AP Human Geography | CFR Education

Unit 1: Thinking Geographically

Climate Change Adaptations Reading	Explore how eleven countries are adapting to the effects of climate change in this free resource.
Geopolitics: Europe Reading	In the aftermath of the Cold War, East-West relations had a chance at a reset.
What Is Climate Change? Video	In this educational video, learn why the climate is changing, how it affects us, and what we can do about it.
Regional Politics: Middle East and North Africa Reading	From Saudi-Iran rivalries to Arab-Israeli normalizations, learn how ten key relationships define the region.
Sources of Energy: A Comparison Reading	Learn how turning toward cleaner energy sources means factoring in economic and energy needs alongside environmental ones.
Geopolitics: Sub-Saharan Africa Reading	Sub-Saharan African countries hold roughly 25 percent of the seats in the UN General Assembly, making the region’s voice important on global issues such as climate change and drug trafficking.
Migration Today Reading	Understand where migrants come from, where they go, and why migration is increasing through maps, charts, and data.
Geopolitics: South & Central Asia Reading	The long tensions between India and Pakistan, involvement of foreign powers, and climate change shape geopolitics in the region.
How Self-Determination Shaped the Modern World Reading	Learn how the world’s nearly two hundred countries came to be, and whether the map is set in stone.
People and Society: East Asia & The Pacific Reading	East Asia and the Pacific is the world’s largest region, accounting for nearly one-third of the global population.
Reimagining Sovereignty in a Global Era Video	When fires in the Amazon affect countries around the world, is there a need to rethink a centuries-old understanding of sovereignty?
Geopolitics: East Asia & The Pacific Reading	Territorial disputes, historical animosities, powerful militaries, and nuclear weapons make for high-stakes geopolitics in the region.
Laws, Norms, and Democratic Backsliding Reading	Are countries less democratic than they used to be? Learn how democratic principles like checks and balances, free elections, and freedom of the press are under threat around the world.
Marriage Equality Around the World Reading	An increasing number of countries recognize same-sex marriage, but discrimination and persecution persist.
Geopolitics: The Americas Reading	Throughout the modern history of the Americas, the United States has been the region’s preeminent economic, military, and political power.
What Is Colonialism and How Did It Arise? Reading	Explore how colonialism enriched empires and fundamentally reshaped countries such as India.
What Is Water Scarcity? Reading	Is there a global water crisis? In this free resource, learn how climate change is causing water scarcity to worsen worldwide.
People and Society: Europe Reading	Europe has a reputation for its high living standards, given its wealth, promotion of human rights, commitment to social spending, and democratic institutions.

Unit 2: Population and Migration Patterns and Processes

The Lasting Effects of Emigration Video	When migrants seek work abroad, what does their home country gain and lose? Explore one example of a country shaped by emigration, the Philippines.
What Is Economic Inequality? Reading	Explore how severe inequalities and disparities in wealth and income can harm individuals, countries, and the global economy, and how some governments implement policies to reduce inequality.
Internally Displaced Persons: Migrants Who Do Not Cross a National Border Reading	Who are IDPs and how are they different from refugees? Understand what happens to people who are forced from their homes but remain inside their own country through country case studies.
Global Population Growth Is Slowing Down Reading	Is the global population declining? Learn how changes in birth, death, and migration rates affect society, economics, and politics around the world
Global Development Explained Video	How do governments help people everywhere become healthier and wealthier? Many countries have made great strides in global development progress but challenges remain.
Cuban Immigration in 1980 Mini Simulation	How should the United States respond to the massive influx of Cuban migrants? Explore this historical simulation set in 1980.
People and Society: The Americas Reading	The Americas are an incredibly diverse region with a population defined by an array of cultural heritages, including millions of indigenous peoples living across North and South America.
How Did Humans Come to Live Longer and Healthier Lives? Reading	From the history of vaccines and medical quarantines to the origin of the World Health Organization, explore how innovations in global health increased human longevity and prepared the world for COVID-19.
Climate Change Inequality Reading	In this free resource, explore how climate change disproportionately affects certain communities and could drastically increase global inequality.
What Is Water Scarcity? Reading	Is there a global water crisis? In this free resource, learn how climate change is causing water scarcity to worsen worldwide.
People and Society: Middle East and North Africa Reading	Learn how culture, demographics, and social trends shape everyday life in the region.
Migration Today Reading	Understand where migrants come from, where they go, and why migration is increasing through maps, charts, and data.
People and Society: Sub-Saharan Africa Reading	With over one billion people living in forty-nine countries, sub-Saharan Africa is one of the world’s most diverse regions.
What Is Migration? Video	Why do people migrate? Understand why migration means different things for individuals, countries, and economies in a globalized world.
People and Society: South & Central Asia Reading	South Asia is densely populated and immensely diverse.
For Migrants, Labels Matter Reading	What is the difference between immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers? Explore how contested definitions of migrants have a profound effect on the rights and protections of people leaving their homes.
People and Society: East Asia & The Pacific Reading	East Asia and the Pacific is the world’s largest region, accounting for nearly one-third of the global population.

Unit 3: Cultural Patterns and Processes

People and Society: The Americas Reading	The Americas are an incredibly diverse region with a population defined by an array of cultural heritages, including millions of indigenous peoples living across North and South America.
People and Society: Europe Reading	Europe has a reputation for its high living standards, given its wealth, promotion of human rights, commitment to social spending, and democratic institutions.
People and Society: Middle East and North Africa Reading	Learn how culture, demographics, and social trends shape everyday life in the region.
People and Society: Sub-Saharan Africa Reading	With over one billion people living in forty-nine countries, sub-Saharan Africa is one of the world’s most diverse regions.
People and Society: South & Central Asia Reading	South Asia is densely populated and immensely diverse.
People and Society: East Asia & The Pacific Reading	East Asia and the Pacific is the world’s largest region, accounting for nearly one-third of the global population.

Unit 4: Political Processes and Patterns

Why Do We Live in Countries? Video	How did sovereignty become part of world history? In this educational video, learn why kingdoms turn into countries after the Thirty Years’ War.
Dispute in the East China Sea in 2016 (UNSC) Simulation
Understanding the Constructive and Destructive Natures of Nationalism Reading	Nationalism can unify diverse societies. But when taken to extremes, it can also fuel violence, division, and global disorder.
What Is Colonialism and How Did It Arise? Reading	Explore how colonialism enriched empires and fundamentally reshaped countries such as India.
Dispute in the East China Sea in 2016 (NSC) Simulation
Tanks, Sanctions, and Separatists: The Various Challenges to Sovereignty Reading	A government’s authority within its borders gets challenged all the time. Here is how.
Essential Events Since 1945 Timeline	From the Cold War and decolonization to globalization, learn how recent historical developments shaped today’s world.
Humanitarian Intervention in South Sudan in 2014 (NSC) Simulation
What Is Sovereignty? Video	Understand the principle that has underpinned world order for the past four hundred years.
How Do Governments Approach Foreign Policy? Video	In this educational video, explore three fundamental questions that shape a country’s relationship with the world through foreign policy.
Humanitarian Intervention in South Sudan in 2014 (UNSC) Simulation
What Is Government? Video	From direct and parliamentary democracy to authoritarianism, learn how rulers take power—and who decides.
How Do Countries Select Their Foreign Policy Tools? Video	In this educational video on foreign policy, explore how U.S. relations with Japan have changed over the past century, from Pearl Harbor to a peaceful alliance.
Unrest in Bahrain in 2014 (NSC) Simulation
What Are Different Types of Government? Reading	Learn about different forms of government—including democracy, authoritarian rule, and monarchy—and how their distinctions aren't always so clear.
People and Society: Europe Reading	Europe has a reputation for its high living standards, given its wealth, promotion of human rights, commitment to social spending, and democratic institutions.
Unrest in Bahrain in 2014 (UNSC) Simulation
Laws, Norms, and Democratic Backsliding Reading	Are countries less democratic than they used to be? Learn how democratic principles like checks and balances, free elections, and freedom of the press are under threat around the world.
People and Society: Middle East and North Africa Reading	Learn how culture, demographics, and social trends shape everyday life in the region.
Understanding Revolutions Reading	Explore the powerful political movements that can reshape forms of government.
People and Society: Sub-Saharan Africa Reading	With over one billion people living in forty-nine countries, sub-Saharan Africa is one of the world’s most diverse regions.
People and Society: The Americas Reading	The Americas are an incredibly diverse region with a population defined by an array of cultural heritages, including millions of indigenous peoples living across North and South America.
People and Society: South & Central Asia Reading	South Asia is densely populated and immensely diverse.
How Is Conflict Changing? Video	What is conflict? Explore the reasons why tensions, violence, and war break out and what the consequences are for the world in this video.
People and Society: East Asia & The Pacific Reading	East Asia and the Pacific is the world’s largest region, accounting for nearly one-third of the global population.
The Rise and Fall of the Responsibility to Protect Timeline	Sovereignty is sacred. But when lives are in danger, does that principle still apply?
NATO: The World’s Largest Alliance Timeline	What is NATO? Trace NATO’s history and learn how the organization’s mission has evolved over seventy-five years, from the end of World War II to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Statelessness Around the World Reading	Without a country to call their own, millions of people experience discrimination and persecution.
How Self-Determination Shaped the Modern World Reading	Learn how the world’s nearly two hundred countries came to be, and whether the map is set in stone.

Unit 5: Agriculture and Rural Land-Use Patterns and Processes

What Gets in the Way of Free Trade? Reading	A world with free trade yields net benefits for all participants. But that world does not actually exist— countries impose free-trade roadblocks for a number of reasons.
Technology and Development Video	As Great Britain’s Industrial Revolution and India’s Green Revolution have shown, technological innovation can drive extraordinary development. Explore how digital advancements are further driving progress today.
The Sustainable Development Goals Reading	In this free SDG resource, learn about the formation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and review the opportunities and challenges for meeting them.
How Did Mass Production and Mass Consumption Take Off After World War II? Reading	Discover how consumer goods have become cheap and ubiquitous in the global era.
What Is Water Scarcity? Reading	Is there a global water crisis? In this free resource, learn how climate change is causing water scarcity to worsen worldwide.
Solar Geoengineering Mini Simulation	Should the United States consider the use of solar geoengineering to combat climate change? Explore this simulation.
How Globalization Affects What’s for Brunch Video	Globalization’s effects can appear where you least expect them—including on your plate.
Stopping Deforestation in the Amazon Mini Simulation	Should the United States take action to stop deforestation in the Amazon to combat climate change? Explore this simulation.
Climate Change Adaptations Reading	Explore how eleven countries are adapting to the effects of climate change in this free resource.
Global Climate Change Policy (NSC) Simulation
What Is Climate Change? Video	In this educational video, learn why the climate is changing, how it affects us, and what we can do about it.
Global Climate Change Policy (UNSC) Simulation
Climate Change and the Coffee Industry Video	In this educational video, learn how climate change's effects on agriculture can have serious economic consequences for the world.
What Is Trade? Video	The modern era of global trade began just after World War II.

Unit 6: Cities and Urban Land-Use Patterns and Processes

What Is Globalization? Video	Explore examples of globalization to understand the benefits and challenges of our increasingly interconnected world in this video.
Climate Change Adaptations Reading	Explore how eleven countries are adapting to the effects of climate change in this free resource.
Two Hundred Years of Global Communications Timeline	From the printing press to Instagram, technological advances shape how people communicate.
What Is Climate Change? Video	In this educational video, learn why the climate is changing, how it affects us, and what we can do about it.
Trains, Planes, and Shipping Containers Reading	Three innovations shaped how people and goods move around the world today.
The Paris Agreement Reading	What is the Paris Agreement? In this free resource, learn what actions countries are taking to address the global threat of climate change.
Global Development Explained Video	How do governments help people everywhere become healthier and wealthier? Many countries have made great strides in global development progress but challenges remain.
The Sustainable Development Goals Reading	In this free SDG resource, learn about the formation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and review the opportunities and challenges for meeting them.
People and Society: Middle East and North Africa Reading	Learn how culture, demographics, and social trends shape everyday life in the region.
People and Society: Sub-Saharan Africa Reading	With over one billion people living in forty-nine countries, sub-Saharan Africa is one of the world’s most diverse regions.
It Takes a Village to Make Your Medicine Reading	Follow the global supply chain across borders and into your pill bottle.
People and Society: East Asia & The Pacific Reading	East Asia and the Pacific is the world’s largest region, accounting for nearly one-third of the global population.

Unit 7: Industrial and Economic Development Patterns and Processes

Who Is Responsible for Climate Change? Video	Why do developed and developing countries disagree about who is responsible for climate change? Explore the history of industrialization and its impacts on climate in this video.
What Are the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund? Reading	What's the difference between the World Bank and the IMF? Understand two institutions that undergird global development and the international monetary system.
What Is Trade? Video	The modern era of global trade began just after World War II.
What Are the Causes and Consequences of Industrialization? Reading	Learn about the Industrial Revolution and how technological innovations from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries continue to shape society today.
Trade as Foreign Policy Video	When local concerns drive national trade policies, there are global consequences.
How Did Mass Production and Mass Consumption Take Off After World War II? Reading	Discover how consumer goods have become cheap and ubiquitous in the global era.
What Happened When China Joined the WTO? Reading	The United States thought it was directing the show when China acceded to the World Trade Organization. Instead, China wrote its own script.
What Is Economic Inequality? Reading	Explore how severe inequalities and disparities in wealth and income can harm individuals, countries, and the global economy, and how some governments implement policies to reduce inequality.
What Gets in the Way of Free Trade? Reading	A world with free trade yields net benefits for all participants. But that world does not actually exist— countries impose free-trade roadblocks for a number of reasons.
Economic Statecraft: Foreign Assistance Mini Simulation	How should the United States employ foreign aid to help a country in crisis? Explore this hypothetical simulation.
How Trade Rules Are Written Reading	The WTO system is the foundation of modern global trade. But as trade becomes more connected, with new challenges constantly emerging, trade agreements are adapting in order to keep up.
Trade Policy Mini Simulation	How should the United States leverage trade to respond when a rivalry between growing trade partners threatens regional stability? Explore this hypothetical simulation.
Foreign Investment 101 Reading	What is foreign investment, and what does it have to do with trade? An economics expert explains.
Global Development Explained Video	How do governments help people everywhere become healthier and wealthier? Many countries have made great strides in global development progress but challenges remain.
Understanding the Last Fifty Years of Global Development Reading	Has life gotten better for people around the world? Learn how improvements in health, education, and income are measured and explore three countries' opportunities and challenges with development.
Technology and Development Video	As Great Britain’s Industrial Revolution and India’s Green Revolution have shown, technological innovation can drive extraordinary development. Explore how digital advancements are further driving progress today.
The Sustainable Development Goals Reading	In this free SDG resource, learn about the formation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and review the opportunities and challenges for meeting them.