- Distance decay
- The weakening of an interaction or phenomenon as distance from its origin increases.
- Nation-state
- A state whose borders closely match the territory of one dominant nation (e.g., Japan, Iceland).
- Von Thünen model
- Agricultural land use as concentric rings around a market, set by transportation cost.
- Push factor
- A condition that drives people away from a place (war, famine, unemployment, persecution).
- Pull factor
- A condition that attracts people to a new place (jobs, safety, family, freedom).
- Sovereignty
- A state's recognized right to govern itself and its territory without outside interference.
- Primate city
- A country's largest city, more than twice the size of the next largest and dominant in it.
- Cultural landscape
- The visible imprint of human activity and culture on the land.
- Choropleth map
- A thematic map that shows data by shading or color within defined areas.
- Lingua franca
- A common language adopted to enable communication among speakers of different tongues.
- Absolute location
- A place's exact position using a coordinate system such as latitude and longitude. It never changes.
- Relative location
- Where a place is in relation to other places (e.g., 'an hour north of the capital'). It can change.
- Site
- The physical character of a place: terrain, soil, climate, vegetation, water.
- Situation
- A place's location relative to other places and routes — its connections.
- Place
- The physical and human characteristics that make a location unique.
- Toponym
- The name given to a place, which can reveal its history or culture.
- Sense of place
- The emotional meaning and attachment people develop toward a location.
- Formal region
- A region whose area shares one or more measurable, uniform traits (language, climate). Also called uniform.
- Functional region
- A region organized around a focal point or node, such as a city's commuting zone. Also called nodal.
- Perceptual region
- A region defined by people's beliefs about an area ('the South'), with fuzzy borders. Also called vernacular.
- Scale of analysis
- The level — global, regional, national, or local — at which a phenomenon is examined; it changes the pattern seen.
- Map scale
- The ratio of distance on a map to distance on the ground (large scale = small area, much detail).
- Reference map
- A map that shows the locations of features — political, physical, or road maps.
- Thematic map
- A map that shows a pattern or distribution of data across space.
- Isoline (isopleth) map
- A map using lines that connect points of equal value, like elevation contours.
- Dot distribution map
- A thematic map using one dot per count of a phenomenon to show density.
- Graduated symbol map
- A map where symbol size is scaled to the value at each location.
- Cartogram
- A map that distorts the size of areas to represent a data value rather than land area.
- Mercator projection
- A projection that preserves direction but greatly exaggerates the size of high-latitude land.
- Gall-Peters projection
- A projection that preserves area (relative size) but distorts the shape of land.
- Map projection
- A method of representing the curved Earth on a flat surface; every projection distorts something.
- Gravity model
- A model: interaction between two places increases with their size and decreases with distance.
- Time-space compression
- The way faster transport and communication shrink the friction of distance.
- Friction of distance
- The idea that distance requires effort, time, and cost, which limits interaction.
- Geographic Information System (GIS)
- A computer system that captures, stores, analyzes, and displays layered geographic data.
- Remote sensing
- Collecting data about Earth's surface from satellites or aircraft without physical contact.
- Arithmetic density
- The total number of people divided by the total land area.
- Physiological density
- The number of people per unit of arable (farmable) land.
- Agricultural density
- The number of farmers per unit of arable land.
- Carrying capacity
- The maximum population an environment can sustain with available resources.
- Crude birth rate (CBR)
- The number of live births per 1,000 people in a population in a year.
- Crude death rate (CDR)
- The number of deaths per 1,000 people in a population in a year.
- Total fertility rate (TFR)
- The average number of children a woman would have in her lifetime; replacement is about 2.1.
- Rate of natural increase (RNI)
- The crude birth rate minus the crude death rate, as a percentage; it excludes migration.
- Doubling time
- The years for a population to double, roughly 70 divided by the RNI percentage.
- Infant mortality rate (IMR)
- Deaths of children under age 1 per 1,000 live births in a year; a key development indicator.
- Demographic transition model (DTM)
- A model of how birth and death rates change across four to five stages as a country develops.
- DTM Stage 1
- High birth rate and high death rate; population is low and stable (pre-industrial).
- DTM Stage 2
- Birth rate stays high but death rate falls; population grows rapidly.
- DTM Stage 3
- Birth rate falls while death rate stays low; population growth slows.
- DTM Stage 4
- Low birth rate and low death rate; population is high and stable.
- DTM Stage 5 (proposed)
- Birth rate falls below death rate; population shrinks and ages (Japan, Germany, Italy).
- Epidemiologic transition
- The change in the leading causes of death as a country moves through the DTM stages.
- Population pyramid
- An age-sex graph of a population; a wide base means rapid growth, a narrow base slow growth.
- Dependency ratio
- The ratio of dependents (under 15 and over 64) to the working-age population.
- Demographic momentum
- Continued population growth after fertility falls, because a large young cohort still has children.
- Malthusian theory
- Malthus's idea that population grows faster than food supply, leading to crisis.
- Neo-Malthusian
- A modern view warning that population growth strains resources beyond just food.
- Pronatalist policy
- A government policy that encourages higher birth rates (incentives for children).
- Antinatalist policy
- A government policy that discourages births, like China's former one-child policy.
- Migration
- A permanent move to a new location, crossing an administrative boundary.
- Emigration
- Migration out of a place (leaving the origin).
- Immigration
- Migration into a place (arriving at the destination).
- Net migration
- Immigration minus emigration for a place over a period.
- Culture
- The shared beliefs, practices, language, and traits of a group, passed across generations.
- Cultural trait
- A single attribute of a culture, such as a food, custom, or tool.
- Cultural hearth
- The area where a cultural trait or innovation originates and from which it diffuses.
- Diffusion
- The spread of a cultural trait, idea, or innovation from its hearth to other areas.
- Expansion diffusion
- The spread of a trait outward from its hearth while it remains strong at the source.
- Relocation diffusion
- The spread of a trait carried by migrating people, often weakening at the hearth.
- Contagious diffusion
- Expansion diffusion that spreads nearly uniformly outward, person to person, like a disease.
- Hierarchical diffusion
- Expansion diffusion that spreads first between important people or large places, then down.
- Stimulus diffusion
- Diffusion in which an underlying idea spreads even when the original form is rejected.
- Folk culture
- Culture of small, often rural, homogeneous groups; slow to change and place-rooted.
- Popular culture
- Culture of large, heterogeneous societies; fast-changing, media-spread, tending toward uniformity.
- Material culture
- The physical objects a culture makes and uses — tools, buildings, art, clothing.
- Nonmaterial culture
- The intangible parts of culture — beliefs, values, language, customs.
- Cultural relativism
- Judging a culture by its own standards rather than those of another culture.
- Ethnocentrism
- Judging another culture by the standards of one's own, often as superior.
- Acculturation
- Adopting some traits of a host culture while keeping much of one's own.
- Assimilation
- The process by which a group largely loses its culture and adopts that of the host society.
- Syncretism
- The blending of two or more cultural or religious traditions into a new combined form.
- Language family
- A group of languages with a shared ancestral origin (Indo-European).
- Dialect
- A regional variety of a language with distinct vocabulary, grammar, or pronunciation.
- Pidgin language
- A simplified language that develops to enable trade between groups; has no native speakers.
- Creole language
- A pidgin that has gained native speakers and become a full language.
- Universalizing religion
- A religion that seeks converts among all people (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism).
- Ethnic religion
- A religion tied to a particular people and place (Hinduism, Judaism).
- Sequent occupance
- The layering of cultural imprints left by successive societies in a place.
- Cultural appropriation
- Adopting elements of another culture, often without understanding or respect.
- State
- A politically organized territory with defined borders, a permanent population, and a sovereign government.
- Nation
- A group of people who share a common culture, language, history, and identity.
- Multinational state
- A state that contains two or more nations or ethnic groups.
- Multistate nation
- A nation whose people stretch across the borders of more than one state.
- Stateless nation
- A nation that has no state of its own (the Kurds, the Palestinians).
- Autonomous region
- A part of a state granted a degree of self-government.
- Territoriality
- The attempt to control people and resources by claiming and defending a territory.
- Boundary
- A line that marks the limit of a state's territory.
- Geometric boundary
- A boundary that follows straight lines of latitude or longitude.
- Physical (natural) boundary
- A boundary that follows a natural feature — river, mountain, or coastline.
- Antecedent boundary
- A boundary drawn before an area was heavily settled.
- Subsequent boundary
- A boundary drawn to match cultural divisions that already exist.
- Superimposed boundary
- A boundary forced onto an area, ignoring existing cultures (colonial Africa).
- Relict boundary
- A former boundary that no longer functions but still marks the landscape.
- Compact state
- A state whose distance from center to any boundary is roughly equal; efficient to govern.
- Elongated state
- A long, narrow state, which can be hard to govern and connect (Chile).
- Fragmented state
- A state in several separated pieces (Indonesia).
- Perforated state
- A state that completely surrounds another state (South Africa around Lesotho).
- Prorupted state
- A compact state with a large projecting extension or panhandle.
- Landlocked state
- A state with no direct access to an ocean, limiting trade.
- Unitary state
- A state where power is concentrated in a central government.
- Federal state
- A state where power is divided between a central government and regional units.
- Devolution
- The transfer of political power from a central government to regional or local governments.
- Centripetal force
- A force that unifies a state, such as a shared identity or strong institutions.
- Centrifugal force
- A force that divides a state, such as ethnic conflict or uneven development.
- Separatism
- A movement by a group to break away and form its own state.
- Irredentism
- A state's effort to annex territory in another state inhabited by its own nationality.
- Subsistence agriculture
- Farming to feed the farmer's own family, common in less-developed regions.
- Commercial agriculture
- Farming to produce food for sale, common in developed regions.
- Intensive agriculture
- Farming using much labor or capital on a small area of land.
- Extensive agriculture
- Farming using little labor or capital over a large area of land.
- Shifting cultivation
- Clearing and farming a plot, then moving on as soil fertility declines (slash-and-burn).
- Slash-and-burn agriculture
- Clearing land by cutting and burning vegetation to enrich the soil briefly.
- Pastoral nomadism
- Herding domesticated animals across dry lands, moving with the seasons.
- Transhumance
- The seasonal movement of livestock between mountain and lowland pastures.
- Plantation agriculture
- Large commercial farms in the tropics growing one cash crop for export.
- Monoculture
- Growing a single crop over a large area, which can deplete soil and raise risk.
- Agribusiness
- The system of commercial farming, including inputs, processing, and distribution.
- Bid-rent theory
- The price a user will pay for land decreases with distance from the central market.
- First Agricultural Revolution
- The Neolithic domestication of plants and animals that began settled farming.
- Second Agricultural Revolution
- The mechanization of farming tied to the Industrial Revolution, raising output.
- Green Revolution
- The mid-1900s spread of high-yield seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation.
- Agricultural hearth
- A region where farming originated independently and spread by diffusion.
- Crop rotation
- Alternating the crops grown on a field to maintain soil fertility.
- Double cropping
- Growing two or more crops on the same land in a single year.
- Mixed crop and livestock
- A farming system that grows crops and raises animals together.
- Dairy farming
- Commercial farming of milk products, located near markets due to perishability.
- Truck farming (market gardening)
- Commercial growing of fruits and vegetables for nearby urban markets.
- Metes and bounds
- A survey system defining land using natural features and physical markers.
- Township and range
- A rectangular U.S. survey system dividing land into a grid of squares.
- Long-lot survey
- A survey system of narrow plots running back from a river or road.
- Von Thünen ring 1
- Dairy and market gardening — perishable, heavy goods grown closest to the market.
- Von Thünen ring (outer)
- Livestock ranching — the least intensive land use, farthest from market.
- GMO
- A genetically modified organism, used to raise yields or resistance, with debated effects.
- Urbanization
- The growth in the share of people living in cities and the expansion of urban areas.
- Central place theory
- Christaller's model explaining the size, number, and spacing of settlements.
- Threshold
- The minimum population needed to support a good or service.
- Range
- The maximum distance people will travel to obtain a good or service.
- Rank-size rule
- A country's nth-largest city is about 1/n the size of its largest city.
- Central business district (CBD)
- The commercial heart of a city, with offices and the highest land values.
- Concentric zone model
- Burgess's model of a city as five rings growing outward from the CBD.
- Sector model
- Hoyt's model of a city as wedges of land use following transport corridors.
- Multiple nuclei model
- Harris and Ullman's model of a city with several centers, not one.
- Galactic city model
- A model of a city with edge cities scattered around the original CBD, linked by highways.
- Latin American city model
- Griffin-Ford model: a CBD with a wealthy spine and poorer rings of informal housing outward.
- Bid-rent curve
- Shows land value falling with distance from the CBD, shaping land use.
- Edge city
- A node of offices and retail on the outskirts of a metro area, away from the old CBD.
- Suburbanization
- The movement of people and activities from the city center to surrounding suburbs.
- Urban sprawl
- The unplanned, low-density spread of a city into surrounding rural land.
- Smart growth
- Planning that limits sprawl through compact, mixed-use, transit-oriented development.
- New urbanism
- Design promoting walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods with a sense of community.
- Gentrification
- The renovation of a deteriorated neighborhood that raises values and displaces residents.
- Redlining
- The discriminatory denial of loans or services to residents of certain areas.
- Blockbusting
- Persuading owners to sell cheaply by stoking fears of demographic change.
- Filtering
- The process by which housing passes from higher- to lower-income occupants over time.
- Megacity
- An urban area with more than 10 million people.
- Metacity
- An urban area with more than 20 million people.
- World (global) city
- A city that is a command center of the global economy (New York, London, Tokyo).
- Urban hierarchy
- The ranking of settlements by size and the services they provide.
- Squatter settlement
- An informal, often unauthorized residential area on the urban edge in developing countries.
- Informal sector
- Unregulated economic activity outside official records, common in developing-city economies.
- Industrial Revolution
- The shift to machine and factory production that began in Britain and diffused outward.
- Primary sector
- Economic activity that extracts raw materials — farming, mining, fishing.
- Secondary sector
- Economic activity that makes goods — manufacturing.
- Tertiary sector
- Economic activity that provides services — retail, transport, health.
- Quaternary sector
- Economic activity based on information and knowledge — research, finance.
- Quinary sector
- The highest-level decision-making activity — top executives and officials.
- Weber's least-cost theory
- Industry locates to minimize transport, labor, and agglomeration costs.
- Agglomeration
- The clustering of businesses to share services, labor, and infrastructure.
- Footloose industry
- An industry not tied to a resource and free to locate almost anywhere.
- Bulk-reducing industry
- An industry that locates near raw materials because its inputs are heavy to move.
- Bulk-gaining industry
- An industry that locates near markets because its product is heavy or bulky to ship.
- Break-of-bulk point
- A place where goods transfer between transport modes, attracting industry.
- Comparative advantage
- A country's ability to produce a good at lower opportunity cost than others.
- Complementarity
- When two places trade because each has what the other wants.
- Gross domestic product (GDP)
- The total value of goods and services produced within a country in a year.
- GNI per capita
- Gross national income divided by population; an average income measure.
- Human Development Index (HDI)
- A measure combining life expectancy, education, and income per capita (0 to 1).
- Gender Inequality Index
- A measure of gaps between women and men in health, empowerment, and the labor market.
- Gini coefficient
- A measure of income inequality within a country (0 = equal, 1 = unequal).
- Rostow's stages of growth
- A model that all countries develop through five stages from traditional society to mass consumption.
- World-systems theory
- Wallerstein's model of the global economy as one system of core, semi-periphery, and periphery.
- Core
- Wealthy, industrialized regions with advanced technology and high wages.
- Periphery
- Less-developed regions that supply raw materials and cheap labor and stay poorer.
- Semi-periphery
- Middle-income, industrializing regions between core and periphery.
- Dependency theory
- The view that poor countries are kept underdeveloped by their reliance on rich ones.
- Commodity dependence
- Reliance on exporting one or a few raw materials, leaving an economy vulnerable.
- Microfinance
- Small loans to low-income entrepreneurs who lack access to traditional banking.
- Special economic zone (SEZ)
- An area with favorable trade and tax rules to attract foreign investment.
- Outsourcing
- Contracting work to outside firms, often abroad, to cut costs.
