Themes of Geography

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Themes of Geography

• Mr. Biddle
• Geography

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Geography

• The study of the earth and of the ways people
  live and work on it
• The word geography comes from the Greek word
  geographia, which means a description of the
  earth

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Geography

• Geography deals with the location of places and
  the complex relationships between people and
  their environments

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Five Geographic Themes

• The Study of geography can be organized around
  five themes
• Location
• Place
• Human/Environment Interaction
• Movement
• Region

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Location

• Location is concerned with the question, Where
  is it?

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Find Colonel Sanders
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Location

• Absolute Location- is the precise position
  something is on the globe
• To determine absolute location, geographers use a
  network of imaginary lines around the earth

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Location

• One of those imaginary lines is called the
  equator, which is an important line that circles
  the earth midway between the North Pole and the
  South Pole
• The equator divides the earth into hemispheres,
  or two halves, the Northern and Southern
  Hemisphere

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Location

• Latitude- Imaginary lines running east and west
  around the globe (also known as parallels)
• Used to measure the distance north and south of
  the Equator in degrees
• The Equator is measured at 0º Latitude
• The North and South Poles lie at 90ºN (north) and
  90ºS (south)

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Location

• There are two lines of Latitude that are very
  important for geographers to use
• These lines receive the most heat from the sun,
  because of the way the earth is tilted
• The Tropic of Cancer (23.5ºN)
• The Tropic of Capricorn (23.5ºS)

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Location

• Longitude- (also known as meridians) Imaginary
  lines that run up and down the earth and measure
  distances east and west of the Prime Meridian
  (center mark of the earth)
• Can be measured in degrees up to 180º in each
  direction

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Location

• Grid System- a pattern caused by the lines of
  latitude and longitude intersecting that makes it
  possible to find exact locations on the earths
  surface
• Absolute location can be found by where the
  latitude and longitude intersect on the globe

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Place

• Place is concerned with the question, What is it
  like there?
• You want a description of the place

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Place

• Every place on the earth has its own distinct
  Physical features (natural things on the earth)
• Mountains, Rivers, Valleys, Canyons, Caves,
  different types of Animals, Weather, and etc.

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Place

• Every place on earth also has its own distinct
  Human features (Human created features)
• Interstates, buildings, cities
• People who live there, farming, hunting and
  fishing, manufacturing, leisure, and cultural
  background can be used as distinctive
  characteristics of a place

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Place

• How do physical and human features of places
  create advantages and disadvantages for human
  activities on earth?

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Human/EnvironmentInteraction

• Answers the question, What is the relationship
  between people and their environment?
• Geographers are concerned with how people are
  able to interact and live in certain areas

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Human/EnvironmentInteraction

• People are able to adapt to their environment for
  survival
• Ex- the Inuits in North America live different
  lifestyles that Aborigines in Australia

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Human/EnvironmentInteraction

• People also change the environment to suit them
• Ex- Irrigation systems in the desert
• Sometimes the changes that are made can cause
  problems in the environment
• Ex- Air pollution, water pollution, global
  warming, and waste material

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Movement

• Movement deals with the question, How are people
  and places connected?

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Movement

• Throughout history people have moved around the
  earth for various reasons
• These reasons can be categorized into two groups
• Push and Pull Factors

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Movement

• Push Factor- a feature or event that pushes a
  person away from or encourages a person to leave
  his or her current residence, city, state, or
  country organization, or religion
• Ex- Famines, Droughts, Floods, or Military
  Conflicts

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Movement

• Pull Factors- a feature or event that attracts a
  person to move to another area
• Ex- Climate, Economic Opportunity (Gold Rush),
  Religious freedom

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Movement

• Movement has now become a part of our daily lives
• People use automobiles, buses, trains, subways,
  and airplanes to move from place to place

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Movement

• These types of movements along with new
  technologies, such as computers and
  telecommunications, have made us very
  interdependent as a society
• We rely on others for goods, services, and foods
  (Transportation of goods)

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Region

• Geographers divide the world into areas based on
  physical features, such as land type or plant and
  animal life.
• They also divide the world based on human
  characteristics, such as the way people are
  governed or the language they speak

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Region

• There are two types of Regions
• Uniform Region
• Functional Region

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Region

• Uniform Region- a region that has boundaries
  determined by the distribution of some uniform
  (the same) characteristic (the region has the
  same type of feature throughout)
• Ex- the Rocky Mountains, Bread Basket, the
  Irrigated-cotton belt, Tropical Rainforest

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Region

• Functional Region- an area that focuses on a
  central point with surrounding territories linked
  to that central point by arteries (roads,
  railroads) or by peoples wants and needs (jobs,
  shopping, entertainment)
• Ex- the Greater Cincinnati area (the metropolitan
  area surrounding a city or town)

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Geography andOther Subjects

• Geographers must use a variety of different
  subjects to fully understand both the human and
  physical features of the earth
• They are
• Science
• History
• Political Science
• Sociology
• Anthropology
• Economics