Human Geography
Vocabulary List and Possible Short Answers
Unit I. Geography – Chapter 1
Aggregation – size of geographic boundaries – province – census tract
Cultural landscape
Density (arithmetic, physiological)
Diffusion (hearth, relocation, expansion, hierarchical, contagious, stimulus)
Direction (absolute, relative)
Dispersion/concentration (dispersed/scattered, clustered/agglomerated)
Distance (absolute, relative)
Distance Decay
Distribution
Environmental determinism
Environmental Modification
Economies of Scale
Location (absolute, relative, site, situation, place name)
Latitude and Longitude
Pattern (linear, centralized, random)
Physical attributes (natural landscape)
Possibilism
Region (formal/uniform, functional/nodal, perceptual/vernacular)
Scale
Size
Space Time Compression
Spatial (of or pertaining to space on or near Earth’s surface)
Spatial interaction (accessibility, connectivity, network, distance decay, friction of
distance, time-space compression)
Geographic Tools
Cartography
Cartogram – a map and a graph
Distortion
Distribution, Density, Concentration, Patterns
Geographic Information System (GIS)
Global Positioning System (GPS)
Grid (North and South Poles, latitude, parallel, equator, longitude, meridian,
prime meridian, international date line)
Map (Maps are the tool most uniquely identified with geography; the ability to use
and interpret maps is an essential geographic skill.)
Map scale (distance on a map relative to distance on Earth)
Map types (thematic, statistical, cartogram, dot, choropleth(Thematic), isoline)
Mental map
Model (a simplified abstraction of reality, structured to clarify causal
relationships): Geographers use models (e.g., Demographic Transition,
Epidemiological Transition, Gravity, Von Thünen, Weber, Stages of Growth
[Rostow], Concentric Circle [Burgess], Sector [Hoyt], Multiple Nuclei, Central
Place [Christaller], and so on) to explain patterns, make informed decisions, and
predict future behaviors.
Projection
Remote sensing
Scale – small and large
Time zone
Unit II. Population – Chapter 2 and 3
Population
Population Pyramid - Age distribution
Birth Rates – Death Rates – Natural Increase
Demographic momentum
Demographic regions
Demographic Transition model - 4 stages, BR, DR, (why high, why low), NI, ZPG
– relate to Pop. Pyramids
Dependency ratio – Labour Force
Doubling time
Ecumene
Epidemiological Transition model - deaths
Density – Arithmetic (Pop/Area), Physiological (Pop/Arable Land), Agricultural
(Farmers/Arable Land)
Demography – study of population
Vital Statistics – BR, DR, NI, ZPG
Infant mortality rate
Malthus, Thomas
Mortality and Infant Mortality
Pro-Natalist and Anti-Natalist
Overpopulation
Population densities
Population distributions
Population explosion
Population projection
Population pyramid
Replacement level
Rule of 70 – Doubling Time
Rate of natural increase
S-curve – think xbox sales
Standard of living
Sustainability
Total Fertility Rate
Underpopulation
Zero population growth
Migration
Migration
Brain Drain
Chain migration
Distance decay
Forced
Gravity model
Intra and Inter
Intervening obstacles
Push-pull factors
Refugee
Transhumance
Voluntary
Lee’s Model
Ravenstein’s observations
Unit III. Cultural Patterns – Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7
Culture
Acculturation
Custom
Cultural landscape - Sauer
Cultural realm
Culture
Culture region
• Formal—core, periphery
• Functional—node
• Vernacular (perceptual)—regional self-awareness
Diffusion types
• Expansion—hierarchical, contagious, stimulus
• Relocation
Sociofact, Mentifact, Artifact
Folk and Popular Culture
Architectural form – housing styles
Built environment
Cultural Convergence
Cultural Divergence
Cultural Realm
Syncretism
Taboo
Folk culture
Folk food
Folk house
Folk songs
Folklore
Popular culture
Traditional architecture
Language
Creole
Dialect
Ideograms
Indo-European languages
Isogloss
Language Branch
Language family
Language group
Language Root
Lingua franca
Kurgan – Anatolian theory
Official language
Pidgin
Toponymy
Religion
Animism
Branch, Denomination, Sect
Buddhism
Christianity
Confucianism
Diaspora
Ethnic religion
Fundamentalism
Ghetto
Hinduism
Islam
Judaism
Landscapes of the dead
Monotheism/polytheism
Reincarnation
Religion (groups, places)
Religious architectural styles
Religious conflict
Religious culture hearth
Religious toponym
Sacred space
Secularism
Shintoism
Sikhism
Syncretism
Sunni/Shia
Taoism
Theocracy
Toponym
Universalizing religion
Religion and Geography
Ethnicity
Acculturation
Chain migration
Cultural adaptation
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic conflict
Ethnic homeland
Ethnic landscape
Ethnic neighborhood
Ethnicity
Ethnocentrism
Ghetto
Race
Social distance
White Flight
Gender
Gender gap
Unit IV. Geo-Politics – Chapter 8
Annexation
Antarctica
Apartheid
Balkanization
Border landscape
Boundary, disputes
Boundary, origin (antecedent, subsequent, superimposed, relic)
Boundary, process (definition, delimitation, demarcation)
Boundary, type (natural/physical, cultural, geometric)
Buffer state
Capital
Centrifugal
Centripetal
City-state
Colonialism
Core/periphery
Devolution
Domino theory
Enclave/Exclave
Ethnic conflict
European Union
Federal
Frontier
Geopolitics
Gerrymander
Heartland/Rimland
Iron Curtain
Irredentism
Landlocked
Law of the Sea
Mackinder, Halford J.
Manifest destiny
Microstate
Nation
Nation-state
Nunavut
Religious conflict
Satellite state
Self-determination
Sovereignty
State
Multi-nation state
Multi-state nation
Supranationalism
Territorial disputes
Territorial morphology (compact, fragmented, elongated, prorupted, perforated)
Territoriality
Theocracy
Unitary
Domino Effect
Balance of Power
Regional Autonomy
Ethno-Nationalism
Diaspora
Unit V. Agricultural – Chapter 10
Agribusiness
Agricultural industrialization
Agricultural landscape
Agriculture
Animal domestication
Aquaculture
Commercial agriculture (intensive, extensive)
Core/periphery
Crop rotation
Dairying
Diffusion
Double cropping
Economic activity (primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary, quinary)
Environmental modification (pesticides, soil erosion, desertification)
Extensive subsistence agriculture (shifting cultivation [slash-and- burn, nomadic
herding/pastoralism)
Extractive (Primary industry
First agricultural revolution
Fishing
Food chain
Forestry
Globalized agriculture
Green revolution
Growing season
Hunting and gathering
Intensive subsistence agriculture
Livestock ranching
Market gardening
Mediterranean agriculture
Mining
Malthus – Population checks – Pop grows faster than food
Boserup – Find new ways to increase Food Production – Fallow Land
Pastoral Nomadism
Plant domestication
Plantation agriculture
Renewable/nonrenewable
Rural settlement (dispersed, nucleated, building material, village form)
Sauer, Carl O.
Second agricultural revolution
Shifting Cultivation
Sustainable yield
Third agricultural revolution (mechanization, chemical farming, food
manufacturing)
Transhumance
Truck farm
Vertical Integration
Von Thünen, Johann Heinrich
Vegetative planting – Seed agriculture
Mixed Crop
Crop rotation
Desertification
Unit VI. Development – Chapters 9, 11, 12
Development
Core-periphery model
Cultural convergence
Development
Gross domestic product (GDP)
Gross national product (GNP)
Human Development Index
Gender Empowerment Measure
Gender Development Index
Levels of development
Measures of development
Poverty – Human, Income
Maslow’s level of needs
Fair Trade
New International Division of Labour
Rostow, W. W. - “Stages of Growth” model
Self Suffiency
International Trade
Third World
World Systems Theory
Wallerstein – Core/Periphery
Industrialization
Agglomeration
Assembly line production/Fordism
Bid rent theory
Break-of-bulk point
Canadian industrial heartland
Economic sectors
Economies of scale
Ecotourism
Footloose industry
Four Tigers
Greenhouse effect
Heartland/rimland
Industrial location theory
Industrial regions (place, fuel source, characteristics)
Industrial Revolution
Infrastructure
International division of labor
Land – Labour - Capital
Labor-intensive
Maquiladora
Multiplier effect
NAFTA
Plant location (supplies, “just in time” delivery)
Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary, Quinary
Refrigeration
Ship, Truck, Rail, Road
Threshold/range
Time-space compression
Transnational corporation (multi-national)
Weber, Alfred – Agglomeration, Bulk gaining, Bulk reducing
Weight-gaining
Weight-losing
Iron and Steel – Textiles – Food Processing
Land – Labour – Capital – Site
Transportation – Siuation
Optimal Location
Fordist
Regional Disparities
Eco-Tourism
World cities
Services
Consumer, Business, Public Services
Clustered
Dispersed
Concession, Long Lot, Section
Enclosure Movement
Gavelkind laws
Rural, Urban
Central Place Theory
Optimal Location
Rank Size Rule – Primate City
High Order – Low Order
World Cities
Economic Base
Basic/Non-Basic
Market Area
Trade – Surplus – Specialization
Multiplier Effect
Unit VII. Urban – Chapter 13
Agglomeration
Annexation
Bid-rent theory
Blockbusting
CBD (central business district)
Census tract
Central-place theory
Christaller, Walter
City
Cityscapes
Colonial city
Commuter zone
Concentric zone model
Counterurbanization
Economic base (basic/non-basic)
Edge city
Ethnic neighborhood
Female-headed household
Gender
Gentrification
Ghetto
Globalization
Hinterland
In-filling
Infrastructure
Inner city
Medieval cities
Megacities
Megalopolis/conurbation
Metropolitan Statistical area - GTA
Multiple nuclei model
Multiplier effect
Neighborhood
Office park
Peak land value intersection
Planned communities – Smart Growth, New Urbanism
Primate city
Range and Threshold
Rank-size rule
Redlining
Sector model
Segregation
Shopping mall
Site/situation
Slum
Squatter settlement – Shanty Town
Street pattern (grid, radial, garden)
Suburb
Suburbanization
Town
Urban growth rate
Urban heat island
Urban hierarchy
Urbanization
Urbanized population
Urban Sprawl – New Urbanism
World city
Zone in transition
Zone of Discard – Zone of Assimilation
Zoning
Urban Renewal
Renovation
Beltways
Green Belt
Leap Frog
Peripheral Model
Shock Cities
Spine
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Possible Short Essay Questions:
Urban - Central Place Theory – key terms and theory - Christaller
Urban/Agriculture - Von Thunen – diagram and Bid Rent
Diffusion – Contagious, Relocation, Stimulus, Hierarchical and relate to examples
(Language, Religion)
Regions – Types – formal, functional, vernacular
Culture – Pop/Folk, Mentifact etc.
CBD – N.A. and Europe, rich/poor – zone of assimilation, zone of discard
Migration – Lee’s model, Ravenstein
GeoPolitics – Nation, Nation-State etc., Heartland Theory (Mackinder)/Rimland,
Terrorism – 4 waves and relate to GeoPolitics, Religion, Culture, Language etc.
Development - Theories of Development - Core/Periphery (Wallerstein), Stages
of Development – Modernization Theory (Rostow)
Population – Malthus/Boserup, Pop. Pyramids, Demographic Transition
Urban – Concentric, Sector, Multi-Nuclei, Urban Sprawl, Edge Cities, Infill etc.
Agriculture – Types – Commercial, Subsistence, Agribusiness
Industry – Site and Situation, Maquiladoras, Webers location theory, bulk
gaining, bulk reducing