The 5 Themes of Geography

1. The 5 Themes of Geography Location Place Region Movement Human-Environment Interaction

2. Location • There are 2 ways to define location. • Absolute Location: a place’s exact position on Earth using latitude and longitude. • These are imaginary lines drawn around Earth to help geographers describe places. • Example: Philadelphia is located at about 39°N and 75° W on Earth. • Relative Location: the location of a place relative to another place. • Example: Philadelphia is located on the East Coast of The U.S

4. How can you find an exact location of a place?

5. Longitude and Latitude

6. Longitude and Latitude • Imaginary lines that are drawn around Earth to help geographers study location of places. • Latitude: Horizontal lines that run EAST to WEST. Latitude is the distance north or south of the Equator, measured in units called degrees. • Longitude: Vertical lines that run NORTH to SOUTH. Longitude is the distance east or west of the Prime Meridian, measured in degrees. • Philadelphia is located at about 39°N and 75° W on Earth.

7. Equator and Prime Meridian • The Equatormarks 0 latitude. Think of it as Earth’s belt. It runs directly around Earth’s middle. • The Prime Meridianmarks 0 longitude. It runs from top to bottom of Earth. • Each half of Earth is called a hemisphere.

8. Place • Human and physical features at a specific location. • Example (physical feature): Hawaii is an archipelago, a series of islands. • Example (human feature): Hawaiian people speak the Hawaiian language and have festivals called luaus where they practice the hula dance.

10. Region • A region is an area with a unifying human or physical feature such as population, history, climate, or landforms. • Example: The Rocky Mountain Region in Colorado is a region of the United States.

12. Movement • Movement explores how people, goods, and ideas get from one place to another. Movement helps to explain cultural changes • Example #1: Computers spread information to mass amounts of people. • Example #2: Foreign countries shipping goods to be sold globally. • Example #3: Action News on Channel 6 reports current events.

14. Human-EnvironmentInteraction • Considers how people affect their environment, or their natural surroundings, and how their environment affects them. • Example: Students take on a recycling project and clean up a park in their town. • Example: The Nile River was the source of life for the Egyptian people.