C. Mountains create concentrations of people that often have their own culture, including
language. The Basques, for example, have their own language and they want more autonomy,
not total separation, from Spain Mountains separate Switzerland, China, and Colombia into
separate cultural regions.
D. Deserts, Topical Rain Forests, and Bodies of Water.
Deserts and tropical forests are like mountains in that they divide markets, create
concentrations of population and make transportation difficult.
1. Deserts
a. Australia is world’s driest continent. As a result, more than half of the population is
concentrated in 1/5 of the land area. Australia has one of the highest percentages of
people living in cities.
b. Because 2/3 of the population is concentrated on the coast away from the major
desert area in the center of the country, most goods are moved by coastal shipping.
Transportation adds as much as 30% to the final cost of the product. This is three
times as expensive as in the U. S. and Europe.
c. There are also parts of Australia that receive up to 100 inches of rainfall annually.
2. Tropical Rain Forest
a. These are sometimes called deserts because of their low population density.
b. Although the Brazilian Amazon occupies ½ of Brazil, it contains only 4% of the
country’s population.
c. Canadian Shield–is neither a desert nor a tropical forest, but its forbidding
characteristics make its population very low. The Canadian Shield is ½ of Canada’s
landmass, but it has only 10% of the country’s population.
d. Relevance for businesspeople–Unless they are aware that some markets such as
Brazil and Canada have geographical conditions that create concentrations of
population, businesspeople may think that these markets with low population
densities may be difficult and costly to service as compared with those having much
higher densities.
3. Bodies of Water
a. Bodies of water attract people because river valleys have fertile soil, water for
irrigation and inexpensive transportation.
b. Inland waterways, like the Rhine waterway, the main transportation artery in Europe,
provides a pathway for goods to Germany, French Rhone area, Switzerland,
Australia, Czech Danube region, and the Black Sea.
c. Extensive use is made of navigable waterways in every continent except Australia.
d. Outlets to the sea have been subject of political differences (Bolivia, Paraguay).
Bolivia’s export corridor and the Paranà and Paraguay Rivers Trade Corridor provide
outlets to the sea for Mercosur countries and Bolivia in South America.
e. Fourteen of the world’s 20 landlocked nations are in Africa. This requires them to
construct expensive highways to connect to countries with coastlines. Governments
of nations with coastlines through which the exports and imports of landlocked
nations must pass are in a position to exert considerable political influence over them.
f. The Amazon River is the major inland waterway of South America.
