Spain 2º Bachillerato Geography

Chapters: 3

1. Spain, Europe and globalisation

Spain's location and position in the world · Spain in a globalised world · Spain in Europe and the EU · Administrative organisation of Spain

Map Skills: Reading and Using Maps – A map is a flat, scaled-down view of a place from directly above. To read one you need: the key (symbols), the scale (to measure distance), direction (compass points and bearings), grid references (to find and give a location) and contour lines (to see height and slope). Today GPS finds our position from satellites, and GIS stacks many map layers of data on a computer to answer questions about places.
The Making of a Global World – People, goods, ideas and germs have moved across the world for thousands of years: on the silk routes, with food crops like potato and maize, and with diseases like smallpox. Between 1815 and 1914 the world economy grew through three flows: goods, labour and capital, helped by railways, steamships and refrigerated ships. Colonies paid a price: rinderpest in Africa and indentured labour from India. After the First World War came mass production in the USA and then the Great Depression of 1929, which hit India's farmers hard. After 1945, the Bretton Woods system, the IMF and the World Bank rebuilt the world economy.
The European Union – The European Union (EU) is a group of 27 European countries that share some decisions and laws. It began in 1951, when six countries pooled coal and steel to make war between them impossible. It grew step by step into a single market where goods, people, services and money move freely. The Commission proposes laws, the Parliament and the Council pass them, and the Court of Justice makes sure they are applied. 21 members share the euro. The United Kingdom left in 2020.
Political Geography: How Land, People and Power Fit Together – Political geography studies how people divide and govern space. A state needs four things: land (territory), people, a government and sovereignty (no outside master). Boundaries can follow nature (rivers, mountains) or be drawn as straight lines. Inside a country, power is shared across levels: national, regional, district and local. Countries cooperate through organisations and trade blocs, but they can also clash over land, water, minerals or identity. Good rules and talks turn many conflicts into cooperation.

2. Sustainability of Spain's physical environment

Physical factors and landscape diversity · Climate diversity of Spain · Biodiversity, soils and river networks · Environmental policies in Spain and the EU

Landforms: How the Earth's Surface is Shaped – The Earth has layers: crust, mantle, outer core and inner core. The crust is broken into plates that move slowly. When plates push, pull or slide, they make mountains, valleys, earthquakes and volcanoes. On the surface, weathering breaks rocks and agents like rivers, wind, glaciers and waves carry the pieces away (erosion) and drop them (deposition). Sudden events like earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, GLOFs and duststorms are natural hazards we can prepare for.
Climate Zones of the World – Climate is the average weather of a place over about 30 years. It depends mainly on latitude (how high the Sun climbs), altitude (about 6.5 °C cooler per km up), distance from the sea, winds and ocean currents. Using these, the Köppen system sorts the world into five groups: A tropical, B dry, C temperate, D continental and E polar, plus highland climates on high mountains. Monsoon climates have winds that change direction with the seasons.
Biodiversity and its Conservation – Biodiversity is the variety of life at three levels: genetic, species and ecological. It is highest near the equator and grows with area (log S = log C + Z log A). Every species matters, like rivets on a plane. We are losing species fast because of the 'evil quartet': habitat loss and fragmentation, over-exploitation, alien species invasions and co-extinction. The IUCN Red List (Red Data Book) ranks species from Least Concern to Extinct. We protect life in situ (hotspots, national parks, sanctuaries, biosphere reserves, sacred groves, Ramsar wetlands) and ex situ (zoos, botanical gardens, seed and gene banks).
Diversity and Classification of Living Organisms – Earth has millions of kinds of living things, and India is one of the richest places. To study them, we sort them into groups by asking simple questions about their bodies: Is there a nucleus? One cell or many? Can it make its own food? This gives five kingdoms: Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia. Animals split into invertebrates and vertebrates. Every species gets a two-part scientific name. Viruses are not cells, so they fit in no kingdom.
Environmental Policy: How Societies Protect Nature – Environmental policy is the set of laws, taxes, rules and agreements a society uses to protect air, water, land, climate and living things. It is needed because pollution is an external cost: the polluter does not pay for the harm done to others, and shared resources (air, rivers, oceans) get overused. Main tools: regulation (limits, standards, bans, environmental impact assessment), market tools (pollution taxes, cap and trade permits, subsidies for clean options), protected areas, and information (labels, reporting). Key principles: polluter pays, prevention, precaution and sustainable development. People have rights to a healthy environment and duties to protect it. Policy works at local, national and global levels, because pollution crosses every boundary. Societies balance three choices: exploit, preserve or protect (use wisely).

3. Land-use planning from an eco-social approach

Spain's population · Urban spaces in Spain · Rural spaces and agriculture · Marine resources and the coast · Industrial spaces · Service-based spaces

The Demographic Structure of Indian Society – Demography is the study of population: its size, how it grows, and who is in it (age, sex, place). Malthus said population grows faster than food, so hunger checks it. The theory of demographic transition says societies move from high birth and death rates, through a population explosion when deaths fall first, to low birth and death rates. Key measures are birth rate, death rate, growth rate, fertility rate, infant and maternal mortality, life expectancy, sex ratio and dependency ratio. India has a young population, which can be a demographic dividend if the young get jobs and skills. India's falling child sex ratio is a warning sign. Villages and cities are linked by migration, trade and media, yet divided by jobs, services and income. India's population policy moved from family planning (1952) through forced sterilisation in the Emergency to the National Population Policy 2000, which stresses health, education and choice.
The World Population: Distribution, Density and Growth – People are not spread evenly on Earth. Most live on fertile plains near water; few live in deserts, high mountains or icy lands. Density tells how many people live on each square km. Geographical, economic and social factors explain the pattern. The world grew slowly for thousands of years and then very fast after 1800. Population changes through births, deaths and migration. The demographic transition theory shows how birth and death rates fall as a society moves from rural farming to urban industry. Countries use family planning and health care to control growth.
Urbanisation: Why Cities Grow and How to Make Them Work – Urbanisation is the rise in the share of a country's or the world's people who live in towns and cities. In 1950 about 30% of the world was urban; since 2007 more than half is, and about 68% is expected by 2050. Cities grow by rural–urban migration (push factors from the countryside, pull factors to the city) and by natural increase. Today the fastest growth is in lower-income and newly emerging countries of Asia and Africa, where megacities of 10 million or more are forming; in many rich countries growth is slow and people also move out to suburbs (suburbanisation and counter-urbanisation). Fast growth brings opportunities (jobs, services) and problems (informal housing, traffic, pollution, waste, flooding, the urban heat island). Sustainable urban development tries to fix these with public transport, green spaces, clean water, recycling, affordable housing and renewable energy.
Rural Geography: How Countryside Areas Live and Change – Rural areas have few people per square kilometre, lots of open land and small settlements. Farming shaped them, but machines mean fewer farm jobs. Today rural land has many uses: homes for commuters, tourism, nature protection and energy. Areas near cities often grow (the rural-urban fringe), while remote areas may lose people and services. Farmers, residents, local councils and businesses all want different things, so land-use planning sets rules.
Fisheries and Aquaculture: From Sea to Plate – Fisheries means catching fish and other water animals from the wild (capture fishing), while aquaculture means farming fish, shrimp, shellfish or seaweed. Most wild fish are caught over shallow continental shelves and in areas of upwelling, where nutrients feed plankton. Fish then pass through a chain: harbour and ice, processing (cleaning, freezing, drying, canning), cold storage and distribution to markets or export. When the catch is larger than the stock's natural regrowth, the stock collapses: overfishing. Good management uses catch limits, closed seasons, mesh-size rules, protected areas and responsible aquaculture.
Manufacturing Industries – Manufacturing changes raw materials into more valuable products. It gives jobs, reduces dependence on farming, and earns money through exports. Industries are grouped by raw material, role, capital, ownership and bulk. Their location depends on raw material, power, labour, capital, transport and market. Industries pollute air, water, land and cause noise, but this can be controlled.
The Tertiary Sector: Services – The economy has three main sectors. The primary sector takes things from nature, the secondary sector makes goods, and the tertiary sector gives services: it does useful work for people without making a physical product. Trade, transport, banking, health, education and tourism are services. As countries develop, more and more people work in services. New service models include online shopping, home delivery, platforms and sharing, and the circular economy, which keeps products in use through repair, reuse and recycling.