AP Human Geography Unit 1

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63 Terms

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absolute location

the coordinates of a place using latitude and longitude

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accessibility

the ability to reach a place with respect to another place

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agricultural density

the number of farmers per unit of farmland

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arithmetic density

the total number of objects in an area

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cartography

the science of map-making

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choropleth map

a thematic map using shading to show a pattern of a variable (the darker the shading, the higher the concentration of the variable)

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concentration

the extent of a feature's spread over space

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connectivity

relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space

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contagious diffusion

the rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population

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core-periphery

central, wealthy, technologically advanced countries vs. less-developed, poor, and dependant countries

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cultural ecology

the geographic study of human-environment relationships

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cultural landscape

forms superimposed on the physical environment by humans

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density

the frequency with which something occurs in space

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diffusion

the process by which a characteristic spreads across space from one place to another over time

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distance decay

contact diminishes with increasing distance and eventually disappears

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distribution

the arrangement of a feature in space

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environmental determinism

the theory that the physical environment causes social development

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equator

the parallel with the largest circumference and the place with 12 hours of daylight (0 degrees latitude)

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Eratosthenes

created the word geography, accepted the Earth is sperical, calculated its circumference, and created a map of the Earth dividing it into climatic regions

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expansion diffusion

the pread of a feature from one place to another in a snowballing process

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formal region

an area within which everyone shares in a common one or more distinctive characteristics

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functional region

an area organized around a node or central point

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GIS

a computer system that can capture, store, query, analyze, and display geographic data

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globalization

a force or process that involves the entire world and results in making something worldwide in scope

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GPS

a system that accurately determines the precise position of something on Earth

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Greenwich Mean Time

the master reference time for all points on Earth; the time at the prime meridian

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hearth

the place from which an innovation originates

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hierarchical diffusion

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

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human geography

the study of where and why human activities are located where they are

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International Date Line

a line following the 180 degree latitude line where when you cross it going west, you set the clock forward by 24 hours

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isoline map

a thematic map with continuous lines joining points of the same value

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Land Ordinance Act of 1785

divided the West into townships and ranges to help with the buying and selling of land

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latitude

the numbering system to indicate the location of a parallel

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location

the position that something occupies on Earth's surface

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longitude

a numbering system used to locate each meridian on Earth's surface

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map

a two-dimensional or flat-scale model of Earth's surface, or a portion of it

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mental map

an internal representation of a portion of Earth's surface

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Mercator projection

rectangular-shaped maps with little shape and direction distortion, but a lot of size distortion

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meridian

an arc drawnbetween the North and South poles

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pattern

the geometric arrangement of objects in space

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physiological density

the number of persons per unit of land suitable for agriculture

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possibilism

theory that the physical environment may limit some human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to their environment

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prime meridian

the meridian that is 0 degrees longitude

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principle meridian

the north-south lines seperating townships

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projection

the scientific method of transferring locations on Earth's surface to a flat map

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Ptolemy

an ancient Greek who wrote Guide to Geography and made many maps

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reference map

help people find and identify physical and/or political features

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region

an area of Earth distinguished by a distinctive combination of physical and cultural traits

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relative location

lets us find unfamiliar locations by comparing them to familiar ones

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remote sensing

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

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Robinson projection

maps that are useful for displaying information across the oceans, but land areas are smaller than on interrupted maps of the same size

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scale

refers to the relationship of a feature's size on a map compared to its actual size on Earth

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sense of place

a feeling for the features that contribute to the distinctiveness of a particular spot on Earth

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sequent occupance

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

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site

the physical character of a place

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situation

the location of a place relative to other places

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space-time compression

the reduction in time it takes for something to reach another place

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spatial

depending on the scale, different spatial assumptions can be made

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stimulus diffusion

the spread of an underlying principle, even though a characteristic itself apparently fails to diffuse

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thematic map

shows how a particular feature is distributed over an area

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Tobler's First Law of Geography

everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than far things

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toponym

the name given to a place on Earth

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vernacular region

a place that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity