Geography study notes

• The following are study notes with everything you need to know about geography

Unit 1

• Reference maps show absolute locations of places and geographic features.
• These locations are determined by a frame of reference, typically latitude and longitude.
• Reference maps are used to show landforms and places.
• Physical maps are reference maps displaying natural landmarks like mountains, rivers, oceans, and elevation.
• Political maps are reference maps showing political boundaries such as countries, cities, and capitals.
• Thematic maps display specific types of information (a theme) pertaining to an area.
• Cartograms are thematic maps showing statistical data by transforming space.
• Choropleth maps are thematic maps using tones or colors to represent statistical data.
• Dot density maps are thematic maps using dots to indicate a feature or occurrence.
• Graduated symbols maps (proportional symbols maps) are thematic maps indicating the relative magnitude of a value where the symbol varies in proportion to data.
• Absolute distance is measurement using a standard unit of length, like miles or kilometers.
• Relative distance measures social, cultural, and/or economic connectivity between places.
• Absolute direction finds a location using compass directions like north, south, east, and west.
• Relative direction finds a location not using compass directions, such as left, right, up, or down.
• Spatial patterns arrange points by location, showing how things are laid out and organized on Earth's surface.
• Clustering is a spatial pattern where objects form a group.
• Dispersal is a spatial pattern where objects are scattered.
• Elevation is a spatial pattern indicating height above sea level.
• Spatial scale includes the hierarchy of spaces, from global to regional to national to local.
• All maps are distorted due to projecting a 3D surface onto a 2D surface, affecting area, distance, shape, and/or direction.
• Census data involves systematically acquiring and recording information about a given population’s members.
• The U.S. Census is conducted every 10 years.
• Satellite imagery consists of images of Earth taken from orbiting satellites.
• These images detect specific information about the earth, vegetation, and land cover.
• A supranational organization involves three or more nation-states in formal cooperation to promote shared objectives.
• Photographic interpretation involves examining photographic images to identify objects and judge their significance.
• Landscape analysis involves defining and describing landscapes.
• Personal interviews are surveys with face-to-face questions.
• Policy documents communicate policies and procedures as part of a government's initiative or plan.
• Travel narratives describe an author's journey or discuss a place's customs, habits, and wildlife.
• Media reports are articles published by newspapers or magazines.
• Field observations are on-site observations.
• A GIS (geographic information system) stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data.
• A satellite navigation system uses GPS to plot the user's position.
• GPS (global positioning system) determines the precise position on Earth through satellites, tracking stations, and receivers.
• Remote sensing involves acquiring data about Earth's surface from satellites or other long-distance methods.
• The U.S. Census Bureau produces data about the American people and economy.
• Absolute location is the exact position of an object or place measured within spatial coordinates or a grid system.
• Relative location is the position of a place in relation to another place.
• Place refers to a specific point on Earth distinguished by particular characteristics.
• Distance decay describes how the effects of distance on interaction, where greater distance results in less interaction
• Pattern is the geometric arrangement of objects in space.
• Density is the number of things in a space.
• Time-space compression is the reduction in the friction of distance due to communication and transportation innovations.
• Friction of distance is the increase in time and cost that comes with increasing distance.
• Sense of place involves feelings evoked as a result of experiences and memories associated with a place.
• Sustainability means meeting the needs of the present without compromising future generations' ability to meet their needs.
• Natural resources are materials or substances that occur in nature and can be used for economic gain.
• Land use refers to how humans use the land, such as for agriculture, industry, or residence.
• Environmental determinism studies how the physical environment predisposes societies toward particular development trajectories.
• Possibilism is the theory that people can adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives.
• Scale is the relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole.

Unit 2

• Physical factors influencing population include climate, landforms, and water bodies.
• Human factors influencing population include culture, economics, history, and politics.
• Arithmetic density is the total number of people divided by the total land area.
• Physiological density is the number of people per unit of area of arable land.
• Agricultural density is the ratio of the number of farmers to the amount of arable land.
• Carrying capacity is the largest population number an environment can support.
• Population distribution describes how a population is spread out in an area.
• Population density measures the number of people per given unit of land.
• Sex ratio is the number of males per 100 females in the population.
• Crude Birth Rate (CBR) is the total number of live births in a year for every 1,000 people in a society.
• Crude Death Rate (CDR) is the total number of deaths in a year for every 1,000 people in a society.
• Child Mortality Rate (CMR) is the number of deaths of children from the age of 1 to 5 per 1,000 live births in that year.
• Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is the total number of deaths in a year among infants under 1 year old for every 1,000 live births in a society.
• Life expectancy at birth (LEB) is the average number of years a newborn is expected to live if current mortality trends continue.
• Dependency ratio is the number of people under age 15 and over age 64 compared to the number of people active in the labor force.
• Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is the average number of children a woman will have throughout her childbearing years.
• Natural increase is the growth rate of a population excluding migration.
• Population pyramids are bar graphs representing the distribution of population by age and sex.
• Youth dependency ratio is the ratio of the number of people aged 0-15 to those aged 15-64 years.
• Elderly dependency ratio is the ratio of the number of people aged 65 and over to those aged 15-64 years.
• Economically active individuals are between the ages of 16 and 65, typically working and paying taxes.
• Replacement level is the fertility rate necessary for a population to replace itself.
• Subsistence agriculture is small-scale, low-tech farming focused on local consumption rather than trade.
• Maternal mortality is the number of women who die due to pregnancy and childbirth complications.
• Rate of Natural Increase (RNI) is the difference in births and deaths, usually expressed as a percentage.
• Population doubling time is the number of years it takes a population to double.
• The baby boom generation of the United States was born shortly after World War II.
• Remittances are transfers of money/goods by foreign workers to their home countries.
• Net migration is the difference between the number of immigrants and the number of emigrants.
• Forced migration involves movers having no choice but to relocate.
• Voluntary migration involves people relocating in response to perceived opportunity.
• Transnational migration involves maintaining connections to the country of origin while settling in a new country.
• Internal migration is the movement of people within a country.
• Friction of distance is the increase in time, effort, and cost with increasing distance.
• Transhumance is the seasonal movement of pastoralists and their livestock between highland and lowland pastures.
• Chain migration is migration to a specific location because relatives or members of the same nationality previously migrated there.
• Step migration is migration to a distant destination in stages.
• Intervening obstacles are environmental or cultural features that hinder migration.
• Intervening opportunity is a nearer opportunity that diminishes the attractiveness of sites farther away.
• Guest workers migrate to more developed countries with short-term work visas.
• Circular migration involves temporary movement between origin and destination to seek employment.
• A refugee is forced to leave their country to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.
• An asylum seeker migrates to another country hoping to be recognized as a refugee.
• An Internally Displaced Person (IDP) is forced to migrate for political reasons but has not crossed an international border.
• Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for exploitation or forced labor.
• Immigration is the movement of individuals into a new location.
• Emigration is the movement of individuals out of an area.
• Push factors are incentives for migrants to leave a place.
• Pull factors are conditions that attract people to a new location.
• The gravity model of migration suggests larger communities have a greater pull and attract more migrants.
• Ravenstein's Laws of Migration include reasons for moving, distance, and migrant characteristics.
• The Rustbelt to Sunbelt shift involves internal migration in the U.S. from northern industrial cities to southern and western locales.
• Deindustrialization is a decline in manufacturing's contribution to a national economy.

Unit 3

• A cultural trait is a single element of normal practice in a culture.
• Culture encompasses the behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared and transmitted by a group.
• Place is a specific point on Earth distinguished by particular characteristics.
• Place making is the way people personalize a portion of space.
• Sense of place is the feeling evoked by people as a result of experiences associated with a particular place.
• An artifact is a visible, physical object created by a culture.
• Sociofacts are ways people organize society and relate to one another, such as family structures and governments.
• Mentifacts are the ideas, beliefs, values, and knowledge of a culture.
• Popular culture is widespread, quick to change, and spread by time-space compression.
• Traditional culture tends to be more rural, slower to change, and among isolated groups.
• Cultural norms are agreed-upon practices or standards that guide behavior.
• Cultural taboos are activities or behaviors avoided or prohibited by a cultural group.
• Ethnocentrism is the evaluation of other cultures according to preconceptions originating in one's own culture.
• Cultural relativism involves understanding a culture on its own terms without judgment.
• Cultural landscape is the visible imprint of human activity on the landscape, reflecting cultural values.
• Centripetal forces unify people and enhance support for a group.
• Centrifugal forces divide people and countries.
• The Western Hemisphere's cultural realms include Anglo and Latin America.
• Shia and Sunni are two main branches of Islam.
• A lingua franca is a language mutually understood and used in trade by people with different native languages.
• Relocation diffusion spreads a feature or trend through bodily movement of people.
• Hierarchical diffusion spreads ideas from persons or nodes of authority to other persons or places.
• Expansion diffusion spreads a feature or trend among people from one area to another in a snowballing process.
• Stimulus diffusion creates a cultural adaptation as a result of introducing a cultural trait from another place.
• Adherents are believers or followers of a religion.
• A denomination is a division of a branch of a religion uniting congregations in a single legal body.
• Catholicism, Protestantism, and Orthodoxy are three main branches of Christianity.
• A sect is a relatively small group that has separated from an established denomination with beliefs not widely accepted.
• Acculturation occurs when people adopt traits from another culture.
• Assimilation occurs when one culture abandons its original culture and adopts another.
• Syncretism is the blending of two cultures' traits into a new cultural trait through contact.
• Religious syncretism is the blending of features of two or more religions into a new style of religion
• Multiculturalism is the acceptance and tolerance of different cultures in close proximity.
• Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate adoption of elements of one culture by members of another.
• Cultural convergence is the tendency for cultures to become more alike.
• Cultural divergence is the tendency for cultures to become increasingly dissimilar.
• Barriers to diffusion include cultural or political taboos, language barriers, and physical barriers.
• A creole language began as a pidgin language but was adopted as the mother tongue.
• A pidgin language combines parts of two or more languages in a simplified structure and vocabulary.
• A language family is a collection of languages related through a common ancestor long before recorded history.
• A language branch is a collection of languages within a family related through a common ancestral language.
• A language group is a collection of languages within a branch sharing a common origin and displaying few differences.
• Ethnonationalism is identification and loyalty based on ethnicity.
• A pilgrimage is a journey to a place considered sacred for religious purposes.
• To proselytize is to spread or convert to a religion.

Unit 4

• A nation is a group of people with a common identity through shared cultural traits.
• A nation-state occurs when the borders of a nation match state borders.
• A stateless nation is a nation of people without a state to occupy.
• A multinational state has various ethnicities and cultures within its borders.
• A multistate nation is a nation of people living in more than one state.
• An autonomous or semi-autonomous area has authority to govern independently from the national government.
• American Indian Reservations are semi-autonomous lands managed by Native Americans.
• A state is a defined territory with borders, a permanent population, a government, and sovereignty.
• Sovereignty is the right of a government to control and defend territory and recognition from other states.
• Self-determination is the right of all people to govern themselves resulting in independence movements or devolution.
• Devolution is the shifting of power from the central government to regional authorities.
• The Berlin Act of 1885 divided Africa among 14 European nations without African representation.
• The Treaty of Versailles ended WWI and redrew boundaries in Europe and Southwest Asia, breaking up empires into nation-states.
• Territoriality is a community's sense of attachment toward its territory, as expressed by its determination to keep it defended.
• Neocolonialism uses economic, political, cultural or other pressures to control or influence countries.
• Shatterbelts are regions of instability between states with overlapping territoriality and political power.
• Choke points are strategic straits or canals which are narrow with competition for use.
• The 49th Parallel established a U.S./Canadian border.
• Subsequent borders are drawn in areas settled by people, due to changes over time.
• Antecedent borders existed before the cultural landscape emerged.
• Consequent borders take into account the cultural distribution of people.
• Superimposed borders are drawn over existing borders by an outside force.
• Geometric boundaries are established on straight lines of latitude and longitude.
• Relic borders no longer exist but leave an imprint on the cultural or environmental geography.
• Defining borders involves agreeing upon borders in a written treaty.
• Delineating borders involves drawing borders on a map.
• Demarcating borders involves physically marking borders.
• Administering borders involves managing restrictions on how things move across them.
• UNCLOS is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a code of maritime law.
• An Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) extends 200 nautical miles seaward from a coastal state.
• A Unitary State places most power in the hands of central government officials.
• A Federal State allocates strong power to units of local government.
• Centralized power is concentrated in the hands of a central government.
• Decentralized power delegates decision-making to lower-level managers.
• A Census is the official count of a population.
• Reapportionment is the reassignment of representation based on population after every census.
• A congressional district is the geographic area served by one member in the House of Representatives.
• A U.S. Representative is a member of the House of Representatives elected in congressional districts.
• Each state has two members in the U.S. Senate.
• Redistricting is the redrawing of legislative district lines to accommodate population shifts.
• Gerrymandering is the process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power.
• Centripetal forces unify people and enhance support for a state.
• Centrifugal forces divide people and countries.
• Devolution is the transfer of powers from the federal government to the states.
• Autonomy is self-government or political control.
• Balkanization is the process by which a state breaks down through conflicts among its ethnicities.
• Ethnic separatism is when an ethnic group desires to separate.
• Ethnic cleansing is when a powerful ethnic group forcibly removes a less powerful one.
• Irredentism is when a state wishes to take control of a territory inhabited by people with ethnic links to the country.
• A Supranational organization promotes cooperation among nation-states.
• NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is a defense alliance formed to counter Soviet expansion.
• The United Nations (UN) promotes dialogue among countries to maintain world peace.
• ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) is a trading bloc in Southeast Asia.
• The European Union (EU) is the world's largest common market.
• OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) agrees on policies for petroleum production and sales.
• The Arctic Council promotes cooperation among Arctic States.
• The African Union promotes unity among African states and fosters development.
• Environmental sustainability involves developing practices that the planet can support indefinitely.
• Economies of scale occur when average cost per unit falls as output rises.
• Collective defense is the concept that allied nations agree to defend one another in the face of an invasion.

Unit 5

• Humid Temperate climates have cool winters, warm summers, and ample rainfall.
• Mediterranean climates are marked by warm, dry summers and cool, rainy winters.
• Tropical climates are hot with ample rainfall.
• Subsistence farming provides for the farmer's basic needs without much surplus.
• Commercial farming raises crops and livestock for sale in markets.
• Metes and Bounds is a method of land description using distances and directions.
• Longlots are narrow parcels stretching back from rivers, roads, and canals.
• Township and range involves a rigid grid-like pattern used to facilitate the dispersal of settlers.
• Domestication is changing plants or animals to make them more useful to humans.
• Agricultural Hearths are places where agriculture first developed and originated.
• The Fertile Crescent is a geographical area of fertile land in the Middle East.
• The Columbian Exchange is the exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world.
• The 1st Agricultural Revolution achieved plant and animal domestication.
• The 2nd Agricultural Revolution improved methods of cultivation, harvesting, and storage just before the Industrial Revolution.
• The Green Revolution involved the rapid diffusion of new agricultural technology, especially high-yield seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides.
• Enclosure Acts laws enabled landowners to purchase and enclose land that had previously been common land.
• Four-crop rotation is an agricultural technique rotating four different crops to prevent soil depletion.
• HYVs (High Yield Varieties) are genetically engineered staple crops with higher productivity per hectare.
• GMOs are crops with new traits inserted through genetic engineering.
• Norman Borlaug founded the Green Revolution.
• Double cropping harvests twice a year from the same field.
• Salinization is the accumulation of salts in soil that can eventually make the soil unable to support plant growth.
• Intensive farming involves greater inputs of capital and paid labor relative to space.
• Extensive farming uses small amounts of capital and labor in relation to the amount of land.
• Bid rent theory explains how the price and demand on real estate changes relative to the Central Business District.
• The Von Thunen Model explains the location of agricultural activities in a commercial economy.
• Dairy farming produces milk or milk products near urban areas.
• Grain Farming is the mass planting and harvesting of grain crops.
• Ranching is a form of commercial agriculture in which livestock graze over an extensive area.
• Market Gardening (Truck Farming) produces fruits, vegetables, and flowers as cash crops sold directly to consumers.
• Plantation Agriculture involves growing specialized crops in tropical developing countries for sale to developed countries.
• Shifting cultivation involves clearing forests to plant fields and then abandoning them.

Unit 6

• Urban areas are densely populated regions including cities and suburbs.
• Urbanization is an increase in the percentage and number of people living in urban settlements.
• Site refers to the physical characteristics of a place.
• Situation refers to the location of a place relative to other places.
• Suburbanization is the movement of upper and middle-class people from urban areas to the periphery.
• Urban sprawl is the unplanned spreading of cities into surrounding regions.
• Edge cities are concentrations of retail and office space on the outer fringes of metropolitan areas.
• Boomburbs are suburban areas experiencing significant growth.
• Exurbs are communities that arise farther out than the suburbs.
• Infill is the process of filling in empty parts of a city with new development.
• The Gravity Model predicts the degree to which two places will interact based on size.
• Rank-size rule states that the nth largest settlement is 1/n the population of the largest settlement.
• Primate City Rule states that the largest settlement has more than twice as many people as the second-ranking settlement.
• Central Place Theory explains the distribution of services.
• Megacities have a population of 10 million or more.
• Metacities have a population over 20 million.
• World Cities (Global Cities) are centers of economic, cultural, and political activity strongly interconnected.
• Bid rent theory explains how real estate price and demand changes with distance from the CBD.
• The Concentric Zone Model suggests five land-use rings around a common center.
• The Hoyt Sector Model states that a city develops in sectors instead of rings.
• The Multiple Nuclei Model states that cities have numerous centers of business and cultural activity.
• The Galactic City Model represents the post-industrial city with dispersed business districts.
• Squatter settlements are areas where people illegally establish residences on land they don't own.
• The Latin American City Model features a dominant CBD with an elite residential spine.
• The African City Model has more than one CBD due to colonialism.
• The Southeast Asian City Model's focal point is the colonial port zone and commercial district.
• Zoning divides an area into sections reserved for different purposes.

Unit 7

• The primary sector involves the direct extraction of materials from Earth.
• The secondary sector involves manufacturing products through processing raw materials.
• The tertiary sector involves transportation, communications, utilities, and services.
• The quaternary sector is knowledge-based, focusing on research and information management.
• The quinary sector involves high-level decision-making by top officials.
• Industrialization is the development of industries for machine production of goods.
• Raw materials are unprocessed natural products used in production.
• The steam engine, invented by James Watt, powered by steam and coal.
• The Second Agricultural Revolution improved methods of cultivation.
• A subsistence economy involves living off the land with little to no surplus.
• A commercial economy produces goods and services for exchange in competitive markets.
• GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is the monetary value of all finished goods and services produced within a country's borders.
• GNI (Gross National Income) is the value of the output of goods and services produced in a country, including money that leaves and enters.
• The formal economy is taxed and monitored by the government.
• The informal economy is neither taxed nor monitored by the government.
• Hydropower energy is created from moving water.
• Geothermal energy is energy from steam or hot water produced from underground rocks.
• Sustainable energy is renewable and has a low environmental impact.
• The Gini Coefficient measures income inequality.
• Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is the average number of children a woman will have throughout her childbearing years.
• Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is the number of deaths of infants per 1,000 live births.
• The GII (Gender Inequality Index) measures gender inequality in health, empowerment, and the labor market.
• The HDI (Human Development Index) measures a country's standard of living.
• A bulk-gaining industry is one where the final product weighs more than the inputs.
• A bulk-reducing industry is one where the final product weighs less than the inputs.
• Least Cost Theory states that manufacturing location is determined by minimizing labor, transportation, and agglomeration.
• A break-of-bulk point is where transfer is possible from one mode of transportation to another.
• Maternal Mortality Rate is the annual number of pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 live births.
• Export processing zones (EPZs) offer favorable tax arrangements to attract foreign trade and investment.
• Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is investment made by a foreign company in another country's economy.
• World Systems Theory states that countries are INTERDEPENDENT in the global economy
• Rostow's Stages of Development describe a country's progression from least-developed to most-developed, based on Britain.
• Microloans/microfinance is the provision of small loans and financial services in developing countries.
• Commodity dependence is an economy reliant on exporting primary commodities.
• Independence is self-reliance and freedom from outside control.
• Interdependence is when countries rely on one another for resources, goods, or services.
• Trade is greater if each side has something the other needs/wants.
• Countries specialize in what they are good at.
• The IMF (International Monetary Fund) maintains global financial stability.
• The World Bank assists developing nations with loans.
• Neo-liberal policies require minimal government involvement.
• Trickle-down economics states that money given to banks and businesses will benefit consumers.
• Trade blocs lower trade barriers.
• Dependency Theory explains global inequality through the exploitation of poor nations by rich ones.