We explain what a natural region is, the characteristics of each type and examples in Mexico. Also, other types of regions.
What is a natural region?
A natural region is an area of the land surface whose natural geographic conditions (especially the physical geography: topography, hydrography, relief, etc.) are relatively homogeneous, and allow it to be handled as if it were a unit.
Like any geographical region, natural regions are difficult to define exactly, but they are useful to facilitate the work of the geographical study of the planetary surface, since they allow us to manage simply and efficiently the areas that present similar natural features, that is, to build " homogeneous regions ”from its weather, relief, hydrography or other determining features.
Types of natural regions
Natural regions can be classified according to the physical criteria chosen to differentiate them, that is, depending on what characteristics we look at. Thus, we can distinguish between:
- Orographic regions. When attending to the predominant relief in the area. Thus, one can speak of regions of Mountain, from plain, from plateaus or hills.
- Climatic regions. When attention is paid to the prevailing climate in the area, thus obtaining the so-called climatic regions: the intertropical zone, the temperate zone and the circumpolar zones.
- Phytogeographic regions. When considering the flora and vegetation as a classification criterion, judging by the most abundant flora formations. Thus, we can speak of regions of scrub, chaparral, bed sheet or from jungle.
- Ecological regions. When the existence of ecosystems closed and complete in one region, as is the case of the regions marine, jungle regions, desert regions, etc.
Natural regions in Mexico
The geography mexicana is diverse and complex, and depending on the point of view, different natural regions can be recognized, since Mexico has wide margins of biological Diversity Y climatic. However, the most common is to distinguish between:
- Wet jungle. Large areas of woods evergreen trees in hot and humid climatic regions, close to the ocean Atlántico, which abound in the territories of Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco, Chiapas and Veracruz.
- Dry jungle. Also called “Mexican dry forest”, it is distinguished from the humid forests of the Atlantic not only in its location, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, but also by its semi-humid climate, adapted to resist the heat and prolonged lack of rainfall, which translates into deciduous plant species. This region predominates in Jalisco, part of Chiapas, and the coasts from Sinaloa to Baja California, continuing in the direction of Guatemala.
- Desert. Xerophilic regions of very little precipitation and enormous thermal amplitude, of summers boiling hot spots and cold winters, in which vegetation is sparse and adapts to the time humidity. Located especially in the north of the country, towards the border with the United States, these Mexican deserts abound in cactus species and can be found in the territories of Chihuahua, Sonora and the Tehuacán Valley, for example.
- Thickets and grasslands. Ideal regions for the cultivation of cereals and for the growth of grasses, generally in long plains that occupy between 10 and 12% of the country, especially in San Luis Potosí, Jalisco, Guanajuato, Querétaro, Aguascalientes, and part of Sinaloa and Baja California.
- Maritime and coastal region. The Mexican maritime zone is wide, both in the Atlantic and in the Pacific, and they have an enormous variety of plant and animal biological resources, some endemic and others seasonally.
Other types of regions
Political regions can be ethnic, cultural or ideological organizations.
Apart from the environmental one, geographic regions can be organized according to various criteria, depending on the specific element that we decide to focus on. We have, like this:
- Economic regions. If we look at the way in which societies Human beings organize their productive and financial tasks.
- Political regions. If we look at the way in which human societies are organized ethnically, culturally or ideologically.
- Cultural regions. If we look exclusively at the similarity of the cultures local (generally using for this the religion or the spoken language) and territories occupied by its practitioners.
- Urban regions. Those that generally comprise a large urban population (a great town) and those of lesser preponderance that accompany it or depend on it.