5 Themes of Geography
Chapter 1-1
• What is Geography?
• a science that
deals with the
description,
distribution, and
interaction of the
diverse physical,
biological, and
cultural features
of the earth's
surface
The 5 Themes of Geography
• Geographers have
identified five themes
that can be used to
examine the role that
geography plays in
our lives and in world
history
5 Themes: P.R.I.L.M.
Place
• Place refers to those
features that give an area
its own identity or
personality. These can
be:
– Physical characteristics:
landforms, weather, plants,
and animals
– Human characteristics:
language, religion,
architecture, music, or
politics
This wall separated East Berlin from West Berlin from
1961 to 1990. How would the wall affect German’s
“sense of place?”
Region
• A region is an area that
is unified by some feature
or mix of features.
• It is used to generalize
the Earth in physical or
human terms.
• A cultural region is one
that shares a common
history, culture, religion or
language.
• Other regions could be
economic, or political.
The Middle East is an example of a
region unified by a common language.
Human/Environment Interaction
• Human/Environment
Interaction focuses on
how people respond to and
alter their environment.
• To live comfortably in many
parts of the world, people must
make changes to the
environment, adapt to
conditions or both.
• How people choose to adapt to
their areas depends on their
attitudes to the natural setting,
and the technology available to
change it.
Heavy monsoons flood the streets of India’s
capital, New Delhi. How do the monsoons
affect the life of people in India?
Location
• Absolute location
refers to the exact
location on the globe
measured by latitude
and longitude.
• Relative location is
less precise. Relative
location is where a
place is in relation to
somewhere else.
Movement (Diffusion)
• The movement of people, ideas, and things
between places means that events in other
places of the world can have an impact on you
personally
• Trains, ships, roads, and airplanes link people
throughout the world and products and people
can be sent around the globe
• The movement of people is important because it
can spread ideas, diseases, and culture from
one place to another. Sometimes those ideas
are accepted in the new location and the culture
is changed
• Christian missionaries
from America
brought the game of
baseball to Japan.
• What other ideas,
products, or people
have moved from one
place to another?
Geography’s Impact on History
• While studying World
History, you will be
learning about the
people, events and
themes that have
shaped the past.
Keep in mind the
themes and how they
fashion the world in
which we live.