Industrialization:Where is Industry

Distributed?

Major Industrial Regions

• Small minority of countries have become industrial economies

• Four primary industrial regions have emerged all in the Northern Hemisphere– Western and Central Europe– Eastern North America– Russia and Ukraine– Eastern Asia

Four Industrial Regions

• ¾ of the world industrial production is in four regions:

1. NW Europe2. Eastern Europe3. Eastern North America4. East Asia

• Less than 1% of the world’s land is devoted to industry

Four Industrial Regions

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Europe• Four Main Industrial Districts

– United Kingdom– Rhine-Ruhr Valley– Mid-Rhine– Northern Italy

• Became important because of their proximity to raw materials (coal and iron ore) and markets (large concentrations of wealthy consumers

United Kingdom• The Industrial

Revolution originated in northern England and southern Scotland

• Late 1900’s – industry was expanded by attracting high-tech industries

• Japanese companies have built more factories in the United Kingdom than any other European country

Rhine-Ruhr Valley• Location – mostly in

NW Germany, extends in to Belgium, France, and the Netherlands

• Iron and Steel Manufacturing

• Heavy-metal industries – locomotives, machinery, and armaments

Mid Rhine• Western Europe’s second most

important industrial center• SW Germany, NE France, and

Luxembourg• German portion – lacks raw materials,

but it is the center of the consumer market

• The most central industrial area in the EU

• The French portion – Alsace and Lorraine – contains Europe’s largest iron-ore field, and produces 2/3 of France’s steel

Northern Italy• The Po River Basin• Textile manufacturing – 1800s• Numerous workers willing to work for

low wages• Inexpensive hydroelectricity from the

Alps

Eastern Europe Industrial Districts

1. Central 2. St.

Petersburg3. The Volga4. The Urals5. Kuznetsk6. Eastern

Ukraine7. Silesia

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4

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Central Industrial District

• Russia’s oldest, centered around Moscow

• Produces ¼ of the country’s output• Specialize in textiles (linen, cotton,

wool, and silk), chemicals, and light industrial goods

St Petersburg Industrial District

• Railways• Specializes in shipbuilding• Goods that meet the needs of the

local market (processed food, textiles and chemicals)

The Volga Industrial District

• Along the Volga and Kama Rivers• Grew during WWII when plants in

the Central and Ukraine regions were occupied by the Germans

• Largest petroleum and natural gas fields

The Urals Industrial District

• The Ural Mountains contain more than 1,000 types of minerals

• Iron, copper, potassium, bauxite (aluminum ore), and salt

• Industrial development is hindered by a lack of nearby energy sources

Kuznetsk Industrial District

• Russia’s most important manufacturing district east of the Ural Mountains

• Contains the country’s largest reserves of coal and iron ore

Eastern Ukraine Industrial District

• Donetsk coalfield – contains one of the world’s largest reserves of coal

• Also – iron ore, manganese, and natural gas

Manganese

Silesia

• Southern Poland and northern Czech Republic

• Near coalfields but iron ore must be imported

North America

• Concentration in the NE U.S. and SE Canada

• The east coast was tied to Europe from its founding

• By 1860 – The United States had become a major industrial nation, second to the United Kingdom

U.S. Industrial Areas

1. New England

2. Middle Atlantic

3. Mohawk Valley

4. Pittsburg-Lake Erie

5. Western Great Lakes

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2

3

45

New England

• Developed in the early 19th century, beginning with cotton textiles

• European immigrants• Now – relatively skilled but

expensive labor

Middle Atlantic

• Between NYC and Washington D.C.• The largest U.S. market• Industries that depend on foreign

markets or imported raw materials have located here: NYC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Wilmington DE

• Other firms seek to be near the financial, communications, and entertainment industries (NYC)

Mohawk Valley• Upper New York state along the Hudson River and Erie

Canal• Buffalo• Inexpensive, abundant electricity, generated by

Niagara Falls has attracted aluminum, paper, and electrochemical industries

Pittsburg-Lake Erie• The area between Pittsburg and

Cleveland is the nation’s most important steel producing area

• Close to Appalachian coal• Minnesota became an important source

of iron ore• Great Lakes

Western Great Lakes

• Extends from Detroit and Toledo to Chicago and Milwaukee

• Chicago– Dominant market between the

Atlantic and Pacific coasts– Center for transportation networks

• Automobile manufacturing

Canada’s Industrial Areas

• St. Lawrence Valley-Ontario Peninsula

• Hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls

• Car manufacturing, aluminum, paper-making, flour mills, textile manufacturing, and sugar refining

East Asia

• Heterogeneity – the most heterogeneous region in terms of level of development

• Japan – one of the world’s wealthiest countries

• China – second largest economy, behind the U.S.

• China has abundant resources of coal, iron ore, and minerals, but the rest of East Asia has very few

East Asia

• Labor force = East Asia’s most abundant resource

• Although industry was devastated after WWII, Japan became an industrial power in the 1950’s and 1960’s by offering low priced products

• Highly skilled jobs• Japan is the world’s leading

manufacturer of automobiles, ships, cameras, stereos, and TVs

East Asia• Uneven

Distribution• Japan’s industry

is concentrated in the central region between Tokyo and Nagasaki

• China’s manufacturing is clustered near the East Coast

Secondary Industrial Regions• South of the world’s primary

industrial region• Industrial regions usually consist

of several zones, each dominated by a particular kind of industry– Iron and steel zone– Coal mining in another– Textiles in a third

• Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam share the economic growth in Pacific Realm

• Most of the world’s industrial activity has traditionally been found in developed countries of the midlatitudes

Maquiladora• Secondary manufacturing

zone • Developed in northern

Mexico near border with US• Where manufactured

products could be sent to US free of import tariffs

• US companies established plants designated to transform imported, day free components or raw material in finished products

• Owned by US• Young women= cheaper

wages

Maquiladora Continued• Factory that imports material and equipment on a duty-

free and tariff-free basis for manufacturing and re-exports the assembled product

• Variety of industries – Electronics, transportation, textiles, machinery

• NAFTA– tax-free– Industry expanded more rapidly

• Dense number of maquiladoras– Pollution– Hazardous waste

• Lack proper waste management facilities and the ability to clean up disposal sites– Hazardous waste illegally disposed