Ch. 2 AP Human Geography Notes: Key Issue 1

How do some humans live in high lands?

By living in high altitude plateaus and mountain regions close the equator where agriculture is possible at high elevations.

Why is the study of population important?

3 reasons: 1) More people are alive at this time than any other point in history, 2) The world's population has increased in the second half of the 20th century than ever before in history, and 3) Virtually all population growth is currently found in developing countries (LDC's)

What are the characteristics of Europe (numbers)?

4 dozen countries, about 742 million people, 75% urban (3/4 live in cities and fewer than 10% are farmers).

What is the census?

A complete enumeration of a population.

What is a cartogram?

A map that depicts the sizes of countries according to population rather than land area.

What percentage of the world's inhabitants are clustered in the 4 regions with the largest populations?

Approximately 2/3 of the world's population.

What is the United States' population size?

Approximately 319 million people- 80% urban.

What is Earth's total population?

Approximately, 7,324,782,000 (or 7.3 billion)

What are the characteristics of Southeast Asia (numbers)?

Around 600 million people, over 67% rural.

Why do most humans not live in dry lands?

Because they are too dry for farming (Ex: deserts usually lack sufficient water) so they lack the ability to grow crops that would feed a large population.

How do you find the arithmetic density of a population?

By dividing the number of people by the total land area.

How do some humans live in dry lands and why are dry lands important?

By raising animals, like camels, that are adapted to the climate. Dry lands often contain natural resources useful to people like the world's oil reserves.

What properties help us understand how population is distributed?

Concentration, and density.

What areas don't have high populations?

Dry lands, wet lands, cold lands, and high lands.

What are the 4 main population clusters?

East Asia, South Asia, Europe, and Southeast Asia.

What are some other clusters (5)?

Egypt, East Africa, US. West coast, highland Mexico, Urban south America/Caribbean (around the edges of south America).

What are the physical characteristics of South Asia?

Includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the island of Sri Lanka. The largest concentration of people in the region can be found within a 1, 500 km corridor from Lahore, Pakistan, through India and Bangladesh to the Bay of Bengal (around the Indus and Ganges rivers). They are also concentrated near India's 2 long coastlines- the Arabian Sea, and the Bay of Bengal.

What is arable land?

Land suited for agriculture.

Why do most humans not live in cold lands?

Lots of land near the poles is covered in ice, or permanently frozen, so they are unsuitable for planting crops and few animals, including humans, live there.

What are the general (physical- land) characteristics of the 4 main population clusters?

Low-lying areas, with fertile soil and a temperate climate. Most live near the ocean or a river with easy access to an ocean, rather than in the interior of major landmasses

What are the characteristics of South Asia (numbers)?

More than 1.5 billion people (nearly ¼ world population), about 1.26 billion in India, about 60% rural.

What is the characteristics of East Asia (numbers)?

More than 1.5 billion people total (nearly ¼ world population), about 1.35 billion in China, about 50% rural.

What are the physical characteristics of Southeast Asia?

Most of the people live in the series of islands between the Indian and Pacific oceans. Indonesia is the world's 4th most populated country and is made of 13,677 islands; the largest, Java, is inhabited by more than 100 million people.

What are the 2 other large clusters?

The North East United States (similar to Europe), and the west coast of Africa (the part that faces south) including Nigeria- the largest population in Africa- most West Africans work in agriculture.

What are non-ecumenes?

The areas on Earth that humans consider to harsh for occupancy- no permanent human settlement.

What are the physical characteristics of Europe?

The countries range in size from 1 sq. kilometer to the world's largest countries. The highest population concentrations are near the major rivers and coalfields of Germany and Belgium as well as historic capital cities such as London and Paris.

Why do most humans not live in high lands?

The highest mountains are steep and snow covered which makes it hard to grow crops/live there.

What is physiological density and why do we measure it?

The number of people supported by a unit area of arable land. Measuring it shows the capacity of the land to yield enough food for the people.

What is Ecumene?

The portion of Earth's surface occupied by permanent human settlement.

What is agricultural density and why do we measure it?

The ratio of the number of farmers to the amount of arable land. Measuring it helps account for economic conditions because few people in LDC's have the technology and finance to farm extensive land areas and feed many people.

What are the physical characteristics of East Asia?

The region borders the Pacific Ocean and includes eastern China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. The People's Republic of China, which is the world's most populous country (and the 4th largest), has a population that is clustered near the pacific coast and several fertile river valleys that extend inland, although much of china's interior is sparsely inhabited mountains and deserts. More than ½ of the people in China live in rural areas where they work as farmers, in contrast over ¾ of all Japanese and Koreans are clustered in urban areas and work at industrial or service jobs.

What is demography?

The scientific study of a population characteristics.

What is arithmetic density and why do we measure it?

The total number of objects in the area. Measuring it allows us to know where people are distributed across Earth's surface.

How do demographers look at people?

They look statistically at how people are distributed (spatially) by age, gender, occupation, fertility, health, etc.

Why do most humans not live in wet lands?

They receive very high levels of precipitation, and are often located near the equation, so the combination of rain and heat rapidly depletes nutrients form the soil and hinders agriculture.

When does overpopulation occur?

When the number of people exceeds the capacity of the environment to support life at a decent standard of living. Geographers find that overpopulation is a threat in some regions but not others.