Effects of Geography to the Economy

409 Words2 Pages
Geography plays a substantial role in the development and success of an economy. Historically, economies near ports and travel routes grew rapidly and were sustained by constant commerce in the area. From the cities on the Silk Road to ports on the Mississippi River, geography helped bring money and goods to a local area. Today, geography still plays an important but much more nuanced role in the development of economies.The landforms of a particular area dictate the nature and size of commerce that a locale can support. For example, a city located in highly elevated regions of Mt. Everest in Bouton might be unable to support constant import and export. On the other hand, India's Mangalore and Mumbai ports on the Arabian Sea have allowed these coastal cities to flourish economically because they readily avail trade. In general, rivers, lakes, canals, bays, oceans and coasts are landforms that provide easy transport and economic growth.The climate of a region can affect the types of exports the region can provide. For example, cocoa is a highly desirable and marketable plant that can only be grown in particular areas and within a certain distance from the equator. As a result, certain countries, such as Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Brazil, Ecuador and Malaysia, constitute 90 percent of the world's cocoa production. The climate plays a huge role in a region's production of goods.Location refers to a region's place in a larger region or global context. A place's geography includes its landforms and the population distribution, industries, resources and activity surrounding it. For example, Xinjiang, a landlocked and flat province in Western China, would ordinarily be a geographically and economically disadvantaged city because of its lack of water avenues for transport. However, it represents one of the largest mineral, food and energy production
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