Ap Human Geography Unit 4 Vocabulary

Annexation

Legally adding land area to a city in the United States, or legally adding land area to a country in the world.
Ex. Poland with Germany and Russia or Chicago with urban sprawl.

Antarctica

It is the largest land mass in the world not part of a sovereign state. Territorial claims are suspended on Antarctica.

Apartheid

Laws previously in South Africa that separated different races into different geographic areas.
Ex. The US-Mexican border is a desert with people speaking Spanish and English on both sides.

Balkanization

A small geographic area that could not be organized in to a larger state due to conflicting ethnicities.
Ex. Yugoslavia in to several new nations.

Definitional Boundary Disputes

focus on the legal language of the treaty for the boundary.
Ex. Native American treaties

Locational Boundary Disputes

is when the definition is not in dispute but the interpretation is.
Ex. Saudi Arabia and Yemen/Oman/UAE

Operational Boundary Disputes

is a dispute of how a boarder should function.
Ex. Iraq and Iran with the Persian Gulf

Allocational Boundary Disputes

occurs over a resource on a boundary between two countries.
Ex. Iraq and Kuwait 1991

Antecedent Boundary Origin

is how the boundary evolves over time.
Ex. Western Europe and Eastern Europe

Subsequent Boundary Origin

a boundary that was created before today's cultural landscape.
Ex. the US/Mexican border

Superimposed Boundary Origin

are created through long term processes.
Ex. Africa

Relic Boundary Origin

forced on inhabitants to solve a problem or conflict.
Ex. Pakistan/India

Natural/Physical Boundary Type

a physical environment is used as a boundary.
Ex. The four corners of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico

Ethnocentric/cultural Boundary Type

is used when cultural difference divides a region and is used as a reference to create a boundary.
Ex. France and Spain with the Pyrenees Mts.

Geometric Boundary Type

a boundary drawn by a grid system.
Ex. Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Boundary Process (definition)

through a treaty, or legal like document, sets longitude and latitude.
Ex. Germany after world war one with the treaty of Paris

Boundary Process (delimitation)

drawing the boundary on a map.
Ex. Europeans dividing up Africa for themselves

Boundary Process (demarcation)

the boundary using steel posts.
Ex. the US/Mexican border at points with a fence.

Buffer State

a state created between two warring or hostile regions to ease tensions between the two bordering regions.
Ex. Poland after World War II

Capital

something that is owed, which provides ongoing services. In the national account, or to firms, its made up of durable investment goods, normally summed in units of money. Basic: land + physical structures + equipment. the idea is used in models and in the national accounts.
Ex. Man labor

Centrifugal

Moving or directed away from a center or axis.
Ex. A country that imposes higher taxes.

Centripetal

An attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support from a state.
Ex. People that tend to speak the same language will more likely live in the same area.

City-State

A sovereign state compromising a city and immediate hinterland.
Ex. Sparta, Athens, and Corinth in Greece.

Colonialism

Attempt by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles in another territory.
Ex. Great Britain owned Pakistan and India during colonialism and lost control of them during decolonization periods.

Confederation

a group of empowered states or communities, usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution.

Conference of Berlin

(1884-1885) regulated European colonization and trade in Africa during the New imperialism period, and coincided with Germany's sudden emergence as an imperial power. Called for by Portugal and organized by Otto von Bismarck, the first Chancellor of Germany, its outcome, the General Act of the Berlin Conference.
Ex. The beginning part of colonialism, Henry Morton Stanley's discovery of the Congo River Basin (1874-1877) removed the last bit of terra incognita.

Core-Periphery

Based on the notion that as one region or state expands in economic prosperity, it must engulf regions nearby to ensure ongiong economic and political success. The area of high growth becomes known as the core, and the neighboring area is the periphery.
Ex. Minneapolis and as it grows bigger the surrounding suburbs like Plymouth, Minnetonka, Eden Prairie, and Bloomington.

Decolonization

refers to the undoing of colonialism, the establishment of governance or authority through the creation of settlements by another country or jurisdiction.
Ex. Pakistan and India became independent in 1947 from Great Britain

devolution

granting of powers from the central government of a state to government at national, regional, or local level.
Ex. Britain devolved power to wills to Wales, northern Ireland, and Scotland.

domino theory

if one land in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect.

EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone)

a sea zone over which a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources. This is significant, for example, in the Caspian Sea. There has been much conflict over the debate of who has control of the resources in the sea.

Electoral Regions

regions that hold seats in Parliament or Congress.
Ex. great Britain, there are many electoral regions that serve the people In Parliament.

Enclave

country or part of a country mostly surrounded by the territory of another country.
Ex. Lesthoso

Exclave

Portion of a state that is completely surrounded by another state. This is significant because conflict may arise in this region of a state.
Ex. Armenia, the southern part of the country is completley surrounded by Azerbaijan.

Ethnic Conflict

A war between ethnic groups, often as a result of ethnic nationalism. There have been lots of ethnic conflicts throughout the last century.
Ex. Rawnda, conflict between the Hutu and the Tutsis.

European Union

a political and economic community of twety-seven member states with supranational and intergovernmental features, located in Europe.
Ex. The EU is an example of a supranational organization that promotes economic and political stability in the member states.

Federal

An internal organizationof a state that allocates most powers to units of local government. This model can be seen in the US. The idea of devolution plays in this as well, because a lot of power has been devolved to local governments, like in the US.

Forward Capital

moving a nation's capital to another area within the state to make a statement or create economic growth.
Ex. Pakistan moved its capital to Islamabad to make a statement to India.

Frontier

a zone separeating two states in which neither state exercises political control. The significance is that the area between the two states is neutral; an example of this would be the Arabian Peninsula, where frontiers seperate Saudi Arabia from Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen.

Geopolitics

The study that analyzes geography,tory, and social sciencewith reference to spatial politics and patterns at various scales. And Example would be seen in Nigeria. Nigeria has had a history of military rule that has captialized on the oil, found in the Delta region.

Gerrymander

Process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power. tThis is used in politics to give an advantage to the political party in power.

Global Commons

It mean sthat no on person or state may own or control a certain region. This is significant because this helps preserve the rain forests, oceans, and land masses.

Heartland/rimland

refers to the central areas of a country. This is significant because areas outside of the heartland may not be accessible to the heartland. An example in the United States is the Midwestern region.

Immigrant States

A state which has inherited large amounts of immigrants.
Ex. US

International Organization

organization with international membership, scope, or presence
Ex. OPEC, UN.

Iron Curtain

symbolic, ideological, and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II until the end of the Cold War, roughly 1945 to 1991.
Ex. Soviet Union controlled Eastern Europe, which bordered Western Europe, which was democratic and created a curtain.

Irredentism

the position that a state should be annexed because of ethnicity of prior historical possession.
Ex. Cyprus, Turkey claims it because throughout most history a Turkish state has controlled the island, but the now independent former British colony half of Cyprus claims the Turkish part of the Island because of a cultural and ethnic difference from the Turkish.

Israel/Palestine

this region has taken center stage in the realm of international politics, It leads as another great example of irredentism. it holds the debate of a Jewish historical possession and ethnic minority in 1946 versus the historical possession of the Palestinians and their ethnic majoriyt in 1946.

Landlocked

a country with no direct access to a sea or ocean.
Ex. Jordan, Moldova, Blarus, Bolivia, Chad.

Law of the Sea

The law set forth in UNCLOS put the boundaries for territorial waters to international waters, it also created the EEZ.
Ex. The EEZ is 200 nautical miles out from the country's coast.

Lebanon

held in the Ottoman Empire for most of history, it was ceded to the French after world war one, given independence in 1941. It lost with the Arab league in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. It then became the largest location for Palestinian refugees. Lebanon remains a base for the PlO in attacks o Israel and is a turbulent country with Syria pushing for control. Today it is under a UN peacekeeping mission.

Mackinder, Halford J.

he made it that Human Geography is treated as a single discipline. Founded the Heartland theory which founded Geopolitics as an area of study. The heartland theory stated that the heartland of the world was between the Volga to the Yangtze and the Himalayas to the Arctic. In the heartland the world was the most populous and most rich. The Americas and England and Australia are on the periphery of the heartland. He stated that whoever controlled the heartland controlled the world.

Manifest Destiny

the idea that it is the God given right of a country or people to have control of some land not yet under their control
Ex. President James Polk declared this, and declared manifest destiny for the American people on all the west.

Iedian-line Principle

the distribution of water rights between countries. Deciding water rights on overlapping EEZs.
Ex. Russia making natural gas rights with Azerbaijan in the Caspian sea.

Microstate

a state with a very small land area or population
Ex. Vatican City, Monaco, Singapore.

Nation

a homogenous ethnic group.
Ex. Italians, Kurds, Azeri, Polish.

National Iconography

a study of the national icon such as paintings or even stereotypes that characterize a country or nationality.
Ex. hammer and sickle for Russia, Apple pie of America.

Nation-state

a state that is populated by a homogeneous ethnic group.
Ex. Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Japan, Denmark.

Nunavut

Furthest north province of Canada, closest to Greenland. Created in late 90's.

Raison d'etre

French for "reason of being"
Ex. NATO has lost its reason of being, because the soviet union now does not exist.

Reapportionment

the process on how house of representative seats are reassigned among states to reflect population changes.
Ex. Minnesota might lose one seat in the house after the next census because we are not growing fast enough.

Regionalism

the process of dividing something up by regions according to their similarities in specific topics.
Ex. "bible belt", "great plains", "Anglo-America"

Religious Conflict

Conflict based on religious difference
Ex. Sunni versus Shiite in the Ottoman-Persian wars, or in Ireland between Catholics and Protestants.

Reunification

taking a divided country or region and bringing it back together
Ex. After the American civil war, or the reunification of Germany in 1989.-Ex. USSR was a communist country and the United States was worried that the neighboring countries would soon fall under communism reign as well.

Satellite State

a political term that refers to a country which is formally independdnt, but under heavy influence or control by another country. This is significant because this is what propelled the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union used military influence in countries like Ukraine, Georgia and the other countries in that region. The Soviet Union gained control of these nations and used them to their advantage.

Self-determination

a principle that explains that all people have the right to freely determine their political statue and freely pursue their economic, social, and cultural development.
Ex. US

Shatter belt

the area in eastern Europe after the Soviet Union collapsed. The newly created states were referred to have "shattered" the map, and the term was created.

Sovereignty

the exclusive right to complete control over an area of governance, people, or oneself.
Ex. US

State

a political association with effective dominion over a geographic area. It usually consists of institutions that claim authority to make rules that govern the nation
Ex. Mexico or US

stateless nation

term used to imply that a group, usually minority, ethnic group is a nation, and is entitled to its own state, specifically a nation-state for that nation.

Suffrage

the civil right to vote, or the exercise of that right. This was important in the US because in 1920, women were given the right to vote.

Supranationalism

a method of decision-making in political communities, wherein power is held by independent appointed officials or by representatives elected by the legislatures or people of the member states
Ex.European Union. The EU helps the member nations maintain economic stability.

Territorial disputes

a disagreement over the possession/control of land between two or more states, or over the possession or control of land by one state after it has conquered it from a former state no longer currently recognized by the occupying power.

Territorial morphology

how a state is shaped. Significant because it is a factor in political disputes.

Theocracy

A form of government in which a God or a deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler.
Ex. Iran. Clerics help rule gov.

Treaty ports

port cities in China, Japan, and Korea that opened for foreign trade. A lot of western powers took advantage of these cities by stationing troops in these ports.

UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea)

the international agreement that resulted for the third UNSLOS, which took place from 1973 through 1982. The Law of the Sea Convention defines the rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the worlds oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources.

Unitary

a state of country whose three organs of state are governed constitutionally as one single unit, with tone constitutionally created legislature. powers are devolved, to an extent, to lower level governments.
Ex. United Kingdom. The UK has been slowly devolving power to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

USSR collapse

collapsed in 1991. This was significant because many states were created after the fall of the USSR and communism fell as well in that region. Democracy began to take over the region.

Women's enfranchisement

this was significant because this gave the women the right to vote. In the US, women were give the right to vote in 1920.

Country

an identifiable land area

Multi-national states

made up of different nations represented by various culture groups

Nationalism

derives from an existing culture group desiring political representation or independence

Federal states and confederations

provide military protection, administer foreign diplomacy, and regulate trade

Autonomous regions

parts of nations granted freedom from central authority for various reasons

Semi-autonomous regions

have the same freedom as autonomous regions but to a lesser degree

Territoriality

the expression of political control over space

Citizenship

the legal authority of a person based on the state where they were born or naturalized

Political boundaries

expressions of political control that must be definable and clear

Territorial sea

sovereign territory from shore out to the 12-nautical-mile limit

Feudalism

political economy with aristocracy

Absolute monarchy

supreme aristocrat serving as both head of state and head of government

Constitutional monarchy

a form of government where the supreme aristocrat remains head of state, but the leader of the elected parliament is the head of government

Prime minister (premier

the leader of the elected parliament who appoints senior members of parliament to be ministers of executive-branch rights