Category Geography

A government is any system in which an authority is exercised over the people. There are several different types of government. A liberal democracy is a style of government where there is more than one political party and the people vote for the party of their choice. A totalitarian government is a one-party state in which the state has total power. An autocracy is a form of government where power is in the hands of one person, or of the army.

In a liberal democracy, there is an election in which the people vote for the candidate of their choice. In France or the United States, people vote directly for the president as well as for members of parliament (MPs). In other countries, such as the United Kingdom, people vote for MPs. The political party with the most MPs forms the government. Under a system known as “proportional representation”, each party draws up a list of candidates and the people vote for a party, not an MP. Parties gain a percentage of seats depending on the number of votes they have.

Some liberal democracies, for example, the UK, Spain and Japan, are also monarchies. While the monarch is head of state, the government is run by elected members of parliament. Countries that do not have monarchs, for example, the USA, France and Russia, are called republics. Their head of state is the president.

The USA is a federal republic of 50 states. Each state has its own elected government that makes decisions on matters such as education and certain laws, while the government is in charge of national and international affairs. The United States government, known as Congress, is divided into two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. All congressmen are directly elected by the people. The head of the US state is the president, who is elected independently and is not necessarily a member of the majority party in Congress.

The countries of Europe have their own governments, but some are members of the European Union (EU). They agree to work together more closely, aiming to create a peaceful and prosperous Europe. The EU is run by the Commission, a body that is accountable to the Council of Ministers.

THE UNITED NATIONS

The United Nations (UN) was formed to prevent war and to foster good relations between nations. Set up in October 1945, at the end of World War II, the UN today is a worldwide organization with 185 member countries. Every member has a seat on the General Assembly. A body of selected countries forms the UN Security Council, together with five permanent members, USA, UK, France, Russia and China. This takes decisions at times of crisis. The UN sends troops from different countries to keep the peace between warring groups.

Other international organizations include the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Arab League and the Organization of African Unity (OAU). NATO was formed in 1949 to protect the West against possible attack from the then Soviet Union during the Cold War, a period of tension which lasted until 1989. The Arab League was formed in 1945 to promote co-operation between Arab countries. The OAU was founded in 1963. It provides a means for independent African countries to meet to discuss their political and economic problems.

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The world’s population has undergone a massive increase during the 20th century. In 1900 it stood at 1.6 billion. By the end of the century, it topped 6 billion, and is still increasing at a rate of 86 million people a year. According to the United Nations, world population will be at least 7.9 billion by 2020 and could reach 13 billion by 2050.

The world’s population is not evenly spread. Some regions, including Europe, eastern North America, India, China and Japan have a much higher density of people. Here there are many more industrial cities, or the land is intensively farmed.

Rapid population growth began in about 1800 with the onset of the Industrial Revolution. Then most of the increase was in Europe and North America as better health care and food resources became available. In 1900 most of the world’s largest cities were in these continents.

In the past century, about 97 per cent of this growth has taken place in the poorer countries of Africa, Asia and Central and South America, sometimes referred to as “the South”. Here, people have traditionally had a lot of children because they fear that many will not survive to be adults. The average fertility rate in Sudan, for example, is 5.7 babies per family, compared to 1.8 in Canada. Better health care, even in poor countries, means that today fewer children die of hunger or disease and fewer women die in childbirth. As a result, the populations of countries in the South now have large proportions of young people. Half of India’s population, for example, is under 30 years old. These young people are having children of their own, so the birth rate remains high.

Countries like China, the most populous country in the world, have taken steps to arrest the growth of its massive population. The government has introduced a policy of one child per family.

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The word “city” is generally used to describe a large and important town. Every country has a capital city, where its government is based. Other large cities have grown up around industries and the services that go with them, such as ports, shops, transport and offices.

Cities first developed in the ancient world, in those places where farming had become so efficient that not everybody had to work on the land. Some people became craft-workers, priests or teachers instead. The cities brought together many people with skills and new ideas. The emergence of cities marked the beginning of civilization (from the Latin civis, meaning citizen, a city-dweller).

Some cities developed from market towns, local trading centres. People came from the countryside to sell their produce at the market. If that town was favourably positioned – for example, at a place where a river could be bridged or near a natural harbor – it grew as more and more people came to live and work there.

The Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries provided a major boost for the expansion of cities. Large cities grew up around the new factories and ports, where jobs much better paid than in the countryside were on offer.

Cities have continued to grow up to the present day and some have become merged to become a super city or “megalopolis” where many millions of people live and work. The region of the eastern USA from Boston via New York and Philadelphia to Washington is an example of a megalopolis. Cities cover only 2 per cent of the world’s surface but use 75 Per cent of its resources. It is estimated that two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities by 2025.

The fastest-growing cities today are in the developing world. Many people from poor rural districts go to cities where they hope to find work and a better life. Home to 24 million people, Mexico City is one of the world’s largest cities. Cities with such large populations face serious overcrowding and high unemployment when work is short.

The world’s largest city is the supercity of Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan. Space for building is limited in this mountainous country, although some land has been “reclaimed” from the sea. Tokyo’s facilities, including its underground railway, hotels and swimming pools, for example, are often overcrowded.

The Italian city of Venice was built on islands in a shallow bay, called a lagoon, of the Adriatic Sea. The city has canals instead of streets, so you cannot take a car there. People travel in boats called gondolas or catch a water bus called a vaporetto. Venice was once an independent state with a ruler called a Doge. The Bridge of Sighs crossed from the Doge’s Palace to the prison.

New York in the United States of America is a city of skyscrapers. It was built on the island of Manhattan. Like other island cities such as Hong Kong, room to expand was limited, so the only alternative was to build upwards. New York is the largest city in the USA and the nation’s leading seaport one of the world’s leading financial centres is New York’s Wall Street.

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