When you hear the word “geography”, what’s the first thought that crosses your mind? For many of us, the word may paint the picture of the world map, or of famous countries, or the longest river, or the largest desert. And that’s what geography is all about, isn’t it; continents, countries, latitudes, longitudes, rivers, plains, flora and fauna, and so on. Now, the study of these elements is called physical geography. But that’s not all. Did you know that there is another branch of geography that’s developing into an interesting area of study? And this branch of geography is more popularly called human geography.
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So, what is human geography? Human geography is the study of people all over the world. It includes the study of communities and ethnic cultures and how people from a specific region interact with their environment. And therefore, we can say that human geography studies the relationship between people and the physical elements of their surrounding environment.
People are the essence of human geography. They produce, create, and use resources and in doing so, affect the physical environment. The physical environment of a place also affects the human economic activity in return. And this relationship between people and the environment forms the crux of human geography. In this article, we will discuss some basic facts of the world’s human population such as composition, distribution, races, and so on.
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Human Geography of India
Now that you understand what human geography refers to, let’s look at a few interesting aspects of human geography from our country’s context.
Indian Population Composition
Let’s first look at the composition of the Indian population. Now composition refers to the distribution of population within a group based on parameters such as sex, age, marital status, education, occupation, and so on.
Now, our population is divided into a rural and urban population. Rural population includes people living in small-sized settlements and mostly in and around villages and the countryside. The urban population consists of people living in towns and cities. According to the 2011 census, the urban and rural population composition was 68.84% and 31.16% respectively, which indicate an increase in urbanization.
Next, let’s look at the religious composition of people. According to the 2011 census, 79.8% of the population follows Hinduism, 14.2% practices Islam, and the remaining 6% of the population practices other religions such as Christianity, Sikhism, and Buddhism.
(Image Source: Wikipedia)
Racial Groups
India is a land of many races and languages. And now that you are familiar with its population composition, let’s move on to understand the different races in India. India’s population can broadly be divided into six racial groups—Negritos (Andamans, Kerala), Proto-Australoids (Aravalli region), Mongoloids (Himalayas and the north-east), Mediterranean (most of South India and some from North India), Brachycephalics (Maharashtra, Gujarat), and the Nordics (Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan).
Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes
Next, let’s move on to some interesting aspects of the scheduled tribes and scheduled castes. India alone has around 550 tribes. And according to the 2011 census, tribes constitute 8.6% of the population. Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh have the maximum number of tribes. On the other hand, states like Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Haryana do have any tribe population.
Scheduled castes, according to the 2011 census, constitute nearly 16.6 % of the Indian population. Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh have the maximum ratio of scheduled castes. Interestingly, the north-eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland and the islands of Lakshadweep and Andamans have no scheduled caste population.
Rural and Urban Settlements
You are now acquainted with India’s population composition and different races. Now, let’s understand what rural and urban settlements are. The rural settlements in India consist of people involved in land-based economic activities such as agriculture. Generally, the rural population doesn’t move much and therefore, their social relationships are closer. Rural settlements in India can vary according to the physical aspects such as the climate or altitude. They can also vary according to caste or religion.
Urban Settlements, on the other hand, are larger and the people in urban settlements are involved in several non-agricultural, economic, and administrative roles. People in these urban settlements live in towns and cities. Urban settlements are vast and may or may not move around much.
Classification of Towns
As mentioned earlier, urban settlements are found in towns and cities. So, let’s understand how different types of towns came into existence. Now this classification of towns exists because the physical environment of the towns started affecting the economic culture of the settlements living in them. Ancient cities like Ayodhya and Lucknow are tourist attractions because of their rich culture. On the other hand, coastal cities such as Vizag and Kochi are port towns known for their trade activity.
In India, towns and cities are classified into administrative towns (Delhi, Chandigarh, Chennai); industrial towns (Coimbatore, Jamshedpur); transport cities (Vizag, Kandla, Calicut); commercial towns (Kolkata); mining towns (Jharia, Raniganj); garrison cantonment towns (Ambala, Jalandhar), educational towns (Indore, Allahabad); cultural towns (Varanasi, Puri, Madurai); and tourist towns (Shimla, Manali).
Human Development Index or HDI
The Human Development Index or HDI refers to the statistics of life expectancy, education, and income. While calculating the HDI, these parameters are measured to place countries into four tiers of development. According to the 2013 report, India’s HDI value is 0.586. And this places India in the medium human development category.
Human Geography of the World
Now that you are acquainted with some facts of India, let’s look at some interesting human geography concepts of the world.
World Population Distribution
The human population of the world at the beginning of the 21st century was around 6 billion. And according to statistics, it has quadrupled in one century. What’s interesting, however, is that this growth is uneven around the world. Some areas are highly populated while some areas are barely inhabited.
The factors that influence population growth include physical factors such as climate, soil, vegetation, and terrains. And cultural factors such as religion or language also influence the population. People who share the same ethnic race may settle together at a place, while others may be forced to move.
Apart from physical and cultural factors, economic factors such as unemployment or living conditions can also affect population growth and settlements. For example, more than one million people from Ireland moved to North America due to a potato famine in the 19th century.
Now population distribution refers to how people are distributed across Earth’s surface. Nigeria, Japan, Bangladesh, Russia, Pakistan, Brazil, Indonesia, USA, India, and China together account for nearly 60% of the world’s population. And as we all know China and India are the most populous countries in the world.
Image Source: Wikipedia
Population Composition
Next, let’s have a look at the population composition based on age and sex. The population of a country is grouped into three age groups—children (0-14 years), adults (15-59 years), and aged (60 years and above). As per the age structure, about 36% of the world population is below 15 years.
The adult age group is significantly larger than the other groups, more so in developing nations. This group is the most reproductive, economically productive, and demographically the most mobile group. The aged group will increase in a country as it completes its demographic evolution.
Now let’s move on to the sex ratio. The sex ratio measures the balance of males and females within a specific region. And this is an important index because it affects other demographic factors such as population growth, marriage index, occupational structure, and so on. In almost all societies and settlements today, male births exceed female births.
That being said, in developed countries, infant mortality is higher among males. On the other hand, in developing nations, infant mortality is higher for females. Another important parameter of population composition is the rural and urban population composition. The percentage of the rural population is more in agricultural countries.
Urban population, on the other hand, is more in industrially advanced nations. North America is the most urbanized continent with 77% of its population being urban. The urban population in the world is now growing by 60 million people every year, which is around three times more than the increase in rural population.
Solved Examples for You
Question: Consider the following statements.
1. Badagas tribe is in Nallamalai.
2. Sentinelese and Jarawa tribes are in Andaman.
Which of the statements is/are true?
Answer: Both 1 and 2
Question: Which one of the following statements is not correct?
- There is no definition of Scheduled Tribe in Constitution of India
- North-East India accounts for a little over half of the country’s tribal population
- The people known as Todas live in the Nilgiri area
- Lotha is a language spoken in Nagaland
Answer: Option D- Lotha is a language spoken in Nagaland
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