question

Acid Deposition

answer

Sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides, emitted by burning fossil fuels, enter the atmosphere--where they combine with oxygen and water to form sulfuric acid and nitric acid--and return to Earth's surface.

question

Acid Precipitation

answer

Conversion of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides to acids that return to Earth as rain, snow, or fog.;

question

Active Solar Energy Systems;

answer

Solar energy system that collects energy through the use of mechanical devices like photovoltaic calls or flat-plate collectors.

question

Agribusiness

answer

Commercial agriculture characterized by integration of different steps in the food-processing industry, usually through ownership by large corporations.

question

Agricultural Density

answer

The ratio of the number of farmers to the total amount of land suitable for agriculture.

question

Agricultural Revolution

answer

The time when human beings first domesticated plants and animals and no longer relied entirely on hunting and gathering.;

question

Agriculture

answer

The deliberate effort to modify a portion of Earth's surface through cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock for sustenance or economic gain.

question

Air Pollution

answer

Concentration of trace substances, such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, and solid particulates, at a greater level than occurs in average air.

question

Animate Power

answer

Power supplied by people or animals.

question

Animism

answer

Belief that objects, such as plants and stones, or natural events, like thunderstorms and earthquakes, have a discrete spirit and conscious life.

question

Annexation

answer

Legally adding land area to a city in the US.

question

Apartheid

answer

Laws (no longer in effect) in South Africa that physically separated different races into different geographic areas.

question

Arithmetic Density

answer

The total number of people divided by the total land area.

question

Autonomous Religion

answer

A religion that doesn't have a central authority but shares ideas and cooperates informally.

question

Balance of Power

answer

Condition of roughly equal strength between opposing countries or alliances of countries.;

question

Balkanization

answer

Process by which a state breaks down through conflicts among its ethnicities.

question

Balkanized

answer

A small geographic area that could not successfully be organized into one or more stable states because it was inhabited by many ethnicities with complex, long-standing antagonisms toward each other. ;

question

Base Line;

answer

An east-west line designated under the Land Ordinance of 1785 to facilitate the surveying and numbering of townships in the US.

question

Basic Industries

answer

Industries that sell their products or services primarily to consumers outside the settlement.

question

Biochemical Oxygen Demand

answer

Amount of oxygen required by aquatic bacteria to decompose a given load of organic waste; a measure of water pollution.

question

Biodiversity

answer

The number of species within a specific habitat.;

question

Biomass Fuel

answer

Fuel that derives from plant material and animal waste.

question

Blockbusting

answer

A process by which real estate agents convince white ;property owners to sell their houses at low prices because of fear that black families will soon move into the neighborhood.

question

Boundary

answer

Invisible line that marks the extent of a state's territory.

question

Brain Drain

answer

Large-scale emigration by talented people.

question

Branch (of religion)

answer

A large and fundamental division within a religion.

question

Break-of-Bulk Point

answer

A location where transfer is possible from one mode of transportation to another.

question

Breeder Reactor

answer

A nuclear power plant that creates its own fuel from plutonium.

question

British Received Pronunciation

answer

The dialect of English associated with upper-class Britons living in the London area and now considered standard in the UK

question

Bulk-gaining Industry

answer

An industry in which the final product weighs more or comprises a greater volume than the inputs.

question

Bulk-reducing industry

answer

An industry in which the final product weighs less or comprises a lower volume than the inputs.

question

Business Services

answer

Services that primarily meet the needs of other businesses.

question

Cartography

answer

The science of making maps.

question

Caste

answer

The class or distinct hereditary order into which a Hindu is assigned according to religious law.

question

Census Tract

answer

An area delineated by the US Bureau of the Census for which statistics are published; in urbanized areas, census tracts correspond roughly to neighborhoods.

question

Census

answer

A complete enumeration of a population.

question

Central Business District

answer

The area of the city where retail and office activities are clustered.

question

Central Place Theory

answer

A theory that explains the distribution of services, based on the fact that settlements serve as centers of market areas for services; larger settlements are fewer and farther apart than smaller settlements and provide services for a larger number of people who are willing to travel farther.

question

Central Place

answer

A market center for the exchange of services by people attracted from the surrounding area.

question

Centripetal Force

answer

An attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support for a state.

question

Cereal Grain

answer

A grass yielding grain for food.

question

Chaff

answer

Husks of grain separated from the seed by threshing.

question

Chain Migration

answer

Migration of people to a specific location because relatives or members of the same nationality previously migrated there.

question

Chlorofluorocarbon CFC

answer

A gas used as a solvent, a propellant in aerosols, a refrigerant, and in plastic foams and fire extinguishers.

question

Circulation

answer

Short-term, repetitive, or cyclical movements that recur on a regular basis.

question

City-State

answer

A sovereign state comprising a city and its immediate hinterland,

question

Clustered Rural Settlement

answer

A rural settlement in which the houses and farm buildings of each family are situated close to each other and fields surround the settlement.

question

Colonialism

answer

Attempt by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles in another territory.

question

Colony

answer

A territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than completely independent.

question

Combine

answer

A machine that reaps, threshes, and cleans grain while moving over a field.

question

Commercial Agriculture

answer

Agriculture undertaken primarily to generate products for sale off the farm.

question

Compact State

answer

A state in which the distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly.

question

Concentration

answer

The spread of something over a given area.

question

Concentric Zone Model

answer

A model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are spatially arranged in a series of rings.

question

Connections

answer

Relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space.

question

Conservation

answer

The sustainable use and management of a natural resource, through consuming at a less rapid rate than it can be replaced.

question

Consumer Services

answer

Businesses that provide services primarily to individual consumers, including retail services and personal services.

question

Contagious Diffusion

answer

The rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population.

question

Cosmogony

answer

A set of religious beliefs concerning the origin of the universe.

question

Cottage Industry

answer

Manufacturing based in homes rather than on a factory, commonly found before the Industrial Revolution.

question

Council of Government

answer

A cooperative agency consisting of representatives of local governments in a metropolitan area in the US.

question

Counterurbanization

answer

Net migration from urban to rural areas in MDCs.

question

Creole or Creolized Language

answer

A language that results from the mixing of a colonizer's language with the indigenous language of the people being dominated.

question

Crop Rotation

answer

The practice of rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year, to avoid exhausting the soil.

question

Crop

answer

Grain or fruit gathered from a field as a harvest during a particular season.

question

Crude Birth Rate

answer

The total number of live births in a year for every 1,000 people alive in the society.

question

Crude Death Rate

answer

The total number of deaths for every 1,000 people alive in the society.

question

Cultural Ecology

answer

Geographic approach that emphasizes human-environment relationships.

question

Cultural Landscape

answer

Fashioning of a natural landscape by a cultural group.

question

Culture

answer

The body of customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits that together constitute a group of people's distinct tradition.

question

Custom

answer

The frequent repetition of an act, to the extent that it becomes characteristic of the group of people performing the act.

question

Demographic Transition

answer

The process of changing in a society's population from a condition of high crude birth and death rates and low rate of natural increase to a condition of low crude birth and death rates, low rate of natural increase, and a higher total population.;

question

Demography

answer

The scientific study of population characteristics.

question

Denomination

answer

A division of a branch that unites a number of local congregations in a single legal and administrative body.;

question

Density

answer

The frequency with which something exists within a given unit of area.

question

Density Gradient

answer

The change in density in an urban area from the center to the periphery.

question

Dependency Ratio

answer

The number of people under the age of 15 and over the age of 64, compared to the number of people active in the labor force.

question

Desertification

answer

Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting.

question

Development

answer

A process of improvement in the material conditions of people through diffusion of knowledge and technology.

question

Dialect

answer

A regional variation of a language distinguished by vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation,

question

Diffusion

answer

The process of spread of a feature or trend from one place to another over time.

question

Diocese

answer

The basic unit of geographic organization in the Roman Catholic Church.;

question

Dispersed Rural Settlement

answer

A rural settlement pattern characterized by isolated farms rather than clustered villages.

question

Distance Decay

answer

The diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin.

question

Distribution

answer

The arrangement of something across Earth's surface.

question

Double Cropping

answer

Harvesting twice a year from the same field.

question

Doubling Time

answer

The number of years needed to double a population, assuming a constant rate of natural increase.

question

Ebonics

answer

Dialect spoken by some African-Americans.

question

Economic Base

answer

A community's collection of basic industries.

question

Ecumene

answer

The portion of Earth's surface occupied by permanent human settlement.

question

Edge City

answer

A large node of office and retail activities on the edge of an urban area.

question

Elongated State

answer

A state with a long, narrow shape.

question

Emigration

answer

Migration FROM a location.

question

Enclosure Movement

answer

The process of consolidating small landholdings into a smaller number of larger farms in England during the 18th Century.

question

Environmental Determinism

answer

A 19th- and early 20th- century approach to the study of geography that argued that the general laws sought by human geographers could be found in the physical sciences. Geography was therefore the study of how the physical environment caused human activities.

question

Epidemiological Transition

answer

Distinctive causes of death in each stage of the demographic transition.

question

Epidemiology

answer

Branch of medical science concerned with the incidence, distribution, and control of diseases that affect large numbers of people.

question

Ethnic Cleansing

answer

Process in which more powerful ethnic group forcibly removes a less powerful one in order to create an ethnically homogeneous region.

question

Ethnic Religion

answer

A religion with a relatively concentrated spatial distribution whose principles are likely to be based on the physical characteristics of the particular location in which its adherents are concentrated.

question

Ethnicity

answer

Identity with a group of people that share distinct physical and mental traits as a product of common heredity and cultural traditions.

question

Expansion Diffusion

answer

The spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in a snowballing process.

question

Extinct Language

answer

A language that was once used by people in daily activities but is no longer used.

question

Federal State

answer

An internal organization of a state that allocates most powers to units of local government.

question

Ferrous

answer

Metal, including iron ore, that are utilized in the production of iron and steel.

question

Filtering

answer

A process of change in the use of a house, from single-family owner occupancy to abandonment.

question

Fission

answer

The splitting of an atomic nucleus to release energy.

question

Floodplain

answer

The area subject to flooding during a given number of years according to historical trends.

question

Folk Culture

answer

Culture traditionally practiced by a small, homogeneous, rural group living in relative isolation from other groups.

question

Forced Migration

answer

Permanent movement compelled usually by cultural factors.

question

Fordist Production

answer

Form of mass production in which each worker is assigned one specific task to perform repeatedly.

question

Formal Region

answer

(or uniform or homogeneous) An area in which everyone shares in one or more distinctive characteristics.

question

Fossil Fuel

answer

Energy source formed from the residue of plants and animals buried millions of years ago.

question

Fragmented State

answer

A state that includes several discontinuous pieces of territory.

question

Frontier

answer

A zone separating two states in which neither state exercises political control.

question

Functional (or nodal) Region

answer

An area organized around a nodal or focal point.

question

Fundamentalism

answer

Literal interpretation and strict adherence to basic principles of a religion (or a religious branch, denomination, or sect).

question

Fusion

answer

Creation of energy by joining the nuclei of two hydrogen atoms to form helium.

question

Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM)

answer

Compares the ability of women and men to participate in economic and political decision making.

question

Gender-Related Development Index (GDI)

answer

Compares the level of development of women with that of both sexes.

question

Gentrification

answer

A process of converting an urban neighborhood from a predominantly low-income renter-occupied area to a predominantly middle-class owner-occupied area.

question

Geothermal Energy

answer

Energy from steam or hot water produced from hot or molten underground rocks.

question

Gerrymandering

answer

Process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power.

question

Ghetto

answer

During the Middle Ages, a neighborhood in a city set up by law to be inhabited only by Jews; now used to denote a section of a city in which members of any minority group live because of social, legal, or economic pressure.

question

GIS

answer

A computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data.

question

Globalization

answer

Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope.

question

Global Positioning System (GPS)

answer

A system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and receivers.

question

Grain

answer

Seed of a cereal grass.

question

Gravity Model

answer

A model that holds that the potential use of a service at a particular location is directly related to the number of people in a location and inversely related to the distance people must travel to reach the service.

question

Green Revolution

answer

Rapid diffusion of new agricultural technology, especially new high-yield seeds and fertilizers.

question

Greenbelt

answer

A ring of land maintained as parks, agriculture, or other types of open space to limit the sprawl of an urban area.

question

Greenhouse Effect

answer

Anticipated increase in Earth's temperature, caused by carbon dioxide (emitted by burning fossil fuels) trapping some of the radiation emitted by the surface.

question

Greenwich Mean Time

answer

The time in that time zone encompassing the prime meridian, or at 0 longitude.

question

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

answer

The value of the total output of goods and services produced in a country in a given time period (normally one year).

question

Guest Workers

answer

Workers who migrate to the MDCs of Northern and Western Europe, usually from Southern and Eastern Europe or from North Africa, in search of higher-paying jobs.

question

Habit

answer

A repetitive act performed by a particular individual.

question

Hearth

answer

The region from which innovative ideas originate.

question

Hierarchical Diffusion

answer

The spread of a feature or trend from one key person or node of authority or power to other persons or places.

question

Hierarchical Religion

answer

A religion in which a central authority exercises a high degree of control.

question

Horticulture

answer

The growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers.

question

Hull

answer

The outer covering of a seed.

question

Human Development Index (HDI)

answer

Indicator of level of development for each country, constructed by the UN, combining income, literacy, education, and life expectancy.

question

Hydroelectric Power

answer

Power generated from moving water.

question

Ideograms

answer

The system of writing used in China and other East Asian countries in which each symbol represents n idea or a concept rather than a specific sound, as is the case with letters in English.

question

Immigration

answer

Migration TO a new location.

question

Imperialism

answer

Control of territory already occupied and organized by an indigenous society.

question

Inanimate Power

answer

Power supplied by machines.

question

Industrial Revolution

answer

A series of improvements in industrial technology that transformed the process of manufacturing goods.

question

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)

answer

The total number of deaths in a year among infants under one year old for every 1,000 live births in a society.

question

Intensive Subsistence Agriculture

answer

A form of subsistence agriculture in which farmers must expend a relatively large amount of effort to produce the maximum feasible yield from a parcel of land.

question

Internal Migration

answer

Permanent movement within a particular country.

question

International Date Line

answer

(shortened) An arc that mainly follows 180 longitude. When crossed heading east (toward America), the clock moves back 24 hours. When heading east (to Asia) the calendar moves one day ahead.

question

International Migration

answer

Permanent movement from one country to another.

question

Interregional Migration

answer

Permanent movement from one region of a country to another.

question

Intervening Obstacle

answer

An environmental or cultural feature of the landscape that hinders migration.

question

Intraregional Migration

answer

Permanent movement within one region of a country.

question

Isogloss

answer

A boundary that separates regions in which different language usages predominate.

question

Isolated Language

answer

A language that is unrelated to any other languages and therefore not attached to any language family.

question

Labor-intensive Industry

answer

An industry for which labor costs comprise a high percentage of total expenses.

question

Landlocked State

answer

A state that doesn't have a direct outlet to the sea.

question

Land Ordinance of 1785

answer

A law that divided much of the US into a system of townships to facilitate the sale of land to settlers.

question

Language

answer

A system of communication through the use of speech, a collection of sounds understood by a group of people to have the same meaning.

question

Language Branch

answer

A collection of languages related through a common ancestor that existed several thousand years ago. Differences are not as extensive or old as with language families, and archaeological evidence can confirm that the branches derived from the same family.

question

Language Family

answer

A collection of languages related to each other through a common ancestor long before recorded history.

question

Language Group

answer

A collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display relatively few differences in grammar and vocabulary.

question

Latitude

answer

The numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on the globe and measuring distance north and south of the equator.

question

Less Developed Country (LDC)

answer

Also known as a developing country, a country that is at a relatively early stage in the process of economic development.

question

Life Expectancy

answer

The average number of years an individual can be expected to live, given current social, economic, and medical conditions. Life expectancy at birth is the average number of years a newborn infant can expect to live.

question

Lingua Franca

answer

A language mutually understood and commonly used in trade by people who have different native languages.

question

Literacy Rate

answer

The percentage of a country's people who can read and write.

question

Literary Tradition

answer

A language that is written as well as spoken.

question

Location

answer

The position of anything on Earth's surface.

question

Longitude

answer

The numbering system used to indicate the location of meridians drawn on a globe and measuring distance east and west of the prime meridian.

question

Map

answer

A two-dimensional, or flat, representation of Earth's surface or a portion of it.

question

Maquiladora

answer

Factories built by US companies in Mexico near the US border, to take advantage of much lower labor costs in Mexico.

question

Market Area (or hinterland)

answer

The area surrounding a central place, from which people are attracted to use the place's goods and services.

question

Medical Revolution

answer

Medical technology invented in Europe and North America that is diffused to the poorer countries of Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Improved medical practices have eliminated many of the traditional causes of death in poorer countries and enabled more people to live longer and healthier lives.

question

Mental Map

answer

An internal representation of a portion of Earth's surface based on what an individual knows about a place, containing personal impressions of what is in a place and where places are located.

question

Meridian

answer

An arc drawn on a map between the North and South poles.

question

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)

answer

In the US, a central city of at least 50,000 population, the county within which the city is located, and adjacent counties meeting one of several tests indicating a functional connection to the central city.

question

Micropolitan Statistical Area

answer

An urbanized area of between 10,000 and 50,000 inhabitants, the county in which its found, and adjacent counties tied to the city.

question

Microstate

answer

A state that encompasses a very small land area.

question

Migration

answer

Form of relocation diffusion involving permanent move to a new location.

question

Migration Transition

answer

Change in the migration pattern in a society that results from industrialization, population growth, and other social and economic changes that also produce the demographic transition.

question

Milkshed

answer

The area surrounding a city from which milk is supplied.

question

Missionary

answer

An individual who helps to diffuse a universalizing religion.

question

Mobility

answer

All types of movement from one location to another.

question

Monotheism

answer

The doctrine or belief of the existence of only one god.

question

More Developed Country (MDC)

answer

Also known as a relatively developed country or a developed country, a country that has progressed relatively far along a continuum of development.

question

Multi-ethnic State;

answer

State that contains more than one ethnicity.

question

Multinational State

answer

State that contains two or more ethnic groups with traditions of self-determination that agree to coexist peacefully by recognizing each other as distinct nationalities.

question

Multiple Nuclei Model

answer

A model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are arranged around a collection of nodes of activities.

question

Nationlism

answer

Loyalty and devotion to a particular nationality.

question

Nationality

answer

Identity with a group of people that share legal attachment and personal allegiance to a particular place as a result of being born there.

question

Nation-state

answer

A state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular ethnicity that has been transformed into a nationality.

question

Natural Increase Rate (NIR)

answer

The percentage growth of a population in a year, computed as the crude birth rate minus the crude death rate.

question

Net Migration

answer

The difference between the level of immigration and the level of emigration.

question

New International Division of Labor

answer

Transfer of some types of jobs, especially those requiring low-paid less skilled workers, from more developed to less developed countries.

question

Nonbasic Industries

answer

Industries that sell their products primarily to consumers in the community.

question

Nonferrous

answer

Metals utilized to make products other than iron and steel.

question

Nonrenewable Energy;

answer

A source of energy that is a finite supply capable of being exhausted.

question

Official Language

answer

The language adopted for use by the government for the conduct of business and publication of documents.

question

Overpopulation

answer

The number of people living in an area exceeds the capacity of the environment to support life at a decent standard of living.

question

Ozone

answer

A gas that absorbs ultraviolet solar radiation, found in the stratosphere, a zone between 9 to 30 miles above Earth's surface.

question

Paddy

answer

Malay word for wet rice, commonly but incorrectly used to describe a sawah.

question

Pagan

answer

A follower of a polytheistic religion in ancient times.

question

Pandemic

answer

Disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects a high proportion of the population.

question

Parallel

answer

A circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator and at right angles to the meridians.

question

Passive Solar Energy Systems

answer

Solar energy system that collects energy without the use of mechanical devices.

question

Pastoral Nomadism

answer

A form of subsistence agriculture based on herding domesticated animals.

question

Pasture

answer

Grass or other plants grown for feeding grazing animals, as well as land used for grazing.

question

Pattern

answer

The geometric or regular arrangement of something in a study area.

question

Perforated State

answer

A state that completely surrounds another one.

question

Peripheral Model

answer

A model of North America urban areas consisting of an inner city surrounded by large suburban residential and business areas tied together by a beltway or ring road.

question

Personal Services

answer

Services that provide for the well-being and personal improvement of individual consumers.

question

Photochemical Smog

answer

An atmospheric condition formed through a combination of weather conditions and pollution, especially from motor vehicles.

question

Photovoltaic Cell

answer

Solar energy cells, usually made from silicon, that collect solar rays to generate electricity.

question

Physiological Density

answer

The number of people per unit of area of arable land.

question

Pidgin Language

answer

A form of speech that adopts a simplified grammar and limited vocabulary of a lingua franca, used for communications among speakers of two different languages.

question

Pilgrimage

answer

A journey to a place considered scared for religious purposes.

question

Place

answer

A specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular character.

question

Plantation

answer

A large farm in tropical and subtropical climates that specializes in the production of one or two crops for sale, usually to a more developed country.

question

Polder

answer

Land created by the Dutch by draining water from an area.

question

Pollution

answer

Addition of more waste than a resource can accommodate.

question

Polytheism

answer

Belief in or worship of more than one god.

question

Popular Culture

answer

Culture found in a large, heterogeneous society that shares certain habits despite differences in other personal characteristics.

question

Population Pyramid

answer

A bar graph representing the distribution of population by age and sex.

question

Possibilism

answer

The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives.

question

Post-Fordist Production

answer

Adoption by companies of flexible work rules, such as the allocation of workers to teams that perform a variety of tasks.

question

Potential Reserve

answer

The amount of energy in deposits not yet identified but thought to exist.

question

Preservation

answer

Maintenance of a resource in its present condition, with as little human impact as possible.

question

Primary Sector

answer

The portion of the economy concerned with the direct extraction of materials from Earth's surface, generally through agriculture, although sometimes by mining, fishing, and forestry.

question

Primate City

answer

The largest settlement in a country, if it has more than twice as many people as the second-ranking settlement.

question

Primate City Rule

answer

A pattern of settlements in a country, such that the largest settlement has more than twice as many people as the second-ranking settlement.

question

Prime Agricultural Land

answer

The most productive farmland.

question

Prime Meridian

answer

The meridian, designated at 0 longitude, which passes through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England.

question

Principal Meridian

answer

A north-south line designated in the Land Ordinance of 1785 to facilitate the surveying and numbering of townships in the US.

question

Producer Services

answer

Services that primarily help people conduct business.

question

Productivity

answer

The value of a particular product compared to the amount of labor needed to make it.

question

Projection

answer

The system used to transfer locations from Earth's surface to a flat map.

question

Prorupted State

answer

An otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension.

question

Proven Reserve

answer

The amount of a resource remaining in discovered deposits.

question

Public Housing

answer

Housing owned by the government; in the US, it is rented to low-income residents, and the rents are set at 30% of the families' income.

question

Public Services

answer

Services offered by the government to provide security and protection for citizens and businesses.

question

Pull Factors

answer

Factors that induce people to move to a new location.

question

Push Factors

answer

Factors that induce people to leave old residences.

question

Quota

answer

In reference to migration, a law that places maximum limits on the number of people who can immigrate to a country each year.

question

Race

answer

Identity with a group of people descended from a common ancestor.

question

Racism

answer

Belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.

question

Racist

answer

A person who suscribes to the beliefs of racism.

question

Radioactive Waste

answer

Particles from a nuclear reaction that emit radiation; contact with such particle may be harmful or lethal to people and must therefore be safely stored for thousands of years.;

question

Ranching

answer

A form of commercial agriculture in which livestock graze over an extensive area.

question

Range (of a service)

answer

The maximum distance people are willing to travel to use a service.

question

Rank-size Rule;

answer

A pattern of settlements in a country, such that the Nth largest settlement is 1/N the population of the largest settlement.

question

Reaper

answer

A machine that cuts grain standing in the field.

question

Recycling

answer

The separation, collection, processing, marketing, and reuse of unwanted material.

question

Redlining

answer

A process by which banks draw lines on a map and refuse to lend money to purchase or improve property within the boundaries.

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Refugees

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People who are forced to migrate from their home country and cannot return for fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group, or political opinion.

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Region

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An area distinguished by a unique combination of trends or features.

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Regional (or cultural landscape) Studies

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An approach to geography that emphasizes the relationships among social and physical phenomena in a particular study area.

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Relocation Diffusion

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The spread of a feature or trend through bodily movement of people from one place to another.

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Remote Sensing

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The acquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or other long-distance methods.

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Renewable Energy

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A resource that has a theoretically unlimited supply and is not depleted when used by humans.

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Resource

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A substance in the environment that is useful to people, is economically and technologically feasible to access, and is socially acceptable to use.

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Retail Services

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Services that provide goods for sale to consumers.

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Ridge Tillage

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System of planting crops on ridge tops, in order to reduce farm production costs and promote greater soil conservation.

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Right-to-work State

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A US state that has passed a law preventing a union and company from negotiating a contract that requires workers to join a union as a condition of employment.

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Rush (or peak) Hour

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The four consecutive 15-minute periods in the morning and evening with the heaviest volumes of traffic.

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Sanitary Landfill

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A place to deposit solid waste, where a layer of earth is bulldozed over garbage each day to reduce emissions of gases and odors from the decaying trash, to minimize fires, and to discourage vermin.

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Sawah

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A flooded field for growing rice.

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Scale

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Generally, the relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole, specifically the relationship between the size of an object on a map and the size of the actual feature on Earth's surface.

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Secondary Sector

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The portion of the economy concerned with manufacturing useful products through processing, transforming, and assembling raw materials.

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Sect

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A relatively small group that has broken away from an established denomination.

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Section

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A square normally 1 mile on a side. The Land Ordinance of 1785 divided townships in the US into 36 sections.

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Sector Model

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A model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are arranged around a series of sectors, or wedges, radiating out from the CBD.

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Seed Agriculture

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Reproduction of plants through annual introduction of seeds, which result from sexual fertilization.

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Self-determination

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Concept that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves.

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Service

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Any activity that fulfills a human want or need and returns money to those who provide it.

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Settlement

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A permanent collection of buildings and inhabitants.

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Sex Ratio

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The number of males per 100 females in the population.

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Sharecropper

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A person who works fields rented from a landowner and pays the rent and repays loans by turning over to the landowner a share of the crops.

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Shifting Cultivation

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A form of subsistence agriculture in which people shift activity from one field to another; each field is used for crops for a relatively few years and left fallow for a relatively long period.

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Site

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The physical character of a place.

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Site Factors

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Location factors related to the costs of factors of production inside the plant, such as land, labor, and capital.

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Situation

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The location of a place relative to other places.

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Situation Factors

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Location factors related to the transportation of materials into and from a factory.

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Slash-and-burn Agriculture

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Another name for shifting cultivation, so named because fields are cleared ;by slashing the vegetation and burning the debris.

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Solstice

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Time when the Sun is farthest from the equator.

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Sovereignty

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Ability of a state to govern its territory free from control of its internal affairs by other states.

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Space

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The physical gap or interval between two objects.

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Space-time Compression

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The reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place, as a result of improved communications and transportation systems.

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Sprawl

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Development of new housing sites at relatively low density ;and at locations that are not contiguous to the existing built-up area.

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Spring Wheat

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Wheat planted in the spring and harvested in the late summer.

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Squatter Settlement

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An area within a city in a less developed country in which people illegally establish residences on land they do not own or rent and erect homemade structures.

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Standard Language

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The form of a language used for official government business, education, and mass communications.

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State

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An area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government with control over its internal and foreign affairs.

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Stimulus Diffusion

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The spread of an underlying principle, even though a specific characteristic is rejected.

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Structural Adjustment Program

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Economic policies imposed on less developed countries by international agencies to create conditions encouraging trade, such as raising taxes, reducing government spending, controlling inflation, selling publicly owned utilities to private corporations, and charging citizens more for services

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Subsistence Agriculture

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Agriculture designed primarily to provide food for direct consumption by the farmer and the farmer's family.

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Sustainable Agriculture

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Farming methods that preserve long-term productivity of land and minimize pollution, typically by rotating soil-restoring crops with cash crops and reducing inputs of fertilizer and pesticides.

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Sustainable Development

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The level of development that can be maintained in a country without depleting resources to the extent that future generations will be unable to achieve a comparable level of development.

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Swidden

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A patch of land cleared for planting through slashing and burning.

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Taboo

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A restriction on behavior imposed by social custom.

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Tertiary Sector

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The portion of the economy concerned with transportation, communications, and utilities, sometimes extended to the provision of all goods and services to people in exchange for payment.

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Textile

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A fabric made by weaving, used in making clothing.

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Thresh

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To beat out grain from stalks by trampling it.

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Threshold

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The minimum number of people needed to support the service.

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Toponym

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The name given to a portion of Earth's surface.

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Total Fertility Rate (TFR)

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The average number of children a women will have throughout her childbearing years.

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Township

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A square normally 6 miles on a side. The Land Ordinance of 1785 divided much of the US into a series of townships.

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Trading Bloc

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A group of neighboring countries that promote trade with each other and erect barriers to limit trade with other blocs.

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Transhumance

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The seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pastures.

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Transnational Corporation

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A company that conducts research, operates factories, and sells products in many countries, not just where its headquarters or shareholders are located.

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Transportation and Information Services

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Services that diffuse and distribute services.

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Truck Farming

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Commercial gardening and fruit farming, so named because TRUCK was Middle English word meaning BARTERING or the exchange of commodities.

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Underclass

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A group in society prevented from participating in the material benefits of a more developed society because of a variety of social and economic characteristics.

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Undocumented Immigrants

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People who enter a country without proper documents.

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Uneven Development

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The increasing gap in economic conditions between core and peripheral regions as a result of the globalization of the economy.

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Unitary State

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An internal organization of a state that places most power in the hands of central government officials.

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Universalizing Religion

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A religion that attempts to appeal to all people, not just those living in a particular location.

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Urban Renewal;

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Program in which cities identify blighted inner-city neighborhoods, acquire the properties from private owners, relocate the residents and businesses, clear the site, build new roads and utilities, and turn the land over to private developers.

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Urbanization

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An increase in the percentage and in the number of people living in urban settlements.

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Urbanized Area

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In the US, a central city plus its contiguous built-up suburbs.

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Value Added

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The gross value of the product minus the costs of raw materials and energy.

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Vegetative Planting

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Reproduction of plants by direct cloning from existing plants.

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Vernacular Region (or perceptual region)

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An area that people believe to exist as part of their cultural identity.

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Voluntary Migration

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Permanent movement undertaken by choice.

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Vulgar Latin

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A form of Latin used in daily conversation by ancient Romans, as opposed to the standard dialect, which was used for official documents.

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Wet Rice

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Rice planted on dryland in a nursery, then moved to a deliberately flooded field to promote growth.

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Winnow

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To remove chaff by allowing it to be blown away by the wind.

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Winter Wheat

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Wheat planted in the fall and harvested in the early summer.

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Zero Population Growth (ZPG)

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A decline of the total fertility rate to the point where the natural increase rate equals zero.

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Zoning Ordinance

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A law that limits the permitted uses of land and maximum density of development in a community.

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