AP Human Geography Unit 3 Key Terms – Flashcards
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Artifacts
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The material manifestations of culture, including tools, housing, systems of land use, clothing, etc.
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Built environment
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The part of the physical landscape that represents material culture, including buildings, roads, bridges, etc.
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Core
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The zone of greatest concentration or homogeneity of the culture traits that characterize a region.
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Cultural convergence
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The tendency for cultures to become more alike as they increasingly share technology and organizational structures in a modern world united by improved transportation and communication.
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Cultural landscape
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Modifications to the environment by humans, including the built environment and agricultural systems, that reflect aspects of their culture.
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Culture realm
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A collective of culture regions sharing related culture systems; a major world area having sufficient distinctiveness to be perceived as set apart from other realms in terms of cultural characteristics and complexes.
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Culture region
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A formal or functional region within which common cultural characteristics prevail.
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Culture hearth
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A nuclear area within which an advanced and distinctive set of culture traits, ideas and technologies develops and from which there is diffusion of those characteristics and the cultural landscape features they imply.
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Culture complex
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A related set of culture traits descriptive of one aspect of a society's behavior or activity (may be assoc. with religious beliefs or business practices).
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Culture trait
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A single, distinguishing feature of regular occurrence within a culture, such as the use of chopsticks or the observance of a particular caste system. A single element of learned behavior.
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Custom
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The frequent repetition of an act, to the extent that it becomes characteristic of the group of people performing the act.
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Environmental determinism
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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.
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Environmental perception
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The concept that people of different cultures will differently observe and interpret their environment and make different decisions about its nature, potentialities and use.
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Folk culture
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Culture traditionally practiced by a small, homogeneous, rural group living in relative isolation from other groups.
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Habit
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A repetitive act performed by a particular individual.
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Material culture
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The tangible, physical items produced and used by members of a specific culture group and reflective of their traditions, lifestyles and technologies.
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Mentifacts
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The central, enduring elements of a culture expressing its values and beliefs, including language, religion, folklore, etc.
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Popular culture
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Culture found in a large, heterogeneous society that shares certain habits despite differences in other personal characteristics.
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Possibilism
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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.
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Sociofacts
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The institutions and links between individuals and groups that unite a culture, including family structure and political, educational and religious institutions.
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Taboo
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A restriction on behavior imposed by a social custom.
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Uniform landscape
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The spatial expression of a popular custom in one location being similar to another.
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Domain
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The area outside of the core of a culture region in which the culture is still dominant but less intense.
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Sphere
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The zone of outer influence for a culture region.
