AP Human Geography Grand Review

Comprehensive practice flashcards for AP Human Geography covering Units I through VII, including key geographic concepts, population dynamics, cultural diffusion, political structures, agriculture, urban patterns, and economic development.

Sustainability

The use of natural resources to ensure their availability in the future.

GIS (Geographic Information System)

A computer system that stores, organizes, retrieves, analyzes, and displays geographic data.

GPS (Global Positioning System)

A space-based global navigation satellite system.

Environmental Determinism

The theory that the physical environment, rather than social conditions, determines culture.

Remote Sensing

The small- or large-scale acquisition of information of an object or phenomenon, either in recording or real time.

Possibilism

The theory that the environment sets certain constraints or limitations, but culture is otherwise determined by social conditions.

Formal Region

A region where everyone shares in one or more common characteristics, such as Wisconsin or Milwaukee.

Functional Region

An area organized around a node or focal point, such as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel circulation or an airline hub.

Vernacular Region

A place that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity, such as the South or the Rust Belt.

Distance Decay

The diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin.

Time-Space Compression

The reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place as a result of improved communications and transportation systems; often seen as the opposite of distance decay.

Choropleth Map

A map that uses shading to display a variable pattern.

Carrying Capacity

The ability of a resource base to sustain its population.

Counterurbanization

A population shift from urban to rural areas.

Internal Migration

Migration within a state.

External Migration

Migration between states.

Net Migration

The difference between in-migration and out-migration.

Brain Drain

The flight of talented people away from an area.

Chain Migration

The process by which immigrants from a particular place follow others from that place to another place.

Natural Increase Rate (NIR)

Computed as the Crude Birth Rate (CBR) minus the Crude Death Rate (CDR) per thousand people ($CBR-CDR$).

Total Fertility Rate (TFR)

The average number of children a woman is likely to have during her childbearing years.

Infant Mortality Rate

The number of deaths under the age of $2$ per thousand live births.

Transhumance

Nomadic pastoral agriculture involving the seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pastures.

Arithmetic Density

The total number of people divided by the total land area; for the United States, it is approximately $30$ persons per $km^2$.

Cultural Landscape

The forms superimposed on the physical environment by the activities of humans.

Cultural Diffusion

The spread of an idea or innovation from its source.

Contagious Diffusion

The rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population, such as the internet or the spread of soccer.

Hierarchical Diffusion

The spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority or power to other persons or places, such as fashion trends moving from major cities to smaller towns.

Stimulus Diffusion

The spread of an underlying principle even though a specific characteristic is rejected, such as Android controlling most of the smartphone market after Apple invented the modern smartphone.

Lingua Franca

A common language used for business purposes or trade between speakers of different native languages.

Creole Language

A language formed from the mixture of two or more other languages.

Nation-State

A state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular ethnicity that has been transformed into a nationality, such as Japan.

Stateless Nation

A nationality that is not represented by a state, such as the Kurds.

Shatterbelt

A region caught between two opposing forces that fragment it, such as the Caucasus region.

Autonomous Region

An area that has a degree of freedom from an external authority, such as Hong Kong.

Gerrymandering

The practice of manipulating legislative boundaries for political gain.

Centripetal Force

A force that tends to unify people and enhance support for a state, such as linguistic homogeneity or national symbols.

Centrifugal Force

A force that tends to divide a state, such as uneven development, ethno-nationalism, or fragmented state morphology.

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

A zone established by the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea giving coastal countries economic sovereignty over a $200$-nautical-mile area from their coast.

Primary Economic Activity

Economic activities that extract natural resources directly from the environment.

Secondary Economic Activity

Economic activities that transform raw materials into finished products.

Tertiary Economic Activity

Economic activities involving the exchange of goods and the provision of services.

Quaternary Economic Activity

Economic activities involving the collection, processing, and manipulation of information.

Bulk-Reducing Industry

An industry in which the final product weighs less or comprises a lower volume than the inputs, such as nickel smelting.

Bulk-Gaining Industry

An industry in which the final product weighs more or comprises a greater volume than the inputs, such as soft-drink bottling or brewing.

Maquiladoras

Manufacturing plants in Mexico near the United States border where $75\%$ of employees are often women.

New Urbanism

An urban design movement which promotes pedestrian and bicycle-friendly neighborhoods.

Agglomeration

A process involving the clustering or concentrating of people or activities, such as an entertainment district or a business park.