AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY ALL VOCAB
TERMS UPDATED ACTUAL Exam
Questions and CORRECT Answers
accessibility - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- the degree of ease with which it is possible to reach
a certain location from other locations. Accessibility varies from place to place and can be
measured.
physical geography - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- one of the two major divisions of systematic
geography; the spatial analysis of the structure, processes, and location of the Earth's natural
phenomena such as climate, soil, plants, animals, and topography.
connectivity - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- the degree of direct linage between one particular
location and other locations in a transport network.
sequent occupance - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- the notion that successive societies leave
their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape
spatial distribution - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- physical location of geographic phenomena
across space
five themes (of geography) - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- they are location, human-
environment, region, place, and movement
location theory - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- a logical attempt to explain the locational
pattern of an economic activity and the manner in which its producing areas are interrelated.
The agricultural location theory contained in the von Thunen model is a leading example.
medical geography - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- the study of health and disease within a
geographic context and from a geographical perspective. Among other things, medical
geography looks at sources, diffusions routes, and distribution of diseases.
spatial perspective - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- observing variations in geographic
phenomena across space
,human geography - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- one of the major divisions of geography; the
spatial analysis of human population, its cultures, activities, and landscapes
epidemic - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- regional outbreak of a disease
cultural landscape - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- the visible imprint of human activity and
culture on the landscape. The layers of buildings, forms, and artifacts sequentially imprinted
on the landscape by the activities of various human occupants.
landscape - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- the overall appearance of an area. Most landscapes
are comprised of a combination on natural and human-induced influences.
perception of place - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- belief or "understanding" about a place
developed through books, movies, stories or pictures
sense of place - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- state of mind derived through the infusion of a
place with meaning and emotion by remembering important events that occurred in that place
or by labeling a place with a certain character.
pattern - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- the design of a spatial distribution (e.g. scattered or
concentrated)
spatial - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- pertaining to space on the Earth's surface; sometimes
used as a synonym for geographic
fieldwork - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- the study of geographic phenomena by visiting places
and observing how people interact with and thereby change those places
place - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- the fourth theme of geography; uniqueness of a location
pandemic - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- an outbreak of a disease that spreads worldwide. (see
also - endemic)
,globalization - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- the expansion of economic, political, and cultural
processes to the point that they become global in scale and impact. The processes of
globalization transcend state boundaries and have outcomes that vary across places and
scales.
location - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- the first theme of geography as defined by the
Geography Educational National Implementation Project; the geographical situation of
people and things.
distance - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- measurement of the physical space between two places
spatial interaction - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- see complementarity (a condition that exists
when two regions, through an exchange of raw materials and/or finished products, can
specifically satisfy each others demands) and intervening opportunity (the presence of a
nearer opportunity that greatly diminishes the attractiveness of sites farther away)
human-environment - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- the second theme of geography; reciprocal
relationship between humans and environment.
region - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- the third theme of geography; an area on the Earth's
surface marked by a degree of formal, functional, or perceptual homogeneity of some
phenomenon
movement - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- the fifth theme of geography; the mobility of people,
goods, and ideas across the surface of the planet.
reference maps - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- Maps that show the absolute location of places
and geographic features determined by a frame of reference, typically latitude and longitude
absolute locations - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- The position or place of a certain item on the
surface of the Earth as expressed in degrees, minutes, and seconds of latitude, 0° to 90° north
or south of the equator, and longitude, 0° to 180° east or west of the Prime Meridian passing
through Greenwich, England (a suburb of London)
, possibilism - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- Geographic viewpoint—a response to
determinism—that holds that human decision making, not the environment, is the crucial
factor in cultural development. Nonetheless, possibilists view the environment as providing a
set of broad constraints that limits the possibilities of human choice
relocation diffusion - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- Sequential diffusion process in which the
items being diffused are transmitted by their carrier agents as they evacuate the old areas and
relocate to new ones. The most common form of relocation diffusion involves the spreading
of innovations by a migrating population
cultural hearth - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- Heartland, source area, innovation center; place
of origin of a major culture
generalized map - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- "When mapping data, whether human or
physical geographers, cartographers, the geographers who make maps, generalize the
information the present on maps." (de Blij, Murphey, Fouberg, ph 16)
cultural barriers - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- Prevailing cultural attitude rendering certain
innovations, ideas or practices unacceptable or unadoptable in that particular culture
rescale - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- Involvement of players at other scales to generate
support for a position or an initiative (e.g., use of the Internet to generate interest on a
national or global scale for a local position or initiative)
contagious diffusion - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- The distance-controlled spreading of an
idea, innovation, or some other item through a local population by contact from person to
person—analogous to the communication of a contagious illness
hierarchical diffusion - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- A form of diffusion in which an idea or
innovation spreads by passing first among the most connected places or peoples. An urban
hierarchy is usually involved, encouraging the leapfrogging of innovations over wide areas,
with geographic distance a less important influence
global positioning systems (GPS) - CORRECT ANSWER✔✔- Satellite-based system for
determining the absolute location of places or geographic features
