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5 Themes of Geography
•Place
•Location
•Region
•Movement
•Human/Environmental Interaction
5 Themes of GeographyContent Objective
The student will define and explain examples of the five themes of geography.
All places have attributes that give them meaning and character and distinguish them from other places on earth. Geographers describe place by two specific definitions:
Physical Characteristics The physical characteristics of a place make up its natural environment and are derived from geological, hydrological, atmospheric, and biological processes. They include land forms, bodies of water, climate, soils, natural vegetation, and animal life.
Human Characteristics: The human characteristics of a place come from human ideas and actions. They include bridges, houses, and parks. Human characteristics of place also include land use, density of population, language patterns, religion, architecture, and political systems.
All places have characteristics that give them meaning and character and distinguish them from other places on earth. Geographers describe places by their physical and human characteristics. Physical characteristics include such elements as animal life. Human characteristics of the landscape can be noted in architecture, patterns of livelihood, land use and ownership, town planning, and communication and transportation networks. Languages, as well as religious and political ideologies, help shape the character of a place. Studied together, the physical and human characteristics of places provide clues to help students understand the nature of places on the earth.
Physical Characteristics
Those physical features about a place that make it unique
Physical Characteristics
Where are these places??
Physical Characteristics
Where would you find these animals??
Physical Characteristics
What are some of the physical characteristics that make Leland unique
Human Characteristics
Human Characteristics: The human characteristics of a place come from human ideas and actions. They include bridges, houses, and parks. Human characteristics of place also include land use, density of population, language patterns, religion, architecture, and political systems.
Human Characteristics political systems
Human Characteristics Architecture
Human Characteristics
Human Characteristics
Location is the second theme of Geography. Location describes where something is, and is broken into two areas:
Absolute Location: answers the questions: Where is it? Absolute location is nothing more than a simple dot--often
identified as a grid coordinate on the surface of the earth.
Latitude and Longitude can be used to pinpoint a location. For example, the absolute location of New Orleans, Louisiana, is 30 degrees north, 90 degrees west. Finding absolute location is the
starting point for geographic research.
Location is the second theme of Geography. Location describes where something is, and is broken into two areas:
Relative Location: answers the question of where a place is located in relation to other places. For example, New
Orleans is located at the place where the Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico, which gives it easy access to ocean and river shipping. Your home has a relative location. Where is it located in relation to schools, stores, and convenient transportation?
Absolute Location in practice
Absolute Location in practice
Not very accurate in the beginning
Absolute Location in practice
Satellite and Global Positioning Systems
Relative Location in practice
Near what city??
•Regions are created by geographers to helps study place – to describe and compare them, for example.
•Various features are used to classify a place as a region.
•A region shares the same physical feature(s) — such as land, climate, natural resources, vegetation — or cultural feature(s) — such as language, history, population, or religion.
•Boundaries of regions change, depending on what characteristic(s) are being examined.
One of the most basic regions used by geographers is continents.
Regions Based on Physical Features
Language Regions
Population Densityand
Ethnic Regions
•The theme of movement addresses this question: How and why are places connected with one another?
•Relationships between people in different places are shaped by the constant movement of people, ideas, materials, and physical systems such as wind, climate, and volcanoes.
Movement of People:
Immigration/Emigration, Urbanization, and Population
Movement of Land:
Plate tectonics, earthquakes, and volcanoes
Movement of People:Understanding the patterns of human movement, the causes, and outcomes of that movement, and the process of that movement
Movement of Land:
•Refers to how people affect their environment.
•Humans adapt to and modify their environment for survival.
•Different societies interact with their environment differently. The earth’s vegetation zones, natural resources, and energy development play a significant role in the development of a society.
Humans have settled in virtually every corner of the world by successfully adapting to various natural settings. For example, people who live in the northeastern United States use heating units to keep their homes warm in winter People in the southern part of the country use air conditioning much of the year to stay cool in the heat. The ways people choose to adapt to their settings reflect their economic and political circumstances and their technological abilities.
Desert
How would people need to adapt to or modify their environment to survive in the desert?
Desert
Savanna
Tropical
How would people need to adapt to or modify their environment to survive in these other places?
Prairie
What about here?
How have people adapted to or modified these environoments?
What kinds of modifications are illustrated here?
5 Themes of Geography•Place
•Location
•Region
•Movement
•Human/Environmental Interaction
5 Themes of GeographyContent Objective
The student will define and explain examples of the five themes of geography.
