great River
Amazon ; the Tropic of Capricon cuts through the middle

THE PRINCIPAL PHYSICAL FEATURES OF SOUTH AMERICA.

of the continent ; the latitude of 50° S. passes a few degrees
north of Cape Froward, the most southerly point of the
mainland, the central meridian of the continent is formed by

496

ECONOMIC AND X^JMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Position.

Andean
System.

Central
Plains.

Eastern
Highlands.

Wind
Systems.

North-west
coast.

the longitude of 60°W. It is not always realized, however,
that the South American continent does not lie exactly south
of North America, — it is to the south-east of the latter. It
is a wedge-shaped land mass, tapering towards the south ;
more than two-thirds of the continent therefore lies within
the tropics. But for the narrow Isthmus of Panama, which
connects it with the North American continent, South
America would be the largest island in the world: the
Isthmus has, however, been actually cut through by the
Panama canal.

Physical Features. — The continent of South America
fals into three broad physical units: (a) The Andean
System of the west lies, like the Rocky Mountain System
of North America, close to the Pacific coast. The Andes
are a fold mountain system enclosing a number of plateaus
in the middle, but narrowing into one main range in the
south ; in the north the main range is broader, and ultimately
it branches out into at least four important subsidiary ranges
and one lesser range passing into the Isthmus of Panama*
Ar} extremely narrow coastal plain flank the Andean System
on the west, (b) The Central Plains lie immediately east
of the eastern slopes of the Andes, and consist of at least
four major divisions; in the north is the Basin of the
Orinoco River ; then there is the great Basin of the Amazon ;
farther south lies the Basin of the Parana-Paraguay Rivers ;
and in the south are the Argentine Pampas and the Pata-
gonian Plateau (desert), (c) The Eastern Highlands
consist of two great blocks — the Guiana Plateau in the north
and the Brazilian Plateau in the south.

Climate and Vegetation.— Only the southern third of
the continent lies in the S. Temperate Zone, by far the
greater part being tropical. The northern two-thirds is
under the influence of the Trade Winds — the N. E. and the
S. E. Trades ; and the southern third only lies in the N. W,
Anti-Trades Belt (North Westerlies). In the north-west

SOUTH AMERICA

497

of the Pacific coast the rainfall is governed mainly by Mon-
soon Winds in summer, and the region is covered by dense
evergreen forests. The climate being hot and humid and

WINTER
RAI

A GENERAL RAINFALL MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA

owing to the nearness of the sea, it is possible here to culti-
vate such crops as cocoa and sugar-cane. The rainfall is
progressively less and less towards' the south till at last one

498 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

reaches the long and extensive desert region in the centre of
the Pacific coast. This actually is the Chilean Desert,
regarded so important economically for its huge deposits of
nitrates and allied minerals. South of the Desert of Chile
the belts of the Trade Winds and Anti-Trade Winds meet,
and it is here that we find the Mediterranean region of
South America — in the neighbourhood of Valparaiso and
Santiago. Obviously it is a region of Mediterranean fruits
and wine. South of this lies the cool temperate region
traversed by the Westerlies. The rainfall is more or less
uniformly distributed all the year round, and the natural
vegetation is deciduous forest. But the region lies undeve-
loped for various reasons. It is similarly possible to sub-
divide the Andean Chain into a number of climatic areas :
portions of the Northern Andes He in the belt of the N. E.
Trades, and have copious rainfall. Here lies the fertile
valleys of the Cauca and the Magdalena, with their tropical
products; higher up the slopes grow such sub-tropical pro-
ducts as coffee; and it is sometimes possible to cultivate
temperate crops on the mountain ridges. The Central
Andes also lie in the Trade Winds Belt — partly in that of
the N. E. Trades and partly in that of the S. E. Trades.
The mountain chains have enclosed a plateau rich in certain
minerals. There are poor pastures here, and the facilities
for cultivation are limited. Southern Andes are essentially
a divide between the east and west, beyond the S. E. Trade
Winds Belt. The mountain chains, on the other hand, cut
off the N. W. Anti -Trades from blowing east into Patagonia.
The Central Plains fall into four climatic sub-divisions: in
the north is the Orinoco Basin lying on the right flank of
Central tlle N. E. Trades. It is a large grassy plain, often called
Plains. the Llanos. It is rather an undeveloped region yet. Then

there is the vast Amazon Basin, the largest region of equa-
torial forests or the Sdvas in the world. The whole of it
lies in the N. E. Trades Belt, and enjoys heavy showers all
the year round. The Amazon Basin is the original home

SOUTH AMERICA

499

of the rubber tree (p. 173). Enormous tracts of the
Amazon Basin are liable to floods, and the region still lies
little developed (pp. 19—26). The Basin of the Parana-

B R AZ ILIAN
HIGHLANDS

THE PRINCIPAL NATURAL REGIONS OF SOUTH AMERICA

Paraguay lies partly in the belt of the S. E. Trades ; it is,
on the whole, a temperate region, covered in the north by

500

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Eastern
High-lands.

warm temperate forests and in the south by grasslands or
Pampas, as they are called. The grasses have now largely
yielded place to crops, especially in the Argentine Republic.
South of the Pampas lies the dry, cool, temperate Desert of
Patagonia. It is in the rain-shadow of the Southern Andes,
and' very sparsely inhabited. A few sheep are, however,
kept here by the local inhabitants. The Eastern Highlands
fall into two climatic sub-divisions : the highlands of
Guiana and Venezuela lie in the N. E. Trade Wind Belt,
and are covered partly by the Selvas or Montana (etjua-
torial forests) and partly by savana or grassland. The
Brazilian Highlands are partly in the N. E. Trades. Belt, and
partly in the rain-shadow of the edge of the plateau itself,
which prevents the S. E. Trades from blowing inland ;. the
south-eastern coastlands, however, are under the influence
of the S. E. Trades. The vegetation therefore differs from
dense equatorial forests to scrub. There are warm tempe-
rate forests in the south, where the soil is of volcanic origin
and consequently rich. And this is naturally the best deve-
loped part of Brazil with its enormous production of coffee.

Amazon
Basin.

THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES

BRAZIL is the largest state of South America, With
an area comparable with that of Canada or the U. S. A. It
falls into three broad divisions: (a) The Amazon Basin,
as already noted, is the largest equatorial region in £he
world, but little developed as yet. The only product of i^ote
obtained from this region is Para rubber; but the produc-
tion has diminished considerably owing to extensive exploi-
tation in the past. The Amazon, with its numerous tjj|>u-
taries, Affords practically the only means of communication
with the interior. The river is navigable by ocean-going
vessels of 10,000 tonnage up to a thousand miles from Its
mouth. Manaos is the collecting1 centre for rubber from

THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES 501

the forests, und ocean-going vessels ply between this collect-
ing centre and the port of Para a£ the mouth of tht* Amazon,
(b) The Brazilian Highlands are believed to be rich in
minerals, but the output at present is quite small. The
coastal tracts, extending from the port of Para to Sao Paulo,
are, however, fairly developed. The climatic conditions over
this long but narow sub-region -are' naturally rather varied ;
in the north the climate is equatorial, in the south tropical;
but everywhere it is tempered by oceanic influences. A
corresponding variation in the products is also obvious: the
chief crops of the north are cotton, sugar-cane, rubber,
cocoa, maize, and manioc; those of the south are coffee and
cotton. Half the world's total coffee is produced in the
region around Sao Paulo (p. 135). , (c) The Parana-
Paraguay Basin occupies the southern portion of Brazil,
which adjoins the territory of Uruguay. The chief product Parana-
is mate tea; and this is the great cattle farming area of Paraguay
Brazil. The capital and chief1 port bf the republic is Rio de
Janeiro. Farther south lies Santos, the chief coffee port.
Pernambuco and Bahia or San Salvador are the ports
of the northern part of the coastland along the Brazilian
Highlands. Rio Grande do Sul, Pelotas, and Porto
Alegre are minor ports along the coast of the Parana-
Paraguay Basin; all these are accessible by vessels of small
draught because of a bar at their entrance. The main line
of inland communication is the great Amazon system ; but
most of the ports are connected by rail with the centres of
production near by. The principal system of railways,
however, is around Sao Paulo; there is thus direct railway
communication between Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and
Santos, and the system is linked with that of Uruguay. The
inhabitants of Brazil number about 43-3 millions; they are
mainly -of Portuguese descent, but there are large numbers
of immigrants chiefly from Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria,
and Russia. The native Red Indians are in hopeless
minority. The principal items of export are coffee, sugar,

502

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES 503

cotton, leather, cocoa, meat, and rubber. And the imports
consist mainly of machinery, iron and steel, wheat, cotton
goods, and coal. The balance sheet of the foreign trade is
extremely unsteady; in 1923 the imports were valued 4t
£50-5 million, while the value of exports in the following
year (1924) was £95-1 million. During the quinquen-
nium of 1926-30, again the exports were valued at £10-1
million more than the imports, while the quinquennium of
1931-35 shows an adverse balance of £22-3 million.

ARGENTINA is said to be the most progressive
state of South America. It occupies the greater part of the Parana-
south, and has large tracts suitable alike in soil and climate Basfif"^
for wheat. In the north it includes a part of the Parana-
Paraguay Basin, covered largely by Tropical Forests, and
not yet much developed, the only products being mate and
tannin. Then there is the rich grassland region, centred
mainly on the La Plata River, the main estuary of the
Parana-Paraguay, with a rather varied type of climate; the
warmer and damper north-eastern parts of this region are Grass-land
suitable for maize and flax, the more temperate south-eastern eglon*
parts eminently suited to wheat; this is also the principal
tattle-farming and sheep-rearing region of South America;
and Argentina, besides being one of the great granaries of
the world, is also one of the principal exporters of meat to the Mediterra-
great industrial countries of Europe. Lying between the "eari
grassland region and the Andes there is, again, a small area
adjoining the Mediterranean lands of South America, and it
serves as the fruit farming and wine producing region of the
republic; some sugar, cotton, tobacco, and hemp are also
produced in this warm sheltered region. South of the grass-
land, however, stretches the cool temperate desert of Pata-
gonia, once believed to be of little economic value. But on
the comparatively grassy slopes of the Andes there are
rough sheep pastures; and what is more important, small
oilfields have recently been discovered in the desert tracts

504

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Towns.

cations.

Population.

Foreign
Trade.

Products,
etc.

including the Andean chain. The capital and chief port is
Buncos Aires on the River Plate ; it lies in the region of
the wheatlands of the Republic. Other ports of this
region are La Plata, Rosario, and Bahia Blanca, all of
which, including Buenos Aires, have been provided with
artificial harbours. Tucuman is the seat of the sugar
industry, and Mendoza of wine industry. The Argentine
is rather well served by railways. The Chile-Argentine
Railway (p. 266) connects Buenos Aires with Valparaiso
(Chile), and a great network of railways join all the inland
centres of production with the leading ports. Moreover, the
Parana and Paraguay are — or have been made — navigable
through Argentina to the state of Paraguay. The population
of Argentina is 12 '2 millions, consisting mainly of the des-
cendants of the early Spanish settlers ; but in recent years
there has been a large influx of immigrants chiefly from
Italy. The native Red Indians are as usual in hopeless
minority, and they live chiefly in the northern tropical
forests. The principal items of export are wheat, maize,
beef, linseed, hides and skins, butter, mutton, and wool. The
foreign trade of the Republic has been showing a steady
increase in value since the closing decades of the last cen-
tury: the export trade has expanded nearly four times
during the last three decades or so, the import trade has
multiplied nearly five times. But all through this long
period the balance sheet has never recorded an adverse
trend, — there has always been an excess in the value of
exports over imports.

PARAGUAY lies mainly between the Parana and
Paraguay Rivers. It is quite a small republic north of the
Argentine, and occupies a part of the tropical forests of
that republic as well as a small stretch of grassland
on the east of the Brazilian I Plateau. The chief exports
are tobacco, mate (Paraguay tea), organges, timber,
and skins. Timber, however, is the chief commercial

THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES 505

product, and cotton has made a good beginning. The capital
is Asuncion, on the Paraguay River; it is accessible to
small ocean-going vessels. The state is still very undeve-
loped and sparsely peopled, and the population consists
mainly of Red Indian and half-castes of Spanish descent.
There is railway communication between Asuncion and
Buenos Aires (Argentina).

URUGUAY is another small republic; it lies
between the La Plata estuary and Brazil. In general
characters it resembles the rich grasslands of the Argentine.
The principal products are maize and wheat; some linseed is
also grown; and large areas are devoted to cattle farming.
The chief items of export are wool, meat, and hides and
skins; wheat and flour and linseed also enter into the export pr<xiucts
trade. The country has been rapidly developed, and the etc.
balance of the foreign trade is in favour of the republic. The
capital and chief port is Monte Video, which has a finer
harbour than Buenos Aires (Argentina), and the harbour
has been considerably improved. Fray Bentos and
Paysanclu are meat-packing towns on the Uruguay. There
are railways linking Monte Video with the meat-packing
centres.

CHILE occupies a long narrow portion of territory
on the west of the Andean Chain. It readily falls into three Natural
well-defined regions : (a) The Northern Desert ( Atacama Re£ions-
Desert) is economically valuable for various minerals,
especially nitrates, copper, silver, and gold, (b) Mediterra-
nean Region occupies the heart of the country. The chief
products of this region are wheat, barley, and various frttits,
and also wine. Large tracts are devoted to cattle and
sheep, (c) The Forest Region of the south is essentially a
dairy farming and pastoral country. But the region is very
sparsely populated owing to extremely heavy precipitation
and the lack of suitable land for settlement. It is interesting
to learn that it is only in this region of Chile in the whole of

506

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Character-
istics
and
Resources.

Towns.

Communi-
cations.

South America that a small coalfield has been discovered.
The capital is Santiago, and its port is Valparaiso; both
of them are in the Mediterranean region of Chile.
Valparaiso is the main port for imports. Iquique and
Antofagasta, both in the Desert Region, are the leading
ports for export, the bulk of which naturally consists of
nitrate and guano. Nitrate of soda and copper together
constitute about 84 per cent, of the exports of the republic,
while nearly 67 per cent of the imports consists of various
manufactures. The balance of the foreign trade is in
favour of the country.

BOLIVIA is a large but rather undeveloped inland
state. Its western region is remarkable for the elevation of
the Plateau of Titicaca, comparable only to that of Tibet. It
is rich in minerals, especially tin, copper, and silver. Bolivia
is said to contribute nearly a quarter of the world's total out-
put of tin, and the wealth of the country comes almost solely
from its minerals. The eastern region gradually slopes down
to the Amazon Basin, and has the same type of vegetation on
the whole. The population is about 3 millions, nearly two-
thirds of which consists of Red Indians. The capital is
La Paz, situated in the plateau region near Lake Titi-
caca. But Sucre on the east is the legal capital. Bolivia
has no port and no coast-line. But La Paz has direct rail-
way communication with the port of Arica (Chile) ; this is
the shortest sea-connection, although the minerals are some-
times exported also through the Chilean port of Antofagasta
or the Peruvian port of Mollendo. The natural outlet of the
eastern region of Bolivia is through Brazil by river or through
Argentina by railway. Beyond the Andes, however, there
is a large tract of territory in the Gran Chaco, for the
possession of which Bolivia and Paraguay waged a long but
indecisive war from 1932 to 1936, because the region is
believed to be rich in oil.

• PERU lies north of Chile, and falls into three divi-
sions : (a) Th& arid coastal region where cotton and sugar*

THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES 507

canes are grown on tracts irrigated by the waters of the Natural
Andean rivers; (b) The Sierra, an agglomeration of valleys an?0*18
and tablelands enclosed by the Andes, where the only crop is products.
quinoa, a native cereal, if occasional barley and other crops
be left out of consideration; (c) The Montana on the
eastern slopes of the Andes, where the only notable product
is rubber. But the Andean region is rich in minerals,
especially copper and silver; some oil is also obtained from
the northern part of the coastal strip and here we find the
llama and the alpaca yielding valuable wool, and the llama
also serving as a transport animal. The capital of the
republic is Lima, and its port is Callao. Mollendo,
though in Peru, serves mainly as the port for Bolivia. The
principal items of export are sugar, petroleum, metals and
ores, llama, vicuna and wool.

ECUADOR is a small country north of Peru, and
lies across the Equator ; hence the name of the country. The £eg;ons
country falls into two broad divisions : (a) a costal strip and
producing cocoa as the chief commercial product ; and Resources*
(b) the Andean plateau which covers the greater part of the
country. Another important product is mineral oil. The
capital is Quito, almost on the Equator, but being on a
height of 9,000 feet it is the abode of perpetual spring.
The principal port is Guayaquil.

COLOMBIA lies north of Equador, at the northern
end of the principal chain of the Andes. The coastal plains Regions
and the main valleys lie between the Andean Chains. The ^
most notable of the valleys are those of the Cauca and
Magdalena. The climate is equatorial, and the chief pro-
ducts are cocoa, sugar, cotton, and bananas. On the slopes
of the mountain spurs grow coffee and maize; on higher
elevations, wheat. The mountainous tracts are rich in
minerals, including gold and silver; and important oilfields
have recently been discovered near the coast. The capital
is Bogota, and the leading ports are Cartagena and

508

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Regions

and

Resources.

Regions

and

Resources.

Divisions.

Baranquilla. Medellin is a large mining centre on the
Andes. The Magdalena and Cauca severe as the main
highways.

VENEZUELA lies north-east of Colombia, and
consists of a number of natural regions : (a) The Coastal
Plains of the north are important for cocoa and sugar, and
the recently discovered oilfields around the shallow gulf of
Maracaibo. (b) The Coastal Range, actually an offshoot
of the Andes, where the chief products are coffee and
maize, (c) The Llanos or grassy plains of the Orinoco
Basin is a region sparsely peopled but largely devoted to
cattle and horses, (d) The Guiana Highlands arc still in
an undeveloped stage. The capital of the republic is
Caracas, and its port is La Guayra. There is railway
connection between the two. Valencia is another inland
town, and its port is Puerto Cabello; these two are also
connected by rail. With the increase in the output of oil
the country has been developing rather rapidly; about
75 per cent of the total export has consisted of oil since 1926 ;
prior to that coffee was the leading export. The foreign
trade has been showing a progressively favourable balance
since 1923.

THE GUIANAS lie east of Venezuela. The region
is believed to be rich in minerals especially gold and
diamonds, but the output at present is small, and the whole
region still lies in an undeveloped state. It is divided into
a region of lowlands and a region of plateau. The
minerals are from the plateau regions, while the agricultural
products such as sugar, rice, and cocoa are the products of
the lowland regions. The capital of British Guiana is
Georgetown; that of French Guiana, Cayenne; and
Paramaribo is the capital of Dutch Guiana or Surinam,

TRINIDAD is a small island off the mouth of the
Orinoco River. It is a British possession, and the largest
producer of petroleum in the British Empire. There is the

THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES 509

famous pitch lake, from which pitch or asphalt is obtained
for road making.

THE FALKLAND ISLANDS, to the east of the
Straits of Magellan, also belong to Great Britain. The
•climate is damp and foggy, and the rearing of sheep and
cattle forms the chief occupation of the people. The island
•of South Georgia is an important whaling base.

STUDIES AND QUESTIONS

1. What are the main sources of exportable commodities in
Chile, Argentina, and Brazil? The main exports of these countries
show contrasts largely dependent on climatic differences in the three
areas.' — Elucidate this statement.

2. Give a general description of the Amazon Basin. What
possibilities of commercial development the region may have?

3. Give an account of the foreign trade of South * America.

4. Discuss the nature of trade between India on one side and
South American states of Brazil, Argentina, and Chile on the other.
In what way do you expect this trade to be modified in the near
future? (C. U., B. Com.' 35).

CHAPTER IV

Area.

The sub-
continent
of India.

Bharata-
barsha.

INDIA

The Sub-continent

Introductory. — India is a sub-continent with a total
area of 1,542,600 square miles — almost the same size
as that of China, perhaps the only other true sub-
continent on the face of the earth. But she is a sub-
continent not for her size; for there are many countries in
the world with far vaster areas than India can ever boast of.
True, the country is full of contrasts both in physical
features and in climate, and she is also a vast ethnological
museum. But there are several countries in other parts of the
world with as varied — or nearly as varied— characteristics,
and yet none of them, except only China, can be regarded
as a true sub-continent. We are so prone to take the
word 'sub-continent' lightly or as a mere poetical metaphor
that4 even to us, sons of the soil, the true geographical
nature of our mother country remains obscure. But it
was no sealed book to our forefathers. With their keen
perception they could readily grasp the geographical nature
of the mother country, and called her 'Bh&rata-barsha,'
which meant (for it can scarcely be said to mean to us
to-day) the 'Sub-continent of Bharata', the term 'barsha'
meaning precisely the same thing as is indicated by the
word 'sub-continent/ Like the words 'continent/ 'country/
'peninsula', etc., sub-continent also denotes a definite
geographical conception. A region which resembles a
continent in its varied features but at the same time
exhibits a synthesis of them like a country is called a 'barsha'
or 'sub-continent/ It is no mere poetical expression for

INDIA 511

the vastness and varied features of a region ; it is a definite
geographical term. Even a casual glance at a physical map
of India will convince one of the fact that "there is no Underlying

part of the world better marked off by nature as a region

by itself ..... It is a region, indeed, full of contrast, in features.
physical features and in climate, .... but the features that
divide it as a whole from surrounding regions are too clear
to be overlooked/1 These physical contrasts, however, are
fully reciprocated in the varied characteristics of India's vast
population. Every provincial race resembles a distinct
nation in India as do the various nationalities of a continent.
The Bengalis, for instance, are so different from other
provincial races of India in tradition, language, manners
and customs as to deserve treatment as a distinct nation. Nation.
But at the same time they draw from the common reservoir
of tradition and culture as do all other provincial races, and
therein do they exhibit the common characteristics of the
great Indian nation. The type of national unity manifest
in the common tradition, culture and history of a nation
to be found in the national characteristics of the Englishman
or the Frenchman, for instance, is by no means lacking
in India. And yet each of our provincial races is comparable
in respect of national consciousness, tradition, history,
culture, language — in fact in all the factors that go to
constitute a distinct nationality — with the nations of different
countries like England, France, etc. To overlook these
points is to misread and mis-interpret India and the Indian
nation altogether.

Physical Features.— India is bounded on the north
and north-west by a vast mountain rampart. There are
the lofty Himalayas and Karakoratn ranges guarding her
northern frontiers ; on the north-west are the Sulaiman
and Khirthar Mountains. Then there are the western
deserts and the eastern mountain chains and valleys.
Elsewhere she is bounded by the Indian Ocean, the

512

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Central
Plain.

1&eccan
Plateau.

<5eology.

Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. South of the
mountain ramparts is the vast Plain of Hindoostan
formed by the basins of the three great rivers of Northern
India — the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra. '.' Penin-
sular India is a vast tableland, bordered on the north
by the Vindhya and the Satpura Mountains and by the
Western and Eastern Ghats, on the west and east
respectively. The junction of the two Ghats is formed
by the lofty Nilgiris. The mountains of Peninsular
India, however, are actually the different edges of the
great plateau. Traversing the plateau are various
rivers — the Narbada, Tapti, Godavari, Krishna, Cawvcry and
Mahanadi. The rivers of Northern India are fed by the
melting snows of the Himalayas and ensure a constant-
supply of water that can be used for irrigation. In their
lower courses they traverse broad flat plains of very fertile
alluvium, and are generally navigable for considerable
distances. The rivers of Peninsular India, however, rise
in the hills of the plateau and are fed by the periodical rains
only. Many of them go dry during the dry season, and
none of them are navigable for long distances. Moreover,
their valleys are not very suitable for irrigation.

Geology and Minerals. — The close correspondence
of the principal physical features of India with the
geological structure of the land is obvious. The moun-
tain rampart of the north consists mainly of folded
sedimentary rocks of the Alpine age. The great plain of
Hindoostan is composed entirely of alluvium, and so are
also most of the coastal plains. The plateau of Peninsular
India, however, consists mainly of pre-Catnbrian crystalline
rocks resistant to later Alpine folding. Nearly the whole
o£ the north-west of the plateau is covered by thick sheets
of lava, and the Deccan lava region is one of the most
extensive lava regions in the world. The island of Ceylon,
although politically outside the 'Indian Empire/ is struc-
turally a detached mass of the Deccan Plateau;

INDIA 513

India, however, is vaguely supposed to be rich in Minerals,
mineral resources; but the truth is that her mineral wealth
is only 'tolerably abundant*. Coal is, no doubt, of wide
distribution ; but the most productive coalfields are in the
region between Bengal and Bihar, especially in the valley
of the Damodar River which lies in the larger basin of
the Hooghly. Nearly 90 per cent, of the actual output of
coal comes from this region. The principal coalfields are
those of Jhcria, Raniganj, and Daltonganj. For a long time
Raniganj was the chief centre ; but it has now been eclipsed
by Jheria. Other important coalfields lie in the Deccan such
as those of Utnaria, which lies east of Jubbulpore in Central
India ; of Warora, in the valley of the Wardha river in the
C. P. ; and of Singareni, in the state of Hyderalrad.In Assam
and the Punjab there are deposits of lignite and brown coal.
The total output of coal at present is about 20 million tons
a year. Iron ore is also of wide distribution. The principal
iron-fields are in the district of Singhbhum, Bihar ; at
Barakar, near the Raniganj coalfield; and in the state of
Mayurbhanj, Orissa. The ores of Singhbhum are of
excellent quality (hematite) and often yield more than 60
per cent, of pure iron. Magnetites are obtained in Chota
Nagpur. The total output of pig-iron is well over a million
tons a year, and that of steel is about a million tons. India
is definitely poor in mineral oil. The principal oilfields
are at Khaur in the Punjab, and Digboi in Assam. The
refineries of the Punjab are, however, at Rawalpindi.
But India is the second largest producer of manganese
(after the U. S. S. R.) in the world. The mineral is
widely distributed in the Deccan plateau. The bulk of
of the output is from Madras and the Central Provinces ;
Sandur in Madras is the largest producer. The annual
output of golA is between 300,000 and 400,000 ounces,
and nearly the whole of it is from the Kolar goldfield
of Mysore. Silver and lead are practically non-existent
in India proper. Copper is obtained mainly from the

514

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Basic
facts.

Singhbhum district of Bihar; the copper deposits of the
Himalayas are not worked now. Mica is also of wide
distribution in the plateau region; the most important
fields are in the Nellore district of Madras. Chromite
is obtained mainly from Singhbhum, Baluchistan, and
Mysore. The Salt Ranges of the Punjab are the principal
source of rock-salt in India.

Climate. — The Tropic of Cancer, we have seen, cuts
through India from west to east, so that while one half of
the sub-continent lies in the Temperate Zone, the other half
is located in the Torrid Zone. Yet India is commonly

•B Above 10" o,
BS5"/o 10"
%P 2 to 5"

QM / to 2"
O Under/"

WINTER RAIN AND WINDS

regarded as a tropical country. In summer the sun is
vertical — or nearly vertical — over a large part of the country,
which in consequence gets very hot: at this season the
Punjab plains are among the hottest regions of the world.

INDIA

SIS

But this heat generates various low-pressure centres over

the plains of the Punjab, and thus draws in cooler winds Temperature

from the sea. As a consequence of this other parts of

India are not as hot as it should be. The July average for

north-west India is considerably above 90°F; in north-east

Bihar and north Gujarat it is between 85° and 90° F.

Towards east and south temperatures are lower: in Bengal

and Central India it is between 80° and 85°F; in Bombay

and adjoining tracts the temperature is between 70° and

ED 10 fo 30*
ED Underlet

SUMMER RAIN AND WINDS

80° or even lower. Madras, however, has higher tempera-
tures (80°-85°) as the winds there blow from the land. In
winter, on the other hand, when the sun is considerably
south of the Tropic of Cancer, it is cooler and cooler from
south to north: the January average for the Punjab plains
is between 40° and 60° F; over the greater part of Central

516 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

India it is between 60° — 70° F, in Bombay, Hyderabad,
Mysore and the adjoining regions it is be ween 70° and
75° F; in Madras, however, the temperature rarely sinks
below 75 °F. India lies in the North-East Trade Wind
Belt. These winds, however, begin to blow over the country
from the last week of October or so and continues till
Rainfall. February or March. These are what are commonly
described as the North-East Monsoon. About May or June
the land mass of Northern India, however, gets very hot,
and the low pressure centres thus generated draw in the
South- West Monsoon from the Indian Ocean, and India
receives most of her rainfall from these winds. The direction
of the winds as well as the distribution of rainfall is, how-
ever, governed by topography. The actual distribution of
rainfall is shown in the accompanying maps.

Natural Vegetation. — Combining the above facts we
may easily divide the country into a number of vegetation
belts :

(a) Evergreen Forests occur in areas having more
than 80" of rain annually, i.e., mainly along the slopes of
the Western Ghats, the eastern Himalayas up to 5,000 ft.
and in Assam.

The lowlands of such areas of heavy rainfall have largely
been cleared of their natural vegetation, and are now
generally under rice ; but these equatorial or semi-equatorial
forests are still found on the hills as, for instance, on the
slopes of the Western Ghats, in the wetter areas of the
Himalayas up to 5,000 feet, and in Assam.

(b) Monsoon Forests naturally are found in areas
having more than 40" of rainfall annually. The trees are
deciduous and hard-wooded, and they shed their leaves in
the hot season. The two most useful trees of such forests
are the sal and the teak. The teak is now obtained mainly
from the western parts of Peninsular India, the sal from the

INDIA 517

north-east of the Deccan and the lower slopes of the
Himalayas.

(c) Scrubland occurs in regions with less than 40" of
rain annually. The few trees that grow in such a region are
generally very thorny. The cutch is the most useful tree;
from it a yellow dye is made.

(d) Desert and Semi-Desert tracts are found in areas
having less than 20" of annual rainfall. The characteristic
plants have thick fleshy stems to store up water and ex-
tremely long roots to reach underground moisture.

(e) Mangrove Forests grow in the river deltas and
along the sea-coast where it is flat and muddy. The Sundar-
bans of the Ganges delta are typical mangrove forests.

(f) Grassland is rare in India; small areas of grassland
are found on the hills of the Monsoon Forests.

(g) Mountain Forests of evergreen trees like those of
Temperate lands are found on the Himalayas above 3,000
feet and on the mountainous tracts of the Deccan above 5,000
feet. Some of the trees belong to the oak species (broad-
leaved), some to the coniferous type (needle-shaped pine).

(h) Alpine Vegetation represented by short grass and
small bushes grow on the higher elevations of the Himalayas,
up to about 18,000 feet (snow-line), beyond which it is the
abode of perpetual snow.

Agriculture.— India is essentially an agricultural
country. More than 85 per cent of the population depend
directly or indirectly upon agriculture for their subsistence.
The total area of British India, including Burma,1 is
667,610,000 acres. It is classified as follows:

Net area sown .. 34 p.c. Waste .. .. 22-5 p.c.

Fallows .. .. 7-5 „ Not available ..23 „

Forest .. ..13

1 Complete statistics for India exclusive of Burma are not avail-
able yet. Many of the native states, again, do not supply any
statistics.

518

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Conditions

Production.

Areas of
Production.

Conditions

Production.

Areas.

The total area of the native states, which supply statis-
tics, is 134,312,000 acres. It is classified as follows:

Net area sown .. 47-6 p.c. Fallows .. ..10 p.c.

Record is thus available for a total area of 323,500,000
acres (cropped land). The principal crops are thus distri-
buted on this area :

..6-1 p.c.
.. 6-7 „
.. 0-7 „
.. 3-6 „
.. 2-0 „

Food grains
Rice

76-5 p
25-7

Oil-seeds
Cotton

Wheat ..

9-1

Jute

Barley

2-5

Fodder

Millets

19-7

Others

Maize

2-4

Gram

6-2

Other grains anc

pulses

10-9

Sugar

0-9

Other food crops

3-5

Total food crops

80-9

Total non-food crops 19-1

Rice is thus the most important food grain of India. It
is wholly a 'wet-region crop', grown mainly on flat alluvial
soil where rainfall is abundant. Where, however, the annual
precipitation is below 40" it can scarcely be grown except on
irrigated land. The principal areas of rice production in
India proper in the order of their importance are Bengal,
Madras, Bihar, Central Provinces, Orissa, Assam, Bombay,
Sind, and Hyderabad.1 In India proper it is grown almost
wholly for local consumption ; India's export of rice is almost
entirely from Burma.

Wheat is the principal food-grain in the drier parts of
Northern India. In our country it is a winter crop, sown
after the rains and the harvest is gathered just before the
heat of summer commences. The principal areas of produc-
tion in the order of their importance are the Punjab, U.P.,
C.P., Bombay, Gwalior, Rajputana, Hyderabad, Sind, Bihar,
and the Frontier Province. A small surplus is sometimes

yield.

1 These are according to acreages, not necessarily according to

INDIA 519

available for export. Before the last Great War Indian
wheat had a ready market in Europe; but after the conclu-
sion of the War things were totally reversed: there was an
enormous increase in yield of wheat in other exporting
countries, and many of the importing countries readily took Export,
to its cultivation — often under the protection of subsidies
and tariff walls. Thus there set in a fall in the demand for
Indian wheat. At present the principal customers of Indian
wheat are the Straits Settlements, Kenya, Aden, and Arabia.
Since in India wheat is harvested when most of the countries
begin to sow it, many of the importers are often forced by
circumstances to buy from India. But, again, India some-
times is also forced to import some wheat from other pro-
ducers, especially from Canada and Australia.

Barley is very nearly co-extensive in its distribution with
wheat. It is also a winter crop in India. The chief pro- Barley,
clucers in the order of their importance are the U.P., Bihar,
Punjab, N.W.F.P., and Bengal.

Millet actually ranks second among the food-grains. It
is the staple food in nearly all the drier parts of the country.
It can be cultivated even without irrigation in areas having
an annual rainfall of 20". Where, again, the rainfall is above Millet.
40" it does not grow. There are three principal varieties of
millets in India — cholitm or jowar, cumbu or bajra, and
rayi or mania. The largest acreages are in C.P., Hyderabad,
Madras, Bombay and U. P.

Maize flourishes in areas having moderate rainfall.
In the dry regions it is found in association with millets, in Maize-
the wetter regions with wheat. But it does not grow in areas
having more than 60" of rainfall annually. The principal *
areas under it are in the Punjab, U.P., and Bihar.

Pulses, including gram, peas and beans, are cultivated Pulses,
throughout the country.

520

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Spices.

Sugar-cane.

Tea.

Tea

Restriction

Scheme.

Coffee.

Indigo.

Tobacco.

Cotton.

Spices are cultivated mainly in the south — in Madras,
Malabar, Travancore and the Western Ghats especially.

Sugar-cane is steadily growing more and more import-
ant, and the area under it in India is larger than that in any
other country of the world. The largest concentrations are,
however, found in the Punjab, Bihar and in the Upper
Ganges Valley.

Tea is grown on the hill slopes of Assam, Darjeeling,
Dehra Dun, the Nilgiri Hills. Great Britain is the principal
customer of Indian tea, and it is from there that tea is re-
exported to different parts of the world, including Eire,
Germany, Netherlands, U.S.A., and Canada. Owing mainly
to over production the price of tea fell in 1932, and the
representatives of the tea industry from India, Ceylon, and
Java voluntarily entered into an agreement to restrict its
export as well as the extension of acreages under it. This
is known as the 'tea restriction scheme/ It came into opera-
tion since 1st April, 1933, and was to continue for a period
of five years. In 1938 the agreement was renewed for
another five years.

Coffee was formerly important in Mysore, but a disease
of the plants has wrought havoc to its cultivation.

Indigo was similarly very important in the Ganges
Valley, but it can now be synthetically prepared and this has
dealt a severe blow to the indigo plantations.

Tobacco is distributed in various parts, but the produc-
tion is not large.

Cotton is the most important non-food crop in India,
which now ranks second only to the U. S. A. as a producer
of this important fibre crop. It is a dry-region crop and
thrives best where the rainfall is less than 40" a year; but
the soil is no less important. And these are the factors that
have made the area of black soil in the Deccan lavas region

INDIA 521

Ihe best cotton ground of India. It is cultivated in Bombay,
C.P., the Punjab, Madras, U. P., Hyderabad, Bengal, and
Central India. Two main varieties are generally cultivated :
(a) the short-stapled Indian cotton, and (b) the compara-
tively long-stapled American cotton.

J'tttc is a plant of the low wet lands ; it is cultivated in
:the Lower Valley of the Ganges in Bengal; there are lesser *^u e*
^concentrations in Assam, Bihar, and Orissa. It is exported
in normal times to Germany, United Kingdom, the U. S. A.,
and France. Japan, Italy, and Brazil are also important
•customers of Indian jute. India also exports manufactured
jute to various countries, notably the United Kingdom,
Canada, Australia, Argentina, U. S. A., Japan, and Java.
But the cultivation of jute has raised serious problems in
Bengal, where large acreages formerly under rice have been
^displaced .by this fibre crop, which is generally in great de-
mand throughout the world mainly because "no cheaper
fibre is procurable for bagging agricultural produce." But
various substitutes are being tried now (p. 168), and this The Jute
united with the general Depression of recent years and the p-roblem-
•consequent manoeuvres of the capitalistic jute manufacturers
who have accumulated great stores of raw jute in the years
•of the Depression, has led to a fall in its demand. The revenue
«of the government has fallen considerably and the poor culti-
vators are in the direst misery. A careful scheme for the
regulation of jute cultivation as well as for the fixing of a
minimum price has therefore been urgently necessary. A
suggestion is generally put forward ; it is said that the culti-
vators should be made to grow rice and sugar-cane as a sub-
stitute. But the findings of the Bengal Jute Enquiry Com-
mittee are not hopeful ; the Committee have disposed of the
suggestion on the grounds that sugar-cane is not a season-
able crop (p. 125), and is easily perishable; moreover,
Abe sugar requirements of the province would require only a
small percentage of the total acreage now under jute.

522

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

Other crops. Other crops include rubber, grown mainly in Travan-
core, cocoanuts, concentrated along the coasts, various oil
seeds, cultivated all over the country, and hemp. Oil seeds
form an important item of export; the principal customers
are France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy,
and Britain.

The position of agriculture in India is extremely unsatis-
factory ; the yield per acre of nearly all the crops in India is
exceedingly low (p. 100). This is generally attributed to
(a) soil exhaustion, (b) the export of natural manures in
the form of oil-seeds, (c) uneconomic farming arising out of
subdivision and fragmentation of holdings due to current laws
of inheritance, and (cl) agricultural indebtedness and
poverty. And the whole system of causes generally operate
like a vicious circle.

Position of
Agriculture
in India.

Cotton
Industry.

Jute
Industry.

Silk
Industry.

Manufactures. — The most important manufacturing
industry of India is cotton weaving. The hand-loom
is still largely used throughout the country, although cotton
mills are steadily becoming more and more popular. The
principal seat of the cotton manufacturing industry is in
Bombay. There are cotton mills in various other provinces.
The important centres are Bombay, Ahmedabad, Surat,
Sholapur, Jalgaon, Broach, Nagpur, Madras, Coimbatore,
Cawnpore, and Calcutta. The jute industry is centred in
Calcutta and adjoining towns for obvious reasons just as the
cotton industry is centred mainly in Bombay. The silk
industry is widely distributed, the principal seats of
brocaded silk manufactures being in Bengal, the Punjab,
and Southern India, and of striped silk at Agra, Amritsar,.
Ahmedabad, Surat' and Benares. The principal silk-produc-
ing province, however, is Bengal, where the industry is
carried on in the Murshidabad, Malda, Rajshahi and
Birbhum districts. The next biggest producer is Mysore,
followed by Bihar and Orissa, C. P., Kashmir, Madras,
Assam, and the Punjab and U. P. Yet India imports

INDIA 523

much raw silk from China. The woollen industry is also Woollen
important ; the weaving of shawls is done mainly in Kashmir ; n llstry-
carpet-making primarily in the Punjab, Kashmir, and the
Central Provinces. Indian sugar industry is a new develop- sll}?ar
ment, now carried on mainly in Bihar and the United Pro- Industry,
vinces. The manufacture of iron and steel is in the hands
of the (a) Tata Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. at Jamsheclpur, (b)
Bengal Iron Co., Ltd., at Hirapur, (c) Indian Iron & Steel
Co., Ltd., at Burnpur, (d) LTnited Steel Corporation of Asia Industry.
(Monoharpur), (c) Mysore Iron Works (Bhadravati).
In the manufacture of paper the two leading pro-
vinces, Bengal and Bombay, are at par ; other pro-
vinces and states engaged in it are Madras, Travancore,
and the United Provinces. Besides Calcutta and Bombay
the other seats of the industry are at Chittagong,
Poona, Saharanpur, and Punalur (Travancore). The
possibilities of the paper-making industry in India
are not altogether bad from the point of view of raw
materials (p. 81). The principal centres of glass manu-
factures are at Bombay, Jubbulpore, Allahabad, Naini, n us ry"
Lahore, Ambala, Bijholi, and Calcutta. Various metal-
workings and the manufacture of pottery are included in the Other
list of 'cottage industries' ; and so also is the manufacture of industries,
certain types of glassware. In addition to all these there are
numerous flour mills in the Punjab, oil refineries in the
Punjab and Assam, saw mills in Assam, tobacco factories
in Madras.

Irrigation. — Irrigation is essential in the areas of
uncertain rainfall (Sincl, Rajputana, Punjab), or where the
rainfall is not well distributed as it largely is in Southern
India. Certain crops, on the other hand, require more water
than is supplied by the Monsoon.

The most important means of irrigation are the canals.
These may be Perennial Canals, or Inundation Canals, or
Storage Canals. Perennial Canals have water all the year

524

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

round as they draw from rivers having permanent flow of
water. These are in operation in the Punjab, U. P., and
Sind. Tn the Punjab alone there are six main systems:

LANDS IRRIGATED
BY LARGE WORKS

LANDS WITH
MANY TANKS

IRRIGATION IN INDIA.

(a) The Western Jumna Canal, (b) The Sirhind Canal
(drawing from the Sutlej River,) (c) The Upper Bari
Doab Canal (drawing from the Rabi), (d) The Lower
Chenub Canal, (e) The Lower Jhelum Canal, and (f ) The
Upper-Chenub-Lower Bari Doab Canal. An Inundation
Canal starts from the bank of a river so that when in the
flood season the river overflows water passes through the

INDIA

Canal, but in the dry season the canal also dries up. Where,
again, the rivers dry up for a part of the year as it largely is
in the Deccan, it becomes necessary to store up water across
valleys by means of dams in the dry season, and these may
be released through canals to irrigate the land. These are
called storage canals. This system is prevalent in the
Central Provinces and Bundelkhand. A tank is an artificial
storage to collect rain water for irrigation when necessary.
These are, however, liable to be dried up in the hot season.
This system is prevalent in Madras, Mysore, and Hyderabad.
Large tracts of the Punjab, U. P., Madras, Bombay and
Rajputana are irrigated by waters raised from wells ;
bullocks are often engaged to raise the water, but the use of
water-lifts and oil engines is spreading rapidly.

Natural Regions. — The three main topographical
units into which India is broadly divided are often sub-
divided into a number of 'natural regions* according to
climate and vegetation. The basic scheme outlined by
Stamp is shown in the accompanying map.

1. The Northern Mountains have been subdivided
into six units :

(a) The North-Eastern Hills. It is a region of ex- Northern
tremely heavy precipitation and dense equatorial or semi- Mountains,
equatorial forest.

(b) The Sub-Himalayan Region comprises the lower
slopes of the Himalayas up to about 5,000 feet and the foot-
hills. It is a region of heavy precipitation and sub-tropical
forest.

(c) The Himalayan Region. It begins from an eleva-
tion of 5,000 feet where significant changes in the character
of the vegetation are first observed.

(d) The Trans-Himalayan Region, comprising a small
fragment of the Tibetan Plateau within the borders of
Kashmir. It is a region of Alpine desert.

526

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

(e)
region

The North-Western Hills. It is an extremely arid
perfect antithesis to the North-Eastern Hills.

Rain in-winter as well as
^summer Mean Jan. temp,
below 55°

Moo-
ainfa
ryhot
and dry in
early summ
Mean Jan. tern
5°-<55

Arid
Lowland

Very heavy
Rainfall

Heavy Rainfall
sioerable Humidity

Moderate
RainPall

THE CLIMATIC REGIONS OF INDIA.

(f) The Baluchistan Plateau, lying in the main beyond
the range of the monsoon. It is also extremely arid.

2. The Plain of Hindoostan is subdivided into six
parts :

INDIA 527

(a) The Lower Indus Valley comprising the province Central
of Sind is a very dry alluvial plain. The rainfall is Plains,
extremely irregular.

(b) The Indo-Gangetic Valley West, comprising the
plains of the Punjab, is a dry alluvial plain with low rainfall.

(c)The Upper Ganges Valley, another alluvial plain,
with an average annual precipitation of below 40". It com-
prises the western two-thirds of the United Provinces.

(d) The Indo-Gangetic Plain East or the Middle
Ganges Plain is actually transitional in character, where
both wet zone and dry zone meet.

(e) The Lower Ganges Plain or the Deltas Region
comprising nearly the whole of Bengal is an alluvial plain
with a moist climate.

(f) The Brahmaputra Valley or Assam Valley is also
a moist plain.

3. The Plateau of Peninsular India or Deccan
Plateau is similarly sub-divided into three main regions, each The Deccan.
of which is again sub-divided into a number of smaller
regions :

(a) The Coastal Regions bordering the plateau fall into
four sub-divisions :

(i) The Gujarat Region, including Cutch, Kathiawad
and Gujarat proper, is actually the transitional link between
the dry Indus Valley and the Thar Desert on the one hand,
and the hot wet West Coast on the other. The region itself
is therefore moderately dry.

(ii) The West Coast Region comprises the narrow
coastal plains of Konkon and Malabar as well as the slopes
of the Western Ghats. The region is very humid.

(iii) The East Coast South which comprises the greater
part of the Karamandal Coast is a moderately wet region.
The rainfall occurs mainly in winter.

528 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

(iv) The East Coast North (Northern Circars) is also*
moderately wet, but the rainfall here occurs mainly in the
hot season.

(b) The Deccan Plateau (Peninsular India) is sub-
divided into three regions.

( i ) The Deccan Region comprises the southern elevated
portion of peninsular India. It is dry and barren.

(ii)77z£ Deccan Lavas Region comprises the north-
western part of the plateau. The climate is rather dry, but
the soil extremely fertile.

(iii) The North-Eastern Plateau comprises the Central
Indian Highlands, ChOta Nagpur Plateau, Eastern Ghats,
Mahanadi Valley (Chhattisgarh Plain) and the Godavari
Valley. The rainfall is moderate.

(i) The Thar Desert lies between the Aravalli Hills
and the Punjab Plains.

(ii) The Uplands of Rajputana lie between the Aravalli
Hills and the Vindhya Mountains. It is very dry.

(iii) The Plateau of Central India lies between the
Gangetic Plain and the lowland formed by the basins of the
Narbada and Son Rivers.

Principal Importers of Indian Commodities

Cotton (raw)

Jute (raw)

Jute (manf.)

Oilseeds

Tea

Hides & Skins

Japan (55 p.c.), U. K. (14 p.c.)

U. K. (25 p.c.), Germany (16-p.c.)

U. S. A. (32 p.c.)

U. K. (28 p.c.), Italy (16 p.c.)

U. K. (86 p.c.)

U. K. (67 p.c.), U. S. A. (16 p.c.)

Principal Exporters to India

Cotton manufactures .. U. K. (51 p.c.), Japan (43 p.c.)

Silk Manufactures .. Japan (73 p.c.)

Machinery . . ,v , .. U. K. (70 p.c.)

Iron & Steel .'." .. U. K. (58 p.c.)

INDIA

529

PRINCIPAL RAILWAYS OF INDIA WITH MAJOR PORTS
AND TRADE CENTRES

530

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

From
Calcutta.

From
Bombay.

From
Madras.

Communications. — India possesses some 300,000 miles
of roads, of which about 75,000 miles are metalled. The
railway mileage is over 41,000, and the principal railway
systems are:

1. The Eastern Bengal Railway which runs from
Calcutta to Assam, connecting there with the Assam Bengal
Railway which goes to Upper Assam and Chittagong.

2. The East Indian Railway connects Calcutta with
such centres as Allahabad, Cawnpore, Delhi and Ambala.

• 3. The Bengal Nagpur Railway runs from Calcutta to
Waltair and Nagpur and joins the G. I. P. R. to Bombay.

4. The Bombay, Baroda and Central Indian Railway
joins Bombay and Baroda with Delhi and Agra across
Rajputana.

5. The Great Indian Peninsular Railway connects
Bombay with Nagpur, Jubbulpore and Allahabad. It joins'
with the E. I. R. at Jubbulpore. At Raichur via Poona it
joitis with the M. & S. M. R. to Madras.

6. The Madras and South Mar hat ta Railway runs
from Madras to Vizagapatam and joins with the B. N. R.
to Calcutta, and with the G. I. P. R. to Bombay.

7. The South India Railway connects Madras with
Mangalore, Cochin, Tuticorin, Trivandrum and Dhanush-
kodi, which is the mail port for Ceylon.

Inland water transportation is becoming less and less
important. The principal channels of communication are,
of cdurse, the larger rivers of Northern India. Aerial
transportation in India has already been dealt with (p. 283).

Towns of India

Calcutta .
Bombay
Madras .
Hyderabad

according to population)

•» Port & jute manufacturing centre.

.. Port & cotton manufacturing centre

„ • Port & tanning centre.

*'• trading centre,

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