Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
𝚊𝚙 𝚑𝚞𝚐 𝚟𝚘𝚌
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| absolute advantage | A nation’s ability to produce a good or service more efficiently than another nation |
| absolute direction | Corresponds to the direction on a compass: north, south, east, west, and combinations such as northeast and southwest |
| absolute distance | The distance that can be measured with a standard unit of length, such as a foot, yard, mile, or kilometer |
| absolute location | A precise position on Earth’s surface |
| absorbing barriers | Barriers that completely halt diffusion |
| accent | A way of pronouncing words |
| acculturation | Occurs when an ethnic or immigrant group adopts enough of the ways of the host society to be able to function economically and socially |
| activity space | Where a person goes and what he or she does on a day-to-day basis |
| aerial photography | Remote-sensing photography that produces fine-grained, high-resolution, highly detailed images |
| affordability | The maximum price that a buyer can afford to pay for a house or apartment |
| African Union (AU) | A continental organization of African states that seeks to drive Africa’s growth and economic development through cooperation and integration of member states |
| age structure | Refers to the breakdown of a population into different age groups or cohorts |
| agglomeration economies | Occur where firms cluster spatially in order to take advantage of geographic concentrations of skilled labor and industry suppliers, specialized infrastructure, and ease of face-to-face contact with industry participants |
| aging population | A population of a country or place that ages as the number or proportion of its elderly people increases |
| agribusiness | Large corporation that provides a vast array of goods and services to support the agricultural industry |
| agrichemicals | Chemical compounds obtained from petroleum and natural gas for use in agriculture; agrichemicals include fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides |
| agricultural cooperative | An organization where farmers pool their resources in certain areas of activity such as services or production; services or production resources are provided to individual farm members |
| agricultural density | The number of farmers per unit of arable land |
| agricultural landscape | The visible imprint of agricultural practices |
| agricultural surplus | Crop yields that are sufficient to feed more people than the farmer and his or her family |
| agriculture | The planting and harvesting of domesticated plants and the raising of domesticated animals for food |
| allegiance | Loyalty or commitment to a country |
| androcentrism | A phenomenon in which a culture demonstrates a marked preference for males |
| animistic religion | A faith that subscribes to the idea that souls or spirits exist not only in humans but also in animals, plants, rocks, natural phenomena such as thunder, geographic features such as mountains or rivers, and other entities of the natural environment |
| antecedent boundary | A boundary that was identified before an area was settled |
| Anthropocene | The period in which human activities have had the dominant influence on the environment |
| anti-displacement tenant activists | Advocates for poor and working-class residents who are at risk of losing their affordable housing to new development |
| antinatalist policy | Designed to curtail population growth by reducing fertility rates |
| aquaculture | The cultivation and harvesting of aquatic organisms under controlled conditions |
| aquifer | Underground water deposited hundreds of thousands of years ago |
| arable land | Land suitable for cultivation |
| Arctic Circle | Area defined by the 66 degrees, 34 minutes north latitude line |
| Arctic Council | An international governmental forum that promotes interaction among the Arctic states and indigenous communities on common Arctic issues, particularly sustainable development and environmental protection |
| arid climate | A climate that receives less than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain annually |
| arithmetic (crude) density | The average number of people per unit of land area (usually per square mile or kilometer) |
| assembly line | A system of manufacturing in which parts and procedures are added one step at a time through a series of workstations until a finished product is assembled |
| assimilation | Occurs when an ethnic or immigrant group blends in with the host culture and loses many culturally distinctive traits |
| Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) | A regional intergovernmental organization comprising 10 countries in Southeast Asia to promote intergovernmental cooperation and facilitate economic growth, social progress, and cultural development in the region |
| automobile cities | Cities whose size and shape are dictated by and almost require individual automobile ownership |
| autonomous region | A subdivision or dependent territory of a country that has a degree of self-government, or autonomy, in its decision making |
| Baby Boomers | People born from 1946 to 1964 during the post–World War II uptick in birth rate |
| base industry | An industry of disproportionate economic importance and on whose existence other industries and employment sectors depend |
| below market rate housing | Housing that costs much less than the going rate |
| bid-rent theory | Explains how the demand for and price of land decrease as its distance from the central business district increases |
| bilingualism | The ability to speak two languages fluently |
| biodiesel | Fuel made from vegetable oils |
| biodiversity | The variety and variability among species and ecosystems |
| biofuel | A fuel derived from organic wastes or plant materials |
| Black Belt | Ethnic homeland in the U.S. South |
| blockbusting | A practice in which realtors persuade white homeowners in a neighborhood to sell their homes by convincing them that the neighborhood is declining due to black families moving in |
| boomburb (also called boomburg) | A place with more than 100,000 residents that is not a core city in a metropolitan area; a large suburb with its own government |
| border zone | A region where cultural markers overlap and blend into a recognizable border culture |
| borderland | A region straddling both sides of an international boundary where national cultures overlap and blend to varying degrees |
| Boserup effect | Increase in food production resulting from the use of new farming methods |
| boundary | A clearly demarcated line that marks both the limits of a territory and divisions between territories; often called a border at the global scale |
| brain drain | A phenomenon where a country or a place loses young, more educated, and skilled people through migration |
| brain gain | A phenomenon where a country or a place gains young, more educated, and skilled people through migration |
| break-of-bulk point | A location where cargo is transferred from one mode of transportation to another |
| brownfield | A property whose use or development may be complicated by the potential presence of hazardous substances or pollutants |
| brownfield remediation | The process of removing or sealing off contaminants so that a site may be used again without any health concerns |
| buffer state | A politically and economically weak independent country that lies between the borders of two powers |
| built environment | The human-made space in which people live, work, and engage in leisure activities on a daily basis |
| cadastral survey | Systematic documentation of property ownership, shape, use, and boundaries |
| capital expenditures | Assets that cost money, such as land, machinery, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, seeds, and livestock feed |
| capitalism | An economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit rather than owned and run by the state |
| capitalist class | People who own the means of production and pay the wages of workers |
| carbon neutrality | Achieving zero CO2 releases through a combination of emissions reduction and carbon removal |
| carbon offsets | Processes that remove or sequester (store) carbon from the atmosphere to make up for CO2 emissions elsewhere |
| carrying capacity | The number of people a particular environment or Earth as a whole can support on a sustainable basis |
| cartogram | A map that distorts the geographic shape of an area in order to show the size of a specific variable; the larger the area on a cartogram, the larger the value of the underlying variable |
| cartographer | A person who makes maps |
| cash crop | A crop raised to be sold for profit rather than to feed the farm family and the livestock; common cash crops are cotton, flax, hemp, coffee, and tobacco |
| cassava | A root vegetable native to South America |
| census | An official count or survey of a population, typically recording various details about individuals, such as age, sex, and race |
| central business district (CBD) | A dense cluster of offices and shops located at a city’s most accessible point, usually its center |
| central place | A settlement that makes certain types of products and services available to consumers |
| central place theory | A model, developed by Walter Christaller, that attempts to understand why cities are located where they are |
| centrifugal force | A force that threatens the cohesion of a neighborhood, society, or country |
| centripetal force | A force that brings people together and unifies a neighborhood, society, or country |
| cereal grains | Seeds that come from a wide variety of grasses cultivated around the world, including wheat, barley, sorghum, millet, oats, and maize (corn) |
| chain migration | The process by which some people’s migration to a new place leads their family members, friends, and others to move to the same place |
| child mortality | Deaths of children under five years of age |
| choke point | A narrow passage that restricts traffic to another region |
| choropleth map | A thematic map that shows data aggregated for a specific geographic area, often using different colors to represent different values |
| circulation | Short-term and cyclical movement that occurs repeatedly on a regular basis |
| city | A relatively large, densely populated settlement with a much larger population than rural towns and villages; cities serve as important commercial, governmental, and cultural hubs for their surrounding regions |
| climate | The average pattern of weather over a 30-year period for a particular region |
| climate change | A long-term shift in global or regional climate patterns |
| clustered settlement or farm village | A tightly bunched farm settlement that has anywhere from a few dozen to several hundred inhabitants |
| cogeneration | Producing two forms of energy from one fuel |
| colonialism | The act of forcefully controlling a foreign territory, which becomes known as a colony |
| Columbian Exchange | The interaction and widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, disease, and ideas between the Americas, West Africa, and the Old World in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries |
| commercial agriculture | Farming oriented exclusively toward the production of agricultural commodities for sale in the market |
| commercial farmers | Farmers who raise crops and livestock to sell in the market at a profit rather than raising them for their own consumption |
| commodity | A primary agricultural product or raw material that is bought, sold, and traded |
| commodity chain | A series of links connecting a commodity’s many places of production and distribution |
| commodity dependence | Occurs when commodities account for more than 60 percent of the value of a country’s total exports |
| communism | An economic and political system in which all property is publicly owned and managed |
| community-supported agriculture (CSA) | A direct-to-consumer marketing arrangement in which farmers are guaranteed buyers for their produce at guaranteed prices and consumers receive fresh food directly from the producers |
| compact design | Development that grows up (in the form of taller buildings) rather than out (in the form of urban sprawl) |
| comparative advantage | A country’s ability to produce one product much more efficiently than it can produce other products within its economy |
| compass rose | A drawing, usually found on the edge of a map, showing the four cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west) and the map’s orientation |
| competitive advantage | A firm’s relative ability to outperform other transnational corporations (TNCs) in its industry |
| complementarity | A measure of how well one country’s export profile matches another country’s import profile |
| concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) | Animal rearing system that confines livestock (such as cattle, sheep, turkeys, chickens, and hogs) in high-density cages only large enough to allow the animal body to grow and to accommodate equipment for feeding and waste removal |
| concentric zone model | A model of a city’s internal organization developed by E. W. Burgess that shows rings of factory production and different residential zones radiating outward from a central business district |
| consequent boundary | A boundary that is drawn to accommodate existing cultural differences |
| contagious diffusion | The wavelike spread of ideas in the manner of a contagious disease or forest fire, moving throughout space without regard for hierarchy |
| containerization | The system of intermodal freight transport using shipping containers |
| contested boundaries | Boundaries that are disputed for religious, political, or cultural reasons |
| continental climate | A climate that has a large range of temperatures and moderate precipitation; found in the interior of continents, north of the moderate climate zones |
| contract farming | Arrangement between an independent farmer and an agribusiness company to produce a crop; the agribusiness provides the farmer with all the supplies needed to produce a crop in exchange for a guaranteed price and buyer conventional agriculture |
| convergence hypothesis | The idea that cultures are converging or becoming more alike |
| cool chain | The system that uses refrigeration and food-freezing technologies to keep farm produce fresh in climate-controlled environments at every stage of transport from field to retail grocers and restaurants |
| core area | A small territorial nucleus from which a country grows in area and over time |
| core states | States that have the most advanced industrial and military technologies, complex manufacturing systems, external political power, and the highest levels of wealth and mass consumption |
| cornucopians or anti-Malthusians | People who disagree with the Malthusian view of population and resources |
| corporate disinvestment | A process in which companies stop investing in factory construction, equipment, and improvement and begin selling off assets, such as machinery, buildings, and land |
| counterstream | The flow of all migrants in the direction opposite a particular migration stream, from its destination back to the origin |
| cracking | Gerrymandering a voting district by dividing opposition votes into many districts, thus diluting the opposition’s vote to ensure it does not form a majority in any district |
| creole | A combined language that has a fuller vocabulary than a pidgin language and becomes a native language |
| creolization | The linguistic process where languages converge and create new languages and forms of communication |
| crossbreeding | The act of mixing different species or varieties of plants or animals to produce hybrids |
| crude birth rate (CBR) | The average number of births per 1000 people; the traditional way of measuring birth rates |
| crude death rate (CDR) or mortality rate | The number of deaths per year per 1000 people |
| crude oil | A yellowish-black liquid fossil fuel found in geologic deposits |
| cultural attitudes | Concepts and ideas in a society that are shaped by cultural opinions, beliefs, and perspectives |
| cultural cohesion | Cultural unity; occurs when the members of a society are culturally united |
| cultural ecology | The study of the interactions between societies and their local environments |
| cultural landscape | The built forms that cultural groups create in inhabiting Earth — farm fields, cities, houses, and so on — and the meaning, values, representations, and experiences associated with those forms |
| cultural relativism | An approach to understanding other cultures that seeks to understand individuals and cultures from a wider perspective of cultural logic |
| cultural trait | A single aspect of a given culture or society |
| culture | The shared practices, technologies, attitudes, and behaviors that a society transmits from one generation to the next |
| culture hearth | A focused geographic area where important innovations are born and from which they spread |
| customs union | A free-trade agreement among two or more member countries, combined with a single, common external trade policy for nonmembers |
| dairying | A farming system that specializes in the breeding, rearing, and utilization of livestock (primarily cows) to produce milk and its various by-products, such as yogurt, butter, and cheese |
| data aggregation | The process of collecting and organizing large amounts of information |
| de facto segregation | Racial segregation that is not supported by law but is still apparent |
| dead zones | Sections of a body of water where there is very little aquatic life |
| debt crisis | Occurs when a government’s debts exceed its tax revenues to the point that it cannot meet its loan payments |
| decentralize | In an urban context, to move business operations from core city areas into outlying areas such as suburbs |
| deforestation | Clearing and destruction of forests to clear land for agriculture use |
| degenerative disease | A disease that causes deterioration over time, such as cancer, heart disease, and stroke |
| deindustrialization | The decline, and sometimes complete disappearance, of employment in the manufacturing sector in the core’s industrial centers |
| delimited | Describing how boundaries are fixed or defined to identify their limits |
| demarcated | Describing how boundaries are set apart to distinguish their limits |
| demilitarized zone (DMZ) | An area in which treaties or agreements between nations, military powers, or contending groups forbid military installations, activities, or personnel; usually lies along an established frontier or boundary between two or more military powers or alliances |
| democratization | Occurs when a sovereign state moves from a non-democracy to a democracy |
| demographic equation | The method for calculating total population of a country or place based on natural increase and migration over a period of time (usually a year) |
| demographic transition model (DTM) | How crude birth rate (CBR) and crude death rate (CDR) as well as the resulting rate of natural increase (RNI) change over time as countries go through industrialization and urbanization |
| demography | The statistical study of population and its change |
| dependency ratio | The number of dependents in a population that each 100 working-age people (ages 15 to 64 years) must support |
| dependency theory | The theory that the periphery is poor because it was economically dependent on the core in a disadvantageous relationship originally established under colonialism and imperialism |
| desertification | The process by which once-fertile land becomes desert as a result of climate variation or human activities |
| destination | The place where a migrant is going |
| developed (or industrialized) country | A country with an advanced economy and a high standard of living |
| developing (or industrializing) country | A country that is of relatively low income or economically poorer than developed countries |
| devolution | The movement of power from the central government to regional governments within the state |
| dialect | A regional variation of a language that is understood by people who speak other variations of that language |
| diaspora | Involuntary mass dispersions of a population from its home territory |
| diffusion | The pattern by which a phenomenon such as the movement of people, or their ideas, technologies, or preferences, spreads from a particular location through space and time |
| dispersed settlement or isolated settlement pattern | A settlement pattern in which families live relatively distant from one another |
| diverse housing options | Policy that encourages building quality housing for people and families of all life stages and income levels in a range of prices within a neighborhood |
| division of labor | How a group divides the range of tasks within a social system; in subsistence systems, tasks are generally divided based on age and gender |
| domestic terrorism | Acts by individuals or groups against the citizens or government of their own country |
| domesticated animal | An animal that depends on people for food and shelter and is different from its wild ancestors in looks and behavior as a result of close contact with humans |
| domesticated plant | A plant that is deliberately planted, protected, cared for, and used by humans and is genetically distinct from its wild ancestors |
| domestication | The long-term process through which humans selectively breed, protect, and care for individuals taken from populations of wild plant and animal species to create genetically distinct species, known as domesticates |
| dot density or dot distribution map | A map that uses dots to represent objects or counts; the dot can represent one object (a one-to-one dot density map), or it can represent a number of objects (a one-to-many dot density map) |
| double-cropping | Planting another crop on the same plot of land as soon as the first crop has been harvested |
| doubling time | The number of years it takes for a population to double in size |
| ecological footprint | The total amount of natural resources used and their impact on the natural environment |
| ecology | A biological science concerned with studying the complex relationships among living organisms and their physical environments |
| economic sectors | Groupings of industries based on what is produced and the activities of the workforce |
| economies of scale | Cost advantages that can come with a larger scale of operations |
| ecosystem | A territorially bounded system consisting of the interaction between humans and the environment |
| ecotourism | Travel to natural areas of ecological value in support of conservation efforts and socially just economic development |
| ecumene | The portion of Earth’s surface with permanent human settlement |
| edge city | A concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment that developed in the suburbs, outside of a city’s traditional downtown or central business district |
| effective sovereignty | The idea that a state’s power to enforce its sovereignty may extend beyond its territory and varies over time and from country to country |
| elderly dependency ratio | The number of elderly dependents in a population (usually people older than 64 years of age) that every 100 working-age people must support |
| Electoral College | A body of 538 electors in the United States; a majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the president; a state’s number of electors is the number of members in its congressional delegation (one for each member in the House of Representatives p |
| electoral geography | A subfield of political geography that analyzes the geography of political preferences and how geography can shape voting outcomes |
| elevation | Distance above sea level |
| emigrant or out-migrant | A person who leaves their country of origin |
| emigration or out-migration | The act of a migrant leaving their place (country) of origin |
| empire | A sovereign political entity that seeks to expand beyond its origin territory to control more territory politically and/or economically |
| enclave | A territory surrounded by a country but not ruled by it |
| endangered language | A language that is not taught to children by their parents and is not used actively in everyday matters |
| endemic | Native to or characteristic of a certain environment |
| environmental contamination | Chemical residue that builds up with each application of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides |
| environmental determinism | The belief that the physical environment is the dominant force shaping cultures and that humanity is a passive product of its physical surroundings |
| environmental justice | The movement to fix environmental discrimination |
| environmental perception | The mental images that comprise humans’ perception of nature; environmental perception may be accurate or inaccurate |
| environmental pollution | The contamination of the physical (air, water, earth) and biological components of the environment to the point that normal functions are negatively affected |
| environmental racism | Occurs when areas inhabited by low-income people of color are targeted for environmental contamination |
| epidemiological transition theory | Seeks to explain how changes in health services and living standards affect patterns of disease |
| epidemiology | A branch of medicine that studies the distribution, determinants, and control of diseases and other health conditions, such as tobacco use and sedentary lifestyle |
| equitable infrastructure | The construction and improvement of foundational services such as access to energy resources throughout the country |
| escarpments | Abrupt slopes that break up the general continuity of the terrain |
| ETA | Basque separatist organization in Spain that used terrorism in its campaign for an independent Basque state |
| ethnic geography | The study of the spatial aspects of ethnicity |
| ethnic group | A people of common ancestry and cultural tradition; characterized by a strong feeling of group identity |
| ethnic religion | A religion identified with a particular ethnic or tribal group that does not seek converts |
| ethnocentric approach | An approach to understanding other cultures that evaluates them from the perspective of the observer’s culture |
| ethnonationalism | A form of nationalism in which the nation is defined in terms of ethnic identity |
| Eurasia | A massive piece of land on Earth that consists of Europe, with just under 10 percent of the human population, and Asia, which accounts for almost 60 percent of humanity |
| European Union (EU) | A political, economic, and social union of 28 independent European countries that promotes the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital among its members |
| exclave | Part of a national territory separated from the main body of the country to which it belongs |
| exclusionary zoning | Zoning that attempts to keep low- to moderate-income people out of a neighborhood |
| exclusive economic zone (EEZ) | Zone that extends 200 nautical miles from shoreline in which coastal states have the sole right to exploit, develop, manage, and conserve all water resources lying beyond the land |
| expansion diffusion | Occurs when ideas or practices spread throughout a population, from area to area, in a snowballing process, so that the total number of knowers or users and the areas of occurrence increase |
| export commodity | A cash crop that is produced for export to wealthier countries at the expense of crop production for local consumption |
| export processing zone (EPZ) | Industrial zone with special incentives to attract foreign investment to places where imported materials undergo processing or assembly before being re-exported |
| extensive agriculture | Crop cultivation and livestock rearing systems that require little hired labor or monetary investment to successfully raise crops and animals |
| extinct language | A language that has only a few elderly speakers still living or no living speakers |
| exurb | A semirural district located beyond the suburbs that is often inhabited by well-to-do families |
| failed state | A state whose political or economic system has become so weak that the government is no longer in control |
| fair trade | A certification program that supports good crop prices for farmers and environmentally sound farming practices |
| family farm | A farming operation wholly owned by a family or family corporation that sells its products to some defined market, either directly or through a cooperative |
| famine | Extreme scarcity of food |
| farmers | Individuals who practice agriculture by growing crops, raising animals, or some combination of the two |
| farmers’ market | A venue (ranging from a few stalls in the street to covered enclosures extending a few city blocks) in which farmers sell their produce directly to consumers |
| Farmland Protection Policy Act (FPPA) | U.S. law that grants municipalities oversight over federally funded development projects on farmland |
| farmstead | Center of farm operations, which includes the farmhouse, barns, shed, livestock pens, and family garden |
| federal state | An independent country that disperses significant authority among subnational units |
| feedlot | A fenced enclosure used for intensive livestock feeding that serves to limit livestock movement and associated weight loss |
| Fertile Crescent | Area in Southwest Asia that includes the river valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates; the earliest center for domestication of seed plants |
| fieldwork | Learning and doing research involving firsthand experience, which takes place outside the classroom setting |
| financial market | Marketplace where financial instruments are traded; stock markets, bond markets, and foreign exchange markets are all financial markets |
| First Agricultural Revolution | Period during which the early domestication and diffusion of plants and animals and the cultivation of seed crops led to the development of agriculture |
| first urban revolution | The agricultural and socioeconomic innovations that led to the rise of the earliest cities |
| fiscal imbalance | Occurs when a government must spend more than it receives in taxes |
| fiscal squeeze | Occurs when city revenues cannot keep up with increasing demands for city services and expenditures on decaying urban infrastructure |
| fiscal zoning | The practice of using local land-use regulation to preserve and possibly enhance the local property tax base |
| food desert | Area with limited access to fresh, nutritious foods |
| food insecurity | Occurs when large numbers of people experience long periods of inadequate diets |
| food security | According to the United Nations, the situation in which all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to enough safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life |
| forced migration | Migration caused by forces out of one’s control, such as disasters, social conflicts, or developmental projects |
| Fordism | The economic and social arrangement based on the mass production of standardized goods, high labor union membership rates, stable and full-time manufacturing employment, and high factory wages that enable mass consumption |
| formal region | A geographical area inhabited by people who have one or more traits in common |
| formal sector | The part of the economy that is officially recorded with the government |
| fossil fuel | Natural fuel derived from the fossilized remains of living organisms |
| free-trade agreement | A treaty between two or more countries that reduces tariffs and promotes foreign investment |
| free-trade zone (FTZ) | Specially designated duty-free area that provides warehousing, storage, and distribution facilities for goods intended for trade or reexport |
| friction of distance | The inhibiting effect of distance on the intensity and volume of most forms of human interaction; time-space compression diminishes friction of distance |
| frontier | A region at the margins of state control and settlement |
| functional region | A geographic area that has been organized to function politically, socially, culturally, or economically as one unit |
| galactic city model or peripheral model | A model of a city’s internal organization in which the central business district remains central, but shopping areas, office parks, and industrial districts are scattered throughout the suburbs and linked by metropolitan expressway systems |
| gated community | Privately governed and highly secure residential area within the bounds of a city; often has a fence or a gate surrounding it |
| GDP per capita | A country’s GDP divided by its total population |
| gender | A general term for the ways in which a society defines the differences between males and females |
| Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) | A measurement of gender equality that includes the proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments, the percentage of women in economic decision-making positions, and women’s versus men’s share of earned income |
| Gender Inequality Index (GII) | A statistical measure of gender inequality that combines data on reproductive health, empowerment, and labor-market participation |
| gender parity | A way of documenting progress toward gender equality using measures such as relative access to education, average incomes for women versus men, and workforce participation |
| gender roles | Culturally specific notions of what it means to be a man or woman |
| Generation X | People born between 1965 and 1980 and who are now in their prime working years |
| Generation Y | People who were born between 1981 and 2000; often referred to as millennials |
| Generation Z | People born after the turn of the twenty-first century |
| generations | Groups of people who were born around the same time and share some common traits due to the cultural and societal influences they shared as they grew up |
| generic toponym | The generic part of a place-name, often a suffix or prefix, such as -ville in Louisville |
| genetically modified organism (GMO) | A living organism, including crops and livestock, that is produced through genetic engineering |
| genocide | The systematic killing of members of a racial, ethnic, or linguistic group |
| gentrification | The displacement of lower-income residents by higher-income residents as an area or neighborhood improves |
| geographic information system (GIS) | A software application for capturing, storing, checking, and displaying data related to positions on Earth’s surface; allows the rapid manipulation of geospatial data for problem-solving and research |
| geographic processes | The physical and human forces that work together to form and transform the world |
| geometric boundary | A boundary that has regular, often perfectly straight, lines drawn without regard for an area’s physical or cultural features |
| gerrymandering | The manipulation of voting district boundaries to favor a particular political party, group, or election outcome |
| global citizen | A person who is aware of and understands the wider world and his or her place in it |
| Global Positioning System (GPS) | A system of 24 satellites that orbit Earth twice daily and transmit radio signals Earthward; the basis for many map-based apps that provide directions on how to get from one place to another |
| global scale analysis | Geographic scale that looks at geographic phenomena across the entire world |
| global supply chain | Agribusinesses, organized at the global scale; encompasses all elements of growing, harvesting, processing, transporting, marketing, consuming, and disposing of food for people |
| globalization | The process by which businesses and other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale |
| glocal perspective | Geographic perspective that acknowledges the two-way relationship between local communities and global patterns, emphasizing that the forces of globalization need to take into account local-scale cultural, economic, and environmental conditions |
| glocalization | Adapting global practices to fit local cultural practices and preferences |
| Goode homolosine projection | A map projection that avoids shape distortion and the restrictions of a rectangular map by creating “interruptions” in the map’s continuity; in each section, map projection regions are shown “equally,” like an orange peel being laid out in a flat surface |
| grain elevator | Large storage facility for grain |
| grain farming | A highly mechanized commercial farming system that specializes in the production of cereal grains; requires large farms and widespread use of machinery, synthetic fertilizer, pesticides, and genetically engineered seeds |
| gravity model | The idea that the closer two places are, the more they will influence each other |
| Great Migration | The twentieth-century movement of 6 million African Americans from the rural southern states to the cities of the midwestern and northeastern states |
| Green Revolution | The U.S.-supported development of high-yield seed varieties that increased the productivity of cereal crops and accompanying agricultural technologies for transfer to less developed countries |
| greenbelt | A zone of grassy, forested, or agricultural land separating urban areas |
| greenhouse effect | The global warming trend caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) |
| greenhouse gases | Compounds in the atmosphere from fossil-fuel combustion, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), that absorb and trap heat energy close to Earth’s surface |
| Griffin-Ford model | A model of the internal structure of the Latin American city developed by Ernst Griffin and Larry Ford |
| gross domestic product (GDP) | The total value of all goods and services produced within a country over a specific period, regardless of the producer’s national origin |
| gross national income (GNI) | The total income of a country’s residents and businesses, including investment income, regardless of where it was earned, as well as money received from abroad such as foreign investment and development aid |
| gross national product (GNP) | The total value of all the goods and services made by a country’s residents and businesses in a specific time period regardless of the country or location in which they were made |
| growth pole | Geographically pinpointed center of economic activity organized around a designated industry, commonly in the high-tech sector |
| guest worker | A person with temporary permission to work in another country |
| hearth | A center where innovations or new practices develop and from which the innovations or new practices spread or diffuse |
| herbicide | Pesticide designed to kill or inhibit the growth of unwanted plants (weeds) that compete with crops |
| hierarchical diffusion | Occurs when ideas leapfrog from one important person, community, or city to another, bypassing other persons, communities, or rural areas |
| high birth rate | A crude birth rate of more than 30 per 1000 people |
| high-technology industry | An industry that develops and uses the most advanced technologies available and has the highest levels of research and development |
| hinterland | The area surrounding a city |
| housing choice voucher program | A federal government program to assist very-low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled with affordable, decent, safe, and sanitary housing |
| Hoyt model or sector model | A model of a city’s internal organization, developed by Homer Hoyt, that focuses on transportation and communication as the drivers of the city’s layout |
| Human Development Index (HDI) | A statistical measure of human achievement that combines data on life expectancy at birth, education levels, and gross national income (GNI) per capita (purchasing power parity |
| ) population | |
| human geography | The branch of geography that studies how human activity affects or is influenced by Earth’s surface |
| human well-being | The state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy |
| humid cold climate | A climate with frigid temperatures nearly year-round; found in northern reaches of the continental climate zone and often described as subarctic |
| humid continental climate | A climate with a wide range of temperatures, moderate precipitation, and four distinct seasons; experiences warm to hot summers, moderate to abundant rainfall (20–50 inches |
| annually), and cold winters with precipitation falling as snow | |
| humid subtropical climate | A climate with long, hot summers and short, mild winters with variable precipitation; found on east coasts of continents |
| hybrid | The offspring of two plants or animals of different species or varieties |
| iconography | A set of traditional symbols or symbolic forms associated with a country and its citizens |
| immigrant or in-migrant | A person who arrives at their destination country |
| immigration or in-migration | The act of a migrant arriving at their destination country |
| imperialism | The motivating impulse to control greater amounts of territory |
| import substitution industrialization (ISI) | An economic development policy intended to replace imported goods with domestically produced goods as a way to spur industrialization and reduce dependence on other nations |
| inclusionary zoning (IZ) | Municipal and county planning ordinances that require a given share of new construction to be affordable for people with low to moderate incomes |
| income distribution | How a country’s total GDP is distributed among the individuals in its population |
| independent invention | Occurs when the same or a very similar innovation is developed at the same time in different places by different people working independently |
| independent state | A state that rules itself and is not subject to the authority of another state |
| indigenous culture | A local culture that is no longer the dominant ethnic group within its traditional homeland because of migration, colonization, or political marginalization |
| Indus River valley | Area along the Indus River that flows from the highlands of Tibet and continues down along the border between present-day Pakistan and India; a site of the earliest domestication of plants and herd animals |
| Industrial Revolution | The rapid transformation of the economy through the introduction of machines, new power sources, and new chemical processes in Europe and the United States between 1760 and 1830 |
| infant mortality rate (IMR) | A measure of how many infants die within the first year of their life per 1000 live births |
| infanticide | The practice of killing infants |
| infill development | The building of new retail, business, or residential spaces on vacant or underused parcels in already developed areas |
| informal sector | The part of any economy that is not officially recorded, monitored, or taxed by the government |
| infrastructure | The basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (such as buildings, roads, and public utilities) needed for the operation of a society |
| intensive agriculture | Crop cultivation and livestock rearing systems that use high levels of labor and capital relative to the size of the landholding |
| intercropping | The farming practice of planting multiple crops together in the same clearing |
| interdependence | The ties established between regions and countries that over time collectively create a global economic system that is not necessarily based on equality |
| internal or interregional migration | When people move within the borders of a country |
| internally displaced person (IDP) | Someone who remains within his or her country’s borders despite being persecuted by their home country |
| international division of labor | The situation in which the labor forces of different countries and world regions play complementary roles in an interdependent global economy |
| international migration | When moves are made across national borders |
| International Monetary Fund (IMF) | International organization that seeks to foster global monetary cooperation, achieve financial stability, facilitate international trade, and promote sustainable economic growth |
| international terrorism | Terrorism that transcends national boundaries and is intended to intimidate people in other countries |
| intervening obstacle | A complication that potential migrants will need to overcome to reach their destination |
| intervening opportunity | A nearby attractive locale where migrants may decide to settle instead of going to the intended destination farther away |
| irredentism | The political claim to territory in another country based on ethnic affiliations and historic borders |
| irrigated agriculture | Farming that relies on the controlled application of water to cultivated fields |
| isoline | On a map, a line that connects or links different places that share a common or equal value, such as elevation |
| just-in-time manufacturing (JIT) | The production of small batches of goods as needed by customer demand |
| labor productivity | The average amount of goods or services produced per worker per unit of time |
| labor unions | Associations of workers in particular industries established to collectively bargain with capitalists |
| land tenure | The right to own or hold property; it defines the ways in which rights to that property are managed |
| language | A mutually agreed-upon system of symbolic communication |
| language family | A group of related languages that share a common ancestry |
| large-scale commercial operation | A large-scale farm oriented exclusively toward the production of agricultural commodities for sale in the market |
| latitude (lines) | The (invisible) horizontal lines circling Earth parallel to the equator; latitude is the degree of distance north or south from the equator, which is at 0 degrees, as far as the poles, which are at 90 degrees |
| least-cost theory | Alfred Weber’s theory that transportation costs and labor costs play a strong role in determining the location of manufacturing facilities |
| legend | A key to the meaning of the symbols and colors on a map |
| life expectancy | The number of years a person can expect to live from birth |
| linear settlement pattern | A settlement pattern in which buildings are arranged in a line, often along a road or river; limited to areas where legal systems dictated that property lines must be rectangular |
| lingua franca | A language of communication and commerce spoken across a wide area where it is not a mother tongue |
| livestock fattening | An intensive system of animal feeding utilizing fenced enclosures to fatten livestock, mostly cattle and hogs, for slaughter and processing for the market |
| livestock ranching | The practice of using extensive tracts of land to rear herds of livestock to sell as meat, hides, or wool |
| local culture | Rural, ethnically homogenous culture that is deeply connected to the local land; the opposite of a popular culture |
| local-scale analysis | Geographic scale that identifies and analyzes geographic phenomena within a state or province, a city or town, or a neighborhood |
| locavores | People who dedicate themselves to slow-food diets and to obtaining as much of their nutrition as possible from local farmers |
| longitude (lines) | The (invisible) vertical lines on Earth’s surface that mark imaginary circles connecting the North Pole with the South Pole |
| long-lot settlement pattern | A linear settlement pattern in which each farmstead is situated at one end of a long, narrow rectangular lot; each lot has access to a major linear resource, usually a river or a major road |
| long-lot survey system | A unit-block surveying system whose basic unit is a rectangle that is typically 10 times longer than it is wide |
| low birth rate | A crude birth rate between 10 and 20 births per 1000 people |
| luxury crop | Non-subsistence crop such as sugar, coffee, and bananas |
| Malthusian | A term derived from the name Thomas Robert Malthus, an English economist and cleric, to mean either “of or relating to Malthus’s theory” or “a follower of Malthus” |
| map | A two-dimensional (flat) representation of a geographic area or place |
| map projection | A method for representing the surface of Earth or a celestial sphere on a plane (two-dimensional) surface; all map projections distort some aspect of Earth’s surface |
| map scale | The distance on a map in relation to distance in actual space; for example, 1 inch on a map might indicate a distance of 100 miles |
| map symbols | Graphic elements that help organize the information in a map, such as (but not limited to) dots, stars, arrows, squares, and dotted lines |
| mariculture | The farming of saltwater species such as shrimp, oysters, and marine fish |
| marine west coast climate | A climate found along western coasts of continents closer to the poles; characterized by moderate temperatures during long summers and cool winters |
| market gardening | A small-scale farming system in which a farmer plants one to a few acres that produce a diverse mixture of vegetables and fruits, mostly for sale in local and regional markets |
| mass consumption | The purchase of large amounts of mass-produced goods by large numbers of people |
| mass production | The machine manufacture of large quantities of identical products |
| material culture | The physical, visible objects made and used by members of a cultural group; includes buildings, furniture, clothing, food, artwork, and musical instruments |
| mean center of population | The balancing point given the distribution of population |
| mechanical reaper | A machine used to harvest grain crops mechanically; patented by Cyrus McCormick in 1831 |
| median age | The age that divides a population into two halves so that one half is younger than this age and the other half older |
| median line principle | An approach to dividing and creating boundaries at the midpoint between two places |
| mediterranean climate | A climate with winter precipitation, unusually mild winters, and clear skies with abundant sunshine; found along the Mediterranean Sea and a few coastal regions |
| megacity | A city with more than 10 million residents |
| mental map | A personal representation of a portion of Earth’s surface |
| mercantilism | A theory of trade stating that each country strives to export more than it imports in order to accumulate wealth |
| Mercator projection | A map projection that is useful for navigation because the lines connecting points on the map represent the true compass direction; however, landmasses become increasingly distorted the farther away they are from the equator |
| Mercosur | Spanish acronym for the Southern Common Market, a South American customs union that includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay as its full members |
| Mesoamerica | The cultural region in the Americas that includes the diverse civilizations in the modern-day countries of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica |
| metacity | A city with more than 20 million residents |
| metes and bounds | Survey system that uses natural features such as trees, boulders, and streams to delineate property boundaries |
| metropolis | A very large and densely populated city, particularly the capital or major city of a country or region |
| metropolitan area | An area composed of a heavily populated urban core and its less populated surrounding areas |
| metropolitan statistical area | In the United States, a region with at least one urbanized area as its core |
| microloan | A very small loan to poor people with little income or collateral intended to help them establish or expand a small business |
| micropolitan statistical area | In the United States, a region with one or more urban clusters of at least 10,000 people as its cores |
| middle class | People who are either salaried professionals (such as lawyers, educators, and physicians) or office wage workers (such as bank tellers and store clerks) |
| migrant (or mover) | A person who migrates or moves |
| migration | The long-term or permanent relocation of individuals, families, or entire communities from one place to another |
| migration age profile | The relatively stable relationship between the odds of migration and age across different countries |
| migration stream | The flow of all migrants from an origin to a destination |
| millet | A fast-growing cereal plant that is widely grown in warm regions with poor soil |
| mixed crop/livestock agriculture | A diversified system of agriculture based on the cultivation of cereal grains and root crops (such as potatoes and yams) and the rearing of herd livestock |
| mobility transition model | Geographer Wilbur Zelinsky’s conclusion that there are regularities in migration as an essential component of a country’s modernization process |
| moderate climate | A climate with an average year-round temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 degrees Celsius); found north and south of the equator on the edges of tropical climates |
| modernist architecture | A functional, rational, and orderly style for building designs |
| monocropping (monoculture) | The cultivation of a single commercial crop on extensive tracts of land |
| monotheism | Relating to the belief in only one god |
| monsoon | Seasonal reversal of winds with a general onshore movement in summer and a general offshore movement in winter; onshore winds bring monsoon rains |
| monsoon rains | Long periods of heavy rains every day at the end of a short dry season |
| mortgage | A loan that is taken out to purchase a home |
| multicropping | Planting two or three crops per year on the same land |
| multiculturalism | A set of policies that promote the active participation and inclusion of minority groups in national histories, national politics, and cultural institutions with the goal of embracing difference within society |
| multinational state | A country containing multiple national, ethnic, and religious groups within its boundaries |
| multiple-nuclei model | A model of a city’s internal organization, developed by Chauncy Harris and Edward Ullman, showing residential districts organized around several nodes (nuclei) rather than one central business district |
| multiplier effects | The creation of new business and jobs in other industries as the result of investment in a different industry |
| multistate nations | Ethnic groups territorially divided by one or more international boundaries |
| nation | A community of people bound to a homeland and possessing a common identity based on shared cultural traits such as language, ethnicity, and religion |
| national scale analysis | Geographic scale that identifies and analyzes geographic phenomena within a specific country |
| nationalism | Sense of belonging to and self-identifying with a national culture; people with a strong sense of nationalism derive a significant part of their social identity from a sense of belonging to a nation |
| nation-state | The ideal political geographical unit; one in which the nation’s geographic boundaries (a people and its culture) exactly match the state’s territorial boundaries (governance and authority) |
| nation-state ideal | The idea that political authorities govern in the name of all a country’s citizens, modern mass communications link all residents, and state-based citizenship rights reinforce the idea of a national identity |
| natural hazard | A physical danger present in the environment, such as a flood, hurricane, volcanic eruption, and earthquake |
| natural resources | Materials or substances that occur in nature and can be used for economic gain |
| neocolonialism | The set of economic and political strategies by which wealthy and powerful countries indirectly maintain or extend their influence over less wealthy areas |
| neoliberalism | A range of pro-market and anti-government positions on the economy, such as reducing government ownership and regulation and promoting privatization and market-based solutions |
| neo-Malthusians | People who today subscribe to the Malthusian view of population |
| net migration rate (NMR) | A gauge of the impact of migration on population change, determined by dividing a country’s net migration by its total population, then multiplying by 1000 |
| net migration | The difference between the number of in-migrants and out-migrants |
| new international division of labor | The spatial shift of manufacturing from developed countries to developing countries, including the global scaling of labor markets and industrial sites |
| New Urbanism | An approach to city planning that focuses on fostering European-style cities of dense settlements, attractive architecture, and housing of different types and prices within walking distance to shopping, restaurants, jobs, and public transportation |
| NIMBY | Abbreviation for “not in my backyard”; term for a person who tries to prevent the construction of affordable housing and other types of development in their neighborhood |
| nodes | Central points where the functions of a functional region are coordinated and directed |
| nomadic herding (nomadic pastoralism or pastoralism) | A system of breeding and rearing herd livestock, such as cattle, sheep, or goats, by following the seasonal movement of rainfall to areas of open pasturelands |
| nonmaterial culture | Intangible elements of culture including a wide range of beliefs, values, myths, and symbolic meanings passed from generation to generation within a given society |
| non-migrant (or stayer) | A person who does not move |
| nonpoint source pollution | Contamination originating from multiple, diffuse sources |
| nonrenewable resources | Natural resources that are available on Earth in finite quantities and will eventually be used up |
| North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA-USMCA) | A 1994 trade agreement between Canada, the United States, and Mexico; revised as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in 2020 |
| North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) | An intergovernmental military alliance among 29 North American and European countries with the purpose of guaranteeing the freedom and security of its members |
| nutrient pollution | Consequence of overuse of fertilizer; occurs when excess nutrients seep down into groundwater or are carried into nearby waterways as runoff |
| nutrients | Components of topsoil (such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) necessary for plants to survive, grow, and reproduce |
| offshoring | The relocation of manufacturing and support services from one country to another |
| organic farming | The production of crops and livestock using ecological processes, natural biodiversity, and renewable resources rather than industrial practices and synthetic inputs |
| Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) | An intergovernmental organization created to coordinate and unify petroleum policies among member countries |
| origin | A person’s location before migration |
| orthodox religion | Religion that emphasizes purity of faith and is generally not open to blending with elements of other belief systems |
| outsourcing | The transfer of part of a firm’s internal operations to a third party |
| overpopulation | Occurs when the human population exceeds the food supply |
| packing | Gerrymandering a voting district by concentrating all of the opposition party into one district, thereby creating a large majority of that party in the district while ensuring that it cannot win any election |
| paddy rice farming | A system of wet rice cultivation on small level fields bordered by impermeable dikes; the fields (paddies) are flooded with 4–6 inches (10–15 centimeters) of water for about three-quarters of the growing season |
| peasants | Small-scale farmers who own their fields, rely chiefly on family labor, and produce both for their own subsistence and for sale in the market |
| perceived density | The general impression of the estimated number of people present in a given area |
| perceptual/vernacular region | A geographic area that is perceived to exist by its inhabitants, based on the widespread acceptance and use of a unique regional name |
| peripheral states | States that have relatively little industrial development, simple production systems focused mostly on agriculture and raw materials, and low levels of consumption of manufactured goods |
| permeable barriers | Barriers that slow diffusion but still allow some partial or weakened diffusion |
| pesticide | Material used to kill or repel animals or insects that can damage, destroy, or inhibit crop growth |
| Peters projection | A map projection that shows all landmasses with their true areas but distorts their shapes |
| physical geography | The study of Earth’s physical characteristics and processes: how they work, how they affect humans, and how humans affect them |
| physical landscape | All the natural physical surroundings that create and shape the places we are living in or examining |
| physiological density | The average number of people per unit area (a square mile or kilometer) of arable land |
| phytoremediation | The removal of contaminants with plant species that react with or degrade contaminants or draw up contaminants from the soil into shoots and leaves |
| pidgin | A trade language, characterized by a very small vocabulary derived from the languages of at least two or more groups in contact |
| place | How we modify space based on who we are as a group of people |
| placelessness | The feeling resulting from the standardization of the built environment; occurs where local distinctiveness is erased and many places end up with similar cultural landscapes |
| placemaking | Efforts to use and design public places to better serve the needs of residents and to foster a stronger community |
| plantation | Large landholding devoted to capital-intensive, specialized production of a single tropical or subtropical crop for the global marketplace |
| point source pollution | Any single identifiable source from which contaminants are discharged, such as a pipe or smokestack |
| polar projection | A map projection that looks down at Earth from the perspective of one of the poles (North Pole or South Pole) |
| political geography | A branch of human geography concerned with the spatial analysis of political systems |
| political map | A map that shows the spatial organization of the countries and territories on the entire globe at a given point in time |
| polyglot | A person who is fluent in more than two languages |
| polytheism | The belief in many gods |
| popular culture | Heterogeneous culture that is more influenced by key urban areas and quick to adopt new technologies; the opposite of a local culture |
| population clusters | Heavily populated areas that illustrate the unevenness in global population distribution; geographers have identified four population clusters on Earth: South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe |
| population composition | The makeup of the population by age and sex as well as by ethnic, racial, income, and educational background |
| population density | The average number of people per unit of land area |
| population distribution | The pattern in which humans are spread out on Earth’s surface |
| population pyramid | A very useful graphic device for comparing age and sex structure |
| possibilism | The belief that any physical environment offers a number of possible ways for a society to develop and that humans can find ways to overcome environmental challenges |
| post-Fordism | The shifts from manufacturing centers to spatially dispersed production sites, from standardized mass production to specialized batch production, and from a permanent workforce to temporary and contract workers |
| postmodern architecture | A design style that is a reaction against modernist architecture; it has a flair for the dramatic, creating a spectacle while serving a variety of functions |
| primary sector | Industries that extract natural resources from the environment |
| primate city | A city that is much larger than any other city in the country and that dominates the country’s economic, political, and cultural life |
| prime meridian | The zero-degree longitude line that runs through Greenwich, England; also known as the Greenwich Meridian |
| pronatalist policy | Designed to boost fertility rates and ultimately population growth |
| proportional or graduated circle map | A map that uses symbols (such as circles or dots) of different sizes to represent numerical values |
| proprietary seeds | Seeds that are developed and entirely owned by a company |
| proselytic religion | Describing a religion that spreads its message to others through missionary work |
| protectionism | Trade rules that restrict imports in order to protect domestic industries |
| pull factors | The attributes of other places that make them appealing to potential migrants |
| purchasing power parity (PPP) | Measures how much a common “basket of goods” costs locally in the currency of each country being compared |
| push factors | Factors that cause people to be dissatisfied with their present locales and want to move somewhere else |
| push-pull theory of migration | Theory asserting that two contrasting sets of factors are at work in migration decisions |
| quaternary sector | The portion of the economy dedicated to intellectual and informational services, such as scientific research and development |
| quinary sector | The portion of the economy where the highest-level management decisions are made in the areas of business, government, education, and science |
| race | Historically defined by the physical characteristics of a group, especially skin color |
| range | In central place theory, the distance people will travel to acquire a good |
| rank-size rule | The population of a settlement is inversely proportional to its rank in the urban hierarchy |
| rate of natural increase (RNI) | The difference between the number of births and deaths in a given year, when expressed as a percentage of total population |
| reapportionment | The process by which the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are divided proportionately by population among the 50 states following every U.S. census |
| redevelopment | A set of activities intended to revitalize an area that has fallen on hard times |
| redistricting | The process of drawing new boundaries for U.S. congressional districts to reflect the population changes since the previous U.S. census |
| redlining | The practice of identifying high-risk neighborhoods on a city map and refusing to lend money to people who want to buy property in those neighborhoods |
| reference map | A map that shows geographic locations on Earth’s surface, such as the locations of cities or oceans |
| refugee | A person who leaves their country because of persecution based on race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, or political opinion |
| region | A geographical unit based on one or more common characteristics or functions |
| regional analysis | The process of examining patterns and processes within and between regions at multiple geographic scales (local, national, regional, and global) |
| regional identity | The awareness of belonging to a group of people within a region |
| regional scale analysis | Geographic scale that identifies and analyzes geographic phenomena within a particular region |
| regional trading bloc | A multi-country agreement that reduces or eliminates taxes to promote the free flow of goods and services across international borders |
| relative direction | A direction that can be described as position, such as in front of or behind, to the left or to the right |
| relative distance | A measurement of the level of social, cultural, or economic similarity between places despite their absolute distance from each other |
| relative location | The position of one place (or person) in relation to the position of another place (or person) |
| relic boundary | A boundary that no longer functions as an international border |
| religion | A structured set of beliefs and practices through which people seek mental and physical harmony with the powers of the universe |
| relocation diffusion | Occurs when individuals or groups with a particular idea or practice migrate from one location to another, thereby bringing the idea or practice to their new homeland |
| remote sensing | The scanning of Earth by satellite or high-flying aircraft in order to obtain information about it |
| renewable resources | Natural resources that Earth will naturally replenish over time |
| repatriation | When refugees or displaced persons return to their home country |
| replacement level fertility | The average number of children needed to replace both parents and stabilize population over time |
| residential mobility | Moves that occur within a metropolitan area |
| resource depletion | The consumption of natural resources faster than they can be replenished |
| return migration | Migrants going back, or returning, to their previous place of residence or origin |
| reverse hierarchical diffusion | Occurs when ideas leapfrog from a lower level of a hierarchy to a higher level |
| Robinson projection | A map projection that attempts to create the most visually appealing representation of Earth by keeping all types of distortion relatively low over most of the map |
| root crops | Vegetables that form below ground and must be dug at maturity, such as cassava, potatoes, and yams |
| rule of 70 | A tool for calculating the doubling time of a population by dividing 70 by a country’s rate of natural increase (RNI) |
| runoff | The flow of rain or irrigation water over land |
| rural area | Area located outside of towns and cities; all the space, population, and housing not included in an urban area |
| rural settlement | Small group of people living outside of an urban area |
| rural-to-urban migration | When people move from the countryside to cities |
| sacred spaces | Natural or human-made sites that possess religious meaning and are recognized as worthy of devotion, loyalty, fear, or esteem |
| satellite imagery | Images of Earth’s surface gathered from sensors mounted on orbiting satellites; these sensors record in both the visible and non-visible portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, allowing humans to view patterns and processes that are both visible and inv |
| satellite state | A nominally independent country that is politically, militarily, and economically controlled by a more powerful state |
| scale | The territorial extent of an idea or object |
| scattered developments | Subdivisions or developments that do not abut existing settlements and that remove agricultural land from production |
| scythe | An agricultural hand tool with a curved blade used for cutting grain in the fields |
| seasonal migration | Migration based on the time of year |
| Second Agricultural Revolution | Period that brought improved methods of cultivation, harvesting, and storage of farm produce that began in the late 1600s and continued through the 1930s |
| second urban revolution | The industrial innovations in mining and manufacturing that led to increased urban growth |
| secondary sector | Industries that process the raw materials extracted by primary industries, transforming them into finished, usable forms |
| secular | Less influenced or controlled by religion |
| secularization | The process whereby religion become a less dominant force in everyday life than it was in the past |
| seed drill | A machine for planting seeds in a row |
| self-determination | A nation’s ability to determine its own statehood and form its own allegiances and government; the freedom of culturally distinct groups to govern themselves in their own territories and form their own states |
| semiarid climate | A climate that receives about 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters) of rain annually that can support farming; also known as a steppe climate |
| semiautonomous region | A subdivision or dependent territory of a country that has some degree of, but not complete, self-government |
| semi-periphery | Countries or regions whose economies have elements of both the core and the periphery |
| sense of place | How a person feels about a particular place and why it is important to them |
| sequent occupance | Refers to the fact that many places have been controlled or affected by a variety of groups over a period of time; those groups have reshaped the functions or meanings of those places and left behind layers of meaning |
| settlement patterns | The ways in which people organize themselves on the land |
| sex ratio | The ratio of the number of men to number of women in a population |
| shatterbelt | Region of continuing and persistent fragmentation due to devolution and centrifugal forces |
| shifting cultivation | The cultivation of a plot of land until it becomes less productive, typically over a period of about three to five years; when productivity drops, the farmer shifts to a new plot of land that has been prepared by slash-and-burn agriculture |
| shipping containers | Standardized, stackable, intermodal metal boxes used to transport goods by ship, railroad, or truck |
| silo | Round or square tower-like structure that stores feed for the livestock on the farm |
| site | An absolute location of a place on Earth |
| situation | The relative location of a place in reference to its surrounding features, or its regional position with reference to other places |
| slash-and-burn (swidden) agriculture | Agriculture that involves cutting small plots in forests or woodlands, burning the cuttings to clear the round and release nutrients, and planting in the ash of the cleared plot |
| slow-food | Movement that resists fast food by preserving the cultural cuisine and the associated food and farming practices of an ecoregion |
| slow-growth city | A city that changes its zoning laws to decrease the rate at which the city spreads horizontally, with the goal of avoiding the negative effects of sprawl |
| smart growth | Policies that combat regional sprawl by addressing issues of population density and transportation |
| Snow Belt | States located in the northern and midwestern parts of the country |
| social controls | Formal or informal institutions that help to maintain law and order in a place |
| social (upward) mobility | Mobility that implies a change in social hierarchy |
| social network | People’s friends and relatives |
| socioeconomic stratification | The structuring of society into distinct socioeconomic classes, including leadership (for instance, a government or ruling class) that exercise control over goods and people |
| soil salinity | A measure of the concentration of dissolved salts in the soil; high soil salinity results from poor irrigation practices |
| soil salinization | The concentration of dissolved salts in the soil |
| sorghum | A grain plant native to northeast Africa |
| sovereign state | A state that possesses the sole authority over the land and people within its boundaries |
| sovereignty | A principle of international law that codifies an individual state’s right to control its political and economic affairs within the state’s boundaries without external interference |
| space | The areas we occupy as humans; it has no value until the people who occupy it make it their own |
| spatial mobility | All forms of geographical movement, including people’s everyday commuting and travels |
| spatial patterns | The placement or arrangement of objects on Earth’s surface; also includes the space between those objects |
| spatial perspective | A geographic perspective that seeks to identify and explain the uses of space |
| special economic zone (SEZ) | Specific area within a country’s borders where business and trade laws are different from those in the rest of the country |
| sprawl | The tendency of cities to grow outward in an unchecked manner |
| squatter settlement | An area of degraded, seemingly temporary, inadequate, and often illegal housing |
| state or country | An independent political unit with a centralized authority that makes claim to sole legal, political, and economic jurisdiction over a region with defined boundaries |
| state terrorism | Terrorism committed by government agents whose leaders have ordered them to murder, imprison, or force into exile perceived enemies of the state |
| stateless nation | An ethnic group or nation that does not possess its own state and is not the majority population in any nation-state |
| step (or stepwise) migration | Migration carried out in a series of stages, usually from nearby to bigger and more distant places |
| stimulus diffusion | Occurs when a specific trait is rejected, but the underlying idea is accepted |
| strait | A narrow body of water connecting two larger bodies of water |
| streetcar suburb | A settlement outside of a city with streetcar lines; the streetcars take residents into and out of the city easily |
| subculture | A group of people with distinct norms, values, and material practices that differentiate them from the dominant culture surrounding them |
| subnational terrorism | Terrorism committed by nongovernment groups that feel wronged by their government |
| subnational units | The smaller areas into which a larger state is divided (e.g., states in the United States, provinces in Canada) |
| subsequent boundary | A political boundary that developed with the cultural landscape |
| subsidies | Guaranteed prices for staple food crops |
| subsistence agriculture | Food production mainly for consumption by the farming family and local community, rather than principally for sale in the market |
| Suburbs | A populated area on the outskirts of a city |
| suburbanization | The movement of people from urban core areas to the surrounding outskirts of a |
| city suitcase farm | In U.S. commercial grain agriculture regions, a farm on which no one lives; planting and harvesting are done by hired migratory crews |
| Sunbelt | States in coastal areas and the South and Southwest |
| superimposed boundary | A boundary that is placed on an area without regard to existing boundaries |
| supranational organization | International political body that nation-states establish in cooperation with their neighbors for mutual political, military, economic, or cultural gain |
| supranationalism | Occurs when a collection of nation-states and their citizens relinquish some sovereign rights to a larger-scale body that exercises authority over its member states |
| survey methods | The methods used by surveyors to lay out property lines |
| sustainability | The group of practices that meet the needs of the present without compromising future generations’ ability to meet their needs |
| sustainable agriculture | A commitment to satisfying human food and textile needs and to enhancing the quality of life for farmers and society as whole, now and in the future; it requires a balance among feeding the growing population, minimizing environmental impacts, and ensurin |
| sustainable development | Development that meets present consumption needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their consumption needs |
| syncretic religion | Religion that combines elements of two or more different belief systems |
| syncretism | The blending of beliefs, ideas, practices, and traits, especially in a religious context |
| synthetic fertilizer | Industrially manufactured nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, made from petroleum by-products; contains higher concentrations of nutrients for plants than natural fertilizers |
| tariff | Tax on imported goods and services |
| teosinte | Large wild grass native to Mexico that produced the small ears of maize (corn) that were a favored food among early groups in Mesoamerica |
| territoriality | A political and cultural strategy used by individuals, groups, or organizations to claim power over an area of land and its people and resources |
| terrorism | The calculated use of violent acts against civilians and symbolic targets to publicize a cause, intimidate or coerce a civilian population, or affect the conduct of the government |
| tertiary sector | Industries that provide services to businesses and consumers, including all the different types of work necessary to transport and deliver goods and resources |
| textile | A fabric or cloth woven from the fibers of wool, cotton, or flax |
| thematic map | A map that emphasizes the spatial patterns of geographic statistics or attributes, and sometimes the relationships between them |
| threshold | In central place theory, the number of people required to support businesses |
| time-distance decay | Also known as the “first law of geography”; the idea that near things are more related than distant things, and interaction between two places decreases the farther apart they are |
| time-space compression | The decreasing distance between places, as measured by travel time or cost; often summarized by the phrase “the world is shrinking” |
| time-space convergence | The phenomenon whereby the introduction of new transportation technologies progressively reduces the time it takes to travel between places |
| topographic map | A graphic representation of the three-dimensional configuration of Earth’s surface |
| topography | The arrangement of shapes on Earth’s surface |
| toponyms | The names given to places |
| total fertility rate (TFR) | The average number of children born per woman during her reproductive lifetime, considered to be from 15 to 49 years of age |
| township and range | Land survey system created by the U.S. Land Ordinance of 1785, which divides most of the country’s territory into a grid of square-shaped townships with 6-mile sides |
| trade embargo | An official ban on trade with a specific country or of a specific good |
| transculturation | The notion that people adopt elements of other cultures as well as contribute elements of their own culture, thereby transforming both cultures |
| transhumance | A phenomenon where herders and their livestock move seasonally between their summer and winter pastures |
| transitional birth rate | A crude birth rate between 20 and 30 births per 1000 people |
| transnational corporation (TNC) | A firm with the power to coordinate and control operations in more than one country, even if it does not own those operations |
| transnational migration | When migrants move back and forth between their home countries and those to which they have migrated |
| tropical wet and dry climate | A climate located along the equator that has a dry season with little to no rain, usually in the winter; is often subject to monsoons |
| tropical wet climate | A climate located along the equator that experiences rain every day of the year |
| truck farm | A scaled-up version of market gardening, with more acreage, less crop diversity, and a stronger orientation toward more distant markets |
| tsunami | A huge ocean wave produced by the displacement of a large volume of water, often caused by an earthquake |
| tundra | The vast, flat, treeless arctic region of Europe, Asia, and North America in which the subsoil is permanently frozen |
| uneven development | Occurs when core states have advanced economies and a high standard of living while peripheral states have relatively little industrial development, simple production systems based mostly on raw materials, and low levels of consumption of manufactured goo |
| unitary state | An independent state that concentrates power in the central government and grants little or no authority to its subnational units |
| United Nations (UN) | International organization that is responsible for maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations, achieving international cooperation, and harmonizing the actions of nations |
| United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) | Conference organized to define territorial boundaries and rights to the sea |
| universalizing religion | A religion that actively seeks new members and believes its message has universal importance and application |
| urban | Relating to a city |
| urban area | Any self-governing place in the United States that contains at least 2500 people |
| urban cluster | In the United States, an urban area with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants |
| urban farming | The practice of growing fruits and vegetables on small private plots or shared community gardens within the confines of a city |
| urban footprint | The spatial extent of an urban area’s impacts on the natural environment |
| urban hearth areas | Regions in which the world’s first cities evolved |
| urban heat island | A mass of warm air in cities, generated by urban building materials and human activities, that sits over a city |
| urban hierarchy | A ranking of cities, with the largest and most powerful cities at the top of the hierarchy |
| urban renewal | Large-scale redevelopment of the built environment in downtown and older inner-city neighborhoods |
| urban risk divide | The idea that disasters and disaster risk become urban phenomena as the world’s population becomes increasingly concentrated in large cities |
| urban system | A set of interdependent cities or urban places connected by networks |
| urbanization | The movement of people from rural areas to cities |
| urbanization rate | The percentage of a nation’s population living in towns and cities |
| urbanized area | In the United States, an urban area with 50,000 people or more |
| value-added specialty crop | A crop whose physical state or form has been changed |
| violent crime | A category of crime that includes murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault |
| voluntary migration | Migration that is done willingly |
| voting district | A territorial division for casting votes in public elections; generally, only those who live in the voting district are permitted to cast their votes there |
| wage labor | A socioeconomic relationship in which an employer pays a worker to complete a task, sometimes by the day or by the hour |
| water control land reclamation | The process of draining land inundated with either fresh water or salt water to increase areas for agricultural production |
| water mining | The use of deep-well drilling technology and powerful industrial pumping systems to remove water in the ground |
| weather | The day-to-day atmospheric conditions that affect daily decisions |
| white flight | The mass movement of white people from the city to the suburbs |
| women’s empowerment | The increased autonomy of women to make choices and shape their lives |
| women’s status | The degree of equality between men and women with respect to access to and control over both physical and social resources in the family, community, or society at large |
| working class | The people in an industrial economy who depend on wage labor to obtain the necessities of life |
| World Bank | An international financial organization that provides funding and expertise to promote sustainable economic growth in developing countries |
| world city | A world center of trade, finance, information, and migration |
| world systems theory | Wallerstein’s theory of economic development that regards world history as moving through a series of socioeconomic systems, culminating in the modern world system by about the year 1900 |
| World Trade Organization (WTO) | An international organization that regulates trade among 184 member states, providing a framework for negotiating trade agreements and resolving trade |
| disputes youth dependency ratio | The number of young dependents in a population (usually people younger than 15 years of age) that every 100 working-age people must support |
| zero population growth | When a country has the same number of births and deaths in a given year, its rate of natural increase (RNI) is zero |
| zoning | The classification of land according to restrictions on its use and development |
| zoning regulations | Laws that dictate how land can be used |
Created by:
Cookie~Monster