RBSE Class 12 Geography Notes Chapter 7 Human Occupations: Major Types

Rajasthan Board RBSE Class 12 Geography Notes Chapter 7 Human Occupations: Major Types

Introduction :

The man is considered as the central point in study of geography.
Man is an active creature and performs many activities to fulfill his necessities.
Human activities done for earning and for economic gain are called economic activities.
The economic activities of a man are influenced by the physical and cultural environment.
Human economic activities are different in different parts of the world due to difference in physical and cultural environment.
The economic activities performed to earn livelihood are called occupation.

Development and Changing Nature of Human Occupation :

Man has been a wanderer since the beginning. He began to adopt seasonal migration for getting his food and for grazing his cattle.
Agriculture motivated man to form permanent settlements.
All the civilisations of the world have developed due to development in agricultural activities.
Discovereis, inventions and developments in technique in the renaissance period motivated economic progress.
The human occupation always developed in sequential order.
The development of human occupations can be divided into pre-historic age, ancient period, medieval age and modern age.
In pre-historic age, man hunted wild animals and gathered roots, tubers and fruits from forests.
In pre-historic age, Jhoom agriculture was started and the wheel and art of making earthen pots were invented.
Stability and permanency came into human life in Ancient period. In this period, man started agriculture, rearing of cattle and
making metalic tools. He also learnt the process of irrigation and business.
Feudal and Jagirdari systems were prevalented in the Medieval period. In this period, trade, agriculture, cattle rearing and
economic activities developed most in India.
The period from 15th century up till now is considered as the modern age.
The modern advanced human occupations emerged due to technological development, discoveries and inventions.
Due to industrial revolution, almost all economic activities started to be performed by machines.
On account of obtaining energy from various sources, various kinds of products began to be manufactured at large scale in industries.

Classification of Human Occupations :

The means of earning human livelihood and economic activities are classified into five categories.

Human occupations have been classified as primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary and pentanary.

Primary Occupations :

In primary occupations, man directly uses the naturally-occurring resources, land, water, vegetation and minerals to satisfy his needs.
Agriculture, hunting, gathering food and other forest products, wood cutting, fishing, animal husbandry, mining etc. are some of the primary occupations, o The primary occupation-related activities are seen in different parts of the world-sub-tropical regions, temperate regions and cold regions.

Secondary Occupations :

In secondary occupations, naturally availably resources are refined and converted to make them better and more useful and valuable, o Secondary occupations include manufacturing, processing and production activities, o Making steel from iron ore, flour from wheat, cotton textiles from cotton, sugar from sugarcane are some examples of secondary occupations.

Tertiary Occupations :

Personal and commercial direct services to communities are called tertiary services, o Transportation, trade and commerce, communications and all types of services (banking, insurance, tourism, etc.) are included in tertiary occupations.

Quaternary Occupations :

All indirect services are considered as quaternary or fourth-level occupations, o Information based research and development based services are included in this category, o Educational institutions, hospitals, theatres, accounts work, commission firms, etc. are related to this (indirect) category.

Pentanary or Quinary Occupations :

Pentanary occupations include those services which are focussed on creation of new and contemporary ideas and explanation of their re-organisation of data and their application and evaluation of new technology, o Subject specialists, decision-makers-consultants and policy-makes are included in this category.

Glossary :

Occupation : The work that a person does with an objective to earn his livelihood and to maintain a social standard is an occupation.
Economic Growth : Economic growth is the increase in the goods and services produced by an economy, typically a nation, over a long period of time. This results into an increase per capita income.
Environment : The sum total of all physical, chemical and biological conditions to which a living being feels and responds.
Grazing : A method of feeding cattle in the grasslands or the pasture grounds where the reared cattle are made to graze.
Agriculture : The science of farming, including cultivation of the soil for growing crops and rearing animals to provide food, wool and other products.
Minerals : A mineral is a chemical compound which is obtained from the earth’s crust and has its own chemical composition and structure.
Industry : Economic activity concerned with the processing of raw materials and manufacturing of goods in factories.
Manufacturing : Making something on a large scale using machinery.
Transport : Carrying people or goods from one place to another place by means of vehicle, aircraft or ship or boat, etc.
Trade : An economic activity of buying and selling of goods and services.
Valley : A low area of land between hills or mountains typically with a river or stream flowing through.
Economic Development : Economic development is the stage of a nation by which a nation improves economic, political and social well – being of its people.
Fossil Fuel : The fuel formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms containing energy originating in ancient photosynthesis.
Jhuming Agriculture : This is also known as slash and bum agriculture and is a process of growing crops by first clearing of trees and vegetation and burning them thereafter. The burnt soil contains potash which increases the nutrient content of the soil.
Exchange : An act of giving one thing and receiving another thing (especially of the same kind) in return.
Earth : The earth is the third planet of the solar system on which we live and this is the only planet on which life is found.
Resource : A source of supply, support or aid, especially one that can be readily drawn upon when needed.
Communication : The act or process of using words, sounds, signs or behaviors to express or exchange information or to express your, ideas, thoughts, feelings etc. to someone else.
Tour : A tour is a trip or journey for sight seeing, entertainment, voyage, getting education, health recovery or earnings.
Vegetation : An assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term without specific reference to particular life forms structures, spatial extent or any other specific botanical or geograhic characteristics.
Tropical Zone : The region of the earth near to the equator and between the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere.
Equator : A line notionally drawn on the earth equidistant from the poles, dividing the earth into Northern and Southern Hemisphere constituting the parallel of latitude 0°.
Latitude : The angular distance of a place north or south of the earth’s equator, the equator of a celestial object usually expressed in degrees and minutes.
Desert : A very dry area of land where few plants and animals can live on due to extreme shortage of water availability and which has very high temperature.
Tundra : A vast flat vegetation less Arctic region of Europe, Asia and Northern America in which subsoil is permanently frozen.
Nomadic Herding : The herding of livestock including a mixture of species, i. e. cattle, yaks, sheep, goats, reindeer, horses, donkeys or camels which is commonly practised in regions with little arable land, typically in the developing world.
Aboriginal Agriculture : Aboriginal agriculture is not just agriculture practised by indigenous people. It is the product of indigenous cultures that are deeply connected to particular places.
Plantation Agriculture : A plantation agriculture is a large area of land that is usually privately or government owned and employs resident labour to cultivate a single commercial crop. Plantation agriculture is generally found in tropical and subtropical regions.
Ocean : A very large expanse of sea, in particular, each of the main areas into which the sea is divided geographically.
Climate : The composite or generally prevailing weather conditions of a region as temperature, air, pressure, humidity, precipitation, sunshine, cloudiness and wind throughout the year.
Soil : The upper layer of the earth in which plants grow; a black or dark brown material typically consisting of a mixture of organic remains, clay and rock particles.
Internet : A global computer network providing a variety of information and communication facilities consisting of interconnected network using standardised communication protocols.
Settlement : A group of houses of various types and shapes.
Urbanization : The word urbanization is used in different meanings and context according to the subject. It is normally used in context to the increasing population in the cities and increasing size of the cities.
Primary Occupation : Works associated with direct use of natural resources by man which include hunting, fishing, mining, food gathering and animal husbandry.
Secondary Occupation : Those activities which transform the resources obtained through primary activities into directly more useful and valuable things.
Cyclone : A region of low air pressure in which winds blow while revolving from the exterior towards the interior.