AP Human Geography Course Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the core concepts of AP Human Geography, including map types, population dynamics, cultural diffusion, political boundaries, agriculture, and urban models.

Distortion

The fundamental problem of all maps where direction, shape, area, and distance cannot all be accurately represented at once.

Mercator Map Projection

A map projection showing lines of latitude and longitude, widely used for navigation due to accurate direction, though it distorts size at the poles.

Choropleth Map

A thematic map that uses different colors or shades to display quantitative data, often useful for showing density or generalized distributions.

Small Scale Map

A map that shows a large portion of the Earth’s surface with less specific detail, making it appear "zoomed out."

Large Scale Map

A map that shows a small portion of the Earth’s surface with high detail, making it appear "zoomed in."

Geographic Information System (GIS)

A computer system designed to collect, analyze, and display geographic data, often used by farmers to monitor crop needs.

Distance Decay

The geographical concept stating that the farther away two places are, the less likely they are to interact.

Time-Space Compression

The reduction in the time it takes for something to reach another place due to advancements in technology and transportation.

Site Factors

Physical characteristics at a specific location, such as climate, natural resources, and its absolute location.

Situation Factors

The characteristics of the surrounding area of a place, specifically its connection and relative location to other places.

Environmental Possibilism

The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust or modify the environment to overcome those limits.

Environmental Determinism

The theory that the physical environment strictly determines the cultural and social development of a society.

Formal (Uniform) Region

A geographic area where everyone shares one or more common attributes, such as a country, a climate zone, or a shared language.

Functional (Nodal) Region

A geographic area organized around a central node or focal point, such as a pizza delivery zone or a school district.

Perceptual (Vernacular) Region

A region that exists based on people's subjective beliefs, feelings, or attitudes rather than set boundaries, such as "The South."

Arithmetic Density

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

Physiological Density

The total population divided by the total amount of arable land, indicating how much pressure is on food production.

Agricultural Density

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

Carrying Capacity

The maximum population size that the environment can sustain indefinitely without being damaged.

Dependency Ratio

A numerical value calculated as $\frac{\text{Children (0-14)} + \text{Adults (65+)}}{\text{Working Age Population}} \times 100$.

Replacement Rate

The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) required for a population to remain stable, typically defined as $2.1$.

Malthusian Theory

The theory proposed by Thomas Malthus stating that population grows exponentially while food production only grows arithmetically, leading to a potential catastrophe.

Ravenstein’s Laws of Migration

A set of principles stating that most migrants move for economic reasons, travel short distances, and move from rural to urban areas.

Brain Drain

The large-scale emigration of talented or highly skilled individuals from a country to find better opportunities elsewhere.

Remittance

Money that an immigrant sends back to their family in their home country.

Sequent Occupancy

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

Ethnocentrism

The practice of judging another culture solely by the standards and values of one's own culture.

Lingua Franca

A common language used among speakers of different native languages for the purposes of trade and commerce.

Syncretism

The blending of traits from two or more cultures or religions to create a new, distinct cultural feature.

Sovereignty

The authority of a state to govern its own territory and handle its own domestic and international affairs.

Nation-State

A sovereign state with a relatively homogeneous population that shares a common language, culture, and history, such as Japan or Iceland.

Stateless Nation

An ethnic group or nation that does not possess its own sovereign territory or state, such as the Kurds.

Devolution

The process of transferring power from a central national government to regional or local governments.

Balkanization

The process by which a state breaks down into smaller, often hostile units through conflicts among its ethnicities.

Neocolonialism

The use of economic, political, or cultural pressures to control or influence other countries, especially former colonies.

Shatterbelt

An area of instability between regions with opposing political and cultural values, often caught between competing external powers.

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

An area defined by UNCLOS extending $200$ miles from a shore where a state has the sole right to all natural resources like fish and oil.

Gerrymandering

The process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power.

Intensive Agriculture

Agricultural practices that require a lot of capital and labor on smaller plots of land to produce high yields, such as market gardening or plantations.

Extensive Agriculture

Agricultural practices that use less labor and capital per unit of land and require large areas to produce food, such as nomadic herding and ranching.

Green Revolution

The introduction of high-yield seeds and increased use of chemicals and mechanized farming in the 20th century to increase food production.

Bid-rent Theory

A geographical economic theory that refers to how the price and demand for real estate change as the distance from the Central Business District (CBD) increases.

Von Thunen Model

An economic model that helps explain rural land use patterns based on transportation costs and the perishability of products relative to the market.

Megacity

A city with a total population of at least $10$ million people.

Urban Sprawl

The rapid and often poorly planned spread of cities and suburbs across the surrounding countryside.

Primate City Rule

A pattern of settlements in a country where the largest city is more than twice as large as the second-largest city.

Rank Size Rule

The rule stating that the nth largest city in a country is $1/n^{th}$ the size of the largest city.

Central Place Theory

A theory developed by Walter Christaller that explains the distribution of services based on the fact that settlements serve as centers of market areas.

Gentrification

The process of converting an urban neighborhood from a predominantly low-income, renter-occupied area to a middle-class, owner-occupied area.