Glossary - Human Geography: People, Place and Culture - page 498

APPENDIX

C

Glossary

Ability In the context of political power, the capacity of a state to infl u-
ence other states or achieve its goals through diplomatic, economic, and
militaristic means.
Absolute location The position or place of a certain item on the
surface of the Earth as expressed in degrees, minutes, and seconds of
latitude , 0° to 90° north or south of the equator, and longitude , 0° to
180° east or west of the Prime Meridian passing through Greenwich,
England (a suburb of London).
Accessibility The degree of ease with which it is possible to reach a
certain location from other locations. Accessibility varies from place to
place and can be measured.
Acid rain A growing environmental peril whereby acidifi ed rainwater
severely damages plant and animal life; caused by the oxides of sulfur and
nitrogen that are released into the atmosphere when coal, oil, and natu-
ral gas are burned, especially in major manufacturing zones.
Acropolis Literally “high point of the city.” The upper fortifi ed part of
an ancient Greek city, usually devoted to religious purposes.
Activity (action) space The space within which daily activity occurs.
Agglomeration A process involving the clustering or concentrating of
people or activities. The term often refers to manufacturing plants and
businesses that benefi t from close proximity because they share skilled-
labor pools and technological and fi nancial amenities.
Aging index the number of people aged 65 years and older per 100
children aged zero to 14 years in a given population.
Agora In ancient Greece, public spaces where citizens debated, lectured,
judged each other, planned military campaigns, socialized, and traded.
Agribusiness General term for the businesses that provide the vast
array of goods and services that support the agriculture industry.
Agricultural surplus One of two components, together with social
stratifi cation , that enable the formation of cities ; agricultural produc-
tion in excess of that which the producer needs for his or her own suste-
nance and that of his or her family and which is then sold for consumption
by others.
Agricultural village A relatively small, egalitarian village, where most
of the population was involved in agriculture. Starting over 10,000 years
ago, people began to cluster in agricultural villages as they stayed in one
place to tend their crops.
Agriculture The purposeful tending of crops and livestock in order to
produce food and fi ber.
AIDS (Acquired Immune Defi ciency Syndrome) Immune system
disease caused by the Human Immunodefi ciency Virus (HIV) which
over a period of years weakens the capacity of the immune system to

fi ght off infection so that weight loss and weakness set in and other af-
fl ictions such as cancer or pneumonia may hasten an infected person's
demise.
Animal domestication Genetic modifi cation of an animal such that it
is rendered more amenable to human control.
Animistic religion The belief that inanimate objects, such as hills,
trees, rocks, rivers, and other elements of the natural landscape, possess
souls and can help or hinder human efforts on Earth.
Anthropocene geological epoch defi ned by atmospheric chemist Paul
Crutzen to acknowledge the central role humans play in shaping the
Earth's environment.
Aquifers Subterranean, porous, water-holding rocks that provide mil-
lions of wells with steady fl ows of water.
Arable Literally, cultivable; land fi t for cultivation by one farming
method or another.
Area A term that refers to a part of the Earth's surface with less speci-
fi city than region . For example, “urban area” alludes very generally to a
place where urban development has taken place, whereas “urban region”
requires certain specifi c criteria on which a delimitation is based (e.g.,
the spatial extent of commuting or the built townscape).
Arithmetic population density The population of a country or re-
gion expressed as an average per unit area. The fi gure is derived by divid-
ing the population of the areal unit by the number of square kilometers

or miles that make up the unit.
Assimilation The process through which people lose originally dif-
ferentiating traits, such as dress, speech particularities or mannerisms,
when they come into contact with another society or culture. Often used
to describe immigrant adaptation to new places of residence.
Asylum Shelter and protection in one state for refugees from another
state.
Atmosphere Blanket of gases surrounding the Earth and located
some 350 miles above the Earth's surface.
Authenticity In the context of local cultures or customs, the accuracy
with which a single stereotypical or typecast image or experience con-
veys an otherwise dynamic and complex local culture or its customs.
Backward reconstruction The tracking of sound shifts and harden-
ing of consonants “backward” toward the original language .
Barrioization Defi ned by geographer James Curtis as the dramatic
increase in Hispanic population in a given neighborhood; referring to
barrio , the Spanish word for neighborhood.
Biodiversity The total variety of plant and animal species in a particu-
lar place; biological diversity.

A-18