Geography and Culture
Domain III tests physical and human geography plus the cultural patterns exam questions attach to them. Expect map interpretation, demographic data, and diffusion questions.
Core tools and concepts
- Five themes: location, place, human–environment interaction, movement, region.
- Location: absolute (latitude/longitude, GPS) versus relative; site versus situation.
- Map projections: Mercator preserves shape and direction but inflates high-latitude area; equal-area (Peters) preserves area; Robinson and Winkel Tripel compromise. Thematic maps show one variable; reference maps show boundaries.
- Population: Demographic Transition Model-Stage 1 high birth/high death; Stage 2 falling death, rapid growth; Stage 3 falling birth; Stage 4 low/low; Stage 5 possible decline. Push–pull factors drive migration; distinguish refugees (cross borders, fear persecution) from internally displaced persons.
- Culture: hearths, language families (Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan), diffusion types (relocation, contagious, hierarchical, stimulus), acculturation versus assimilation, syncretism, universalizing versus ethnic religions.
- Economic geography: primary/secondary/tertiary/quaternary sectors, core–periphery, urbanization, megacities.
Worked example
A country has a birth rate of 42 per 1,000, a death rate of 14, and a youthful population pyramid. Natural increase is 28 per 1,000, about 2.8%. High birth with falling death places it in Stage 2, typical of early industrialization or improved medicine without fertility decline. Calling it Stage 4 ignores the birth rate; calling it Stage 1 ignores the falling death rate.
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing weather (short-term) with climate (long-term averages).
- Reading Mercator area as real-Greenland is not the size of Africa.
- Using the terms ethnicity, race, and nationality interchangeably.