AP Human Geography Study Guide Notes
UNIT ONE: THINKING GEOGRAPHICALLY
Human geography explains the 'why behind the where,' analyzing spatial patterns and relationships.
Cartography is the science of mapmaking.
Reference maps: Show the location of objects.
Thematic maps: Show the spatial arrangement of data.
Spatial patterns include absolute/relative location, distance, direction, elevation, dispersal, and clustering.
Maps include physical, political, choropleth, symbol, dot, topographic, and isoline types.
No map is perfect; all map projections distort spatial properties (Shape, Area, Distance, and Direction - SADD).
Common map projections: Mercator, Robinson, Winkel Tripel.
GEOSPATIAL DATA AND TECHNOLOGIES
Geospatial data pertains to a location on Earth and can be quantitative (numbers) or qualitative (descriptive).
Quantitative: Income, census, birthrates.
Qualitative: Interviews, travel narratives, visual observations.
Geospatial technologies: GPS, GIS, remote sensing, online mapping.
Geographers use a spatial perspective to explain patterns and relationships created by human activities.
Human geography examines all social science disciplines, including population, migration, culture, politics, economic development, and land use.
Geospatial data is used for personal, business, and governmental purposes (e.g., GPS directions, optimal location analysis).
Geographic concepts to illustrate patterns: distance decay, distribution, and networks.
HUMANS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Cultural ecology: Study of human culture and its relationship to the environment.
Environmental determinism: Belief that the environment causes human behavior.
Possibilism: Environment may limit human actions, but it doesn't cause behavior.
Issues: Sustainability, natural resource use, land use.
SENSE OF PLACE AND REGIONALIZATION
Place: Defined by human and physical characteristics, arousing emotions and creating a sense of place.
Toponyms: Names of places.
Placelessness: Occurs when a place lacks strong emotional ties.
Regions: Areas grouped by unifying characteristics, spatial patterns, or human activity.
Formal region: Defined by common features (e.g., Gulf Coast).
Functional region: Organized around a central point (e.g., broadcast area).
Perceptual/vernacular region: Based on human perception (e.g., "the South").
Regional boundaries are constantly changing, overlapping, and disputed.
FROM LOCAL TO GLOBAL
Globalization: Accelerated connection of humans through communication and technology.
Time-space compression: Humans can travel larger distances over shorter time periods.
Scales of analysis: Global, regional, national, and local.
Local: Immediate surroundings (neighborhood, city, county, state).
National: A country.
Regional: Collection of units (e.g., U.S. states like the Midwest, countries like Latin America).
Global: Most or all of Earth.
UNIT TWO: POPULATION AND MIGRATION
PATTERNS AND PROCESSES
Human populations are unevenly distributed.
Ecumene: Portion of Earth with permanent human settlements.
Historically, proximity to water influenced settlement; humans avoid places that are too high, wet, dry, or cold.
Carrying capacity: Ability to support human life.
Largest population clusters: South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Europe, West Africa, Eastern North America (over 70% of Earth's population).
Arithmetic density: Number of people in an area.
Physiological density: Number of people per unit of arable land.
Agricultural density: Number of farmers per unit of arable land.
DEMOGRAPHIC DATA
Demography: Statistical study of human populations.
Populations change due to births, deaths, and migration.
Natural Increase Rate (NIR): Births minus deaths.
Crude Birth Rate (CBR) and Crude Death Rate (CDR): Number of births or deaths per 1,000 people.
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR): Number of deaths per 1,000 live births.
Sex ratio: Ratio of males to females.
Doubling times, J-curves, and S-curves: Used to calculate, predict, and plot population growth trends.
DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION MODEL (DTM)
Illustrates changes in birth and death rates, explaining causes and consequences of demographic conditions.
Social changes occur as countries progress through stages (e.g., women gaining access to education and contraceptives).
POPULATION PYRAMIDS
Show age and sex demographics.
Used to analyze the past and predict future concerns.
Identify a country's placement on the DTM.
Examples:
Ethiopia (2016): Large base (high birth rates, limited access to contraceptives, education, employment).
Mexico (2016): Narrowing base (decreased fertility, increased access to contraceptives, education, jobs).
Iceland (2016): Widening top (people living longer, low fertility rates, women in economic and political decisions).
Japan (2016): Widest top (aging population, deaths outnumber births).
DEMOGRAPHIC CONSEQUENCES
The developing world has higher rates of natural increase than the developed world.
Dependency ratio: Number of people too young or too old to work, compared to the number of working-age people.
Countries may employ natalist policies.
Pro-natalist: Encourage births.
Anti-natalist: Discourage births.
Malthusian theory: Population would grow exponentially and lead to food shortages.
Neo-Malthusians: Apply Malthus' theory to resources like energy, water, and arable land.
MIGRATION
Permanent move to a new location.
Push and pull factors:
Push: Causes someone to leave.
Pull: Attracts someone to a new location.
Intervening obstacle: Prevents migration.
Most migration is voluntary (transhumance, chain, circular, guest worker).
Forced migration: Includes slavery, refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and asylum seekers.
Globally, migration is from rural to urban areas and from the developing world to the developed world.
Ernst Ravenstein's Laws of Migration: Most migrants are young adults who move shorter distances.
UNIT THREE: CULTURAL PATTERNS AND PROCESSES
CULTURE AND THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE
Culture: Collection of beliefs and artifacts.
Material culture: Concrete artifacts.
Non-material culture: Abstract beliefs and ideals.
Folk culture: Typical of isolated, homogenous communities.
Popular culture: Seen in large, heterogenous societies with access to modern communication and technology.
Cultural landscape: Imprint humans place on their environment.
DIFFUSION
Spread of ideas, behaviors, and information.
Cultural characteristics originate in hearths and diffuse through relocation and expansion.
Types of expansion diffusion: contagious, stimulus, hierarchical, and reverse hierarchical.
Syncretism: Combining cultural traits to create new forms of expression.
Cultural practices spread through colonialism, imperialism, and trade.
Cultural convergence: Cultures become more similar.
Cultural divergence: Cultures become less similar.
CONSEQUENCES OF DIFFUSION
Acculturation: Adopting aspects of both the origin and new culture.
Assimilation: Migratory group no longer resembles their origin culture, resembling the new one instead.
Multiculturalism: Co-existence of various cultures.
Nativism: Belief that foreign cultures should be excluded.
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LANGUAGES
Language: Mutually understood sounds used to communicate.
Dialect: Regional variety of a language.
Isogloss: Boundary between linguistic regions.
Most spoken language family: Indo-European.
Lingua franca: A common language used for communication among people with different native languages (English is the world’s lingua franca).
THE GEOGRAPHY OF RELIGIONS
Geographers categorize religions as universalizing or ethnic.
Ethnic religion: Related to a particular ethnicity (Hinduism, Judaism).
Universalizing religion: Attempts to appeal to all people (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism).
Religions can be broken down into branches, denominations, and sects.
Strict interpretation of holy text is called fundamentalism.
Belief with some human interpretation is called conservatism.
Belief with higher degrees of human interpretation is called liberalism.
GLOBALIZATION
Process of becoming worldwide in scope, increasing the likelihood of interaction between places.
Transnational corporations conduct business in multiple countries, creating an interdependent global distribution of goods.
Globalization of culture leads to increasingly similar cultural landscapes.
UNIT FOUR: POLITICAL PATTERNS & PROCESSES
POLITICAL UNITS
State: An independent country with sovereignty (total control over internal affairs).
Nation: A group of people sharing cultural characteristics.
Self-determination: Belief that ethnicities should have their own state.
Stateless nations: Nations without their own state (e.g., Kurds, Palestinians).
Nation-state: When a nation corresponds to the boundaries of a state (e.g., Japan).
Multi-national state: A state with multiple nations.
Autonomous and semi-autonomous regions: Regions with some degree of self-government.
POLITICAL BOUNDARIES
Boundaries establish limits of a state's control, established through legal documents.
Delimited boundaries: Drawn on a map.
Demarcated boundaries: Physical objects on the landscape.
Maritime boundaries: Boundaries that cross water.
Geopolitics: Relationship between geography and international politics.
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS): Established territorial claims of states in ocean waters.
Relic boundaries: No longer serve to separate but remain part of the cultural landscape (e.g., Berlin Wall).
Subsequent boundaries: Evolve with the cultural landscape.
Antecedent boundaries: Established before the area was populated.
Physical boundaries: Follow physical features of Earth's surface.
Geometric boundaries: Straight lines drawn by humans.
Superimposed boundaries: Drawn by outside forces (e.g., Berlin Conference).
POLITICAL GOVERNANCE
Territoriality: Connection of human activities to land.
Unitary states: Place power in the central government.
Federal states: Divide power between the central government and internal units.
Gerrymandering: Redrawing voting district boundaries to favor a political group.
DEVOLUTION
Devolution: Transfer of power from central to regional or local unit governments.
Devolutionary forces: Physical separation, ethnic competition, genocide, terrorism, irredentism.
Sub-nationalism: Loyalty to a sub-national group.
GLOBAL COOPERATION
States cooperate to achieve common goals.
Supranationalism: When countries form alliances and give up some local power to the collective.
Examples: United Nations (UN), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), European Union (EU), ASEAN, OPEC.
CENTRIPETAL & CENTRIFUGAL FORCES
Centripetal forces: Bring people together and create unity.
Centrifugal forces: Drive people apart and create division.
UNIT FIVE: AGRICULTURE AND RURAL LAND USE
AGRICULTURE TYPES AND REGIONS
Agriculture: Modifying the environment to raise plants or animals for consumption.
Subsistence agriculture: For direct consumption.
Commercial agriculture: For sale.
Intensive agriculture: High inputs of labor or capital.
Extensive agriculture: Low inputs of labor or capital.
Types of agriculture:
Market gardening: Truck farming, fruits and vegetables.
Mixed crop & livestock farming: Crops and animals integration.
Plantations: Large-scale commercial farms.
Nomadic herding: Pastoral nomadism, moving with herds.
Transhumance: Seasonal migration of livestock.
Livestock ranching: Commercial grazing, feedlots.
Shifting cultivation: Slash-and-burn, fallow periods.
Mediterranean: Specialized crops, dry summers.
AGRICULTURE REVOLUTIONS
First Agricultural Revolution: Neolithic Revolution, domestication, sedentary lifestyle.
Second Agricultural Revolution: Improved techniques and technology, crop rotation, increased production.
Green Revolution: Hybridization, irrigation, chemical inputs.
SURVEY METHODS AND RURAL SETTLEMENTS
Land surveying: Methods to determine boundaries.
Metes and bounds: Natural features.
Township and range: Rectangular system.
Long lot: Divides land into narrow parcels.
Types of settlements:
Nucleated settlements: Clustered buildings.
Dispersed settlements: Isolated farms.
Linear settlements: Along roads or rivers.
GLOBALIZATION AND CHALLENGES OF AGRICULTURE
Economy of scale: Cost advantages from large-scale production.
Aquaculture: Fish farming.
Commodity chains: Production, distribution, and consumption.
Agribusiness: Integrated commercial agriculture.
Sustainability: Meeting needs without compromising future generations.
Organic farming, fair trade, and eat-local food movements: Promoting sustainable agriculture.
VON THÜNEN MODEL
Explains agricultural land use around a city.
Bid-rent theory: Land value decreases with distance from the market.
CONSEQUENCES OF AGRICULTURE
Environmental impacts: Terrace farming, irrigation, deforestation, pollution.
UNIT SIX: CITIES AND URBAN LAND USE
ORIGIN & INFLUENCES OF URBANIZATION
Urbanization: Process by which towns and cities develop.
Fertile Crescent: The historical hearth of urbanization.
Site: Unique human and physical characteristics of a place.
Situation: Location relative to other places and regions.
CITIES & GLOBALIZATION
Megacity: City with 10–20 million people.
Metacity: City with over 20 million people.
Suburbanization: Movement from urban cores to suburbs.
Decentralization: Loss of population in urban centers.
Sprawl: Unrestricted build-up of urban and suburban areas.
Edge cities, exurbs, and boomburbs: New forms of urban land use.
GLOBAL MODELS & THEORIES
Models explaining the spatial organization of cities:
Burgess concentric zone model: City growth in rings outward from the CBD.
Hoyt sector model: City growth in sectors outward from the CBD.
Harris & Ullman multiple-nuclei model: City growth around important nodes.
Galactic city model: Nodes in the periphery linked by roadways.
Bid-rent theory: Land value decreases with distance from the CBD.
Latin American city model: Characteristics of the Latin American city.
Southeast Asian city model: Colonialism and imperialism.
African city model: Colonialism and imperialism.
Rank-size rule: nth largest settlement = \frac{1}{n} of the largest city.
Gravity model: Interactions between cities based on population size and distance.
Christaller’s central place theory: Hexagons to explain the number, size, and distribution of cities.
URBAN CHALLENGES
Economic and social issues: Housing discrimination, redlining, blockbusting, crime, access to services, housing affordability.
Environmental challenges: Pollution, disamenity zones.
Responses: Laws, government policies, gentrification, urban renewal.
UNIT SEVEN: INDUSTRIAL & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
INDUSTRIALIZATION & ECONOMIC SECTORS
Industrial Revolution: Series of technological improvements, increased production.
Cottage industry: Home-based manufacturing before the Industrial Revolution.
Economic sectors:
Primary: Growing and extracting natural resources (farming, mining).
Secondary: Manufacturing (factories).
Tertiary: Providing services (nursing, waiting tables).
Quaternary: Knowledge-oriented services (financial planning, blogging).
Quinary: Human services and policy creation (government, business executives).
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Policies to prevent resource depletion, mass consumption, climate change, and pollution.
Ecotourism: Tourism of a location's natural environment.
UN Sustainable Development Goals: Quality education, no poverty, zero hunger, gender equality.
MEASURING DEVELOPMENT AND INEQUALITY
Development: Social and economic conditions of a location.
Human Development Index (HDI): Measures development using social, demographic, and economic factors.
Gender Inequality Index (GII): Measures inequality between men and women.
DEVELOPMENT THEORIES
Rostow's Stages of Economic Growth: 5-stage model of economic advancement.
Wallerstein's World System Theory: Core, periphery, and semi-periphery countries.
Dependency Theory: Countries dependent on other countries for economic survival.
Commodity Dependence: Countries dependent on the sale of commodities.
THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
Complementarity: Trade benefits both parties involved.
Comparative advantage: Countries exploit what they can do more efficiently.
Trade agreements: EU, WTO, Mercosur, OPEC.
International lending agencies: IMF (International Monetary Fund).
UNIT ONE: THINKING GEOGRAPHICALLY
Human geography explains the 'why behind the where,' analyzing spatial patterns and relationships, exploring how human activities shape and are shaped by the Earth's surface. It examines the distribution, movement, and interactions of human populations and their activities across space and time.
Cartography is the science of mapmaking, involving the art and technique of visually representing geographic information. It encompasses design, data collection, and production of maps.
Reference maps: Show the location of objects, serving as tools for navigation and spatial reference. They emphasize the geographic position of features like cities, rivers, and mountains.
Thematic maps: Show the spatial arrangement of data, illustrating the distribution of specific phenomena or themes. These maps include choropleth, isoline, dot density, and proportional symbol maps.
Spatial patterns include absolute/relative location, distance, direction, elevation, dispersal, and clustering. These patterns are fundamental in understanding spatial relationships and distributions.
Maps include physical, political, choropleth, symbol, dot, topographic, and isoline types. Each type serves unique purposes and represents different aspects of geographic data.
No map is perfect; all map projections distort spatial properties (Shape, Area, Distance, and Direction - SADD). Map projections involve transforming the spherical Earth onto a flat surface, inevitably introducing distortions.
Common map projections: Mercator, Robinson, Winkel Tripel. These projections are widely used but vary in their distortion of SADD.
GEOSPATIAL DATA AND TECHNOLOGIES
Geospatial data pertains to a location on Earth and can be quantitative (numbers) or qualitative (descriptive). It is critical for spatial analysis, decision-making, and understanding geographic phenomena.
Quantitative: Income, census, birthrates. These data are numerical and can be statistically analyzed to reveal spatial patterns.
Qualitative: Interviews, travel narratives, visual observations. These data provide descriptive insights into human experiences and perceptions of space.
Geospatial technologies: GPS, GIS, remote sensing, online mapping. These technologies enable the collection, analysis, and visualization of geospatial data.
Geographers use a spatial perspective to explain patterns and relationships created by human activities. This perspective focuses on where things occur and why they occur there.
Human geography examines all social science disciplines, including population, migration, culture, politics, economic development, and land use. It provides a spatial context for understanding human phenomena.
Geospatial data is used for personal, business, and governmental purposes (e.g., GPS directions, optimal location analysis). Applications range from navigation and urban planning to environmental monitoring and national security.
Geographic concepts to illustrate patterns: distance decay, distribution, and networks. These concepts help explain how phenomena are spread and connected across space.
HUMANS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Cultural ecology: Study of human culture and its relationship to the environment. It explores how cultures adapt to and modify their environment.
Environmental determinism: Belief that the environment causes human behavior. This perspective has been largely discredited but historically influenced geographic thought.
Possibilism: Environment may limit human actions, but it doesn't cause behavior. This viewpoint emphasizes human agency and adaptation within environmental constraints.
Issues: Sustainability, natural resource use, land use. These issues are central to understanding the complex interactions between humans and the environment.
SENSE OF PLACE AND REGIONALIZATION
Place: Defined by human and physical characteristics, arousing emotions and creating a sense of place. Places are unique locations that hold meaning for individuals and groups.
Toponyms: Names of places. They reflect cultural heritage, historical events, and physical features.
Placelessness: Occurs when a place lacks strong emotional ties. It often results from globalization and the homogenization of landscapes.
Regions: Areas grouped by unifying characteristics, spatial patterns, or human activity. Regions are constructs used to organize and analyze geographic information.
Formal region: Defined by common features (e.g., Gulf Coast). These regions exhibit uniformity in terms of physical or cultural attributes.
Functional region: Organized around a central point (e.g., broadcast area). These regions are characterized by interactions and flows centered around a node.
Perceptual/vernacular region: Based on human perception (e.g., "the South"). These regions are subjective and based on cultural or regional stereotypes.
Regional boundaries are constantly changing, overlapping, and disputed. They are dynamic and influenced by political, economic, and social factors.
FROM LOCAL TO GLOBAL
Globalization: Accelerated connection of humans through communication and technology. It involves the increasing interconnectedness of economies, cultures, and societies.
Time-space compression: Humans can travel larger distances over shorter time periods. This phenomenon reduces the friction of distance and facilitates global interactions.
Scales of analysis: Global, regional, national, and local. Geographic phenomena can be examined at various scales, each providing unique insights.
Local: Immediate surroundings (neighborhood, city, county, state). The local