Basic Human Geography Review

Chapter 1

Big Ideas
  • The big ideas encompass key terms and concepts essential for the AP Exam, highlighting areas where students usually face challenges. It is crucial to understand these topics thoroughly, noting that this summary may include familiar and new information, given variations in textbook coverage.
  • Note-taking and consistent study practices are emphasized for optimal retention, rather than cramming before an exam.
Basic Human Geography Big Ideas
  • Latitude & Longitude
  • Absolute vs Relative location
  • Site & Situation
  • Map Projections
  • Types of Maps
  • Scale
  • Sense of place
  • Spatial perspective
  • Environmental determinism
  • Possibilism
  • Geospatial technologies
  • World Regions & key countries
Latitude & Longitude
  • Latitude (Parallels)
    • Represent horizontal lines on maps and globes, which measure distance in degrees, minutes, and seconds north or south of the Equator.
  • Longitude (Meridians)
    • Represent vertical lines on maps and globes, indicating distance in degrees, minutes, and seconds east or west of the Prime Meridian located at Greenwich.
  • Visual Note: Latitude lines are stacked horizontally, akin to "bunk beds", while longitude lines extend vertically, as if taking "long strides" around the globe.
Absolute vs. Relative Location
  • Absolute Location
    • Defined as the precise location of a place using a recognized coordinate system (e.g., World Atlas US office at 29°16’N, 94°49’W).
  • Relative Location
    • Describes a place’s location in relation to another landmark (e.g., World Atlas US office on Galveston Island, southeast of Houston).
Site & Situation
  • Site
    • Refers to the physical characteristics of a place, including climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, and elevation, which have historically influenced settlement patterns.
  • Situation
    • Refers to a place's location relative to others, aiding in navigation and emphasizing a location's significance based on accessibility.
Map Projections
  • Mercator
    • Advantages: Minimal shape distortion and consistent direction; Disadvantages: Enlarges areas near poles, misrepresenting their size.
  • Goode Homolosine (Interrupted)
    • Advantages: Accurate size and shape representation; Disadvantages: Cannot accurately measure distance or plot oceanic routes.
  • Robinson
    • Advantages: Accurate depiction of landmasses and oceans; Disadvantage: Distortion at edges.
  • Gall-Peters
    • Advantages: Accurate area sizes; Disadvantages: Distortion of shapes making them appear elongated.
  • Polar (Azimuthal Equidistant)
    • Advantages: Correct distances from the center; Disadvantage: Increased distortion as one moves away from the center.
Types of Maps
  • Reference Maps
    • Emphasize geographic location of features (e.g., political or physical maps).
  • Thematic Maps
    • Designed to showcase specific themes (e.g., elevation, climate, population).
Scale
  • Represents the relationship between a map feature's size and its actual size on Earth.
  • Three presentations:
    • Ratio or Fraction: Numerical ratio (e.g., 1:24,000, where 1 unit on the map equals 24,000 on the ground).
    • Written Scale: Narrative relationship (e.g., 1 inch equals 1 mile).
    • Graphic Scale: Bar line marking distances on Earth.
  • Scale type is crucial depending on the depicted information.
Sense of Place
  • Involves the human experience and local knowledge associated with a landscape, leading to personal identification in relation to a specific area (e.g., hometown).
Spatial Perspective
  • Analyzes how human activities are spatially distributed on Earth, focusing on the interactions and relationships shaped by geography.
Environmental Determinism
  • Posits that the environment dictates human behavior and societal developments, supported by various historical geographers like Humboldt, Ritter, and Huntington. They argued climate is pivotal in determining civilization's growth.
Possibilism
  • While environment may restrict some choices, humans have the capacity to alter their actions. For example, farmers may choose crops based on climate adaptability (e.g., the difference in crop choices between rice and wheat).
Geospatial Technologies
  • Remote Sensing: Involves satellite scanning of Earth to capture images that are sent back digitally.
  • GPS (Global Positioning System): Comprises satellites, tracking stations and receivers for navigation, prevalent in various transport means.
  • GIS (Geographic Information System): A sophisticated tool for storing, analyzing, and displaying geographical data enhancing map-making.
Major World Regions & Key Countries
  • Many regions have overlapping or transitional boundaries, influenced by cultural backgrounds or physiographic features. For instance, Brazil is part of Latin America with Portuguese colonial heritage.

Chapter 2: Population Review

Population Big Ideas
  • Density: Arithmetic, Physiological, Agricultural
  • Demographic Transition Model
  • Epidemiological Transition Model
  • Population Patterns: Fastest growing and negative growth countries
  • Population Pyramids: Replacement rate, dependency ratio, demographic equation, sex ratio
  • Malthus and Neo-Malthusians: Carrying Capacity
  • Population Policies
Ecumene
  • Portion of the Earth designated with permanent human settlement, expanding to cover most land area.
Population Density
  • Arithmetic Density: Total number of people divided by total land area, facilitating comparisons of population density across regions.
  • Physiological Density: Number of individuals per unit area of arable land.
  • Agricultural Density: Ratio of farmers to a unit area of arable land, addressing economic disparities.
J-Curve & S-Curve
  • J-Curve: Population projections reflecting exponential growth correlating with increased resource use.
  • S-Curve: Graphs cyclical growth patterns, depicting rise and fall in population.
Components of Population Growth
  • Demographic Transition Model: Describes changes in population metrics through CBR, CDR, and RNI, leading to varied population stages from high birth and death rates to low rates.
  • Total Fertility Rate (TFR): Average number of children a woman bears in her childbearing years.
Stages of the Demographic Transition Model
  • Stage 1: High birth and death rates, leading to stable population.
  • Stage 2: High birth rates and declining death rates, resulting in rapid population growth.
  • Stage 3: Declining birth rates leading to moderate growth.
  • Stage 4: Low birth and death rates, with stabilized population levels.
  • Stage 5: Potential dependency issues as population age increases and birth rates fall.
Population Pyramids
  • Illustrate age distributions by gender across populations, reflecting life expectancy with distinct shapes representing developmental stages (e.g., pyramids for developing nations vs. blocks for developed nations).
Thomas Malthus
  • Key figure in political economy and demography, proposing that population growth would outstrip food supply, emphasizing the need for checks on population growth through famine and disease.
Carrying Capacity
  • The maximum population size an environment can sustain indefinitely with available resources (food, habitat).
Neo-Malthusian Perspectives
  • Advocates for population control to ensure adequate resources, contrasting with the views of critics who suggest advancements will accommodate growth.
Population Policies
  • Expansive: Pro-growth policies encouraging larger families.
  • Restrictive: Policies limiting family size through measures like China's one-child policy.
  • Eugenics: Favoring certain racial or cultural groups over others.
Influence of Health & Well-Being
  • Geographic and health dynamics including infectious diseases (e.g., AIDS, malaria) and chronic diseases (e.g., heart disease) impact population figures and public health policies.

Chapter 3: Migration Review

Migration Big Ideas
  • Types of Movement: Cyclic, Periodic, Migration
  • Types of Migration: Forced & Voluntary
  • Ravenstein’s Laws of Migration
  • Push and Pull Factors
  • Political Migrants
  • Intervening Obstacles
  • Migration Flows
  • Guest Workers
  • US Migration Patterns
Types of Movement
  • Cyclic Movement: Short-term, repetitive movements (e.g., commuting).
  • Periodic Movement: Longer migrations (e.g., seasonal workers).
  • Migration: Longer-term, often permanent relocation to a different area.
Types of Migration
  • Forced Migration: Removes individuals involuntarily, often due to conflict or instability (e.g., refugee crises).
  • Voluntary Migration: Based on perceived opportunities and benefits, relevant in historical migration patterns (e.g., European migration to the US).
Ravenstein’s Laws of Migration
  • Propose that every migration generates a return or counter migration, with shorter distances predominating in human movement. Urban residents exhibit less migratory behavior than rural dwellers, and families are less likely to migrate compared to young adults.
Push and Pull Factors
  • Categorized into political, economic, and environmental dimensions influencing migration decisions.
Intervening Obstacles
  • Historical barriers like political challenges and contemporary issues (e.g., documentation) hinder migration efforts.
Global Migration Flows
  • Major migration waves from colonial and post-colonial eras significantly shaped demographic structures, with notable examples like forced migration during the Atlantic Slave Trade.
Guest Workers
  • Temporary migrants brought in to meet labor demands, typically holding short-term work visas.
U.S. Immigration Patterns
  • Spanning several eras from colonial periods through modern waves, the U.S. has become a leading destination for immigrants, highlighting evolving cultural demographics.

Chapter 4: Cultures Review

Culture Big Ideas
  • Pop Culture vs. Folk Culture
  • Material vs. Non-Material Culture
  • Acculturation, Assimilation, Syncretism
  • Cultural Hearths & Regions
  • Cultural Landscape
  • Placelessness, convergence
  • Housing
  • Diffusion of Culture
  • Distance Decay & Time-Space Compression
  • Effects of Globalization
What is Culture?
  • Defined as the amalgamation of beliefs, values, artifacts, and social forms, influencing daily life.
Popular Culture vs. Folk Culture
  • Popular Culture: Characterized by large, diverse populations, rapid changes, and urban settings (e.g., contemporary music and fashion).
  • Folk Culture: Small, homogenous groups with traditional practices, localized and often rural.
Material vs. Non-Material Culture
  • Material Culture: Tangible objects created and used by a society (e.g., tools, buildings).
  • Non-Material Culture: Intangible beliefs, values, and practices.
Acculturation, Assimilation, Syncretism
  • Acculturation: Adoption of cultural traits between groups, with aspects of one's culture remaining intact.
  • Assimilation: Complete absorption into the dominant culture, resulting in loss of original customs.
  • Syncretism: Blending of cultural traits from different cultures to form new practices (e.g., Easter traditions).
Cultural Hearths
  • Origin points for major cultural traits, such as Mesopotamia (writing, mathematics), the Americas (Incan and Aztec influences), and other notable regions.
Cultural Landscapes
  • The impact of cultural practices on landscapes, including architecture and land use modifications, pointing towards human interaction with the environment.
Diffusion of Culture
  • Analyzes how cultural traits spread through either expansion (contagious or hierarchical) or relocation, being affected by factors such as globalization and technology.
Distance Decay & Time-Space Compression
  • Distance Decay: Denotes diminishing likelihood of cultural diffusion with increased distance.
  • Time-Space Compression: Refers to reduced time and distance impacts on communication due to technology.

Chapter 5: Language Review

Language Big Ideas
  • Language
  • Language Families
  • Dialects
  • Divergence
  • Convergence
  • Diffusion of Language
  • Distribution of Language Families
  • Disappearance of Language
  • Endangered, extinct, revived & artificial languages
  • Spatial Interactions
  • Lingua Franca, Pidgin, Creole
  • Toponym
What is Language?
  • A structured system of communication using sounds understood by group members, often formalized in official documents.
Language Families
  • Languages classified into families based on common ancestry, with the largest being Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan.
Dialects
  • Variations of a standard language characterized by region or ethnicity, marked by distinct vocabulary, syntax, and pronunciation.
Language Divergence and Convergence
  • Divergence: Occurs when spatial interactions dwindle, leading to isolated development of new languages or dialects.
  • Convergence: Results from consistent interaction between speakers, blending languages over time.
Language Diffusion Theories
  • Various hypotheses examine how languages spread, including conquest, agriculture, and dispersal theories.
Endangered Languages
  • Around half of the world's languages are in danger of extinction due to dominance of global languages and cultural assimilation.
Revived & Artificial Languages
  • Revived languages (like Hebrew) regain status through intentional efforts; artificial languages (like Esperanto) are consciously created for communication purposes.

Chapter 6: Religion Review

Religion Big Ideas
  • Religion: Role in society
  • Secularism
  • Monotheistic, Polytheistic, Animistic
  • Diffusion of Religions
  • Major World Religions
  • Hearths of Religion
  • Religious Landscapes
  • Religious Conflicts
What is Religion?
  • Defined as a belief system addressing the ordering of life according to cultural priorities, influencing societal behaviors and values.
Secularism
  • Denotes a culture where religion loses influence in societal and governmental functions, particularly in parts of Europe.
Major Religions
  • Major global religions include Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, characterized by their beliefs about divinity and their diffusion patterns.
Diffusion of Religions
  • Religion spread through expansion (contagious/hierarchical) or relocation, influencing various cultural landscapes across the globe.
Religious Conflicts
  • Often rooted in broader societal and political issues, including interfaith and intrafaith tensions among different religious groups.

Chapter 7: Political Geography

Political Geography Big Ideas
  • State, nation, nation-state
  • Multinational states & multistate nations
  • Shapes of states
  • Supranationalism
  • Territoriality
  • Heartland vs. Rimland
  • Types of Boundaries
  • Gerrymandering & Redistricting
  • Centripetal & Centrifugal Forces
  • UN Law of the Seas
  • Federal v. Unitary State
  • Devolution
Key Definitions
  • State: Political entity with governance, defined territory, and sovereignty.
  • Nation: Culturally defined group shared common identities and aspirations connected to a territory.
  • Nation-State: Where state boundaries coincide with national boundaries.
Multinational & Multistate Nations
  • Multinational State: Contains multiple ethnicities with self-determination trends (e.g., Russia).
  • Multistate Nation: A single cultural group spanning multiple states (e.g., Kurds).

Chapter 8: Economic Geography

Development Overview
  • Key indicators include poverty measures, education levels, and economic performance metrics, with distinct trends seen across developed and developing regions.
Rostow's Stages of Development
  • Describes the progressive phases societies undergo toward industrialization and consumption.
    • Traditional Society
    • Preconditions for Take-Off
    • Take-Off
    • Drive to Maturity
    • Age of Mass Consumption
Wallerstein's World Systems Theory
  • Analyzes global inequalities, categorizing countries into core, semi-periphery, and periphery based on their economic activities and relations.

Chapter 9: Agriculture Review

Big Ideas in Agriculture
  • Focused on agricultural revolutions, various farming types, and the socio-economic aspects relevant to land use.
Agricultural Revolutions
  • First Agricultural Revolution: Marked by the cultivation of seed crops independent of environmental determinants—shared across geographic areas.
  • Second Agricultural Revolution: Innovations leading to greater surpluses and feeding urban populations.
  • Green Revolution: Introduction of technologically advanced methods and genetically modified crops aimed at alleviating hunger.
Types of Agriculture
  • Includes commercial and subsistence, varying in techniques and socio-economic implications, with distinctions between intensive and extensive farming practices.