Human Geography Review: Final Exam

Vocabulary flashcards for the final exam review, covering key terms and concepts from the lecture notes.

Blockbusting

Realtors induce white homeowners to sell cheaply by stoking fears of minority neighborhood encroachment.

De jure segregation

Legal segregation by law (e.g., Jim Crow laws).

De facto segregation

Segregation in practice, not by law (e.g., housing patterns).

Redlining

Banks deny loans to residents in certain (often minority) neighborhoods.

Apartheid

South Africa’s system of racial separation (1948–1990s).

Xenophobia

Fear or hatred of foreigners.

City-state

Independent political unit centered on a city (e.g., ancient Athens).

Microstate

Small sovereign state (e.g., Vatican City, Monaco).

Self-determination

Right of a people to govern themselves.

Terrorism

Use of violence to instill fear for political aims.

Winner-take-all system

Electoral system where the top vote-getter wins everything (U.S. Electoral College in most states).

Agribusiness

Large-scale commercial agriculture linked to food production industries.

Agricultural revolutions

Three phases: first (domestication), second (mechanization), third/green (biotech, GMOs).

Aquaculture

Fish farming.

Desertification

Land degradation in arid areas.

Food security

Reliable access to sufficient, nutritious food.

GMO

Genetically modified organisms to boost yield/disease resistance.

Green Revolution

Spread of high-yield crops, fertilizers, and irrigation to developing countries.

Vertical farming

Growing crops in stacked layers indoors.

Organic farming

Farming without synthetic chemicals.

Gross National Income (GNI)

Total income from a country’s production, including abroad.

Microfinance

Small loans to help poor individuals start businesses.

Primary sector

Raw material extraction (farming, mining).

Secondary sector

Manufacturing.

Tertiary sector

Services.

Break-of-bulk point

Place where goods are transferred between transport modes.

Bulk-gaining industry

Product gains weight during production (e.g., soda bottling).

Industrial Revolution

Transition to mechanized manufacturing.

Just-in-time delivery

Inventory strategy to reduce storage costs.

Labor-intensive industry

High labor cost relative to capital.

Outsourcing

Shifting jobs to external or overseas providers.

Right-to-work law

Bans mandatory union membership.

Food desert

Area lacking access to affordable, healthy food.

Periodic market

Temporary gatherings of vendors.

Threshold

Minimum population to support a service.

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)

City plus surrounding areas tied to it economically.

Central Business District (CBD)

Downtown commercial core.

Suburb

Residential area outside a city center.

Annexation

Adding land to a city.

Urban sprawl

Spread of development over a large area.

Smart growth

Urban planning to curb sprawl.

Density gradient

Decline of population density with distance from the center.

Rush hour

Peak commuting times.

Megalopolis

Large urban region formed by merging cities (e.g., Bos-Wash corridor).

Ethnic enclaves

Concentrated urban ethnic areas (e.g., Chinatown).

Ethnoburbs

Suburban ethnic concentrations.

Nationalism

Loyalty to one’s nation; can unify or divide.

Centripetal forces

Unite a state.

Centrifugal forces

Divide a state.

Ethnic cleansing/genocide

Forcible removal or killing of an ethnic group (e.g., Bosnia, Rwanda).