AP Human Geography - Semester 1 Review Notes

UNIT 01-FOUNDATIONS OF GEOGRAPHY

• Human Geography: Focuses on culture, agriculture, industrialization, and demographics.
• Physical Geography: Focuses on landforms, climate, vegetation, and soils.

Maps and Projections

• Mercator Projection:
  • Shapes are accurate, making it a common projection.
  • Distorts area and distance, but the least distorted in these aspects compared to other maps.
  • Useful for true directions, especially in navigation and sea travel.
• Robinson Projection:
  • Shapes near the poles appear flat.
  • Continents appear similar to their representation on a globe.
  • Overall minor distortions.
  • Distances at the poles are incorrect.
  • Most common projection.

Map Scale

• Scale in cartography is the relationship between the size on the map and the actual size in reality.
• Scale can range from local to global.
• Expressed as fractions/ratios or verbally.

Time-Space Compression vs. Time-Space Convergence

• Time-Space Compression: The ability to move an item from one place to another with increasing speed.
• Time-Space Convergence:
  • The Internet increases interaction between cultures.
  • Increases the use of English as a global language, especially in music and Hollywood movies.
• Summary: Both transportation advancements and the Internet contribute to making the world feel smaller.

Sequent Occupance

• Successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place.
• Each society contributes to the cumulative cultural landscape.

GIS vs GPS

• Global Positioning System (GPS):
  • Uses remote sensing from satellite navigation systems.
  • Provides location and data.
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS):
  • Geographical data is mapped to aid decision-making for businesses, governments, and individuals.

The Power of Geographic Data

• Census data and satellite imagery (remote sensing) are used to make decisions for individuals, businesses, and governments.
• Census data is used to track changing populations and allocate funds and representation where needed (schools, roads, congressional seats, etc.).
• Geographic tools and satellite images are used to create multilayer GIS maps to aid decision-making.

Business Use of Geographic Information

• Example: Analyzing average household income by zip code with drive-time boundaries to determine optimal business locations.

Human-Environmental Impact

• Energy consumption statistics are provided, showing percentage of world consumption by different countries and regions.
• Illustrates the distribution of energy consumption between more developed and less developed regions.

Environmental Determinism

• Carl Ritter and Alexander von Humboldt's Thesis: Human behavior is strongly affected by the physical environment.
• People are products of their physical environment.
• Used in colonialism to justify European superiority, claiming they were naturally stronger and smarter.

Possibilism

• Theory that any culture can develop in any environment.
• The environment does not define how people develop.
• More technology leads to more possibilities to shape the environment.
• Example: Las Vegas.

Netherlands and Polders

• The Netherlands use polders (dams and levees) to protect their land.
• 30% of the Netherlands is below sea level.
• Example of Possibilism.

Water Resources

• Water is a renewable resource, but it is not distributed evenly.
• Issues range from desertification in Africa to drought in Southern California.
• $(\frac{3}{4})$ of all freshwater is used in farming, and $(\frac{1}{5})$ is used in industry.
• Rivers and groundwater in former communist countries are among the most polluted.
• Diversion of water from streams feeding the Aral Sea for irrigation led to its drying up, causing chronic water shortages.

The Land and Desertification

• Desertification: Desert conditions expand due to overuse by humans.
• The Sahara has advanced into 270,000 square miles of farming and grazing land due to overgrazing, wood-cutting, and soil exhaustion.
• The UN held a Conference on Desertification in 1977.

Spatial Diffusion

• Relocation Diffusion
• Expansion Diffusion
  • Hierarchical Diffusion
  • Contagious Diffusion
  • Stimulus Diffusion

Relocation Diffusion Example

• Spanish Explorers.

Hierarchical Diffusion Example

• Fashion trends spreading from major cities to smaller towns.

Stimulus Diffusion Example – McDonald’s

• McDonald’s adapting its menu to local tastes in different countries:
  • Japan: A pork burger with a garlicky Teriyaki glaze, lemon sauce, and lettuce.
  • Czech Republic: Two pork burgers topped with tomatoes and horseradish sauce.
  • Saudi Arabia: Chicken burgers folded between Arabic bread, salad, and a powerful garlic sauce.
  • India: Tender paneer slabs in a spiced, crunchy batter, mustard, salad, and a creamy dressing.

UNIT 02-DEMOGRAPHICS AND MIGRATION

Arithmetic Density vs. Physiological Density

• Arithmetic Density: Total number of people divided by total land area.
  • Does not indicate population distribution within a country.
• Physiological Density: Total number of people divided by total area of arable land.
  • Shows the strain people put on the land to produce enough food.
• Example: Egypt
  • Arithmetic Density: sparse at 204.
  • Physiological Density: very high at 3,912.
  • $\frac{80,000,000 \text{ people}}{387,048 \text{ sq. miles}} \quad \text{vs.} \quad \frac{80,000,000 \text{ people}}{20,449 \text{ sq. miles of farms}}$

Agricultural Density

• Ratio of the number of farmers to the amount of arable land.
• MDCs (More Developed Countries) have a lower density because technology allows a few to farm for many.
• LDCs (Less Developed Countries) have a high density because of a lack of technology; most people raise their own food.

Thomas Malthus

• English demographer.
• Believed that population grew exponentially while food grew linearly.
• Believed that famine, disease, and war would negatively check population growth.
• "J Curve" Starvation “Malthusian Crisis”.

Population Pyramids

• Show age and gender distribution of a country.
• Poor countries have rapid growth (triangle shape).
  • Lack of birth control.
  • Gender inequality.
  • Education.
• Wealthier countries evolve from pyramid to kite shape population pyramids.

Demographic Transition Model (DTM)

• Stage 1: CBR high with no education; famine & disease keep CDR high.
• Stage 2: CBR high with no education; mass production of food lowers CDR.
• Stage 3: Women gain rights & CBR dramatically falls; CDR falls with expanding healthcare.
• Stage 4: ZPG due to career-oriented women and outstanding healthcare.
• Stage 5: Negative growth due to delayed family start and focus on careers.

Population Policies: China vs. India

• China:
  • 1979: One Child Policy (Now 2).
  • Free birth control, abortions, and sterilizations.
  • Result: CBR significantly fell.
  • Problems: Female infanticide (killing of female babies).
• India:
  • No explicit program for population control.
  • Some clinics created.
  • Government banned finding out the sex of a baby.
  • Result: By 2050, likely the most populous country in the world.

Migration

• Long-term relocation of an individual, household, or group to a new location outside the community of origin.
• Purposeful movement involving a change of permanent residence.
• Involves movement, diffusion, distribution, and patterns.

Push and Pull Factors

• Push Factor: Unfavorable characteristics of a locale that lead inhabitants to leave.
• Pull Factor: Characteristics of a place or region that act as attractive forces.

Migration Examples

• Cultural:
  • Rwanda – Tutsi & Hutu genocide - 1994
  • Jews to Israel (1948)
  • Pakistan & India in 1948
• Environmental:
  • Potato Famine of Ireland (1840s)
  • Hurricane Katrina (2005) – “internally displaced” millions from N.O. to Southeast.
• Forced:
  • Transatlantic Slave Trade – 1500s – 1800s
  • Trail of Tears – Cherokee – 1830s
• Political:
  • Communism: Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam); Fidel Castro (Cuba).

Refugees

• A person who flees due to war, persecution, or natural disaster.
• Examples:
  • Sub-Saharan Africa: Civil Wars in Liberia & Sierra Leone; Rwanda – Tutsi & Hutu genocides.
  • Southwest Asia: Afghanistan after Soviet invasion of 1980s; Kurds after Gulf War in 1991; Syrians during 2013 Civil War.
  • Southeast Asia: “Boat People” of communist Vietnam.
• “Asylum Seekers” – specifically seeking safety from their country.

Types of Movement

• Cyclical: Movement that has a closed route. Example: commuting to work or school.
• Periodic: Movement that has a lengthy return date. Examples: college or military.
• Migratory: Movement that is permanent. Example: moving to a new city.
• Transhumance: A seasonal movement of livestock between summer and winter pastures; type of pastoralism nomadism.
• Guest Worker: A non-permanent worker that comes in for low-cost labor. Example: building stadiums for the upcoming WC in Qatar..

Transnational Migration

• Migrants develop and maintain networks in the new and previous country.
• Identify across multiple countries – blurring nationality.
• Creates culture in a new country and sends money back to the previous country (remittances); i.e. – religious buildings or schools.

UNIT 03 CULTURE

Pop Culture vs. Folk Culture

Toponyms

• Place names.
• Can teach us:
  • The migration history of the settlers.
  • The values and aspirations of the community.
  • Historical events in the community’s history.
  • The physical character of a place.

Architecture

• Buildings and other physical structures on the cultural landscape.
  • Folk Culture: Materials from the local physical environment (snow, mud, stone, bricks, wood, pelts, grass).
  • Pop Culture: Materials from factories & manufactured (glass, steel, drywall, cement).

Ethnicity and the Landscape - “Ethnic Enclaves”

• The cultural landscape can give clues as to the ethnic composition of the community - past or present.
• Examples:
  • Restaurants
  • Toponyms
  • Architecture
  • Language
• Little Italy, NYC; Chinatown, SF; Patel Plaza, Decatur, GA.

Religious Architecture

• Examples from provided images include various layouts and styles of churches, temples, and other religious buildings.

Sequent Occupance

• The notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape.
• Example: Roman ruins in London.
• Example: Waterbury, CT, showing Algonquin → Puritan (English) → Italian → Puerto Rican influences.

Language

• Hearth:
  • Anatolia diffused Europe’s languages.
  • Western Fertile Crescent diffused NASWA’s (N Africa, SW Asia) languages.
  • Eastern Fertile Crescent diffused Asia’s languages.

Language Classification

• Language Family – existed before recorded history.
  • Indo-Euro (50%)
  • Sino-Tibetan (25%)
• Language Group – common words similar vocabulary.
• Language Branch – share a common origin BUT evolved.

Proto Language

• This proto language transformed into every language in the world as humans migrated and moved apart.
  • distance decay & language divergence

Language Divergence and Convergence

• Language Divergence: Languages become different over time and space.
  • Dialects (isolation = differences).
• Language Convergence: Long-isolated languages make contact with other languages and diffuse.

How Language Changes and Evolves

• Sound shifts: A slight change in a word across languages over time.
• e.g. Milk
  • lact in Latin
  • latte in Italian
  • leche in Spanish
  • lait in French

Theories of Language Diffusion

• The Conquest Theory: “Language replaced” as groups take over geographic areas.
  • Protolanguage (an ancestral language) lost or replaced.
  • Includes sound shifts.
  • Spanish is the most-spoken language in terms of geographic area.
• Agriculture Theory: Agriculture contributed to the diffusion of languages when poor farming in Anatolia led to a migration.

Distribution of Religions

• Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism & Buddhism. Distribution map.

Universalizing Religions

• Appeal to people everywhere.
• Individual founder (prophet).
• Message diffused widely (missionaries will proselytize).
• Followers distributed widely.
• Holidays based on events in founders life.
• Examples: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism.

Ethnic Religions

• Meaning tied to a place.
• Unknown source.
• Followers highly clustered.
• Holidays based on local climate.
• Examples: Hinduism, Confucianism, Daoism, Judaism.

Diffusion of Christianity

• Hearth - Israel.
• Diffusion:
  • Relocation diffusion – Spanish in the New World.
  • Hierarchical diffusion - Roman Empire.
  • Missionaries—individuals who spread religion.

Diffusion of Islam

• Hearth —Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
• Hierarchical diffusion - Persian armies took over portions of northern Africa, Asia, and southern Europe.
• Relocation diffusion —missionaries and traders.
• Both Buddhism and Hinduism have hearths in India and diffused along the Silk Road