AP HUMAN GEO UNIT 7 VOCAB

  • 1. Agglomeration: Grouping together of many firms from the same industry in a single area for collective or cooperative use of infrastructure and sharing of labor resources. 

  • 2. Ancillary activities: Economic activities that surround and support large-scale industries such as shipping and food service. 

  • 3. Backwash effects: The negative effects on one region that result from economic growth within another region. 

  • 4. Break-bulk point: A location where large shipments of goods are broken up into smaller containers for delivery to local markets. 

  • 5. Brick-and-mortar businesses: Traditional businesses with actual stores in which trade or retail occurs; they do not exist solely on the internet. 

  • 6. Bulk-gaining industries: Industries whose products weigh more after assembly than they did previously in their constituent parts. Such industries tend to have production facilities close to their markets. 

  • 7. Bulk-reducing industries: Industries whose final products weigh less than their constituent parts, and whose processing facilities tend to be located close to sources of raw materials. 

  • 8. Commodity dependence: When peripheral economies rely too heavily on the export of raw materials, which places them on unequal terms of exchange with more-developed countries that export higher-value goods. 

  • 9. Conglomerate corporation: A firm comprising many smaller firms that serve several different functions. 

  • 10. Core: National or global regions where economic power, in terms of wealth, innovation, and advanced technology, is concentrated. 

  • 11. Core-Periphery Model: A model of the spatial structure of development in which under- developed countries are defined by their dependence on a developed core region. 

  • 12. Cottage industry: An industry in which the production of goods and services is based in homes, as opposed to factories. 

  • 13. Deglomeration: The dispersal of an industry that formerly existed in an established agglomeration. 

  • 14. Deindustrialization: Loss of industrial activity in a region. 

  • 15. Development: The process of economic growth, expansion, or realization of regional resource potential. 

  • 16. E-commerce: Web-based economic activities. 

  • 17. Economic backwaters: Regions that fail to gain from national economic development. 

  • 18. Ecotourism: A form of tourism, based on the enjoyment of scenic areas or natural wonders, that aims to provide an experience of nature or culture in an environmentally sustainable way.

  • 19. Export-processing zone: Area where governments create favorable investment and trading conditions to attract export-oriented industries. 

  • 20. Fast world: Areas of the world, usually the economic core, that experience greater levels of connection due to high-speed telecommunications and transportation technologies. 

  • 21. Footloose firms: Manufacturing activities in which the cost of transporting both raw materials and finished product is not important for determining the location of the firm. 

  • 22. Fordism: System of standardized mass production attributed to Henry Ford. 

  • 23. Foreign investments: Overseas business investments made by private companies. 

  • 24. Gender equity: A measure of the opportunities given to women compared to men within a given country. 

  • 25. Globalization: The idea that the world is becoming increasingly interconnected on a global scale such that smaller scales of political and economic life are becoming obsolete. 

  • 26. Gross domestic product: The total value of goods and services produced within the borders of a country during a specific time period, usually one year. 

  • 27. Gross National Product: The total value of goods and services, including income received from abroad, produced by the residents of a country within a specific time period, usually one year.