Comprehensive Study Notes for Geography Midterm

Midterm Exam Information

General Information

• Midterm exam dates:
  • Tuesday class: June 17th
  • Thursday class: June 19th
• Use the provided list of terms, lecture notes, lecture slides, quizzes, and textbook review questions to prepare.

Terms and Topics

Introductory Concepts (Ch. 1)

• Geography
  • Physical geography: The study of natural features of the Earth.
  • Human geography: The study of the spatial organization of human activity and people's relationships with their environments.
• Location
  • Absolute (latitude and longitude): Exact coordinates on the Earth's surface.
  • Relative (site and situation):
    • Site: The physical characteristics of a place.
    • Situation: The location of a place relative to other places.
• Distance
  • "First law" of geography (Tobler's First Law): Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things.
  • Absolute: Measurable linear distance.
  • Relative: Distance in terms of time, cost, or effort.
  • Cognitive: Perceived distance.
• Space
  • Absolute: Objective, measurable area.
  • Relative: Subjective and variable space.
  • Cognitive (cognitive images): Mental maps, reflecting personal knowledge and perception.
  • Topological: The connections and relationships between places, regardless of absolute distance.
• Region: An area with shared characteristics.
• Landscape
  • Ordinary: Everyday landscapes that people experience in their daily lives.
  • Symbolic: Landscapes that represent particular values or meanings.
  • Palimpsest: A landscape with evidence of past cultures and activities.
• Place
  • Place-making: The process of creating meaningful places.
  • Sense of place: Feelings and associations evoked by a place.
• Geographical imagination: The capacity to understand changing patterns, processes, and relationships among people, places, and regions.
• Map projection: A transformation of the spherical Earth onto a flat surface; all map projections distort in some way.
  • Mercator: Preserves shape and direction but distorts area, especially near the poles.
  • Peters: Preserves area but distorts shape.
  • Robinson: A compromise projection that attempts to balance distortions.
  • Fuller (dymaxion): Projects the world onto a icosahedron, which can be unfolded to produce a flat map.
• Spatial diffusion: The process by which a concept, practice, or substance spreads from its point of origin to new territories.

Globalization (Ch. 2)

• World-system theory
  • World-system: An interdependent system of countries linked by economic and political competition.
  • Core: Dominant countries with high levels of industrialization, urbanization, and technological development.
  • Periphery: Less developed countries with low levels of industrialization, urbanization.
  • Semi-periphery: Countries that are industrializing and have characteristics of both core and periphery regions.
• Imperialism: The extension of a country’s power through colonization, use of military force, or other means.
• Colonialism: The establishment and maintenance of rule, for an extended time, by a sovereign power over a subordinate and alien people that is separated from the ruling power.
• European expansion: Historical expansion of European powers through exploration, trade, and colonization.
• Ethnocentrism: The attitude that one's own race and culture is superior to others.
  • Social Darwinism: Application of Darwinian concepts to human society.
  • Environmental determinism: The belief that the environment determines culture and societal development.
  • “White man’s burden”: The idea that Europeans had a duty to civilize non-European peoples.
• Scramble for Africa: The European powers' division and colonization of Africa during the late 19th century.
• Impacts of colonialism on the periphery
  • Economic: Exploitation of resources, creation of dependency.
  • Political: Imposition of foreign political systems, creation of artificial borders.
  • Cultural: Suppression of local cultures.
  • Neo-colonialism: The economic and political strategies by which powerful states indirectly maintain or extend their influence over other areas or people.
• Contemporary globalization: The increasing interconnectedness of different parts of the world through common processes of economic, environmental, political, and cultural change.
• Perspectives on globalization
  • Globalization is generally “good”: Promotes economic growth, spreads democracy and raises living standards.
  • Globalization is generally “bad”: Increases inequality, exploits workers, degrades the environment, and undermines local cultures.
• Core-periphery inequalities
  • Income and wealth: Disparities in economic well-being between core and periphery regions.
  • Fast world/slow world: Core regions experience rapid communication. periphery lack of connection.
  • Digital divide: Unequal access to digital technology and the internet.

Political Geographies (Ch. 9)

• North-South divide: Economic and political disparities between developed (North) and developing (South) countries.
• Decolonization: The process by which colonies become independent.

Population Dynamics (Ch. 3)

• Demography: The study of population statistics.
• Crude (arithmetic) density: The total number of people divided by the total land area. Crude\ Density = \frac{Total\ Population}{Total\ Land\ Area}
• Nutritional (physiologic) density: The number of people per unit area of arable land. Nutritional\ Density = \frac{Total\ Population}{Area\ of\ Arable\ Land}
• Natural increase (or decrease): The surplus (or deficit) of births over deaths. Natural\ Increase = Births - Deaths
• Crude birth rate: The number of live births per 1,000 population in a year. Crude \ Birth\ Rate = \frac{Number\ of\ Births}{Total\ Population} * 1000
• Total fertility rate: The average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime. Total\ Fertility\ Rate = \frac{Number\ of\ Children}{Number\ of\ Women}
• Replacement rate: The total fertility rate needed for a population to replace itself (approximately 2.1).
• Infant mortality rate: The number of deaths of infants under one year old per 1,000 live births. Infant\ Mortality\ Rate = \frac{Number\ of\ Deaths\ of\ Infants}{Number\ of\ Live\ Births} * 1000
• Crude death rate: The number of deaths per 1,000 population in a year. Crude\ Death\ Rate = \frac{Number\ of\ Deaths}{Total\ Population} * 1000
• Average life expectancy: The average number of years a person is expected to live.
• Age-sex pyramid (aka “population pyramid”): A diagram that shows the distribution of a population by age and gender.
• Dependency ratio: The number of people who are too young or too old to work, compared to the number of people in their productive years. Dependency\ Ratio = \frac{Number\ of\ Dependents}{Number\ of\ Working-Age\ Population}
• Demographic transition theory
  • Key arguments;. Population growth patterns are linked to stages of economic development.
  • Phases and reasons for changes.
  • Critiques
• Overpopulation
  • Malthusian perspective: Population growth will outstrip food production, leading to famine and disease.
  • Neo-Malthusian perspective: Similar to Malthus.
  • Critiques of Malthus and neo-Malthusians
• Population policy: Government strategies to influence population size.

Economic Development (Ch. 7)

• Economic development
  • Definitions
  • Expectations
• Economic indicators
  • GDP, GNP, GNI: Measures of a country's economic output.
  • GDP: Gross Domestic Product
  • GNP: Gross National Product
  • GNI: Gross National Income
• Informal sector: Economic activities that are not officially recorded or regulated.
• Externalities
  • Positive: Benefits that are not reflected in the market price
  • Negative: Cost that are not reflected in the market price
• Human development index (HDI): A measure of human development based on life expectancy, education, and income.
• Gender inequality index (GII): A measure of gender inequality based on reproductive health, empowerment, and labor market participation.
• Economic sectors
  • Primary: Extraction of raw materials.
  • Secondary: Manufacturing.
  • Tertiary: Services.
  • Quaternary: Information and research.
• Foreign direct investment: Investment made by a company or entity based in one country, into a company or entity based in another country.
• Transnational corporation: A company that operates in multiple countries.
• Trade bloc: A group of countries that have reduced or eliminated trade barriers among themselves
• Globalization and economic development
  • Internationalization of finance: The increasing integration of financial markets worldwide.
  • New technology system.
    • Time-space convergence: The reduction in the time it takes to travel or communicate between places.
  • Global consumer markets: Marketplace composed of customers throughout the world
  • New international division of labor
    • Global assembly line: The manufacturing process in which products are assembled in multiple countries, each performing specific tasks.
    • Commodity chain: The process by which goods are produced and distributed.
    • "Race to the bottom": A situation in which companies seek to reduce costs by exploiting workers or resources in developing countries.
• Film: The True Cost
  • Fast fashion (causes, impacts, externalities, etc.)
  • Rana Plaza
  • Consumptionism
  • Pepe
  • Ecological narcotics
  • Fair trade
  • Notes from class discussion

Exam Format

• Part 1: Multiple-choice, true/false, and matching questions (approximately 35 questions).
  • Bring a pencil to fill out the scantron form.
• Part 2
  • Short Answer Questions: Four (4) questions worth 5 points each (20 points total).
    • Choose four (4) questions to answer from a list of six questions.
    • Answers should be in full sentences, 1-2 paragraphs long (no bullet points).
  • Essay Question: One (1) question worth 15 points.
    • Choose one (1) question to answer from a list of three questions.
    • Answers should be in full sentences, 4-6 paragraphs long (no bullet points).

Important Notes

• Exam duration: 2.5 hours.
• Turn off phones and put them away.
• No washroom breaks during the exam.
• Define key terms and provide well-described examples.
• Write in your own words (do not quote directly from the slides).
• Relate your discussion to information and ideas discussed in the course.
• Draw from a range of course materials.
• Communicate clearly.
• Evidence of cheating will result in a zero on your exam.
• Opportunity to retake Map Quiz 1 after the exam.