Human ecology

This half hour video program features two case studies on countries in Latin America: Mexico: Motive to Migrate and Guatemala: Population and Conquest. The first case study explores migration both within Mexico and to Mexico's northern neighbor, the United States. The second case study examines the historical geography of Guatemala. The country's history of Spanish conquest began in 1524, when Mayan mountain Indians were subjugated, not for their land or wealth, but to provide the labor needed to create and maintain plantations and haciendas.

The region of Europe, with its large urban populations and many cultural mosaics united under the European Union, lends itself to an investigation of the geography of cities and supranationalism. This workshop examines the positive and negative aspects of both in a European context, asking "What makes a city successful?" and "Is supranationalism economically effective?" Explore these and other questions with geographers in the field and teachers in the classroom.

This half hour video program features two case studies that explore the influence of physical geography in Latin America: Ecuador: Orange Alert and Chile: Pacific Rim Player. The first examines how humans interpret the dangers of their environment. It chronicles the science and sociology of monitoring volcanic activity in the Andes. The second study explores Chile's unique geography and the role it has played in the country's shift away from its traditional economy and European connections. The country's history is rooted in the Indian cultures of the Andes Mountains, but little of this heritage has been reflected since the Spanish entered Chile in 1536. Global interaction continues to exert powerful forces on this country.

In 2003, the African country of Botswana started building a fence along its border with Zimbabwe. Botswana officials state that their aim is to control the spread of foot-and-mouth disease; however, the people of Zimbabwe see the fence as an affront preventing migration. In this video segment from the Wide Angle film "Border Jumpers," learn about the fence that has created discord between two neighboring nations.