Comparing And Contrasting The American And German Geography
Both, Germany and the United States, have many things in common, but, at the same time, they differ in many areas even when looking at only just a small part of these two countries like their geography. Most people would think that their geography is obviously different and there is no point in writing a five page essay about something that obvious, but I present these people with a simple question - what is a country's geography? I believe that a country's geography includes not only its location but also its climate, terrain, and environment by which I mean the way people interact with their geography. So based on that fact, what exactly makes these two countries unique and what do they actually share between each other? My goal in this paper is to bring different reliable sources along with personal experience together to show that some parts of the geography between these two countries are very similar while other areas are complete opposites.
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In order to achieve this goal, I will organize my paper into two sections with three topics each.
The two subsections will consist of the two countries and the topics will consist of the following: The country's physical geography, its climate, and its environment. At the end of the paper, I will give a brief summary of my personal opinion and how all the facts given throughout the paper support my thesis. The information used can be found under Works Cited attached as the last page and contains all the websites I have used. All other information comes from personal experience as I have lived in both countries for many years. Having been born and lived in Germany the longest, I decided to make it the first section to be covered in my
paper. Germany is a small country located in central Europe. It borders the Baltic Sea and the North Sea and lies between the Netherlands and Poland. With a population of 82 million people, Germany is the most populous European country apart from Russia. Its capital city, Berlin, has around 3.3 million people and Germany's overall area equals 357,022 sq kilometers thereby ranking as the 63th biggest country in the world. It could be compared to being slightly smaller than the state of Montana but with a lot more people and a different environment. The climate and terrain differ from south to north in Germany, but overall it tends to stay cool, cloudy, and wet with a lot of forests and lakes everywhere. There are lowlands located in the north, uplands in the center, and the Bavarian Alps in the south. The highest point of elevation, with 2,963 meters above sea level, is called the "Zugspitze", which is located in the Wetterstein Mountains in south Germany. The lowest point, on the other hand, is located in the northern part of Germany in a town called "Neuendorf bei Wilster" which is 3.54 meters below sea level. To keep these areas from being polluted, Germany has adopted many different environmental policies which I will touch on now. The environment is a major topic in Germany and has been one for the last few years in particular. The main issues include air pollution, acid rain, water pollution, hazardous waste disposal, nuclear power, and nature preservation areas. Air pollution is caused mainly by emissions from coal-burning utilities and industries and acid rain is closely linked to it since it results from sulfur dioxide emissions and therefore damages forests. In order to reduce the amount of damage on the environment, laws have been passed on different issues as an attempt to reduce the maximum output of harmful gases from industries and cars. Also, nuclear power has been banned by the government for the next 15 years and despite its cloudy weather, Germany has more than half of the world's solar-power generating capacity with $14 billion dollars spend on green technology last year alone. Based on those facts, one can see that Germany is one of the leading countries in environmental policies, and that it has a strong determination to preserve its wonderful geography. Next up is the physical geography of the United States of America. The USA is located in North America bordering the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean. It lies between the two countries of Canada in the North and Mexico in the South. Also, east of Canada lies Alaska which is also part of the USA. Together the total population of the USA is close to 320 million people with Washington, DC as its capital city. The total area adds up to 9,826,675 sq km which puts the USA in rank three in landmass in comparison to the world. What would the nature look like over a spread out land mass like that? The climate and terrain of the United States is very diverse and colorful depending the location. Due to its big land area, the United States covers many different climate zones which in turn changes the terrain. The overall climate is mostly temperate but the south is rather hot all year long with Hawaii and Florida being more tropical while the north is a lot cooler with it being arctic in Alaska. The United States consists of plains, mountains, deserts, forests, swamps, lakes, and pretty much all kinds of different terrain that exists. Plains are mostly found in central USA, mountains in the west with smaller mountains and hills in the east, and broad river valleys in Alaska. Hawaii is again a little different as it has a very volcanic topography. So when looking for a deviating nature, the USA definitely takes the cake, but just how much are the people and their government taking care of this great environment around them? That question should be asked more often in the United States. No one would deny the fact that their country has a beautiful geography, but taking care of it should also be a part of it. According to some facts, the United States destroys it's natural habitats by the excessive use of fertilizers. They further damage nature with their CO2 emissions, water pollution and marine captures. According to a report published by Melissa Breyer, the United States also ranks 9th place for threatened species and all this starts with the consumer. Talking from a personal perspective when comparing it to Germany, I was shocked when I arrived here in the United States. There is trash on the streets due to people throwing their trash out the windows of their car and no one bothers to clean it up. Also, there is only one trash can without recycling and to make it even worse all the trash gets dumped out into the desert - at least in Texas where I lived. Since no one bothers to discuss these problems, the phrase "going green" has next to no meaning to most of the American population and if nothing changes the nature will greatly be impacted by that. From examining these facts gathered from some reliable sources along with my personal view on things, I can say that both countries have a beautiful geography and that the United States simply has more things to offer from a geographical standpoint. Both have many green landscapes with rivers feeding into oceans and mountains stretched throughout their land. The climate in the north of the USA is also very similar to the climate of Germany, but besides those facts most of the other areas have more differences than similarities. For example, the view on the environment as well as the importance placed on it, the sheer landmass of the two countries, and the changing terrain and climate in comparison to the monotonous one in Germany. However, if the United States does not change their way of interacting with their environment and starts to think about the consequences of the way they treat their surroundings, then it may soon be that most of the beautiful landscapes in America will disappear.
In the early stages of North American colonization by the English, the colony of Jamestown, Virginia was founded in 1607 (Mailer Handout 1 (6)). Soon after the Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded in 1629 (Mailer Handout 2 (1)). These two colonies, although close in the time they were founded, have many differences in aspects of their lives and the way they were settled. The colonies have a different religious system, economic system, political system, and they have a different way of doing things; whether that be pertaining to making money, practicing religion, or electing governors. Along with the differences, there are also a sameness between these two colonies. Each colony has been derived from England and has been founded by companies
Premises: (Given) Venice once had a great government. (Given) there are clear comparisons between the old Venetian government and the modern American government. (Given) America may be following the same path as Venice.
Chesapeake and Plymouth were two of the three early English colonies. While both colonies were located in Massachusetts, and founded around the same time frame, they both had very separate ways of controlling and overseeing the way their colonies were managed. Chesapeake, established around 1630, was given to Lord Baltimore, also known as George Calvert, by King Charles l. This colony brought over many English men as indentured servants. These men received a chance at living in America, and the population already there, received more help. Plymouth was then founded shortly after in 1620. It was the last of the three English colonies to be established. Having watched and learned from the first two colonies, they had an advantage being last
Q 1. The American colonies were divided into three distinct regions and these regions were different from each other in their origins, populations, economics and agriculture, religious makeup, and connection to England .write an essay comparing and contrasting the New England, middle, and southern colonies with specific examples.
Compare and contrast the government, religion, geography, and economy of the three English colonial regions (the Chesapeake area, New England, and Pennsylvania). Be sure to consider the role of race, gender, and ethnicity.
Tacitus lets us know right off the start where Germany is positioned in terms of its bordering territories and informs us among several other geographical details that the rivers Rhine and Danube separate Germany from the Galli, Rhaeti and Pannonii.
The New England, Middle and Southern colonies were all English ruled, but yet very different. Among their distinctions, was the geography which played an important role in shaping these colonies. New England attracted Puritan farmers who wanted to separate from the Catholic Church. But because of the bone dry soil in the North, these colonists found they couldn't continue with their traditional ways of farming. However, with the immense amounts of water that surrounded them, they found that they could fish and trade. The Middle colonies on the other, hand had a moderate amount of everything. The fertile soil and the major seaports such as Philadelphia and New York, allowed these Middle colonists to make a living any way they saw fit. This led to the brisk development of the Middle Seaboard . Unlike the Middle and Northern colonies, the Southern colonies had large amounts of fertile land allowing for the development of large plantations. Because farming the plantations was the economic thrust for the South, towns and cities developed slowly. Thusly Geography greatly affected the lifestyles of these regions in the New World.
There were a myriad of differences between Great Britain and her American colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but these differences can be divided into three basic categories: economic, social, and political. The original American settlers came to the colonies for varied reasons, but a common trait among these settlers was that they still considered themselves British subjects. However, as time passed, the colonists grew disenfranchised from England. Separated from the king by three thousand miles and living in a primitive environment where obtaining simple necessities was a struggle, pragmatism became the common thread throughout all daily life in the colonies. It was this pragmatism that led the colonists to create their own society with a unique culture and system of economics and politics.
Imperialistic Europe differed strongly from that of the United States. Europeans focused on Social Darwinism; politicians felt that conquering underdeveloped territories was the best thing for the human race. The United States did not have as strong of views on imperialism that were expressed by Europeans. The United States imperialism differed from Europeans by the lack of pressure to join the movement from neighboring countries, sheer size, and the economic importance of conquering other territories.
Blij has clearly put this book into historical significance by mentioning the idea of geography and how it plays a role in societies all over the world. However, the five themes of culture regions, cultural diffusion, cultural interaction, cultural ecology, and cultural landscapes are all clearly defined within a specific context to a particular nation. Through reading this intriguing piece of literature I received the underlying notion that Blij firmly believes that landscapes of the world realm are not going to change. De Blij worldview of regions, diffusion, interaction, ecology, and landscapes has allowed him to simultaneously link issues together from the United States all the way to Southeast Asia.
With the United States of America a free country, it would only be normal for ideology of different states to no agree on certain subjects. From state to state even today one can see how much different one is from one another and at the same time exponentially different. A simple view of the United States is that of the “North” and the “South”. Both of which have clear delineations from how they speak to their commerce. Not only is the landscape different it’s even the food they ingest is widely different. What does all this mean exactly and were might this commentary be going? It’s simple, the North and South just don’t understand each other, but seem to respect one another. This culminates from the Civil War and the travesty it caused
In the years 1800-1850 the North and South of the United States were very different but they clashed head on as people expanded west. As people from both sides of the US moved Westward they took there beliefs, traditions and attitudes with them. Due to the West being nearly empty it was a blank slate for the people moving there to paint with their own beliefs, economies and ways of life. However this was not easy, because there was such a deep riff in the lives of people from clashing sides of the US. Both the North and South of the Early United States had different economies, social structures, ways of life and ideas on the issue of Slavery.
India and China however, were landlocked and were by far the greatest industrial powers in the world till the Industrial revolution. Technology, not geography, helped temperate agriculture and industry to zoom ahead. One way a country overcomes geographical isolation is to improve its transportation infrastructure. Better roads, ports, paths, and other modes of transport provide access to world markets. But a country can only derive full benefits from these investments against a backdrop of good trade and macroeconomic policies. Consequently this leads to the belief that people again control the thought of their own geography.
America has changed through the years in many ways. Medicine has improved, average standard of living has risen, and the overall quality of life has changed drastically over the course of time. Yet, these are all short-term ideals when taken into the whole picture. Although all of this is important, to truly understand the actual face of America, we have to think farther back than a few hundred years. The face of America can best be portrayed in thinking about how America looks the way it does. Questions like “How did the Rocky mountains form?” or “Why are the Great Plains located where they are?” These types of questions are important because once you figure out why certain areas have the qualities that they do, it becomes simpler to pinpoint why Americans live and react the way they do. For example, not just Americans but humans in general desire a marine climate area, typically close to a water source, and moderate temperatures that do not vastly fluctuate. This is why so many people are located on the coast near California or Florida. What becomes interesting is that if the tectonic plates hadn’t shifted the way it did, and perhaps broken apart differently from Pangaea, then America wouldn’t look the same as it does now. America would have more or less land for people to cultivate and live on possibly changing the areas of higher population or common wealth depending on if the new land was useful in anyway. All this ties into why America looks the way it does or the “face” of America.
De, Blij Harm J., and Peter O. Muller. Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts. New York: J. Wiley, 1997. 340. Print.