A Vocabulary List for AP Human Geography
IMPORTANT: This list is not intended to be comprehensive or final, nor should readers
expect that questions on the exam will be limited to the scope of the list. This means we learn
other terms as well—this is a good beginning and place to concentrate
Unit I. Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives—Basic Vocabulary and Concepts
Note: The following concepts transcend all units in AP Human Geography; they are central to all geographic thinking
and analysis and could even be considered central to any definition of geography.
Basic Concepts
1. Changing attributes of place (built
landscape, sequent occupance)
2. Cultural attributes (cultural landscape)
3. Density (arithmetic, physiological)
4. Diffusion (hearth, relocation, expansion,
hierarchical, contagious, stimulus)
5. Direction (absolute, relative)
6. Dispersion/concentration
(dispersed/scattered,
clustered/agglomerated)
7. Distance (absolute, relative)
8. Distribution
9. Environmental determinism
10. Location (absolute, relative, site,
situation, place name)
11. Pattern (linear, centralized, random)
12. Physical attributes (natural landscape)
13. Possibilism
14. Region (formal/uniform,
functional/nodal, perceptual/vernacular)
15. Scale (implied degree of generalization)
16. Size
17. Spatial (of or pertaining to space on or
near Earth’s surface)
18. Spatial interaction (accessibility,
connectivity, network, distance decay,
friction of distance, time-space
compression)
Geographic Tools
1.
2.
3.
4.
Distortion
Geographic Information System (GIS)
Global Positioning System (GPS)
Grid (North and South Poles, latitude,
parallel, equator, longitude, meridian,
prime meridian, international date line)
5. Map (Maps are the tool most uniquely
identified with geography; the ability to
use and interpret maps is an essential
geographic skill.)
6. Map scale (distance on a map relative to
distance on Earth)
7. Map types (thematic, statistical,
cartogram, dot, choropleth, isoline)
8. Mental map
9. Projection
10. Remote sensing
11. Time zones
Model (a simplified abstraction of reality, structured to clarify causal relationships): Geographers use
models (e.g., Demographic Transition, Epidemiological Transition, Gravity, Von Thünen, Weber, Stages
of Growth [Rostow], Concentric Circle [Burgess], Sector [Hoyt], Multiple Nuclei, Central Place
[Christaller], and so on) to explain patterns, make informed decisions, and predict future behaviors.
Unit II. Population—Basic Vocabulary and Concepts
Population
1. Age distribution
2. Carrying capacity
3. Cohort
4. Demographic equation
5. Demographic momentum
6. Demographic regions
7. Demographic Transition model
8. Dependency ratio
9. Diffusion of fertility control
10. Disease diffusion
11. Doubling time
12. Ecumene
13. Epidemiological Transition model
14. Gendered space
15. Infant mortality rate
16. J-curve
17. Maladaptation
18. Malthus, Thomas
19. Mortality
20. Natality
21. Neo-Malthusian
22. Overpopulation
23. Population densities
24. Population distributions
25. Population explosion
26. Population projection
27. Population pyramid
28. Rate of natural increase
29. S-curve
30. Sex ratio
31. Standard of living
32. Sustainability
33. Underpopulation
34. Zero population growth
Migration
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Activity space
Chain migration
Cyclic movement
Distance decay
Forced
Gravity model
Internal migration
Intervening opportunity
Migration patterns
• Intercontinental
• Interregional
• Rural-urban
10. Migratory movement
11. Periodic movement
12. Personal space
13. Place utility
14. Push-pull factors
15. Refugee
16. Space-time prism
17. Step migration
18. Transhumance
19. Transmigration
20. Voluntary
Unit III. Cultural Patterns and Processes,
Part 1—Basic Vocabulary and Concepts
Concepts of Culture
1. Acculturation
2. Assimilation
3. Cultural adaptation
4. Cultural core/periphery pattern
5. Cultural ecology
6. Cultural identity
7. Cultural landscape
8. Cultural realm
9. Culture
10. Culture region
• Formal—core, periphery
• Functional—node
• Vernacular (perceptual)—
regional self-awareness
11. Diffusion types
• Expansion—hierarchical,
contagious, stimulus
• Relocation
12. Innovation adoption
13. Maladaptive diffusion
14. Sequent occupance
Folk and Popular Culture
1. Adaptive strategies
2. Anglo-American landscape
characteristics
3. Architectural form
4. Built environment
5. Folk culture
6. Folk food
7. Folk house
8. Folk songs
9. Folklore
10. Material culture
11. Nonmaterial culture
12. Popular culture
13. Survey systems
14. Traditional architecture
Language
1. Creole
2. Dialect
3. Indo-European languages
4. Isogloss
5. Language
6. Language family
7. Language group
8. Language subfamily
9. Lingua franca
10. Linguistic diversity
11. Monolingual/multilingual
12. Official language
13. Pidgin
14. Toponymy
15. Trade language
Unit III. Cultural Patterns and Processes,
Part 2—Basic Vocabulary and Concepts
Religion
1. Animism
2. Buddhism
3. Cargo cult pilgrimage
4. Christianity
5. Confucianism
6. Ethnic religion
7. Exclave/enclave
8. Fundamentalism
9. Geomancy (feng shui)
10. Hadj
11. Hinduism
12. Interfaith boundaries
13. Islam
14. Jainism
15. Judaism
16. Landscapes of the dead
17. Monotheism/polytheism
18. Mormonism
19. Muslim pilgrimage
20. Muslim population
21. Proselytic religion
22. Reincarnation
23. Religion (groups, places)
24. Religious architectural styles
25. Religious conflict
26. Religious culture hearth
27. Religious toponym
28. Sacred space
29. Secularism
30. Shamanism
31. Sharia law
32. Shintoism
33. Sikhism
34. Sunni/Shia
35. Taoism
36. Theocracy
37. Universalizing
38. Zoroastrianism
Ethnicity
1. Acculturation
2. Adaptive strategy
3. Assimilation
4. Barrio
5. Chain migration
6. Cultural adaptation
7. Cultural shatterbelt
8. Ethnic cleansing
9. Ethnic conflict
10. Ethnic enclave
11. Ethnic group
12. Ethnic homeland
13. Ethnic landscape
14. Ethnic neighborhood
15. Ethnicity
16. Ethnocentrism
17. Ghetto
18. Plural society
19. Race
20. Segregation
21. Social distance
Gender
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Dowry death
Enfranchisement
Gender
Gender gap
Infanticide
Longevity gap
7. Maternal mortality rate