AP Human Geography Ch.1 Flashcards

Absolute location

the precise spot where something is located on earth, determined by latitude and longitude

Acculturation

the process of cultural change and adaptation that occurs when one culture becomes influenced by another culture

Assimilation

the process by which a group’s cultural features are altered to resemble those of another group

Cartogram

a map in which the size of an area is proportional to the value of a variable

Cartography

the science of making maps

Choropleth map

a map in which areas are shaded or patterned in proportion to the measurement of the variable

Contagious diffusion

the rapid widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)

the time in the zone encompassing the prime meridian or 0∘ longitude

Cultural Landscape

an approach to geography that emphasizes the relationships among social and physical phenomena in a particular study area

Distance Decay

the further away people are from each other, they less they interact

Environmental Determinism

a nineteenth- and early twentieth-century approach to the study of geography that argued that the general laws sought by human geographers could be found in the physical sciences. Geography was therefore the study of how the physical environment caused human activities

Expansion Diffusion

the spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in an additive process

Formal(uniform) Region

an area in which everyone shares in at least one distinctive characteristic

Functional(nodal) Region

an area organized around a node or focal point

Geographic Information System(GIS)

a computer system that captures, stores, queries, and displays geographic data

Geotagging

identification and storage of a piece of information by its precise latitude and longitude coordinates

Global Positioning System(GPS)

a system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and receivers

Hearth

a place from which an innovation originates

Hierarchical Diffusion

the spread of a feature or trend from one key person or node of authority or power to other persons or places

Possibilism

the theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives

Relocation Diffusion

the spread of a feature or trend through physical movement of people from one place to another

Remote Sensing

the acquisition of data about Earth’s surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or from other long-distance methods