APHG Textbook - Chapter 7 - Ethnicities

Why was this bridge blown up? Page 250 Why are these people burning torches on a mountain?
ing torches on a mountain? Page 243
KEY ISSUE 1 KEY ISSUE 2

Where Are Why Do
Ethnicities Ethnicities Have
Distributed? Distinctive
Distributions?
A World of Ethnicities p. 227 Ethnic Segregation p. 232

Hispanics, African Americans, and Asian Americans are the most Migration of ethnicities can result in patterns of segregation,
numerous U.S. ethnicities. sometimes caused by discrimination.
224
• South Africa is a country of ethnic diversity.
Between 1948 and 1994, the whites who con-
trolled the government enacted laws known as
apartheid that segregated the country's ethnic-
ities. Most of the rights of people other than
whites were taken away. The laws have been re-
pealed, but many symbols of apartheid remain
in South Africa, including these benches outside
the law court in Cape Town.

Why Do Conflicts Why Do
Arise among Ethnicities
Ethnicities? Engage in Ethnic
Cleansing and
Genocide?
Ethnic Diversity. p. 238 Ethnic Cleansing p. 246

Ethnicities compete to control portions of Earth's surface. At its most extreme, competition among ethnic groups has led
to atrocities.
225
• To what extent should the distinct cultural identity of
ethnicities be encouraged or protected?
Introducing Geographers are interested in where ethnicities are dis-
tributed across space, like other elements of culture (Figure
Ethnicities 7-1). An ethnic group is tied to a particular place because
members of the group-or their ancestors-were born and
raised there. The cultural traits displayed by an ethnic-
Few humans live in total isolation. People ity derive from particular conditions and practices in the
are members of groups with which they group's homeland.
The reason ethnicities have distinctive traits should by
share important attributes. If you are a cit- now be familiar. Like other cultural elements, ethnic iden-
izen of the United States of America, you tity derives from the interplay of connections with other
are identified as an American, which is a groups and isolation from them.
Ethnicity is an especially important cultural element
nationality. of local diversity because our ethnic identity is immuta-
ble. We can deny or suppress our ethnicity, but we can-
Many Americans further identify themselves as belonging not choose to change it in the same way we can choose to
to an ethnicity, a group with which they share cultural speak a different language or practice a different religion.
background. One-third of Americans identify their eth- If our parents come from two ethnic groups or our grand-
nicity as African American, Hispanic, or Asian American. parents from four, our ethnic identity may be extremely
Other Americans identify with ethnicities tracing back to diluted, but it never completely disappears.
Europe. The study of ethnicity lacks the tension in scale be-
Ethnicity is a source of pride to people, a link to the tween preservation of local diversity and globalization ob-
experiences of ancestors and to cultural traditions, such served in other cultural elements. Despite efforts to preserve
as food and music preferences. The ethnic group to which local languages, it is not far-fetched to envision a world
one belongs has important measurable differences, such as in which virtually all educated people speak English. And
average income, life expectancy, and infant mortality rate. universalizing religions continue to gain adherents around
Ethnicity also matters in places with a history of discrimi- the world. But no ethnicity is attempting or even aspiring
nation by one ethnic group against another. to achieve global dominance, although ethnic groups are
The significance of ethnic diversity is controversial in fighting with each other to control specific regions of the
the United States: world.
• To what extent does discrimination persist against mi- Ethnicity is especially important to geographers because
nority ethnicities, especially African Americans and in the face of globalization trends in culture and economy,
Hispanics? ethnicity stands as the strongest bulwark for the preserva-
• Should preferences be given to minority ethnicities to tion of local diversity. Even if globalization engulfs lan-
correct past patterns of discrimination? guage, religion, and other cultural elements, regions of
distinct ethnic identity will remain.
• KEY ISSUE 1 discusses where ethnicities are distrib-
uted, particularly in the United States. Ethnicity is es-
pecially important to geographers because in the face of
globalization trends in culture and economy, ethnicity
stands as the strongest bulwark for the preservation of
local diversity.
• KEY ISSUE 2 explains why ethnicities have distinctive
distributions. Spatial patterns derive from patterns of
migration and in some cases discrimination.
• KEY ISSUE 3 looks at geographic factors underlying

conflicts among ethnicities. Conflicts result in many
places when more than one ethnic group fights to oc-
cupy the same space.
A FIGURE 7-1 ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN LONDON Whitechapel Road is
• KEY ISSUE 4 analyzes examples of conflicts among
a major road in East London. The street has long been a commercial center
for immigrants to the United Kingdom, currently primarily from South Asia . In
ethnicities that lead to large-scale forced migration and
the background is central London, including the highrise building housing the killings.
insurance company Swiss Re, which is known informally as the gherkin (British
for pickle).
226
Chapter 7: Ethnicities 227
race. A racist is a person who subscribes to the beliefs of
KEY ISSUE 1 racism.

President Barack Obama illustrates the complexity
of designating race and ethnicity in the United States
(Figure 7-2):
Where Are Ethnicities • President Obama's father, Barack Obama, Senior, was
born in the village of Kanyadhiang, Kenya. He was a
Distributed? member of Kenya's third-largest ethnic group, known
as the Luo.
• Ethnicities in the United States
• President Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, was born in
• Distribution of Ethnicities in the Kansas. Most of her ancestors migrated to the United
United States States from England in the nineteenth century.
• President Obama's step-father-his mother's second
Ethnicity is identity with a group of people who share the husband, Lolo Soetoro-was born in the village of
cultural traditions of a particular homeland or hearth. The Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He was a member of Indonesia's
word ethnicity comes from the Greek word ethnikos, which largest ethnic group, known as the Javanese.
means "national." Ethnicity is important to geographers • The son of a white mother and a black father, President
because its characteristics derive from the distinctive fea- Obama chose to identify himself on the census as "Black,
tures of particular places on Earth. African American, or Negro."
Ethnicity is often confused with race, which is iden-
tity with a group of people who share a biological ances-
tor. The word race comes from a middle-French word for
"generation." The traits that characterize race are those
that can be transmitted genetically from parents to chil-
dren. For example, lactose intolerance affects 95 percent
of Asian Americans, 65 percent of African Americans and
Native Americans, and 50 percent of Hispanics, compared
to only 15 percent of Americans of European ancestry.
Features of race, such as skin color, hair type and color,
blood traits, and shape of body, head, and facial features,
were once thought to be scientifically classifiable. Con-
temporary geographers reject the entire biological basis of
classifying humans into a handful of races because these
features are not rooted in specific places.
However, one feature of race does matter to geogra-
phers: the color of skin. The distribution of persons of
color matters to geographers because it is the fundamen-
tal basis by which people in many societies sort out where
they reside, attend school, spend their leisure time, and
perform many other activities of daily life.
At best, biological features are so highly variable among
members of a race that any prejudged classification is
meaningless. Perhaps many tens or hundreds of thousands
of years ago, early "humans" (however they emerged as a
distinct species) lived in such isolation from other early
"humans" that they were truly distinct genetically. But the
degree of isolation needed to keep biological features dis-
tinct genetically vanished when the first human crossed a
river or climbed a hill.
At worst, biological classification by race is the basis
for racism, which is the belief that race is the primary de- A FIGURE 7-2 ETHNIC DIVERSITY: BARACK OBAMA'S FA MI LY (top left)
terminant of human traits and capacities and that racial Barack Obama with his mother, (top right) with his father, and (bottom) with
differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular his stepfather, mother, and stepsister.
228 THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE
Most Hispanics identify with a more specific ethnic or

national origin. Around two-thirds come from Mexico and
Ethnicities in the United States are sometimes called Chicanos (males) or Chicanas (fe-
males). Originally these terms were considered insulting,
Learning Outcome 7.1.1 but in the 1960s Mexican American youths in Los Angeles
Identify and describe the major ethnicities in the began to call themselves Chicanos and Chicanas with pride.
United States. In 2010 about 72 percent of Americans said on the
census that they were white, 13 percent black or African
The United States has always been defined, in part, by its American, 5 percent one of the seven Asian categories,
ethnic diversity. Today, Americans are more diverse than 1 percent American Indian or Alaska Native, and 6 percent
ever before. Every 10 years, the U.S. Bureau of the Census other. The census permits people to check more than
asks people to classify themselves according to the ethnic- one box, and 3 percent did that in 2010. Approximately
ity with which they most closely identify. Americans are 16 percent said they were Hispanic, and 84 percent said
asked to identify themselves by answering two questions: they were not.
• Check the box next to one or more of the following fif- The U.S. census shows the difficulty in distinguishing
teen categories: between ethnicity and race. Most of the census categories
• White relate to ethnicity because they derive from places, such
• Black, African American, or Negro as African American or Asian Indian. However, the census
• American Indian or Alaska Native also offers three race-related categories-black, white, and
• Asian Indian other race. The three most numerous U.S. ethnicities-
• Chinese AsianAmerican, AfricanAmerican, andHispanicAmerican-
• Filipino further illustrate the difficulty. These three display distinct
• Other Asian cultural traditions that originate at particular hearths but
• Japanese are regarded in different ways:
• Korean • Asian American as an ethnicity and Asian a race refer
• Vietnamese to the same group of people, which encompasses
• Native Hawaiian Americans from many countries in Asia (Figure 7-3).
• Guamanian or Chamorro • African American as an ethnicity and black as a race en-
• Samoan compass different groups, although the 2010 census
• Other Pacific Islander combines the two. Most black Americans are descended
• Other race from African immigrants and therefore also belong to an
• Respond yes or no to being of Hispanic, Latino, or Span- African American ethnicity (Figure 7-4). Some American
ish origin. If the response is yes, individuals are asked to blacks, however, trace their cultural heritage to regions
pick one of these categories: other than Africa, including Latin America, Asia, and
• Mexican, Mexican Am., Chicano [the census uses Pacific islands. The term African American identifies a
the abbreviation "Am."] group with an extensive cultural tradition, whereas the
• Puerto Rican term black in principle denotes nothing more than dark
• Cuban skin. Because many Americans make judgments about
• Another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin the values and behavior of others simply by observing
Respondents who select American Indian, Other Asian,
Other Pacific Islander, Other race, or Another Hispanic are
asked to write in the specific names on the census form. 'Y FIGURE 7-3 ASIAN AMERICANS San Francisco's Chinatown.
Pause and Reflect 7 .1.1

How would you answer the census questions about
yourself?
Hispanic and Hispanic American are terms that the U.S.

government chose in 1973 to describe the group because
they are inoffensive labels that can be applied to all people
from Spanish-speaking countries. Some Americans of Latin
American descent have instead adopted the terms Latino
(males) and Latina (females). A 1995 U.S. Census Bureau sur-
vey found that 58 percent of Americans of Latin American
descent preferred the term Hispanic and 12 percent
Latina/Latina.
A FIGURE 7-4 AFRICAN AMERICANS New York's Harlem.
skin color, black is substituted for African American in

daily language.
• Hispanic is an ethnicity but not a race, so Hispanics can
identify with any race they wish. Hispanics have an es-
pecially difficult time doing so on the census. In 2010,
53 percent of Hispanics picked white, 3 7 percent other
race, 6 percent more than one box, and 4 percent one
of the 13 other categories (Figure 7-5).
Today, many Americans are of mixed ancestry and may
or may not choose to identify with a single race or eth-
nicity. Other Americans trace their heritage to places in
Europe, such as Ireland and Italy, that are not included in
the two race and ethnicity census questions.
ETHNIC CLUSTERING: STATE SCALE A FIGURE 7-5 HISPANICS Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood.
The distinctive distribution of African Americans and

Hispanics is especially noticeable at the state level. At the average. In Texas, El Paso and San Antonio-the two large
state level, African Americans comprise 85 percent of the cities closest to the Mexican border-are more than one-
population in the city of Detroit and only 7 percent in half Hispanic, but the state's other large cities have per-
the rest of Michigan. Otherwise stated, Detroit contains centages below or about equal to the state's average of
less than one-tenth of Michigan's total population but around one-third.
more than one-half of the state's African American popula-
tion (Figure 7-6). Similarly, Chicago is more than one-third .... FIGURE 7-6
African American, compared to one-twelfth in the rest of DISTRIBUTION OF
Illinois. Chicago has less than one-fourth of Illinois' total ETHNICITIES IN
population and more than one-half of the state's African MICHIGAN Most
of Michigan's African
Americans.
Americans live in
The distribution of Hispanics is similar to that of
Detroit.
African Americans in large northern cities. For example,
New York City is more than one-fourth Hispanic, com-
pared to one-sixteenth in the rest of New York State, and
New York City contains two-fifths of the state's total popu-
lation and three-fourths of its Hispanics.
In the states with the largest Hispanic populations-
California and Texas-the distribution is mixed. In California,
Hispanics comprise nearly half of Los Angeles's popula-
tion, but the percentage of Hispanics in California's other
large cities is less than or about equal to the overall state
Distribution of Ethnicities
in the United States
Learning Outcome 7 .1.2
Describe the distribution of major U.S. ethnicities
among regions and within urban areas.
Percent Hispanic or
Latino
Within a country, clustering of ethnicities can occur on
- 25 .0 and above
two scales. Ethnic groups may live in particular regions of - 5.0-24.9
the country, and they may live in particular communities Below 5.0
within cities and states. Within the United States, ethnici-
ties are clustered at both scales.
A FIGURE 7-7 DISTRIBUTION OF HISPANICS IN THE UNITED
STATES The counties with the highest percentages in 2010 are in the
ETHNIC CLUSTERING: REGIONAL SCALE Southwest, near the Mexican border, and in northern cities.
On a regional scale, ethnicities have distinctive distribu-

tions within the United States:
• Hispanics. Clustered in the Southwest, Hispanics exceed
one-third of the population of Arizona, New Mexico,
and Texas and one-quarter of California (Figure 7-7).
California is home to one-third of all Hispanics, Texas
one-fifth, and Florida and New York one-sixth each.
• African Americans. Clustered in the Southeast, African
Americans comprise at least one-fourth of the popu- Percent African
lation in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, and American
South Carolina and more than one-third in Mississippi - 25.0 and above
. 5.0-24.9
(Figure 7-8). Concentrations are even higher in selected Below 5.0
counties. At the other extreme, nine states in upper
New England and the West have less than 1 percent Af-
rican Americans. A FIGURE 7-8 DISTRIBUTION OF AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE
• Asian Americans. Clustered in the West, Asian Americans UNITED STATES The counties with the highest percentages of African
comprise more than 40 percent of the population of Americans are in the rural South and in northern cities.
Hawaii (Figure 7-9). One-half of all Asian Americans
live in California, where they comprise 12 percent of
the population.
ETHNIC CLUSTERING: URBAN SCALE

African Americans and Hispanics are highly clustered in
urban areas. Around 90 percent of these ethnicities live in
metropolitan areas, compared to around 75 percent for all
Americans. The clustering of ethnicities is especially pro-
nounced on the scale of neighborhoods within cities. In
the early twentieth century, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit,
and other Midwest cities attracted ethnic groups primar-
ily from Southern and Eastern Europe to work in the rap-
idly growing steel, automotive, and related industries.
For example, in 1910, when Detroit's auto production A FIGURE 7-9 DISTRIBUTION OF ASIAN AMERICANS IN THE UNITED
STATES The counties with the highest percentages of Asian Americans are in
was expanding, three-fourths of the city's residents were
Hawaii and California.
immigrants and children of immigrants. Southern and
Eastern European ethnic groups clustered in newly con-
structed neighborhoods that were often named for their The children and grandchildren of European immi-
predominant ethnicities, such as Detroit's Greektown and grants moved out of most of the original inner-city neigh-
Poletown. borhoods during the twentieth century. For descendants
of European immigrants, ethnic identity is more likely to

be retained through religion, food, and other cultural tra-
ditions than through location of residence. A visible rem-
nant of early twentieth-century European ethnic neigh-
borhoods is the clustering of restaurants in such areas as
Little Italy and Greektown.
Ethnic concentrations in U.S. cities increasingly consist
of African Americans who migrate from the South or im-
migrants from Latin America and Asia. In cities such as De-
troit, African Americans now comprise the majority and live
in neighborhoods originally inhabited by European ethnic
groups. Chicago has extensive African American neighbor-
hoods on the south and west sides of the city, but the city
also contains a mix of neighborhoods inhabited by Euro-
pean, Latin American, and Asian ethnicities (Figure 7-10).
In Los Angeles, which contains large percentages of
African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans, the
major ethnic groups are clustered in different areas (Fig- A
N
ure 7-11). African Americans are located in south-central
Los Angeles and Hispanics in the east. Asian Americans are
located to the south and west, contiguous to the African
American and Hispanic areas. PACIFIC
OCEAN
4Miles At least 50 percent

f--~-'--r---'
4 Kilometers - African American
SMiles
- Asian American 1----r---'-~----'
6 Kilometers
- Hispanic/Latino(a)
White
Lake No majority group
Michigan
..& FIGURE 7-11 DISTRIBUTION OF ETHNICITIES IN LOS
ANGELES According to the 2010 Census, African Americans were clustered to
the south of downtown Los Angeles and Hispanics to the east. Asian American
neighborhoods were contiguous to the African American and Hispanic areas.
CHECK-IN: KEY ISSUE 1

Where Are Ethnicities Distributed?
./ The most numerous ethnicities in the United
States are Hispanic, African American, and
Asian American.
The three most numerous U.S. ethnicities have
distinctive distributions at regional, state, and
- African American urban scales.
• Asian American
- Hispanic/Latino(a)
White
No majority group

.& FIGURE 7-10 DISTRIBUTION OF ETHNICITIES IN CHICAGO According to Where are the principal clusters of ethnic minorities
the 201 0 Census, African Americans were clustered on the south and west sides,
found in your community?
Hispanics on the northwest and southwest side, and whites on the north side.
slavery was replaced in Europe by a feudal system, in which
KEY ISSUE 2 laborers working the land (known as serfs) were bound to
the land and not free to migrate elsewhere. Serfs had to
turn over a portion of their crops to the lord and provide
Why Do Ethnicities other services, as demanded by the lord.
Although slavery was rare in Europe, Europeans were
responsible for diffusing the practice to the Western
Have Distinctive Hemisphere. Europeans who owned large plantations in the
Americas turned to African slaves as an abundant source of
Distributions? labor that cost less than paying wages to other Europeans.
At the height of the slave trade between 1710 and
• International Migration of Ethnicities 1810, at least 10 million Africans were uprooted from
their homes and sent on European ships to the Western
• Internal Migration of African Hemisphere for sale in the slave markets. During that
Americans period, the British and Portuguese each shipped about
2 million slaves to the Western Hemisphere, with most
• Segregation by Ethnicity and Race of the British slaves going to Caribbean islands and the
Portuguese slaves to Brazil.
learning Outcome 7.2.1 The forced migration began when people living along
Describe the patterns of forced and voluntary the east and west coasts of Africa, taking advantage of
migration of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, their superior weapons, captured members of other groups
and Asian Americans to the United States. living farther inland and sold the captives to Europeans.
Europeans in turn shipped the captured Africans to the
The clustering of ethnicities within the United States is Americas, selling them as slaves either on consignment or
partly a function of the same process that helps geogra- through auctions. The Spanish and Portuguese first par-
phers to explain the distribution of other cultural fac- ticipated in the slave trade in the early sixteenth century,
tors, such as language and religion-namely migration. In and the British, Dutch, and French joined in during the
Chapter 3, migration was divided into international (vol- next century.
untary or forced) and internal (interregional and intrare-
gional). The distribution of African Americans, Hispanic
Americans, and Asian Americans demonstrates all of these
migration patterns.
International Migration
of Ethnicities
Most African Americans are descended from Africans
forced to migrate to the Western Hemisphere as slaves dur-
ing the eighteenth century. Most Asian Americans and
Hispanics are descended from voluntary immigrants to the
United States during the late twentieth and early twenty-
first centuries, although some felt compelled for political
reasons to come to the United States.
FORCED MIGRATION FROM AFRICA

Slavery is a system whereby one person owns another
person as a piece of property and can force that slave to
work for the owner's benefit. The first Africans brought
to the American colonies as slaves arrived at Jamestown,
Virginia, on a Dutch ship in 1619 (Figure 7-12). During
the eighteenth century, the British shipped about 400,000
Africans to the 13 colonies that later formed the United
States. In 1808 the United States banned bringing in ad-
ditional Africans as slaves, but an estimated 250,000 were
illegally imported during the next half-century. A. FIGURE 7-12 SLAVE SHIP This drawing made around 1845 for a French
Slavery was widespread during the time of the Roman magazine shows the high density and poor conditions of Africans transported
Empire, about 2,000 years ago. During the Middle Ages, to the Western Hemisphere to become slaves.
bitterly debated whether to permit slavery in the new

states. The Civil War (1861-1865) was fought to prevent
11 pro-slavery Southern states from seceding from the
Union. In 1863, during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln
issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves
in the 11 Confederate states. The Thirteenth Amendment
to the Constitution, adopted 8 months after the South sur-
rendered, outlawed slavery.
Areas of
National
Domination VOLUNTARY MIGRATION FROM LATIN
- British
Portuguese
AMERICA AND ASIA
- French Until the late twentieth century, quotas limited the number
- Spanish
- Dutch
of people who could immigrate to the United States from
+ Slave trade
1,000 2,000 Miles Latin America and Asia, as discussed in Ghapter 3. After
0 1,000 2,000 Kilometers
route N the immigration laws were changed during the 1960s and
1970s, the population of Hispanics and Asian Americans
A FIGURE 7-13 ORIGIN AND DESTINATION OF SLAVES Most slaves
were transported across the Atlantic from West Africa to the Americas.
in the United States increased rapidly. Initially, most
Hispanics and Asian Americans were recent immigrants
Different European countries operated in various re- who came to the United States in search of work, but in
gions of Africa, each sending slaves to different des- the twenty-first century most Americans who identify
tinations in the Americas (Figure 7-13). At the height themselves as Hispanics or Asian Americans are children
of the eighteenth-century slave demand, a number of or grandchildren of immigrants.
European countries adopted the triangular slave trade, an The rapid growth of Hispanics in the United States be-
efficient triangular trading pattern (Figure 7-14). ginning in the 19 70s was fueled primarily by immigration
The large-scale forced migration of Africans caused from Mexico and Puerto Rico (Figure 7-15).
them unimaginable hardship, separating families and de- Chinese comprise the largest share of Asian Americans,
stroying villages. Traders generally seized the stronger and followed by Indians, Filipinos, Koreans, and Vietnamese
younger villagers, who could be sold as slaves for the high- (Figure 7-16). Most Asian Americans are either immigrants
est price. The Africans were packed onto ships at extremely who arrived in the late twentieth and early twenty-first
high density, kept in chains, and provided with minimal centuries or their offspring.
food and sanitary facilities. Approximately one-fourth
died crossing the Atlantic.
In the 13 colonies that later formed the United States Hispanics by country of origin
~FIGURE 7-15 HISPANICS
most of the large plantations in need of labor were located BY COUNTRY OF
in the South, primarily those growing cotton as well as ORIGIN Mexicans comprise
nearly two-thirds of Hispanics
tobacco. Consequently, nearly all Africans shipped to the
in the United States.
13 colonies ended up in the Southeast.
Attitudes toward slavery dominated U.S. politics dur-
ing the nineteenth century. During the early 1800s, when
new states were carved out of western territory, anti-slav-
ery northeastern states and pro-slavery southeastern states
America
.... FIGURE 7-14 TRIANGULAR 3.8%
SLAVE TRADE
• Ships left Europe for Africa with
cloth and other trade goods, used
to buy the slaves. ~FIGURE 7-16 ASIAN AMERICANS
Asian Americans by country of origin
• They then transported slaves and BY COUNTRY OF ORIGIN Chinese,
gold from Africa to the Western Filipinos, and Indians comprise one-fifth
Hemisphere, primarily to the each of Asian Americans in the United
Caribbean islands. States.
• To complete the triangle, the
same ships then carried sugar
and molasses from the Caribbean
on their return trip to Europe.
• Some ships added another step, making a rectangular trading pattern, in
which molasses was carried from the Caribbean to the North American colo-
nies and rum from the colonies to Europe.
Internal Migration of African

Americans
Learning Outcome 7.2.2
Describe the patterns of migration of African
Americans within the United States.
African Americans have displayed two distinctive inter-

nal migration patterns within the United States during the
twentieth century:
• Interregional migration from the U.S. South to north-
ern cities during the first half of the twentieth century.
A FIGURE 7-18 INTERREGIONAL MIGRATION OF AFRICAN AMERICANS
• Intraregional migration from inner-city ghettos to Migration followed four distinctive channels along the East Coast, east central,
outer city and inner suburban neighborhoods during west central, and southwest regions of the country.
the second half of the twentieth century.
twentieth century and have since been replaced by inter-
state highways:
• East Coast. From the Carolinas and other South Atlan-
INTERREGIONAL MIGRATION tic states north to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York,
At the close of the Civil War, most African Americans and other northeastern cities, along U.S. Route 1 (paral-
were concentrated in the rural South. Today, as a result lel to present-day I-95).
of interregional migration, many African Americans live • East central. From Alabama and eastern Tennessee north
in cities throughout the Northeast, Midwest, and West as to either Detroit, along U.S. Route 25 (present-day I-75),
well. Freed as slaves, most African Americans remained in or Cleveland, along U.S. Route 21 (present-day I-77).
the rural South during the late nineteenth century, work-
• West central. From Mississippi and western Tennessee
ing as sharecroppers (Figure 7-17). A sharecropper works
north to St. Louis and Chicago, along U.S. routes 61
fields rented from a landowner and pays the rent by turn-
and 66 (present-day I-55).
ing over to the landowner a share of the crops. To obtain
seed, tools, food, and living quarters, a sharecropper gets a • Southwest. From Texas west to California, along U.S.
line of credit from the landowner and repays the debt with routes 80 and 90 (present-day I-10 and I-20).
yet more crops. The sharecropper system burdened poor Southern African Americans migrated north and west
African Americans with high interest rates and heavy in two main waves, the first in the 1910s and 1920s before
debts. Instead of growing food that they could eat, share- and after World War I and the second in the 1940s and
croppers were forced by landowners to plant extensive 1950s before and after World War II. The world wars stimu-
areas of crops such as cotton that could be sold for cash. lated expansion of factories in the 1910s and 1940s to pro-
Sharecropping became less common into the twenti- duce war materiel, while the demands of the armed forces
eth century, as the introduction of farm machinery and created shortages of factory workers. After the wars, during
a decline in land devoted the 1920s and 1950s, factories produced steel, motor vehi-
to cotton reduced demand cles, and other goods demanded in civilian society.
for labor. At the same time
sharecroppers were being
pushed off the farms, they
INTRAREGIONAL MIGRATION
were being pulled by the Intraregional migration-migration within cities and met-
prospect of jobs in the ropolitan areas-also changed the distribution of African
booming industrial cities of Americans and people of other ethnicities. When they
the North. reached the big cities, African American immigrants clus-
African Americans mi- tered in the one or two neighborhoods where the small
grated out of the South numbers who had arrived in the nineteenth century were
along several clearly defined already living. These areas became known as ghettos, after
channels (Figure 7-18). Most the term for neighborhoods in which Jews were forced to
traveled by bus and car live in the Middle Ages (see Chapter 6).
along the major two-lane
A FIGURE 7-17 SHARECROPPERS long-distance U.S. roads that EXPANSION OF THE GHETTO. African Americans
Thirteen-year-old African American were paved and signposted moved from the tight ghettos into immediately adjacent
sharecropper plowing, 1937. in the early decades of the neighborhoods during the 1950s and 1960s. Expansion of
the ghetto typically followed major avenues that radiated 1.8

out from the center of the city. en
c:
1.6
g1.4
In Baltimore, for example, most of the city's quarter- E1 .2 -
million African Americans in 1950 were clustered in a ~ 1.0
3-square-kilometer (1-square-mile) neighborhood north- :8C"a 0 8
0
west of downtown (Figure 7-19). The remainder were g_ 0.6 1#-- + - - - l - - - t - - ·

clustered east of downtown or in a large isolated housing &. 0.4
project on the south side built for black wartime work- o.~ l--~~~::::::::_L~-~-~~~___:~~
ers in port industries. Densities in the ghettos were high, 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Year
with 40,000 inhabitants per square kilometer (100,000
per square mile) common. Contrast that density with the .A. FIGURE 7-20 ETHNIC POPULATION CHANGE IN DETROIT
Between 1950 and 2010, the white population of Detroit declined from 1. 7 million
current level found in typical American suburbs of 2,000
to 100,000 today, whereas the African American population increased from
inhabitants per square kilometer (5,000 per square mile). 300,000 to 600,000.
Because of the shortage of housing in the ghettos, families
were forced to live in one room. Many dwellings lacked 5-square-kilometer (2-square-mile) area on the east side be-
bathrooms, kitchens, hot water, and heat. came mainly populated by African Americans. Expansion
Baltimore's west side African American ghetto ex- of the ghetto continued to follow major avenues to the
panded from 3 square kilometers (1 square mile) in 1950 northwest and northeast in subsequent decades.
to 25 square kilometers (10 square miles) in 1970, and a
''WHITE FLIGHT." The expansion of the black ghettos in
American cities was made possible by "white flight," the
Percent
African American Baltimore emigration of whites from an area in anticipation of blacks
County
immigrating into the area. Rather than integrate, whites fled.
Baltimore city Detroit provides a clear example. African Americans
poured into Detroit in the early twentieth century.
10- 29 Many found jobs in the rapidly growing auto industry
Below 10
Few or none
(Figure 7-20). Immigration into Detroit from the South sub-
- Park lands
sided during the 1950s, but as legal barriers to integration
crumbled, whites began to emigrate out of Detroit. Detroit's
Howard
1940 County white population dropped by about 1 million between 1950
and 19 75 and by another half million between 19 75 and
2000. As a result, the overall population of Detroit declined
Baltimore from a historic peak of nearly 2 million in 1950 to around
County
700,000 in the early twenty-first century.
White flight was encouraged by unscrupulous real es-
tate practices, especially blockbusting. Under blockbust-
ing, real estate agents convinced white homeowners living
near a black area to sell their houses at low prices, preying
on their fears that black families would soon move into
the neighborhood and cause property values to decline.
The agents then sold the houses at much qigher prices to
black families desperate to escape the overcrowded ghet-
tos. Through blockbusting, a neighborhood could change
from all-white to all-black in a matter of months, and real
estate agents could start the process all over again in the
next white area.
The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders,
known as the Kerner Commission, wrote in 1968 that U.S.
cities were divided into two separate and unequal societ-
ies, one black and one white. A half-century later, despite
serious efforts to integrate and equalize the two, segrega-
2000 tion and inequality persist .
.A. FIGURE 7-19 EXPANSION OF THE GHETTO IN BALTIMORE
In 1950, most African Americans in Baltimore lived in a small area northwest of Pause and Reflect 7 .2.2
downtown. During the 1950s and 1960s, the African American area expanded Referring to Figure 7-20, which figure is higher in
to the northwest, along major radial roads, and a second node opened on the
Detroit since 1950: the increasing number of African
east side. The south-side African American area was an isolated public housing
Americans or the decreasing number of whites?
complex built for wartime workers in the nearby port industries.
establishments served only blacks, and all of the schools

had teachers and classrooms.
Segregation by Ethnicity Throughout the country, not just in the South, house
and Race deeds contained restrictive covenants that prevented the
owners from selling to blacks, as well as to Roman Cath-
Learning Outcome 7.2.3 olics or Jews in some places. Restrictive covenants kept
blacks from moving into an all-white neighborhood. And
Explain the laws once used to segregate races in the
because schools, especially at the elementary level, were
United States and South Africa.
located to serve individual neighborhoods, most were seg-
regated in practice, even if not by legal mandate.
In explaining spatial regularities, geographers look for pat-
U.S. segregation laws were eliminated during the
terns of spatial interaction. A distinctive feature of ethnic
1950s and 1960s. The landmark Supreme Court decision
relations in the United States and South Africa has been
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, in 1954,
the strong discouragement of spatial interaction-in the
found that having separate schools for blacks and whites
past through legal means and today through cultural pref-
was unconstitutional because no matter how equivalent
erences or discrimination.
the facilities, racial separation branded minority children
as inferior and therefore was inherently unequal. A year
UNITED STATES: "SEPARATE BUT EQUAL" later, the Supreme Court further ruled that schools had to
be desegregated "with all deliberate speed."
The U.S. Supreme Court in 1896 upheld a Louisiana law
that required black and white passengers to ride in sepa-
CULTURAL SEGREGATION. Two major museums stan-
rate railway cars. In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court
ding one block apart in Detroit illustrate the challenges of
stated that Louisiana's law was constitutional because
integrating ethnicities in the United States. The financially
it provided separate, but equal, treatment of blacks and
strapped city of Detroit has had difficulty adequately
whites, and equality did not mean that whites had to mix
funding both museums:
socially with blacks.
• The Detroit Institute of Arts contains a major collec-
SEGREGATION LAWS. Once the Supreme Court permitted tion of paintings by medieval European artists, many
"separate but equal" treatment of the races, southern states of which were donated a century ago by rich Detroit
enacted a comprehensive set of laws to segregate blacks industrialists. The 80-year-old building, the country's
from whites as much as possible (Figure 7-21). These were fifth-largest art museum, looks like a Greek temple.
called "Jim Crow" laws, named for a nineteenth-century • The Museum of African American History, founded in
song-and-dance act that depicted blacks offensively. Blacks 1965, houses the country's largest exhibit devoted to
had to sit in the backs of buses, and shops, restaurants, the history and culture of African Americans. The cur-
and hotels could choose to serve only whites. Separate rent building, opened in 1997, is designed to reflect
schools were established for blacks and whites. This was the cultural heritage of Africa, including an entry with
equal, after all, white southerners argued, because the large bronze doors topped by 14-karat gold-plated dec-
bus got blacks sitting in the rear to the destination at the orative masks. The exhibits are primarily photographs,
same time as the whites in the front, some commercial videos, and text.
T FIGURE 7-21 SEGREGATION IN THE UNITED STATES Until the 1960s Pause and Reflect 7 .2.3
in the U.S. South, whites and blacks had to use separate drinking fountains, as Which Detroit museum should take priority for the
well as separate restrooms, bus seats, hotel rooms, and other public facilities. city's limited investment funds- the Detroit Institute
of Arts or the Museum of African American History?
SOUTH AFRICA: APARTHEID

Discrimination by race reached its peak in the late
twentieth century in South Africa. While the United States
was repealing laws that segregated people by race, South
Africa was enacting them. The cornerstone of the South
African policy was the creation of a legal system called
apartheid (Figure 7-22). Apartheid was the physical sep-
aration of different races into different geographic areas.
Although South Africa's apartheid laws were repealed dur-
ing the 1990s, it will take many years to erase the impact
of those policies.
Homelands
- Created
- Proposed BOTSWANA
NAMIBIA
30°S
A FIGURE 7-22 APARTHEID IN SOUTH AFRICA South Africa's apartheid

laws were designed to spatially segregate races as much as possible. This 1984
image of City Hall in Johannesburg shows that whites and nonwhites were INDIAN OCEAN
required to use separate bathrooms.
35°S 3sos
Present-day provinces are shown 25°E 30°E
A FIGURE 7-23 SOUTH AFRICA'S APARTHEID HOMELANDS As part of

In South Africa, under apartheid, a newborn baby was its apartheid system, the government of South Africa designated 10 homelands,
classified as being one of four races-black, white, colored expecti ng that ultimately every black would become a citizen of one of them.
(mixed white and black), or Asian. Under apartheid, each South Africa declared 4 of these homelands to be independent states, but no
of the four races had a different legal status in South Africa. other country recognized the action. With the end of apartheid and the election
The apartheid laws determined where different races could of a black majority govern ment, the homelands were abolished, and South
live, attend school, work, shop, and own land. Blacks were Africa was reorgan ized into 9 provinces.
restricted to certain occupations and were paid far lower
wages than were whites for similar work. Blacks could not from jail after more than 27 years of imprisonment. When
vote or run for political office in national elections. The all South Africans were permitted to vote in national elec-
apartheid system was created by descendants of whites tions for the first time, in 1994, Mandela was overwhelm-
who arrived in South Africa from the Netherlands in 1652 ingly elected the country's first black president.
and settled in Cape Town, at the southern tip of the ter- Now that South Africa's apartheid laws have been dis-
ritory. They were known either as Boers, from the Dutch mantled and the country is governed by its black majority,
word for "farmer," or Afrikaners, from the word "Afri- other countries have reestablished economic and cultural
kaans," the name of their language, which is a dialect of ties. However, the legacy of apartheid will linger for many
Dutch. years: South Africa's blacks have achieved political equal-
The British seized the Dutch colony in 1795 and con- ity, but they are much poorer than white South Africans.
trolled South Africa's government until 1948, when the Average income among white South Africans is about
Afrikaner-dominated Nationalist Party won elections. The 10 times higher than that of blacks.
Afrikaners gained power at a time when colonial rule was
being replaced in the rest of Africa by a collection of in-
dependent states run by the local black population. The CHECK-IN: KEY ISSUE 2
Afrikaners vowed to resist pressures to turn over South
Africa's government to blacks, and the Nationalist Party Why Do Ethnicities Have Distinctive
created the apartheid laws in the next few years to per- Distributions?
petuate white dominance of the country. To ensure geo-
graphic isolation of different races, the South African ./ Ancestors of African Americans immigrated to
government designated 10 so-called homelands for blacks the United States primarily as slaves.
(Figure 7-23). The white minority government expected ./ Large numbers of African Americans migrated
every black to become a citizen of one of the homelands and from the South to the North and West during
to move there. More than 99 percent of the population in the the early twentieth century.
10 homelands was black.
The white-dominated government of South Africa ./ In the United States, as well as in South Africa,
repealed the apartheid laws in 1991. The principal anti- segregation of races was legal for much of the
apartheid organization, the African National Congress, twentieth century.
was legalized, and its leader, Nelson Mandela, was released
KEY ISSUE 3
Why Do Conflicts Arise
among Ethnicities?
• Ethnicities and Nationalities
• Ethnic Competition
• Dividing Ethnicities

Explain the difference between ethnicity and
nationality.
Ethnicity and race are distinct from nationality, another ... FIGURE 7-24 QUEBEC INDEPENDENCE RALLY Supporters of
term commonly used to describe a group of people with independence for Quebec march through the streets of Montreal prior to a
shared traits. Nationality is identity with a group of peo- 1995 referendum in which voters voted 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent to remain
part of Canada.
ple who share legal attachment and personal allegiance to
a particular country. It comes from the Latin word nasci,
which means "to have been born."
In Canada, the Quebecois are clearly distinct from other
Canadians in language, religion, and other cultural tradi-
Ethnicities and Nationalities tions. But do the Quebecois form a distinct ethnicity within
Nationality and ethnicity are similar concepts in that the Canadian nationality or a second nationality separate
membership in both is defined through shared cultural altogether from Anglo-Canadian? The distinction is critical
values. In principle, the cultural values shared with others because if Quebecois is recognized as a separate national-
of the same ethnicity derive from religion, language, and ity from Anglo-Canadian, the Quebec government would
material culture, whereas those shared with others of the have a much stronger justification for breaking away from
same nationality derive from voting, obtaining a passport, Canada to form an independent country (Figure 7-24).
and performing civic duties.
NATIONALITIES IN NORTH AMERICA ETHNICITIES AND NATIONALITIES

IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
In the United States, nationality is generally kept reason-
ably distinct from ethnicity and race in common usage: Outside North America,
distinctions between eth-
• Nationality identifies citizens of the United States of
nicity and nationality
America, including those born in the country and those
are even muddier. An ex-
who immigrated and became citizens.
ample of the complexity
• Ethnicity identifies groups with distinct ancestry and is the British Isles, which
cultural traditions, such as African Americans, Hispanic comprise several thousand
Americans, Chinese Americans, or Polish Americans. islands, including Ireland
• Race distinguishes blacks and other persons of color (called Eire in Irish) and
from whites. Great Britain. The British
The United States forged a nationality in the late eigh- Isles contain four prin-
teenth century out of a collection of ethnic groups gath- cipal ethnicities (Figure
ered primarily from Europe and Africa, not through tra- 7 -25):
ditional means of issuing passports (African Americans • English. The English
.... FIGURE 7-25 ETHNICITIES AND
weren't considered citizens then) or voting (women and are descendants of NATIONALITIES IN THE UNITED
African Americans couldn't vote then), but through shar- Germanic tribes who KINGDOM AND IRELAND
ing the values expressed in the Declaration of Indepen- crossed the North Sea The British Isles comprise two countries:
dence and the U.S. Constitution. To be an American meant and invaded the coun- the Republic of Ireland and the United
believing in the "unalienable rights" of "life, liberty, and try in the fifth century Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
the pursuit of happiness." (see Chapter 5). Ireland
• Welsh. The Welsh were Celtic people conquered by
England in 1282 and formally united with England
through the Act of Union of 1536. Welsh laws were
abolished, and Wales became a local government unit.
• Scots. The Scots were Celtic people who had an inde-
pendent country for more than 700 years, until 1603,
when Scotland's King James VI also became King James
I of England, thereby uniting the two countries. The
Act of Union in 1707 formally merged the two govern-
ments, although Scotland was allowed to retain its own
systems of education and local laws.
• Irish. The Irish were Celtic people who were ruled by
England until the twentieth century, when most of the
island became the independent country of Ireland.
Ireland and Great Britain are divided into two
nationalities: A FIGURE 7-26 NATIONALISM Ukrainians celebrate independence day
• The United Kingdom comprises Great Britain and North- on August 24 by waving flags while walking along Khreshchatyk Street in the
ern Ireland. The term British refers to the nationality. capital, Kiev. Ukraine declared its independence from the former Soviet Union
on August 24, 1991.
• The Republic of Ireland comprises the southern 84 per-
cent of the island of Ireland. The island of Ireland con-
tains one predominant ethnicity-Irish-divided be-
tween two nationalities. is loyalty and devotion to a nationality. Nationalism typ-
Within the United Kingdom, a strong element of eth- ically promotes a sense of national consciousness that
nic identity comes from sports. Even though they are not exalts one nation above all others and emphasizes its cul-
separate countries, England, Scotland, Wales, and North- ture and interests as opposed to those of other nations.
ern Ireland field their own national soccer and compete People display nationalism by supporting a country that
separately in major international tournaments, such as the preserves and enhances the culture and attitudes of their
World Cup. The most important annual rugby tournament, nationality.
known as the Six Nations' Championship, includes teams States foster nationalism by promoting symbols of
from England, Scotland, and Wales, as well as Ireland, the country, such as flags and songs. The symbol of the
Italy, and France. Given the history of English conquest, hammer and sickle on a field of red was long synony-
the other nationalities often root against England when it mous with the beliefs of communism. After the fall of
is playing teams from other countries. communism, one of the first acts in a number of East-
Sorting out ethnicity and nationality can be challenging ern European countries was to redesign fl~gs without the
for many, including prominent sports stars. The golfer Rory hammer and sickle. Legal holidays were changed from
Mcilroy's ethnicity is Irish Catholic, and his nationality is dates associated with Communist victories to those asso-
United Kingdom, because Northern Ireland is part of the ciated with historical events that preceded Communist
United Kingdom. But many Catholics in Northern Ireland takeovers.
feel closeness to the Republic of Ireland (see Chapter 6). Nationalism can have a negative impact. The sense of
Tiger Woods has the reverse situation. His nationality is unity within a nation-state is sometimes achieved through
clearly the United States, but his ethnicity is less clear. His the creation of negative images of other nation-states.
father was a mix of African American, Native American, Travelers in southeastern Europe during the 1970s and
and possibly Chinese, and his mother was a mix of Thai, 1980s found that jokes directed by one nationality against
Chinese, and Dutch. Woods describes his complex ethnic- another recurred in the same form throughout the region,
ity as "Cablinasian." with only the name of the target changed. For example,
"How many [fill in the name of a nationality] are needed
Pause and Reflect 7 .3.1 to change a lightbulb?" Such jokes seemed harmless, but
If Scotland becomes an independent country, how in hindsight reflected the intense dislike for other nation-
would the arrangement of nationalities in the British alities that led to conflict in the 1990s.
Isles change? Nationalism is an important example of a centripe-
tal force, which is an attitude that tends to unify peo-
ple and enhance support for a state. (The word centripetal
means "directed toward the center"; it is the opposite of
NATIONALISM centrifugal, which means "to spread out from the center.")
A nationality, once established, must hold the loyalty of Most countries find that the best way to achieve citizen
its citizens to survive (Figure 7-26). Politicians and govern- support is to emphasize shared attitudes that unify the
ments try to instill loyalty through nationalism, which people.
of Antioch, perform the liturgy in the ancient Syrian lan-

guage. The second-largest Christian sect is Greek Ortho-
Ethnic Competition dox, the Orthodox church that uses a Byzantine liturgy.
• Muslims. Most of Lebanon's Muslims belong to one of
several Shiite sects. Sunnis, who are much more numer-
Identify and describe the pri ncipal ethnicities in ous than Shiites in the world, account for a minority of
Lebanon and Sri Lanka. Lebanon's Muslims. Lebanon also has an important com-
munity of Druze, who were once considered to have a
We have already seen in this chapter that identification separate religion but now consider themselves Muslim.
with ethnicity and race can lead to discrimination and Many Druze rituals are kept secret from outsiders.
segregation. Confusion between ethnicity and nationality
can lead to violent conflicts. Lebanon and Sri Lanka are ex- Lebanon's diversity may appear to be religious rather
amples of countries that have not successfully integrated than ethnic. But most of Lebanon's Christians consider
diverse ethnicities. themselves ethnically descended from the ancient Phoe-
nicians who once occupied present-day Lebanon. In this
way, Lebanon's Christians differentiate themselves from
ETHNIC COMPETITION IN LEBANON the country's Muslims, who are considered Arabs.
Lebanon has 4 million people in an area of 10,000 square When Lebanon became independent in 1943, the con-
kilometers (4,000 square miles), a bit smaller and more popu- stitution required that each religion be represented in the
lous than Connecticut. Once known as a financial and recre- Chamber of Deputies according to its percentage in the
ational center in the Middle East, Lebanon has been severely 1932 census. By unwritten convention, the president of
damaged by fighting among ethnicities since the 1970s. Lebanon was a Maronite Christian, the premier a Sunni
Lebanon is divided between around 60 percent Muslims Muslim, the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies a Shiite
and 40 percent Christians (Figure 7-27). The precise dis- Muslim, and the foreign minister a Greek Orthodox Chris-
tribution of religions in Lebanon is unknown because no tian. Other cabinet members and civil servants were simi-
census has been taken since 1932: larly apportioned among the various faiths.
Lebanon's religious groups have tended to live in differ-
• Christians. Lebanon's most numerous Christian sect is ent regions of the country. Maronites are concentrated in
Maronite, which split from the Roman Catholic Church the west-central part, Sunnis in the northwest, and Shiites
in the seventh century. Maronites, ruled by the patriarch in the south and east. Beirut, the capital and largest city,
has been divided between a Christian eastern zone and a
35°E Muslim western zone. During a civil war between 1975
I
and 1990, each religious group formed a private army or
militia to guard its territory. The territory controlled by
each militia changed according to results of battles with
Tripoli
other religious groups.
Mediterranean When the governmental system was created, Christians
constituted a majority and controlled the country's main
I Sea
LEBANON businesses, but as Muslims became the majority, they de-
j manded political and economic equality. The agreement
34"N +- Baalbek •
ending the civil war in 1990 gave each religion one-half
of the 128 seats in Parliament. Israel and the United States
sent troops into Lebanon at various points in failed efforts
to restore peace (Figure 7-28). The United States pulled out
SYRIA after 241 U.S. marines died in their barracks from a truck
bomb in 1983. Lebanon was left under the control of neigh-
• Damascus
boring Syria, which had a historical claim over the territory
until it, too, was forced to withdraw its troops in 2005.
10 20 Miles
,. ,
0 10 20 Kilometers
',I What country borders Lebanon on the south?
', Christians
GOLAN(
I
Sunnis
What conflict has been ongoing in that country, as
33"N J EIGHTS \
(Occupied \
by Israel \ -
Shiites
Druze
described in Chapter 6?
ISRAEL
35"E ince 1967),'
I
ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN SRI LANKA
_. FIGURE 7-27 ETHNICITIES IN LEBANON Christians dominate in the
south and the northwest, Sunni Muslims in the far north, Shiite Muslims in the An island country of 19 million inhabitants off the Indian
northeast and south, and Druze in the south-central and southeast. coast, Sri Lanka is inhabited by three principal ethnicities
BOoE 81 °E 82oE
At least 40 percent
goN goN
Gulf of
Mannar Bay of Bengal
8°N 8°N
Laccadive
Sea
]ON
7°N
A FIGURE 7-28 ETHNIC CONFLICT IN LEBANON U.S. Marines patrol the

streets of Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983.
25 50 Miles INDIAN
25 50 Kilometers OCEAN
known as Sinhalese, Tamil, and Moors (Figure 7-29). War 6°N 6°N
79°E 81 °E 82°E
between the Sinhalese and Tamil erupted in 1983 and con-
tinued until 2009. During that period, 80,000 died in the A FIGURE 7-29 ETHNICITIES IN SRI LANKA
conflict between the two ethnicities: The Sinhalese are Buddhists who speak an Indo-European language, whereas
• Sinhalese, who comprise 74 percent of Sri Lanka's the Tamils are Hindus who speak a Dravidian language.
population, migrated from northern India in the fifth
century B.c., occupying the southern two-thirds of the
island. Three hundred years later, the Sinhalese were con-
verted to Buddhism, and Sri Lanka became one of that multinational state is jeopardized. Back in 1956, Sinhalese
religion's world centers. Sinhalese is an Indo-European leaders made Buddhism the sole official religion and
language, in the Indo-Iranian branch. Sinhala the sole official language of Sri Lanka. The Tamils
• Tamils, who comprise 16 percent of Sri Lanka's popu-
fear that their military defeat jeopardizes their ethnic iden-
. . I
lation, migrated across the narrow SO-kilometer-wide t1ty again.
(50-mile-wide) Palk Strait from India beginning in the
third century B.c. and occupied the northern part of
the island. Tamils are Hindus, and the Tamil lan- T FIGURE 7-30 ETHNIC CONFLICT IN SRI LANKA Tamils demonstrating in Switzerland for
guage, in the Dravidian family, is also spoken by 60 international support a few days before losing the war in 2009.
million people in India.
• Moors, who comprise 10 percent of Sri Lanka's
population, are ethnic Arabs, descended from trad-
ers from Southwest Asia who settled in Sri Lanka
beginning in the eighth century A. D. Moors adhere
to Islam but speak either Tamil or Sanhalese.
The dispute between Sri Lanka's two largest ethnicities
extends back more than 2,000 years but was suppressed
during 300 years of European control. Since the country
gained independence in 1948, Sinhalese have dominated
the government, military, and most of the commerce.
Tamils feel that they suffer from discrimination at the
hands of the Sinhalese-dominated government and
have received support for a rebellion that began in 1983
from Tamils living in other countries.
The long war between the ethnicities ended in 2009,
with the defeat of the Tamils (Figure 7-30). With their
defeat, the Tamils fear that the future of Sri Lanka as a
Pakistan were predominantly Muslim; those in India were

predominantly Hindu. Antagonism between the two reli-
Dividing Ethnicities gious groups was so great that the British decided to place
the Hindus and Muslims in separate states. Hinduism
Learning Outcome 7.3.3 has become a great source of national unity in India. In
Describe how the Kurds, as well as several ethnicities modern India, with its hundreds of languages and ethnic
in South Asia, have been divided among more than groups, Hinduism has become the cultural trait shared by
one nationality. the largest percentage of the population.
Muslims have long fought with Hindus for control of
Few ethnicities inhabit an area that matches the territory territory, especially in South Asia. After the British took
of a nationality. Ethnicities are sometimes divided among over India in the early 1800s, a three-way struggle began,
more than one nationality. with the Hindus and Muslims fighting each other as well
as the British rulers. Mahatma Gandhi, the leading Hindu
DIVIDING SOUTH ASIAN ETHNICITIES advocate of nonviolence and reconciliation with Muslims,
was assassinated in 1948, ending the possibility of creating
AMONG NATIONALITIES a single state in which Muslims and Hindus could live to-
South Asia provides vivid examples of what happens when gether peacefully.
independence comes to colonies that contain two major The partition of South Asia into two states resulted in
ethnicities. When the British ended their colonial rule of massive migration because the two boundaries did not cor-
the Indian subcontinent in 194 7, they divided the colony respond precisely to the territory inhabited by the two eth-
into two irregularly shaped countries-India and Pakistan nicities. Approximately 17 million people caught on the
(Figure 7-31). Pakistan comprised two noncontiguous wrong side of a boundary felt compelled to migrate dur-
areas, West Pakistan and East Pakistan, 1,600 kilometers ing the late 1940s. Some 6 million Muslims moved from
(1,000 miles) apart, separated by India. East Pakistan be- India to West Pakistan and about 1 million from India to
came the independent state of Bangladesh in 1971. An East Pakistan. Hindus who migrated to India included ap-
eastern region of India was also practically cut off from proximately 6 million from West Pakistan and 3.5 million
the rest of the country, attached only by a narrow corri- from East Pakistan. As they attempted to reach the other
dor north of Bangladesh that is less than 13 kilometers side of the new border, Hindus in Pakistan and Muslims in
(8 miles) wide in some places. India were killed by people from the rival religion. Extrem-
The basis for separating West and East Pakistan from ists attacked small groups of refugees traveling by road and
India was ethnicity. The people living in the two areas of halted trains to massacre the passengers.
Pakistan and India never agreed on the location of
the boundary separating the two countries in the northern
Flow in millions region of Kashmir (Figure
Primarily Primarily 7-32). Since 1972, the two
Muslims Hindus
0.5 ~ 0.5~ countries have maintained
CHINA~
5.0. 5.0. a "line of control" through
the region, with Pakistan
N
administering the north-
western portion and India
the southeastern portion.
Muslims, who comprise a
< y:
Ri'Jer
y arrnada ...r- majority in both portions,
have fought a guerrilla war
2Q•N
Mumbai • G'oOd~ti River t \ to secure reunification of
Hyderabad ( J~ Kashmir, either as part of
Arabian Sea • Bay of Bengal L.rv Pakistan or as an indepen-
dent country. India blames
10°N
250
250 500 Miles
500 Kilometers
\r)!\ 10°N
Pakistan for the unrest and
vows to retain its portion
of Kashmir. Pakistan argues
that Kashmiris on both
- International boundary
---- India province boundary
- Line of control between India
~ and Pakistan
?O•E so·E oo•E sides of the border should
Road
• FIGURE 7-31 ETHNIC DIVISION OF SOUTH ASIA In 1947, British India
choose their own future
l ( Mountain pass
was partitioned into two independent states, India and Pakistan, which resulted in a vote, confident that
in the migration of an estimated 17 million people. The creation of Pakistan as the majority Muslim pop- • FIGURE 7-32 KASHMIR India and
two territories nearly 1,600 kilometers (1 ,000 miles) apart proved unstable, and ulation would break away Pakistan dispute the location of their
in 1971 East Pakistan became the independent country of Bangladesh. from India. border.
~ FIGURE 7-33 KURDS Kurds in northern Iraq hold

burning torches to celebrate their new year, which they
call Newroz, on the first day of spring.
India's religious unrest is further complicated by the and the rest in other countries. Kurds comprise 19 percent
presence of 25 million Sikhs, who have long resented that of the population in Turkey, 16 percent in Iraq, 9 percent
they were not given their own independent country when in Syria, and 6 percent in Iran (refer ahead to Figure 7-34
India was partitioned (see Chapter 6). Although they con- on the next page).
stitute only 2 percent of India's total population, Sikhs To foster the development of Turkish nationalism, the
comprise a majority in the Indian state of Punjab, situated Turks have tried repeatedly to suppress Kurdish culture.
south of Kashmir along the border with Pakistan. Sikh ex- Use of the Kurdish language was illegal in Turkey until
tremists have fought for more control over the Punjab or 1991, and laws banning its use in broadcasts and class-
even complete independence from India. rooms remain in force. Kurdish nationalists, for their part,
have waged a guerrilla war since 1984 against the Turkish
army. Kurds in other countries have fared just as poorly as
DIVIDING THE KURDS AMONG those in Turkey. Iran's Kurds secured an independent re-
NATIONALITIES public in 1946, but it lasted less than a year. Iraq's Kurds
have made several unsuccessful attempts tp gain indepen-
A prominent example of an ethnicity divided among sev- dence, including in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1970s.
eral countries in western Asia is the Kurds, who live in the A few days after Iraq was defeated in the 1991 Gulf War,
Caucasus Mountains (Figure 7-33). The Kurds are Sunni the country's Kurds launched another unsuccessful rebel-
Muslims who speak a language in the Iranian group of the lion. The United States and its allies decided not to resume
Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European and have distinc- their recently concluded fight against Iraq on behalf of
tive literature, dress, and other cultural traditions. the Kurdish rebels, but after the revolt was crushed, they
When the victorious European allies carved up the sent troops to protect the Kurds from further attacks by
Ottoman Empire after World War I, they created an inde- the Iraqi army. After the United States attacked Iraq and
pendent state of Kurdistan to the south and west of Van deposed Saddam Hussein in 2003, Iraqi Kurds achieved
Golii (Lake Van) under the 1920 Treaty of Sevres. Before even more autonomy, but still not independence. Thus,
the treaty was ratified, however, the Turks, under the lead- despite their numbers, the Kurds are an ethnicity with no
ership of Mustafa Kemal (later known as Kemal Ataturk), corresponding Kurdish state today. Instead, they are forced
fought successfully to expand the territory under their to live under the control of the region's more powerful
control beyond the small area the allies had allocated to nationalities.
them. The Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 established the
modern state of Turkey, with boundaries nearly identical
to the current ones. Kurdistan became part of Turkey and
disappeared as an independent state. Pause and Reflect 7 .3.3
Today the 30 million Kurds are split among several
Refer ahead to Figure 7-34 on the next page. What is
countries; 14 million live in eastern Turkey, 5 million in
the largest ethnicity in Pakistan?
northern Iraq, 4 million in western Iran, 2 million in Syria,
• Kurds welcomed the United States because they gained

more security and autonomy than they had had under
ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN WESTERN ASIA
Hussein.
Learning Outcome 7 .3.4 • Sunni Muslim Arabs opposed the U.S.-led attack be-
Identify and describe the principal ethnicities in cause they feared loss of power and privilege given to
western Asia. them by Hussein, who was a Sunni.
• Shiite Muslim Arabs also opposed the U.S. presence.
The lack of correspondence between the territory occu- Although they had been treated poorly by Hussein
pied by ethnicities and nationalities is especially severe in and controlled Iraq's post-Hussein government, Shi-
western Asia. Four nationalities in the region-Iraqi, Ira- ites shared a long-standing hostility toward the United
nian, Afghan, and Pakistani-encompass dozens of ethnic- States with their neighbors in Shiite-controlled Iran.
ities, most of whom inhabit more than one of the region's Iraq's principal ethnic groups are split into regions, with
countries (Figure 7-34): Kurds in the north, Sunnis in the center, and Shiites in the
south.
ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN IRAQ. Approximately three- The capital, Baghdad, where one-fourth of the Iraqi peo-
fourths of Iraqis are Arabs, and one-sixth are Kurds. The ple live, has some neighborhoods where virtually all res-
Arab population is divided among Muslim branches, with idents are of one ethnicity, but most areas are mixed. In
two-thirds Shiite and one-third Sunni. many of these historically mixed neighborhoods, the mi-
The United States led an attack against Iraq in 2003 nority ethnicity has been forced to move away (Figure 7-35).
that resulted in the removal and death of the country's The major ethnicities are divided into numerous tribes
longtime president, Saddam Hussein. U.S. officials justi- and clans (Figure 7-36). Most Iraqis actually have stronger
fied removing Hussein because he ran a brutal dictator- loyalty to a tribe or clan than to the nationality or a major
ship, created weapons of mass destruction, and allegedly ethnicity.
had close links with terrorists (see Chapter 8).
Having invaded Iraq and removed Hussein from power, ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN IRAN. The most numerous
the United States expected an enthusiastic welcome from the ethnicity is Persian, but Azeri and Baluchi represent
Iraqi nation. Instead, the United States became embroiled in important minorities. Persians constitute the world's
a complex and violent struggle among ethnic groups: largest ethnic group that adheres to Shiite Islam. Persians
KAZAKHSTAN
- Tajik
' - Turkmen
Uzbek
Sparsely
populated
CHINA
SAUDI
ARABIA
INDIA
100 200 Miles
0 100 200 Kilomelers
Arabian Sea
A FIGURE 7-34 ETHNICITIES IN WESTERN ASIA The complex distribution of ethnicities and nationalities
across western Asia is a major source of conflict.
ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN AFGHANISTAN. The most nume-

rous ethnicities in Afghanistan are Pashtun, Tajik, and
Hazara. The current unrest among Afghanistan's ethnicities
dates from 1979, with the start of a rebellion by several
ethnic groups against the government, which was being
defended by more than 100,000 troops from the Soviet
Union. Unable to subdue the rebellion, the Soviet Union
withdrew its troops in 1989, and the Soviet-installed
government in Afghanistan collapsed in 1992.
After several years of infighting among ethnicities, a fac-
tion of the Pashtun called the Taliban gained control over
most of the country in 1995. The Taliban imposed very
harsh, strict laws on Afghanistan, according to Islamic val-
ues as the Taliban interpreted them (see Chapter 6). The
United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and overthrew
the Taliban-led government because it was harboring ter-
rorists (see Chapter 8). Removal of the Taliban unleashed
a new struggle for control of Afghanistan among the coun-
try's many ethnic groups, including the Taliban.
ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN PAKISTAN. The most numerous

~FIGURE 7-35 ETHNICITIES IN BAGHDAD Baghdad contains a mix ethnicity in Pakistan is Punjabi, but the border area with
of Sunnis, Shiites, and other groups. Many neighborhoods were traditionally Afghanistan is principally Baluchi and Pashtun. The Punjabi
mixed, but in recent years the minority group has been forced to migrate. have been the most numerous ethnicity since ancient times
in what is now Pakistan. As with the neighboring Pashtun,
the Punjabi converted to Islam after they were conquered
50 100 Miles
by the Muslim army in the seventh century. The Punjabi
0 50 100 Kilometers
remained Sunni Muslims rather than convert to Shiite
Islam like their neighbors the Pashtun, who comprise
AN
Pakistan's second-largest ethnicity, especially along the
border with Afghanistan. Fighting between Pakistan's
army and supporters of the Taliban forced Pakistanis to
IRA N leave their homes and move into camps, where they were
fed by international relief organizations.
Pause and Reflect 7.3.4

How do the ethnic complexities of western Asia
make it difficult to set up stable democratic
governments?
Sunni Arab (18.5%)

CHECK-IN: KEY ISSUE 3
- Christians (3.5%)
- Turcomans (2%)
Why Do Conflicts Arise among Ethnicities?
- Mandeans (0.5%)
SAUDI .I Nationality is identity with a group of people
- mixed Shiite Arab ARABIA
and Sunni Arab who share legal attachment and personal
allegiance to a particular country.
~FIGURE 7-36 ETHNICITIES IN IRAQ Iraq is home to around 150 distinct
tribes. Some of the larger ones are shown on the map. .I Countries such as Lebanon and Sri Lanka have
difficulty peacefully combining ethnicities into
are believed to be descendants of the Indo-European one nationality.
tribes that began migrating from Central Asia into what is .I Some ethnicities, such as the Kurds, are divided
now Iran several thousand years ago (see Chapter 5). The among more than one nationality.
Persian Empire extended from present-day Iran west as far
as Egypt during the fifth and fourth centuries B. c . After .I Lack of correspondence between ethnicities
the Muslim army conquered Persia in the seventh century, and nationalities is especially severe in western
most Persians converted to Sunni Islam. The conversion to Asia.
Shiite Islam came primarily in the fifteenth century.
an ethnically homogeneous region. In recent years, ethnic
KEY ISSUE 4 cleansing has been carried out primarily in Europe and Africa.
Ethnic cleansing is undertaken to rid an area of an en-
tire ethnicity so that the surviving ethnic group can be
Why Do Ethnicities the sole inhabitants. The point of ethnic cleansing is not
simply to defeat an enemy or to subjugate them, as was
the case in traditional wars. Rather than a clash between
Engage in Ethnic armies of male soldiers, ethnic cleansing involves the re-
moval of every member of the less powerful ethnicity-
Cleansing and women as well as men, children as well as adults, the frail
elderly as well as the strong youth.
Genocide? The largest forced migration came during World War
II (1939-1945) because of events leading up to the war,
• Ethnic Cleansing in the Balkans the war itself, and postwar adjustments (Figure 7-37). Espe-
cially notorious was the deportation by the German Nazis
• Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide of millions of Jews, gypsies, and other ethnic groups to the
in Sub-Saharan Africa infamous concentration camps, where they exterminated
most of them.
learning Outcome 7.4.1
After World War II ended, millions of ethnic Germans,
Poles, Russians, and other groups were forced to migrate as
Describe the process of ethnic cleansing.
a result of boundary changes. For example, when a portion
of eastern Germany became part of Poland, the Germans
Throughout history, ethnic groups have been forced to flee living in the region were forced to move west to Germany
from other ethnic groups' more powerful armies. Ethnic and Poles were allowed to move into the area. Similarly,
cleansing is a process in which a more powerful ethnic Poles were forced to move when the eastern portion of
group forcibly removes a less powerful one in order to create Poland was turned over to the Soviet Union.
I ~ FIGURE 7-37 FORCED

MIGRATION OF ETHNICITIES
AFTER WORLD WAR II The
largest number were Poles forced to
move from territory occupied by the
RUSSIA
Soviet Union (now Russia), Germans
forced to migrate from territory
taken over by Poland and the Soviet
Union, and Russians forced to return
to the Soviet Union from Western
Europe.
- . Germans
- . Russians - . Settled by International
- . Poles Refugee Organization
- . Czechs 2.9 Population movement
(in millions)
Land added to
U.S.S.R.
expelled in 1948 from the Soviet-dominated military

Ethnic Cleansing in the Balkans alliance for being too independent minded. Yugosla-
The scale of forced migration during World War II has not via's Communists permitted more communication and
been repeated, but in recent years ethnic cleansing within interaction with Western democracies than did other
Europe has occurred in portions of former Yugoslavia, es- Eastern European countries.
pecially Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kosovo. Ethnic cleans- • Six republics within Yugoslavia-Bosnia & Herzegovina,
ing in the former Yugoslavia is part of a complex pattern Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia-
of ethnic diversity in the region of southeastern Europe had more autonomy from the national government to
known as the Balkan Peninsula. The region, about the size run their own affairs than was the case in other Eastern
of Texas, is named for the Balkan Mountains (known in European countries.
Slavic languages as Stara Planina), which extend east-west
• Five of the republics were named for the country's five
across the region. The Balkans includes Albania, Bulgaria,
recognized ethnic groups-Croats, Macedonians, Mon-
Greece, and Romania, as well as several countries that once
tenegrens, Serbs, and Slovenes. Bosnia & Herzegovina
comprised Yugoslavia.
contained a mix of Serbs, Croats, and Muslims.
• Four official languages were recognized-Croatian,
MULTIETHNIC YUGOSLAVIA Macedonian, Serbian, and Slovene. Montenegrens
In june 1914 the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary was spoke Serbian.
assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serb who sought indepen-
dence for Bosnia. The incident sparked World War I. After Pause and Reflect 7.4.1
World War I, the allies created a new country, Yugoslavia, What is an example of another country that is
to unite several Balkan ethnicities that spoke similar South inhabited primarily by people of Slavic ethnicity?
Slavic languages (Figure 7-38). The prefix "Yugo" in the
country's name derives from the Slavic
word for "south." POLAND 100 200MIIes
Under the long leadership of Josip 100 200 Kilometers
Broz Tito, who governed Yugoslavia

from 1953 until his death in 1980, UKRAINE
Yugoslavs liked to repeat a refrain
that roughly translates as follows:
"Yugoslavia has seven neighbors, six
republics, five nationalities, four lan-
guages, three religions, two alpha-
bets, and one dinar" (Figure 7-39).
ROMANIA
Specifically:
• Seven neighbors of Yugoslavia in-
cluded three longtime democra-
cies (Austria, Greece, and Italy)
and four states then governed by
Communists (Albania, Bulgaria,
Hungary, and Romania). The diver-
sity of neighbors reflected Yugosla-
via's strategic location between the
Western democracies and Com-
munist Eastern Europe. Although TURKEY
a socialist country, Yugoslavia was
militarily neutral after it had been
..... FIGURE 7-38 LA NGUAGES IN SOUTHERN

AND EA STERN EUROPE AfterWorldWar I, S ea
1
world leaders created several new states and 15°E

20°E 30°E
realigned the boundaries of existing ones so
that the boundaries of states matched language Indo-European Family Other Families
boundaries as closely as possible. These state Balto-Siavic Branch Romance Branch Other branches
Polish - Slovene - Friulian Albanian Altaic Turkish
boundaries proved to be relatively stable for much
Croatian - Russian Ukrainian - Italian - Germanic Uralic (Magyar)
of the twentieth century. In the late twentieth
Czech Serbian - Romansh Greek
century, the region became a center of conflict Macedon ian - Slovak Romanian
among speakers of different languages.
Rivalries among ethnicities re-

25 50 Miles surfaced in Yugoslavia during the
HUNGARY 0 25 50 Kilometers 1980s after Tito's death, leading to
the breakup of the country. Breaking
away to form independent countries
ROMANIA ~ were Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia,
N Macedonia, and Slovenia during the
1990s and Montenegro in 2006. The
breakup left Serbia standing on its
own as well.
As long as Yugoslavia comprised
one country, ethnic groups were not
SERBIA especially troubled by the division of
the country into six republics. But
when Yugoslavia's republics were
transformed from local government
D
units into five separate countries,
ethnicities fought to redefine the
15°E
boundaries. Not only did the bound-
aries of Yugoslavia's six republics fail
- Albanians - Bulgarians to match the territory occupied by
- Croats - Hungarians
the five major nationalities, but the
- Macedonians - Montenegrins
- Muslims Serbs country contained other important
no predominant ethnic groups that had not received
majority
18°E GREECE official recognition as nationalities.
_.FIGURE 7-39 YUGOSLAVIA UNTIL ITS BREAKUP IN 1992 Yugoslavia
comprised six republics (plus Kosovo and Vojvodina, autonomous regions
within the Republic of Serbia).
• Three major religions included Roman Catholic in the

north, Orthodox in the east, and Islam in the south.
Croats and Slovenes were predominantly Roman Cath-
olic, Serbs and Macedonians predominantly Orthodox,
and Bosnians and Montenegrens predominantly Muslim.
• Two of the four official languages-Croatian and Slo-
vene-were written in the Roman alphabet; Macedo-
nian and Serbian were written in Cyrillic. Most linguists
outside Yugoslavia considered Serbian and Croatian to
be the same language except with different alphabets.
• One, the refrain concluded, was the dinar, the national
unit of currency. This meant that despite cultural diver-
sity, common economic interests kept Yugoslavia's na-
tionalities unified.
The Balkan Peninsula, a complex assemblage of ethnici-
ties, has long been a hotbed of unrest (Figure 7-40). North- Independent 1878
ern portions were incorporated into the Austro-Hungarian Lost to Austria-Hungary 1878
100 200 Mtles
Empire; southern portions were ruled by the Ottomans. Independent 1908

100 200 Kilometers
Ottoman Empire 1908 \)
Austria-Hungary extended its rule farther south in 1878 to - Yugoslavia 1946-1991 ~ 35°N
1.__~~
--..J. • 'I
include Bosnia & Herzegovina, where the majority of the - Boundaries 2013
people had been converted to Islam by the Ottomans. 25°E
The creation of Yugoslavia brought stability that lasted _.FIGURE 7-40 THE BALKANS IN 1914
for most of the twentieth century. Old animosities among At the outbreak of World War I, Austria-Hungary controlled the northern part of
ethnic groups were submerged, and younger people began the region, including all or part of Croatia, Slovenia, and Romania. The Ottoman
to identify themselves as Yugoslavs rather than as Serbs, Empire controlled some of the south, although during the nineteenth century it
Croats, or Montenegrens. had lost control of Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Greece, Romania, and Serbia.
CONTEMPORARY GEOGRAPHIC TOOLS

Documenting Ethnic Cleansing
Early reports of ethnic cleansing by Figure 7-41 shows the village's the north of the people are civil-
Serbs in the former Yugoslavia were houses and farm buildings clus- ian cars and trucks.
so shocking that many people dis- tered on the left side, with fields • Illustrating step 3, the second
missed them as journalistic exagger- on the outskirts of the village, photograph of the sequence
ation or partisan propaganda. It took including the center and right showed the same location a
one of geography's most important portions of the photograph. As short time later, with one major
analytic tools, aerial-photography discussed in Chapter 12, rural change-the people and vehicles
interpretation, to provide irrefutable settlements in most of the world massed in the field in the first
evidence of the process, as well as have houses and farm buildings photograph are gone-no people
the magnitude, of ethnic cleansing. clustered together and surround- and no vehicles.
A series of three photographs ed by fields rather than in iso-
• Illustrating step 4, the third pho-
taken by NATO air reconnaissance lated, individual farms typical of
tograph showed that the build-
over the village of Glodane, in west- North America.
ings in the village had been set
ern Kosovo, illustrated the four steps • Illustrating step 2, the farm field on fire.
in ethnic cleansing. Figure 7-41 is immediately to the east of the
the first of the three photos: Aerial photographs such as
main north-south road is filled
these not only "proved" that eth-
• Illustrating step 1, the red circles with the villagers. At the scale that
nic cleansing was occurring but also
in Figure 7-41 show the location the photograph is reproduced in
provided critical evidence to pros-
of Serb armored vehicles along this book, the people appear as a
ecute Serb leaders for war crimes.
the main street of the village. dark mass. The white rectangles to
A FIGURE 7-41 EVIDENCE OF ETHNIC CLEANSING IN KOSOVO Ethnic cleansing by Serbs forced Albanians living in
Kosovo to flee in 1999. The village of Glodane is on the west (left) side of the road. The villagers and their vehicles have been
rounded up and placed in the field east of the road. The red circles show the locations of Serb armored vehicles.
ETHNIC CLEANSING IN BOSNIA

Explain the concept of ethnic cleansing in the
Balkans.
The creation of a viable nationality has proved especially

difficult in the case of Bosnia & Herzegovina. At the time
of the breakup of Yugoslavia, the population of Bosnia &
Herzegovina was 48 percent Bosnian Muslims, 37 percent
Serbs, and 14 percent Croats. Bosnian Muslim was consid-
ered an ethnicity rather than a nationality. Rather than
live in an independent multiethnic state with a Muslim
plurality, Bosnia & Herzegovina's Serbs and Croats fought
to unite the portions of the republic that they inhabited
with Serbia and Croatia, respectively.
To strengthen their cases for breaking away from Bos-
nia & Herzegovina, Serbs and Croats engaged in ethnic
cleansing of Bosnian Muslims (Figure 7-42). Ethnic cleans-
ing ensured that areas did not merely have majorities of
Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats but were ethnically
homogeneous and therefore better candidates for union
with Serbia and Croatia. Ethnic cleansing by Bosnian Serbs
against Bosnian Muslims was especially severe because
much of the territory inhabited by Bosnian Serbs was sep-
arated from Serbia by areas with Bosnian Muslim majori-
ties. By ethnically cleansing Bosnian Muslims from inter-
vening areas, Bosnian Serbs created one continuous area of
Bosnian Serb domination rather than several discontinu-
ous ones.
Accords reached in Dayton, Ohio, in 1996 by lead-
ers of the various ethnicities divided Bosnia & Herzegov-
ina into three regions, one each dominated, respectively,
by the Bosnian Croats, Muslims, and Serbs. The Bosnian
Croat and Muslim regions were combined into a federa-
tion, with some cooperation between the two groups, but
the Serb region has operated with almost complete inde-
pendence in all but name from the others. In recognition
of the success of their ethnic cleansing, Bosnian Serbs re-
ceived nearly half of the country, although they comprised
one-third of the population, and Bosnian Croats got one-
fourth of the land, although they comprised one-sixth of
the population. Bosnian Muslims, one-half of the popu-
lation before the ethnic cleansing, got one-fourth of the
land (Figure 7-43).
.A FIGURE 7-42 ETHNIC CLEANSING IN BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA
(top) The Stari Most (old bridge), built by the Turks in 1566 across the Neretva River,
Pause and Reflect 7 .4.2 was an important symbol and tourist attraction in the city of Mostar. (middle)
. The bridge was blown up by Croats in 1993, in an attempt to demoralize Bosnian
In which regions within Bosnia & Herzegovina did Muslims as part of ethnic cleansing (bottom). With the end of the war in Bosnia &
Serbs gain most of their territory? Herzegovina, the bridge was rebuilt in 2004.
ETHNIC CLEANSING IN KOSOVO the population. Under Tito, ethnic Albanians in Kosovo
received administrative autonomy and national identity.
After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia remained a multi- Serbia had a historical claim to Kosovo, having con-
ethnic country. Particularly troubling was the province of trolled it between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries.
Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians comprised 90 percent of Serbs fought an important-though losing-battle in
<IIIII FIGURE 7-43 ETHNICITIES IN BOSNIA &

HERZEGOVINA BEFORE AND AFTER ETHNIC
CLEANSING The territory occupied by Bosnian
Muslims (left) was considerably reduced as a
result of ethnic cleansing by Bosnian Serbs and
Croats (right).
D D
Adriatic Sea Adriatic Sea
18°E
42°N
~------------~----~
Bosnia & Herzegovina
after ethnic cleansing
Muslims no predominant
Predominantly
Croat
Predominantly
Serb f
Predominantly Bosnian-
majority
1'1'.1
Bosnian Croat mix
i
Kosovo against the Ottoman Empire in 1389. In recogni- Kosovo. Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in
tion of its role in forming the Serb ethnicity, Serbia was 2008. Around 60 countries, including the United States,
given control of Kosovo when Yugoslavia was created in recognize Kosovo as an independent country, but Serbia
the early twentieth century. and Russia oppose it.
With the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia took direct
control of Kosovo and launched a campaign of ethnic
cleansing of the Albanian majority. The process of ethnic BALKANIZATION
cleansing involved four steps: A century ago, the term Balkanized was widely used to
1. Move a large amount of military equipment and per- describe a small geographic area that could not success-
sonnel into a village that has no strategic value (see fully be organized into one or more stable states because
the Contemporary Geographic Tools feature. it was inhabited by many ethnicities with complex, long-
2. Round up all the people in the village. In Bosnia, Serbs standing antagonisms toward each other. World leaders at
often segregated men from women, children, and old the time regarded Balkanization-the process by which
people. The men were placed in detention camps or a state breaks down through conflicts among its ethnici-
"disappeared"-undoubtedly killed-and the others ties-as a threat to peace throughout the vJurld, not just in
were forced to leave the village. In Kosovo, men were a small area. They were right: Balkanization led directly to
herded together with the others rather than killed. World War I because the various nationalities in the Bal-
kans dragged into the war the larger powers with which
3. Force the people to leave the village. The villagers were
they had alliances.
typically forced into a convoy-some in the vehicles,
After two world wars and the rise and fall of commu-
others on foot-heading for the Albanian border.
nism during the twentieth century, the Balkans have once
4. Destroy the vacated village by setting it on fire. again become Balkanized in the twenty-first century. Will
At its peak in 1999, Serb ethnic cleansing had forced the United States, Europe, and Russia once again be drawn
750,000 of Kosovo's 2 million ethnic Albanian residents reluctantly into conflict through entangled alliances in
from their homes, mostly to camps in Albania. Outraged the Balkans? If peace comes to the Balkans, it will be be-
by the ethnic cleansing, the United States and Western cause in a tragic way ethnic cleansing "worked." Millions
European countries, operating through the North Atlantic of people were rounded up and killed or forced to migrate
Treaty Organization (NATO), launched an air attack because they constituted ethnic minorities. Ethnic homo-
against Serbia. The bombing campaign ended when Serbia geneity may be the price of peace in areas that once were
agreed to withdraw all of its soldiers and police from multiethnic.
Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide

in Sub-Saharan Africa
learning Outcome 7.4.3
Identify the principal episodes of genocide in
northeastern Africa.
In some places, ethnic competition has led to even more

extreme actions than ethnic cleansing, including geno-
cide. Genocide is the mass killing of a group of people in
an attempt to eliminate the entire group from existence.
Sub-Saharan Africa has been plagued by conflicts among
ethnic groups that have resulted in genocide in recent
years, especially in northeastern and central Africa.
ETHNIC CLEANSING AND GENOCIDE IN .A FIGURE 7-45 DARFUR REFUGEE CAMP Refugees from Darfur are living
in a ca mp in Adre, Chad.
NORTHEASTERN AFRICA
In northeastern Africa, three distinct ethnic conflicts in re- establishment of Southern Sudan as an independent
cent years have taken place in Sudan, Somalia, and Ethiopia. state in 2011. However, fighting resumed as the gov-
ernments of Sudan and South Sudan could not agree on
SUDAN. In Sudan, several civil wars have raged since the
boundaries between the two countries.
1980s between the Arab-Muslim dominated government
in the north and other ethnicities in the south, west, and • Darfur. As Sudan's religion-based civil war was wind-
east (Figure 7-44): ing down, an ethnic war erupted in Sudan's western-
most region, Darfur. Resenting discrimination and
• South Sudan. Black Christian and animist ethnicities
neglect by the national government, Darfur's black
resisted government attempts to convert the country
Africans launched a rebellion in 2003 . Marauding Arab
from a multiethnic society to one nationality tied to
nomads, known as janjaweed, with the support of the
Muslim traditions. A north-south war between 1983 and
Sudanese government, crushed Darfur's black popula-
2005 resulted in the death of an estimated 1.9 million
tion, made up mainly of settled farmers; 480,000 have
Sudanese, mostly civilians. The war ended with the
been killed and another 2.8 million have been living
in dire conditions in refugee camps in the harsh desert
EGYPT environment of Darfur (Figure 7-45). Actions of Sudan's
LIBYA government troops, including mass murders and rape of
A civilians, have been termed genocide by many other
SUD~
N countries, and charges of war crimes have been filed
I
I against Sudan's leaders.
I
f • Eastern front. Ethnicities in the east fought Sudanese
f
...! government forces between 2004 and 2006, with the
I
I support of neighboring Eritrea. At issue was disburse-
I Khartoum ® ~
ment of profits from oil.
'f%,
ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA. Eritrea, located along the
Red Sea, became an Italian colony in 1890. Ethiopia, an
independent country for more than 2,000 years, was
captured by Italy during the 1930s. After World War II,
ET HIOP IA
Ethiopia regained its independence, and the United
Nations awarded Eritrea to Ethiopia (Figure 7-46). The
125 250 Miles United Nations expected Ethiopia to permit Eritrea
0 125 250 Kilometers
considerable authority to run its own affairs, but Ethiopia
dissolved the Eritrean legislature and banned the use of
Tigrinya, Eritrea's major local language. The Eritreans
rebelled, beginning a 30-year fight for independence
A FIGURE 7-44 SUDAN AND SOUTH SUDAN South Sudan became an (1961-1991). During this civil war, an estimated 665,000
independent country in 201 1. Eritrean refugees fled to neighboring Sudan.
A country of S million people split evenly between

Christian and Muslim, Eritrea has two principal ethnic
groups: Tigrinya and Tigre. At least in the first years of
independence, a strong sense of national identity united
Eritrea's ethnicities as a result of shared experiences during
the 30-year war to break free of Ethiopia.
Even with the loss of Eritrea, Ethiopia remained a com-
plex multiethnic state. From the late nineteenth century
until the 1990s, Ethiopia was controlled by the Amharas,
who are Christians. After the government defeat in the
early 1990s, power passed to a combination of ethnic
groups. The Oromo, who are Muslim fundamentalists
from the south, are the largest ethnicity in Ethiopia, at
34 percent of the population. The Amhara, who comprise
27 percent of the population, had banned the use of lan-
INDIAN guages other than Amharic, including Oromo.
OCEAN
SOMALIA. On the surface, Somalia should face fewer
Equator o• ethnic divisions than its neighbors in the Horn of Africa.
Somalis are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslims and speak
Somali. Most share a sense that Somalia is a nation-state,
200 400 Miles with a national history and culture.
200 400 Kilometers Somalia's 9 million inhabitants are divided among sev-
50"E
eral ethnic groups known as clans, each of which is divided
_. FIGURE 7-46 HORN OF AFRICA Eritrea broke away from Ethiopia to into a large number of subclans. Traditionally, the major
become an independent country in the early 1990s. Somalia is divided into several clans occupied different portions of Somalia. In 1991, a
territories controlled by various ethinic groups. dictatorship that ran the country collapsed, and various
clans and subclans claimed control over portions of the
country. Clans have declared independent states of So-
Eritrean rebels defeated the Ethiopian army in 1991,
maliland in the north, Puntland in the northeast, Galmu-
and 2 years later Eritrea became an independent state. But
dug in the center, and Southwestern Somalia in the south.
war between Ethiopia and Eritrea flared up again in 1998
The United States sent several thousand troops to
because of disputes over the location of the border. Eritrea
Somalia in 1992, after an estimated 300,000 people, mostly
justified its claim through a 1900 treaty between Ethiopia
women and children, died from famine and from war-
and Italy, which then controlled Eritrea, but Ethiopia cited
fare among clans. The purpose of the mission was to pro-
a 1902 treaty with Italy. Ethiopia defeated Eritrea in 2000
tect delivery of food by international relief organizations
and took possession of the disputed areas. Battles along
to starving Somali refugees and to reduce the number of
the border have continued (Figure 7-47).
weapons in the hands of the clan and subclan armies.
After peace talks among the clans collapsed in 1994, U.S.
troops withdrew.
T FIGURE 7-47 ERITREA-ETHIOPIA BORDER The border between Eritrea
Islamist militias took control of much of Somalia be-
(background) and Ethiopia (foreground) is unmarked here.
tween 2004 and 2006. Neighboring countries were drawn
into the conflict, Eritrea on the side of the Islamists and
Ethiopia against them. Claiming that some of the lead-
ers were terrorists, the United States also opposed the
Islamists and launched air strikes in 2007. The fighting
generated several hundred thousand refugees. Islamist mi-
litias withdrew from most of Somalia in 2006 but have
since returned and again control much of the country. The
ongoing conflict worsened the impact of a recent drought
(see the Sustainability and Inequality in Our Global Village
feature and Figure 7-48).
Pause and Reflect 7.4.3

Which countries with ethnic conflicts described in
Key Issues 3 and 4 have had U.S. troops sent to try
to restore the peace?
RWANDA. Genocide in Rwanda in 1994 involved Hutus

ETHNIC CLEANSING AND GENOCIDE murdering hundreds of thousands of Tutsis (as well as
Hutus sympathetic to the Tutsis). The genocide began
IN CENTRAL AFRICA after an airplane carrying the presidents of Rwanda and
Burundi-both Hutus-was shot down by a surface-to-
air missile. The attacker was never identified, but most
Identify the principal episodes of genocide in central international intelligence organizations-including those
Africa. of the United States and France-concluded that it was a
Hutu unhappy with the presidents' attempts to seek peace
Long-standing conflicts between two ethnic groups, the between Hutus and Tutsis.
Hutus and Tutsis, lie at the heart of a series of wars in cen- Hutus constituted a majority of the population of
tral Africa. The two ethnicities speak the same language, Rwanda historically, but Tutsis controlled the kingdom of
hold similar beliefs, and practice similar social customs, Rwanda for several hundred years and turned the Hutus
and intermarriage has lessened the physical differences be- into their serfs. Rwanda became a colony of Germany in
tween the two groups. Yet Hutus and Tutsis have engaged 1899, and after the Germans were defeated in World War I,
in large-scale ethnic cleansing and genocide: the League of Nations turned over control to Belgium.
• Hutus were settled farmers, growing crops in the fertile Belgian administrators permitted a few Tutsis to attend
hills and valleys of present-day Rwanda and Burundi, university and hold responsible government positions,
known as the Great Lakes region of central Africa. while excluding the Hutus altogether. Separate identity
cards were issued to the two ethnicities.
• Tutsis were cattle herders who migrated to present-day
When Rwanda became an independent country in
Rwanda and Burundi from the Rift Valley of western
1962, Hutus gained power and undertook ethnic cleans-
Kenya beginning 400 years ago.
ing and genocide against the Tutsis, many of whom fled to
Relations between settled farmers and herders are often neighboring Uganda.
uneasy; this is also an element of the ethnic cleansing in Descendants of the ethnically cleansed Tutsis invaded
Darfur described earlier in the chapter. Rwanda in 1990. An agreement to share power was signed
SUSTAINABILITY AND INEQUALITY IN OUR GLOBAL VILLAGE

Etb ·c Cleansing and Drought
More than 2 million Somalis-one-
fourth of the country's population-
are classified as refugees or internally
displaced persons. As elsewhere in
sub-Saharan Africa, continued fight-
ing among ethnic groups and the
absence of a strong national govern-
ment able to maintain order have
contributed to the large number of
refugees.
Adding to the woes of the Somali
people, the worst drought in 60 years
hit the country in 2010 and 2011,
especially in the south (Figure 7-48).
It is impossible to count the number
of Somalis forced to migrate because
of famine rather than civil war; both
factors probably affect most Somalis.
Because of the civil war, much of
the food and water sent by inter-
A FIGURE 7-48 SOMALIA Somali victims of fighting and famine line up for food and medical
national relief organizations could assistance in 2011.
not get through to the people in
need. Improved weather in 2012 International organizations distrib- a renewal of fighting or a bit less
resulted in a larger harvest, and uted seeds and dug irrigation ca- rainfall could push the country back
more supplies were reaching people. nals to help in the longer term, but into famine.
from the sale of minerals while impoverishing the rest of the

country. After succeeding Mobutu as president, Laurent Kabila
relied heavily on Tutsis and permitted them to kill some of
the Hutus who had been responsible for atrocities against
Tutsis in the early 1990s. But Kabila soon split with the Tutsis,
and the Tutsis once again found themselves offering support
to rebels seeking to overthrow Congo's government.
Kabila turned for support to Hutus, as well as to Mayi
Mayi, another ethnic group in the Congo that also hated
Tutsis. Armies from Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and
other neighboring countries came to Kabila's aid. Kabila
was assassinated in 2001 and succeeded by his son, who
negotiated an accord with rebels the following year. De-
£ FIGURE 7-49 ETHNIC CLEAN SIN G IN RWANDA Hutu refugees in Congo.
spite the accord, conflict among the country's many eth-
nicities has continued, and casualties have mounted.
in 1993, but after the assassination of the president in
COLONIAL LEGACY. Ethnic conflict is widespread
1994, Hutus launched genocide against Tutsis, killing an
in Africa largely because the present-day boundaries of
estimated 800,000. The Hutu genocide ended after three
countries do not match the boundaries of ethnic groups
months, with Tutsis gaining control of the country. Two
(Figure 7-5 0). During the late nineteenth and early
million Hutu fled to neighboring countries in the ethnic
twentieth centuries, European countries carved up the
cleansing that followed the Tutsi victory (Figure 7-49).
continent into a collection of colonies, with little regard
for the distribution of ethnicities.
CONGO. The conflict between Hutus and Tutsis spilled
Traditionally, the most important unit of African society
into neighboring countries, especially the Democratic
was the tribe rather than independent states with political
Republic of Congo. The region's largest and most populous
and economic self-determination. Africa contains several
country, the Congo is thought to have seen the world's
thousand ethnicities (usually referred to as tribes) with a com-
deadliest war since the end of World War II in 1945. An
mon sense of language, religion, and social customs (refer to
estimated 5.4 million had died in Congo civil wars as of
Figure 5-18 for a map of African languages). The precise nu~
2008, when the most heated fighting ceased.
ber of tribes is impossible to determine because boundanes
Tutsis were instrumental in the successful overthrow of
separating them are not usually defined clearly. Further,. it
the Congo's longtime president, Joseph Mobutu, in 1997.
is hard to determine whether a particular group forms a dis-
Mobutu had amassed a several-billion-dollar personal fortune
tinct tribe or is part of a larger collection of similar groups.
When the European colonies in Africa became inde-
pendent states, especially during the 1950s and 1960s, t~e
boundaries of the new states typically matched the colonial
administrative units imposed by the Europeans. As a result,
some tribes were divided among more than one modern
state, and others were grouped with dissimilar tribes.

Referring to Figure 7-50, are there any countries in
GUINEA- Africa where the boundaries match those of ethnicities?
BISSAU
~~~:: LIBERIA GHANA
SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE L '

EQUATORIAL GUINEA CHECK-IN: KEY ISSUE 4
INDIAN
OCEAN
Why Do Ethnicities Engage in Ethnic
ATLANTIC Cleansing?
N
OCEAN M M~ ./ Ethnic cleansing is a process in which a more
powerful ethnic group forcibly removes a less
Borders M~QUE U powerful one in order to create an ethnically
- Countries SWAZILAND
homogeneous region.
- Ethnicities
./ Genocide is the mass killing of a group of
people in an attempt to eliminate the entire
£ FIGURE 7-50 AFRICA'S MANY ETHN ICITIES The territory occupied by group from existence.
ethnic groups in Africa rarely matches the boundaries of countries.
Summary and Review

KEY ISSUE 1
Where Are Ethnicities Distributed? Why Do Ethnicities Have Distinctive Distributions?
Ethnicity is identity with a group of people who share the cultural Ethnicities cluster within the United States as a result of distinctive
traditions of a particular homeland or hearth. Ethnicity is often patterns of migration.
confused with race, which is identity with a group of people who LEARNING OUTCOME 7.2.1: Describe the patterns of forced and
share a biological ancestor. voluntary migration of African Americans, Hispanic Americans,
LEARNING OUTCOME 7.1 .1: Identify and describe the major eth- and Asian Americans to the United States.
nicities in the United States. • Many African Americans trace their ancestry to forced migra-
• The three most numerous ethnicities are Hispanics, African tion from Africa for slavery.
Americans, and Asian Americans. • Many Hispanics and Asian Americans trace their heritage to
LEARNING OUTCOME 7.1.2: Describe the distribution of major people who migrated in the late twentieth century for eco-
U.S. ethnicities among states and within urban areas. nomic prospects and political freedom.
• Hispanics are clustered in the Southwest, African Americans LEARNING OUTCOME 7.2.2: Describe the patterns of migration of
in the Southeast, and Asian Americans in the West. African Americans within the United States.
• African Americans and Hispanics are highly clustered in • African Americans migrated in large numbers from the South
urban areas, especially in inner-city neighborhoods. to the North and West in the early twentieth century.
THINKING GEOGRAPHICALLY 7.1 : A century ago European immi- • African Americans clustered in inner-city ghettos that have
grants to the United States had much stronger ethnic ties than expanded in recent decades.
they do today, including clustering in specific neighborhoods. LEARNING OUTCOME 7.2.3 : Explain the laws once used to segre-
Discuss the rationale for retaining strong ethnic identity in the gate races in the United States and South Africa.
United States as opposed to full assimilation into the American • Segregation of races was legal in the United States and South
nationality identity. Africa until the late twentieth century.
GOOGLE EARTH 7.1: Oldtown Mall in Baltimore is in a pre- THINKING GEOGRAPHICALLY 7.2: Despite the 1954 U.S. Supreme
dominantly African American neighborhood. At Google Earth's Court decision that racially segregated school systems are inher-
ground-level view, does the mall look busy or quiet? ently unequal, most schools remain segregated, with virtually
none or virtually all African American or Hispanic pupils. As long
as most neighborhoods are segregated, how can racial integration
in the schools be achieved?
GO OGLE EARTH 7.2: Mthatha (known until 2004 as Umtata),
South Africa, is a city in one of the homelands established during
apartheid. In Google Earth's ground-level view, what is the race
of nearly all of the people?
Key Terms
Apartheid (p. 236) Laws (no longer in effect) in South Africa that physi- Ethnic cleansing (p. 246) A process in which a more powerful ethnic
cally separated different races into different geographic areas. group forcibly removes a less powerful one in order to create an
Balkanization (p. 251) A process by which a state breaks down through ethnically homogeneous region.
conflicts among its ethnicities. Ethnicity (p. 227) Identity with a group of people that share distinct
Balkanized (p. 25 1) Descriptive of a small geographic area that could not physical and mental traits as a product of common heredity and
successfully be organized into one or more stable states because it was cultural traditions.
inhabited by many ethnicities with complex, long-standing antago- Genocide (p. 252) The mass killing of a group of people in an attempt to
nisms toward each other. eliminate the entire group from existence.
Blockbusting (p. 235) A process by which real estate agents convince Nationalism (p. 239) Loyalty and devotion to a particular
white property owners to sell their houses at low prices because of fear nationality.
that persons of color will soon move into the neighborhood. Nationality (p. 238) Identity with a group of people that share legal
Centripetal force (p. 239) An attitude that tends to unify people and attachment and personal allegiance to a particular place as a result of
enhance support for a state. being born there.

Why Do Conflicts Arise among Ethnicities? Why Do Ethnicities Engage in Ethnic Cleansing
Conflicts can arise when a country contains several ethnicities and Genocide?
competing with each other for control or dominance. Conflicts Ethnic cleansing is a process in which a more powerful ethnic
also arise when an ethnicity is divided among more than one group forcibly removes a less powerful one in order to create an
country. ethnically homogeneous region.
LEARNING OUTCOME 7 .3.1: Explain the difference between eth- LEARNING OUTCOME 7.4.1: Describe the process of ethnic
nicity and nationality. cleansing.
• Nationality is identity with a group of people who share legal • Ethnic cleansing has been undertaken in recent years in the
attachment and personal allegiance to a particular country. Balkans.
• Nationalism is loyalty and devotion to a nationality.
LEARNING OUTCOME 7 .4.2: Explain the concept of ethnic cleans-
LEARNING OUTCOME 7.3.2: Identify and describe the principal ing in the Balkans.
ethnicities in Lebanon and Sri Lanka. • Balkanization is a process by which a state breaks down
• Lebanon and Sri Lanka are examples of countries where through conflicts among its ethnicities.
ethnicities have not been able to live in peace.
LEARNING OUTCOME 7 .4.3: Identify the principal episodes of
LEARNING OUTCOME 7.3.3: Describe how the Kurds, as well as genocide in northeastern Africa.
ethnicities in South Asia, have been divided among more than • Genocide is the mass killing of a group of people in an at-
one nationality. tempt to eliminate the entire group from existence.
• Some ethnicities find themselves divided among more than
LEARNING OUTCOME 7 .4.4: Identify the principal episodes of
one nationality.
genocide in central Africa.
LEARNING OUTCOME 7.3.4: Identify and describe the principal • Genocide has been practiced in several places in Africa, in-
ethnicities in western Asia. cluding Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, and the Democratic Repub-
• The lack of correspondence between the territory occupied lic of Congo.
by ethnicities and nationalities is especially severe in western
THINKING GEOGRAPHICALLY 7.4: Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia &
Asia.
Herzegovina, once was home to concentrations of many ethnic
THINKING GEOGRAPHICALLY 7.3: Ethnicities around the world groups. In retaliation for ethnic cleansing by the Serbs and Cro-
seek the ability to be the majority in control of countries. What ats, the Bosnian Muslims now in control of Sarajevo have been
are some of the obstacles to multiple ethnicities sharing power in forcing other ethnic groups to leave the city, and Sarajevo is now
individual countries? inhabited overwhelmingly by Bosnian Muslims. Discuss the chal-
lenges in restoring Sarajevo as a multiethnic city.
GOOGLE EARTH 7.3: Fly to Giiven, Turkey to a village inhabited by
Kurds. Turn on borders and labels; how far is Giiven from Syria? GOOGLE EARTH 7.4: Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque in Sarajevo, Bosnia
From Iraq? & Herzegovina, was heavily damaged during ethnic cleansing
and since rebuilt. In ground-level view and 3D, pan around the
mosque; what other religious structures are visible in 3D within
500 meters of the mosque?
Race (p. 227) Identity with a group of people descended from a

biological ancestor.
MasteringGeography™
Racism (p. 227) Belief that race is the primary determinant of human Looking for additional review and test prep materials?
traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent
Visit the Study Area in MasteringGeography™ to
superiority of a particular race.
Racist (p. 227) A person who subscribes to the beliefs of racism. enhance your geographic literacy, spatial reasoning skills,
Sharecropper (p. 234) A person who works fields rented from a and understanding of this chapter's content by accessing
landowner and pays the rent and repays loans by turning over to the a variety of resources, including MapMasterTM interactive
landowner a share of the crops.
maps, videos, RSS feeds, flashcards, web links, self-study
Triangular slave trade (p. 233) A practice, primarily during the
eighteenth century, in which European ships transported slaves from quizzes, and an eText version of The Cultural Landscape.
Africa to Caribbean islands, molasses from the Caribbean to Europe, www.masteringgeography.com
and trade goods from Europe to Africa.

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Why was this bridge blown up? Page 250 Why are these people burning torches on a mountain?

ing torches on a mountain? Page 243

KEY ISSUE 1 KEY ISSUE 2

A World of Ethnicities p. 227 Ethnic Segregation p. 232

KEY ISSUE 3 KEY ISSUE 4

Ethnic Diversity. p. 238 Ethnic Cleansing p. 246

• KEY ISSUE 3 looks at geographic factors underlying

race. A racist is a person who subscribes to the beliefs of

KEY ISSUE 1 racism.

Most Hispanics identify with a more specific ethnic or

Pause and Reflect 7 .1.1

Hispanic and Hispanic American are terms that the U.S.

A FIGURE 7-4 AFRICAN AMERICANS New York's Harlem.

skin color, black is substituted for African American in

The distinctive distribution of African Americans and

On a regional scale, ethnicities have distinctive distribu-

ETHNIC CLUSTERING: URBAN SCALE

of European immigrants, ethnic identity is more likely to

4Miles At least 50 percent

CHECK-IN: KEY ISSUE 1

Pause and Reflect 7 .1.2

slavery was replaced in Europe by a feudal system, in which

FORCED MIGRATION FROM AFRICA

bitterly debated whether to permit slavery in the new

Internal Migration of African

African Americans have displayed two distinctive inter-

the ghetto typically followed major avenues that radiated 1.8

west of downtown (Figure 7-19). The remainder were g_ 0.6 1#-- + - - - l - - - t - - ·

establishments served only blacks, and all of the schools

SOUTH AFRICA: APARTHEID

A FIGURE 7-22 APARTHEID IN SOUTH AFRICA South Africa's apartheid

A FIGURE 7-23 SOUTH AFRICA'S APARTHEID HOMELANDS As part of

Learning Outcome 7.3.1

NATIONALITIES IN NORTH AMERICA ETHNICITIES AND NATIONALITIES

of Antioch, perform the liturgy in the ancient Syrian lan-

A FIGURE 7-28 ETHNIC CONFLICT IN LEBANON U.S. Marines patrol the

Pakistan were predominantly Muslim; those in India were

~ FIGURE 7-33 KURDS Kurds in northern Iraq hold

• Kurds welcomed the United States because they gained

ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN AFGHANISTAN. The most nume-

ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN PAKISTAN. The most numerous

Pause and Reflect 7.3.4

Sunni Arab (18.5%)

an ethnically homogeneous region. In recent years, ethnic

I ~ FIGURE 7-37 FORCED

expelled in 1948 from the Soviet-dominated military

Under the long leadership of Josip 100 200 Kilometers

Broz Tito, who governed Yugoslavia

..... FIGURE 7-38 LA NGUAGES IN SOUTHERN

world leaders created several new states and 15°E

Rivalries among ethnicities re-

• Three major religions included Roman Catholic in the

Empire; southern portions were ruled by the Ottomans. Independent 1908

CONTEMPORARY GEOGRAPHIC TOOLS

ETHNIC CLEANSING IN BOSNIA

The creation of a viable nationality has proved especially

<IIIII FIGURE 7-43 ETHNICITIES IN BOSNIA &

Adriatic Sea Adriatic Sea

Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide

In some places, ethnic competition has led to even more