An Introduction to Human Geography
The Cultural Landscape, 8e
James M. Rubenstein
Chapter 11
Industry
• Industry: manufacturing of goods in a factory
• Utilizes a large number of people, machinery, and
money to turn out valuable products.
• A generation ago, industry was highly clustered in
a handful of MDC’s, but now has diffused to even
LDC’s
Where is Industry Distributed?
• ¾’s of world’s industrial production is
concentrated in 4 regions
– 1. Northwestern Europe & 2. Eastern Europe
– 3. Eastern North America
– 4. East Asia
• Less than 1% of world’s land is devoted
to industry
World Industrial Regions
• Europe
– European countries competed with each other
– Western Europe:1 region
– Eastern Europe: 6…4 in Russia, Ukraine, Poland & Czech
Republic
• North America
– Happened later, but developed faster
– Northeast U.S., Southeast Canada
– 5% of land but 1/3 of people and 2/3 output
• East Asia
– Isolated from world markets
– abundant cheap labor force
– South Korea, Taiwan
– Japan: highly skilled jobs at lower cost
– China: largest labor force in manufacturing
Europe
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Industrial Rev: originated in UK and Scotland
High concentration of skilled workers, mechanics, inventors
Coal and iron ore: Steel!!!!
Diffusion of railway system corresponded with IR (TRADE!)
Rhine-Ruhr Valley, Mid-Rhine, Northern Italy
Industrial Revolution Hearths
Fig. 11-1: The Industrial Revolution originated in areas of northern England. Factories
often clustered near coalfields.
Diffusion of Railways
Fig. 11-2: The year by which the first railway opened shows the diffusion of railways and
the Industrial Revolution from Britain.
Europe: Origin and Diffusion of
the Industrial Revolution
• The Industrial Revolution
• Diffusion of the Industrial Revolution
– Diffusion from the iron industry
– Diffusion from the textile industry
– Diffusion from the United Kingdom
North America
• Manufacturing in NE U.S.: iron and other minerals
located here, first settlers here
• Biggest markets are located here
• Steel factories around Great Lakes
• St. Lawrence Valley: hydroelectric power
• Minimills for steel production: smaller, less process,
one step as opposed to integrated mills: all jobs
done at this mill to get final product
Manufacturing Regions
Fig. 11-3: The world’s major manufacturing regions are found in North America, Europe,
and East Asia. Other manufacturing centers are also found elsewhere.
Industrial Regions of North
America
Fig. 11-4: The major industrial regions of North America are clustered in the northeast
U.S. and southeastern Canada, although there are other important centers.
Manufacturing Value Change
Fig. 11-5: The value and growth of manufacturing in major metropolitan areas in the U.S.
between 1972 and 1997.
Manufacturing Centers in
Western Europe
Fig. 11-6: The major manufacturing centers in Western Europe extend in a north-south
band from Britain to Italy.
Manufacturing Centers in
Eastern Europe and Russia
Fig. 11-7: Major manufacturing centers are clustered in European Russia and the
Ukraine. Other centers were developed east of the Urals.
East Asia
• Isolated from other world markets: forced to use own
resources, Japan imports natural resources
• Japan: high quality, expensive products, low cost
>>> workers paid less
• All on the coast or island countries for trade
• Few natural resources
• Wealth gap between east and west coast (east is
urban, west is rural)
Manufacturing Centers in East Asia
Fig. 11-8: Many industries in China are clustered in three centers near the east coast. In
Japan, production is clustered along the southeast coast.