Unit 1 (Geography Basics)
Region Types
AP Human Geography
Mr. Montgomery
REGIONS
A region is an area of the Earth defined my one or more characteristics:
 CULTURAL (language, religion, etc.)
 ECONOMIC (agriculture, industry, etc.)
 PHYSICAL (climate, vegetation, etc.)
Regions gain uniqueness from a combination of human and environmental characteristics. As they
interact with their environment, human’s activities produce distinctive landscapes that do not derive
primarily from physical features.
The Term REGION applies to any area larger than a point and smaller than the planet.
FORMAL REGION
ALIASES
 Uniform Region
 Homogenous Region
DEFINITION
1. Areas of essential uniformity in one or a limited combination of physical or cultural
features
2. Whatever the basis of its definition, the formal region is the largest area over which a
valid generalization of attribute uniformity can be made--- Whatever is stated about one
part holds true for its remainder
3. When regions display a measurable and often visible internal homogeneity they are
formal or uniform regions
**Formal regions are marked by uniform sameness.
EXAMPLES
 Siberia (a republic within Russia)
 India (a state ruled by a national government)
 Latin America (a macrocultural region)
FUNCTIONAL REGION
ALIASES
 Nodal Region
DEFINITION
1. A region that is NOT marked by its internal sameness, but by its functional integrationthe way it works.
2. A functional region’s parts are interdependent, and throughout its extent the functional
region operates as a dynamic, organizational unit.
3. A functional region is forged by a structured, urban-centered system of interaction.
4. A functional region has a core where its characterizing features are most clearly defined;
they lessen in prominence toward the region’s margins or periphery.
EXAMPLES
 regional city hubs of Atlanta for the south, Chicago for the Midwest, etc.
 the entire urban area and surrounding area of a central city
 the area of a newspaper’s circulation
 the area of local TV station broadcasting
VERNACULAR REGION
ALIASES
 Perceptual Region
DEFINITION
1. Less rigorlessly structured than formal and functional regions.
2. Perceptual regions reflect feelings and images rather than objective data
3. These regions may be primarily in the minds of the people who live there and are
therefore very different
EXAMPLES
 What people think of as “Dixie” or the south
 What some people consider as “Little Italy” in Boston
 Tennessee Vols territory