For example, what raised my ire was an Apple iTune podcast description for the show, "travel geography." The premise of the show invites people who have traveled abroad to discussion their journey. A description of the show is posted to help the listener decide what to listen to.
In one case, a two-part episode description invited listeners to learn about the travels of a few people who had traveled across the "country" of Asia.
The "country" of Asia? You've got to be kidding me. And associated with a podcast called, "travel geography," no less.
Maybe they meant "China" or "South Korea;" or maybe they meant to say the "realm of Asia," rather than "country."
A 'country' typically is thought of to be a political area on the landscape, where the area is governed by the people that inhabit the area, and others outside the area recognize the sovereignty of the area. Such as Germany, or Portugal, or Uruguay.
A 'realm' is a large area that encompasses many different countries, contains a great number of people, and is a mostly inhabitable territory. Such as Asia, Africa, or Latin America.
A 'region' can be defined by a number of subjective characteristics. Regions can also vary by scale. A region could exist at a very local scale, such as around a town or city. A region could exist at a national scale. US states that receive a good deal of sunlight and also receive a number of retirement migrants are part of the Sunbelt. States that are perceived to have strong religious faith fall into the Bible Belt. These are perceptual regions. They encompass a number of administrative units, i.e. states, and are a subset of the larger "realm."
By the way, one of the best iTunes podcasts is The Amateur Traveler. The guy that does this does a great job.
3 comments:
Thanks, I am taking an intro to Geography class and the prof. is a bit vague. You have clearly defined real and region. Good job.
A realm isn't "mostly an inhabitable place". A realm is actually the largest geographic unit into which the world can be divided. It's based in natural and geographical features as well as human criteria (culture).
You must re-think that concept where you affirm that Asia, South America and Africa are mostly inhabitable and classify them as a realm, when North America and Europe (where I assume you consider "mostly habitable") are also realms.
Wow, someone actually read what I wrote! That's amazing! Now, to the point. I know what I realm is. And, the quote isn't accurate. I said, "mostly habitable territory." And, I don't see the problem with this. Death Valley really isn't very habitable, not by people, but it is part of a realm. And the Namib desert is pretty inhospitable, too. My point in making the comment is a realm can include all sorts of biomes, and people tend to occupy and live in the most habitable ones. And, I picked three examples to use. This was not a comprehensive list, as indicated by my lead-n "Such as," which typically means a non-exhaustive list of examples are forth-coming. Furthermore, not everyone classes realms in the same way. I can pick three textbooks off my shelves and find three different "realms" for Central Asia (Russia, Southwest Asia, and South Asia, and then one book in which the Turkestan countries are their own realm). In at least two, Latin America is everything south of the Rio Grande. In the textbook I am using now, South America is a separate realm from the Caribbean and Central America. There are many more facinating geographical topics to debate than this. But, thanks for reading :)
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