Patterns of Language, Religion & Ethnicity (College Board AP® Human Geography)

Regional Patterns of Language

• Regional patterns of language, religion, and ethnicity affect the cultural landscape

• The distribution of languages across the world is influenced by historical, cultural, and political factors 

• Language is diffused through processes such as migration, trade, colonization, and conquest. 

  • European languages (such as English, French, and Spanish) were spread to Africa, Asia, and the Americas through the process of colonization

  • Arabic spread to North Africa through the Arab conquests of the seventh century

• Because of their histories, some countries have multiple official languages, while others are more homogenous 

Language in the cultural landscape

• Language in signs, advertisements, and official documents forms an important part of the cultural landscape

  • In Wales signs are in both Welsh and English, showing the importance of the indigenous language to cultural identity

  • Signs in Quebec, Canada, where French is the official language but English is widely spoken, are often bilingual and reflect the specific culture of the province of Quebec

  • Signage in ethnic enclaves or ethnic neighborhoods will reflect the local immigrant population 

    • Signs and advertisements in Turkish areas of Berlin will be in Turkish, not German

    • Similarly, signs in Chinatown in San Francisco will be in Mandarin though the majority of the city itself speaks English

Languages as centripetal and centrifugal forces

• Languages can serve as both centripetal and centrifugal forces

  • National languages can be centripetal forces when they unite a large group of people. For example, the use of German in Germany or Mandarin in China can serve as a unifying force

  • Languages can also serve as centrifugal forces, particularly in places with large linguistic minorities or where multiple languages are spoken

    • The use of French as Quebec’s official language is a centrifugal force between that province and the rest of Canada

    • However, it serves as a centripetal force for French language-speakers within Quebec

• A lingua franca is the common language used between speakers whose native languages are different from one another

  • English is the current global lingua franca

  • This is largely due to globalization

• Globalization has led to language loss

  • Many smaller or indigenous languages are no longer in use because dominant languages (such English, Mandarin, or Spanish) have replaced them

  • Language loss changes the cultural landscape of a region, as languages disappear or become endangered

Regional Patterns of Religion

• Religion also influences the use of space and, therefore, the cultural landscape

• Religious elements of the cultural landscape include places of worship, cemeteries, and food preferences 

• The geographic distribution of major religions is as follows:

  • Christianity is predominant in Europe, North America, Latin America, and parts of sub-Saharan Africa

  • Islam is predominant in the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, and parts of South Asia and Southeast Asia

    • The Kaaba in Mecca is a pilgrimage site for Muslims and the location of the annual hajj

  • Hinduism is predominant in South Asia, particularly India and Nepal

  • Buddhism is mostly in East Asia and Southeast Asia 

  • Judaism is mostly in Israel and includes significant populations in North America, especially the United States

    • The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem is a site of prayer and pilgrimage for Jewish people

• Pilgrimage sites are specific locations holy to a particular religion, to which people make a journey as part of their religious practice. Pilgrimage locations are normally located at or near a religion’s hearth

Image: World distribution of majority religion by country

• The geographic distribution of religions in the United States is as follows:

  • Protestants are predominant in the majority of New England, though there are significant urban Catholic populations in places like Boston and New York City

    • This reflects early settlement patterns by British colonists

  • Baptists are predominant in the Southeast

  • Lutherans live mostly in the Midwest

    • This is an effect of German and Swedish migration to the area in the nineteenth century

  • Mormons are predominant in Utah

  • Roman Catholics are predominant in the Southwest and some major Northeastern cities

    • The influence of early Spanish colonization and cultural contact with Mexico is the historic cause of Catholicism in the Southwest

    • In the Northeast, many large cities, such as Boston and New York, have large Catholic populations because of Irish and Italian immigration in the nineteenth-century

Image: Predominant religion in the United States, by region

• Religious hearths refer to the locations from which specific religions originated

  • The Middle East is the religious hearth of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

  • South Asia is the religious hearth of Hinduism and Buddhism

• Religions diffuse through processes such as migration, missionary work, and colonization

  • Christianity spread from Europe to South America and Africa due to colonization and missionary activity

  • Islam spread from the Middle East to East Africa largely through trade and to parts of North Africa through conquest

Regional Patterns of Ethnicity

• Regional patterns of ethnicity also shape cultural landscapes

• Many cities and regions have concentrations of specific ethnic groups in ethnic enclaves

• Individuals living in these ethnic enclaves maintain unique cultural practices, languages, and traditions. Examples include:

  • Chinatown in New York City

  • Little Mogadishu in Minneapolis

• In cities, ethnic neighborhoods often develop due to migration patterns

  • These neighborhoods often reflect the food preferences, religion, architecture, and language of the ethnic group which occupies it

• Multiculturalism refers to the coexistence of multiple ethnic groups within a society where cultural diversity is celebrated and protected

• Assimilation refers to the process by which ethnic minorities adopt the cultural norms of the dominant group, often at the expense of their own ethnic identity