5 Themes of geography

1. 5 Themes of geography

2. 5 Themes of geography • Geographers study the world by looking at • Location • Place • Region • Movement • Human-Environment Interaction

3. #1 Location: Where is it? Absolute Location • The exact place on the earth where a geographic feature is found • 3322 RR 620 South Austin, TX • LTHS Room J206 • Latitude   = 30 degrees,   19.7 minutes  North • Longitude = 97 degrees,   58.2 minutes   West Relative Location • Describes a place in comparison to other places or landmarks around it • Across the street from LTHS • 170 miles northwest of Houston

4. #2 Place: What is it like? • Describes the physical features and cultural characteristics of a location.

5. #3 Region: How are places similar or different? • Describes an area of the earth’s surface with similar characteristics, usually more than one • Criteria for defining region depends on geographer’s purpose • Similar Characteristics • Physical • Political • Economic • Cultural • Three Categories of a Region • Formal • Functional • Perceptual

6. GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS: What defines a region? • Physical (natural) characteristics • landforms, climate, vegetation • Human (cultural) characteristics • language, religion, ethnicity, population

7. Formal Region • Defined by a limited number of related characteristics. • Continents • Climate • Culture • Examples? • United States and Canada • Latin America • Europe • Russia and the Republics • Africa • Southwest Asia • South Asia • East Asia • Southeast Asia, Oceania, and Antarctica

8. Functional Region • Organized around interactions and connections between places, especially around some central point. • Example: City and suburbs • Highways • Subways • Bus lines

9. Perceptual Regions • A region in which people perceive, or see, the characteristics of the region in the same way • How we stereotype them • Is it always the same for everyone? • What are the perceptions of the following regions: • Texas • New York • Hollywood • Africa • Middle East

10. Sub-Regions • Further classification of Regions based upon physical features and human characteristics. Examples: The United States is in the North American Region. However, the U.S. has several sub-regions: Northeast, Midwest, South, etc.

11. #4 Movement • How and why people, plants, animals, and ideas move through time and place • How do geographers analyze movement? • By looking at three types of distances: linear, time, and psychological

14. #5 Human: Environment Interaction • People learn to use what the environment offers them and to change that environment to meet their needs.

15. What is Human Environment Interaction? There are two key human/environment interaction: • Humans adapt tothe environment. They alter what they do and how they do it. • Humans modify the environment. They change the landscape to suit their needs. • Changes can be positive or negative • Positive: Makes places safer or more livable • Negative: Pollutes or destroys beauty

16. Importance of 5 Themes??? • They give us a “geographic lens” through which to view the world. • Every unit of study this year will focus in some way on these themes.