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absolute location the position or place of a certain item on the surface of the earth as expressed in digress, minutes, and seconds of latitude and longitude accessibility the degree of ease with which it is possible to reach a certain location from other locations. activity (action) space the space within which daily activity occurs cartography The art and science of making maps, including data compilation, layout, and design. Also concerned with interpretation of mapped patterns. connectivity The degree of direct linkages between one particular location and other locations in a transport network. contagious diffusion The distance-controlled spreading of an idea, innovation, or some other item through a local population by contact from person to person. cultural barrier Prevailing cultural attitude rendering certain innovations, ideas, or practices unacceptable or unadoptable in a particular culture. cultural diffusion The expansion and adoption of a cultural element, from its place of origin to a wider area. cultural ecology The multiple interactions and relationships between a culture and the natural environment. cultural hearth Heartland, source area, innovation center; place of origin of a major culture cultural landscape The visible imprint of human activity and culture on the landscape. The layers of buildings, forms, and artifacts sequentially imprinted on the landscape by the activities of various human occupants. culture The sum total of the knowledge, attitudes, and habitual behavior patterns shared and transmitted by the members of a society. culture complex A related set of cultural traits, such as prevailing dress codes and cooking and eating utensils. culture trait A single element of normal practice within a culture, such as the wearing of a turban distance measurement of the physical space between two places. environmental determinism The view that the natural environment has a controlling influence over various aspects of human life, including cultural development. Also referred to as environmentalism. epidemic regional outbreak of a disease expansion diffusion The spread of an innovation or an idea through a population in an area in such a way that the number of those influenced grows continuously larger, resulting in an expanding area of dissemination. fieldwork The study of geographic phenomena by visiting places and observing how people interact with and thereby change those places five themes Location, human-environment, region, place, and movement. formal region A type of region marked by a certain degree of homogeneity in one or more phenomena, also called a uniform region or a homogeneous region functional region A region defined by the particular set of activities or interactions that occur within it. geocaching A hunt for a cache, the GPS coordinates which are placed on the internet by other geocachers geographic concept ways of seeing the world spatially that are used by geographers in answering research questions geographic information systems (GIS) a collection of computer hardware and software that permits spatial data to be collected, recorded, stored, retrieved, manipulated, analyzed, and displayed to the user. globalization the expansion of economic, political, and cultural processes to the point that they become global in scale and impact. global positioning system (GPS) satellite-based system for determining the absolute location of places or geographic features hierarchical diffusion a form of diffusion in which an idea or innovation spreads by passing first among the most connected places or peoples. human-environment the second theme of geography; reciprocal relationship between humans and environment human geography one of the two major divisions of geography; the spatial analysis of human populations, its cultures, activities, and landscapes independent invention the term for a trait with many cultural hearts, which developed independently of each other isotherm Line on a map connecting points of equal temperature values landscape the overall appearance of an area, usually composed of natural and human-induced influences location the first theme of geography; the geographical situation of people and things location theory a logical attempt to explain the locational pattern of an economic activity and the manner in which its producing areas are interrelated medical geography the study of health and disease within a geographic context and from a geographical perspective mental map image or picture of the way space is organized as determined by an individual's perception, impression, and knowledge of the space movement the fifth theme of geography; the mobility of people, goods, and ideas across the surface of the planet pandemic an outbreak of a disease that spreads worldwide pattern the design of a spatial distribution perception of place Belief or "understanding" about a place developed through books, stories, movies, or pictures. perceptual region A region that only exists as a conceptualization or an idea and not as a physically demarcated entity physical geography One of the two major divisions of geography; the spatial analysis of the structure, processes, and locations of the Earth's natural phenomena such as soil, climate, plants, animals, and topography. place One of the five themes of geography; the uniqueness of a location political ecology An approach to studying nature-society relations that is concerned with the ways in which environmental issues both reflect, and are the result of, the political and socioeconomic contexts in which they are situated. possibilism Geographic viewpoint that holds that human decision making, not the environment, is the crucial factor in cultural development. reference maps Maps that show the absolute location of places and geographic features determined by a frame of reference, typically latitude and longitude regions One of the five themes of geography; an area on the Earth's surface marked by a degree of formal, functional, or perceptual homogeneity of some phenomenon relative location The regional position or situation of a place relative to the position of other places relocation diffusion Sequential diffusion process in which the items being diffused are transmitted by their carrier agents as they evacuate the old areas and relocate to new ones. remote sensing A method of collecting data or information through the use of instruments (e.g., satellites) that are physically distant from the area or object of study rescale Involvement of players at other scales to generate support for a position or an initiative (e.g., use of the Internet to generate interest on a national or global scale for a local position or initiative sense of place State of mind derived through the infusion of a place with meaning and emotion by remembering important events that occurred in n that place or by labeling that place with a certain character sequent occupance The notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape spatial pertaining to space on the earth's surface; sometimes used as a synonym for geographic spatial distribution Physical location of geographic phenomena across space spatial interaction the flow of products, people, services, or information among places, in response to localized supply and demand. spatial perspective observing variations in geographic phenomena across space stimulus diffusion A form of diffusion in which a cultural adaptation is created as a result of a cultural trait from another place thematic maps Maps that tell stories, typically showing the degree of some attribute or the movement of a geographic phenomenon time-distance decay The declining degree of acceptance of an idea or innovation with increasing time and distance from its point of origin or source AIDS immune system disease caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) arithmetic population density the population of a country or region expressed as an average per unit area census a periodic and official count of a country's population child mortality rate a figure that describes the number of children who die between the first and fifth years of their lives in a given population chronic diseases generally long-lasting afflictions; degenerative diseases crude birth rate the number of deaths yearly per thousand people in a given population crude death rate the number of live births yearly per thousand people in a given population demographic transition multistage model, based on Western Europe's experience, of changes in population growth exhibited by countries during industrialization dot map maps where one dot represents a certain number of a phenomenon, such as a population doubling time the time required for a population to double in size eugenic population policy government policy designed to favor one racial sector over others expansive population policy government policy that encourages large families and raises the rate of population growth infant mortality rate a figure that describes the number of babies who die within the first year of their lives in a given population life expectancy a figure indicating how long, on average, a person may be expected to live megalopolis term used to describe large coalescing supercities that are forming in various parts of the world natural increase population growth measured as the excess of live births over deaths physiological population density the number of people per unit area of arable land population composition structure of a population in terms of age, sex, and other properties such as marital status and education population density a measure of the number of people per given unit of land population distribution descriptions of locations on the Earth's surface where populations live population explosion The rapid growth of the world's human population during the past century. population pyramids visual representations of the age and sex composition of a population whereby the population of each age group is represented by a horizontal bar restrictive population policy government policy designed to reduce the rate of natural increase stationary population level the level at which a national population ceases to grow asylum shelter and protection in one state for refugees from another state chain migration pattern of migration that develops when migrants move along and through kinship links colonization physical process whereby the colonizer takes over another place, putting its own government in charge and either moving its own people into the place or bringing in indentured outsiders to gain control of the people and the land cyclic movement Movement-for example, nomadic migration-that has a closed route repeated annually or seasonally distance decay The various degenerative effects of distance on human spatial structures and interactions. explorer a person examining a region that is unknown to him forced migration Human migration flows in which the movers have no choice but to relocate gravity model a mathematical prediction of the interaction of places, the interaction being a function of population size of the respective places and the distance between them guest workers legal immigrant who has a work visa, usually short term immigration laws laws and regulations of a state designed specifically to control immigration into that state immigration wave phenomenon whereby different patterns of chain migration build upon one another to create a swell in migration from one region to the same destination internal migration human movement involving movement within a nation-state internal refugees people who have been displaced within their own countries and do not cross international boundaries as they flee international migration human movement involving movement across international boundaries international refugees refugees who have crossed one or more international boundaries during their dislocation intervening opportunity the presence of a nearer opportunity that greatly diminished the attractiveness of sites farther away island of development place built up by a government or a corporation to attract foreign investment and which has relatively high concentrations of paying jobs and infrastructure laws of migration developed by British geographer Ernst Ravenstein, five laws that predict the flow of migration migrant labor a common type of periodic movement involving workers who cross international boundaries in search of employment migration a change in residence intended to be permanent military service a common form of periodic movement involving military personnel and their families who are moved to new locations where they will spend tours of duty lasting up to several years nomadism movement among a definite set of places-- often cyclical movement. periodic movements movement that involves temporary, recurrent relocation, such as for college attendance or military service pull factors Positive conditions and perceptions that effectively attract people to new locales from other areas push factors Negative conditions and perceptions that induce people to leave their abode and migrate to a new locale quotas established limits by governments on the number of immigrants who can enter the country each year refugees people who have fled their own country and seek asylum in another country remittances money that migrants send back to family and friends in their home countries selective immigration process to control immigration in which individuals with certain backgrounds are preferred (such as engineers) or excluded (such as criminals) step migration Migration to a distant destination that occurs in stages, for example, farm to nearby village and later to town or city. transhumance a seasonal periodic movement of pastoralists and their livestock between highland and lowland pastures voluntary migration movement in which people relocate in response to perceived opportunity, not because they are forced to move authenticity In the context of local culture or customs, the accuracy with which a single stereotypical or typecast image or experience conveys an otherwise dynamic and complex local culture or its customs commodification the process through which something is given monetary value cultural appropriation the process by which cultures adopt customs and knowledge from other cultures and use them for their own benefit custom practice routinely followed by a group of people diffusion routes The spatial trajectory through which cultural traits or other phenomena spread ethnic neighborhood neighborhood, typically situated in a larger city and constructed by or comprised of a local culture, in which a local culture can practice its customs folk-culture cultural traits such as dress styles, dwellings, traditions, and institutions of usually small, traditional communities folk-housing region A region in which the housing stock predominantly reflects styles of building that are particular to the culture of the people who have long inhabited the area. glocalization the process by which people in a local place mediate and alter regional, national, and global processes global-local continuum the notion that what happens at the global scale has a direct effect on what happens at the local scale, and vice versa. hearth the area where an idea or cultural trait originates local culture group of people in a particular place who see themselves as a collective or a community, who share experiences, customs, and traits, and who work to preserve these traits and customs in order to claim uniqueness and to distinguish themselves from others material culture the art, housing, clothing, sports, dances, foods, and other similar items constructed or created by a group of people neolocalism the seeking out of the regional culture and reinvigoration of it in response to the uncertainty of the modern world nonmaterial culture the beliefs, practices, aesthetics, and values of a group of people placelessness defined by geographer Edward Ralph as the loss of uniqueness of place in the cultural landscape so that one place looks like the next popular culture cultural traits such as dress, diet, and music that identify and are part of today's changeable, urban-based, media influenced western societies reterritorialization with respect to popular culture, when people within a place start to produce an aspect of popular culture themselves, doing so in the context of their local cultures and making it their own time-space compression a term associated with the work of David Harvey that refers to the social and psychological effects of living in a world in which time-space convergence has rapidly reached a high level of intensity barrioization defined by geographer James Curtis as the dramatic increase in Hispanic population in a given neighborhood dowry deaths in the context of arranged marriages in India, disputes over the price to be paid by the family of the bride to the father of the groom (the dowry) have, in some cases, led to the death of the bride ethnicity affiliation or identity within a group of people bound by common ancestry and culture. gender social differences between men and women, rather than the anatomical, biological differences between the sexes. What is considered "masculine" or "feminine" varies greatly over time and space gendered in terms of a place, whether the place is designed for or claimed by men or women identity defined by geographer Gillian Rose as "how we make sense of ourselves", how people see themselves at different scales identifying against constructing an identity by first defining the "other" and then defining themselves as "not the other" invasion and succession process by which anew immigrants to a city move to and dominate or take over areas or neighborhoods occupied by older immigrant groups kinship links types of push and pull factors that influence a migrant's decision to go where family or friends have already found success queer theory theory defined by Glen Elder, Lawrence Knopp, and Heidi Nast that highlights the contextual nature of opposition to the heteronormative and focuses on the political engagement of "queers" with the heteronormative race a categorization of humans based on skin color and other physical characteristics racism frequently referred to as a system or attitude toward visible differences in individuals, it is an ideology of difference that ascribes significance and meaning to culturally, socially, and politically constructed ideas based on phenotypical features residential segregation defined by geographers Douglas Massey and Nancy Dentonas the degree to which two or more groups live separately from one another, in different parts of the urban environment space defined by Doreen Massey and Pat Jess as "social relations stretched out" backward reconstruction the tracking of sound shifts and hardening of consonants "backward" toward the original language conquest theory a major theory of how Proto-Indo-European diffused into Europe which holds that the early speakers of PIE spread westward on horseback, overpowering earlier inhabitants and beginning the diffusion and differentiation of Indo-European languages Creole language A language that began as a pidgin language but was later adopted as the mother tongue by a people in the place of the mother tongue dialect Local or regional characteristics of a language dialect chains a set of contiguous dialects in which the dialects nearest to each other at any place in the chain are most closely related dispersal hypothesis hypothesis which holds that the Indo-European languages that arose from PIE were first carried eastward into Southwest Asia, next around the Caspian Sea, and then across the Russian-Ukrainian plains and on into the Balkans extinct language a language without any native speakers Germanic languages Languages that reflect the expansion of peoples out of Northern Europe to the west and south. Includes English, German, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish global language the language used most commonly around the world defined on the basis of either isogloss a geographic boundary within which a particular linguistic feature occurs language a set of sounds, combinations of sounds, and symbols that are used for consideration language convergence the collapsing of two languages into one resulting from the consistent spatial interactions of peoples with different languages language divergence a process suggested by German linguist August Schleicher whereby new languages are formed when a language breaks into dialects due to a lack of spatial interaction among speakers of a language; continued isolation eventually causes the division of the language into discrete new languages language families group of languages with a shared but fairly distant origin lingua franca a term deriving from "Frankish language" and applying to a tongue spoken in ancient Mediterranean ports that consisted of a mixture of Italian, French, Greek, Spanish, and even some Arabic. Today it refers to a "common language" used among speakers of different languages for the purposes of trade and commerce monolingual states countries in which only one language is spoken multilingual states countries in which only more than one language is spoken mutual intelligibility the ability of two people to understand one another when speaking Nostratic language believed to be the ancestral language not only of PIE, but also of the Kartvelian languages of the southern Caucasus, the Uralic-Altaic languages (including Hungarian, Finnish, Turkish, and Mongolian), the Dravidian languages of India, and the Afro-Asiatic language family official language in multilingual countries, the language selected, often by the educated and politically powerful elite, to promote internal cohesion; usually the language of the courts and government pidgin language a language created when parts of two or more languages are combined in a simplified structure and vocabulary Proto-Indo-European (PIE) linguistic hypothesis proposing the existence of an ancestral Indo-European language that is the hearth of the ancient Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit languages. Renfrew hypothesis hypothesis developed by British scholar Colin Renfrew wherein he proposed that three areas in and near the first agricultural hearth, the Fertile Crescent, gave rise to three language families: Europe's Indo-European languages, North African and Arabian languages, and the languages in present-day Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India Romance languages languages derived from Latin: French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, and Portuguese Slavic languages languages (Russian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Ukrainian, Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian, and Bulgarian) that developed as Slavic people migrated from a base in present-day Ukraine close to 2000 years ago sound shift slight change in a word across languages within a sub-family or through a language family from the present backward toward its origin standard language the variant of a language that a country's political and intellectual elite seek to promote as the norm for use in schools, government, the media, and other aspects of public life subfamilies divisions within a language family where the commonalities are more definite and the origin is more recent toponymy The study of the origins and meanings of place names animism the belief that inanimate objects, such as hills, rocks, rivers, and other elements of the natural landscape possess souls and can help as well as hinder human efforts on earth Buddhism a universalizing religion, primarily of eastern and central Asia, based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, that suffering is inherent in all life but can be relieved by mental and moral self-purification caste system the strict social segregation of people--specifically in India's Hindu society--on the basis of ancestry and occupation Christianity a monotheistic, universalizing religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ and of the Bible as sacred scripture Confucianism a philosophy of ethics, education, and public service based on the writings of Confucius and traditionally thought of as one of the core elements of Chinese culture diaspora from the Greek "to disperse", a term describing forceful or voluntary dispersal of a people from their homeland to a new place. Originally denoting the dispersal of Jews, it is increasingly applied to other population dispersals, such as the involuntary relocation of Africans during the slave trade or Chinese peoples outside of Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong Eastern Orthodox Church one of the three major branches of Christianity, which arose out of the division of the Roman Empire by Empire Diocletian into east (centered in Constantinople) and west (centered in Rome). In 1054, Christianity split along this east-west line. ethnic religion a religion that is particular to one, culturally distinct, group of people Feng Shui Literally "wind-water". The Chinese art and science of placement and orientation of tombs, dwellings, buildings, and cities. Structures and objects are positioned in an effort to channel flows of sheng-chi, life-breath, in positive ways genocide the systematic killing or an entire people or nation hajj the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, the birthplace of Muhammed Hinduism one of the oldest religions, dating back over 4000 years, and originating in the Indus River Valley, It is unique among world religions in that it does not have a single founder, a single theology, or agreement on its origins interfaith boundaries boundaries between the world's major faiths iintrafaith boundaries boundaries within a single major faith Islam the youngest of the world's major religions, it is based on the teachings of Muhammed, born in Mecca in 571 CE. jihad a doctrine within Islam. Commonly translated as "Holy War', it represents a personal or collective struggle on the part of Muslims to live up to the standards set by the Qur'an Judaism religion with its roots in the teachings of Abraham who is credited with uniting his people to worship only one god. minarets tower attached to a mosque, having one or more projecting balconies from which a crier call Muslims to prayer monotheistic religion belief system in which one supreme being is revered as creator and arbiter of all that exists in the universe pilgrimage voluntary travel by an adherent to pay respects or participate in a ritual at the site polytheistic religion belief system in which multiple deities are revered as creators and arbiters of all that exists in the universe Protestant one of the three major branches of Christianity. Following the widespread societal changes in Europe starting in the 1300s, many adherents of the Roman Catholic Church began questioning the role of religion in their lives and opened the door to the Protestant Reformation, wherein John Huss, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and others challenged many of the fundamental teachings of the Roman Catholic Church religion defined by geographers Robert Stoddard and Carolyn Prorak as "a system of beliefs and practices that attempts to order life in terms of culturally perceived ultimate priorities" religious extremism religious fundamentalism carried to the point of violence religious fundamentalism Religious movement whose objectives are to return to the foundations of the faith and to influence state policy. Roman Catholic Church one of the three major branches of Christianity, which arose out of the division of the Roman Empire by Empire Diocletian into east centered in Constantinople) and west (centered in Rome). In 1054, Christianity split along this east-west line. sacred sites place or space that people infuse with religious meaning secularism the idea that ethical and moral standards should be formulated and adhered to for life on earth, not to accommodate the prescriptions of a deity and promises of a comfortable afterlife Shamanism a type of religion found in traditional societies in which a person is deemed to possess religious and mystical powers, acquired directly from supernatural sources. Sharia The system of Islamic law, sometimes called Qu'ranic law. Shi'ite (Shia) one of the two major divisions of Islam, they represent the Persian (Iranian) variation of Islam and believe in the infallibility and divine right to authority of the Imams, descendents of Ali. Shintoism a syncretic religion which mixes Buddhism with the Japanese ethnic religion which emphasizes nature and ancestor worship. Sunnis Adherents to the largest branch of Muslims, called the orthodox or traditionalist. Taoism a Chinese religion which held that human happiness lay in maintaining the proper relationship with nature universalizing religion belief system which espouses the idea that there is one religion that is universal in scope Zionism the movement to unite Jewish people of the diaspora and to establish a national homeland for them in the "promised land" ability in the context of political power, the capacity of a state to influence other state s or achieve its goals through diplomatic, economic, and military means capitalism economic model wherein people, corporations, and states produce goods and exchange them on the world market, with the goal of achieving profit centrifugal force a term employed to designate forces that tend to divide a country-such as internal religious, linguistic, ethnic, or ideological differences centripetal force a term employed to designate forces that unite and bind a country together---such as widespread commitment to a national culture, shared ideological objectives, and a common faith colonialism rule by an autonomous power over a subordinate and alien people and place core area refers to the center, heart, or focus. In a nation-state, this area is the heartland with the largest population cluster, the most productive economy, , the area with the greatest centrality and accessibility, and probably contains the capital city as well critical geopolitics process by which geopoliticians deconstruct and focus on explaining the underlying spatial assumptions and territorial perspectives of politicians democracy Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives. devolution The process whereby regions within a state demand and gain political strength and growing autonomy at the expense of the central government. federal state a political territorial system in which a central government represents the various entities within a nation state where they have common interests (defense, foreign affairs, etc.) yet allows these various entities to retain their own identities and to have their own laws and customs in certain spheres geometric boundary political boundary defined and delimited (and occasionally demarcated) as a straight line or an arc gerrymandering redistricting for the advantage of one political party heartland theory a geographical hypothesis, proposed by British geographer Halford Mackinder during the first two decades of the 20th century, that any political power based in the heart of Eurasia could gain sufficient strength to eventually dominate the world. Mackinder proposed that since Eastern Europe controlled access to the Eurasian interior, its ruler would control the vast heartland to the east. majority-minority districts in the context of determining representative districts, the process by which a majority of the population is from the minority mercantilism a protectionist policy of European states during the 16th to 18th centuries that promoted a state's economic position in the contest with other countries. The acquisition of gold and silver and the maintenance of a favorable balance of trade were central to the policy multinational state state with more than one nation within its borders multistate nation nation that stretches across borders and across states nation Legally, a term encompassing all the citizens of a state. Most definitions now tend to refer to a tightly knit group of people possessing bonds of language, ethnicity, religion, and other shared cultural attributes. nation-state theoretically, a recognized member of the modern state system possessing formal sovereignty and occupied by a people who see themselves as a single, united nation. Peace of Westphalia peace negotiated in 1648 to end the Thirty Years War, Europe's most destructive internal struggle over religion. The treaties contained new language recognizing statehood and nationhood, clearly defined borders, and guarantees of security periphery processes that incorporate lower levels of education, lower salaries, and less technology, and generate less wealth than core processes in the world economy physical political boundary political boundaries that coincide with prominent physical features in the natural landscape--such as rivers or the crest ridges of mountain ranges political geography a subdivision of human geography focused on the nature and implications of the evolving spatial organization of political governance and formal political practice on the Earth's surface reapportionment process by which representative districts are changed according to population shifts, so that each district encompasses approximately the same number of people scale representation of a real-world phenomenon at a certain level of reduction or generalization. In cartography, the ratio of map distance to ground distance indicated on a map as a bar graph, representative fraction, and/or verbal statement semiperiphery place where core and periphery processes are both occurring; places that are exploited by the core but in turn exploit the periphery sovereignty a principle of international relations that holds that the final authority over social, economic, and political matters should rest with legitimate rulers of independent states splitting in the context of determining representative districts, the process by which the majority and minority populations are spread evenly across each of the districts to be created therein insuring control by the majority in each of the districts, as opposed to the result of using majority-minority districts state A politically organized territory that is administered by a sovereign government and is recognized by a significant portion of the international community stateless nation a nation that does not have a state territoriality in political geography a country's or a more local community's sense of property and attachment toward its territory, as expressed by its desire to keep it inviolable and strongly defended territorial integrity the right of a state to defend sovereign territory against incursions from other states territorial representation system wherein each representative is elected from a territorially defined district unilateralism world order in which one state is in a position of dominance with allies following rather than joining the political decision-making process unitary state A nation-state that has a centralized government and administration that exercises power equally over all parts of the state. acropolis The highest part of an ancient Greek city, The city's most impressive buildings, usually temples, were placed here. agora The open marketplace of an ancient Greek city agricultural surplus one of two components, along with social stratification, that enable the formation of cities; agricultural production in excess of that which the producer needs for the survival of him and his family agricultural village a relatively small, egalitarian village, where most of the population was involved with agriculture; they began to form over 10,000 years ago blockbusting rapid change in the racial composition of residential blocks in US cities that occurs when real estate agents and others stir up fears of neighborhood decline after encouraging people of color to move into previously white neighborhoods central business district (CBD) the downtown heart of a central city, it is marked by high land values, a concentration of business and commerce, and the clustering of the tallest buildings central city the urban area that is not suburban, generally, the older or original city that is surrounded by newer suburbs central place theory theory proposed by Walter Christaller that explains how and where central places in the urban hierarchy should be functionally and spatially distributed with respect to one another city conglomeration of people and buildings clustered together to serve as a center of politics, culture, and economics commercialization the transformation of an area of a city in to an area attractive to residents and tourists alike in terms of economic activity concentric zone model a structural model of the US central city that suggests the existence of five concentric land-use rings arranged around a common center disamenity sector the very poorest parts of cities that in extreme cases are not even connected to regular city services and are controlled by gangs or drug lords edge cities a term introduced by American journalist Joel Garreau in order to describe the shifting form of urbanism in the US away from the CBD toward new loci of economic activity at the urban fringe. These cities are characterized by excessive amounts of office and retail space, few residential areas, and modern buildings (less than 10 years old) First Agricultural Revolution The original invention of farming and domestication of animals 8000-14,000 years ago, and the subsequent dispersal of these methods from the source regions. Forum the focal point of ancient Roman life combining the functions of the ancient Greek acropolis and agora functional zonation the division of a city into different regions or zones for certain purposes or functions gated communities restricted neighborhoods or subdivisions, often literally fenced in, where entry is limited to residents and their guests. gentrification the rehabilitation of deteriorated, often abandoned, housing of low-income inner-city residents Griffin-Ford model Developed by geographers Ernst Griffin and Larry Ford, a model of the Latin American city showing a blend of traditional elements of Latin American culture with the forces of globalization that are reshaping the urban scene Huang He and Wei rivers in present-day China; it was at the confluence of the Huang He and Wei rivers where chronologically the 4th urban hearth was established around 1500 BCE. Indus River Valley the 4th urban hearth, dating to 2200 BCE informal economy economic activity that is neither taxed nor monitored by a government and is not included in the country's GNP McGee model developed by T.G. McGee, a model showing similar land-use patterns among the medium-sized cities of Southeast Asia McMansions "super size" homes similar in appearance to other such homes; homes often built in place of tear-downs in American suburbs Mesoamerica the 5th urban hearth, dating to 200 BCE Mesopotamia region of great cities (e.g., Ur and Babylon, located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, chronologically the 1st urban hearth, dating to 3500 BCE, new urbanism outlined by a group of architects, urban planners, and developers from over 20 countries, an urban design that calls for development, urban revitalization, and suburban reforms that create walkable neighborhoods with a diversity of housing and jobs Nile River Valley the 2nd urban hearth, dating to 1200 BCE primate city A country's largest city-ranking atop the urban hierarchy-most expressive of the national culture and usually the capital city as well rank-size rule in a model urban hierarchy, the idea that the population of a city or town will be inversely proportional to its rank in the hierarchy redlining a discriminatory real estate practice in North America in which members of minority groups are prevented from obtaining loans to purchase homes or property in predominately white neighborhoods shantytowns unplanned slum development on the margins of a city dominated by crude dwellings and shelters made mostly of scrap wood, iron, and even pieces of cardboard site the internal physical attributes of a place, including its absolute location, its spatial character and physical setting situation the external locational attributes of a place , its relative location or regional position with reference to other nonlocal places social stratification the differentiation of society into classes based on wealth, power, production, and prestige spaces of consumption areas of a city, the main purpose of which is to encourage people to consume goods and services, driven primarily by the global media suburb a subsidiary urban area surrounding and connected to the central city suburbanization movements of upper and middle class people from urban core areas to the surrounding outskirts to escape pollution as well as deteriorating social conditions Sunbelt phenomenon the movement of millions of Americans from northern and northeastern States to the South and Southwest regions of the US tear-downs homes bought in many American suburbs with the intent of tearing them down and replacing them with much larger homes known as McMansions trade area the region adjacent to every town and city in which its influence is dominant urban (area) the entire built-up nonrural area and its population including the most recently constructed appendages urban morphology the study of the physical form and structure of urban places urban realm a spatial generalization of the large, late 20th century US city, it is shown to be a widely dispersed multicentered metropolis consisting of increasingly independent zones or realms, each focused on its own suburban downtown. urban sprawl unrestricted growth in many US urban areas, with little concern for urban planning world city dominant city in terms of its role in the global economy; a center of strategic control of the world economy zone areas of a city with a relatively uniform land use (e.g., an industrial zone) zoning laws legal restrictions on land use that determine what types of building and economic activities are allowed to take place in certain areas commodity chains series of links connecting the many places of production and distribution, resulting in a commodity that is then exchanged on the world market context the geographical situation in which something occurs, the combination of what is happening at a variety of scales concurrently dependency theory a structuralist theory that is based on the idea that certain types of political and economic relations (especially colonialism) between countries and regions in the world have created conditions that both control and limit the extent to which regions can develop developing with respect to a country, making progress in technology, production, and socioeconomic welfare desertification the encroachment of desert conditions on moister zones along the desert margins, where plant cover and soils are threatened by desiccation dollarization when a poorer country ties the value of its currency to that of a wealthier country, or when it abandons its currency and adopts the wealthier country's currency as its own export processing zone (EPZ) zones established by many countries in the periphery and semi-periphery where they offer favorable tax, regulatory, and trade arrangements to attract foreign trade and investment formal economy the legal economy that is taxed and monitored by a government and is included in a government's gross national product (GNP) gross national income (GNI) the monetary worth of what is produced within a country plus income received from investments outside the country gross national product (GDP) the total value of all goods and services produced by a country's economy in a given year leadership class group of decision-makers and organizers in early cities who controlled the resources and lives of others malaria vectored disease spread by mosquitoes that carry the parasite in their saliva; kills about 150,000 children monthly in the global periphery maquiladoras the term given to zones in northern Mexico with factories supplying manufactured goods to the US market microcredit program program that provides small loans to poor people, especially women, to encourage development of small businesses modernization model a model of economic development most closely associated with Walter Rostow, this model maintains that all countries go through five interrelated stages of development, which culminate in an economic state of self-sustained economic growth and high levels of mass consumption neocolonialism the entrenchment of the colonial order, such as trade and investment, under a new guise nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) international organizations that operate outside of the formal political arena but that are nonetheless influential in spearheading international initiatives on social, economic, and environmental issues North American Free trade Agreement (NAFTA) agreement entered into by Canada, US, and Mexico in December 1992 and which took effect on 1/1/94 to eliminate the barriers to trade in, and facilitate the cross-border movement of goods and services between the countries special economic zones (SEZ) specific area within a country in which tax incentives and less stringent environmental regulations are implemented to attract foreign business and investment structural adjustment loans loans granted by international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to countries in the periphery and semi-periphery in exchange for certain economic and governmental reforms in that country structuralist theory a model of economic development that treats economic disparities among countries or regions as the result of historically derived power relations within the global economic system three-tier structure with reference to Wallerstein's world-systems theory, the division of the world into core, periphery, and semi-periphery as a means to explain the interconnection between places in the global economy trafficking when a family sends a child or an adult to a labor recruiter in hopes that the labor recruiter will send money, and the family member will earn money to send home vectored diseases a disease carried from one host to another by an intermediate host world systems theory theory originated by Immanuel Wallerstein and illuminated by his three-tier structure, proposing that social change in the developing world is inextricably linked to the economic activities of the developed world agribusiness A general term for large-scale, mechanized industrial agriculture that is controlled by corporate interests agriculture The purposeful tending of crops and livestock in order to produce food and fiber animal domestication genetic modification of an animal to make it more useful to and better able to be controlled by humans climatic regions areas of the world with similar climactic characteristics commercial agriculture Type of economic activity in which crops and animals are produced for the market. Usually characterized by use of advanced technology and large farms. genetically modified organisms (GMO) crops that carry new traits that have been inserted through advanced genetic engineering methods Green Revolution the development of higher-yield, fast-growing varieties of rice and other cereals in certain developing countries, which led to increased production per unit area and a dramatic narrowing of the gap between population growth and food needs Koppen climatic classification system a system for classifying the world's climates on the basis of temperature and precipitation livestock ranching the raising of domesticated animals for the production of meat and other byproducts such as leather and wool long lot survey system distinct regional approach to land surveying found in the Canadian Maritimes, parts of Quebec, Louisiana, and Texas whereby land is divided into narrow parcels stretching back from rivers, roads, or canals luxury crops non-subsistence crops such as tea, cacao, coffee, and tobacco Mediterranean agriculture specialized farming that occurs only in areas where the dry-summer Mediterranean climate prevails metes and bounds system a system of land surveying east of the Appalachian Mountains. The system relies on descriptions of land ownership and natural features such as streams or trees. monoculture dependence on a single agricultural commodity organic agriculture Crops produced without the use of synthetic or industrially produced pesticides and fertilizers plantation agriculture A type of agriculture in which cash crops are grown on large estates plant domestication genetic modification of a plant such that its reproductive success depends on human intervention primary economic activity economic activity concerned with the direct extraction of natural resources from the environment, such as mining, fishing, lumbering, and agriculture primogeniture System where the eldest son in a family-or, in exceptional cases, daughter-inherits all of a dying parent's land quaternary economic activity service sector industries concerned with the collection, processing, and manipulation of information and capital, such as finance, administration, insurance, and legal services quinary economic activities service sector industries that require a high level of specialized knowledge or technical skill, such as scientific research and high-level management rectangular land survey Also called the Public Land Survey, the system was used by the US Land Office Survey to parcel land west of the Appalachian Mountains. The system divides land into a series of rectangular parcels. root crops crop that is reproduced by cultivating the of or the cuttings from the plants secondary economic activity economic activity involving the processing of raw materials and their transformation into finished industrial goods; the manufacturing sector seed crops crop that is reproduced by cultivating the seeds of the plants shifting cultivation Cultivation of crops in tropical forest clearings in which the forest vegetation has been removed by cutting and burning. These clearings are usually abandoned after a few years in favor of newly cleared forestland. Also known as slash-and-burn agriculture. slash-and-burn agriculture shifting cultivation; cultivation of crops in forest clearings in which the forest vegetation has been removed by cutting and burning. subsistence farmers Farmers who grow food primarily or exclusively for their own family to consume, rather than to sell for profit tertiary economic activity economic activity associated with the provision of services-such as transportation, banking, retailing, education, and routine office-based jobs Third Agricultural Revolution A period of technological change which began in the 1960s with the production of an improved rice hybrid called IR8 and characterized by the use of biotechnology. township-and-range system A rectangular land division scheme designed by Thomas Jefferson to disperse settlers evenly across farmlands of the US interior. von Thunen model a model that explains the location of agricultural activities in a commercial, profit-making economy. A process of spatial competition allocates various farming activities into rings around a central market city, with profit-earning capability the determining force in how far from the market a crop is grown agglomeration a process involving the clustering or concentrating of people or activities. The term often refers to manufacturing plants and businesses that benefit from close proximity because they share skilled-labor pools and technological and financial amenities break of bulk point a location along a transportation route where goods must be transferred from one carrier to another deglomeration the process of industrial deconcentration in response to technological advances and/or increasing costs due to congestion and competition deindustrialization process by which companies move industrial jobs to other regions with cheaper labor, leaving the newly deindustrialized region to switch to a service economy and work through a period of high unemployment Fordist a highly organized and specialized system for organizing industrial production and labor, named after the automobile producer Henry Ford; uses assembly line production of standardized components friction of distance the increase in time and cost that usually comes with increasing distance global division of labor phenomenon whereby corporations and others can draw from labor markets around the world, made possible by the compression of time and space through innovation in communication and transportation systems Industrial Revolution the term applied to the social and economic changes in agriculture, commerce, and manufacturing that resulted from technological innovations and specialization in late 18th century Europe intermodal connections places where two or more modes of transportation meet (including air, road, rail, barge, and ship just-in-time delivery method of inventory management made possible by efficient transportation and communication systems, whereby companies keep on hand just what they need for near-term production, assuming that what they need for longer-term production will arrive when needed least cost theory model developed by Alfred Weber according to which the location of manufacturing establishments is determined by trying to minimize the costs of labor, transportation, and excessive agglomeration locational interdependence theory developed by economist Harold Hotelling that suggests that competitors, in trying to maximize sales, will work to constrain each other's territory as much as possible which will therefore lead them to locate adjacent to one another in the middle of their collective customer base offshore with reference to production, to outsource to a third party located outside of the country outsource with reference to production, to turn over production in part or in total to a third party post-Fordist world economic system characterized by a more flexible use of production practices in which goods are not mass-produced, instead production has been accelerated and dispersed around the globe by multinational companies that shift production, outsourcing it around the world primary industrial regions Western and Central Europe, Eastern North America, Russia and Ukraine, and Eastern Asia, each of which consists of one or more care areas, of industrial development with subsidiary clusters Sunbelt the South and Southwest regions of the US technopole centers or nodes of high technology research and activity around which a high technology corridor sometimes develops variable costs costs that change directly with the amount of production, such as energy supply and labor costs acid rain a growing environmental peril whereby acidified rainwater severely damages plant and animal life, caused by the oxides of sulphur and nitrogen that are released into the atmosphere when oil, coal, and natural gas are burned aquifers subterranean, porous, water-holding rocks atmosphere blanket of gasses surrounding the earth, extending some 350 miles above the earth's surface biodiversity the total variety of plant and animal species in a particular place chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) synthetic organic compounds first created in the 19503 and used as refrigerants and propellants deforestation the clearing and destruction of forests to harvest wood for consumption, clear land for agricultural uses, and make way for expanding settlement frontiers glaciation a period of global cooling during which continental ice sheets and mountain glaciers expand global warming theory that the earth is gradually warming as a result of an increased greenhouse effect in the Earth's atmosphere, caused by ever-increasing amounts of carbon dioxide produced by various human activities Holocene the current interglaciation period, extending from 10,000 years ago to the present on the geologic time scale hydrologic cycle the system of exchange involving water in its various forms as it continually circulates among the atmosphere, the oceans , and above and below the land surface interglaciation sustained warming phase between two glaciations during an ice age Little Ice Age temporary but significant cooling period between the fourteenth and the nineteenth century, accompanied by wide temperature fluctuations, droughts, and storms, causing famine and dislocation mass depletions loss of diversity through failure to produce new species mass extinctions mass destruction of most species Montreal Protocol an international agreement signed in 1987 by 105 countries and the European Community (now the EU); called for a reduction in the production and consumption of CFCs of 50% by 2000 oxygen cycle cycle whereby natural processes and human activity consume atmospheric oxygen and the Earth's flora ,through photosynthesis, consume CO2 and produce oxygen ozone layer the layer in the upper atmosphere located between 30 and 45 km above the earth's surface where atmospheric ozone is most densely concentrated; it acts as a filter for the Sun's harmful rays Pacific Ring of Fire ocean-girdling zone of crustal instability, volcanism, and earthquakes resulting from the tectonic activity along plate boundaries in the region Pangaea the primeval super continent hypothesized by Alfred Wegener, that broke apart and formed the continents and oceans as we know them today; consisted of two parts, a northern Laurasia and a southern Gondwana photosynthesis the formation of carbohydrates in living plants from water and CO2, through the action of chlorophyll in those plants Pleistocene the most recent epoch of the late Cenozoic Ice Age, beginning about 1.8 million years ago and marked by as many as 20 glaciations and interglaciations radioactive waste hazardous waste emitting radiation renewable resources resources that can regenerate as they are depleted sanitary landfills disposal sites for non-hazardous solid waste soil erosion the wearing of the land surface by wind and moving water solid waste non-liquid, non-soluble materials ranging from municipal garbage to sewage sludge, agricultural refuse, and mining residues toxic waste hazardous waste causing danger from chemicals and infectious organisms Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer the first international convention aimed at addressing the issue of ozone depletion, held in 1985 Wisconsinan glaciation the most recent glacial period of the Pleistocene, lasting about 100,000 years and ending about 18,000 years ago, when the Holocene began gatekeepers persons or corporations who control access to information horizontal integration ownership by the same firm of a number of companies that exist at the same point on a commodity chain local exchange trading system (LETS) a barter system whereby a local currency is created through which members trade service or goods in a local network separated from the formal economy networks defined by Manuel Castelis as a set of interconnected nodes without a center participatory development the notion that locals should be engaged in deciding what development means for them and how it should be achieved synergy the cross-promotion of vertically integrated goods vertical integration ownership by the same firm of a number of companies that exist at the same point on a commodity chain Washington Consensus label used to refer to the following principles of free trade: 1) that free trade raises the well-being of all countries by inducing them to devote their resources to the production of goods that they produce most efficiently, and 2) that competition through trade raises a country's long-term economic growth rates by expanding access to global technologies and promoting innovation age-sex pyramid Graphic representation (profile) of a population showing the percentages of the total population by age and sex, normally in five-year groups. agricultural origins Carl Sauer theorized that this began in an area north of the Bay of Bengal when people began cultivating plants that can regenerate when some part of the plant itself is buried and tended (for example, root plants like carrots). antecedent boundary a political boundary that existed before the cultural landscape emerged and stayed in place while people moved in to occupy the surrounding area assimilation The process through which people lose originally differentiating traits, such as dress, speech particularities, or mannerisms, when they come into contact with another society or culture. biotechnology The use of genetically engineered crops in agriculture and DNA manipulation in livestock in order to increase production. Increasingly applied to more advanced stages of food production in the form of radiation of meats and vegetables to prolong their freshness. boundary a vertical plane that cuts through the subsoil and extends through the airspace above boundary definition the actual description of the points through which a boundary passes boundary delimitation after a boundary has been defined, the process of actually marking the boundary on a map boundary demarcation after a boundary has been defined and delimited, the process of actually marking the boundary on the land by steel posts, concrete pillars, walls, etc. brick A traditional building material made of hard, oven-baked or sun-baked blocks of mud shaped into standard sizes cadastral system A system that delineates property lines. Includes the rectangular survey system and the metes and bounds survey system. capital city the political nerve center of the country, its national headquarters and seat of government, and the center of national life. Chinese religions Chinese ethnic religions such as Taoism and Confucianism, which are mixed with elements of Buddhism compact state a political-geographic term used to describe a state that possesses a roughly circular, oval, or rectangular territory in which the distance from the geometric center to any point on the boundary exhibits little variance creole ethnic term first applied in the Caribbean region to the native-born descendents of the Spanish conquerors and their local consorts cultural-political boundary political boundaries that coincide with cultural breaks in the landscape, such as language, religion, and ethnicity dairying The business of owning and operating a dairy or a dairy farm. Widespread economic activity in northeastern US and northwestern Europe. demography The study of patterns and rates of population change, including birth and death rates, migration trends, and evolving population distribution patterns. dispersed settlement A type of settlement where there is low population density and the wide spacing of individual homesteads (especially in rural North America domestic architecture the architecture of dwellings and outbuildings (such as barns and sheds) domestication The transformation of a wild animal or wild plant into a domesticated animal or a cultivated crop to gain control over food production egalitarian society A society in which people do not differ much in status and wealth. Characterized by dwellings which do not vary much in size. electoral geography a subfield of geography that deals with various spatial aspects of voting systems, voting behavior, and voter representation elongated state a state whose territory is decidedly long and narrow in that its length is at least six times greater than its average width. Examples: Chile and Vietnam emigration Migrating away from a country or area; an out-migrant ethnic A basis for human identity based on a combination of people's cultural traits (traditions, customs, language, and religion) and ideas about their ancestry and race ethnonationalism The identification and loyalty a person may feel for his or her nation Eugenic Protection Act Policy enacted by the Japanese government in 1948 that legalized abortion for social, medical, and economic reasons exponential growth Cumulative or compound growth (of a population) over a given time period. external migration Migration across an international border farming the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock feudal city A type of city which was little more than a town with modest houses and unpaved streets. During this time landlord's estates and the monasteries were more impressive than the cities folk-preliterate city the earliest type of city, as identified by Gideon Sjoberg. forward capital a capital city positioned in actually or potentially contested territory, usually near an international border fragmented state A state whose territory consists of several separated parts, not a contiguous whole. frontier zone of advance penetration, usually of contention; an area not yet fully integrated into a politically organized area functional differentiation A mode of distinguishing things or arrangements based on the purposes or activities to which they are devoted natural political boundary political boundaries that coincide with prominent physical features in the natural landscape--such as rivers or the crest ridges of mountain ranges New World Order A description of the international system resulting from the collapse of the Soviet Union in which the balance of nuclear terror theoretically no longer determined the destinies of states. nucleated settlement A compact, closely packed settlement (usually a hamlet or larger village) sharply demarcated from adjoining farmlands perforated state a state whose territory completely surrounds that of another state political culture a political system which adheres to a particular set of political ideas postmodernism A movement in art, philosophy, and the social sciences that argues that it is impossible to study reality objectively. It rejects the grand theoretical claims of the modern era and stresses the possibility of multiple interpretations in social inquiry, the arts, and politics. prorupted state a type of state territorial shape that has a narrow, elongated land extension leading away from the main body of the territory. Example: Thailand relict boundary A political boundary that has ceased to function but the imprint of which can still be detected on the cultural landscape. rimland theory a geopolitical hypothesis proposed by Nicholas Spykman which asserted that control of coastal Eurasia was the key to world dominance. Second Agricultural Revolution A period of technological change from the 1600s to mid 1900s that started in Western Europe beginning with preindustrial improvements like crop rotation and better horse collars, and concluding with industrial innovations to replace human labor with machines and to supplement natural fertilizers and pesticides with chemical ones. Sikhism a syncretic religion containing elements of both Hinduism and Islam stratified society A society in which the population is divided into a hierarchy of social classes. subsequent boundary A political boundary that developed contemporaneously with the evolution of the major elements of the cultural landscape through which it passes. superimposed boundary a political boundary place by powerful outsiders on a developed human landscape supranational organization A venture involving three or more national states involving formal political, economic, and/or cultural cooperation to promote shared objectives. syncretic religion a religion formed from the mixture of different religious traditions combined in an unique way territorial morphology a state's geographical shape, which can effect its spatial cohesion and political viability theocracy a state whose government is under the control of a ruler who is deemed to be divinely guided or a state under the control of a group of religious leaders, as in post-Khomeini Iran Thunian patterns Self-sufficient agriculture that is small scale and low technology and emphasizes food production for local consumption, not for trade. traditional religion a religion that is an intimate part of a local culture and society village A small group of dwellings in a rural area, usually ranking in size between a hamlet and a town. wattle Traditional dwelling built using poles and sticks that are woven tightly together and then plastered with mud. Zoroastrianism religious system of Persia (Iran) prior to the founding of Islam, established by Zoroaster in the 6th century B.C.E., and based on Avesta as holy scripture, emphasizing the continuous apocalyptic struggle between good and evil.