AP Human Geography Notes

5 Themes of Geography:

  • Location
    • Relative location.
    • Absolute location (latitude and longitude).
  • Place
    • Distinctive physical and human characteristics of an area.
  • Human-Environment Interaction
    • How humans interact with their environment.
  • Movement
    • Mobility of individuals, goods, and ideas.
    • Patterns that alter human spatial interactions.
    • Accessibility and connectivity of places.
  • Regions
    • An area displaying specific criteria with one or more distinctive characteristics.

Geography Branches

  • Physical Geography
    • Topography.
    • Climate (Koppen).
    • Flora and Fauna.
    • Soil.
  • Human Geography
    • Culture.
    • Population.
    • Economic.
    • Political.
    • Urban Agriculture

Map Distortions

  • Four forms of distortion:
    • Shape of the area.
    • Direction between points.
    • Distance between points may increase or decrease.
    • Relative size of the place.

Thematic Maps

  • Isoline Maps
    • Use lines of equal value to represent data like elevation, barometric pressure, or temperature.
  • Choropleth Maps
    • A thematic map that shows data by shading patterns or colors.
  • Graduated Symbol Map
    • A thematic map where the size of the symbol is proportionate to the intensity of the data or variable being mapped.
  • Dot Map
    • A thematic map where the number of dots represents the frequency of that data or variable.
  • Cartogram
    • A thematic map that uses the size of a political unit to display the value of a piece of data.

LACEMOPS (Factors Affecting Climate)

  • L ~ Latitude
    • The farther from the equator, the colder it gets.
    • Direct rays are always between the tropics.
  • A ~ Air Masses
    • In the Northern Hemisphere:
      • Cold air comes from polar regions in the north.
      • Hot air comes from the tropics within the south.
      • Opposite in Southern Hemisphere.
  • C ~ Continentality
    • Water moderates climate because it takes longer to heat and cool.
    • Inland areas will have more extreme weather.
  • E ~ Elevation
    • Higher in elevation, the colder it is.
    • Formula for vertical climate: temperature decreases 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit for each 1,000 ft increase in elevation (opposite is also true).
    • High elevation = cold; low elevation = hot.
  • M ~ Mountain barriers
    • Geographic effect.
      • Windward side (facing wind).
      • Leeward side (facing away from wind).
      • Wind carries moisture; mountains can block wind, creating a desert on the leeward side.
  • O ~ Ocean currents
    • Cold currents bring dry, cool air (from poles).
    • Warm currents bring warm, wet air (pass through equator).
  • P ~ Pressure cells
    • High pressure = heavy, cold air.
    • Low pressure = warm, light air.
    • Heat rises; cooler denser air sinks from equator to 30 degree mark.
    • Air mass at equator, High pressure at 30 degrees, Low pressure at 60 degrees.
  • S ~ Storms
    • Where polar and western lines meet, there are thunderstorms.
    • Hot and cold air masses collide.
    • Cyclones in the Northern Hemisphere spin counter-clockwise.
    • Cyclones in the Southern Hemisphere spin clockwise.

Pressure and Climate

  • High pressure = cold; low pressure = hot.
  • Deserts = high and dry; tropical = equator, low.
  • Air mass = hot.

Migration

  • Women migrate more within a country; men migrate more between countries.
  • Most migrants are adults since families are more difficult to transport and less likely to migrate.
  • Large cities grow more by migration than natural increase.
  • Migration increases in volumes as commerce develops and transportation improves.
  • Major stream of migration is rural to urban.
  • The major explanation for migration is economic.

Map Projections

  • Goode’s interrupted/homolosine equal
    • Minimizes distortion due to being interrupted, proportional.
    • Interrupts Antarctica and oceans.
  • Conic
    • Distance and directions are accurate, relatively small zone.
  • Planar projection
    • Most accurate central point.
    • Only shows half earth at a time.
    • Stretches out when closer to edge.
  • Mercator
    • Distorts shape and size of land masses.
    • Good direction and maintains distance.
    • Used for sea travel.
  • Robinson
    • Spread distortion across shape, size, and direction.
    • Shows landforms correctly, proportional.
    • Poles are shown as a straight line; poles are also flat but are too large; longitude not parallel.
  • Gall-peters projection
    • Sizes of land masses are accurate.
    • Shows correct geographic relationships better; inaccurate distances, distorted shapes.
    • Latitude and longitude are parallel.
  • Fuller Projection
    • Doesn’t use cardinal directions.
    • Maintains accurate size and shape.
  • Winkel Tripel projection
    • Rounder in shape with distortion near north and south poles.

Terms for Describing Countries Economically

  • Primary countries
    • Extract resources from the earth.
  • Secondary countries
    • Make or refine products from raw materials.
  • Tertiary countries
    • Provide services.
  • Quaternary countries
    • Provide information and management.
  • MDC - most developed countries
    • United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and all the western European countries
  • NIC - newly developed countries
    • China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, South Africa, Turkey, Brazil, and Mexico
  • LDC - least developed countries
    • Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi

Unit 1 Vocabulary

  • Cartography
    • Science of mapmaking.
    • First map made by Eratosthenes (276-194 BC).
    • Ptolemy and later Chinese and Europeans continued to advance.
  • Reference maps
    • Show geography of a map without the political data.
  • Map scale
    • Level of detail and the amount of area covered.
    • Ex: 1:24,000 / 1 in - 1 mile / bar line Scale
  • Relation of feature’s size to its size on a map
    • Small scale - 1/1,000,000 (more distribution, zoomed out).
    • Large scale - 1/25,000 (less distribution, zoomed in), national, global, regional, county scales
  • Scale of analysis
    • Observational data at a global, national, regional, and local scale; how data is organized and presented on map.
    • Ex: If the map of the world has countries in different colors, the map scale is global, but the scale of analysis is national because it's coloring different countries.
  • Scale of inquiry
    • Asking what best scale of analysis would be for a certain topic, how data is grouped together.
  • Absolute distance
    • Distance in quantitative terms; such as miles or kilometers.
  • Relative distance
    • Qualitative distance; such as 20 min south, 30 min north, description of place.
  • Clustering
    • How close objects are over a geographical space.
  • Dispersal
    • How far objects are spread out.
  • Meridians
    • Run between the North and South poles; 0 degrees (prime meridian) to 180 degrees east/west longitude
  • Parallels
    • Form right angles with meridians; latitude; 0 degrees (equator) to 90 North/South.
    • 24 time zones. 360/24 = 15 degrees, time zone changes every 15 degrees longitude
  • Greenwich mean time (GMT)
    • At the prime meridian in Greenwich England, master reference time for all points on earth.
  • GPS
    • Absolute mathematical position; satellites in orbit, tracking stations to monitor, receiver satellites.
  • GIS
    • Computer system, layers data
  • Site
    • Physical characteristic of a place; Ex: climate, labor force
  • Situation
    • Is the location of a place relative to the places around it.
  • Formal region
    • A uniform homogeneous region; everywhere has one common trait with distinct boundaries separating itself from other regions; may be predominant characteristic rather than universal; Ex: political organization, language, climate.
  • Functional region
    • Nodal, has a center and characteristics diffuse outward, no function or region; Ex: circulation of a newspaper, pizza delivery, railroad systems, shopping malls
  • Perceptual region
    • Vernacular, people believe the region exists due to their cultural identity, Ex: Midwest of the United States
  • Culture
    • What people care about (beliefs, values); what people take care of (materials)
  • Archipelago
    • Chain of islands; Ex: japan
  • Spatial distribution
    • The way something is arranged on earth's surface.
  • Density
    • Number of times something occurs
  • Concentration
    • Spread of something in space
  • Pattern
    • Where it occurs
  • Relocation diffusion
    • Spreads through the physical movement of people; Ex: language is brought to new locale by migrants.
      • Small scale - Spread of pizza from Italian immigrants to US
      • Large scale - 1500s spread of European culture
  • Expansion diffusion
    • Spread of a feature through an additive process
      • Hierarchical diffusion - Spreading of a feature through nodes of authority
      • Contagious - Rapid, widespread characteristic spreading throughout a population
      • Stimulus - Spread of an underlying principle even though characteristic itself fails to diffuse; idea diffuses but the original idea has changed; Ex: features on an iPad are adopted into other competitors' products, McDonald’s burgers look different in different countries around the world.
      • Reverse hierarchical diffusion - Lower class characteristics spread to higher classes, Ex: hip hop, sagging pants
  • Distance decay
    • The decrease of an effect due to distance
  • Wallerstein’s three part theory of core-periphery model
    • Core countries - North America, West Europe, Japan
    • Peripheral countries - Africa, Asia, Latin America
    • Semi-periphery countries - Argentina, China, Brazil, Mexico, Iran, Indonesia
  • International scale of analysis
    • Focuses on the spatial relation between countries
  • National scale of analysis
    • Focuses on economic change in a single country
  • Rostow’s Stages of Economic growth
    • 5 stages
    • Key vocab: mass consumption, drive to maturity, traditional society, take off (stage 3)
  • Space time compression
    • The time it takes for something to reach another place, increasing connectivity, reduces distance decay.
  • Pattern
    • The geometric arrangement of objects in space
  • Space
    • The physical gap between objects
  • Flow
    • The movement of people, ideas, goods, or services from one place to another
  • Pillars of stability
    • Environment pillar - Sustainable development must value conservation more than wasting resources or preserving all resources.
    • Economy Pillar - To make an effort to set prices of goods based on the costs of the environment, and not just supply and demand.
    • Society Pillar - Modifying the wants of cultures in regards to shelter, food, and clothing to objects that are sustainable
  • Environmental determinism
    • Physical environment causes social development, environment causes success of a place; increasing for LDCs (least developed countries) before the 2nd and 3rd industrial revolution.
  • Possibilism
    • People control the environment to a high extent, Ex: Netherlands were built on polders to keep an island above water, Florida can drain everglades and present pollution.
  • Weather
    • Daily condition of an atmosphere, temperature and precipitation.
  • Precipitation
    • Moisture from the sky; Ex: sleet, hail, snow, rain
  • Climate
    • Average weather measured over a period of time.
  • Qualitative data
    • Opinion based, not measurable; Ex: surveys, polls, interviews
  • Census
    • Every 10 years is an official count of individuals in a population and collection of geographic data. (how federal funding is determined, helps with moving counties)

Unit 2 Notes

  • 2/3 of the population is in…
    • East asia - East China, Japan, Koreas, Taiwan
    • South asia - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka
    • Southeast asia - Indonesia, Islands of Java, Philippines, and Malaysia
    • Europe - Monaco, Germany, France, over 4 dozen countries
  • Site and situation of population clusters
    • Low-lying areas, fertile soil, temperate climate, near ocean/rivers with access to ocean
  • Site and Situation of sparsely populated regions
    • Dry/wet/cold/high lands - Sahara, Amazon rainforest, northern Russia, Canada, North China, Mid China, too harsh for people to live and grow food
  • Demographic Transition Model (DMT)
    • Stage 1: Low growth - very high birth and death rates, no long term natural increase, no countries present today
    • Stage 2: High growth - rapidly declining death rates and very high birth rates, high natural increase, Europe and North America entered stage 2 as result of the industrial revolution (1750); Africa, Asia, and Latin America entered stage 2 in 1950 because of the medical revolution (Ex: Nigeria, India, Congo)
    • Stage 3: Moderate growth - rapid decline in birth rates, steady decline in death rates, natural increase is moderate, gap between CBR (crude birth rate) and CDR (crude death rate) is smaller; most European countries and North America transitioned to stage 3, during first half of twentieth century
    • Stage 4: Low growth - very low birth and death rates, no longer term increase, possible decrease in population, (ZPG) - zero population growth, the only population change results from immigration (Ex: Canada)
    • Possible Stage 5: Decline, low CBR, increasing CDR, more elderly than young, negative NIR (no increase in population), Russia had a negative NIR for past 50 years (Ex: japan, germany)
  • Epidemiologic Transition Model (ETM)
    • Stage 1: pestilence and famine is the biggest factor (high CDR), more parasitic diseases (Ex: black plague)
    • Stage 2: receding pandemics (rapidly declining CDR), industrial revolution improved medicine, nutrition, and sanitation (Ex: cholera pandemic in London)
    • Stage 3: Degenerative diseases (Moderately declining CDP), decrease in death from infectious disease, increase in chronic disorders associated with aging (Ex: cardiovascular diseases, cancer)
    • Stage 4: Composed of delayed degenerative diseases (with a low but increasing CDR), deaths caused more by cardiovascular illnesses and cancer, these are usually delayed because of modern medicine treatments
    • Possible stage 5: the evolution of viruses gain resistance against vaccines, antibiotics cause new strains of bacteria to form, diseases more common in poverty, increased transportation causes spread of viruses and bacteria, healthcare also varies
  • Healthcare care systems in…
    • Developed countries: Public service available at little or no cost, government pays for 70
    • Developing countries: Individuals pay for over 50, exception - US, individual pays for 55
  • Declining Birth Rates are because of…
    • Improving education and healthcare
    • Contraception - This may go against religious/ cultural beliefs such as Roman Catholics, fundamentalist Protestants, muslims, hindus.
  • Types of Population Policies
    • Pro-natalist/expansive - Encourages births, Ex: the USSR in 1944 gave awards to women for getting pregnant in order to increase fertility rate, Germany has cross of honor with the german mother on it, India uses family planning
    • Anti-natalist/restrictive - Discourages births, Ex: Chinese had the Later, Longer, Fewer (fewer children, 2 kids allowed in cities, 3 in rural) policy and the one child policy (received rewards: free medical care, schooling, bonuses, etc.)(disobeying results in penalties: education and medical guarantees are withdrawn, wages reduced
  • Ravenstein’s 11 Laws of Migration
    • Most migrants only go a short distance
    • Migration proceeds step by step
    • Migrants going long distance prefer big cities
    • Each migration stream produces a compensation counter stream
    • Rural people are more migratory than urban
    • Women migrate more migratory within a country; men more migratory between countries
    • Most migrants are adults since families are harder to transport and migrate less.
    • Large cities grow more by migration than natural increase
    • Migration increases in volumes as commerce develop and transportation improves
    • Major stream of migration is rural to urban
    • The major cause of migration is economic.
  • 3 Main Eras of US immigration
    • Colonial settlement in the 17th and 18th century, people from Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa.
    • Mass European immigration in the late 19th and early 20th century, the beginning (19th cent) was mostly Northern and Western Europe immigrants; by the 20th century most immigrants were from South and East Europe.
    • Asian and Latin American migration and integration during the late 20th and early 21st century.
  • Countries with largest land area
    • Russia, Canada, China, US, Brazil
  • United Nations High Commissions for Refugees recognizes three groups of forced political migrants
    • A refugee has been forced to migrate to avoid a potential threat to his or her life, and he or she cannot return for fear of persecution.
    • An internally displaced person (IDP) is similar to a refugee, but he or she has not migrated across an international border.
    • An asylum seeker is a migrant who is looking to be a refugee of another country.
  • Unit 2 Vocabulary
    • Ecumene - Places of permanent human settlement, only a little of the world, 5000 BC to 1900.
    • Colonialism - An endeavor by one country to ascertain settlements and to impose its political, economical, and cultural principles in another territory.
    • Imperialism - Effort by one country to determine settlements and to impose its political, economic and cultural principles on such territory.
    • Carrying capacity - Number of individuals an environment can support.
    • Agricultural density - Ratio of the quantity of farmers to amount of arable land (farmers divided by arable land); the US and Canada have a smaller agricultural density than India and Bangladesh, shows amount and advancement of technology being employed, one person can produce more with better machines.
    • Arithmetic density - Total number of objects in an area (total population divided by total land) easiest to get and most frequently used; how unfolded people are; HIGH - a lot of people but little land.
    • Physiological density - Number of individuals to be supported by a unit of arable land (total population divided by arable land) shows what quantity food a rustic must produce per unit; US doesn't need to produce as much. Egypt puts more stress on the environment because most of the country is desert, with less arable land the physiological density is high, (higher density - more stress on land).
    • Crude Birth Rate (CBR) - Total number of live births for each 1,000 born.
    • Crude Death Rate (CDR) - Total number of deaths per 1,000 people.
    • Natural increase rate (NIR) - Curious about which population grows, CBR-CDR=NIR, (per 100 because it is a percentage, not per 1,000 people), average current NIR is 1.2; highest NIR is in South West Asia and Africa.
    • Infant mortality rate (IMR) - Annual number of infant (under 1 years old) deaths per 1,000.
    • Total fertility rate (TFR) - Average number of kids a lady will have.
    • Life expectancy - Average number of years a baby will live based off mortality rates
    • Doubling time - The amount of time it takes for a single population to double in size.
    • Dependency ratio - Number of individuals too old or too young to figure compared to the quantity that may (14 and younger and 65 and older); the larger the dependency ratio the more burden there's on the working population; Ex: 85 Africa, 47 Europe.
    • Sex ratio - Number of males per 100 females, developed countries have more females which live longer.
    • A population model of male and females can show the culture of a state or a historical event.
    • Malthus’(Malthusian) theory - The population is growing exponentially (geometrically), however, the food supply only increases arithmetically (linear).
    • Neo-malthusians - Believe earth’s resources can only support a finite population, but they think about all resources not only food production.
    • GDP per capita - Measure of a country's economic output that accounts for its number of individuals.
    • Immigration - Permanent move to a different place.
    • Emigration - Leaving an area as a part of permanent move.
    • Migration - Temporary (possibly permanent) move from one place to another.
      • #1 reason to maneuver is to search out jobs
    • Intervening obstacle - Environmental or cultural element that stops migration.
    • Intervening opportunity - Cultural, economic, political, environmental factor that causes an individual to prevent migrating to their original destination.
    • Critical distance - Distance beyond a person’s willingness to travel.
    • Minority-majority - Minorities add up to be greater than majority.
    • Gravity model - Greater pull in larger communities, bigger cities receive more immigrants.
    • Step migration - Occurs little by little, migrants stop at places along the thanks to their final destination.
    • Chain migration - Process within which legal immigrants may sponsor a loved one for immigration into the US.
    • Intraregional migration - Movement within one region of a rustic.
    • Xenophobia - Hatred of foreigners based on stereotypes, prejudice, and racism.
    • Counterurbanization - Most prevalent in places rich with natural amenities; Ex: range of mountains States (Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming)
    • Ethnocentrism - Judging another culture based on standards of one's own culture. (thinking theirs is better)
    • Interregional migration - Movement from one region to a different region within the same country; Ex: Abundant land on the old american frontier, most jobs and services in are clustered urban areas.
    • Interregional migration - Movement from one region to another region in the same country; Ex: Abundant of land on the old american frontier, most jobs and services in are clustered urban areas.
      • Russia: Interregional migration was encouraged by the government. The government built new factores and has other economic incentives for the current population to move.
      • Canada: Shares an identical east to west interregional migration pattern with the U.S. Three westernmost provinces are destinations for interregional migrants.
      • China: Around 100 million people have emigrated along the urban coast of China, where manufacturing is prevalent.
      • Brazil: Government moved its capital from Rio De Janeiro to Brasília (600 miles from Atlantic Coast) to encourage migration of residents living on the Atlantic coast to move to an interior location.
    • Remittances - Money earned by immigrants to send back home.
    • Brain drain - Loss of skilled educated workers.
    • Largest number of refugees originated from Southwest Asia and sub-saharan Africa.
    • Preference shown for specific employment placement and family reunification.
    • Passing of the Quota Act in 1921 and the National Origins Act in 1924 by the U.S. Congress marked the start of restricted immigration to the U.S.
    • Great Migration - Africans migrate to another state to flee discrimination.
    • Rust Belt - 1970’s US near the Great Lakes, stopped employing factory jobs so people would move south.
    • Counter migration - Ex: United States citizens move to Mexico.

Unit 3 Notes

  • Folk Culture

    • Isolated group practicing the same culture, Ex: amish people
      • Smaller scale and slower transmissions from one location to another primarily through relocation diffusion (migration)
      • Combination of local physical and cultural factors influence distinctive distributions.
      • Isolation from other people and their cultures due to varying physical barriers, Ex: long distances or mountain ranges
      • Ex: kummi dance performed by Tamil women in Nadu, India

  • Popular Culture

    • Large group of diverse people sharing similar behavior
      • Usually transmitted through hierarchical diffusion
      • Diffuses rapidly and extensively from hearths or nodes of innovation with help of modern communication, contagious, stimulus, hierarchical, and relocation diffusion
      • Widely distributed across many countries with little regard for physical factors
      • Principal obstacle to access is lack of income to purchase the material
      • Ex: Mcdonalds, star war, hip hop, the Avengers

  • Other/Mixed

    • Sports originated as isolated folk customs and diffused like other folk cultures via relocation diffusion.
      • Football (or soccer) came from England in the 11th century.
      • Transformation from folk to popular sport began in the 1800s when organized clubs were formed in the UK. Professional players hired
    • Religious or other customary beliefs
      • Sacred Features, Ex: Walls, Door Orientation, Corners
      • Houses in south central part of Java face south—the direction of the South Sea Goddess who holds the key to Earth

  • Folk Music

    • Originates anonymously, transmitted orally
    • Modifications to songs over successive generations to represent changes in conditions
    • Content of songs centers on events in daily life, life-Cycle events, Ex: birth, death, or marriage, environmental features
      • Ex: agriculture or climate
    • Migration of people also diffuses the music

  • Popular Music

    • Music written with the intent of being sold
    • Performed in front of a paying audience
    • Often displays a high degree of technical skill
    • Musicians often have strong connections with other similar musicians that may span the globe
    • Limited connections with local musicians of different genres

  • Folk Clothing Preferences

    • Style of clothing worn in response to distinctive agricultural practices and climatic conditions
    • People in the Netherlands wear wooden shoes since their climate is very wet.
    • Fur-lined boots protect against cold in arctic climates.

  • Popular Clothing Preferences

    • Style of clothing shows occupation or income instead of the environment.
    • Business suits worn by professionals
    • Designer clothes worn by the affluent
    • Eastern wall of a house is sacred in Fiji.
    • All directions except south have significance in folk houses in Madagascar.

  • Folk Housing

    • Available resources influence what is built, Ex: stone, grass, sod, and skins.
    • Two Most Common: Wood, Brick
    • Climate and local topography influence design of housing structures.
    • Chinese villages, Ex: All used similar materials to build with. Ex: adobe.
      • Distinct designs in each location attributed to local cultural preference and local geography.
    • Threats to folk culture
      • Loss of traditional values
    • Threats to Pop culture
      • Sustainability of practice over many non-uniform landscapes
      • Causes pollution
      • Depletion of natural resources
    • Media imperialism
      • Satellites
      • Limit government control of information
      • Globalization makes uniqueness difficult, Ex: less dowry in Indian cultures, Amish still travel by horse in Illinois then to Kentucky

  • Barriers on Diffusion

    • Distance or physical barriers - Distance is too far, Ex: diffusion of Buddhism from India is very slow due to the Himalayan Mountains
    • Age barriers - Older people are more resistant to new words or norms.
    • Linguistic barriers - When people don't speak the same language or words don't translate properly.
    • Religious barriers - When a religion has restrictions such as taboos.
    • Political barriers - Internet/media censorship in many countries like North Korea.
    • Folk/local culture - Traditional culture may reject implementation of new culture.
    • Social class barriers - Many have limited access to technology causing less exposure.
    • Economic barriers - People cannot afford expensive movies or updated technology.
    • Regulatory barriers - Import laws/customs, trade agreements, media contracts/providers delay diffusion.

  • People adapt their food preferences to conditions in the environment…

    • Example:
      • Asia - Rice in the milder, moist regions and wheat in drier regions of Asia.
      • Europe - Italy uses quick frying food because of their fuel shortages and Northern Europe slow stewing and roasting foods because they had more timber.

  • A restriction imposed by a social custom to eat particular plants or animals that are believed to embody negative forces is a taboo.
    * Ancient Hebrews forbade eating animals that did not chew their cud or that have cloven feet and fish lacking fins or scales.
    * Muslims embrace the taboo against eating pork.
    * Hindus embrace the taboo against consuming cattle.

  • Language

    • System of communication through speech, collection of sounds with same meaning.
    • Language Families
      • Collection of languages related by common ancestral language, no recorded history.
        • Nostralic, austric, sino-caucasian, sino-tibetan, indo european, uralic, afro-asiatic, etc.
      • The two largest language families:
        • Indo-European - Predominant language family in Europe, South Asia, North America and Latin America.
        • Sino-Tibetan - Languages spoken in China and other smaller countries in Southeast Asia. No single Chinese language. Mandarin Chinese is the most- used language on earth and the official language of the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan.
      • Languages of Southwest Asia and North Africa and Central Asia
        • Afro-Asiatic - Arabic is a major language. Official language in 24 countries of S.W. Asia and North Africa. One of the six official languages in the U.N.
        • Altaic - Most speakers are Turkish. It became the official language of many countries that formed after the Soviet Union collapsed, Ex: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan.
        • Niger-Congo
          • Swahili - First language of 800,000 people. Official language of Tanzania. Spoken by 30 million Africans, the language used to speak with outsiders from different villages.
    • Language Branches
      • Collection of languages within a family related through a common ancestral language. Differences are not as significant or as old as between families, several thousand years ago.
        • Indo-Iranian, Germanic, balto-Slavic, Romance
    • Language Groups
      • Collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display similar grammar and vocabulary, within the branch, that are traceable.
        • 2/3 of the world speaks a Indo- European or Sino- Tibetan language
      • Indo-European Branches
        • Germanic branch - Primarily in northwestern Europe and North America. There are two: High and Low Germanic subgroups. English is a Low Germanic group. Also predominant in Northern and Western Europe.
        • Indo-Iranian branch - Spoken primarily in South Asia. Most speakers of the language branch. Subdivided into eastern group (Indic) and western group (Iranian).
        • Balto-Slavic branch - Spoken primarily in Eastern Europe.
          • East Slavic and Baltic Groups: Most widely used language is Russian followed by Ukrainian and Belarusan.
          • West and South Slavic Groups: Most spoken west Slavic language is Polish followed by Czech and Slovak, while the most widely spoken south language is Serbo-Croatian.
        • Romance branch - Spoken primarily in southwestern Europe and Latin America. Most widely used are Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian.
          • Regions where spoken languages tend to correspond to the political boundaries of Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy.
        • Modern English has evolved from three Germanic tribes invading the British Isles.
          • Angles- from southern Denmark
          • Jutes- from northern Denmark
          • Saxons- from northwestern Germany
          • Over time, others invaded England and their languages influenced the basic English.
            • Vikings from present-day Norway
            • Normans from present-day Normandy in France spoke French.
          • First successful colony was Jamestown, VA, in 1607.
          • Proto-Indo European - Germanic, romance, balto-Slavic, indo Iranian’s origin