AP Human Geography Vocabulary

Flashcards containing key vocabulary and definitions from the AP Human Geography course material, covering core geographic themes, migration, culture, politics, and economic development.

accessibility

the degree of ease with which it is possible to reach a certain location from other locations. Accessibility varies from place to place and can be measured.

sequent occupance

the notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape

five themes (of geography)

they are location, human-environment, region, place, and movement

location theory

a logical attempt to explain the locational pattern of an economic activity and the manner in which its producing areas are interrelated. The agricultural location theory contained in the von Thunen model is a leading example.

cultural landscape

the visible imprint of human activity and culture on the landscape. The layers of buildings, forms, and artifacts sequentially imprinted on the landscape by the activities of various human occupants.

globalization

the expansion of economic, political, and cultural processes to the point that they become global in scale and impact. The processes of globalization transcend state boundaries and have outcomes that vary across places and scales.

absolute locations

The position or place of a certain item on the surface of the Earth as expressed in degrees, minutes, and seconds of latitude, $0^\circ$ to $90^\circ$ north or south of the equator, and longitude, $0^\circ$ to $180^\circ$ east or west of the Prime Meridian passing through Greenwich, England (a suburb of London)

possibilism

Geographic viewpoint—a response to determinism—that holds that human decision making, not the environment, is the crucial factor in cultural development. Nonetheless, possibilists view the environment as providing a set of broad constraints that limits the possibilities of human choice

relocation diffusion

Sequential diffusion process in which the items being diffused are transmitted by their carrier agents as they evacuate the old areas and relocate to new ones. The most common form of relocation diffusion involves the spreading of innovations by a migrating population

global positioning systems (GPS)

Satellite-based system for determining the absolute location of places or geographic features

hierarchical diffusion

A form of diffusion in which an idea or innovation spreads by passing first among the most connected places or peoples. An urban hierarchy is usually involved, encouraging the leapfrogging of innovations over wide areas, with geographic distance a less important influence

environmental determinism

The view that the natural environment has a controlling influence over various aspects of human life, including cultural development. Also referred to as environmentalism

geographic information systems (GIS)

collection of computer hardware and software permitting spatial data to be collected, recorded, stored, retrieved, used, and displayed.

time-distance decay

The declining degree of acceptance of an idea or innovation with increasing time and distance from its point of origin or source

arithmetic population density

The population of a country or region expressed as an average per unit area. The figure is derived by dividing the population of the areal unit by the number of square kilometers or miles that make up the unit

demographic transition

Multistage model, based on Western Europe's experience, of changes in population growth exhibited by countries undergoing industrialization. High birth rates and death rates are followed by plunging death rates, producing a huge net population gain; this is followed by the convergence of birth rates and death rates at a low overall level

natural increase

Population growth measured as the excess of live births over deaths. Natural increase of a population does not reflect either emigrant or immigrant movements

physiologic population density

The number of people per unit area of arable land

population pyramids

Visual representations of the age and sex composition of a population whereby the percentage of each age group (generally five-year increments) is represented by a horizontal bar the length of which represents its relationship to the total population.

transhumance

A seasonal periodic movement of pastoralists and their livestock between highland and lowland pastures

gravity model

A mathematical prediction of the interaction of places, the interaction being a function of population size of the respective places and the distance between them

intervening opportunity

The presence of a nearer opportunity that greatly diminishes the attractiveness of sites farther away

push factors

Negative conditions and perceptions that induce people to leave their abode and migrate to a new locale

step migration

Migration to a distant destination that occurs in stages, for example, from farm to nearby village and later to town and city

commodification

The process through which something is given monetary value. Commodification occurs when a good or idea that previously was not regarded as an object to be bought and sold is turned into something that has a particular price and that can be traded in a market economy

glocalization

The process by which people in a local place mediate and alter regional, national, and global processes

time-space compression

A term associated with the work of David Harvey that refers to the social and psychological effects of living in a world in which time-space convergence has rapidly reached a high level of intensity

identity

Defined by geographer Gillian Rose as 'how we make sense of ourselves;' how people see themselves at different scales

residential segregation

Defined by geographers Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton as the degree to which two or more groups live separately from one another, in different parts of an urban environment

language families

Group of languages with a shared but fairly distant origin

lingua franca

Today it refers to a 'common language,' a language used among speakers of different languages for the purposes of trade and commerce

Renfrew hypothesis

Hypothesis developed by British scholar Colin Renfrew wherein he proposed that three areas in and near the first agricultural hearth, the Fertile Crescent, gave rise to three language families: Europe's Indo-European languages; North African and Arabian languages; and the languages in present-day Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India

secularism

The idea that ethical and moral standards should be formulated and adhered to for life on Earth, not to accommodate the prescriptions of a deity and promises of a comfortable afterlife. A secular state is the opposite of a theocracy

universalizing religion

A belief system that espouses the idea that there is one true religion that is universal in scope. Adherents often believe that their religion represents universal truths, and in some cases great effort is undertaken in evangelism and missionary work

diaspora

From the Greek 'to disperse,' a term describing forceful or voluntary dispersal of a people from their homeland to a new place. Originally denoting the dispersal of Jews, it is increasingly applied to other population dispersals

Sunni

Adherents to the largest branch of Islam, called the orthodox or traditionalist. They believe in the effectiveness of family and community in the solution of life's problems and accept the traditions (sunna) of Muhammad as authoritative

sovereignty

having the last say (having control) over and territory—politically and militarily

Peace of Westphalia

marked the beginning of the modern state and ended the Thirty Years' War, Europe's most destructive internal struggle over religion. The treaties contained new language recognizing statehood and nationhood, clearly defined borders, and guarantees of security

nation-state

a politically organized area in which nation and state occupy the same space

heartland theory

A geopolitical hypothesis, proposed by Halford Mackinder, that any political power based in the heart of Eurasia could gain sufficient strength to eventually dominate the world. Since Eastern Europe controlled access to the Eurasian interior, its ruler would command the vast 'heartland'

supranational organization

A venture involving three or more nation-states involving formal political, economic, and/or cultural cooperation to promote shared objectives. The European Union is one such organization

agricultural surplus

agricultural production in excess of that which the producer needs for his or her own sustenance and that of his or her family and which is then sold for consumption by others; one of two components enabling city formation

Mesopotamia

region of great cities located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers; chronologically the first urban hearth, dating to $3500$ BCE, founded in the Fertile Crescent

central place theory

theory proposed by Walter Christaller that explains how and where central places in the urban hierarchy should be functionally and spatially distributed with respect to one another

concentric zone model

CBD—(Burgess Model) divides the city into five concentric zones, defined by their function

redlining

a discriminatory real estate practice in North America in which members of minority groups are prevented from obtaining money to purchase homes or property in predominantly white neighborhoods

gentrification

the rehabilitation of deteriorated, often abandoned, housing of low-income inner-city residents

gross national income (GNI)

calculates the monetary worth of what is produced within a country plus income received from investments outside the country

modernization model

associated with economist Walter Rostow; maintains that all countries go through five interrelated stages of development, culminating in self-sustained economic growth and high levels of mass consumption

world-system theory

theory originated by Immanuel Wallerstein proposing that social change in the developing world is inextricably linked to the economic activities of the developed world through a core, periphery, and semi-periphery structure

maquiladoras

zones in Northern Mexico with factories supplying manufactured goods to the U.S. market. Low-wage workers assemble imported components and then export finished goods

First Agricultural Revolution

dating back $10,000$ years, achieved plant domestication and animal domestication

von Thunen model

a model that explains the location of agricultural activities in a commercial, profit-making economy. Spatial competition allocates farming activities into rings around a central market city, with profit-earning capability determining distance

Green Revolution

the recently successful development of higher-yield, fast-growing varieties of rice and other cereals in certain developing countries, leading to increased production per unit area

least cost theory

model developed by Alfred Weber according to which the location of manufacturing establishments is determined by the minimization of three critical expenses: labor, transportation, and agglomeration

agglomeration

a process involving the clustering of people or activities. Manufacturing plants and businesses benefit from close proximity because they share skilled-labor pools and technological and financial amenities

Fordist

a highly organized system for organizing industrial production and labor named after Henry Ford, featuring assembly-line production of standardized components for mass consumption

chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)

synthetic organic compounds used primarily as refrigerants and propellants. Their role in the destruction of the ozone layer led to the Montreal Agreement

Holocene

the current interglaciation period, extending from $10,000$ years ago to the present on the geologic time scale

Montreal Protocol

an international agreement signed in $1987$ that called for a reduction in the production and consumption of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs); a worldwide complete ban has been in effect since $1996$

perceptual region

A region that only exists as a conceptualization or an idea and not as a physically demarcated entity. For example, 'the South' in the United States