Geography Exam 1 Chapters 1-5

Front 1

Asymmetrical Warfare

Back 1

Military muscle of a nation state directed at a confederation of religious extremists rather than another nation state

Front 2

Bubble Economy

Back 2

a highly inflated economy that cannot be sustained. Bubble economies usually result from a rapid influx of international capital into a developing country

Front 3

Centrifugal Forces

Back 3

Cultural and political forces acting to weaken or divide an existing state

Front 4

Centripetal Forces

Back 4

Forces that promote political unity and reinforce the state structure

Front 5

Core-Peripheral Model

Back 5

model devised by scholars that shows the US and Canada, Western Europe, and Japan constitute the global economic care of the North, while most of the areas to the south make up less developed global periphery

Front 6

Cultural Imperialism

Back 6

active promotion of one cultural system at the expense of another

Front 7

Cultural Nationalism

Back 7

process of defending a cultural system against offensive cultural expressions while at the same time promoting local or national cultural values

Front 8

Cultural Syncretism/Hybridization

Back 8

A common product of "cultural collision" which is the blending of forces to form a new type of culture

Front 9

Decolonization

Back 9

refers to the process of a colony's gaining/regaining control over its territory and establishing a separate, independent government

Front 10

Demographic Transition

Back 10

4 stage model that conceptualizes changes in birthrates and death rates through time as population urbanizes.
1 - preindustrial - charactereized by high birth and death rates, leading to very slow RNI
2 - transitional - death rates fall dramatically while birthrates fall
3 - transitional - birthrates begin to decline as people become aware of the advantages of smaller families
4 - industrial - a very low RNI results from a combination of low birthrates and very low death rates

Front 11

Economic Growth Rate

Back 11

Averaging annual growth of GNI of GDP over period of 5 years

Front 12

Ethnic Religion

Back 12

remain identified with a specific ethnic, tribal, or national group (don't actively seek converts)

Front 13

GNI per Capita

Back 13

Gross National Income - divide the GNI by the country's population

Front 14

Lingua Franca

Back 14

When people from different culture groups cannot communicate directly in their native languages, they agree on a 3rd languages as a common language

Front 15

Nation-State

Back 15

A relatively homogenous cultural group with its own fully political territory (don't always fit neatly in boundaries of actual states)

Front 16

Over Urbanization

Back 16

urban population grows more quickly than it can provide housing, transportation, waste disposal and water supply

Front 17

Squatter Settlement

Back 17

illegal developments of makeshift housing as a result of over urbanization

Front 18

Sweatshop

Back 18

crude factories in which workers sew clothing, assemble sneakers, or perform similar labor intensive tasks for extremely low wages

Front 19

Total Fertility Rate

Back 19

Rate that measures fertility of an average group of women moving through their childbearing years

Front 20

Transnational Firms

Back 20

Firms and corporations that, although they may be chartered and have headquarters in one specific country, do international business through an array of global subsidiaries

Front 21

Economic Growth Rate

Back 21

Averaging annual growth of GNI of GDP over period of 5 years

Front 22

Ethnic Religion

Back 22

remain identified with a specific ethnic, tribal, or national group (don't actively seek converts)

Front 23

GNI per Capita

Back 23

Gross National Income - divide the GNI by the country's population

Front 24

Lingua Franca

Back 24

When people from different culture groups cannot communicate directly in their native languages, they agree on a 3rd languages as a common language

Front 25

Nation-State

Back 25

A relatively homogenous cultural group with its own fully political territory (don't always fit neatly in boundaries of actual states)

Front 26

Over Urbanization

Back 26

urban population grows more quickly than it can provide housing, transportation, waste disposal and water supply

Front 27

Squatter Settlement

Back 27

illegal developments of makeshift housing as a result of over urbanization

Front 28

Sweatshop

Back 28

crude factories in which workers sew clothing, assemble sneakers, or perform similar labor intensive tasks for extremely low wages

Front 29

Total Fertility Rate

Back 29

Rate that measures fertility of an average group of women moving through their childbearing years

Front 30

Transnational Firms

Back 30

Firms and corporations that, although they may be chartered and have headquarters in one specific country, do international business through an array of global subsidiaries

Front 31

Universalizing Religions

Back 31

attempt to appeal to all peoples regardless of location or culture (missionary work)

Front 32

Anthropogenic

Back 32

human caused pollutants in lower atmosphere contribute to greenhouse effect

Front 33

Bioregion

Back 33

assemblage of local plants and animals converging a large area

Front 34

Climate Regions

Back 34

Boundaries drawn around areas with similar average conditions

Front 35

Climographs

Back 35

Graphs of average high and low temperatures and precipitation for an entire year

Front 36

Desertification

Back 36

Spread of desert like conditions

Front 37

Greenhouse Effect

Back 37

the natural process of lower atmosphere heating that results from the trapping of incoming and reradiated solar energy by water moisture, clouds, and other atmospheric gases

Front 38

Green Revolution

Back 38

Term applied to the development of agricultural techniques used in developing countries that usually combine new, genetically altered seeds that provide higher yields than native seeds when combined with high inputs of chemical fertilizer, irrigation, and pesticides

Front 39

Ethnocentrism

Back 39

characterized by or based on the attitude that one's own group is superior

Front 40

Transition Zone

Back 40

zone between 2 different climate regions

Front 41

Relative Location

Back 41

explains location in reference to other places

Front 42

Absolute Location

Back 42

refers to exact location; latitude and longitude

Front 43

Maritime Climate

Back 43

strongly influenced by an oceanic environment found on islands and windward shores of continents. characterized by small daily and yearly temperature ranges and high relative humidity

Front 44

Continentality

Back 44

the degree to which the climate of a region typifies that of the interior of a large land mass; the condition of begin a continent; the tendency for middle regions of continents to have a wider temperature range than coastal areas

Front 45

Site

Back 45

the internal locational attributes of a place, including its local spatial organization and physical setting

Front 46

Situation

Back 46

the external locational attributes of a place, its relative location or regional position with reference to other non-local places

Front 47

Acid Rain

Back 47

industrial produced sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere that damage forests, poison lakes, and kill fish

Front 48

Boreal Forest

Back 48

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

Front 49

Connectivity

Back 49

how well region's different locations become linked with one another through improved transportation and communications networks

Front 50

Concentric zone model

Back 50

urban land uses were neatly organized in rings around a highly focused central business district that contained much of the city's retailing and office functions (early 20th century)

Front 51

Counterurbanization

Back 51

people leave large cities and move to small towns/ rural areas

Front 52

Cultural Assimilation

Back 52

process in which immigrants were absorbed by the larger host society

Front 53

Digital Divide

Back 53

regions poor/underprivileged groups have significantly less access to Internet communications than the wealthy

Front 54

Federal State

Back 54

Allocate considerable political power to units beneath the national level

Front 55

Gentrification

Back 55

process involving the displacement of lower income residents of central city neighborhoods with higher income residents, improvement of deteriorated inner city landscapes and construction of new shopping complexes, entertainment attractions or convention centers in selected downtown locations

Front 56

Group of Eight

Back 56

Collection of powerful countries - Japan, Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Russia, US, Canada

Front 57

Location Factor

Back 57

varied influences that explain why and economic activity is located where it is

Front 58

Megalopolis

Back 58

largest settlement cluster in US (includes DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, and Boston)

Front 59

NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement)

Back 59

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

Front 60

Sectoral Transformation

Back 60

evolution of nations labor force from one dependent on primary sector to one with more employment in secondary, tertiary, and quaternary sectors

Front 61

Unitary State

Back 61

Power centralized at national level

Front 62

Urban Decentralization

Back 62

metropolitan areas sprawl in all directions and suburbs take on many of characteristics of traditional downtowns

Front 63

Urban Realms Model

Back 63

recognizes new suburbs characterized by a mix of peripheral retailing, industrial parks, office complexes, and entertainment facilities

Front 64

Megacities

Back 64

cities with more than 10 million people

Front 65

Neotropics

Back 65

Tropical ecosystems of Western Hemisphere

Front 66

Grassification

Back 66

Conversion of tropical forest into pasture

Front 67

Shields

Back 67

large upland areas of very old exposed rocks that range in elevation from 600 to 5000 feet. The three major shields in South America are the Guina, Brazilian, and Patagonian

Front 68

Altiplano

Back 68

Treeless high plain of Peru and Bolivia

Front 69

El Nino

Back 69

occurs when a warm pacific current arrives along the normally cold coastal waters of Ecuador and Peru in December

Front 70

Urban Primacy

Back 70

Condition in which a country has a primate city three to four times larger than any other city in the country

Front 71

Rural-to-Urban Migration

Back 71

moving form rural areas to larger cities

Front 72

Latifundia

Back 72

practice of maintaining large estates

Front 73

Minifundia

Back 73

Farming small plots for their subsistence

Front 74

Agrarian Reform

Back 74

redistribution of land to peasant farmers

Front 75

Mestizo

Back 75

People of mixed European and Indian ancestry

Front 76

Organization of American States (OAS)

Back 76

Founded in 1948 and head-quartered in DC, it advocates hemispheric cooperation and dialogue

Front 77

Mercosur

Back 77

Souther cone common market

Front 78

Treaty of Tordesillas

Back 78

Pope divide Atlantic World in half (Portugal - Eastern Half; Spain - Western Half)

Front 79

Supranational Organizations

Back 79

governing bodies that include several states

Front 80

Subnational organizations

Back 80

groups that represent areas or people within a state

Front 81

Maquiladoras

Back 81

mexican assembly plants that line border with US

Front 82

Dependency Theory

Back 82

popular theory to explain patterns of economic development in Latin America. Underdevelopment was created by 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

Front 83

Maquiladoras

Back 83

mexican assembly plants that line border with US

Front 84

Dollarization

Back 84

process by which a country adopts the US dollar as its official currency

Front 85

Dependency Theory

Back 85

popular theory to explain patterns of economic development in Latin America. Underdevelopment was created by 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

Front 86

Neoliberal Policies

Back 86

stress, privation, export production, direct foreign investment and few restrictions on imports

Front 87

Dollarization

Back 87

process by which a country adopts the US dollar as its official currency

Front 88

Growth Poles

Back 88

planned industrial cities

Front 89

Neoliberal Policies

Back 89

stress, privation, export production, direct foreign investment and few restrictions on imports

Front 90

Isolated Proximity

Back 90

A concept that explores the contradictory position of the caribbean states, which are physically close to North America and economically dependent upon that region. At the same time, Caribbean isolation fosters strong loyalties to locality and limited economic opportunity

Front 91

Growth Poles

Back 91

planned industrial cities

Front 92

Rimland

Back 92

Coastal zone of the mainland that begins with belize and extends along the coast of Central America to Northern South America

Front 93

Isolated Proximity

Back 93

A concept that explores the contradictory position of the caribbean states, which are physically close to North America and economically dependent upon that region. At the same time, Caribbean isolation fosters strong loyalties to locality and limited economic opportunity

Front 94

Caribbean Diaspora

Back 94

economic flight of Caribbean peoples across globe

Front 95

Rimland

Back 95

Coastal zone of the mainland that begins with belize and extends along the coast of Central America to Northern South America

Front 96

creolization

Back 96

mix of European and African Cultures

Front 97

Caribbean Diaspora

Back 97

economic flight of Caribbean peoples across globe

Front 98

Plantation America

Back 98

a cultural region that extends from midway up the coast of Brazil through the Guianas and the Caribbean, and into the southeastern US. In this coastal zone, European owned plantations, worded by African laborers, produced agricultural products for export

Front 99

creolization

Back 99

mix of European and African Cultures

Front 100

Plantation America

Back 100

a cultural region that extends from midway up the coast of Brazil through the Guianas and the Caribbean, and into the southeastern US. In this coastal zone, European owned plantations, worded by African laborers, produced agricultural products for export

Front 101

Mono-crop Production

Back 101

a single commodity

Front 102

Indentured Labor

Back 102

workers contracted to labor on estates for a set period of time, often several years

Front 103

African Diaspora

Back 103

Forced removal of Africans from their native lands

Front 104

maroons

Back 104

communities of runaway slaves

Front 105

neocolonialism

Back 105

economic and political strategies by which powerful states indirectly/directly extend their influence over other weaker states

Front 106

Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM)

Back 106

a regional trade organization established in 1972 that includes former English colonies as its members

Front 107

Free Trade Zones

Back 107

duty free and tax exempt industrial parks for foreign corporations

Front 108

Off-Shore Banking

Back 108

appeal to foreign banks/corporations by offering specialized services that are confidential and tax exempt

Front 109

Capital Leakage

Back 109

huge gap between gross income and total tourist dollars

Front 110

Brain Drain

Back 110

migration of best educated people from developing countries to developed nations where economic opportunites are greater