5 Themes of Geography
Location
• Where are we???
• Location can be either ABSOLUTE or RELATIVE
• Absolute location deals with the specifics
- latitude and longitude
- street address
Relative deals with places in relation to other
things
- I live next to the big water tower
PLACE
•
•
•
•
What kind of place is it?
Includes everything in the area
Human and Physical characteristics
Human– Buildings, roads, clothes, food habits
• PhysicalMountains, rivers, etc.
Human/ Environment Interactions
(HEI)
•
3 Key questions
1. How do humans DEPEND on their environment?
Example: In ancient times, the annual flooding of the Nile River
produced good soil for growing crops
2. How to people ADAPT to the environment?
Example: The ancient Egyptians rebuilt their homes each year,
after the annual flooding. As time went on, they built their
homes above the flood plain
3. How do people MODIFY the environment?
Example: The ancient Egyptians built irrigation ditches to help
water the crops. In modern times, Egypt built a dam to control
the flood waters of the Nile River
MOVEMENT
• We interact with each other through travel,
trade, information flows (E-Mail) and
political events.
• Not only do humans move but also ideas
move; fashions move; fads move.
• EXAMPLES??
• This can be local such as how did you get
to school today, or it can be global such as
how did humans get to North America?
REGION
• A region is an area that displays a coherent unity in
terms of the government, language, or possibly the
landform or situation.
• Formal regions: are those defined by government
boundaries (i. e., United States, Brazil). These regional
boundaries are not open to dispute (The Rockies, the
Great Lakes, States).
• Functional regions: are those defined by a function (i. e.,
United Airlines Service area or a newspaper service
area). If the function ceases to exists, the region no
longer exists.
• Vernacular regions: are those loosely defined by
people's perception (i. e., The South, The Middle East).
Test your knowledge
• Try and decide which of the 5 themes the
following images falls under.
• There may be multiple answers to some
images.
• Be ready to explain your thoughts!
• A camel can represent Movement or HEI
• Movement because they are used to move
people and goods in parts of the world
• HEI because humans in particular areas
DEPEND on them for resources.
• LOCATION
• More specifically ABSOLUTE location
• PLACE
• The images represent physical
characteristics of the Rocky Mountains
• Region
• More specifically it’s the Formal Region of
the US because it is set by the
government and cannot be disputed.
• PLACE
• Those images show human characteristics
– Buildings, shops, etc
• Movement or Place
These images could represent movement
because of the way fashion moves from
major cities (NY, LA) to smaller towns.
They could also be place because certain
styles are worn in certain areas of the
world.