The Five Themes of Geography

The place where something is located on the earth's surface. 1. Location The place where something is located on the earth's surface. Two kinds of location.

The exact “address” or spot where a place is found on the earth. Absolute Location The exact “address” or spot where a place is found on the earth. Example: Latitude, Longitude; (85*N, 125*W)

Relative Location Relative location describes a place in comparison to other places around it . Example: Sugar Land is southwest of Houston, Texas; FCMS is across the street from the baseball fields

2. Region when geographers group areas together by similar characteristics  Geographers choose how they will classify the world based on common characteristics. Examples: culture region, climate region, a country, time zones

3. Place “Place” answers the question “what is it like.” Place can be describe in two ways: Physical and Human Characteristics

Physical Characteristics Information about a location based on physical features such as landforms, bodies of water, weather, climate, or vegetation.

Human Characteristics Information about a location based on how people shape the earth. Elements to consider—government, population, religion, culture, and language.

4. Movement The movement of goods, people and ideas from one location to another.  Goods can be moved by land, air, and water.  People can be physically moved--population trends and location change, migration  Ideas can be moved from person to person, by the media, and through the internet.

Human-Environment Interaction How humans depend on, adapt to, and modify their environment. There is ALWAYS an interaction  Sometimes deliberate.  Often unintentional.

Examples: pollution; building a sea wall in Galveston, learning to fish when you live by an ocean; building dams

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