FACTORS AFFECTING ECONOMIC

ACTIVITIES PART 1
Hi everybody, we will learn about economic activities today. In last few lectures, we have learned about
basic concepts of geography. We have started from definition of geography. We already know about
geographic coordinate systems that is longitude latitude system, their characteristics. Then we have
learned about different spheres of environment like hydrosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere and
biosphere and in last lecture we have learned about branches of geography. Two broad categories or
two broad divisions of geography that is physical geography and human geography and we already know
about the sub-branches of physical geography and sub-branches of human geography.

Basically economic geography is the main subject matter of this course because the course is
introduction to economic geography. It is a part of human geography. From now on, we will learn about
economic geography and we want to start from economic activities and before starting that we need to
know economic man. Economic men are those homo sapiens who are never satisfied with their present
standard of living. In order to achieve a better standard of living and to achieve the goals they always try
to engage themselves in, maximum number of economic activities they involve themselves in primary,
secondary and tertiary economic activities. These are different types of economic activities, we will learn
about different types of economic activities in next lecture. In this lecture we will learn about
determinants of economic activities.

Economic men always try to conduct their activities in a cost effective manner. That means economic
man will select such type of economic activity that will form from where he will get profit and the cost
effective activities entail maximization of profit and minimization of cost. He will always try to minimize
his investment and maximize his profit. So what are the characteristics of economic men? Almost 90
homo sapiens are economic men. They are not satisfied with their present standard of living. They try to
involve economic activities to increase their income like whenever he is getting 500 taka per month he
wants more and he want to reach 5000 taka, whenever he is getting 5 000 taka he wants uh 50 000 taka.
That is the general tendency of economic men. They conduct their activities in a cost-effective manner
and increase income so that they achieve better standard of living so these are the characteristics of
economic men.

Economic activity is the work that people do to enhance their quality of life. It is the activity of making,
providing, purchasing or selling goods and services. Any action that involves producing, distributing or
consuming products or services is an economic activity. Economic activities exist at all levels within a
society. Economic activities include things that people do to get refine or use natural resources. For
example, in this picture a farmer a fisherman is collecting fish from water body. So this is one type of
economic activity. He is collecting raw fish from nature so that is his economic activity and i am teaching
economic geography in BRAC university so that is my economic activity. So the type of economic activity
varies from place to place and this is the main subject of today's lecture.

Determinants of economic activities, why economic activities differ from place to place? what are the
determinants of economic activities? Factors affecting economic activities.
 Determinants of economic activities mean variables, those determine or help the economic activities.
So why economic activities vary from place to place? like economic activity of Dhaka city is different
from economic activity of Chittagong port or economic activity of Bangladesh is different from economic
activity of Australia or economic activity of SYLETH town is different from economic activity of Khulna
city. So why they are different? so what are the causes behind that?

There are two factors responsible for determining economic activities. Different types of economic
activities over the world. Number one is natural factor that is nature induced factor that is created by
mother nature and the second one is cultural factor or man induced factor that is created by human
being. At first we need to know the natural factors that is nature induced factors that is responsible for
determining economic activities of an area. These factors are like temperature, precipitation, river
system, vegetation and soil cover. Now we will describe these points elaborately. Temperature of an
area can determine the economic activity of that place. Like the temperature of equator is too high than
Temperature near tropic of cancer or tropic of Capricorn. So temperature at tropical region is higher
than temperate region or polar region. So the temperature also determines the economic activity. It has
a great impact in the cropping pattern rate of the region this pattern differs from place to place and
thus has impact on economic activity of man . For example in the region near the equator, the type of
crop that we will get is different from the region near the poles. So the economic activities will be
dependent on those types of agricultural products. So the economic activity will vary from pole to
equator.

Precipitation of an area can determine economic activity of that region. Precipitation amount is
distribution throughout the year. Precipitation type , everything can determine the climatic pattern and
the cropping pattern of that region that's why it has great impact on determining economic activity of
that region. Precipitation happens in the form of rainfall, snowfall or hail annual precipitation of an area
determines the cropping pattern as well as agriculture of that area. It is also responsible for
establishment of an industry. Some industry need dry climate while some others need a certain amount
of precipitation for their growth. So it is an important influencing factor for determining the pattern of
economic activity of an area. For example tea garden in SYLETH , the climatic pattern of SYLETH
supports the development of tea garden. That's why we are getting different types of economic
activities That is related to tea garden in SYLEHT. But that is not possible in Dhaka city because the
climatic pattern the precipitation type the slope of the crown everything is not suitable for development
of tea garden. That's why economic activity of Dhaka is different from economic activity of SYLETH. Like
in SYLETH town we will find different types of economic activity that is related to tea garden directly or
indirectly related to tea garden. Like some people are directly engaged in tea garden and some people
are collecting tea. They are processing tea in industries. They are involved in drying tea or packet
packaging or some people are involved in transporting tea and some people are involved in marketing of
those products while some others are working as tea garden manager. Some other staffs of various
types of economic activities are found related to tea garden. So we can say that, a precipitation type
climatic pattern, physical factors, geological factors are influencing, determining the type of economic
activity of that region.

The next one is river system. River system of an area also acts as determining factor of economic
activity. Riverside economic activity differs from economic activity of other area like different types of
economic activities like a fishing or net making boat making that is possible near the riverside region so
those types of economic activities will be found near river, riverside region but that is absent where
there is no river so we can say it has also impact on determining economic activity of that region "

FACTORS AFFECTING ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES PART 2

"vegetation and soils vegetation cover and soil pattern also determines economic activity of an area. In
equatorial and tropical area soil is fertile due to climatic condition. So these areas are appropriate for
the growth of natural vegetation. So people will be involved in agricultural activities here because it is
easier to perform. But if we go towards pole, soil is not that much fertile and the condition of and the
environmental condition is not friendly. So they will find other types of economic activities there like
fishing or forestry that is not related to agricultural product. For example in mangrove forest region in
Sundarbans timber cutter or honey collectors are very common but they are absent in pole because
there is no mangrove forest there. In this map the coffee production zone of the world is shown here. So
if we look at the map we will see that it is confined to tropic of cancer to tropic of Capricorn that is in
tropical region. So this type of soil supports coffee production. Coffee production zone is confined to
tropical region that's why different types of economic activities are found in different parts of the world.
Like windmill related economic activity. So it will be found near the region where wind pressure is high
and energy can be generated from wind pressure so that will be confined to those regions. like tea
garden as I said earlier, it will be uh found where the precipitation pattern, soil type, slope of the crown
support the development of tea garden and economic activity of that region will depend on those
gardens. Near the port economic activity will be different from another place that is far from port. So
specific uh types of economic activities will be found there. We have learned about natural induced
parameters and now we will learn about man-induced parameters.

Man-induced parameters are those economic parameters which are created by economic men. We also
call it cultural landscape. It is the function of different kinds of economic activities conducted by
economic men. secondary and tertiary economic activities are dominated by man-induced parameters.
So those regions which are engaged in secondary and tertiary economic activities or has the influence of
man-induced parameters are the urbanized and developed regions. Non-induced parameters can be
divided into socioeconomic factor, demographic factors historical factors and political factors.

Socioeconomic factors: Socioeconomic condition of an area has an impact on the type of economic
activity. Different level of education or income level give rise to different types of economic activities.
Before establishment of any industry we need to consider economic status and social structure of the
people of that region. If the selection process is faulty there is no chance to get profit. For example if we
want to open an expensive shoe store in near a low income group people, it may not achieve its profit
level but if I establish that shop in a big shopping mall that may result more profit than the previous one.
Demographic factors: Demographic parameters indicate people's age, sex and natural increase etc. Age
and sex have also their influence on dependent and independent population of any society historical
factors. Historical parameter is influenced by different types of historical events of a nation. In our
country we always try to follow our previous historical rules which was introduced by British and
political factors government policy to conduct or making any event has an important influence on
determining type of economic activities of a region. These policies always help us to start or activate any
kinds of activity. This is a photograph of a garments industry in Bangladesh. BANGLADESH is famous for
readymade garments industries. Foreign buyers selected Bangladesh for many reasons. Availability of
cheap labor is one of the most important factors. Though they have to spend a huge amount to
transport products from industry to market and they have selected Bangladesh just because of cheap
labor costing. so why nil book market is located here because there are many schools colleges and
universities near Nilket and it's a huge collection of books that ensures availability of any type of book
so students go to Nilket. Nilket market to buy books. it is just at the middle point of Dhaka university
Dhaka college, government laboratory school, ordinary school, Eden college, home economics college.
So the economic activity of NILKET depends on cultural parameters here. So, that is the end of today's
lecture. In our next lecture we will learn about different types of economic activities bye.