| Vocab. Word | Definition |
| arithmetic density | the total number of people divided by the total land area |
| cartography | the science of making maps |
| concentration | the spread of something over a given area |
| contagious diffusion | the rapid , widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout population |
| culture | The body of customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits that together constitute a group of people's distinct tradition. |
| density | the frequency with which something exits within a given unit of area |
| diffusion | the process of spread of a feature or trend from one place to another over time. |
| distance decay | the diminishing in importance and eventful disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin. |
| distribution | the arrangement of something across earth's surface |
| expansion diffusion | the spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in a snowballing process. |
| formal region | (aka. uniform or homogeneous region) an area in which everyone shares in one or more distinctive characteristics |
| Geographic Information System (GIS) | a computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic information. |
| globalization | actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope. |
| Greenwich Mean Time | the time in that time zone encompassing the prime meridian, or 0 degrees longitude. |
| functional region | (aka. nodal region) an area organized around a node or focal point. |
| hearth | the region from which innovative ideas originate. |
| hierarchical diffusion | the spread of a feature or trend from one key person or node of authority or power to other persons or places. |
| International Date Line | an arc that for the most part follows 180 degrees longitude, although it deviates in several places to avoid dividing land areas. When you cross the International Date Line heading east the clock moves back 24 hours and when you go west, the opposite. |
| location | the position of anything on earth's surface. |
| longitude | the numbering system used to indicate the location of meridians drawn on the globe and measuring distance east and west of the prime meridian (0 degrees). |
| latitude | the numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on the globe and measuring distance north and south of the equator (0 degrees). |
| meridian | an arc drawn on the map between the north and south poles |
| parallel | a circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator and at right angles to the meridians. |
| prime meridian | the meridian, designated at 0 degrees longitude, which passes through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England. |
| region | an area distinguished by a unique combination of trends or features. |
| relocation diffusion | the spread of a feature or trend through bodily movement of people from one place to another. |
| remote sensing | the acquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or other long-distance methods. |
| site | the physical character of a place. |
| situation | the location of a place relative to other places. |
| stimulus diffusion | the spread of an underlying principal, even though a specific characteristic is rejected. |
| toponym | the name given to a portion of Earth's surface. |
| vernacular region | (aka. perceptual region) an area that people believe to exist as part of their cultural identity. |
| agricultural density | the ratio to the number of farmers to the total amount of land suitable for agriculture. |
| census | a complete enumeration of a population |
| crude birth rate (CBR) | the total number of live births in a year for every 1000 people alive in the society |
| crude death rate (CDR) | the total number of deaths in a year for every 1000 people alive in the society |
| demographic transition | the process of change in a society's population from a condition of high CBR and CDR and low rate of natural increase to a condition of low CBR and CDR, low rate of natural increase, high total population. |
| demography | the scientific study of population characteristics |
| doubling time | the number of years needed to double a population, assuming a constant rate of natural increase. |
| infant mortality rate (IMR) | the total number of deaths in a year among infants under one year old for every 1000 live births in a society |
| life expectancy | the average number of years an individual can expect to live, given current social, economic, and medical conditions. Life expectancy at birth is the average number of years a newborn infant can expected to live |
| Less Developed Country (LDC) | (aka. developing country) a country that is at a relatively early stage in the process of economic development. |
| More Developed Country (MDC) | (aka. relatively developed country or developed country) a country that has progressed relatively far along a continuum of development. |
| Natural increase rate (NIR) | the percentage of growth of a population in a year, computed as the CBR minus the CDR |
| overpopulation | the number of people in an area that exceed the capacity of the environment to support life at a decent standard of living. |
| physiological density | the number of people per unit of area of arable land, which is land suitable for agriculture |
| population pyramid | a bar graph representing the distribution of population by age and sex |
| total fertility rate (TFR) | the average number of children a woman will have throughout her childbearing years. |
| zero population growth (ZPG) | a decline of the total fertility rate to the point where the natural increase rate equals zero. |
| brain drain | large scale emigration by talented people |
| emigration | migration from a location |
| forced migration | permanent movement compelled usually by cultural factors |
| guest workers | workers who migrate to the more developed countries of northern and western Europe usually from southern and eastern Europe or from north Africa in search of higher paying jobs |
| immigration | migration to a new location |
| immigration quota | a law that places maximum limits on the number of people who can immigrate to a country each year |
| Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) | an agency in the Department of Justice that enforces laws and regulations for the admission of foreign-born persons to the United States |
| International migration | permanent movement from one country to another |
| internal migration | permanent movement within a particular country |
| inter regional migration | permanent movement from one region of a country to another |
| intraregional migration | permanent movement within one region of a country |
| migration transition | change in the migration pattern in a society that results from industrialization, population growth, and other social and economic changes that also produce the demographic transition. |
| net migration | the difference between the level of immigration and the level of emigration |
| pull factor | factors that induce people to move to a new location |
| push factors | factors that induce people to leave old residences |
| Ravenstein's laws of Migration | Certain laws of social science have been proposed to describe human migration. The standard list after Ravenstein's proposals during the time frame of 1834 to 1913 included thoughts about age, gender, distance and, push and pull factors. |
| refugees | people who are forced to migrate from their home country and cannot return for fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, membership in social group, or political opinion |
| undocumented immigrants | people who enter a country without proper documents |
| custom | the frequent repetition of an act to the extent that it becomes characteristic of the group of people performing the act |
| habit | a repetitive act performed by a particular individual |
| folk culture | culture traditionally practiced by a small homogeneous rural group living in relative isolation from other groups |
| popular culture | culture found in a large, heterogeneous society that shares certain habits despite differences in other personal characteristics |
| cultural hearth | the region from which a culture originates |
| taboo | a restriction on behavior imposed by social custom |
| implicit culture | culture that is implied, not visible at a first glance, the 'underwater' part of the iceberg |
| explicit culture | culture that is visible, quickly identified, and candid, the 'surface' part of the iceberg |
