AP Human Geography Ch`1 – Flashcards
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where are people and activities found on earth? why are they found there?
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what 2 questions do geographers ask?
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modern communications and technology have fostered globalization, pulling people into greater economic interaction with others, while people are searching for more ways to express their cultural traditions and economic practices
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why do geographers feel people are being pulled in 2 directions regarding globalization?
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they are interested in the location of McDonald's restaurants AND the economic and cultural conditions that permitted, and even encouraged, companies like McDonald's to globally spread
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why are geographers interested in McDonald restaurants?
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individual deisions concerning the local economy and culture; menus tailored to local tastes; only located in countries that can afford it
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why have McDonald's restaurants been successful all over the world?
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knowing where and whythe people involved in these attacks were located helped us understand why 9/11 happened
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why has geography been so important since 9/11?
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human and physical
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what are the 2 major branches of geography?
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WHERE and WHY human activities are located where they are
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what are the 2 major features of geography?
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mapping
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What is the most important tool of geographers?
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every place occupies a unique location, or position, on Earth's surface, and is distinguished by a specific character
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why is every "place" so unique?
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geographers are concerned with the various means by which connections occur
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why are geographers so interested in "connections"?
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an area of earth distinguished by a distinctive combination of cultural and physical features
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region
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make maps using computers and satellite imagery
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what do "cartographers" do?
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a tool for storing reference material a tool for communicating geographic information
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2 purposes of a map
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a- 1st to demonstrate that Earth was spherical t- applied principles of geometry to measuring land area e- 1st person of record to use the word geogrphy p- wrote and 8-volume Guide to Geography ph- "father of Chinese cartography" produced an elaborate map of China ib- wrote Rihlah ("travels") based on three decades of journeys, covering the Muslim world m- used explorer's info to make even more accurate maps
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one contribution each made to geography- aristotle thales eratosthenes ptolemy phei hsiu ibn-battutah mercator
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a scale used to show the numerical ratio between distances on the map and Earth's surface
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what is a "fractional scale"?
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the scientific method of transferring locations on Earth's surface to a flat map
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projection
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the shape of an area the distance between two points the relative size of different areas the direction of one place to another
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4 problems with distortion when we try to represent the Earth on a flat surface
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rp- the land areas are much smaller than on interrupted maps of the same size mp- areas is grossly distorted toward the poles, making high latitude places larger than they actually are
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Robinson projection & Mercator projection (problems)
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it divided the US into a system of townships and rangers to facilitate the sale o land to settlers in the west
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why was the land ordinance of 1785 so significant?
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section of land with 6 square miles on each side
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township
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a number corresponding to the location of a township east or west of a principal meridian
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range
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across the United States
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where is the Township and Range System found today?
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geographic information system
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what is GIS
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GIS allows you to measure and record any object's position on Earth with mathematical precision, then store it in a computer cartographers can use GIS to make far more accurate and extensive maps
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how does GIS work and who uses it today and why is it so valuable?
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the acquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting Earth these satellites can scan Earth's surface and transmit them to a receiving station on Earth
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what is remote sensing and how does it work?
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show a remarkable detail of physical and cultural features used to study the relief and slope of localities
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what is a topographic map and how is it used?
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Global Positioning System, the system that accurately determines the precise position of something on Earth; navigators of ships and aircraft, geographers
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what is GPS and who uses it?
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GPS consists of a system of satellites, tracking stations, and receivers that help find an exact location of something
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how can GPS be so precise?
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the name given to a place on Earth
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toponym
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people, religion, features of the physical environment
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what are some of the factors taken in when naming places?
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to promote publicity, political upheavals
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what are some reasons names of places are changed?
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a site is a physical character of a place, while a situation is a location of a place relative to other places
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site vs situation
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climate, water sources, topography
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3 site factors
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...
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3 situation factors
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the location of any other place on Earth's surface can be described precisely by meridians and parallels
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mathematical location
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0 degrees longitude
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where is the Prime Meridian
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0 degrees longitude is a human creation, running through Greenwich
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how is longitude determined?
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along 180 degrees longitude
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where is the International Date Line
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a personal attachment to a region
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sense of place
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a combination of cultural features such as language and religion, economic features such as agriculture and industry, and physical features such as climate and vegetation
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cultural landscape
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geographers
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who really creates regions?
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an area within which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics
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formal region
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an area focused around a node or focal point
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functional region
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a place that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity
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vernacular region
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FL GA AL KT NV TX LA
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what states does the "American south" include?
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the body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms that together constitute the distinct tradition of a group of people
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how do geographers define culture?
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a system of signs, sounds, gestures, and marks that have meanings understood within a cultural group
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language
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a group's anguage, religion, and other cultural values, as well as its physical traits
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ethnicity
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economic activity
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why are some countries LCDs vs. MCDs?
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human environment relationships
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what do cultural ecologists study?
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environment determinism is how the physical environment CAUSED social development possibilism is how the physical environment MAY LIMIT some human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to their environment
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what is the difference between environment determinism and possibilism?
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it may limit some human activities
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how do physical features of a region influence human activities?
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to understand the distribution of human activities, such as where people live and how they earn a living
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why do human geographers need to be familiar with "climatology"?
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system developed by German climatologist Vladimir Koppen, divides the world into 5 main climate regions (a-e)
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Koppen system
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it greatly affects the climate of these countries, giving them a "rainy season"
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why are monsoons so important in India and Bangladesh?
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plant communities forest, desert, savanna, grassland
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biome
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soil contains the nutrients necessary to successfully grow plants
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why is the study of soils so important to human geographers?
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...
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geomorphology
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...
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why is it said that the Dutch made the "Netherlands"?
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a piece of land created y draining water
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polder
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it could flood most of the country
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how might global warming affect the Netherlands in the future?
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FL has been insensitively altered
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why is the state of FL so fragile?
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barrier islands along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts wetlands btwn Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades Kissimmee River
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where in FL has the physical environment been altered and why?
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freshwater was pumped into the sea, threatening natural vegetation and wildlife
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what has been the effect of protecting the sugar cane fields on the Everglades?
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geographers focus on unique features on a local scale, but at a global scale they see more broad patterns
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scale:local to global
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where the population is growing rapidly where followers of different religions live where corporations place factories global warming
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what types of arrangements do geographers study both locally and globally?
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a force or process that involves the entire world and results in making something worldwide in scope
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globalization
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they have led the globalization of the economy
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why are transnational corporations important today?
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economic differences among places has risen factories are closed in some places spacial divison of labor
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what have been the effects of transnational corporations?
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increasingly uniform cultural preferences produce uniform "global" landscapes
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globalization of culture
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geography's concern to space-history's concern for time
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how has Kant compared geography to history?
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the arrangement of a feature in a space is known as density, while the frequency with which something occurs in space is its density
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distribution vs density
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ad is the total number of objects in an area while pd is the number of persons per unit area of suitable farmland
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arithmetic density vs physiological density
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density, concentration, pattern
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density vs concentration
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the reduction in the time it takes for something to reach another place
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space-time compression
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the farther away a group is from another, the less likely the two groups are to interact; contact diminishes with increasing distance and eventually disapears
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distance decay
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the process by which a characteristic spreads across space from one place to another over time
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diffusion
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the place from which innovation originates
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hearth
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relocation diffusion is the spread of an idea through physical movement of people from one place to another, while expansion diffusion is the spread of a feature in a snowballing process
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relocation diffusion vs expansion diffusion
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contagious, hierarchical, stimulous
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3 types of expansion diffusion
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contagious diffusion only affects a small portion of the population bc only a few people accept the idea/innovation
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contagious diffusion vs stimulus diffusion
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NY Dubai Munich China India
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where are the centers of global culture and the global economy
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...
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where are the periphery and core regions today?
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an increasing gap in economic conditions btwn core and peripheral regions as a result of globalization of economy
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uneven development
