5 Themes of Geography
 Location-Where is it?
 Place-What is it like?
 Region-How are places similar or different?
 Human-Environment Interaction-How
do people relate to the physical world?
 Movement-How do people, goods, and
ideas move from one location to another?
 Where is it?
 What is absolute location?
 is the exact place on earth where a geographic
feature, such as a city, is found.
 Examples: Wal-Mart, Grand Canyon, physical
address, latitude and longitude.
What is relative location?
describes a place in comparison to other places
around it.
Examples: next to McDonalds, around the
corner, behind Sonic, next to MCHS.
 Latitude- are imaginary lines that run parallel to the
equator.
 Longitude-are imaginary lines that go around the earth
over the poles
 How can lat and long be used to find an absolute location?
 Lines of latitude and longitude help locate places as it
is like a grid covering all of the earth. Every place on
earth has it own point of intersection of latitude and
longitude, so by specifying a location in the form of
latitude and longitude one is able to trace the place on
the planet
 They are used to find the absolute location of a
place.
 What 2 planes on a map are they used in
conjunction with?
 Latitude and Longitude
 Geographic Coordinates simply refers to the system of
latitude and longitude. This coordinate system is formed
by creating a grid using the equator as 0 degrees and
forming parallels of latitude to the north and south and
meridians of longitude east and west of the "Prime
Meridian"
 What can you use on a map to find your 4 basic directions of
North, South, East, and West?
 Compose rose
 Where is a compose rose found?
 On any map. Normally found in a corner on the map at the
bottom but not always. You have to look for it but it will
always point North. It tells you which direction you will be
traveling.
How could you use coordinates to find Tompkinsville, KY?
Use a map to find the coordinates of Tompkinsville, put it in
your GPS, or use Google Maps or any online map and type in
the coordinates to locate it.
 Physical maps-help you see the types of
landforms and bodies of water found in a specific
area. On a physical map color, shading, or contour
lines are used to indicate elevation or altitude.
 Political maps-show features on the earth’s
surface that humans created. Cities, states,
territories, or countries are examples of a political
map.
 Topography maps-shows the landforms with
their vertical dimensions and their relationship to
other landforms.
Physical Map-top left
Political Map- top right
Topography Mapbottom right
 The cardinal directions are your basic North,
South, East, and West.
 The intermediate directions are the directions in
between the cardinal directions. They are
Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and Northwest.
 Going clockwise on a compass rose starting with
North, they go in this order: North, Northeast,
East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West, and,
finally, Northwest.
How are places similar or different?
Region is an area of the earth’s surface with similar
characteristics.
These may include physical, political,
economic, or cultural characteristics
Examples are the United States and Canada,
Latin America, Europe, Africa, city and its
suburbs, movement back and forth: trains,
subways, bus lines, mountains, wetlands, hills,
and much more.
 What does the Earth spin on?
Axis
What is climate?
Climate is defined as an area's long-term
weather patterns. The simplest way to describe
climate is to look at average temperature and
precipitation over time. Other useful elements
for describing climate include the type and the
timing of precipitation, amount of sunshine,
average wind speeds and directions, number of
days above freezing, weather extremes, and local
geography
 Absolute location, relative location,
latitude and longitude, place,
movement, region, humanenvironment interaction, location,
landforms, types of water, anything we
have talked about having to do with the
5 themes. Be sure and explain how or
why.
 What is the difference between a waterway and a
body of water?
 Waterway-A navigable body of water, such as a
river, channel, or canal that ships can travel. A
waterway allows ships to travel from one body of
water to another. Connects the two bodies of
water.
 Body of water-the part of the earth's surface
covered with water (such as a river or lake or
ocean). Does not connect two bodies of water.
 What is the difference in a strait and a cape?
 Strait-a narrow waterway flowing in a
channel, smaller than a river.
 Cape-a piece of land jutting (extending
out)into a large body of water
 Therefore, a strait is a narrow waterway and
a cape is a piece of land going into the water.
Strait
Cape Cod
Massachusetts
 What is the difference in a sea and a Great
Lake?
 Sea-great body of salt water
 Great Lake-A group of five freshwater lakes
of central North America between the
United States and Canada, including Lakes
Superior, Huron, Erie, Ontario, and
Michigan.
 Therefore, a sea is salt water and a Great
Lake is freshwater.
 What is the difference in a bay and a gulf?
 Bay-an arm of the sea or ocean extending
into land, not of any definite form but
smaller than a gulf.
 Gulf-a portion of an ocean or sea partly
enclosed by land, larger than a bay.
 Therefore, a bay extends into land and a gulf
is partly enclosed by land and a gulf is larger
than a bay.
 What is the difference in a bay and a
sea?
 Bay-an arm of the sea or ocean
extending into land, not of any definite
form but smaller than a gulf.
 Sea-great body of salt water.
 Therefore, a bay is smaller than a sea
and extends into land.
 What is the difference in a lagoon and a reservoir?
 Lagoon-an area of shallow water separated from
the sea by low sandy dunes.
 Reservoir-a place where water is collected or
stored for future use. Examples: ponds, lakes,
any small body of water that can be used at a
later use.
Therefore, the difference between lagoon and a
reservoir is that a lagoon is saltwater, shallow,
and surrounded by low sandy dunes and a
reservoir is where fresh water is stored.
 What is the difference in an isthmus and a
peninsula?
 Isthmus-a narrow piece of land that connects
two landmasses
 Peninsula-Peninsula-a narrow strip of land
projecting into a sea or lake from the mainland
Therefore, the difference in isthmus and a
peninsula is an isthmus connects two
landmasses and a peninsula goes out into a lake
or the sea from the mainland.
 What is the difference in a Delta and a wetland?
 Delta-the flat area at the mouth of some rivers where the
mainstream splits up into several distributaries ex.
Mississippi Delta. The landform in a Delta Waterway is
created by sediment such as sand, dirt and rocks carried in
a river and deposited where the river, which is moving,
meets another body of water, such as an ocean or lake, that
is still. This causes it break down into smaller streams.
 Wetland-A wetland is a land area that is saturated with
water, either permanently or seasonally, such that it takes
on the characteristics of a distinct ecosystem. The water
found in wetlands can be saltwater freshwater, or brackish.
Main wetland types include swamps, marshes, bogs and
fens.
 What is the difference in a savanna and a desert?
 Savanna-a plain characterized by coarse grasses and
scattered tree growth, especially on the margins of the
tropics where the rainfall is seasonal, as in eastern
Africa.
 Desert-any area where few forms of life can exist
because of lack of rainfall and only sparse and widely
spaced vegetation or none at all, permanent frost, or
absence of soil. The Sahara is a vast sandy desert.
Therefore, difference is a savanna has grass and can
support life and a desert has little grass if any and only a
few forms of life can live there.
 What is the difference in a canal and all
other waterways we have discussed?
 A canal is an artificial waterway used for
travel, shipping or irrigation and most other
waterways are naturally made .
 Some other waterways are also man made
like a pond and some lakes but most of
them are not used for travel or shipping.
 They are all rivers and the worlds greatest rivers!
Known for their incredibly long, meandering
paths, the Amazon, Nile, and Mississippi rivers
make it to the list of the longest rivers not only in
their own regions but the rest of the world as well.
The Amazon is the second longest river system in
the whole world next to the Nile. The Mississippi,
meanwhile, is the longest river in North America.
The Amazon, Nile, and the Mississippi all cut
through several states, making these rivers very
important navigational routes.
Nile River t-top left
Mississippi River-top
right
Amazon Riverbottom right
 Steppe- an extensive grassy plain
usually without trees
 Plateau-a large flatland with one steep
side and little relief
 Therefore, they both are flat.
 What other term means almost the
same as plateau?
 Mesa
 Ice caps exist all over the world. Ice caps in
high-latitude regions are often called polar
ice caps. Polar ice caps are made of different
materials on different planets. Earth’s polar
ice caps are mostly water-based ice.
 The North Pole, Greenland, and the Arctic
Ocean are all examples of where ice caps are
located.
 Tundra is the flat, treeless lands forming a ring around the Arctic
Ocean. The climate sub region is also called tundra. It is almost
exclusively located in the Northern Hemisphere. Very little
precipitation falls here, usually less than 15 inches per year. it is also
one of the worlds Biomes. Tundra is the coldest of all the biomes. It
is noted for its frost-molded landscapes, extremely low
temperatures, little precipitation, poor nutrients, and short growing
seasons.
 Characteristics of tundra include:
 Extremely cold climate
 Low biotic(living) diversity
 Simple vegetation structure
 Limitation of drainage
 Short season of growth and reproduction
 Energy and nutrients in the form of dead organic material
 The taiga is the biome of the needle leaf forest. Living
in the taiga is cold and lonely. Coldness and food
shortages make things very difficult, mostly in the
winter. Some of the animals in the taiga hibernate in
the winter, some fly south if they can, while some just
cooperate with the environment, which is very
difficult. The taiga is located near the top of the world,
just below the tundra biome. The winters in the taiga
are very cold with only snowfall. The summers are
warm, rainy, and humid. A lot of coniferous trees grow
in the taiga. The taiga is also known as the boreal
forest.
 What is a tributary?
 It is a stream or river feeding a larger stream or a lake. It
does not flow directly into a sea or ocean.
What does distribution mean?
Moving items , supplies, or goods from one place to
another.
What does dialect mean?
Versions of a language which reflects changes in speech
patterns related to class, region, or other cultural
changes. For example in the Untied States, dialects
might include a Southern drawl, a Boston accent, or
even street slang.