criteria of geographic realms
physical and human, functional, historical
physical and human geographic realm
the natural and social criteria on which the regionalization of geographic realms is based; based on sets of spatial criteria
functional geographic realm
the result of the interaction of human societies and natural environments; a functional interaction revealed by farms, mines, fishing ports, transport routes, dams, bridges, villages, and countless other features that mark the landscape
historical geographic realm
must represent the most comprehensive and encompassing definition of the great clusters of humankind in the world today
two types of geographic realms
monocentric realms and polycentric realms
monocentric realms
dominated by a single major political entity, in terms of territory and/or population; North America (United States), Middle America (Mexico), East Asia (China), South Asia (India), Russia, and the Austral Realm (Australia) are all examples; they are enti
polycentric realms
the appearance, functioning, and organization of the realm are dispersed among a number of more or less equally influential regions or countries; Europe, North Africa/Southwest Asia, Subsaharan Africa, and the Pacific Realm are all examples; these realms
absolute location
the latitudinal and longitudinal extent of the region with respect to the Earth's grid coordinates; the position of a place of a certain item on the surface of the Earth as expressed in degrees, minutes, and seconds of latitude, 0 degrees to 90 degrees no
relative location
a more useful measure; a region's location with reference to other regions; the names of certain regions reveal aspects of this measure, as in Mainland Southeast Asia and Equatorial Africa; the regional position or situation of a place in relation to the
hinterland
the surrounding zone of interaction around a city; literally, "country behind," a term that applies to a surrounding area served by an urban center; that center is the focus of goods and services produced for its surrounding zone and is its dominant urban
functional region
a region marked less by its sameness than by its dynamic internal structure; because it usually focuses on a central node, also called nodal region or focal region; usually forged by a structured, urban-centered system of interaction; has a core and a per
pleistocene
recent period of geologic time that spans the rise of humankind, beginning about 2 million years ago; the current epoch of the ice age that we are still experiencing that started about 35 million years ago; o average the coldest yet; the epoch of this ice
Holocene
the current interglacial epoch (the warm period of an ice age); extends from 10,000 years ago to the present; also known as the "Recent Epoch
four major population clusters (in order)
South Asia, East Asia, Europe, Eastern North America
South Asia population cluster
lies centered on India and includes its populous neighbors, Pakistan and Bangladesh; this huge agglomeration of humanity focuses on the wide plain of the Ganges River; has just become the world's largest population cluster, overtaking East Asia in 2010; a
East Asia population cluster
now surpassed by South Asia, this second-ranked cluster lies centered on China and includes the Pacific-facing Asian coastal zone from the Korean Peninsula to Vietnam; not long ago, we would have reported this as a dominantly rural, farming population, bu
Europe population cluster
the third-ranking cluster; also lies on the Eurasian landmass but at the opposite end from China; this cluster, including western Russia, counts over 700 million inhabitants, which puts it is a class with the two larger Eurasian concentrations, but there
Eastern North American population cluster
the fourth-ranking cluster; only about one-quarter the size of the smallest Eurasian concentrations; the population in this area (as in Europe) is concentrated in major metropolitan complexes; the rural areas are now relatively sparely settled
cultural landscape
the distinctive attributes of a society imprinted on its portion of the world's physical stage; this concept was initially articulated by Carl Sauer, who stated that it "is fashioned from a natural landscape by a culture group;" and that "culture is the a
language families
at minimum, there are 15; groups of languages with a shared but usually distant origin; the most widely distributed one, the Indo-European, includes English, French, Spanish, Russian, Persian, and Hindi; this encompasses the languages of European colonize
Gini coefficient
Corrado Gini's index that reveals what proportion of a population is sharing in the wealth, and who is not; this index ranges from 0.0 (no differences at all; everyone earns the same amount) to 1.0 (one earner takes all); a country in which a few tycoons
core areas
places of dominance whose inhabitants exerted their power over their surroundings near and far; such core areas grew rich and, in many cases, endured for long periods because their occupants skillfully exploited these surroundings, controlling and taxing
periphery
(core-periphery relationships) the contrasting spatial characteristics of, and linkages between, the have (core) and have-not (periphery) components of a national or regional system; sustained the core for as long as the system endured, so that core-perip
global core
anchored by North America and flanked by Europe to the East and Japan and Australia to the west; not only constitutes an assemblage of the most affluent states and the most prosperous cities, but is also home to most of the financial and corporate empires
WTO (World Trade Organization)
the United States is the leading architect of this organization; to join, countries must agree to open their economies to foreign trade and investment; as of mid-2011, the organization had 153 member-states, all expecting benefits from their participation
case of the Philippines
Filipino farmers found themselves competing against North American and European producers who receive subsidies to support the production as well as the export of their products--and losing out; meanwhile, low-priced, subsidized U.S. corn appeared on Fili
epoch
the warm period of an ice age
glaciations
repeated advances of continental ice sheets
interglacials
ice sheet contractions
three zones of mineral resources
North America is endowed with abundant reserves of minerals that are mainly found in three zones: the Canadian Shield north of the Great Lakes, the Appalachian Mountains in the east, and the mountain ranges of the west; the Canadian Shield contains substa
three leading oil-producing areas
along and offshore from the Gulf Coast, where the floor of the Gulf of Mexico is yielding a growing share of the output; in the Midcontinent District from western Texas to eastern Kansas; along Alaska's North Slope facing the Arctic Ocean
Canada's tar sands
an important development is taking place in Canada's northeastern Alberta, where oil is being drawn from deposits of tar sands in the vicinity of the boomtown of Fort McMurray; the process is expensive and can reward investors only when the price of oil i
three main-producing coal regions
the coal reserves of North America, perhaps the largest on the planet, are found in Appalachia, beneath the great plains of the United States as well as Canada, and in the southern Midwest among other places; these reserved guarantee an adequate supply fo
Silicon Valley locational dynamics
Northern California's Silicon Valley, the world's leading center for computer research and development an the headquarters of the United States' microprocessor industry, illustrates the locational dynamics of this newest sector of the spatial economy; pro
overal structure of the modern North American metropolis
polycentric; resembles a pepperoni pizza in its typical form; the traditional central business district (CBD) still tends to be situated at the center, much of its former cross-traffic diverted by beltways; but the outer city's CBD-scale nodes are ultramo
Sunbelt
the popular name given to the southern tier of the United States, which is anchored by the mega-states of California, Texas, and Florida; its warmer climate, superior recreational opportunities, and other amenities have been attracting large numbers of re
six major migrations of the past century
the still-continuing shift to the west and south is only the latest; the persistent growth of metropolitan areas, first triggered by the late-nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution's impact in North America; the large-scale movement of African Americans
estimated number of illegal immigrants
in 2010, an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants from Mexico were in the United States at a time when the Hispanic minority had already become the country's largest (about 50 million or 16 percent of the total population)--transforming neighborhoods, c
Nunavut
created in 1999 this newest Territory is the outcome of a major aboriginal land claim agreement between the Inuit people (formerly called Eskimos) and the federal government, and encompasses all of Canada's eastern Arctic as far north as Ellesmere Island,
First Nations
name given Canada's indigenous people of American descent, whose U.S. counterparts are called Native Americans; a foremost concern of these people is that their aboriginal rights be protected by the federal government against the provinces of which they a
cross-border linkages
already strongly developed; likely to intensify in the future: the Atlantic Provinces with neighboring New England; Quebec with New York State; Ontario with western Michigan and adjacent Midwestern States; the Prairie provinces with the upper Midwest; and
Megalopolis
when spelled with a lower-case m, a synonym for conurbation, one of the large coalescing supercities forming in diverse parts of the world; when capitalized, refers specifically to the multimetropolitan (Bosnywash) corridor that extends along the northeas
Canada's Main Street
Canada's predominant megalopolis is its most highly urbanized zone extending from Windsor (adjacent to Detroit) through Toronto to Montreal and Quebec City; urban geographers call this Windsor-Quebec axis Main Street, and it also forms part of the realm's
core's dominance declining or increasing
the dominance of the historic North American Core has been declining
long lots
the French cultural imprint on the region's cities and towns is matched in the rural areas by narrow, rectangular long lots perpendicular to the river, also of French origin
what the Arcadians of New Brunswick promote
the largest cluster in Canada of French-speakers outside Quebec; not only do they reject the notion of independence for themselves, but they also promote actively all efforts to keep Quebec within the Canadian federation; accommodation with the Anglophone
which two regions represent the old South
Appalachia and rural Mississippi still represent the Old South, where depressed farming areas and stagnant small industries restrict both incomes and change
Miami: as a world city, compare to L.A.
South Florida's largest urban center; emerged in the 1980s as an important world city and is often viewed as a sort of safety valve between the hemispheres north and south; this new role is certainly as result of the growth of its large, well-educated His
tar sands photo caption
as the price of a barrel of oil (and a gallon of gasoline) rises, it becomes profitable to derive oil from sources other than liquid reserves; the Canadian province of ALberta contains vast deposits of "oil sands" in which the petroleum is mixed with sand