NCERT Class 12 Geography Primary Activities

Primary Activities

Human activities which generate income are known as economic activities. Economic activities are broadly grouped into primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary activities.  Primary activities are directly dependent on environment as these refer to utilisation of earth’s resources such as land, water, vegetation, building materials and minerals. It, thus includes, hunting and gathering, pastoral activities, fishing, forestry, agriculture, and mining and quarrying.

HUNTING AND GATHERING

The earliest human beings depended on their immediate environment for their sustenance. They subsisted on: (a) animals which they hunted; and (b) the edible plants which they gathered from forests in the vicinity. Primitive societies depended on wild animals. People located in very cold and extremely hot climates survived on hunting. The people in the coastal areas still catch fish though fishing has experienced modernisation due to technological progress. Many species, now have become extinct or endangered due to illegal hunting (poaching). The early hunters usedprimitive tools made of stones, twigs or arrows so the number of animals killed was limited. Why has hunting been banned in India? Gathering and hunting are the oldest economic activity known. These are carried out at different levels with different orientations.

Gathering is practised in regions with harsh climatic conditions. animals to satisfy their needs for food, shelter and clothing. This type of activity requires a small amount of capital investment and operates at very low level of technology. The yield per person is very low and little or no surplus is produced.

Areas of Subsistence Gathering Gathering is practised in: (i) high latitude zones which include northern Canada, northern Eurasia and southern Chile; (ii) Low latitude zones such as the Amazon Basin, tropical Africa, Northern fringe of Australia and the interior parts of Southeast Asia. In modern times some gathering is marketoriented and has become commercial. Gatherers collect valuable plants such as leaves, barks of trees and medicinal plants and after simple processing sell the products in the market. They use various parts of the plants, for example, the bark is used for quinine, tanin extract and cork— leaves supply materials for beverages, drugs, cosmetics, fibres, thatch and fabrics; nuts for food and oils and tree trunk yield rubber, balata, gums and resins.

PASTORALISM

At some stage in history, with the realisation that hunting is an unsustainable activity, human beings might have thought of domestication of animals. People living in different climatic conditions selected and domesticated animals found in those regions. Depending on the geographical factors, and technological development, animal rearing today is practised either at the subsistence or at the commercial level.

Nomadic Herding

Nomadic herding or pastoral nomadism is a primitive subsistence activity, in which the herders rely on animals for food, clothing, shelter, tools and transport. They move from one place to another along with their livestock, depending on the amount and quality of pastures and water. Each nomadic community occupies a well-identified territory as a matter of tradition.

EXERCISES

1. Choose the right answer from the four alternatives given below.

    (i) Which one of the following is not a plantation crop?

            (a) Coffee                                     (c) Wheat

            (b) Sugarcane                                (d) Rubber

    (ii) In which one of the following countries co-operative farming was the most successful experiment?

            (a) Russia                                     (c) India

            (b) Denmark                                 (d) The Netherlands

    (iii) Growing of flowers is called:

            (a) Truck farming                           (c) Mixed farming

            (b) Factory farming                         (d) Floriculture

    (iv) Which one of the following types of cultivation was developed by European colonists?

            (a) Kolkoz                                     (c) Mixed farming 

            (b) Viticulture                                 (d) Plantation

    (v) In which one of the following regions is extensive commercial grain cultivation not practised?

            (a) American Canadian prairies        (c) Pampas of Argentina

            (b) European Steppes                     (d) Amazon Basin

    (vi) In which of the following types of agriculture is the farming of citrus fruit very important?

            (a) Market gardening                      (c) Mediterranean agriculture

            (b) Plantation agriculture                 (d) Co-operative farming

    (vii) Which one type of agriculture amongst the following is also called ‘slash and burn agriculture’?

            (a) Extensive subsistence agriculture

            (b) Primitive subsistence agriculture

            (c) Extensive commercial grain cultivation

            (d) Mixed farming

    (viii) Which one of the following does not follow monoculture?

            (a) Dairy farming                             (c) Plantation agriculture

            (b) Mixed farming                            (d) Commercial grain farming

2. Answer the following questions in about 30 words.

    (i) Future of shifting cultivation is bleak. Discuss.

    (ii) Market gardening is practised near urban areas. Why?

    (iii) Large scale dairy farming is the result of the development of transportation and refrigeration.

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 12 Geography Primary Activities