De Anza College___________________________
Social Sciences
 
Geography 10 - Spring 2000
Study Guide for the first Midterm
 
Weeks ONE and TWO
 
Key Terms:
map, thematic map, cartogram, scale, projections, globe, axis, pole, latitude/longitude coordinates, site and situation, exact/relative location, distance decay, context (cultural, historical and spatial), process, boundary, ecology, four types of regions: 1) formal region, 2) nodal or functional region, 3) perceptual or vernacular region, 4) natural region.
 
Study Questions:
Define the word "map", Define "perspective", Define "scale" What would be the specialty of an area studies specialist? (a regional geographer). How does the 'Man-Land' tradition differ from the Earth Sciences Tradition? How are flat map projections created? How are they distorted and why? How does scale limit the amount and type of information that can be shown on a map? Distinguish between different types of regions. How do the borders of different regions differ? How did Columbus' mental map of what he discovered influence early maps of the Americas?
Week THREE
 
Key Terms:
GIS, theme, feature, overlay, buffer, spatial analysis, environmental justice, lead poisoning, demographics, census data.
 
Study Questions:
How did New Jersey use GIS to prove its rights to most of Ellis Island? What are the main sources of lead contamination in American cities? How can lead poisoning be prevented? How can GIS be used to pinpoint potential lead exposure? Why hasn't more been done to prevent lead exposure?
Week FOUR
 
Key Terms:
urban sprawl, mass transit, automobility, commute, suburbanization, urban morphology, raison d'être, urban function, perception/mental map, balkanize, distance decay.
 
Study Questions:
How did changes in transportation technology change the morphology and size of North American cities? How did the cultural geography of American cities change? What is the relationship of any city to its hinterland? What factors determine the location of a city? What factors influence the contents of an individual's personal perception map?
Week FIVE
 
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 SIX
 
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. Why is the population of Russia declining?