1. The Five Themes of Geography

2. History is the study of events over time.
Looking at the Earth
History is the study of events over time.
900 AD
1492 AD
2000 BC
1621 AD

3. Geography - the study of distribution and interaction of physical and human features on the earth.

4. Five Themes of Geography
Geographers use a variety of tools:
Maps
Photographs
Charts
Graphs and Tables
Scale Models
Five Themes of Geography

5. Five Themes of Geography
Location: where is it?
Place: what is it like?
Region: how are places similar or different?
Human-Environment Interaction: how do people relate to the physical world?
Movement: how do people goods, and ideas move from one place to another?

6. LOCATION Where is it?
Absolute Location: the exact place on earth where a geographic feature, such a city, is found.
Relative Location: describes a place in comparison to other places around it.

7. Imaginary lines north and and south from the equator.
Latitude
Imaginary lines north and and south from the equator.
Equator N S
100
200
300 00
900 W E
Prime Meridian
100
200
300 00
1800
Longitude
Imaginary lines east and west from the Prime Meridian.

8. Together, latitude and longitude form a GRID SYSTEM.

9. Locate the following using the map on pages A4-A5.
1. City closest to 30S / 150E
2. Country bounded by 0S, 15S, 15E, 30E
3. City closest to 60N / 45E
4. Islands between 15N, 30N, 150W, 165W
5. Country through which 75N, 40W pass
6. You are at 15S / 90E. Do you need a car or a boat?
7. What is at 90N / 180W?
8. Country through which 55N, 0E pass.

10. Hemispheres
The Earth is divided at the equator into two halves. Each half is called a hemisphere or half-circle. N
900
Northern Hemisphere
Equator 00
Southern Hemisphere S
900

11. Use the map on pages A2-A3 to determine the hemisphere in which each place is located. Write North or South.
1. United States
2. Congo Basin
3. Rio de Janeiro
4. Gobi Desert
5. Red Sea
6. Cape Horn

12. The Earth is also divided east and west.
Hemispheres
The Earth is also divided east and west.
Western Hemisphere
Eastern Hemisphere
Western Hemisphere
Eastern Hemisphere
International Dateline 1800 Longitude
Prime Meridian 00 Longitude

13. Use the map on pages A2-A3 to determine the hemisphere in which each place is located. Write East or West.
1. Siberia
2. Aleutian Islands
3. Puerto Rico
4. Arabian Peninsula
5. Andes Mountains
6. Mariana Islands

14. PLACE
What is it like?
Climate
Bridges
Vegetation
Buildings
Landforms

15. Using the categories listed on the previous page as a starting point, make a list of everything you can think of that would describe Houston to someone who has never been here.
Work with your partner. You have five minutes.

16. REGION How are places similar or different?
Three types of regions
Formal Regions: defined by
Climate Culture
Vegetation Continental area
Land use

17. REGION
Functional Regions: defined interactions and connections between places.
Perceptual Regions: defined by what people perceive or “see” as characteristic of the region.

18. HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION How do people relate to the physical world?
Houses
Crops
Protection
Engineering
Animals
Food Sources
Jobs
Transportation
Clothes

19. HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION
With your partner, brainstorm examples of how people living in the Houston area interact with their environment. Use the examples on the previous page as a starting point. You have 5 minutes.

20. MOVEMENT How do people goods, and ideas move from one place to another?
Linear Distance: how far
Time Distance: how long
Psychological Distance: how far away we think or feel a place is.

21. MOVEMENT
Working with your partner, brainstorm at least one example of each of the three types of distance. You have 5 minutes.