AP HuGe - Martha Sharma Unit 1

sequent occupance

the notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape. This is an importatn concept in geography because it symbolized how humans interact with their surroundings

cultural landscape

fashioning of a natural landscape by a cultural group. This is the essence of how humans interact with nature

arithmetic density

the total number of people divided by the total land area. This is what most people think of as density; how many people per area of land

physiological density

the number of people per unit of area of arable land, which is land suitable for agriculture. This is important because it relates to how much land is being used by how many people

hearth

the region from which innovative ideas originate. This relates to the important concept of the spreading of ideas from one area to another (diffusion)

diffusion

the process of spread of a feature or trend from one place to another over time

relocation diffusion

the spread of an idea through physical movement of people from one place to another. Ex: spread of AIDS from New York, California, and Florida

expansion diffusion

the spread of a feature from one place to another in a snowballing process. There are three ways: hierarchical, noctagious, or stimulus.

hierachical diffusion

the spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority or power to other persons or places. Ex: hip-hop/rap music

contagious diffusion

the rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population. Ex: ideas placed on the internet

stimulus diffusion

the spread of an underlying principle even though a characteristic itself apparently fails to diffuse. Ex: PC and Apple competition

absolute distance

exact measurement of the physical distance between two places

relative distance

approximate measurement of the physical distance between two places

distribution

the arrangement of something across Earth's surface

environmental determinism

a 19th and early 20th century approach to the study of geography that argued that the general laws sought by human geographers could be found in the physical sciences. Geography was therefore the study of how the physical environment caused human activities

absolute location

position on Earth's surface using the coordinate system of longitude and latitude

relative location

position on Earth's surface relative to other features

site

the physical character of place; what it found at the location and why it is significant

situation

the location of a place relative to other places

space-time compression

the reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place, as a result of improved communications and transportation system

friction of distance

based on the notion that distance usually requires some amount of effort, money, and/or energy to overcome. Because of this "friction," spatial interactions will tend to take place more often over shorter distances; quantity of interaction will decline with distance

distance decay

the diminishing in importance and eventual disappearence of a phenomenom with increasing distance from its origin. Typically, the farther away one group is from another, the less likely the two groups are to interact

networks

defined by Manuel Castells as a set of interconnected nodes without a center

connectivity

the relationships amoung people and objects across the barrier of space. Geographers are concerned with the various means by which connections occur

accessibility

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

space

refers to the physical gap or interval between two objects

spatial distribution

physical location of geographic phenomena across space

size

the estimation or determination of extent

scale

representation of a real-world phenomenon at a certain level of reduction or generalization. In cartography, the ratio of map distance to ground distance, indicated on a map as a bar graph, representative fraction, and/or verbal statement

formal region

(uniform) or homogenous region is an area within which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics. The shared feature could be a cultural value such as a common language, or an environmental climate

functional region

(nodal region) area organized around a node or focal point. The characteristic chosen to define a functional region dominates at a central focus or node and diminishes in importance outward. This region is tied to the central point by transportation or communication systems and/or by economic or functional associations

vernacular region

(perceptual region) is a place that people believe exists as part of a cultural identity. Such regions emerge from peoples informal sense of place rather than from scientific models developed through geographic thought, usually from a mental map

possibilism

the physical environment may limit some human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to their environment

natural landscape

the original environment excluding any human action or involvment

pattern

a common property of distribution, which is the geometric arrangement of objects in space. Some features are organized in a geometric pattern, whereas others are distributed irregularly. Geographers observe that many objects form a linear distribution, such as the arrangement of houses along a street or stations along a subway line

place name

a place's toponym