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Chapter 1
AP Human Geography
Term | Definition |
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Geography | The spatial study of people, place, space, and environment |
Human Geography | One of the two major divisions of geography; spatial analysis of human phenomena, including population, cultures, activities, and landscapes |
Globalization | Processes heightening interactions, increasing interdependence, and deepening relations across country borders |
Fieldwork | Observations researchers make of physical and cultural landscapes with a focus on seeing similarities and differences |
Patterns | Description of the spatial distribution of a human or physical phenomenon |
Physical Geography | One of the two major divisions of geography; the spatial analysis of physical phenomena , including climate, environmental hazards, weather systems, animals, and topography |
Spatial Distribution | Physical locations of geographic phenomena, usually shown on a map |
Pandemic | An outbreak of a disease that spreads worldwide |
Epidemic | Widespread, rapid diffusion of disease among a people in a particular location or region at a particular time |
Spatial Perspective | Looking at where things occur, why they occur, where they do, and how places are interconnected |
Geographic Concepts | Mental categories used to organize and analyze the world spatially |
Location | Position on Earth, including both absolute location and relative location |
Absolute Location | Precise location of a place, usually defined by latitude and longitude |
Relative Location | The location of a place or attribute in reference to another place or attribute |
Location Theory | Understanding the distribution of cities, industries, services or consumers with the goal of explaining why places are chosen as sites of production or consumption |
Human-Environment Interactions | Reciprocal relationship between human and environment |
Environmental Determinism | Set of theories that use environmental differences to explain everything from intelligence to wealth |
Hearth | Area or place where an idea, innovation, or technology originates |
Possibilism | Theory in geography that humans, not environment, shape culture |
Carrying Capacity | The idea that land can hold a measurable amount of plant and animal life |
Cultural Ecology | Study of the historical interaction between humans and environment in a place, including ways humans have modified and adapted to environment |
Political Ecology | An approach to studying human-environment interactions in the context of political, economic, and historical conditions operating at multiple scales |
Region | Area of Earth identified as sharing a formal, functional, or perceptual commonality that makes it different from regions around it |
Formal Region | Area of land with common cultural or physical traits |
Cultural Traits | A learned belief, norm, or value passed down through generations in a culture |
Functional Region | Area of land defined as sharing a common purpose in society |
Nodes | Connection point in a network, where goods and ideas flow in, out, and through the network |
Perceptual/Vernacular Region | Area of land that an individual perceives as being similar |
Place | Uniqueness of a location |
Sense of Place | Infusing a place with meaning as a result of experiences in a place |
Perception of Place | How a place is envisioned |
Movement | Mobility of people, goods, and services across Earth |
Diffuson | Spread of an idea, innovation, or technology from its hearth to other people and places |
Spatial Interaction | Degree of connectedness or contact among people or places |
Distance | Amount of space between two things or people |
Accessibility | Ease of flow between two places |
Connectivity | Position of a place or area relative to others in a network |
Expansion Diffusion | The spread of an idea or innovation from its hearth across space without the aid of people moving |
Contagious Diffusion | Spread of an idea or innovation from one person or place to another person or place based on proximity |
Hierarchical Diffusion | Spread of an idea or innovation from one person or place to another person or place based on a hierarchy of connectedness. Specific type of expansion diffusion |
Stimulus Diffusion | A process of diffusion where two cultural traits blend to create a distinct trait |
Relocation Diffusion | Spread of an idea or innovation from its hearth by the act of people moving and taking the idea or innovation with them |
Cultural Landscape | The visible human imprint on the landscape |
Sequent Occupance | Imprints left on the cultural landscape by a series of successive societies. Each society contributed to the cumulative cultural landscape |
Scale | Geographical scope in which we analyze and understand a phenomenon |
Rescale | Changing the geographical at which the problem is addressed engaging decision makers and gatekeepers at another scale |
Context | The human and physical geographies creating the place, environment, and space in which events occur and people act |
Cartography | The art and science of making maps |
Reference Maps | Maps showing absolute location of places and geographic features |
Thematic Maps | A map that tells a story, typically showing the degree of some attribute or the movement of a geographic phenomenon using map symbols |
Global Positioning System (GPS) | Satellite-based system for determining the absolute locations of places or geographic places |
Mental Maps | Maps of an area made from memory or experience by individuals or groups (also known as cognitive maps) |
Activity Spaces | Places within the rounds of daily activities |
Terra Incognita | Areas on maps that are not well defined because they are off limits of unknown to the map maker |
Remote Sensing | A method of collecting data or information through the use of instruments that are physically distant from the area of study |
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) | A system of computer hardware and software designed to show, analyze, and represent geographic data (data that have locations) |
Culture | Group of belief systems, norms, and values practiced by a people |
Culture Complex | A group of interrelated cultural traits, such as prevailing dress codes and cooking and eating utensils |