Core Geographical Concepts

Question 1

What is geography?

Answer 1

Geography is the study of the physical features and processes of the earth and its atmosphere and of human activity as it affects and is affected by these.

Question 2

What is economic geography?

Answer 2

Focuses on studying and explaining the patterns of economic activity and the factors that affect it.

Question 3

What is social geography?

Answer 3

The study of people and their environment. It focuses on the way social groups interact with each other and the spaces in which they live.

Question 4

What is environmental geography?

Answer 4

The study of the interactions between the biogeophysical environment and human societies.

Question 5

What is political geography?

Answer 5

Studies how humans have divided up the Earth’s surface for management and control purposes.

Question 6

What are key players?

Answer 6

Individuals, groups and organisations, stakeholders that are involved in geographical issues and decisions. For example international players (IGOs), national and local government, large and small private businesses, transnational corporations (TNCs), pressure groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Question 7

Why do attitudes to geographical issues vary so greatly and how does this influence actions?

Answer 7

Influences on values and attitudes include identity, political and religious views, priority given to profit, importance of social justice/equality and attitudes towards the natural environment.

Question 8

What are the different the approaches when making decisions about geographical issues that will affect people in the future?

Answer 8

1) Business as usual

2) Priority towards more sustainable strategies

3) Radical alternatives (mitigation and adaptation)

Question 9

Why are the outcomes of decisions made about geographical issues uncertain?

Answer 9

Scientific development, demographic changes, economic and political uncertainty

Question 10

What is a TNC?

Answer 10

A Transnational Corporation is a company that operates in more than one country.

Question 11

What is an NGO?

Answer 11

Non-governmental Organisations are non-profit, voluntary group of people or organisations that operate independently of a government to address a social or political issue.

Question 12

What is an IGO?

Answer 12

Intergovernmental Organisations are a group of states that coordinate actions on global issues.

Question 13

What is causality?

Answer 13

The relationship between a cause and its effect or between regularly correlated events of phenomena.

Question 14

What is a systems approach?

Answer 14

A set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network.

Question 15

What is a feedback loop?

Answer 15

Occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop.

Question 16

What is inequality?

Answer 16

Refers to an unfair situation or distribution of assets e.g. extreme differences between poverty and wealth.

Question 17

What is identity?

Answer 17

An individual or group’s sense of attachment to the country, region, city or village in which they live or the key characteristics with which a particular country, region, city or village is associated.

Question 18

What is globalisation?

Answer 18

The process by which businesses or other organisation develop international influence or start operating on an international scale.

Question 19

What is interdependence?

Answer 19

When two or more places (or things) become reliant on each other e.g. financially or politically.

Question 20

What is representation?

Answer 20

The description or portrayal of someone, something or a place in a particular way.

Question 21

What is equilibrium?

Answer 21

A state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced.

Question 22

What is mitigation?

Answer 22

The act of making a condition or consequence less sever (reducing causes).

Question 23

What is adaptation?

Answer 23

The action or process of adapting or being adapted (responding to change).

Question 24

What is sustainability?

Answer 24

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Question 25

What are the 3 branches of sustainability?

Answer 25

-Economic

-Social

-Environment

Question 26

What is risk?

Answer 26

The exposure of people to a hazardous event. It is the probability of a hazard occurring that leads to the loss of lives and/or livelihood.

Question 27

What is resilience?

Answer 27

The ability of a system, community or society to recover quickly from difficulties.

Question 28

What is a threshold?

Answer 28

The point at which a stimulus is of sufficient intensity to begin to produce an effect and sets irreversible changes in motion.

Question 29

What is absolute poverty?

Answer 29

When a person’s income is too low for basic human needs to be met, potentially resulting in hunger and homelessness.

Question 30

What is baseline data?

Answer 30

The information used to compare present day characteristics with the past e.e. old maps, photographs and statistics.

Question 31

What is conflict and how does it link to geography?

Answer 31

Conflict is a disagreement over a geographical issue e.g. coastal management. Conflict often exists between different stakeholders.

Question 32

What is culture?

Answer 32

Culture is the way of life, especially the general customs, values and beliefs, of a particular group of people that are passed on from one generation to the next.

Question 33

What does demographic mean?

Answer 33

Of or relating to some aspect of a population e.g. size, rate of change, density and composition.

Question 34

What does development mean?

Answer 34

Refers to improving society to enable people to achieve their aspirations.

Question 35

What does governance mean?

Answer 35

The sum of the many ways individuals and institutions (both public and private) manage their affairs.

Question 36

What is GDP?

Answer 36

Gross Domestic Product is an economic indicator that measures the total value of the goods and services produced within a country in a given year. It is often divided by population size to give a per capita figure to allow for accurate comparisons.

Question 37

What is GNI?

Answer 37

Gross National Income is an economic indicator that measure the total value of a countries’s goods and services produced in a given year including income from abroad. It is often divided by population size to give a per capita figure to allow for accurate comparisons.

Question 38

What is the difference between GNI and GDP?

Answer 38

GNI includes income from residents and businesses located abroad.

Question 39

What is a hazard?

Answer 39

An event that has the potential to threaten both life and property.

Question 40

What does infrastructure mean?

Answer 40

The basic physical systems of a place i.e. economic infrastructure (highways, energy distribution, water/sewage facilities and telecommunication networks) and social infrastructure (public housing, hospitals, schools and universities).

Question 41

What is life expectancy?

Answer 41

The average number of years from birth that a person born in a particular year can expect to live.

Question 42

What are natural resources?

Answer 42

A material source of wealth that occurs in a natural state and has economic value. Natural resources may be renewable or non-renewable.

Question 43

What is population density?

Answer 43

The number of people per unit area (usually per km2) i.e. the total population of a given area divided by its area.

Question 44

What is quality of life?

Answer 44

The level of social and economic well-being experienced by individuals or communities measured by various indicators including health, happiness, educational achievement, income and leisure time.

Question 45

What does topography mean?

Answer 45

The shape and relief of the land.

Question 46

What is erosion?

Answer 46

The removal of sediment from the land by natural processes.

Question 47

What is transportation?

Answer 47

The movement of sediment from one location to another through physical processes.

Question 48

What are the 4 types of erosion?

Answer 48

1) Hydraulic action- air is forced into cracks in rocks that forces them to widen under pressure.

2) Abrasion- The scraping of a cliff by sediment that is carried in a current.

3) Attrition- Sediment within a current is hit against each other causing the sediment to become smaller.

4) Solution/Corrosion- Rocks and minerals are dissolved in water particularly when water is acidic and the rocks are alkaline (e.g. chalk/limestone)

Question 49

What are the 4 types of transportation?

Answer 49

1) Traction- Large pieces of sediment are rolled by a current. Only occurs in water.

2) Saltation- Small pieces of sediment are bounced along the floor by a current. Occurs in water and on land by the wind.

3) Suspension- Tiny fragments of rocks (i.e. particles) are held by a current. Only in water and by the wind.

4) Solution- Dissolved rocks and minerals are dissolved in and then carried by water. Only occurs in water.

Question 50

What is deposition?

Answer 50

The laying down of sediment carried by wind, flowing water, the sea or ice.