AP Human Geography Exam Review Flashcards

Human Geography

Section I

  • Subsistence Agriculture:

    • Most common in the Amazon Basin.

  • Iceland as a Nation-State:

    • Historically, Iceland experienced only one period of human migration.
    • It has never been invaded.
    • Possesses a common culture and language.
    • Considered a good example of a nation-state.

  • Chicago's Situation:

    • Chicago's position is defined by its relation to the infrastructure of the United States.

  • Ethnic Neighborhood:

    • A voluntary urban community where people of similar origin reside.

  • Toponyms in Southern California:

    • Reflect the cultural heritage of the settlers.

  • Township and Range Land Survey System:

    • Contributed to a dispersed rural settlement pattern in the United States.

  • Transnational Migrants:

    • Often send money back to their home countries to support family members.
    • These international financial transactions are called remittances.

  • Economic Boom in Canada:

    • Experienced due to the reclassification of tar sands from potential reserves to proven reserves of energy.

  • Gullah Language:

    • Spoken in African-American communities of the coastal southeastern United States (South Carolina, Georgia, and northeastern Florida).
    • A combination of Elizabethan English and African dialects.
    • It is a creolized language.

  • Primate City (e.g., Mexico City):

    • More than twice the size of any other city in its country.
    • Dominant economically and culturally.

  • Traditional Labor-Intensive Agriculture:

    • Often involves field terracing.

  • Ecotourism:

    • Has brought significant numbers of foreign visitors and currency to Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nepal, and Belize.

  • Dispute in the Arctic Ocean:

    • Canada, Russia, Norway, Denmark, and the United States are in dispute over political boundaries and ownership of the North Pole.
    • They all claim the right to extract natural resources out to the edge of the continental shelf, beyond their exclusive economic zones.

  • Electricity Production in the United States:

    • Coal mined and transported within the United States by railroads is used to produce the largest amount of electricity.

  • Urban Planning in the United States:

    • Accomplished, for the most part, through local ordinances governing land use.

  • Chile's Economy:

    • Specialty agriculture and timber production have increased the level of development and gross national income (GNI).
    • This is achieved through export sales to consumers in the United States, Japan, and other foreign markets.

  • Lowest Fertility Rate (Early 21st Century):

    • South Africa had the lowest fertility rate in the first decade of the twenty-first century.

  • Competitive Advantage of Indian Cities:

    • Cities in India have a competitive advantage over cities in China as locations for international consumer services (call centers, bill processing).
    • This advantage originates from the English language legacy of British colonialism in India.

  • Blockbusting:

    • A consequence of blockbusting in North American cities was the change in the ethnic composition of neighborhoods.

  • Resistance to Christianity:

    • The diffusion of Christianity has met the most resistance in China.

  • Total Fertility Rate:

    • The measure of the average number of children born to women of childbearing age in the population.

  • Barriers to Diffusion:

    • A lack of infrastructure to support a new technology is an example of a barrier that slows or stops the spread of an innovation.

  • Hinduism:

    • Is not a universalizing religion.
    • Characteristics include:
      • Using human and animal images in sacred spaces.
      • Pilgrims bathing in holy rivers.
      • Religious functions often taking place at home within the family.
      • Sacred places established by tradition.

  • Manufacturing Company and Raw Materials:

    • If a manufacturing company uses a single, weight-losing raw material, it will most likely locate its manufacturing plant at the raw material site.

  • Environmental Determinism:

    • Implies that the physical environment exclusively shapes humans and their actions.

  • Shatterbelt Region:

    • Eastern Europe is an example of a shatterbelt region.

  • Demographic Transition (Stage 1):

    • A country in the first stage of the demographic transition demonstrates high birth rates, high death rates, and low rates of population growth.

  • Map Types:

    • The map shown is a Choropleth map.

  • Popular Culture:

    • Typical of large heterogeneous groups.

  • Religion and Region of Origin:

    • Buddhism originated in India.

  • Apartheid:

    • South Africa’s former state-sanctioned policy of segregating the races.

  • Economic Development and Birth Rate:

    • Birth rate has an inverse or negative relationship with the level of economic development of a country.

  • Agribusiness:

    • A set of economic and political relationships that organizes food production from the development of seed to marketing the products.

  • Urban Linguistic Landscape:

    • The urban linguistic landscape is most likely found in a region where Arabic is spoken.

  • Negative Population Growth:

    • Japan and Germany both exhibit zero or negative population growth rates.

  • Congressional Districts:

    • The boundaries of congressional districts of the United States are redrawn every ten years.

  • Vertical Integration:

    • A manufacturing company merging with another company that possesses forward or backward links in the supply or production process.

  • Countries Divided by Conflict:

    • All of the following countries became divided into two political entities as a result of cultural or ideological conflict EXCEPT Japan:
      • Korea
      • Vietnam
      • Germany
      • Ireland

  • Genetic Engineering of Crops:

    • Has primarily increased the productivity of modern farming by increasing plants’ drought resistance and resistance to pests.

  • Architectural Adaptations:

    • Window screens, green roofs, photovoltaics, breezeways, and pilings are architectural adaptations to the natural environment.

  • Land Values and Population Density:

    • Higher population density indicates a higher demand for land, thus the price of land is bid up in densely settled regions.

  • Diffusion Pattern of Walmart:

    • An example of reverse hierarchical diffusion.

  • Industrialization of Agriculture:

    • The industrialization and mechanization of agriculture in the United States during the past 70 years have resulted in a decrease in the number of farms and an increase in the size of farms.

  • Urban Land Development:

    • Retail complexes are typically built on the most accessible sites.

  • Eat-Local Movement:

    • The most often cited environmental benefit is that less fossil fuel is used in transporting food to market.

  • Gentrification:

    • Double-income households without children would most likely engage in the gentrification of an older residential neighborhood.

  • Agriculture practicied in the dark-shaded areas on the map:

    • Mediterranean Agriculture

  • Colonization by France:

    • All of the following were colonized by France EXCEPT Cuba. All were colonized:
      • Vietnam
      • Algeria
      • Louisiana
      • Quebec

  • Alfred Weber’s Analysis of Location Decisions:

    • Seeks to minimize costs among multiple inputs of production.

  • Von Thünen’s Model:

    • Florida’s government having a Department of Citrus would not be accounted for by the theoretical predictions.

  • Federal States:

    • The states represented above have in common that they are all federal states.

  • Urban Land Use in Latin America:

    • Residential squatter settlements are most common on the periphery of cities in Latin America.

  • Fertilizer Use:

    • Worldwide fertilizer use is increasing but faster in peripheral developing countries.

  • The Shaded Areas on the Map:

    • The shaded areas on the map most likely indicate regions that are affected or threatened by desertification.

  • Commercial Farming:

    • The map above shows the countries in Africa where private investors and foreign governments have leased farmland for large-scale commercial farming. Usually much of the food produced is bound for wealthier nations. This practice is an example of neocolonialism.

  • Free Flow of People and Products:

    • Crossing the Netherlands-Belgium border requires few, if any, formalities and thus encourages the free flow of people and products.

  • Population Growth in Megacities:

    • The primary reason for the rapid population growth in megacities throughout the developing world is interregional migration.

  • Hydroelectric Power:

    • Even though it is a relatively clean source of energy, it can alter the ecosystems above and below the dam site.

  • Rank-Size Rule:

    • According to the rank-size rule, the second-largest city in a country has half the population size of the largest city.

  • Movement of Companies to the South:

    • Many companies moved their operations from New England and the Midwest to locations in the South because the South had less expensive site factors than northern regions.

  • Green Space in a Village Center:

    • A green space in the center of a village reflects the traditional cultural landscape of New England regions.

  • Population Growth Patterns:

    • Fertility rates in the world as a whole has fallen in the last 25 years.

  • The Berlin Wall:

    • Geographers would say that where the wall once stood now acts as a relict boundary.

  • Design Elements:

    • Mixed-use development, pedestrian-friendly design, and the incorporation of front porches and alleys are design elements of new urbanism.

  • The Green Revolution:

    • The Green Revolution has had the least impact on agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa.

  • Christaller’s central place model:

    • According to Christaller’s central place model a grocery store would most likely have the smallest range.

  • Japan’s Dependency Ratio:

    • The increase in life expectancy is most responsible for the increase in Japan’s dependency ratio.

  • Carl Sauer’s Concept of Cultural Landscape:

    • It is the outcome of interactions between humans and their natural environment.

  • Physiological Population Density:

    • Sri Lanka and Australia have about the same population. The amount of arable land in each country determines physiological population density.

  • Economic Complementarities:

    • Economic complementarities between two places tend to occur when each place specializes in commodities demanded by the other.

  • The Spread of Chopsticks:

    • An example of relocation diffusion.

  • The Population Pyramid

    • Providing for the needs of its aging population is the greatest demographic challenge to China beginning in 2029.

  • Land Use

    • Recreational land will outbid all other at approximately 10 miles away from the CBD.

  • Malthusian View

    • Famine can be explained by the patterns of population growth.

  • Definition Of A State

    • A common language is not part of the definition of a state.

Section II

  • Question 1: Development results in a number of economic and social changes within a country.

    • Identifies primary, secondary, and tertiary economic activities.
    • Explains two different reasons for each of the following changes that typically occur as a country develops over time:
      • Declines in primary sector employment
      • Decreases in infant mortality rate
      • Improvements in women’s social status

  • Question 2: Many countries around the world, including Canada, have more than one official language.

    • Identifies the primary language spoken by most inhabitants in the shaded area on the map (French).
    • Explains how bilingualism can have a positive impact on a country.
    • Explains how bilingualism can have a negative impact on a country.
    • Discusses two reasons, other than language, why Canada does not fit the nation-state concept.

  • Question 3: The pictures show two types of agriculture in the world.

    • Identifies the grain crop shown in each photo.
    • Discusses two economic differences between subsistence agriculture and commercial agriculture.
    • Identifies one environmental impact resulting from the type of agriculture shown in photo Y.
    • Identifies one environmental impact resulting from the type of agriculture shown in photo Z.

Answer Key

  • Provides the answer key for all 75 multiple-choice questions from Section I.

Scoring Guidelines

  • Presents the scoring guidelines for the free-response questions in Section II:

Question Descriptors and Performance Data

  • Shows the content assessed, the correct answer, and how AP students performed on each question.