Human geography
one of the two major divisions of geography; the spatial analysis of human population, their cultures, activities, and landscapes
physical geography
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
absolute location
The position of 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.
relative location
The regional position or situation of a place relative to the position of other places. Distance, accessibility, and connectivity affect this.
Spatial perspective
seeking to understand the changing spatial organization and material character of Earth's surface. One of the critical advantages of this is the attention it focuses on how phenomena are related to one another in particular places.
Map
a two-dimensional, or flat, representation of Earth's surface or a portion of it.
Mental map
image or picture of the way space is organized as determined by an individual's perception, impression, and knowledge of that space
Distribution
arrangement of something across earth's surface
Pattern
A common property of distribution, which is the geometric arrangement of objects in space.
Formal region
A type of region marked by a certain degree of homogeneity in one or more phenomena; also called uniform region or homogeneous region.
Functional (nodal) region
a region defined by the particular set of activities or interactions that occur within it
Perceptual (vernacular) region
A region that only exists as a conceptualization or an idea and not as a physically demarcated entity. For example, in the United States, the south and the Mid-Atlantic region.
Remote sensing
A method of collecting data or information through the use of instruments that are physically distant from the area or object of study.
Geographic Information Systems
A collection of computer hardware and software that permits spatial data to be collected, recorded, stored, retrieved, manipulated, analyzed, and displayed to the user.
Diffusion
the spatial spreading or dissemination of a culture element or some other phenomenon
Expansion diffusion
The spread of an innovation or an idea through a population in an area in such a way that the number of those influenced grows continuously larger, resulting in an expanding area of dissemination.
Relocation diffusion
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.
Acculturation
cultural modification resulting from intercultural borrowing. in cultural geography and anthropology, the term is often used to designate the change that occurs in the culture of a less technologically advanced people when contact is made with a society that is more technologically advanced.
Assimilation
the process through which people lose originally differentiating traits, such as dress, speech particularities, or mannerisms, when they come into contact with another society or culture. Often used to describe immigrant adaptation to new places of residence.
Transculturation
cultural borrowing that occurs when different cultures of approximately equal complexity and technological level come into close contact
Contagious diffusion
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
A form of diffusion in which an idea or innovation spreads by passing first among the most connected places or peoples. An urban order is usually involved, encouraging the leapfrogging of innovations over wide areas, with geographic distance a less important influence.
Stimulus diffusion
The spread of an underlying principle, even though a specific characteristic is rejected.
Independent invention
Term for a trait with many cultural hearths that developed independent of each other.
Environmental determinism
the view that the natural environment has a controlling influence over various aspects of human life including cultural development.
Possibilism
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 limit the possibilities of human choice.
Culture
the sum total of the knowledge, attitudes, and habitual behavior patterns shared and transmitted by the members of a society.
Cultural diffusion
The process of spreading and adoption of a cultural element, from its place of origin across a wider area.
Cultural landscape
The forms and artifacts sequentially placed on the natural landscape by the activities of various human occupants. By this progressive imprinting of the human presence forming an interacting unity between the two.
Culture hearth
Heartland, source area, innovation center; place of origin of a major culture.
Culture trait
A single element of normal practice in a culture, such as the wearing of a turban.
Culture complex
A related set of culture traits, such as prevailing dress codes and cooking and eating utensils.
Culture realm
A cluster of regions in which related culture systems prevail. In North America, the united states and Canada form a culture realm, but Mexico belongs to a different one.
Culture region
A region within which common cultural characteristics prevail.
Culture system
Culture complexes have traits in common and so it is possible to group certain complexes together as.
Sequent occupance
The notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape
Folk culture
Cultural traits such as dress modes, dwellings, traditions, and institutions of usually small, traditional communities.
Popular culture
Cultural traits such as dress, diet and music that identify and are part of today's changeable, urban-based, media-influenced societies
Commodification
The process through which something is given monetary value; occurs when a good or idea that previously was not regarded as an object to be bought and sold is turned into something that has a particular price and that can be traded in a market economy.