Natural Regions of The World UPSC Notes | EduRev

Introduction:
A Natural region is a group of areas where the conditions of relief, temperature, rain-fall, natural vegetation and consequently the cultural environment are more or less similar.
The Burren, a vast natural region in Ireland

• The boundaries of naturals regions are permanent, because they are determined by nature.
  
• They do not, therefore, change as political boundaries do.
  
• But at the same time, the boundaries of natural regions are not so-well demarcated as political boundaries.

Natural Regions
World may be divided in the following natural regions: 

• Tropical Region
• Equatorial Region 
• Savanna Region 
• Monsoon Region 
• Hot Desert Region
  

Warm Temperate Region

• China-type Region 
• Mediterranean-type Region 
• Turan-type Region
  

Cool Temperate Region

• St. Lawrence-type Region 
• Prairies-type Region 
• N.W. Europe-type Region 
• Taiga Region
  

Cold Region

• Tundra Region
  Question 1:Which of the following regions come under cold Temperate region?

  • A.

    China-type Region 
  • B.

    Mediterranean-type Region 
  • C.

    Taiga Region
  • D.

    Tundra Region

  Explanation

  The taiga is a forest of the cold temperate region. The subarctic is an area of the Northern Hemisphere that lies just south of the Arctic Circle. The taiga lies between the tundra to the north and temperate forests to the south. Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia, and Siberia have taigas.

  Cool Temperate Region

  • St. Lawrence-type Region 

  • Prairies-type Region 

  • N.W. Europe-type Region 

  • Taiga Region

  
  

Equatorial Region

• Location: It stretches along the equator in the form of a belt roughly between the latitude of 10°N and 10°S.
  
• It includes the Amazon lowlands, and the coast of Guianas in South America; Congo basin and Guinea Coast of Africa, and Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea and South Philippines of the Asian continent.

Natural Environments

Climate: It is a hot-wet climatic region. The temperature is normally in the vicinity of 27°C throughout the year.
Global mean surface temperature change since 1880 

• The annual range of temperature is the smallest.
• Rain falls throughout the year and almost daily. But it is heavier just after the positions of Equinoxes on two occasions i.e. after 21st March and 23rd September.
• There is, practically, no change in season.
• The average annual rainfall is everywhere more than 150 cms and at places as high as 300 cms.

Natural Vegetation: Forest is the natural vegetation. Equatorial forests are the world’s densest forests. They are also known as Selvas.

• With abundant supply of sunshine and rain, trees attain very high stature, sometimes as high as 100 metres.
• The foliage is so thick and the trees grow so close that they form a continuous canopy of green foliage and sometimes there are two or three canopies formed. They are also called “three-tier” vegetation.
  Question 2:The equatorial region belt stretches across the earth between which of these latitude?

  • A.

    10 degree N & 10 degree S
  • B.

    12 degree N & 12 degree S
  • C.

    11 degree N & 11 degree S
  • D.

    10 degree N & 9 degree S

  Explanation

  A broad area of low atmospheric pressure where the northeasterly and southeasterly trade winds converge over the equatorial region, extending approximately 10° north and south of the equator. Warm, humid air that converges here rises and cools, forming clouds and frequent, heavy showers.

Animal Life: The tsetse fly is a menace on account of its poisonous sting. The hippopotamus, the rhinoceros and the elephants are found abundantly.

• The Hippos are found in Swampy areas.
• Most of the native animal life finds its abode not on the surface, but on the tree trunks.
• They are, the gorillas, chimpanzees, monkeys, apes, sloths, lizards etc.
• Some roaming animals have changed from leaping to climbing ones i.e. the Jaguar of the Amazon basin.

Cultural Environments

• Mode of life: The entire equatorial region, is by far, a region of the primitive races, who live by hunting, fishing and gathering only.
• Several primitive races of this region are worth mentioning i.e. the Amazon Indians, the Congo-basin Pygmies, the Dayaks of Borneo, the Semangs of Malaysia, the Veddas of Ceylon, the Kubus of Sumatra and the Head-hunter of New-Guinea Islands.

Economic Development

Forestry: 

Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in India.Although the chief natural resources of the Equatorial regions are the forests, yet forestry is very little developed. Reasons are as follow:

• It is very difficult to penetrate into them because of their denseness and tangled under growth.
• The trees do not grow in pure stands.
• The trees are generally hardwood trees, which are not suitable for commercial purposes.
• Transporting of wood is a problem because transportation facility is limited to the streams, which are also not so suitable for navigation.
• There is paucity of finances with these backward people.

Mining: The equatorial regions have a number of potential areas of mineral resources.

• Malaysia is noted for tin.
• Indonesia has mineral oil and tin.
• Guinea-coast countries are rich in bauxite.
• The Congo-basin has areas of copper, tin and precious stones.
• The Amazon-basin has iron ore.
  
  Question 3:Which of the following Indian states has the highest forest cover in terms of area?

  • A.

    Maharashtra
  • B.

    Arunachal Pradesh
  • C.

    Madhya Pradesh
  • D.

    Assam

  Explanation

  Madhya Pradesh(with 77482.49 sq km) has the largest forest cover in the country followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Maharashtra.

IMPORTANT CITIES

Singapore

• This city is the capital of an island country of the same name.
• The small island of Singapore is situated near the southern tip of the Malaya peninsula separated by the straits of Malacca.
• It is very important port, because of its location on the cross-roads of the Indian and the Pacific Ocean routes.
• It has made a name for entrepot trade and is famous for handling the products of the Equatorial and the Monsoon regions.

Jakarta

• It is a big city of the Java Island. It is a big commercial centre handling local trade of tropical products.
• Jakarta (also the capital of Indonesia) is an important sea-port, which handles much of the Indonesia foreign trade.

Manaus (Brazil)

Manaus in 1865

• It is an important city of the Amazon-basin, situated in the interior at the confluence of river Rio-Negro with Amazon.
• Centrally located as it is, it has grown into a big commercial centre of forest-products.
• It has progressed with the development of rubber-plantations.
• It is connected with the port city of Belem, the gateway of the Amazon-basin by river-navigation route of the Amazon.

Accra

• It is a coastal town of Ghana situated on the guinea-coast. It is an important port, which handles most of the foreign trade of Ghana.
• Its important exports are cocoa, rubber, tin, manganese, timber and several minor forest products.
• This city is also the capital of Ghana Republic.