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AP Human Geography Unit 1 Vocab Flashcards

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910259086Built LandscapeAn area of land represented by its features and patterns of human occupation and use of natural resources (Changing attribute of a place).1
910259087Sequent OccupanceThe notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape.2
910259088Cultural LandscapeFashioning of a natural landscape by a cultural group. This is the essence of how humans interact with nature.3
910259089Arithmetic DensityThe total number of people divided by the total land area.4
910259090Physiological DensityThe number of people per unit area of arable land, which is land suitable for agriculture.5
910259091HearthThe region from which innovative ideas originate.6
910259092Relocation DiffusionThe spread of an idea through physical movement of people from one place to another.7
910259093Expansion DiffusionThe spread of a feature from one place to another in a snowballing process. This can happen by hierarchical, contagious, or stimulus diffusion.8
910259094Hierarchical DiffusionThe spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority or power to other persons or places. (Ex: Hip-Hop/rap music)9
910259095Contagious DiffusionThe rapid widespread diffusion of a character throughout the population.(Ex: ideas placed on the internet)10
910259096Stimulus DiffusionThe spread of an underlying principle, even though a characteristic itself apparently fails to diffuse. (Ex. PC & Apple11
910259097Absolute DirectionA compass direction such as north or south.12
910259098Relative DirectionDirections such as left, right, forward, backword, up, and down based on people's perceptions of places.13
910259099DispersedTo drive or send off in various directions.14
910259100ScatteredDistributed or occuring at widely spaced and usually irregular intervals.15
910259101Clustered/AgglomeratedWhen things are close together or put together in a concentrated area.16
910480165Absolute DistanceExact measurement of the physical space between two places.17
910480166Relative DistanceApproximate measurement of the physical space between two places.18
910480167DistributionThe arrangement of something across Earth's surface.19
910480168Environmental DeterminismA 19th- and early 20th-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 activities20
910480169Absolute LocationPosition on Earth's surface using the coordinate system of longitude and latitude.21
910480170Relative LocationPosition on Earth's surface relative to other features.22
910480171SiteThe physical character of a place; what is found at the location and why it is significant.23
910480172SituationThe location of a place relative to other places.24
910480173ToponymThe name given to a place on Earth.25
910480174Linear PatternStraight patterns. (Ex: houses on a street)26
910480175Centralized PatternClustered at a certain place.27
910480176Random patternA pattern with no specific order or logic behind its arrangement28
910480177Natural LandscapeLandscape that has not ben changed by humans29
910480178PossibilismPhysical environment may limit some human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to their environment.30
910480179Formal Region (Uniform)An area within which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics. The shared feature could be a cultural value such as a common language, or an environmental climate.31
910480180Functional Region (Nodal)An area organized around a node or focal point. The characteristic chosen to define a functional region dominates at a central focus or node and diminishes in importance outward.32
910480181Vernacular Region (Perceptual)A place that people believe exists as a part of their cultural identity. Such regions emerge from peoples informal sense of place rather than from scientific models developed through geographic thought. (Often identified using a mental map).33
910480182ScaleRepresentation of a real world phenomenon at a certain level or reduction or generalization. In cartography, the ratio of map distance to ground distance.34
910480183SizeThe estimation or determination of extent.35
910480184AccessibilityThe degree of ease with which it is possible to reach a certain location from other locations.36
910480185ConnectivityThe relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space.37
910480186NetworkA set of interconnected nodes without a center38
910480187Distance DecayThe diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin. Typically, the farther away one group is from another, the less likely the two groups are to interact.39
910480188Friction of DistanceBased on the notion that distance usually requires some amount of effort, money, and/or energy to overcome. Because of this "friction," spatial interactions will tend to take place more often over shorter distances; quantity of interaction will decline with distance.40
910480189Time-Space CompressionThe reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place, as a result of improved communications41
910480190DistortionThe further away you are from the actual object while looking at it on a map, the more distorted it is.42
910480191Geographic Information System (GIS)A computer that can capture, store, query, analyze, and display geographic information-helps produce more efficient and attractive maps than those drawn by hand.43
910480192Global Positioning SystemAccurately determines the precise position of something on Earth-helps people navigate from one area to another.44
910480193GridA pattern of lines on a chart or map. (Ex: Latitude & longitude).45
910480194North and South PolesThe very top and bottom of the Earth.46
910480195LatitudeThe numbering system used to indicate the location of a parallel, goes up and down.47
910480196ParallelA circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator and at right angles to meridians and helps to define a time zone.48
910480197EguatorThe line that goes across the center of the earth and is at 0 degrees latitude- splits the world into the north and south hemisphere.49
910627074LongitudeThe numbering system used to indicate the location of a meridian and helps along with latitude to establish time zones.50
910627075MeridianAn arc drawn between the north and south poles and helps define time zones along with parallels51
910627076Prime MeridianThe meridian that passes through Greenwich, England at 0 degrees longitude and is the place where every day has 12 hours of daylight.52
910627077International Date LineFollows closely at 180 degrees longitude - when you pass it heading east the clock moves back 24 hours and vise versa.53
910627078Maps2-D representation of Earth's surface or a portion of it. Important because maps are the tools most uniquely identified with geography; ability to use and interpret maps is an essential geographic skill.54
910627079Map scaleThe distance on a map relative to distance on Earth - helps give a sense on how big something is on a map as compared to on Earth.55
910627080Thematic MapA type of map that display one or more variables-such as population or income level-within a specific area.56
910627081Statistical MapA special type of map in which the variation in quantity of a factor such as rainfall, population, or crops in a geographic area is indicated.57
910627082CartogramA map that is simplified to represent a single idea in a diagrammatic way; the base is not usually true to scale.58
910627083Dot MapA thematic map in which a dot represents some frequency of the mapped variable.59
910627084Cloropleth MapA thematic map in which ranked classes of some variables are depicted with shading patterns or colors for predefined zones.60
910627085Isoline MapA thematic map with lines that connect points of equal value.61
910627086Mental Map (Cognitive)A map of a person's personal point of view of the world - helps a person realize where things are in their own perception.62
910627087ModelA simplified abstraction of reality, structured to clarify casual relationships - used by geographers to explain patterns, make informed decisions, and predict future behaviors.63
910627088Time Zones24 zones that are 1000 miles apart from the other, each one is an hour before or after the one next to it, and by passing the International Date Line, you either go forward 24 hours or back 24 hours.64
910627089Remote sensingAcquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or other long-distance methods. Helps to show information about the Earth from a satellite on any feature.65
910627090Map ProjectionPut Earth's 3 dimensional shape onto a two-dimensional surface.66
918264038MercatorA type of map projection that shows the Earth accurately, but the farther away from the equator you look it is less accurate67
918264039AzimuthalA map projection in which the plane is the most develop-able surface68
918264040RobinsonA map projection that curves inward to fix the distortion of the mercator, but makes landmasses look smaller than they really are.69
918264041FullerMaintains the accurate size and shape of land masses. Rearranges direction so the cardinal directions no longer have any meaning.70
918264042PeterA map projection that more fairly shows the third world countries. Shapes are distorted but area is accurate.71

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