AP Human Geography Unit 5 Vocabulary

Agriculture

The purposeful cultivation of plants or raising of animals to produce goods for survival

Climate regions

Areas that have similar climate patterns generally based on their latitude and their location on coasts or continental interiors

Mediterranean agriculture

Growing hardy trees (olive, fruit, and nut trees) and shrubs (grape vines) and raising sheep and goats

Subsistence agriculture

Grow and raise a diverse range of crops and livestock for their family’s consumption

Commercial agriculture

Farmers growing crops and raise livestock for profit to sell to customers, who buy these goods in a form of agriculture

Central business district (CBD)

Center of the city where accessibility of the location attracts services

Bid-rent theory

How lang value determines how a farmer will use the land

Intensive agriculture

Farmers expend a great deal of effort to produce as much yield as possible from an area of land

Clustered settlement

Which residents live in close proximity

Dispersed settlements

Houses and buildings are isolated from one another, and all the homes in a settlement are distributed over a relatively large area

Linear settlement

Houses and buildings extend in a long line that usually follows a land feature (riverfront, coast, or hill)

Monocropping

The cultivation of one or two crops that are rotated seasonally

Monoculture

Planting one crop or raising one type of animal annually

Crop rotation

The varying of crops from year to year to allow for the restoration of valuable nutrients and the continuing productivity of the soil

Plantation agriculture

Large-scale commercial farming of one particular crop grown for markets often distant from the plantation

Market agriculture

Farming that produces fruits, vegetables, and flowers and typically serves a specific market, or urban area, where farmers can conveniently sell to local grocery stores, restaurants, farmers markets, and road stands

Mixed crop and livestock systems

Both crops and livestock are raised for profit

Extensive agriculture

Large areas of land with low inputs of capital and labor relative to the acreage

Shifting cultivation

The practice of growing crops of grazing animals on a piece of land for a year or two, then abandoning that land when the nutrients have been depleted from the soil and moving to a new piece of land where the process is repeated

Slash and burn

Type of shifting cultivation; Cut down trees and brush, and after vegetation dries, burning this “slash” resulting in a nutrient-rich ash fertilizer

Nomadic herding

Moving animals seasonally or as needed to allow the best grazing

Transhumance

Movement of herds between pastures at cooler, higher elevations during the summer months and lower elevations during the winter

Domestication

The deliberate effort to grow plants and raise animals, making plants and animals adapt to human demand, and using selective breeding to develop desirable characteristics

Foragers

Small nomadic groups who had primarily plant-based diets and ate small animals or fish for protein

Agricultural hearth

Each area where different groups began to domesticate plants and animals

Fertile Crescent

Hearth that forms an arc from the eastern Mediterranean coast up into what is now western Turkey and then south and east along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers through present-day Syria and Iraq to western parts of modern Iran

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of goods and ideas between the Americas, Europe, and Africa; began in 1492

First agricultural revolution

11,000 years ago; shift from foraging to farming; marked the beginning of agriculture

Second agricultural revolution

New practices and tools launched and diffused from Britain and Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands)

Enclosure system

Communal lands-lands owned by a community rather than by an individual-were replaced by farms owned by individuals and use of the land was restricted to the owner or tenants who rented the land from the owner

Third agricultural revolution

Began in 20th century; features further mechanization and the development of new technology, changes brought about by scientific and technological advances outside agriculture

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)

Enhance the ability of the new strains to resist disease or drought or to have more nutritional impact or consumer appeal

Green Revolution

Offshoot of the third agricultural revolution

Infrastructure

Fundamental, physical, and organizational structures for places to function (roads, utilities, and communication networks)

Dual agricultural economy

Two agricultural sectors in the same country or region that have different levels of technology and different patterns of demand

Agribusiness

Large-scale system that includes the production, processing, and distribution of agricultural products and equipment

Hybrid

Different varieties of plants are bred to enhance desired characteristics and improve disease resistance

Vertical integration

When a company controls more than one stage of the production process

Commodity chain

Complex network that connects places of production with distribution to consumers

Farm subsidies

U.S federal government to provide low-cost loans, insurance, and payments

Tariffs

Tax or duty to be paid on a particular import or export

Von Thunen Model

Hypothesizes that perishability of the product and transportation costs to the market each factor into a farmer’s decisions regarding agricultural practices

Global supply chains

Same as commodity chains but on a global scale

Cash crop

A crop that is produced for its commercial value

Fair trade

Global campaign to fix unfair wage practices and protect the ability of farmers to earn a living

Agricultural landscapes

Landscapes resulting from the interactions between farming activities and a location’s natural environment

Agroecosystem

An ecosystem modified for agricultural use

Deforestation

Loss of forest lands

Terracing

The process of carving parts of a hill or mountainside into small, level growing plots

Reservoirs

Artificial lakes created by building dams across streams and rivers

Aquifers

Layers of underground sand, gravel, and rocks that contain and can release a usable amount of water

Wetlands

Areas of land that are covered by or saturated with water (swamps, marshes, bogs)

Desertification

A form of land degradation that occurs when soil deteriorates to a desert-like condition

Biodiversity

The variety of organisms living in a location

Salinization

The process by which water-soluble salts build up in the soil

Debt-for-nature swaps

Exchange for local investment in conservation measures, the banks agree to forgive a portion of a country’s debt

Biotechnology

The science of altering living organisms

Agricultural biodiversity

Describes the variety and variability of plants, animals, and microorganisms that are used directly or indirectly for food and agriculture

Precision agriculture

Part of the movement that some see as a fourth agricultural revolution

Food security

Reliable access to safe, nutritious food that can support a healthy and active lifestyle

Food insecurity

The disruption of a household’s food intake or eating patterns because of poor access to food

Suburbanization

The shifting of population from cities into surrounding suburbs

Food deserts

Areas where residents lack access to healthy, nutritious foods because stores selling these foods are too far away

Economy of scale

The reduced cost of producing food items as the quantity of production increases