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Chapter 1 Vocabulary
North America
Term | Definition |
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Borderland | General term for a linear zone that parallels a political boundary. The most dynamic of these areas [U.S.-Mexico] are marked by cultural and economic interaction. |
Transition zone | An area of spatial change where the peripheries of two adjacent realms or regions join; marked by a gradual shift characteristics that distinguish them. |
Physiographic region | A region within which there prevails substantial natural-landscape homogeneity, expressed by a certain degree of uniformity in surface relief, climate, vegetation, and soils. |
Continentality | The difference in temperature in relation to the ocean. |
Rain shadow effect | The relative dryness in areas downwind of mountain ranges resulting from orographic precipitation, wherein moist air masses are forced to deposit most of their water content as they cross the highlands. |
Federation | A country where the government represents several groups (nation state). They have common interests. |
Aquifer | An underground reservoir of water contained within a porous, water-bearing rock layer. |
Fossil fuel | Unrenewable fuel source. |
Urban system | A hierarchical network or grouping of urban areas within a finite geographic area, such as a country |
American Manufacturing Belt | North America’s near-rectangular core area, whose corners are Boston, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Baltimore. |
Distribution center | A place centered around the distribution of goods. |
Intermodal connections | Facilities and activities related to the transfer of goods in transit from one transportation mode to another (e.g., the loading of containers from a ship directly onto a truck or railcar). |
Outer city | The non-central-city portion of the American metropolis; no longer “sub” to the “urb,” this outer ring was transformed into a full-fledged city during the late twentieth century. |
Deindustrialization | by which companies relocate manufacturing jobs to other regions or countries with cheaper labor. |
Central business district (CBD) | The downtown heart of a central city; marked by high land values, a concentration of business and commerce, and the clustering of the tallest buildings. |
Information economy | A new economy based around technology information. |
GPS (Global Positioning System) | The orbiting-satellite-based navigation system that provides locational and time information, anywhere on or near the Earth’s surface where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites. |
Gentrification | Upgrades of older residential areas through private reinvestment usually in downtown. Displacement of lower-income residents is very common. |
Neighborhood effect | The impact of one’s neighborhood on an individual’s outlook, aspirations, socialization, and life chances. |
Residential geography | The spatial distribution of a residential population. The term is most often used by urban geographers to describe the clustering of various social groups into the neighborhoods that form the residential fabric of cities and suburbs. |
Sunbelt | Popular name for Ca, Tx, and Fl. High temperatures, lots of recreational activates, and tourism. |
Migration | A change in residence intended to be permanent. |
Electoral geography | The spatial distribution of political preferences as expressed in voting behavior for political parties and/or candidates. |
Melting pot | A variety of ethnicities in one place. Ex: Florida |
First Nations | Name given Canada’s indigenous peoples of American descent, whose U.S. counterparts are called Native Americans. |
World‐City | A major centre for finance, trade, business, politics, culture, science information gathering and mass media. [Like New York or London] |
Technopole | A planned techno-industrial complex (such as California’s Silicon Valley) that innovates, promotes, and manufactures the products of the postindustrial information economy. |
Pacific Rim | Discontinuous regions surrounding the great Pacific Ocean that have experienced spectacular economic growth and progress over the past four decades. |
Tar sands | The main source of oil from non-liquid petroleum reserves. |
Boreal forest | The subarctic, mostly coniferous snowforest that blankets Canada south of the tundra that lines the Arctic shore; known as the taiga in Russia. |