AP Human Geography - Unit 4

State

Largest political unit

Examples of States

Belgium, Nigeria, USA

Sovereignty

The ability of a political unit to rule over it’s own affairs without outside influence

Multinational

Made up of several ethnicities and nationalities

Nation

A group of people with shared characteristics

Examples of Nations

Kurds, Catalans, Scots

Nation-State

A nation of people who fulfill the qualifications of a state

Examples of Nation-States

Japan, Iceland, France, Egypt

Multinational State

A state that contains more than one nation

Examples of Multinational States

Canada, USA

Autonomous Regions

A defined area within a state that has a high degree and self-government and freedom from its parent state

Examples of Autonomous Regions

First Nations, Aland Islands

Semiautonomous Regions

A state that has a degree of, but not complete, sovereignty

Examples of Semiautonomous Regions

Navajo reservations

Stateless Nation

A cultural group that has no independent political entity

Examples of Stateless Nations

Navajo tribe, Palestinians, Basques, Kurds

Multistate Nation

A nation that has a state of its own BUT stretches across borders of other states

Examples of Multistate Nations

Korean nation, Hungarians

Nationalism

A desire to create and maintain a state of it’s own with sovereignty

Early Colonalism was mainly led by ______ followed by ______

Spain and Portugal, France and Britain

Goals of Early Colonalism

Religious influence, economic wealth, political power

Early Colonalism Victims

Americas

Later Colonalism was led by ______

Great Britain, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, and Germany

Goals of Later Colonalism

Claim resources, and create new markets to gain economic wealth

Victims of Later Colonalism

Africa and Asia

Berlin Conference

A conference that resulted in major empires of Europe establishing superimposed boundaries in Africa

Self-Determinism

The right to chose a sovereign government without external influence

Decolonization

Undoing of colonization, giving back the indigenous people their land

Devolution

The process of which regions are given more autnomony by the central political unit

Neocolonialism

Manipulating former colony’s via economic, political or cultural control

Choke Point

A physical place vulnerable of being cut off in the event of a conflict

Antecedent Boundary

Boundary was created before development of cultural landscape

Subsequent Boundary

Boundary was created while the cultural landscape is developing

Superimposed Boundary

Boundary that was created by outside powers

Relic Boundary

Boundary that has been abandoned but evidence of it still exists

Geometric Boundary

A boundary that follows a straight line or arc

Consequent Boundary

A boundary that takes already existing cultural or physical landscapes into account (type of subsequent boundary)

Open Boundary

A boundary that is unguarded and can be crossed easily

Militarized Boundary

A boundary that is heavily guarded and discourages crossing

Defined Boundary

A boundary established on a legal document

Delimited Boundary

A boundary drawn on a map by a cartographer

Demarcated Boundary

A boundary that has been physically marked out

Types of Boundary Disputes

Definitional, locational, operational, and allocational

Exclaves

Territories that are part of a state, but geographically separated (Alaska)

Political Enclaves

Territories that are completely surrounded by another state

Shatterbelt/Balkanization

A place vulnerable to fragmentation due to being located between two very different and contentious regions

Law of the Sea

Water boundaries

Territorial Sea

12 nautical miles of complete sovereignty - Non commercial vessels may be challenged

Contiguous Sea

24 nautical miles of limited sovereignty - Laws on customs, migration, and sanitation may be enforced

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

200 nautical miles of right to natural resources

High Seas

Water beyond any country’s EEZ (Free for all)

Census

A count of the population

Federal State

Unites seperate political entities into an overarching system

Unitary State

Most or all of the governing power is held by the national government

Annexation

Process of legally adding territory to a state

Ethnic Separatism

The advocacy of full political sepretation from the larger group along ethnic lines.

Ethnic Cleansing

A purposeful attempt to remove an ethnic or religious group by violence or terror-inspiring means

Subnationalism

People who have a primary allegiance to a traditional group of ethnicity