City College of San Francisco___________________________
Earth Sciences

Geography 4 - Spring 2001

Study Guide for the Second Midterm

Week EIGHT - Latin America and the U.S.

Key Terms

Hispanic, rainforests, deforestation, biodiversity, NAFTA, maquiladora.

Study Questions:

Describe the geographic distribution of "Hispanics." Explain why this group is too diverse to be

understood as a single people. If Rainforests cover a small part of earth's surface, why is their

continued existence considered to be so important? How has the relative location of the

U.S./Mexican border changed with the emergence of NAFTA?

Week NINE - Nations and States of Europe

Key Terms:

nation, state, empire, euro, EU, NATO, Cold War, multinationalism, border, homeland,

sovereignty, ethnicity, minority, language group, friction of distance, modernization, industrial

revolution, mechanization, population, continentality, maritime climate.

Study Questions:

What is the relationship between political boundaries and the following: ethnicity, economics, and

language? Is a 'nation' a contiguous entity? Can culture be 'mapped'? Describe the potential

problems encountered by a nation without a state. How has nationalism changed in Europe since

the end of the Cold War? How has the role of NATO? Describe the problems encountered by the

break-up of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. What is the difference between

NAFTA and the EU?

Week TEN - East Asian Population growth as seen through statistics

Key Terms:

demography, birth rate, death rate, natural increase, total fertility rate, replacement rate,

infant mortality rate, doubling time, population pyramid, income growth, urbanization, land use,

anthropogenic.

Study Questions:

What are the three fundamental factors behind trends of land use change in China? Will increased

income result in higher food production in China? Why is it so difficult to make long-term

projections for China's population growth? What kind of population structure is most likely to lead

to continued population growth? (momentum)

Week ELEVEN - Population and resources in South Asia

Key Terms:

monsoon, alluvial soil, household economy, housework, chores, social security.

Study Questions:

Explain what causes the monsoon rains in South Asia. Where is the population

concentrated in India? Why there? How does lack of education and paid employment for women

effect population growth? How does poverty effect it? Where are decisions regarding procreation

made, and what influences that decision? How are children an asset to parents in the developing

world?