ap human geo vocab 1

Scale

Level of detail or area you're looking at (local, regional, global)

Space

The physical gap or distance between two things

Place

A specific location with meaning

Site

The physical features of a place (climate, soil, etc.)

Situation

A place’s location compared to other places

Distance decay

The farther apart two things are, the less they interact

Time-space compression

Faster travel/communication makes places feel closer

Map projection

A way to show Earth’s surface on a flat map (with distortion)

GIS (Geographic Information Systems)

Computer tools for mapping/analyzing places

Remote sensing

Getting info about Earth from satellites

Demographic Transition Model

Shows how population grows/shrinks as countries develop

Population pyramid

Graph showing ages and sexes of a population

Crude birth rate

Number of births per 1,000 people

Crude death rate

Number of deaths per 1,000 people

Natural increase rate

Population growth rate (births minus deaths)

Total fertility rate

Average number of kids a woman has

Dependency ratio

Number of dependents vs. working-age people

Push factor

A reason people leave a place

Pull factor

A reason people move to a place

Voluntary migration

People choose to move

Forced migration

People are made to move (like due to war)

Intervening obstacle

Something that blocks migration (like mountains or laws)

Folk culture

Traditions of small, rural groups

Popular culture

Modern trends that spread quickly

Cultural landscape

Human impact on the environment

Taboo

Something a culture strongly avoids

Language family

Group of related languages

Lingua franca

Common language for communication between groups

Creole language

Mixed language that becomes a native language

Pidgin language

Simplified mix of two languages

Ethnic religion

Religion tied to one group/place

Universalizing religion

Religion that wants to spread everywhere

Acculturation

Keeping your culture but blending with another

Assimilation

Adopting a new culture fully

Syncretism

Mixing different beliefs or cultures

Nation-state

Country with one main ethnic group

Stateless nation

Group with no country of their own

Sovereignty

A country’s power to rule itself

Colonialism

One country taking over another

Imperialism

Spreading influence or control over others

Gerrymandering

Changing voting maps to help a group

Centripetal force

Unites people (like national pride)

Centrifugal force

Divides people (like conflict)

Supranational organization

Groups of countries working together (UN, EU)

Geometric boundary

Straight line borders

Physical boundary

Borders based on natural features

Cultural boundary

Borders based on culture (language/religion)

Subsistence farming

Growing food just for your family

Commercial farming

Growing food to sell

Intensive farming

Small area, lots of work/money

Extensive farming

Large area, little labor

Green Revolution

New farming tech that increased food

Von Thünen model

Explains farm placement based on distance from market

Agribusiness

Big companies controlling farming

Central Place Theory

Cities serve surrounding areas in a pattern

Urban hierarchy

Ranking cities by size/services

Edge city

New business area on the edge of a big city

Urban sprawl

Cities spreading into countryside

Gentrification

Richer people fixing up older city areas

Megacity

City with over 10 million people

Primate city

City way bigger than others in the country

Squatter settlement

Illegal housing built by poor residents

GDP

Value of goods/services made in a country

GNI

Money earned by a country’s people (even abroad)

HDI

Score showing how developed a country is

Core-periphery model

Rich countries in core, poor in periphery

Rostow’s model

Shows how countries develop in 5 steps

World-Systems Theory

Rich countries exploit poor ones

Outsourcing

Sending jobs to other countries to save money

Special Economic Zone

Area with easier business rules to attract companies