Definitions and key ideas for AP Human Geography Unit 1 - Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives
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| 6520420855 | Latitude | The numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on a globe and measuring distance north and south of the equator | 0 | |
| 6520420856 | Longitude | The numbering system used to indicate the location of meridians drawn on a globe and measuring distance east and west of the prime meridian (0°). | 1 | |
| 6520420857 | GPS | A system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and recievers. | 2 | |
| 6520420858 | GIS | A computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data. | 3 | |
| 6520420859 | Geography | The study of the earth's surface, climate, continents, countries, peoples, industries, and products. | 4 | |
| 6520420860 | Cartography | The art and science of mapmaking | 5 | |
| 6520420861 | Culture | The body of customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits that together constitute a group of people's distinct tradition | 6 | |
| 6520420862 | Cultural Landscape | Fashioning of a natural landscape by a cultural group | 7 | |
| 6520420863 | Hearth | The region from which innovative ideas originate | 8 | |
| 6520420864 | Meridian | An arc drawn on a map between the North and South poles | 9 | |
| 6520420865 | Map | A two-dimensional, or flat, representation of Earth's surface or a portion of it | 10 | |
| 6520420866 | Parallel | A circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator and at the right angles to the meridians | 11 | |
| 6520420867 | Place | A specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular location | 12 | |
| 6520420868 | Projection | The system used to transfer locations from Earth's surface to a flat map | 13 | |
| 6520420869 | Region | An area distinguished by a unique combination of trends or features | 14 | |
| 6520420870 | Scale | Generally, 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. | 15 | |
| 6520420871 | Space | The physical gap or interval between two objects | 16 | |
| 6520420872 | Space-Time Compression | The reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place, as a result of improved communications and transportation systems | 17 | |
| 6520420873 | Toponym | The name given to a portion of Earth's surface | 18 | |
| 6520420874 | Resource | A substance in the environment that is useful to people, is economically and technologically feasible to access, and is socially acceptable to use | 19 | |
| 6520420875 | 5 Themes of Geography | Location, Movement, Place, Human Interaction, Region | 20 | |
| 6520420876 | Spatial Association | The distribution of one phenomenon is spatially related to the distribution of another | 21 | |
| 6520420877 | Globalization | Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope | 22 | |
| 6520420878 | Infrastructure | The stock of basic facilities and capital equipment needed for the functioning of a country or area | 23 | |
| 6520420879 | Regionalization | The organization of earth's surface into distinct areas that are viewed as different from other areas | 24 | |
| 6520420880 | Spatial Organization | The location of places, people, and events, and the connections among places and landscapes (defines human life on earth, with all its similarities and differences) | 25 | |
| 6520420881 | Landscapes | The overall appearance of an area that is shaped by both human and natural influences | 26 | |
| 6520420882 | Eratosthenes | Greek scholar in 3rd century BC who accurately calculated the circumference of the earth by measuring the sun's angles at the summer solstice at 2 points along the Nile River | 27 | |
| 6520420883 | Ptolemy | Greek scholar who lived 500 years before Eratosthenes recalculated the earth's circumference inaccurately by 9,000 miles, but his mistake was taken as truth for hundreds of years. He wrote Guide to Geography that included rough maps of landmasses, and developed a global grid system which was a forerunner to our modern system of latitude and longitude. | 28 | |
| 6520420884 | Idrisi | An 11th century Arab geographer that worked for the king of Sicily to collect geographical information into a remarkably accurate representation of the world. Under his direction, an academy of geographers gathered maps and went out on their own scientific expeditions. | 29 | |
| 6520420885 | Types of Distortion | The shapes of areas; the distances between places; the relative size of different areas; the direction from one place to another | 30 | |
| 6520420886 | Mercator Projection | Invented by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator for ships navigating across the Atlantic Ocean in 1569. The map is meant for direction. However, the projection distorts sizes of areas, particularly as you get closer to the North and South poles |  | 31 |
| 6520420887 | Robinson Projection | A map that curves inward to fix the distortion of the Mercator, but makes the landmasses look smaller than they really are. It is an attempt to balance all distortions by making errors in all 4 ways. As a result, it is a good projection for general use |  | 32 |
| 6520420888 | Peters Projection | Introduced in 1974 by Arno Peters, and focuses on keeping landmasses equal in area. As a result, the shapes are distorted, and the map looks unfamiliar to viewers |  | 33 |
| 6520420889 | Scale | Size of the unit studied (local, regional, or global scale); Map scale (mathematical relationship between the size of an area on a map and its actual size on earth) | 34 | |
| 6520420890 | Ways to Identify Place | Place name, site, situation, and absolute location | 35 | |
| 6520420891 | Site | The physical character of a place | 36 | |
| 6520420892 | Situation | The location of a place relative to other places | 37 | |
| 6520420893 | Multi-national Corporations | Companies that have centers of operation in many parts of the globe | 38 | |
| 6520420894 | Physical Site Characteristics | Climate, topography, soil, water sources, vegetation, and elevation | 39 |
