Human Geography

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The study of geography by visiting places and observing the people that live there and how they react with the changes there.

human geography

The study of humans and their cultures, activities, and landscapes


The expansion of economics, political and cultural processes to the point that they beome global in scale and impact.

physical geography

The spatial analysis of the sturcture of the earth and its features; plants, animals, climate.....


having to do with space and earth's surface. Sometimes synonym for geographic.

spatial distribution

location of geographic phenomena across space.


the design of spatial distribution

medical geography

the study of health and diseases with geographic perspective.


an outbreak of disease that spreads world-wide.


regional outbreak of a disease

spatial perspective

observing variations in geographic phenomena across space

five themes

location, human environment, region, place, movement


the geographical situation of people and things.

location theory

a logical attempt to explore the location pattern of an economic activity

human environment

reciprocal relationship between humans and environmnet


an area on the earht's surface that is marked


uniqueness of a location

sense of place

state of mind derived through the infusion of a place maybe by events that occured there.

perception of place

beliefs or understandings of a place through books or movies


the mobility of people, goods, and ideas across the world

spatial interactions

interactions in earth's space


measurement of space between two places


the degree of ease at which it is possible to reach a certain location


the degree of direct linkage between one particular location and other locations in a transport network


the overall appearance of an area

cultural landscape

the visible imprint of human activity and culture on the landscape

sequent occupance

the notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place


the art and science of making maps

reference maps

maps that show the absolute location of places and geographic features

thematic maps

maps that tell stories

absolue location

a place expressed in degrees, longitude, latitude, north or south, the equator, and north, south, east, west

global positioning system (gps)

satelite-based system that tells you where you are


a hunt for a cache, gps coordinates which are placed on the internet by another cache

relative location


mental map

a map in your head

activity space

the space where everyday activities occur

remote sensing

collecting data through instruments that are distant from the area of object of study

geographic information system (gis)



players at other scales support other positions

formal region

type of region marked by a certain homogenity is one or more phenomena

functional region


perceptional region



the way you live and the people around you

cutlural trait

a single attribute of a culture

cultural complex

many different cultures many different traits

independent invention

a trait that many cultural hearths that develop independent of each other

culture diffusion

the process of discemination, teh spread of an idea or innovation from its source area to other places

time-distance decay

the combination of time and distance

cultural barriers

things in the culture that stop or slow down the research

expansion diffusion

the spread of an innovation or an idea through a population and the numbers of those influenced rapidly increase

contagious diffusion

the distance controls spreading of an illness through a local population

hierarchical diffusion

an idea innovation spreads by first among the most connected places or peoples

stimulus diffusion

a cultural adaptation is cheated as a result fo the introduction of a cultural trait from another place

relocation diffusion

teh regional positional or situation of a place relative to the position of other places

geographic concept

ways of seeing the world spatically that are used by geographers in answering research questions

environmental determinism

teh view that the natural environment has a controlling influence over various aspects of human life including cultural development


line on a map connecting points equal temperature values


geographic viewpoint - a response to determinism that holds the human decision making

cultural ecology

an area of inquiry concened with culture as a system of adaptation to environment

population density

a mearurement of the number of people per given unit of land

arithmetic population density


physiological population density

the number of people per unit of area of arable land

population distribution

description of locations on teh earth's surface where populations live

dot map



large cluster of supercities


a periodic and official count of coutries population

doubling time

the time it takes for a population to double in size

population explosion

the rapid growth of teh world's human population during the past century

natural increase

increase only with births and deaths

crude birth rate

the number of live births yearly per thousand people in a population

crude death rate

teh number of deaths

demographic transition

multistage model based on western Europe's experience of change in population growth exhibited by the countries undergoing industrialization

stationary population level

the level at which a national population ceases to grow

population composition

structure of a population in terms of age, sex and other properties, education

population pyramids

visual representation of the age and sex composition of a population graph

infant mortality rate (IMR)

a figure that describes the number of babies that die within the first year of their lives in the population

child mortality rate

the number of children that die within their first to fifth years in a population

life expectancy

how long an average person lives

AIDS (aquired immune deficiency syndrome)

Immune system disease caused by the human immunodifficiency virus (HIV)

chronic (degenerative) diseases

generally long-lasting afflications now more common because of higher life expectations

expansive population policies


eugenic population policies

government policies designed to favor one racial sector over others

restrictive population policies

government policies designed to reduce the rate of natural increase


money migrants send back to family and friends in their home countires

cyclic movements

shorter periods away from home (commuting).

activity space

a daily routine where someone goes through a regular sequence of short moves within a local area


movement among a definite set of places. Ex of cyclic movement.

periodic movements

tempory, recurrent relocation. Example is colodge, military

migrant labor

people who cross national borders for jobs. Example: periodic movement


a seasonal periodic movement of pastorarists and their livestock between highland and lowland

military service

up to 10 million people moved to new locations where they will spend tours of duty lasting up to several years


a change in residence intended to be permanent

international migration

human movement involving movement across international boundaries

internal migration


forced migration

human migration flows in which the movers have not choice but to relocate

voluntary migration

movement in which people relocate in response to perceived opportunity; not forced.

laws of migration


gravity model

a predication of the interaction of places, population size, distance between them

push factors


pull factors


distance decay

the effects of distance on interactions, generally greater the distance teh less interaction

step migration


intevening opportunity

the presence of a nearer opportunity that greatly diminishes the attractiveness of sites further away

kinship links


chain migration


immigration wave

phenomenon whereby differnt patterns of migraation build upon one another and creat a wave


a person examining a region that is unknown to them


colinizer takes over another place, putting its own government in it

island of development

place built up by a government or corporation to attract foreign investments and which has high paying jobs

guest workers

legal immigrant who has work visa, usually short term



international refugees

refugees who have crossed 1 or more international boundaries during their dislocation

internal refugee

people who have been displaced within their own countires and do not cross international borders as they flee


shelter and protection in one state for refugees from another country

immigration laws




selective immigration


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