AP Human Geography Part 6 - C

overpopulation

A situation in which the number of people in an area exceeds the capacity of the environment to support life at a decent standard of living.

Ozone

A gas that absorbs ultraviolet solar radiation and is found in the stratosphere, a zone 15 to 50 kilometers (9 to 30 miles) above Earth's surface.

Paddy

The Malay word for wet rice, increasingly used to describe a flooded field.

Pandemic

An epidemic that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects a very high proportion of the population at the same time.

Parallel

A circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator and at right angles to the meridians.

Participatory GIS (PGIS)

Community-based mapping, representing local knowledge and information.

Passive solar energy systems

Solar energy systems that collect energy without the use of mechanical devices.

Pastoral nomadism

A form of subsistence agriculture based on herding domesticated animals.

Pattern

The geometric or regular arrangement of something in a particular area.

Perforated state

A state that completely surrounds another one.

Periodic market

A collection of individual vendors who come together to offer goods and services in a location on specified days.

Pesticide

A substance to control pests, including weeds.

Photochemical smog

An atmospheric condition formed through a combination of weather conditions and pollution, especially from motor vehicle emissions.

Photogrammetry

The science of taking measurements of Earth's surface from photographs.

Physiological density

The number of people per unit area of arable land, which is land suitable for agriculture.

Pidgin language

A form of language that adopts a simplified grammar and limited vocabulary of a lingua franca; used for communications among speakers of two different languages.

Pilgrimage

A journey to a place considered sacred for religious purposes.

Place

A specific point on Earth, distinguished by a particular characteristic.

Plantation

A large farm in tropical and subtropical climates that specializes in the production of one or two crops for sale, usually to a more developed country.

Point-source pollution

Pollution that enters a body of water from a specific source.

Polder

Land that the Dutch have created by draining water from an area.

Pollution

Concentration of waste added to air, water, or land at a greater level than occurs in average air, water, or land.

Polytheism

Belief in or worship of more than one god.

Popular culture

Culture found in a large, heterogeneous society that shares certain habits despite differences in other personal characteristics.

Population pyramid

A bar graph that represents the distribution of population by age and sex.

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.

Post-Fordist production

Adoption by companies of flexible work rules, such as the allocation of workers to teams that perform a variety of tasks.

Poststructuralist geography

Geographic approach that examines how the powerful in a society dominate, or seek to control, less powerful groups, how the dominated groups occupy space, and confrontations that result from the domination.

Potential support ratio

The number of working-age people (ages 15 to 64) divided by the number of persons 65 and older.

Preservation

The maintenance of resources in their present condition, with as little human impact as possible.

Primary sector

The portion of the economy concerned with the direct extraction of materials from Earth, generally through agriculture.

Primate city

The largest settlement in a country, if it has more than twice as many people as the second-ranking settlement.

Primate city rule

A pattern of settlements in a country such that the largest settlement has more than twice as many people as the second-ranking settlement.

Prime meridian

The meridian, designated as 0° longitude, that passes through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England.

Productivity

The value of a particular product compared to the amount of labor needed to make it.

Projection

A system used to transfer locations from Earth's surface to a flat map.

Pronatalist policy

Government policy that supports higher birth rates.

Prorupted state

An otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension.

Proven reserve

The amount of a resource remaining in discovered deposits.

Public housing

Government-owned housing rented to low-income people.

Public service

A service offered by the government to provide security and protection for citizens and businesses.

Pull factor

A factor that induces people to move to a new location.

Pupil/teacher ratio

The number of enrolled students divided by the number of teachers.

Purchasing power parity (PPP)

The amount of money needed in one country to purchase the same goods and services in another country.

Push factor

A factor that induces people to leave old locations.

Quota

In reference to migration, a law that places maximum limits on the number of people who can immigrate to a country each year.

Race

Identity with a group of people who are perceived to share a physiological trait, such as skin color.

Racism

The belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.

Racist

A person who subscribes to the beliefs of racism.

Ranching

A form of commercial agriculture in which livestock graze over an extensive area.

Range (of a service)

The maximum distance people are willing to travel to use a service.

Rank-size rule

A pattern of settlements in a country such that the nth largest settlement is 1/n the population of the largest settlement.

Ransomware (or cryptoviral extortion)

A form of malware that encrypts the victim's files, making them inaccessible, until a ransom is paid to decrypt them.

Received Pronunciation (RP)

The dialect of English commonly used by politicians, broadcasters, and actors in the United Kingdom.

Recycling

The separation, collection, processing, marketing, and reuse of unwanted material.

Redlining

A process by which financial institutions draw red-colored lines on a map and refuse to lend money for people to purchase or improve property within the lines.

Refugees

People who are forced to migrate from their home country and cannot return for fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group, or political opinion.

Region

An area distinguished by one or more distinctive characteristics.