Five Themes of Geography

1. Five Themes of Geography “Being geographically skilled is like putting on glasses. You didn’t know your vision was fuzzy until you put them on. Suddenly, your surroundings are much clearer. What were unrelated components now connect into patterns and relationships.” -Sarah Bednarz, Professor of Geography

2. LocationHow do I get there? Where is it? two ways to explain the location of a place • absolute location the exact spot where a place can be found & 2. relative location describing a place by it’s surrounding area

3. Examples of Location • absolute location = street address such as 55 Pecunit St. OR using longitude and latitude coordinates • relative location = Canton is southwest of Boston OR Massachusetts is located south of NH and VT

4. PlaceWhat is it like to live there? All places in the world are described differently according to their characteristics. There are two types of characteristics 1. physical 2. human

5. Two Types of Place • physical characteristics are natural features such as landforms, bodies of water, trees, soil, vegetation, animal life, and water. • human characteristics are things made by humans or relating to people’s way of life (their activities, transportation, religion, language, settlement patterns, and economic activities).

6. Regions How do geographers organize places? a region identifies a group of places or an area that share common physical and human characteristics Some of the ways that regions are identified: • physical characteristics such as landforms & climate • cultural features such as the Muslim world • political features such as a state, city/town • economic features such as the developing world, EU • global such as a continent or the Middle East • local such as North Shore, South Shore, North End

7. Movement What factors influence where people live? • The movement of people, goods, and ideas from place to place. • Today, the Internet is a great tool for the quick movement of ideas, in addition to phones, trucks, busses, trains, barges, planes, books, newspapers, storytelling, etc.

8. MovementMigration • Migrate - to move from one area to live in another. Migration is the result of push and pull factors • push factor- problems in an area that cause people to move out of an area • ex: natural disasters, poor economy, war • pull factor- advantages in another area that make people want to move in • Ex: family, economic opportunity

9. Human Environment InteractionHow do people and the earth affect each other? • Wherever people live they are continuously interacting with the world around them • Humans depend on, adapt to, and modify the world around them to make their lives easier  • Society cannot be separated from the environment. The environment affects how we live, work, dress, travel, and communicate! List examples of how we depend on, adapt to, and modify the world we live in

10. Hidden Costs of Interaction • Air pollution • Pesticides • Deforestation People must decide how to develop their economies without destroying the environment. This is a key issue in developing countries.

11. A region can be as large as a continent or as small as your neighborhood • Make a list of regions around the world