Glossary - Human Geography: People, Place and Culture - page 504

Latitude An imaginary line running parallel to the equator that is used
to measure distance in degrees north or south from the equator.
Laws of migration Developed by British demographer Ernst
Ravenstein, fi ve laws that predict the fl ow of migrants.
Leadership class Group of decision-makers and organizers in early
cities who controlled the resources, and often the lives, of others.
Least Cost Theory Model developed by Alfred Weber according to
which the location of manufacturing establishments is determined by
the minimization of three critical expenses: labor, transportation, and
agglomeration .
Life expectancy A fi gure indicating how long, on average, a person
may be expected to live. Normally expressed in the context of a particu-
lar state.
Lingua franca A term deriving from “Frankish language” and apply-
ing to a tongue spoken in ancient Mediterranean ports that consisted of a
mixture of Italian, French, Greek, Spanish, and even some Arabic. Today
it refers to a “common language,” a language used among speakers of
different languages for the purposes of trade and commerce.
Little Ice Age Temporary but signifi cant cooling period between the
fourteenth and the nineteenth centuries; accompanied by wide tempera-
ture fl uctuations, droughts, and storms, causing famines and dislocation.
Livestock ranching The raising of domesticated animals for the pro-
duction of meat and other byproducts such as leather and wool.
Local culture Group of people in a particular place who see them-
selves as a collective or a community, who share experiences, customs,
and traits, and who work to preserve those traits and customs in order to
claim uniqueness and to distinguish themselves from others.
Local Exchange Trading System (LETS) A barter system whereby a
local currency is created through which members trade services or goods
in a local network separated from the formal economy .
Location The fi rst theme of geography as defi ned by the Geography
Educational National Implementation Project ; the geographical
situation of people and things.
Location theory A logical attempt to explain the locational pattern
of an economic activity and the manner in which its producing areas
are interrelated. The agricultural location theory contained in the von
Thünen model is a leading example.
Locational interdependence Theory developed by economist
Harold Hotelling that suggests competitors, in trying to maximize sales,
will seek to constrain each other's territory as much as possible which
will therefore lead them to locate adjacent to one another in the middle
of their collective customer base.
Longitude An imaginary line circling the Earth and running through
the poles. Used to determine the location of things by measurement of
the angular distance, in degrees east or west, from the Prime Meridian .
Long-lot survey system Distinct regional approach to land surveying
found in the Canadian Maritimes, parts of Quebec, Louisiana, and Texas
whereby land is divided into narrow parcels stretching back from rivers,
roads, or canals.
Luxury crops Non-subsistence crops such as tea, cacao, coffee, and
tobacco.
Majority-minority districts In the context of determining represen-
tative districts, the process by which a majority of the population is from
the minority.
Malaria Vectored disease spread by mosquitoes that carry the ma-
laria parasite in their saliva and which kills approximately 150,000 chil-
dren in the global periphery each month.
Manufacturing export zones A feature of economic development
in peripheral countries whereby the host country establishes areas with
favorable tax, regulatory, and trade arrangements in order to attract

foreign manufacturing operations. The goods manufactured in these
export zones are primarily destined for the global market.
Maquiladora The term given to zones in northern Mexico with fac-
tories supplying manufactured goods to the U.S. market. The low-wage
workers in the primarily foreign-owned factories assemble imported
components and/or raw materials and then export fi nished goods.
Mass depletions Loss of diversity through a failure to produce new
species.
Mass extinctions Mass destruction of most species.
Material culture The art, housing, clothing, sports, dances, foods,
and other similar items constructed or created by a group of people.
McGee model Developed by geographer T.G. McGee, a model
showing similar land-use patterns among the medium-sized cities of
Southeast Asia.
McMansions Homes referred to as such because of their “super size”
and similarity in appearance to other such homes; homes often built in
place of tear-downs in American suburbs.
Medical geography The study of health and disease within a geo-
graphic context and from a geographical perspective. Among other
things, medical geography looks at sources, diffusion routes, and distri-
butions of diseases.
Mediterranean agriculture Specialized farming that occurs only in
areas where the dry-summer Mediterranean climate prevails.
Megacities cities with 10 million or more residents.
Megalopolis Term used to designate large coalescing supercities that
are forming in diverse parts of the world; formerly used specifi cally with
an uppercase “M” to refer to the Boston—Washington multimetropoli-
tan corridor on the northeastern seaboard of the United States, but now
used generically with a lower-case “m” as a synonym for conurbation.
Mental map Image or picture of the way space is organized as determined
by an individual's perception, impression, and knowledge of that space.
Mercantilism In a general sense, associated with the promotion of
commercialism and trade. More specifi cally, a protectionist policy of
European states during the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries that
promoted a state's economic position in the contest with other countries.
The acquisition of gold and silver and the maintenance of a favorable
trade balance (more exports than imports) were central to the policy.
Mesoamerica Chronologically the fi fth urban hearth, dating to 200
BCE.
Mesopotamia Region of great cities (e.g. Ur and Babylon) located be-
tween the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers; chronologically the fi rst urban
hearth , dating to 3500 BCE, and which was founded in the Fertile
Crescent .
Metes and bounds system A system of land surveying east of the
Appalachian Mountains. It is a system that relies on descriptions of land
ownership and natural features such as streams or trees. Because of the im-
precise nature of metes and bounds surveying, the U.S. Land Offi ce Survey
abandoned the technique in favor of the rectangular survey system .
Microcredit program Program that provides small loans to poor peo-
ple, especially women, to encourage development of small businesses.
Migrant labor A common type of periodic movement involving
millions of workers in the United States and tens of millions of workers
worldwide who cross international borders in search of employment and
become immigrants , in many instances.
Migration A change in residence intended to be permanent. See also
chain, forced, internal, international, step , and voluntary migration .
Military service Another common form of periodic movement
involving as many as 10 million United States citizens in a given year,
including military personnel and their families, who are moved to new
locations where they will spend tours of duty lasting up to several years.