Key Terms 1-3

Place

A specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular characteristic

Region

An area defined by one or more natural or cultural characteristics that set it apart from other areas

Space

The physical gap or interval between two objects

Cartography

the science and practice of drawing maps

Environmental Determinism

the physical environment causes social development

Possibilism

The physical environment may limit some human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to their environment.

Scale

the relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole

Connection

Relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space.

Map

A two-dimensional, or flat, representation of Earth's surface or a portion of it.

Projection

the scientific method of transferring locations on Earth's surface to a flat map

Meridian

An arc drawn on a map between the north and south poles

Longitude

Distance east or west of the prime meridian, how a meridian's location is identified

Parallel

A circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator

Latitude

The numbering system to identify a parallel's location

Resource

a substance in the environment that is useful to people

Conservation

the sustainable use of resources to provide for human life without depleting Earth's resources

Ecology

the study of ecosystems on Earth

Prime Meridian

the meridian at 0 degrees longitude (the one in the middle of Earth)

Sustainablity

The use of Earth's resources in ways that ensure their availability in the future

Renewable resource

produced in nature more rapidly than it is consumed by humans

Nonrenewable Resource

produced in nature more slowly than it is consumed by humans

Preservation

The maintenance of resources in their present condition, with as little human impact as possible

Cultural Ecology

the geographic study of human-environment relationships

Ecosystem

A group of living organisms and the abiotic spheres with which they interact

Sex ratio

The number of males per 100 females in the population (the standard biological level is 105:100)

Maternal Mortality Rate

The annual number of female deaths per 100,000 live births from any cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy

Population Pyramid

a bar graph that displays the percentage of a place's population for each age and gender

Dependency ratio

The number of people under age 15 and over age 64 compared to the number of people active in the labor force

Infant Mortality Rate

The annual number of deaths of infants under 1 year of age, compared with total live births

Elderly support ratio

The number of working-age people (ages 15 to 64) divided by the number of persons 65 and older.

Epidemiology

the branch of medicine that deals with the incidence, distribution, and possible control of diseases and other factors relating to health.

Epidemiological transition

Over time mortality rates have gone down when sanitation became better but low income countries are still struggling

Pandemic

An epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region affecting a substantial number of people

Overpopulation

The number of people in an area exceeds the capacity of the environment to support life at a decent standard of living.

Census

the single most important data source for population geographers; a total population count

Ecumene

The areas of Earth's surface occupied by permanent human settlement

Arithmetic Density

The total number of people divided by total land area

Physiological Density

the number of people supported by a unit area of arable land

Agricultural Density

The ratio of the number of farmers to the amount of arable land

State

An area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government

Microstate

a state with a very small land area

City-state

a sovereign state that compromises a town and the surrounding countryside

Self-determination

Concept that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves

Multiethnic state

A state that contains more than one ethnicity

Multinational state

a state that contains more than one ethnicity with traditions of self-determination and self-government

Colony

A territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than completely independent.

Colonialism

an effort by one country to establish settlements in a territory and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles on that territory

Boundary

An invisible line that marks the extent of a state's territory

Frontier

A zone separating two states in which neither state exercises complete political control.

Democracy

A country where citizens elect leaders and can run for office

Autocracy

A country that is run according to the interests of the ruler rather than the people

Anocracy

A country that is not fully democratic or fully autocratic, but rather displays a mix of the two types.

Unitary state

places most power in the hands of central government officials within the country

Federal state

allocates strong power to units of local government within the country

Gerrymandering

Process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power.

Agriculture

The deliberate modification of Earth's surface through the cultivation of crops and rearing of animals

Crop

any plant cultivated by people

Agricultural Revolution

The time when human beings first domesticated plants and animals and no longer relied entirely on hunting and gathering

Subsistence Agrictulture

The production of food primarily for consumption by the farmer's family (while selling the excess)

Commercial Agriculture

the production of food primarily for sale off the farm

Pastoral Nomadism

A form of subsistence agriculture based on herding domesticated animals in dry climates where planting is impossible

Shifting Agriculture

When an area of ground is cleared of vegetation and cultivated for a few years than abandoned for a few years until it's fertility is returned

Slash-and-burn Agriculture

When farmers clear land for planting by slashing vegetation and burning the debris

Swidden

an area of land cleared by slashing and burning vegetation

Intensive Subsistence Agriculture

Implies that farmers must work intensively to subsist on a parcel of land

Double Cropping

When land is used more intensively in parts of Asia by obtaining two harvests per year from one field

Wet Rice

rice planted on dry land in a nursery and then moved to as seedlings to a flooded field to promote growth

Sawah

what a flooded field is called in Indonesia

Paddy

The Malay word for wet rice, increasingly used to describe a flooded field.

Crop rotation

The practice of rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year, to avoid exhausting the soil.

Fishing

The capture of wild fish and other seafood living in the water

Aquaculture

The cultivation of seafood under controlled conditions (also known as aquafarming)

Overfishing

Capturing fish faster than they can produce

Agribusiness

The system of commercial farming found in developed countries

Horticulture

The growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers.

Truck farming

commercial gardening and fruit farming

Mixed crop and livestock farming

integration of crops and livestock, with most of the crops being fed to the animals

Dairy farm

specializes in the production of milk and other dairy products

Milkshed

The ring surrounding a city from which milk can be supplied without spoiling

Ranching

The commercial grazing of livestock over an extensive area

Industrial Revolution

A series of improvements in industrial technology that transformed the process of manufacturing goods.

Cottage Industry

A system of home-based manufacturing.

Animate Power

Power supplied by animals or by people themselves.

Biomass Fuel

Fuel that derives from plant material and animal waste; burned directly or converted.

Fossil Fuel

An energy source formed from the residue of plants and animals buried millions of years ago

Proven Reserve

the supply of energy remaining in deposits that have been discovered

Potential Reserve

the supply in deposits that are undiscovered but thought to exist

Fission

A process where a nuclear power plant produces electricity from energy released by splitting uranium atoms in a controlled environment

Fusion

The fusing of hydrogen atoms to form helium

Geothermal Energy

Energy from steam or hot water produced from hot or molten underground rocks.

Passive solar energy systems

systems that capture energy without using special devices

Active solar energy systems

systems that collect solar energy and convert it either to heat energy or to electricity

Pollution

Occurs when more waste is added than air, water, and land resources can handle

Air Pollution

concentration of trace substances at a greater level than occurs in average air

Greenhouse effect

The increase in Earth's temperature, caused by carbon dioxide trapping some of the radiation emitted by the surface

Ozone

gas that absorbs ultraviolet solar radiation, found in the stratosphere

Chlorofluorocarbons

Pollutants that are destroying the ozone layer.

Acid deposition

the accumulation of acids on Earth's surface

acid precipitation

Conversion of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides to acids that return to Earth as rain, snow, or fog

photochemical smog

forms when hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides are in the presence of sunlight