AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY PHYSICAL
GEOGRAPHY EXAM GUIDE QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS
Eratosthenes - Answer-Head librarian at Alexandria, made a good computation of the
earth's circumference.
George Perkins Marsh - Answer-Wrote man and nature, or physical geography as
modified by human action - provided the first description of the extent to which natural
systems had been impacted by human actions.
Fertile crescent - Answer-Modern day Iraq, one of the first areas of agriculture and
urban society
Carl Sauer - Answer-Argued that cultural landscapes (products of complex interactions
between humans and the environment) should be the focus of the geography.
Natural landscapes - Answer-Unaltered by human activities
Environmental geography or cultural geography - Answer-Human - environment
relations
Quantitative revolution - Answer-used empirical measurements
Global positioning system (GPS) - Answer-uses satellites to broadcast location
information to handheld receivers.
Geographic information systems (GIS) - Answer-Allows geographers to map, analyze,
and model special data by using thematic layers, each layer is an individual map
containing special features.
Remote sensing - Answer-Capturing images of earth's surface from the air. One
interesting aspect of remote sensing is the use of multispectral bands to collect images
of various landscapes.
Human Geography - Answer-Study of human activities on Earth's surface
Physical Geography - Answer-Spatial characteristics of Earth's physical and biological
boundaries
Anthropogenic - Answer-Human induced environmental change
, Sustainability - Answer-Restraint of use of natural resources to ensure enough for future
generations
WD Pattison - Answer-from U of C. He said that geography drew from four traditions:
Earth Science tradition (physical geography), the culture environment tradition
(environmental geography), the locational tradition (spatial data through cartography),
the area analysis tradition (regional geography)
Spatial perspective - Answer-Allows geographers to look at earth in terms of the
relationships among various places
Geographic scale - Answer-concept that refers to a conceptual hierarchy of spaces from
small to large
Region - Answer-An area larger than a single city that contains unifying social or
physical characteristics. Can be described by a unique area, location, and set of
boundaries
Regional geography - Answer-study of regions
Functional regions - Answer-have special identities because of the social and economic
relationships that tie them together
Formal regions - Answer-Specific characteristics that are relatively uniform within the
region.
Perceptual regions - Answer-Exist in the minds of people
Sense of place - Answer-People's attachment to the region that they perceive as their
home
Qualitative approaches - Answer-Associated with cultural or regional geography, more
descriptive
Quantitative approaches - Answer-Mathematical techniques, economic, political, and
population geographies
Idiographic - Answer-facts or features that are unique to a particular place or region,
such as its history or ethnic composition
Nomothetic - Answer-concepts that are universally applicable
Coordinate system - Answer-standard grid can describe the absolute location
Longitude - Answer-Meridians, originate at the prime meridian (0) and end at the
international date line (180)
GEOGRAPHY EXAM GUIDE QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS
Eratosthenes - Answer-Head librarian at Alexandria, made a good computation of the
earth's circumference.
George Perkins Marsh - Answer-Wrote man and nature, or physical geography as
modified by human action - provided the first description of the extent to which natural
systems had been impacted by human actions.
Fertile crescent - Answer-Modern day Iraq, one of the first areas of agriculture and
urban society
Carl Sauer - Answer-Argued that cultural landscapes (products of complex interactions
between humans and the environment) should be the focus of the geography.
Natural landscapes - Answer-Unaltered by human activities
Environmental geography or cultural geography - Answer-Human - environment
relations
Quantitative revolution - Answer-used empirical measurements
Global positioning system (GPS) - Answer-uses satellites to broadcast location
information to handheld receivers.
Geographic information systems (GIS) - Answer-Allows geographers to map, analyze,
and model special data by using thematic layers, each layer is an individual map
containing special features.
Remote sensing - Answer-Capturing images of earth's surface from the air. One
interesting aspect of remote sensing is the use of multispectral bands to collect images
of various landscapes.
Human Geography - Answer-Study of human activities on Earth's surface
Physical Geography - Answer-Spatial characteristics of Earth's physical and biological
boundaries
Anthropogenic - Answer-Human induced environmental change
, Sustainability - Answer-Restraint of use of natural resources to ensure enough for future
generations
WD Pattison - Answer-from U of C. He said that geography drew from four traditions:
Earth Science tradition (physical geography), the culture environment tradition
(environmental geography), the locational tradition (spatial data through cartography),
the area analysis tradition (regional geography)
Spatial perspective - Answer-Allows geographers to look at earth in terms of the
relationships among various places
Geographic scale - Answer-concept that refers to a conceptual hierarchy of spaces from
small to large
Region - Answer-An area larger than a single city that contains unifying social or
physical characteristics. Can be described by a unique area, location, and set of
boundaries
Regional geography - Answer-study of regions
Functional regions - Answer-have special identities because of the social and economic
relationships that tie them together
Formal regions - Answer-Specific characteristics that are relatively uniform within the
region.
Perceptual regions - Answer-Exist in the minds of people
Sense of place - Answer-People's attachment to the region that they perceive as their
home
Qualitative approaches - Answer-Associated with cultural or regional geography, more
descriptive
Quantitative approaches - Answer-Mathematical techniques, economic, political, and
population geographies
Idiographic - Answer-facts or features that are unique to a particular place or region,
such as its history or ethnic composition
Nomothetic - Answer-concepts that are universally applicable
Coordinate system - Answer-standard grid can describe the absolute location
Longitude - Answer-Meridians, originate at the prime meridian (0) and end at the
international date line (180)
