AP Human Geography Vocabulary Unit 1

AP Human Geography Vocabulary – Unit 1 Sequent occupance: The notion that -Hierarchical diffusion: The spread successive societies leave their cultural of an idea from persons or nodes of imprints on a place, each contributing to the authority or power to other persons or cumulative cultural landscape. This is an places (Ex: hip-hop/rap music) important concept in geography because it symbolizes how humans interact with their -Contagious diffusion: The rapid, surroundings. widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the Cultural landscape: Fashioning of a natural population. (Ex: ideas placed on the landscape by a cultural group. This is the internet) essence of how humans interact with nature. -Stimulus diffusion: the spread of an Arithmetic density: The total number of underlying principle, even though a people divided by the total land area. This is characteristic itself apparently fails to what most people think of as density; how diffuse. (Ex: PC & Apple many people per area of land. competition, p40)

Physiological density: The number of Absolute distance: Exact measurement of people per unit of area of arable land, which the physical space between two places. is land suitable for agriculture. This is important because it relates to how much Relative distance: Approximate land is being used by how many people. measurement of the physical space between two places. Hearth: The region from which innovative ideas originate. This relates to Distribution: The arrangement of the important concept of the spreading of something across Earth’s surface. ideas from one area to another (diffusion). Environmental determinism: A 19th- and Diffusion: The process of spread of a early 20th-century approach to the study of feature or trend from one place to another geography that argued that the general laws over time. sought by human geographers could be found in the physical sciences. Geography Relocation diffusion: The spread of an idea was therefore the study o f how the physical through physical movement of people from environment caused human activities. one place to another. Ex: spread of AIDS from New York, California, & Florida. Absolute location: Position on Earth’s surface using the coordinate system of Expansion diffusion: The spread of a longitude (that runs from North to South feature from one place to another in a Pole) and latitude (that runs parallel to the snowballing process. This can happen in 3 equator). ways: Relative location: Position on Earth’s Space- Refers to the physical gap or interval surface relative to other features. (Ex: My between two objects. house is west of 394). Spatial Distribution- Physical location of geographic phenomena across SPACE Site: The physical character of place; what is found at the location and why it is Size- Is the estimation or determination of significant (For more on Site & Situation, extent. see p.16). Scale- Representation of a real-world Situation: The location of a place relative to phenomenon at a certain level of reduction other places. (For more on Site & Situation, or generalization. In cartography, the ratio see p.16). of map distance to ground distance, indicated on a map as a bar graph, Space Time Compression- The reduction representative fraction, and/or verbal in the time it takes to diffuse something to a statement. distant place, as a result of improved communications and transportation system. Formal Region- (uniform) or homogenous region is an area within which everyone Friction of Distance- is based on the notion shares in common one or mare distinctive that distance usually requires some amount characteristics. The shared feature could be of effort, money, and/or energy to a cultural value such as a common language, overcome. Because of this "friction," spatial or an environmental climate. interactions will tend to take place more often over shorter distances; quantity of Functional Region- (nodal region) Area interaction will decline with distance. organized around a node or focal point. The Distance Decay- The diminishing in characteristic chosen to define a functional importance and eventual disappearance of a region dominates at a central focus or node phenomenon with increasing distance from and diminishes in importance outward. This its origin. Typically, the farther away one region is tied to the central point by group is from another, the less likely the two transportation or communication systems or groups are to interact. (Electronic devices by economic or functional associations. such as the internet and e-mail have aided in eliminating barriers to interaction between people who are far from each other. Networks- defined by Manuel Castells as a set of interconnected nodes without a center. Connectivity- The relationships among people and objects across the barrier of Vernacular Region- (Perceptual Region) is space. Geographers are concerned with the a place that people believe exists as a part of various means by which connections occur. their cultural identity. Such regions emerge Accessibility- The degree of ease with from peoples informal sense of place rather which it is possible to reach certain location than from scientific models developed from other locations. Accessibility varies through geographic thought. (Often from place to place and can be measured. identified using a mental map- which is an internal representation of a portion of Earths -locational: spatial tradition surface) (location) -man-land: human/environmental Possibilism- The physical environment may interaction limit some human actions, but people have -area-studies: regional geography the ability to adjust to their environment. Five Themes of Geography (1986): GENIP Pattern- A common property of -location: position; situation of distribution, which is the geometric people and things arrangement of objects in space. Some -human/environmental features are organized in a geometric interaction: reciprocal relationship b/w pattern, whereas others are distributed humans & env. irregularly. Geographers observe that many -region: area on Earth’s surface objects form a linear distribution, such as the marked by a degree of homogeneity arrangement of houses along a street or (uniformity) of some phenomenon stations along a subway line. -place: uniqueness of a location (or similarity of two or more locales); phenomena within an area -movement: mobility of people, goods and ideas; phenomena between areas Place Name- Often referred to as a places toponym (the name given to a place on Earth.) Anthropogenic: Caused or produced by humans

Pattison’s Four Traditions (1964): W.D. Pattison -earth-science: physical geography Region: (not one of the Five Themes) -Formal Region- (uniform, homogeneous) or homogenous region is an area within which everyone shares in common one or mare Culture hearth: The region from which distinctive characteristics. The shared innovative ideas originate. This relates to feature could be a cultural value such the important concept of the spreading of as a common language, or an ideas from one area to another environmental climate. (diffusion). Must be viewed in the context of time … -Functional Region- (nodal) Area -Ancient culture hearth: Fertile organized around a node or focal Crescent, Indus Valley, Chang & point. The characteristic chosen to Yellow River Valley (China), Nile define a functional region dominates River Valley and Delta, Meso- at a central focus or node and America (origin of farming developed diminishes in importance outward. during the First Agricultural This region is tied to the central point Revolution beginning around 12,000 by transportation or communication years ago). systems or by economic or functional associations. -Modern culture hearth: Europe, North America, Japan (origin and -Perceptual Region- (vernacular) is a focus of the Industrial Revolution place that people believe exists as a beginning in the early 1800s after the part of their cultural identity. Such onset of the Second Agricultural regions emerge from peoples informal Revolution). sense of place rather than from scientific models developed through Cultural landscape (built environment): geographic thought. (Often identified Fashioning of a natural landscape by a using a mental map- which is an cultural group. This is the essence of how internal representation of a portion of humans interact with nature. Earths surface). Many "belts" fit this description ... cotton belt (what used to be dominated by agriculture, and is Cultural diffusion: The process of spread often referred to as the New South), of a feature or trend from one place to Bible belt, sun belt, rust belt, ... another over time.

Relocation diffusion: The spread of an idea Environmental perception: a person’s idea through physical movement of people from or image of a place; may often be one place to another. Ex: spread of AIDS inaccurate. from New York, California, & Florida.

Cultural trait: a single element of normal Migrant diffusion: spread of an idea practice in a culture (e.g., wearing a turban) through people, in which the phenomena weakens or dies out at its previous source … Culture complex: a combination of related moves like a “Slinky” (e.g., spread of the cultural traits (e.g., prevailing modes of Spanish Flu toward the end of World War I). dress; nationalism) Acculturation: Process of adopting only First Agricultural Revolution: beginning certain customs that will be to their around 12,000 years ago; achieved plant advantage domestication (human influence on genetic modification of a plant) and animal Transculturation: A near equal exchange domestication (genetic modification of an of culture traits or customs animal to make it more amenable to human control and use); began permanent Assimilation: Process of less dominant settlements along fertile river valleys which cultures losing their culture to a more moved humans from egalitarian societies dominant culture (equal) to more stratified societies (unequal). Cultural Ecology: The geographic study of the multiple interactions of human- Global Positioning System (GPS): environmental relationships satellite-based system for determining the absolute location of places.

Holocene epoch: current interglaciation Qualitative data: described in terms of its period (sustained warming phase between quality (that is, informal or relative glaciations during an ice age), extending characteristics such as culture, language, from around 12,000 years ago to the present religion, …). (some scientists speculate that since humans influence the Earth as no species was able to Quantitative data: precisely describes data before, we have recently entered the using numbers and measures (population, Anthropocene epoch). political, economic, …).

Map projections: any 3-dimensional object (Earth) will project some distortion onto any 2-dimensional object (map) Azimuthal: directions from a central point are preserved; usually these projections also have radial symmetry Mercator: straight meridians and parallels that intersect at right angles, used for marine navigation Peters: equal-area cylindrical, areas of equal size on the globe are also equally sized on the map Robinson: distorts shape, area, scale, and distance in an attempt to balance the errors of projection properties Fuller: using the surface of a polyhedron, it is unfolded to a net in many different ways and flattened to form a two-dimensional map which retains most of the globe’s relative proportional integrity

Types of maps: -dot: one dot represents a certain number of phenomena (e.g., population) -thematic: made to reflect a particular theme about a geographic area (e.g., geographic, topographic, political, …) -choropleth: thematic map in which areas are shaded or patterned in proportion to the measurement of the statistical variable being displayed (e.g., population density) -reference: generalized map type designed to show general spatial properties of features (e.g., world maps, road maps, atlas maps) -proportional symbol: type of thematic map in which the areas of symbols are varied in proportion to the value of an attribute (e.g., city population) -preference: map demonstrating progressively more desirable options -cartogram: map in which some thematic mapping variable is substituted for land area (e.g., GDP)

Map terms: -parallel: line of latitude (Equator, Tropic of Cancer & Capricorn, Arctic & Antarctic Circles) -meridian: line of longitude (Prime Meridian, International Date Line)

TODALSIG: (Title, Orientation, Date, Author, Legend, Scale, Index, Grid) acronym for assessing the validity and reliability of any map