APHG Copeland
Unit 1
Five Themes of Geography
Five Themes from Four Traditions
• The five themes of geography help us in
answering the “where”, “how” and “why”
dealing with occurrences that take place in
our world. By using these themes as a basis
for understanding geographic information, we
can gain a better appreciation of cultural and
environmental changes around the world.
• Add: These five themes have been taken from
Pattison’s Four Traditions (See Board)
Location
1.
Location
. position on the earth’s surface.
Ways to indicate location:
Maps
-Absolute Location-Latitude and Longitude (Parallels and Meridians),
determine exact location.
Ex. Atlanta, GA-33°N, 84°W
Observe Map (next slide)
-Relative Location-location of a place relative to other places (situational)
Why use relative location? Unfamiliar place, centrality
Absolute Location (Using Latitude and
Longitude)
Human Environment Interaction
2.
Human/Environment Interaction . relations
between cultures and environment (cultural ecology).
A) Cultural Landscape-human-induced changes
that involve the surface and biosphere-Carl Sauer
B) Environmental Determinism-physical
environment causes certain human behaviors (UT
Football Game)
C) Possibilism-natural environment limits the
range of choices available to a culture (Limited Food Diet
of Inuits)
What I expected to see at UT football
game…and did.
Region
3.
Region
. area of unique
characteristics, way of organizing people.
Types of Regions
• Formal-distinctive characteristics that can be proven
(uniform, homogeneous)
Ex. Wheat Belt, Republican state-GA
• Functional-product of interactions, organized around a
node or core
Ex. Newspapers, radio stations, “The Perimeter”
• Perceptual-vernacular (exists only in the mind)
Ex. South
Place
4.
Place
. associations of phenomena in an area.
Culture-people’s lifestyles, values, beliefs and traits
What people care about: language, religion, ethnicity
What people take care of: daily necessities, leisure activities
Components of Culture:
Culture Region-the area in which a particular cultural system prevails
Ex. Building styles, farms
Culture Trait-a single attribute of culture
Ex. Food, clothing
Culture Complex-a discrete combination of traits
Ex. Nationalism/Patriotism
Culture System-a grouping of certain complexes, usually based on ethnicity, language, religion
Ex. Spanish-speaking, Catholic Mexicans
Culture Realm-an assemblage of culture (highly generalized/ster)
Ex. Sub-Saharan Africa (assuming that all of Africa south of the Sahara is virtually the same)
Physical Processes-environmental processes, which explain the distribution of human activities
Climate-long-term average weather condition
Koppen’s Five Main Climate Regions
Tropical
Dry
Warm Mid-Latitude
Cold Mid-Latitude
Polar
Vegetation-plant life
Biomes-plant communities (4-forest, savanna, grassland, desert)
Soil-(12,000 soil types in the U.S. alone)
Landforms-earth’s surface features
Movement
5.
Movement
. interconnection between
areas.
•
Culture Hearths-source of idea, innovation or ideology
•
Cultural Diffusion-spread of idea, innovation or ideology from
hearth to another culture
Types of Diffusion
Expansion Diffusion-idea, innovation or ideology develops in a source
area and remains strong there while also spreading outward
Ex. Computers, Television, Cell phones
•
Relocation Diffusion (Transculturation)-spread of idea,
innovation or ideology through physical movement of individuals
Ex. Italian immigrants to NYC taught Irish-Americans how to make
pizza