Key Geographical & Environmental Concepts Explained
Geographic Area: Understood as a social product, i.e., as the result of human activity on nature. Its goal is the study of social processes that create and change geographic space.
Landscape: Reflects human activity in transforming the physical environment.
Scale: The relationship between the length measured on the map and the actual length.
Graphic Scale: A segmented straight line, indicating the distance in miles or meters.
Numerical Scale: A fraction expressing the relationship between a map unit and reality.
Key Map: Directory of signs and lettering ink used on a map, including their meaning.
Contour: Continuous lines representing relief on topographic maps. Equidistance, the altitude difference between two successive curves, is 20 meters in the national topographic map 1:50,000.
GIS: Geographic Information System is the technology applied to geography.
Map: A small and approximate representation of the Earth’s surface. It is limited because it represents great distances in a small space. It saves the proportions of reality by means of the scale. The representation of a sphere on a flat space always produces deformations, varying according to the projections. Types include large-scale maps, thematic maps, and topographic maps.
Flat: A large-scale map.
Latitude: The angular distance from any point on Earth to the Equator. It may be north or south (0-90°).
Longitude: The angular distance from any point on Earth to the 0° meridian at Greenwich.
Globalization: The process of building a single economic space on a global scale. Production and circulation of goods and services are regulated by market laws. Its presentation is based on new technologies that multiply the capacity to generate and transmit information, enabling companies to operate synchronously and in real-time, promoting financial concentration.
Human Development Index (HDI): Prepared by the UN, estimated by averaging three indicators: GDP per capita, life expectancy, and literacy rates and enrollment in primary, secondary, and higher education. Each country receives a score between 0 and 1, classified as high, medium, or low.
Welfare State: European Social Policy; a set of measures and actions by which governments provide services and benefits (health, education…) to ensure decent living conditions and citizen welfare.
Cohesion Fund: Established by the Treaty of Maastricht to reduce disparities between national economies and facilitate the integration of the EU’s least developed countries. Eligibility requires a GNP per capita less than 90% of the EU average in 1992, a program meeting integration requirements, and a focus on environment, transport infrastructure, telecommunications, and energy projects.
Structural Funds: Aid to reduce disparities between EU regions, assigned to countries meeting objectives 1, 2, and 3. Goal 1: Promote development through basic infrastructure in regions with GDP per capita less than 75% of the EU average. Goal 2: Economic and social conversion of agricultural, fisheries, industrial, or urban crisis areas. Goal 3: Promote human resources.
Up (Community Initiatives): Instruments proposed by the Commission to Member States to support actions prioritized for resolving regional development issues affecting the entire EU. They promote transnational cooperation across borders and regions.
Maastricht Treaty: Signed in 1992, effective in 1993. The European Community became the European Union, setting a timetable for joining economic and monetary policy, foreign policy, security policy, and cooperation in justice and home affairs. Signatories: the six founders plus Denmark, Ireland, the UK (1973), Greece (1981), Spain and Portugal (1986), and reunified Germany (1991).
State of Autonomy: State organization recognizing self-government of nationalities and regions within it. In Spain, introduced by the 1978 Constitution, establishing conditions and processes for achieving autonomy. Provinces with common historical, cultural, or economic communities, island territories, and historical regional provinces could become autonomous. The access process had two tracks: Article 151 allowed immediate acquisition of greater powers, while Article 143 initially granted fewer powers, expanding progressively over five years.
International Compensation Funds: Economic compensation given by a government to regions for improvement and assistance.
Physical Geography and Environment
Alpine Orogeny: The Tertiary period’s orogenic folding, still ongoing. It began 62 million years ago, forming the Alpine-Himalayan system, the Pyrenees, the Alps, southern Mediterranean ridges (Betic Cordilleras, Atlas), and the Rocky Mountains and Andes. It involves the rejuvenation of mountains and ridges by compressive deformation.
Foehn Effect: Warming on the leeward side of a mountain. In the Canary Islands, it causes asymmetric rainfall on mountainous islands, though incomplete thermal inversion prevents its full effect on the windward side. Air ascends, cools, reaches saturation, forming clouds and precipitation. On the opposite side, dry air descends.
Volcanic Cone: Formed by the pressure of ascending magma; the volcano’s cover.
Macaronesia: Region (Azores, Madeira, Canaries, Cape Verde) with similar flora, fauna, and many endemic species.
National Park: Large, unprocessed natural areas with unique natural beauty, flora, fauna, and geography, considered a natural heritage. Protection policy began in Spain in 1918 with Covadonga and Ordesa National Parks.
Sustainable Development: Concept from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, questioning the prevailing socioeconomic order resulting from globalization and calling for a development model based on economically efficient and socially beneficial organization, compatible with natural resource conservation.
Greenhouse Effect: The Earth’s average temperature is 15°C because the gaseous layer surrounding it retains heat and prevents it from escaping into space.
Climate Change: Changes produced by the atmosphere and jet streams. Increased greenhouse gas emissions from industries, automobiles, fires, and deforestation enhance heat retention.
Erosion: The wearing away of relief by climatic, atmospheric, or biological agents.
Renewable Energy Sources: Inexhaustible, clean, and highly dispersed resources usable in various locations.
Organic Farming: Uses natural systems without chemical synthesis. Soils are decontaminated for two years, then organic fertilizers are used. Products are healthier but more expensive, leading to low demand and high export rates.
Economic and Social Concepts
CAP (Common Agricultural Policy): Common rules governing agricultural activity in the EU. Began in 1962 to increase agricultural production. Established common market organizations and internal preference, resulting in price increases.
Sanding: Artificial soil composed of soil, manure, and sand layers to increase soil temperature, typically used in greenhouses for forced crops to increase yield and advance harvest dates, with commercial benefits.
Caladero: A suitable space for anchoring or casting fishing nets. In Spain, national fisheries are overexploited by artisanal fishing and polluted by urban and industrial discharges.
Jurisdictional Waters: Sea area where coastal states exercise jurisdiction (sovereignty) over resource exploration, exploitation, conservation, and management (water, seabed, subsoil). In 1982, the UN set boundaries at 200 miles from the coastline.
Industrial Relocation: Shifting production to other territories; in Spain, it refers to businesses or production lines moving outside its borders.
Technological Park: Industrial settlement for advanced technology companies, integrating innovative activities with universities and science/technology centers. It represents a region’s effort to promote research and development structures.
Rural Tourism (Farm): In addition to sun and beach tourism, Spain offers rural tourism centers, supported by integrated rural development programs to stimulate agricultural and complementary activities, including accommodation, crafts, and traditions.
Tertiary Economic Sector (Outsourcing): A social and economic transformation affecting developed countries since the last phase of the industrial revolution (third industrial revolution).
R&D&I (Research, Development, and Innovation): Characterized by a highly skilled workforce, research centers, telematic infrastructure, and advanced services.