AP Human Geography Exam Flashcards

Flashcards to help review key concepts for the AP Human Geography exam.

Distance Decay

The farther away an item is, the less interaction two things have.

Time Space Compression

When perceived distance shrinks due to transportation and communication technologies.

Possibilism

Theory argues that humans have more ability to produce as a result, even if the environment blocks it.

Globalization

Expansion of economic, cultural, and political processes on a worldwide scale.

Human Geography

Study of processes that have shaped how humans understand, use, and alter Earth's surface.

Scales of Analysis

Global, regional, national, subnational, and local.

Environmental Determinism

Human behavior is largely controlled by the physical environment.

Node

Focal point of a functional region, often a downtown of a city.

Suburbs

Residential areas surrounding a city.

Qualitative Observations

Media reports, narratives, etc.

Quantitative Info

Information measured by numbers, such as a census.

GIS (Geographic Information System)

Captures, stores, organizes, and displays geographic data and can be used to put together simple and complex maps.

Topography

Shape of surfaces of land or features.

Remote Sensing

Geospatial technology that gathers data without making physical contact, such as satellites, aircraft, and sensors.

GPS (Global Positioning System)

Satellites send location to cellphones.

Absolute Direction

North, East, South, West.

Relative Direction

Left, right, up, front, etc.

Large Scale Map

Detailed map of cities.

Medium Scale Map

Map of a whole state, like Illinois.

Mercator Projection

Continents' shapes are maintained, direction is displayed accurately, but sizes of continents are very distorted.

Gall Peters Projection

Size of continents is more easily displayed, but continents still distort.

Reference Maps

Sources of geographic data that focus on location, like cities and streets.

Thematic Maps

Maps that have a theme or specific purpose, like population or disease.

Climate

Long-term patterns of weather in an area that affects population distribution.

Landforms

Natural features of Earth's surface.

Economic Factors

Affects on population density; people live in places where they can earn through agriculture and natural resource extraction.

Political Factors

People who are dissatisfied with their government/political system may move to another country or same region within country.

Arithmetic Density

Total number of people per unit area of land (divide total population by total land area).

Physiological Density

Total number of people per unit of arable land.

Agricultural Density

Total number of farmers per unit of arable land.

Subsistence Agriculture

Providing livestock and crops for only the farmers' families and close community with low agricultural density.

Carrying Capacity

Maximum population size an environment can sustain.

Dependency Ratio

Number of people between ages of under 15 and over 65 (dependent).

Sex Ratio

Ratio/proportion of male to female in a population.

Crude Birth Rate

Number of births in a year.

Total Fertility Rate

Average number of children one woman in a country will have (ages 15-49).

Crude Death Rate

Number of deaths in a year (1 in 1000).

Population Pyramid

Graph that shows age-sex distribution.

Rate of Natural Increase (RNI)

Crude birth rate minus crude death rate (high RNI = rapid population growth minus migration).

Doubling Time

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

Industrial Revolution

Launched by major technological innovations in manufacturing; affected where and how people lived.

Urbanization

Growth of cities.

Antinatalist Policies

Policies that discourage citizens from having children.

Pronatalist Policies

Policies that encourage births to aim to increase population.

Land Degradation

Long-term damage to the soil's ability to support life.

Political Boundaries

Canada and USA.

Political Boundary

Defines territorial limits of a country; made by wars/treaties but can lead to conflicts.

Natural Boundary

Formed by physical features like rivers or mountains, but can change over time.

Geometric Boundary

Created with straight lines, e.g., ignores physical landscapes (ex: US & Canada).

Cultural Boundary

Based on cultural traits like language, religion, or ethnicity (ex: India & Pakistan).

Superimposed Boundary

Made by external powers without thinking about cultural divisions/colonialism (ex: Rwanda & Burundi).

Subsequent Boundary

Made after settlement of the area (ex: Northern Ireland & Republic of Ireland).

Antecedent Boundary

Made before are is populated or developed (ex: Malaysia & Indonesia).

Maritime Boundary

Where territorial water of a state extends to 12 nautical miles from coastline; can lead to conflicts over resources like fish/oil.

Frontier Zone

Area with no clear boundary.

Cyclic Movement

Temporary movements that occur on a regular basis.

Emigration

Movement away from a location.

Immigration

Movement to a location.

Net Migration

Difference between number of emigrants and immigrants in a location.

Gravity Model

As population of a city increases, migration to that city increases.

Push Factor

Negative cause that makes someone leave a location.

Pull Factor

Positive factor that attracts someone to a new location.

Voluntary Migration

People make the choice to move to a new place.

Forced Migration

People are forced to move by ESPEN factors.

Transnational Migration

Immigrants move to a new country.

Internal Migration

Movement within a country's borders.

Friction of Distance

The longer a journey is, the more time, effort, and cost it will involve.

Transhumance

Form of migration practices by nomads who cross national borders during their seasonal movements.

Chain Migration

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

Step Migration

Series of smaller movements to get to the ultimate destination.

Guest Workers

Migrants who travel to a new country as temporary laborers.

Refugees

People who are forced to leave their country for fear of persecution or death.

Asylum

Right for protection in a new country.

Internally Displaced Persons

People who have been forced to flee their homes but remain within their country's borders.

Human Trafficking

The recruitment, transportation, harboring, or receipt of people by improper means, force, abduction, fraud, etc.

Interregional Migration

Movement from one region to another.

Intraregional Migration

Movement within one region of the country.

Quotas

Limits on number of immigrants allowed to enter a country each year.

Remittances

Money earned by emigrants abroad and sent back to home countries.

Brain Drain

Loss of trained/educated people to the lure of work in another richer country.

Relocation Diffusion

Spread of ideas/cultural traits through migration.

Sociofacts

Structures and organizations that influence social behavior, like families, governments, educational systems, and religious organizations.

Mentifacts

Central enduring elements of culture that reflect its shared ideas, values, knowledge, and beliefs.

Popular Culture

Trendy things.

Traditional Culture

Long-established behaviors, beliefs, and practices passed down from generations.

Ethnocentrism

Tendency for ethnic groups to judge other groups based on preconceived judgments.

Cultural Relativism

Evaluation of culture without judging, putting aside one's own culture to learn more about another culture.

Cultural Landscape

Human imprint on the land.

Postmodern Architecture

Architectural style that emerged during the 70s as a reaction to modern designs.

Toponym

Name of a place.

Gendered Spaces

When society has strict roles for men and women; spaces may be designed into the landscape to accommodate gender roles.

Safe Spaces

Spaces of acceptance for people (LGBTQ+).

Gentrification

Renovations/improvements from lower class to middle class preferences.

Dialects

Variation of a standard language due to where they are from.

Expansion Diffusion

Culture spreads outward from where it originated.

Contagious Diffusion

Idea/cultural trait spreads to people and places.

Hierarchical Diffusion

Spread of culture/idea from a person/place of power to other people/places.

Stimulus Diffusion

Trait spreads to another culture but is modified to adapt to the new culture.

Lingua Franca

Common language used among speakers of different languages.

Creolization

Two or more cultural elements combine together.