5 THEMES
OF
GEOGRAPHY
5 THEMES OF GEOGRAPHY
 Geographers
study the world by looking
at
 Location
 Place
 Region
 Movement
 Human-Environment Interaction
#1 LOCATION: WHERE IS IT?
Absolute Location

The exact place on the earth where a geographic feature is found
3322 RR 620 South Austin, TX
 LTHS Room J206


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Latitude = 30 degrees, 19.7 minutes North
Longitude = 97 degrees, 58.2 minutes West
Relative Location

Describes a place in comparison to other places or landmarks around it
 Across the street from LTHS

170 miles northwest of Houston
#2 PLACE: WHAT IS

Describes the physical
IT LIKE?
features and cultural
characteristics of a location.
#3 REGION: HOW ARE PLACES
SIMILAR OR DIFFERENT?


Describes an area of the earth’s surface with similar
characteristics, usually more than one
Criteria for defining region depends on geographer’s purpose
Similar Characteristics
• Physical
• Political
• Economic
• Cultural
Three Categories of a
Region
• Formal
• Functional
• Perceptual
GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS:
WHAT DEFINES A REGION?
Physical

landforms, climate, vegetation
Human

(natural) characteristics
(cultural) characteristics
language, religion, ethnicity,
population
FORMAL REGION

Defined by a limited
number of related
characteristics.



Continents
Climate
Culture

Examples?









United States and
Canada
Latin America
Europe
Russia and the
Republics
Africa
Southwest Asia
South Asia
East Asia
Southeast Asia,
Oceania, and
Antarctica
FUNCTIONAL REGION

Organized around interactions and connections
between places, especially around some central
point.

Example: City and suburbs
Highways
 Subways
 Bus lines

PERCEPTUAL REGIONS

A region in which people perceive, or see, the
characteristics of the region in the same way
How we stereotype them
 Is it always the same for everyone?


What are the perceptions of the following
regions:





Texas
New York
Hollywood
Africa
Middle East
SUB-REGIONS
 Further
classification of Regions based upon
physical features and human characteristics.
Examples: The United States is in the North
American Region. However, the U.S. has
several sub-regions: Northeast, Midwest,
South, etc.
#4 MOVEMENT
How and why people, plants, animals, and ideas move
through time and place
 How do geographers analyze movement?

 By looking at three types of distances: linear, time, and
psychological
#5 HUMAN: ENVIRONMENT
INTERACTION
 People
learn to use what the environment
offers them and to change that environment to
meet their needs.
WHAT IS HUMAN ENVIRONMENT
INTERACTION?
There are two key human/environment
interaction:



Humans adapt to the environment. They alter
what they do and how they do it.
Humans modify the environment. They change
the landscape to suit their needs.
Changes can be positive or negative
 Positive: Makes places safer or more livable
 Negative: Pollutes or destroys beauty
IMPORTANCE OF 5 THEMES???
 They
give us a “geographic lens” through
which to view the world.
 Every
unit of study this year will focus in
some way on these themes.