Political Entities
In political geography, this is the term for an entity with borders, sovereignty, and a stable population
What is a state?
In the western part of the US, states usually have these type of borders, due to the featureless nature of the topography
What are geometric boundaries?
A type of state that has multiple subdivisions of government with differing levels of authority, as opposed to just one national government
What is a federal state?
In this type of agriculture, often found in dry regions like North Africa, individuals migrate to support their livestock from place to place
What is pastoral nomadism (or nomadic herding)?
The innermost ring of the model, closest to the city, contains multiple types of agriculture; name any of them
What is the milkshed? (market gardening, fruits and vegetables, dairying, etc.)
A country in which the population is relatively homogeneous in factors such as language and common descent is known by this hyphenated term
What is a nation-state?
The boundary between Canada and the US in the Pacific Northwest is an example of this type of boundary, which was put into place before most settlement occurred
What is an antecedent boundary?
A force that binds a country together, such as nationalism, is known as this type of force
What is a centripetal force?
The type of agriculture that includes figs, dates, olives, and grapes, named for an area where it is commonly practiced (along with other warm mid-latitude regions)
What is Mediterranean agriculture?
The second ring of the model, situated there because of how different this resource was used in Von Thunen's day
What is the woodshed? (forest)
Kurdistan is the best example of this, a group of people with a common ethnicity and cultural background who do not comprise the majority of the population in any country
What is a stateless nation?
Political boundaries for congressional districts can be drawn by this partisan process to try to create a political advantage for one party or group
What is gerrymandering?
Of Japan, Brazil, or Portugal: the country that is a federal state
What is Brazil?
A system in which farmers move from one field to another; slash-and-burn agriculture is an example of this type of agriculture
What is shifting cultivation?
The third ring: transportation cost is the key factor here
What is the breadshed (extensive agriculture, grains, etc.)?
A country, like the United States or Nigeria, that is comprised of multiple cultural and ethnic groups
What is a multinational state?
Disputes in the South China Sea among multiple countries illustrate the difficulty of managing conflicts over these boundaries between countries
What are maritime boundaries?
An area, like Eastern Europe, which is located between two very different regions and thus is prone to instability
What is a shatterbelt?
A period in the 20th century in which advances in technology and seed varieties improved food production, especially in countries like Mexico and India
What is the Green Revolution?
The fourth ring: think "self-transporting"
What is the bullshed? (cattle, livestock, etc.)
An American Indian reservation is a good example of this, a subdivision within a country that has some degree of self-governance
What is an autonomous region (or semiautonomous region)?
A boundary, like the Berlin Wall or the Great Wall of China, which no longer divides two regions
What is a relic boundary?
The belief that a country should be able to retake territory that was once theirs
What is irredentism?
Areas of the Earth's surface that are unfit for agriculture or human habitation are not classified as part of this (this term crops up in Unit 2 as well)
What is the ecumene?
The name for the area outside of all four regions, where no agricultural activities are profitable
What is the hinterland?