Comprehensive Geography of Culture, Population, and Maps

Culture

Customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group.

Hearth

A place where a religion or language started or came from.

Folk Culture

Culture with anonymous, often isolated, hearths that reflect local traditions and environments.

Pop Culture

Culture with traceable hearths, typically in urban areas of developed countries, driven by commerce and global communication.

Relocation Diffusion

The spread of culture through the migration of people who bring their traditions with them.

Hierarchical Diffusion

The rapid spread of culture from a hearth or center through modern communication and transportation networks.

Cultural Landscape

Evidence that the environment is altered by human activity and culture.

Acculturation

Adopting a few things from a culture.

Assimilation

Completely adopting a culture.

Ethnic Enclave

An area where there is a high concentration of a certain ethnicity.

Expansion Diffusion

The spread of a cultural trend, idea, or trait outward from a central source.

Distance Decay

A geographical concept stating that interaction decreases as distance increases.

Ghetto

A densely populated urban area where a specific ethnic or minority group is concentrated.

Globalization

Spreading something around the world.

Language Family

A group of languages sharing a common ancestor.

Language Branch

A subdivision of a language family representing languages with a more recent common ancestor.

Lingua Franca

An official language taught in school and used professionally and in government.

Pidgin

An extremely simplified, limited non-native language used by people who speak different languages.

Racism

The belief that one race is superior to all others.

Religion

The belief in one or many gods.

Sequent Occupancy

The idea that people's cultures leave a mark on places.

Sense of Place

The subjective meaning, feeling, and attachment people develop for a specific location.

Stimulus Diffusion

When something is brought over and adopted by a culture, but a few traits are changed.

Syncretism

Blending a culture or religion with another.

Taboo

Something that is wrong or looked down upon in a culture or religion.

Toponym

The name for a place.

Isolation

When a culture stays isolated, little to nothing changes within it.

Diffusion of Social Media

The process by which it spreads through populations, primarily through contagious diffusion.

Christianity

Universalizing religion with branches Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox.

Islam

Universalizing religion with branches Sunni and Shia.

Hinduism

Ethnic religion with temples and a pilgrimage to the Ganges.

Judaism

Ethnic religion with temples and a hearth near Palestine and Israel.

Buddhism

Belief system with three branches: Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana.

Sikhism

Universalizing religion with temples that imitate the holy temple.

Population Distribution

The arrangement of people across the Earth.

Population Density

The number of people living per unit of area.

Arithmetic Density

Total population ÷ total land area.

Physiological Density

Total population ÷ arable (farmable) land area.

Agricultural Density

Number of farmers ÷ arable land area.

Carrying Capacity

The maximum number of people an area can support with available resources.

Census

The official count of a country's population, including demographic data.

Overpopulation

When there are too many people for the land to support.

LDC

A country with low levels of industrialization and low income.

MDC

A country with high levels of industrialization and high income.

HDC

A country with a very high standard of living and advanced economy.

Natural Increase Rate

The percentage growth of a population, calculated as birth rate minus death rate.

Crude Birth Rate

The number of live births per 1,000 people per year.

Crude Death Rate

The number of live deaths per 1,000 people per year.

Doubling Time

The amount of time required for a population to double.

Total Fertility Rate

The average number of children a woman is expected to have during her lifetime.

Replacement Fertility Ratio

2.1 is needed for a population to replace itself.

Ecumene

Areas of the Earth that are permanently inhabited by humans.

Demographics

Statistical characteristics of a population.

Demographic Transition Model (DTM)

A model explaining population change over time.

Epidemiological Transition Model

Explains causes of changing death rates.

Population Aging

Determined by birth and death rates, and life expectancies.

Dependency Ratio

The ratio of dependents to the working-age population.

Population Pyramids

Used to assess population growth and decline.

Malthusian Theory

Analyzes population change and its consequences.

Push Factors

Conditions that drive people to leave a place.

Pull Factors

Conditions that attract people to a new place.

Intervening Obstacles

Barriers that make migration harder.

Ravenstein's Laws of Migration

Most migrants move short distances; long-distance migrants usually move to urban areas.

Lee's Migration Model

Describes push and pull factors and intervening obstacles.

Zelinsky's Migration Transition Model

Describes stages of migration patterns related to economic development.

Stage 5

Very low birth rate, low death rate → population may decline.

Zero population growth

When the number of births plus immigrants equals the number of deaths plus emigrants, so the population size remains stable.

Sex ratio

The number of males per 100 females in a population.

Age cohorts

Groups of people in the same age range, usually shown in 5-year intervals.

Life expectancy/longevity

Average number of years a person is expected to live; affects the shape of the pyramid.

CBR

Number of live births per 1,000 people per year; high CBR widens the base of the pyramid.

Elderly support ratio

Number of working-age people per elderly person; in Japan, a high elderly population increases the dependency burden.

Youth dependency ratio

Number of people under 15 compared to the working-age population; a high youth dependency ratio means more resources are needed for education and childcare.

Epidemiologic transition model

Stages of population health transitions from pestilence and famine to delayed degenerative diseases.

Thomas Malthus

Theory that population grows faster than food production; technology and innovation have prevented predicted crises.

Neo-Malthusian theory

Population growth can outpace resources, leading to environmental and social problems.

Ester Boserup

Had a theory that we won't run out of resources due to population growth.

China's one child policy

A government program to limit most families to one child to control population growth.

India's family planning program

Aims to control population growth and improve maternal and child health.

Antinatalist

They don't want babies or population growth.

Industrial revolution (in terms of DTM)

Marks the transition from Stage 1 to Stage 2 of the Demographic Transition Model.

Mobility

All types of movement of people, goods, or information from one place to another.

Circulation

Short-term, repetitive, or cyclical movements of people.

Emigration

People moving out of a place.

Immigration

People moving into a place.

International migration

The movement of people across country borders to live temporarily or permanently in another country.

Internal migration

The movement of people within the same country.

Net in migration

When a region receives more people moving in than leaving.

Net out migration

When a region has more people leaving than entering.

Step migration

People move in stages rather than directly from their origin to their final destination.

Voluntary migration

When people want to migrate and do so willingly.

Forced migration

When people don't want to migrate but are forced to.

Suburbanization

The movement of people from cities to surrounding suburbs.

Counterurbanization

When people move to rural areas from cities.

Refugees

People who are forced to leave their home country due to war, persecution, or natural disasters.

Internally displaced persons

People who are forced to flee their homes due to conflict, violence, or disasters but remain within their own country.

Asylum seekers

People who flee their home country and seek international protection, claiming they face persecution, war, or violence.

Remittances

Money that guest workers send back to their families.

Brain drain/gain

Brain Drain occurs when skilled or educated workers emigrate from a country; Brain Gain happens when a country receives skilled immigrants.

Circular migration

The repeated movement of people between two or more places, often for work or seasonal opportunities.