Agribusiness

Commercial agriculture characterized by the integration of different steps in the food-processing industry, usually through ownership by large corporations.

Agricultural density

the ratio of the number of farmers to the total amount of land suitable for agriculture.

Agricultural revolution

The time when human beings first domesticated plants and animals and no longer relied entirely and hunting and gathering.

Agriculture

the deliberate effort to modify a portion of the Earth's surface through the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock for sustenance or economic gain.

Animate power

power supplied by people or animals.

Apartheid

Laws (no longer effect) in South Africa that physically separated different races into different geographic areas.

Arithmetic density

the total number of people divided by the total land area

Autonomous religion

a religion that does not have central authority but shares ideas and cooperates informally

Balkanization

process by which a state breaks down through conflicts among its ethnicities

Balkanization

A small geographic area that could not successfully be organized into one or more stable states because it is inhabited by many ethnicities with complex, long-standing antagonisms toward each other

basic industries

industries that sell their products or services primarily to consumers outside the settlement

blockbusting

real estate agents convince white property owners to sell their houses at lower prices out of fear that persons of color will soon move into the neighborhood.

brain drain

large-scale emigration by talented people

caste

the class or distinct hereditary order to which a Hindu is assigned according to religious law

census tract

an area delineated by the U.S. Bureau of the Census for which statistics are published; in urbanized areas, they correspond roughly to neighborhoods

central business district, CBD

the area of a city where retail and office activities are clustered

central place

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

central place theory

a theory that explains the distribution of services based on the fact that settlements serve as centers of market areas for services. It says larger settlements are less numerous and farther apart than smaller ones and provide services for a larger number of people who are willing to travel farther

centripetal force

a force that tends to unify people and enhance support for a state

chaff

husks of grain separated by threshing

chain migration

migration of people to a specific location because relatives or members of the same nationality previously migrated there

city

an urban settlement that has been legally incorporated into an independent self-governing unit

city-state

a sovereign state comprising a city and its immediate hinterland

clustered rural settlement

a rural settlement in which the houses and farm buildings of each family are situated close to each other and fields surround the settlement

colonialism

an attempt by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles in another territory

colony

a territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than completely independent

combine

a machine that reaps, threshes, and cleans grain while moving over a field

combined statistical area, CSA

In the U.S., two or more contiguous core based statistical areas tied together by commuting patterns

commercial agriculture

agriculture undertaken primarily to generate products for sale off the farm

compact state

a state in which the distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly