Unit I: Nature Vs. Perspective
State Frameworks/Common Core Frameworks Covered:
E7.1, USG 3.6, USG4.1, USG4.2, USG4.7, USG4.8, WHII45
CCS.RH.9-10.4,5,7,9,10, CCS.WHST.9-10,1.a,b,c,e, 2. a,d,f. 5, 6, 7, 9, 10
Outline Chapters:
Define Unit I Vocabulary (Must be hand written)
Mental Map Project
Five Fact Friday (Every Friday!!)
Unit I: Nature Vs. Perspective Vocabulary : Must be hand written
A Vocabulary List for AP Human Geography
Martha Sharma
Retired teacher
Hilton Head, South Carolina
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
Changing attributes of place (built landscape, sequent occupance)
Cultural attributes (cultural landscape)
Density (arithmetic, physiological)
Diffusion (hearth, relocation, expansion, hierarchical, contagious, stimulus)
Direction (absolute, relative)
Dispersion/concentration (dispersed/scattered, clustered/agglomerated)
Distance (absolute, relative)
Distribution
Environmental determinism
Location (absolute, relative, site, situation, place name)
Pattern (linear, centralized, random)
Physical attributes (natural landscape)
Possibilism
Region (formal/uniform, functional/nodal, perceptual/vernacular)
Scale (implied degree of generalization)
Size
Spatial (of or pertaining to space on or near Earth’s surface)
Spatial interaction (accessibility, connectivity, network, distance decay, friction of
distance, time-space compression)
Geographic Tools
Distortion
Geographic Information System (GIS)
Global Positioning System (GPS)
Grid (North and South Poles, latitude, parallel, equator, longitude, meridian, prime
meridian, international date line)
Map (Maps are the tool most uniquely identified with geography; the ability to use and
interpret maps is an essential geographic skill.)
Map scale (distance on a map relative to distance on Earth)
Map types (thematic, statistical, cartogram, dot, choropleth, isoline)
Mental map
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.
Projection
Remote sensing
Time zones