AP Human Geography Unit 4 Vocab

AP Human Geography Unit 4 Vocab

State

A country with defined borders, a permanent population, a government, sovereignty, and recognition from other states.
Ex. USA, Russia, Japan, etc.

Nation

A group of people with a common identity through shared cultural traits such as language, religion, ethnicity, and heritage.
Ex. The Maasai people of East Africa

Nation-State

When the borders of the nation match the borders of the state; state has ideally only one nation within it.
Ex. No true examples
Japan: 98% Japanese, 70% Shinto & Buddhist

Stateless Nations

Nations of people without a state to occupy.
Ex. Palestinians in Israel

Multistate Nation

A nation of people that live in more than one state.
Ex. Ethnic Russians living in Ukraine, Estonia, and Latvia

Multinational State

A country with various cultures and ethnicities within its borders.
Ex. USA, Russia, Iraq, the former Yugoslavia

Autonomous / Semi-Autonomous Region

A location within a state that is given authority to govern independently from the national government.
Ex. Native American Reservations

Sovereignty

A state's authority to control its territory and govern itself.

Self-Determination

The right of all people to govern themselves. Usually a nation, ethnicity, or former colony wants to govern themselves and establish sovereignty over their own state (oftentimes may result in independence movements or devolution).

Devolution

Due to centrifugal forces, power is shifted from the central government or administration to regional authorities which are usually reflective of their nations.

Territoriality

A willingness by a person or a group of people to defend space they claim

Political Power

Control over people, land, and resources.

Neocolonialism

The use of economic, political, cultural, or other pressures to control or influence other countries.
Ex. US Wars in Middle East

Shatterbelt

Instability within a region that is geographically located between states with overlapping territoriality and political power.
Ex. Germany during the Cold War

Choke Point

A strategic strait or canal which is narrow, hard to pass through and has competition for use. Blockage of such areas could have global effects on shipping, trade, etc.

Antecedent Boundary

Borders that are established before there has been major settlement by people in a territory.
Ex. 49th Parallel separating USA and Canada

Subsequent Boundary

Borders drawn in areas that have been settled by people, typically due to changes that have occurred over time, usually due to war, political agreements, or in response to a new empire.
Ex. European boundaries

Consequent Boundary

A type of subsequent boundary that takes into account the existing cultural distribution of the people living in a territory and redevelops lines to more closely align with cultural boundaries.
Ex. The boundary between Nunavut and the rest of Canada

Superimposed Boundary

A border that is drawn over existing and accepted borders by an outside force.
Ex. African borders made by the Berlin Conference

Geometric Boundary

Borders that are established on straight lines of latitude and longitude instead of physical or cultural boundaries.
Ex. Border between Saudi Arabia and Iraq

Relic Boundary

A border that no longer exists, but has left some imprint on the local cultural or environmental geography.
Ex. Berlin Wall, Iron Curtain, Confederacy in the US

Defined

Countries legally define and agree to where borders are located through an agreement or treaty.

Delimited

Identifying the location of the defined boundaries on a map. Usually at the same time that boundaries are defined and done through a legal designation.

Demarcated

Visible marking of the landscape with objects, such as fences or signs.

Administered

Legal management of the border through laws, immigration regulation, documentation, and prosecution.

Territorial Sea

12 nautical miles from the coastline; complete sovereignty over the water and airspace; permission of "innocent passage" of foreign ships.

EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone)

200 nautical miles; a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources such as fishing, whaling, as well as natural resources like natural gas, oil, energy.

Median Line Principle

Drawing a boundary that is midway between two or more states' coasts.

The Census

An official population count done every 10 years that also includes data on race, age, and sex.

Reapportionment

Process in which the 435 seats of the U.S. House of Representative are re-allocated to different states based off of population change.

Electoral College

Organization that utilizes the popular vote to then vote for President. The 538 seats represent the 435 US Representatives, the 100 Senators, and the 3 seats representing Washington, D.C.

Redistricting

State's internal political boundaries that determine voting districts for the US House of Representatives and the state legislature. Redrawn to accurately reflect the new census data.

Voting District

A geographic term used by state and local governments to organize elections.

Gerrymandering

Redistricting for a political advantage, when the political party that controls the majority of the seats in the state legislature draws political district boundaries to maintain or extend their political power.

Packing

Clustering like-minded voters in a single district, thereby allowing the other party to win the remaining districts.

Cracking

Dispersing like-minded voters among multiple districts in order to minimize their impact and prevent them from gaining a majority.

Representative Districts

The ideal, in which the voting districts are equal in population, contiguous, and compact. They are truly representative of the people living in the district.

Federal

A style of government in which the power is shared between central, regional, and local governments.

Unitary

A style of government in which the power is located centrally and the purpose of regional or local units is to carry out policy.

Autonomy

Independence, freedom, self-governing

Physical Geography

A factor leading to devolution; regions that are separated from the central state due to physical features such as mountain ranges, deserts, or bodies of water.
Ex. Kashmir is separated from the rest of India by the Himalayas

Distance Decay

As distance increases between two locations, the quantity and quality of interactions decline.

Ethnic Separatism

People of a particular ethnicity in a multinational state identify more strongly with their ethnic group than as citizens of the state.
Ex. Tibetan Buddhists view themselves as culturally distinct from dominant China

Ethnic Cleansing

State governments attack an ethnic group in an attempt to try to eliminate them through expulsion, imprisonment, or mass murder.
Ex. The Holocaust

Terrorism

Organized violence aimed at government and civilian targets that is intended to create fear in order to accomplish political aims. Most commonly utilized by non-governments groups with no army (ethnic separatists) in order to receive recognition or power.
Ex. Uyghurs in China, Palestinians in Israel

Economic or Social Problems

Uneven development, different levels of economic activity/productivity, and conflict over the allocation of funding from the central level of government.
Ex. Scotland in the UK

Irredentism

A majority ethnic group wants to claim territory from a neighboring state due to a shared culture with the people residing across the border.
Ex. Russians in Ukraine

Time-Space Compression

The relative distance between places has been shrinking due to modern advancements in transportation and communication technology.
Ex. TikTok, Instagram, YouTube

Supranational Organization

an alliance of three or more states that work together in pursuit of common goals. Typically regional in scale, but there are some globalized.
Ex. United Nations, OPEC, NATO, European Union

Centripetal Forces

Characteristics that unify a country and provide stability

Centrifugal Forces

Characteristics that divide a country and create instability, conflict and violence.

Ethnonationalism

When the people of a country identify as having one common ethnicity, language, and religion which creates a sense of pride and ties them to the territory.

Balkanization

The breaking up of a state into several smaller political units, often unfriendly with one another.
Ex. the breaking up of Yugoslavia