Why do we use the five themes?

1. Why do we use the five themes? • Location, Human/Environmental Interactions, Regions, Place, Movement •  Geographers begins with knowing WHERE things are. • Next they ask WHY? • Finally, HOW places influence our lives?

2. Location: Position on the Earth’s Surface • Ways to indicate location (position):   • Maps: probably the best • Place name (toponym): Chandler, Silver City, St. Petersburg • Site: Physical characteristics • Absolute location: latitude and longitude • Relative location (situation): Chandler- 20 miles southeast of Phoenix • Distribution: density (arithmetic), concentration, pattern

4. Where? Why? How?

5. Human/Environmental Interactions (Cultural Ecology) • Cultural landscape- human-induced change • Environmental Determinism- human behavior is controlled by the environment • Possibilism- environment limits the range of choices a culture has, but doesn’t deter • Environmental modification- both positive and negative THINK OF EXAMPLES OF EACH OF THESE!

8. Regions: Areas of Unique Characteristics • Ways of organizing people geographically • Distinctive characteristics • Area, location, boundaries, OTHER • Three types • Formal, functional, perceptual • Regions seen in a hierarchy • Chandler, Maricopa County, Arizona, Southwestern US

11. Place: Associations Among Phenomena • Culture: Anything that is passed from generation to generation • Components of culture • Culture region, culture trait, culture complex, Physical processes • Climate, vegetation, soil, landforms

15. Movement • Culture Hearths • Cultural diffusion • Expansion diffusion: an idea staying strong and spreading • Contagious diffusion, Hierarchical diffusion, Stimulus diffusion • Relocation diffusion • Migrant diffusion, Acculturation, Transculturation • Forces against diffusion • Time-distance decay, Cultural barriers