Ap Human Geography Review

Formal Region

A region defined by borders/characteristics

Functional Region

An area organized around a node or focal point

Vernacular Region

A place that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity.

Global Scale of analysis

Shows the world at one level of data

National Scale of analysis

Geographic scale that identifies and analyzes geographic phenomena within a specific country vs. another

Regional Scale of analysis

Geographic scale that identifies and analyzes geographic phenomena within a particular region

Local Scale of analysis

Geographic scale that identifies and analyzes geographic phenomena within a state or province, a city or town, or neighborhood

Hearth

The region from which innovative ideas originate

Distance Decay

The further apart two places are, the less likely an idea will spread from one place to another

space-time compression

Improved communication has created an easier spread of ideas

relocation diffusion

the spread of an idea through physical movement of people from one place to another; migration

Expansion Diffusion

The spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in a snowballing process.

Stimulus Diffusion

The spread of an underlying principle, even though a specific characteristic is rejected.

Contagious Diffusion

The rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population; disease, trends

Hierarchical Diffusion

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

reverse hierarchical diffusion

When a trait spreads from areas of little influence to larger areas

cartography

science or art of making maps

cultural ecology

the geographic study of human-environment relationships

Culture

Beliefs, customs, and traditions of a specific group of people.

Distribution

The arrangement of something across Earth's surface.

environmental determinism

the view that the natural environment has a controlling influence over various aspects of human life including cultural development

Equator

An imaginary circle around the middle of the earth, halfway between the North Pole and the South Pole

friction of distance

the increase in time and cost that usually comes with increasing distance

GIS

A computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data.

GPS

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

International Date Line

the line of longitude that marks where each new day begins, centered on the 180th meridian

Latitude

Distance north or south of the equator

Longitude

Distance east or west of the prime meridian, measured in degrees

Mercator Projection

A true conformal cylindrical map projection, the Mercator projection is particularly useful for navigation because it maintains accurate direction. Mercator projections are famous for their distortion in area that makes landmasses at the poles appear oversized.

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.

Prime Meridian

0 degrees longitude

Projection

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

remote sensing

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

Robinson Projection

Projection that attempts to balance several possible projection errors. It does not maintain completely accurate area, shape, distance, or direction, but it minimizes errors in each.

scale

the relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole

site

The physical character of a place

situation

The location of a place relative to another place

spatial analysis

the study of geographic phenomena in terms of their arrangement as points, lines, areas, or surfaces on a map

time zones

24 hour zones that 1,000 miles apart from the other, each one is an hour before or after the one next to it, helps to differentiate between the differnt times from one point on the Earth to another point.

toponym

The name given to a portion of Earth's surface.

uneven development

The increasing gap in economic conditions between core and peripheral regions as a result of the globalization of the economy.

globalization

the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale.Age-sex distribution

Agricultural Density

The ratio of the number of farmers to the total amount of land suitable for agriculture

arithmetic density

The number of people living in a given unit area.

graying population

A population that has more middle-aged and older people than young people.

carrying capacity

Largest number of individuals of a population that a environment can support

Census

the official count of a population

Child Mortality Rate

A figure that describes the number of children that die between the first and fifth years of their lives in a given population

Contraception

Intentionally preventing pregnancy from occurring

Epidemic

A widespread outbreak of an infectious disease.

Crude Death Rate (CDR)

The total number of deaths in a year for every 1,000 people alive in the society.

Crude Birth Rate (CBR)

The total number of live births in a year for every 1,000 people alive in the society.

demographic transition

change in a population from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates

demography

The scientific study of population characteristics.

dependency ratio

the number of people who are too young or too old to work, compared to the number of people in their productive years

doubling time

The number of years needed to double a population, assuming a constant rate of natural increase.

ecumene

The portion of Earth's surface occupied by permanent human settlement.

epidemiological transition

distinctive causes of death in each stage of the demographic transition

infant mortality rate (IMR)

The total number of deaths in a year among infants under 1 year old for every 1,000 live births in a society.

Pandemic

Disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects a very high proportion of the population.

life expectancy (longevity rate)

average number of years that a person is expected to live in a certain area or environment

Malthus, Thomas

Was one of the first to argue that the worlds rate of population increase was far outrunning the development of food population. This is important because he brought up the point that we may be outrunning our supplies because of our exponentially growing population.

Industrial Revolution

A series of improvements in industrial technology that transformed the process of manufacturing goods.

natural increase rate (NIR, RNI)

The percentage growth of a population in a year, computed as the crude birth rate minus the crude death rate.

Neomalthusians

We are going to run out of other resources, not just food

overpopulation

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

physiological density

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

population agglomerations

A cluster of people living in the same area.

population pyramid

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

replacement fertility

the total fertility rate (TFR) that maintains a stable population size

non-ecumene

The uninhabited or uninhabitable area of the world.

sex ratio

The number of males per 100 females in the population.

total fertility rate (TFR)

an estimate of the average number of children that each woman in a population will bear throughout her childbearing years

zero population growth

A decline of the total fertility rate to the point where the natural increase rate equals zero.

Brain Drain

the loss of highly educated and skilled workers to other countries

Chain Migration

migration of people to a specific location because relatives or members of the same nationality previously migrated there

circulation

Short-term, repetitive, or cyclical movements that recur on a regular basis.

emigration

Migration from a location

immigration

Migration to a new location

forced migration

Permanent movement compelled usually by cultural factors.

voluntary migration

movement in which people relocate in response to perceived opportunity; not forced.

guest worker

foreign national who is permitted to live and work temporarily in a host country.

intervening obstacle

An environmental or cultural feature of the landscape that hinders migration.

migration transition

Change in the migration pattern in a society that results from industrialization, population growth, and other social and economic changes that also produce the demographic transition.

mobility

All types of movement from one location to another; Mobility is just a more generalized term for migration

net migration

The difference between the level of immigration and the level of emigration.

push factors

a factor that causes people to leave their homelands and migrate to another region

pull factors

A factor that draws or attracts people to another location

quota

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

Refugee

A person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster

internal migration

permanent movement within the same country

counter-urbanization

Net migration from urban to rural areas in more developed countries.

undocumented immigrant

An immigrant who is lacking the proper documentation or working papers.

Intraregional Migration

Permanent movement within one region of a country.

Interregional migration

Permanent movement from one region of a country to another.

international migration

Permanent movement from one country to another.

folk culture

Culture traditionally practiced by a small, homogeneous (same/common/similarity), rural group living in relative isolation from other groups.

popular culture

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

culture

Beliefs, customs, and traditions of a specific group of people.

habit

A repetitive act performed by a particular individual