The Five Themes of Geography

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The Five Themes of Geography
Presented by Gail Gallo
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Why are the Five Themes of Geography Important?
U.S. Education officials were shocked when a 9
nation survey found that 1 in five young adults
(18 to 24 year olds) could not locate the United
States on an outline map of the world!
So, increased emphasis on the development of
geography skills is more developed than it was 10
years ago.
Can you find the United States on an outline map
of the world?
Can you find your state on a map of the United
States?
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What are the five themes of Geography?
Location
Place
Region
Movement
Human-Environment Interaction
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What is Location?
Location is where a place is located in space.
Where is it? Is often the first question we ask
about a place.
There are two ways to determine location
Absolute Location
The exact location on earth where a place can be
found. Latitude and Longitude
Relative Location
The location of one place in relation to another.
For example Canada is north of the United
States.
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What is Place?
Place asks the questions
What is it like here?
Is it crowded, or is there a lot of open space?
What are the distinct physical features of this
place?
Place can also be human characteristics such as
cities, towns, governments and cultural
traditions of a place.
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What is Region?
A group of places that have physical features or
human characteristics, or both, in common.
A geographer interested in language might divide
the world into language regions
A geographer interested in religion might divide
the world into religion regions
Geographers compare regions to understand the
differences and similarities among them.
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What is Movement?
People, goods and ideas move from one place to
another
So do animals, plants, and other physical
features of Earth
The Internet is a good tool for the movement of
ideas
Sometimes people move within a country., For
example vast numbers of people have migrated from
farms to cities
Why do people move?

• Problems push people out
• Advantages pull people in
• Poverty, overcrowding, lack of jobs, prejudice,
  war and political oppression push people out

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What is Human-Environment Interaction?
HEI occurs because humans depend on, adapt to,
and modify the world around them.
Human society and the environment cannot be
separated. Each shapes and is shaped by the
other.
Some places are the way they are because people
have changed them. For example, an area may have
a lot of meadow because humans may have cleared
them for farming.
Human changes can either help or hurt the
environment. Pollution is a harmful effect.
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Lets Review
1. Location Helps geographers and YOU to find
places using absolute location (latitude and
longitude) and relative location (this place is
near)
2. Place shows you what a places is like. Is
it crowded? How is the climate? What language
do the people speak? What kinds of physical
features are there? What is the culture like
there?
3. Region A group of places that have
something in common like physical or human
characteristics such as language, religion or
climate.
4. Movement People, goods, and ideas move from
one place to another. Sometimes people move
within a country, too. This is called migration.
5. Human-Environment Interaction Humans depend
on, adapt to, and modify the world around them.
Sometimes these changes are good, sometimes these
changes are bad, like pollution.
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Works Cited www.educationworld.com/a_leson/lesso
n/lesson/lesson71.shtml World Cultures and
Geography Eastern Hemispheres and Europe
McDougall Litell 2005 Houghton Mifflin Company p
36-40