Cultural Landscapes & Identity - AP Human Geography

“Environmental determinism” is a theory of cultural geography that was wildly popular during the age of European imperialism. Its proponents argue that cultural traits and societal traditions are primarily informed by environmental differences between different regions.

The term “primogeniture” refers to a system of inheritance whereby the eldest (usually male) child receives all of the family inheritance and property. It was commonly practiced throughout Europe until very recently, and has long been common in many other parts of the world as well.

Environmental determinism is the notion that our physical environment has a massive and often controlling effect on us. In essence, this theory believes that physical environments dictate much of our lives.

Time distance decay is defined as the declining degree of acceptance of an idea or innovation with increasing time and distance from its point of origin. For example, a new law passed in California is more likely to be accepted in Oregon rather than Georgia. Additionally, this new law is more likely to be passed in other states soon after the initial passage in California, as opposed to years later.

African-Americans are most heavily concentrated in the Southeastern region of the United States. The dominance of African-Americans largely stems from the region's historical slavery in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, and the large amount of rural farm laborers into the twentieth century. After a large migration to Northern industrial cities in the mid-twentieth century, the South has seen an influx of young African-American professionals in the twenty-first century.

Many different things can help shape national identity, including history, sports, literature, and national holidays. Papal Bulls are edicts issued by the Pope. The Papal Bull of 1965 urged Catholics to esteem a life of virtue and biblical study. While religious Germany is roughly divided evenly among Catholics and Protestants, neither represents a majority, so we cannot make a claim that the Pope forms anything as widely ubiquitous as Germany's "national identity." Further, in 1965 Germany was divided into the separate nations of East Germany (DDR) and West Germany (FRG), and Catholicism held very little sway in East Germany, a fact that holds true in the eastern part of the country to this day.

“Ethnocentrism” is based on the belief that one’s own culture is inherently superior and that other nations are backwards or underdeveloped because their culture is different. It primarily involves judging a foreign culture by the standards of one’s own culture. It can involve the forced spread of one’s own culture, but it does not have to, it is enough simply to judge another culture by the standards of your own.

The Treaty of Tordesillas was signed shortly after Columbus' expedition to America. It was signed between the two major colonial powers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries- Spain and Portugal. It carved a swathe through the continent of South America, all territory that fell on one side came under Spanish control, and all territory on the other side came under Portuguese control. The modern nation of Brazil represents the vast bulk of the territory originally obtained by Portugal in the Treaty of Tordesillas and Portuguese remains the official and primarily language of Brazil to this day. The rest of South America (countries such as Colombia, Argentina, Peru, and Chile) all speak Spanish to this day. It is interesting to note then that a mostly arbitrary line, drawn by two colonial powers more than five hundred years ago, continues to have such a dramatic impact on the cultural and linguistic experiences of so many people.

The global population of Jewish people is estimated at around thirteen to fourteen million. This is far less than one-percent of the total population of the world. Around six million people belonging to the Jewish population live in Israel and slightly more than five million live in the United States. The rest of the global Jewish population lives in countries affiliated with the European Union (i.e. France, the United Kingdom, and Germany).

A symbolic landscape is a landscape that has significant meaning beyond what it simply looks like due to cultural associations. The Temple Mount in Jerusalem is seen as the location of important religious moments for Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, while also holding the remnants of the ancient Jewish temple and a medieval Islamic mosque. Due to these factors, the Temple Mount is more than just a part of an old city, which makes it a symbolic landscape.

“Toponymy” is the study of place names. Toponymy is useful to cultural geographers because it can help illuminate certain conclusions about an area - such as who its original inhabitants were and where they came from. For example “Los Angeles” is a Spanish name of an American city. This suggests that some of its earlier inhabitants might have been Spanish, or that Los Angeles was once in territory held by the Spanish Empire and so on.