Natural and Human Factors: An In-Depth Analysis

Natural Factors

Natural factors include a number of components, such as: location, size, topography, soil, coasts, climate, hydrography, flora, and fauna. This enumeration, adopting a principle of order, is not arbitrary. The approach is based on the degree of difficulty for modifying the natural elements. The surface area and geographical location are unchanged, but there are possibilities of transformation. Thus, we cannot move mountains, but it is technically possible to trace tunnels through them.

• Geographical Situation: This considers variables such as latitude, longitude, and also whether a country is coastal or inland, its insular character, or its situation regarding land or sea routes.
• Surface Area: This refers to the area occupied by states, nations, or regions that are modifiable only by “rights of conquest” or waivers of sovereignty.
• Topography (Relief): This is the description of the mountains.
• Basement: Subsurface mineral deposits (solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels) and even groundwater are sources of potential wealth for economic exploitation.
• Coasts: These impact economic activities such as tourism or fishing.
• Soils: These determine the possibility of developing agricultural activities.
• Climate: The weather patterns that characterize a region.
• Hydrography: This is the part of physical geography that deals with oceans and streams. A distinction must be made between fresh water and seawater.
• Flora and Fauna: These are mainly caused by factors such as climate and soil, as living beings are a product of adaptation to the environment.

Some authors have noted the importance of climate on human societies, to the extent of attributing the emergence and decline of civilizations to climatic changes. The relationship between human societies and nature is characterized by permanent reciprocal interaction. Finally, the action of man over nature, motivated by an effort to ensure the satisfaction of needs, results in a certain “operating system.”

Regarding the mutual interaction, it manifests in two ways: 1) as an action of man over nature, and 2) as dynamic effects of nature on human societies.

Human Factor

The Human Factor is presented under two aspects: the individual perspective, which from a macroeconomic point of view is an irrelevant dimension, being deprived of social and collective perspective; and the population perspective, which is based on the production system to accommodate one of the most widespread economic indicators: per capita income. For the economy, the human component is the first asset of any territory, as man is both the actor and recipient of economic activity. Positive aspects are matched by negative ones, man-made in their struggle to dominate and exploit nature (deforestation and pollution).

Analysis of Population

The branch of statistics that takes care of the population is demography, where studies are based on census data assessed in demographic, cultural, economic, and social development. There are two perspectives:

• Static Perspective: Examines the demographic structure of the population, set by age and sex, marital status, economic activity, or labor… On one hand, the population is considered in absolute terms, including the group of people living in a given demographic area. On the other hand, it is discussed in relative terms: spatial and sectoral individual.
• Dynamic Perspective: This has two dimensions: an internal one that deals with birth, mortality, and fertility, and an external one that addresses social movements (immigration processes).