The course will focus on the ways in which environment, culture,
politics, history, and economics interact to create unique
geographical regions. This course will teach the importance of
how social and environmental forces together shape the
contemporary world.

The objectives and expected learning outcomes of GEOG 1130 are
that students:

• gain an understanding of the discipline of Geography and 
be familiar with its basic principles and concepts models and 
theories;

• gain an appreciation of the value of looking at and
understanding the world from a spatial perspective;

• gain familiarity with the regions of the world, their human 
and physical geographies, their histories, and the challenges 
they face;

• gain an understanding of the processes and consequences of
economic development and underdevelopment; 

• gain the ability to find, assess the reliability of, and
interpret geographic data and information using a variety of
print and online sources;

• gain a better understanding of what is going on in the world 
by studying current events in their geographic context.

As the course will use current events to build geographic
literacy and will thus shift between semesters with current
events, this is a representative example outline.

Introduction: Basics of World Regional Geography		

Region: Africa South of the Sahara
Example: The Spread of Islam in Africa South of the Sahara	
		

Region: Northern Africa and Southwest Asia
Example: United States as assisting or occupying Afghanistan and
Iraq?

Region: Latin America
Example: The environmental costs of economic development in
Brazil and South America 

Region: East Asia
Example: Geopolitics and China’s growing military might 

Region:  South Asia
Example: Struggles around changes in agricultural land use and
irrigation in India 

Region: Southern Asia
Example: Southeast Asian coral reefs as a lens into a warming
planet  

Region: Oceania
Example: Cultural politics of respect and distrust across 
Oceania

Region: Western Europe
Example: The future role of the Euro in the world economy

Region: Eastern Europe
Example: Post-Soviet Democracy and the re(re)-election of
Vladimir Putin

Region: North America
Example: What does the Keystone XL pipeline represent for North
American energy futures?