On Physical-Geographic Regionalization and the Regionalization of Natural Resources

The author finds conventional physical-geographic regionalization inadequate for economic-geographic purposes, and proposes instead a “natural regionalization” or regionalization of natural resources. Such a regionalization would reflect the economic assessment of the natural environment of a given area and would be more appropriate in economic-geographic research. The principles underlying natural-resource regionalization are illustrated with a regional scheme for the Sudan, an area to which the author has devoted special study.     

On the Objective and the Subjective Character of Economic Regionalization

The author takes issue with the preceding article on the question of the objective basis for regionalization. Saushkin maintains that the unity of economic regions is not derived from their internal economic relations, as Alampiyev puts it, but from the existence of what Saushkin terms “territorial complexes of productive forces.” Saushkin asserts that a single objective system of regions exists in reality and that it is the task of science to uncover that system. Saushkin says Alampiyev's suggestion that there may be several variants of regionalization smacks of the Western subjective approach to regionalization.     

A Natural-Resource Regionalization of the USSR

A regionalization of natural resources is treated as a particular case of economic regionalization, in the sense that it makes an economic interpretation of the physical base of an area from the point of view of its capacity to generate an economic region of appropriate rank. The resource regionalization is based on two particular regionalizations of bioclimatic and mineral resources, yielding a set of 86 regions that combine both types of resources. A typology of resource regions distinguishes seven basic types of regions in which bioclimatic resources are dominant and four basic types in which mineral resources are dominant. Combinations of bioclimatic and mineral resources yield 24 groups of integral resource regions.     

Economic Regionalization of the Ukrainian SSR

The author, in a field trip through the Western Pamir, was struck by the paradox of widespread well-preserved traces of Pleistocene glaciation and the relative absence of glacial drift. He advances a hypothesis of the paleogeographic development of the Pamir, assigning an important role to direct evaporation of the ice and firn of the glacial mantle. The paper was read by the author in the form of an illustrated lecture at the International Geographic Congress in London.     

Economic Regionalization in the People's Democracies

The author traces the development of administrative-economic regionalization in Eastern Europe from the initial phase of centralized economic planning and management to the present stage in which central control in combined with greater local autonomy and coordination of economic development. Economic regions are considered effective only if they embody actual agencies for economic coordination within their territory.     

Problems in the Economic Regionalization of India

The authors propose a framework of a system of economic regions based on economic production principles. This principle is designed, on the one hand, to promote a regional economic specialization, and, on the other hand, to ensure integrated development of the regional economy. The Soviet geographers find that some major economic regions are already evident, for example, Western India (including West Bengal, Bihar and possibly Orissa), but that large parts of the country, especially in the north, lack sufficiently clear characteristics to make possible an economic regionalization without further detailed study.     

论燕下都的军事防御体系

燕下都是战国中晚期的燕国都城,为保障其安全,构建有完备的军事防御体系,既有保卫都城安全的城墙及附属设施、护城壕、人工河道,也有周邻地区拱卫都城的军事据点、军事城堡及燕南长城,更充分利用了天然屏障北易水、中易水、太行山脉及"一夫当关,万夫莫开"的紫荆关,具有方式多样化、体系多层次化、防御重点突出等特点。     

Cartographic Techniques of Agricultural Regionalization

The use of a series of correlated maps is proposed as an approach to agricultural regionalization. Because of the dynamic character of farm production, two stages in the regionalization process are distinguished: a delimitation of existing agricultural regions and a delimitation of future regions. The basic principle underlying the compilation of agricultural regionalization maps IS to combine the resource base of agriculture with the actual types of farming. Maps of existing regions would also show the volume and structure of farm production, population and farm employment. In the delimitation of long-term future agricultural regions, the emphasis is on determining the potential biological productivity (climate and soils) of regions and the expected volume of production, based on food needs, industrial processing of farm products and the prospects of interregional trade in farm products.     

Man-Induced Differentiation of Natural Conditions as a Factor in Physical-Geographic Regionalization

The author analyzes the significance of man-induced changes in the natural environment at various levels of the hierarchy of physical-geographic regionalization, and proposes a classification of man-altered landscapes that can be applied to existing systems of physical-geographic regions.     

A Physical-Geographic Regionalization of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

The author served as a consultant in 1963–64 with a geography group of the State Committee of Sciences of North Vietnam that compiled a physical regionalization of the country. The regionalization, at 1:1,000,000 to 1:2,000,000, was based mainly on geologic-geomorphic and climatic criteria as well as other, more variable components of the physical environment. Six natural oblasts were distinguished: (1) the Northeast hills and low mountains, with a relatively cool climate, (2) the Northwest, distinguished by linear mountain ranges trending NW—SE, (3) the Truong Son, or Annamese Cordillera, (4) the Bac Bo [Tonkin] plain, the population center and economic core of North Vietnam, (5) the Thanh-Nghe coastal plains, and (6) the Binh-Tri-Thien coastal plains, in the extreme south. The oblasts were further partitioned into suboblasts, 51 rayons and 50 subrayons.     

商代原始瓷分区与分期略论

商代原始瓷主要出土于浙江、河南两省,尤以浙江为主;江苏、福建、山东、河北、山西、陕西诸省亦有少量的发现。在以浙江为中心的东南地区,原始瓷主要出土于城址、遗址、墓葬、窑址中,可分为五期,贯穿整个商代,可据此初步建立太湖地区较为完整的商代原始瓷编年序列;在以河南为代表的中原地区,原始瓷基本出土于大型都城遗址和高等级墓葬,亦可分为五期,第四期也即商代晚期前段与东南地区的第四期始有交集,第五期也即商代晚期后段较东南地区的第五期持续时间长;另外,江西等长江中游地区和福建、广东的闽南粤东地区还出土有一批带釉的器物,胎、釉均不稳定,时代相对较晚。浙江省原始瓷种类较丰富、数量众多、质量较高,并且发现了大规模的原始瓷窑址群,可初步判定为商代原始瓷生产与使用的中心地区。     

Problems of General Economic Regionalization at the Present Stage

Professor Ryabchikov, Dean of the Geography Faculty of Moscow University, finds that Soviet teachers colleges are adequate to supply geography teachers to the middle schools, especially in view of a gradual reduction of the number of class hours devoted to geography in those schools. He sees the primary function of university geography as the training of specialized geographers for industry, agriculture and other segments of the national economy. Universities are therefore urged to reorganize their curricula from the present somewhat academic approach to a greater practical and applied content that would benefit graduates in their new jobs. The author calls on universities to strengthen their ties with industry by taking advantage of the Soviet system of contractual research for production organizations.     

A Preliminary Scheme for the Economic Regionalization of Cuba

The authors propose a scheme of economic regionalization for Cuba, based on Soviet Marxist principles. These include the idea of objective existence of a region, independently of man's will; the need for considering future developmental prospects; energy supply; the prerequisites for integrated development of the regional economy; the presence of a regional specialization; maximum promotion of a geographical division of labor, and the factor of the country's defense capability. The resulting system of six regions in described.     

An Economic Regionalization of North Vietnam

A North Vietnamese graduate student at Moscow University offers a division of North Vietnam into four economic regions and assesses their future development in terms of energy-and-production cycles (groups of technologically interrelated activities proposed by N. N. Kolosovskiy). In a second paper, the author conceptualizes economic regions as consisting of a core or center, accounting for most of the production; an inner shell dependent on the core, and an outer shell that may gravitate to any of a number of adjoining core areas depending on the purpose of the study. The original boundaries of the four-region system of North Vietnam are reviewed in light of the “outer shell” concept. The four-region system is essentially confirmed, but the allocation of some provinces in the “outer shell” is found to be disputable, and regional boundaries have been adjusted.