5 Themes of Geography

Location: “Where is it?” Absolute location: is the exact place on the earth where a geographic location is found. Hemisphere: half of the globe Equator: line that divides the North and South halves Prime Meridian: is the imaginary line dividing east and west Relative Location: describes a place in comparison to other places around it.

Please turn in your Textbook to page 4

Place: “What is it like?” Place is the physical features and cultural characteristics of a location. The features can include climate, landforms, or vegetation. There are two types of characteristics: human and physical.

Physical Characteristics are the natural features of a location, mountains, streams, deserts. Next, turn to page 2 and 3 and answer the following questions: What landforms do you recognize? Do you recognize any continents? List them.

Movement involves the sharing of information, goods and ideas. Migration is the process of people moving_ from one place to another with the intent of staying at the destination permanently. In migration theory, Push factors are the social political, economical, and environmental forces that force people away from their previous location to search for new ones.

Place: “What is it like?” Human Characteristics are the features built by man, buildings, roads, and food. Bridges

Region: “How are places similar or different?” A region is an area of the earth’s surface with similar characteristics; these may include physical, political, economic or cultural characteristics. They are things that unify the area.

Regions of the USA

Political Map Red = Republican Blue = Democrat

There are three types of regions: formal, functional and perceptual regions. You do not need to memorize these regions Formal regions are those defined by governmental or administrative boundaries Functional regions are those defined by a function If the function ceases to exists, the region no longer exists. Perceptual regions are those loosely defined by people's perception

Movement Movement: “How do people, goods, and ideas move from one location to another?” Geographers analyze movement by looking at three types of distance: linear distance, time distance, and psychological distance.

Distance Linear Distance is how far across the earth a person, an idea, or a product travels. Time Distance is the amount of time it takes for a person, an idea, or a product to travel. Psychological Distance refers to the way that people view the distance.

Human-Environment Interaction: “How do people relate to the physical world?” Human-Environment Interaction is the relationship between humans and their environment. People learn to use what their environment offers them and change that environment to meet their needs.

Movement / Migration Notes Movement involves the sharing of information, goods and ideas. Migration is the process of people moving_ from one place to another with the intent of staying at the destination permanently. In migration theory, Push factors are the social political, economical, and environmental forces that force people away from their previous location to search for new ones. In migration theory, Pull factors are the social political, economic, and environmental attractions of new areas that draw people away from their previous location.