Summer Reading
REQUIRED:
Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps that Explain Everything about the World
By Tim Marshall
This book is available at most major booksellers and online booksellers, including Amazon.
Here is a link to the summer reading book. ISBN: 9781501121470
TASK: After reading the book, complete the following two-part assignment:
1. Write at least a half-page summary of each chapter, including the main points and any important information.
2. Answer each of the following questions from the reading. Please number your answers and use complete sentences. The answers to most of the questions can be found in the chapter indicated, although a few will require a small amount of research. One or two sentences should be sufficient to answer most questions.
It is recommended that you take notes on each chapter for chapter summaries, and answer the questions as you read. The chapter summaries and your answers to the questions should be typed, double spaced, and 12-point Times New Roman font. Your responses should be uploaded to Google Classroom no later than August 10th, 2023. Late work will not be accepted, and students who do not complete the summer assignment will not be allowed to continue in this course.
YOU MAY NOT USE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR ANY PART OF THIS ASSIGNMENT.
Prisoners of Geography
Preliminary (Before you read)
1. What is the geographic definition of the word “state”? How is it different than how we would normally use the word state?
Chapter One: Russia
2. Define the supranational organization. What is NATO? What is the Warsaw Pact? What is the European Union?
3. Briefly describe the current political situation in Crimea.
Chapter Two: China
4. What is double cropping?
5. What ethnic group makes up more than 90% of China’s population?
6. Briefly describe the current political situation in Tibet.
7. Briefly describe the relationship between China and Taiwan.
Chapter Three: The United States
8. Define demographic. What is the concern about the changing demographics of the American southwest?
9. What did the British vote to do in relation to the European Union in the summer of 2016? What is it called?
Chapter Four: Western Europe
10. What countries are located on the Iberian Peninsula?
11. What region wants to achieve independence from Spain?
12. When did Italy become a country? Why is their national unity threatened?
13. When did Germany become a country? What war preceded German unification?
Chapter Five: Africa
14. Define HDI. Where are the bottom 18 countries in HDI?
15. Define genocide. Where did a genocide occur in 1994?
16. Define apartheid and briefly describe its history in South Africa.
Chapter Six: The Middle East
17. Describe the difference between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims.
18. Who are the Kurds?
19. When did the UN create the country of Israel?
20. What is the main language in Iran?
Chapter Seven: India and Pakistan
21. What is the official language of Pakistan?
22. What is the main reason that China isn’t India’s biggest foreign policy concern?
Chapter Eight: Korea and Japan
23. Along what line of latitude was Korea divided after World War II?
24. Define megacity. What is the world’s largest megacity?
25. What is predicted about the Japanese population by 2050? By 2110?
Chapter Nine: Latin America
26. What three languages are spoken in South America? In what two countries is it not Spanish?
27. What unfortunate geographic consequence for Bolivia resulted from the 1879 War of the Pacific?
28. Why was the capital of Brazil moved from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília?
Chapter Ten: The Arctic
29. According to UNCLOS, how far offshore does a country have exclusive economic rights?
30. Who are the “Arctic Five”?