30 Required Models & Theories for AP Human Geography

Latitude vs Longitude

Latitude: Based on the equator, horizontal

Longitude: Based on the prime meridian, vertical

GIS

Used to layer different maps to show patterns in data.

Thematic Maps

Type of map that shows data with a theme. 

• Ex. Isoline, Dot, Choropleth

Population Pyramids

Used to show demographic patterns in a population using sex and age.

DTM

5 stages that it has been said all countries will/have gone through, each stage categorized by birth/death rates, and natural population increase.

Epidemiological Transition Theory

Connected to DTM, it shows what type of diseases a country is most likely to face depending on its development stage.

Raveinsteins Laws of Migration

Common patterns that migrants share:

• Most move a short distance.

• Migration goes by steps.

• Long distance migrants more likely to move to big cities.

• All migration flows have a counterflow.

• People of rural areas are more likely to migrate.

• Men are more likely to migrate long distances while women are more likely to migrate short distances.

• Migrants are mostly adults not families.

• Urban areas mostly grow from in migration not nauturally.

• Migration increases with more transportation and economic opportunities.

• Mostly from rural to urban.

• Economic factors are the main cause of migration.

Zelinsky Model of Migration Transition

Talks about what type of migration is most likely to happen depending on the demographic stage a country is in.

Malthusian Theory of Population Growth

• The 18th-century idea is that the world's population grows exponentially while food production grows linear. Meaning that there wouldn't be enough food available to keep the population, leading to “checks” including famine and war that would kill off some of the population.

S-Curve

Shows the speed at which ideas are adopted. 

• Things start picking up slowly, then quickly become popular, then cool off.

Language Tree

Tree of which languages came from which language family. 

• Indo-European is the largest language family including European and Indo-Iranian languages.

Organic Theory

Inspired by hitlerr, the idea that countries are like living organisms that go through birth and death and need "nourishment" (acquiring less powerful states to survive). Without expansion, the state woulld die.

Mackinders Heartland Theory

• The key to achieving global power is to conquer Eastern Europe/Russia

Spymans Rimland Theory

• Key to global power would be to conquer the UK, India and China.

Domino Theory

• The idea during the cold war that if one country "fell" to Communism, the surrounding countries would also fall like dominoes. 

Core-Periphery Model

• Describes the relationship between core and periphery countries. The core is the ones to rely on the labor from the periphery countries.

Von Thunen Model

• Shows where industries are located. With four rings around the city, the first ring with dairy farming + market gardening, the second with forests, the third with grains + field crops, and the fourth with ranching and livestock.

Ester Boserups Theory

• The idea that food production will increase based on population increase.

Rostows Stages

• Countries industries develop in 5 stages over time, 

  • Stage one: Traditional Society

  • Stage two: Preconditions to take off

  • Stage three: Take off

  • Stage four: Drive to maturity

  • Stage five: High mass consumption

Wallersteins World System

• The connection between core periphery relationships and industrial development.

• Core countries sell their high-profit goods to the periphery/semi-periphery countries.

• While the periphery and semi-periphery countries have raw materials and labor to produce those goods.

Dependency

• The idea that the World Systems Theory’s dependency was caused by colonization. As periphery countries were colonized, their production was replaced by labor which helped the core countries to develop goods, resulting in them becoming dependent on the core countries for food and consumer goods.

Webers Least Cost

• The pattern with industries is that the transportation costs of raw materials to the factory and the finished product to the market are the lowest. 

Christallers Central Place

• Based on how far people are willing to travel for work and products. Based on assumptions, creating a hexagon shape of main cities is surrounded by small towns and cities.

Burgess Concentric Zone

• The center of the city, the business district, is surrounded by rings of industry/residential areas, with the most wealthy people living the furthest from the center (they wouldn't want to be near the pollution).

Gravity

• The idea is that people would be more willing to go to certain places over others. For example, a big city like Chicago is more likely to attract people compared to a smaller city like Detriot.

Hoyt Sector

• A city map where the lowest class lives around transportation, while the upper class lives along business.

Harris Ullman Multiple Nuclei

• City layout with multiple central business districts.

Borchert Evolution Of the American Urban System

• Change in the history of urbanization with cities first being developed near ports and major waterways. Then they along railroads and steamboats. In the early 20th century with long haul railroads. To the development of gasoline-powered transportation including cars and planes. Since the 1970s, they have been developing around the service and information technology sectors.

Zipfs Rank Size Rule

• The formula nth largest city is 1/n of the largest city.

• Ex. The second largest city in a country is half of the size (population) of the first largest city.

Bid-Rent Curve

• The further away from the central city, the higher the land prices.