HGeog Unit 3 Vocab

Front

Mexican farmlands redistributed to peasant communities after the Revolution of 1910-1917. The government holds title (ownership) to the land, but user rights are parceled out to village communities and then to individuals for cultivation.

Back

ejidos

Front

Money earned by emigrants that is sent back to family and friends in their home country, mostly in cash; forms an important part of the economy in poorer countries.

Back

remittances

Front

A country's largest city- ranking atop its urban hierarchy- most expressive of the national culture and usually (but not in every case) the capital city as well.

Back

primate city

Front

Aboriginal or native; an example would be the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas

Back

indigenous

Front

The term given to modern industrial plants in Mexico's U.S. border zone. These foreign-owned factories assemble imported components and/or raw materials, and then export finished manufactures, mainly to the United States

Back

maquiladoras

Front

archipelago

Back

a set of islands grouped closely together, usually elongated into a chain

Front

Vertical regions defined by physical-environmental zones at various elevations, particularly in the highlands of South and Middle America.

Back

altitudinal zonation

Front

Tropical deforestation

Back

the clearing and destruction of tropical rainforests in order to make way for expanding settlement frontiers and the exploitation of new economic activities

Front

Heartland, source area, or innovation center; place of origin of a major culture

Back

cultural hearth

Front

mestizo

Back

a person of mixed European (white) and Amerindian ancestry in the Spanish American empire