MoWo/Human Geo AP vocab UNIT 1
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Created by:
nicolesteinberg on April 20, 2009
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80 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Pattison's Four Traditions | by W.D. Pattinson: locational, culture-environment, area-analysis, earth-science |
| Five Themes of Geography | by GENIP. location, region, place, human/environmental interaction, movement |
| Anthropogenic | human-induced changes on the natural environment |
| Absolute location | the exact position of an object or place, measured within the spatial coordinates of a grid system |
| Absolute distance | the distance that can be measured with a standard unit of length, such as a mile or kilometer |
| Region | territory that encompasses many places that share similar attributes |
| Formal region | (uniform, homogeneous) or homogenous region is an area within which everyone shares in common one or mare distinctive characteristics. The shared feature could be a cultural value such as a common language, or an environmental climate. |
| Functional region | (nodal) 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. This region is tied to the central point by transportation or communication systems or by economic or functional associations. |
| Vernacular region | (vernacular) is 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 | (cognitive map) image of a portion of the earth's surface than an individual creates in his or her mind |
| Environmental perception | a person's idea or image of a place; may often be inaccurate. |
| Cultural trait | (component of culture) the specific customs that are part of everyday life of a particular culture, such as language, religion, ethinivity, social institution, and aspects of popular culture |
| Cultural complex | (component of culture) the group of traits that define a particular culture |
| Components of culture | trait, complex, region, realm, system |
| Culture hearth | location's on earth's surface where specific cultures first arose |
| Cultural landscape | The human-modified natural landscape specifically containing the imprint of a particular culture or society |
| Sequent Occupance | The notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape. This is an important concept in geography because it symbolizes how humans interact with their surroundings. |
| Cultural diffusion | The process of spread of a feature or trend from one place to another over time |
| Independent invention | an invention arrived at independently, even though another group of people may have created the same invention in a different place at a different time |
| Expansion Diffusion | The spread of ideas, innovations, fashion, or other phenomena to surrounding areas through contact and exchange (e.g. contagious, hierarchical, or stimulus diffusion) |
| Contagious Diffusion | The spread of disease, innovation, or cultural traits through direct contact with another person or another place |
| Hierarchical Diffusion | A type of diffusion in which somthing is transmitted between places because of something the two places have in common |
| Stimulus Diffusion | when a trait of one culture prompts invention or innovation in another |
| Relocation Diffusion | The diffusion of ideas, innovations, behaviors, and the like from one place to another through migration (e.g. migrant diffusion) |
| Migrant Diffusion | when an idea or innovation enjoys a strong but brief adoption somewhere and then moves somewhere else. moves like a "slinky" |
| Acculturation | the adoption of cultural traits, such as language, by one group under the influence of another - Process of adopting only certain customs that will be to their advantage |
| Transculturation | A near equal exchange of culture traits or customs |
| Assimilation | Process of less dominant cultures losing their culture to a more dominant culture |
| Environmental determinism | A 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 o f how the physical environment caused human activities (e.g., Jared Diamond - Guns, Germs, and Steel) |
| Possibilism | The physical environment may limit some human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to their environment. |
| Cultural ecology | the study of the interactions between societies and the natural environments they live in |
| Holoscene epoch | current interglaciation period (sustained warming phase between glaciations during an ice age), extending from around 12,000 years ago to the present (some scientists speculate that since humans influence the Earth as no species was able to before, we have recently entered the Anthropocene epoch). |
| Interglaciation | representing periods when Earth's climate was as warm as it is now (?) |
| First Agricultural Revolution | beginning around 12,000 years ago; achieved plant domestication (human influence on genetic modification of a plant) and animal domestication (genetic modification of an animal to make it more amenable to human control and use); began permanent settlements along fertile river valleys which moved humans from egalitarian societies (equal) to more stratified societies (unequal). |
| Plant domestication | human influence on genetic modification of a plant |
| Animal domestication | genetic modification of an animal to make it more amenable to human control and use |
| Social Stratification | the condition of being arranged in social strata or classes within a group |
| Culture Hearth | origins of a culture (Fertile Crescent, Chang and Yellow River Valley in China, Nile River Valley and Delta, Meso-america |
| Graphic Information System | (GIS) A set of computer tools used to capture, store, transform, analyze, and display geographic data |
| Global Positioning System | (GPS) a set of satellites used to help determine location anywhere on the earth's surface with a portable electronic device |
| Remote Sensing | observation and mathematical measurement of the earth's surface using aircraft and satellites. The sensors include both photographic images, thermal images, multispectral scanners, and radar images. |
| Qualitative data | (culture, language, religion,...) data associated with a more humanistic approach to geography, often collected through intervies, empirical observations, or the interpretation of texts, artwork, old maps, and other archives |
| Quantitative data | (population, political, economic,...) data associated with mathematical models and statistical techniques used to analyze spatial location and assosiation |
| Map Projections | A mathematical method that involves transferring the earth's sphere onto a flat surface. |
| Azimuthal Projection | A map projection in which the plane is the most developable surface |
| Mercator Projection | A true conformal cylindrical map projection, this projection is particularly useful for navigation b/c it maintains accurate direction. Makes land masses and poles appear oversized. |
| Peter's Projection | A cylindrical map projection that attempts to retain the accurate sizes of the world's landmasses. It makes a political statement that focuses on the tropics. |
| Fuller Projection | A type of map projection that maintains the accurate size and shape of landmasses but completely rearranges direction such that the four cardinal directions no longer have any meaning |
| Robinson Projection | a map 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. |
| Dot | (type of map) thematic map that uses points to show the precise locations of specific observations or occurrences, such as crimes, car accidents, or births |
| Choropleth | (type of map) A thematic map that uses tones or colors to represent spatial data as average values per unit area |
| Reference | (type of map) a map type that shows reference information for a particular place, making it useful for finding landmarks and for navigating |
| Thematic | (type of map) that displays one or more variables - such as population or income level - within a specific area |
| Proportional Symbol | (type of map) a thematic map in which the size of a chosen symbol indicates the relative magnitude of some statistical value for a given geographic region |
| Preference | (type of map) map demonstrating progressively more desirable options |
| Cartogram | (type of map) a type of thematic map that transforms space such that the political unit with the greatest value for some type of data is represented by the largest relative area |
| Parallel | An east-west line of latitude that runs parallel to the equator and that marks distance north or south of the equator. |
| Equator | on the parallel, center of the earth, sun directly hits it |
| Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn | referred to as the low latitudes, where it is the highest or lowest that the sun will directly hit the earth besides the Equator |
| Arctic Circle | on parallel at top of earth |
| Antarctic Circle | on parralel at bottom of earth |
| Meridian | A line of longitude that runs north-south. All lines of longitude are equal in length and intersect at the poles. |
| Prime Meridian | An imaginary line passing through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England, which marks the zero degree line of longitude |
| International Date Line | The line of longitude that marks where each new day begins (centered on the 180th meridian) |
| TODALSIG | Title, Orientation, Date, Author, Legend, Scale, Index, Grid (acronym for assessing the validity and reliability of any map) |
| Large Scale | A relatively small ratio between map units and ground units. Have higher resolution and cover much smaller regions than small scale maps |
| Small Scale | Map scale ratio in which the ratio of units on the map to units on the earth is quite small. Usually depicts large areas |
| location | (theme of geography) position; situation of people and things |
| human/environmental interaction | (theme of geography) reciprocal relationship b/w humans & env. |
| region | (theme of geography) area on Earth's surface marked by a degree of homogeneity (uniformity) of some phenomenon |
| place | (theme of geography) uniqueness of a location (or similarity of two or more locales); phenomena within an area |
| movement | (theme of geography) mobility of people, goods and ideas; phenomena between areas |
| Relative location | Position on Earth's surface relative to other features. (Ex: My house is east of I-75). |
| Relative distance | Approximate measurement of the physical space between two places. |
| Locational | spatial tradition (location) - one of the four traditions |
| Area-Studies | regional geography - one of the four traditions |
| Earth-Science | physical geography (not one of the Five Themes) - one of the four traditions |
| Manland | human/environmental interaction - one of the four traditions |
| Site | The physical character of place; what is found at the location and why it is significant |
| Situation | The location of a place relative to other places |
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