The objective of this course is to familiarize students with geographic issues pertinent to Middle America, the conventional term used for the region between the Rio Grande and Colombia, including the Caribbean and the Guianas. The focus of the course will be upon human ecology, settlement pattern, and locational characteristics of land use in Mexico, the West Indies, and, to a lesser extent, Central America. Selected regional topics will be considered chronologically with a segment of the course dealing with problems of prehistory. Human adjustments to changing environmental, demographic, economic, and political conditions during the colonial and post-colonial eras. Geography of Appalachia will consider these questions and more in an attempt to undertstand the complexities of the formation and change of geographic regions.
Geomorphology examines the variety of landforms that exist at the earth's surface.
Two field excursions are planned for Spring 2001. This course will teach students computational methods in automated map analysis. Students will become proficient in Windows programming and algorithm design for display and analysis of spatial data using the Visual Basic language. Both raster and vector algorithms will be investigated. Immigration is rapidly changing America's cultural, social, and economic landscapes at unprecedented scales.