AP Human Geography Exam Review Flashcards

Flashcards for reviewing key concepts in AP Human Geography, covering topics from geographic thinking to economic development.

What is Geography?

The study of the Earth, including its physical features, inhabitants, and the processes that shape them, from a spatial perspective.

What are the differences between physical and human geography?

Physical geography studies the natural Earth, while human geography examines human populations, cultures, and their interaction with the environment.

What is the difference between large scale and small scale maps?

Large scale maps show a lot of detail while small scale maps show less detail but cover more area.

What is a Reference Map?

Maps that show where something is in space, displaying geographical and political data.

What is a Choropleth Map?

Maps with areas shaded in proportion to the measurement of the statistical variable.

What is a Cartogram?

Maps in which the geometry or size of a region is distorted in order to convey some variable.

What is an Isoline Map?

Maps that show lines that join points of equal value.

What is a Graduated Symbol Map?

Maps that use symbols scaled proportionally to the value of a phenomenon.

What is a Dot Distribution Map?

Maps that use dot symbols to show the presence or quantity of a phenomenon.

What is a Topographic Map?

A map that indicates the features of the land's surface, such as mountains, hills, and valleys.

List three essential elements that should be included on any map.

Distance, direction, and symbol.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Mercator Projection?

Preserves angles, ideal for navigation, but distorts the size of land masses.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Robinson Projection?

Minimizes distortions across the entire world map, making it visually appealing.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Winkel Tripel Projection?

Minimizes distortions in area, shape, and distance, suitable for general world maps.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Gall Peters Projection?

Accurate in preserving the relative sizes of landmasses, but distorts shapes.

What is the primary function of cartography?

The art of creating maps, deals with interpreted data to illustrate data with some spatial dimension.

What units are used to measure latitude and longitude?

Latitude and longitude are measured in degrees, minutes, and seconds (DMS) or as decimal degrees.

Give one example of a primary source of geographic data.

Satellite imagery, GPS measurements, and data collected during field surveys.

Describe Agricultural land use patterns.

Reflects how land is utilized for food production and related activities.

Describe Commercial land use patterns.

Involves areas designated for business activities like retail, office buildings, and restaurants.

Describe Industrial land use patterns.

Typically involves areas designated for manufacturing, warehousing, and other industrial activities.

Describe Natural land use patterns.

Land is utilized for purposes like agriculture, forestry, or urban development.

What is Relative Location?

Using landmarks; e.g., "the store is across the street from the park."

What is Absolute Location?

Using GPS coordinates; e.g., 28.5384° N, 81.3789° W.

List the four main scales of analysis used in human geography.

Global, national, regional, and local.

What are Formal Regions?

Areas defined by shared characteristics like climate, language, or culture.

What are Functional Regions?

Areas defined by their interconnectedness and interaction around a central node or hub.

What are Vernacular Regions?

Geographical areas defined by shared cultural perceptions and feelings.

What is Total Population?

The total number of people residing in a given area.

What is Population Density?

The number of individuals per unit of area, usually expressed as people per square kilometer or square mile.

What is Age Distribution?

The proportion of individuals in different age groups within a population.

What is Gender Ratio?

The ratio of males to females in a population.

What is Birth Rate?

The number of live births per 1,000 population in a given year.

What is Death Rate?

The number of deaths per 1,000 population in a given year.

What is Life Expectancy?

The average number of years a newborn can expect to live based on current mortality rates.

What is Arithmetic Density?

Total population divided by the total land area.

What is Physiological Density?

Total population in relation to arable land.

What is Agricultural Density?

The number of farmers per unit of arable land.

What is the Demographic Transition Model (DTM)?

Shows the changes in birth and death rates over time and their relationship to population growth and country development.

What is a population pyramid?

Describes the growth and age of a population on a graph.

What are some characteristics of Stage 1 in the Demographic Transition Model (DTM)?

High birth and high death rates.

What are some characteristics of Stage 2 in the Demographic Transition Model (DTM)?

High birth and declining death rates.

What are some characteristics of Stage 3 in the Demographic Transition Model (DTM)?

Declining birth and low death rates.

What are some characteristics of Stage 4 in the Demographic Transition Model (DTM)?

Low birth and low death rates.

What are some characteristics of Stage 5 in the Demographic Transition Model (DTM)?

Birth rate lower than death rate leading to declining population.

Describe the factors that influence a country’s natural increase rate (NIR).

Birth and death rates.

What are pronatalist and antinatalist policies?

Pronatalist policies aim to increase the birth rate while antinatalists aim to decrease it.

What is the dependency ratio?

Tells who is in the working force and who is not. Those 15 and under and 64 and over are not in the working force while 16-63 are.

What is Voluntary Migration?

When a person leaves where they are on their own will, maybe for better living conditions, tax revenue or better employment opportunities.

What is Forced Migration?

When a person has no choice but to leave where they are which could be due to factors like wars or bad air pollution.

What are Ravenstein's Laws of Migration?

Most people travel shorter distances when migrating but as they migrate or travel more they begin to travel longer distances.

What are Push Factors?

What derives a person to leave a certain place. Examples would be high taxes or low job opportunities.

What are Pull Factors?

What derives a person to go to a certain place. Examples would be low taxes or high job opportunities.

Explain the impacts of international migration on both the source and destination regions.

Source is losing pieces of their population including smart or gifted people. The destination is gaining people for their population which could make them an attraction and the migrants might also be valuable people like smart or gifted people.

Who is a Refugee?

Someone who was forced to leave their home place and seek safety by crossing international borders due to the fear of something like wars, persecution or violence.

Who is an Asylum Seeker?

Someone who has left or fled their home country and is seeking protection somewhere else due to the fear of something like persecution.

Who is an Internally Displaced Person (IDP)?

Someone forced to flee their home place due to conflict, human-made disasters or violence but has not yet crossed international borders.

What is brain drain?

When a valuable person leaves their country to go somewhere else which could hurt the economy, population, tax revenue, lead to less specialists and raise taxes.

Describe the impacts of an aging population on a country’s economy and social services.

Decreases population and population growth. It can also lead to less people in the working force making the economy stagnant too.

What is Material Culture?

Physical objects and belongings of a society, including things like tools, clothing, buildings, and art.

What is Non-Material Culture?

Intangible aspects of a society's way of life, including ideas, beliefs, values, norms, and behaviors.

Explain Carl Sauer's concept of the cultural landscape and its significance.

Describes how human cultures shape and modify the natural environment, creating distinct landscapes that reflect cultural, social, and historical influences.

What is Folk Culture?

The traditions, practices, and beliefs of a specific, often geographically isolated, community.

What is Popular Culture?

The widespread beliefs, practices, and artistic expressions dominant in a society at a given time.

Discuss the processes of language diffusion and divergence.

The spread of languages from one area to another, while language divergence is the process where languages develop into distinct forms over time.

What is a Lingua Franca?

A language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.

What is a Pidgin Language?

A simplified language that develops when groups with different languages need to communicate.

What is a Creole Language?

A stable, fully-developed language that arises from the simplification and mixing of two or more languages, often in contact situations.

What are Universalizing Religions?

Those that actively seek converts and have a global appeal, aiming to be applicable to all people regardless of their background.

What are Ethnic Religions?

Religions closely tied to a specific ethnic group, where membership, often by birth or legal fiction like conversion, is a core part of the identity.

What is Ethnicity?

A group of people who share a common culture, heritage, or background.

What is Nationality?

The legal status of belonging to a particular nation or country.

Describe the factors that contribute to the formation of ethnic enclaves and ghettos.

Arise due to a combination of factors, including immigration patterns, historical discrimination, and economic opportunities.

What is cultural imperialism?

Refers to the dominance of one culture over another, often through the spread of cultural products, values, and ideas.

How does the concept of syncretism apply to cultural change?

In the context of cultural change, refers to the blending or merging of cultural elements from different sources, resulting in the creation of something new and distinct.

What is a State?

A politically organized territory with a permanent population, a defined territory, and a system of government.

What is a Nation?

A group of people who share a common culture, language, history, and/or ethnicity, creating a sense of shared identity and belonging.

What is a Nation-State?

A sovereign state whose territory corresponds with that of a particular nation or ethnicity.

What is a Stateless Nation?

A group of people who share a common cultural identity but do not have their own sovereign state or territory.

What is a Unitary State?

A political system where power is concentrated in a central government.

What is a Federal State?

Power is constitutionally divided between the national government and regional governments.

What is Mackinder’s Theory?

The Heartland Theory, proposed by Halford Mackinder, explains that control of the Heartland (primarily Eastern Europe and parts of Asia) grants a nation the power to dominate the world.

What is Spykman’t Theory?

Spykman's Rimland Theory, developed by Nicholas J. Spykman proposes that the control of the Eurasian rimland is crucial to rule the world.

What is a supranational organization?

An international group where member states cede some sovereignty to a collective body for shared decision-making and action.

What is Devolution?

Refers to the transfer of power from a central government to regional or local governments.

Discuss the centripetal and centrifugal forces that influence state cohesion.

Forces that derive a person to go somewhere which can increase cohesion as a country is becoming tighter but centrifugal forces are forces that derive a person to leave somewhere which can decrease cohesion by disrupting the population.

What is gerrymandering?

Manipulating the voting way in order to support yourself.

What is an Antecedent Boundary?

A boundary that already existed before the present settlement in that area occurred.

What is a Subsequent Boundary?

A boundary that is established after the settlement with an attempt to accommodate cultural differences.

What is a Superimposed Boundary?

A boundary drawn by outside power without attention to existing borders or social, cultural, or ethnic differences.

What is a Relic Boundary?

A type of political boundary that no longer functions as an official border but still holds historical significance.

What is Territoriality?

The sense of ownership and control that a political entity, like a state or community, has over a specific geographical area.

What is Supranationalism?

Supranationalism can lead to greater cooperation between nations, promoting peace and economic development through shared policies.

How does the shape of a state affect its internal and external relations?

Internally, a compact shape can facilitate efficient communication and transportation, while elongated shapes might face internal communication and governance challenges.

What is Subsistence agriculture?

A small-scale farming system where the majority of the produce is consumed by the farmer and their family.

What is Commercial agriculture?

A large-scale farming system that aims to produce goods for sale in the market.

What are the key assumptions and application of the Von Thünen Model?

A theory that explains how agricultural land use is spatially organized around a central market, focusing on transportation costs and land rent.

What was the Green Revolution?

When tools started to become more advanced in agriculture. Inventions like the steam engine and the cotton gin were made to increase the speed of making crops and increasing the distance that you can ship to. Won’t negative impacts include putting harmful gasses into the atmosphere and Pesticides

Explain the environmental impacts of agricultural practices.

Those practices include soil erosion, water pollution, biodiversity loss, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Describe the different patterns of rural settlement and the factors that influence them.

These environments are influenced by a combination of physical, economic, cultural, and historical factors.