Brief Introduction to
Geography
Ireland / UK
5 Themes
• Geography can be broken down into 5
themes
• As we study Ireland and the UK, we can
hopefully start to identify where these
themes are present and use them to help us
understand more about our destination
Location
• Includes ABSOLUTE and
RELATIVE location
• Absolute location is a places
point on a globe or map
• Relative location is the places
location compared to another
place
Examples Of
Relative Location
• London is 400 miles from
Glasgow
• London is near the North Sea
• London is in the UK but very
close to France
How does absolute
location work?
• Imaginary lines of latitude run
parallel to the equator (0º) on a
globe or map
• Imaginary lines of longitude run
north and south between the two
poles – Primer Meridian (0º)
What is the Absolute Location of Cork?
Place
• A place is described by its physical
and/or human characteristics
• physical - features including
landforms, climate, and vegetation
• human - people who live there,
political system, customs, economy,
architecture, etc.
Human-Environmental
Interaction
• How do people use their
environment?
• How have they changed it?
• How have people responded
to these changes
Movement
• As people, goods, and ideas move
from place to place, they can
change a places characteristics
• ex. - if communists invaded and
overtook The United States, our
country’s geography would change
Regions
• Set of places that have similar
attributes
• ex - Chicago is in the Midwest
• ex – Iowa is in the Midwest
• Regions could be:
–
–
–
–
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Political Regions
Landform Regions
Agricultural Regions
Cultural Regions
Climate Regions
Keep in mind as we travel:
• Place – What makes the places we are
visiting unique? What are their physical
characteristics, but also, what are their
human characteristics?
• Movement – What do we see in the UK that
directly influenced us due to our colonial
past relationships with Britain?
• Regions – How are the countries we visit,
all one region? How are they broken up
into small regions and what factors create
those regions?