POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTH ASIA

HISTORY• Oldest continuous

civilization

-4,000 + years old

• Invented gunpowder,

compasses, paper,

printing, porcelain,

& silk cloth

HISTORY, CON’T.• Promoted isolation until

1800s-built Great Wall of China

to keep Mongol

invaders out

• Europeans forced China

to trade with them

-created colonial cities

HISTORY, CON’T.• Communist Party took

control in 1949

-sought to modernize &

industrialize China

-est. a command economy

-outlawed religion

GREAT WALL OF CHINA

• Begun by emperorShi Huangdi in 220 B.C.

• A series of walls

connected over time-from Yellow Sea to

Gobi Desert

• Offered protection, but

also caused isolation

CHINA TODAY• Most populated country

-1.4 billion people

-70% live in the east

• Still communist

• Emerging economic

superpower-has eased command

economy lately

CHINA’S ECONOMY• Fastest growing

economy in world-based on cheap labor

-has natural resources

needed for industry

-USA’s biggest rival