Country Profile Paper Guide and Links on the WWW
Paper Guide
Throughout this course you will learn about the different foci of geography. The course is
broken down into four sections: geomorphology, meteorology/climatology, culture, and
location analysis (economics, mostly). To illustrate those topics, I primarily use examples
drawn from Virginia and the United States, but they apply to almost every country in the
world (save a few island and city states). This paper is your opportunity to apply the
geographical skills you've learned about to a country somewhere around the world. You will
be assigned a country and as the semester progresses, you'll be applying your knowledge to
that country; at semester's end you will have quite a comprehensive country profile. This is a
skill that would serve you well in international business and trade and a wide array of
Homeland Security and Foreign Service careers.
To get an idea of what a country profile looks like, consult the CIA World Factbook
(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/). The CIA World Factbook
lays out the facts, but should be viewed as a secondary source. DO NOT CITE THE CIA
WORLD FACTBOOK AS A SOURCE; OBTAIN INFORMATION FROM AS CLOSE TO
PRIMARY SOURCES AS POSSIBLE. What you'll be doing is going beyond the facts by
explaining a country's geographic features in the context of what you've learned in this
course. If there are mountains or volcanoes, why are they there? Why does it have the
climate that it has? Where in the Demographic Transition is the country's population? Does
religion play a significant role in the country and if so, does it result in internal unity or
turmoil or conflict with neighboring countries? Why does it have the agriculture it has?
 The updates include all of the subjects and information that you must cover. Remember
that the point of this is to relate what you’ve learned in class in a general sense to your
specific country. Of course, it might be that not everything applies (there might not be
volcanoes, for instance). You don’t have to go into details of what a process, feature, or
phenomenon is (assume the reader – me – knows that), but you should make a reference
to it if it exists. So if there’s an orographic rainfall pattern, you don’t have to explain
how orographic rainfall works, but you should mention that it’s there and also describe
the moisture source, prevailing winds, landforms involved, seasonality, and where the
wet and dry sides are.
 Feel free to add other elements not covered in the course, especially about resources,
environmental issues, economics other than agriculture, and urban geography.
 Maps, tables, and a bibliography are in addition to the text and come after.
 Figures – maps, tables, images, graphs, etc. – must be labeled with figure numbers and
subjects and referenced in the text. If you are including the images in the body of the
text, you should keep them separate until you know how long your text is. It is perfectly
acceptable to include your figures after your bibliography.
 You must cite your sources; use whichever citation style you’re comfortable with, but be
consistent. MLA is simplest (Author’s last name, page #). In the bibliography, the first
time you list an organization, spell it out completely followed by the acronym you’ll
subsequently be using in brackets. Use that acronym from that point on (e.g. United
Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization, Statistics Division [FAOSTAT]). Use only
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the acronym in the parenthetical citations in the text. If you have several sources from
the same organization (FAOSTAT, USGS, etc.), include some sort of numbering system
in the bibliography so you can refer to each source (USGS [2], FAOSTAT [3]). Site the
URL for either the actual table you use or the index page that got you there. When citing
a map, give the author’s name (if you can determine it; the organization otherwise), the
map title, and the URL of the map. Remember: the point of citations and a bibliography
are that they allow someone to check your sources and data and to give them a roadmap
to the sources you used.
Updates that will let me know that you're keeping up with and understanding the applications
of geographic subject matter and will be due on exam days. These will be available in
Canvas and on the index page for this course. The fourth update is the finished paper, but I
will give you a list of the information that should be included. The paper will be due at the
beginning of class on the last day for our class.
General
 Central Intelligence Agency, World Factbook:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/wfbExt/region_eas.html
 Central Intelligence Agency, Maps at CIA (country maps):
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/cia-maps-publications/index.html
 NationMaster.com (amazing amounts of data by country):
http://www.nationmaster.com/countries
 BBC News (country profiles): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ (underneath the date is a set
of drop-down menus for all of the world’s regions; links to individual country profiles are
the bottom of each region’s page)
Geomorphology
Plate Tectonics
 Google Earth “Tectonic Boundary KMZ”: download the KMZ file from Course
Documents in Blackboard to your desktop, open Google Earth (you’ll have to install it on
your computer, but it’s free), then go to File, Open, and find the KMZ file on your
desktop. The file with color-coded tectonic plate boundaries will appear on the globe with
the file in Places on the left sidebar under Temporary Places. Simply left click and drag
the file upward, then go to File, Save, and click Save My Places and it will be saved to
your Google Earth for the next time you open it. To turn the layer on or off just check or
uncheck the box next to the layer name. You can save an image of what’s on the Google
Earth screen by going to Edit, Copy image (this is like using Print Screen), which puts the
map on the clipboard so you can paste it to your report.
Color-Coding – The boundaries are color-coded to match those that I used in the lectures:
Green = divergent boundary
Dark red = convergent boundary (usually continental vs. continental)
Bright red = convergent boundary subduction zone
Blue = transform boundary
Orange = rift zone
Flame = hot spot
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 Institute for Geophysics, Present-Day Plate Boundaries Map:
http://www.ig.utexas.edu/research/projects/plates/images/topo.pb.htm – hot spots are
labeled with yellow stars on the map
Earthquakes
 US Geological Survey, Earthquake Hazards Program: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/
Volcanoes
 Smithsonian, Global Volcanism Program: http://www.volcano.si.edu/index.cfm
Satellite imagery
 Type your country name and “satellite” in Google image search, then look for false-color
infrared images first (the red vegetation often reveals landforms) and other types if they
show landforms.
Natural Disasters
 UNISDR PreventionWeb: http://www.preventionweb.net/english/countries/
Weather & Climate
 World Bank: Climate Change Knowledge Portal (index to country climagraphs; scroll
over data points on graphs to get metric temperature and rainfall data (you must convert to
English units!)): http://sdwebx.worldbank.org/climateportal/index.cfm
 World Climagraphs (limited number):
http://cwx.prenhall.com/bookbind/pubbooks/lutgens3/medialib/abcontrol/pages/question.h
tml
 World Climate Index Map: http://www.climate-charts.com/World-Climate-IndexMap.html
Maps
 World climate map: http://mappery.com/maps/World-Climate-Map.jpg
 Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/
 World precipitation map: http://planetolog.com/maps/map-world/big/precipitation-worldmap.jpg
 Ecoregions by country:
http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/ecoregions/ecoregion_list/ecoregions_country/
 United Nations, Food and Agricultural Organization, Ecological Zones and Natural
Forest Formations: http://www.fao.org/forestry/country/19971/en/
Population
Primary source data
United Nations Statistics Division, Demographic and Social Statistics:
 Demographic Yearbook 2011 (freshest data; individual country data grouped by
continent; data tables in Excel format)
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2011.htm
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 World Statistics Pocketbook (country profiles – social and economic indicators; pdf)
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/pocketbook/country_profiles.pdf
 UN links to national population bureaus: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/internatlinks/sd_natstat.asp
US Census Bureau:
 International Database (demographic data; can generate population pyramids based on
total numbers by age group):
http://www.census.gov/population/international/data/idb/informationGateway.php
Population Reference Bureau:
 World Population Data Sheet (data by country):
http://www.prb.org/DataFinder/Geography.aspx?loct=3
Secondary source data
 Population by country (surface area (sq. km.); with 2011 population estimates):
http://www.geohive.com/cntry/
Maps
 Mappery map directory: http://www.prb.org/DataFinder/Geography.aspx?loct=3
 Search Google Images for your country and “population density.”
Population Pyramids
 US Census Bureau, International Database (demographic data; can generate
population pyramids based on total numbers by age group):
http://www.census.gov/population/international/data/idb/informationGateway.php
 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division
(2011): World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision (produces 1950, 2010, 2050,
2100 in both absolute number and percentage; a wealth of other data):
http://esa.un.org/wpp/Sorting-Tables/tab-sorting_fertility.htm
 Population Pyramids of the World 1950 to 2100 (produces nice graphics of population
pyramids and growth rates; produces population pyramids based on percentages of
total population can make them for more than one time period):
http://populationpyramid.net/
 World Population Pyramid (produces population pyramids based on percentages of total
population; can make them for more than one time period):
http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/world-population-pyramid
Culture
Primary source data:
 United Nations ethnicity, language, and religion statistics:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sconcerns/popchar/popchar2.htm
Agriculture
Primary source data:
United Nations:
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 Agricultural land data: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/environment/agriculturalland.htm
 Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO Country Profiles index:
http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/index/en/
 FAOSTAT, Commodities by country:
http://faostat.fao.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?PageID=339&lang=en&country=98 (this is for
Croatia; you can change to your country)
 FAOSTAT 3, Country profiles including top commodities by country:
http://faostat3.fao.org/home/index.html#VISUALIZE_BY_AREA
Urban
 United Nations country urbanization profiles (historic data over time):
http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/unup/index_panel3.html
Tools
 Convert Units (iPod/iPhone app)
 Convert Any Unit Free (iPod/iPhone app)
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