Exploring Regional Differences: A Geography Assignment on Regions

This essay explores the rationale behind dividing countries into regions, using Canada as a primary example. It highlights how regional divisions facilitate the study of vast areas, emphasizing differences in topography and culture. The essay defines and differentiates between formal, functional, and vernacular regions, providing examples of each. It also discusses the varying perceptions of regions between geographers and the people who live in them, emphasizing the influence of culture and personal experience. The essay references academic sources to support its arguments and concludes by underscoring the different purposes regional divisions serve for various professionals, such as policymakers and environmental scientists. Overall, the essay offers a comprehensive overview of regional divisions and their significance in geographical studies.

Running head: WHY REGIONS? 1
Assignment 1
Why Regions
Student Name
Institution
Date

WHY REGIONS ? 2
Why divide a country into regions?
The study of Canada is often associated with regions, the division of the country into
regions have made it easy for the rather huge country to be studied with ease. Moreover, regions
help highlight the differences in the land topography and of the culture of people who occupy
them. The country of Canada, for instance, is divided into seven primary regions which are The
North, The Prairies, The Canadian Shield, The Cordillera, The Atlantic, The St. Lawrence River
as well as The Great Lakes. Geographers do separate areas into regions to allow them to make
comparisons during their studies without having to go through an overwhelming quantity of
information and analyze their interdependence as a single system (Shekh, 2017). This division
makes it possible for the geographers to use a smaller amount of information to create a better
understanding of the human population as well as the earth's physical pattern.
The size of regions does vary drastically from large hemisphere to just small blocks of
apartments. The determination of regions involves using specific criteria to determine the
boundaries other than their sizes. Regions do exist in three kinds that is functional, formal and
vernacular. Formal region's boundaries are based on the cultures, economy, physical features as
well as politics of the country. Jewish community and the Alps are some of the examples of
formal regions. On the other hand, functional regions are applied to service areas such as those
under the control of a certain corporation (Susan, 2018). Finally, vernacular regions are created
by peoples' perception and they do vary from one person to another. Some of the examples of
this type of regions are Midwest and the Uptown.
Different in the perception of regions between the geographers and those who live there
Geographers definition of regions is not always similar to how the people who live in the
places do, for instance, people do perceive their place of origin and other places across the globe
using their culture and experience. This is to say; everyone does see places in relation to and in
contract or relative to other places around them. One's definition of a region is not only
dependent on the physical and cultural components of the place but also on how they personally
feel about the place (Larson, 2010). Contrary to this geographer's division of nations into regions
to organize facts surrounding cultures, environments and people. The purpose of the regions does
vary depending on the concerned professionals. For instance, policy makers, environmental
scientists, and cartographers do have separate and unique interests in the division of a county into

WHY REGIONS ? 3
regions. Regions defined as formal are characterized by activities that are centered around the
human population in the places, for instance, a common language or political system. One of the
most known divisions in the globe is that of the hemispheres where the Equator divides the Earth
into two (Northern and Southern) at the zero degrees latitude while the Prime Meridian divides
the globe at zero degrees longitude into Eastern and Western hemisphere.

WHY REGIONS ? 4
References
Larson, E. (2010, April 28). CULTURE AND EXPERIENCE INFLUENCE PEOPLE’S
PERCEPTIONS OF PLACES AND REGIONS The way in which people all over the
planet perceive of their place of origin. Retrieved from SlidePlayer:
https://slideplayer.com/slide/8113547/
Shekh, M. (2017). Mediascape and the State: A Geographical Interpretation of Image Politics in
Uttar Pradesh. India. Netherland: Springer.
Susan, S. (2018). Imagining Russian Regions: Subnational Identity and Civil Society in
Nineteenth-Century Russia. Leiden: Brill.