Countries of East Asia

MONGOLIA Steppe & Desert Environment Sparsely Populated With

2.5 MILLION People Part of the Chinese Empire

From Late 1600s Until 1911 Economy is Focused on

Herding & Animal Products Most famous Mongol: Genghis Khan

KOREA Population of 73 million Turbulent political history:

A dependency of ChinaA colony of JapanDivided along the 38th parallel

by Allied Powers > WWII (1945)Cease-fire line established in

1953 (DMZ) separates North Korea and South Korea

NORTH-SOUTH CONTRASTS

NORTH KOREA 55% of the land, 1/3 of the population, extremely rural Antiquated state enterprises Inefficient, non-productive agriculture Limited trade – former Soviet Union and China

SOUTH KOREA 45% of the land, 2/3s of the population, highly

urbanized Modern factories Intensive, increasingly mechanized agriculture Extensive trade – US, Japan, and Western Europe

North Korea South Korea

THE KOREAS- COMPARED

North Korea South Korea

POPULATION 23,600,000 49,200,000

GNP (BILLIONS) $ 21.3 $ 508.3

GNP/CAPITA $ 920 $ 17,300

AGRICULTURE

(as % of GNP) 25 % 8 %

(% work force) 36 % 21 %

TAIWAN Historical background:

A Chinese province for centuriesColonized by Japan in 1895Returned to China > WWII1949 – Chinese Nationalists fled

from the mainland and established the Republic of China (ROC)

Population – 22.7 million 77% urbanized

TAIWAN

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial