Download The 5 Themes of Geography

The 5 Themes of Geography
Location (where it is)
Absolute Location: uses an address for local locations,
longitude and latitude for global locations
Examples: 121 Broad St., Reading, PA, 19605 to locate a
business or a house; 420N, 740W to locate a town or an
airport
Relative Location: uses points of reference such as landmarks,
businesses, cities, states, etc. It is important to use points of
reference which you can reasonably assume the other person
is familiar. Providing more than one point of reference (3 is
ideal) helps to locate things more specifically
Examples: “in Western PA”, “behind the Exeter Library”,
“north of the United States”
Place (what is there)
Physical Characteristics: anything that is there naturally (not
introduced by human beings)
Examples: mountains, rivers, wildlife, the climate,
vegetation, lakes, valleys, etc.
Human Characteristics: anything that is there because of
human beings, including the 4 elements of culture (arts, beliefs,
customs, institutions)
Examples: culture, language, buildings, roads,
domesticated animals, crops, reservoirs, quarries, etc.
Human-Environmental Interaction (how people affect their
surroundings, and how their surroundings affect them)
Adapt: people have to do certain things to fit into their
surroundings
Examples: clothing based on climate and available
materials, foods based on what can and does grow there,
activities and jobs based on available resources, etc.
Modify: people change their surroundings to better suit them
(this is what people prefer to do)
Examples: clearing forests to build houses or use as
farmland, digging tunnels through mountains to shorten
the distance needed to travel, fertilizing the soil so better
or different crops can be grown, etc.
Depend: people need resources from their surroundings for
their survival and the continued survival of their culture
Examples: lake for drinking water, forest for building
lumber, oil for fuel or to support their economy, etc.
Discussion: What are some specific ways that we adapt to,
modify, and depend upon our environment?
Movement (how people, goods, and information are moved)
People: typical modes of transportation
Examples: walking, bike, car, canoe, horse, bus, etc
Goods: typical modes of transportation
Examples: canal, river, truck, train, freighter, mail, etc.
Information: typical modes of communication
Examples: cultural diffusion, migration, trade, war, tv,
radio, newspaper, phone, smoke signals, computer, etc.
Regions (areas into which things are divided)
Political: borders are determined by people and are often
imaginary lines
Examples: state, city, country, county, district, etc.
Natural: borders are determined by the size of the physical
feature; usually contain multiple physical characteristics of
place
Examples: rift, valley, desert, lake, forest, mountain
range, canyon, etc.