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
The Big List
APHG EXAM VOCAB
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Cultural landscape | Also known as the built environment. Any time people interact with the environment they shape it in ways that reflect their culture. |
| Arithmetic density | The total number of something divided by the total area. Population density is a form of it. (people per square kilometer/mile) |
| Physiological density | The number of people per unit of area of arable land, which is land suitable for agriculture. This tells us how many people have to be supported by the amount of available farmland. A high amount of it means food must be imported |
| Agricultural Density | Number of farmers per unit of arable land. High amount: famers less productive (LDC). Low amount: farmers more productive (MDC) |
| Hearth | The place of origin of an idea, culture, or human activity. Also known as a node. |
| Relocation diffusion | The spread of an idea through physical movement of people from one place to another. |
| Expansion diffusion | The spread of a feature from one place to another in a snowballing process. This can happen in 3 ways. |
| Hierarchical diffusion | The spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority or power to other persons or places |
| Contagious diffusion | The rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population. |
| Stimulus diffusion | The spread of an underlying principle, even though a characteristic itself apparently fails to diffuse. |
| Distribution/ Spatial Distribution | The arrangement of something across Earth’s surface. (clustered or disbursed) |
| Environmental determinism | Approach to the study of geography that argued that the general laws sought by human geographers could be found in the physical sciences. Geography was therefore the study of how the physical environment caused human activities. |
| Possibilism | The physical environment may limit some human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to their environment or alter their environment to suit their needs. (more widely accepted view than environmental determinism) |
| Absolute location | Position on Earth’s surface using the coordinate system of longitude (that runs from North to South Pole) and latitude (that runs parallel to the equator). Also mathematical location |
| Relative location | Position on Earth’s surface relative to other features, also situation. |
| Site | The physical character of place; what is found at the location and why it is significant. Can be physical (mountains) or human characteristics. |
| Site factors | In industry are land (how much does it cost), labor (how much do workers cost), and capital (are loans available/ how much are taxes). |
| Situation | The location of a place relative to other places, also relative location |
| Space Time Compression | The reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place, as a result of improved communications and transportation system. |
| Gravity model (from Isaac Newton) | Concept is that contact diminishes with increasing distance. Same concept as distance decay. |
| Distance Decay | The diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin. |
| Connections | The relationships or points of contact among people and objects across space. Geographers are concerned with the various means by which connections occur. |
| Space | Refers to the physical gap or interval between two objects. |
| Scale | Refers to the size and complexity of the area being studied. |
| Formal Region (uniform or homogenous region) | An area within which everyone ,or a majority throughout, share in common one or more distinctive characteristics. The shared feature could be a cultural value such as a common language, political boundary, or a dominant economic activity. |
| Functional Region (nodal region) | Area organized around a node or focal point. The characteristic chosen to this is it dominates at a central focus or node and diminishes in importance outward. This region is tied to the central point by transportation or communication. |
| Vernacular Region (perceptual Region) | Place that people believe exists as a part of their cultural identity. Such regions emerge from peoples informal sense of place rather than from scientific models developed through geographic thought. (mental map) |
| Natural Landscape | Physical landscape such as mountains, rivers, etc. |
| Pattern | Describes when a phenomenon is distributed in an organized rather than irregular way. |
| Projection | Depiction of Earth’s surface on a 2 dimensional surface. Each type creates a different type of distortion. |
| Mercator | Size distortion toward poles |
| Robinson | Rounded on sides, minimizes area, shape, distance distortion but has some of all. |
| Interrupted/ Homolosine projection | Normally it is presented with multiple interruptions. Its equal-area property makes it useful for presenting spatial distribution of phenomena. |
| Toponym | Place name (the name given to a place on Earth.) |
| Dot Map | Depicts phenomena using more or fewer dots. They are often population maps |
| Choropleth map | Depicts the dominant phenomenon in each political unit |
| Proportional/ graduated symbol map | Depicts the amount of a phenomenon in a place by the size of a circle over that area. Can be confusing if circles become large and overlap. |
| Cartogram | Depicts the size of an area based on how much of a phenomenon exists there. Are usually grossly distorted almost beyond recognition. |
| Topographic map | Depicts the elevation of a land area using lines (isolines) |
| Population pyramid (Age Distribution) | Graph that shows the number of males and females in each age group within a population. |
| Pronatalist | Policies that encourage people to have children. More likely in countries in stage 4 of the dem trans |
| Antinatalist | Policies that discourage people from having children. More likely in countries in stage 2 of the dem trans |
| Carrying capacity | The number of people that can live off the resources and arable land in a place. The ability of a place to feed and support its population. If population exceeds carrying capacity, food and/or resources must be imported. |
| Cohort | Age and sex category in a population pyramid. |
| Demographic transition (regions) | In general, LDC’s in stage 2 developing countries and MDC’s in stage 3-4 |
| Demographic Transition model | 4 stages of population from low to high to decrease to decrease |
| Dependency ratio | The number of people who are too you or too old to work compared to the number of people in their productive years. This is important because this tells how many people each worker supports. |
| Total Fertility Rate | Number of children the average woman will have in her child bearing years. Higher in LDC'S and lower in MDC's. |
| Doubling time | The number of years needed to double a population, assuming a constant rate of natural increase. Projects the countries population increase over the years and when its population will double. |
| Ecumene | The proportion of earth’s surface occupied by permanent human settlement. Has increased with improved technology. |
| Epidemiological transition model | Shows the distinctive causes of death in each stage of the demographic transition. |
| Infant mortality rate | The annual number of deaths of infants under one year of age. Its is expressed as the annual number of deaths among infants among infants per 1000 births. Indicates the level of development and quality of healthcare in a country. |
| Malthus, Thomas | Argued that the world’s rate of population increase was far outrunning the increase in food supply. This is important because he brought up the point that we may be outrunning our supplies because of our exponentially growing population. |
| Mortality | The IMR measures the number of infants that die before their first birthday and life expectancy measures the average number of years a baby can expect to live. |
| Crude Birth Rate/ Natality | This is the ratio of live births in an area to the population of that area; it is expressed as number of birth in year to every 1000 people alive in the society. It tells the rate country having babies and how fast you can expect that population to grow. |
| Neo-malthusian | Theory that builds upon Malthus’ thoughts on overpopulation. Deals not only with food but also outstripping of resources other than food |
| Overpopulation | Results when the population of a place exceeds the availability of food and resources. |
| Population pyramid | Population displayed by age and gender on a bar graph |
| Rate of natural increase/ NIR | The percentage by which a population grows in a year. (Excludes migration) CBR-CDR=? |
| Sex ratio | The number of males per hundred females in the population |
| Standard of living | Refers to the quality and quantity of goods and services available to people and the way they are distributed within a population |
| Sustainability | Providing the best outcomes for human and natural environments both in the present and for the future |
| Underpopulation | Unlike overpopulation, it does not refer to resources but to having enough people to support the local economic system. If there are not enough tax payers, then the area cannot continue to pay for some government services. |
| Zero population growth | When the crude birth rate equals the crude death rate and the natural increase rate approaches zero. |
| Chain migration | Migration of people of one nationality to a specific place to be close to others of their same nationality in a foreign country. |
| Forced Migration | People removed from there countries and forced to live in other countries because of war, natural disaster, and political instability |
| Internal Migration | Permanent movement within a particular country. |
| Intervening obstacle | Hinders migration. Can be physical features |
| International migration pattern | Permanent movement from one country to another |
| Interregional migration pattern | Permanent movement from one region within a country to another. |
| Rural-Urban migration pattern | Permanent movement from rural areas to the urban city area. (most common form of migration worldwide) |
| Push-Pull Factors | Factors that induce people to leave old residence and move to new locations. |
| Refugees | People who are forced to migrate from their home country and are unable to return because of fear of persecution. This is due to their race, religion, nationality, membership in social group, or political opinion. |
| Assimilation/Acculturation | Process whereby a less dominant culture adopts characteristics of the non dominant culture |
| Cultural Ecology | The geographic study of human environmental relationships. (Human Environment Interaction) |
| Culture | The body of customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits that together constitute a group of people’s distinct tradition. |
| Lingua Franca | A language of international communication. Spoken across a broad area outside the native country. |
| Pidgin Language | Language that is a simplified combination of two other languages |
| Language Family | Group of languages that share a common ancestor which existed before recorded history. |
| Language Branch | A division of a language family. |
| Religion | The faithfulness to codified beliefs and rituals that generally involve a faith in a spiritual nature. Can be either a centrifugal or centripetal force |
| Animism | Belief that objects, such as plants and stones, or natural events, like thunderstorms and earthquakes, have a spirit and life. Makes up many of the traditional (not Christian or Islamic) religions of Africa |
| Buddhism | The third of the world’s major universalizing religions. It has 365 million adherents especially in China and Southeast Asia. |
| Christianity | Monotheistic religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. Largest universalizing religion |
| Confucianism (ethnic religion) | Developed by Chinese man Confucius, it’s a complex system of moral, social, political, and religious thought. Has affected Chinese culture and attitudes for over 2,000 years. |
| Ethnic Religion | A religion with a rather concentrated distribution whose principles are likely to be based on the physical characteristics of the particular location where its adherents are located. |
| Fundamentalism | Literal interpretation and strict adherence to basic principles of a religion. This is a growing trend that often results as a backlash against the globalization of a homogenous popular culture. |
| Hajj | The pilgrimage to Mecca for followers of Islam. It’s the fifth of the Five Pillars. All Muslims are supposed to make the pilgrimage at some point in their lives if capable. |
| Hinduism (ethnic religion) | Created in India (represents 80% of India) Third largest in world behind Christianity and Islam. |
| Interfaith boundaries | Boundaries between the world's major faiths, such as Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. This isn’t the same as Intrafaith boundaries which describes the boundaries within a major religion. Often prone to conflict. |
| Islam (universalizing) | Monotheistic religion originating with the teachings of Muhammad, a key religious figure. It is the second largest religion in the world. Found throughout North Africa, S.W. Asia, much of South and S.E. Asia. |
| Isogloss | Language usage boundary |
| Judaism (ethnic religion) | It is the religion of ancient Hebrews, said to be one of the first monotheistic faiths. Oldest of the three “Religions of Abraham” (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) |
| Monotheism/polytheism | Belief in one god/ belief in many gods. |
| Mormonism | Term used to describe religious, ideological, and cultural aspects of the various denominations of the Latter Day Saints movement. Originated in Utah, which is its hearth, in the 1800’s. |
| Universalizing Religion/ Proselytic Religion | Attempt to be global, to appeal to all people wherever they may live in the world, not just to those of one culture or location. |
| Reincarnation | Religious concept of rebirth in human or animal form. Common to Buddhists and the Hindus. |
| Mosques | Domes and minarets (towers), arches, often adorned with geometric designs |
| Hindu Temples, Buddhist Pagodas | see pics |
| Arab-Israeli conflict | Conflict between Arabs (Palestinians) and Jews (Israelis) over the territory historically known as Palestine, and now known as the state of Israel. Presently controlled by Israelis. |
| Religious Cultural Hearth | Birthplace of a religion. |
| Religious toponym | Places with religious names. |
| Sacred space | Places where religious figures and congregations meet to perform religious ceremonies (eg church) or places where events of religious significance are said to have occurred. |
| Shamanism | This is the range of traditional beliefs and practices that claim the ability to cure, heal, and cause pain to people through supernatural means. |
| Shintoism | Ethnic religion of Japan and once its official state religion. Paracticed in combination with Buddhism. Believes leaders have divine qualities. |
| Sikhism | Universalizing religion that began in sixteenth century Northern India. |
| Uniform landscape | Effect of popular culture which makes different places seem more alike. |
| Antarctica | Has no permanent residents and doesn't belong to any country. International agreements ban countries from establishing military bases. Many countries have made overlapping claims and most are not recognized by other countries. |
| Apartheid | Afrikaans for apartness, it was the segregation of blacks in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. It was created to keep the white minority in power and allow them to have almost total control over the black majority. |
| Balkanization | A violent form of devolution.The political term used when referring to the violent fragmentation or breakup of a country into smaller, mutually hostile units. Comes from the Balkan wars, where the country of Yugoslavia was broken up in to six countries |
| Boundary type | The kind of boundaries such as natural, cultural, and political |
| Superimposed boundaries | Created by humans for political reasons, in places where no other factors exist on the ground that would justify a boundary between two places |
| Capital | Principle city in a state or country where political and decision making power is most concentrated. |
| Centrifugal Forces | When cultural elements such as language or religion differ among a population and subsequently cause conflict. (forces that “pull” people apart or divide people) |
| Centripetal Forces | When an attitude or common cultural trait unifies people and enhances support for the state. |
| City-state | In ancient times, a city that also controlled the surrounding countryside |
| Colonialism | The attempt by a country (Primarily Europeans) to establish settlements and impose political and economic control over other places. |
| Conference of Berlin | Meeting among European powers in 1884-1885 in which Africa was divided among them. No African leaders were present. France controlled Northwestern Africa, England Eastern Africa, Belgium Central Africa. |
| Core/periphery pattern | Core countries have highest levels of development, Semi peripheral countries (China, Mexico, Brazil) are less developed but receive investment from the core. The periphery makes up least developed countries that receive little investment from core. |
| Decolonization | Movement of colonies gaining independence. Some were peaceful struggles while others became violent. Occurred in Latin America in the 19th century, and throughout the rest of the world after WWII when Europe was weakened. |
| Devolution | Both the decentralization of a government from a unitary to a federal system or a fracturing of a government like Balkanization. |
| Exclusive Economic Zone | Stretches 200 nautical miles from a country’s coast. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas, that country has the exclusive right to any fish or minerals contained within that area. |
| Ethnic conflict | War between ethnic groups often as a result of ethnic nationalism political power, or fight over natural resources. May include ethnic cleansing (removal of weaker ethnicity, or genocide). It can also be caused by boundary disputes. |
| European Union | Supranational and intergovernmental union of 27 democratic member states of Europe. The EU's activities cover most areas of public policy, from economic policy to foreign affairs, defense, agriculture and trade. |
| Eurozone | Most heavily integrated members of the European Union. Members use same currency (Euro), share same central bank (European Central Bank/ ECB), and have eliminated many border crossing stops. |
| Federal State | State in which local government units have considerable power to create laws and govern themselves. |
| Forward capital | Symbolically relocated capital city usually because of either economic or strategic reasons. Is sometimes used to integrate outlying parts of a country into the state. |
| Frontier | Zone where no state exercises complete political control. It is usually uninhabited or sparsely inhabited. It separates countries where a boundary cannot be found. |
| Geopolitics | Study that analyzes geography, history and social science with reference to international politics. It examines the political and strategic significance of geography, where geography is defined in terms of the location, size, and resources of places. |
| Gerrymandering | Process of redrawing legislative boundaries (reapportionment) for the purpose of benefiting the political party in power. |
| Immigrant state | Type of receiving state which is the target of many immigrants. Are popular because of their economy, political freedom, and opportunity. |
| OPEC | Group of oil exporting countries created to control global oil prices and make profits for members. Mostly middle eastern countries and Venezuela |
| Sovereignty | Ability and right of a country (state) to control what happens within its borders without outside Interference and control exerted by a state (country) over some territory. |
| Supranationalism | Voluntary cooperation of 3 or more states (countries). |
| Tribal Sovereignty | Indian reservations in the United States are treated almost as independent countries. They are allowed to govern themselves and draft their own constitutions. |
| Treaty of Tordesillas | Agreement between Spain and Portugal, mediated by the pope, regarding which parts of the “New World” would be colonized by each country. |
| Unitary State | State in which the central government holds most political power and local units have very little. |
| United Nations | Largest and most important international organization. Contains many other organizations. Countries that have question of sovereignty are not members. |
| Agrarian | People or societies that are farmers. |
| Agribusiness | Term that describes the entire food production industry in MDC’s. All aspects of the food production chain: farming, processing, packaging, retail, are integrated. |
| Agricultural Industrialization | The use of machinery in agriculture. Increases productivity, lowers ag density in a society. Occurs as countries become industrialized. |
| Agricultural landscape | Variation on the landscape based on the local type of ag. practiced. |
| Agricultural Origins | Through time nomadic people noticed the growing of plants in a cycle and began to domesticate them for their own use. |
| Agriculture | The deliberate effort to modify a portion of Earth’s surface through the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock for subsistence or economic gain. |
| Animal Domestication | Raising animals for selling or using byproducts. |
| Aquaculture | The cultivation of aquatic organisms especially for food (fish farming) |
| Biotechnology | Using living organisms in a useful way to produce commercial products like pest resistant crops. |
| Commercial Agriculture (intensive, extensive) | Agriculture undertaken primarily to generate products for sale off the farm. First: farming a piece of land to produce the maximum yield per acre/ hectare. Second: Farming over a broad area (ranching) |
| Crop Rotation | The practice of rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year, to avoid exhausting the soil. |
| Desertification | Spread of desert like conditions into surrounding areas. |
| Diffusion | The process of spread of a feature or trend from one place to another over time. Influences the development of some regions faster than others |
| Double Cropping | Harvesting twice a year from the same land. Occurs in very heavily populated areas. Can cause agricultural exhaustion |
| Ethanol | Biofuel form of alcohol. Created in US from corn and added to gasoline. Controversial due to amount of energy and exhaust needed to create, as well as the risk associated with using potential food sources as fuel instead. |
| Extensive agriculture | Farming over a very broad area: ranching, shifting cultivation, pastoral nomadism |
| Extensive subsistence agriculture | Type of agriculture that includes shifting cultivation, and nomadic herding /pastoralism |
| Shifting Cultivation | Use many fields for crop growing each field is used for a couple years then left fallow for a relatively long time. |
| Nomadic herding/pastorilism | Based on herding domesticated animals |
| Extractive Industry | Another term for the primary sector of the economy. Any economic activity involving the taking of resources from the Earth. Involves Agriculture, forestry, mining, fishing. |
| Feedlot | A plot of land on which livestock are fattened for market. Common with commercial ag./ agribusiness |
| First agricultural revolution | Also called Neolithic Agricultural Revolution. Around 8000 B.C.humans first domesticated plants and animals. Result was surpluses of food could produced and saved which led to the ability of humans to specialize in their work and form into civilizations. |
| Fishing | The technique, occupation, or diversion of catching fish. |
| Forestry | The science of planting, taking care of, and harvesting (cutting down for sale) trees and forests. (Second ring of Von Thunen’s model) Trees provide building materials and fuel to society. |
| Genetically modified organisms | In agriculture, refers to plants or animals that have been genetically modified in a laboratory to give them characteristics perceived to be beneficial to growers or consumers. |
| Green Revolution | Period in the 1970’s and 1980’s in which agricultural innovations, such as high-yield seeds and fertilizers greatly increased the global agricultural yield. Also called third ag revolution |
| Hunting and Gathering | Before the agriculture, humans gained food by hunting for animals, fishing, or gathering plants. They lived in small groups (less than 50 people), traveled frequently following game and seasonal growth of plants. Less than 250,000 alive today. |
| Intensive Subsistence Agriculture | Form of subsistence agriculture in which farmers must expend a relatively large amount of effort to produce the maximum yield from a parcel of land. Occurs in very heavily populated regions (South and Southeast Asia) |
| Livestock Ranching | Commercial grazing of livestock over an extensive area. Practiced is semi-arid or arid land, where vegetation is too sparse or the soil to too poor to support crops. |
| Mediterranean Agriculture | Main crops are olives and grapes. |
| Renewable Energy | Energy replaced continually, has an essentially unlimited supply and is not depleted when used by people. |
| Non-Renewable Energy | Energy formed so slowly that for practical purposes it cannot be renewed. The three main fossil fuels (petroleum, natural gas, and coal) |
| Rural Settlement | Sparsely settled places away from the influence of large cities. |
| Dispersed Rural Settlement | Characterized by farmers living on individual farms isolated from neighbors rather than alongside other farmers in the area. |
| Circular Rural Settlement | Number of families live in close proximity to each other, with fields surrounding the collection of houses and farm buildings. |
| Long Lot Rural Settlement | Rectangular lots that are distributed along a road or river. |
| Sahel Region | Region of West Africa which grows considerable amount of grains. Name means “Shore of the Desert” One of the world’s two secondary population clusters. |
| Sauer, Carl O. | Defined cultural landscape, as an area fashioned from nature by a cultural group. A combination of cultural features such as language and religion; economic features such as agriculture and industry; and physical features such as climate and vegetation. |
| Second Agricultural Revolution | Precursor to Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, that allowed a shift in work force beyond subsistence farming to allow labor to work in factories. |
| Staple Grains | Maize, wheat, and rice are the most widely produced grains world wide, accounting for 87% of all grains and 43% of all food. |
| Long Lots (French) Survey Patterns | Houses erected on narrow lots perpendicular along a river, so that each original settler had equal river access. |
| Third Agricultural Revolution | ‘Green Revolution’ Rapid diffusion of new agricultural techniques between 1970’s and 1980’s, especially new high-yield seeds and fertilizers. Has caused agricultural productivity at a global scale to increase faster than population growth. |
| Mechanization | Process of integrating machines into the labor force. Occurred during the industrial revolution (late 1700’s early 1800’s) Increases productivity. |
| Chemical Farming (green revolution) | Increased use of fertilizers with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. The development of higher-yield crops has produced: a ‘miracle wheat seed' |
| Food Manufacturing | Green Revolution has increased production to avoid widespread famine. Allowing the world population to grow about four billion since stared, also allowing populations in developing nations to consume 25% more than before. |
| Transhumance | pastoral practice of seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pasture areas. |
| Truck Farm | |
| Von Thunen, Johann Heinrich | |
| Brandt line | Immaginary line that separates the rich “Global North” from the poor “Global South” |
| BRIC/ BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa | Notable for the rapid increase in manufacturing. Many manufacturing jobs from MDC’s have moved there in search of cheap labor. |
| Bulk Gaining Industry | Industry in which the final product is heavier than the inputs. Will normally locate closer to markets to save money on transportation costs. |
| Bulk Reducing industry | Industry in which the final product is smaller and lighter than the input. Will normally locate close to inputs to cut transportation costs. |
| Calorie consumption | percentage of daily requirement is an important index of development. People in MDCs generally consume more than 130% of their daily requirements, but most people in LDCs barely get enough to sustain themselves. |
| Comparative advantage | Product or service a country can offer at the most competitive price. |
| Copper Industry | Bulk reducing industry. Copper is purified close to copper mines because copper ore is much heavier that the purified copper, and therefore much more expensive to transport. |
| Dependency theory | States that LDCs depend on the Core Countries to such a great extent that core countries are able to exploit LDC’s, and that Core Countries develop at the expense of the LDC’s. |
| Economic Development | Improvement in material conditions of a place |
| Energy consumption | Index of development. MDCs tend to consume much more energy per capita than do LDCs. This will be important in the future because as LDCs begin to industrialize, there will be a great strain on the world’s energy supply. |
| Foreign direct investment | Investment in the economies of other countries by transnational corporations based in MDCs. |
| Gender Development Index | Important indicator of development. Inequality between men and women is greater in less developed countries. |
| Gender Inequality Index | Used by the UN to measure inequality between men and women. 0 means men and women are completely equal (no country) and 1 means women fare as poorly as possible in all measures. |
| Gross Domestic Product | Total value of goods and services produced in a year in a country. The value varies greatly between MDCs and LDCs, and is also dependent on population. Measures size of entire economy. |
| Gross Domestic Product per capita | Value of what the average person in a society produces in a year roughly equals avg income. |
| Gross national income | Very similar to GDP except that includes money moving in and out of the country. |
| Human Development Index | Index of development, which takes into account economic, social and demographic factors, using GNI per capita, literacy, amount of education, and life expectancy. |
| International Division of Labor | Concept explains movement of low skilled manufacturing jobs to semi periphery countries (BRICM) for cheaper labor. High skilled/ high paying jobs/ service jobs concentrate in core. Extractive industries (mining) in periphery/ least developed countries. |
| International Monetary Fund | Part of the UN. Makes loans to countries to finance development. |
| Maquiladoras | United States factories that operate in Mexico. (moved there to find cheap labor) |
| Multinational/ Transnational corporations | Large companies that operate in multiple countries. Often operate in LDC’s due to cheap labor. Operate in MDC’s to find new customers and to avoid trade barriers. |
| NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) | Economic cooperation between the US, Mexico, and Canada. (Removal of trade barriers and restrictions) One effect has been to allow maquiladora factories to move further into Mexico |
| Newly Industrialized Countries | Countries that have recently industrialized and have seen improvements in living standards and income. Living standards, while improved, are still not at level of the economic core, or more developed countries. Like semi periphery |
| Productivity | Amount which can be produced by the average worker over a given period of time. |
| Purchasing power parity | Measure of income and how far it will go in a country. Takes into account price differences between countries. |
| W.W. Rostow | Developed the “Stages of Growth” model of economic development. |
| Primary sector | Extracting raw materials from the earth: agriculture, mining, fishing, forestry |
| Secondary sector | Manufacturing (assembling raw materials into useful products) |
| Tertiary sector | Services such as retail, banking, doctors, law, etc |
| Site Factors | Factors which drive decision makers who decide where to locate factories |
| Land (Site Factor) | How much is land? Usually cheaper in remote areas in the South or LDC’s |
| Labor (Site Factor) | how much does labor cost? Do workers demand 15 dollars hourly (US) or will they work for 1 dollar hourly (LDC’s) |
| Capital (Site Factor) | Is money available? Will local governments give money incentives to open there? (often yes) Will they give a tax break? Are loans available there? |
| Structural Adjustment Program | Situation in which a country must cut government programs and spending as a condition of receiving a loan from the IMF. |
| Technology gap | Difference in technologies used and/or developed in two companies, countries, ethnic groups, etc., where one is more advanced than the other. Helps to explain the differences between MDCs and LDCs. |
| Third World | Originally referred to non-aligned countries during the Cold War. Now refers to LDC’s |
| Toyota production system | Innovation in automobile production created by Toyota. Parts ordered as are needed (Just In Time Delivery) from nearby suppliers rather than being stored in the factory. This significantly decreases costs by allowing the factory to be much smaller. |
| Trade Barriers | Obstacles created to make importing goods difficult. Include tariffs, quotas, and requirements for licenses. Purpose is to protect domestic industries from foreign competition. Opposite of free trade. |
| World Systems Theory/ Immanuel Wallerstein | Marxist political/economic theory explains the power hierarchy in which powerful and wealthy "core" societies dominate and exploit weak and poor peripheral societies. Terms Core, semi periphery, and periphery are derived from what? |
| Assembly line production/Fordism | Highly efficient method of mass production in which each worker specializes in one very brief and simple task on the assembly line, which is done over and over in rapid succession. |
| Post Fordist production | Form of assembly line production which gives greater flexibility and job variety to the assembly line workers. |
| Agglomeration economies | Refers to benefits or advantages (savings, cost reductions, etc.) resulting from the spatial clustering of similar economic activities. |
| Aluminum industry | Aluminum production is very energy intensive, and therefore likely to locate closer to cheap sources of energy. |
| Value Added | Value of a finished product minus the cost of assembling it |
| Basic Industries | Businesses that sell their product to external customers. Are critical to the local economy because they bring money into the community from outside |
| Non Basic Industries | Sell primarily to members of the community. Circulate money within the community but do not bring new money into the community. |
| Barriadas | A neighborhood, usually a slum or lower class |
| Blockbusting | Process whereby unscrupulous realtors would convince white families to sell their homes by convincing them that the ethnic makeup of a neighborhood was changing. |
| Brownfield Industries | Previously abandoned and polluted industrial sites which are available to be purchased, cleaned, and redeveloped through grants from the EPA. |
| Central Business District (downtown) | Center of economic activity and population density in a city |
| Census Tract | these are govt. designated areas in cities that each have ~5,000 people, they often times correspond to neighborhoods |
| Central Place Theory | Explains factors related to the distribution of services within cities |
| Range | Farthest distance people will travel for a service |
| Threshold | Minimum number of customers a service needs to stay in business |
| Hinterland | Market area of a service |
| City | Centralized area with a mayor, local government, and central business district. Usually bigger than a town. Regional concentration of money, population, and political power. |
| Cityscapes | Similar to a landscape, yet of a city (often show the cityâs skyline, which is the CBD.) |
| Colonial City | Cities founded by colonial powers |
| Concentric Zone Model | Created by E.W. Burgess, city grows outwards from a central area (CBD in middle, then zone of transition, then zone of workers’ homes, then zone of residences, then commuter’s zone) |
| Counterurbanization | Net migration from urban to rural areas |
| Deindustrialization | Process of social and economic change caused by removal of industry. |
| Density gradient | Tendency for the density of population and housing to increase as one moves toward the CBD (downtown), also related to bid rent theory. |
| Edge city | Refers to suburban communities that emerge around the beltways of major cities. |
| Favela | A shantytown or slum, in Brazil |
| Gentrification | Process in which low cost neighborhoods are renovated by middle class to increase property values. |
| Ghetto | Lower income neighborhoods, inhabited often by members of a minority ethnic group. |
| Globalization | Development of worldwide patterns of economic, political, and cultural relationships. Led by multinational corporations, international trade agreements, and improvements in transportation and communication technology. |
| Megalopolis | Giant city, series of overlapping statistical areas. |
| Metropolitan Statistical Area | Contains a city of over 50,000, the county the city is located in, and the surrounding counties where 50 percent of the people work in the county where the city is located. |
| Micropolitan Statistical Area | Contains a city of 10,000-50,000, the county the city is located in, and the surrounding counties where 50 percent of the people work in the county where the city is located. |
| Rank Size distribution | Situation in which the nth largest city is 1/n the size of the largest. Indicates that there is enough wealth in a country to provide adequate level of services to every part of the country. |
| Primate City Rule | Opposite of Rank Size Rule. Situation in which the largest city is much more than twice the size of the second largest. |
| Redlining | Illegal process whereby banks refuse to lend money to people living in certain areas. |
| Rust Belt | Area in the Midwestern United States that experienced deindustrialization as a result of the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs to the US south, or to LDC’s, for cheaper labor. |
| Urban Sprawl | Unrestricted spread of the suburbs into outlying rural areas, often without adequate planning or conservation efforts. |
Created by:
alanruge
Popular AP Human Geography sets