Download 5 Themes of Geography Class Notes - Hewlett

Geographers have created five themes of geography, which
are used to help you think like a geographer.

Cultural Place: a place or event created by humans such
as a building, like the White House or a city like New
York City, or a special celebration like Thanksgiving
LOCATION
In geography, location means knowing where you are.
There are two kinds of location:
 Absolute location is the exact position of a place on the
globe. We can use latitude and longitude to locate these
places.
 Relative location is finding a place by describing where a
place is in relation to another place. (using direction
words, distance words, near, far)
HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION
In geography we look at the ways that humans interact with their
surroundings. This interaction can take place in two ways.
 Humans change their environment to meet their needs.
For example, cutting down forests or blasting through
mountains.
The environment forces people to make changes in the way they
live. For example, to live in a cold climate, people must invent
REGION
A region is a "world within a world" - an area with certain
characteristics that make it distinct from surrounding areas.
There are two kinds of regions:
 Physical regions: a land area with common features such
as landscape or climate.
 Cultural regions: an area defined by its human traits such
as language, religion, or the jobs people do.
Regions can be large or small.
PLACE
In geography, a place is one particular, unique location.
There are two kinds of places:
 Physical place: a land area that has a special shape,
climate, plant or animal life. For example, Mt. Everest is a
physical place.
ways to protect themselves from the cold
MOVEMENT
Movement describes how people in one place make contact with
people from another place.
This contact can take place in three ways.
 People MIGRATE (move) from one location to another.
 When people in one place want something that is not
found in their area, they TRADE goods with people in
areas that have what they want.
People across the world exchange IDEAS and INFORMATION
through the telephone, television, newspapers, books or the
Internet