absolute location
The actual space a place occupies on the Earth's surface.
agglomeration
The clustering of similar functional industries of companies for cost advantages.
agribusiness
Commercial agriculture in which large corporations own and operate various steps in the production process with an emphasis on profit.
agricultural density
The number of farmers per unit of agricultural land.
anti-natalist population policies
A policy that tries to reduce birth rates due to overpopulation or high dependency ratio.
assimilation
The process in which immigrants become totally integrated into the host culture.
backwash effects
The negative impact to the peripheral region sometimes caused by increase flows of labor and capital into a nearby high-growth region.
Balkanization
Process of a region breaking up into small, mutually hostile units due to ethnic conflicts.
basic employment/industries
Production of goods and services for outside the home country.
biotechnology
The application of scientific techniques to modify and improve plants, animals, and microorganisms to enhance their value.
blockbusting
A business practice of U.S. real estate agents and building developers meant to encourage white property owners to sell their houses at a loss, by implying that racial minorities were moving into their previously racially segregated neighborhood.
brain drain
The emigration of highly educated workers from developing countries to developed countries.
bulk-gaining industries
An industry in which the inputs (materials, etc.) weighs more than the final product.
bulk-reducing industries
An industry in which the inputs (materials, etc.) weighs less than the final product.
carrying capacity
The number of people an area can support on a sustained basis.
caste
Each of the hereditary classes of Hindu society, distinguished by relative degrees of ritual purity or pollution and of social status.
centrifugal forces
A strong, divisive force, such as religious differences or a weak communication system, at work in a country.
chain migration
That part of a migrant flow (usually relatives and friends) that follows former migrants to an area.
commercial agriculture
Agriculture that involves the production of crops for sale, crops intended for widespread distribution to wholesalers or retail outlets and any non-food crops such as cotton and tobacco.
counter-urbanization
A demographic and social process whereby people move from urban areas to rural areas.
dependency ration
The ration of people under age 15 and those 65 and older to those age 15 to 65.
devolution
The breakdown of central authority in a country.
distance decay
The declining degree of acceptance of an idea or innovation with increasing time and distance from its point of origin or source.
ethnic religion
A religion that is a part of a particular ethnic or political group.
ethnicity
The fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.
ethnocentrism
The belief that one's own ethnic group is superior to all others.
federal government
A government that gives local political units such as states or provinces within a country a measure of power.
First Agricultural (Neolithic) Revolution
The domestication of plants and animals and the resulting start of a sedentary society that took place 10,000 years ago.
footloose industries
Firms that produce something that requires minimal transport costs.
formal region
A region with a high level of consistency in a certain cultural or physical attribute.
forward capital
A capital city that is located away from the core region for economic or political reasons in a symbolic gesture.
functional region
A region with a node, or center hub surrounded by interconnecting linkages. Usually connections relate to trade, communications, transportation, etc.
friction of distance
Based on the notion that distance usually requires some amount of effort (energy) and/or money to overcome.
genetically modified organism
Organisms (i.e. plants, animals or microorganisms) in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination.
genocide
The deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.
gentrification
The process of renovation an older, run-down neighborhood near the center city by middle-class and high-income families.
geographic information systems (GIS)
The marriage of mapping software with a database for the purpose of overlaying various data layers on a basic locational map grid.
gerrymandering
The process of redrawing territorial district boundaries to favor a certain political party.
globalization
The increasing interconnection of all regions in the world through politics, communication, transportation, marketing, manufacturing, and social and cultural processes.
graying population
A growing number of elderly people in a population.
Green Revolution
The development and transfer from the developed world to the developing world, of higher-yield and fast-growing crops through new and improved technology, pesticides, and fertilizers, for the purpose of alleviating world huger.
hierarchical religion
A religion in which a central authority exercises a high degree of control.
hinterland
The surrounding trade area of an urban area.
intraregional migration
The permanent movement within one region of a country.
intraregional migration
The permanent movement within one region of a country.
involuntary (forced) migration
The coerced movement of a person or persons away from their home or home region.
isogloss
A line on a dialect map marking the boundary between linguistic features.
isolated language
A natural language with no demonstrable genealogical (or "genetic") relationship with other languages, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language.
language family
A group of languages that are related and derived from a single, earlier language.
lingua franca
A language that is not part of the culture of the country but is one that is informally agreed upon as the language of business and trade.
maquiladora
A foreign-owned assembly company located in the United States-Mexico border region in order to take advantage of cheaper labor, favorable tax breaks, and lax environmental regulations.
material culture
The artifacts (tangible things) of a culture such as tools, weapons, and furniture.
Mediterranean agriculture
A form of specialized agriculture in which crops grown in a Mediterranean climate of warm year-round temperatures and sunny summers (grapes, olives, figs, dates, citrus fruits, etc.) are grown.
Megalopolis
A group of supercities that have merged together into one large urban area.
multiplier effect
The ratio of non-basic jobs to basic jobs that shows the effect basic job creation has on the creation of non-basic jobs.
nation
A unifies group of people with a common culture.
natural increase rate
The difference between the number of live births and the number of deaths occurring in a year, divided by the mid-year population of that year, multiplied by a factor (usually 1,000).
Neo-Malthusians
People with the same basic concerns as Malthus, who advocate population control programs, to ensure resources for current and future populations.
non-basic employment/ industries
Production of goods and services for inside the home country.
non-material culture
Mentifacts (language, religion, artistic pursuits,folk stories, myths, etc.) and sociofacts (educational and political institutions, religious organizations, family structure, etc.) that compromise a culture.
outsourcing
The production of goods and parts abroad for sale in one's own culture.
pastoralism
A form of subsistence agriculture in which animals are herded in a seasonal migratory pattern.
perceptual (vernacular) region
A region defined by feelings and prejeduces that may or may not be true. A region derived from one's mental map.
perforated state
A state that totally surrounds another country.
physiological density
The number of people per unit of arable land.
plantation agriculture
Monocropping, or planting a single crop for profit, is a specialized form of agriculture and is usually located near the former colonial markets.
political enclave
A portion of territory within or surrounded by a larger territory whose inhabitants are culturally or ethnically distinct.
political exclave
A portion of territory of one state completely surrounded by territory of another or others, as viewed by the home territory.
primary economic activity
An economic activity that takes something from the ground and harvests natural resources.
primate city
A city that is at least twice as large as the next largest city and more than twice as significant.
pull factor
Factors such as better job opportunities or a more pleasant climate that attract a migrant to a new region.
push factor
Factors such as war, high crime, or overcrowding that push a migrant to a new region.
quaternary sector economic activity
Economic activities that deal with information and knowledge processing.
quinary sector economic activity
The economic activities that deal with the highest-level of decision-making in both the government and private sectors of the economy.
rank-size rule
The rule proposed by Zipf that states that if all cities in a country are placed in order from the largest to the smallest, the second largest would have 1/2 the population of the largest city, the third largest city would have about 1/3 of the population
redlining
Practice carried out by realtors before the civil rights movement of the 1960s. They would identify what they considered risky neighborhoods in the cities and refuse to offer loans to those in the districts. This, now illegal, worked against the poorer ne
relic (relict) boundary
An old boundary between countries that is no longer used.
Second Agricultural Revolution
Agricultural benefited from the Industrial revolution, causing this revolution occurring from 1700 to 1900 in developed countries. It used technology provided by the Industrial Revolution to increase production and distribution of products. Fields were no
secondary sector economic activity
Economic activities that involve the process of raw materials into finished goods by manufacturing.
self-sufficiency approach
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sequent occupancy
The concept that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape
self determination
The right of a nation to govern itself automatically.
shifting cultivation
A form of agriculture, used especially in tropical Africa, in which an area of ground is cleared of vegetation and cultivated for a few years and then abandoned for a new area until its fertility has been naturally restored.
shock cities
Urban place experiencing infrastructural challenges related to massive and rapid urbanization.
site
The physical location of a place.
situation
The location of a place based on its relation to other places.
space-time compression
Refers to any phenomenon that alters the qualities of and relationship between space and time.
squatter settlements
A settlement of improvised housing, called shanties or shacks, made of plywood, corrugated metal, sheets of plastic, and cardboard boxes. Such settlements are usually found on the periphery of cities, in public parks, or near railroad tracks, rivers, lago
stateless nation
A political term for ethnic/national minority that does not possess its own state and is not the majority population in any nation state.
structural adjustments
Economic policies imposed on less developed countries by international agencies to create conditions encouraging international trade, such as raising taxes, reducing government spending, controlling inflation, selling publicly owned utilities to private c
subsistence agriculture
A form of agriculture in which everything that is produced is consumed by that population. Forms include shifting, swidden/slash-and-burn, and intensive subsistence.
supranationalism
The association of three or more states for mutual benefits.
sustainable agriculture
The concept that it is possible to balance economic growth without jeopardizing the environment and equitable human access.
tertiary economic activities
Economic activities that provide services.
total fertility rate
The number of children who would be born per woman (or per 1,000 women) if she/they were to pass through the childbearing years bearing children according to a current schedule of age-specific fertility rates.
transnational corporations (TNCs)
Global corporations that have facilities and processes spread among several companies in a global assembly line.
universalizing religions
A religion in which anyone can become a member.
urban sprawl
Unrestricted growth of housing, commercial developments, and roads over large expanses of land, with little concern for urban planning. A phenomenon of the automobile era. Before the automobile era, cities were built in walking-distances; there was less d
world cities
Global cities that serve as important linkage or connection points in the global economic system.
transhumance
The constant movement of herds in a set seasonal pattern of grazing.