Absolute Location
The exact location of a place on the earth using a coordinate system
Archipelago
A chain of islands. Example: Indonesia.
Balkanization
The fragmentation of a region into smaller pieces, hostile political units. Example: Eastern Europe.
Centrifugal Forces
Forces that tend to divide a country
Centripetal Forces
Forces that tend to bind a country
Climate
The average weather usually taken over a 30-year time period for a particular region and time period.
Culture
The sum total of the knowledge, attitudes, and habitual behavior patterns shared and transmitted by the members of a society.
Cultural Landscape
The human imprints on the landscape.
Devolution
The process whereby regions within a state demand and gain political strength and growing autonomy at the expense of the central government.
Economic Geography
The field of geography that focuses on the diverse ways in which people earn a living.
Ethnic cleansing
The slaughter and/or forced removal of one ethnic group from its homes and lands by another, more powerful ethnic group bent on taking that territory.
Formal Region
Also known as uniform or homogeneous region. Example: corn field.
Functional Region
Also known as nodal or focal region. A region that focuses on a central core and its suburbs.
Geography (Greek term)
To write or describe about the earth.
Geographic realm
The basic spatial unit in our world regionalization scheme. For example, North America, South America, East Asia, etc.
Globalization
The gradual reduction of regional contrasts at the world scale, resulting from increasing international cultural, economic, and political exchanges.
Isthmus
A land bridge; a comparatively narrow link between larger bodies of land. Example: Central America.
Lingua Franca
A "common language" prevalent in one area.
Also, the language used for business and trade such as English in Europe.
Map
A two-dimensional representation of an area.
Megacity
The world's most heavily populated cities; usually defined as a metropolitan area with a total population in excess of ten million people. Examples : New York, Tokyo, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, etc.
Megalopolis
The corridor that extends from Boston to Washington, DC.
Mestizo
A person of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry.
Metropolis
Urban agglomeration consisting of a central city and its suburban ring.
Middle America
Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean Islands.
Mulatto
A person of mixed European and Black ancestry.
Nation
All the citizens of a state.
Physical Geography
The study of the geography of the physical world.
Population density
The number of people per unit area.
Population distribution
The way people have arranged themselves in geographic space.
Primate city
The largest city of a country. Example: Mexico City
Regional Geography
Approach to geographic study based on the spatial unit of the region.
Relative location
The location of a place in relation to other places. The same as "situation".
Shatter Belt
An area between stronger, colliding external cultural-political forces, under persistent stress, and often fragmented by aggressive rivals.
Scale
The ratio of a map distance to ground distance.
Site
The physical settings of a place such as soil and vegetation.
Situation
The same as relative location.
State
The same as a "country
Supranationalism
A venture involving three or more states -- political, economic and cultural cooperation to promote shared objectives.
Systematic Geography (Topical geography)
Cultural, political, economic geography, and the like.
Weather
The short-term condition of the atmosphere that impinge on daily human activities.