Human Geography Review: Final Exam

Human Geography Review: Final Exam

Vocabulary

• Blockbusting
  • Realtors induce white homeowners to sell properties cheaply.
  • They stoke fears of minority neighborhood encroachment.
• De jure segregation
  • Legal segregation by law.
  • Example: Jim Crow laws.
• De facto segregation
  • Segregation in practice, not legally mandated.
  • Example: Housing patterns.
• Redlining
  • Banks deny loans to residents in specific neighborhoods.
  • These neighborhoods are often minority areas.
• Apartheid
  • South Africa’s system of racial separation.
  • Practiced from 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
  • The right of a people to govern themselves.
• Terrorism
  • Use of violence to instill fear.
  • Done to achieve political aims.
• Winner-take-all system
  • Electoral system where top vote-getter wins everything.
  • Example: 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.
  • Used to boost yield/disease resistance.
• Green Revolution
  • Spread of high-yield crops, fertilizers, and irrigation.
  • Targeted 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 income from abroad.
• Microfinance
  • Small loans to help poor individuals start businesses.
• Primary sector
  • Raw material extraction.
  • Examples: 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.
  • Example: 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.
  • Example: Bos-Wash corridor.

Essay & Short Answer Key Topics

• Ethnic enclaves vs. ethnoburbs
  • Enclaves: concentrated urban ethnic areas (e.g., Chinatown).
  • Ethnoburbs: suburban ethnic concentrations.
• Nationalism
  • Loyalty to one’s nation.
  • Can unify or divide.
• Centripetal vs. centrifugal forces
  • Unite (centripetal) vs. divide (centrifugal) a state.
• Ethnic cleansing/genocide
  • Forcible removal or killing of an ethnic group (e.g., Bosnia, Rwanda).
• Law of the Sea
  • Maritime zones:
    • Territorial waters.
    • EEZs (Exclusive Economic Zones).
    • International waters.
• Multinational states
  • Multiple ethnicities in one state (e.g., Russia).
  • Can lead to breakups.
• Gerrymandering
  • Manipulating electoral district boundaries.
• Electoral College
  • U.S. presidential voting system.
  • Pros: protects small states.
  • Cons: can defy popular vote.
• Boundaries
  • Physical (mountains).
  • Cultural (language/religion).
  • Geometric (straight lines).
• Shapes of states
  • Compact (Poland).
  • Perforated (South Africa).
  • Prorupted (Thailand).
  • Elongated (Chile).
  • Fragmented (Philippines).
  • Landlocked (Nepal).
• Unitary vs. Federal state
  • Centralized (France) vs. shared power (U.S.).
• Regimes
  • Democracy (citizen power).
  • Autocracy (leader power).
  • Anocracy (mix).

Agricultural Hearths

• SW Asia
  • Wheat, barley, lentils, olives, cattle.
• East Asia
  • Rice, millet, soybeans.
• Central/South Asia
  • Chickens, horses.
• Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Sorghum, yams, millet, rice.
• Latin America
  • Maize (corn), potatoes, squash, beans.

Subsistence vs. Commercial Agriculture

• Subsistence
  • Food grown mainly for the farmer’s family.
  • Small scale, labor-intensive, low tech.
  • Common in developing regions.
• Commercial
  • Crops/livestock produced for sale/profit.
  • Large-scale, capital-intensive, mechanized.
  • Common in developed regions.

Agricultural Regions

• Developing
  • Intensive subsistence (wet rice dominant) → SE Asia paddies.
  • Intensive subsistence (non-rice) → India, NE China.
  • Pastoral nomadism → N Africa, Middle East.
  • Shifting cultivation → Amazon, Central Africa.
  • Plantations → tropical Latin America, Africa (export crops like coffee, sugar).
• Developed
  • Mixed crop & livestock → Midwest US, Europe.
  • Dairying → NE US, NW Europe.
  • Grain → Great Plains US, Canada.
  • Ranching → W US, Argentina.
  • Mediterranean → S Europe, N Africa, California.
  • Commercial gardening → SE US.

Developed vs. Developing Countries

• Developed
  • High income, industrial/service economy, high literacy, long life expectancy.
• Developing
  • Lower income, agrarian economy, lower literacy, shorter life expectancy.

Paths to International Development

• Self-sufficiency
  • Focus on domestic production.
  • Reduce foreign dependence.
  • Protect local industries.
• International trade
  • Specialize in comparative advantage products.
  • Engage in global markets.

Fair Trade

• Promotes equitable wages, safe conditions, and environmental sustainability.
• Targets small farmers and producers, especially in developing countries.

Three Parts of a City

• CBD (Central Business District)
  • Commercial heart, skyscrapers, high land cost.
• Zone of Transition
  • Mix of housing, industry, often poorer populations.
• Suburbs
  • Residential areas, often wealthier, commuter zones.

Four Models of Urban Structure

1. Concentric Zone → rings (center to periphery)
2. Sector Model → pie-shaped wedges (growth along transport)
3. Multiple Nuclei → several centers (nodes) of activity
4. Peripheral Model → urban area with surrounding edge cities and beltways

Underclass in Urban Areas

• Limited access to jobs, education, public services.
• Trapped by poverty, discrimination, and social barriers.

Gentrification Reasons

• Urban renewal, rising land values, attracting wealthier residents, improving infrastructure.
• But can displace original (often poorer) residents.

Sustainability & Climate Change Effects

• Urbanization
  • Heat islands, strain on resources, need for green spaces.
• Sustainable agriculture
  • Crop rotation, reduced chemical use, soil conservation.
• Sustainable forestry
  • Selective logging, replanting, maintaining biodiversity.