5 Themes of Geography
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Geographers looked at the world in many
ways.
 Geography is not just “Where is it?”
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They chose five major categories (themes)
to cover all the important areas:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Location
Place
Human/Environment Interaction
Regions
Movement
5 Themes of Geography
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Theme #1: Location
Location – this is the “Where is it?” question
that is the basis of Geography.
Everything happens somewhere.
Absolute Location – The exact location on the
map; Ex: Manila is at 15 N and 121 E
Relative Location – A description of where it
is. Ex: Manila is in the northern part of the
Philippines.
5 Themes of Geography
Theme #2 – Place
• Places have their own special qualities that
make them unique or different.
• Physical Characteristics: Natural surroundings
like landforms or climate.
• Human Characteristics: Things that Humans
have done to impact an area
– Buildings, governments, language or even
cultural expressions.
5 Themes of Geography
Theme #3 – Human-Environment
Interaction
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People live in different places and share with their
environment.
We use resources the land and sea offer us.
o Ex: we use the Susquehanna river for drinking water
We alter the land and sea to better fit our needs.
o We built the Springton Lake Reservoir for drinking water
We impact our environment
o Negatively – ex: pollution
o Positively – ex: preserve open land with National Parks
5 Themes of Geography
• Theme #4 – Regions
• Groups of places that have some common characteristics.
• Can be grouped in many ways
o Physical Characteristics for ex: Mountains-Poconos
o Cultural Characteristics, like Philly for cheese steaks
These are the
geographic
5 regions
of the U.S.
Can you think
why they are
separate regions?
5 Themes of Geography
Theme #5 – Movement
• People and things move around the globe.
• Things move because of people’s needs and the
physical characteristics of the area.
o Ex: oil tankers from Chester oil refineries to Boston.
• Human characteristics of an area move as well.
o People’s culture is transferred by cell phones, internet
o People from one area giving their ideas to another area.
• Ex: Italian food in the U.S.