AP Human Geography Chapter 1 Vocabulary

Key Vocabulary and Definitions

• Sequent Occupance: Represents how successive societies shape and modify the cultural landscape, illustrating human-environment interactions over time.

• Cultural Landscape: The result of the transformation of the natural landscape by cultural groups to meet their needs.

• Arithmetic Density: Calculated by dividing the total population by the total land area, indicating population distribution per unit of land.

• Physiological Density: Measures the number of people per unit of arable land, highlighting land usage relative to population.

• Hearth: The original region where innovative ideas or practices originate.

• Diffusion: The process of spreading cultural features and practices from one location to others over time.

• Relocation Diffusion: The transmission of cultural elements through the physical movement of people from one place to another.

• Expansion Diffusion: Features spread through a snowballing effect, occurring in hierarchical, contagious, or stimulus forms.

• Hierarchical Diffusion: Spreading of ideas or trends from a person of authority to other individuals or places.

• Contagious Diffusion: Rapid and widespread diffusion of a characteristic through a population.

• Absolute Distance: Precise measurement between two geographical locations.

• Relative Distance: Approximate measurement reflecting the distance between two places in a broader context.

• Distribution: The arrangement and spread of various phenomena across the Earth's surface.

• Environmental Determinism: The theory that human activities are influenced and shaped by the physical environment.

• Stimulus Diffusion: Spread of an underlying principle or idea even if the specific characteristic does not fully diffuse.

• Absolute Location: The exact geographical coordinates determined by latitude and longitude.

• Relative Location: Location defined in relation to other landmarks or geographical features.

• Site: The intrinsic characteristics and significance of a specific location.

• Situation: A location described in relation to other places.

• Space Time Compression: The phenomenon where advancements in technology reduce the time it takes for ideas to spread.

• Friction of Distance: The concept that increased distance requires greater effort, money, or energy, leading to more frequent interactions over shorter distances.

• Distance Decay: The principle that interaction decreases as the distance between groups increases.

• Networks: A system of interconnected nodes without a central hub.

• Connectivity: The various relationships that exist across distances, transcending geographical barriers.

• Accessibility: The ease of reaching a location from other places.

• Space: The physical gap or interval between two objects.

• Spatial Distribution: Examination of how phenomena are located across various areas.

• Size: An estimation of the extent or magnitude of a geographical feature.

• Scale: The representation of real-world phenomena, adjusted for reduction or generalization.

• Formal Region: A defined area where one or more distinctive characteristics, like language or climate, are uniformly shared among its inhabitants.

• Functional Region: Organized around a central node or focal point, influencing the surrounding area.

• Vernacular Region: A perceptual area recognized by the local population as part of their cultural identity.

• Possibilism: The idea that while the environment may impose certain limitations on human actions, people can adapt and modify their environments.

• Natural Landscape: Geographic features created by natural processes over time.

• Pattern: The geometric arrangement or common property of distribution among objects in space.

• Place Name: Known as toponym, it refers to the designated name given to a particular location on Earth.

Test your knowledge with this quiz on key terms from Chapter 1 of AP Human Geography. Understand concepts like Sequent Occupance and Cultural Landscape, and how they relate to human interaction with the environment. Perfect for review before your exam!