Geography Definitions and Terms

Absolute Distance

• A measure of the physical space between two locations.

Absolute Location

• Description of a place's position using unchanging coordinates like latitude and longitude.

Acculturation

• Cultural changes resulting from the meeting of two groups, each retaining distinct features.

Administered Boundary

• The enforcement and maintenance of a boundary by a government, dictating border crossing rules.

Affordability

• Ease of access to services.

African Union

• Organization promoting economic development and political stability in Africa through cooperation.

Age Structure (Population Pyramid)

• Distribution of population by age groups, often visualized as a population pyramid.

Agglomeration

• Grouping of firms in the same industry in a single area for shared infrastructure and labor.

Aging Population

• A population with an increasing percentage of people aged 65 or older relative to other age groups.

Agricultural Population Density

• Ratio of farmers to the total amount of arable land.

Agricultural Practices

• Methods for growing and managing crops and livestock.

Agricultural Revolution

• Transition from hunting and gathering to domesticating plants and animals.

Agricultural Sector

• The portion of the economy focused on growing food for human consumption.

Antecedent Boundary

• Boundary created before an area is populated.

Antinatalist

• Government policy aimed at lowering birth rates.

Aquaculture

• Cultivation of seafood under controlled conditions.

Architecture

• Building and design styles characteristic of a society or region.

Arctic Council

• Intergovernmental organization promoting cooperation among Arctic States.

Arithmetic Population Density

• Total number of people divided by the total land area.

Assimilation

• Process by which a group's cultural features resemble those of another group.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

• Organization promoting cultural, economic, and political development in Southeast Asia.

Asylum Seeker

• Someone who migrates to another country hoping to be recognized as a refugee.

Attitude

• Opinion toward a certain topic, widely held by a cultural group.

Autonomous Region

• Area with freedom from external authority, including the country's government.

Balance of Power

• Roughly equal strength between opposing countries or alliances.

Behavior

• Observable actions or responses of humans or animals.

Berlin Conference

• Meeting of European powers in 1884 regulating colonization and trade in Africa, establishing political boundaries.

Bid-Rent Theory

• How the price and demand for real estate change with distance from the central business district.

Biodiversity

• The variety of organisms in a location.

Biotechnology

• Using living organisms to modify products, plants, animals, or create microorganisms.

Birth Rate

• Number of live births per 1,000 people in a year.

Blockbusting

• Real estate agents convincing white property owners to sell houses at low prices due to fear of people of color moving in.

Boomburb

• A large, rapidly growing suburban city resembling large urban cores in population.

Break-of-Bulk Point

• Location where transfer is possible from one mode of transportation to another.

Brownfields

• Real property difficult to redevelop due to hazardous substances or pollutants.

Buddhism

• Religion focused on overcoming suffering caused by desire, leading to enlightenment.

Built Landscape

• Area represented by human occupation and use of natural resources.

Burgess Concentric Zone Model

• Model of internal city structure where social groups are arranged in rings.

Carrying Capacity

• The population size an environment can sustain indefinitely.

Causal Factors

• Reasons why something happens.

Census

• Population count with demographic information.

Census Data

• Information from a census used for planning and understanding social conditions.

Central America

• Land bridge connecting North and South America.

Centralized Governance

• Power concentrated in one central body.

Centrifugal Force

• Cultural value that pulls people apart.

Centripetal Force

• Cultural value that unifies people.

Chain Migration

• Migration to a specific location due to prior migration of relatives or members of the same nationality.

Changing Diets

• Increased desire for meat in diets.

Chemicals

• Substances used to increase crop yield.

Choke Points

• Geographic obstacles hindering passage of people and goods.

Christaller's Central Place Theory

• Theory explaining the distribution of services based on settlements as market centers.

Christianity

• Religion based on the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

Climate Change

• Change in the Earth's climate, especially due to atmospheric pressure changes.

Climatic Condition

• Climate of an area.

Clustered Settlement

• Rural settlement with houses and farm buildings close together.

Clustering

• Objects in an area being close together.

Colonialism

• Establishing settlements and imposing political, economic, and cultural principles in another territory.

Columbian Exchange

• Transfer of plants, animals, people, culture, and technology between the Western Hemisphere and Europe.

Commercial Farming

• Agriculture primarily to generate products for sale.

Commodity Dependence

• Peripheral economies relying on raw material exports, vulnerable to economic collapse.

Communication Technologies

• Internet, phones.

Community-Supported Agriculture

• Community supporting a farm operation.

Comparative Advantage

• Producing a good or service at a lower opportunity cost.

Complementarity

• Actual or potential relationship between two places.

Complex Commodity Chain

• Interconnected networks bringing a product from raw materials to the final consumer.

Consequent Boundary

• Boundary established to settle disputes between opposing ethnic groups.

Conservation

• Sustainable management of natural resources.

Contagious Diffusion

• Rapid, widespread diffusion of a trend throughout a population.

Contested Boundary

• Boundary with disagreement on location.

Contraception

• Methods to prevent pregnancy.

Core

• States with concentrated economic power, often exploiting periphery countries.

Creolization

• Convergence of two or more languages forming a new language.

Cultural Cohesion

• Capacity of different groups to commit to living together as citizens.

Cultural Convergence

• Cultures becoming more similar.

Cultural Divergence

• Restriction of outside cultural influences.

Cultural Factors

• Material characteristics, behaviors, beliefs, social norms, attitudes.

Cultural Hearth

• Place of origin of a culture.

Cultural Landscape

• Relationships among social and physical phenomena in a study area.

Cultural Relativism

• Understanding a culture on its own terms.

Cultural Trait

• Specific customs of a culture, like language, religion, ethnicity.

Culture

• Customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms of a group of people.

De Facto Segregation

• Segregation by custom/culture rather than by law.

Death Rate

• Number of deaths per 1,000 people in a given population per year.

Decentralization

• People or businesses locating outside the central city.

Defined Boundary

• Established by a legal document.

Deforestation

• Destruction of forests.

Deindustrialization

• Removal of industrial activity due to economic or social change.

Delimited Boundary

• Boundaries drawn on a map.

Demarcated Boundary

• Identified by physical objects.

Demilitarized Zones

• Areas forbidden to military installations.

Democratization

• Establishing accountable government led by elected officials.

Demographic

• Population characteristic.

Demographic Transition Model

• Change in a society's population from high birth and death rates to low rates.

Dependency Theory

• LDCs dependent on foreign factories and technologies from MDCs.

Desertification

• Land degradation in semiarid areas due to human actions.

Developing World

• Country in an early stage of development.

Devolution

• Transfer of power from central government to a lower level.

Dialect

• Regional variety of a language.

Dietary Shifts

• See: changing diets

Diffusion

• Spread of a feature from one place to another.

Direction

• Unit of measure indicating where things are in relation to each other.

Disamenity Zones

• Poorest parts of cities lacking services and controlled by gangs.

Dispersal

• Spacing of people/objects within geographic population boundaries.

Dispersed Power

• Government spread across the country rather than centralized.

Dispersed Settlement

• Rural settlement with isolated farms.

Dispute

• Disagreement over boundary terms.

Distance Decay

• Diminishing importance of a phenomenon with increasing distance.

Distortion

• Alteration of shape, area, distance, or direction on a map.

Draining Wetlands

• Removing water from a wetland for farming causing negative environmental effects.

Ecological Footprint

• Impact of human activities on the environment in terms of land and resources required.

Economic Factors

• Reasons for migration based on economics/money.

Economic Problems

• Gentrification, commodity dependence, depressions/recessions.

Economic Restructuring

• Economies moving from industrial to service sector.

Economic Sectors

• Separation of jobs based on extraction, production, or service.

Economics

• Flow of goods and services through space.

Economy of Scale

• Reduction in per-unit cost of production with increased volume.

Ecotourism

• Tourism based on enjoying scenic areas in an environmentally sustainable way.

Edge City

• Node of office and retail activities on the edge of an urban area.

Education

• Improvement in knowledge contained by the population of a country.

Elevation

• Distance of a place above sea level.

Employment

• Work outside of the home.

Energy Use

• Energy needed to power mechanical devices.

Environmental Determinism

• 19th/20th-century approach arguing physical environment causes human activities.

Environmental Injustice

• Disproportionate impact by environmental factors due to discrimination.

Epidemiological Transition

• Change in the causes of death in each stage of the demographic transition.

Ethnic Cleansing

• Removing a population from an area through violence.

Ethnic Culture

• Culture based on ancestry.

Ethnic Nationalist Movement

• Nationalism defined by ethnicity.

Ethnic Neighborhoods

• Area in a city with members of the same ethnic background.

Ethnic Religion

• Religion with concentrated spatial distribution based on physical characteristics of a location.

Ethnic Separatism

• Advocating for separation between an ethnic group and the larger population.

Ethnicity

• Identity with a group sharing cultural traditions of a homeland.

Ethnocentrism

• Viewing cultures through the lens of one's own.

Ethnonationalism

• Nationalism emphasizing ethnicity.

European Union (EU)

• Association of countries in Europe for trade and travel.

Exclusive Economic Zone

• Area of ocean where a country controls resources.

Expansion Diffusion

• Spread of a feature from one area to another in an additive process.

Export Commodity

• Crop produced in one country and sold to others.

Export-Processing Zones

• Areas providing financial incentives for companies to locate there.

Extensive Farming

• Farming that is inexpensive per area of land, far from city centers.
• Ex: commercial grain farming

Exurb

• A prosperous area beyond the suburbs

Fair Trade

• Trade that provides greater equity to workers, small businesses, and consumers.

Federal State

• State allocating powers to local government.

Fertility

• The ability to have children

Fertility Rate

• The average number of children born to each female

Fertilizer

• Chemical which increases the growth of a crop

Field Observation

• Act of physically visiting a location and recording firsthand information.

Flows

• Way of measuring movement of people or objects.

Food Desert

• Area lacking access to grocery stores with low-income residents.

Food Insecurity

• Lack of access to safe and nutritious food.

Forced Migration

• Permanent movement due to cultural or environmental factors.

Formal Economy

• Part of the economy tracked by the government.

Formal Region

• Area sharing one or more distinctive characteristics.

Fossil Fuel

• Energy source from plant and animal residue.

Fragmentation

• State including discontinuous pieces of territory.

Free Trade Agreement

• Agreement allowing trade without barriers.

Functional Region

• Area organized around a node or focal point.

Galactic City Model

• Urban areas with an inner city surrounded by suburban areas connected by a beltway.

Gender Inequality Index (GII)

• Indicator measuring gender inequality in reproductive health, empowerment, and labor market.

Gender Role

• Behaviors, attitudes, and actions appropriate for a gender according to cultural norms.

Genetically Modified Organisms

• Living organism with novel genetic material.

Gentrification

• Converting low-income areas to middle-class areas.

Geographer

• Someone who studies Earth and its features.

Geographic Data

• Information associated with a location.

Geographic Information Systems

• Computer system capturing and displaying geographic data.

Geometric Boundary

• Border that is a straight line.

Gerrymandering

• Redrawing legislative boundaries to benefit a party.

Global

• Relating to the entire world.

Globalization

• Actions involving the entire world.

Gravity (interaction)

• The interaction between two places is based on the pull between them due to the size of their populations

Green Revolution

• Diffusion of new agricultural technology.

Greenbelts

• Undeveloped areas surrounding urban areas.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

• Total output of goods and services produced in a country in a year

Gross National Income (GNI)

• The value of goods and services produced in a country in a year, including money that leaves and enters the country

Gross National Product (GNP)

• Total monetary value
• Includes those goods produced outside of the country's border

Growth Pole

• Area driving economic development in a region.

Guest Worker

• A worker who migrated to Northern and Western Europe

Harris and Ullman multiple-nuclei model

• A model of the internal structure of cities where social groups are arranged around a collection of nodes of activities

Healthcare

• The ability to go to a doctor, receive vaccines, medicine, etc.

Hearths of Domestication

• Where a crop or animal is first domesticated

Hierarchical Diffusion

• Spread of a feature from key people to other places.

Hierarchy (urban)

• The rank of each city in a country based on the size of its urban population

High-Yield Seeds

• GMO which produces a higher yield

Hinduism

• An ethnic, polytheistic religion based in India

Housing Discrimination

• Refusal to rent/sell housing based on uncontrollable features

Hoyt sector model

• A mode of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are arranged around a series of sectors (or wedges), radiating out from the CBD

Human Development Index (HDI)

• Indicator measuring development through income, education, and life expectancy.

Immigration

• Migration to a new location.

Imperialism

• Extending a country's power through diplomacy or force.

Imposed (Governance)

• Put in place by someone else

Inclusionary Zoning

• Requiring a portion of new buildings to be affordable.

Indigenous

• Native, local

Indo-European language family

• Language family which includes English, Hindi, Spanish, French, German, and more

Industrial Revolution

• Improvements in industrial technology.

Infant mortality rate

• The total number of deaths in a year among infants under one year of age for every 1,000 live births in a society

Infilling

• Increasing the population density of a city

Informal economy

• Part of the economy that is not tracked by the government (tips).

Infrastructure

• Physical structures for society's operation.

Intensive Farming

• Large amount of effort to produce the maximum feasible yield

Internal Boundary

• Boundary within a state.

Internal Migration

• Movement within a country.

Internally Displaced Person

• Someone forced to migrate but not across an international border.

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

• Organization which provides loans to LDCs

International waters

• The parts of the ocean beyond the EEZ which are not owned by any country

Intervening obstacle

• Cultural or environmental feature hindering migration

Intervening opportunity

• A feature (usually economic) that causes a migrant to choose a destination other than their original, especially if the destination is part of the journey to the new location

Irredentism

• Country attempting to reclaim historic territory from a neighbor.

Irrigation

• Method of watering crops.

Islam

• Monotheistic, universalizing religion centered on the Quran and the teachings of Mohammed

Judaism

• Monotheistic, ethnic religion central to Israel.

Just-In-Time Delivery

• Shipment of parts and materials to arrive at a factory moments before they are needed

Land use

• The term used to describe the purpose of land to humans

Language

• A system of communication through speech or movement

Language Family

• Collection of languages related through a common ancestor.

Large-scale Processes

• Involving the whole world

Latin American city model

• Combines radial sectors and concentric zones

Least cost theory

• Companies will locate their businesses in the place which is least expensive

Life expectancy

• The average number of years an individual can be expected to live

Linear Settlement

• Arranged along a line due to access to a road or river.

Lingua Franca

• Language used for trade by people with different native languages.

Linguistic characteristics

• pronunciation, spelling

Literacy rate

• The percentage of a country's people who can read and write

Local

• essentially equivalent to a community - neighborhood, city

Long lot

• Rural survey method where lots are long, thin rectangles.

Malthusian theory

• Idea that population grows exponentially while food supply grows linearly, leading to crisis.

Map

• Two-dimensional representation of Earth's surface.

Map projection

• System for transferring locations from Earth's surface to a flat map.

Maritime Boundary

• Borders set by UNCLOS.

Market

• Area surrounding a service attracting customers.

Market gardening

• Commercial growing of flowers

Mechanized farming

• Use of machinery to increase farm yield

Megacity

• Urban settlement with population exceeding 10 million.

Member State

• A country that is a member of a supranational organization

Mercosur

• Regional trade block in South America

Metacity

• Urban settlement with population exceeding 20 million.

Metes and bounds

• Rural survey method based on landmarks to determine boundaries.

Microloans

• Providing small loans to individuals in developing countries

Migration

• Permanent move to a new location.

Mixed crop/livestock system

• Most of the crops are fed to animals

Mixed land use

• Combined commercial/retail and housing within the same development

Monocropping

• Growing the same single crop year after year

Mortality

• The study of death rates

Multiculturalism

• Presence of multiple distinct ethnic groups in a society

Multinational state

• A state that contains two or more cultural groups with traditions of self-determination

Multiplier effect

• The ability of a job/business to create more jobs

Multistate nation

• A nation/ethnicity which extends beyond just one country's border

Nation

• Large group united by common cultural characteristics or shared history.

Nation-state

• State whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular nation.

National

• Measured on a whole-country scale

Natural rate of increase

• Percentage growth of a population without considering migration

Natural resources

• Sources that are naturally created by Earth

Neocolonialism

• Stronger country using economic/political force to influence a smaller country

Neoliberal policies

• Economic policies promoting free market principles

New Urbanism

• Encouraging local community development and sustainable growth in an urban area

Nomadic herding

• owning their animals and move with their animals regularly

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

• Military alliance supporting members attacked by a third party.

Organic Farming

• Farming using naturally occurring substances.

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

• Supranational organization to control the price of oil

Outsourcing

• Moving industrial production or service industries to another country

Pastoral Nomadism

• Form of subsistence agriculture based on herding.

Pattern

• Geometric arrangement of something in an area.

Per capita

• Per person

Perceptual/vernacular region

• Area believed to exist as part of cultural identity.

Periphery

• LDCs exploited for cheap labor and resources by the core.

Pesticide

• Substance to control pests

Physical environment

• Includes mountains, water, etc

Physical geography

• Parts of the Earth; ie. mountains, rivers

Physiological population density

• The number of people per unit of arable land

Place

• Specific point on Earth with particular characteristics.

Plantation agriculture

• Large farm in tropical climates producing one or two crops for sale.

Political entity

• A state

Political factors

• Reasons for someone to migrate that are based in the government.

Pollution

• Concentration of wastes added to air, water, or land at a greater level than occurs in average.

Population composition

• Characteristics of a population.

Population density

• Frequency of something in an area.

Population distribution

• Arrangement of something across Earth's surface.

Population doubling time

• Years needed to double a population.

Population pyramid

• Bar graph representing population by age and sex.

Possibilism

• Physical environment sets limits, but people can adjust.

Post-Fordist methods of production

• Flexible work rules, such as the allocation of workers to teams that perform a variety of tasks.

Primary Sector

• Portion of the economy involving direct extraction of materials from Earth.

Primate City

• Largest settlement in a country, significantly larger than the second-ranking settlement.

Pronatalist

• Government policy supporting higher birth rates.

Pull factors

• Factors inducing people to move to a new location.

Push factors

• Factors inducing people to leave an old location.

Quaternary sector

• Sector of the economy based on technology, research, financial planning.

Quinary sector

• Highest sector of the economy.
• Involves decision making and policy making.

Ranching

• Livestock graze over an extensive area

Rank-size rule

• Pattern of settlements
• The nth largest settlement is 1/n the population of the largest settlement

Ravenstein's laws of migration

• A set of 11 patterns that are seen amongst migrants

Redistricting

• Redrawing of congressional districts after the census.

Redlining

• Refusing to loan money in certain areas.

Reference map

• Show where something is in space

Refugee

• People forced to migrate and cannot return for fear of persecution.

Region

• Area distinguished by one or more characteristics.

Regional

• Being measured as to compare one region of space to another

Relative distance

• Connectivity between places.

Relative location

• Location based on its position relative to other locations.

Relic boundary

• Boundary that no longer exists but has left an impact.

Religious characteristics

• beliefs, prayers, houses of worship

Relocation diffusion

• Spread of a feature through bodily movement of people.

Remote sensing

• Acquisition of data about Earth's surface from long-distance methods.

Rostow's Stages of Economic Growth

• Describes how countries move to industrialization through 5 distinct stages

Rural-to-urban migration

• Movement from rural areas to cities.

Satellite imagery

• Images of Earth taken from artificial satellites

Satellite navigation systems

• A system that uses data from satellites to pinpoint a location on Earth

Scale

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

Scale of analysis

• The level of data which is being studied

Second agricultural revolution

• An increase in agricultural productivity through improvement of crop rotation and breeding of livestock

Secondary sector

• Portion of the economy involving manufacturing.

Self-determination

• Concept that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves.

Semiperiphery

• Between core and periphery, exploited by the core but also exploit the periphery.

Sense of place

• Distinctiveness of a location.

Sequent occupancy

• Each society leaves an impression on the cultural landscape

Sex ratio

• The number of males per 100 females in the population

Shatterbelts

• Region unstable due to location between conflicting states.

Shifting cultivation

• Farming using fields for a few years and then leaving them fallow.

Sikhism

• Universalizing religion primarily in India.

Site

• Physical character of a place.

Situation

• Location of a place relative to another place.

Slash and burn

• Burning a field and using the ash to replenish nutrients.

Slavery

• Forced labor migration.

Slow-growth city

• Cities where planners have put in place smart growth to decrease how quickly the city grows

Small-scale processes

• Only involving a small group/area

Smart-growth policies

• Reducing the amount of land used by the same person by building higher density housing

Social Construct

• An idea that has been created and accepted by the people in a society
• Ex. Race, gender roles, class

Social factors

• Reasons for migration that are based in society.

Soil Salinization

• Increased amounts of salt in the soil

Sovereignty

• Ability of a state to govern its territory.

Space

• Physical gap between two objects.

Space-time convergence

• Reduction in time to diffuse something due to improved communication and transportation.

Spatial pattern

• The way that things are organized on the Earth's surface

Special economic zones

• Area with special economic regulations.

Sprawl

• Low-density housing development.

Squatter settlement

• Illegal housing for the urban poor.

Stateless nation

• Nation without control of a state.

Step migration

• Migration in a series of stages

Stimulus diffusion

• Spread of an underlying principle.

Subsequent boundary

• Boundary drawn after a population has settled there.

Subsistence Farming

• Designed for direct consumption by the farmer.

Suburbanization

• Movement from cities to suburbs.

Superimposed boundary

• Boundaries drawn by outside forces without considering local ethnic groups.

Supranationalism

• Organization including multiple states.

Sustainability

• Using resources in ways that do not constrain future use.

Syncretism

• Combining elements of two groups into a new cultural feature.

Tariff

• Tax on incoming goods.

Terracing

• Building “steps” into the side of a mountain

Territorial seas

• Ocean surrounding a country up to 12 nautical miles from the border

Territoriality

• Power over a geographic area.

Terrorism

• Use of illegal force by a non state actor.
• Terrorism is used to attain a goal through fear

Tertiary sector

• Portion of the economy involving transportation, communications, and utilities.

Thematic map

• Maps that tell a story about a place by displaying data

Time-space convergence

• See Space-time convergence

Top-down governance

• AKA federal state

Toponym

• Name given to a place.

Township and range

• Rural survey method in the US.

Trade

• Buying and selling goods/services.

Transhumance

• Seasonal migration of livestock.

Transnational migration

• Migrants tied to their home country.

Transportation-oriented development

• Mixed-use area maximizing access to public transportation.

Travel narrative

• Records of a particular regions that traveler visits

UN's Sustainable Development Goals

• Seventeen goals adopted by the UN in 2015
  • These goals are used to reduce disparities

Uneven development

• Increasing gap in economic conditions between core and peripheral regions

Unifying characteristic

• A common feature that helps to define a place

Unitary State

• Power in the hands of central government.

United Nations (UN)

• Organization promoting peace and cooperation between countries.

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

• Agreement establishing territorial seas, EEZs, and international waters.

Universalizing religion

• Religion attempting to appeal to all people.

Urban farming

• Use of technology to grow food in urban areas despite a lack of agricultural land

Urban hierarchy

• See Hierarchy

Urbanization

• Increase in the percentage of people living in urban settlements.

Value-added specialty crops

• Crops which have had some