Welcome to AP Human Geography!
Human Geography is a lot more than maps. Although you will be expected to know and
understand locations on a map and other cartographic concepts, this course takes in a myriad of
geographical aspects: population, culture, politics, economics, agriculture, and religion, just to name a
few. APHuG truly is a “current events” course, and most students find that they leave the course in May
much more globally aware than they had been in August.
“The purpose of the AP Human Geography course is to introduce students to the systematic study
of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of Earth’s surface.
Students learn to employ spatial concepts and landscape analysis to examine human socioeconomic
organization and its environmental consequences. They also learn about the methods and tools
geographers use in their research and applications.” (APHuG Course Description)
Vocabulary is a critical issue in this course and students have often been overwhelmed by it.
Therefore, vocabulary will be the focus of the summer assignment. Even if an essay question on the AP
exam may be unclear to the student, if the student understands the key vocabulary words used in the
question they will be able to write a fairly cohesive answer. Accordingly, your summer assignment is to
create an index card dictionary of the attached words. Only those words listed in maps and chapters one
through seven are required for the summer assignment. Chapters eight through thirteen will be required
over the Christmas break, but you can get a jump on them while you are in the vocab mode this summer!
Words with a * next to them are repeated from a previous chapter, but will be used again in that chapter.
You do not have to make a second card for the * words. You will not be quizzed on the words until the
applicable chapter, but you must complete the assignment in order to ameliorate your workload
throughout the year.
It is highly recommended you also purchase an AP Human Geography study guide for this
course, and if you buy it early (the larger book stores and internet booksellers carry them) you should find
most of the definitions contained there. The textbook also has a glossary in the back.
Human Geography: People, Place, and Culture, 11th ed.
(Fouberg, Murphy, de Blij; John Wiley & Sons: 2015.)
You can also use a search engine to seek out the explanations of the terms, theories or concepts to define.
However, make sure the definition you find is a geographical definition. This course borrows words from
other fields of study and applies them to human geography. Therefore, if the definition sounds scientific,
mathematical, or not about population, culture, politics, economics, agriculture, or religion, then keep
looking!
I would suggest using an index card binder or box in order to keep your cards organized. You
may also use electronic cards on a laptop or tablet. The final product will be used throughout the course
as a study guide for both the chapter tests as well as the AP Exam in May. This will be worth points as a
homework assignment due the first day of school, and will be the first recorded grade for you in APHuG.
Although I’m sure you find this assignment to be tedious (and it may be), it will be a great way
for you to commit some of the extensive vocabulary to memory. This course is also your introduction to
Advanced Placement, which is conducted at the college level. You will be challenged like never before.
The workload is demanding and the reading and class discussions will be at a much higher academic and
intellectual level. Your writing will be expected to be so as well. We will be hitting the ground running
in August, so be ready to go. Feel free to email me any time this summer if you have any questions.
Prof. Steve Adams, CCA Adjunct History Instructor
[email protected]
APHuG Vocabulary Terms
(by chapter)
Maps & Globe
Absolute distance
Absolute location
Azimuthal projection
Cartogram
Cartography
Choropleth map
Equator
Global positioning system (GPS)
Parallels
Prime Meridian
Scale
Chapter 1: Human Geography
Accessibility
Activity space
Connectivity
Contagious Diffusion
Cultural Determinism
Cultural Ecology
Cultural landscape
Diffusion
Environmental determinism
Epidemic
Expansion Diffusion
Formal Region
Functional Region
Geographic Information System (GIS)
Globalization
Hierarchical diffusion
Morphology
Pandemic
Pattern
Possibilism
Relative location
Relocation diffusion
Sequence Occupancy
Site
Situation
Space
Spatial Distribution
Stimulus diffusion
Vernacular Region
Chapter 2: Population
Arithmetic density
Carrying capacity
Census
Census Tract
Child Mortality Rate
Cohort
Crude Birth Rate (CBR)
Crude Death Rate (CDR)
Demographics
Dependency Ratio
Dependency theory
Doubling Time
Ecumene
Infant mortality rate
Life expectancy
Megalopolis
Mortality
Natural Increase Rate (NIR)
Neo-Malthusian
Physiological density
Population densities
Population distributions
Population pyramid
Rate of natural increase (RNI)
Total Fertility Rate (TFR)
Vectored/Non-vectored disease
Zero population growth
Chapter 3: Migration
Asylum
Brain Drain
Chain migration
Colonization
Cyclic movement
Distance Decay
Forced Migration
Genocide
Gravity Model
Intervening Opportunity
Maladaptation
Migrant labor
Nomadism
Pull Factor
Push Factor
Refugee
Remittance
Repatriation
Step Migration
Transhumance
Voluntary migration
Chapter 4: Culture
Acculturation
Assimilation
Commodification
Cultural Adaptation
Cultural barriers
Cultural Convergence
Cultural landscape*
Distance Decay*
Folk culture
Hearth
Hierarchical diffusion*
Local culture
Material culture
Neolocalism
Placelessness
Reterritorialization
Transculturation
Chapter 5: Identity
Census*
Census Tract*
Cultural Identity
Ethnicity
Gender
Gendered space
Racism
Chapter 6: Language
Commodification*
Creole
Dialect
Isogloss
Lingua Franca
Monolingual
Mutual intelligibility
Official language
Pidgin
Sound shift
Toponym
Chapter 7: Religion
Activity space*
Animism
Buddhism
Caste
Christianity
Confucianism
Diaspora
Ethnic Religion
Feng Shui
Fundamentalism
Genocide
Hajj
Hinduism
Islam
Jainism
Jihad
Judaism
Missionary
Monotheism/polytheism
Mormonism
Muslim
Orthodox
Pilgrimage
Protestantism
Reincarnation
Religion
Religious extremism
Roman Catholicism
Sacred space/site
Sect
Secularism
Shamanism
Sharia law
Shi’ite
Shintoism
Sikhism
Sunni
Universalizing Religion
Zionism
Chapter 8: Political Geography
Annexation
Apartheid
Balkanization
Buffer state
Capitalism
Centrifugal forces
Centripetal force
City-state
Colonialism
Commodification*
Confederation
Core/Periphery
Devolution
Domino Theory
Electoral regions
Enclave
European Union
Exclave
Exclusive Economic Zone
Federalism
Forward capital
Gerrymander
Global commons
Heartland/rimland
Mercantilism
Multinational state
Nation
Nation-State
Reapportionment
Scale*
Sovereignty
Supranational organization
Territorialism
Theocracy
Unilateralism
Chapter 9: Urban Geography
Agglomeration
Blockbusting
Census Tract*
Central Business District (CBD)
Central Place Theory
Centralization
City-state*
Decentralization
Edge city
Emerging cities
Entrepôt
Functional zonation
Gentrification
Informal economy
Megalopolis*
Primate city
Redlining
Shantytown
Site*
Situation*
Urban
Urban morphology
Urban sprawl
Urbanization
Chapter 10: Development
Commodity chain
Context
Core/Periphery*
Debt service
Default
Dependency theory*
Desertification
Development
Export processing zone
Formal economy
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
Gross National Product (GNP)
Less Developed Country (LDC)
Literacy Rate
Malaria
Maquiladora
Microcredit program
More developed Country (MDC)
NAFTA
Non-Government Organization (NGO)
Neocolonialism
Per capita
Purchasing power
Subsistence agriculture
Third World
Vectored/Non-vectored disease*
Chapter 11: Agriculture
Agrarian
Agribusiness
Agriculture
Agricultural Industrialization
Animal domestication
Aquaculture
Biotechnology
Cadastral System
Collective farm
Commercial Agriculture
Commodification*
Commodity chain*
Crop Rotation
Dairying
Ecumene*
Environmental determinism*
Fallow
Genetically Modified Organism (GMO)
Global commons*
Green Revolution
Hybrid
Hydroponics
Livestock Ranching
Market gardening
Mechanization
Primogeniture
Shifting Cultivation
Subsistence agriculture*
Sustainable yield
Township & Range
Transhumance*
Chapter 12: Industry
Agglomeration*
Aggregation
Break-of-Bulk Point
Commodification*
Deglomeration
Deindustrialization
Distance Decay*
Economies of scale
Entrepôt*
Export Processing Zone (EPZ)
Fordism
Friction of Distance
Globalization*
Growth pole
Industrial Revolution
Intermodal connections
Intervening Opportunity*
Multi-national Corporation
Offshore
Outsource
Spatial fix
Sun Belt
Synergy
Technopole
Chapter 13: Environment
Acid rain
Anthropocentric
Aquifer
Atmosphere
Biodiversity
Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC)
Deforestation
Extinction
Fission
Geothermal Energy
Greenhouse effect
Interglacial
Ozone layer
Pollution
Radioactive
Renewable resources
Toxic waste
Chapter 14: Globalization
Network
Social networks