AP Human Geography Summary

Overview

This lecture reviews all seven units of AP Human Geography, summarizing the main concepts, models, and vocabulary essential for the AP exam or a final test.

Unit 1: Thinking Geographically

• Understand map types (thematic, reference) and map projection distortions.
• GIS overlays spatial data; qualitative vs. quantitative data distinction.
• Technology reduces distance decay and increases spatial connections.
• Environmental determinism vs. possibilism explains human-environment relationships.
• Scale is the scope shown on a map; scale of analysis is how data is grouped.
• Recognize formal, functional (nodal), and perceptual (vernacular) regions.

Unit 2: Population and Migration

• Population distribution depends on opportunities and environment.
• Arithmetic, physiological, and agricultural density measure population differently.
• Key demographic indicators: CBR (crude birth rate), CDR (crude death rate), NIR, sex ratios, doubling time, dependency ratio.
• Demographic Transition Model (DTM) shows population change in five stages.
• Population pyramids reflect age and sex structure relative to DTM stage.
• Malthus and neo-Malthusian theories warn about carrying capacity.
• Migration driven by push and pull factors; types include forced/voluntary and internal/international.
• Diffusion, acculturation, assimilation, and resistance occur via migration.

Unit 3: Cultural Patterns and Processes

• Cultural relativism values cultures from their own perspective; ethnocentrism judges by one’s own standards.
• Cultural landscape is the visible imprint of human activity.
• Diffusion types: relocation, hierarchical, contagious, and stimulus.
• Colonialism and globalization have spread languages (e.g., English) and religions.
• Universalizing (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism) vs. ethnic (Judaism, Hinduism) religions differ in diffusion and focus.
• Language families, dialects, and language diffusion shape cultural landscapes.

Unit 4: Political Organization of Space

• Nation (people with identity), state (politically organized territory), nation-state, multinational state, multi-state nation, and stateless nation definitions.
• Colonialism, imperialism, and neocolonialism affect boundaries and power.
• Relic, antecedent, subsequent, consequent, superimposed, and geometric boundaries have distinct origins.
• Law of the Sea defines maritime boundaries.
• Gerrymandering manipulates voting districts.
• Unitary states centralize power; federal states share it.
• Centripetal forces unite, centrifugal forces divide, devolution transfers power regionally.
• Supernational organizations require states to give up some sovereignty.

Unit 5: Agriculture and Rural Land Use

• Intensive agriculture (near cities, labor/capital heavy) vs. extensive (farther, land-heavy).
• Commercial vs. subsistence agriculture: profit vs. survival focus.
• Settlement patterns: clustered, dispersed, linear; Survey methods: metes and bounds, long lots, township and range.
• Agricultural hearths and diffusion of crops and animals.
• First (Neolithic), Second (Industrialization), and Green Revolutions increased productivity.
• Economy of scale favors large agribusiness over small farms.
• Bid rent theory: land cost decreases with distance from market.
• Von Thünen model explains agricultural land use rings from the market center.
• Modern challenges: GMO debates, organic/local food movements, women’s roles in agriculture.

Unit 6: Cities and Urban Land Use

• Site is local characteristics; situation is connectivity.
• Central place theory and gravity model explain settlement distribution and interaction.
• Primate city vs. rank-size rule for city population distributions.
• Urban models: concentric zone, sector, multiple nuclei, galactic, and LDC models (Latin American, Sub-Saharan African, Southeast Asian).
• Bid rent theory shows land cost and use gradient from city center outward.
• Urban policies: smart growth, new urbanism, green belts for sustainability.
• Redlining, blockbusting, gentrification, and multi-layered governance create inequality and change.

Unit 7: Industrial and Economic Development

• Formal economy (regulated) vs. informal (unregulated).
• Economic sectors: primary (resources), secondary (manufacturing), tertiary (services), quaternary (info), quinary (decision-making).
• International division of labor shifts industry to developing countries (offshoring).
• Free trade, multinational corporations, agglomeration, and growth poles increase globalization.
• Measures of development: GDP, GNP, GNI, HDI, GII indicate economic and social progress.
• Rostow’s stages and Wallerstein’s world-systems theory analyze economic development and global inequality.
• Commodity dependence threatens developing economies.

Key Terms & Definitions

• GIS — technology that layers spatial data on maps.
• Distance decay — declining interaction with increasing distance.
• Carrying capacity — maximum population an environment can support.
• Acculturation — adapting to a new culture while retaining original traits.
• Centripetal/Centrifugal forces — forces that unify/divide a state.
• Gerrymandering — manipulating voting district boundaries for political gain.
• Bid rent theory — closer to city center, higher land cost.
• Von Thünen model — spatial organization of agricultural activities around a market.

Action Items / Next Steps

• Review population pyramids and demographic models.
• Study key vocabulary for all units.
• Practice interpreting maps and applying geographic models.
• Complete practice quizzes and sample AP test questions.
• Review religious and language diffusion patterns.