AP Human Geography Vocabulary and Definitions

Unit One (Thinking Geographically)

• Place: Specific point on Earth with unique characteristics.
  • Example: Any location.
• Region: Earth area defined by distinctive features.
  • Example: Latin America.
• Scale: Relationship between studied Earth portion and the whole Earth.
  • Example: Climate change (global), city zoning (local).
• Space: Physical gap between objects.
  • Example: Between cities.
• Connection: Relationships across space barriers.
  • Example: Airports connecting cities.
• Cartography: Science of mapmaking.
• GIScience: Earth data analysis via satellite.
  • Example: Mapping migration.
• GIS: Geographic data capture, storage, query & display.
  • Example: Mapping crop distributions.
• Photogrammetry: Measurements from photos.
  • Example: 3D city models.
• Remote sensing: Data from satellites.
  • Example: Monitoring disasters.
• GPS: Precise positioning system.
  • Example: Navigation.
• Geotagging: Information storage by coordinates.
• VGI: Voluntary geographic data creation.
  • Example: OpenStreetMap.
• Citizen Science: Research by non-professionals.
  • Example: Plant/animal reporting apps.
• PGIS: Community-based mapping.
  • Example: Mapping vacant lots.
• Mashup: Data overlay on maps.
  • Example: Google Maps.

Map Scale & Projections

• Map Scale: Object size on map vs. Earth.
  • Example: 1:100,000,000 scale.
• Projection: Transferring locations to a flat map.
  • Example: Mercator projection.
• Meridian/Longitude: Arcs connecting poles.
• Parallel/Latitude: Circles parallel to equator.
• Prime Meridian: 0° longitude.

Map Types

• Isoline Map: Connects equal value points.
  • Example: Topographic maps.
• Dot Distribution Map: Data as points.
  • Example: Population density.
• Choropleth Map: Shaded areas.
  • Example: Population density.
• Graduated Symbol Map: Symbol size varies.
  • Example: Hospital counts in cities.
• Cartogram: Size proportional to value.
  • Example: Country incomes.

Location

• Location: Earth's surface position.
  • Example: New York City's location.
• Toponym: Place name.
  • Example: "Secaucus, NJ"
• Site: Physical characteristics.
  • Example: Landforms, climate.
• Situation: Location relative to others.
  • Example: Dunkin' Donuts next to a library.
• Absolute Location: Exact position.
  • Example: $40.7484° N, 73.9857° W$

Cultural Landscape & Regions

• Cultural Landscape: Cultural and economic features.
  • Example: Chinatown.
• Formal Region: Shared characteristics.
  • Example: A country.
• Functional Region: Organized around a node.
  • Example: Newspaper circulation area.
• Vernacular Region: Perceived cultural identity.
  • Example: "The South".
• Culture: Beliefs & traits of a group.
• Spatial Association: Feature relationships.
  • Example: Crime & income.

Globalization & Transnational Corporations

• Globalization: Worldwide scope process.
  • Example: Global supply chains.
• Transnational Corporations: Global operations.
  • Example: Nike.
• Distribution: Feature arrangement.
  • Example: Population distribution.
• Density: Frequency in space.
  *Example: Arithmetic, physiological, and agricultural density
• Concentration: Spread over space.
  • Example: Clustered vs. dispersed houses.
• Pattern: Geometric arrangement.
  • Example: Settlement patterns.

Geographic Approaches

• Poststructuralist Geography: Power dynamics.
• Humanistic Geography: Place meanings.
• Behavioral Geography: Psychological basis

Cultural Change & Diffusion

• Acculturation: Cultural changes from group meetings.
  • Example: Immigrants learning a new language.
• Uneven Development: Economic gap due to globalization.
• Diffusion: Feature spread.
• Hearth: Innovation origin.
• Relocation Diffusion: Spread via physical movement.
  • Example: Language spread by migrants.
• Expansion Diffusion: Additive spread.
• Hierarchical Diffusion: From authority to others.
  • Example: Fashion trends from world cities.
• Contagious Diffusion: Rapid, widespread.
  • Example: Social media trends.
• Stimulus Diffusion: Underlying principle spreads.
  • Example: Yoga adaptation in America.
• Distance-decay: Interaction decreases with distance.
• Space-Time Compression: Reduced travel time.
  • Example: Internet.
• Network: Communication chain.
• Assimilation: Cultural features altered to resemble another group.

Environment & Resources

• Environmental Determinism: Environment causes social development.
• Possibilism: Environment limits, people adjust.
• Syncretism: Combining cultural elements.
• Resource: Useful substance.
• Sustainability: Ensuring future availability.
• Renewable Resource: Rapidly replenished.
• Nonrenewable Resource: Slowly replenished.
• Conservation: Sustainable use.
• Preservation: Maintaining resources.
• Biotic: Living organisms.
• Abiotic: Nonliving matter.
• Atmosphere: Gas layer.
• Hydrosphere: Water on Earth.
• Lithosphere: Crust & upper mantle.
• Biosphere: Living organisms.
• Climate: Long-term weather.
• Density: Frequency of something in area.
• Arithmetic Density: Total pop. / Total land
• Agricultural Density: Total farmers / Arable land
• Arable Land: Land for agriculture.
• Polder: Drained land.

Time & Boundaries

• UTC: Universal Time Coordinated.
• International Date Line: Calendar boundary.

Populations

• Carrying Capacity: Max pop. with given resources
• Overpopulation: # of ppl exceeds capacity$</li> <li><strong>Demography:</strong> Study of pop. characteristics$
• Ecumene: Portion of Earth occupied by humans$</li> <li><strong>Physiological density:</strong> Total pop. / Arable land$
• Natural Increase Rate (NIR): percentage by which a pop. grows in a year$Natural = growth rate excludes migration$
• Rate of Natural Increase (RNI): how the pop. is growing CBR - CDR
• Total Fertility Rate (TFR): # of births in a society
• Doubling Time: # of years to double a pop
• Crude Birth Rate (CBR): Total live births a year / every 1,000 ppl alive
• Infant Mortality Rate (IMR): Annual # of infant death under 1 y/o , compared to total live births
• Crude Death Rate (CDR): # of deaths a year per 1,000 ppl alive
  Stages of DTM
  1 - Very high CBR/CDR & very low NIR
  2 - High CBR, fastly declining CDR, & very high NIR
  3 - Fastly declining CBR, moderately declining CDR, moderate NIR
  4 - Very low CBR, low CDR, 0/neg NIR
  5 - Low CBR, low CDR, neg NIR
  No population growth
• Zero Population Growth (ZPG): Applied to stage 4 countries
• Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR): Annual # of female deaths from pregnancy per 100k live births

Population Structure

• Sex Ratio: # of males per 100 females.
• Life Expectancy: Average years to live.
• Potential Support Ratio: Working-age divided by 65+.
• Population Pyramid: Bar graph of age/gender %.
• Dependency Ratio: Too young/old vs. working-age.

Diseases

• Epidemiology:Type of med-sci about incidence, distribution, & control of diseases
• Epidemiologic Transition

1. Pestilence and famine
2. Receding pandemics
3. Degenerative and human-created diseases
4. Delayed degenerative diseases
5. Reemerging infectious & parasitic diseases

• Epidemic: Widespread infectious disease
• Pandemic: Worldwide epidemic

Population Policies & Migration

• Pronatalist Policy: Supports higher birth rates.
• Anti Natalist Policy: Supports lower birth rates.
• Migration: Permanent move.
• Mobility: General movement term.
• Circulation: Short-term, repetitive movement.
• Migration Transition: Migration pattern change.
• International Migration: Move between countries.
• Voluntary Migration: Chosen move.
• Forced Migration: Compelled move.
• Internal Migration: Move within a country.
  Interregional and Intraregional
• Emigration: From a location.
• Immigration: To a location.
• Net-Migration: Immigrants minus emigrants.
• Push Factor: Induces moving out.
• Pull Factor: Induces moving in.
• Intervening Obstacle: Hinders migration.
• Step Migration: Series of steps.
• Counterurbanization: Urban to rural migration.

Migration & Cultural Impacts

• Refugee: Flees conflict/persecution.
• Internally Displaced Person (IDP): Similar to refugee, but within borders.
• Asylum Seeker: Hopes to be recognized as refugee.
• Floodplain: Flood-prone area.
• Remittance: Money sent home by workers.
• Unauthorized Immigrants: Without proper documents.
• Immigration law policies
  Quota
  Brain Drain
  Family-Based Migration
  Guest Worker
  Circular Migration

Culture

• Habit: a repetitive act that a particular individual performs
• Custom: A repetitive act of a group, performed to the extent that it becomes characteristic of the group
• Folk Culture: Small, isolated groups.
• Popular Culture: Large, heterogeneous societies.
• Terroir: Location's contribution to taste.
  Taboo:* A restriction on behavior imposed by religious law or social custom

Cyber Concepts & Cultural Impact

• Malware: Harmful software.
• Ransomware: Encrypts files for ransom.
• Cyber Espionage: Unauthorized data theft.
• Fake News: False reports.
• Alternative fact: A lie.
  Trolling:* The practice of posting deliberately in lammatory, extraneous, or o f-topic mess
• Cultural Homogenization: Loss of local diversity.
• Franchise: Agreement to market products locally.

Language & Cultural Forces

• Language: Communication system.
• Centripetal Force: Unifies people.
• Centrifugal Force: Divides people.
• Institutional Language: Used in official settings.
• Developing Language: Daily use.
• Vigorous Language: Daily use, lacks literary tradition.
• Threatened Language: Losing users.
• Dying Language: Used by elders only.
• Literary Tradition: Written & spoken.
  Language components
  Literary Tradition
  Language Family
  Language Branch
  Language Group
  Vulgar Latin
  Lingua Franca
  Lolograms
  O cial Language
  Working Language
• Pidgin Language: Simplified lingua franca.
• Dialect: Regional variation.
• Subdialect: Subdivision of a dialect.
• Standard Language: Recognized dialect.
  Received Pronunciation (RP)
  Isogloss
  African American Vernacular English (AAVE)
  Creole, or Creolized Language
  Extinct Language: No longer used.

Religion

• Atheism: No God.
• Agnosticism: God's existence unproven.
  Universalizing Religions:* Religions that Attempt to appeal to all people
• Ethnic Religions: Religions that Appeal primarily to one ethnic or cultural group
• Syncretic: Combining traditions.
• Animism: Spirits in nature.
• Monotheism: One God.
• Polytheism: Many gods.

Religion & Cultural Identity

• Missionaries: Transmit religion.
• Ghetto: Jewish neighborhood.
• Pilgrimage: Sacred journey.
• Utopian Settlement: Reflects religious ideals.
• Autonomous Religion: Decentralized.
• Hierarchical Religion: Organized structure.
• Cosmogony: Beliefs about universe origin.
• Solar Calendar: Based on sun's position.
  Lunar Calendar:* Months that correspond to cycles of moon phases
  Lunisolar Calendar:* Lunar months brought into alignment W/ the solar year thru periodic adjustment
• Fundamentalism: Strict interpretation.

Ethnicity, Race & Nationality

• Ethnicity: Shared cultural traditions.
• Race: Perceived physiological traits.
• Nationality: Legal attachment to a country.
• Racism: Belief in racial superiority.
• Ethnic Enclave: High concentration of an ethnic group
• Ethnoburbs: Suburban ethnic cluster.

Conflict & National Identity

Triangular Slave Trade:* European countries adopted a trading pattern in height of the 1700’s slave demand
Sharecropper:* System where poor African Americans rented elds from landowners & paid o f their debts by giving a share of their crops
Blockbusting:* Real estate agents manipulated white ppl into selling homes cheap, pro ting o f racial fears
Redlining:* Practice where nancial institutions deny loans based on race
BLM:* A movement that campaigns against violence & perceived racism to black ppl

• Apartheid: Legal separation of races.
• Nationalism: Loyalty to nationality.
• Ethnophobia: Fear of an ethnicity.
  Xenophobia
• Ethnic Cleansing: Forced removal.
• Genocide: Mass killing.

Political Geography

• States: Organized political unit.
• Microstates: Very small states.
• Sovereignty: Independence.
  City-State
  Nation
  Nation-State
  Self-Determination
  Multinational State
  Colonialism
  Democracy
  Autocracy
  Anocracy
  Unitary State
  Federal State

Political Issues

• Weapon of Mass Destruction
• Terorrism:
• Boundary: State territory line.
• Frontier: Zone of incomplete control.
  Compact State
  Prorupted State
  Perforated State
  Elongated State
  Fragmented State
  Landlocked State

Agriculture

• Dietary Energy Consumption: The amount of food that an individual consumes
• Food Security: Physical, social, & economic access at all times to safe & nutritious food
• Undernourishment: Dietary energy consumption that is continuously below that needed for a healthy life
• Cereal Grain: A grass that yields grain for food
• Grain: The seed from a cereal grass
• Agriculture: Deliberate modi cation of Earth’s surface
• Crop: Any plant cultivated by ppl
  Columbian Exchange
  Subsistence Agriculture: Production of food primarily for consumption by the farmer’s family
  Commercial Agriculture: Production of cash crops primarily for sale o f the farm
  Commercialized Agriculture
  Green Revolution
  Monocropping
  Genetically Modi ed Organisms (GMO)
  Organic Agriculture
  Herbicides
  Pesticides
  Conversation Tillage
  No Tillage
  Ridge Tillage

Settlements

Economic Base
Basic and Nonbasic Businesses clustered in Urban settlements
Clustered Rural Settlement
Dispersed Rural Settlement
Enclosure Movement
Urbanization
Megalopolis
Central City

Models

Concentrical Zone Model
Sector Model
Multiple Nuclei Model
Galactic or Peripheral Model
Census Tracts
Density Gradient

Economic Development

• Development: Improving conditions.

• Developed Country: Further along development.
  Developed vs Developing characteristics, as defined by HDI, GNI and GDP

• Human Development Index (HDI): Indicator of development.

• Gross National Income (GNI): Output value.

• Purchase Power Parity (PPP): Adjusts for cost differences.
  GDP = The value of the output of goods and services produced in a country in a year Primary
  Secondary
  Tertiary Sectors

• Productivity: The value of a particular product compared to the amount of labor needed to make it
  Pupil/Teacher Ratio
  Literacy Rates and IHDI

  World Systems Theory and sustainable development goals
  Sustainable Development Goals
  Female Labor Force Participation Rate
  Adolescent Fertility Rate
  Foreign Direct Investment
  Micro nance
  Structural Adjustment Program
  Site Factors:* industrial location factors related to the costs of factors of production inside a plant
  Situation factors: Location factors relating to the transportation of materials into and from a factory