1. I. Thinking Geographically
A. Five Themes of Geography
1. Geography is the study of people, their environments, and their resources.
a) We affect the natural environment and vice versa.
2. Geographers and historians want to understand how the natural environment affect people and events.
a) Geographers have developed the five themes of geography.
3. Location
a) There are two types of location: exact and relative

2. I. Thinking Geographically
b) Lines of latitude measure distance north and south from the Equator.
c) Lines of longitude measure distance east and west from the Prime Meridian.
d) Relative location is the location of a place in comparison to another place. (Reading is 63 miles northwest of Philadelphia.)
4. Place
a) Place describes an area’s physical and human features.
b) Physical features include climate, soil, vegetation, animal life, and bodies of water.

3. I. Thinking Geographically
c) A place also has natural resources which are materials that humans can take from the environment to survive and satisfy their needs.
d) The human features include kinds of houses people build, means of transportation, occupations, language, and religions.
5. Interaction between people and their environment.
a) People have adapted to and changed with the environment.
b) One example is irrigation, or bringing water to dry lands.

4. I. Thinking Geographically
c) Today, people interact by building dams and inventing pesticides for agricultural use.
6. Movement
a) Movement is the transport of people, goods, and ideas.
b) To get what people want, people need to travel from place to place.
c) People then exchange goods and ideas.
7. Regions
a) A region has certain unifying characteristics.

5. I. Thinking Geographically
b) Physical characteristics such as climate or land forms.
c) Human or cultural characteristics such as the Coal Region of northeast PA.
B. Maps and Globes
1. Maps and globes have different uses.
a) Since globes have about the same shape of the Earth, it can accurately show sizes and shapes of landforms.
b) Maps can show more detail than a globe and allows you to see all the earth’s surface at one time.

6. I. Thinking Geographically
c) Flat maps have the disadvantage of distorting some parts of the Earth.
2. Mapmakers, or cartographers, have developed map projections, or ways of drawing the Earth on a flat surface.
a) A Mercator Projection distorts size, especially places close to the North and South Poles. (rectangle)
b) A Robinson Projection shows correct sizes and shapes of landmasses for most parts of the world.
3. Types of maps

7. I. Thinking Geographically
a) Physical maps show mountain ranges, bodies of water, etc.
b) Political maps show features that are determined by people such as country boundary lines, capitals, cities, etc.
c) Thematic maps are maps that deal with specific topics.
d) Population maps show the number of people living in a certain area.
e) Economic maps show how people in a certain area make a living.

8. I. Thinking Geographically
f) Battle maps show the location of major battles and the routes for advancing and retreating.
g) Other thematic maps might show natural resources, rainfall, vegetation, elections, or the religion or ethnic makeup of a place or region.
4. Today cartographers use computers and satelites.
a) GPS (Global Positioning System)