5 themes of Geography

Place, Location, Region,

Movement, Human/Environmental Interaction

All places have attributes that give them meaning and character and distinguish them from other places on earth. Geographers describe place by two specific definitions:

Physical Characteristics The physical characteristics of a place make up its natural environment and are derived from geological, hydrological, atmospheric, and biological processes. They include land forms, bodies of water, climate, soils, natural vegetation, and animal life.

Human Characteristics: The human characteristics of a place come from human ideas and actions. They include bridges, houses, and parks. Human characteristics of place also include land use, density of population, language patterns, religion, architecture, and political systems.

Physical Characteristics

Those physical features about a place that make it unique

Physical Characteristics

Where are these places??

Physical Characteristics

Where would you find these animals??

Physical Characteristics

What are some of the physical characteristics that make Leland unique

Human Characteristics

Human Characteristics: The human characteristics of a place come from human ideas and actions. They include bridges, houses, and parks. Human characteristics of place also include land use, density of population, language patterns, religion, architecture, and political systems.

Human Characteristics political systems.

Human Characteristics Architecture

Human Characteristics

Human Characteristics

Location is the second theme of Geography. Location describes where something is, and is broken into two areas:

Absolute Location: answers the questions: Where is it? Absolute location is nothing more than a simple dot--often

identified as a grid coordinate on the surface of the earth.

Latitude and Longitude can be used to pinpoint a location. For example, the absolute location of New Orleans, Louisiana, is 30 degrees north, 90 degrees west. Finding absolute location is the

starting point for geographic research.

Location is the second theme of Geography. Location describes where something is, and is broken into two areas:

Relative Location: answers the question of where a place is located in relation to other places. For example, New

Orleans is located at the place where the Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico, which gives it easy access to ocean and river shipping. Your home has a relative location. Where is it located in relation to schools, stores, and convenient transportation?

Absolute Location in practice

Absolute Location in practice

Not very accurate in the beginning

Absolute Location in practice

Satellite and Global Positioning Systems

Relative Location in practice

Near what city??

It is defined as an area that has unifying characteristics. A region has certain characteristics that give it a measure of cohesiveness and distinctiveness that set it apart from other regions.

Functional Region: It is organized around a node or focal point with the surrounding areas linked to that node by transportation systems, communication systems, or other economic association involving such activities as manufacturing and retail trading. A typical functional region is Silicon Valley.

Formal Region : It is characterized by a common human property, such as the presence of people who share a particular language, religion, nationality, political identity or culture, or by a common physical property, such as the presence of a particular type of climate, landform, or vegetation.

Political entities such as counties, states, countries, and provinces are formal regions because they are defined by a common political identity.

(See next slide for example)

Formal Regions within a Formal Region

Perceptual : The third type of region is the perceptual region. It is a construct that reflects human feelings and attitudes about areas and is therefore defined by people’s shared subjective images of those areas. Southern California, Dixie, and the upper Midwest are perceptual regions that are thought of as being spatial units, although they do not have precise borders or even commonly accepted regional characteristics and names.

The theme movement addresses this question: How and why are places connected with one another? Relationships between people in different places are shaped by the constant movement of people, ideas, materials, and physical systems such as wind, plate tectonics and volcanoes.

Movement of People: Immigration/Emigration, Urbanization, and Population. The total people of the world is ever increasing, and they have to go

somewhere. The movement of people from one place to another is also addressed, and the movement of people from farms to cities, and back again (urban sprawl) will be covered.

Movement of Land:

Plate tectonics, earthquakes, and volcanoes

Movement of People:Understanding the patterns of human movement, the causes, and outcomes of that movement, and the process of that movement

Movement of Land:

Humans have settled in virtually every corner of the world by successfully adapting to various natural settings. For example, people who live in the northeastern United States use heating units to keep their homes warm in winter People in the southern part of the country use air conditioning much of the year to stay cool in the heat. The ways people choose to adapt to their settings reflect their economic and political circumstances and their technological abilities.

Humans have settled in virtually every corner of the world by successfully adapting to various natural settings. For example, people who live in the northeastern United States use heating units to keep their homes warm in winter People in the southern part of the country use air conditioning much of the year to stay cool in the heat. The ways people choose to adapt to their settings reflect their economic and political circumstances and their technological abilities.

The earth’s Vegetation Zones, Natural Resources, & Energy Development play a significant factor in that development.

Desert

Savanna

Tropical

Desert

Prairie

The earth’s Vegetation Zones, Natural Resources, & Energy Development play a significant factor in that development.

The earth’s Vegetation Zones, Natural Resources, & Energy Development play a significant factor in that development.