AP Human Geography Key Concepts: Diffusion, Culture, and Demographics

Ethnocentrism

Believing your own culture is superior to others

Total Fertility Rate

Average number of children a woman is expected to have during her childbearing years

Asylum seekers

People seeking protection in another country

Environmental Determinism

The idea that the physical environment shapes human behavior and culture

Census data and Demographics

Collecting information about a population's characteristics

Life expectancy

The average age people live to in a population

Stimulus diffusion

An idea spreads but changes in the new location

Population pyramids

Graphs showing age and sex structure of a population

Relocation diffusion

People move and bring their culture or ideas with them

Hierarchical diffusion

Ideas spread from larger or more important places to smaller ones

Reverse hierarchical diffusion

Ideas spread from smaller or less important places to larger ones

Cultural landscape

Physical and human modifications to the landscape

Intervening opportunities

A closer option that reduces migration to a farther place

Syncretism

Blending of two or more cultures or religions

Acculturation

Adopting traits of another culture while keeping your own

Cultural trait

A single feature of a culture, like clothing or language

Indigenous populations

Original inhabitants of an area

Contagious diffusion

Ideas spread quickly to nearby people

Relative location

Location of a place compared to other places

Ethnic religion

Religion tied to a specific culture or region

Universalizing religion

Religion that spreads widely across different cultures

Hearth

The origin point of a culture or idea

Colonialism

Controlling another country for resources and power

Placemaking

Making a space meaningful and culturally significant

Aging population

A population with a high proportion of older people

One-child policy

China's population control law limiting families to one child

GIS

Geographic Information System, a tool to map and analyze spatial data

GPS

Global Positioning System, a technology to find exact location

Popular culture

Modern, widespread culture influenced by media and cities

Indo-European

A major language family including most languages in Europe and South Asia

Buddhism

Religion from India that spread to Southeast and East Asia

Christianity

Religion originating in the Middle East, now worldwide

Arabic

Language and cultural influence in the Middle East and North Africa

Diffusion of language

The spread of languages across regions

Indigenous boarding schools

Schools that forced Native Americans to adopt European culture

French (Language and colonization)

Spread of French language and culture through colonies

Intraregional migration patterns in the 19th and 20th centuries

Moving within regions, often rural to urban

State-less nation

Ethnic group without its own country (e.g., Kurds)

Kurds

Example of a state-less nation in the Middle East

Continuum of language family to dialect

Languages gradually change across regions

Folk culture

Traditional, often rural culture that changes slowly

DTM

Demographic Transition Model, shows population changes over time

Creolization

Mixing of languages and cultures to create a new one

Religious dietary restrictions (pork in particular)

Islam and Judaism avoid pork

Hierarchy of political-administrative units

Country → State → County → City

Largest category of international migrants

Often economic migrants

Regions

Areas with shared physical or cultural characteristics

Types of Density

Arithmetic, physiological, and agricultural density

Hmong

Ethnic group with distinct language and culture

Multinational State

Country with multiple ethnic groups living within it