Download Location Student Notes

AP Human Geography
Location (Student Notes)
Name: ___________________________ P: ____
The location of places is the starting point of all geographic study because descriptions of location are basic
to describing what makes places unique. Geographers describe location with help of the following terms:
Location
Toponyms
s
Absolute or Mathematical
Location
and
Site
Relative Location
or
Situation
I. Toponym: a place name
a. What's in a Name? Place names give geographers insights into the history, politics, priorities, and
cultural practices of a place.
b. Toponyms sometimes change: Leningrad > St. Petersburg, Bombay > Mumbai, etc.
c. Types of Toponyms:
i. Historical: The location is named for an event in history or a historical location.
ii. Commemorative: The location is named after a person.
iii. Descriptive: The name describes the physical landscape of the location.
iv. Functional: The name describes some activity occurring at that location.
v. Value: The name describes something people there value or are proud of.
II. Absolute/mathematical location: the identification of a place by some precise and accepted system of
coordinates.
a. Global Latitude/Longitude System
b. Global Universal Transverse Mercator System (UTM)
c. U.S. Township and Range System
d. County level property survey systems
e. Street addresses (fixes absolute location within local area)
III. Site: the combination of physical characteristics that give a place its unique character.
a. Site factors: absolute location, elevation, climate, vegetation, landforms (mountains, plains), water
resources (rivers, lakes, ocean), soil.
b. Includes but goes beyond absolute location by telling you more about the physical features of a
location.
c. Settlements are often chosen based on site factors (hilltop for defense, river crossings for trade
and communication)
d. Site generally does not change over time (with rare exceptions: Lower Manhattan, Boston, Tokyo)
IV. Relative Location/Situation: the position of a place RELATIVE TO other places or activities; the geographic
context of a place.
a. The situation of a place tells why a place is important by describing its roll (economically,
politically, or culturally) in the larger region of which it is a part.
b. Whereas a place's site rarely changes, the situation of a place can change over both long or short
time frames.
V. Examples
Toponym
New Orleans
Type of
Toponym
Historical
(named after
Orléans, a city
located on the
Loire River in
Centre, France
Descriptive
(means simply
Istanbul
"the city"
(formerly
because it was
Constantinople)
only major city
in the vicinity)
Singapore
Historical
(means "lion
city": founder
of city saw
what he
thought was a
lion there)
Absolute
Location
29.9728° N,
90.0590° W
Site
Situation
Low lying area behind a
natural levee between the
Mississippi River and Lake
Pontchartrain.
Close to mouth of
Mississippi River which
drains 41% of
continental U.S. and
connects New Orleans
with major industrial and
agricultural regions via
the Ohio, Missouri, and
Tennessee River
systems. Cultural center
of southern Louisiana.
A hilly site adjacent to a
664290.18 E
deep harbor on both sides
4541646.23 N
of Bosporus Strait
(UTM
connecting Mediterranean
coordinates)
and Black Seas
Turkey and Europe's
largest city, important
commercial center and
transportation hub
straddling Europe and
Asia.
1.3667° N,
103.7500° E
Major internationally
connected port city and
center of trade in SE Asia
on Strait of Malacca
through which 50,000
vessels pass each year.
Small swampy island near
the tip of Malay Peninsula