Flashcards GEOG 1010, Adam Payne, Exam 1

Climate

Overall/ long term weather pattern in an area over a long period of time

Weather

The condition of Earth's atmosphere at a particular time and place often described as short term or even daily basis

Three world climate regions:

tropical, temperate, polar

Global climate change examples

Pleistocene Ice Age and Little Ice Age

Colonization

physical process whereby the colonizer takes over another place, putting its own government in charge and either moving its own people into the place or bringing in indentured outsiders to gain control of the people and the land

The five themes of geography

(2 main divisions; physical geography and human geography)

1.) Movement

2.) Region

3.) Human Environment

4.) Location

5.) Place

Contagious Diffusion

The rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population; does NOT go through hierarchy. ex: disease

Core-Periphery Model

A model of the spatial structure of development in which underdeveloped countries are defined by their dependence on a developed core region. Middle is distinct but the further away from the core traits, the less noticable the traits are.

Cultural Geography

The subfield of human geography that looks at how cultures vary over space.

Physical Geography

the study of physical features of the earth's surface

Deforestation

The removal of trees faster than forests can replace themselves.

Where are deforestation problems occurring/ where have they occurred?

Tropical Rainforests, Eastern and Central Rainforests

Demographic Transition

The process of change in a society's population from a condition of high crude birth and death rates and low rate of natural increase to a condition of low crude birth and death rates, low rate of natural increase, and a higher total population. Spread from developed countries to the rest of the world. Earth pop is growing at a rate of 1.4% yearly.

Example of Demographic Transition

European Industrial Revolution; At the beginning of 20th Century there were around 1.6 billion in the world, one hundred years later there were around 6 billion.

Three largest population clusters:

Eastern China, South Asia, and Europe.

Expansion Diffusion

The spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in a snowballing process. Must go through a hierarchal chain to spread.

Formal Region

Based on physical and cultural traits; has a governmental, administrative, or political boundary and can have political as well as geographic boundaries that are not open to dispute or debate. ex: boundary of a national park

Functional Region

Functional regions have boundaries related to a practical function within a given area. When the function of an area ends, the functional region ends and its boundaries cease to exist. Have at least one node (where power resides); not universal; Functions can be social, political, or economical.

Geographic Information Science (GIScience)

The analysis of the interactions and distribution of many types of information using computer databases; also called GIS.

Globalization

Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope. Ex: Businesses

Hinterlands

City of Morehead is an example. The hinterland of Morehead has an economy based on agriculture, coal mining, and timber, which is typical of a peripheral region.

Human Environment Interaction

The study of the interrelationship between people and their physical environment; A critical paradigm; goes in a cycle. Ex: Roads

Latitude

Distance north or south of the equator

Longitude

Distance east or west of the prime meridian

Absolute location

Exact location of a place on the earth described by global coordinates of latitude and longitude.

Two types of location:

Absolute location (use GIS) and Relative Location

Relative Location

Where a place is located in relation to another place; verbally expressed often; can change in an instant.

Midwest Region

Has flat, grassy plains and large areas of forest;

Ex: Interior lowlands are midwest. (Check map)

Three types of movement:

People, goods, and intangibles

4 Types of Migration:

immigration (into country), emigration (out of country to another), in-movement (migrating to a certain region within a country), out-movement (movement of people within a country)

Neocolonialism

Economic dominance of a weaker country by a more powerful one, while maintaining the legal independence of the weaker state. In the late nineteenth century, this new form of economic imperialism characterized the relations between the Latin American republics; This neocolonialism (new colonialism or corporate colonialism), like European colonialism, continues to exploit natural resources, labor, and markets for economic profits. Ex: Businesses producing goods in a country regardless of the type of power running said country.

Place

uniqueness of a location

Region

An area distinguished by a unique combination of trends or features.

Types are formal, functional, and vernacular.

Relocation diffusion

When one trait is moved from point A to point B

Scale

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

Spatial Perspective

A way of looking at the human and physical patterns on Earth and their relationships to one another

Stimulus Diffusion

The spread of a concept in which the specifics of a concept have changed. Ex: Domestication Ex: Chopstix

Tectonic Plates

Sections of the Earth's crust that move due to convection currents; they affect human activity;

Transition Zones

Area where the characteristics of one region gradually change into those of another.

Vernacular Region

An area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity; can be highly contested

Ex: The South

Central Business District

The downtown or nucleus of a city where retail stores, offices, and cultural activities are concentrated; building densities are usually quite high; and transportation systems converge.

Five physical (physiographic) Regions of North America:

1.) Canadian Shield

2.) Interior Lowlands

3.) The Great Plains

4.) Piedmont

5.) The Coastal Plain

Canadian Shield

First part of the North American landmass to emerge above sea level; important for lumber and hydropower.

Interior Lowlands

Main economic mainstay is farming, composed of gently rolling farms with good soil, needs very little irrigation. (midwest)

The Great Plains

A mostly flat and grassy region of western North America; runs from Canada to Texas; Western boundary is easy to find but Eastern is not; Use Center Pivot Irrigation (circles to cover everywhere).

Piedmont

Area of once extremely fertile soil; tobacco used to be grown here until it took the fertilization out; (East Coast); Eastern edge has the fall line in which the land moving eastward falls- huge cities are at the fall line.

The Coastal Plain

Dry/Sandy soil; plantations rather than small farms; subpar soil; cotton is grown at a major scale here. (Most of the South)

Characteristics/Geographic Qualities of North America:

Resource Wealth and Diversity Includes:

1.) Energy (resource rich)

2.) Natural Gas (can export)

3.) Oil (Canada has tons but extraction there is hard)

4.) Hydroelectric Power (US 4th largest, Canada 3rd)

5.) Windpower (US is top in energy created via windpower)

Cultural Hearth

Heartland, source area, innovation center; place of origin of a major culture.

Economic Sectors

Economic activity that is neither taxed nor monitored by a government; and is not included in that government's Gross National Product (GNP); as opposed to a formal economy.

Ecumene

The portion of Earth's surface occupied by permanent human settlement.

Eras of US Immigration

17th & 18th centuries (European colonists, African slaves)

Late 19th & early 20th centuries (European immigrants)

Late 20th & early 21st centuries (Asian & Latin American immigrants)

Five Economic Productive Activities

1.) Primary (taking raw materials from earth - agriculture, mining)

2.) Secondary (manufacturing - textile or auto industries)

3.) Tertiary (providing goods or services)

4.) Quaternary (knowledge based, tech, media etc)

5.) Quinary (requires highest levels of decision making such as gov't, universities etc)

Industrialization

The development of industries for the machine production of goods.

Inuit

Nomadic hunter gatherers sometimes referred to as eskimos; indigenous people in the Canadian territories; own Nunavut

Long lots

Lots owned by Canadians in Quebec, very elongated, allowed you to only have enough land for yourself; French

Manifest Destiny

A notion held by a nineteenth-century Americans that the United States was destined to rule the continent, from the Atlantic the Pacific.

Megapolis

An urban agglomeration that stretches from Washington DC to Boston; huge urban region formed when two or more metropolitan areas grow together.

Nunavut

Canadian territory that was given to the Inuit, in which they could live with autonomy, or the right to govern themselves.

Parti Quebecois

A Quebec provincial party that advocates separation from Canada

Quebec Separatism:

The Parti Quebecois wants to secede from Canada and go back to French roots

Population size of US

316 million people, 5% of worlds population

Population size of Canada

36 million people, 10:1 ratio with America

Quebec Referendum

1995, basically asked people of Quebec if they wanted to leave or not, 50.5% said no so they stayed

Sun Belt

U.S. region, mostly comprised of southeastern and southwestern states, which has grown most dramatically since World War II; Southern cities such as Atlanta, Memphis, Dallas, or Phoenix act as core centers of commerce for the South in the region.

Rust Belt

The northern industrial states of the United States, including Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, in which heavy industry was once the dominant economic activity. In the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, these states lost much of their economic base to economically attractive regions of the United States and to countries where labor was cheaper, leaving old machinery to rust in the moist northern climate.

2 Components of the Canadian Core

Quebec and Ontario

Languages in Canada (via Official Languages Act)

English and French

1995 Second Quebec Referendum outcome

50.5% / 49.5%; No separation

Urbanization

An increase in the percentage and in the number of people living in urban settlements

Altiplanos

A high plain, found in west-central South America by the Andes Mountains

Altidudinal zonation

Describes the natural layering of ecosystems that occurs at distinct altitudes due to varying environmental conditions

Tierra Caliente

Spanish term for "hot land"; the lowest altitude zone of Latin American highlands climates

Tierra Templada

Spanish term for "temperate land"; the middle altitude zone of Latin American highlands climates

Tierra Fria

Spanish term for "cold land"; the highest altitude zone of Latin American highlands climates

Tierra Helada

Spanish term for "frozen land"; a zone of permanent snow and ice on the peaks of the Andes

Tierra Nevada

The highest and coldest altitudinal zone in Andean South America (lying above 4500 meters [15,000 ft]), an uninhabitable environment of permanent snow and ice that extends upward to the Andes' highest peaks of more than 6000 meters (20,000 ft).

Archipelago

A group of islands

Characteristics of Geography in Latin America

Extends through 90° of latitude; Mostly lies within the tropics; Most landforms due to tectonic plate action and erosion; Andes Mountains; Sierra Madre Mountains; Earthquakes - Mexico City 1985; Volcanic eruptions - Montserrat 1995; Coral reefs

Mountain ranges in Latin America

Sierra Madre Occidental, Sierra Madre Oriental, Sierra Madre del Sure, Andes Mountains

Grasslands in Latin America

Llanos and Pampas

Deserts in Latin America

Patagonia, Monte, Atacama

Rivers in Latin America

Amazon River, Rio de la Plata

Rainforests in Latin America

Cover 1/3 of South America, Amazon rainforest is most famous

Plateaus in Latin America

Brazilian Highlands; Guiana Highlands; Patagonia Plateau

Coca

a bush that grows in the Andes and produces cocaine

Cocaine Trade

Primarily in Northern Andes; cultivated in Peru and Bolivia; Processed in Columbia

Colombia

Known for cocaine; in Andean South America; highest incomes

Deforestation in Latin America

Happening in the Amazon rainforest, main cause is cattle ranching, minor causes are agriculture and logging

Ejidos

Lands owned and worked by groups of Mexican Indians

Encomienda

A grant of authority over a population of Amerindians in the Spanish colonies. It provided the grant holder with a supply of cheap labor and periodic payments of goods by the Amerindians. It obliged the grant holder to Christianize the Amerindians.

FARC

Revolutionary armed forces of Colombia, lead a civil war in Colombia (funded by cocaine), controls large area of Colombia

Hacienda

Spanish estates in the Americas that were often plantations. They often represent the gradual removal of land from peasant ownership and a type of feudalistic order where the owners of Haciendas would have agreements of loyalty to the capital but would retain control over the actual land. This continued even into the 20th century.

Isthmus

A land bridge; Central America

Latin America City Model

Middle is the central business district (downtown) that includes plazas; then there is the elite residential sector; next is the zone of maturity (middle class living; then the zone of accretion (transitional zone); followed by the zone of peripheral squatter settlements where immigrants, poor folk, and slums are.

Machu Picchu

Abandoned city high in the Andes mountains that showcases the architectural genius of the Inca

Rimland

Various European colonies; Lowlands - Tierra Caliente; Euro-African (mulatto) population; High degree of accessibility

Mainland

Spanish colonies; Highlands; Euro-Amerindian (mestizo) population; Isolated

Mayans

600- 800 A.D.; Lingua Franca (language of business); Ukatan, Belize, and Guatamala; 213 Million people

Aztec

(1200-1521) 1300, they settled in the valley of Mexico. Grew corn. Engaged in frequent warfare to conquer others of the region; weren't killed off by white people; over 25 million; ended by Spanish colonization; Cortez tricked people into thinking he was a God and took over.