Cultural Geography

In Human Geo today we took notes on a new topic: cultural geography. This is what I wrote down:

Cultural Characteristics
*they are taught*
examples:

• language 
• religion 
• ethnic heritage 

Language

• Brazilians speak Portuguese (dominant language) 
• Brazil is the only South American nation which does not primarily speak Spanish 
• Canada is a bilingual nation 
• French and English are its official languages 
• Switzerland has 4 official languages (German, French, Italian, and Romansh) but there is very little conflict 
• English is the language spoken for transactions 

Examples of Cultural Characteristics 

• ethnic heritage 
• in Yugoslavia many ethnic groups (Serbs, Croats, Bosnias, Albanians) 
• groups got along until they lost leadership 
• now they all have separate countries (Slovenia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia) 
• two groups: Tutsis & Hutus 
• Rwanda and Burund 
• Tutsis persecute Hutus (has led to almost constant war between the groups 
• in 100,500,000 - 1,000,000 Tutsis were killed by the Hutus 
• Rwandan Genocide 
• religious demographic of Burund: 
• 3% Muslim 
• 91% Christian (65% Catholic, 26% Protestant) 

Religion 

• can be a unifying and disunifying force 
• 4 biggest religions in the world: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judism