AP Hug Unit 3.5 Study GuideAP Hug Unit 3.5 Study Guide

AP Human Geography | Unit 3.5 | Page 1

AP Human Geography

Unit 3.5: Historical Causes of Diffusion | Study Guide

Big Idea: Many of today's cultural patterns, including languages, religions, borders, foods, and city layouts, trace back to historical processes that moved people, goods, ideas, and diseases across the world. The big drivers are trade, exploration, colonialism, and imperialism.

Key Vocabulary

• Colonialism: One country takes control of a territory and its people, settles it, and often exploits its resources and labor.

• Imperialism: A state extends its power over other territories through force, economic control, or political influence. Does not always involve settlement.

• Colony: A territory controlled and often settled by another country.

• Mercantilism: Economic system where colonies supply raw materials to the home country, which sells back finished goods and aims to build wealth.

• Columbian Exchange: The transfer of plants, animals, people, ideas, and diseases between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres after 1492.

• Neocolonialism: Indirect control of a country through economic or political pressure after formal independence.

• Decolonization: The process of colonies gaining independence.

• Trade route: A path along which goods, ideas, and culture travel (e.g., Silk Road, Indian Ocean trade, Trans-Saharan trade).

• Pandemic: A disease that spreads across continents, often along trade and travel routes. Major Historical Causes of Diffusion

Cause What Happened Diffusion Effects

Trade routes

Silk Road, Indian Ocean, and

Trans-Saharan routes linked Asia, Africa,

and Europe

Spread of goods (silk, spices), religions

(Buddhism, Islam), technology (paper), and

disease (Black Death)

Age of Exploration European states sailed to find trade routes

and new lands from the 1400s on

Contact between hemispheres; start of the

Columbian Exchange and global empires

Colonialism

European powers claimed and settled

territory in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and

Oceania

Spread of European languages, Christianity,

laws, and economic systems; new borders

and cities

Imperialism Industrial powers expanded influence and

control in the 1800s-1900s

Political boundaries, cultural influence, and

resource extraction (e.g., the Scramble for

Africa)

Missionary activity

and conquest

Religious groups and armies spread faith

and rule

Spread of Christianity and Islam across large

regions

Industrial

Revolution

New transportation and technology

(railroads, steamships) emerged

Faster movement of people and goods;

larger-scale migration and trade

The Columbian Exchange

AP Human Geography | Unit 3.5 | Page 2

• Eastern to Western Hemisphere: Wheat, rice, sugarcane, horses, cattle, and diseases such as smallpox and measles.

• Western to Eastern Hemisphere: Potatoes, maize (corn), tomatoes, cacao, and tobacco. • Effects: Population growth in Europe and Asia from high-yield crops; catastrophic population decline among Indigenous peoples of the Americas from disease; new farming and food cultures worldwide. Effects on Cultural Landscapes and Patterns

• Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, English, and French spread widely and became official languages in many former colonies.

• Religion: Christianity and Islam expanded along colonial and trade routes.

• Borders: Colonial powers drew boundaries with little regard for ethnic or cultural groups (e.g., the Berlin Conference in Africa), leading to later conflict.

• Economy and land use: Plantation agriculture and extraction of resources (cash crops like sugar, cotton, and coffee) shaped colonial economies.

• Forced migration: The transatlantic slave trade moved millions of Africans to the Americas and reshaped cultures there.

• Urban landscape: Colonial cities were built for trade and control, often with European architecture and planned layouts.

• Legacy: Inequalities between core and periphery regions, and ongoing debates about neocolonialism. Common Mix-Ups

• Colonialism vs. imperialism: Colonialism involves direct control and usually settlement. Imperialism is the broader extension of power, which may be political or economic without settling.

• Colonialism vs. neocolonialism: Neocolonialism happens after independence and works through economic or political pressure, not direct rule.

• Columbian Exchange is two-way, though effects were uneven, especially from disease. • Mercantilism is the system that explains why colonies were valued: to supply resources and markets for the home country.

• Trade routes spread more than goods: they also carried religion, ideas, technology, and disease. Practice Questions

1. Distinguish between colonialism and imperialism, and give one example of each.

2. Explain how the Silk Road contributed to the diffusion of culture and disease.

3. Describe two effects of the Columbian Exchange on the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. 4. How did colonial borders contribute to later ethnic conflict in Africa?

5. Explain how mercantilism shaped the economic relationship between colonies and European powers. 6. Describe two ways colonialism changed the cultural landscape of a colonized region. FRQ Tip: Connect cause, process, and effect. Name the historical cause (e.g., colonialism, the Columbian Exchange), the specific trait that spread (a language, crop, or religion), and its lasting effect on the cultural landscape or on global inequality. Using a real place (e.g., Brazil, India, Kenya) strengthens your answer.