Becoming a Geographer! Today is your lucky day! You will be learning how to become a wise and knowledgeable geographer. There are many things that will help you become an expert in this field. We will start with the basics. We don’t want to overwhelm you!  Before we begin lets looks at four famous geographers in history and what important skills they learned to help them in their travels.

Amerigo Vespuci The America’s were named after this man. He had many skills but is most famous for being an expert cartographer. What is a cartographer? Click on the map to find out.

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark Lewis and Clark are most famous for exploring an area of land that spanned from the Mississippi River all the way west to the Pacific Ocean. They had many skills that helped them in their explorations. Here are listed a few: -Ability to read and understand maps -Just like Amerigo Vespuci they created their own maps. -Lewis and Clark could communicate and learn from the Native Americans that they came in contact with. -Any new plants, animals, or minerals they came across would be recorded and samples were collected. These are just a few of the skills that these men had to be outstanding geographers. Click on picture for more info.

David Livingstone Livingstone went to Africa as a missonary to help the African people. While there he became curious about the source of the Nile river. Livingstone went in search and in the process crossed the whole continent of Africa. Important skills that Livingstone had: -cared about the African people. -Curiosity -Was able to use the natives in Africa to help guide him. These are just a few of his abilities. David Livingstone became very famous because he went missing Africa for years. Click on picture for a short video.

Let’s get down to business! We have learned about four men who were very famous geographers. To summarize we will list the different skills that they had to help them become experts in the geography world. -knowing how to make maps -Ability to read and understand maps -The ability to communicate and learn from the natives that they came in contact with. -They knew how to collect scientific data of plants, animals, and minerals. -Curiosity about their surroundings. - They did not have fear of the unknown. Before any of the geographers learned these skills they first had to understand five basic themes of geography. Click on the world in the corner to begin your training to become an expert geographer!!

The Five Themes of Geography Movement Region Location Interaction Place Hint: an easy way to remember the five themes of geography is by using the acronym: MR.LIP Click on each word in order to learn more about it!

Movement Places in the world do not exist in isolation. Because places have different characteristics, it follows that people, goods, and ideas will move between them. Click here for example.

Region A region is a group of places with at least one common characteristic. Click here for example.

Location Geographers studying a place usually begin by finding its location. Click here for example.

Interaction This theme involves how people use their environment. How have they changed it? what are the consequences of those changes? How have people responded to changes in their environment? Click here for example.

Place Every place on the earth has features that distinguish it from other places. One challenge of geography is to understand how the character of a place is similar to and distinct from the characteristics of other places. Click here for example.

Example of Movement In the United States there are many different kinds of people from all over the world. When they come here they bring their traditions, food, clothing and language. Mexicans from Mexico bring their salsa, burritos, and tacos. People from the continent of Asia bring their rice, noodles, and egg rolls. The Italians bring their pastas and pizza. Not only to people bring material things with them but they also bring their ideas such as religion or education. These are all types of movement.

Example of Region There are many types of regions in the world. As the definition says it’s a place that has similar characteristics. So a place with lots of mountains is known as a mountain region. If there are many trees than it’s known as a forest region. There are political regions and religious regions as well. There are all different kinds of regions.

Example of Location In geography there are two types of location: Absolute: this is when you give an exact address or the longitude and latitude coordinates Relative: this type of location is just giving directions using a location in relation to what it is near to. So instead of giving my address to my school I would say that my school is near the McDonalds in West Valley. This would be giving my relative location.

Example of Interaction The geography theme of interaction is dealing with human-environment interaction. Humans interact with the environment in a number of ways. When water dams are built or highways are constructed these are all ways that humans interact with the world around them.

Example of Place Understanding a character of a place is what this geography theme means. In talking about the place Utah a good geographer would know Utah’s climate, weather patterns, landforms, and if there is potential for natural disasters.

Test your knowledge! How well do you think you can remember the 5 themes of Geography? Have you become a geography expert? LET’S SEE…

Which geography theme is this? The longitude and latitude coordinates for the Great Wall of China are: Longitude: 117° 5' 26" Latitude: 40° 46' 6" Click on the right geography theme: Location Interaction Place Movement Region CORRECT! INCORRECT!

Which geography theme is this? The Congo in Africa is home to one of the largest rainforests in the world. Every day thousands of trees are being cut down. This is affecting the animals in the rainforest and many of them are becoming endangered. Click on the right geography theme: Movement Region Location Interaction Place CORRECT! INCORRECT!

BECOMING AN EXPERT GEOGRAPHER! I HOPE YOU ENJOYED LEARNING ABOUT THE 5 THEMES OF GEOGRAPHY. YOU ARE KNOW ON YOUR WAY TO BECOMING AN EXPERT GEOGRAPHER! Click on the earth to see how amazing our world really is.