AP Human Geography Flashcards

Environmental Geography

• Environmental Determinism: Environment limits social development.
• Possibilism: Humans adapt to and change the environment.
• Cultural Landscapes (Carl Sauer): Combination of natural environment and cultural changes.

Population and Migration

• Demographic Transition Model: Four stages of natural increase as countries develop.
• Epidemiologic Transition Model: Four stages explaining diseases at each DTM stage.
• Migration Transition Model: Explains migration for each DTM stage.
• Ravenstein’s Laws of Migration: Migrants move short distances, in steps; rural residents migrate; long-range migrants move to urban areas.
• Gravity Model: Larger urban areas attract more migrants.
• Thomas Malthus: Predicted population growth would surpass food growth.
• Neo-Malthusians: Believe resource scarcity aligns with Malthus's prediction.

Culture

• Agricultural Hearths (Carl Sauer): Various hearths of agricultural innovation
• Conquest Theory: Proto-Indo-European language spread by Kurgans through war.
• Agricultural Theory: Proto-Indo-European spread through Anatolian agriculture.

Political Geography

• Wallerstein’s World Systems Theory (Core-Periphery Model): Interaction between MDCs (core) and LDCs (periphery).
• Heartland Theory (MacKinder): Control of Central Europe leads to world domination.
• Rimland Theory (Spykman): Control of coastal regions around Europe leads to world domination.
• Domino Theory (Eisenhower): One country falling to communism leads to neighbors falling.

Agriculture

• Von Thunen’s Model: Farmers consider land cost and transport when locating relative to market.
• Bosrup’s Theory of Agriculture (Esther Bosrup): Population pressure increases intensive farming and output.

Development and Industry

• Modernization Model (Rostow’s Development Model): Five steps for LDCs to become MDCs, specializing in one industry.
• Dependency Theory of Development: Resources flow from LDCs to MDCs, enriching wealthy countries.
• Self-Sufficiency Approach: Close trade to protect industries; India's failure.
• New International Division of Labor: High-skill jobs in MDCs, low-skill jobs in LDCs.
• Least Cost Theory (Alfred Weber): Locate factory near most expensive transport cost.
• Locational Interdependence (Hotelling): Company seeks to monopolize local customers (range/threshold).
• Profit Maximization (Losch): Combines Weber and Hotelling (cost/revenue) to figure out most profitable location.

Cities and Services / Urban Geography

• Central Place Theory (Walter Cristaller): Settlements have a central market (CBD) providing services to hinterland.
• Bid-Rent Curve: Land value decreases away from CBD.
• Concentric Circle Model (Burgess): Urban settlement patterns in rings.
• Sector Model (Hoyt): Cities grow in wedges, not rings.
• Multiple Nuclei Model (Harris/Ullman): Cities have neighborhoods around nodes.
• Urban Realms Model (Hartshorne/Muller): Dispersed, multicenter metropolis with independent zones.
• Borchert’s Epochs of Urban Transportation:
  • Sail-Wagon Era (1790-1830): cities near ports.
  • Iron-Horse Cities (1830-1870): cities near rivers/canals.
  • Steel-Rail Epoch (1870-1920): cities grow considerably.
  • Car and Air travel (1920’s-present): suburbs expand.
• Latin American City Model (Griffin-Ford): Sector model with wealthy "spine" and squatter settlements.
• Peripheral Model (Harris): Inner city surrounded by suburbs and a ring road.
• Galactic City Model: Importance of suburban edge cities along the outer ring road (beltway).
• African City Model: Multiple CBDs, primary jobs, lack of wealthy areas.
• Islamic City Model: Centered around mosque and bazaar.
• Asian City Models: Centered around port, multiple CBDs.