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Catalog / AP Human Geography Cheatsheet

AP Human Geography Cheatsheet

A comprehensive guide covering key concepts in AP Human Geography, including population, culture, economics, and urbanization.

Population and Migration

Key Demographic Measures

Crude Birth Rate (CBR)

Number of live births per 1,000 people in a year.
CBR = (Number of Births / Total Population) * 1000

Crude Death Rate (CDR)

Number of deaths per 1,000 people in a year.
CDR = (Number of Deaths / Total Population) * 1000

Natural Increase Rate (NIR)

Percentage by which a population grows in a year (excluding migration).
NIR = (CBR - CDR) / 10

Total Fertility Rate (TFR)

Average number of children a woman will have during her childbearing years (ages 15-49).

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)

Number of deaths of infants under one year old per 1,000 live births.

Life Expectancy

Average number of years a newborn infant can expect to live at current mortality levels.

Migration Theories and Models

Ravenstein’s Laws of Migration:

  • Most migrants move only a short distance.
  • There is a process of absorption, whereby people immediately surrounding a rapidly growing town move into it and the gaps they leave are filled by migrants from more distant areas.
  • There is a process of dispersion, the inverse of absorption.
  • Each main current of migration produces a compensating counter-current.
  • Long-distance migrants go to one of the great centers of commerce and industry.

Gravity Model:

Migration is directly proportional to the population sizes and inversely proportional to the distance between them.
Migration = (Population1 * Population2) / Distance^2

Push and Pull Factors:

Factors that induce people to leave (push) or attract them to a new location (pull).

  • Push: Economic hardship, political instability, environmental disasters.
  • Pull: Job opportunities, political freedom, better living conditions.

Culture

Elements of Culture

Language

A system of communication through speech, a collection of sounds understood by a group of people to have the same meaning.

Religion

A set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, often involving devotional and ritual observances.

Ethnicity

Identification with a group of people who share distinct physical and mental traits as a product of common heredity and cultural traditions.

Customs

The body of established practices associated with a particular cultural group.

Traditions

The transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation.

Cultural Diffusion

Types of Diffusion:

  • Relocation Diffusion: Spread of an idea through physical movement of people from one place to another.
  • Expansion Diffusion: Spread of an idea from one place to another in a snowballing process.
    • Hierarchical Diffusion: Spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority or power to other persons or places.
    • Contagious Diffusion: Widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population.
    • Stimulus Diffusion: Spread of an underlying principle, even though a characteristic itself apparently fails to diffuse.

Language Families

Major Language Families:

  • Indo-European: Most widely spoken family, includes English, Spanish, Hindi
  • Sino-Tibetan: Includes Mandarin Chinese
  • Afro-Asiatic: Includes Arabic, Hebrew
  • Niger-Congo: Dominant in Sub-Saharan Africa

Political Geography

State Morphology

Compact State

The distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly. Ideally shaped like a circle with the capital in the center.

Elongated State

A state with a long, narrow shape.

Prorupted State

An otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension.

Perforated State

A state that completely surrounds another one.

Fragmented State

A state that includes several discontinuous pieces of territory.

Electoral Geography

Gerrymandering:

Redrawing legislative boundaries to benefit the party in power.

  • Wasted Vote: Spreads the opposition supporters across many districts but in the minority.
  • Excess Vote: Concentrates opposition supporters into a few districts.

Economic Development

Measures of Development

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The total value of goods produced and services provided in a country during one year.

Gross National Income (GNI)

The value of the output of goods and services produced in a country in a year, including money that leaves and enters the country.

Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)

An adjustment made to the GNI to account for differences among countries in the cost of goods.

Human Development Index (HDI)

Indicator constructed by the UN to measure the level of development for a country through a combination of income, literacy, education, and life expectancy.

Rostow's Stages of Economic Growth

  1. Traditional Society: Characterized by subsistence agriculture, resistance to change.
  2. Preconditions for Take-off: Progressive leadership, greater flexibility, openness to innovation.
  3. Take-off: Rapid growth in limited activities.
  4. Drive to Maturity: Modern technology diffuses to a wide variety of industries.
  5. Age of Mass Consumption: Shift from heavy industry to consumer goods.
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