AP Human Geography flashcards

33 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Scale (geographic)

The relationship between the size of a mapped area and the detail shown; phenomena are analyzed at local through global scales, and causes may operate at a different scale than effects.

Choropleth map

A thematic map that shades entire administrative units such as counties or countries in proportion to a value or rate, revealing broad spatial patterns but hiding variation within units.

Distance decay

The principle that interaction between two places declines as the distance between them increases, because travel and communication costs rise with separation.

Site versus situation

Site refers to a place's physical characteristics such as terrain and climate; situation refers to its location relative to other places and routes.

Functional region

A region organized around a central node and defined by the flows or interactions that link its parts, such as a metropolitan area or a transit network.

Physiologic population density

The number of people per unit of arable land; it reveals pressure on farmland better than arithmetic density, especially in mountainous or arid countries.

Demographic transition model

A sequence of stages linking falling death rates to later falling birth rates as societies develop, moving from high stationary through expanding to low stationary populations.

Replacement-level fertility

A total fertility rate of roughly 2.1 children per woman in low-mortality settings, the level at which a population replaces itself without migration.

Ravenstein's laws

Generalizations about migration: most moves are short-distance, rural-to-urban, and made by adults, and each stream generates a counter-stream of return migration.

Chain migration

Migration in which earlier migrants send information and support to relatives and friends, drawing additional people from the same origin to the same destination.

Refugee versus IDP

A refugee crosses an international border fleeing persecution or violence; an internally displaced person is forced from home but remains within their own country.

Relocation diffusion

The spread of a cultural trait through the physical movement of people who carry it to new places, as with migrating groups introducing foods or religions.

Syncretism

The blending of elements from two or more cultures into a new cultural form, such as merged religious practices or hybrid musical styles.

Lingua franca

A bridge language used for communication between speakers of different native languages, often for trade, as English serves in global commerce.

Universalizing religion

A religion that seeks converts and claims applicability to all people, spreading through expansion diffusion; Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism are examples.

Cultural hearth

A source region where a cultural trait or complex originated and from which it diffused, such as the Fertile Crescent for early agriculture.

Nation-state

A political unit whose territorial boundaries closely correspond to the territory of a single nation sharing language, ethnicity, and identity.

Superimposed boundary

A boundary drawn by outside powers over existing cultural and ethnic patterns, often ignoring them and generating later conflict, as in colonial Africa.

Exclusive economic zone

A coastal state's offshore zone extending 200 nautical miles, within which it holds sovereign rights to fish, minerals, and other resources.

Devolution

The transfer of political power from a central government to regional or local governments, often driven by ethnic, linguistic, or economic regional identity.

Gerrymandering

Manipulating electoral district boundaries to favor a party or group, either by packing opponents into few districts or cracking them across many.

Centripetal force

A force that unifies a state and strengthens national cohesion, such as a shared language, common religion, or inclusive national identity.

Von Thünen model

A model of agricultural land use showing concentric rings around a market, where perishability and transport cost determine which crops are grown at each distance.

Shifting cultivation

A subsistence system in which farmers clear and burn tropical forest, cultivate for a few years, then abandon plots to regenerate, requiring low population density.

Green Revolution

The mid-twentieth-century introduction of high-yield hybrid grains, fertilizers, and irrigation that raised food output, especially in Asia and Latin America.

Intensive versus extensive agriculture

Intensive farming applies high labor or capital inputs per unit of land; extensive farming uses low inputs per area, as in ranching or shifting cultivation.

Primate city

A city that is disproportionately larger than the second-largest city in its country and concentrates political, economic, and cultural power.

Central place theory

A model explaining the size, number, and spacing of settlements by the range and threshold of goods, with higher-order goods served by fewer, larger centers.

Bid-rent curve

A graph showing land value highest near the city center and declining outward, reflecting competition for accessible locations among different land uses.

Gentrification

The reinvestment in and renovation of deteriorated inner-city neighborhoods that raises property values and often displaces lower-income residents.

Squatter settlement

An unplanned, often illegal residential area built by residents on unoccupied or marginal urban land, typically lacking secure tenure and basic services.

World-systems theory

Wallerstein's model dividing the global economy into core, semi-periphery, and periphery, linked by unequal exchange that channels surplus toward core regions.

Human Development Index

A composite measure of development combining life expectancy, education (years of schooling), and income per capita, ranging from zero to one.