chapter 6

With industrial revolution, the use ofinanimate power by harnessing theenergy of water, coal, and petroleum

brought tremendous changes in the primarysector. It helped in the evolution of largemanufacturing system, which utilisedproducts of the primary sector and hence,called secondary. Production of raw materialsfor both domestic and industrial uses grew.As a result, the purchasing power of the peopleengaged in primary activities increased and itled to the growth in the demand formanufactured goods. It thus, promotedgrowth of the secondary activities.

At the outset, it would be useful to explainwhat do we mean by the terms ‘industry’ and‘manufacturing’ . We, very often, use terms likefilm industry, fishing industry, steel industryand tourism industry, but each of theserepresents a different kind of economic activity.However, geographers usually use the term‘industry’ to describe those activities which areconcerned with processing, fabricating andmanufacturing of primary products obtainedfrom agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining.Industry is called a secondary activity todistinguish it from primary activities.

Manufacturing literally meant ‘making byhand’, but now it also includes goods madeby machines. It is a process, which involvestransformation of raw materials into finishedgoods of higher value. For example, cotton isan agro-product. It is used as a raw materialin the manufacture of cotton textiles, which mayfurther be transformed into garment. Cottontextiles and garments are products ofmanufacturing.

The United Nations defines manufacturingas ‘the mechanical and chemical trans-formation of inorganic or organic substanceinto new products, whether the work isperformed by power-driven machinery or byhand, whether it is done in a factory or in theworker’s home, and whether the products aresold wholesale or in retail.’ This is, however, avery broad definition. Usually modernmanufacturing industry is characterised bycomplex organisation, specialised labour, useof machinery and inanimate power and massproduction.

CLASSIFICATION OF INDUSTRIES

Industries can be classified in many ways: size,nature of products and raw materials, andownership.

Classification by Size

The amount of capital invested, number ofpeople employed and the volume of productiondetermine the size of an industry. Accordingly,industries may be classified into the followinggroups: cottage or household, small scale andlarge scale industries.

Cottage or household industries are thesmallest manufacturing units. The craftsmenor the artisans with the help of their familymembers manufacture goods within theirhomes using local raw material and simpletools. The skills of production are passed onfrom one generation to the other. The scale ofoperation is small. The tools and equipmentsare ordinary. The goods produced aregenerally, sold locally. Thus potters,carpenters, weavers and blacksmiths produce

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goods in the household sector. In manycountries of Asia and Africa, this sector is quiteimportant and some of the handicraft itemsare in great demand in the developedcountries.

Small scale industries are differentiatedfrom the former by the technique of production.They use modern power driven machines andemploy labour as well. The raw materials arealso obtained from outside, if not availablelocally. These industries are larger in size thancottage industries. Their products are soldthrough traders beyond local markets. Inmany developing countries, the role of theseindustries are crucial as they provideemployment to a large number of people. Incountries like India and China, a large numberof goods such as clothes, toys, furniture, edibleoil and leather goods are produced by smallscale industries.

Large scale industries include mainlyheavy and capital intensive industries, whichuse heavy machineries, employ large numberof workers and produce goods for a biggermarket. The management is hierarchy-basedand complex. Emphasis is laid on qualitycontrol and production specialisation. Suchindustries require a very large resource baseand hence, raw materials are obtained fromvarious places. The production of goods is alsoon a large scale, which is sent to distantmarkets. These industries, therefore, requiregood infrastructure facilities such as roads,railways, and power supply. Iron and steelindustry, petro-chemicals, textiles andautomobiles fall under this category.

Some geographers prefer to dividemanufacturing industries on the basis of sizeof operation and the nature of productstogether. Accordingly, there are two classes.Heavy industries are of large-scale. They dealin bulky products and are heavily dependenton the raw materials and hence, tend to belocated near the source of raw material e.g. ironand steel industry. Light industries are usuallysmall-scale in operation. They deal in lighterand compact products. For them, accessibilityis the most important factor. The electronics isone example of this kind.

Classification by Outputs

Industries whose products are used toproduce other goods are called basicindustries. Iron and steel industry is one ofthe basic industries because steel producedby this industry is used in many otherindustries as a raw material. Some basicindustries produce machines which are usedto produce other goods.

Industries which produce goods for directconsumption such as tea, bread, soap andtelevision are known as non basic or consumergoods industries.

Classification by Inputs

Depending upon the raw materials used forthe industries, they may be classified asagro-based, forest-based, mineral-basedindustries, and chemical industries.

Agro-based industries are those whichutilise agricultural products as raw materials.Cotton Textiles, tea, sugar and vegetable oilindustres are its examples. Forest-basedindustries are those which utilise forestproducts as raw materials e.g. paper andfurniture industry. Mineral based industriesare those which use minerals as raw materials.Industries based on metals are known asmetallic industries. These are further dividedinto ferrous and non-ferrous industries.Industries based on metals having iron contentare called ferrous industries e.g. iron and steelindustry. On the other hand, industries basedon metals without iron content fall into thecategory of non-ferrous industries e.g. copperand aluminium. Industries based on chemicalsare called chemical industries e.g. petro-chemicals, plastics — synthetic fibres andpharmaceuticals. Some of these industries useraw materials found naturally e.g. mineralssuch as mineral — oil, salts, sulphur andpotash, and vegetable products. Somechemical industries use the by-products ofother industries.

Classification by Ownership

On the basis of the ownership pattern andmanagement practices, industries can beclassified into government or public, private

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and joint sectors. When the ownership andmanagement of an industry is in the hands ofthe state, it is called a public sector industry.The state establishes and runs these units.Industries owned and managed by anindividual or a corporate body belong to theprivate sector. Individuals invest their owncapital to establish these industries and theymanage them as private enterprise. Sometimesindividuals join together under partnership toestablish industries. The share of partners,both in the capital investment and profits, ispre-decided. Industries are also established bycorporations. Such a body is formed byindividuals or organisations to fulfillpre-determined objectives and goals. Capitalfor the industry is collected by selling shares.The large multinational corporations such asPepsi, Hindustan Lever and General Electrichave set up industries in several countriesacross the globe. An industry own andmanaged jointly by the state and privateinitiatives falls in the joint sector.

THE LOCATION OF INDUSTRY

The location of industry at a particular placeis governed by many factors. Traditionally,these were grouped under geographical andnon-geographical factors. While geographicalfactors included relief, climate, raw materials,energy sources, labour market and means oftransportation, non-geographical factorscomprised of governmental policies, capital,market and management.

This view is highly deterministic becauselocation cannot be explained in absolute terms.For example, the location of cotton textile inLancashire (UK) cannot be explained only interms of the presence of the humid climate, softwater, abundant coal and the position ofLiverpool in the Atlantic trade. Similarconditions were present at many other placesincluding South Wales. Lancashire, therefore,had the relative rather than the absoluteadvantage of time and space. To get over thisshortcoming, industrial location is nowexplained in terms of factors associated withassembly, processing and distribution,government policies, environment, industrialinertia and the human factor. These factors do

not operate in isolation, but in a complexsystem of interrelationships. The relativeimportance of these factors varies with time,space, type of industry and also the economy.It is important to remember that not all factorsat a particular time are favourable, and thatmost of the good locations have been thosewhere the number of favourable factors haveoutweighed the unfavourable ones. In fact, anoptimum location is a relative term.

Assembly, Processing andDistribution Factors

A number of factors associated with theassembly, processing and distribution ofmaterials and products are crucial in thelocation of an industry.

Distance

It is one of the most important factorsexplaining the location of industries. It is notsimply a question of physical distance in termsof km, although it is not unimportant. It is aquestion of cost and time involved in movinggoods. It is, therefore, appropriate to talk interms of economic distance, which isdetermined by the mode of transport, the typeof commodity and freight rates. The primeconcern of a manufacturer is to reduce theeconomic distance and hence, transport playsa crucial role in location of industries.

Raw Materials

All industries use raw materials which shouldbe available economically. In early times,location of industries was tied to the locationof raw materials. With improvements intransportation and handling facilities, themovement of raw materials has become easier.Industries are becoming more and morespecialised and complex. As a result, fewer andfewer firms are directly based on crude andbulky raw materials. In countries like USA andJapan, most of the manufacturing industriesuse semi-produced products. Technologicaladvancements have intensified the use of rawmaterials by reducing waste in manufacturingand also improving them at the source itself sothat they can be easily transported.

SECONDARY ACTIVITIES — MANUFACTURING


Nevertheless, there are certain industriesin which raw materials play an important role.For example, industries which lose either bulkor weight in the manufacturing process suchas copper smelting, or in industries wherethe raw material is perishable such as fruitcanning, the processing takes place near theraw material.

Energy Sources

Historically, energy sources have hadconsiderable effect on the location of industry.Even today there is a strong correlation betweenindustry and coalfields. Industries using largeamount of energy such as electro-chemical andelectro–metallurgical industries, are stilllocated near the sources of electricitygeneration. But it is declining in importanceas a location factor because fuel efficiency hasbeen improving considerably. While in theeighteenth century, more than 8-10 tonnes ofcoal were required for smelting 1 ton of pig iron,today less than 1 ton is needed. Besides,development of electric grids, and oil andnatural gas pipelines has made the energysource as a locational factor less important.

Water

It is used in most industrial plants forprocessing, steam raising or cooling. As such,water supplies both in terms of quantity andquality, are important in considering thelocation of industry. Water requirement ofindustries varies considerably. While someneed more such as iron and steel industry(200,000 litres to produce one ton of steel),others like electronics need less. Yet, shortageof water in an area can be a serious deterrentfor locating an industry.

Access to Labour Market

It is also an important locational factor.Differences are found not only in the quantityof labour available but also the quality oflabour as represented by the skills that an areacan offer. For example, diamond cutting andpolishing need skilled workers. It explains theconcentration of diamond cutting andpolishing in Surat (India).

Access to Good Management

It is an important factor in the choice of sites.For example, it is vital to know whether theselected site will be able to attract goodmanagers.

Capital

It is yet another important locational factorbecause it is less mobile internationally.Unstable areas with high risk and uncertainreturns are likely to be less favoured. However,with the development of banking servicesmoney capital has become much more mobilewithin a country.

Government Policies

Governments encourage or restrictdevelopments in certain areas. Economic andsocial considerations are important factorsinfluencing the government’s decision. It is theduty of a government to ensure that thecountry’s resources are used to the bestadvantage and that there are no greatinequalities in the distribution of wealth.Similarly, political and strategic considerationsalso have strong influence on industriallocation. In order to reduce regionalimbalances, many countries and regionsdemarcate certain areas for location ofindustries.

Environment

Physical attraction of an area is an importantfactor. Congenial living conditions are preferredwhile setting up industries. For example, in theUSA, the aircraft industry has moved to thesouthwestern part of the country because ofclimatic advantage. Due to warm climate,hangar heating costs are less in this region.

Industrial Inertia

Many industries remain at a particularlocation even after the disappearance of initialadvantages. Availability of infrastructurefacilities such as transport and services, andimmobile physical capital such as buildingencourage inertia and new industries areattracted. Some industries are location leaders,

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either because they provide raw materials forother industries, or because they requirespecialist firms to supply parts.

The Human Factor

Among several considerations, the ultimatedecision is taken by the humans. Theirpersonal choices thus, influence locationaldecisions.

Some Major Industries of the World

Manufacturing contributes significantly to theworld economy. More than fifty per cent of theworld’s total manufactured goods is shared bythe USA, Japan and Germany (Fig 6.1). Ironand steel, textiles, automobiles, petro-chemicals and electronics are some of theworld’s most important manufacturingindustries. We will be examining thedistribution pattern of the iron and steel andpetro-chemical industries.

Iron and Steel Industry

Iron is a relatively dense metal havingdistinctive magnetic properties. It is one of themost abundant metal on the earth, but is rarely

found as a free metal. It is extracted from theiron ore by smelting the ore with carbon (coke)and limestone in a blast furnace.

The molten iron, after being separated fromthe ore, is either cooled and moulded to formpig iron or is used for making steel. Iron, in itspure form is soft and generally not useful asan engineering material. By adding smallamount of carbon (upto 2 per cent) and otherstrengthening elements such as nickel ormanganese, it is converted into steel, which isvery strong and malleable. It enhances itsutility, making it the most widely used materialfor building the world’s infrastructure andindustries. It is used to fabricate everythingfrom sewing needles to rail sheets, tubes, wires,huge machines and tankers. Its importancecan be assessed from its production which isaround 800 million tons, while the productionof the next most important engineering metal,aluminium is about 20 million tons.

The iron and steel industry provides thebase for all other industries and, therefore, itis called a basic industry. It may also be calleda heavy industry because it uses bulky rawmaterials in large volumes and its products arealso heavy.

Fig 6.1 World : Distribution of Manufacturing



The industrial revolution led to a fastdevelopment of iron and steel industry becauseof the relative low cost of the metal and thewider utility as an engineering material. Sincethe industry was based on heavy and bulkyraw materials — coal, iron ore, manganese andlimestone, this industry developed mostly inand around the mining areas, or at a placewhere the raw materials could be easily brought.

The Great Lakes region and the Atlanticcoast in the United States; the northern,north-eastern and central parts of the UK;France — Belgium, Loraine — Luxemburg —Saar and Ruhr in Western Europe; Ukraine; theUral region of Russia, and the Chhotanagpurregion in India are some of the important ironand steel producing areas of the world. Thelocation of the industry in these areas isattributed mainly to the presence of importantmineral ores.

In advanced economies, traditionalindustries such as iron and steel are decliningvery fast. Manufacturing employment centringaround iron and steel reduced by about1,30,000 jobs during 1956-82 and coal miningby 1,20,000.

Petro-Chemicals Industries

Along with the refining of mineral oil, a largenumber of industries based on petroleum havedeveloped around these centres which utilisethe infrastructure facilities available there.Generally, such complexes are huge and theyare located near the market or the ports.Fertilisers, plastic and artificial fibres such asrayon are some of the common industrieslocated near the mineral-oil refineries.

The development of petro-chemicalindustries has taken place in North Americaand Europe after the World War II. Most of thesecomplexes in the USA are located near thecoast as oil is mostly imported from LatinAmerican countries and West Asia. Mineral oilis transported through pipelines and tankersto inside locations. Chicago, Toledo,Philadelphia, Delaware and Los Angeles havelarge petro-chemical complexes.

The European petro-chemical complexesare located mainly near the market. The major

complexes are located on the coasts of southernNorth Sea and English Channel (Antwerp,Rotterdam and Southampton), Ruhr region inGermany, and Le Havre-Roven-Marseillesregion in France. There are a number of petro-chemical complexes in the Central AsianRepublics, Russia, West Asia (Abadan in Iran,Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia and Mina-el-Ahmadi in Kuwait), and in India (Trombay,Vadodara and Bongaigaon).

Changing Trends

Locational factors, discussed earlier are notequally significant for all industries. Over theyears these factors have become less and lessimportant especially in industrialiseddeveloped world. Energy and materialsefficiency through waste avoidance, recycling,substitution and alternatives in recent yearshave contributed positively towards enhancingenvironmental sustainability in these regions.Logging, mining and heavy industries like ironand steel are already far less important todaythan they were once for economic growth.

Modern industrial activity and its spatialdistribution has changed in many ways. It canbe understood better in the context of thedevelopment process. W. Alonso (1980) talkedof ‘five bell shapes in development’. He observedthat during a period of development severalfeatures moving in the same direction rise to apeak and then subside. These features are : (a)the economic growth rate; (b) the level of socialinequality; (c) the level of regional inequality ;(d) the level of spatial or geographicalconcentration (urban-industrial growth in a fewcenters); and (e) the population growth rate indemographic transition. All these five featuresdo not rise and fall simultaneously, thoughthey are interconnected. According to himgeographical concentration was the firstprocess followed by economic growth and thenby social and regional disparities.

As such, concentration has a positive valuein the process of development. With theprogress of economy and scientific andtechnological advancements, structure andform of industries change. For example, textileindustry in Federal Republic of Germany

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witnessed constant growth since World War IItill late seventies. It declined with the shift ofwhole textile industry to less developedcountries where labour costs were low andlabour laws were less rigid.

Accordingly, industries with sophisticatedparts are kept in advanced countries and thosewith low technology, labour-intensive units areexported to poor countries. This kind of changeobserved by the early eighties was known as‘new international division of labour’. Thismeant that while there was a continuoustechnological change and new industries werein the centre, some less demanding industriescould be located in the periphery. If, in the past,Germany made steel and Brazil produced ironore for it, now Brazil might make steel andGermany would work these into engineeringproducts such as cars.

The other change is noticed in terms of largefactories giving way to smaller units dispersedover a large area. Some of the nineteenthcentury factories were spread over very largeareas and they employed several thousandspeople e.g. Douglas’s Long Beach aircraft plantemployed 100,000 and steel mill complex atTienshan, China held over 200,000 workers.

Instead, mini steel plants are in vogue today.New trends can be observed for certain

kinds of industrial production which areorganised in more flexible ways. There are twobroad types of flexiblity: flexible productionand flexible specialisation. Both of these allowsmaller volumes of production to be handledeconomically, enabling rapid changes inmatters such as design or even the processused in manufacturing. It is popularly knownas ‘post-Fordism’ in advanced countries of theworld, which is in contrast to ‘Fordism’. HenryFord endorsed the use of mass productionlines, the excessive division of labour and themanufacture of highly standardised productsin developing the North American car industry.It served as a model for many industries for along time, and was known as ‘Fordism’.

Flexible production involves the use ofautomation in order to be able to programmedesigns and rapid changes of design(computer -aided design or CAD). Themachines used in manufacturing may becomputer controlled and hence, flexible. Onewell-known form of flexible production is thesystem entitled ‘Just in time’. Components arenot stocked at the factory but brought in from

Deindustrialisation

Deindustrialisation is the term given to the decline in manufacturing industries both in term ofemployment and industrial output. Deindustrialisation in the developed countries has resulted from:� machinery replacing people in most manufacturing industries;� competition from countries abroad producing manufactured products at much cheaper prices;� prices of products being too high, due to low labour productivity (output per person) and a

lack of investment in new machinery;� highly qualified people preferring jobs in the tertiary and quaternary sectors;� high interest rates making products expensive to be bought abroad.

Reindustrialisation

Reindustrialisation refers to the growth of some sectors of new industries in places and areaswhere classical industries have declined. Reindustrialisation in highly developed countries hasthe following characteristics:� the growth of high-technology firms — these are firms that produce very advanced products

with a great deal of scientific research and development e.g. pharmaceuticals and micro-electronics;

� such new firms that set up manufacturing often having only a small, highly skilled labourforce;

� the new firms are located in the less industrialised areas or peripheries of the metropolitancities.



near by factories on demand to meet therequirements of production for the next fewhours. Toyota car manufacturing plant atToyota City is a typical example of this kind ofproduction.

The system has the advantage of little waste,since faulty products may be identifiedimmediately and their supply stopped. Qualitycontrol is, therefore, easy. Besides, flexibilityof output, in types and quantities and lowinventory cost are other advantages. Such asystem clearly depends on a closely linkednetwork of factories, with good transport andcommunication links.

Such a system has a definite spatial formwith subsidiaries and support activitiesconstituting a kind of industrial district.

In recent decades the Japanese model hasbeen transferred to other countries. In orderto establish a new work pattern and work ethic,new industrial space adjacent to old industrialbelts are preferred. In the USA, for example,industrial relocation by General Motors, Fordand Chrysler to outer Mid West has becomean important feature. However, Toyota patternis not being followed by all companies. Manycountries specialise in the production ofcomponents which could be put together in anumber of final assembly plants.

While flexible production is related to

vertical linkages i.e. first level producers ofcomponents to second — level assemblers,flexible specialisation refers to a more complex,horizontal inter firm network of linkages. Inthis system, many firms in one kind of industryare involved in the production of specialiseditems. Further flexibility in such a system isendowed by moving the work amongst thedifferent specialist firms. If a normal run ofbusiness is disrupted by a sudden demandfor a large quantity, flexibility in cooperationallowed the contracting firm to share the orderwith several firms in the same business, or tosubcontract some of the business to outsidefirms.

New Industrial Spaces

In past few decades, high-technology activitiesare expanding fast. Highly sophisticatedproducts are developed involving a great dealof scientific research and development. Theseindustries improve their products very fast tosuit the market demand and employ highlyskilled labour. Such industries are referred toas footloose industries as they have relativelyfree choice of location.

The growth of some industries has beenexplosive. Employment in computer softwarein the United States has increased about fourtimes during 1970-2000.

Footloose Industries — Factors that Favour Free Choice of Location

� light industries that often do not use raw materials but component parts;� power requirements, usually only electricity — available from the national grid;� end product is small and often cheaper and easier to move;� employs a small labour force;� non-polluting industries which can be located near residential areas;� accessibility; needs to be near a road network.

Examples of High Tech Industries

Electronic Equipment� computers;� telecommunicators;� industrials control system;� testing and measuring equipment;� office equipment;� aerospace and military equipment;� incorporation in consumer products, e.g.

automobiles, washing machines, ovens, etc.

Consumer Electronics� colour and monochrome television receivers;� radio receivers;� video cassette recorders;� audio-tape recorders;� record players;� hi-fi equipment (tuners, amplifiers);� pocket calculators;� electronic games.

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Technopoles

The locational impact of these high-techactivities is already emerging in advancedindustrialised countries. The most noticeablephenomena is the emergence of new technology— oriented complexes or technopoles. Atechnopole is a planned development within aconcentrated area, for technology innovative,industry related production. Technopolesinclude science or technology parks, sciencecities, and other high-tech industrialcomplexes.

High-tech Industrial — States andTechnology Parks : Footloose industries tendto be attracted to purpose — built industrialestates or technology parks on the edge oftowns and cities as is the case with London orTokyo. These places offer a number ofadvantages over inner city locations:

� space for single-storey factories and futureexpansion;

� cheaper land values on edge-of-city;

� accessibility to main roads andmotorways;

� pleasant environment (often located on agreenfield site);

� labour supply from nearby residentialareas and commuter village.

Silicon Valley — A Technopolis : The siliconvalley is located in the north - western part ofSanta Clara County of California. In 1930s,F. Terman, a professor and later, Vice-Presidentof Stanford University at Palo Alto encouragedhis students in electrical engineering to

establish their own companies. One of the firstcompanies was set up by William Hewlett andDavid Packard in a garage near the Universitycampus. Today, it is one of the world’s largestelectronic firm. By the end of 1950s, at thepersuasion of Terman, Stanford Universitydeveloped a special industrial park for suchnew high-tech firms. It created a hot house ofinnovation and generated a significantspecialised work force and producer services.It has sustained the continued agglomerationof high-tech electronics and has also attractedother high-tech industries. For example, nearlya third of all employment in biotechnology inthe USA is located in California. Of this, over90 per cent is located in the San Francisco Bayarea. Stanford University has been receivingincreasing amount of donations from gratefulcompanies, which runs into millions of dollarsannually.

The linkage between the research inuniversities and high-tech activity is key to thesuccess of these industries. While the newindustries thrive on a symbiotic relationshipwith one another and university researchdepartments, key workers also tend to favourtechnology complexes associated with topranking universities. It provides them a jobmarket and abundant socio-cultural activities.It soon acquires a reputation as ‘the right placeto be’.

Such techno-poles have also emerged inother countries. But except Germany, most ofthem are centred around big metropolitan citiessuch as London, Paris, Milan Tokyo, Shanghai,Taipei, Moscow, Singapore and Sao Paulo.


Exercises

Review Questions

1. Answer the following questions briefly:(i) What are secondary activities and why are they called secondary?(ii) What are manufacturing industries?(iii) What are the bases of classifying industries?(iv) Give two examples each of basic and consumer industries.(v) Why iron and steel industry is considered a basic industry?(vi) Why petro-chemcial complexes in the USA are located mostly on the coast?(vii) What is a technopole?


2. Distinguish between:(i) Cottage and large scale industries;(ii) Metallic and non-metallic industries;(iii) Deindustrialisation and reindustrialisation;(iv) Flexible production and flexible specialisation.

3. Write short notes on the following:(i) Small scale industry;(ii) Silicon Valley.

4. Discuss the major factors influencing the classical location of industries.5. Describe the distribution of iron and steel and petro-chemical industries in the world.6. Discuss the major trends of the modern industrial activities especially in advanced

industrial countries.7. Explain why high–tech industries in many countries are being attracted to the

peripheral areas of major metropolitan areas.

Geographical Skills

8. With the help of an atlas, locate the following places on an outline map of the world:(i) the iron and steel centres in the Great Lakes region,(ii) the petro-chemical complexes at Antwerp, Rotterdam and Southampton(iii) the Silicon Valley

chapter 6

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