Human geography-unit5

Agribusiness

A form of farming, commercial farming in which the food produced on the farms is sold to consumers rather than for direct consumption.

Agricultural hearths

Areas of settlement during the neolithic period, especially along major rivers, from where farming and cultivation of livestock emanates.

Agriculture

A part of the economy that draws food from the natural environment or through the harvests of domesticated plants and animals.

Biotechnology

The use of genetically altered crops in agriculture and DNA manipulation in livestock in order to increase production.

Cereal grains

Grains that include Oats, wheat, rye, or barley

Columbian exchange

An exchange between European settlers and Natives within Present day North and South America.

Commercial agriculture

A type of agriculture that is predominate within MDCs, which focuses on growing plants for manufacturing and processing purposes.

Desertification

The process in which an environment slowly transitions into a desert-like landscape/environment.

Dispersed settlement pattern

A rural settlement pattern characterized by isolated farms rather than clustered villages.

Enclosure

The act of enlarging farmlands through emplacements of fences and hedges.

Erosion

The process of moving sediment from one place to another.

Extensive agriculture

An agricultural system characterized by low inputs of labor per unit land area.

Extensive subsistence agriculture

Shifting cultivation and pastoral nomadism intergrated into one system of agriculture involving large areas of land and minimal labor per land unit.

Green revolution

A revolution which occured after the 1970s, which brought up new agricultural techniques and plants which were more resilient and fruitful compared to their original counterparts.

Hamlets, villages

A small civilization consisting of a relatively small amount of people who live in cluster of houses within a rural area.

Horticulture

The growing of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and trees that form the commercial base of Mediterranean farming.

Hunters and Gatherers

First source of maintaining a stable food supply as humans, which involved killing of animals and scavenging fruits and vegetables.

Industrial agriculture

A form of agriculture that is capital-intensive, substituting machinery and purchased inputs for human and animal labor.

Intensive agriculture

A type of agriculture that yields a large amount of output per acre through concentrated farming, but still only provides a subsistence living for farmers.

Intensive subsistence agriculture

Involves the cultivation of small land plots through use of great amounts of labor, and yields per unit and area and population densities are both high.

Irrigation

The channeling of water to fields of crops.

Job specialization

The process by which a division of labor occurs as different workers specialize in different tasks over time.

Labor intensive agriculture

Agriculture that involves that employs large numbers of people and requires relatively little capital to produce food.

Location theory

A theory that explain how an economic activity is related to the land space where goods are produced.

Long-lot survey system

A system that divides land into narrow parcels that extend from rivers, roads, or canals.

Mediterranean agriculture

A type of agriculture that occurs in environments that border seas on the west coasts of continents, with moisture provided by prevailing sea winds, and moderate winter temperatures.

Mercantilism

The economic system that was developed by the British and Dutch, to create colonies which provided a consistent supply of raw materials for manufacturing.

Metes and bounds

Legal description that begins at a well marked point and follows the boundaries around the tract, back to the place of beginning.

Milkshed

An area of milk production around a major city, which produces milk, they are built around urban areas to keep profits.

Mixed crop and livestock farming

A form of agriculture which involves the raising of crops and livestock on the same land spread.

Neolithic Revolution

A revolution which involved the domestication of crops and animals to create a stable food supply for human societies.

Nomadism

The practice of frequently moving from one place to the other, dictated by the availability of food.

Nucleated settlement pattern

Settlement patterns with villages located quite close together with relatively small surrounding fields.

Organic agriculture

Crops produced without the use of synthetic or industrially produced pesticides and fertilizers.

Pampas

Portions of South American prairies devoted to grazing livestock including Sheep and Cattle.

Pastoral nomadism

A form of subsistence agriculture based on herding domesticated animals.

Patriarchal system

Systems which developed, which gave men the power in family, economics, and government.

Post-industrial societies

Countries where most people are no longer employed in industries.

Primary sector

Agriculture, the part of the economy that draws raw materials from the environment.

Primogeniture

Right of inheritance belongs exclusively to the eldest son.

Quaternary sector

The part of economy that includes service jobs concerned with research, development, management, administration, processing, and disseminating information.

Rectangular survey system

Also called the Public Land Survey, the system was used by the US Land Office Survey to parcel land west of the Appalachian Mountains. The system divides land into a series of rectangular parcels.

Second Agricultural Revolution

Dovetailing with and benefiting from the Industrial Revolution, improved methods of cultivation, harvesting, and storage of farm produce.

Secondary sector

The part of an economy that transforms a raw material into manufactured goods.

Seed Agriculture

The production of plants through annual planting of seeds.

Seed drill

The tool that made it more efficient to plant seeds.

Shifting cultivation

A form of subsistence agriculture in which people shift activity from one field to another; each field is used for crops for relatively few years and left fallow for a relatively long period.

Specialization

The growing of specialized crops because they seem to be the most profitable.

Subsistence agriculture

Agriculture that is conducted to be directly consumed by the grower, sometimes sold for profit if excess is produced.

Tertiary sector

The part of economy that involves services rather than goods.

Third Agricultural revolution

The agricultural revolution which began in the the mid-20th century and produces foods through industrial methods.

Truck farming

Farming that involves the mass harvesting of fresh produce and frutis.

Vegetative planting

Eeproduction of plants by direct cloning from existing plants.

Von Thunen's model

Model which shows the location of agriculture in regard to a comercial economy that is similar to the concentric model.

Wattle

Traditional dwelling built using poles and sticks that are woven tightly together and then plastered with mud.

Wet rice

Rice planted on dryland in a nursery, then moved to a deliberately flooded field to promote growth.

Winter wheat area

Winter: wheat planted in the fall and harvested in the early summer. Spring: Wheat planted in the spring and harvested in the late summer

Spring wheat area

Dakotas and Montana, where winters are too severe for winter wheat; and the Palouse region of Washington State