5 Themes of geography
Unit 1
World Geography
What are the
five themes?

Tools
geographer’s use
to study features
on earth.
•Location
•Place
•Movement
•Region
•Human
Environment
Interaction
What is geography?



The study of spatial
variation
How – and why –
things differ from
place to place on the
surface of the earth
The study of how
observable spatial
patterns evolved
through time




Geography is a
spatial science
Spatial behavior of
people
Spatial relationships
between places
Spatial processes
that create or
maintain those
behaviors and
relationships
O
O
Location: Describes where
places are at on earth.
ABSOLUTE:
• exact location on
earth (fixed)
 Doesn’t change
• Latitude/Longi
tude
• Hemispheres
• Grid System
• Address
RELATIVE:
• compared to other
places (variable)
 Changes
dependent upon
where you’re
comparing it to.
• Miles
• Distance
• Direction
Imaginary lines running east and west around the globe
Measured in degrees north and south of the equator.
Latitude lines are called parallels because each line is parallel to the
next
Degrees are units of measurement for latitude and longitude.
The symbol for degrees is °.
The equator is the imaginary line that circles the Earth’s center known
as 0° latitude.
Check out the globe!
North of the equator
EQUATOR
South of the equator
Parallels above the equator are in
the Northern Hemisphere, all below
are in the Southern Hemisphere
You must write latitude
coordinates like this:
˚
˚
Distance measured in degrees east and west of the prime
meridian.
Longitude lines are called meridians.
The prime meridian is the starting point for measuring
longitude.
The prime meridian is 0 longitude which goes through
the space observatory in Greenwich, England.
Check out the Globe!
Meridians west of the prime meridian are
in the western hemisphere, all in the east
of the prime meridian are in the eastern
hemisphere.
You must write longitude
coordinates like this:
˚
˚
HEMISPHERES
O
O
Five Themes of Geography:
Place

Geographers study this geography
theme by looking at the
characteristics that distinguish one
place from another place on Earth.
PLACE
What is it like there, what kind of
place is it?
 Human
 Physical
Characteristics
Characteristics


What are the main
languages, customs,
and beliefs.
How many people live,
work, and visit a place.

Landforms (mountains,
rivers, etc.), climate,
vegitation, wildlife, soil,
etc.
Theme 2: People
Human Characteristics




People
Culture
Buildings and
Landmarks
Cities
People


IDENTITY
Identity is defined as
“the set of behavioral
or personal
characteristics by
which an individual is
recognizable as a
member of a group.”
(American Heritage
2002)
NATION
 Nation - latin verb
nasci,meaning to “be
born”
 group of people who
share real or imagined
common history,
culture, language or
ethnic origin
PEOPLE Cont’d
RACE
 The categorization of
humans into groups
based on various sets
of hereditary
characteristics (skin
color, cranial and
facial characteristics,
hair texture etc.)
 Race does not exist on
a scientific level
ETHNICITY

 From Greek word
“ethnos” meaning
“people, multitude,
nation”
Ethnic Identity is the
sense of belonging to an
Ethnic Group
Ethnic Groups - Group
w/ common ancestry,
shared history, culturally
symbolic element
Culture
Language
Literature
Music
What is culture
made up of?
Architecture
It is a groups way of
life and its own view
of itself and other
groups
Food
Art
Religion
Buildings and Landmarks
Cities
Landforms


Landforms are
naturally formed
features on the
surface of the earth
The sea floor has
landforms similar
to those above
water.
Volcano
Islands

Islands dot the
ocean surface.
Islands can be
formed by volcanic
action, deposits of
sand, or deposits of
coral skeletons

An opening in the
earth, usually
raised, through
which gases and
lava escape from
the earth’s interior
Swamp

A lowland region
that is seasonally
flooded with water
Marsh

Soft, wet, lowlying, grassy land
that serves as a
transition between
water and land
Floodplain

Flat land near the
edges of rivers
formed by mud and
silt deposited by
floods
Delta

A triangular area of
land formed from
deposits at the
mouth of a river
Mesa

Wide flat topped
mountain with
steep sides
Plateau

A broad flat area of
land higher than
the surrounding
land
Butte

Raised, flat area of
land with steep
cliffs (smaller than
a Mesa)
Prairie

A large level area
of grassland, very
few or no trees
Mountain

Natural elevation
of the earth’s
surface with steep
sides, to be
classified as a true
mountain it must
be over 1000 feet
Glacier

A large ice mass
that moves slowly
down a mountain
over land
Valley

Low land between
steep rolling hills
or mountains.
Canyon

A narrow deep
valley with very
steep sides
Peninsula

A point of land
extending into an
ocean or lake
Isthmus

An isthmus is a
narrow strip of
land connecting
two larger land
areas usually with
water forms on
either side
PLACE:Water



any significant
accumulation of water.
Some bodies of water
are man-made
(artificial), but most are
naturally occurring
geographical features.
Bodies of water that
are navigable are
known as waterways.
Place: Bodies of Water

GULF
• a large bay that is an
arm of an ocean or sea



Gulf of Mexico
Persian Gulf
Gulf of California

OCEAN
• a major body of saline
water



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Atlantic
Arctic
Pacific
Indian
Southern (new addition)

RIVER
Place: Bodies of Water
• A natural watercourse,
usually freshwater,
flowing towards
an ocean, a lake,
a sea, or another river

TRIBUTARY
• a stream or river that
flows into a main
stem river or a lake.
• A tributary does not
flow directly into a sea
or ocean
Place: Bodies of Water

LAKE
• a body of relatively
still, fresh or
salt water of
considerable size
• surrounded by land.
• inland and not part of
the ocean,

HARBOR
• a place where ships,
boats, and barges can
seek shelter
from stormy weather,
or else are stored for
future use.
• Harbors can be natural
or artificial.
Place: Bodies of Water

RIVER MOUTH
• a part of
a stream where it
pours into another
stream, river, lake, res
ervoir, sea, or ocean

SOUND
• a large sea or ocean
inlet
• it may identify a
narrow sea or ocean
channel between two
bodies of land
Place: Bodies of Water

STRAIT
• narrow, navigable
channel of water that
connects two larger
navigable bodies of
water.

SOURCE
• the place from which
the water in the river
or stream originates.



Glacier melt
Underground streams
Lakes (other large
bodies of water)
Place: Bodies of Water

BAY
• area of water mostly
surrounded by land.
• generally have calmer
waters than the
surrounding sea, due
to the surrounding
land blocking
some waves and often
reducing winds.

LAGOON
• a body of shallow sea
water or brackish
water separated from
the sea by some form
of barrier
Place: Bodies of Water

BAYOU
• body of water typically
found in flat, low-lying
areas, and can refer
either to an extremely
slowmoving stream or
river


ESTUARY
a partly
enclosed coastal body
of water with one or
more rivers or streams
flowing into it, and with a
free connection to the
open sea.
Place: Bodies of Water

RESERVOIR
• artificial lake is used
to store water.
• Reservoirs may be
created in river valleys
by the construction of
a dam

CANAL
• man-made channels
for water.
Themes of Geography
Regions
What is a Region?



Concept that is used to identify and
organize areas of Earth’s surface for
various purposes.
Has certain characteristics that give it a
measure of cohesiveness and
distinctiveness that set it apart from
other regions.
As worlds within worlds, can be used to
simplify the whole by organizing Earth’s
surface on the basis of the presence or
absence of selected physical and human
characteristics.
Types of regions

Formal,
Functional
and
Perceptual.
FORMAL
PERCEPTUAL
FUNCTIONAL
designated by
official
boundaries,
such as cities,
states, counties,
and countries.
place where
peoples beliefs
exists as part of
their cultural
identity
tied by a
central point by
transportation or
communications
systems or by
economic or
functional
associations.
Formal



Also called homogeneous region.
An area within which everyone
shares in common one or more
characteristics such as language,
production of a particular crop or
climate
Formal regions can be defined by
measures of population, per capita
income, ethnic background, crop
production, population density and
distribution, or industrial
production, or by mapping physical
characteristics such as
temperature, rainfall, growing
season, and average date of first
and last frost.
Vernacular



Also called perceptual region.
perceived regions, such as "The
South," "The Midwest," or the
"Middle East;" they have no
formal boundaries but are
understood in our mental
maps of the world.
tends to reflect the element of
people’s mental maps, and,
although it may help to impose
a personal sense of order and
structure on the world, it often
does so on the basis of
stereotypes that may be
inappropriate or incorrect
Functional



An area organized around a
focal point.
For example, the
newspaper circulation area
for a major city area is the
functional region of that
paper or the viewing area
of a tv station
A typical functional region
is a metropolitan area (MA)
as defined by the Bureau of
Census.
Movement
Movement


How Do People,
Goods, and
Ideas Get from
One Place to
Another?
Geographers
use three types
of distance to
analyze
movement
Types of Movement

Linear Distance



Time Distance
Psychological Distance
Examples of movement include America's
westward expansion, the Information
Revolution, and immigration.
Linear Distance

How far a
person, product,
or idea travels
Time Distance

How long it
takes for person,
product, idea to
travel
Psychological Distance


Refers to the way
people perceive
distance
Example:
unfamiliar places
may seem
farther away
than familiar
ones
Human Environment interaction


How Do People Relate
to the Physical
World?
A relationship exists
between people and
their environment
Human Environment Interaction



People use and change
the environment to
meet their needs
People adapt to
environmental
conditions they cannot
change
Often, people in similar
environments adapt in
different ways