AP Human Geography Unit 3

Hearth

the geographic location where a new idea is born

Relocation diffusion

spread of ideas through travel or trade

Hierarchical diffusion

spread of ideas from a superior/elite person to average people

Contagious diffusion

spread of ideas from one average person to another

Stimulus diffusion

when one culture adapts and modifies ideas from another culture

Sacred site

a place that has a special connection to a religion’s god(s) or holy text

Place of worship

a place where people attend routine religious services

Monotheistic

a religion with one god

Polytheistic

a religion with multiple gods

Ethnic religion

a religion that is specific to a particular ethnic group and does not attempt to convert others

Universalizing religion

a religion that seeks new followers across many different regions or cultural groups

Pilgrimage

a religious journey, often to a sacred site

Jerusalem

a city in Israel that contains sacred sites for Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Site of many modern day religious conflicts.

Mecca

a pilgrimage destination in Saudi Arabia that Muslims must visit in their lifetimes if health and finances permit

Varanasi

a city on the banks of the Ganges River in India that is a sacred site for the Hindu religion

Culture

the characteristics, beliefs, and knowledge unique to a group of people, including language, religion, food, social habits, and arts.

Cultural traits

specific characteristics of a culture, such greetings, holidays, or food

Cultural Landscape

the ways that a cultural group modifies their environment. 

Built environment

a synonym for cultural landscape

Material culture

physical objects from a culture

mentifcats/sociofacts

a core belief of a culture

Ethnocentrism

judging another culture by your own standards; a fancy word for racism

Cultural Relativism

the belief that people should try to understand other cultures instead of judging them

Taboo

a behavior that is forbidden in a culture

Assimilation

when a minority group is forced to give up their own culture due to social pressure or government policy

Acculturation

when members of a minority group maintain some of their cultural traditions but also adopt traditions from the majority culture

Syncretism

when ideas from two or more cultures combine to form something new

artifacts

any physical object from a culture; does not have to be old

sense of place

the strong emotional connection or perception people have of a specific geographic; the area set of qualities and characteristics that make a specific geographic location different from everywhere else

placelessness

when a place lacks qualities and characteristics that make it distinct from other geographic locations

placemaking

the process of creating a cultural landscape that showcases a particular culture OR the process of making an area a high quality place to live

environmental determinism

the belief that the environment determines the culture

environmental possibilism

the belief that environment is one of many factors that can influence a culture

Dialect

a regional, racial, or socioeconomic variation in how a language is spoken (British English v American English)

Language Family

a group of languages that share a common origin. 

Indo-European Language Family

the largest language family in the world.  It makes up 46% of modern languages, including English, most languages spoken in Europe, and most languages spoken on the Indian subcontinent

Sino-Tibetan Language Family

the second largest language family in the world.  It makes up approximately 20% of modern languages in the world, including most languages in East Asia

language branch

 a closely related group of languages from one family

isogloss

a line on a map showing where a language is spoken

lingua franca

a common language that is spoken between people who do not speak one another’s language

pidgin

an informal language that is made up of two languages, like spanglish

creole

a formal language that developed by combining two or more languages

multiculturalism

the presence of, or support for the presence of, several distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society

centrifugal forces

forces that cause divisions in a country

centripetal forces

forces that help bring a country together