Vocabulary Flashcards
Monsoon
Refers to the seasonal reversal of wind and moisture flows in certain parts of the subtropics and lower-middle latitudes
Social stratification
The population is divided into a hierarchy of social classes
Refugees
People who have been dislocated involuntarily from their original place of settlement
Population geography
The field of geography that focuses on the spatial aspects of demography and the influences of demographic change on particular places
Population distribution
The way people have arranged themselves in geographic space
Population density
The number of people per unit area
Physiologic density
The number of people per unit area of arable land
Rate of natural population increase
Population growth measured as the excess of live births over deaths per 1000 individuals per year
Population explosion
The rapid growth of the world’s human population during the past century, attended by accelerating rates of increase
Forward capital
Capital city positioned in actually or potentially contested territory, usually near an international border; it confirms the state’s determination to maintain its presence in the region in contention
Irredentism
A policy of cultural extension and potential political expansion by a state aimed at a community of its nationals living in a neighboring state
Caste system
The strict social stratification and segregation of people
Intervening opportunity
In trade or migration flows, the presence of a nearer opportunity that greatly diminishes the attractiveness of sites farther away
Natural hazards
A natural event that endangers human life and/or the contents of a cultural landscape
Failed state
A country whose institutions have collapsed and in which anarchy prevails
Insurgent state
Territorial embodiment of a successful guerrilla movement
Pacific Rim
A far flung group of countries and parts of countries sharing the following criteria: they face the Pacific Ocean; they evince relatively high levels of economic development, industrialization, and urbanization; their imports and and exports mainly move across Pacific waters
Hanification/Sinicization
Giving a Chinese cultural imprint; Chinese acculturation
Extraterritoriality
Politico-geographical concept suggesting that the property of one state lying within the boundaries of another actually forms an extension of the first state
Special Administrative Region (SAR)
Status accorded the former dependencies of Hong Kong and Macau that were taken over by China, respectively, from the United Kingdom in 1997 and Portugal in 1999
Economic restructuring
The transformation of China into a market driven economy in the post-Mao era, beginning in the late 1970s
Core area
The center of focus in a nation-state
Geography of development
The subfield of economic geography concerned with spatial aspects and regional expressions of development
Overseas Chinese
The more than 50 million ethnic Chinese who live outside of China
Special Economic Zone (SEZ)
Manufacturing and export center within China, created in the 1980s to attract foreign investment and technology transfers
Regional state
A ‘natural economic zone’ that defies political boundaries, and is shaped by the global economy of which it is a part; its leaders deal directly with foreign partners and negotiate the best terms they can with the national governments under which they operate
Buffer state
A country or set of countries separating ideological or political adversaries
Jakota Triangle
The easternmost region of the East Asian realm, consisting of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan
Modernization
The Westernization process that involves the establishment of urbanization, a market economy, improved circulation, formal schooling, adoption of foreign innovations, and the breakdown of traditional society
Areal functional organization
A geographic principle for understanding the evolution of regional organization, whose five interrelated tenets are applied to the spatial development of Japan
Regional complementarity
It exists when two regions, through an exchange of raw materials and/or finished products, can specifically satisfy each other’s demands
State capitalism
Government-controlled corporations competing under free-market conditions, usually in a tightly regimented society
Economic tiger
One of the burgeoning beehive countries of the western Pacific Rim
Buffer zone
A country or set of countries separating ideological or political adversaries
Shatter belt
Region caught between stronger colliding external cultural-political forces, under persistent stress, and often fragmented by aggressive rivals.
Wallace’s Line
The zoogeographical boundary proposed by Wallace that separates the marsupial fauna of Australia and New Guinea from the nonmarsupial fauna of Indonesia
Domino theory
The belief that political destabilization in one state can result in the collapse of order in a neighboring state, triggering a chain of events that, in turn, can affect a series of contiguous states
Choke point
A narrowing of an international waterway causing marine traffic congestion, requiring reduced speeds and/or sharp turns, and increasing the risk of collision as well as vulnerability to attack
Entrepot
A place, usually a port city, where goods are imported, stored, and transshipped; a break-of-bulk point
Archipelago
A set of islands grouped closely together, usually elongated into a chain
Transmigration
The now-ended policy of the Indonesian government to induce residents of the overcrowded, core-area island of Jawa to move to the country’s other islands
Austral
Literally means “south”
Southern Ocean
The ocean that surrounds Antarctica
Subtropical Convergence
A narrow marine transition zone that marks the equatorward limit of the frigid Southern Ocean and the poleward limits of the warmer Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans to the north
West Wind Drift
The clockwise movement of water around Antarctica in the Southern Ocean
Biogeography
The study of flora (plant life) and fauna (animal life) in spatial perspective
Aboriginal population
Native or Aboriginal peoples; often used to designate the inhabitants of areas that were conquered and subsequently colonized by the imperial powers of Europe
Outback
The name given by Australians to the vast, peripheral, sparsely-settled interior of their country
Federation
A political framework wherein a central government represents the various subnational entities within a nation-state where they have common interest-defense, foreign affairs, and the like-yet allows these various entities to retain their own identities and to have their own laws, policies, and customs in certain spheres
Unitary state
A nation-state that has a centralized government and administration that exercises power equally over all parts of the state
Import-substitution industries
The industries local entrepreneurs establish to serve populations of remote areas when transport costs from distant sources make these goods too expensive to import
Aboriginal land issue
The legal campaign in which Australia’s indigenous peoples have claimed title to traditional land in several parts of that country
Environmental degradation
The accumulated human abuse of a region’s natural landscape that, among other things, can involve air and water pollution, threats to plant and animal ecosystems, misuse of natural resources, and generally upsetting the balance between people and their habitat
Peripheral development
Spatial pattern in which a country’s or region’s development is most heavily concentrated along its outer edges rather than in its interior
Marine geography
The geographic study of oceans and seas
Territorial sea
Zone of seawater adjacent to a country’s coast, held to be part of the national territory and treated as a segment of the sovereign state
High seas
Areas of the oceans away from land, beyond national jurisdiction, open and free for all to use
Continental shelf
Beyond the 200 meter line the sea bottom usually drops off sharply, along the continental slope, toward the much deeper oceanic basin
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)
An oceanic zone extending up to 200 nautical miles from a shoreline, within which the coastal state can control fishing, mineral exploitation, and additional activities by all other countries
Maritime boundary
An international boundary that lies in the ocean. Like all boundaries, it is a vertical plane, extending from the seafloor to the upper limit of the air space in the atmosphere above the water
Median-line boundary
An international maritime boundary drawn where the width of a sea is less than 400 nautical miles
High-island cultures
Volcanic islands of the Pacific Realm that are high enough in elevation to pull substantial moisture from the tropical ocean air. They tend to be well watered, their volcanic soils enable productive agriculture, and they support larger populations that low islands.
Low-island cultures
Low-lying coral islands of the Pacific Realm that cannot pull sufficient moisture from the tropical ocean air to avoid chronic drought. Agriculture is impossible, and their modest populations must rely on fishing and the coconut palm for survival.
Antarctic Treaty
An international cooperative agreement on the use of Antarctic territory
