AP Human Geo ALL Units Vocab

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from geography and cultural patterns.

Sequent occupance

The notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape.

Cultural landscape

Fashioning of a natural landscape by a cultural group, representing human interaction with nature.

Arithmetic density

Total number of people divided by total land area; a common understanding of density.

Physiological density

The number of people per unit of area of arable land, indicating how much land is used by how many people.

Hearth

The region from which innovative ideas originate; related to the diffusion of ideas.

Diffusion

The process of spread of a feature or trend from one place to another over time.

Relocation diffusion

Spread of an idea through the physical movement of people from one place to another.

Expansion diffusion

The spread of a feature from one place to another in a snowballing process.

Hierarchical diffusion

The spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority or power to other persons or places.

Contagious diffusion

The rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population.

Stimulus diffusion

The spread of an underlying principle, even though a characteristic itself fails to diffuse.

Absolute distance

Exact measurement of the physical space between two places.

Relative distance

Approximate measurement of the physical space between two places.

Environmental determinism

The study of how the physical environment causes human activities.

Absolute location

Position on Earth’s surface using a system of coordinates.

Relative location

Position on Earth’s surface relative to other features.

Site

Physical character of a place; what is found at the location and its significance.

Situation

The location of a place relative to other places.

Space-time compression

The reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place due to improved communication and transportation.

Friction of distance

The notion that distance usually requires effort, money, and/or energy to overcome.

Distance decay

The diminishing importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin.

Net migration

The difference between the number of immigrants and the number of emigrants.

Cohort

Population of various age categories in an age-sex population pyramid.

Dependency ratio

The number of people too young or too old to work compared to those in their productive years.

Zero population growth

When the crude birth rate equals the crude death rate and the natural increase rate approaches zero.

Malthus, Thomas

An economist who argued that the world's population increase was surpassing the development of food supply.

Neo-Malthusian

Theory that builds upon Malthus' ideas, considering factors like population growth in LDCs.

Cultural ecology

The study of human environmental relationships.

Acculturation

Process of adopting only certain customs that will be beneficial.

Assimilation

Process whereby less dominant cultures lose their culture to a more dominant culture.

Cultural identity

Belief in belonging to a group with distinct cultural characteristics.

Cultural realm

A distinct area where specific cultural traits are predominant.

Cultural adaptation

Adjustment of a culture to a new environment or situation.

Maladaptive diffusion

Diffusion of a process with negative side effects.

Animism

Belief that objects or natural events have discrete spirits and life.

Buddhism

A major universalizing religion with approximately 365 million followers.

Christianity

A monotheistic religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

Judaism

The religion of ancient Hebrews, believed to be one of the first monotheistic faiths.

Islam

A monotheistic religion originating with the teachings of Muhammad.

Sikhism

A religion that emphasizes faith in Vāhigurū founded in Northern India.

Ethnic religion

A religion with concentrated distribution, often based on physical characteristics of a location.

Fundamentalism

Strict adherence to the basic principles of a religion.

Secularism

Belief that human actions should be based on facts, not religious beliefs.

Gentrification

Process in which low-cost neighborhoods are renovated by the middle class.

Urbanization

The migration of people from rural to urban areas and the growth of cities.