AP Human Geography Vocabulary Unit 4

State

An area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government with control over its internal and foreign affairs. The Formal Version of a country.

Sovereignity

Ability of a state to govern its territory free from control of its internal affairs by other states.

Nation

A group of people with a common culture living in a territory and having a strong sense of unity

Nation-State

A nation of people who meet the qualifications for a state. The state's area corresponds to the culture turning into the nationality.

Multinational State

A state that contains two or more nations or ethnic groups.

Autonomous Region

An area of a country that has a degree of autonomy, or has freedom from an external authority.

Stateless Nation

A nation that does not match the boundary of a state.

Multistate Nation

A Nation stretches across several states.

Centripetal Force

A force that unifies people in a state.

Centrifrugal Froce

A force that divides people in a state.

Berlin Conference

A meeting from 1884-1885 at which representatives of European nations agreed on rules colonization of Africa for the benefit of the European countries and resource gains.

Self Determination

The right of people to choose their own government without external influence.

Genocide

Organized mass killing of an ethnic or cultural group by the government.

Satellite States

Devolution

The transfer of powers and responsibilities from the unitary government to the smaller regional government.

Choke Point

A strategic, narrow waterway between two larger bodies of water. Part of large economic activities.

Territoriality

Defense of a space against encroachment by other individuals.

Antecedent Boundary

A boundary that existed before the cultural landscape emerged and stayed in place while people moved in to occupy the surrounding area.

Subsequent Boundary

A boundary drawn after a cultural landscape is already in place. This is subsequent to change as cultures change.

Superimposed Boundary

A boundary line placed over and ignoring an existing cultural pattern, usually by outside forces.

Relic Boundary

A former boundary line that is still discernible and marked by some cultural landscape features

Geometric Boundry

Political boundary defined and delimited (and occasionally demarcated) as a straight line or an arc

Consequent Boundary

A type of subsequent boundary that is drawn to accommodate existing linguistic, cultural, or religious boundaries

Physical Boundary

Political boundaries that correspond with prominent physical features such as mountain ranges or rivers.

Definitional Boundary Dispute

Conflict over the language of the border agreement in a treaty or boundary contract

Delimination

Phase in which a boundary's definition is drawn onto a map

Demarcation

The marking of boundaries by a physical object.

Locational Boundary Dispute

A dispute over where the boundary is and how it should be deliminated or demarcated.

Irredentism

A type of expansionism when one country seems to annex territory where it has cultural ties to a part of the population or historical claims to the land.

Operational Boundary Dispute

Conflict over the boundaries function. Centered around trade, transportation, and migration.

Enclave

Territory that is part of the state but is separated from the state by other states.

Exclave

States, territories or parts of a state that are surrounded by another state.

Shatterbelt

A region caught between stronger colliding external cultural-political forces, under persistent stress, and often fragmented by aggressive rivals (e.g., Israel or Kashmir today; Eastern Europe during the Cold War,…).

UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea)

Territorial Sea

Up to 12 nautical miles of sovereignty; commercial vessels may pass, but non-commercial vessels may be challenged.

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

the seazone extending 200 nautical miles from the coast over which a state has special rights as to the exploration and use of marine resources

High Seas

water beyond the EEZ is open to all states

Reapportionment

the process of reassigning representation based on population, after every census

Redistricting

The redrawing of congressional and other legislative district lines following the census, to accommodate population shifts and keep districts as equal as possible in population.

Gerrymandering

the drawing of legislative district boundaries to benefit a party, group, or incumbent

Federal State

An internal organization of a state that allocates most powers to units of local government.

Unitary State

An internal organization of a state that places most power in the hands of central government officials

Ethnic Cleansing

Process in which more powerful ethnic group forcibly removes a less powerful one in order to create an ethnically homogeneous region

Balkanization

Process by which a state breaks down through conflicts among its ethnicities.

Supranationalism

Three or more countries agree to give up a degree of autonomy in order to pursue common goals. (ex. European Union)

United Nations

An international organization formed after WWII to promote international peace, security, and cooperation.

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization; an alliance made to defend one another if they were attacked by any other country; US, England, France, Canada, Western European countries

European Union

An international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members.

African Union

organization formed in 2002 to promote unity among African states and to foster development and end poverty

Ethnocentrism

Belief in the superiority of one's nation or ethnic group.