Units 1-7 APHUG Vocab

Here are ALL of the vocabulary words that are used in the AP Human Geography Course.

Human Geography

The branch of geography that studies how human activity affects or is influenced by Earth's surface.

Globalization

The process by which businesses and other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale.

Sustainability

The group of practices that meet the needs of the present without compromising future generations' ability to meet their needs.

Gender

A general term for the ways in which a society defines the differences between males and females global citizen A person who is aware of and understands the wider world and his or her place in it.

Culture

The shared practices, technologies, attitudes, and behaviors that a society transmits from one generation to the next.

Map

A two-dimensional (flat) representation of a geographic area or place.

Cartographer

A person who makes maps.

Data Aggregation

The process of collecting and organizing large amounts of information.

Spatial Perspective

A geographic perspective that seeks to identify and explain the uses of space.

Spatial Patterns

The placement or arrangement of objects on Earth's surface; also includes the space between those objects.

Time-Distance Decay

Also known as the "first law of geography"; the idea that near things are more related than distant things, and interaction between two places decreases the farther apart they are.

Map Symbols

Graphic elements that help organize the information in a map, such as (but not limited to) dots, stars, arrows, squares, and dotted lines.

Legend

A key to the meaning of the symbols and colors on a map.

Compass Rose

A drawing, usually found on the edge of a map, showing the four cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west) and the map's orientation.

Absolute Direction

Corresponds to the direction on a compass north, south, east, west, and combinations such as northeast and southwest.

Map Scale

The distance on a map in relation to distance in actual space; for example, 1 inch on a map might indicate a distance of 100 miles.

Scale

The territorial extent of an idea or object.

Absolute Distance

The distance that can be measured with a standard unit of length, such as a foot, yard, mile, or kilometer.

Relative Distance

A measurement of the level of social, cultural, or economic similarity between places despite their absolute distance from each other.

Relative Direction

A direction that can be described as position, such as in front of or behind, to the left or to the right.

Elevation

The distance above sea level.

Isoline

On a map, a line that connects or links different places that share a common or equal value, such as elevation.

Topographic Map

A graphic representation of the three-dimensional configuration of Earth's surface.

Reference Map

A map that shows geographic locations on Earth's surface, such as the locations of cities or oceans.

Thematic Map

A map that emphasizes the spatial patterns of geographic statistics or attributes, and sometimes the relationships between them.

Choropleth Map

A thematic map that shows data aggregated for a specific geographic area, often using different colors to represent different values.

Cartogram

A map that distorts the geographic shape of an area in order to show the size of a specific variable; the larger the area on a this map, the larger the value of the underlying variable.

Proportional/Graduated Circle Map

A map that uses symbols (such as circles or dots) of different sizes to represent numerical values.

Dot Density/Dot Distribution Map

A map that uses dots to represent objects or counts; the dot can represent one object (a one-to-one dot density map) or it can represent a number of objects (a one-to-many dot density map).

Map Projection

A method for representing the surface of Earth or a celestial sphere on a plane (two-dimensional) surface; all map projections distort some aspect of Earth's surface.

Mercator Projection

A map projection that is useful for navigation because the lines connecting points on the map represent the true compass direction; however, landmasses become increasingly distorted the farther away they are from the equator.

Peters Projection

A map projection that shows all landmasses with their true areas but distorts their shapes.

Goode Homolosine Projection

A map projection that avoids shape distortion and the restrictions of a rectangular map by creating "interruptions" in the map's continuity; in each section, map projection regions are shown "equally," like an orange peel being laid out in a flat surface.

Polar Projection

A map projection that looks down at Earth from the perspective of one of the poles (North Pole or South Pole).

Robinson Projection

A map projection that attempts to create the most visually appealing representation of Earth by keeping all types of distortion relatively low over most of the map.

Census

An official count or survey of a population, typically recording various details about individuals, such as age, sex, and race.

Fieldwork

Learning and doing research involving first-hand experience, which takes place outside the classroom setting.

Absolute Location

A precise position on Earth's surface.

Latitude (Lines)

The (invisible) horizontal lines circling Earth parallel to the equator; latitude is the degree of distance north or south from the equator, which is at 0 degrees, as far as the poles, which are at 90 degrees.

Longitude (Lines)

The (invisible) vertical lines on Earth's surface that mark imaginary circles connecting the North Pole with the South Pole.

Prime Meridian

The zero-degree longitude line that runs through Greenwich, England; also known as the Greenwich Meridian.

Global Positioning System (GPS)

A system of 24 satellites that orbit Earth twice daily and transmit radio signals Earthward; the basis for many map-based apps that provide directions on how to get from one place to another.

Graphic Information System (GIS)

A software application for capturing, storing, checking, and displaying data related to positions on Earth's surface; allows the rapid manipulation of geospatial data for problem-solving and research.

Remote Sensing

The scanning of Earth by satellite or high-flying aircraft in order to obtain information about it.

Aerial Photography

Remote-sensing photography that produces fine-grained, high-resolution, highly detailed images.

Satellite Imagery

Images of Earth's surface gathered from sensors mounted on orbiting satellites; these sensors record in both the visible and non-visible portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, allowing humans to view patterns and processes that are both visible and invisible to the naked eye.

Relative Location

The position of one place (or person) in relation to the position of another place (or person).

Space

The areas we occupy as humans; it has no value until the people who occupy it make it their own.

Place

How we modify space based on who we are as a group of people.

Cultural Landscapes

The built forms that cultural groups create in inhabiting Earth — farm fields, cities, houses, and so on — and the meaning, values, representations, and experiences associated with those forms.

Time-Space Compression

The decreasing distance between places, as measured by travel time or cost; often summarized by the phrase "the world is shrinking".

Interdependence

The ties established between regions and countries that over time collectively create a global economic system that is not necessarily based on equality.

Geographic Processes

The physical and human forces that work together to form and transform the world.

Diffusion

The pattern by which a phenomenon such as the movement of people, or their ideas, technologies, or preferences, spreads from a particular location through space and time.

Independent Invention

Occurs when the same or a very similar innovation is developed at the same time in different places by different people working independently.

Expansion Diffusion

Occurs when ideas or practices spread throughout a population, from area to area, in a snowballing process, so that the total number of knowers or users and the areas of occurrence increase.

Hierarchical Diffusion

Occurs when ideas leapfrog from one important person, community, or city to another, bypassing other persons, communities, or rural areas.

Reverse Hierarchical Diffusion

Occurs when ideas leapfrog from a lower level of a hierarchy to a higher level.

Contagious Diffusion

The wavelike spread of ideas in the manner of a contagious disease or forest fire, moving throughout space without regard for hierarchy.

Stimulus Diffusion

Occurs when a specific trait is rejected, but the underlying idea is accepted.

Relocation Diffusion

Occurs when individuals or groups with a particular idea or practice migrate from one location to another, thereby bringing the idea or practice to their new homeland.

Friction of Distance

The inhibiting effect of distance on the intensity and volume of most forms of human interaction; time-space compression diminishes friction of distance.

Ecology

A biological science concerned with studying the complex relationships among living organisms and their physical environments.

Cultural Ecology

The study of the interactions between societies and their local environments.

Ecosystem

A territorially bounded system consisting of the interaction between humans and the environment.

Environmental Perception

The mental images that comprise humans' perception of nature; environmental perception may be accurate or inaccurate.

Natural Hazard

A physical danger present in the environment, such as a flood, hurricane, volcanic eruption, and earthquake.

Tsunami

A huge ocean wave produced by the displacement of a large volume of water, often caused by an earthquake.

Natural Resources

Materials or substances that occur in nature and can be used for economic gain.

Nonrenewable Resources

Natural resources that are available on Earth in finite quantities and will eventually be used up.

Renewable Resources

Natural resources that Earth will naturally replenish over time.

Greenhouse Gases

Compounds in the atmosphere from fossil-fuel combustion, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), that absorb and trap heat energy close to Earth's surface.

Greenhouse Effect

The global warming trend caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2).

Environmental Determinism

The belief that the physical environment is the dominant force shaping cultures and that humanity is a passive product of its physical surroundings.

Possibilism

The belief that any physical environment offers a number of possible ways for a society to develop and that humans can find ways to overcome environmental challenges.

Global Scale

Geographic scale that looks at geographic phenomena across the entire world.

Regional Scale of Analysis

Geographic scale that identifies and analyzes geographic phenomena within a particular region.

National Scale of Analysis

Geographic scale that identifies and analyzes geographic phenomena within a specific country.

Local Scale of Analysis

Geographic scale that identifies and analyzes geographic phenomena within a state or province, a city or town, or neighborhood.

Global Perspective

Geographic perspective that acknowledges the two-way relationship between local communities and global patterns, emphasizing that the forces of globalization need to take into account local scale cultural, economic, and environmental conditions.

Region

A geographical unit based on one or more common characteristics or functions.

Formal Region

A geographical area inhabited by people who have one or more traits in common.

Border Zone

A region where cultural markers overlap and blend into a recognizable border culture.

Functional Region

A geographic area that has been organized to function politically, socially, culturally, or economically as one unit.

Nodes

Central points where the functions of a functional region are coordinated and directed.

Metropolitan Area

An area composed of a heavily populated urban core and its less populated surrounding areas.

Perceptual/Vernacular Region

A geographic area that is perceived to exist by its inhabitants, based on the widespread acceptance and use of a unique regional name.

Mental Map

A personal representation of a portion of Earth's surface.

Sense of Place

How a person feels about a particular place and why it's important to him or her.

Activity Space

Where a person goes and what he or she does on a day-to-day basis.

Regional Identity

The awareness of belonging to a group of people within a region.

Contested Boundaries

Boundaries that are disputed for religious, political, or cultural reasons.

Regional Analysis

The process of examining patterns and processes within and between regions at multiple geographic scales (local, national, regional, and global).

Anthropocene

the period in which human activities have had the dominant influence on the environment.

Demography

the statistical study of population and its change.

Population Distribution

the pattern in which humans are spread out on Earth's surface.

Eurasia

a massive piece of land on Earth that consists of Europe, with just under 10 percent of the human population, and Asia, which accounts for almost 60 percent of humanity.

Ecumene

the portion of Earth's surface with permanent human settlement.

Population Clusters

heavily populated areas that illustrate the unevenness in global population distribution; geographers have identified four population clusters on Earth South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe.

Metacity

a city with more than 20 million residents.