Human Geography End of the Year Exam by Danielle Simpson

Unit 3: Cultural Perspectives and Processes(Folk Music vs. Popular Music)

10020042 — 2015-05-19 19:23:43 UTC

In chapter 4 Folk and Popular culture we learned about various characteristics of both Folk and Popular culture. Folk culture is traditionally practiced by relatively small, homogeneous groups living in isolated rural areas. The origins of folk music are usually composed anonymously and transmitted orally. These songs tell a story or convey information about daily activities. Whereas popular culture is found in large, heterogeneous societies that share certain habits despite differences in other personal characteristics. Popular music is written by specific individuals for the purpose of being sold to a large number of people. Popular music displays a high level of technical skill and is frequently capable of being performed only in a studio with electronic equipment. In the example below you will see the difference between an old country song which would be considered folk culture because Suzy is telling a story while in the other example of a song written by Taylor Swift we can clearly see the differences in the story line and the more advanced use of electronic technology. Taylor Swifts song may tell a story but the main reason for popular culture is for the purpose of being sold therefore the beat of music is more appealing than the actual story.

Unit 3: Cultural Perspective and Processes (Uniform Landscapes)

10020042 — 2015-05-20 19:01:56 UTC

The distribution of popular culture around the world tends to produce more uniform landscapes. The spatial expression of a popular custom in one location will be similar to another. Promoters of popular culture often times want a more uniform appearance in order to achieve "product recognition" which will ultimately create greater consumption. In the example below it is seen that McDonald's can be considered a uniform landscape. McDonald's around the world can be easily recognized with the logo of the big, yellow M. Therefore when traveling around the world someone can quickly pinpoint the restaurant and will most likely eat food from there because they are most familiar with the restaurant.

Unit 3: Cultural Perspective and Processes (Dialects in the United States

10020042 — 2015-05-20 19:04:04 UTC

Major differences in U.S. dialects originated because of differences in dialects among the original settlers.The English dialect spoken by the first colonist determine the future speech patterns for their communities because later immigrants adopted the language used in their new homes when they arrived. The language ma have been modified somewhat by the various new arrivals of settlers but the distinctive elements originally brought over have continued to dominate. In the example below you will see the various dialects shown in the United States with the ways that people pronounce various words.

Unit 3: Cultural Perspectives and Processes (Language family and branch)

10020042 — 2015-05-20 19:06:10 UTC

English is part of the Indo-European language family. A language family refers to a collection of languages related through a common ancestor that existed long before recorded history. Within a language family us a language branch which is a collection of languages related through a common ancestor that existed several thousand years ago. Indo-European is divided into eight branches. Four of the branches (Indo-Iranian, Romance, Germanic, and Balto-Slavic) are the most spoken while less extensively used Indo-European branches include Albanian, Armenian, Greek, and Celtic. In the example you can see a few words that both look and sound the same in English, Italian, Spanish, French, and German. The reason for this is because all of these languages are apart of the Indo-European language family therefore some words are dervied from each other and therefore they sound and look the same.

Unit 4: Political Organization of Space (United Nations)

10020042 — 2015-05-21 18:56:42 UTC

The most important international organization is considered to be the United Nations, which was created at the end of World War 2 by the Allies. United Nation members can vote to establish peacekeeping force and request states to contribute military forces. The U.N. has played an important role in trying to separate warring groups in a number of regions. The United Nations is considered to be the first global organization where various countries can come together and vote on issues without resorting to war. When it was first established, in 1945, the U.N. comprised of 49 states but the membership grew to 189 in 2000. In the link below you will find the various dates in which each country has joined. It should be noted that Switzerland and Taiwan are the only two populous countrieis that are not apart of the oraganization.

Unit 1: Its Nature and Perspective (Diffusion

10020042 — 2015-05-21 19:28:03 UTC

In chapter 1 of AP Human Geography we learned about the various types of diffusion. Diffusion is the process by which a characteristic spreads across space from one place to another over time. The types of diffusion can be further broken down into two types of diffusion: Relocation and Expansion. Relocation diffusion can best be defined as the spread of an idea through physical movement of people from one pace to another. In other words when people migrate they carry with them their culture which may include language, religion, and ethnicity.Then there is expansion diffusion which is the spread of a feature from one place to another in a snowballing process.Expansion diffusion can be further be broken down into three branches. The first is hierarchical diffusion which is the spread of an idea from one person or nodes of authority or power (political leaders, socially elite people, or other important people in the community) to other people or places. Then there is contagious diffusion which is the rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population. Finally, there is stimulus diffusion which is the spread of an underlying principle even though a characteristic itself apparently fails to diffuse. In the example below you will see an example of contagious diffusion. Common slang terms that people used in everyday first were said by a small group of people and was later spread rapidly through a widespread of people.

Unit 2: Population (Migration along with migration to the United States )

10020042 — 2015-05-22 18:54:45 UTC

In chapter 3 Migration we learned about the characteristics of migration and why people may migrate. Migration is the permanent move to a new location. Geographers typically track where people migrate from and where they migrate to. People decide to migrate because of push factors and pull factors. A push factor induces people to move out of their current location, whereas pull factors induces people to move into a new location. Push and pull factors are typically the determining factors when it comes to migrating. We can identify three major kinds of push and pull factors which include cultural, economic, and environmental. Mean girls is a great example of a pull factor. Katey moves because her parents are offered a new job opportunity to work in the United States so they move from Africa where she was once home schooled and now she goes to a private school. The United States plays a special role in the study of international migration. The world's third most populous country is inhabited overwhelmingly by direct descendants of immigrants. About 65 million people have immigrated to the United States since 1820, including the 25 million currently alive. The United States has had two main eras in immigration. Although the origins vary, the reason for migrating have remained the same. Majority of the people who immigrate to the United States are in such of economic opportunities.

Unit 2: Population (Intervening Obstacles)

10020042 — 2015-05-22 19:14:20 UTC

When migrants migrate it is not always where they wish to go. The reason why is that they may be blocked or interested by an intervening obstacle, which is an environmental,cultural, or economic feature that hinders their migration. In the past intervening obstacles were primarily environmental due to lack of advancement in transportation and communication. For example bodies of water have been an important intervening obstacle. The reason that environmental obstacles have decreased is due to transportation improvements that have promoted globalization which have diminished the importance of environmental features as intervening obstacles. The episode of SpongeBob below is an example of an intervening obstacle. SpongeBob and Squidward have to deliver he pizza to this fish but it takes them a much longer time to get there because they have to cross this desert and often times deserts in real life prevent migrants from getting to their intended location or at least slow them down which it does in this episode.

Unit 4: Political Organization of Space (Types of boundaries)

10020042 — 2015-05-26 18:53:32 UTC

Physical boundaries come from important physical features on Earth's surface which can make good boundaries that are easily seen both on maps and on the ground. Three types of physical elements that serve as boundaries include: mountains, deserts, and water. Mountain boundaries can be effective boundaries if they are difficult to cross. Contact between nationalities living on opposite sides may be limited or even impossible. Desert boundaries are drawn in a desert can be effectively divide two states. Like mountains they are also hard to cross and sparsely inhabited. Desert boundaries are common in countries in Africa and Asia. Rivers, lakes, and oceans are the most commonly used water boundaries. Water boundaries are readily visible on a map and are relatively unchanging. Boundaries are typically in the middle of the water. Water boundaries can offer good protection against attach from another state. One negative that comes from using water as a boundary is the fact that the precise position of the water may change over time such as the boundary between the United States and Mexico. The boundaries above are all physical boundaries but an example of a cultural boundary may include a religious boundary. Religious differences often coincide with boundaries between states. An example of a religious boundary would be the separation of South Asia. The British partitioned India into two states on t e basis of religion. The predominately Muslim portions were allocated to Pakistan whereas the predominately Hindu portion became the independent states of India. In the example below you will view an example of a desert boundary. The Sahara Desert separates the countries of Algeria, Libya, and Egypt on the north from Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, and Sudan on the south.

Unit 5: Agriculture and Rural Land Use (Origins of Agriculture)

10020042 — 2015-05-26 19:20:16 UTC

Agriculture is the deliberate modification of Earth's surface through the cultivation of plants and rearing of animals to obtain sustenance or economic gain. Therefore, agriculture originated when humans domesticated plants and animals for their use and the world crop is any plant that is cultivated by people. Before the invention of agriculture, most humans obtained their food needed to survive through hunting for animals, fishing, and gathering plants. Hunters and gatherers lived in small groups due to the fact that the larger the group the more food they would have to provide to feed everyone. Today the most fundamental differences in agricultural practice are between those in less developed countries and those in more developed countries. During the first stages of agriculture there were two main types of plant cultivation.The earliest form was vegetative planting, which is the reproduction of plants by direct cloning from existing plants. Later came seed agriculture, which is the reproduction of plants through annual planting of seeds that result from sexual fertilization. Subsistence farming, which is commonly found in less developed countries, is the production of food primarily for consumption by the farmer's family. Some surplus may be sold to the government or to private firms, but the surplus is not the farmer's primary purpose and may not even exist some years due to growing conditions. Commercial farming, which is found commonly in more developed countries, is the production of food primarily for the sale off the farm rather than for their own consumption. Commercial farmers don't sell their products directly to consumers but to food-processing companies. In Hunger Games the movie it is all about survival of the fittest. Katniss is an example of how people would have hunted in the first stages of humanity. In order to survive she must use her various hunting skills to keep her alive. Although women wouldn't typically be the hunters the concept is still the same.

Popular Culture Music by Taylor Swift

10020042 — 2015-05-27 19:16:35 UTC

This goes with unit 3 of popular vs folk music and this would certainly be considered popular music.

Unit 6: Industrialization and Economic Development (Development)

10020042 — 2015-05-28 18:52:24 UTC

Many countries cluster at the high or low end of the continuum of development, therefore they can be divided into two groups. A more developed country ( also known as MDC's, or known as relatively developed country, or simply a developed country) has progressed further along the development continuum. A country in an earlier state of development is frequently called a less developed country (LDC), although many analysts prefer the term developing country. The developing part implies that the country has already made some progress and expects to continue. One way that the United Nations tracks a country's economic development is types of jobs. Average per capita income is higher in MDCs because people typically earn their living by different means than in LDCs. Jobs fall into three categories: primary (including agriculture), secondary (including manufacturing), and tertiary (including services). In order to compare the types of economic activities found in more and less developed countries, geographers along with analysts can compute the percentage of people working in each of these three sectors. Workers in the primary sector directly extract materials from Earth through agriculture, and sometimes mining, fishing, and forestry. The secondary sector includes manufacturers that process, transform, and assemble raw materials into useful products. Other secondary-sector-industries take manufactured goods and fabricate them into finished consumer goods. The tertiary sector involves the provision of goods and services to people in exchange for payment. Tertiary-sector activities includes retailing, banking, law, education, and government. The movie cowbells if a great example of two sisters who have to end up working in their dads dairy factory as a summer job. The dairy factory would be considered a secondary because it is a factory that puts milk into the bottles to then be sold to stores.

Unit 7: Cities and Urban Land Use (Types of Services)

10020042 — 2015-06-01 18:54:04 UTC

The service sector of the economy is subdivided into three types: consumer services, business services, and public services. The principal purpose of consumer services is to provide services to individual consumers who desire them and can afford to pay for them. Retail services and personal services are the two main types of consumer services. In fact about one fifth of all jobs in the United States are in retail services, which provides goods for sale to consumers. Further within this group about one fifth of the jobs are in wholesale, one third in restaurants or food stores, and the rest in shops selling other goods. Another one fifth of all jobs in the United States are in personal services, which provide services for the well-being and personal improvement of the individual consumer. Most of these jobs are in healthcare or education. Unlike consumer services, the principal purpose of business services is to facilitate other businesses. Producer services and transportation services are the two main types of business services. Producer services provide services primarily to help people conduct other business. About one fifth of all U.S jobs are in producer services and about one third of the producer service jobs are in financial services which includes banks, insurance companies, and real estate. Another one third are in professional services primarily law, engineering, and management. The remaining one third are involved in such things as advertising, employment agencies, and janitorial work. Businesses that diffuse and distribute services are grouped a transportation and information services, In the United States about 7 percent of all jobs are in this group. One half of these services are in transportation such as trucking. The other half are in information services such as publishing and broadcasting. The last type of service is public. The purpose of public services is to provide security and protection for citizens and businesses. In the United States about 4 percent of all workers are in public services not already included in other services categorizes such as teachers. About one sixth are employed by the federal and the 50 states government, while the remaining two thirds by one of the tens of thousands are employed by local governments. The movie The Heat shows an example of the public service type of job. This is so because the two women are both cops and expected to arrest this guy who is selling illegal drugs therefore protecting others around them which is the main purpose of public service jobs.