Download 5 Themes of Geography

5 Themes of
Geography
What do you think of when you
hear the word geography?
 The study the earth and the way that people
live on it and use it.
– Includes water, landforms, weather, plant and
animal life, and people, as well as the effects
of human activity on the earth.
What do geographers do?
 Geographers try to discover reasons why
places are the way they are and the reasons
why people interact with the land the way
they do.
– To help them organize their work they use the
5 Themes of Geography.
Theme 1: Location
 Where is a place located? Where is it
near? What direction is it from another
place?
 Absolute Location or Relative Location?
Theme 2: Description of Place
 What is a place like? What characteristics
does it have?
 Physical and Human Characteristics
– The shape of the land, its climate, and animal
life would be described along with how the
people look and the kinds of building they live
in.
Theme 3: Human-Environment
Interaction
 How are people’s lives shaped by the place
where they live? How has a place been
shaped by human activity?
 How do people earn a living?
Theme 4: Movement
 Movement of people, goods, and ideas
around the world.
 Communist Countries?
 Internet?
 Religious freedom?
 Nomadic?
Theme 5: Regions
 Why are some places similar to others?
Why are some places thought of as
“belonging” together?
 Common physical or cultural features.
– Language or Land
Maps and Globes
 You will use maps and globes to answer
questions about locations of countries and
cities, oceans and rivers, mountains and
deserts.
 They show the shapes and sizes of places
on earth.
Maps and Globes
 Help you determine distances and
directions between places.
 Globes are small copies of the earth.
Continents and Oceans
 Large bodies of land are called continents.
– North America
– South America
– Europe
– Asia
– Africa
– Australia
– Antarctica
Hemispheres
 Half of a Sphere.
– Geographers use this term to refer to half of
the earth.
– Equator – circles the earth halfway between
the North Pole and South Pole.
Directions
 Cardinal Directions
– N, S, E, W
– Intermediate Directions
• NW, NE, SW, SE
Scale
 Will tell you how much smaller map
distances are than real distances.
 Line Scales.
Symbols
 Is anything that stands for something else.
– Dots, squares, circles, triangles, lines, letters,
and numbers.
– To find out what they mean, you must look at
the map key.
• Map key explains what each symbol stands for.
Different Kinds of Maps
 Political
– Show countries, capitals, and other important
political features.
 Physical
– Show the natural features of the earth. Ex.
Continents, oceans, islands, lakes, rivers,
mountains, plains, and deserts.
Kinds of Maps
 Landform Maps
– Physical maps that show how the earth’s
surface varies from place to place.
 Distribution Maps
– Shows how population, rainfall, language, and
religion are distributed.