AP HUG Chapter 1: Basic Concepts

Climate, landforms, vegetation ○ Human geography

Where and why human activities are located where they are

Miles on each side ■ North-south lines = principal meridians ■ East-west lines = baselines ○ Range ○ Sections

Townships are divided into 36 sections 1 mile by 1 mile

■ ● Functional (nodal) regions ○ Example

the circulation area of a newspaper/ ■ Nodal center point is also called hearth

○ ● Vernacular (cultural) regions ○ Example

the American South

Relative Location

Location from a certain place (place from a supermarket)

Absolute Location

Exact location (addresses, latitude/longitude)

Space

Distance between two objects

Density

Number of objects within an area

Physiological Density

Number of people per amount of arable land

Agricultural Density

Number of farmers per amount of arable land

Pop Culture

Heterogeneous, rapidly changes, diffuses rapidly, spreads over a large area

Local Culture

Done locally, only in small area

Folk Culture

Culture in tribes, Native Americans

Place

A specific point on the earth distinguished by a particular characteristic

Region

Area of Earth distinguished by a distinctive combination of cultural and physical features

Scale

Relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole

Space

Gap or interval between two objects

Connections

relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space

Meridians

lines of longitude / prime meridian

Parallels

lines of latitude / equator

Environmental determinism

The belief that the physical environment sets limits on human social environment

Possibilism

Modern geographers generally reject environmental determinism in favor of possibilism

Climate

Long term average weather condition at a particular location

Vegetation

Plant life covers almost the entire land surface of earth

Arithmetic

total # of objects in an area

Physiological

# of persons per unit of area suitable for agriculture

Agricultural

# of farmers per unit area of farmland

Hearth

source area for innovations

Hierarchical Diffusion

Spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority or power to other persons or places

Contagious Diffusion

Rapid widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population

Stimulus Diffusion

Spread of an underlying principle even though a characteristic itself apparently fails to diffuse