AP HuG Exam Vocabulary

Unit 1 Vocab

1.1: Introduction to Maps

Reference Map

Generalized sources of geographic data and focuses on location.

Thematic Map

Focused on a particular topic or theme.

Absolute Distance

Distance that can be measured using a standard unit of length.

Absolute Direction

Cardinal directions (north, south, west, east).

Relative Distance

In terms of other criteria such as time or money.

Relative Direction

Left, right, up, down, front, and behind, based on perspective.

Clustering

Arranged in a group or concentrated area.

Dispersal

People are evenly dispersed around an area.

Elevation

Distance of features above sea level.

Map Projection

Method used to represent the world or part of the world in two dimensions.

Absolute Location

Exact location of an object.

Relative Location

Description of a place in relation to other places or objects.

1.2: Geographic Data

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Captures, stores, organizes, and displays geographic data that can be used to configure both complex and simple maps.

Satellite Navigation Systems

Deaths as a population change

Remote Sensing

Geospatial technologies that gather data without making physical contact. Usually done through satellites or airplanes.

Field Observations

Refer to the act of physically visiting a location.

Media Reports

News sources like articles, broadcasts that provide geographic information about events or places in the world.

Travel Narratives

First-person accounts that describe a person’s experiences, observations, and movements through different places.

Policy Documents

Official written records, laws, guidelines that outline rules, decisions, or actions for maintaining people, places, or issues.

Personal Interviews

Someone directly asks another person questions to gather firsthand information, experiences, or perspectives about a topic.

Landscape Analysis

Task of defining and describing landscapes.

Photographic Interpretation

Analyzing and drawing conclusions from photos to understand patterns, features, and changes on the Earth’s surface.

Census Data

Count of the population every 10 years.

Satellite Imagery

Photos of the Earth from satellites in space, used to analyze patterns, features, and changes on the planet’s surface.

1.4: Spatial Concepts

Space

Area between two or more phenomena or things.

Place

Specific location of Earth that is defined by its unique physical and human characteristics.

Flows

Patterns and movement of ideas, people, products, and other phenomena.

Distance Decay

Inverse relationship between distance and connection.

Time-Space Compression

Shrinking ‘time-distance’ or relative distance between locations because of improved methods of transportation/communication.

Pattern

General arrangement of things being studied.

1.5: Human-Environment Interaction

Permanent movement of people from one place to another

Sustainability

Using the Earth’s resources while not causing permanent damage to the environment.

Natural Resource

Items that occur in the natural environment that people can use.

Land Use

How land is utilized, modified, and organized by people.

Environmental Determinism

Belief that landforms and climate are the most powerful forces shaping human and societal development while ignoring the influence of culture.

Possibilism

View that acknowledges limits on effects of the natural environment and focuses more on the role that human culture plays.

1.6: Scales of Analysis

Global

Shows the entire world (Earth).

Regional

Multiple countries in the world (North America, South Asia).

National

One country (United States, Thailand).

Local

Province, state, city, or county (Tennessee, Moscow).

1.7: Regional Analysis

Formal Region

United by one or more traits.

Functional Region

United by networks of communication, transportation, and other interactions.

Perceptual/Vernacular Region

Informal sense of place that people ascribe to an area.

2.1: Population Distribution

Climate

Long-term patterns of weather that greatly affect population distribution directly, or indirectly.

Landforms

Natural features of the Earth’s surface.

Water Bodies

Migration from rural areas to urban areas

Distribution

Where people live within a geographic area.

Arithmetic Distribution

Total number of people per unit of area of land.

Physiological Density

Total number of people per unit of arable land.

Agricultural Density

Total number of farmers per unit of arable land.

2.2: Consequences of Population Distribution

Art and science of designing and constructing buildings and other structures

Carrying Capacity

Max population size that an environment can sustain.

2.3: Population Composition

Belief that their culture is better than others

Population Pyramid

Graphs that show the age-sex distribution of a population.

2.4: Population Dynamics

Anything built by humans

Demographic

Data about the structures and characteristics of a human population.

Fertility

Ability to produce children.

Mortality

Deaths as a population change.

Crude Birth Rates

Number of births per 1,000 people in a year (CBR).

Crude Death Rates

Number of deaths per 1,000 people in a year (CDR).

Life Expectancy

Average number of years a person is expected to live.

Dependency Ratio

Number of people in a dependent age group (under 15, over 65).

Rate of Natural Increase

CBR minus CDR in a population.

Population-Doubling Time

Number of years in which a population growing at a certain rate will double.

2.5: Demographic Transition Model

The way humans perceive the characteristics of places based on personal beliefs

Demographic Transition Model

Represents the shifts in growth that the world population has undergone.

Epidemiological Transition Model

Describes changes in fertility, mortality, life expectancy, and population age distribution, largely due to death changes.

2.6: Malthusian Theory

Malthusian Theory

Concerns over the sustainable use of the Earth.

2.7: Population Policies

Spread of culture by people who migrate and carry their traits with them

Pronatalist

Policies enacted to encourage people to have children.

Antinatalist

Policies enacted to discourage people from having children.

Contraception

Spread of culture outward from its most interconnected places/centers of influence/wealth

2.10: Causes of Migration

Ravenstein's Laws of Migration

Summarize common patterns of human migration. Move short distance to economic centers.

Migration

Permanent movement of people from one place to another.

Push Factors

Negative cause for someone to leave somewhere.

Pull Factors

Positive cause for someone to move somewhere.

Intervening Obstacles

Occurrence that holds migrants back.

Intervening Opportunities

Occurrence that causes migrants to pause their journey by choice.

2.11: Forced and Voluntary Migration

Forced Migration

People are compelled to move by economic, political, environmental, or cultural factors.

Slavery

Integration of markets, states, communication, and trade on a worldwide scale.

Refugees

People who leave their country in fear of death or persecution.

Internally Displaced Persons

People forced to flee their homes but remain within the country's borders (IDP).

Asylum Seekers

People looking for the right of protection within a new country.

Voluntary Migration

People make the choice to move to a new place.

Transnational Migration

Immigrants in a new country still have strong cultural, emotional, and financial ties to their former countries.

Transhumance

Migration by nomads that move herds between pastures at cooler, higher elevations during the summer, and lower elevations at winter.

Internal Migration

Migration within a country's borders.

Chain Migration

People migrate to a location because others from their community have migrated there.

Step Migration

Series of smaller migrations to get to an ultimate destination.

Guest Workers

Travel to a new country as temporary laborers.