I have chosen Australia and the small, scattered islands of the Federated States of Micronesia to compare in my paper. Australia would fall into the “more developed” region, due to its booming cities, low unemployment rate, and over all healthy economy. The islands of Micronesia are in the “less developed” category due to the fact that they have high unemployment rates, are fiercely dependent on foreign aid, and have a massive gap between classes.
Australia has been named one of the best places in the world to live for many reasons, and has nearly always drawn immigrants. It was first settled in 1788, mostly by British convicts. Eventually free men began to immigrate when a rich supply of gold was discovered in the mid-19th century. Of course, …show more content…
Most of the population is concentrated in areas along the coasts (Newton, Fig. 1), with few people and farms inhabiting the aired Outback. There are, however, some areas in rural Australia that are compatible with range-fed livestock and support the large sheep and cattle industry. Many areas in New South Wales, Western Australia, and Victoria are focused around vast areas where sheep farmers can move their herds from one huge pasture to the next. In these areas, cattle are seldom seen, with the largest population of cattle ranchers being in to the North in Queensland. Crops that are grown vary greatly across the country. Wheat operations are scattered throughout, specialized sugarcane farms thrive in the more humid coastal areas while areas with man-made irrigation systems support orchard crops and vegetables. Viticulture, or the production of grapes, is seeing a large increase in popularity. In fact, the area used for grape cultivation saw an increase of 50% from 1991 to 1998, boosting the revenue from wine production to more than $540 million per year (Rowntree 668). Of course the public discovery of gold and the mineral trade with Asia played a massive factor in Australia’s development as well. It could be argued that the country would be no were near where it is today …show more content…
They are, however, still working hard to become self-sufficient. Scattered throughout the populated islands, small fruit and vegetable farms are thriving and there are many pork, chicken, and egg farms. Trade between the islands composing Micronesia ensures abundant supplies for the inhabitants. Although right now they are simply working on becoming truly self-sufficient, their potential is fantastic. According to the Government of the Federated States of Micronesia website, they possess what could turn into a huge tuna fishing industry, along with developing seabed mining techniques that may introduce large scale trading with other countries in the future