Study guide for Vocabulary Quiz: North America

GEOG 101 Study guide for Vocabulary Quiz: North America Terms: 1. Acid rain- A proclamation issued by U.S. President James Monroe in 1823 that the United States would not tolerate European military action in the Western Hemisphere. Focused on the Caribbean as a strategic area, the doctrine was repeatedly invoked to justify U.S. political and military intervention in the region. 2. Delta - wetlands that form as rivers empty their water and sediment into another body of water, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. Although very uncommon, deltas can also empty into land. A river moves more slowly as it nears its mouth, or end. 3. Federal state- Nations that allocate considerable political power to units of government beneath the national level. 4. Unitary states- A political system in which power is centralized at the national level. 5. American Manufacturing Belt- a core region for many social and economic activities, now spans parts of four traditional culture areas—New England, the Midland, the Midwest, and the northern fringes of the South. 6. Primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary economic activities. Sectoral Transformation: The evolution of the nation’s labor force from primary sector activities to secondary, tariatry, and quaternary activities - Primary: Natural resource extraction - secondary: manufacturing and industrial - tertiary: services - quantaray: information processing - The tertiary and quaternary sectors labor most of North Americans today. 7. Outsourcing- A business practice that transfers portions of a com�pany’s production and service activities to lower-cost settings, often located overseas. 8. Information economy- an economy with an increased emphasis on informational activities and information industry, where information is valued as a capital good. 9. Silicon Valley- a global center of technological innovation located in the South San Francisco Bay Area of California 10. Gentrification - Movement of wealthier people to deteriorated inner city areas; may displace low-income residents 11. Cultural assimilation - The process in which immigrants are absorbed by the larger host society 12. Sunbelt - region comprising 15 southern states in the United States and extending from Virginia and Florida in the southeast through Nevada in the southwest, and also including southern California. 13. NAFTA -established a free-trade zone in North America; it was signed in 1992 by Canada, Mexico, and the United States and took effect on Jan. 1, 1994. NAFTA immediately lifted tariffs on the majority of goods produced by the signatory nations 14. Secession - the formal withdrawal of a group from a political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). 15. Boreal forests - A coniferous forest found in a high-latitude or moun�tainous environment in the Northern Hemisphere.