Semester 1 Final AP HG

Absolute Locations

using a coordinate system to find where something specifically is on Earth

acculturation

The process by which people with one culture adopt some of the traits of another while still retaining their own distinct culture.

activity spaces

those places we travel to routinely in our rounds of daily activity

Afghanistan

Predominantly Muslim, multiethnic state in Southwest Asia; Invaded by the Soviet Union in 1979 and the United States in 2001; ruled for a time by the Taliban; landlocked, moutainous; Dari and Pashto are the official languages

Agricultural Density

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

Shows the labor intensiveness of agriculture.

Antecedent boundary

a boundary line established before the area in question is well populated

antinatalist

Policies that discourage people from having children (China's One Child Policy)

Apartheid

Laws (no longer in effect) in South Africa that physically separated different races into different geographic areas.

Arithmetic Density

The total number of people divided by the total land area.

assimilation

A category of acculturaltion in which the interaction of two cultures results in one culture adopting almost all of the customs, traditions, language, and other cultural traits of the other.

Autonomous region

A self ruled region within another country; the region has the independence to manage daily governance but is not its own state

Balkanization

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

Berlin Conference (1884-1885)

Purpose was to set rules for establishing colonies in Africa among European nations. No African representatives were there.

Boundary

An invisible line that marks the extent of a state's territory.

Buddhism

Universalizing religion clustered in East Asia and Southeast Asia; split into branches; founder was Siddhartha Gautama; foundation based on the Four Noble Truths; hearth in South Asia

buffer state

A small neutral state between two rival powers

Carrying Capacity

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

cartogram

distorted map to show data by making the size of the country/state or region correspond to the proportion of the item under study

cartography

the art and science of map making

Centrifugal Force

A force that divides people within a state; examples include ethnic competition or diversity, inequality, oppressive political leadership, territorial conflicts

Centripetal Force

An attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support for a state; examples include a common language, religion, strong infrastructure.

Choke point

a strategic, narrow waterway between two larger bodies of water

choropleth map

A thematic map that uses tones or colors to represent spatial data as average values per unit area.

Christianity

A monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as embodied in the New Testament and emphasizing the role of Jesus as savior. Predominant religion of North and South America, Europe, and Australia; hearth in Southwest Asia

Colonialism

Attempt by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles in another territory.

Colony

A territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than completely independent.

Congo

Central Africa's largest and most populous country torn apart by civil war since the end of World War II. Conflict here has involved the Hutus and Tutsis. One of this country's most notorious presidents was Joseph Mobutu who became rich off the country's mineral reserves.

consequent boundary

a boundary line that coincides with some cultural divide, such as religion or language

Contagious Diffusion

Rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population (ex. spreads like a wave)

Contagious diffusion

When an idea or cultural trait spreads adjacently, or to people or places that are next to or adjoining one another. Occurs among people of all social classes and levels of power.

creole language

A language that results from the mixing of a colonizer's language with the indigenous language of the people being dominated.

Crude Birth Rate

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

Crude Death Rate

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

cultural convergence

The tendency for cultures to become more alike as they increasingly share technology and organizational structures in a modern world united by improved transportation and communication.

cultural divergence

The likelihood or tendency for cultures to become increasingly dissimilar with the passage of time.

cultural ecology

is the study of human adaptations to social and physical environments. Human adaptation refers to both biological and cultural processes that enable a population to survive and reproduce within a given or changing environment.

cultural hearth

An area where cultural traits develop and from which cultural traits diffuse.

cultural landscape

The built forms that cultural groups create in inhabiting Earth—farm fields, cities, houses, and so on—and the meaning, values, representations, and experiences associated with those forms

cultural landscape

the visible imprint of human activity and culture on the landscape

cultural relativism

The practice of judging a culture by its own standards

culture

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

culture

is an all encompassing term that identifies not only the whole tangible lifestyle of peoples but also their prevailing values and beliefs

culture trait

A single element of normal practice in a culture, such as the wearing of a turban.

Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)

A strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea.

Demographic Transition Model

a model of how the size of a population changes as a country develops its economy

density

The number of things—which could be people, animals, plants, or objects—in a certain area

Dependency Ratio

The number of people under age 15 and over age 64 compared to the number of people active in the labor force

development

the process of improving the material conditions of people through the diffusion of knowledge and technology

Devolution

The process whereby regions within a state demand and gain political strength and growing autonomy at the expense of the central government.

Distance-Decay

The effects of distance on interaction, generally the greater the distance the less interaction

Doubling Time

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

environmental determinism

Outdated belief that human behavior, individually and collectively, is a strongly affected by, even controlled or determined by, the physical environment

Epidemiology Transition Model

is the study of factors affecting the health and illness of populations

Eritrea

Tiny country in East Africa, along the Red Sea, that was controlled by Italy and Ethiopia. This country fought a 30 year war to gain Independence from Ethiopia. It became an independent state in 1993.

Ethnic cleansing

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

ethnic neighborhoods

In cities, areas that have concentrated populations of a particular ethnic group, such as Chinatown

ethnic religion

A religion with a relatively concentrated spatial distribution whose principles are likely to be based on the physical characteristics of the particular location in which its adherents are concentrated.

Ethnicity

Identity with a group of people who share traits as a product of common heredity and cultural traditions

ethnocentrism

Evaluation of other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one's own culture.

Ethnonationalism

The tendency for an ethnic group to see itself as a distinct nation with a right to autonomy or independence. A fundamental centrifugal force.

Expansion diffusion

When an aspect of culture spreads outward from where it originated. As it spreads, the trait also remains in its place of origin. The cultural trait moves, even though the people do not. 3 types include contagious, hierarchical, stimulus

Federal State

Federalism is a system of government where power is shared (in various arrangements) between a centralized government and various regional authorities. The United States is a federal country because power is shared between the national government and the governments of the various states.

formal region

An area in which everyone shares in one or more distinctive characteristics

Friction of Distance

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

functional region

A geographic area that has been organized to function politically, socially, culturally, or economically as one unit

Genocide

The mass killing of a racial, ethnic, national, or religious group of people with the intent to destroy in whole or in part. Examples include the Holocaust, Armenia, Cambodia, Rwanda, Sudan.

Geometric boundary

Political boundaries that are defined and delimited by straight lines.

Gerrymandering

Process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power.

GIS (geographic information system)

A computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data in layers. Allows for more complex analysis of topics.

globalization

Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope.

globalization

process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments, a process driven by international trade and investment

GPS

allows us to locate things on the surface of the Earth with accuracy

Hearth

The region from which innovative ideas originate; point from which something diffuses

hierarchical diffusion

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

Hierarchical Diffusion

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

Hinduism

World's 3rd largest religion developed in ancient India, characterized by a belief in reincarnation and a supreme being who takes many forms; concentrated in South Asia; ethnic religion

human geography

focuses on how people make places, how we organize space and society, and how we interact with each other.

imperialism

A policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force.

Infant Mortality Rate

The percentage of children who die before their first birthday within a particular area or country per 1000 births

International Date Line

imaginary line of longitude on the Earth's surface, about 180 degrees East (or West) from the prime meridian; including diversions to accommodate countries like Kiribati

Irredentism

The policy of a state wishing to incorporate within itself territory inhabited by people who have ethnic or linguistic links with the country but that lies within a neighboring state.

Islam

A religion based on the teachings of the prophet Mohammed which stresses belief in one god (Allah), and a body of law written in the Quran. Predominant religion in the Middle East and North Africa; Half of the world's Muslims live outside the Middle East in Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India. Hearth in Southwest Asia; Mecca and Medina important cities

Isoline Map

Contour lines join points of equal or similar values (ex. weather maps, topographic maps)

Judaism

First recorded monotheistic religion; spiritual and ethical principles embodied chiefly in the Torah and in the Talmud; spatial distribution is different than other ethnic religions because it is practiced in many countries with concentrations in the Israel and the United States

Kashmir

Region in South Asia disputed by India and Pakistan. A "line of control" was established in 1972 to stop the fighting over this region. Border disputes have continued on and off for decades.

Kosovo

Suffered from ethnic cleansing by Serbia after the breakup of Yugoslavia. The Albanian majority was targeted and this area declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Not all countries recognize its independence, however.

Kurds

An ethnicity divided between multiple states, including Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Their culture has been suppressed by Turkey and they have gained a measure of autonomy in Iraq.

Landlocked State

A state that does not have a direct outlet to the sea.

Lebanon

Small country that borders the Mediterranean Sea and is divided between Christians and Muslims. Recently has taken in hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees

lingua franca

A language mutually understood and commonly used in trade by people who have different native languages

Malthusian Theory

focuses on how the exponential growth of a population can outpace growth of the food supply and lead to social degradation and disorder

Media blackout

The censorship of news related to a certain topic, particularly in mass media, for any reason. A media blackout may be voluntary, or may in some countries be enforced by the government or state

Medical Revolution

Improved medical practices have eliminated many of the traditional causes of death in poorer countries and enabled more people to live longer and healthier lives.

mental maps

the maps we carry in our minds of places that we've been

Mercator Projection

Good for navigational purposes but grossly distorts relative size

missionary

an individual who helps to diffuse a universalizing religion

mosque

Islamic house of worship; one distinctive feature is a minaret (tower who the call to prayer is given)

multiculturalism

A situation in which different cultures live together without assimilating.

Multinational State

State that contains two or more ethnic groups with traditions of self-determination that agree to coexist peacefully by recognizing each other as distinct nationalities.