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Agricultural Density The ratio of the number of farmers to the total amount of land suitable for agriculture. Arithmetic Density The total number of people divided by the total land area. Cartography the making of maps and charts Concentration The spread of something over a given area. Contagious Diffusion The rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout a population. Cultural Ecology Geographic approach that emphasizes human-environment relationships. Culture the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next. Density The frequency with which something exists within a given unit of area. Diffusion The spreading of a feature or trend from one place to another over time. Distance decay The diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin. Distribution The arrangement of something across Earth's surface. Environmental Determinism A 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. Equator an imaginary line around the Earth forming the great circle that is equidistant from the north and south poles Expansion Diffusion The spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in a snowballing process. Formal Region (or uniform or homogeneous region) an area in which everyone shares in one or more distinctive characteristics Functional (nodal) Region an area organized around a node or focal point. GIS A computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data. GPS A system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and recievers. Globalization Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope Hierarchical Diffusion the spread of a feature or trend from one key person or node of authority or power to other persons or places Hearth the region from which innovative ideas originate International Date Line An 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 (toward America), the clock moves back 24 hours, or one entire day. When you go west (toward Asia), the calendar moves ahead one day. Land Ordinance of 1785 A law that divided much of the United States into a system of townships to facilitate the sale of land to settlers. Latitude The numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on a globe and measuring distance north and south of the equator 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°). Map a two-dimensional, or flat, representation of Earth's surface or a portion of it Mercator Projection accurately shows shape and direction, but distorts distance and size of land masses. Pattern The geometric or regular arrangement of something in a study area. Physiological Density The number of people per unit of area of arable land, which is land suitable for agriculture. Place A specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular character. Possibilism The 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. Prime Meridian The meridian, designated at 0° longitude, which passes through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England. Projection The system used to transfer locations from Earth's surface to a flat map. Region An area of Earth distinguished by a dinstinctive combination of cultural and physical features. Relocation Diffusion the spread of a feature or trend through bodily movement of people from one place to another Remote Sensing The acquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or other long-distance methods. Resource A substance in the environment that is useful to people, is economically and technologically feasible to access, and is socially acceptable to use. Robinson Projection Projection that attempts to balance several possible projection errors. It does not maintain completely accurate area, shape, distance, or direction, but it minimizes errors in each. 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. Site The physical character of a place Situation The location of a place relative to other places. 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 Spatial Analysis the study of geographic phenomena in terms of their arrangement as points, lines, areas, or surfaces on a map Stimulus Diffusion The spread of an underlying principle, even though a specific characteristic is rejected. Time Zones the 24 zones of different time into which the Earth is divided Toponym The name given to a portion of Earth's surface. Township A square normally 6 miles on a side. The Land Ordinance of 1785 divided much of the United States into a series of townships. Transnational Corporation A company that conducts research, operates factories, and sells products in many countries, not just where its headquarters or shareholders are located. Uneven Development The increasing gap in economic conditions between core and peripheral regions as a result of the globalization of the economy. Vernacular Region An area that people believe to exsist as part of their cultural identity (perceptual region)