AP Human Geography Unit 4 Vocabulary 4.1-4.10

State

The largest political unit, the formal term for a country. The primary buildin blocks for the worl political map. e.x.(USA, Russia, India, etc.)

Nation

A group of people who have certain things in common: heritage, language, tradtions, and culture. e.x.(The Maasai in Africa).

Nation-Sate

A nation of people who fulfill the qualifications of a state. e.x. (Japan, Denmark, and Iceland).

Multinational State

A country that contains more than one nation. e.x. (Afghanistan and Nigeria).

Autonomous Region

A defined area within a state that has a high degree of self-government and freedom from its parent state. e.x. (Hong Kong, Tibet, and Native American reserves in the USA).

Semiautonomous Region

A state that has a degree of, but not complete self-rule. e.x.(Native American Reserves in the USA).

Stateless Nation

A cultural group that has no independent political entity. e.x. (Kurds in SW Asia, Basque in Spain, Palestinians, and the Navajo).

Multistate Nation

When a nation has a state of its own but stretches across borders of other states. e.x. (The Soviet Union splitting in Ukraine, Latvia, and Estonia).

Sovereignty

The power of a political unit, or government, to rule over its own affairs.

Berlin Conference

A meeting from 1884-1885 at which representatives of European nations agreed on rules colonization of Africa. They formed the boundaries in Africa without considering the existing ethnic people there.

Self-Determination

The right to choose their own sovereign government without external influence. e.x. (independence movements or devolution)

Decolonization

The undoing of colonization, in which indigenous people reclaim sovereignty over their territory. e.x. (African Countries gain independence from Europe, Independence Movements from the United Nations).

Devolution

The process in which regions within a stae demand and gain political strength and growing autonomy at the expense of the central government. The transfer of some political power

from the central government to subnational levels of government. e.x. (Having indivisual governments in states of the USA).

Territoriality

The control and Influence over a geographic space. Awillingness by a person or a group of people to defend space they claim. e.x (Defending land and having a feeling that a land is yours).

Neocolonialism

The use of economic, political, cultural, or other pressures in order to control and influence other countries. e.x.(Transnational corporations based in European countries continued to control the extraction of natural resources through mining and the export of coffee, cacao, bananas, and other crops on plantations in developing countries, Political Influence - U.S controlling wars in the Middle East. Kenya - $3.8 billion dollar railroad - Chinese government owned company - crushing debt - Chinese control over the railroad.)

Shatterbelts

Instablity within a stae that is geographically located between states with overlapping territorialtiy and political power. e.x. (Germany during the Cold War and Balkan Penninsula).

Balkanization

Process by which a state breaks down through conflicts among its ethnicities. e.x. (Yugosalavia)

Choke Points

A place of physical congestion between wider regions of

movement and interaction. A stratigic strait or canal which is narrow hard to pass through and has competition for use. e.x. (Strait of Malacca, Strait of Hormuz, and Suez).

Antecedent Boundary

Borders that established before their is major settlement. e.x. (49th parallel that seperates the Unted States and Canada).

Subsequent Boundary

Borders that have been drawn in areas settled by poeple, typically due to changes that have occurred over time. e.x. (Boundaries in europe changing due to empires, war, or political agreements).

Conseqeunt Boundary

A type of subsequent border that takes into account already-existing cultural or physical landscapes. Boundary that matches existing cultural distributuions. e.x.(Boundary between Nunavut and Canda established between Canda and the indigenous groups & India and Pakistan due to religous conflicts).

Superimposed Boundary

Borders that are drawn over an existing and accepted border by an outside force. e.x. (Berlin Conference and border between Mali and Mauritania)

Geometric Boundary

Borders that established with straight lines of longitude and latitude. e.x. (border between Saudi Arabia and Iraq)

Relic Boundary

Border that no longer exists today but has left some impact on the local cultural or enviromental geography. e.x. (East and West Germany , The Iron Curtain, The Confederacy in the U.S)

Defined

Countries legally define and agree to where borders are located through an agreement or treaty.

Delimited

Identifying the location of the defined boundaries on a map. (usually at the same time legal boudaries are made)

Demarcated

Visible markings of the boundary with objects; fences or signs.

Administered

Legal managment of the border through laws, immigration regulation, documentation, and persecution. e.x. ICE

Definitional Boundary Dispute

When two or more parties disagree over how to interpret the legal documents or maps that identify the boundary.

e.x. (boundary between Chile and Argentina The elevated crests of the Andes Mountains serve as the boundary, but since most of the southern lands were neither settled nor accurately mapped, control of this territory lies in dispute.)

Locational Boundary Dispute

Boundary disputes that center on where a boundary should be, how it is delimited (mapped), or demarcated.

Operational Boundary Dispute

Dispute on how a boundary functions. Includes trade, transportation and migration. e.x. (As refugees fled Syria and attempted to enter Europe during the 2011 civil war, Europeans viewed their national boundaries differently. Refugees began migrating from southern Europe to the interior seeking safe haven. Interior countries of Europe often viewed the countries to the south and east as responsible for stopping migrants, while others felt the boundaries should stay open in order to help the refugees).

Allocational Boundary Dispute

When a boundary separates natural resources that may be used by both countries

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

An organization made to manage boundaries on the sea in order to stop other countries from having disputes.

Territorial Sea

This area extends up to 12 nautical miles of sovereignty

where commercial vessels may pass, but noncommercial vessels may be challenged. A nautical mile is equal to 1.15 land-measured miles.

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

Coastal states can explore, extract minerals, and manage natural resources up to 200 nautical miles.

Census

A count of the population, every 10 years, to ensure the national congressional districts have approximately the same number of people.

Reapportioment

Changing the number of representatives granted to each

state so it reflects the state's population.

Electoral College

Organization that uses the popular vote to then vote for the president.

Redistricting

State legislatures or state committees then redraw district boundaries so that each district contains roughly the same

number of people.

Voting Districts

Internal boundaries that divide a country's electorate into subnational regions

Gerrymandering

The drawing of boundaries for political districts by the party in power to protect or increase its power.

Packing

Combining like-minded voters into one district to prevent them from affecting elections in other districts.

Cracking

Dispersing a group into several districts to prevent a majority.

Representative Districts

The idels voting districts that are equal in poulation, contiguos and compact. They are truly representative of the people living in that district.

Federal

Unites separate political entities into an overarching system that allows each entity to maintain some degree of sovereignty. A style of government in which power is shared between central, regional, and local governments. e.x. (Germany, the United States, and Nigeria).

Unitary

Most or all of the governing power is held by the national government. A style of government in which power is located centrally and the purpose of regional and local governments is to carry out policy. e.x. (France, Japan, and Kenya).

Ethnic Separatism

The advocacy of full political separation (or secession) from the larger group along cultural, ethnic, tribal, or governmental lines. e.x. (Tibetan Buddhists in China & Basque and Catalans).

Ethnic Cleansing

A purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent or terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group

from certain geographic areas. e.x. (The Holocaust).

Terrorism

Organized violence aimed at government and civilian targets to create fear for the advancement of political goals. e.x. (Uyghurs in China, Palestinians in Israel, Basque ETA 1959-2011).

Irredentism

A movement to unite people who share a language or other cultural elements but are divided by a national boundary. e.x. (Russians in Ukraine and other Soviet states).

Supranational Organization

The practice of multiple countries forming an organization for the benenfit of all members. e.x. (The UN, NATO, EU, etc.)

United Nations (UN)

Organization with majority countries of the world intended to promote peace, security, and human rights.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

A group of 28 countries that has agreed to protect each other in case of attack; founded in 1949.

European Union (EU)

An economic association established in 1957 by a number of Western European countries to promote free trade among its members

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

a trade alliance that promotes trade and economic integration among member nations in Southeast Asia

World Trade Organization (WTO)

The goalof the WTO is to have countries agree to a set of fair and non-discriminatory guidelines for international trade. A secondary goal of the WTO is to ensure that trade flows smoothly, freely, and predictibly.

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

Focuses on the production of oil, or petroleum. Its mission is to coordinate and unify its members' petroleum policies in order to stabilize oil markets. e.x. (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,

Indonesia, Venezuela, Nigeria, and Iran).

Regionalism

Loyalty to a distinct portion of a country is more important

than loyalty to the entire country. e.x. (Qubec in Canada).

Ethnonationalism

Support for the political interests of a particular ethnic group within a state, especially its national independence or self-determination. e.x. (Fragmentation within Syria and Iraq gave rise to Kurdish independence movements in those countries).