• Vocabulary and its application is ESSENTIAL

• Practice FRQs and connect them

• Other links: UC Scout textbook,

Unit 1: Thinking Geographically

• Human geography is the study of the Earth and its environment relating to human activity

• Space is the surface of the Earth

  • Different types of terrain and its features

  • Activity space is where specific activities take place

  • Time-space compression: decreased time and distance barriers due to modern methods of communication and transportation

  • Sense of place is human perception and association with a certain place

• Place is a space within certain boundaries that is important

  • Toponyms are specific names given to places

  • Exonyms are used in other places, endonyms are what they call themselves

• Regions are groups of places connected by physical proximity, shared geography, or common culture

  • Sequent occupancy is the chronological succession of groups and cultures living in a place or region

  • Formal regions are defined spaces with legal borders or common features

  • Functional regions have a node or central place as a focal point with a practical purpose

  • Vernacular regions are based on perception or cognitive map

• Ecotone is the transition zone between one environmental region to another

• Cognitive distance is the perceived distance between two or more points

• Relative distance is the measure of social, economic, cultural, and political relationships between two places

• Linear/absolute distance is the absolute distance between two locations

• Distance decay: the farther apart locations are from the place of origin, the less likely interactions will be

  • Tobler’s law: all things are related, but those physically closer will develop stronger

  • Friction of distance: quality of interaction will decline with distance (you and a LDR)

• Thematic maps illustrate a theme of the land

  • Population density, population size, areas of precipitation

• Physical maps represent physical features using contour lines

• Political maps show borders between cities, states, or countries

• Symbol/graduated symbol maps use symbols to indicate magnitude of values in a region

• Topographic maps display contour lines of the Earth

  • Elevation, climate zones, terrain

• Choropleth maps show areas shaded in proportion to the measurement of the statistical variable

  • Percentages, rates, likelihoods

• Isoline maps use lines to depict values

  • Related to topographic maps

• Map distortion involves shape, area, distance, direction (SADD)

  • Mercator: latitude and longitude represent true direction; poles are distorted; Europe is beefy

  • Gall-Peters: tries to fix Mercator; sizes are accurate but shapes are weird

  • Polar: views world from North or South Pole; distortion at edges

  • Robinson: compromise between Mercator and Peters; equal distortion

  • Goode Homolosine: interrupted map with more distortion near edges

  • Conformal maps preserve the shape of features on the map but distort the size of features

• Absolute location uses coordinates to describe the position on Earth’s surface

  • Coordinates of longitude and latitude

• Relative location defines location based on significant features or proximity to landmarks

• Scale is the relationship of an object or place to Earth as a whole

  • Relative scale is the level at which things are grouped for study

• Quantitative data is numbers, qualitative data is people

• Geospatial technologies use hardware or software to examine and measure geographical features

  • GPS: global positioning system

    • Reliant on satellites that emit radio signals

    • Generates map data and locations

  • GIS: geographic information systems

    • Layers of data generate maps for spatial analysis

    • Remote sensing: taking pictures of the Earth’s surface from satellites

• Scales of analysis: analyzing patterns and relationships within an area

  • Local: immediate surroundings (smaller scale)

  • National: the country; focused on data for each country

  • Regional: collection of states or countries

  • Global: the earth

• Environmental determinism: the environment causes human behavior and culture

• Possibilism: environment limits human behavior but doesn’t cause it

• Climate types

  • Subtropical: hot, dry summers and cool, rainy winters

  • Mediterranean: mild winters with no rain, no snow, often coastal areas

  • Savannahs: short rainy season and vegetation for part of the year

  • Temperate (middle latitudes)

    • Maritime: influenced by oceans, steady temperatures

    • Continental: hotter summers and coolers winters with distinct seasons

• Europe and East Asia are leaders in renewable energy

  • Germany, China, Japan: solar energy

  • Germany, Spain: wind power

  • US, France: nuclear energy

Unit 2: Population, Migration Patterns, and Processes

• Ecumene: portion of Earth occupied by human settlement

  • Historically closer to water

  • Carrying capacity: ability to support human life

• Arithmetic density: number of people / sq unit

• Agricultural density: number of farmers / sq unit of arable land

• Physiological density: number of people / sq unit of arable land

  • Arable land: suitable for agriculture

• Demography: statistical study of human populations

• Rate of Natural Increase: (births - deaths) / 10

  • Doubling time is calculated by 70 / (RNI)

• Hidden momentum: built-in population growth due to a population's age structure (children becoming reproductive-age adults)

• Crude birth rate: people born / 1000 people

• Crude death rate: people die / 1000 people

• Total fertility rate: the average number of children born to each woman during her lifetime

• Infant mortality rate: deaths before 1 / 1000 live births

• Negative net migration is where more emigration than immigration

• The Demographic Transition Model has 5 stages to explain birth, death, and populations

  • Developed nations fall into stages 4 and 5

  • Stage One: hunter-gatherer societies without large-scale settled agriculture

  • Stage Two: settled agriculture with seasonal harvests and domesticated livestock

  • Stage Three: mass production and labor replace farm labor; degenerative diseases

  • Stage Four: societies in post-industrial phase, service industry is the economy’s backbone

• Population Pyramids show age and sex distribution in a country

  • High birth rates will have wider bottoms

• Dependency ratio: non-workers (children & elderly) to workers

• Pro or anti-natalist policies encourage or limit birth

• Thomas Malthus predicted the population would grow too large in proportion to food output

  • The Industrial Revolution & Green Revolution

  • Neo-Malthusians are modern people who agree with his theory

  

• Push factors force someone to move away (emigrate)

  • Political instability, persecution, lack of opportunity, crime

• Pull factors draw someone to move to a new location (immigrate)

  • New job, education, family, economic prosperity

• Intervening obstacles prevent migration

• Ernst Ravenstein concluded most migrants are young adults and move short distances

  • Rural → urban; developing → developed

•  US migration patterns

  • 1840-1850 (Irish and German); 1880-1925 (southern and eastern Europe); 1965-now (yay diversity)

Unit 3: Cultural Patterns and Processes

• Culture: beliefs, artifacts, and traditions that represent values and social institutions

  • Material culture (physical items) and non-material culture (abstract)

  • Folk culture vs popular culture

    • Folk culture is created by homogenous, isolated groups

• Cultural syncretism combines elements of multiple cultures

  • Cultural convergence: cultures become more similar over time

  • Cultural divergence: cultures become more different over time

• The cultural landscape is an area with layers of human imprints and rich history

  • Physical features, agricultural and industrial practices, religious and linguistic characteristics

• Cultural relativism is the evaluation of another culture by that culture’s standards

• Ethnocentrism is the evaluation of another culture by a group’s specific standards

• Cultural hearth is a place where people of a culture/ethnic identity originate

• Modern English was born as a result of 1066 William the Conqueror

• Diffusion is the spread of ideas, behaviors, and information

  • Relocation: begins with an origin point and travels across major geographic barriers

  • Expansion: patterns originate in a central location and diffuse outward

    • Stimulus: consumer/public demands influence commercial or political class to begin services

    • Contagious: follows a linear trajectory from origin point to nearby locations on line of transport

    • Hierarchical: pattern originates from a point and diffuses through power structures

• The Indo-European Language family’s main branches are Germanic, Indo-Iranian, Romance, and Balto-Slavic

• A language isolate is a language with no links or origins with other languages

• A pidgin is a simplified form of a language without consistent grammar or syntax

• A Creole is a language made of different languages combined

• Isogloss: boundary line between linguistic regions (different languages or dialects)

• Ethnic religions focus on ethnicity and hearth; universalizing religions appeal to all people

• Main world religions: Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism

• The three Abrahamic religions are Judaism, Islam, and Christianity

  • Believe in one true God and are centered around Abraham

  • Judaism is a monotheistic religion believing in one God; founded by Abraham

  • Islam is a monotheistic religion from the Middle East that follows Muhammad as Allah’s prophet

  • Christianity is a monotheistic religion worshipping God and Jesus as His son

• Nationality is one’s citizenship and is based on residence

• Race is a group based on genetic similarities and perceived skin color

• Ethnicity is one’s cultural group with historical ties

• Acculturation: an ethnic group moves to a new location and adopts a new culture while retaining their previous one

• Folklore: collection of spoken or written stories containing ideas about morality, identity, and culture

• Mythology: narratives that surround the origin of societies and history

  • The Epic of Gilgamesh is the earliest recorded myth

  • Homer wrote the Illiad and the Odyssey

  • Beowulf is an epic poem

  • Ramayana is an epic of Lord Ram (Hinduism)

• Fairytales: stories with supernatural elements in the plot

  • Brothers Grimm compiled popular tales and short stories

  • Hans Christian Anderson wrote Danish traditional fairytales

• Globalization is the process of adopting a global scope and level of interaction

Unit 4: Political Patterns and Processes

• European Community: Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands

• European Union never agreed on a working constitution

• Reactionary politics: strong, traditionalist, conservative political perspectives

• Forward capital: symbolically relocated capital city for economic or strategic reasons

• Locational interdependence model/theory (Harold Hotelling): competitors will seek to limit each other’s profit by locating stores near each other and their customer base

• Heartland theory: Halford Mackinder suggested the heartland of Eastern Europe was the most important area in the world

  • Pivot area: core of Eurasia

• Country: land area often connected to an independent state

• State: population under autonomous government

• Nation: people who share a common genetic or cultural heritage

  • Nationalism: intense pride in one’s nation, people, and history

• Centrifugal forces pull people apart (different languages, ethnic groups, economic disparities)

• Centripetal forces bring people together (common language, culture, political goals, government)

• Shatterbelts are regions being fought over by larger external powers

• Choke points are geographical areas that need to be reached on the way to a new destination

  • Control trade and transportation

• Colonialism is the act of a country exerting power over another territory by gaining or controlling land

  • Neocolonialism is the use of political, cultural, or economic power to influence/control a country

• Sovereignty is total control over foreign and domestic affairs

  • Autonomous (self-government, may be under technical jurisdiction of another country)

  • Semi-autonomous (some form of self-government)

• Self-determination is a nation’s process of establishing an independent state

  • Stateless nations (Kurds and Palestinians)

  • Irredentism: desire to unite a cultural group divided by boundaries (Germany invading Sudetenland)

  • Sub-nationalism: pride and loyalty to a sub-national group (Scotland, Quebec)

• Superimposed borders are arbitrary boundaries that are often disputed

• Boundaries are borders that separate geographical territory

  • Defined boundaries: established by a legal document

  • Delimited boundaries: shown on a map

    • Geometric boundaries follow lines of longitude and latitude

  • Demarcated boundaries: identified by physical objects

    • Antecedent boundaries existed before human settlement

• Border disputes

  • Definitional border dispute means a treaty’s differing interpretations lead to conflict

  • Operational dispute means opposing countries/groups attempt to decide how the border should function

  • Allocational dispute sees factions competing to control natural resources

• Territoriality is the connection of human activities (culture, politics, economic institutions) to land

  • A defined land area is claimed by a group and protected from external involvement

• UNCLOS establishes ocean boundaries and established Exclusive Economic Zones

• Unitary states have power in a central government, federal states divide power between central and state governments

  • Devolution is the transition of power from central governments to sub-unit governments

• Reapportionment is the process of redrawing districts based on population loss

Unit 5: Agriculture and Rural Land-Use Patterns and Processes

• Agriculture is the modification of Earth for livestock and crops

  • Commercial agriculture: farming for profit, large scale

    • Using machinery and technology

  • Subsistence agriculture: farming is done for the individual & community, smaller scale

  • Intensive agriculture: more labor over less land

  • Extensive agriculture: less labor over more land

• Agriculture hearths: areas where agricultural ideas and innovation began and spread from

• Nomadic herding/pastoral nomadism is herding animals in places where growing crops is difficult

  • Transhumance: seasonal migration of nomadic herders from highlands (summer) to lowlands (winter)

• Enclosure movement: traditional lands were enclosed and consolidated into large, private farms

  • More efficient farming practices and increased production

• Shifting cultivation and slash-and-burn agriculture (swidden agriculture) clears fields for farming

• 1st Agricultural Revolution was the invention of farming (Neolithic Revolution) in ancient civilizations

• 2nd Agricultural Revolution occurred during the Industrial Revolution

• 3rd Agricultural Revolution refers to the Green Revolution

  • Hybridization, genetic modification

  • Norman Borlaug developed disease-resistant wheat (dwarf wheat)

• Truck farming is commercial farming and gardening of specialty produce

  • Suitcase farmers work in agriculture seasonally

• Terrace farming involves building farming steps on the sides of hills or mountains

  • Helpful for collecting rainfall and sustaining crops

  • Common in South America and Asia

• Land surveying involves measuring and determining boundaries

  • Metes and bounds use locations of physical objects like trees and rivers

  • Township and range use lines to create rectangular plots

  • Long lot system created thin sections of land with access to a river/waterway

• Rural settlements

  • Nucleated settlements: close proximity of houses

  • Dispersed settlements: houses are farther apart

  • Linear settlements: houses follow lines (roads, rivers, railroads)

• Aquaculture: raising of water-based foods

• Agribusiness: farming as a large-scale business activity

• Genetically modified organisms are crops or livestock that have been genetically altered for better output, but can have health and environmental concerns

• Food miles are the distance food is transported from the producer to the consumer

• Von Thunen Model

  • Explains transportation cost associated with distance from market

  • Crops and livestock that require the most human labor were close to the center

  • The center contained the most workshops and infrastructure

  • Intensive farming near market and extensive farming is further

    • Bid-rent theory: the closer to the CBD, the more price & demand for real estate changes

  

• New urbanism encourages local community development and sustainable growth in an urban area

• Urban and suburban sprawl is continuous building extending over a large land/city area

Unit 6: Cities and Urban Land-Use Patterns and Processes

• Urbanization is the process by which towns and cities develop

  • With the GI Bill, veterans were able to move and buy property. White flight, or the migration of white Americans into suburban areas, occurred through much of the 20th century.

• Counter-urbanization is the process of an urban population moving to live in suburbs or rural areas

• Topocide: deliberate destruction or alteration of locale through industrialization

• Site is the unique human and physical characteristics of a place

  • Natural resources, climate, physical terrain, different buildings

• Situation includes characteristics relating to a city’s surrounding features

• Most urban areas grow through migration rather than reproduction

• Megacity: city with population of over 10 million people

• Metacity: city with population of over 20 million people

• Primate city: city with a significantly larger population and economy

  • Political, cultural, and financial hub

• Edge cities develop when suburbs grow CBDs and act as a regional hub for a suburban population

  Model	Description	Image
  Christaller’s central place theory	City is surrounded by smaller towns, settlements, and hinterlands (market areas)
  Burgess concentric zone model	City growth occurs in rings out from CBD
  Hoyt sector model	City growth occurs in sectors outward from CBD
  Harris & Ullman multiple nuclei model	City growth occurs around important nodes → city has more than one CBD or important node
  Chauncey Harris- Galactic city model	City growth created important nodes in periphery of cities all linked by a roadway
  Gravity model	Interactions between cities is based on population size and distance

• Latin America (Larry Ford and Ernest Griffin), Africa, Southeast Asia city model

• Disamentiy zones: poorest areas of cities disconnected from city amenities and controlled by gangs

• Zones of abandonment: areas in cities where people have left to pursue other living areas

• Rank size rule: the 2nd largest city is about half the size of its largest city

• Gentrification: the refurbishment and development of a poorer urban area with the intent to make the area desirable

Unit 7: Industrial and Economic Development Patterns and Processes

• Footloose industry: industry located at any place without being affected by resources, land, labor, and capital

• Growth pole: area where specific industries bring employees, economic growth, and housing development

  • Technopole: a center of high-tech manufacturing and quaternary growth

• Microloans: small loans provided to individuals or small businesses can promote economic development and improve living standards, particularly for women

• Substitution principle: a production facility should be located where net profit is greatest

• New International Division of Labor: transfer of jobs (low-paid, unskilled) from more developed to less developed countries

• Iron law of wages claims real wages trend toward the minimum required for workers to live

• Comparative advantage: a country, company, or individual can produce a good/service at a lower opportunity cost than others

• Import substitution emphasizes the replacement of imports for local production

  • Aims to generate local jobs and economic growth

• Least cost theory by Alfred Weber argues all corporations make decisions of where to locate facilities based on least possible cost of manufacturing and production for the greatest potential profit

  • Theory of industrial location: an industry is located where transportation costs of raw materials and final product are low

• The Industrial Revolution improved numerous aspects of machines and new energy sources

• Sectors of production: economic categories based on steps of production

  • Primary: cultivation of Earth and its natural resources

    • Agriculture, mining, energy, fisheries, forestry

  • Secondary: processing of natural resources and raw materials

    • Rubber, natural gas, logging, meat processing

  • Tertiary: service industries retailing goods for consumers

    • Quarternary: information and knowledge-focused products and service

    • Quinary: providing essential services (education, healthcare, customer service)

  • Informal: workers are self-employed and aren’t officially recognized/taxed by the government

• GDP (gross domestic product) is the value of goods and services

• GNP (gross national product) is the value of goods and services generated by citizens

• GNI (gross national income) is the value of citizens’ salaries and incomes

• Weight-losing industries involve a single natural resource losing mass during production

  • Factories are located near inputs

• Weight-gaining industries combine several elements into a finished product

• Central place theory (retail location): a city’s market area has a threshold and range

  • Threshold: minimum number of consumers that support the business

  • Range: minimum number of consumers willing to travel a certain distance

  • Spatial margin of profitability: the area where demand for a service can generate revenue exceeding cost of operation

• Agglomeration: high concentration of activities or enterprises in a general location

  • Silicon Valley for tech

• Deglomeration: overload of related industries causes decentralization and movement of centers

• Break of built point: location where transfer of goods from one mode of transport to another (ship to truck)

• The UN’s Human Development Index measures economic, social, demographic, and political conditions present

  • Social characteristics: average number of years in schooling and literacy rates

  • Demographic characteristics: life expectancy, fertility rates, infant mortality rates

  • Economic characteristics: GNI and GDP per capita

  • Scores range from 0-1

  Rostow’s Stages of Economic Growth (W.W. Rostow in 1960)	Stage 1 = traditional society Stage2 = preconditions for take-off Stage 3 = take-off Stage 4 = drive to maturity  Stage 5 = age of mass-consumption
  Wallerstein’s World System Theory (Immanuel Wallerstein)	Core countries = most developed countries; Periphery countries = least developed countries Semi-periphery countries = medium levels of development
  Dependency Theory	Countries may depend on other countries for economic survival LDCs depend on MDCs for jobs in primary and secondary employment, while MDCs depend on LDCs to provide low-cost items such as crops and manufactured goods
  Commodity Dependence	Some countries are too dependent on the sale of commodities (raw materials or agricultural goods) a country whose total exports include 60% or more of commodities are considered “commodity dependent”

• Complementarity: engaging in trade can benefit all parties involved

• Commodity chains include the activities and processes involved in producing a product

  • Attaining raw materials, manufacturing/assembling/processing, distribution of final goods, retail sales at market

• Migration allows for increasingly diverse cities

• Colonial cities saw increasing diversity and high inequality

  • Post-WWII decolonization, British and French colonies could be granted citizenship

  • Cape Town was diverse but still segregated under apartheid

• Subaltern is an economically and politically disadvantaged population

• Acadians were French speakers in Nova Scotia who were expelled by the British and resettled in New Orleans

  • French influence in Cajun culture

• De jure segregation includes official laws and rules for racial segregation

• De facto segregation is based on historical and social realities

  • Prejudice, redlining, racially restrictive covenants

  • Because of segregation, ethnic enclaves formed

• Redlining is the practice of limiting minorities from living in certain neighborhoods

• Restrictive covenants were used to prevent minorities from buying homes in certain neighborhoods

  • Limited home sales to different groups

• The mixing of different cultures brings diversity in language, food, customs

  • New York and London have distinct slang and accents

• Many cities in the developing world remain hostile towards women in politics and activism

  • Sexual harassment, physical intimidation, institutional discrimination

• Gentrification is the refurbishment and development of a poorer urban area with the intent to make the area desirable, increasing real estate prices and cost of living

  • Flippers buy real estate to renovate and resell at higher prices

• Section 8 (US Dept of Housing and Urban Development) provides rental assistance vouchers to low-income families 

• Utilities like water, gas, and electricity are the government/city’s responsibility to maintain for its residents

  • Water in Flint, MI has been contaminated with lead, waste, and other chemicals since 2014

• Brazilian police did not enforce or patrol favelas due to crime

• Property taxes are annual taxes paid by owners of private structures

• Rent control involves the municipal government setting limits on how much private landlords can charge for rentals

• Mixed-use buildings are areas and buildings with a combination of commercial and residential infrastructure