GEOGRAPHY

CLASS: X

CHAPTER 1 ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY: SUBJECT MATTER AND RESOURCE

1. Who is the father of Economic Geography?

Answer: George Chisholm.

2. What do you understand by ubiquitous resources?

Answer: The natural resources that are found everywhere in the world are called the ubiquitous resources.

3. What is a localised resource?

Answer: Natural resources that are available in certain places are localised resource.

4. What is economic geography?

Answer: The branch of geography which studies human activities related to production, distribution, consumption and exchange of resources with respect to spatial and temporal aspects is called economic geography.

5. What are primary activities?

Answer: Activities by which people collect necessary items such as food, clothing, shelter, etc. from the natural environment and use them directly are called primary activities. 

6. What are secondary activities?

Answer: Activities by which people use raw materials supplied by the primary occupation and produce new goods or add value to the natural goods are called secondary activities.

7. What tertiary activities?

Answer: Activities that help in supplying the primary or secondary goods to the users and connect producers and consumers are called tertiary activities.

8. What are quaternary activities?

Answer: Activities that requires some degree of skill, intelligence, foresight, expertise, etc. are called quaternary activities.

9. What is a resource in economic geography?

Answer: A source of wealth, revenue, supply or support essential for the functioning of all living organisms and ecosystem is called resource. 

10. What are natural resources?

Answer: The resources which after natural formation remain distributed on earth are called natural resources.

11. What are man-made resources?

Answer: The various commodities produced from natural resources using modern science and technology by man are called man-made resources.

12. What is human resource?

Answer: The population of a country that is capable of making use of the resources efficiently and productively is called human resource.

13. What are biotic resources?

Answer: Resources that have life, e. g. fish, crops, etc. are called biotic resources.

14. What are abiotic resources?

Answer: Resources that do not have life, e. g. soil, water, etc. are called abiotic resources.

15. What are renewable resources?

Answer: Resources that do not get depleted on use and can be used again and again through the process of regeneration are called renewable resources.

16. What are non-renewable resources?

Answer: resources that get depleted on use and cannot be regenerated after use are called non-renewable resources. 

17. What are individual resources?

Answer: The things in possession of a person or an individual are called individual resources.

18. What are national resources?

Answer: Resources under the responsibility or possession of a country are called national resources.

19. What are international resources?

Answer: National resources belonging to different countries which are under the possession of the whole world are called international resources.

20. What do you understand by conservation of resources?

Answer: The process of preservation and judicious use of resources to achieve maximum utility, avoid wasteful consumption and misuse is called conservation of resources.

21. What do you understand by wealth?

Answer: All economic goods which can satisfy human wants and have value –in-exchange are known as wealth.

22. What is neutral stuff?

Answer: Materials found on earth that are in no way useful or harmful to man are known as neutral stuff. 

23. What is economic geography? What is its main subject matter? Mention the important branches of economic geography? (HSLC 2017)Answer: The branch of geography that studies the activity, space and time of people involved in the production, distribution, consumption and exchange of resources is called Economic Geography.

The principal subject matter of economic geography is the availability of resources, their development and utilisation. The main branches of economic geography are:

1. Agricultural geography                 

2. Industrial geography
3. Geography of resources                

4. Transport geography

5. Marketing geography                    

6. Geography of planning and development

7. Geography of tourism.

24. What is meant by resource? Mention its main characteristics.  (HSLC 2018)

Answer: All kinds of things that can satisfy various human needs are called resources. For example, the air, water, plants, soil, minerals, and sun heat found on earth are all resources. The three characteristics of resource are:
2. Functionality: It should have certain specific functions or usefulness. Thus, each resource has a unique use of its own.
3. Variability - The resource is variable. Today an object may not be used by humans, but in the future, the same material or object may be used for the welfare of human beings.

1. Utility - If an object is a resource, it needs to be useful to man. It should satisfy some of his needs required for his living.

25. Briefly discuss the relationship between resources and man.  (HSLC 2019)

Answer: The resource is the thing that can meet the needs of a person's daily life. Almost all the materials available on earth such as water, air, soil, plants, sunlight etc. are resources. People fulfil basic needs through these objects found on earth. People change the shape or size of the resource according to their own needs. With the increase of knowledge, people are creating new resources from natural resources. For example - people have made their own resources from the things found in nature, such as houses, roads, factories, vehicles. That is, there is a need for resources and the things or resources available in nature are the basis of the man-made resources. 

26. Briefly discuss the relationship between resources and science-technology. (HSLC 2019)

Answer: There is a close connection between resources and science technology. With the advancement of science and technology, many inactive substances or objects have become valuable resources. For example, coal or mineral oil were not considered a resource at one time because people did not know how to use them. But with the advancement of science and technology, humans have been able to convert coal and mineral oil into energy. As a result, they have become valuable resources. Similarly, the Damodar river in West Bengal was once considered a serious problem. But with the help of science and technology, when electricity is started to be built along the dam, it has become a valuable resource. So, it can be seen that there is a significant relationship between science and technology

27. Write in brief about the scope of economic geography.

Answer: Economic geography mainly deals with the distribution of human economic activity and the factors and processes involved in it. The scope of this study is mainly based on the following specific questions: 

1. Where is the economic activity located?

2. What are the characteristics of economic activity?

3. To what other phenomena is the economic activity related?

4. Why is the economic activity located where it is?

5. Would it not be better located elsewhere?

The first three questions mentioned above involve traditional economic geography. But the next two questions form the basis of modern economic geography. According to George Chisholm, the father of modern economic geography, the main purpose of economic geography is to determine the pace and direction of economic development of a place. According to the other two economic geographers C. F. Jones and G. G. Darkenwald, economic geography is associated with productive professions or activities. Also, why some particular regions move forward in production and some other areas move into the trade. That is, economic geography studies these relationships primarily with human productive functions and ecological conditions.

28. What do you mean by the economic activities of man? What are such economic activities?

Answer: Economic activity is the means of collecting the money needed to earn a living by linking people's productive activities with the environmental situation. Human economic activity is divided into four main categories:

1. Primary activities - The activities by which people extract resources from nature is called primary activity. Examples include farming, forestry collection, mineral resource collection, fishing, etc.

2. secondary activities - The activities by which people make use of various products derived from nature through the use of various technologies. Examples include construction work and industrial production

3. Tertiary activities - Tertiary activities are the activities by which the goods produced in the primary and secondary activities are supplied to the consumers. For example, the economic activities associated with the transportation, tourism, market, the wholesale and retail sale etc.

4. Quaternary activities - The activities by which the second and third activities are made more active and more productive. Such activities require some degree of skill, intelligence, foresight, expertise etc. For example, activities involving banks or other financial institutions, media, administration, education and research etc.

29. Write briefly about the subject matter of the important branches of economic geography.
Answer: The branch of geography in which the activities of people involved in the production, distribution, consumption, and exchange of resources is studied in terms of space and time is called 'economic geography'.

The subject matter of the different branches of economic geography is briefly discussed below.

1. Agricultural Geography - The factors involved in farming, the type of agriculture, distribution and method of agricultural work, production of crops and its associated sources, market, import and export of agricultural commodities - are studied in agricultural geography.

2. Industrial Geography - The factors involved in the setting up of the industrial geography, the type and geographical distribution of the industries, production of the industrial goods, the sources involved in it, the market and import-export of the industrial goods are studied in the industrial geography.

3. Geography of Resources - The types of resource, regional distribution, factors related to resource exploration and production, relationships between resources and development, conservation and management of resources, etc. are studied in the geography of resource.

4. Transport Geography  - The type of transportation system and its associated factors, the role of transport in the distribution of resources, in human and economic activity, its role in agricultural and economic development are studied in transport geography.

5. Geography of Marketing - The requirement of market setting and its factors, market type, distribution of market and its associated sources are studied in the market geography. 

6. Geography of Planning and Development - The factors involved in economic development, planning strategies, sustainable development, regional and material based development processes are studied in the geography of planning and development.

7. Geography of Tourism - Tourism and the factors involved in its development, type of tourism, development process and planning of tourism are studied in the geography of tourism.


31. 'Resource is dynamic'. Explain. 
Answer: All the material found on earth is known as a resource. Although there must be three characteristics to be a resource. Such as - utility, functionality, and variability. The variability is also one of the three characteristics. That is, a resource can take different forms at different times or people can change different forms at different times depending on their own needs. For example, when humans were not aware of the use of coal or mineral oil in the production of energy, these materials were not considered to be resources. But with the development of technology, people are using coal, mineral oil or other natural materials in different forms to suit their needs. That is, their forms have changed into resources. That is why the resource is dynamic.

 

12. How does the lack of double coincidence of wants create problems in the barter system?

Answer: The lack of double coincidence of wants refers to the situation where the mutual wants of the buyer and seller are less likely to be fulfilled simultaneously. It means the wants of two people need to complement each other for the barter system to be effective. For example, one person wants cloth in exchange for rice and another person wants rice in exchange for cloth. In this case, there is a double coincidence of wants. However, if the person bringing the cloth wants oil instead of rice, then it will be considered as lack of double coincidence. This lack of double coincidence is a huge problem in the barter system.