The Five Themes of Geography

1. Chapter 1 The World of Geography

2. Section 1 The Five Themes of Geography

3. Geography • Is the study of the Earth

4. Geographers are guided by two basic questions: • Where are things located??? • Why are they there???

5. To find the answers, geographers use themes to organize information • Location: where a point exists • Place: a location’s physical and human features • Human Environment interaction: how people affect their environment • Movement: How goods, ideas, and people get from one place to another • Regions: Large areas that are linked by similar characteristics

6. Absolute location A places exact position on Earth (geographic address) Uses latitude and longitude Relative location Explains where a place is by describing places near it. “I live in Bismarck, 190 miles west of Fargo” Location

7. Location • Lines of Latitude: • East-West circles around the globe • Parallels: • Another name for lines of latitude, because they are parallel to one another • Degrees: • Unit used to measure location on maps • Equator: • A parallel in the middle of the globe

8. Location • Lines of Longitude: • Lines that circle the globe from North-South • Meridians: • Another name for lines of Longitude • All run through the North and South Poles • Prime Meridian: • Runs though Greenwich, England • Is 0 degrees longitude

9. Latitude and Longitude • Latitude • Measured North and South of Equator • Longitude • Measured East and West of Prime Meridian • (Greenwich, England) • Measured in degrees, minutes, seconds • Degree - 69.1 miles • Minute - 1.15 miles • Second - 101 feet

10. Place • Physical features • Climate - hot or cold • Land is hilly • Human features • How many people live there • What these people do

11. Human - Environment Interaction • How have people learned to survive in the area? • How do they deal with the environment? • Are they helping or hurting the environment?

12. Movement • Helps people understand cultural changes • Goods and people move: bringing their culture with them • Immigrants to America

13. Regions • Used to make comparisons • Deserts, forests, plains, mountains • Plain • A region of flat land

14. Section 2 The Geographer’s Tools

15. Maps • Globe • The most accurate description • Hard to carry around • Scale • Size of an area on a map compared to the actual size of an area (1 in= 100 miles) • Flat maps • Easy to carry around • Shows some distortion. (misrepresentation) • Change in the accuracy of the shapes and distances

16. Maps • Projection - method of putting a map of the Earth onto a flat piece of paper • Mercator Projection • Gerardus Mercator • Flat map - used by sailors • Shows correct shapes of landmasses, but not true distances or sizes • Robinson Projection • Arthur Robinson • Best world map available • Distorted around the edges • WAS Official projection for National Geographic – now Winkle Tripel

17. More Maps • Interrupted projection map • “Orange Peel” • Hard to figure distances correctly • Distortion • Flat maps distort land masses because the Earth is round. • Subject of a Map = Title

18. Parts of a map • Compass rose • Shows the cardinal directions: north, south, east, and west. • Key • “legend” explains the symbols for features such as roads and cities. • Grid • Helps people find things on the map • Parallels and meridians • Letters and numbers