Geography 100: Midterm #1: Key Terms

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Acid Rain

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A harmful form of precipitation high in sulfur and nitrogen oxides that is caused by industrial and auto emissions.

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African Union

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An organization founded in 1963 that grew to include all the states of the continent except South Africa, which finally was asked to join in 1994.

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Agrarian Reform

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A popular but controversial strategy to redistribute land to peasant farmers.

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Altitudinal Zonation

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The relationship between higher elevations, cooler temperatures, and changes in vegetation that result from the environmental lapse rate.

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Apartheid

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The policy of racial separateness that directed the separate residential and work spaces for white, blacks, coloureds, and Indians in South Africa for nearly 50 years.

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Berlin Conference

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The 1884 conference that divided Africa into European colonial territories.

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Boreal Forest

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Coniferous forest found in high-latitude or mountainous environments of the Northern Hemisphere.

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Columbian Exchange

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An exchange of people, diseases, plants, and animals between the Americas and Europe/Africa.

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Cultural Assimilation

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The process in which immigrants are culturally absorbed into the larger host society.

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Dependency Theory

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A popular theory to explain patterns of economic development in Latin America. Its central premise is that underdevelopment was created by the expansion of European capitalism into the region that served to develop "core" countries in Europe and to impoverish and make dependent peripheral areas such as Latin America.

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Desertification

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The spread of desert conditions into semiarid areas owing to improper management of the land.

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Fair Trade

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An international certification movement to identify primary commodities exported from the developing world in which farmers earn a better price for their product.

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Federal State

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Political system in which a significant amount of power is given to individual states.

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Horn of Africa

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The northeastern corner of Sub-Saharan Africa that includes the states of Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti.

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Informal Sector

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A concept that presupposes a dual economic system consisting of formal and informal sectors. The informal sector includes self-employed, low-wage jobs that are usually unregulated and untaxed.

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Kleptocracy

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A state where corruption is so institutionalized that politicians and bureaucrats siphon off a large percentage of a country's wealth for personal gain.

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Latifundia

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A large estate or landholding.

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Maquiladora

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Assembly plants on the Mexican border built by foreign capital.

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Megalopolis

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A large urban region formed as multiple cities grow and merge with one another.

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Mercosur

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The Souther Common Market established in 1991 that calls for free trade among member states and common external tariffs for nonmember states.

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Mestizo

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A person of mixed European and India ancestry.

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Millennium Development Goals

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Part of a group of programs implemented since 2000 to foster development in the world's poorest countries.

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Minifundia

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A small landholding farmed by peasants or tenants who produce food for subsistence and the market.

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Monroe Doctrine

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A proclamation issued by U.S. president james Monroe in 1823 that the United States would not tolerate European military actions in the Western Hemisphere.

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Neoliberal Policies

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Economic policies widely adopted in the 1990s that stress privatization, export production, and a few restrictions on imports.

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North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

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An agreement made in 1994 between Canada, the United States, and Mexico that established a 15-year plan for reducing all barriers to trade among the three countries.

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Outsourcing

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A business practice that transfers portions of a company's production and service activities to lower-cost settings, often located overseas.

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Pastoralists

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Nomadic and sedentary people who rely upon livestock for the sustenance and livelihood.

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Remittances

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Money sent by immigrants to their country of origin to support family members left behind.

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Rift Valley

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A surface landscape feature formed where two tectonic plates are diverging or moving apart. Usually, this forms a depression or large valley.

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Sahel

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The semi-desert region at the southern fringe of the Sahara, and the countries that fall within this region, which extends from Senegal to Sudan.

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Sectoral Transformation

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The evolution of a labor force from being highly dependent on the primary sector to being oriented around more employment in the secondary, tertiary, and quaternary sectors.

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Syncretic Religions

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The blending of different belief systems.

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Treaty of Tordesillas

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A treaty signed in 1949 between Spain and Portugal that drew a north-south line some 300 leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde islands. Spain received the land to the west of the line, while Portugal received the land to the east.

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Tribalism

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Allegiance to a particular tribe or ethnic group rather than to the nation-state.

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Urban Decentralization

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The process in which cities spread out over a larger geographical area.

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Urban Primacy

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A state in which a disproportionately large city, such as London or New York, dominates the urban system and is the center of economic, political, and cultural life.

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World Trade Organization

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Formed as an outgrowth of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in 1995, the WTO is a large collection of member states dedicated to reducing global barriers to trade.