AP Human Geography Units 1 and 2 Vocabulary Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key definitions, models, and spatial concepts from AP Human Geography Unit 1 (Thinking Geographically) and Unit 2 (Population and Migration).

Mercator Projection

A conformal map projection that preserves shape and accurate compass direction, but severely distorts the relative size of landmasses towards the North and South poles.

Robinson Projection

A compromise map projection that curves longitude lines inward to visually reduce polar distortion, balancing errors in shape, size, distance, and direction.

Place

A specific point on Earth distinguished by particular physical and human characteristics.

Connection

The relationships or linkages among people and objects across the barrier of space.

Map Scale

The relationship between the size of a feature on a map and its actual size on Earth's surface.

Large-Scale Map

A map showing a small geographic area in high detail, such as a neighborhood or city street grid.

Small-Scale Map

A map depicting a large geographic area with minimal detail, such as a global or continental map.

Cartography

The science, art, and practice of making maps.

Choropleth Map

A thematic map that uses differences in shading, coloring, or symbols within predefined areas to indicate the average values of a property or quantity.

Spatial Analysis

The examination of the geographic distribution, patterns, and interactions of human and physical phenomena across space.

Distortion

The unavoidable alteration of shape, distance, relative size, or direction when transferring the three-dimensional curved surface of the Earth onto a flat map.

Globe

A spherical model of Earth that serves as the most accurate representation of the planet because it eliminates projection distortion in area, shape, distance, and direction.

Geographic Information System (GIS)

A computer system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present spatial and geographic data in thematic layers.

Remote Sensing

The acquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or other long-distance aerial sensors.

Global Positioning System (GPS)

A satellite-based navigation system that determines the precise mathematical location of a receiver on Earth's surface.

Absolute Location

The exact mathematical location of a place on Earth's surface, defined using a coordinate system of latitude and longitude.

Relative Location

The position of a place on Earth's surface in relation to other physical or cultural landmarks.

Toponym

The name given to a portion of Earth's surface or a specific geographic place.

Site

The physical and internal characteristics of a place, such as its topography, climate, water sources, elevation, and soil.

Situation

The location of a place relative to surrounding places, features, or transportation routes.

Latitude (Parallel)

The numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on a globe north or south of the Equator ($0^\circ$).

Longitude (Meridian)

The numbering system used to indicate the location of meridians drawn on a globe east or west of the Prime Meridian ($0^\circ$).

Prime Meridian

The meridian designated as $0^\circ$ longitude, passing through Greenwich, England, which serves as the reference point for Greenwich Mean Time.

International Date Line

An arc that for the most part follows $180^\circ$ longitude; crossing it turns the calendar clock back or forward by $24\text{ hours}$.

Formal Region

An area in which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics, such as a shared language, economic activity, or administrative boundary.

Functional Region (Nodal Region)

An area organized around a central focal node tied to surrounding areas by transportation, communication, or economic systems.

Vernacular Region (Perceptual Region)

An area defined by people's subjective cultural beliefs and informal sense of place rather than objective scientific data.

Cultural Landscape

The fashioning of a natural landscape by a cultural group, reflecting the combination of cultural features, agriculture, and human structures.

Globalization

Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope, connecting economies and cultures globally.

Distance Decay

The phenomenon whereby the intensity of interaction or connection between two phenomena diminishes as the physical distance between them increases.

Space-Time Compression

The reduction in the time it takes for something or someone to reach another place as a result of improved transportation and communication technology.

Hearth

The geographical origin or node from which an idea, innovation, or cultural trait emerges.

Environmental Determinism

A 19th- and early 20th-century approach to geography arguing that the physical environment strictly causes and limits human social and cultural development.

Possibilism

The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to and alter their environment.

Demography

The scientific study of human population characteristics, including size, composition, distribution, and changes over time.

Overpopulation

A condition in which the number of people in an area exceeds the capacity of the environment to support life at a decent standard of living.

Census

A complete enumeration and official count of a population, recording demographic, economic, and social data at regular intervals.

Four Major Population Clusters

East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe, which together contain approximately $\frac{2}{3}$ of the world's inhabitants.

Ecumene

The portion of Earth's surface occupied by permanent human settlement.

Arithmetic Density

The total number of people divided by the total land area.

Physiological Density

The number of people supported by a unit area of arable land.

Arable Land

Land that is suitable and usable for agriculture and farming.

Agricultural Density

The ratio of the number of farmers to the total amount of arable land.

Crude Birth Rate (CBR)

The total number of live births in a year for every $1{,}000$ people alive in a society.

Crude Death Rate (CDR)

The total number of deaths in a year for every $1{,}000$ people alive in a society.

Natural Increase Rate (NIR)

The percentage by which a population grows in a year, calculated by subtracting CDR from CBR and dividing by $10$.

Doubling Time

The number of years needed to double a population, assuming a constant rate of natural increase.

Total Fertility Rate (TFR)

The average number of children a woman will have throughout her childbearing years, with a value of $2.1$ representing the replacement rate.

Dependency Ratio

The number of people who are too young ($<15\text{ years}$) or too old ($\ge 65\text{ years}$) to work, compared to the number of people in their productive working years.

Sex Ratio

The number of males per $100$ females in a population.

Demographic Transition Model (DTM)

A geographic model showing the sequence of stages in population growth that countries undergo as they develop, transitioning from high CBR and CDR to low CBR and CDR.

Stage 1 of the DTM (Low Growth)

A stage characterized by very high CBR, very high CDR, and virtually zero NIR; currently, no countries remain in this stage.

Stage 2 of the DTM (High Growth)

A stage characterized by a rapidly declining CDR while CBR remains high, resulting in very high NIR.

Stage 3 of the DTM (Moderate Growth)

A stage characterized by a rapid drop in CBR and a steady decline in CDR, leading to a moderate NIR.

Stage 4 of the DTM (Low Growth)

A stage characterized by very low CBR and CDR, resulting in approximately zero population growth (ZPG) or slight natural increase.

Stage 5 of the DTM (Decline)

A proposed stage characterized by a very low CBR that drops below the CDR, resulting in a negative NIR and population decline.

Industrial Revolution

A series of improvements in industrial technology and manufacturing that transformed society and pushed European and North American countries into Stage 2 of the DTM.

Medical Revolution

The diffusion of modern medical technology and practices to developing countries (LDCs), drastically reducing death rates and pushing them into Stage 2 of the DTM.

Zero Population Growth (ZPG)

A condition occurring in Stage 4 of the DTM where the CBR equals the CDR and the NIR reaches $0$.

Malthusian Theory

The hypothesis that human population grows geometrically (exponentially) while food supply increases arithmetically (linearly), leading to inevitable crisis.

Epidemiologic Transition

A model identifying distinctive health threats and causes of death associated with each stage of the Demographic Transition Model.

Pandemic

An epidemic of an infectious disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects a very high proportion of the population.

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)

The annual number of deaths of infants under one year of age for every $1{,}000$ live births in a society.

Life Expectancy

The average number of years a newborn infant can expect to live, assuming current mortality rates remain constant.

Net Migration

The difference between the level of immigration (in-migration) and the level of emigration (out-migration).

Interregional Migration

Permanent movement from one region of a country to another region of the same country.

Intraregional Migration

Permanent movement within the same region of a country, commonly exemplified by movement from cities to suburbs.

Counterurbanization

A net migration trend in more developed countries (MDCs) characterized by movement from urban and suburban areas to rural communities.

Push Factors

Negative conditions or circumstances that induce people to move out of their present location.

Pull Factors

Positive conditions or attractions that induce people to move into a new location.

Refugee

A person who is forced to migrate from their home country and cannot return owing to a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, social group, or political opinion.

Internally Displaced Person (IDP)

A forced political migrant who has been compelled to flee their home for reasons similar to a refugee but has not crossed an international border.

Asylum Seeker

A person who has migrated to another country in the hope of being recognized and legally protected as a refugee.

Guest Worker

A term used for a migrant worker who travels to a foreign country on a temporary work permit to fulfill labor needs.

Intervening Obstacle

An environmental, political, or economic feature that hinders migration.

Brain Drain

The large-scale emigration of talented, highly educated, or technologically skilled individuals from developing areas to more developed countries.

Chain Migration

The migration of people to a specific location because relatives or members of the same nationality previously settled there.