Core Geographical Concepts Flashcards

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1
Q

What is geography?

A

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.

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2
Q

What is economic geography?

A

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

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3
Q

What is social geography?

A

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.

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4
Q

What is environmental geography?

A

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

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5
Q

What is political geography?

A

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

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6
Q

What are key players?

A

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).

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7
Q

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

A

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.

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8
Q

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

A

1) Business as usual

2) Priority towards more sustainable strategies

3) Radical alternatives (mitigation and adaptation)

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9
Q

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

A

Scientific development, demographic changes, economic and political uncertainty

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10
Q

What is a TNC?

A

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

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11
Q

What is an NGO?

A

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.

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12
Q

What is an IGO?

A

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

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13
Q

What is causality?

A

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

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14
Q

What is a systems approach?

A

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

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15
Q

What is a feedback loop?

A

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.

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16
Q

What is inequality?

A

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

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17
Q

What is identity?

A

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.

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18
Q

What is globalisation?

A

Globalisation is the increasing interdependence between countries through flows of capital, trade, goods and services as well as culture and ideas.

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19
Q

What is interdependence?

A

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

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20
Q

What is representation?

A

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

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21
Q

What is equilibrium?

A

A state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced.

22
Q

What is mitigation?

A

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

23
Q

What is adaptation?

A

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

24
Q

What is sustainability?

A

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

25
Q

What are the 3 branches of sustainability?

A

-Economic

-Social

-Environment

26
Q

What is risk?

A

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.

27
Q

What is resilience?

A

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

28
Q

What is a threshold?

A

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

29
Q

What is absolute poverty?

A

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

30
Q

What is baseline data?

A

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

31
Q

What is conflict and how does it link to geography?

A

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

32
Q

What is culture?

A

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.

33
Q

What does demographic mean?

A

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

34
Q

What does development mean?

A

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

35
Q

What does governance mean?

A

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

36
Q

What is GDP?

A

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.

37
Q

What is GNI?

A

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.

38
Q

What is the difference between GNI and GDP?

A

GNI includes income from residents and businesses located abroad.

39
Q

What is a hazard?

A

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

40
Q

What does infrastructure mean?

A

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).

41
Q

What is life expectancy?

A

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

42
Q

What are natural resources?

A

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

43
Q

What is population density?

A

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

44
Q

What is quality of life?

A

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.

45
Q

What does topography mean?

A

The shape and relief of the land.

46
Q

What is erosion?

A

The removal of sediment from the land by natural processes.

47
Q

What is transportation?

A

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

48
Q

What are the 4 types of erosion?

A

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)

49
Q

What are the 4 types of transportation?

A

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.

50
Q

What is deposition?

A

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