Human Geography Unit 1 & Development Lecture Notes

Flashcards covering vocabulary from Unit 1 through Unit 7 of Human Geography, including cartography, map projections, urban land use, economic development models, and global agricultural systems.

Cartography

The practice of drawing maps.

Meridians

Lines that allow for accurate travel across oceans by comparing local time to GMT.

Time Zones

Areas set by meridians where every $15^{\circ}$ represents $1\,hr$ of time difference.

Prime Meridian

The standard meridian where moving east adds time and moving west subtracts time.

Latitude

A circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator and at right angles to the meridians.

Place

A specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular character.

Scale

The relationship between the real-world size of a geographic feature and its representation on a map.

Space

The physical gap between two objects.

Connection

The relationships among people and objects across the barriers of space.

Absolute Location

The exact position of a place using longitude and latitude.

Relative Location

The location of a place in relation to a known landmark.

Census

A national report on population used by governments, businesses, and at almost every scale for distribution and growth decisions.

Quantitative Data

Information that is strictly numerical.

Qualitative Data

Information relating to opinions or descriptive observations based on surveys, interviews, and field studies.

GIS (Geographic Information System)

A system used to measure and track exact locations on the globe, allowing images and data to be combined onto a map.

GPS (Global Positioning System)

A system used to pinpoint an exact location on a map.

Choropleth Map

A thematic map that uses shaded patterns to represent statistics.

Dot-density Map

A thematic map that uses dots to represent specific values or data points.

Isoline Map

A map that uses continuous lines to indicate specific values.

Graduated Symbol Map

A map that changes symbol size to represent different data values.

Cartogram

A map that changes the size of a state or country to represent statistical information like population.

Mercator Projection

A map projection used primarily for navigation because it represents lines of constant course, though it distorts the size of landmasses at higher latitudes.

Gall-Peters Projection

A map projection where all areas represent the correct size, though it distorts the actual shapes.

Robinson Projection

A classroom map projection created as a compromise to balance size and shape distortions in a flat image.

Goode Homolosine

An equal-area map projection presented with interruptions, useful for showing spatial distribution.

Possibilism

The theory that humans are the primary determinant of culture and alter the environment based on their needs.

Environmental Determinism

The theory that the physical environment is the primary determinant of human culture.

Site

The physical characteristics of a location, which is a major factor in deciding where to build a settlement.

Situation

The location of a place relative to another place.

Distance Decay

The phenomenon where the interaction between two locales declines as the distance between them increases.

Space-time Compression

The reduction in the time it takes for something to reach another place.

Arithmetic Density

The total number of objects in a specific area.

Physiological Density

The number of persons per unit of area suitable for agriculture.

Agricultural Density

The number of farmers per unit area of farmland.

Ecology

The branch of biology dealing with the relations of organisms to one another and their physical surroundings.

Sustainability

The ability to maintain a way of living without causing the destruction of the environment in the future.

Köppen System

A climate classification map using letters: A (Tropical), B (Dry), C (Temperate Mid-latitude), D (Cold Mid-latitude), and E (Polar).

Complementarity

A condition where trade is greater because each side has something the other wants.

Comparative Advantage

When one trade partner is better at a specific activity, such as agriculture or manufacturing, than another.

Neoliberalism

Policies that favor free market economies and privatization over government control, often seeking to lower tariffs.

Large Scale Maps

Maps showing a smaller geographic area with a high level of detail.

Small Scale Maps

Maps showing a larger geographic area with a low level of detail.

Human Development Index (HDI)

A UN measurement of development based on three factors: a decent living standard, a long healthy life, and access to knowledge.

Gender Inequality Index (GII)

A measure of opportunities available in a country based on maternal mortality, adolescent birth rate, parliamentary seats, and education; a score of $0$ is equal, and $1$ is unequal.

Rostow's Model of Development

A five-level model including Traditional Society, Preconditions to Takeoff, Takeoff, Drive to Maturity, and Age of Mass Consumption.

Outsourcing

Moving jobs outside an area where a company is located to create a comparative advantage or find less regulation.

Blockbusting

A practice where people are convinced to sell homes cheaply because another ethnic group is moving in, aiming for de facto segregation.

Redlining

The refusal of loans to certain urban areas to prevent specific groups from buying homes.

Gentrification

The renewal or rebuilding of low-income neighborhoods, which increases property value but can displacement existing residents.

Squatter Settlements

Residential developments built without legal ownership of the land, typically found on the edge of cities.

Suburban Sprawl

The unrestricted and endless expansion of urban areas into the surrounding countryside.

Brownfield

Abandoned sites within cities that have environmental contamination.

Central Place Theory

Christaller's theory explaining the distribution of goods and services across a region featuring a market center.

Range

The maximum distance people are willing to travel for a service.

Threshold

The minimum number of people required to support a service.

Bid Rent Theory

The theory that land closer to the Central Business District (CBD) is more expensive and has higher rent.

Brusselization

The destruction of old buildings for modern, taller ones without care for the original culture or history.

Food Deserts

Areas with no supermarkets within a quarter mile, low household income, and high lack of car ownership.

Smart Growth

Urban planning that encourages moving to gentrified cities to reduce sprawl.

New Urbanism

An urban design movement where homes and businesses are closely located to reduce commutes and increase public transport use.

Primate City

The leading city in a country in terms of size and influence.

Rank-size Rule

The rule stating that the largest city is usually $50\%$ larger than the next largest city.

Gravity Model

A model measuring the likelihood that people will be pulled toward a city based on its size and function.

Infrastructure

The basic framework of a society, including electrical grids, public transport, water/sewage, and roads.

Wallerstein's World System Theory

A model dividing countries into Core (consumers), Semi-periphery (manufacturers), and Periphery (raw material providers).

Megacities

Large urban centers with a population greater than $10\,million$.

Metacities

Clusters of megacities that together house $20\,million$ people or more.

Boomburg

A rapidly growing suburban city that forms its own metropolitan area.

Edge City

An economic center on the edge of a city, typically located near a major road.

Primary Sector

Economic activities involving the extraction of raw materials from the Earth, such as coal mining or fishing.

Secondary Sector

Economic activities involving the refining of raw materials into products, such as an iPhone factory or automobile manufacturing.

Tertiary Sector

Economic activities involving the selling of goods and services, such as a clerk or teacher.

Quaternary Sector

Specialized economic services dealing with information or other people's money, such as banking or research and development.

Quinary Sector

High-level administrative economic roles, such as CEOs or government officials.

Agglomeration

The clustering together of competing firms to share costs.

Monocropping

The practice of growing a single crop, such as maize or soy, year after year on the same land.

Agribusiness

Commercial farming operations that consolidate smaller farms and utilize heavy investment and technology.

Von Thünen Model

A model showing the distance at which farming becomes unprofitable, including rings for market gardening, forest, field crops, and ranching.

Desertification

The degradation process where fertile land turns into desert, often caused by over-irrigation and over-farming.

Soil Salinization

The accumulation of water-soluble salts in soil layers that adversely affects crop yields.