Dear Advanced Placement Human Geography Student,
Welcome to AP Human Geography (APHUG). Congratulations on taking an advanced academic
subject. This class is relevant as it gives a great foundation for many of the classes you will take throughout
your high school and college career. It is also rigorous and will require you to spend time studying and
preparing for class. Most of all though, the class is interesting and I try very hard to make the learning of the
material enjoyable.
Your summer assignment is to learn and be prepared for 3 map tests at the beginning of school. See
the attached list of 50 states, world countries and major landforms. You must purchase a world atlas for this
assignment. There are several available and you may buy new or used. I suggest that you purchase a compact
one that will be easy to bring to class.
You will have online access to the textbook when school begins; however, if you wish to purchase the
textbook, you may. This will allow you to highlight and annotate your book. The textbook is Rubenstein,
James, M. The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography. 11ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall, 2011. ISBN 978-0-321-83158-3 You can also find some used textbooks at local used book
stores or any bookseller web site like Amazon.com or half.com. A picture of the textbook is at the bottom of
the page.
If you choose to purchase the textbook, I encourage you to look through it and become familiar with its
structure and style. If you wish to get a head start on the school year, feel free to read and take notes on Chapter
1, Basic Concepts, pages 1 – 43, and the Appendix pages 476-482.
On the next page I have a listing of background knowledge that will lead to early success in the class.
This is information you will need to know and will be tested on sometime during the first two weeks of school.
Please take the time to look at the lists and learn what you need to learn. I have included several different
outline maps for you for your convenience. If you want other outline maps, they are available at
http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/world.html.
Feel free to contact me any time over the summer with any questions or concerns. My e-mail is
jklein@dickinsonisd.org. I check my e-mail weekly during the summer and will try to respond within seven
days if not sooner.
Sincerely,
Janet L. Klein
Dickinson High School
World Geography
AP Human Geography
Room A-111
281-229-6528
jklein@dickinsonisd.org
AP Human Geography Basic Background Knowledge List
Part of entering an AP class is an assumption of a certain level of background knowledge and skills. Please review and be prepared to
take an assessment the first week of school in the fall relating to this list. The US map is identification. The other two assessments
will be primarily matching. Do not worry about spelling. Don’t stress out about this! Do some review and familiarize yourself with
this information. Think of this knowledge as the ABC’s and 1,2,3’s of geography. If you want blank maps to help you study, you can
find them at http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/world.html
Basic map and atlas skills –
 Using an atlas to locate information
 Reading and interpreting a map
 Using latitude and longitude to locate and find places
Be able to locate on a map the following placesGeneral Stuff (World Map)
Major Mountain Ranges (World Map)
 4 Oceans
 Himalayas
 7 continents
 Rockies
 Equator
 Andes
 Tropic of Cancer
 Alps
 Tropic of Capricorn
 Caucasus
 Urals
 Appalachian
 Pyrenees
Major Deserts / random other stuff Major Climate Regions- which parts of
 Sahara
the world fit each category
 Great Sandy Desert
 Tropical
Australia
 Dry
 Gobi
 Mild
 Siberia
 Continental
 Polar
Chokepoints (Straits and Channels)
World Map
 Strait of Gibraltar
 Panama Canal
 Suez Canal
 Strait of Malacca
 English Channel
 Bosporus & Dardanelles
 Strait of Hormuz
Canadian Provinces (Canada Map)
 British Columbia
 Yukon Territory
 Alberta
 Saskatchewan
 Northwest Territories
 Manitoba
 Quebec
 New Brunswick
 Nova Scotia
 Newfoundland and
Labrador
 Nunavut
 Ontario
 Capital Cities of Province
Major World Cities (World Map)
 New York City
 London
 Tokyo
 Paris
 Cairo
 Sydney
 Sao Paulo
 Johannesburg
 Moscow
 Hong Kong
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Have some sense of development
levels of regions? Rich (Highly
Developed), Developing (Middle
Income), Poor (Less Developed)
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Know some cultural
characteristics of regions – major
religions, languages, ethnicities
etc.
Major Rivers (World Map)
 Rhine
 Amazon
 Yangtze
 Mississippi
 Ganges
 Nile
 Congo
Major Bodies of Water (World Map)
 Great Lakes
 Mediterranean Sea
 Black Sea
 Caspian Sea
 Red Sea
 Arabian Sea
 South China Sea
 Caribbean Sea
 Aral Sea
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Chicago
Beijing
Bombay (Mumbai)
Mexico City
Tehran
Washington D.C.
Lagos
Calcutta
Toronto
Singapore
Major World Regions – W. Map
 Middle East
 South East Asia
 South Asia
 Sub-Saharan Africa Sahel
Africa
 Latin America
 Central America
 Caribbean
 Western Europe
 Eastern Europe
 Former USSR
 Oceania
Country identification – you need to be able to identify where these countries are on a map.
Africa
North America & South America
Asia
 South Africa
 United States
 Vietnam
 Madagascar
 Argentina
 Thailand
 Sudan
 Guatemala
 Japan
 Niger
 Bolivia
 India
 Algeria
 Cuba
 Singapore
 Nigeria
 Brazil
 Burma
 Somalia
 Haiti
 Mongolia
 Morocco
 Chile
 China
 Libya
 Honduras
 Cambodia
 Egypt
 Colombia
 Indonesia
 Kenya
 Costa Rica
 South Korea
 Chad
 Ecuador
 Philippines
 Mali
 Bahamas
 Congo/Zaire
 Peru
 Rwanda
 Panama
Other:
 Botswana
 Venezuela
 Australia
 Ethiopia
 Nicaragua
 New Zealand
 Zimbabwe
 El Salvador
 Canada
 Mexico
Europe
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Ireland
Russia
Sweden
Greece
Romania
Slovakia
Czech Republic
Norway
Spain
Croatia
Yugoslavia
Germany
France
United Kingdom
Italy
Poland
Finland
Bosnia
Southwest Asia
 Kuwait
 Syria
 Iraq
 Lebanon
 Saudi Arabia
 Israel
 Iran
 Jordan
 Turkey
 Afghanistan
All 50 US States, Capital cities and Regions
 Northeast
 Southeast
 Midwest
 Southwest
 Rocky Mountains
 Pacific West
Online map quizzes and games:
http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/
http://www.ilike2learn.com/ilike2learn/geography.asp
http://jimspages.com/States.htm
http://www.thecooler.info/travel/game1.html?3613=834f Click on start. My favorite game
http://www.funbrain.com/where/index.html Click on SHOW ME THE MAPS.
http://www.jetpunk.com/quizzes/how-many-countries-can-you-name.php Countries of the World Quiz
Other resources
http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/maps
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/
http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/english/htmain.htm