Cultural Patterns & Processes - AP Human Geography

Iran is one of only a very few predominantly Shia Muslim country in the world. All other Islamic countries are predominantly Sunni.

Mormons make up 55% of the population of Utah. This is the most out of any state in the United States. The other religions, while found in minorities in Utah, are not the majority.

Assimilation is the process by which a culture adapts to another culture's language and psychological characteristics. This term can refer to both individuals and groups.

The Latin language and culture was adopted and is the basis of most modern day languages. The language became dominant due to the power of the Roman people.

Assimilation can occur either spontaneously or forcibly. In the case of the Romans, they forcibly created assimilated weaker cultures and had the weaker culture adopt their language and other cultural practices.

The four factors for determining assimilation are: socioeconomic status, geographic distribution, second language adoption, and intermarriage. This determines the level that an immigrant assimilates within a culture.

Multiculturalism is the term that describes the promotion of multiple cultures within a society. In America, this idea became an important part of society in the 70's and 80's when African Americans and Latinos were working to get recognized.

The only belief system mentioned in this question that was founded by Confucius was Confucianism, which included philosophical and ethical beliefs and ways of thinking.

Although all of these nations have an Islamic majority, the question asks which of them is the “cultural hearth.” A “cultural hearth” is a point from which a widespread culture originates. Islamic culture is widespread around North Africa and the Middle East - and can be found in many other areas of the world as well. But, the point of origin for this culture is Mecca and Medina, two cities found in modern-day Saudi Arabia.

Some cultural geographers divide the world into a series of macro-cultural regions. The “Slavic” culture is found predominantly in Eastern Europe and Russia. Other "macro-cultural" regions include Anglo-America, Western Europe, South Asia, and East Asia.

The idea of “cultural landscapes” is most closely associated with the geographer Carl Sauer, who first defined them. Sauer argued that all regions of the Earth were impacted by human behavior and had been altered by human interaction, he also believed that cultural landscapes were the most important branch of geographic inquiry.

“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.

Along with Buddhism, these four religions are part of the five most influential religions in human history. With the exception of Judaism, which has had a great cultural impact on the world, they are the religions in the world with the most followers. All four of these religions are correctly matched with the name of their primary holy texts.

“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.