Five Themes

of

Geography

Essential Question:

• What are the five themes of geography and how can they be used to show the relationship between people and places?

The five themes of geography answer five important questions that can help organize

information about places. • Location:  What is the location of a place?

• Place:  What is the character of a place? • Human—Environment Interaction:  How do

people interact with the natural environment of a place?

• Movement:  How do people, goods, and ideas move between places?

• Regions:  How are places similar to, and different from, other places?

Location—where a place is on earth; can be

described in absolute or relative terms

• absolute location - the exact position on earth in which a place can be found.  It is usually found by using imaginary lines that mark positions on the surface of the earth.

• relative location - the position of a place in relation to another place     Every place has many relative locations, which can change over time.

Place—the physical and cultural features of a place.

Physical Characteristics: landforms, water bodies, climate, animal life, vegetation, soil, altitude, etc.

Cultural Characteristics: gov't, cities, religion, language, ethnic groups, art, literature, tools, laws, customs, lifestyles, population, beliefs, economy, types of agriculture, architecture, etc (all aspects of human activity)

Human - Environment Interaction Interactions between people and their

environment • People have adapted to their physical

surroundings.   i.e. different types of clothing, food, and shelter

• People have changed their physical surroundings.  Some changes have been intentional, some have been accidental. i.e. canals, coal mining, tunnels, clearing of forests, planting of crops, land use, use of natural resources

The interactions between man and their environment have positive and

negative consequences.

• clearing forests for farming:  positive—produces food      negative—destroys trees

• burning coal:  positive—produces energy      negative—pollutes air

Movement

• Includes the movement and exchange of people, goods, services and ideas: types of transportation, written materials, telecommunications, travel, imports, exports, etc.

• May also include natural movements of earth's physical features: wind systems, water cycle, ocean currents, volcanic eruptions, erosion, animal food chains, animal migration, etc.

Regions - groups of places with at least one common characteristic

• The earth or places on earth may be divided into regions according to physical and/or cultural features.

• Physical Regions: climate, soils, vegetation, landforms, water bodies, animal life, etc.

• Cultural Regions: gov'ts, economies, religions, languages, agriculture, industry, etc.

There are two major types of regions.

• Formal Regions—areas in which a certain characteristic is found throughout the area i.e. states, counties, cities and other political regions; vegetation, climate and other physical regions; agricultural, religious, ethnic and other cultural regions

• Functional Regions—consist of one central place and the surrounding places affected by it i.e. the Amazon drainage basin; the Denver, Colorado metropolitan regions; the Andes mountains, etc.