Maps & Scale
What term names the precise point defined by latitude and longitude coordinates?
Absolute location.
What is the term for physical objects of culture (e.g., tools, clothing, monuments)?
Material culture.
What is Total Fertility Rate (TFR)?
The average number of children a woman is expected to have over her childbearing years.
What is the difference between immigration and emigration?
Immigration = moving into a country/place; emigration = leaving one’s country/place to live elsewhere.
Give two push factors and two pull factors that influence migration decisions.
Push: war/conflict, famine/poverty. Pull: job opportunities, political stability/better services (education, healthcare).
Which map type uses color shading to show data intensity (e.g., population density by region)?
Choropleth (thematic) map.
Name two diffusion types: one where an idea spreads person-to-person rapidly and one where it spreads from powerful nodes downward.
Contagious diffusion (person-to-person, rapid) and hierarchical diffusion (from powerful/central nodes downward).
What does the "rule of 70" estimate, and how is it calculated?
It estimates doubling time of a population given a growth rate:
Define "chain migration."
Migration in which earlier migrants help or encourage later migrants from the same origin to follow, creating networks or ethnic enclaves.
Summarize the Push–Pull theory of migration in one sentence.
Migration decisions result from push factors that repel people from an origin and pull factors that attract them to a destination, moderated by intervening obstacles and personal circumstances.
Name the three common map scales used by geographers (one is a ratio)
Ratio (fraction) scale, written (verbal) scale, and graphic (bar) scale.
Define "cultural hearth" and give one historical example from the guide.
A cultural hearth is a place where a culture originates; example: the Indus River Valley (or Nile River Valley, Mesopotamia, etc.).
Describe the demographic characteristics (birth/death rates) of Stage 2 of the DTM and one social cause for that stage.
Stage 2: High birth rates and rapidly falling death rates; cause: improvements in healthcare, sanitation, and food supply (e.g., Industrial or Medical Revolution effects).
Distinguish between internal migration and transnational migration with one example each.
Internal migration = moving within a country (e.g., rural → urban move to Lima); transnational migration = maintaining strong ties across national borders while living abroad (e.g., migrant workers who send remittances and travel frequently between home country and host country).
What is the New Economics of Labor Migration (NELM) core idea about household strategy and remittances?
NELM views migration as a household-level risk-management strategy where family members migrate to diversify income streams and send remittances to support the household.
Which map projection preserves shape and direction useful for navigation but greatly distorts area near the poles?
Mercator projection.
What is "sequent occupancy"? Provide a brief example from an urban cultural landscape.
Sequent occupancy is the layering of cultural imprints by successive societies in the same place; example: Mexico City showing Aztec, Spanish colonial, and modern urban layers.
Explain physiological density and how it differs from arithmetic density.
Physiological density = population divided by arable (farmable) land; arithmetic density = population divided by total land area. Physiological density indicates pressure on productive land.
What are Ravenstein’s general findings about the distance most migrants move and their typical age profile?
Most migrants move short distances; long-distance migrants go to major economic centers. Typical migration intensity peaks in young adulthood (around mid-20s).
Compare the Dual Labor Market Theory with the Human Capital Model: what key cause does each emphasize?
Dual Labor Market Theory emphasizes structural demand in advanced economies for immigrant labor in low-skilled secondary-sector jobs; Human Capital Model emphasizes individual cost–benefit calculations about lifetime earnings and investment in migration.
Explain "time-space compression" and give one example of a technology that produces it.
Time-space compression is the reduction in perceived distance or travel/communication time between places due to technological or social change; example: commercial air travel or the internet.
Compare and contrast "ethnocentrism" and "cultural relativism" and give one likely consequence of each on migration or cultural exchange.
Ethnocentrism judges other cultures by one’s own standards and can reduce cultural exchange or increase conflict and push migration; cultural relativism judges cultures by their own standards and can increase tolerance and smoother cultural exchange, encouraging integration of migrants.
Identify two likely policy responses a Stage 5 country might adopt to address population decline and briefly explain why.
Pronatalist policies (e.g., paid parental leave, child subsidies) to raise birth rates; liberalized immigration policy to increase working-age population—both aim to boost the labor force and reduce dependency ratios.
Explain the concept of "stepwise migration" and describe why a migrant might use this strategy.
Stepwise migration is moving in a series of shorter moves toward a final destination (e.g., village → nearby town → regional city → major city), used to reduce costs/risks, build resources, and accumulate migrant capital.
Provide a concise critique of Malthusian theory using evidence or models from the guide (name one technological or conceptual counterargument).
Critique: Malthus underestimated technological innovation—Green Revolution and agricultural intensification (Boserupian response) increased food production faster than Malthus predicted, undermining the inevitability of mass famine as a check on population.