^That is a cartogram. It is actually a cartogram depicting world population. The formal definition of a cartogram is a map in which some thematic variable, such as population, is expressed in area or distance. This causes a distorted looking world that actually is more acurate than one may think.
For example, what can we read from the population cartogram? The largest country on the map is show to be India or China. This means that according to the variable of population, India and China are the largest. They have the highest populations in world with China at 1.3 billion and India closing in at 1.15 billion. Soon, India may overtake China as the most populous country due to China's One Child Policy. What else can we learn from this map? How does the USA compare in size? It is actually rather small on this map in relation to its actual land mass being about the same as China. The reason is that in comparison to other countries of the world, the United States does not have as many people coming in at just over 300 million people.
So what does this have to do with our study of globalization and world regions? Let's take a look at another cartogram.
This cartogram looks similar to the last in that India and China are large countries under this variable. However, some populous countries such as the United States, Japan, and European states have all but disappeared. So what variable is this? It is the percent of population that lives on less than ten US dollars per day. This is a large characteristic of a certain type of country; of an LDC or Lesser Developed Country. LDCs are defined as countries that are not fully industrialized or do not have a sophisticated financial and legal system. In other words, what we commonly know as Third-World countries.
Studying this map, we can notice that not only China and India, but also Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Pakistan, and many African countries are quite large. Some of these are classified as LDCs, however, others are given a different catagory, Developing Countries. Developing countries are those with low levels of material well-being, but have emerging economies. From our list, China, India, Vietnam, and Pakistan are Developing countries.
So how does this all relate to us and our everyday lives? Well, just look at the tag on any items nearby. Chances are that it has one of those country's names on it where it says "made in". Most of our products come from LDCs and developing countries. This is possible once again through the ever stretching arm of, you guessed it, globalization. It is yet another way in which our world continues to connect and make itself smaller and smaller.
Before I close, here is one last cartogram...
So what does this one represent? Well, maybe you guessed it, but here is a hint...you are contributing to it right now. Figured it out yet? It is Internet Use by People in 2002. Want to see more? Check out http://www.worldmapper.org/index.html
That's all for now!
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