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Geography Terms
Chapter 1
Question | Answer |
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biodiversity | variety in the types and numbers of species in particular regions of the world |
biogeography | study of the spatial distribution of vegetation, animals, and other organisms |
biome | largest geographic biotic unit, a major community of plants and animals or similar ecosystems |
capitalism | form of economic and social organization characterized by the profit motive and the control of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of goods by private ownership |
cartogram | map projection that is transformed in order to promote legibility or to reveal patterns not readily apparent on a traditional base map climate |
colonialism | establishment and maintenance of political and legal domination by a state over a separate and alien society |
colonization | establishment of settlement in a place or region |
commodity | anything useful that can be bought or sold |
commodity chains | networks of labor and production processes that originate in the extraction or production of raw materials. The end result is the delivery and consumption of a finished commodity |
communism | form of economic and social organization characterized by the common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange |
continental drift | slow movement of the continents over long periods of time across Earth's surface (see plate tectonics) |
culture | shared set of meanings that are lived through the material and symbolic practices of everyday life |
demographic transition | replacement of high birth and death rates by low birth and death rates |
diaspora | spatial dispersion of a previously homogeneous group |
ecosystem | complex of living organisms, their physical environment, and all their relationships in a particular place |
gender | social differences between men and women rather than the anatomical differences related to sex |
geomorphology | study of landforms |
global warming | increase in world temperatures and change in climate associated with increasing levels of carbon dioxide and other gases resulting from human activities such as deforestation and fossil-fuel burning |
globalization | increasing interconnectedness of different parts of the world through common processes of economic, environmental, political, and cultural change |
greenhouse effect | trapping of heat within the atmosphere by water vapor and gases, such as carbon dioxide, resulting in the warming of the atmosphere and surface |
gross domestic product (GDP) | estimate of the total value of all materials, foodstuffs, goods, and services that are produced in a country in a particular year |
hegemony | domination over the world economy, exercised through a combination of economic, military, financial, and cultural means, by one national state in a particular historical epoch |
imperialism | extension of the power of a nation through direct or indirect control of the economic and political life of other territories international division of labor |
International Monetary Fund (IMF) | organization that provides loans to governments throughout the world |
International regime | orientation of contemporary politics around the international arena rather than the national one |
intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) | region where air flows together and rises vertically as a result of intense solar heating at the equator, often with heavy rainfall, and shifting north and south with the seasons |
kinship | shared notion of relationship among members of a group often but not necessarily based on blood, marriage, or adoption |
leadership cycles | periods of international power established by individual states through economic, political, and military competition |
mercantilism | economic policy in which government controls industry and trade. nation group of people often sharing common elements of culture, such as religion, language, a history, or political identity |
nationalism | feeling of belonging to a nation as well as the belief that a nation has a natural right to determine its own affairs |
nation-state | ideal form consisting of a homogeneous group of people governed by their own state |
neocolonialism | economic and political strategies by which powerful states in core economies indirectly maintain or extend their influence over other areas or people |
neoliberalism | economic doctrine based on a belief in a minimalist role for the state, assuming the desirability of free markets as the ideal condition not only for economic organization but also for social and political life |
plate tectonics | theory that Earth's crust is divided into large solid plates that move relative to each other and cause mountain building, volcanic, and earthquake activity when they separate or meet |
quaternary activity | economic activity that deals with the handling and processing of knowledge and information |
regional geography | study of the ways in which unique combinations of environmental and human factors produce territories with distinctive landscapes and cultural attributes |
regionalism | strong feelings of collective identity shared by religious or ethnic groups that are concentrated within a particular region |
regionalization | geographer's classification of individual places or areal units |
Secondary activity | economic activity involving the processing, transformation, fabrication, or assembly of raw materials, or the reassembly, refinishing, or packaging of manufactured goods |
sectionalism | extreme devotion to local interests and customs |
sense of place | feelings evoked among people as a result of the experiences and memories that they associate with a place and to the symbolism that they attach to it |
social movements | organized movements of people with an agenda of political opposition and activism |
sovereignty | exercise of state power over people and territory, recognized by other states and codified by international law |
spatial justice | fairness of the distribution of society's burdens and benefits, taking into account spatial variations in people's needs and in their contribution to the production of wealth and social well-being |
state | independent political unit with territorial boundaries that are internationally recognized by other states |
structural adjustment policies | economic policies, mostly associated with the International Monetary Fund, that required governments to cut budgets and liberalize trade in return for debt relief |
supranational organization | collection of individual states with a common economic and/or political goal that diminishes, to some extent, individual state sovereignty in favor of the collective interests of the membership |
sustainable development | vision of development that seeks a balance among economic growth, environmental impacts, and social equity |
tertiary activity | economic activity involving the sale and exchange of goods and services |
World Bank | development bank and the largest source of development assistance in the world |
world region | large-scale geographic division based on continental and physiographic settings that contain major clusters of humankind with broadly similar cultural attributes |
world-system | interdependent system of linked by political and economic competition |