AP Human Geography - Module 23

Culture Hearth

a focused geographic area where important innovations are born and from which they spread; usually the place most strongly connected with a particular trait

Language Families

a group of languages that share a common ancestry

Dialect

a regional variation of a language that is understood by people that speak other variations

Accent

a way of pronouncing words

Monotheistic

relating to the belief in only one god

Universalizing Religion

a religion that actively seeks new members and believes its message has universal importance and application

Ethnic Religion

a religion identified with a particular ethnic group and largely exclusive to it

Proselytic

describing a religion that spreads its message to others through missionary work

The Semitic Religious Hearth

- Judaism, Christianity, Islam

- Arose in Asia and the Middle East

- The religions spread through both relocation (migration of members of the religion) and expansion diffusion (missionaries)

- Judaism is an ethnic religion, so it has spread much less and much slower than Islam and Christianity, which are universalizing

- Hierarchical diffusion helped to spread these religions by converting kings or leaders first

- Islam spread militarily and through missionaries

- Islam is the fastest growing religion today

Pagans

people who follow an unconventional religion, such as Wiccans or Druids

The Indus-Ganga Religious Hearth

- Hinduism and Buddhism

- Located on the north edge of the Indian subcontinent

- Diffused through missionaries

The East Asian Religous Hearth

- Confucianism and Taoism

- Both religions spread through hierarchical diffusion and were only widely accepted when the ruling class promoted them

- In 1949, China's government repressed religion (absorbing barrier); however, it just went underground and did not die out

What are the three major language families?

1. Indo-European

2. Sino-Tibetan

3. Afro-Asiatic

Indo-European Language Family

- Includes Romance, Slavic, Celtic, Germanic, Indic, and Iranic Languages

- The largest and mot widespread language family

- Europe, Russia, North and South America, Australia, and Southwest Asia and India

- Two hypothesis for the spread of these languages: Anatolian and Kurgan

- Anatolian hypothesis: languages spread from Anatolia due to farming innovations and peaceful contact with other groups

- Kurgan hypothesis (more widely accepted than Anatolian): language was spread by conquest of horse-riding Kurgans

- Neither has been proven

- Many common languages in this family were spread through imperial conquest, relocation diffusion, and expansion (mostly hierarchical) diffusion

Sino-Tibetan Language Family

- 2nd to Indo-European in number of native speakers

- China and Southeast Asia

- 2 branches: Sino-Burman and Tibetan-Burman

Afro-Asiatic Language Family

- 2 divisions: semitic and Hamitic

- Semitic: Arabian peninsula, Tigris-Euphrates, valley of Iraq, Syria, North Africa

- Hamitic: North/East Africa, but originated in Asia

Toponyms

the names given to places; often reflect patterns of language, dialect, and ethnicity; toponyms of past cultures can remain long after the culture is gone

Generic Toponym

the generic part of a place name, often as a prefix or a suffix (ex. the -ville suffix in Louisville)

Christianity

- Universalizing religion

- World's largest religion (1/3 of the total population)

- Separated into divisions: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Eastern

- Eastern: Armenian Church, Coptic Church, Maronites, Nestorians, Eastern Orthodox Church

- Widespread and highly diverse

Islam

- Founded by the prophet Muhammad

- 2 major divisions: Shi'ites (Shi'a) (believe Muhammad's son should have succeeded him) and Sunni (traditional)

- Sunni = 90%; Shi'ites = 10%

- Islam is strongest in Arabic-speaking countries

Buddhism

- Based on the teaching of Prince Siddhartha, the Buddha

- Shares many beliefs with Hinduism, its parent religion

- It is the most widespread religion in South and East Asia

- it has blended with other religions there to create unique subdivisions

Polytheistic

relating to the belief in many gods

Animistic Religion

a faith that subscribes to the idea that souls or spirits exist not only in humans, but also in animals, plants, rocks, natural phenomena such as thunder, geographic features such as mountains or rivers, and other entities of the natural environment

Judaism

- The 1st major monotheistic religion

- Unlike other monotheistic faiths, it is not proselytic

- It is split in to subgroups due to the diaspora (Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, Sephardim)

- North America, Israel, Europe, Latin America

Hinduism

- Polytheistic

- Many diverse groups of Hinduism exist (Sikhism, Jainism)

- 97% of Hindus are located in Nepal, India, and Mauritius

Animisim

- Animistic religon

- Not a single group, but a set of beliefs

- Follow oral tradition rather than written tradition

- Animistic beliefs can also pervade established religions