BSEB Inter Geography flashcards

33 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Human Geography

The branch of geography that studies the relationship between human beings and the physical environment, focusing on space, place, region, landscape, and the diffusion of ideas and people.

Environmental Determinism

The view that the physical environment controls human activity and culture. It was criticised for ignoring human choice, technology, and cultural adaptation in shaping livelihoods.

Possibilism

The idea, associated with Vidal de la Blache, that nature offers possibilities and humans can modify the environment within limits using technology, culture, and organisation.

Spatial Interaction

The movement of people, goods, and ideas between places, driven by complementarity, transferability, and the absence of intervening opportunities.

Physiological Density

A population density measure calculated as total population divided by cultivated area, showing how many people depend on each unit of farmland.

Demographic Transition

A model describing population change through stages as birth and death rates fall, moving from high stationary through expanding to low stationary and declining stages.

Sex Ratio

In India, the number of females per 1,000 males in a population. The 2011 Census recorded a national sex ratio of 943.

Dependency Ratio

A measure of the non-working population relative to the working-age population, calculated as (0–14 plus 65+) divided by (15–64), multiplied by 100.

Human Development Index

A composite measure of average achievement in three dimensions: health (life expectancy), education (schooling years), and standard of living (GNI per capita), combined by geometric mean.

Capability Approach

Amartya Sen's idea that development should expand what people are able to do and be, rather than only raising income or consumption.

Gender Inequality Index

A composite measure reflecting inequality between women and men in reproductive health, empowerment (education and parliamentary seats), and labour market participation.

Shifting Cultivation

A subsistence farming system in which land is cleared and burned, cultivated for a few years, then abandoned to regenerate during a long fallow period.

Plantation Agriculture

Capital-intensive, large-scale farming of a single crop such as tea, coffee, rubber, or sugarcane, mainly for export and often using hired labour.

Von Thünen Model

A land-use model showing that perishable and bulky products are grown near the market while less perishable goods are produced farther away as rent declines.

Material Index

In industrial location theory, the weight of raw material divided by the weight of the finished product; a value above one favours locating near raw materials.

Footloose Industry

An industry whose location is not tied to raw material sources because its products are light and valuable, allowing location near markets or skilled labour.

Industrial Agglomeration

The clustering of industries in one area to share infrastructure, suppliers, and labour pools, which lowers unit costs but can later cause congestion and deglomeration.

Quaternary Activities

Knowledge-based activities involving research, information processing, education, and consultancy, often requiring high skills and producing intangible outputs.

Business Process Outsourcing

The contracting of routine service tasks such as customer support, data entry, and payroll to external providers, often in lower-cost locations abroad.

Break-of-Bulk Point

A location where goods are transferred from one mode of transport to another, such as a port or railhead, often attracting processing and manufacturing activity.

Balance of Trade

The difference between a country's exports and imports of goods. A surplus means exports exceed imports; a deficit means imports exceed exports.

Containerisation

The use of standardised containers to move goods across ships, trucks, and trains, reducing handling costs and enabling faster intermodal transport.

Central Place Theory

Christaller's model explaining the size, number, and spacing of settlements, where higher-order centres are fewer, farther apart, and serve larger hinterlands.

Primate City

A city that is disproportionately larger than the second-largest city in its country and dominates the national urban system economically and politically.

Census Town

In India, a settlement classified as urban for census purposes if it has a minimum population, density, and at least 75 percent male non-agricultural workers.

Kharif Season

The monsoon cropping season in India, from June to October, when crops such as rice, maize, cotton, and jute are sown with rainfall.

Green Revolution

The adoption of high-yielding variety seeds, irrigation, and fertilisers that sharply raised wheat and rice output, especially in Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh.

Golden Quadrilateral

A national highway network linking Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata, designed to improve freight and passenger movement across India.

Special Economic Zone

A designated area in India with special economic regulations, tax incentives, and infrastructure to promote exports, manufacturing, and foreign investment.

Waterlogging and Salinity

Soil degradation caused by excessive irrigation, where the water table rises and salts accumulate near the surface, reducing agricultural productivity.

E-Waste

Discarded electronic equipment such as computers and mobile phones, which contains toxic materials and poses risks when informally recycled or dumped.

Contour Lines

Lines on a map joining points of equal elevation. Closely spaced contours indicate steep slopes; widely spaced contours indicate gentle slopes.

Choropleth Map

A thematic map in which administrative areas are shaded or patterned in proportion to a statistical value such as density, literacy rate, or sex ratio.