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AP Human Geography Chapter 1 Vocab

Thinking Geographically

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22373717Agricultural DensityThe ration of the number of farmers to the total amount of land suitable for agriculture.
22373718Arithmetic DensityThe total number of people divided by the total land area.
22473544Base LineAn east-west line designated under the Land Ordinance of 1785 to facilitate the surveying and numbering of townships in the United States.
22473545CartographyThe science of making maps.
22473546ConcentrationThe spread of something over a given area.
22473547ConnectionsRelationships among people and objects across the barrier of space.
22473548Contagious DiffusionThe rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population.
22473549Cultural EcologyGeographic approach that emphasizes human-environment relationships.
22473550Cultural LandscapeFashioning of a natural landscape by a cultural group.
22473551CultureThe body of customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits that together constitute a group of people's distinct tradition.
22473552DensityThe frequency with which something exists within a given unit of area.
22473553DiffusionThe process of spread of a feature or trend from one place to another over time.
22473554Distance DecayThe diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin.
22473555DistributionThe arrangement of something across Earth's surface.
22473556Environmental DeterminismA nineteenth- and early twentieth- century approach to the study of geography that argued that the general laws sought by human geographers could be found in the physical sciences. Geography was therefore the study of how the physical environment caused human activities.
22473557Expansion DiffusionThe spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in a snowballing process.
22473558Formal Region (or Uniform Region or Homogeneous Region)An area in which everyone shares in one or more distinctive characteristics.
22473559Functional Region (or Nodal Region)An area organized around a node or focal point.
22473560Geographic Information System (GIS)A computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data.
22473561Global Positioning System (GPS)A system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and receivers.
22473562GlobalizationActions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope.
22473563Greenwich Mean TimeThe time in that time zone encompassing the prime meridian, or 0° longitude.
22473564HearthThe region from which innovative ideas originate.
22473565Hierarchical DiffusionThe spread of a feature or trend from one key person or node of authority or power to other persons or places.
22473566International Date LineAn arc that for the most part follows 180° longitude, although it deviates in several places to avoid dividing land areas. When you cross the International Date Line heading east (towards America) the clock moves back 24 hours, or one entire day. When you go west (towards Asia), the calendar moves ahead one day).
22473567Land Ordinance of 1785A law that divided much of the United States into a system of townships to facilitate the sale of land to settlers.
22473568LatitudeThe numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on a globe and measuring distance north and south of the equator (0).
22473569LocationThe position of anything on Earth's surface.
22473570MapA two-dimensional, or flat, representation of Earth's surface or a portion of it.
22473571Mental MapAn internal representation of Earth's surface based on what an individual knows about a place and where places are located.
22473572MeridianAn arc drawn on a map between the North and South poles.
22473573ParallelA circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator and at right angles to the meridians.
22473574PatternThe geometric or regular arrangement of something in a study area.
22473575Physiological DensityThe number of people per unit of area of arable land, which is land suitable for agriculture.
22473576PlaceA specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular character.
22473577PolderLand created by the Dutch by draining water from an area.
22473578PossibilismThe theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives.
22473579Prime MeridianThe meridian, designated as 0 longitude, which passes through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England.
22473580Principal MeridianA north-south line designated in the Land Ordinance of 1785 to facilitate the surveying and numbering of townships in the United States.
22473581ProjectionThe system used to transfer locations from Earth's surface to a flat map.
22473582RegionAn area distinguished by a unique combination of trends or features.
22473583Regional (or Cultural Landscape) StudiesAn approach to geography that emphasizes the relationships among social and physical phenomena in a particular study area.
22473584Relocation DiffusionThe spread of a feature or trend through bodily movement of people from place to place.
22473585Remote SensingThe acquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting the planet of other long-distance methods
22473586ResourceA substance in the environment that is useful to people, is economically and technologically feasible to access, and is socially acceptable to use.
22473587ScaleGenerally, the relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole, specifically the relationship between the size of an object on a map and the size of the actual feature on Earth's surface.
22473588SectionA square normally 1 mile on a side. The Land Ordinance of 1785 divided townships in the United States into 36 sections.
22473589SiteThe physical character or a place.
22473590SituationThe location of a place relative to other places.
22473591SpaceThe physical gap or interval between two objects.
22473592Space-Time CompressionThe reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place, as a result of improved communications and transportation systems.
22473593Stimulus DiffusionThe spread of an underlying principle, even though a specific characteristic is rejected.
22473594ToponymThe name given to a portion of Earth's surface.
22473595TownshipA square normally 6 miles on each side. The Land Ordinance of 1785 divided much of the United States into a series of townships.
22473596Transnational CorporationA company that conducts research, operates factories, and sells products in many countries, not just where its headquarters or shareholders are located.
22473597Uneven Developmentthe increasing gap in economic conditions between core and peripheral regions as a result of the globalization of the economy.
22473598Vernacular Region (or Perceptual Region)An area that people believe to exist as a part of their cultural identity.

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