APHG Ethnicity Key Memorizations

Marc Stern AP Human Geography Trabuco Hills High School

US Race Categories

White, Black/African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander

Hispanic Ethnicity US Distribution

Southwest

Asian Americans US Distribution

West

African Americans US Distribution

Southeast

Indigenous Peoples Distribution

Alaska + Southwest + North-Central

first Africans brought as slaves (answer year, city, state)

1619, Jamestown, Virginia

1700s British shipped how many slaves to 13 colonies

about 400,000 Africans

when were importing slaves banned

1808, estimate 250k imported

peak of Atlantic Slave Trade (year range, est how many forced to Western Hemisphere)

1710-1810, at least 10 million Africans

Triangular Slave Trade pattern

Europe → Africa: goods, used to buy captives

Africa → Americas: enslaved Africans

Americans → Europe: commodities (especially sugar/molasses)

• molasses from Caribbean → colonies

• rum colonies → Europe

Emancipation Proclomation

1863, freed slaves in Confederate states

13th Amendment

outlawed slavery

1960s-1970s immigration law changes

caused Hispanic and Asian populations to rise rapidly

main waves of African American interregional migration

before/after WWI (1910s-1920s)
before/after WWII (1940s-1950s)

African American immigration patterns

1. Forced international migration (brought to Americas as slaves)

2. Interregional internal migration (movement from U.S South to northern and western cities)

3. Intraregional internal migration (pattern of others; movement within urban areas, mainly inner city to the outer city/suburbs like others)

white flight

whites moving out in anticipation of blacks moving into neighborhood

routes of African American migration during the 2 WWI/WWII waves

East Coast: Carolinas/South Atlantic → Baltimore/Philly/NYC (US 1)

East Central: Alabama/East Tennessee → Detroit (US 25 or US 21)

West Central: Mississippi/West Tennessee → St. Louis/Chicago (US 61/66)

Southwest: Texas → California (US 80/90)

Plessy v. Ferguson

Supreme Court rules, “Separate but equal” is constitutional. Sparks Jim Crow laws in the South to segregate black & white daily life

Restrictive covenants

Housing deeds that banned sales to black residents (sometimes Catholics & Jews) leading to residential segregation & therefore school segregation

Brown v. Board of Education

separate schools for blacks & whites are unconstitutional; segregation is inherently unequal

1955 major segregation event

Supreme Court orders desegregation “with all deliberate speed”

Civil Rights Acts (1960s)

outlawed racial discrimination

Apartheid

legal separation of races into different geographic areas in South Africa

South Africa 4 race classifications (during apartheid)

black, white, colored (mixed), Asian (mostly Indian)

Bantustans

10 homelands for blacks in South Africa; expected all blacks to become citizens & move there

ANC

African National Congress, led by Nelson Mandela, for equality

where majority of Sikhs in India are located

Punjab

Line of Control

line that separates India & Pakistan control over parts of Kashmir; Pakistan is Northwest, India is Southeast

Kashmir majority

Muslim, most want to join Pakistan

Treaty of Sevres

proposed Kurdistan, independent state for Kurds

Treaty of Lausanne

established modern Turkey; Kurdistan not recognized; much Kurdish area allocated to Turkey

Separatist movement

Movement to break away from an existing country to form an independent state

Autonomy

Region/place wants self-government but still within the existing country

Partition of India

1947, British India splits into India and Pakistan

• mass fored migration

• Bangladesh formed in 1971, previously East Pakistan

• West Pakistan becomes Pakistan

Nationality

legal attachment to a country

Ethnicity

identity with a group who share cultural traits/ancestry

Why does ethnicity and nationality get messy?

people can have duel nationality/citizenship, mixed heritage, and live in states where “nation” and “ethnic group” don’t map neatly

Canada (Quebecois)

debated whether Quebecois is an ethnicity within Canada or a separate French-speaking nationality

• matters because nationality strengthens arguments of independence

British Isles

composed of Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom

UK parts

England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland

Devolution example for UK

UK created separate governments for Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland

• bigger power gives power to lower level

• Scotland has more power than Wales

Scotland referendum

2014, voted to remain in UK

Centripetal force

unifies people/strengthens support for the state

Centrifugal force

pushes people/a state apart (e.g. strong separatist nationalism)

Turkey ethnicity majority

~3/4 ethnic Turks, biggest minority ~18% Kurds in Eastern Turkey

Iraq ethnicity majority

~90% Iraqi Arabs, split by Sunni vs Shiite

Syria government

controlled by minority Alawites

• civil war since 2011: Alawite government vs other groups (majority Sunni & others)

Lebanon ethnics

~55% Muslim, 40% Christian, 5% Druze

Groups cluster regionally. Civil war 1975-1990 to control shifting territories

Christians often claim Phoenician descent

Muslims generally considered Arab

Constitution recognizes 18 religions, represented based on 1932 Census (outdated)

Pakistan ethnic majority

Punjabi ~45%

Durand Line

separates Pakistan & Afghanistan

• unrecognized by Afghanistan

• splits Pashtun and Baluchi leading to tension

Iran ethnic majority

~61% Persians, many minorities

• 1979 revolution due to poor U.S. relations and concerns of nuclear weaponry

Afghanistan ethnic majority

~42% Pashtun

Caucasus (post-Soviet breakup)

• Armenia ~98% Armenian

• Azerbaijan 90%+ are Azerbaijani

• Georgia 82% Georgian + minorities

  • conflict among Abkhazians and Ossetians mainly

  • Russia & few others recognize Abkhazia + South Ossetia

Central Asia states (ethnic majorities)

Tajikstan/Turkmenistan: Tajiks/Turkmens >80%

Kyrgyzstan/Uzbekistan: Kyrygyz/Uzbeks >70%

Kazakhstan: Kazakhs >60%

Conflicts between Uzbeks & Kyrgyz

country/separate country

UK Key history points

• Wales absorbed into England (lost separate legal identity)

• Scotland was independent longer and merged politically w/ distinct institutions

• Most of Ireland became independent while Northern Ireland stayed in UK

Xenophobia

fear of people from other countries

ethnic cleansing

purposefully remove ethnic/religious group from an area using violent, terror-inspiring means

genocide

mass killing intended to remove a group from existence

Myanmar (Rohinya) - contemporary Asia ethnic cleansing

Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State; Myanmar Buddhist majority state and military; government narrative of “illegal” colonial-era migrants; 1982 citizenship stripped, rights restricted; 2016 attacks on police/military used as pretext; mass violence, village destruction, forced flight; primary destination Bangladesh.

Yugoslavia ethnic cleansing

Multiethnic Yugoslavia held together under Tito; Tito’s death and 1980s nationalism; republics pushing independence; new borders not matching ethnic settlement patterns; ethnic minorities stranded across new states; wars + ethnic cleansing to control territory and create homogeneity.

Balkanization

when a state breaks into smaller, often unstable political units because of a conflict among ethnic groups (or national groups)

Kosovo ethnic cleansing

Ethnic Albanian majority; Serbian political control and historical claim; post-Yugoslavia Serbian crackdown; 1999 peak expulsions; mass displacement into Albania/camps; NATO intervention and Serbian withdrawal; 2008 independence claim; large Serb out-migration afterward.

Bosnia & Herzegovina ethnic cleansing

Most ethnically mixed Yugoslav republic; Bosniaks (Muslim plurality), Serbs, Croats; Serb/Croat goal of attaching territory to Serbia/Croatia; ethnic cleansing to turn mixed zones into contiguous ethnic blocks; mass expulsions, terror, killings; Srebrenica as emblematic massacre; Dayton Accords freezing territorial outcomes into ethnic regions.

Darfur (Sudan) ethnic cleansing

Non-Arab black African groups vs Arab-dominated Sudanese government; rebellion in 2003 amid discrimination/neglect; Janjaweed (Arab) militias backed by state power (text framing); village destruction, terror, forced displacement; huge camp populations and long-term humanitarian crisis.

North-South Sudan war ethnic cleansing

Arab Muslim north vs largely non-Arab south (Christian/traditional); conflict over political dominance and imposition of northern Islamic-based legal/political order; 1983–2005 war; massive deaths and displacement; peace process leading to South Sudan independence in 2011; post-independence instability and internal ethnic conflict.

Abyei status

Border zone with groups aligned to both Sudan and South Sudan; promised referendum on which region it belongs to postponed; sovereignty ambiguity; competition for control and resources; recurring tension managed by peacekeeping buffer.

South Kordofan & Blue Nile ethnic cleansing

Border regions with mixed loyalties; planned referenda canceled; contested governance and territorial alignment; armed conflict tied to center–periphery marginalization and civil-war spillover; displacement and chronic insecurity.

Eastern Front (Sudan) ethnic cleansing

Eastern ethnic groups vs Sudanese government; Eritrean support for some rebels (text framing); grievance over marginalization and distribution of oil/profits/power; insurgency–counterinsurgency cycles; persistent instability.

Rwanda & Burundi ethnic cleansing

Hutu and Tutsi; long history of unequal power, colonial-era reinforcement of minority leadership; post-independence cycles of cleansing/violence; 1994 trigger with presidents’ plane shot down; genocide campaign and reprisals; major refugee flows destabilizing the region.

Democratic Republic of Congo ethnic cleansing

Highly multiethnic state; weak governance + mineral wealth; spillover of Great Lakes Hutu–Tutsi dynamics; shifting alliances among rebels, government, and neighboring armies; post-1997 upheaval and prolonged wars; extremely high mortality often via displacement-driven disease and malnutrition, not only combat.

Place

specific place on earth (distinguished by particular characteristics)

Region

an area defined by more than one distinctive characteristics

How places relate to each other

Scale, space, connection (connection is relationships among people/objects across space like movement, trade, transportation, communication, etc)

Two uses of maps

As a reference tool for locating things & as a communication tool to show distributions/patterns

Cartography

science of map making

GIScience / GIS

GIScience - analyzing Earth data gathered through satellites/electronics

GIS (System) - captures, stores, queries, and displays geographic data in layers (each layer is a new type of information) used to analyze relationships and change over time

Remote sensing + Photogrammetry

Remote sensing - acquiring data about Earth from satellites/aircraft/drones (distance methods)

Photogrammetry - making measurements from photographs; used to build high-quality 3D representations

GPS + geotagging

GPS - determines precise position using satellites, ground tracking, and receivers (triangulation)

Geotagging - attaching exact coordinates to photos/info; useful but raises privacy concerns

VGI + PGIS + mashups

VGI - volunteered geographic information - people contribute geographic data for free

PGIS - community based mapmaking for local knowledge and planning

Mashup - overlays one dataset on a base map (maps on top of each other)

API - links databases to mapping software

Three ways to show map scale

Ratio (1:100000), Written (1cm=10km), Graphic bar scale (graphic bar wow)

Prime meridian

Goes through Greenwich, England (0 degrees)

15 degrees = 1 hour (West is behind, East is ahead)
Greenwich Time base

Site

physical character of a place (climate, water, topography, etc)

Situation

where a place is in relation to other places

• for finding places

• for explaining importance

  • Ex. Gibraltar important due to situation on Strait connecting major bodies of water and trade routes

Three types of regions

Formal (uniform) region

Functional (nodal) region

Vernacular (perceptual) region

Formal (uniform) region

defined by a trait present or predominant throughout

has clear boundaries

Functional (nodal) region

Organized around a node, influence decreases outward

Boundaries defined by where the node’s pull fades

Classic example: Service of a radio station / TV market areas

Vernacular (perceptual) region

Defined by people’s beliefs/identity (“The South, “New England”)

Not scientifically bounded, but often supported by measurable traits (climate patterns, religion, history, speech pattern)

Culture

customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms of a group

• people care about beliefs/values/identities that define a culture

• people take care of material production: how people obtain food, clothing, shelter, economic life

Space

the physical gap between things

distribution is how things are arranged across space

• Density - frequency per unit area

• Concentration - how spread out / clustered something is (clustered vs dispersed)

• Pattern - geographic arrangement

  • linear / grid / irregular

Poststructuralist geography

how power and systems shape space (who gets controlled, excluded, burdened)

Humanistic geography

how people experience places and attach meaning

Behavioral geography

how psychological factors and perceptions influence spatial decisions and patterns

The core regions

North America, Europe, East Asia

Periphery has less of the global wealth/power/communications

Diffusion

spread of a feature from a hearth

Types of diffusion

• Relocation diffusion: people move and bring culture w/ them

• Expansion Diffusion: idea spreads outward while remaining strong at the origin

  • Hierarchical: top-bottom via power/important nodes

  • Contagious: rapid, widespread “wave-like” spread; online viral spread = meme

  • Stimulus: the core idea spreads but is adapted/changed

    • Cause and effect

Land Ordinance of 1785

township 6×6 miles

divided into 36 sections

640 acres / 1 m² each

Major population clusters

East Asia - ¼ (China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan)

South Asia - ¼ (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka)

Southeast Asia - 600m (Indonesia, Philippines, river deltas of Indochina)

Europe - ~600m (50 countries, strongest clustering in Western/Central Europe)

East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe combined - 2/3 population

¾ of humans live on ~5% of Earth’s surface (highly clustered)

• Humans avoid areas too dry, wet, cold, or mountainous

Assimilation

group gets absorbed into dominant culture