Unit 7 Ap Human Geography Vocabulary

Industrial Revolution

the period between 1750 and 1950 in which the transformation of manufacturing, productivity, and sociopolitical systems occurred.  It was the collective invention of hundreds of mechanical devices.    

The term is somewhat misleading because the “revolution” happened over several centuries, not overnight.  The I.R. diffused from England→W. Europe→ N. America→ Japan → E. Europe, South Asia, South Pacific, various other locations.

Cottage industry

the home-based manufacturing that preceded the I.R.

Right to work states

states that prevent employers from making employees join a union before being hired.

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

sea zone over which a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources. Extends from shore out to the 200 nautical mile limit. The country that controls the EEZ has rights to the fishing, whaling, etc., as well as the raw materials resources.

Export Processing Zone (EPZ)

EPZ are a type of free trade zone. They are about processing and increasing exports. They are mostly in LDCs because those nations are trying to increase international trade.

Specialized Economic Zones (SEZ)

areas that are set up with special rules/regulations to encourage economic growth. Think of an EPZ as really a type of SEZ. SEZ is more general in nature.

Maquiladora

factories or plants that are located in Mexico, in close proximity to the U.S. border. These factories or plants are typically owned by U.S. companies and take advantage of lower labor costs in Mexico.

Break of bulk points

the locations where transfer among transportation modes is possible.

Situation factors

involve transporting materials to and from a factory; seeks to minimize transport costs

Bulk-reducing industry

an economic activity in which the final product weighs less than its inputs.  These are typically concentrated near the input sources to decrease the transport cost of bulky input.

Bulk-gaining industry

an economic activity in which the final product weighs more or consumes more volume than its inputs.  These are typically located near the market to minimize the transport costs of shipping bulky or large products.

Weber Least Cost Theory

Location of manufacturing sites determined by minimizing three important expenses – 1) labor, 2) transportation, 3) agglomeration (clustering of businesses that benefit from proximity because they share labor pools, technological, and financial amenities)

Losch’s Zone of Profitability Model

Manufacturing plants choose locations where they can maximize profit

Hotelling’s Locational Interdependence Theory

Agglomerations – groupings of specific industries in certain areas due to specificity, resources needed, and labor force

Fordist production

mass production, assembly line, each worker has a specific job that they perform repeatedly

New international division of labor

the selective transfer of unskilled jobs to LDC’s while retaining the highly skilled and managerial positions in the MDC’s.

Stages of Rostow’s Model

1. Traditional Society

2. Preconditions to take-off

3. Take-off

4. Drive to maturity

5. High-mass consumption

Service

any activity that fulfills a human want or need and returns money to those who provide it.

Settlement

a permanent collection of buildings, where people reside, work, and obtain services

Consumer service

provides services to individual consumers who desire them and can afford to pay for them

Retail services

provide goods for sale to consumers.

Personal services

provide for the well-being, health, and personal improvement of individual consumers

Business services

facilitate other businesses through 1. producer services which are banks, insurance, lawyers, engineers, etc and 2. transportation and information services which are businesses that diffuse and distribute services.

Public services

provide for the security and protection of citizens and businesses.

Clustered rural settlements

settlements where a number of families live in close proximity to each other, with fields surrounding the collection of houses and farm buildings.  Ex. Circular rural settlements, linear or “long-lot” settlements.

Dispersed rural settlements

characteristics of the contemporary N. American rural landscape.  Settlements in which farmers living on individual farms are isolated from neighbors.  Common in Mid-Atlantic and Midwest.

Enclosure movement

characteristics of the contemporary N. American rural landscape.  Settlements in which farmers living on individual farms are isolated from neighbors.  Common in Mid-Atlantic and Midwest.

Central Place

a market center for the exchange of goods and services by people attracted from the surrounding area.

Central place theory

a geographic concept that seeks to explain how services are distributed and why a regular pattern of settlements exists.  Proposed by Walter Christaller in the 1930s.  Christaller’s theory states that cities and services have a hierarchical setup.  That is that the largest cities have the most services with the largest range, and their range overlaps those of smaller settlements which are spaced at even intervals between the mega-cities.

Market area

hinterland; the area surrounding a service from which customers are attracted.  Represented by hexagons, because they are relatively uniform and do not overlap or gap when nested together.

Range

the maximum distance people are willing to travel to use a service. Ranges are farther for certain services like concerts or sporting events, and they are shorter for everyday services like groceries.  Not measured just in absolute distance, but also the amount of time it takes one to arrive, given certain traffic conditions.

Threshold

the minimum number of people needed to support the service.  Every enterprise has a minimum number of customers required to generate enough sales to make a profit.  Once the range of a service has been calculated, a provider must ensure that enough individuals are within that range to meet the service’s threshold.

Rank-size rule

there are two different definitions.  One is that in a given country, the n-th largest city contains 1/n the pop of the largest city.  Meaning that the country’s second largest city contains ½ the pop of the largest city.  The other definition is that if for instance a country had a city with 1,000,000 people, then it would have two cities with 500,000, four cities with 250,000, etc.

Primate city rule

the largest settlement in a state has more than 2x pop of the second largest city; in which case that city is referred to as a primate city.

Basic industry

industries that export primarily to consumers outside the settlement and thus bring in capital from outside the settlement.

Nonbasic industries

enterprises whose customers live in the same community

Central business district

the area of a city commonly referred to as downtown