AP® Human Geography
Course Summary
Learn to employ landscape analysis and spatial concepts to examine human social organization and its environmental impact. Students examine cultural geography, language, religion, architecture, economics, and more. Discover how spaces are used, regions are defined, and geographic technologies are utilized to create maps. In this course, students analyze and contextualize course content through the five themes of geography: location, place, human/environment interactions, movement, and regions.
This course prepares students for the AP® Human Geography exam.
Course Prerequisite(s):
There are no prerequisites for this course. Students should be able to read a college-level textbook and write grammatically correct sentences. In addition, students should be able to analyze images, think critically and write essays using evidence.
Curriculum
This is a 2-semester course. We do not recommend taking both semesters simultaneously.
Unit 1: Geography and Geographical Perspectives
- Land and Water
- Composition and Division
- Climate Zones
- The Americas
- Western Europe
- Northern and Eastern Europe
- Africa
- Middle East
- Asia
- Australasia
- Space, Place, and Region
- Location, Scale, and Distance
- Core, Periphery, Pattern, and Density
- Maps and Mapping Concepts
- Models and Geographic Technology
Unit 2: Population, Demographics, and Migration
- Births Rates and Death Rates
- RNI, Doubling Time, and TFR
- The Demographic Transition Model
- Demographic Stages One and Two
- Demographic Stages Three and Four
- Malthus and His Theory
- Population Pyramids
- Population Density
- Migrations
Unit 3: Cultural Developments and Patterns
- The Cultural Landscape
- Architectural Styles
- Language
- Food and Music
- Apparel
- Belief System Groups
- Eastern Religions
- Abrahamic Religions
- Faith in Law and Practice in Europe and North America
- Faith in Law and Practice in the Middle East and Asia
- Folklore
- Land Ownership and Use
- Nationality, Race, and Ethnicity
- Cultural Regions and Hearths
- Cultural Change and Adaptation
- Cultural Conflict
Unit 4: The Political Organization of Space
- Nations and States
- Borders and Boundaries
- Border Controls and Border Tensions
- Territorial Shifts
- Multistate Organizations
- Politics and Political Theory
- Political Economy of Democracy and Free Markets
- Political Economy of Communism and Socialism
- Political Conflict
Unit 5: Agriculture and Rural Land Usage
- Concepts of Land Usage
- Ecology and Land Cultivation
- Agricultural Revolutions
- Modern Commercial Agriculture
- Specialized Agriculture
- Historical Agricultural Land Model
Unit 6: Industrialization and Economic Development
- The Industrial Revolution
- Sectors of Production: Production Stages
- Sector Categories: Agriculture and Commodity Chain
- Sector Categories: Natural Resources
- Manufacturing and Service
- General Development Levels
- More Industrialized and Newly Industrialized
- Economic Rise of Asia
- Measures of Development
- Rostow’s Theory of Development
- Dependency Theory
- Industrial Location Theory
- The Retail and Service Location Theories
- Industrial Regions
Unit 7: Urbanization and Urban Realities
- Urban Origins
- Central Place Theory
- Concentric Zone Model
- Sector Model
- Peripheral Model and International Urban Diversity
- Suburbanization
- City Types
- Development of Diverse Urban Societies
- Challenges in Contemporary Urban Societies
- Growth and Sustainability