AP Human - Models & Theories

Demographic Transition Model

A sequence of demographic changes in which a country moves from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates through time.
Stage 1: very high CBR and CDR, low NIR
Stage 2: still high CBR, rapidly declining CDR, very high NIR
Stage 3: rapidly declining CBR, moderately declining CDR, moderate NIR
Stage 4: very low CBR, low/slightly increasing CDR, 0 or negative NIR

Epidemiologic Transition

The process of change in the distinctive causes of death in each stage of the demographic transition
Stage 1: infectious/parasitic disease, animal/human attacks
Stage 2: receding pandemics, higher sanitation
Stage 3: decrease in disease deaths, increase in aging chronic disease death
Stage 4: delayed degenerative diseases

Malthusian Theory

focuses on how the exponential growth of a population can outpace growth of the food supply and lead to social degradation and disorder

Zelinsky Model of Migration Transition

People become increasingly mobile as industrialization develops. More international migration is seen in stage 2 of DMT as migrants search for more space and opportunities in countries in stages 3 and 4. Stage 4 countries show less emigration and more intraregional migration.

Nomadic Warrior Theory

people conquered areas, spreading the English language

Sedentary Farmer Theory

Origin and Diffusion of Indo-European language occurred through farmers from Turkey/Anatolia (before Kurgans) -Colin Renfrew

Basque

An ethnic group living the western Pyrenees and along the Bay of Biscay in Spain and France, also the name of their language.

Von Thunen Model

An agricultural model that spatially describes agricultural activity in terms of rent. Activities that require intensive cultivation and cannot be transported over great distances pay higher rent to be close to the market. Conversely, activities that are more extensive , with goods that are easy to transport, are located farther from the market where rent is less.

Rostow's Stages of Development

A model of economic development that describes a country's progression which occurs in five stages transforming them from least-developed to most-developed countries.

Core-Periphery Model

A model of the spatial structure of development in which underdeveloped countries are defined by their dependence on a developed core region.

Bid rent theory

geographical economic theory that refers to how the price and demand on real estate changes as the distance towards the Central Business District (CBD) increases.

Central Place Theory

A theory that explains the distribution of services, based on the fact that settlements serve as centers of market areas for services; larger settlements are fewer and farther apart than smaller settlements and provide services for a larger number of people who are willing to travel farther.

Concentric Zone Model

A model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are spatially arranged in a series of rings.

Sector Model

A model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are arranged around a series of sectors, or wedges, radiating out from the central business district (CBD).

Multiple Nuclei Model

A model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are arranged around a collection of nodes of activities.

Peripheral Model

A model of North American urban areas consisting of an inner city surrounded by large suburban residential and business areas tied together by a beltway or ring road.

Latin American City Model

The CBD is dominant; it is divided into a market sector and a modern high-rise sector. The elite residential sector is on the extension of the CBD in the "spine". The end of the spine of elite residency is the "mall" with high-priced residencies. The further out, less wealthy it gets. The poorest are on the outer edge.

African City Model

cities have more than one CBD, which is a remanence of colonialism

Southeast Asian City Model

The focal point of the city is the colonial port zone combined with the large commercial district that surrounds it. McGee found no formal CBD but found seperate clusters of elements of the CBD surrounding the port zone: the government zone, the Western commercial zone, the alien commercial zone, and the mixed land-use zone with misc. economic activities.

cartography

The science of making maps

Cartographic Scale

refers to the way the map communicates the ratio of its size to the size of what it represents

Concentration

The spread of something over a given area.

Cultural Ecology

the geographic study of human-environment relationships

cultural landscape

the visible imprint of human activity and culture on the landscape

density

the frequency with which something occurs in space

Distance Decay

the effects of distance on interaction, generally the greater the distance the less interaction

distortion

a change in shape, size, distance or direction of a map when projected

distribution

the arrangement of a feature in space

environmental determinism

the view that the natural environment has a controlling influence over various aspects of human life including cultural development

equator

0 degrees latitude

Formal/Uniform Region

An area in which everyone shares in one or more distinctive characteristics

friction of distance

A measure of how much absolute distance affects the interaction between two places.

Functional/Nodal Region

An area organized around a node or focal point

GIS

A computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data in layers

GPS

A system that determines the absolute location of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and receivers.

International Date Line

An arc that for the most part follows 180° longitude, although it deviates in several places to avoid dividing land areas. When you cross heading east (toward America), the clock moves back 24 hours, or one entire day. When you go west (toward Asia), the calendar moves ahead one day.

Latitude

lines run east to west

longitude

lines that run north and south

location

the position that something occupies on Earth's surface

Human Geography

The study of where and why human activities are located where they are

Physical Geography

the study of physical features of the earth's surface

place

A specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular character.

Possibilism

The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives.

Prime Meridian

0° longitude, which passes through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England.

Reference Maps

Maps that show the absolute location of places and geographic features determined by a frame of reference, typically latitude and longitude

thematic map

a map that shows a particular theme, or topic

remote sensing

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

site

The physical character of a place

situation

the location of a place relative to other places

time-space compression

the rapid innovation of communication and transportation technologies associated with globalization that transforms the way people think about space and time

topographic map

a map showing the surface features of an area; elevation

toponym

the name given to a place on Earth

Vernacular/Perceptual Region

an area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity

Dot Distribution Map

A map where dots are used to demonstrate the frequency or intensity of a particular phenomena

Choropleth Map

A thematic map that uses tones or colors to represent spatial data as average values per unit area.

graduated symbol map

A map with symbols that change in size according to the value of the attribute they represent.

cartogram

A special kind of map that distorts the shapes and sizes of countries or other political regions to present economic or other kinds of data for comparison.

isoline map

A thematic map with lines that connect points of equal value.

Mercator Projection

A true conformal cylindrical map projection, the projection is particularly useful for navigation because it maintains accurate direction. projections are famous for their distortion in area that makes landmasses at the poles appear oversized.

Goode Map Projection

an equal-area, composite map projection used for world maps. Normally it is presented with multiple interruptions.

Peter Projection

a cylindrical map projection that attempts to retain the accurate sizes of all the world's landmasses

Robinson Projection

Projection that attempts to balance several possible projection errors. It does not maintain completely accurate area, shape, distance, or direction, but it minimizes errors in each.

conic projection

a map created by projecting an image of Earth onto a cone placed over part of an Earth model

sequent occupance

the notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape

relocation diffusion

the spread of an idea through physical movement of people from one place to another

Hierarchical Diffusion

the spread of a feature or trend from one key person or node of authority or power to other persons or places

Expansion Diffusion

the spread of a feature from one place to another in a snowballing process

Contagious Diffusion

the rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population

Stimulus Diffusion

the spread of an underlying principle, even though a characteristic itself apparently fails to diffuse

Demography

The scientific study of population characteristics.

Overpopulation

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

carrying capacity

Largest number of individuals of a population that a environment can support

census

A complete enumeration of a population.

Ecumene

The proportion of the earth inhabited by humans.

non-ecumene

An area of Earth that does not have permanent human settlements

cold, wet, high, dry

sparsely populated land types

Arithmetic Density

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

Physiological Density

The number of people per unit area of arable land

Agricultural Density

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

Natural Increase Rate

The percentage growth of a population in a year, computed as the crude birth rate minus the crude death rate.

doubling time

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

crude birth rate

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

crude death rate

The number of deaths per year per 1,000 people.

total fertility rate

The average number of children born to a woman during her childbearing years.

Maternal Mortality Rate

Number of deaths per thousand of women giving birth.

sex ratio

Number of males per 100 females

Neo-Malthusians

a belief that the world is characterized by scarcity and competition in which too many people fight for few resources. Pessimists who warn of the global ecopolitical dangers of uncontrolled population growth

Pro-Natalist Policies

the policy or practice of encouraging the bearing of children, especially government support of a higher birthrate

Anti-Natalist Policies

government policies to reduce the rate of natural increase

migration

Form of relocation diffusion involving permanent move to a new location.

circulation

Short-term, repetitive, or cyclical movements that recur on a regular basis.

economic, cultural, environmental

Three major kinds of push and pull factors

Asia to Europe
Asia to North America
Latin America to North America

largest flows of migrants

Interregional Migration

movement from one region of a country to another

Intraregional Migration

movement within one region

population center

the average location of everyone in the country

Urbanization

Movement of people from rural areas to cities

Suburbanization

The process of population movement from within towns and cities to the rural-urban fringe.

Counterurbanization

Net migration from urban to rural areas in more developed countries.

immigrant

a person who comes into a country to live there