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AP H. Geo Vocab
List of vocab for AP Human Geography exam
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Ecumene | The portion of the world's land surface that is permanently settled by human beings |
| Supranationalism | A venture involving 3 or more national states - political, economic, and/or cultural cooperation to promote shared objectives |
| Devolution | The process whereby regions within a state demand and gain political strength and growing autonomy at the expense of the central government |
| Centripetal Force | A force that unifies people |
| Centrifugal Force | A force that divides people |
| Nation | A group of people united by a common culture |
| State | An area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government with control over its internal and foreign affairs |
| Nation-State | A state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular ethnicity that has been transformed into a nationality |
| Multinational State | States in which 2 or more ethnic groups with traditions of self-determination coexist |
| Location | The position of anything on Earth's surface which can be described using toponym, site, situation, or mathematical grid |
| Toponym, Site, Situation, Absolute | 4 Ways of Identifying Location |
| Place | A specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular characteristic |
| Region | An area distinguished by a unique combination of trends or features |
| Diffusion | The process of the spreading of a feature or trend from one place to another |
| Cultural Ecology | Geographic approach that emphasizes human-environment relationships |
| Fundamental geographic question | Why or Where? |
| Mental Mapping | The process whereby we think spatially, producing mental images of space which allows us to navigate and to communicate about the relative position of things in space |
| Gould & White | Authors of mental maps |
| Cultural Landscape | The result of the modification of the natural landscape by human activities (first defined by Carl Saeur) |
| Sequent Occupancy | Whittlesey's concept that successive societies leave their cultural imprint on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape |
| Scale | Term for the size of an area studied from local to global |
| Map Scale | The relationship of a map size to the real-world |
| Eratosthenes | First person to use the term "geography" who calculated the circumference of the Earth to within 0.05% |
| Hipparchus | First person to describe location using a mathematical grid |
| Humbolt & Ritter | First geographers to use the scientific method - they devised the environmental determinism approach |
| Geography | The scientific study of the locations of people and activities across Earth's surface and the reasons for their distribution |
| Human Geography | The scientific study of where and why human activities are located where they are |
| Cartography | The art and science of map-making |
| Map Projection | Transferring the image of the globe onto a flat sheet of paper |
| Relative Size, Shape, Distance, & Direction | Distortions created by map projections |
| Mercator Projection | Map projection formed by placing a cylinder around a globe - Useful for sea travel |
| Political Map | Type of map that shows cities, provinces, counties, and countries |
| Topographic Map | Type of map that shows physical features |
| Relief Map | Type of map that shows differences in elevation, usually using isolines |
| Chloropeth Map | Type of map that uses various colors to show the variations in the levels of certain characteristics |
| Dot Distribution | Type of map that uses dots to represent a given value of a characteristic in order to show its distribution and concentration |
| Remote Sensing | Gathering of data from satellites for cartographic purposes |
| Geographic Information Systems (GIS) | Computer systems that process geographic data, usually to make layered maps (thematic layers) showing the correlation between various characteristics |
| Pixels | The tiny areas recorded by satellite sensors used in GIS |
| Global Positioning Systems (GPS) | Navigation systems using satellites |
| Cultural Ecology | The interaction of a culture and its natural environment |
| Environmental Determinism | An approach to understanding the interaction of people and the physical environment which demonstrates how the environment causes social development |
| Possibilism | An approach to understanding the interaction of people and the physical environment which rejects environmental determinism in favor of a mutli-cause rationale for social development |
| Anthropogenic | Human-induced environmental change such as global warming |
| Sustainability | Restraint in the use of natural resources to ensure enough resources reamin for future generations |
| Toponym | Term for a place name |
| Site | The physical characteristics of a place |
| Situation | The relative location of a place |
| Absolute Location | Mathematical or grid location such as formed by latitude and longitude or townships and ranges |
| Longlot System | The survey system, different from the rectangular system, used in Quebec and Louisiana in which land is divided into narrow parcels along rivers |
| Density | Frequency of a characteristic in a given locale |
| Concentration | The spread of a characteristic in a given locale - it can be clustered or dispersed |
| Pattern | Geometric arrangement of a characteristic in a given locale |
| Culture | The body of customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits that together constitute a group of people's distinct traditions |
| Core, Domain, Sphere | 3 parts into which cultural regions are divided according to Donald Meinig |
| Formal Region | A region in which the characteristic(s) apply throughout |
| Functional Region | A region in which the characteristic(s) radiates from a node |
| Distance Decay | The diminishing density of a characteristic in an outward direction from the core toward the periphery |
| Friction of Distance | The increase in time and cost that usually comes with increasing distance |
| Time-Space compression | Term for the reduction in time it takes for something to diffuse to a distance place |
| Perceptual Region | A perceived region such as "downtown" |
| Vernacular Region | A perceptual region defined by locals such as the American South |
| Idiographic | Facts or features that are unique to a particular region |
| Nomothetic | Facts and features that are universal |
| Spatial Interaction | The interdependence of places which occurs through networks in which people, ideas, and goods move between places |
| Globalization | Something becoming worldwide in scope |
| Transculturation | Cultural borrowing that occurs when different cultures of approximately equal complexity and technological level come in close contact |
| Acculturation | Change in a less developed society that results from contact with a more developed society |
| Assimilation | The incorporation of a less developed society into a more developed society |
| Diffusion | The spreading of a characteristic from place to place |
| Hearth | A node of the origination of an innovation |
| Relocation Diffusion | Movement of a characteristic through the movement of people |
| Migration | Permanent relocation diffusion |
| Hierarchical Diffusion | Diffusion from a node of authority |
| Contagious Diffusion | Rapid widespread diffusion |
| Stimulus Diffusion | Diffusion of an underlying principle rather than the intended feature |
| Maquiladora | Factory owned by non-Mexican countries operating in Mexico to take advantage of cheap labor and proximity to U.S. markets |
| North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) | The free trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico, and Canda |
| Hollow Core | The area in North Mexico with a lower population density |
| Demography | Scientific study of population |
| Carrying Capacity | Capacity of an environment to support a population |
| Overpopulation | The inability of the resources and economic system in an area to meet the needs of the population |
| Physiological Density | The number of people supported by a unit of arable land |
| Agricultural Density | Ratio of the number of farmers to the amount of arable land |
| Crude Birth Rate (CBR) | Total number of live births in a year for every 1000 people alive in an area |
| Crude Death Rate (CDR) | Total number of deaths in a year for every 1000 people alive in an rea |
| Natural Increase Rate (NIR) | Percentage by which a population grows in a year |
| Total Fertility Rate (TFR) | Average number of children born to a woman in an area |
| Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) | Number of deaths per infants under one year of age compared to the number of live births per 1000 in an area |
| Doubling Time | The number of years it takes the population to double |
| Demographic Transition | The process of population change over time |
| Demographic Accounting Equation | Formula used to predict how much a population will grow (Population + Births - Deaths + Immigration - Emigration) |
| Missouri | Location of the geographic population center of the U.S. today called the centroid |
| Population Pyramid (Age/Sex Graph) | Bar graph showing population distribution by age and gender |
| Dependency Ratio | The number of people in the workforce compared to the number outside the workforce |
| Sex Ratio | The number of males per 100 females in an area |
| Thomas Malthus | Author of An Essay on the Principles of Population which predicted that food supplies would not be able to grow fast enough to keep up with population growth |
| Boserup Hypothesis | The hypothesis that disagreed with Malthus and stated that increasing populations motivate improved agricultural technologies |
| One Child Policy | China's anti-natalist policy |
| Epidemiological Transition | The change in the principle causes of death over time |
| Model "S" Curve | The shape that "J" curve becomes when considering Stage 4 of the Demographic Transition Model |
| Mobility | The movement of people from place to place |
| Activity Space | The space within which daily activity takes place |
| Circulation Mobility | Reoccurring mobility |
| Seasonal Mobility | A type of circulation mobility in which people move in a cyclical pattern |
| Ravenstein | Formulated the 11 Laws of Migration |
| Emigration | Migration away from a place (Exiting) |
| Push Factors | Motivations to move away from a place |
| Immigration | Migration to a place |
| Pull Factors | Motivations to move to a place |
| Net Migration | The mathematical difference between immigration and emigration |
| Intraregional Migration | Migration within the same region |
| Interregional Migration | Migration from region to region |
| International Migration | Migration from country to country |
| Migration Transition | Zelinsky's explanation of migration patterns that correspond to the stages of demographic transition |
| Chain Migration | The process in which members of a family or a particular group migrate to the same locale |
| Eco-Migration | Type of migration in which people move away from environmental disasters |
| Okies | Term for those who emigrated from the Dust Bowl |
| Bureau of Citizenship & Immigration Services (BCIS) | U.S. government agency that deals with immigration, formerly called the INS |
| 1986 Immigration Reform & Control Act | 1986 Act of the U.S. congress that set up a procedure for allowing undocumented workers to become citizens and the stricter documentation of workers |
| Visa | Document that grants entry permission to foreign citizens |
| Guest Workers | Foreign citizens who are granted legal entry in order to work, ut not to stay permanently |
| Brain Drain | The mass emigration of talented people |
| Mariel Boatlift | 1980 mass migration of people from Cuba to the U.S. |
| Great American Desert | Name that the Long Expedition gave to the Southern Great Plains in the U.S. |
| Rust Belt | Term for the old industrial northeastern part of the U.S. |
| Komsomols | Temporary labor forces, usually made up of students, in the USSR |
| Urbanization | Interregional migration to cities |
| Suburbanization | Interregional migration to the outlying communities around a city |
| Counter-Urbanization | Interregional migration to rural areas |
| Step Migration | Migration that occurs in stages, such as to a nearby village and then to a town and then to a city |
| Intervening Opportunity | The presence of a nearer opportunity that greatly diminishes the attractiveness of places farther away |
| An Intervening Obstacle | The restriction of migration from Eastern Europe during the Cold War is an example of: |
| Colonia | Mexican squatter settlement |
| Tobler's First Law of Geography | "Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant thing." |
| Gravity Model | A model used to predict spatial interaction, where size (population) is directly related to interaction and distance is inversely related to interaction |
| Law of Retail Gravitation | William J Reilly's explanation of the fact that larger cities have larger trade areas (retail hinderlands) |
| Breaking Point | The boundary between two trade areas in the retail gravitation model |
| Migration Stream | A well-defined migration channel fro ma specific origin to a particular destination |
| United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) | UN organization that deals with refugees |
| Eritrea | African country that won its independence from Ethiopia |
| Universal Declaration of Human Rights | 1948 UN document that declares, among other things, that everyone has a right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution |
| Containerized Shipping | Highly efficient method of shipping that uses steel boxes to ship goods that are easily transferred from ship to rail to truck |
| Four Asian Dragons | Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea |
| 1 Country, 2 Systems | Chinese government policy regarding Hong Kong |
| Map Aggregation | The process of determining the size of the units to be investigated in GIS (counties, provinces...) |
| Primary Map Data | Map data collected by the researcher |
| Secondary Map Data | Map data obtained from published sources like the Census Bureau and PRB |
| Proportional Symbol Map | Type of map that uses a symbol in varying sizes to show the magnitude of a characteristic |
| Syncretism | The fusion of two distinctive cultural traits into a unique hybrid trait such as the blending of Islam and Hinduism in the Sikh Faith |
| Customs | Repetitive actions of a group of people |
| Cultural Landscape | Man's imprint on the natural landscape |
| Folk Culture | Customs of small homogeneous rural groups that remain unique through relative isolation; varies mostly with place |
| Popular Culture | Customs of a large heterogeneous group that diffuse widely, creating a uniform landscape; varies mostly with time |
| TV | The most important mechanism for the diffusion of popular culture |
| Migration Stream | The continuous flow and return flow of migrants from a particular place to a particular place |
| Biased Innovation | Innovations (or diseases) that are less (or more) accessible to people of certain gender, class, age, or ethnicity |
| Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) | A functional urban area of at least 50,000 in the U.S. |
| Scatter Plot | A graph showing the correlation between two variables |
| Language Divergence | The differentiation of languages over time and space in which, through isolation, dialects become distinct languages |
| Language Convergence | The transculturation (cultural borrowing) of languages that occurs through interaction |
| Esperanto | An inverted language of the twentieth century based on Latin that was intended to become a world language |
| Language | The communication system of a group of people |
| Literary Tradition | Written form of a language |
| Mandarin Chinese | Language spoken by the largest number of people |
| English | Language most widely (spatially) spoken |
| Lingua Franca | Commonly used language of trade |
| Language Family | A collection languages related through a common ancestor that existed before recorded history (ex. Indo-European) |
| Language Group | A collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past (ex. West Germanic) |
| Dialect | A variation of a language spoken in a particular region or by a particular group (e.g. American Midland South) |
| Indo-European | Largest language family |
| Germanic | Language branch to which English belongs |
| Balto-Slavic | Language branch to which Ukrainian belongs |
| Cyrillic | Alphabet used to write Russian |
| Farsi | Iranian language |
| Sino-Tibetan | Second largest language family |
| Magyar | Hungarian language |
| Uralic | Unique European language family including Magyar and Finnish |
| Relocation Diffusion (Migration) | Usual method for the diffusion of languages |
| Jutland (Denmark) | Origin of the English Language |
| Middle English | The blending of Old English and French |
| Latin | Base language of the Romance languages |
| Vulgar Latin | Language spoken by the Roman soldiers in the provinces |
| Vernacular Languages | Everyday languages spoken by the people in an area |
| Proto Indo-European | Theoretical ancient language that became the Indo-European languages |
| Conquests | Method of diffusion of Indo-European languages according to the Kurgan Hearth Theory |
| Russia/Kazakhstan | Hearth of the Indo-European languages according to the Kurgan Hearth Theory |
| Agriculture | Method of diffusion of the indo-European languages according to the Anatolian Hearth Theory |
| Anatolian Peninsula (Modern-Day Turkey) | Hearth of the Indo-European languages according to the Anatolian Hearth Theory |
| Pyrenees Mountains | The location in Europe where Basque is spoken |
| Standard Language | A recognized or official language in an area |
| English | The official language of the United States |
| Isogloss | A word-usage boundary |
| Creolized Language | A language formed from the blending of a colonizer's language with that of an indigenous people |
| British Received Pronunciation (BRP) | The standard form of English spoken in London by upper-class Britons and at Cambridge and Oxford |
| Castilian | Latin American name for the Spanish spoken in Spain |
| Extinct Languages | Languages no longer in daily usage |
| Hebrew | Revived language of the modern-day state of Israel |
| Elizer Ben-Yehuda | Author of the first modern Hebrew dictionary |
| Celtic | Original languages of the British Isles |
| French & Flemish | Two languages of Belgium |
| German, French, Italian, Romansh | Languages of Switzerland |
| French | Language of Quebec |
| Pidgin Language | Simplified form of a language used by non-native speakers |
| Ebonics | African-American dialect |
| Franglais | Diffusion of English into French |
| Spanglish | Diffusion of English into Spanish |
| Fundamentalism | Revivalism of basic beliefs and the strict following of those beliefs |
| Zionism | The movement to reestablish Israel in the modern world |
| West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights | Three territories over which the Palestinians have some autonomy |
| Ataturk | Founder of modern Turkey |
| Bosporus Strait | Body of water that separates the European and Asian parts of Turkey |
| Roman Catholicism | Predominant religion in Ireland |
| Enclave | Cluster of a particular group, such as the Poles in Detroit |
| Exclave | Territory belonging to a particular country that is not attached to the country and is not an island such as Alaska and Kalingrad |
| Ghetto | A region within a city in which a particular ethnic group dominates and creates and ethnic landscape - Originally an area set aside for Jews in European cities |
| Segregation Index | A number between 0 and 1 showing the degree of separation between two groups (lack of interaction) |
| Social Distance | The likelihood that two groups will interact |
| Spatial Convergence | Interaction between two factors (groups) |
| Spatial Divergence | Segregation between two factors (groups) |
| Universalizing Religion | A religion that espouses the idea that there is one true religion for all people |
| Evangelical Religion | A religion which has a mandate to convert others |
| Ethnic Religion | Regional religions or those associated with a particular group that do not attempt to convert people |
| Zoroastrianism | Monotheistic religion that developed in Southwest Asia about 3500 years ago |
| Christianity | Largest religion |
| Islam | Fastest growing religion |
| Branch | A major division within a religion, such as Protestant |
| Denomination | A division within a branch of a religion, such as Methodist |
| Sect | A breakaway group from a religion such as the Branch Davidians |
| Baptist | Largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. |
| Mormons | Member sof the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints |
| Salaam | Arabic word for peace |
| Muslim | Follower of Islam; it means one who submits to the will of God |
| Allah | Arabic word for God |
| Faith, Prayer, Giving, Fasting, Pilgrimage | Five Pillars of Faith |
| Ramadan | Month of fasting for Muslims |
| Hajj | Muslim pilgrimage to Makkah (Mecca) |
| Sunni, Shiites/Shia | Two branches of Islam |
| Nation of Islam | Muslim sect founded in Detroit |
| Elijah Muhammad | Early leader of the Nation of Islam who advocated the establishment of a separate autonomous nation within the U.S. |
| Malcolm X | Founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity |
| Siddhartha Gautama | The Buddha Prince |
| "Enlightened One" | Meaning of "Buddha" |
| Great Renunciation | Buddha's search for enlightenment |
| 4 Noble Truths | Result of Buddha's Great Renunciation |
| Nirvana | State beyond suffering in Buddhism |
| 8-Fold Path | Means to achieving nirvana in Buddhism |
| Mahayana | Branch of Buddhism dominant in China, Japan, and Korea; its name means "big raft" - followers emphasize Buddha's compassion |
| Theravada | Branch of Buddhism dominant in Southeast Asia - Followers believe in giving up worldly goods and living as monks |
| Tantrayana | Branch of Buddhism traditionally dominant in Tibet and Mongolia |
| Dalai Lama | The spiritual leader of the Tibetan Buddhists who lives in exile in India since the chinese takeover of Tibet |
| India & Nepal | Two countries in which 99% of Hindus live |
| Vedas | Aryan religious texts upon which Hinduism is based |
| Brahma | The creator god in Hinduism |
| Vishnu | The preserver god in Hinduism |
| Siva/Shiva | The destroyer god in Hinduism (not seen as evil) |
| Social Order | Means of achieving harmony in society according to Confucianism |
| Lu Province in China | Birthplace of Confucius |
| Li | Correct behavior (good citizenship) in Confucianism |
| Lao-Zi (Lao Tse) | Founder of Daoism |
| Return to Nature | Means of achieving harmony in society according to Daoism |
| Taiwan | Island where Daoism is still openly practiced today |
| Feng Shui | Placement of buildings and objects within buildings in patterns that are in harmony with nature - LIterally means "wind-water" |
| Shinto | Ethnic religion of Japan |
| Meiji | Japanese dynasty that made Shinto the official religion - A political cult developed in which the emperor was seen as divine |
| Ethical Monotheism | Jewish belief in only one god which emphasized proper conduct |
| U.S., Israel | Top two countries for Jewish populations |
| Animism | Belief that spirits are in animate and inanimate objects |
| Jesus | Founder of Christianity |
| Bethlehem | Birthplace of Jesus |
| Gospels | First four books of the New Testament - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - About the life and teachings of Jesus |
| Jesus' Death | The atonement for Christians' sins |
| Sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church | Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Extreme Unction, Matrimony, Holy Orders |
| Great Schism | Event that split the Catholic Church in 1054 |
| Eastern Orthodoxy | Dominant Branch of Christianity in Russia |
| Martin Luther | Leader of the Protestant Reformation |
| Salvation is achieved through faith alone | Answer to Martin Luther's burning question |
| Sarah | Abraham's first wife and the mother of the Jewish people |
| Hagar | Abraham's second wife and the mother of the Muslim people |
| Muhammad | Founder of Islam - Considered to be the last and greatest prophet of God |
| Gabriel | Angel Muhammad had visions of |
| Quran (Koran) | Holy book of Islam |
| Hijra | Muhammad's emigration to Yathrib in 622 |
| Medina | Name of Yathrib today - It means "City of the Prophet" |
| Lumbini (Nepal) | Birthplace of Prince Siddhartha |
| Dravidians | Indigenous Indians |
| Israel | Hearth of Christianity |
| Temporary Relocation Diffusion | Christianity's diffuse (type) through missionaries |
| Contagious Diffusion | Christianity's diffusion (type) through contact between believers and non-believers |
| Hierarchical Diffusion | Christianity's diffusion (type) through leaders requiring their subjects to adopt Christianity |
| Permanent Relocation Diffusion | Christianity's diffusion (type) through the migration of believers |
| Saudi Arabia | Hearth of Islam |
| Conquest & Missionaries | Means of the diffusion of Islam |
| Asoka | Emperor who adopted Buddhism and hierarchically diffused the religion in South Asia |
| South Asia | Hearth of Buddhism |
| Sri Lanka | Only part of South Asia where Buddhism is still a dominant religion |
| Diaspora | Forced dispersion of the Jews in 70 A.D. |
| Bodh Gaya | Buddha's place of enlightenment |
| Makkah (Mecca) | Birthplace of Muhammad |
| Black Stone | Housed in the Shrine al-Haram al-Sharif in Makkah - It represents the concept of monotheism |
| Mount Kailas | Source of the Ganges River where Siva lives |
| Dome of the Rock | Holiest site in Jerusalem for Muslims |
| Church of the Holy Sepulcher | Holiest site in Jerusalem for Christians |
| Western Wall | Holiest site in Jerusalem for Jews |
| Natural Events | What ethnic religious holidays are usually based on |
| Events in the Life of the Founder | What universalizing religious holidays are usually based on |
| Rosh Hashanah | Jewish New Years |
| Yom Kippur | Jewish Day of Atonement |
| Easter | Christian celebration of Jesus' resurrection |
| Gregorian | Type of calendar used by the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches |
| Julian | Type of calendar used by the Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Strict Lunar Calendar | Type of calendar used in Islam |
| Mosque | Muslim public meeting place |
| Minarets | Muslim prayer towers |
| Temples | Hindu shrines to particular gods |
| Pagodas | Buddhist buildings containing relics believed to be part of Buddha's body or clothing |
| Taliban | Fundamentalism group that took control of Afghanistan after the Soviet Army withdrew from the country |
| Caste System | Fixed social class system in India (historic) |
| Ethnicity | Identity with a group of people who share the cultural traditions of a particular homeland or hearth |
| Race | Identity with a group who share a common biological ancestor |
| Racism | Belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities |
| Color | The only racial trait that geographers are concerned with because it is/has been a primary way in which many societies sort out where they reside, attend school, recreate, and so on |
| Discrimination | Action based on prejudice |
| Hispanic | Race absent from the 2000 Census (because it is not a race) |
| Plessy vs. Ferguson | U.S. Supreme Court decision that established the doctrine of separate but equal |
| Jim Crow Laws | U.S. segregation laws |
| Brown vs. Board of Education | U.S. Supreme court decision which ended segregation in public schools |
| Blockbusting | Taking advantage of "white flight" by buying property from whites who are fearful of blacks moving into their neighborhoods/future lowering of property values and reselling it to blacks at large profits |
| Apartheid | Legal segregation policy in South Africa |
| Nelson Mandela | Leader of the African National Congress (ANC) and first black president of South Africa |
| Nationality | One's identification with a group of people who share legal attachment and allegiance to a particular country |
| Hindus & Muslims | Two principle ethnic/religious groups in South Asia |
| Mahatma Gandhi | Leader of the peaceful civil disobedience movement in India |
| Kashmir | Territory in India made up of a majority of Muslims, many of whom would like to be part of Pakistan |
| Multiethnic State | A state with more than one ethnic group such as Belgium (Flemish & Waloons) |
| Multinational State | A state with two or more ethnic groups which have a tradition of self-determination, such as the U.K. |
| Nagomo-Karabakh | Region in Azerbaijan in which the majority of people are Armenian Christians who would rather be part of Armenia |
| Sudan | African country in which more than two million people have died in the recent civil war between Muslims and non-Muslims |
| Somalia | African country in which six major clans have been waging a civil war resulting in a complete breakdown of government - Blackhawk Down took place here |
| Lebanon | Country in the Middle East that has experienced ethnic conflict as the proportions of various groups have changed - It is mostly controlled by Syria |
| Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds | The three principle ethnic groups in Iraq |
| Sinhalese Buddhists, Tamils (Hindus) | Two principle ethnic groups in Sri Lanka |
| Camp David Accords | Peace agreement mediated by President Jimmy Carter between Israel and Egypt |
| Ethnic Cleansing | The process in which a dominant group removes a less powerful group by force in order to create an ethnically pure territory |
| Tito | Former communist dictator of Yugoslavia |
| Balkanization | The breakup of a state into various smaller states based on ethnic identity |
| Hutus & Tutsis | Two rival ethnic groups in Central Africa that have engaged in ethnic cleansing |
| Indonesia | World's most fragmented state - It also has the highest number of Muslims |
| Transmigration Program | Government program in Indonesia that provides incentives for people to move from densely populated islands to less densely populated ones |
| Bali | Indonesia's top tourist destination |
| Malay, Chinese, Indians | Three groups involved in ethnic conflict in Malaysia |
| Bumiputera | Malaysia's government policy which attempts to achieve harmony by integrating the Malay into the economic mainstream with an affirmative action type program |
| Ethnic Islands | Small, usually rural and ethnically homogeneous enclaves situated within a larger and more diverse cultural context |
| Longevity Gap | The greater average life expectancy of women compared to men |
| Barrio | A city neighborhood which is predominantly occupied by Latinos |
| Shatterbelt | Region caught between stronger, colliding external cultural-political forces, under persistent stress and often fragmented by aggressive rivals - Eastern Europe is an example |
| Ethnic Landscape | That part of the cultural landscape that can be attributed to a particular ethnic group |
| Ethnocentrism | The belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic group |
| Edge Cities | Outlying development nodes that provide employment and the provision of goods and services so that residents no longer have to commute to the city center |
| Leapfrog Development | Development that occurs well beyond the limits of the current urbanized area, usually to take advantage of less expensive land |
| Mixed Use Development | A new kind of zoning classification that stresses location of residential and commercial uses in close proximity and a greater density so people can walk to work, stores, and schools |
| New Urbanism | Movement by architects and planners to build more traditional neighborhoods that foster a sense of community - These neighborhoods emphasize people, not cars |
| Infill Development | Construction of small-scale developments on vacant pockets of land remaining within a city |
| Political Geography | The study of the formal regions organized by governments |
| State | Basic political unit that includes a population, territory, and sovereignty |
| 38th Parallel | Boundary between North and south Korea |
| Taiwan | Home of the Nationalist Chinese |
| Antarctica | Only large landmass not a part of a sovereign state |
| Russian Federation | Largest state |
| Monaco | Smallest UN member |
| Roman Empire | Height of political unity in the ancient world |
| Colonialism | Control of an unorganized territory |
| Imperialism | Control of an inhabited territory organized by indigenous people |
| US Commonwealth of Puerto Rico | Largest remaining colony |
| Compact | State shape in which the distance from the center does not vary significantly, such as Poland |
| Prorupted | Namibia's state shape |
| Access to a Resource, Separation of 2 States | Two purposes of proruptions |
| Elongated | Chile's state shape; long and narrow |
| Fragmented | Indonesia's state shape |
| Perforated | South Africa's state shape |
| Frontier | An area between two states that is not completely controlled by either |
| Green Line (not a frontier) | UN zone separating the Turks and Greeks in Cyprus |
| Aozou Strip | Disputed territory between Libya and Chad |
| Straight Line | Usual shape of a geometric boundary |
| UN Convention of Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) | International agreement that sets national offshore claims at 12 miles and the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) at 200 miles |
| Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia | Baltic Countries |
| Russian Federation | Largest multinational state |
| Chechnya | Independence-minded Russian territory in the northern Caucasus region |
| Unitary | System of government in which most power rests with the central government |
| Federal | System of government in which most power rests with the national and provincial governments |
| Gerrymandering | Drawing political districts to the advantage or disadvantage of a particular group |
| Wasted Vote | Type of gerrymandering in which a group is broken up so it is ia minority in many districts |
| Excess Votes | Type of gerrymandering in which pockets of a particular group are packed into as few districts as possible |
| Stacked Vote | Type of gerrymandering in which pockets of a particular group are linked together |
| League of Nations | Organization replaced by the UN |
| Bipolar World | Term for the world of the Cold War which pitted NATO against the Warsaw Pact |
| Balance of Power | The formation of alliances of approximately equal military power that tends to prevent conflict |
| Organization of American States (OAS) | International organization of American states that promotes social, cultural, and economic links |
| Organization of African Unity (OAU) | Organization of African states that works to eliminate minority rule |
| Commonwealth of Nations | Organization of 48 states that were once a part of the British Empire that promotes economic and cultural cooperation |
| Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) | Economic alliance of communist countries that was disbanded in the 1990s |
| North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) | Free trade agreement between Mexico, the U.S., and Canada |
| Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) | Organization of countries that export large amounts of petroleum - By controlling worldwide supply, it influences prices |
| European Union (EU) | Economic unity of many European countries |
| Euro | Common currency of many EU member countries |
| Terrorism | The use of violence against non-military targets to intimidate states into changing policies |
| Al-Qaeda | Terrorist group responsible for the attacks in the U.S. on 9/11/2001 |
| Iraq, Iran, North Korea | Axis of Evil identified by President George W. Bush |
| Taliban | The group that took control of the government of Afghanistan and assisted in the training of Al-Qaeda terrorists |
| Geopolitics | The study of the interplay between political relations and the territorial context in which they occur |
| Organic Theory | Geopolitical theory that states that states need to grow or they will die |
| Heartland Theory | Geopolitical theory that identifies a political power base in the heart of Eurasia which will eventually dominate the entire world |
| Rimland Theory | Geopolitical theory that identifies a political power base on the coastal fringes of Eurasia which will eventually dominate the entire world |
| World Systems Theory | A core-periphery model of the spatial distribution of economic power – The core is made up of the strong states and the periphery is made up of the weak states |
| Balkanization/Devolution | Factors that influence the breakup of a state from within |
| Irredentism | Enclave of a nation into a territory of another state |
| Nation-Building | Use of armed forces in the aftermath of a conflict to underpin an enduring transition to democracy |
| Diaspora | Forced dispersion of the Jews by the Babylonians and later by the Romans in which they were routed from their traditional homeland and forced to live among the other nations of the world |
| Territorial Morphology | A state's geographic shape which can have a decisive impact on its spatial cohesion and political viability |
| Forward Capital | A capital city positioned in actually or potentially contested territory, usually near an international border - It confirms the state's determination to maintain its presence in the region |
| Subsequent Boundary | A boundary drawn during the course of development of the cultural landscape |
| Superimposed Boundary | Forcibly drawn boundary across a unified cultural landscape |
| Relic Boundary | A boundary that has ceased to function but whose imprints are still evident on the cultural landscape |
| 1884 Conference of Berlin | Conference in which the European powers decided upon the rules for colonizing Africa |
| Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) | Offshore territory claimed by states for their exclusive economic gain |
| Core Area | The largest population cluster of a nation-state |
| Agriculture | The deliberate modification of Earth's surface through the Cultivation of plants and the rearing of animals to obtain sustenance or economic gain |
| Carl Saeur (Cultural Landscape Guy) | Person who developed the Multiple Hearths Theory of Agriculture |
| Consumption | Purpose of subsistence agriculture |
| Sale | Purpose of commercial agriculture |
| Derwent Whittlessey | Person who developed the mapping system of agricultural regions |
| Shifting Cultivation | Type of agriculture that includes slash adn burn |
| Pastoral Nomadism | Type of agriculture practiced in dry climates in less developed regions of the world |
| Intensive Subsistence Farming | Type of agriculture that often includes rice and production in less developed regions |
| Sawah | Proper name for a rice "paddy" |
| Plantations | Type of agriculture practiced in LDCs in which specialty crops are grown by companies owned by MDCs or export to MDCs |
| Mixed Crop & livestock | Type of agriculture practiced in MDCs in which there is an integration of crops and livestock |
| Milkshed | The market area for fresh milk |
| Wheat | #1 export crop |
| Livestock Ranching | Type of agriculture often practiced in MDCs in the same climate as pastoral nomadism in LDCs |
| Winter Wheat | Wheat planted in the fall and harvested in the early summer |
| Spring Wheat | Wheat that is planted in the spring and harvested in the late summer |
| Reaping, Threshing, Cleaning | Three steps in harvesting wheat |
| Mediterranean | Type of agriculture practiced in Southern Europe which often includes horticulture |
| Boserup Thesis | Thesis that states that population growth leads to the development of new farming methods and increased production |
| von Thunen's Model | Core-periphery model of agriculture that explains the pattern of the distribution of various agricultural activities based on land costs (rent) and transportation costs |
| Value of Yield & Transportation Cost | Two factors used to determine crop choice according to von Thunen's Model |
| Sustainable Agriculture | Farming methods that preserve long-term productivity of land and minimizes pollution, typically by rotating soil-restoring crops with cash crops and reducing inputs of pesticides and herbicides |
| Green Revolution | The third agricultural revolution in which high-yield seeds were developed and agricultural science and technology was diffused from MDCs to LDCs |
| The Holy Grail of Agricultural Science | Developing crops that can take nitrogen from the air rather than the soil |
| Japan's Rice Bowl | Japan's Tohoku region (in the north) |
| Yamase | Cold Japanese winds that hamper the rice harvest |
| Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka | World's largest megalopolis |
| Luxury Crops | Plantation-grown crops which are generally produced in LDCs by MDC companies for export to MDCs |
| Capital-Intensive Agriculture | Form of agriculture that uses mechanical goods such as machinery, tools, vehicles, and facilities to produce large amounts of agricultural goods |
| Planned Agricultural Economy | The agricultural system of communist countries in which the government controls production and distribution |
| Friction of Distance | A measure of how much distance discourages movement between places, based on time, energy, or cost that must be expended |
| Aquaculture | Growing crops on water in limited space |
| Debt-for-Nature Swap | The forgiving of LDC debt by MDCs in return for the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices |
| Sidewalk Farmer | A farmer who lives in an urban area and makes frequent trips to the farm to tend the crops |
| Suitcase Farmer | A farmer who lives in an urban area during most of the year, but lives on the farm during planting and harvest times |
| Development | The process of improving the material conditions of people through the diffusion of knowledge and technology |
| Development | The extent to which a society makes effective use of its resources, both human and natural |
| Human Development Index (HDI) | The measure devised in 1990 which is used to compare the relative development of countries and regions |
| 1.0 (100%) | Highest possible HDI |
| United Nations | Organization that calculates HDI |
| Economic, Social, Demographic | Three types of factors used to calculate HDI |
| Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per Capita | Economic factor used to calculate HDI |
| Literacy Rates, Education Level | Social factors used to calculate HDI |
| Life Expectancy | Demographic factor used to calculate HDI |
| Primary Sector | Economic sector that includes farming and mining |
| Secondary Sector | Economic sector that includes manufacturing |
| Tertiary Sector | Economic sector that includes the provision of goods and services and information processing |
| Cars, Phones, TVs | Goods used in the consideration of nonessential goods per person |
| Self-Sufficiency Model | Approach to economic development that makes investment across all sectors of the economy and sets barriers to international trade |
| International Trade Model | Approach to economic development that focuses on unique assets and their global trade to generate capital to improve the overall economy |
| Rostow's 5 Stage Model (Modernization) | Traditional Society, Preconditions for Take-Off, Take-Off, Drive to Maturity, Age of Mass Consumption |
| Wallerstein's World Systems Model | Core-periphery model of the distribution of economically strong countries and economically dependent countries |
| Gender-Related Development Index (GDI) | Comparison measure calculated using income, literacy, education ,and life expectancy differences in the male and female populations |
| Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) | Comparions measure calculated using variations in the economic and political inclusion of the female populations in different areas (first emphasized internationally in the 1990s) |
| World Trade Organization (WTO) | International organization established in 1995 to reduce trade barriers and promote international trade |
| Swidden | Patch cleared for crops in slash and burn agriculture |
| Sustainable Development | The level of development that can be maintained in a country without depleting resources to the extent that future generations will be unable to achieve a comparable level of development |
| James Watt | Inventor of the first practical steam engine |
| Cottage Industry | Manufacturing in stages that took place in people's homes |
| Textile and Iron | Frist industries of the Industrial Revolution |
| Clustered | The concentration of industry |
| Special Economic Zones | Areas in China where foreign investment is allowed |
| 1970s | Decade that stagnant demand became an issue in the global economy |
| Western Europe, Western Hemisphere, East Asia | Three major trading blocks |
| Location Theory | Theory that predicts where a business will or should be located |
| (Weber's) Least Cost Theory | Explanation of the optimal location of a factory as one that minimizes the costs of the transportation of raw material and finished goods as well as labor |
| (Hotelling's) Locational Interdependence Theory | Theory that states that competitors will attempt to maximize sales by constraining each other's sales territories by moving closer to one another until they are back-to-back |
| Footloose Industry | An industry for which the cost of transportation plays no role in industrial location (lightweight and valuable products) |
| Bulk-Reducing Industries | Industries that are ideally located near their input materials |
| Just-In-Time (JIT) | Manufacturing process in which inventory between the steps of production is limited to improve quality and reduce costs |
| Land, Labor, Capital | Economic Site Factors |
| Export-Processing Zones | Zones in many LDCs which attract foreign investment that include easy access to distribution facilities, tax exemptions, and lack strict environmental regulations |
| Fordist | System of manufacturing that uses assembly lines in which workers perform the same task over and over |
| Post-Fordist | System of manufacturing in which workers are given a variety of tasks to perform |
| Basic Industries | Industries that sell primarily outside their regions |
| Non-Basic Industries | Industries that sell primarily within their regions |
| Regional Multiplier | The effect of adding basic industries creating jobs for both basic and non-basic industries |
| Settlements | Location of services |
| Near Customers | Optimal location for services |
| Consumer, Business, Public | Three types of services |
| Clustered Rural Settlements | Village surrounded by fields (where most people still live today) |
| Central Place Theory | Geographic model that explains the distributions of services and the regular pattern of settlements in many MDCs |
| Walter Christaller | Geographer who developed Central Place Theory |
| Central Places | Market centers that are centrally located and compete with each other |
| Hinterland (Market Area) | Nodal region surrounding a central place in which the central place provides services |
| Hexagons | Shape used in Central Place Theory to show market areas |
| Range & Threshold | Two factors used to determine the extent of a market |
| Range | Maximum distance people will travel for a service |
| Threshold | Minimum number of people needed to support a service |
| High-Order Central Place | A central place with a high threshold and a long range |
| Low-Order Central Place | A central place with a low threshold and a short range |
| Market Area Analysis | Process that is used to determine whether or not to locate a service in a particular place |
| Optimal Location | The location that will minimize the distance to a service for the largest number of customers - Used in a market area analysis |
| Rank-Size Rule | Hierarchical pattern of the distribution of cities in which the second largest city is half the size of the largest |
| Primate City Rule | Hierarchical pattern of the distribution of cities in which the largest city is more than twice the size of the second largest city |
| World Cities | Cities that are centers of the flow of information and capital |
| New York, London, Tokyo | Three Tier 1 World Cities - Major stock-exchanges are located in these cities |
| Command & Control Centers | Cities that are headquarters of large corporations |
| Dependent Centers | Cities that provide relatively unskilled labor and depend on world cities for economic health |
| Central Business District (CBD) | Geographic term for "downtown" |
| Randstad | Dutch megalopolis which encloses an open space called the Green Heart |
| Dutch Edge Cities (not the same as an edge city) | Cities along the edge of the Green Heart in the Netherlands |
| Deglomeration | The movement of businesses out of the city center as costs rise above the agglomeration benefits |
| Bid-Rent Theory | Theory that explains one pattern of urban land-use and that businesses are willing to pay the highest rents in the CBD and less and less toward the periphery |
| Suburban Sprawl | The spreading of residency into the outlying regions of a city |
| 1/2 | Approximate fraction of the world's population that lives in urban areas |
| Decreased need for farmers | Principle push factor in urbanization |
| Increased need for secondary & tertiary workers | Principle pull factor in urbanization |
| Social | Type of factors that Louis Wirth used to define an urban area |
| Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) | A central city in the U.S. of at least 50,000, the county within which the city is located, and the adjacent counties which have a functional connection to the city |
| Gateway Cities | Cities that act as ports of entry and distribution centers |
| Megacities | Cities that have experience population explosions and unplanned growth resulting in pollution ad poverty |
| Megalopolis | An area in which urban areas have grown together |
| Boswash (Core Area of the U.S.) | The region from Boston to Washingotn, D.C. in which 1/4 of the U.S. population lives on 2% of the land area |
| Jean Gottman | Person who identified the U.S. megalopolis, Boswash |
| Ruhr Valley | German megalopolis |
| Johannesburg-Pretoria | South African megalopolis |
| Chicago | City where the three classic models of urban structure were developed |
| "The Loop" | Chicago's CBD |
| E.W. Burgess | Sociologist who developed the Concentric Zone Model of Urban Structure |
| Homer Hoyt | Economist who developed the Sector Model of Urban Structure |
| C.D. Harris & E.L. ullman | Geographers who developed the Multiple Nuclei Model of Urban Structure which is more applicable to newer, faster-growing cities |
| Census Tracts | Divisons of cities used by the Census Bureau in the U.S. of approximately 5000 people - Often used in GIS |
| Social Area Analysis | Comparison of characteristics such as income, education, and ethnicity in urban areas, often using GIS |
| City Center | Preferred locale of wealthy residency in European cities |
| High-Rise Apartments | Typical suburban dwellings in Europe |
| Pre-Colonial, Colonial, Independence | Three stages of development of cities in many LDCs |
| Filtering | The process in which large houses are subdivided to be rented to low-income people |
| Redlining | The illegal process in which banks mark off an area on a map where they refuse to make loans |
| Gentrification | The process of middleclass people renovating deteriorated inner-city neighborhoods for their own use |
| Annexation | The process of including new areas within a city |
| Density Gradient | The concept that land occupancy diminishes as one moves from the core of a city to the periphery |
| Smart Growth | Legislation and regulations which limit sprawl and preserve prime agricultural land |
| Lean Production System | Another name for the JIT "pull" manufacturing system |
| Biomass Fuels | Fuels such as wood, plant material, and animal waste |
| Fossil Fuels | Fuels like oil, natural gas, and coal |
| Oil Shale | Abundant orm of petroleum found in Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado |
| Uranium | Fuel used in nuclear fission |
| Chernobyl, Ukraine | Location of the 1986 nuclear accident |
| Not In My Backyard | NIMBY |
| Plutonium | Product (other than electricity) produced by a breeder reactor |
| Hydrogen | Fuel used in nuclear fusion |
| Pollution | Waste that exceeds the capacity of the environment to accept or absorb it |
| Environmental Stress | The threat to the environmental security by human actions such as atmospheric and groundwater pollution, deforestation, oil spills, and ocean dumping |
| Ecotourism | A way to bring economic benefit through tourism while not causing social and environmental damage |
| Nitrogen (78%) | The most abundant element in the atmosphere |
| Global Warming | The result of manmade pollution (CO2) in the lower level of the atmosphere causing an overall increase in temperatures |
| Global Warming & Acid Rain | Two negative consequences of burning fossil fuels |
| CFCs | Human generated substance that damages the ozone layer |
| Filters harmful UV rays | Important function of the ozone layer |
| Montreal Protocol | Global agreement to reduce and finally halt the production of CFCs |
| Kyoto Protocol | International agreement to limit greenhouse gases |
| Signed, but not ratified | Status of the U.S. regarding the Kyoto Protocol |
| Decrease Discharges, Increase Environmental Capacity | Two ways of reducing pollution |
| PL 480 | U.S. program that helps LDCs import food |
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