AP HUG 1st Semester Final Review

Federal State

a country where power is constitutionally divided between a central national government and regional governments (states, provinces)

Unitary States

a country where the central government holds supreme authority, making most key decisions and controlling all levels of government, with local units only exercising powers delegated by the center, leading to uniform laws but less local autonomy.

Buffer States

smaller, neutral country situated between two larger, potentially hostile powers, acting as a physical and political cushion to absorb tensions and prevent direct conflict

Territoriality

the concept that people or groups try to control a specific geographic area, asserting power, identity, and ownership over it.

Cultural Boundaries

an invisible line separating areas with different ethnic, linguistic, or religious groups

Relic Boundaries

a former political border that no longer functions as an official division but remains visible in the cultural landscape, influencing identity, culture, or land use.

Superimposed Bounderies

political borders forced onto a region by an outside power

Physical Boundaries

a natural geographic feature that serves as a border between political entities

Geometric Boundaries

a political border defined by straight lines or arcs, often ignoring physical or cultural landscapes

Census

taken every 10 years

data collected of all the individuals within a region, country, nation, state

EEZs

200nms from shore

countries have sovereignty over the resources that reside in this area

Nation

large group of people sharing common cultural traits who often feel a collective identity and attachment to a specific homeland, even if they lack their own independent state

State

a politically organized territory with a permanent population, defined boundaries, an established government that exercises sovereignty over its internal and external affairs, and the capacity to interact with others.

Nation-State

a political entity characterized by a defined territory, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other states, while also embodying a shared cultural identity among its people.

Gerrymandering

process of re-drawing political voting districts to favor one political party.

Devolution

transfer of power from the central government to local governments

Supranational

when multiple countries form an organization, ceding some sovereignty to a higher authority for shared economic, political, or military goals (EU or UN)

Federalism

system where power is divided and shared between a central (national) government and regional (state/provincial) governments

Electoral Geographers

the study of how political processes, like voting and representation, are shaped by and interact with physical and human geographical features.

Relative Location

the position of a place described by its relationship to other places, using landmarks, direction, time or distance

Absolute Location

the precise, fixed position of a place on Earth’s surface, defined by coordinates like latitude and longitude

Relative Direction

directions like “left,” “right,” “forward,” ‘back,” “up,” or “down” based on a person’s current viewpoint or surroundings.

Absolute Direction

a compass direction (N, E, S, W) that uses a fixed frame of reference, remaining constant regardless of the observer’s position

Distribution

the arrangement or spread of a feature (people, resources, phenomena) across a geographic area

Direction

the orientation from one point to another

Scale

the ratio of map distance to real-world distance

Projection

transforming a 3D image into 2D

Thematic Map

a map that visualizes data related to a specific topic or theme (population, density, climate, or economic development) in a geographic are

Reference Map

shows general locations and features (roads, boundaries, mountains, rivers) of a place, emphasizing location and navigation, not a specific theme

Mental Map

internal representations of the physical world, shaped by personal experiences, perceptions, and knowledge

Possibilism

the natural environment offers many possibilities for human development

Globalization

the interconnectedness and integration of people, cultures, economics, and political systems, driven by technology and leading to the rapid exchange of goods, ideas, capital, and labor across borders.

Distance Decay

the principle that the intensity of interaction (social, economic, cultural) between places decreases as the distance between them increases

Push and Pull Factors

push: what makes an individual move away from a place

pull: what draws an individual to a place

Distance

the spatial separation between locations

Latitude

lat = flat

North and South of the Equator

Longitude

East and West of the Prime Meridan

Population Pyramids

graphic representation of the age and gender composition of a population

Demographic Transition Model

model suggesting that a country’s birth rate and death rate change in predictable ways over stages of economic development

Arithmetic Population Density

number of people per unit area of land

Carrying Capacity (model)

the maximum population size an environment can sustainably support over time, given available resources and technology, without degrading the ecosystem

Doubling Time

70/r

The Gravity Model

a mathematical prediction of the degree of interaction and probability of migration (and other flows) between two places is based on population size and the distance between them

Transmigration

the government-sponsored policy of moving people from one place to another place within a country

Transhumance

the seasonal movement of livestock

Chain Migration

when a migrant reassures family and friends that a new community has been formed, a place where they can feel at home, further migration often occurs along the same path.

Forced Migration

the involuntary movement of people away from their homes due to severe pressures like conflict, persecution, natural disasters, or government policies

Genocide

the deliberate mass killing of individuals that belong to a certain group, religion, race etc

Infacticide

the deliberate killing of an infant

Patricide

the act of a person murdering their own father

Enclave

distinct cultural or ethnic area surrounded by a different culture, offering shared language, customs, and economic support for immigrants

Creole Language

a language that results from the mixing of a colonizer's language with the indigenous language of the people being dominated.

Pidgin Language

a form of speech that adopts a simplified grammar and limited vocabulary of a lingua franca, used for communications among speakers of two different languages.

Lingua Franca

a language mutually understood and commonly used in trade by people who have different native languages

Syncretism

the blending of two or more cultural traits, beliefs, or practices (like religions, languages, or traditions) to form a new, unique cultural system

Secularism

the principle of separating religion from public life

Caste

a social hierarchy, in the Hindu religion, where castes are determined by birth, dictating occupation, status, and marriage

Shia

leadership should stay within Muhammad’s family

Sunni

believing successors to Prophet Muhammad should be chosen by the community,

Toponym

the name given to a place on Earth, reflecting its history, culture, physical features, or people

Ethnic Religion

religion that gets passed down and doesn’t have a purpose to spread to the world

Universalizing Religion

a faith that seeks to appeal to all people worldwide and spreads globally through missionary work and diffusion

Hearth

source region where a cultural idea, innovation, or practice originates and from which it spreads (diffuses) to other areas

Exclave

a part of a country or state that is geographically separated from the main territory, surrounded by the land of one or more other states

Isogloss

a geographic boundary that separates different linguistic features

Assimilation

when a minority group loses distinct cultural traits and adopts customs of the dominant culture, can be voluntarily or involuntary.

Acculturation

the process where one culture adopts traits from another results in a blend where the original culture retains some identity but changes significantly.