Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
infl uence as well. In the case of a port city, the hinterland also includes
the inland area whose trade fl ows through that port.
Holocene The current interglaciation period, extending from
10,000 years ago to the present on the geologic time scale.
Homo sapiens The only living species of the genus Homo ; modern
humans.
Horizontal integration Ownership by the same fi rm of a number of
companies that exist at the same point on a commodity chain .
Huang He (Yellow) and Wei (Yangtzi) River Valleys Rivers in
present-day China; it was at the confl uence of the Huang He and Wei
Rivers where chronologically the fourth urban hearth was established
around 1500 BCE.
Human-environment The second theme of geography as defi ned by
the Geography Educational National Implementation Project ; re-
ciprocal relationship between humans and environment.
Human geography One of the two major divisions of geography ; the
spatial analysis of human population, its cultures, activities, and land-
scapes.
Human territoriality A term associated with the work of Robert Sack
that describes the efforts of human societies to infl uence events and
achieve social goals by exerting, and attempting to enforce, control over
specifi c geographical areas.
Hydrologic cycle The system of exchange involving water in its vari-
ous forms as it continually circulates among the atmosphere, the oceans,
and above and below the land surface.
Identifying against Constructing an identity by fi rst defi ning the
“other” and then defi ning ourselves as “not the other.”
Identity Defi ned by geographer Gillian Rose as “how we make sense
of ourselves;” how people see themselves at different scales.
Imam The political head of the Muslim community or the person who
leads prayer services. In Shiite Islam the Imam is immune from sin or
error.
Immigrant A person migrating into a particular country or area; an
in-migrant.
Immigration The act of a person migrating into a new country or area.
Immigration laws Laws and regulations of a state designed specifi -
cally to control immigration into that state .
Immigration wave Phenomenon whereby different patterns of chain
migration build upon one another to create a swell in migration from
one origin to the same destination.
Independent invention The term for a trait with many cultural
hearths that developed independent of each other.
Indigenous religions Belief systems and philosophies practiced
and traditionally passed from generation to generation among peoples
within an indigenous tribe or group.
Indus River Valley Chronologically, the third urban hearth , dating
to 2200 BCE.
Industrial Revolution The term applied to the social and economic
changes in agriculture, commerce and manufacturing that resulted from
technological innovations and specialization in late-eighteenth-century
Europe.
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) A fi gure that describes the number of
babies that die within the fi rst year of their lives in a given population.
Infectious diseases Diseases that are spread by bacteria, viruses, or
parasites. Infectious diseases diffuse directly or indirectly from human
to human.
Informal economy Economic activity that is neither taxed nor moni-
tored by a government; and is not included in that government's Gross
National Product (GNP) ; as opposed to a formal economy.
Interfaith boundaries Boundaries between the world's major faiths.
Interglacials warm periods during an ice age.
Interglaciation Sustained warming phase between glaciations during
an ice age.
Intermodal (connections) Places where two or more modes of trans-
portation meet (including air, road, rail, barge, and ship).
Internal migration Human movement within a nation-state , such
as ongoingly westward and southward movements in the United States.
Internal displaced person People who have been displaced within
their own countries and do not cross international borders as they fl ee.
International migration Human movement involving movement
across international boundaries.
Intervening opportunity The presence of a nearer opportunity that
greatly diminishes the attractiveness of sites farther away.
Intrafaith boundaries Boundaries within a single major faith.
Islam The youngest of the major world religions , Islam is based on
the teachings of Muhammad, born in Mecca in 571 CE. According to
Islamic teaching, Muhammad received the truth directly from Allah in
a series of revelations during which Muhammad spoke the verses of the
Qu'ran (Koran) , the Islamic holy topic.
Island of development Place built up by a government or corpora-
tion to attract foreign investment and which has relatively high concen-
trations of paying jobs and infrastructure.
Isogloss A geographic boundary within which a particular linguistic
feature occurs.
Isotherm Line on a map connecting points of equal temperature values.
Jihad A doctrine within Islam . Commonly translated as “Holy War,”
Jihad represents either a personal or collective struggle on the part of
Muslims to live up to the religious standards set by the Qu'ran .
Judaism Religion with its roots in the teachings of Abraham (from
Ur), who is credited with uniting his people to worship only one god.
According to Jewish teaching, Abraham and God have a covenant in
which the Jews agree to worship only one God, and God agrees to pro-
tect his chosen people, the Jews.
Just-in-time delivery Method of inventory management made pos-
sible by effi cient transportation and communication systems, whereby
companies keep on hand just what they need for near-term production,
planning that what they need for longer-term production will arrive
when needed.
Kinship links Types of push factors or pull factors that infl uence a mi-
grant's decision to go where family or friends have already found success.
Köppen climate classifi cation system Developed by Wladimir
Köppen, a system for classifying the world's climates on the basis of tem-
perature and precipitation.
Landscape The overall appearance of an area. Most landscapes are
comprised of a combination of natural and human-induced infl uences.
Language A set of sounds, combination of sounds, and symbols that
are used for communication.
Language convergence The collapsing of two languages into one
resulting from the consistent spatial interaction of peoples with differ-
ent languages; the opposite of language divergence .
Language divergence The opposite of language convergence ; a
process suggested by German linguist August Schleicher whereby new
languages are formed when a language breaks into dialects due to a lack
of spatial interaction among speakers of the language and continued
isolation eventually causes the division of the language into discrete new
languages.
Language family Group of languages with a shared but fairly distant
origin.
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