5 Themes of Geography

Location Where are we??? Location can be either ABSOLUTE or RELATIVE Absolute location deals with the specifics - latitude and longitude - street address Relative deals with places in relation to other things - I live next to the big water tower

PLACE What kind of place is it? Includes everything in the area Human and Physical characteristics Human- Buildings, roads, clothes, food habits Physical- Mountains, rivers, etc.

Human/ Environment Interactions (HEI) 3 Key questions How do humans DEPEND on their environment? Example: In ancient times, the annual flooding of the Nile River produced good soil for growing crops 2. How to people ADAPT to the environment? Example: The ancient Egyptians rebuilt their homes each year, after the annual flooding. As time went on, they built their homes above the flood plain 3. How do people MODIFY the environment? Example: The ancient Egyptians built irrigation ditches to help water the crops. In modern times, Egypt built a dam to control the flood waters of the Nile River  

MOVEMENT We interact with each other through travel, trade, information flows (E-Mail) and political events. Not only do humans move but also ideas move; fashions move; fads move. EXAMPLES?? This can be local such as how did you get to school today, or it can be global such as how did humans get to North America? 

REGION A region is an area that displays a coherent unity in terms of the government, language, or possibly the landform or situation. Formal regions: are those defined by government boundaries (i. e., United States, Brazil).  These regional boundaries are not open to dispute (The Rockies, the Great Lakes, States). Functional regions: are those defined by a function (i. e., United Airlines Service area or a newspaper service area).  If the function ceases to exists, the region no longer exists. Vernacular regions: are those loosely defined by people's perception (i. e., The South, The Middle East).  

Test your knowledge Try and decide which of the 5 themes the following images falls under. There may be multiple answers to some images. Be ready to explain your thoughts!

A camel can represent Movement or HEI Movement because they are used to move people and goods in parts of the world HEI because humans in particular areas DEPEND on them for resources.

LOCATION More specifically ABSOLUTE location

PLACE The images represent physical characteristics of the Rocky Mountains

Region More specifically it’s the Formal Region of the US because it is set by the government and cannot be disputed.

Those images show human characteristics PLACE Those images show human characteristics Buildings, shops, etc

Movement or Place These images could represent movement because of the way fashion moves from major cities (NY, LA) to smaller towns. They could also be place because certain styles are worn in certain areas of the world.