AP Human Geography Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, definitions, and concepts from the provided geography lecture notes.

Absolute Location

The precise spot where something is according to a system.

Acculturation

When an ethnic or immigrant group moving to a new area adopts the values and practices of the larger group that has received them while still maintaining valuable elements of their own culture.

Assimilation

Happens when an ethnic group can no longer be distinguished from the receiving group.

Cartogram

A map where the sizes of countries or states, counties, or other areal units are shown according to some specific statistic.

Cartography

The science or practice of drawing maps.

Choropleth Map

A map where recognizable areas are shaded or patterned in proportion to the data collected.

Climate

The long term weather patterns in a region.

Connectivity

How well two locations are tied together by roads or other links.

Contagious Diffusion

The rapid widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population.

Cultural Ecology

The study of how humans adapt to the environment.

Cultural Landscape

The visible imprint of human culture on the natural or physical environment.

Transnational Corporation

Those who operate in many countries; companies that conduct business on a global scale.

Density

The frequency with which something exists within a given unit of area.

Diffusion

The spread of information, ideas, behaviors, and other aspects of culture from their hearths to wider areas.

Distance Decay

A geographic concept stating that as the distance between two places increases, the interaction, connection, or influence decreases between them.

Distribution

The arrangement of something across Earth's surface.

Equator

An imaginary line that circles the middle of the Earth.

Dot or Distribution Map

A map that depicts data that consists of discrete observations, where each dot represents a predetermined number of observations (which could be one or many).

Ecosystem

A group of living organisms and the abiotic spheres with which they interact.

Environmental Determinism

A nineteenth and early twentieth century approach to the study of geography that argued that the general laws sought by human geographers could be found in the physical sciences, making geography the study of how the physical environment caused human activities.

Expansion Diffusion

The spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in an additive process.

Formal Region (Uniform Region)

An area in which everyone shares in at least one distinctive characteristic.

Functional Region (Nodal Region)

An area organized around a node or focal point.

Geographic Information System

Captures, stores, queries, and displays geographic data.

Global Positioning System

A system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and receivers.

Globalization

Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope.

Toponym

The name given to a portion of Earth's surface.

Hearth

A place from which an innovation originates.

Human Geography

The branch of geography that studies how human societies develop, interact, and operate across Earth's surface.

Hierarchical Diffusion

The spread of a feature or trend from one key person or node of authority or power to other persons or places.

International Date Line

An arc that for the most part follows 180 degrees longitude; crossing heading east toward America moves the clock back 24 hours (one entire day), while crossing heading west toward Asia moves the calendar ahead one day.

Isoline Map

A map that connects places of a particular value by lines.

Latitude

The numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on a globe, measuring distance north and south of the equator (0 degrees).

Location

The position of anything on Earth's surface.

Longitude

The numbering system used to indicate the location of meridians drawn on a globe, measuring distance east and west of the prime meridian (0 degrees).

Vernacular Region (Perceptual Region)

An area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity.

Network

A chain of communication that connects places.

Pattern

The geometric or regular arrangement of something in a particular area.

Place

A specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular characteristic.

Possibilism

The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives.

Prime Meridian

The meridian designated as 0 degrees longitude that passes through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England.

Projection

A system used to transfer locations from Earth's surface to a flat map.

Region

An area of Earth defined by one or more distinctive characteristics.

Relocation Diffusion

The spread of a feature or trend through physical movement of people from one place to another.

Remote Sensing

The acquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting Earth or from other long-distance methods.

Scale

The relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole.

Situation

The location of a place relative to another place.

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 systems.

Spatial Association

The relationship between the distribution of one feature and the distribution of another feature.

Stimulus Diffusion

The spread of an underlying principle.