Tamil Nadu HSE Second Year Geography flashcards

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

Human geography

The study of the relationship between human societies and the earth's surface, emphasising spatial distribution, interaction and the transformation of environments by human activity.

Environmental determinism

An early approach holding that the physical environment controls human activity and culture; associated with Ratzel, Semple and Huntington, and criticised for ignoring human choice.

Possibilism

Approach developed by Vidal de la Blache and Lucien Febvre: nature offers a range of possibilities, and humans, using technology and culture, choose among them.

Neo-determinism

Griffith Taylor's stop-and-go determinism: humans can overcome natural limits, but nature sets outer limits and imposes penalties when those limits are crossed.

Arithmetic density

Total population divided by total land area, expressed as persons per square kilometre, used to compare population concentration between countries or regions.

Demographic transition

Model of population change through four or five stages, moving from high birth and death rates to low ones, with the fastest growth in the middle stages.

Population pyramid

A bar graph showing the age and sex composition of a population; expansive, constrictive and stationary shapes indicate high fertility, low fertility and stable populations respectively.

Human Development Index

UNDP index created in 1990 from ideas of Mahbub ul Haq and Amartya Sen; the geometric mean of life expectancy, education and GNI per capita indices, ranging 0 to 1.

Primary activity

Economic activity that directly extracts or harvests resources from nature, including agriculture, fishing, forestry, grazing and mining; it dominates subsistence economies.

Quaternary activity

Knowledge-based activity such as research, information technology, consultancy, education and financial planning; it involves collecting, processing and disseminating information rather than producing goods.

Footloose industry

Manufacturing that can locate almost anywhere because it is neither strongly weight-losing nor weight-gaining; electronics and precision instruments are typical examples.

Weight-losing industry

Industry whose raw material is bulkier than the finished product, so plants locate near the raw material to avoid transporting waste; sugar and iron and steel are examples.

Primate city

A city disproportionately larger than the second-ranked city of its country, dominating its economy and administration; Bangkok and Buenos Aires are examples.

Rank-size rule

The idea that the population of the nth ranked city of a country equals the largest city's population divided by n, producing a fairly regular urban hierarchy.

Central place theory

Christaller's model of hexagonal trade areas in which settlements of different orders supply goods defined by range and threshold, forming a nested hierarchy.

Balance of trade

The difference between a country's value of visible exports and visible imports; exports exceeding imports give a surplus, imports exceeding exports a deficit.

Census sex ratio

Number of females per 1,000 males recorded by the Census of India; it was 943 in 2011, highest in Kerala and lowest in Haryana.

Urban agglomeration

In Indian census terms, a continuous urban spread made of a core town plus adjoining outgrowths or census towns; 53 had over one million people in 2011.

Census town

A settlement classified as urban by the Census of India when it has a municipality or satisfies the prescribed population, density and non-agricultural employment criteria.

Push and pull factors

Causes of migration: push factors such as unemployment, drought or conflict drive people out, while pull factors such as jobs and better services attract them.

Regur soil

Black cotton soil formed from weathered basaltic lava, rich in clay and moisture-retentive; found mainly on the Deccan plateau and well suited to cotton.

Gondwana coal

Carboniferous to Jurassic coal of the Damodar, Mahanadi, Son, Godavari and Narmada basins that provides most Indian coal; Tertiary coal occurs in the north-east.

Laterite soil

Leached, iron- and aluminium-rich soil formed under heavy monsoon rain and high temperature in alternating wet and dry tropics; poor in nitrogen, lime and phosphate.

Multipurpose project

A dam scheme serving several purposes at once, such as irrigation, hydroelectric power, flood control, navigation and water supply; Bhakra-Nangal and Hirakud are examples.

Kharif season

Summer monsoon cropping season in India, sown in June-July and harvested in September-October; rice, maize, cotton, jowar and groundnut are the main crops.

Green Revolution

Strategy from the 1960s using high-yielding seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and irrigation to raise foodgrain output, chiefly wheat in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.

Agro-based industry

Manufacturing that draws raw material from agriculture, such as sugar, cotton textiles, jute, vegetable oil and dairy; it locates near raw material to cut transport and spoilage costs.

Detroit of India

Nickname for Chennai and its automobile cluster, which hosts several car, bus and component manufacturers and accounts for a large share of Indian vehicle output.

Sustainable development

The Brundtland Commission's 1987 concept: development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Golden Quadrilateral

Indian national highway project of 5,846 km connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, linking the four metropolitan cities and largely completed by 2012.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port

India's largest container port, located at Nhava Sheva near Mumbai in Maharashtra and a major gateway for westbound container trade.

NITI Aayog

National Institution for Transforming India, established in 2015 to replace the Planning Commission as the government's policy think tank and a body promoting cooperative federalism.