AP Human Geography

Semester Final Study Guide

Use this study guide as a manual for your study process.

Format_- this is an estimate right now as format may change
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50 Objective questions: multiple choice (40 minutes); 35 questions from Unit 4, 5 questions from
Unit 3, 5 questions from Unit 2, 5 questions from Unit 1.
1 Von Thunen Model Question (20 minutes)
1 Free Response question (25 minutes)
Topic Guide__________________________________________________________________________
Unit 4 Material
Sectors of the Economy
o Primary Sector-extractive
o Secondary-manufacturing
o Tertiary-service
o Quaternary-knowledge
o Quinary-Leadership
Origins and Diffusion of Agriculture
o Early Hunting Gathering and how it led to the Neolithic (First) Agricultural Revolution
o The First Agricultural Revolution
The difference between root and seed crops in plant domestication.
Know the general hearths of agriculture, but especially know the Fertile Crescent and
why it was so agriculturally successful (presence of cereal grains and animal
domestication.)
For much of the information, please go back to your viewing guide from Guns,
Germs, and Steel.
Subsistence Living in the Modern World
o Modern Day Hunting and Gathering
the Hadza and the San
o Intensive Subsistence Agriculture
Rice farming in East Asia
o Extensive Subsistence Agriculture
Shifting Cultivation
Milpa Farming
Nomadic Herding
The Sami
o Be able to identify the challenges of these groups in the modern world.
What is Grown Where-Agriculture and Climate
o Agriculture is extremely dependent on climate
o Climate-a recurring pattern of temperature and precipitation
o Koppen Climate Classification System
Humid Equatorial Climate
Dry Climate
Humid Temperate Climate
Humid Cold Climate
Cold, Polar Climate
Highland Climate
o Forms of Agriculture

Plantation Farming and Cash Crops Crops that are not readily consumed by the grower, but rather sold on the
market
Usually found in postcolonial nations in humid equatorial or humid temperate
climates
Commercial, Livestock, Fruit, and Grain Farming
Large-scale cultivation of crops using high levels of technology
Usually found in economic-core countries
Mediterranean Agriculture
Specialty crops that require lots of sun and dry weather to thrive
Usually found in the Mediterranean region and the west coast of the Americas
(California and Chile)
Illegal Drugs
Illicit crops that are sold on the black market and hard to track
Usually found in parts of southwest and southeast Asia and Central America
The Second Agricultural Revolution and Von Thunen Land Use Model
o Factors promoting 2nd Agricultural Revolution
New technologies
The Enclosure Movement
o 2nd Agricultural Revolution leads to Industrial Revolution
o Von Thunen Model
19th Century Theory on Land Use saw the decision about where to plant crops mostly
on the basis of transportation costs and how to get crops to market
Changing dynamics in land use due to new technologies has rendered Von Thunen
obsolete, but land use theories can trace their origins to Von Thunen.
Be able to construct a land use model using economic rent and climate constraints.
Agriculture in the Cultural Landscape
o Land Surveying
Cadastral Systems
Township-and-range
Metes-and-bounds
Long-lot
Division of land due to inheritance patterns alters the size and layout of plots
o Village Forms and Functions
Dispersed v. Nucleated Settlements
Types of Nucleated Settlements
Linear Village
Cluster Village
Round Village
Walled Village
Grid Village
The functional differentiation in villages is a result of social views on status and
community.
Examples: Village leaders have bigger houses, granaries are usually wellplanned and house grain collectively
The Green Revolution
o Know the historical development of the Green Revolution and the role of genetically
modified organisms (GMOs) in the increase in crop productivity.
o Evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of the Green Revolution.
Commercial Farming and Agribusiness
o Study the Environmental Impacts of Commercial Agriculture
Overfishing
Soil erosion
Groundwater pollution
Reduction of water and cropland to cattle ranching
o The Changing Geography of Agriculture
Agribusiness has had a two-fold effect on the landscape

 Connected large expanses of the world to a global agricultural supply chain

Led to a spatial concentration of agricultural activities
The example of the American Poultry Industry
In the past chicken production was disaggregated with many chicken farms
across the country.
Today, chicken production is much more concentrated on large industrial
farms, and poultry companies have vertically integrated to encompass all
sorts of industries tied to chicken (producing the feed, slaughtering the
chickens, selling and distributing chicken products).
Moreover, selective breeding, genetic modification, and chemical engineering
have led to bigger and meatier chickens.
o Loss of Productive Farmland
The expansion of urban and suburban development threatens the availability of
farmland.
More and more American farmland is being developed reducing the total arable land
in the country, which could have effects on global food production.
In addition to urban development, the conversion of arable land into get-away
homes is a problem.
Unit 3 Material
Culture
o Local v. Popular Culture
Differences between Material and Non-material Culture of the two forms of
culture
Relative Location of Local Culture
Found over small, remote areas, but very stable and unchanging
Relative Location of Popular Culture
Found over large, connected areas, but constantly changing
Cultural Diffusion
Distance Decay and Time-Space Compression
Forms of diffusion
o Contagious
o Hierarchical
o Stimulus
o Relocation
Local and Popular Culture do not exist in isolation, but rather are constantly
interacting and being negotiated by people inhabiting spaces. Processes involved in
the negotiation of cultural exchange.
Syncretism
Reterritorialization
Glocalization
Religion
o Definition: A system of beliefs and practices that attempts to order life in terms of culturally
perceived ultimate priorities
o While part of the ideological subsystem of culture, religion manifests itself in each of the
cultural subsystem.
o Concepts of Divinity
Monotheism
Polytheism
Animism
o Types of Religions
Universalizing Religions
Ethnic Religions
Indigenous Religions
Secularism
Sectarianism
o Three Major Hearths of Religion
Indus River Valley-Hinduism, Buddhism
Yellow River-Taoism, Confucianism

 Eastern Mediterranean-Judaism, Christianity, Islam

Language
o The ability to communicate and understand ideas: mutual intelligibility
o Standard Language and non-standard variants
Dialects
Accents
o Isoglosses: A geographic boundary within which a particular linguistic feature occurs
o Diffusion of language
Language Divergence
Linguists can figure out how languages diverged by using backwards
reconstruction
Language Divergence and the case of Proto-Indo-European (PIE)
o Renfrew Hypothesis
o Additions made to the Renfrew Hypothesis
Dispersal Theory
Conquest Theory
Agriculture Theory
Language Convergence
Unit 2 Material
Population
o Density
Arithmetic Population Density
Physiological Population Density
o Distribution-Four Major Population Centers
East Asia
South Asia
Europe
North America
o Demographic Transition Model
Stage 1: High Birth and Death Rate, primarily

agricultural, short life expectancy

Stage 2: High Birth Rate and Declining Death Rate, shift toward urbanization and
early industrial, common among many less developed countries
Stage 3: Declining Birth Rate and Declining Death Rate, primarily industrial, common
among emerging market nations
Stage 4: Low birth rate and low death rate, shift toward service sector and away from
manufacturing, common among developed countries

Stage 5: Low birth rate and low death rate (which could be higher than birth rate),
deindustrialized nation with heavy emphasis on service sector, common among
declining population nations in Europe.
o Population Pyramids
Rapid Growth
Equivalent to Stage 2 of DTM
TFR>2.1
Benefits:
o Expanding or large workforce
o Youthful population can spark creativity or change
o Less need for immigrant labor
o Low elderly dependency ratio
Challenges:
o Can be an indication of low status and education for women
o High youth dependency ratio
o Strain on resources for growing population
Stable Growth Pyramids
Equivalent to Stage 4 of DTM
TFR =2.1
Benefits:
o Stable workforce
o Sign of high level of development
o Many workers in the service sector
o Population is still meeting replacement level
Challenges:
o Need for immigrant labor is higher
o Need to plan for future retirement
o Higher elderly dependency ratio than rapid growth pyramids
o Higher youth dependency ratio than declining growth pyramids
Declining Growth Pyramids
Equivalent to Stage 5 of DTM
TFR<2.1
Benefits
o Highly developed and educated workforce
o Indication of high status for women
o Low youth dependency ratio
Drawbacks
o Aging population puts strain on nation in terms of retirement services
(social security, pensions, health care)
o High elderly dependency ratio
o Possible future labor shortage or need for immigrant labor
Migration
o Types of Migration
Forced
Voluntary
o Types of Voluntary Migration
Step Migration
Chain/Channelized Migration
Hierarchical Migration
Return Migration
o Push and Pull Factors

Unit 1 Material
Types of Maps
o Reference
o Thematic
Purpose of Maps

o Map pattern Analysis

o Location Allocation Analysis
o Spatial Imbalance
Mental mapping
o Based on perception of natural world
o All mental maps have distortion based on individuals perceptions and biases
o People tend to have biases and favor the places that they come from (think Illinois in our
which state do you want to live in activity)
Principles and Themes of Geography
o Location
Orientation
Cardinal directions do not change despite changes in orientation
Absolute Location
Latitude
Longitude
Relative Location
o Place
Scale
Large Scale Maps show a small area with lots of detail.
Small Scale Maps show a large area with very little detail.
o Movement
Diffusion
Spatial Interaction
o Based on distance (decay), accessibility, and connectivity
Types of diffusion
o Expansion diffusion
Contagious
Hierarchical
Stimulus
o Relocation Diffusion
o Human Environmental Interaction
o Region
Formal region
Functional region
Perceptual or vernacular regions
The Cultural Landscape
o Culture is composed of cultural traits (individual aspects of culture) and cultural
complexes (the collection of several cultural traits)
o The cultural landscape is the blending of human activity with the natural environment
creating a unique sense of place.
o The cultural landscape has changed over time and conveys information about all previous
inhabitants.
o Sequent occupance
The notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place. Each
contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape.
Geographic Perspectives
o 4 General Traditions according to WD Pattison
An earth-science tradition
Focus on natural and physical geography
Important Geographers: Aristotle, Immanuel Kant
A man-land tradition
Focus on the relationships between human societies and natural environment
Important Geographers: Hippocratic, Alexander von Humboldt
A spatial tradition
Focus on determining patterns of behavior and human activity across planet
Important Geographers: Ptolemy, Alfred Wegener
An area-studies tradition

Focus on the study on how humans create regions of distinct activity, function,
and behavior
Important Geographers: Strabo, Carl Sauer

Suggestions for studying______________________________________________________________

Start now
Look over old notes
Form a study group! You can work with anyone from this class and study together. Choose a
comfortable meeting spot and DIVIDE and CONQUER the information. Quiz each other, make
outlines, make flashcards, check IDs.